Culture & Religion

“We are at a crossroads in the music business… But I see the glass as half-full: the internet and social networking are new avenues for the next Bob Dylan to be born on.”

“I don’t know why the telephone, the analog landline telephone, was never formally mourned.” Virginia Heffernan remembers when phones actually worked.

It’s time we accept that Halloween isn’t dangerous, says Lenore Skenazy at The Wall Street Journal. While we’re at it, we should give children their childhoods back.

Every so often a meme comes along that reaffirms the positive potential of the Internet. Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better Project” is one such example. “When a 13 year-old kills […]

Maurice Ashley is not your typical world-class chess competitor.  For starters, he is the first (and, so far, only) African-American grandmaster.  Then there is the fact that he is one […]

The prolific and award-winning Canadian writer designs superhero costumes for alter-egos of two of her readers—as well as a chilling enemy ‘the Paniac’.

College-educated women are gaining on their husbands in terms of both education and income. This should increase their power in the home.

Does wine taste better in certain phases of the moon? Catherine Nixey examines a 20th century theory that says earth’s satellite affects the taste of the vintage.

The word “occult” is loaded with all sorts of associations. To some it conjures images of devil worship and witchcraft; to others it is just a concoction of superstition and […]

“The creator of America’s first and best satirical daily newspaper cartoon talks about 40 years of upsetting politicians and editors.”

A US study into adult creativity has discovered that the more an adult acts and thinks like a child, the more imaginative he or she becomes.

“What makes some people so much more alluring than others? The Independent discovers that good looks and sexiness are determined before we’re even born.”

According to civic engagement, education and intellectual atmosphere, Boston is America’s smartest city. The Daily Beast ranks 55 of America’s metropolitan areas.

“A man’s shaved head—whether it’s to-the-skin or with slight stubble—can suggest a sigh-inspiring combination of intellectual depth and machismo.”

The online video series, created by sex columnist Dan Savage and his husband Terry in response to recent LGBT teen suicides, has reached the White House. Savage talks to Big Think about its success.

We all know that when it comes to buying a house the three most important factors to consider are location, location, and location. There is anecdotal evidence that if you […]

“American poetry is in a period of ‘fertile uncertainty’—in other words, it’s confused. That’s a good thing.” The Atlantic begins a series on appreciating contemporary poetry.

A review of David Guggenheim’s new documentary: “The only hope for the future of our society, especially for poor black and Hispanic children, is escape from public schools.”

The artist Martin Creed is performing a rock gig tonight, and a soundscape is a contender for Britain’s infamous Turner prize. The Independent on where art and music collide.

Ever since he came out to the public in February 2007, former NBA player John Amaechi says he has been “that big gay guy.” But there is much more to […]

Joanna Weiss on Meg Whitman being called a whore: “You have to have been living in a 1940s movie not to know that the word is now applied in a gender-neutral way.”

Alfred Hitchcock once said, “A woman who spends all day washing and cooking and ironing doesn’t want to go to the movies to watch a film about a woman who […]

“In a rotten economy, when people put the intellectual emphasis on utility, how does one persuade universities to keep humanities alive?”

“Though the quality of Chile’s wines has risen dramatically recently, the world, by and large, still regards them as bottom-rung, at least in terms of price.”

“Film has the potential to be a most beautiful art, but it has been debased by U.S. cinema, and by television.” British film director Ken Loach has a plan to save the movies.

“Western robots are engineered to more explicitly express emotion, while those from Japan are generally as expressive as the masks worn by actors in traditional Japanese Noh plays.”

“Today’s artists — their students and heirs — have been curiously unable to rise to the challenge of their legacy. They seem crushed and confused by its iconoclasm and grandeur.”

“If book publishers want to see the next decade in any reasonable health, it’s absolutely imperative that they rethink their pricing strategies and business models right now.”

Nostalgia is dangerous, says novelist Jonathan Lethem: “There is a hugely bogus script that things fall into in American cultural life—that just before we arrived it was all perfect; things […]

“Playwrights, directors and performers all seem to think that we want to be part of their act.” The Washington Post’s theater critic wishes to be left alone.