Culture

Jackie Chan: The Anti-Ai Weiwei

Despite its ostensible Hollywood-friendliness, the action star's new film, Dragon Blade, bears all the hallmarks of his late-era work—namely, a propagandist's sense of not wanting to rock the boat.

The Good Girl's Guide to Staying Alive

When it comes to true crime, women are often both victim and audience. Why are female readers drawn to tales of their own destruction?

'A Pep Talk for People in the Grip of Decay': An Interview with Dan Bejar

Talking with the Destroyer songwriter about his new album, Poison Season, how his writing evolved past "ranting in a notebook," and the uncertain state of aging indie-rockers.

Heavy Metal Feminism

Fighting for diversity in a genre mostly known for angry white men.

The Revolutionary Non-Compliance of Bitch Planet

Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro's comic series is set in a wholly unrecognizable dystopian universe in which women are punished for being themselves. (Wait a second...)

My Double Album

Inspired by real-life events.

The Last Days of Kathy Acker

The notorious punk novelist was as uncompromising in death as she was in life.

Inside Scharpling & Wurster's 'Power Pop Pop Pop'

Why the story of a detestable "power pop dictator" may be The Best Show's quintessential bit (or one of them, at least).

a painting
Dreams Are Boring

We attribute divine inspiration to madness, but escaping the cycle of mania for the comfort of a calmer mind doesn't mean abandoning artistic greatness.