People & culture
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Why Some People Think in Words, While Others Think in Pictur…
[ad_1] The age of social media has shown humanity a fair few truths about itself, not all of them flattering. But once in a while, one of the waves of discourse that roll through the internet really does help us better understand one another. Take the surprise some have expressed in recent years upon finding…
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Sun Eater Grapples with the Morality of Divine Judgment
[ad_1] It isn’t often that a book series written by a conservative Catholic goes viral on BookTok and BookTube. One of the series’ boldest thematic choices… has to do with what the protagonist believes God has sent him to do: To wipe out an alien race. But after nearly getting canceled due to low sales,…
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The painful scene that really makes Taxi Driver a classic
[ad_1] Notable for its moments of shocking violence and its avant-garde visual approach, Taxi Driver is brimming with memorable scenes beyond Bickle’s famous squaring off in the mirror. In particular, another shorter scene really stands as the film’s most important moment of visual idiosyncrasy; showcasing a distinctly European sensibility in what is ultimately a very…
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Where Music, Culture and Community Converged
[ad_1] Series: Open Knowledge Fellowship 2025 Show articles▼ Currently reading: #9: Mumbai’s Bandstands: Where Music, Culture and Community Converged For most residents of Mumbai, the word ‘bandstand’ evokes the popular image of Bandra’s seaside promenade, fondly referred to as just the ‘bandstand’ in the neighbourhood. But for an older generation, it also recalls the city’s…
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This Summer, Chip Zdarksy Brings Armageddon To Captain Ameri…
[ad_1] This summer, the Avengers undergo a transformation the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Avengers: Disassembled in Armageddon, a new Marvel Comics event from Chip Zdarsky. Today, fans can see what’s to come in both titles this May, just before Armageddon arrives the following month. Following Doom’s fall at the end of One World Under Doom,…
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The Samurai Who Became A Roman Citizen
[ad_1] Last year, we featured here on Open Culture the story of how a samurai ended up in the unlikely setting of seventeenth-century Venice. But as compellingly told as it was in video essay form by Evan Puschak, better known as the Nerdwriter, it ended just as things were getting interesting. We last left Hasekura Rokuemon…
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The Comic Faith of O Brother, Where Art Thou?
[ad_1] A Film That Needs No Introduction (So Here You Go Anyway) Released twenty-five years ago last month, Joel and Ethan Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? has since become something of a cult classic. Lauded by critics for its soundtrack—which launched a bluegrass revival—and its groundbreaking approach to color editing, the thing is otherwise…
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10 of the best films to watch this February
[ad_1] Universal Pictures 9. EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert When Baz Luhrmann was researching his Elvis biopic, he unearthed dozens of boxes of unseen documentary footage. Much of it concerned Presley’s residencies in Las Vegas following his 1968 comeback special: there were interviews, rehearsals, and hours of outtakes from his two 1970s concert films. Now…
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RIP Gladys Mae West, the Pioneering Black Mathematician Who …
[ad_1] Gladys Mae West was born in rural Virginia in 1930, grew up working on a tobacco farm, and died earlier this month a celebrated mathematician whose work made possible the GPS technology most of us use each and every day. Hers was a distinctively American life, in more ways than one. Seeking an escape…