New York Magazine Substack

Wasians! Betty Gilpin! Denée Benton! Julia Roberts and Marlon James! We salute them all. SOCIAL STUDIES A deep dive on the word, the meetup, the industry, and how the whole thing is riling us up. We’re living in a moment of peak Wasian prominence, but here’s why that’s a bad thing. Or a good thing? A weird thing. A eugenicist thing? A capitalism thing? An inevitable thing? A secret seventh thing? All this, and more, is taken on bravely by E. Alex Jung.

This holiday weekend is about self-care: Some of us find it on Facebook Marketplace, others at a Williamsburg music club. The president, of course, finds it in construction zones. ONLINE THINGS Summer’s ending. Live a little. Twitter’s acting like September’s going to be apocalyptic. Does the community know something we don’t? Becca Schuh reads the tea leaves. Time works in strange ways. Gen Z thinks they invented being fashionably late. Hunter Biden and Eric Adams offer consistency in the sea of change.

Today, we’ve got some homework for you: a new album to listen to, lots of old articles to read, and a reinvented classic dish to try. —Jason P. Frank POP GIRLIES Adéla’s new album is an antidote to this summer’s pop malaise. Photo: Simone Joyner/ Getty Images In a world where anybody can become famous through social media, why does it feel like the majority of the rising pop stars only got there through familial connections and wealth?

Hello! I’m Jason P. Frank, a writer at Vulture, and I would estimate today’s dispatch is 48.6 percent straight. At least we managed a Sondheim reference. AROUND TOWN One brave writer’s ode to Manhattan’s most mocked neighborhood.

Today, we consider the celebrity neighbors we would tolerate, though they all seem to be abandoning us plebes for terrible condos. Also, a show and movie you should have already watched. —Jackson McHenry REAL ESTATE And moved to a fancier, better-protected one. Illustration: Emma Erickson; Photo Courtesy of Compass I’ve always thought one of New York’s great little pleasures is getting to see celebrities around town enduring the same humiliations as the rest of us.

Hi, it’s me, Vulture critic Jackson McHenry, filling in for Emily with reports from youth culture. The kids, it turns out, are legitimately all right. TELEVISION There were worse things to watch. We’re still a week out from Labor Day, and it was damp for much of the weekend. What else was there to do during these dwindling days of August except watch Adults?

Today, warnings for legends, playa partiers, and television executives. It’s me, Zach, an advocate for fewer outdoor festivals and more consistent indoor entertainment. ONLINE THINGS Thanks for the laughs and the tears. The Twitter community was in a strange mood these last few days. But who can blame them? Becca Schuh assesses the damage and offers words of comfort. We have experienced a wild stretch of cultural whiplash. I fear what the weekend will bring.

Another day, another life to celebrate. Also, Adults season two is here at last! Plus a look at the financial reality of single motherhood. TELEVISION The second season is so good that there should be more of it. The sitcoms of old (like, a decade ago) had the luxury of 22-episode seasons. Adults makes the most of eight, but as Jackson McHenry writes: Not to be too cutely meta myself, but the precarity that surrounds the characters on Adults also informs the reality of the show itself.

Remembering Dolly Parton (and Tim Curry), interrogating Thomas King, and releasing the full bush. RIP She united ideological foes, wrote perfect songs, and was an exemplary human being. Photo: Richard Avedon. © 1983 The Richard Avedon Foundation Craig Jenkins wrote a moving and thoughtful tribute to Dolly Parton, which you should read in full.

On our national day of mourning for Dolly Parton, here is some fun, distracting ephemera. TELEVISION Now we’ll never find out whether what’s-her-name and what’s-his-face wound up together! Photo-Illustration: YouTube/Netflix; YouTube/Netflix; YouTube/CW Yesterday, Hulu announced that Not Suitable for Work, Mindy Kaling’s entry in the “comedy about 20-somethings trying to make it in the big city” competition, would not get a second season.