There’s a minor character that appears in Rachel Kushner’s The Flamethrowers, one of many artists the novel depicts. But the woman—Giddle, as she’s called—is nothing so recognizable as a sculptor or filmmaker. Rather, her art consists of taking a job as a waitress and becoming “a girl working in a diner, glancing out…

I’m a female in my late twenties. I broke up with a toxic ex about a year ago and I’ve been walking around (my house!) thinking I was over it. I never missed him and rarely thought about him. A brief backstory: In the final months of us living together, we started having more discussions about children and a making…

A little over a year ago, during the surreal pre-lockdown weeks where everyone was making end-of-the-world jokes and rigorously scrubbing their hands, fan-favorite comedians Jason Mantzoukas and Andy Daly joined host Scott Aukerman for what would become one of the last in-person CB!B! recording sessions. Now, exactly…

Hummingbird Salamander, it should be said straightaway, is a pulpy page-turner with as many twists, double-crosses, and mystery-box riddles as one of Dan Brown’s gimcrack potboilers. It’s not a fair comparison, of course, as Jeff VanderMeer is a terrific writer, while Brown struggles with any sentence above the…

In our monthly book club, we discuss whatever we happen to be reading and ask everyone in the comments to do the same. What Are You Reading This Month?

Audible is quickly building out its original scripted podcast slate, adding the high-concept workplace comedy Hit Job to its upcoming queue. This audio story is led by the hilarious duo of Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson, who get caught up in a bloody company-wide contest.

The recent release of Legendary’s Godzilla Vs. Kong sparked a debate about how much screen time humans should share over the titular monsters, if any. Done well, human segments can ground the destruction caused by the kaiju fights and say something about humanity. But often, you just get a bunch of characters you don’t…

I’m a 29-year-old straight male. I’ve been with my 25-year-old partner for six years. I love her and think that we are perfect for each other. We have all the things that make existing with someone wonderful. But about two years into our relationship I had a two-week-long affair while I was out of the country. I…

The entertainment industry feeds on the young, exploiting their naïveté and beauty and then abandoning them in a predatory environment that encourages self-destruction. River Phoenix was a victim of this system, a rising star with a troubled past and a drug habit that led to his early death of a cocaine and heroin…

HDTGM is the go-to podcast for going deep on mediocre movies. And what film is more arguably mediocre than the storied Snyder Cut? Hosts Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas (June Diane Raphael was absent this episode) are joined by Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims to discuss the polarizing behemoth that is Zac…

In the title story of I’m Waiting For You, the first of Korean science fiction writer Kim Bo-Young’s works to be translated into English, the unnamed protagonist says he felt he was prepared for solo space travel because he’d once spent a few months without leaving his home. After a year in which so much of the world…

In 2004, 17-year-old Steve Ibsen took photos of his cat Kayla and realized that if he animated the images, he could make it look like his cat was dancing. In one take, he recorded a song to accompany the animation: “Cat! / I’m a kitty cat! / And I dance, dance, dance / And I dance, dance, dance.”

Is it the maple mushrooms talking, or was that an especially trippy episode of Riverdale? Though it feels like season five’s post-time jump plots were just heating up, the show sends us off on hiatus with “The Pincushion Man,” one hell of a mid-season finale with surprises to spare. On this week’s Dial M For Maple, we…

I’ve been with my boyfriend for 2.5 years and we have a great relationship—or so I thought. Last week, I snooped on my boyfriend’s browser history and I don’t know what to do with what I found. I’m a longtime reader and Savage Lovecast listener SO I KNOW WHAT I DID WAS WRONG. I believe my actions were driven by 1.…

Along with providing an inviting space for comedians, musicians, authors, and others to discuss how the organ that fuels their creativity can also turn against them, John Moe’s The Hilarious World Of Depression made it plain that there is no destination when it comes to mental health. And the end of that show and…

The first thing one notices after opening Gabriela Garcia’s debut novel, Of Women And Salt, is a small family tree. Two, actually, displayed side by side, but not linked. One is more of a truncated stub, composed of only two members. The other is more expansive but by no means sprawling, unlike the kind you may find…

Every month, a deluge of new books comes flooding out from big publishers, indie houses, and self-publishing platforms. So every month, The A.V. Club narrows down the endless options to five of the books we’re most excited about.

We explore some of Wikipedia’s oddities in our 6,277,340-week series, Wiki Wormhole.

Between a long-awaited emotional arc for Kevin Keller and a surprise “Stupid Love” performance by Cheryl Blossom and the River Vixens, it seems this episode of Riverdale was hoping to give they gays everything they want. Unfortunately, “Destroyer” misses the mark—it may have some important things to say about trauma,…

Marsupilami is a creation of the Belgian comics master André Franquin. Originating in the classic Franco-Belgian comic Spirou And Fantasio, the character left when Franquin retired from the series, but Marsupilami has outshone it, receiving his own comics and a Disney cartoon. Still, Marsupilami will likely be forever…