Every President is tempted, at times, to bully the press. But, historically, most Presidents eventually calculate that it is a ruinous strategy that deepens the public’s distrust. PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP / GETTY Even before the White House press corps was born—in 1896, when newspapers…

The Nintendo Switch is a fascinating new game console built around a novel and well-executed central idea. It also has plenty of problems that will doubtless be improved upon in a future version. Nintendo is yet again trying something new, and here we are to take the plunge alongside them. Note:…

“These are the hottest girls I’ve ever seen!” Sean Rad—29 and recently single—is bowed over his iPhone, eyes inches from the screen, totally enamored with the latest version of his groundbreaking dating app, Tinder. It’s a Monday evening in mid-October at Craig’s, a dimly lit West Hollywood hot spot…

A familiar modern scenario: You spend hours in matchmaking waiting to get picked for a quick game of Halo, but see no results. You’re swiping right all day on Tinder, but nobody swipes back. In the 21st century, browsing for dates can seem a lot like being stuck while looking for matches in a…

This review contains plot details of “Logan” HUGH JACKMAN has played the role of Wolverine, a mutton-chopped mutant superhero, in eight films; you can hardly blame him for declaring that the ninth, “Logan”, will be his last. Even Roger Moore managed only seven Bond movies before he hung up his…

Cool story, bro. Photo by FXQuadro / Shutterstock Last week, Claire Dederer took a break from writing her memoir about her teenage sexual experiences in the 1980s to publish an essay about why the book has proven so difficult to write. “I get frightened every time I sit down to write about something…

Hollywood keeps making video games movies and they keep being terrible. So, the people in Hollywood keep on having to talk about whether any video game film adaptation will ever be good. Starting in the 1990s, the earliest live-action video game movies were blatant cash-in affairs, meant to pull in…

Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivers remarks at the Justice Department’s 2017 Black History Month observation at the Department of Justice on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Zach Gibson/Getty Images In his first few weeks as attorney general, Jeff Sessions has made clear that he intends to roll back…

Making mistakes is part of life, but how long are you supposed to be branded with it, like a badge of shame? When it comes to having your Steam profile flagged for cheating, where anyone can pull up your profile and see evidence of misdeeds, that length is apparently seven years. Through some poking…

During a classic game postmortem panel at the Game Developers Conference yesterday, Oregon Trail co-creator Don Rawitsch answered a number of audience questions about the hit educational game that he helped make in the early ‘70s. One of the most interesting answers was in response to a question…

Fairtrade Porn, Chickpeas and MuesliPhotograph: liz mcburney/Guardian T hey mainly call it ethical porn, though some people call it “fair trade”. The term “free range” was essayed, but its agricultural connotations have proved too strong. “It’s the kind of porn you would buy in Waitrose,” is how D,…

Not the most arousing photo ever admittedly, but if you were Googling ‘Trump Porn’ you deserve everything you get.Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP Donald Trump is the president of the United States. No matter how many times it’s said, to many it still sounds surreal, given our understanding of how the…

As the Oscar for best picture was being presented at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday night, Tim Ryan, the United States chairman of PwC, was sitting in a plush seat in the Dolby Theater, watching with satisfaction. PwC, an accounting firm based in London, has tabulated the votes for the Academy…

Lena Dunham with Matthew Rhys, who played a memoirist with a troubled reputation and problems with women, on a recent episode of “Girls.” PHOTOGRAPH BY CRAIG BLANKENHORN / HBO The key to “American Bitch,” Sunday’s scathing and timely episode of “Girls,” is the compliments. “Hannah, you’re clearly…

A thrilling win for "Moonlight" aside, the ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, provided many reminders of the insularity of Hollywood. PHOTOGRAPH BY EDDY CHEN / ABC VIA GETTY Up to and including the last-minute twist, there were two ways of looking at this year’s Oscars. According to one perspective,…

Dearest Francesca, I’m writing this letter to you about the future. I’m looking at it through the lens of my world. Through the lens of cinema, which has been at the center of that world. For the last few years, I’ve realized that the idea of cinema that I grew up with, that’s there in the movies…

Jessica Carpenter For the first time in years, I find myself feeling ugly. What changed was that I started dating men. I woke up this morning with this terrible fucking feeling, and I was like I know this feeling. How do I know this feeling? Where is this horrible feeling from? And then I was like,…

In 2011, I was hired, straight out of college, to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council. My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman––I was the only hijabi in the West Wing––and the Obama…

‘The Counselor’: No Movie for Most Men (or Women)by Mike D’Angelo [This month, Musings pays homage to Produced and Abandoned: The Best Films You’ve Never Seen , a review anthology from the National Society of Film Critics that championed studio orphans from the ‘70s and ‘80s. In the days before the…

President Trump congratulates his strategist Stephen Bannon during the swearing-in of senior staff in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images This week, President Trump delighted his base with a pledge to treat deportations like a “military…

Image: Nokia HMD Global, the Finnish company that owns the rights to Nokia’s phone brand licensing for the next ten years, took the stage at MWC in Barcelona today to showcase its first full line of Nokia-branded smartphones. The company revealed two new budget Android phones, and announced that the…

Image: Getty At the Mobile Worl d Congress trade show in Barcelona, we saw two formerly great smartphone brands— Nokia and BlackBerry —try to win their way back into consumers’ hearts with the relaunch of decidedly old-school gadgets. BlackBerry Mobile, whose name is licensed to Chinese electronics…

The bizarre finale to Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony brought to mind the theory—far from a joke—that humanity is living in a computer simulation gone haywire. PHOTOGRAPH BY EDDY CHEN / ABC VIA GETTY Last night’s Oscars bizarreness was not just bizarre but bizarre in a way that is typical of this…

A local official in Sweden has a novel proposal to improve work-life balance and lift the local birthrate: give municipal employees an hourlong paid break each week to go home and have sex. Sweden is already celebrated for its generous welfare state , including 480 days of paid parental leave ,…

It's a thought that's crossed my mind on several occasions. If Super Mario is an Italian plumber, then where in relation to the Mushroom Kingdom is Italy? If I took out a globe could you show me? Could you trace your finger between the two? From where this thumb-sized man battles dragons and ghosts…

Image by Jim Cooke Oh God, it’s Oscar time again. Just what I needed in the middle of the fucking apocalypse. Donald Trump is President. Russia has hacked all of our phones and is actively watching us masturbate. And every public school is going to teach your kids that gay people come from the…

Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams in the first feature directed by Jordan Peele. Illustration by Richie Pope The hero of “Get Out” is a young photographer named Chris (Daniel Kaluuya). He is charming, reflective, and a little on the quiet side. His girlfriend is Rose (Allison Williams), and they…

Donald Trump so permeates the collective consciousness of the country that it is hard to imagine now living in a world without him. But there is one place where the president seems to be relatively invisible—the U.S. stock market. The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq have set record highs in the months after…

Advertising today mostly yells at target groups instead of inviting people to engagement and conversation (of course there are exceptions — we’re getting better). Brands and their agencies rarely show an understanding that people like it when you, as a brand, approach me with an understanding of me…

NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Scorsese's Manhattan office, in a midtown building a few blocks northwest of the cordoned-off Trump Tower, may be the most concentrated bastion of reverence for cinema on the face of the earth. There's a small screening room where Scorsese screens early cuts of his films and…

Illustration by Tom Bachtell Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution allows for the removal of a President who can no longer discharge his duties but is unable or unwilling to say so. It empowers the Vice-President, along with “a majority of either the principal officers of the…

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McDonald’s is known for its Big Mac, Happy Meals, and creepy clown mascot, but not for trying to be innovative with technology. Yet, the fast food chain restaurant teamed up with aerospace and robotic engineering firms to reinvent the straw and make it easier to drink its Chocolate Shamrock shakes.…

Photo by fPat Murray Kid Koala—aka Eric San—is renowned for his woozy, oddball productions and raucous party sets (enhanced by the koala suit, bombastic beats and chicken samples). But what you might not know is that the Montreal-based musician successfully balances his extroverted side with quiet,…

When Pokémon Go was in its prime last year, many of the game’s more popular locations were parks. And some of those parks got trashed. Understandably, if also a little late (at least for Pokémon Go) , local governments are now taking steps to try and stop this happening again. In Milwaukee, AP…

Uber is what you get when you take Silicon Valley’s most toxic values, add billions of dollars in venture capital, and spice it with endless adoration from a fawning tech press. The resulting cocktail has turned as putrid as it’s been potent. And the inebriated corporate culture of Uber is acting as…

IDEAS Bret Stephens writes the foreign-affairs column of the Wall Street Journal, for which he won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Bret Stephens delivered the Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture this week at the University of California, Los Angeles. Read the full text of his remarks below: I’m…