The United States is celebrating 250 years of independence from Europe, which allows us to appreciate such things as not dying a death that could be easily prevented by having access to air conditioning. Approaching the beginning of July, France has already seen more than 1,000 excess deaths from heat as a heat wave sweeps […]

In the span of just 120 hours, from June 29 to July 3, we witnessed a cultural occurrence so unprecedented it was almost uncanny: all of the planets in the sports universe aligned. Four-time World Cup-winner Germany lost to Paraguay (Paraguay!). The Netherlands, so often the nearly men of international soccer, fell to Morocco, and […]

How one feels about Apple TV’s new 10-part Cape Fear adaptation will depend largely on whether one buys Javier Bardem’s well-worn tough-guy routine. In 2012’s James Bond movie, Skyfall, the Spaniard played an ex-MI6 agent damaged in body and soul, but he hid his character’s depravity behind a layer of icy politeness. Even the 57-year-old’s […]