The college admissions scam (aka Operation Varsity Blues) is truly the gift that keeps on giving, in the sense that it serves as a constant, grim reminder of the myriad ways in which the wealthy and privileged exercise their considerable power to put poor and disenfranchised people at even further …

It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Those problems added up to immortal romance cinema for Bogie and Bergman in Casablanca. Things are not so lucky for the love triangle at the core …

Stella Donnelly spools out the kind of cuddle-core guitar pop that traditionally goes best with cardigan sweaters and shy glances in the dustiest recesses of the local used bookstore. But the Australian singer-guitarist is hardly the retiring type. “Your personality traits don’t count/If you put your dick in someone’s face/And …

Last week, the FDA announced that it had officially approved Spravato, a brand-name nasal spray containing esketamine, a chemical cousin of ketamine, to treat depression. The drug was hailed by many as a game-changer, as it’s proven to be an effective therapy for people with treatment-resistance depression (TRD), or approximately …

UPDATE: Jussie Smollett plead not guilty to 16 counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reports. The former Empire actor was arrested after allegedly orchestrating a hate crime against himself, though he was released from prison after posting $10,000 of a $100,000 …

Pop is now officially a global mishmash: K-pop groups collaborate with Latin artists; American rappers add verses to Brazilian baile funk hits; the electronic producer Marshmello made an entire video honoring Shah Rukh Khan, the Indian film star known as the “King of Bollywood.” In that context, it’s not as …

The third track on Hand Habits’ great new album, placeholder, comes on like a folk song, with Meg Duffy finger-picking soft solo acoustic patterns. The effect is peaceful, calming, with a hint of something else underneath the surface. Then, about 40 seconds into “pacify,” Duffy begins singing, and the song …

Ariana Grande is the face of Starbuck’s “Cloud Macchiato.” It’s synergy made in marketing heaven: Grande loves cloud emojis, is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet and has millions of young fans who presumably love sugar and caffeine in equal measure. Starbucks is a multi-billion dollar company …

As the first first woman-led superhero epic from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel touches down at the multiplex with a lot of sexist monkeys on its back. Rotten Tomatoes had to ban trolls from its website who were hellbent on review-bombing the movie before it even opened. Incels are …

John Hickenlooper is used to being made fun of. He’s dyslexic, and is known to say words or phrases out of order. He’s face-blind, relying on cues from the person he’s speaking with to remember if they’ve previously met. He has a gangly last name, part of which rhymes with …