By Ian Crouch The New Yorker Halfway through the third quarter of the Super Bowl, after the Atlanta Falcons scored a touchdown to go ahead 28–3 over a dazed-looking New England Patriots team, it appeared that the entertainment value of the game had peaked at halftime, when Lady Gaga dove off the roof of Houston’s NRG […]

From DisneyParkHistory.com The Hall of Presidents is an Audio-Animatronic theater show featuring all 44 (soon to be 45) United States Presidents.  The exterior of the show building is a reduced size replica of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Independence Hall, where the founding fathers met to write the Constitution.   The numerals 1787, the year of the Constitutional Convention, […]

European Roots (Adapted from “Groundhog Day: 1886 to 1992” by Bill Anderson) Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is a popular tradition in the United States. It is also a legend that traverses centuries, its origins clouded in the mists of time with ethnic cultures and animals awakening on specific dates. Myths such as this tie our […]

By Jimmy Stamp SMITHSONIAN.COM   In a catalog assembled for the 2014 Venice Biennale to accompany an exhibition on architectural elements, the bathroom is referred to as “the architectural space in which bodies are replenished, inspected, and cultivated, and where one is left alone for private reflection – to develop and affirm identity.” I think that […]

By Mark Hughes Forbes contributor After weeks of rumors and speculation, Ben Affleck has confirmed he will not direct the planned upcoming superhero movie The Batman. The filmmaker says he still intends to reprise his starring role as Batman, a project for which he’s been working on a screenplay for the last several months. Affleck released the following statement […]

By Nathan McAlone Business Insider Ever since the first iPhone was released in 2007, the rise of the smartphone has changed the way we live. Smartphones have collapsed so many things we use every day into a single block made of metal and glass. They have changed our notion of what a phone should be. It’s no longer enough to […]

By: Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale LA Times Los Angeles has just reached new heights in over-the-top real estate opulence. The city now boasts the most expensive home for sale in the country: a newly built Bel-Air mega-mansion listed Wednesday at a quarter billion dollars. It has all the hallmarks of a Big Deal house: […]

By Ben Lovejoy 9to5mac.com We learned earlier this month that Apple would be temporarily relocating its iconic glass cube store on New York’s Fifth Avenue in order to carry out refurbishments. The temporary store is now open, and we’ve now be able to see what the interior looks like. Pingie has a set of photos showing the […]

By BROOKS BARNES LOS ANGELES — Oscar voters showered the neo-musical “La La Land” with 14 nominations on Tuesday, a tie with “Titanic” and “All About Eve” for the most in Academy Award history. But the academy also moved past two #OscarsSoWhite years by honoring six black actors — a record — and including diverse […]

By: Kate Andersen Brower Time When President Barack Obama was first introduced to the residence staff at the White House—the approximately 100 maids, butlers, chefs, florists and ushers who make it tick—he had a look of surprise on his face. Like most people, he never realized how many people it takes to handle the 55,000-sq.-ft. Executive Mansion. […]