This is an edition of The<\/i> Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. <\/i>Sign up for it here.<\/i><\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Welcome back to The Daily\u2019s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic<\/i> writer or editor reveals what\u2019s keeping them entertained. Today\u2019s special guest is Dan Zak, a senior editor who works on features<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dan recently succumbed to the emotional pull of Paradise<\/i>\u2019s second season, and he enjoys watching Face\/Off<\/i>, just about any performance of Emma Thompson\u2019s, and old episodes of What\u2019s My Line?<\/i>. He also has a unicorn named Stacy in his life. More on that later.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stephanie Bai, senior associate editor<\/a><\/p>\n An actor I would watch in anything:<\/b> Emma Thompson, a splendid actor who is also the perfect celebrity: wise, witty, and excellent in any genre or form, as a character or as herself. She can do Merchant Ivory<\/a> and Jane Austen<\/a> and Tony Kushner<\/a> and<\/i> violent thrillers\u2014specifically, violent thrillers with Dead<\/i> in the title: Dead Again<\/i>, in which she and Kenneth Branagh are haunted by their past lives, <\/i>and Dead of Winter<\/i>, in which she and Judy Greer beat the hell out of each other in northern Minnesota. Thompson can also do late night<\/a> and Saturday Night Live<\/i><\/a> and awards shows<\/a>; just watch the subtle master class of her presenting<\/a> an honorary Oscar to Angela Lansbury. Two undersung titles: The Tall Guy<\/i><\/a>, her riotous first film (opposite Jeff Goldblum), and Wit<\/i><\/a>, an adaptation of the stage play about a literature professor who\u2019s dying of cancer. Thompson is also the only reason I will probably see The Sheep Detectives<\/i>, the trailer<\/a> for which is, frankly, insane.<\/p>\n The last thing that made me cry:<\/b> Ugh, Paradise<\/i>, on Hulu, finally got me a few weeks ago: the fourth episode of Season 2 (slight spoiler ahead), wherein Sterling K. Brown helps Shailene Woodley give birth in an abandoned diner. The show is postapocalyptic and emotionally manipulative\u2014think The Last of Us<\/i> meets This Is Us<\/i>\u2014but the supple acting and careful character development pay off in the latest season. Tragedy doesn\u2019t really make me cry; human goodness does. Get to this episode, and you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n The last thing that made me snort with laughter: <\/b>Whenever Ashley Padilla plays a mom<\/a> or Sarah Sherman plays an animal<\/a> on Saturday Night Live<\/i>.<\/p>\n My favorite blockbuster and favorite art movie: <\/b>Face\/Off<\/i> barely edges out Speed<\/i>. And 10 years on, I still think about Mike Mills\u2019s 20th Century Women<\/i>, starring Annette Bening in her best-ever performance.<\/p>\n An author I will read anything by: <\/b>Ottessa Moshfegh.<\/p>\n Something I recently revisited: <\/b>Moshfegh\u2019s My Year of Rest and Relaxation<\/i><\/a>. The book is a fugue state\u2014an incantation of privileged misanthropy\u2014and I wanted to be under its spell again. Killer last page too.<\/p>\n A quiet song that I love, and a loud song that I love: <\/b>Anything by Sade (okay, \u201cPearls\u201d) and anything by Darlene Love\u2014okay, \u201cChristmas (Baby Please Come Home).\u201d<\/p>\n The last museum or gallery show that I loved: <\/b>\u201cThe Stars We Do Not See,\u201d featuring Australian Indigenous art, which closed last month at the National Gallery of Art.<\/p>\n A piece of visual art that I cherish: <\/b>I have a giant original oil painting\u20145 feet by 4 feet\u2014of a majestic unicorn dozing in a meadow of colorful orbs, by the D.C.-area artist Naomi Christianson. \u201cStacy loves energy balls,\u201d she told me when I bought the painting, in 2017. And I love Stacy. She\u2019s hanging over my dining table.<\/p>\n The last debate I had about culture: <\/b>The merits of the TV show Jury Duty<\/i>, which I find to be a boring, depressing stunt. Actually, \u201cstunt\u201d is too generous; that suggests excitement. The premise is that everybody is an actor except for one person, who is thrown into a situation that he believes is real but that gets crazier and crazier. The latest season (titled Company Retreat<\/i>) makes no sense! The cast is collaborating on a prolonged prank but also staying in character for the camera\u2014in the style of The Office<\/i>\u2014when their mark is not around. The fusion of reality show and mockumentary creates a disorienting clash of vibes, and I end up experiencing nothing but confusion\u2014and pity for the real guy.<\/p>\n The television show I\u2019m most enjoying right now: <\/b>YouTube is full of episodes of What\u2019s My Line?<\/i>. The old game show features a panel of urbane socialites trying to guess the occupation of regular Americans (and, blindfolded, the identity of celebrities). The panel\u2019s mid-century politesse is soothing, and the celebrity guests (Alfred Hitchcock! Eleanor Roosevelt!) are sort of mind-blowing, from today\u2019s vantage point.<\/p>\n A musical artist who means a lot to me:<\/b> Ella Fitzgerald, and I don\u2019t know why. Her voice is like a hug. Desert-island tracks: \u201cBewitched, Bothered and Bewildered\u201d; \u201cMake Me Rainbows\u201d; and \u201cYou\u2019ll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini).\u201d<\/p>\n A poem, or line of poetry, that I return to: <\/b>The first two lines of \u201cSunday Morning<\/a>,\u201d by Wallace Stevens: \u201cComplacencies of the peignoir, and late \/ Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair.\u201d A life in 13 words, and you instantly feel both comfort and foreboding. Published more than 100 years ago, but very 21st century.<\/p>\n The upcoming event I\u2019m most looking forward to: <\/b>Is it weird to say that I will forever look forward to Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett in Who\u2019s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?<\/i>\u2014even though it closed prematurely in 2020 because of the pandemic? Broadway, please put that production back together, thanks.<\/p>\n The Week Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n Essay<\/strong><\/p>\n Seven Death-Defying Books for the Adventurous Reader<\/p>\n By Eva Holland<\/i><\/p>\n When you stand at the summit of Mount Everest, the sky is a deep-blue bowl inverted above you, and the peaks of the Himalayas are a carpet at your feet. The sun on the snow is bright enough to blind you, even as your body starts failing in air so thin it can hardly sustain human life. I know that not because I\u2019ve been there myself, but because I\u2019ve read Jon Krakauer\u2019s Into Thin Air<\/i><\/a> and other books about the world\u2019s highest mountain.<\/p>\n Krakauer survived a deadly ordeal on Everest\u2014a high price to pay for a remarkable book. But thanks to the alchemy of his crisp, vivid writing, Into Thin Air<\/i> genuinely manages to conjure the experience for readers, even those who might never trek there. The shine of this magic trick hasn\u2019t worn off, and my favorite place to encounter it is in a truly harrowing adventure story. Life-and-death stakes? Dangerous mysteries? Motley crews pitting themselves against impossible odds? Sign me up\u2014but only vicariously, please. I like my adventures paired with a cup of tea and my softest blanket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Read the full article.<\/a><\/p>\n More in Culture<\/b><\/p>\n Catch Up on The Atlantic<\/strong><\/p>\n Photo Album<\/b><\/p>\n Take a look at some of the winning images<\/a> from this year\u2019s GDT Nature Photographer of the Year contest.<\/p>\n Rafaela Jinich contributed to this newsletter.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n
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Heritage Image Partnership \/ Alamy<\/div>\n
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An elephant calf in Amboseli National Park, in Kenya, seeks shelter from the blazing sun in the only available shade\u2014the body of its mother. (\u00a9 Preeti John \/ GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2026)<\/div>\n
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