A viral matchstick lamp and an AI R&B singer

6 Photographers, 6 Covers, 100 Years of ‘The New Yorker’

The New Yorker is celebrating its centennial! Over the last 100 years, the renowned magazine has featured countless stories that encapsulate the culture of the time, but what it’s probably best known for is its iconic covers. While many publications opt for photography, The New Yorker is revered for its illustrated covers. In its 100-year history, it has only ever had photography on two covers (one for its 75th anniversary, and the second just earlier this month with Cindy Sherman). Well, now, six more can be added to that list.

The weekly magazine invited six photographers to “reinterpret covers from [their] archives as flesh-and-blood portraits, starring familiar faces.” The photographers (Awol Erizku, Marilyn Minter, Ryan McGinley, Camila Falquez, Alex Prager, and Collier Schorr) were tasked with recreating a variety of covers that span decades — from the Jazz Age in the 1920s and the Great Depression in the 1930s to the Disco Era in the 1970s and the cusp of Y2K in the late 1990s. These new interpretations feature a cast of celebrities, including Spike Lee, Ariana DeBose, Julia Garner, Cole Escola, Julio Torres, and Sadie Sink.

It’s fascinating to see how the style of illustration changed over time, but what’s perhaps most shocking is the price! Back in 1925, when the publication first launched, an issue cost just 15¢. As can be seen through the covers throughout the years, that price has risen to 50¢ in the 70s, $3 in the 90s, and it’s now a whopping $9.99. Like its satirical and at times biting illustrations, the cost of The New Yorker is a great indicator of the rise of capitalism and the price we place on culture.

Kimmel Goes Off Air and Disney’s Stock Plummets

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks in the United States, and while we’d love to keep things light in our “low-brow” section, it’s nearly impossible to do so when television personalities are getting yanked off the air. After ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air “indefinitely”, it caused shockwaves. Some were happy, others were outraged.

Kimmel’s fellow late-night hosts all had their own feelings, with Jimmy Fallon taking a more comical approach, while Stephen Colbert got straight to the point. Calling it “blatant censorship,” and issuing an ominous warning: “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive.”

For their part, the public has made its displeasure known by hitting ABC’s parent company, Disney, where it hurts — right in the wallet. Following mass cancellations of Disney+ and celebrities announcing they would no longer collaborate with Disney, the company’s stock plummeted.

With pressure mounting, Kimmel and the powers have been in talks. In fact, Kimmel will be back on air Tuesday night. But will it be too little too late? And how much was Kimmel willing to compromise, if at all, to get back on air and save his staffers’ jobs? Tonight’s monologue will say a lot.

No matter what happens, one thing is for sure — Kimmel may be back, but Americans were put on notice that free speech is no longer a guarantee.

• 📈 Want to own a Rembrandt? How about a share of a Rembrandt? In what he’s calling Project Minerva, billionaire art collector Thomas S. Kaplan is looking to make his vast collection of art (220 pieces) public so that others can purchase shares. His own children have no interest in the art, nor do they know what to do with it, and so Kaplan is now seeking a way to fractionalize the collection. Sighhh… billionaire problems.

• 💡 IKEA has introduced a $40 lamp that looks like giant matchsticks and it’s going viral online. The STRÅLA LED floor lamp is a cute, quirky design by Lukas Bazle that can add a bit of whimsy to any room. The one down side? It’s corded and that really takes away from the charm of the object. Here’s hoping they create a cordless version.

• 📷 There’s a digital camera that doesn’t just take pictures — it creates pixel art at the same time. The Pixless Camera is a retro-style digital camera that doesn’t boast incredible specs. It’s actually only 0.03 MP! What it lacks in pixels, it makes up for in nostalgic Game Boy Camera-quality images.

• 👘 The World of WearableArt had its international design competition, which celebrates phenomenal costume design and creativity, and the Supreme WOW Award (the top prize) went to two designers from the U.S. They were selected from “85 finalist entries created by 100 designers from 17 countries.” Check out some of the surreal and stunning entries here.

• 🚫 The Trump administration has ordered the removal of “The Scourged Back” (1863) — a Civil War-era photograph showing the scarred back of a Black man who escaped slavery. This is part of the administration’s “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” directive that appears to be erasing any signs of suffering in U.S. history, particularly in regards to slavery, setting a troubling precedent for how history is documented.

• 🤖 Italy is the first nation in the EU to pass comprehensive AI laws with serious repercussions. This includes prison time (1 to 5 years) for creating deepfakes. The regulations on the use of artificial intelligence are intended to curb misuse and protect children. Children under 14 will be required to have parental consent to access AI.

• 🚢 Land ahoy! A shipwreck is about to become the tallest building in the Czech Republic. Yes, you read that right. The Top Tower is a soon-to-be-built 135-meter-tall building that’s designed to look like a vertical shipwreck that’s “entangled with the structure.” The multipurpose building will include a roof garden and a observation deck for sky-high views of Prague.

• 🏙️ Summer House fans rejoice, the spin-off we’ve all been waiting for is here. In the City features favorites like Kyle, Amanda, and Lindsay as they navigate life in the urban jungle. The only toss-up seems to be Carl, whose Soft Bar apparently doesn’t make him interesting enough for an automatic spot on the cast.

• 🏝️ Are you a Survivor fan who thinks you could make it through the jungle with no problem? Eight influencer-superfans (including RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner Monét X Change) were recently put to the test and spent 36 hours in Fiji getting the full Survivor experience. Check out the full episode on YouTube.

• 🎬 Whether you were Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah (or simply Team Belly), fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty are in for a treat. Though the show may have had its finale, Prime Video announced that the book-turned-TV-show is getting a feature film. While info is still scarce, people who were left disappointed that the series omitted details from the book will surely be looking for redemption in the movie.

• ⌨️ Constance Wu is not happy with the casting of Maybe Happy Ending and made her feelings known in a scathing social media post calling out the whitewashing of the lead male role, which has previously always been played by an Asian man.

• ☕ In a weird world where Top Chef and Friends meet, Tom Colicchio is designing the menu for the real-life Central Perk that’s set to permanently open in Times Square in NYC.

• 💿 Madonna is reuniting with Warner Records after nearly 20 years and giving us more of the beats we love with Confessions on a Dance Floor 2 set to drop in early 2026.

• 🤖 Is AI the new face of R&B music? AI-generated Xania Monet (who sounds suspiciously like Beyoncé) just landed a $3 million recording contract, and artists (including SZA, Kehlani, and Chloe Bailey) are speaking out about the negative impact it will have for real, actual human musicians.