The Ringer

Was Amazon’s HQ2 search a real contest, or a foregone decision rooted in a polarized economic system that funnels wealth toward a few major cities?

Twenty-five years ago, Nirvana turned down their amps and played the most memorable, original, and tender performance of their career. Here’s how history was made.

“How two first-time screenwriters, a guy from Montana, and a pair of up-and-coming movie stars made the greatest poker movie ever.”

Digitization has profoundly altered the way magazines sell and get produced, yet traditional print covers still have a strong cultural and economic impact. Cover designs now have to strike a delicate balance between satisfying loyal subscribers and attracting new digital readers who engage on social media.

The hook of Steven Hyden’s feature on Korn’s seminal 1998 album Follow the Leader (of which I owned a copy, even though I listened to maybe just three songs, including ‘Freak on Leash’) is that the quartet, helmed by Jonathan Davis, are the last true rock-and-rollers: Mounds of cocaine, sex in the recording booth, and millions spent honing and perfecting sound quality. But what makes this article utterly fascinating is the examination of nu metal’s stupefying rise, and how the genre subsumed pop music in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a rejoinder to the oleaginous tunes that dominated the top 40 charts.

By diluting its Japanese character and turning food into theater, this millionaire chef introduced Japanese cuisine to American diners neither familiar with or open to it. He was both a culinary pioneer and a brilliant opportunist.

What’s the major difference between renting a movie at Blockbuster and streaming it on Netflix? As Justin Heckert reports for The Ringer, as the last Blockbuster video stores close, the people of Alaska won’t just miss the blissful comfort and simplicity of family movie night. They’ll miss the human interaction that can be the best part of visiting the video store in person: the colorful people, the jokes, the laughs, and the delightful camaraderie of discovering a shared favorite film at the checkout counter.

Michael MacCambridge—author of 1997’s The Franchise, a classic in media reporting—deep-dives what to make of Sports Illustrated following Meredith’s acquisition of Time Inc, and how (and even whether) the once-essential magazine can continue to survive in a continuously evolving media landscape

Whether ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski is dropping #wojbombs, or Adam Schefter is piling NFL scoop after scoop into his Twitter timeline, there are certain reporters who seem to always be the first to know who signed where and for how much money. That is, until Sports Spectrum, a burgeoning Christian website, began to beat the ESPNs and other mainstream outlets at a game they’ve long since perfected. How? By allowing athletes to express their faith and religious beliefs.

Bryan Curtis profiles Jamele Hill, the ESPN Sportscenter host under fire on Twitter, and from the White House, for calling President Donald Trump a white supremacist.