In The Buzz Cut, we bring you a round-up of all the weird, controversial, and wonderful stories we’ve been reading all week.
Delta Airlines has censored out lesbian sex scenes and talk of female sexuality in coming-of-age drama Booksmart, directed by Olivia Wilde. The actor-turned-director took to the stage at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival to slam the in-flight censorship, alleging it’s a sexist, unfair edit made to her otherwise critically acclaimed film.
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Commenting on youth activism at the Obama Foundation summit, former U.S. President Barack Obama came out full guns blazing against call-out culture: he advised young people to realize that good people with abilities to bring change in the world have flaws and that being woke by casting stones on the Internet is not activism.
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When Kelly Bachman, a New York City-based comedienne, walked into a bar to perform stand-up, she didn’t know her life was about to blow up. She saw accused sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein there, which led her to call out him and the show’s organizers for letting him join the audience. She was boo-ed and told to shut up by the audience. Here’s what she has to say.
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Have we, with the Internet, opened up a whole trove of information going back eons, available for analysis and scrutiny? Or have we reduced that trove to a bunch of interchangeable references that we sub in when we want to sound smart and worldly-wise? This piece is for those who think comparing everything to Harry Potter is stupid.
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After Graydon Carter, the longtime editor of Vanity Fair, left Condé Nast, and the publisher’s benefactor, Si Newhouse, died at 89, what is left of the media conglomerate upon whom the revered Anna Wintour depends for her precious Vogue?
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Tell someone you’re vegan, and the stereotypes will abound: vegans can’t stop talking about the fact that they’re vegan; vegans want to save the world one vegetable at a time. The denigration of vegans is ubiquitous and biting. But — why do we hate vegans so much?
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As we head toward a slow climate apocalypse, the possibility of living a healthy life on Earth gets more and more out of reach. Scientists have found a way to save us, however: extraterrestrial babies. Hold up — in the very, very early stages of a study, they are researching the effect of microgravity on frozen human sperm. What happens when we need to move the human reproductive apparatus outside of the Earth’s atmosphere?
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Who is Madi Sharma — the international female entrepreneur who seems to be a huge fan of Mahatma Gandhi, owner of several business enterprises, and in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi? In the valley of Kashmir, where the Indian government has allowed nobody — not even Indian lawmakers — an NGO run by Sharma was allowed to bring 22 members of the European Parliament on an unofficial/official visit. What is going on?
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In the era of cancel culture and celebrities not owning up to their missteps, one star, with a history of engaging in sexually charged interactions in the workplace and not paying attention to the skills of female staffers, stands out for his seemingly authentic acknowledgment and promise to do better — David Letterman. It just took 10 years to know it.
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The power lunch — glorified in the movies of the latter part of the 20th century showing Manhattan bigwigs cutting world-changing deals in diners, delis and fancy restaurants — has gone the way of the flip phone, a New York Post article claims. Is it the millennials who killed the power lunch, or the workplaces that don’t care if they eat?
