Culture
The Best Backpacks, Tablets & Other Back-to-School Supplies for Students on a Budget
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Class is almost back in session! As students prepare to head back to school in the coming weeks, Walmart, Target and other retailers have been slashing prices on big-ticket and low-cost items to combat sales slumps brought on by inflation. To help you get started school shopping, we put together a list of affordable items and back-to-school deals for students (and parents) on a budget. Below, find a roundup of backpacks, tablets, blue light glasses, laptops, headphones and other back-to-school supplies. Amazon Shrradoo Extra Large 52L Travel Laptop $39.99 $ ...
Visiting Auschwitz from Kraków: a sobering journey
Kia reflects on a visit to Auschwitz from Kraków and defends what some dismiss as problematic tourism The famous gates of Auschwitz are startling, not because they’re sinister or imposing but the very opposite. Usually depicted in black and white, these gates have featured in myriad Holocaust films and documentaries. Today, however, they’re not in menacing monochrome or veiled in evocative fog. Rather, they’re bathed in sunlight with a blazing blue sky behind. Inside, there is a symmetry of pretty trees. By the time I arrive at the neat brick buildings, I am thoroughly disoriented. This is not the picture I expected. Instead of squat grey concrete, this could pass for a retirement home – a fact I note uneasily. Atlas & Boots Trees flank the red brick buildings of Auschwitz The te...
Oxford High Student Gives Performance to ‘Remember’ on ‘AGT’: Watch
Michigan has a generations-long reputation for pumping out automobiles, winning sports teams, and top-notch artists. Ava Swiss is hopeful to be remembered as one of the state’s finest singers. The 18-year-old from Oxford, about 30 miles north of Detroit, gave it her best when she stopped by the America’s Got Talent. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news For her audition, the teen chose something for everyone to remember her by – a cover of Lauren Daigle’s “Remember.” And a horror story. The song has a deeper meaning for the youngster. Last November, Swiss and her brother were among the student body when a mass shooting occurred at Oxford High School. Four students lost their lives that day, seven others were injured. “It’s been hard,” she exp...
‘AGT’ Contestant Debbii Dawson Impresses With ‘Own Version’ of ‘Dancing Queen’
ABBA is everywhere right now. With a virtual residency in London, and a best-selling new album release in 2021, Voyage, the Swedish pop superstars made a mighty comeback, without ever leaving us. On Tuesday night (July 26), Debbii Dawson brought a touch of ABBA-mania to America’s Got Dancing, with a reimagined cover of the classic “Dancing Queen”. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Dawson can trace-back music deep into her Indian roots, and it was the piano that brother her mom and dad together. “The dream is for this not to be a dream,” she explained, “and for this to be my reality.” Then, the dream run. Dawson rearranged the song as a folk number, accompanied with arpeggios on the acoustic guitar. “Too bad your mom and dad weren’t here,”...
Swifties Can’t Believe ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestants Missed This Taylor Swift Clue
What is “stumped”? One of Taylor Swift‘s songs was recently a clue on game show Jeopardy!, but it turns out the hit wasn’t one any of the three contestants were familiar with, stunning fans of the pop superstar. On the Wednesday (July 20) episode of the long-running game show, one of the players selected the $400 clue from the category “Title That Completes the Rhyme.” Ken Jennings, who hosted the episode, continued by reading the lyrics without giving away the tune: “And I’m just like oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh/ You need to just stop/ Like can you just not step on my gown?” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news After five seconds of silence, the timer went off without a single one of the three contestants buzzing in. “I really wish it was...
‘Better Call Saul’s Kim Wexler and the Sexism of the Anti-Heroine
“I learned my lesson. I’m never going to write for less-than-perfect women ever again; less-than-likable [women].” That’s a quote from Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan way back in 2014 during that summer’s Television Critics Association press tour. He said it before the public had seen as much of a second of the then-much-anticipated prequel to his Emmy-winning drama about a high school chemistry teacher (Bryan Cranston’s Walter White) who creates the finest methamphetamine Albuquerque, New Mexico, has ever seen. Said in his trademark folksy “Aw shucks, y’all” Virginia twang, Gilligan’s comment was meant to be read as sarcasm. It was a rebuttal against a misogynistic subset of Breaking Bad fans who had decided that the true villain of that marvelous show ...
Here’s How to Get Jennifer Lopez’s Wedding Dress Look for Less
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Bennifer officially tied the knot over the weekend, as Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck headed to Las Vegas on Saturday (July 16) for a small chapel ceremony amongst four other couples. For one of her two gorgeous wedding looks, JLo wore a white dress “from an old movie,” which she showed off in a pre-ceremony video posted to Instagram by her hairstylist Chris Appleton. “I’ve had this dress for so many years and I’ve just been saving it, saving it, saving it,” she says in the video. “And now I’m wearing it on my wedding day.” Explore Explore See latest vi...
Yeezy Gap Products Will Be Available to Shop at Times Square Flagship
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Fans of Kanye West‘s Yeezy line of clothing can finally get their hands on the rapper’s collaboration with Gap — in person. Yeezy revealed this week that beginning on Wednesday (July 21) at 10 a.m. ET, Yeezy Gap products will be available for purchase in physical retail at Gap’s Times Square flagship, and more stores in the future. Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga — a multi-piece collection marking the first limited release between the rapper and Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia — will also be on sale in Times Square. The first part of the colle...
Jason Graves’ Moss: Book II Soundtrack Gets a New Release Alongside Quest 2 Launch
The last time SPIN spoke with composer Jason Graves, his work on The Dark Pictures Anthology’s third entry, House of Ashes, had just been released as the score to many gamers’ spooky Halloween title. But this time around, the multi-genre artist (who’s also scored everything from the Dead Space games to 2013’s Tomb Raider to Limited Run Games’ physical retail store) is back with a significantly less terrifying title. Moss: Book II, Polyarc’s sequel to 2018’s standout Moss, came to PlayStation VR headsets everywhere earlier this year, providing players with the next chapter of mouse protagonist Quill’s heroic journey. A few months after the game’s initial release, both the title and Graves’ soundtrack are getting new releases. With Moss: Book II coming to the Meta Quest 2 on July 21, the sco...
BLACKPINK’s Jennie Says She’s ‘Very Excited’ to Appear in The Weeknd’s ‘The Idol’
Blinks may have been thrilled when they caught a few blink-and-you’ll miss it glimpses of BLACKPINK’s Jennie when the first trailer for The Weeknd’s upcoming series The Idol arrived on Monday (July 18). And it turns out the singer is just as hyped. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I found the script very intriguing, so I wanted to be part of the series,” the K-pop star said in a statement to Korean news agency Yonhap. “I feel very excited. I’ll work hard, so please watch me with affection.” Jennie’s casting was not initially announced by HBO, but the premium cable channel confirmed it on social media, tweeting on Monday, “Jennie Kim has been cast in #THEIDOL.” The series’ page on IMDb also indicates that the singer will appear in six episodes. ...
Chapel Hart Thrills With Original ‘Jolene’ Update on ‘AGT’: Watch
For New Orleans trio Chapel Hart, home is where the Hart is. The family act is raised in Mississippi, specifically in the small community of Harts Chapel, which takes its named after the sprawling Hart family. Chapel Hart, comprising sisters Danica and Devynn Hart and cousin Trea Swindle, stopped by America’s Got Talent Tuesday night (July 19) for an audition that was glittering with the golden stuff. The singers are country fans, their idol Dolly Parton. So given the chance to blow back the hair of AGT’s judges and millions of viewers back home, the trio hit an original, an ode to Dolly. Their song, “You Can Have Him Jolene,” is chapter two of Parton’s classic plea from 1974, reenergized and updated for 2022. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and...
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ All-Star Yvie Oddly Breaks Down Her ‘Edgelord-y’ Approach to Runway Couture
When Yvie Oddly took home the crown on season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the Denver-based drag star crowned herself with the title “Queen of the Queerdos” — thee portmanteaux she offered to her fans, who delight in existing as the odd ones out. It’s easy to see why Yvie made such a formidable connection with a younger, more rebellious audience — her performances during her original season oozed with an original, obstreperous spirit that quickly came to define her drag persona. On one runway, she could serve up pure glamor, dripping in crystals, confidence and a third eye — while on the next, she could be a giant pink jellyfish. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news So, when Oddly got a chance to return and take home yet another crown for ...
