In the culture of cannabis, April 20 is a high holiday when those who partake light up in enjoyment and in protest of prohibition. Although the origins of “4/20” are debated — according to popular lore, a group of California high school students in the 1970s met after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke weed […]
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Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Arrives
Taylor Swift was already the most ubiquitous pop star in the galaxy, her presence dominating the music charts, the concert calendar, the Super Bowl, the Grammys. Then it came time for her to promote a new album. In the days leading up to the release of “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, Swift became all […]
Read MoreTaylor Swift Sells a Rainbow of Vinyl Albums. Fans Keep Buying Them.
When Taylor Swift released nine vinyl editions of her album “Folklore” in 2020, Tylor Hammers, a fan in Florida, took notice. But it wasn’t until “Midnights” two years later that he became a true collector, scouring the internet and retail shops for every variation of her albums he could find — spending about $1,000 in […]
Read MoreThat Giant College ‘Sticker’ Price Isn’t What Most Students Pay
Families with college-bound students may well have shuddered when they heard that the official, full cost of a year at some four-year private schools will soon hit six figures. But outrage over mushrooming college “sticker” prices clouds a reality that some families may not fully understand: Few students pay the full price. That’s because colleges […]
Read MoreHow Hertz Turned O.J. Simpson Into the ‘Superstar in Rent‐a‐Car’
Executives at the rental car company Hertz knew what they wanted to project to potential business travelers in the 1970s: speed, reliability and efficiency. They quickly realized that one man radiated all of those qualities. So they made the football player O.J. Simpson, who died on Wednesday at the age of 76, the first Black […]
Read MoreHow Hertz Turned O.J. Simpson Into the ‘Superstar in Rent‐a‐Car’
Executives at the rental car company Hertz knew what they wanted to project to potential business travelers in the 1970s: speed, reliability and efficiency. They quickly realized that one man radiated all of those qualities. So they made the football player O.J. Simpson, who died on Wednesday at the age of 76, the first Black […]
Read MoreHow Ozempic Turned a 1974 Hit Into an Inescapable Jingle
In February 2023, David Paton, guitar case in hand, strode across the most famous pedestrian walkway in rock history and into London’s Abbey Road Studios. Paton was no stranger to the rooms where the Beatles changed the course of popular music: His 1970s pop-rock band Pilot recorded two albums there. In his second life, as […]
Read MoreTikTok Spends Millions on Ad Blitz as Congress Considers Banning the App
In a TV commercial, Sister Monica Clare, a nun in northern New Jersey, walks through a church that’s bathed in sunlight and sits in a pew, crossing herself. Her message: TikTok is a force for good. “Because of TikTok, I’ve created a community where people can feel safe asking questions about spirituality,” she says in […]
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