I didn't hear Deceptacon by Le Tigre when it was released in 1999, but I was at a friend's house while he was out, going through all his records, and played it by random. It shook me to the core and I think I played it 100 times in on repeat, dancing around, completely excited. I had never heard something so angry and feminine.
Among the bold choices in Luca Guadagnino's feverish film of William S Burroughs' novel are the late 20th-century pop and alternative soundtrack (Nirvana, Prince, New Order) for a 1950s story, and the casting of an unrecognisable, orc-like Manville in a trumped-up cameo as the shaman Dr Cotter, who was male in the original book.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has released its shortlist for the 2026 class, presenting us with the strangest potpourri of names in the organization's history. The Black Crowes, Jeff Buckley, Mariah Carey, Phil Collins, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, Billy Idol, INXS, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, New Edition, Oasis, P!nk, Sade, Shakira, Luther Vandross, and Wu-Tang Clan all made the cut.
When Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Tomas Cookman founded Nacional Records 20 years ago, the label immediately established itself as the defining voice of Latin alternative in the U.S. Cookman's inaugural release was the luminous, self-titled solo debut by Andrea Echeverri, lead singer of Colombia's pioneering Rock en Español act Aterciopelados. He followed it up with "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3," the much anticipated sophomore effort from Latintronica outfit Nortec Collective. (As it turns out, the band never recorded a Vol. 2.)
DaCosta's latest film, Hedda, is something more personal, a project she wrote years ago and couldn't shake. In it, she reimagines Henrik Ibsen's 1891 play, Hedda Gabler, recasting the main character as a queer, mixed-race Black woman and transporting the action to a 1950s English manor. The film tells a twisted story of jealousy and control as it follows Hedda (played by Tessa Thompson) over the course of one wild, unsettling night.
Arranged marriages generate real feelings. A human falls in love with a high lord of the fae. These are just a few of the plots readers can find in modern romance novels, which vary in tone, setting, and characters but are united by one key characteristic: a central love story that culminates in the all-important HEA (happily ever after, for the uninitiated). Everything leading up to that-the meet-cute, the first kiss, the third-act breakup-is left to the author.