I was so exhausted yesterday that I accidentally clicked to not email out the daily briefing. So if you missed yesterday’s stories, make sure to go scroll through the site!
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R.F. Kuang’s New Novel Got Review-Bombed Over Two Pages Featuring an Unnamed Israeli Pianist
R.F. Kuang’s new novel Taipei Story spent months at the center of a BookTok pile-on over a scene that barely exists. The book follows Lily Chen, a Chinese-American student studying abroad in Taipei hoping to reconnect with her cultural roots and perfect her Mandarin, only to find that bridging the gap between her Chinese heritage and American upbringing…
Melonie Mac Just Got a Major Conservative Influencer to Publicly Reverse Course on Sydney Sweeney For A Culture War Rare Win
Sydney Sweeney’s newest ad campaign, for sports-prediction platform Novig, has the actress appearing fully or partially nude across a 60-second spot, covered only by footballs, basketballs, a soccer ball, and hockey equipment, while joking to camera, “You can’t trade this. I just look good here.” Sweeney isn’t just the face of the campaign either, she’s…
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is Now the Highest-Grossing Domestic Film Ever Made
Tom Holland’s fourth solo outing as Peter Parker just did something no film has managed in over a decade. Spider-Man: Brand New Day passed Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the highest-grossing domestic release in box office history, hitting $936.8 million in North America after 47 days in theaters, edging out The Force Awakens’ decade-old record o…
Paramount’s California Exit Went Mega-Viral Yesterday, But Whether It’s Happening Is Still Unsettled
TMZ’s Tuesday report that Paramount had notified California officials of its intent to leave the state spread everywhere within hours, “IT’S HAPPENING” ran one viral headline treatment, and the story dominated X for most of Wednesday. The problem: nothing about this is actually settled, and a fair amount of that viral spread outran what’s genuinely conf…
Strange New Worlds Turns Star Trek Into a Joke (Again) With “Once La’an a Time”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds went back to the Elysian Kingdom for season four’s penultimate episode, “Once La’an a Time,” and the result is one of the most infuriating hours this show has produced. The episode is a direct sequel to season one’s “The Elysian Kingdom,” in which a lonely alien entity built a fantasy world around the terminally ill daughte…