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Library book found in fireplace returns 150 years late
An Australian library has welcomed home a book roughly 150 years overdue after it was discovered inside a tea crate bricked into a sealed fireplace. Ross Simmons found the water-damaged copy of “The Antiquities of Athens” while renovating a house…
“My job is to find out the truth”: Dana Bash grills RFK Jr. over vaccines
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly clashed with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday’s “State of the Union” over vaccines, COVID-19, autism research and the nation’s growing measles outbreak, with the veteran anchor challenging the health secretary’s…
The casting of “The Odyssey” proves Nolan’s muse was star power
Allow me to sing, o Muse, of a recent dinner conversation about “The Odyssey.” The setting was not a Greek restaurant but a Vietnamese joint. My friend Sharon and I had just settled at our table and ordered our dinner…
The better way to make tomato toast
The mind keeps a strange little pantry of its own. It shelves a photograph you paused over, a dish you ate three summers ago, a flavor combination you praised enthusiastically in public and then apparently continued discussing with yourself in…
“Diarra From Detroit” shows what a media merger could cost TV
The trouble with Diarra Brickland is she can’t let things go. “Diarra From Detroit” presents this as the schoolteacher-turned-detective’s greatest asset and her biggest flaw. If it weren’t for her stubborn insistence on finding out why a great guy, Chris…
In “The Valley” finale, Count Bookula drains our patience
In the Season 3 finale of Bravo‘s “The Valley,” succinctly titled “The Valley of the Damned,” Danny Booko — who does voice work for movies and video games when not reigning as secret-glugger #1 in this Vanderpump-adjacent reality show —…
The painful cost of bringing “Children of Blood and Bone” to screen
My first reaction to the trailer for “Children of Blood and Bone,” Paramount’s lush adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling 2018 young adult novel, was that I buzzed with excitement. My second reaction? Why must good things come at a cost?…
“I Want Your Sex” is deliberately unsexy
Are you having sex? Do you want to be? These days, there are a million different possible answers to either question. Our culture has confused sex — a relatively uncomplicated, biological thing — with desire, which is an entirely different,…
Your magical burnout cure is in this Miyazaki film
Throughout July, The Swell is celebrating the lasting cultural inspiration of animator Hayao Miyazaki and the legendary films he created with Studio Ghibli. As part of GKIDS’ annual Studio Ghibli Fest, which kicked off in June, you can enjoy theatrical…
The art of the beach sandwich
It’s a $16 disappointment every time. These days, the airport sandwich tends to emerge from a fluorescent-lit vending machine with a name like Farmer On-the-Go or Nutrition Inc. The machine is usually white, decorated with soothing green or blue iconography…