Arts & Entertainment

Johnny Depp arrives at the premiere of "Dark Shadows" in Los Angeles, May 7, 2012.

Are Hollywood Men Trying to Gross Us Out?

You know there's a problem when your average Oscar nominee and Gimli from Middle-earth are basically interchangeable

Andrew Rotherham

Bully Is Good, but Knee-Jerk Responses to Bullying Are Not

Bully

Some schools have made eye-rolling a punishable offense. But if everything is considered bullying, then nothing is

mary pols

Why I'm NOT Taking My 8-Year Old To The Hunger Games

Murray Close / Lionsgate

Kids shouldn’t go unless they’re mature enough and have the skills to read the books first.

christopher_ferguson_silo

Is The Hunger Games Too Dark for Kids?

Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen in 'The Hunger Games'

Parents fear exposing their kids to violent entertainment, but I’m taking my 8-year old to see The Hunger Games. Here’s why

jeffalexander

Hollywood’s New Handle on Gay Rumors

Actors George Clooney and Chris Colfer speak onstage during the one-night reading of "8" at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre on March 3, 2012 in Los Angeles

A slew of stars are turning the tables on speculation about their sexual orientation to destigmatize homosexuality

The New Black Irony

Hank Willis Thomas

Black irony is about people using blackness to comment and critique and reconfigure. It’s also about the relationship many blacks have with our past

10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life

Jamie Chung for TIME

Privacy in public, the religion of no religion and other ideas that are changing the way we live now

jeffalexander

When Fans Attack: The Perils of an Internet-Enabled Audience

Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images

Pop culture consumers may be devoted, but all that adulation can turn to outrage with the slightest of provocations

Eric Liu

Why China’s Rise Is Great for America

ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images

How America can turn an economic rivalry based on fear into a race to the top

jeffalexander

The Latest TV Trend: Autism

Brian Bowen Smith / FOX

It’s great that diversity is extending to the neurological, but there’s a danger in portraying those on the spectrum as inherently miraculous

Doug Glanville

What Whitney Houston Meant to Professional Sports

George Rose / Getty Images

Everyone with a goal could rally behind her voice, fans and players alike

doyle

Why You Keep Seeing the Same Movie Over and Over Again

Kimberley French / 20th Century Fox

There is no end to the lengths Hollywood will go to make a major theatrical release that can be summed up in a poster

Toure

After Whitney Houston, Musicians Say: I’m Afraid

Phil McCarten / Reuters

Why the music industry is still plagued by early deaths and fearing strokes more than bullets

jeffalexander

Can the Kindle Save Anna Karenina?

Richard Newstead / Getty Images

Jonathan Franzen’s e-book anxiety seems misplaced, considering that e-readers are keeping the classics alive

Why ‘I Hate Religion, But I Love Jesus’ Is So Popular

Why I Hate Religion But Love jesus

We are drawn to stories — and are more likely to remember them — when they rhyme. Next up: The Scarlet Letter as a rap