E. Alex Jung
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Articles by E. Alex Jung
The Wasian Generation
How the sudden pop-cultural dominance of part white, part Asian Americans triggered a collective identity crisis. Over Taiwanese breakfast, Claira Janover, a lively 28-year-old working for the AI fashion start-up Phia, is explaining the latest vernacular from Wasia.
Morgan Bassichis Talks to Ghosts
The hit solo show Can I Be Frank? is part séance, part comedy routine, and unlike anything in theater right now. Last month at a DSA fundraiser at the Brooklyn queer bar C’mon Everybody, Morgan Bassichis told a joke about Debra Messing, the actress who has become the face of the liberally Zionist wing of the Hollywood DNC.
Heated Rivalry and Why So Many Women Love Gay Male Romance
When did everyone start fujoing out? We can now look back on November 28, 2025, as the start of a mass-psychosis event. In an era of neo-puritanical television slop, a fresh, horny breeze swept in from Canada: Heated Rivalry, a six-episode series about two professional hockey rivals turned lovers, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, stirred something deep in the American psyche.
Girls Who Love Boys Who Love Boys
2 days ago Bookings for Canadian cottages have risen by 110% since the steamy show aired, rewriting what summer in Muskoka will look like in 2026. The birds sing as tortured lovers Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov drive through the dense boreal forest and deep lakes of the Canadian Shield. "I think you're going …
‘Will You Come and Get Me?’
A big swirling bucket of the latest rumors, celebrity news and Hollywood gossip. The premier celebrity gossip app. The only apps that gives you a comprehensive real time celeb news stream. Gossip Bucket aggregates and streams the latest gossip news and headlines from the top sources in one place.
Inside the Provocative Venice Hit ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’
The Voice of Hind Rajab reenacts the 5-year-old’s call to emergency dispatchers in Gaza just before she was killed. The Voice of Hind Rajab is in theaters December 17. Motaz Malhees and Kaouther Ben Hania on the set of the film. The Voice of Hind Rajab is in theaters December 17. Motaz Malhees and Kaouther Ben Hania on the set of the film. This article was featured in New York’s One Great Story newsletter. Sign up here. The circumstances of Hind Rajab’s death are well documented but bear repeating.
Inside the Provocative Venice Hit ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’
The Voice of Hind Rajab reenacts the 5-year-old’s call to emergency dispatchers in Gaza just before she was killed. The Voice of Hind Rajab is in theaters December 17. Motaz Malhees and Kaouther Ben Hania on the set of the film. The Voice of Hind Rajab is in theaters December 17. Motaz Malhees and Kaouther Ben Hania on the set of the film. This article was featured in New York’s One Great Story newsletter. Sign up here. The circumstances of Hind Rajab’s death are well documented but bear repeating.
Stellan Skarsgård on Being a Nepo Daddy, ‘Sentimental Value’
The self-proclaimed “nepo daddy” is at the top of his game as a narcissistic patriarch in Sentimental Value. Stellan Skarsgård comes down to the lobby restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park a few minutes late on account of his son Gustaf, who called after seeing his father in Joachim Trier’s latest movie, Sentimental Value. “I know exactly what this is about. Do you recognize yourself?” Stellan-as-Gustaf recalls. “Yeah, yeah. I know,” he groused back.
Stellan Skarsgård Knows Best
New York magazine | October 20-November 2, 2025 The self-proclaimed “nepo daddy” is at the top of his game as a narcissistic patriarch in Sentimental Value. STELLAN SKARSGÅRD COMES down to the lobby restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park a few minutes late on account of his son Gustaf, who called after seeing his father in Joachim Trier's latest movie, Sentimental Value. “I know exactly what this is about. Do you recognize yourself?” Stellan-as-Gustaf recalls. “Yeah, yeah.
A big swirling bucket of the latest rumors, celebrity news and Hollywood gossip. The premier celebrity gossip app. The only apps that gives you a comprehensive real time celeb news stream. Gossip Bucket aggregates and streams the latest gossip news and headlines from the top sources in one place.
‘Like Martha’s Vineyard, If the Mexicans Took It Over’
Photo: Matthew Leifheit In 1978, when the fashion designer Willy Chavarria was 10 years old, he and his family attended a production of Zoot Suit, a play by Luis Valdez. The work drew from the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon Murder, when the death of a partygoer became the pretext for a wider criminalization of Chicano youth in Los Angeles. Hundreds were brought in for processing and 22 indicted.
Zohran Mamdani Crashes the Party
This article was featured in One Great Story, New York's reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. On a rainy Sunday evening in May, the mood inside Brooklyn Steel was, like the candidate, jubilant and young. Around 1,500 people had gathered for Zohran Mamdani's campaign rally for mayor of New York City.
The New Wegmans Restaurant Is Entry-Level Sushi
Next Door feels like it’s for beginners. King salmon pâté with rice crackers at Next Door. King salmon pâté with rice crackers at Next Door. I’ve never met a Stop & Shopaholic or a dyed-in-the-wool Gristedean, but I definitely know some Wegmaniacs. The Rochester-based grocery chain inspires a kind of fanatical devotion that few retailers can match — besides Publix in Florida and maybe Trader Joe’s, I can’t think of one.
The Long and Short of Radio Bakery’s Latest Location
It’s clear we bear some responsibility for the line that has recently begun to fascinate Prospect Heights neighbors. When Grub Street called Radio Bakery’s turkey-pesto sandwich the best sandwich of 2024, we weren’t alone — plenty of our fellow omnivores had been singing Radio’s praises, too.
Want More Bong Joon Ho Movies? Where to Stream the Deep Cuts
Warning: You’ll have to read, ahem, subtitles if you don’t speak Korean. This article was originally published in February 2020 after Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite won the Oscar for Best Picture. With Bong’s latest, Mickey 17, in theaters, we’re running this guide again.
Confessions of K-Pop Star Rosé
TIFFANY & CO. Earrings in Platinum and Yellow Gold With Diamonds From Blue Book 2024: Tiffany Céleste Collection, available at select boutiques. SCHIAPARELLI HAUTE COUTURE Corset Bustier Dress in Nude Mesh Enhanced With Exaggerated Hips and Entirely Embroidered With Trompe l’Oeil Pearls in Satin Stitch, available upon request. Photo: Stevie Dance The 2020 Netflix documentary Blackpink: Light Up the Sky introduces Rosé stealing time after-hours, strumming a guitar on the floor.
Coralie Fargeat Made Her Substance Oscar Campaign Happen
If she had listened to her haters, The Substance wouldn’t exist. As anyone who has been to the Walk of Fame can tell you, the reality is different from the one in our collective imagination — a relic of a tourist trap on the edge of civilization. I met Coralie Fargeat, the writer-director of The Substance, there the morning of Super Bowl Sunday — a rest day during an Oscar season that is otherwise packed with parties and awards shows.
Christine Sun Kim Writes in All Caps
Christine Sun Kim is walking me through her upcoming show at The Whitney, All Day All Night, the first major institutional survey of her work. It’s a couple of weeks before the opening and we’ve entered the museum in medias res. Sticky notes dot the wall, and there are decisions to be made in every corner.
Adrien Brody Has Never Been Better Than in ‘The Brutalist’
profile The Brutalist is his best, most personal work since The Pianist. This article was originally published December 23, 2024.At the 97th Academy Awards, Adrien Brody won the Oscar for Best Actor. Adrien Brody has stopped to contemplate a pile of cardboard. We’re walking through London’s West End, where he’s doing a play, when he spots a few dozen broken-down boxes splayed out on the sidewalk. “That’s a great breakdancing platform. That’s a gold mine,” he says.
The Allegations Looming Over Brian Jordan Alvarez’s Breakout
Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jon Ebeling, and Stephanie Koenig have a shirtless dance party at Alvarez’s apartment in December 2015, during which they took pictures and posed. This piece was originally published on December 17, 2024. On November 12, 2025, FX cancelled English Teacher after two seasons. For many, the premiere of FX’s English Teacher in September marked the long-awaited arrival of Brian Jordan Alvarez, the comedy series’ creator and star.
Take Our ‘Mean Girls’ Superfan Quiz
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo: Paramount/Everett Collection This quiz was originally published April 30, 2014, and was updated with the release of Mean Girls (2024) to include questions related to the musical adaptations. We’re republishing in honor of “Mean Girls Day.” Once you ace this quiz, try your hand at today’s Cinematrix.
Darren Star Is the Master of Compulsively Watchable TV
Emily in Paris returns to Netflix August 15. For about as long as any millennial has been watching television, Darren Star has been making it: Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Sex and the City, Younger, Emily in Paris. His hits span four decades and various business models in the medium — broadcast, cable, streaming — all known for their compulsive watchability.
Doug Emhoff and Chasten Buttigieg Go to Fire Island
Doug Emhoff (third from right) with attendees at a fundraiser for Kamala Harris on Fire Island. Photo: Courtesy of E. Alex Jung The first sign of a vibe shift occurring on Fire Island Pines were the three young men sitting in a row on the upper deck of the Friday 9:20 am ferry, sweating through their button-downs and dark gray slacks, surrounded by bare chests and four-inch inseams. “Are those Mormons?” one observer asks, glancing backwards. “They’re here to spread the good word,” jokes another.
Jodie Turner-Smith on Joshua Jackson, ‘The Acolyte’
SCHIAPARELLI Bi-material Jacket, at Maison Schiaparelli, 21 Place Vendôme 75001 Paris. SWAROVSKI Lucent Hoop Earrings, at swarovski.com. Photo: Adrienne Raquel Originally, Jodie Turner-Smith was supposed to attend the Met Gala with a man on her arm.
Jodie Turner-Smith Takes Control
Easter 16 hours ago The Acolyte Episode 3 Drops A Pivotal Easter Egg Connection to Major High Republic Villains comicbook.com - Kofi Outlaw • 16h Star Wars: The Acolyte Episode 3 revealed the key history between Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and the fall of their witch coven family.
Zeteo Is Mehdi Hasan’s Next Move But What Happened at MSNBC?
Photo: Stephen Voss This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. As a matter of preference, Mehdi Hasan likes a smart opponent. “It’s no fun interviewing village idiots,” he says, for instance, of Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Victor I. Cazares Wants NYTW to Call for Ceasefire in Gaza
Cazares stages their own burial on Instagram. On December 1, instead of taking their daily dose of the HIV medication Dovato, the playwright Victor I. Cazares filmed an Instagram video of the pill’s funeral. They burned the small white tablet on a miniature pyre inside a geode their grandparents had brought from El Apache, a mountain in Chihuahua, Mexico, across the border from their hometown of El Paso, Texas. They gave their second pill a burial with a flower on top in their parents’ backyard.
E. Alex Jung’s profile • Letterboxd
Don’t forget to select your favorite films! All More Dead Calm women rly have to do everything so their man can "go investigate the creepy boat to see if the sexy psychopath's story checks out" Love in the Big City i wish this had gotten US distribution or were more readily available on streaming (you can rent it on viki), as it's extremely important in the gay guy-straight girl relationship canon.
The End of the Year I Ate New York
A final feast at Wu’s Wonton King. As my job of writing The Year I Ate New York came to its natural conclusion, I asked my friends the same question: Where would you go if you were leaving New York? I wanted them to decide where they would go for their last drink and to make hard choices between Keens or Gallaghers (Keens) and the Grand Central Oyster Bar or Grand Army (the Oyster Bar).
The Best Food, Oddest Drinks, and Strangest Nights From My Year Eating New York
Lechon at Naks, which just squeaked into the year. As of this writing, I’ve eaten 315 on-the-record meals for my tenure as the diner-at-large. I should feel utterly sated and ready to hang it up, and yet if there’s one thing eating professionally throughout New York City demonstrates, it’s just how impossible it is to try everything, and it makes you want more.
Laila El-Haddad on How Gaza Is Losing Its Food Culture
Laila El Haddad making fatayer saliq u lahma at home. The Gaza Kitchen, written in 2012 by Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt, is one of the few contemporary English-language texts of Gazan cooking. Schmitt has called the cookbook “ghost archaeology” — an effort to document the cuisine when Palestinians had more control over their land, before the Israeli occupation, disengagement, and subsequent blockade devastated the economy.
The City’s Most Exciting Chefs Are Cooking in Someone Else’s Kitchen
Sadie Mae Burns and Anthony Ha have turned Ha’s Đặc Biệt into a global project. As my year of eating New York winds down, I can tell you that some of my favorite meals are ones you’ll never get to try.
Why Are So Many Restaurants Called ‘Love Letters to New York’?
An early version of Tatiana’s chopped cheese with truffles. Is there an American city that loves itself more than New York? There certainly isn’t one with as much confidence. (We have these things called bodegas — have you heard of them?) In spite of rats as fat as size-12 Crocs and a chaotic mayor straight out of a Batman comic, the love the inhabitants have for their city may be its greatest self-replenishing resource.
Tanoreen, Now 35 Years Old, Is a Vital New York Institution
Rawia Bishara in the kitchen of the original Tanoreen. The restaurant moved into its current, larger location in 2010. I heard about you,” Rawia Bishara says, coming over to our table of two. “You ordered four entrées.” Our stomachs are already filled with various mezze. She looks at the spread: za’atar-spackled manakeesh; creamy, lemony hummus; musakhan, a flatbread with chicken and a dusting of sumac; raw kibbeh with white onions and mint; and shulbato, the brick-red bulgur pilaf.
Are We in a New Golden Age for Offal?
Liver sashimi at Hakata TonTon. At Artesano, a Peruvian restaurant in Tribeca, the anticuchos are not made from beef heart. “Here, we cater to our customers,” our waiter said, explaining why the kitchen uses filet mignon instead. In Peru, you can enjoy beef hearts grilled over open flames; here, in one of the city’s ritziest Zip Codes, you can have them in gentrified form while sitting by a wall of plastic greenery.
Why Does So Much ‘Korean’ Fine Dining Still Feel So French?
Hooni Kim’s Meju employs ancient fermentation techniques as the basis for its modern Korean cooking. Was this my Ratatouille moment? I was wet, cold, and running late to dinner. I had just returned to New York from Seoul earlier this week when I herniated my back. Then came the rains, another reminder that we’re just one meteorological disaster away from infrastructural collapse. The subway wasn’t running; we got stuck in traffic.
The Story of Mill Basin Deli’s Famous Paintings
The Schachner family with Erté and Eric Estorick at the Mill Basin Deli. In 1982, thieves broke into the Mill Basin Deli and escaped with the meat slicer, scales, $2,500 in cash, and all of the art on the walls: 30 serigraphs and two watercolor paintings by Erté, the Russian-born French Art Deco artist born Romain de Tirtoff. The owner of the deli, Mark Schachner, offered a $5,000 reward for the safe return of the art, no questions asked.
Plaza Tonatiuh Offers Excellent Street Food in Sunset Park
The group, currently operating out of a parking lot on Second Avenue, opens at 11 a.m. on Sundays. This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. On a recent Sunday, I walked toward the industrial wilds of Sunset Park, past the overhang of Belt Parkway. There were mostly warehouses and broken sidewalks — a crosswalk sign hung upside down like a drunk.
The Best Food on Fire Island
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. Shopping at the Pines Pantry. Photo: Finn Jubak The Pines Pantry has everything you could want for a week on a gay beach: sandwiches, sunscreen, cold brew on tap, saline enemas. It combines the charm of a corner bodega with the heft of a green grocer; there’s a deli, butcher, fish counter, and a bakery.
Anonymous Actors, Writers, Crew Members on Hollywood Strike
The following year, in 2022, I made $80,000 off acting. It was the first time I could have lived off that alone. I shot a small part in a prestige movie that is going to be an Oscar contender. I got paid $8,000 — a weekly scale. I guest-starred on two Dick Wolf procedurals and an Amazon Freevee show that has gotten me almost no residuals. And I do get residuals from the Netflix stuff. They start at 49 percent of your paycheck and then they depreciate.
In Chinatown, Hakka Cuisine Makes Mind-Blowing Chicken
You would be forgiven if you thought you were just eating chicken. At first glance, the Hakka Blossom Chicken at Hakka Cuisine looks like a flattened, deboned bird cut into rectangles with crackling brown skin on top, two wings flanking its sides, and a head as a souvenir. But bite into a piece, and suddenly you’re eating shrimp, bouncy and flecked with creamy cubes of taro. There’s an audible crust of fried mei fun — rice vermicelli — on the bottom.
The Best of NYC Eating in 2023 (So Far)
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. At Le Rock, order les sardines.
What Are L.A.’s Most New York Restaurants?
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. Capri Club is in California, but it may as well be Bushwick. Photo: Torre Catalano Every New Yorker has heard the siren call of L.A.: Think of the weather, the laid-back attitude, the produce, the tacos, the space, they say. I’ve indulged.
The Subversively Normie State of Drag Brunch in NYC
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. The Body Beautiful Brunch with Essa Moche at the Standard Grill. Photo: Hugo Yu One Sunday in January, some friends and I went to drag brunch at The Standard Grill below the High Line. Anthropological curiosity drove us — we’re all of homosexual, but not of drag brunch, experience.
Drew Barrymore Is Figuring It Out Live
profile Her radically intimate daytime show is as much therapy for her as it is for her guests. This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. Drew Barrymore is barreling barefoot down the hallway to make it to the studio on time. It’s a Wednesday morning in April, and this is the first of today’s two episode tapings for The Drew Barrymore Show.
Drew Barrymore Is Figuring It Out Live
A big swirling bucket of the latest rumors, celebrity news and Hollywood gossip. The premier celebrity gossip app. The only apps that gives you a comprehensive real time celeb news stream. Gossip Bucket aggregates and streams the latest gossip news and headlines from the top sources in one place.
Centurion New York Is a Restaurant Only For AmEx Black Cards
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. The Gallery dining room at Centurion New York on a Wednesday night. Illustration: Lauren Tamaki Our usual diner-at-large, E. Alex Jung, is away on assignment this week. Filling in is Matthew Schneier, a features writer at New York and the Cut. It was the celebrity plastic surgeon who clued me in.
Inside Centurion New York, the Mood Is Titan Casual
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. The Gallery dining room at Centurion New York on a Wednesday night. Illustration: Lauren Tamaki Our usual diner-at-large, E. Alex Jung, is away on assignment this week. Filling in is Matthew Schneier, a features writer at New York and the Cut. It was the celebrity plastic surgeon who clued me in.
The Necessity and Utility of a Home-Base Restaurant
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. Mahjong (and clams) at Leland Eating and Drinking House. Photo: Beth Sacca In this great game of dining in New York, Resy has become my professional nemesis. I set alerts; I get alerts. I despair; I am reduced.
New York’s Way-Too-Cute (But Not Too Sweet) Asian Pastries Original
This article originally appeared in The Year I Ate New York, a newsletter about eating through the city, one restaurant at a time. Sign up here. Pastries from Lysée, Lady Wong, and 99. Photo: Hugo Yu When I first came to New York, my mother and I went to Koryodang, a sharply lit French-ish Korean bakery right in the thick of Koreatown on 32nd Street. It was a sleeker, more modern, more New York version of the cafés we would go to in the then-nascent Korean pockets around Atlanta in the ’90s.
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