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Magazine

The 12.12.21 Issue — Great Performers

Highlights

  1. The Great Performers Issue

    The Best Actors of 2021

    Our annual celebration of the performances that stayed with us — including Kristen Stewart, Will Smith, Ruth Negga and Benedict Cumberbatch.

     By A.O. Scott

    CreditRuven Afanador for The New York Times
  2. The Great Performers Issue

    Will Smith Is Done Trying to Be Perfect

    “Strategizing about being the biggest movie star in the world — that is all completely over. ”

     By David Marchese

    Will Smith
    CreditRuven Afanador for The New York Times
  3. The Great Performers Issue

    Hollywood Still Matters. These Actors Showed Why.

    Even as theaters suffer, cinema has been thriving during the pandemic — thanks to the intimacy movies create between performer and audience.

     By A.O. Scott

    CreditPhoto illustration by Cristiana Couceiro
  4. The Great Performers Issue

    The Genius Behind the Weirdest Show on TV

    In the second season of “How To With John Wilson,” the documentary filmmaker shows off his penchant for mutating the mundane into the vivid and extraordinary.

     By Nitsuh Abebe

    CreditIllustration by Nicolás Romero Escalada

  1. Hollywood Loves a Monstrous Mommy. Can It Do Her Justice?

    Cinema is finally capturing, with uncanny precision and furious energy, more honest and complex versions of the mother.

     By Lydia Kiesling

    CreditIllustration by Katrien De Blauwer
    The Great Performers Issue

  2. Can I Skip Jury Duty Because of Covid Fears?

    The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on weighing health concerns against civic duty, what to do about workers who had sex on the job — and more.

     By Kwame Anthony Appiah

    CreditIllustration by Tomi Um
    The Ethicist

  3. I Can’t Give My Cat the Perfect Life. ‘TV for Cats’ Gives Her a Taste.

    Ideally, Daisy and I would live in a sprawling home with outdoor space. Instead, she is content to chirp at two-dimensional birds on YouTube.

     By Megan Reynolds

    CreditIllustration by Miki Kim
    Letter of Recommendation

  4. The Secret to This Glazed Holiday Ham? Root Beer.

    The sarsaparilla flavor lends the meat a woodsy mintiness, which sings when it’s paired with aromatics like bay leaves and shallots.

     By Eric Kim

    CreditLinda Xiao for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophie Leng.
    Eat

  5. On the Citizen App, Even the Happy Videos Can Be Unsettling

    However the “personal safety” app adapts its message, it’s still toying with how you feel about your own community.

     By Peter C. Baker

    CreditPhoto illustration by Dakarai Akil
    Screenland

  1. We’re Getting Close to ‘Universal’ Vaccines. It Hasn’t Been Easy.

    A new class of flu vaccines could eventually save millions of lives — and perhaps stop the next pandemic — if scientists can overcome the remaining obstacles.

     By Kim Tingley

    CreditIllustration by Álvaro Bernis
    Studies Show

  2. How to Break In Boots

    Scour them with sandpaper for traction. Wear thick socks or multiple pairs to stretch the leather slightly.

     By Jaime Lowe

    CreditIllustration by Radio
    Tip

  3. Poem: For Freckle-Faced Gerald

    This is the poem that turned me into a poet. I was 17 when I read it. I had been in prison for two years. 

     By Etheridge Knight and Reginald Dwayne Betts

    CreditIllustration by R.O. Blechman
    Poem

  4. Judge John Hodgman on the Secret Flip Off

    A married couple have different ways of showing love — and ire.

     By Judge John Hodgman

    CreditIllustration by Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy
    Judge John Hodgman

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