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February 8, 2025
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No. 291
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In This Week’s Issue
COURTING DISASTER

Despite his high-profile career arguing before the Supreme Court, Tom Goldstein was able to keep his poker addiction out of the public eye—until a recent federal investigation revealed his life to be more Uncut Gems than Law & Order …

HOLLYWOOD BLOODBATH

What began as online buzz about Blake Lively failing to pose with Justin Baldoni at a movie premiere has erupted into one of the ugliest scandals in Hollywood—and it just won’t stop …

THE POWER BROKER

Normal American politicians typically admire Lincoln, or F.D.R., or Reagan. Not Trump, who instead holds Meade Esposito—an old-time machine boss who ran the Brooklyn Democratic Party for 15 years—in the highest regard …

STATE OF UNDRESS

Before Trump, it was still possible for some to position naked dressing as a form of female empowerment. Now that illusion has crumbled, “Emperor’s New Clothes”–style, says Nancy Jo Sales …

FAR FROM THE MADDEN CROWD

It’s no coincidence that tomorrow’s Super Bowl kicks off at an arena owned by a gambling company—the worlds of betting and pro sports have never been more intertwined …

GEN Z AND THE SINGLE GIRL

With a young love interest in the mix in the latest Bridget Jones movie, we imagine what a twentysomething Bridget would be like today …

TIME IS MONEY

In the offices of Google, TikTok, and Meta—and on the wrist of Mark Zuckerberg—it’s clear that Silicon Valley’s tech tycoons have found a way to spend their billions: on luxury watches …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

The new Michael Jackson biopic is rife with controversy … A curtain call for London’s beloved Prince Charles Cinema? … a new book offers an encyclopedic look at apocalyptic media … an ode to Flaco, the eagle owl who charmed New York … this month’s best mysteries … Who was this week’s biggest Attention Whore?

But First …
Issue No. 291

The View from Here Trump’s model of political leadership? A cigar-chomping, baseball-bat-swinging, mobbed-up Brooklyn boss

By John Ganz
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Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Washington Confidential

Tommy Supreme and the Blitz Tom Goldstein was a star in arguing cases before the Supreme Court. He was also one of the world’s highest-rolling—and most reckless—poker players. Then his worlds collided

By George Pendle
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Scandal

It Never Ends with Them As their frenzied mudslinging intensifies, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni seem to share a single goal: mutually assured destruction

By Stuart Heritage
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
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Modern Times

The Naked Truth In 2003, my novel about a woman who attends an awards show naked was dismissed as too far-fetched. A second Trump administration replaced fiction with fact—and laid bare American misogyny

By Nancy Jo Sales
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Air Supply

Valentine’s Day

Love is the best. This Valentine’s Day, give a little or get a little from AIR SUPPLY’s guide to tokens of affection. Perfumehead fragrance, Hermès lipstick, and Via Carota bourbon will have your nearest and dearest feeling loved-up
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Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images (Kitt)
Guest Edit

Geoffrey Zakarian’s Favorite Things The classically trained American chef has headed up kitchens around the world, appeared as a judge and contestant on the Food Network’s Iron Chef franchise, and has a line of kitchen products for the home cook. Here, he shares his must-haves

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Then and Now

Bridget Jones’s Substack As the frazzled heroine returns to the cinema, we couldn’t help but wonder: How would Bridget Jones navigate Gen Z’s New York City?

By Carolina de Armas and Victoria Herman
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The Watchman

Tech Tock The billionaires of Silicon Valley are splurging on high-end timepieces—while their employees are forming in-company watch-collecting groups

By Nicholas Foulkes
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T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn’t like your accent, Donald Trump doesn’t like your color, and Russell Brand doesn’t like your sexual-abuse allegations

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Sports’ Big Bet

Against All Odds From ESPN and the Athletic to Bill Simmons and Dave Portnoy, sports media is fueling the online-gambling boom—and becoming utterly reliant upon it

By Jack Sullivan
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Small Talk

Musketeens The owner of X has his own cadre of bureaucracy busters

By Andy Borowitz
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Best
Sparkle Pomellato Some might consider Valentine’s Day to be a skippable holiday, but we’ll take any excuse to buy jewelry. Especially a ring… LISTEN The Age of Anxiety Hannah Rodgers, an indie artist more commonly known by her stage name, Pixx, created an eclectic mix of sounds in her 2017… WEAR Zegna Does the perfect jacket even exist? Zegna’s Il Conte style comes very close. Inspired by a favorite piece once worn by founder… BLAZE Charlie Fox Dispensary Charlie Fox’s flagship dispensary in Midtown offers a unique, elevated cannabis experience, anchored by… READ Rabbi Burns When Aben Kandel, a Romanian-American novelist and prolific screenwriter of low-budget horror films, published the novel… STRUT Loewe Loewe’s signature sneaker is back, and we can’t hit Add to Cart fast enough. First introduced in 2019, the new Ballet Runner 2.0… Sparkle Pomellato Some might consider Valentine’s Day to be a skippable holiday, but we’ll take any excuse to buy jewelry. Especially a ring… LISTEN The Age of Anxiety Hannah Rodgers, an indie artist more commonly known by her stage name, Pixx, created an eclectic mix of sounds in her 2017… WEAR Zegna Does the perfect jacket even exist? Zegna’s Il Conte style comes very close. Inspired by a favorite piece once worn by founder… BLAZE Charlie Fox Dispensary Charlie Fox’s flagship dispensary in Midtown offers a unique, elevated cannabis experience, anchored by… READ Rabbi Burns When Aben Kandel, a Romanian-American novelist and prolific screenwriter of low-budget horror films, published the novel… STRUT Loewe Loewe’s signature sneaker is back, and we can’t hit Add to Cart fast enough. First introduced in 2019, the new Ballet Runner 2.0…
Bringing Down the House

The Last Picture Show London’s Prince Charles Cinema, an independent movie theater beloved by Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson, is under threat of closure

By Stuart Heritage
Read On
Hollywood

Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough Michael Jackson’s legacy has been milked by his lawyer for more than a decade—and it continues to be, with a controversial new biopic in the works

By Ed Potton
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The Theater

The Ghost in the Machine A new play about a fallen tech founder battling his board explores our A.I. anxieties

By Sam Venis
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Small Talk
Film and Television

Everyone’s Mad About Leo Woodall Bridget Jones isn’t alone—Gen X to Gen Z audiences are swooning over Renée Zellweger’s hunky British co-star, who’s rumored to be the next James Bond

By Hilary Rose
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Books
George Pendle On

Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World

by Dorian Lynskey
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Inside Story

Three Hoots for Flaco Retracing the flight path of the Eurasian eagle owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo and became a viral sensation in New York City

By David Gessner
Read On
Open Book

Portrait of a Lady A new book collects portraits from the personal collection of Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, the supermodel and wife of Irving Penn, with works by Richard Avedon, Man Ray, and George Hoyningen-Huene

10
Clockwise from top left: Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn on the cover of Vogue, September 1, 1940, photographed by Horst P. Horst; Vogue, June 1, 1940, by Horst; Harper’s Bazaar, March 1945, by Louise Dahl-Wolfe; Vogue, August 1, 1951, by Irving Penn.
Fonssagrives-Penn, photographed by Irving Penn, 1949.
Untitled, by Fernand Fonssagrives, circa 1947.
Élan, by Fonssagrives, 1935.
White Ermine Evening Cape by Weill, by Erwin Blumenfeld, 1939.
Untitled, by Dahl-Wolfe, circa 1946.
Dress by Antonio del Castillo for Lanvin, by Penn, 1949.
Untitled, by Fonssagrives, 1940s.
Untitled, by Fonssagrives, circa 1937.
Schiaparelli “Volutes” Jacket in Carbon-Blue Jersey Wool and White Leather, attributed to George Platt Lynes, 1937.
Read On
Small Talk
“You call that having a little work done?”
“You call that having a little work done?”
Listen

Gen Z and the Single Girl On this week’s podcast, Carolina de Armas and Victoria Herman look at how a new generation sees Bridget Jones

Read On
Highlight

A Musical Paint Box For the composer Anna Clyne, putting notes on paper and paint on canvas is part of a single creative process

By Matthew Gurewitsch
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Murder, They Wrote

Deadly Pleasures to Watch and Read This month’s best mysteries offer a much-needed distraction from frigid temperatures—not to mention the chaos in the White House

By Lisa Henricksson
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Close-up

Daniel Blumberg The Brutalist’s 34-year-old composer created the film’s Oscar-nominated score while crashing on director Brady Corbet’s couch

By Zack Hauptman
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View With a Room

Take the Long View Among Hotel Endsleigh’s many virtues? One of the most beautiful landscapes in the English countryside

By Aimee Farrell
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Great Lives

The Muse Who Became a Sage Marianne Faithfull inspired some of the greatest songs of the 60s and left her own indelible mark on the music of Brecht and Bob Dylan alike

By Sam Kashner
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The Seasoned Traveler

Shira Haas The Unorthodox and Captain America actress shares her travel routine

Read On
David Downton’s Sketchbook
She loves gold! Goldfinger, the first true blockbuster James Bond movie, was released in the U.S. 60 years ago in December. The first two films in the series (Dr. No and From Russia with Love) had been successful, but with Goldfinger, the Bond formula came into its own. From the larky pre-credit sequence and Shirley Bassey’s blowtorch rendition of the title song to the movie’s quotable lines (“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die”) and fetishistic preoccupation with guns, girls, and gadgets, Goldfinger became the prototype for everything that followed. Despite a scant few minutes on-screen, British actress Shirley Eaton has passed into legend as the movie’s emblematic golden girl—which, not coincidentally, is the title of her autobiography. The last surviving principal cast member of Goldfinger turned 88 last month.
Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Editor at Large

George Pendle

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

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Elena Clavarino

Investigations Editor

Clara Molot

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

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Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

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H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editors

Carolina de Armas Victoria Herman Lucy Horowitz Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz Jack Sullivan

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Paloma Huerre

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Emine Gözde Sevim

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Zoé Gillette

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

Communications Director

Harrison Vail

Columnists

Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Bridget Arsenault Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall Daphne Merkin Sam Wasson

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Business Development Director

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European Sales Director

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Financial & Business Operations

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Chief Strategy Adviser

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Chief Merchant

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Shop Editor

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E-commerce Associate

Lilly Schoenbaum

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

Issue No. 291
February 8, 2025
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Issue No. 291
February 8, 2025
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