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Trump’s Iran war has economists aghast
A version of this essay first appeared in Crash Course, Salon’s free morning newsletter. Sign up for early access to articles like this, plus more of Salon’s bold journalism on how policies, movements and culture wars affect real people. America and Israel’s…
Court squashes Reese’s faceless pumpkin lawsuit
With Halloween coming up, there’s no need to worry that you won’t get any pumpkin-shaped chocolate and peanut butter candy in your trick-or-treat basket. A federal judge has ruled that disappointment over a faceless Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin isn’t enough…
“Fjord” tests whether we can ever stay objective
Few things in movies happen by coincidence, and fewer still in a film so self-conscious as Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord.” The Romanian filmmaker’s stoic drama is designed to provoke viewers in opposite directions, snaring them in waiting traps and causing them…
Kathy Griffin still won’t stay silent
Kathy Griffin apologizes in advance for all the noise. On the day we connected by phone, she expected a lot of activity in her Malibu home, including air-conditioning repairers and the usual four or five yapping dogs. “It’s mayhem,” she…
The TikTok tradwife tainted by an Andrew Tate connection
The virality of “I Met the Tradwife Who Thinks Women Shouldn’t Vote,” Ben Zand’s documentary profile of far-right influencer Savanna Stone, can be explained by one chef’s kiss moment early in its 47 minute-run. As Stone holds forth on why…
Duncan Sheik wasn’t a one-hit wonder
Duncan Sheik, the singer-songwriter and composer best known for his earwormy ’90s hit, “Barely Breathing” and his composition of the Broadway musical, “Spring Awakening” — for which he won two Tonys — died on Thursday at the age of 56.…
The curious, unsolved mystery of “The Black Dahlia”
Bad movies are a low-key passion of mine. This is no secret to my forbearing friends who slouched in theater seats next to me during, say, every Paul W. S. Anderson-directed disaster in the “Resident Evil” series. If I had…
“South Park” predicted the age of food insanity
Within the canon of adult animation,“The Simpsons” gets most of the credit for predicting the future, but “South Park” has at least one unnervingly good entry in the category. In the 2014 episode “Gluten Free Ebola,” residents begin violently dying…
Tom Cruise wants the last word
Tom Cruise is intense. We know this. Whether he’s pressing interviewers about their glibness or just holding eye contact for an inordinate amount of time, Cruise — the last movie star, as he’s been coined — is the definition of…
Off-color, off-brand: What Kathy Griffin’s and Bill Maher’s gaffes have in common
It almost sounds like the setup to a bit. Within the last two weeks three comedians — Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher and Bill Cosby — have been making headlines, seemingly for very different reasons. Two out of the three have…