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July 18, 2026
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No. 366
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In This Week’s Issue
SCENES FROM THE A.I.-POCALYPSE

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, an errant computer tries, and fails, to kill its human masters. Sixty years on, ChatGPT has a terrifying plan for how the HAL 9000 could have succeeded …

VILLA OF THE VANITIES

Before Mar-a-Lago became a gilded seat of power, Silvio Berlusconi’s Sardinian pleasure palace set the template with statesmen, sex parties, Vladimir Putin, and even an artificial volcano …

WRITE OF THE HUNTER

After decades spent as Washington’s wayward son, Hunter Biden is re-writing his story—and possibly his political future—one extremely chaotic Substack missive at a time …

GET LOST!

The new status symbol isn’t a super-yacht—it’s having an entire wilderness to yourself. Lucky for the .01 percent everywhere, there’s an ultra-exclusive adventure-travel company for that …

GREEK GEEKS

Sold-out screenings, sleepless fans, $200 resale tickets, and popcorn-stuffed Trojan horses: inside the delirious opening night of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey …

MURDER ON THE DANCE FLOOR

Madonna wants everyone to put their phones down. Our Zeitgeist columnist Camille Charrière tries—and discovers that dancing, not documenting, may be nightlife’s last chance at survival …

A CHAIR-RAISING EXPERIENCE

The hora—the Jewish circle dance in which newlyweds are hoisted up in their chairs—is increasingly cropping up at non-Jewish receptions. Is it cultural appropriation, or just irresistible good fun?

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

On the World Cup’s final weekend, a photography book celebrates the beautiful game … Why can’t Hollywood quit A Star Is Born? … at Helen Marden’s upstate hotel, rooms feature art from the collection she built with her late husband, Brice Marden … and our shopping expert’s guide to packing for a vacation …

But First …
Issue No. 366

The View from Here In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the murderous supercomputer HAL ends up deactivated. What would ChatGPT have done differently? Ah, what a great question!

By Bruce Handy
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Estate of Excess

Italy’s Very Own Mar-a-Lago A look inside Villa Certosa, which played host to all manner of politics and misbehavior (plus, an artificial volcano) during Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s controversial bunga-bunga years, before being sold to the Qataris

By Mattia Ferraresi
Read On
Games

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee
Small Talk
Cartoon by Pat Oliphant, the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist who died this week.
Cartoon by Pat Oliphant, the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist who died this week.
The Son Also Rises

Heeere’s Hunter! Joe Biden’s ever problematic son has launched a Substack featuring everything from Anchorman comparisons to open letters to Joe Rogan

By Stuart Heritage
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHOP CHOPPISH SHOP
Read On
The great escape

Masters of the Wilderness A luxury travel firm gives restless high achievers the vacations they crave: extreme adventures in exquisite lodges—and no strangers killing the vibe

By Mark Healy
Read On
Air Supply

Carry on, Carry Everything

The case for packing better, not lighter—with the travel essentials, clever upgrades, and small luxuries that make every journey a little smoother
Shop
Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images (Agnelli and Kennedy)
Guest Edit

Eva Chow’s Favorite Things The collector, patron, and co-founder of LACMA’s Art+Film Gala shares the summer essentials that have earned a permanent spot in her suitcase

Shop
troy story

Journey to The Odyssey Scenes from the first 2:00 A.M. screening of Christopher Nolan’s 70-mm. epic at New York’s movie mecca: the IMAX at AMC Lincoln Square 13

By Jo Rosenthal
Read On
Best
watch Love in the Afternoon From the director of Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot, Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon… wear Shinola The Runwell is the watch that put Shinola on the map, and after more than a decade, the company has decided it’s worth bringing back… read Tribe The renowned journalist and war correspondent Sebastian Junger has never owned a smartphone. Instead of watching real-world events… listen Sungazer The Melbourne quartet’s first album in 10 years comes after a much-needed break. With that time under the radar, they were able… play The Daily Hue I never asked myself, “What if there was Wordle, but for art-history majors?,” but somehow I stumbled across the answer… read These Old Shades Did Bridgerton do it for you? Have you an affinity for Empire waists and calling playboys “rakes”? If your answer to at least one of these… watch Love in the Afternoon From the director of Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot, Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon… wear Shinola The Runwell is the watch that put Shinola on the map, and after more than a decade, the company has decided it’s worth bringing back… read Tribe The renowned journalist and war correspondent Sebastian Junger has never owned a smartphone. Instead of watching real-world events… listen Sungazer The Melbourne quartet’s first album in 10 years comes after a much-needed break. With that time under the radar, they were able… play The Daily Hue I never asked myself, “What if there was Wordle, but for art-history majors?,” but somehow I stumbled across the answer… read These Old Shades Did Bridgerton do it for you? Have you an affinity for Empire waists and calling playboys “rakes”? If your answer to at least one of these…
Notes on an Aesthetic

The Woman in My Suitcase I keep packing for the woman I might become on vacation. She has excellent taste and terrible attendance

By Jennifer Noyes
Read On
Copy That

Eyes Wide Shut Madonna wants us to put “our fucking phones down,” but the algorithm is an intoxicating drug. As nightlife surrenders to the digital gaze, our columnist asks: Can the unrecorded night out survive?

By Camille Charrière
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
goying up in the world

The Hora Hubbub The traditional Jewish dance has become commonplace at gentile weddings. Is it appropriation or appreciation?

By Jeanne Malle
Read On
Open Book

The Sport of All Sports “A game of the people, by the people”: as the World Cup comes to a close, a coffee-table book—and a devoted fan—pays tribute to the elegance and grandeur of soccer

18
The Argentinean soccer player Diego Maradona playing against Belgium during the World Cup, Barcelona, 1982.
Top, Ian Wright playing for Arsenal in a Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers, London, 1997; above, Nery Pumpido playing for Argentina in a World Cup match against Italy, Puebla, Mexico, 1986.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, playing for Brazil in a World Cup match against Bulgaria, Liverpool, 1966.
Lionel Messi and Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, better known as Ronaldinho, during an F.C. Barcelona match against Real Madrid, Barcelona, 2007.
Top, a match between Liverpool and Manchester during the F.A. Cup, Liverpool, 1985; above, Maradona playing against Peru at the World Cup, Lima, 1985.
David Beckham playing for Real Madrid in a Champions League match against the Olympique de Marseille, Madrid, 2003.
Top, Roberto Carlos playing for Brazil in a World Cup match against France, Paris, 1998; above, Slovenia playing against Algeria during the World Cup, Polokwane, South Africa, 2010.
Johan Cruyff playing for the New York Cosmos in a match against the World All-Stars, New Jersey, 1978.
Top, Brandi Chastain playing for the United States in a World Cup match against China, Pasadena, 1999; above, Ellie Carpenter, playing for Australia, and Alex Greenwood, for England, during the World Cup, Sydney, 2023.
Ronaldo Luís Nazário playing for Inter Milan in a match against A.C. Milan at the Derby della Madonnina, Milan, 1999.
Top, a World Cup match between Brazil and Italy, Pasadena, 1994; above, Manuel Bento playing for Portugal in a match against the U.S.S.R. to qualify for the 1984 European Championship, Lisbon, 1983.
The French Guiana–born player Cyrille Regis during a photo shoot in West Bromwich, England, 1984.
Top, goalposts in Villa Hayes, Paraguay, 1998; above, Arthur Antunes Coimbra, better known as Zico, playing for Brazil in a World Cup match against New Zealand, Seville, 1982.
Michael Laudrup playing for Juventus F.C. in a match against the Argentinos Juniors at the Intercontinental Cup, Tokyo, 1985.
Top, Ronaldo, playing for Brazil, and Sol Campbell, for England, during the Tournoi de France, Paris, 1997; above, Wembley Stadium during the F.A. Cup, London, 1995.
Denílson de Oliveira, playing for Real Betis, and Claude Makélélé, for Real Madrid, in a game organized by La Liga, Madrid, 2002.
Top, a World Cup match between West Germany and Colombia, Milan, 1990; above, Ian Wright, Paul Merson, and Patrick Vieira playing for Arsenal in a Premier League match against A.F.C. Wimbledon, London, 1996.
Allan “Snifferˮ Clarke playing for Leeds United in a match against Queens Park Rangers, London, 1974.
Read On
Small Talk
Highlight

The Eternal Ana Mendieta Four decades after her contentious death, the pioneer of body and land art—known for dissolving the boundaries between herself, nature, and the spirit world—is celebrated with a retrospective in London

By Patricia Zohn
Read On
Around the World in Culture
On YouTube
Twenty-five years after the original Office first aired, co-creator Ricky Gervais looks back at the show’s 25 best moments… In New York
For one night only, Bob Dylan returns to Forest Hills Stadium with a career-spanning performance featuring songs from six decades… In Theaters
Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited adaptation of The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Zendaya, and Anne Hathaway, arrives in theaters… In Amsterdam
An exhibition celebrates the Dutch street photographer Ed van der Elsken, whose photographs captured life at its most unfiltered… On Netflix
A new documentary reveals the true story of Jordan Belfort, the fraudster Leonardo DiCaprio immortalized in The Wolf of Wall Street… In New York
The women of the Wiener Werkstätte, Austria’s groundbreaking multidisciplinary collective, take center stage at the Jewish Museum…
Books
Nathan Smith On

A Star is Reborn: The Most Filmed Hollywood Story of Love Found and Lost

by Robert Hofler
Read On
View With a Room

Home Is Where the Art Is On the banks of the Hudson in Tivoli, New York, Helen Marden runs a hotel filled with blue-chip art from the collection she built with her late husband, Brice Marden

By Janet Marcel
Read On
Marcellus Hall’s Sketchbook
Seeking shade on a sultry Saturday.
Was Founded By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

And Is Edited By

Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Senior Editors

Ash Carter Elena Clavarino George Pendle

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editors

Carolina de Armas Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz

Senior Photo Editor

Emine Sevim

Designer

Zoé Gillette

Photo Editor

Véronique Plazolles

Editor, Air Mail LOOK

Linda Wells

Editor, Air Mail Dress Code

Rickie De Sole

Columnists

Dana Brown Camille Charrière Cazzie David
Lisa Henricksson Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer
Rachel Johnson John Lahr Jonathan Margolis
Jay McInerney James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Victoria Herman 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 Dafydd Jones Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Editor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley

Editor, Commerce, and Chief Merchandiser

Jennifer Noyes

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

Business Development Director

Catherine Scott

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Milton Esterow Duncan Hannah Jane Larkworthy Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

Issue No. 366
July 18, 2026
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Issue No. 366
July 18, 2026
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