The Year in Culture (So Far)

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( The Year in Culture (So Far): July is here, which means we’re halfway through 2024. Need a cultural catch-up? Here’s a digest of our recent coverage and criticism. The Action Edition Illustration: Kyle Hilton ➽ Over a century after the first onscreen fight, Hollywood owes more to action cinema than ever before. [Our first digital issue, “The Action Edition,” tabulated the debt.]( [read the action edition]( hacking stardom [How to Become a Celebrity in 2024]( Illustration: Pedro Nekoi For a while, it was conventional wisdom: Hollywood had lost the ability to make new movie stars. The cultural machinery that once turned actors into icons was broken and seemingly unfixable. Studios had given up on the medium-budget character-driven films that produced the A-listers of previous generations. Instead, they bet the farm on sequels, superheroes, and other franchise IP, which were easier to market but stifling to the humans wearing the unitards. Marvel movies grossed billions at the box office but couldn’t make audiences care about Chris Hemsworth or Tom Holland when they weren’t playing Avengers. Performers like Saoirse Ronan and Lucas Hedges impressed in smaller films but kept the public at arm’s length. Meanwhile, the entire concept of stardom was being cheapened by nobodies from TikTok and reality TV. [read more]( babs appétit [Everything Barbra Streisand Eats in Her 970-Page Memoir]( From peas with sugar to burgers with Brando to guggle-muggle. Illustration: by Kaitlin Brito “I never forget the people who feed me,” [Barbra Streisand]( writes in [My Name Is Barbra](, her 3-pound, 3-ounce memoir, in which, it is clear, she never forgets anything. Every lens, shot, triumph, gripe, and grudge is preserved for posterity and so, we have learned, is every snack. Though Streisand’s 970-page tome more than covers [her greatest hits]( — Funny Girl and Yentl, her 50 studio albums, her strained relationship with her mother, and how much she wanted to fuck Marlon Brando (but then declined to do so when presented with several opportunities) — she spills more ink on the various food choices she made over the course of her 50-plus-year career than on absolutely anything else. Food informs her life, her art (Barbra and Fanny Brice, her character in Funny Girl, “both had Jewish mothers who were concerned about food and marrying us off … not necessarily in that order”), and her much-examined psychology. As she explains, “I eat when I’m nervous. (Well, I also eat when I’m not nervous.)” [read more]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Here, Take Some More Culture … [How Taylor Swift Won Back the Public The reputation era was the last time the pop star let someone else define her. Here’s how she rebuilt her image.]( [Josh Gates Is Adventure Television How the Expedition Unknown host became every dad’s favorite reality-TV star.]( [18 Jokes That Would Get Jerry Seinfeld Canceled Today Comedians in cars getting canceled.]( [The Case for the Spectacle Cry If the end of Speed Racer makes you well up … well, you’re not alone.]( [The Sopranos Swipe Thawing the mystery behind the series’ most perplexing freeze-frame moment.]( [What’s So Funny About Greta Thunberg? Comedians across the political spectrum can’t stop doing jokes about the Earth-minded Swede.]( [Andy Daly Mines Art From Hack-Comedy Criticism His 2006 Comedy Death-Ray set throws a giant middle finger to everything alt-comedy finds unacceptable.]( [You Probably Shouldn’t Eat All of This House of the Dragon Food But you can. And I did!]( [The 50 Greatest Awards-Show Speeches of the Last 55 Years The best acceptance moments can make or break careers, cement fandoms, and spark blind items.]( [Tig Notaro on Her Favorite and Most Expensive Jokes “When I would try and stick it into a regular set, it didn’t do well. It just needed me to have cancer.”]( [June Squibb Made It She yelled at Woody Allen in her 60s, earned an Oscar nod in her 80s, and at 94, has her first starring role.]( [Matt and Bowen Enter the Honesty Zone Eight years into Las Culturistas, its hosts are recalibrating how open they want to be.]( [Presumed Innocent Recap: It’s Tommy Time We get to see Barbara and Tommy’s obsessions outside of the case, and it doesn’t bode well for Rusty.]( By Rafaela Bassili The Best of 2024 (So Far) 1. [The Best Books of 2024 (So Far) A sizzling, propulsive new novel from Miranda July, the introspective follow-up to There There, and a debut novel with a killer hook.]( 2. [The Best Movies of 2024 (So Far) A sprawling western, a thrilling prequel, and a nonagenarian who finally gets a starring role worthy of her talents.]( 3. [The Best Albums of 2024 (So Far) This year’s most notable releases are investigating deep questions and framing art as a balm for multiplying worries.]( 4. [The Best Podcasts of 2024 (So Far) An ode to animals, new tricks from podcast veterans, and a brand-new season of Serial.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( 5. [The Best TV Shows of 2024 (So Far) Couples (and a throuple) working through their issues, vampires with a blood-soaked panache, and a comedian we’d follow anywhere.]( 6. [The Best Anime Series of 2024 (So Far) Wars for succession, superhero blockbusters, and a man-on-robot romance for the ages.]( 7. [The Best Songs of 2024 (So Far) A juicy diss track, a genre-mashing magic trick, and Billie Eilish’s coolest performance yet.]( 8. [The Best Video Games of 2024 (So Far) A dragon-slaying epic, puzzles that might infiltrate your dreams, and a beautifully nuanced character study that’s also a hell-raising adventure.]( A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race, for subscribers only. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved