All posts tagged: from the magazine

Florence Pugh on Love, Hollywood, and Her Deepest Friendships

Florence Pugh on Love, Hollywood, and Her Deepest Friendships

Published by Sam Flores

“I have never had a screaming match on my set,” she recently told New York magazine’s The Cut. “I was never not available on set. I wanted to be like, ‘None of this is true.’ ” Pugh hasn’t publicly told her side of the story, and that is not going to change today. “Oh, no. I feel like there’s so much stuff we’ve covered that is important for me and on track with my life and my career,” she says when I bring up the film. I follow by asking if she’s seen Wilde’s critically acclaimed new movie, The Invite. “I haven’t,” Pugh says brightly, “but I’ve heard it’s fantastic, and a great cast. Great cast.” For what it’s worth, when asked to name the performance of Pugh’s that she loves the most, Ashley Park brings up Don’t Worry Darling unprompted. “You know what? I watched it on a plane, and I think I had taken something to make me go to sleep. I called her afterwards and I was like, ‘I’m in a simulation. There’s someone …

Tony Hawk Answers the Proust Questionnaire

Tony Hawk Answers the Proust Questionnaire

Published by Sam Flores

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Being able to find contentment among chaos. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? My stubbornness. But I’ve managed to channel it mostly toward my skating. What is your greatest extravagance? My million-dollar half-pipe, worth every penny. What is your favorite journey? Going on adventures with our kids and/or grandchild. Sometimes it’s to a faraway land and sometimes it’s in our own backyard. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Idealism. On what occasion do you lie? To myself, when I think I can skate like I did 20 years ago. Uncle Rico vibes. What do you dislike most about your appearance? My eyebrows, which have been lost to multiple lacerations and stitches over the years. If anyone sees them on the bottom of a skate park bowl, please return them. Which living person do you most despise? The one causing traffic delays. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Living the dream!” Which is mostly true, but I didn’t realize the dream involves …

A’ja Wilson Is Going for GOAT Status: “I Want to Prove That I’m the Best”

A’ja Wilson Is Going for GOAT Status: “I Want to Prove That I’m the Best”

Published by Sam Flores

Even off the court, Wilson reigns. Her first Nike shoe, the A’One, sold out within minutes in 2025. Wilson took its sister, the Nike A’Two, for a European tour this spring. She’s walking carpets and trying out voice acting; her appearance on Hot Ones went viral after she stopped to pray for deliverance from the spicy wings. Becky Hammon, who’s been coaching the Aces since 2022, has seen the change in her star player. “She went from a young girl to a woman” over the last few years, says Hammon. “Her work ethic, her groundedness—she just has all the pieces. She holds the locker room accountable, and she can only do that when she’s holding herself to the highest standard.” Wilson’s height and regal bearing make her an ideal conduit for bold fashion; you’d be hard-pressed to find another athlete who can wear head-to-toe Rick Owens as credibly as she does. On the trip for the Nike A’Two, Wilson posed in Jacquemus outside of the Louvre Pyramid by I.M. Pei. Though Wilson has been in …

Jeff Goldblum Answers the Proust Questionnaire

Jeff Goldblum Answers the Proust Questionnaire

Published by Sam Flores

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Every single person and living creature on the planet is safe and well nourished. What is your greatest fear? Any misfortune involving our kids. Also, I have recurring nightmares that involve being chased by people or being attacked by scary animals. With which historical figure do you most identify? Houdini. Which living person do you most admire? My wife, all those who contribute something of beauty, and scientists. What is your greatest extravagance? Home improvements and uxorious gifts. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Stoicism. If it hurts, say so. On what occasion do you lie? Whenever I’m acting, which I try to do truthfully (a delicious paradox). What or who is the greatest love of your life? Emilie, Charlie, and River. When and where were you happiest? The first time Emilie and I kissed. Which talent would you most like to have? I wouldn’t mind being able to locate the pickles in the refrigerator. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it …

Mine. Mine. Mine. How One Corrupt Billionaire Kicked Off the Global Cobalt Spree

Mine. Mine. Mine. How One Corrupt Billionaire Kicked Off the Global Cobalt Spree

Published by Sam Flores

Meanwhile, global demand for cobalt and copper was accelerating as battery-powered devices, like cell phones, became a necessity for modern life, and yet Congo remained poor and conflict-wracked. Many American firms, wary of corruption and instability, decided to stay away from business dealings in the region. During this same period, however, China, which was intensifying its quest to build electric cars to reduce pollution in its cities, jumped at the opportunity to get a handle on the supply chain. Beijing hammered out deals with Kabila to build roads and hospitals in exchange for mining rights. “Twenty-five years ago we did not look over a horizon to say, ‘China’s going to become an economic power whose interests are not aligned with ours,’ ” Sanderson, the US diplomat, reflected. A lust for cheaper goods, cheaper electronics, had blinded Washington to Beijing’s increasing control throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. That’s not to say everyone ignored the opportunity to make a buck in one of the world’s poorest countries. Among the deployers of foreign capital eager to invest …

Why You Should Stop Blaming Everything on Mercury in Retrograde

Why You Should Stop Blaming Everything on Mercury in Retrograde

Published by Sam Flores

Look: On some level, I get it. Mystic trust in the power of Mercury or whatever spans generations and intellectual capacities. (The most astrology-obsessed people I’ve ever met were grad students.) Attempting to rationalize our chaotic existence is among the oldest human impulses; it must be comforting to chalk up undesired outcomes to forces beyond anyone’s individual control, to abdicate authority and submit to the strong hand of fate. (I believe this is what Babygirl was about.) Only a nerd takes pleasure in responsibility, and we are firmly ensconced in an anti-nerd epoch. That said, what’s more insufferable—a skeptical know-it-all or a proud know-nothing? Fine, new question: What’s more damaging? If you absolutely must infuse your life with ancient baloney, why not try more interesting forms of paganism instead: Norse mythology! Cambodian folklore! Go ahead, take it at face value that Mercury in retrograde has some measurable effect on your day-to-day. It might feel harmless; it might feel pleasantly analog, like reading a paper book. But know that if you do, you’re just a hop, …

Is JD and Usha Vance’s Love Story Written in the Stars?

Is JD and Usha Vance’s Love Story Written in the Stars?

Published by Sam Flores

Humans often use astrology—the ancient belief that the sun, moon, and planets influence our behaviors and life paths—to explain the unexplainable. Like: Why are we the way that we are? What is our purpose here on earth? And what, exactly, the hell is going on with JD Vance and Usha Vance’s marriage? What started as an (admittedly dark) online bit that the vice president seemed a little too close for comfort with Erika Kirk got a curveball catalyst when the second lady made a very public appearance alongside Melania Trump…without her wedding ring. At the time, her spokesperson said Usha was “a mother of three young children who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.” Coincidence? Almost certainly. But how many dishes does one do when living at Number One Observatory Circle, the vice president’s official Queen Anne–style mansion that has dedicated staff quarters? Then there was that image circulating in the bowels of the internet that showed a man who looked exactly like JD scowling at an …

Margaret Qualley on Substance, Surrender, and Life With Jack Antonoff

Margaret Qualley on Substance, Surrender, and Life With Jack Antonoff

Published by Sam Flores

Margaret Qualley walks into Clark’s, a diner in Brooklyn Heights, carrying her little dog, Smokey, in her arms and is immediately intercepted by an employee who tells her she can’t have a dog inside. “I’ll be back in 10 minutes” is the first thing she says. She lives nearby with her husband, the musician and producer Jack Antonoff. I suggest taking a walk. “Do you want to just come over?” she asks. I had wondered what the actor who so often portrays an unassuming allure would be like stripped of the mediation of the screen. But I can tell as the words are coming out of her mouth, she’s already changing her mind about having a writer see the inside of her home. “I can have my husband meet me downstairs. It’s a mess.” When Qualley returns, she appears effortless—she’s wearing a hoodie and Uggs and orders hot water with lemon. She seems reluctant to talk about her relationship with Antonoff, whom she met at a party in 2021, other than saying, “I’ve always been …

Bianca Censori, Uncensored: For the First Time, Kanye West’s Wife Is Speaking for Herself

Bianca Censori, Uncensored: For the First Time, Kanye West’s Wife Is Speaking for Herself

Published by Sam Flores

“A tree is the shape of a tree, because that’s what nature does or whatever,” Censori says. “What does a house want to be? And that, I feel, will be my life’s work.” (The couple’s new home, in Beverly Hills, is the subject of an HOA dispute with their more architecturally conservative neighbors. “It was built in the 2000s, but it looks like someone was like, ‘Hey, have you seen that movie Blow? That’s what I want! An ’80s cocaine house,’ ” Censori says. “Anytime anyone comes over, I’m like, ‘Do not look at the house.’ ”) Censori also liked that an expression of ego—this supposed Malibu masterpiece—was being used in a way that hadn’t been intended. “They have this idea of, ‘Okay, once I have this home, and I’ve handed it off to the client, it has to remain the same way as when I passed it off,’ ” Censori says of architects. “But that’s not how people use space. I think that the destruction of the home was beautiful to me, and I think symbolic also …