Daniel Plainview wins everything — fortune, land, power — and ends up alone in a mansion with a bowling alley, utterly destroyed. Alissa Wilkinson argues There Will Be Blood doesn't just critique the American Dream; it follows it all the way to its logical, soul-destroying conclusion.
Where this was said
At 40:35 · chapter starts 36:53
The literary segment runs two tracks simultaneously. MJ Franklin, an editor at the Book Review, chooses Honorée Fanonne Jeffers' sprawling novel The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois for the way it weaves a contemporary girl's coming-of-age with her ancestors' lives on the land that became Georgia, demonstrating that American history is not a distant past but a living presence that shapes how people experience the present. Helen Shaw, chief theater critic, picks August Wilson's Century Cycle — ten plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century among Black families in Pittsburgh's Hill District — as a statement about what the African American experience was facing in the 20th century and what it was capable of repairing in the spirit. Both choices center Black American life as the essential American story.
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers' novel weaves a contemporary Black American girl's coming-of-age with the story of her ancestors on the land that would become Georgia and then America. MJ Franklin argues this convergence of timelines is the novel's deepest truth: American history is not the past, it is the present.
Helen Shaw nominated August Wilson's Century Cycle — 10 plays set in each decade of the 20th century — as the most American play for its comprehensive portrait of Black American life.
Ten plays. Ten decades of the 20th century. One loosely connected group of Black families in Pittsburgh's Hill District. Helen Shaw argues August Wilson's Century Cycle makes a statement no single play could: the totality of what Black America faced and what it was capable of repairing in the spirit.
Robby Hoffman isn't fearless — she's terrified all the time. The difference is she does it anyway, because not doing it feels worse than the fear itself.
John Mulaney texted Robby Hoffman out of nowhere saying he'd been a fan for a while and wanted to make a Netflix special with her. Robby called it 'shocking, horrifying, anxiety-inducing, surreal and thrilling' — and said yes.
Mulaney is buttoned-up, suit-wearing, classy. Robby is gritty, raw, and undefined. Together they made the collab nobody expected. Batman and Robin. Eminem and Dido.
Music had Pope Gregory forcing notation. Comedy has had 'magical thinking' — he's just got funny bones. But jokes work through discoverable, teachable mechanics. Writing down the rules doesn't kill the magic; it gives more people access to it.
Howard Ashman had one insight nobody else had: animated Disney films should be Broadway musicals. The third song of every great musical is the character sitting alone explaining what they want. That's 'Part of Your World.' That structure — combined with Alan Menken's compositions — generated Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, and turned Disney Animation into the most profitable creative engine in entertainment history.
The Lion King musical has been running for 30 years across Broadway, London's West End, and global touring companies. It has grossed over $11 billion in total revenue — more than Avatar, more than Avengers: Endgame, more than any album, more than any video game. It generates an average of $350 million in revenue every single year. Disney owns it outright.
The anonymous French artist Invader has hidden 1,500 pixelated mosaic artworks across Paris alone, with thousands more scattered across 80+ cities — affixed to the Eiffel Tower, the Hollywood sign, and even sent to the International Space Station. He might be even busier than Banksy.
The Flash Invaders app turns city streets into a treasure hunt, letting players scan Invader's hidden mosaics for points. Players have collectively logged over 47 million flashes. Unlike most mobile games that glue you to a screen, this one forces you to look up and engage with your surroundings.
New York draws thousands of young, talented performers every year chasing Broadway stardom — but the hard truth is that most of them never make it. Zelig Williams was one of the rare exceptions.
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