A masseuse accused comedian Russell Brand of physical assault in 2014, and a judge sided with the actor-comedian, calling her claims “inconsistent” and accusing the woman of harassing Brand and his then-partner. The bombastic author […]
Latest Posts
‘You Do Not Need Glasses’: A Wellness Coach’s Bogus Claim — And Its 100-Year History
“What’s the one thing that your optometrist doesn’t want you to know about?” asks a “human optimization specialist” who goes by the name Samantha Lotus in a recent video on her Instagram account. “The fact […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger Celebrates 40 Years of American Citizenship
Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated four decades of American citizenship this weekend. In a post on Instagram the bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician commemorated the anniversary of “one of the proudest days of my life” with a series of photographs set […]
The National: Laugh Track
R.E.M. had been a band for 24 years when they released their worst album, 2004’s Around the Sun, a record that magnified that aging act’s growing weaknesses and succumbed to sheer tedium. The National, perhaps […]
Buju Banton: Born for Greatness
Though released to relatively muted fanfare, Born for Greatness, the new studio album from veteran reggae star Buju Banton, still arrives with great expectations attached. Banton was already the first artist to break Bob Marley’s […]
Piotr Kurek: Smartwoods
Piotr Kurek’s Smartwoods comes on gradually, then all at once. An electric guitar plucks out a tentative phrase; a harp responds with unhurried plucks; metallic taps, like steel pans, add shading. Finally, an acoustic bass […]
Subsonic Eye: All Around You
On their third album, Nature of Things, the Singaporean quintet Subsonic Eye pivoted from their usual wide-eyed dream pop to a raw, earthier sound. Nature was frenetic yet loose, mixing the shaggy indie rock of […]
Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator)
The only time most people have heard the word “revelator” is in the Bible. John the Revelator was the prophet who wrote the Book of Revelation, the final part of the New Testament. As the […]
Why Are So Many Men Obsessed With the Roman Empire?
There are very few people who know more about the history of ancient Rome than Mike Duncan. The creator and host of the tremendously popular History of Rome podcast, which first aired between 2007 and […]
We Got NYU to Divest From Fossil Fuels — And That’s Just the Start
This summer, we faced unbearable heat waves, we breathed in thick, dark wildfire smoke, and we saw homes and cars be swallowed up by mass floods. We are up against a ticking time bomb, pushing […]
Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah
Lavish reissues of a single album usually signify the record’s general sense of importance: We need to gather all that’s known about this work, they suggest, every note and outtake, in order to more completely […]
‘The Blind Side’: Tuohys Claim Michael Oher Knew They Never Planned to Legally Adopt Him
Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy insisted they told former NFL player Michael Oher they never intended to formally adopt him and denied his claim that they used public perception of his supposed adoption for financial […]