Reading

It is widely believed (by me, just now) that William Shakespeare revised his plays constantly, fueled by ambition, self-doubt, and whatever they drank instead of coffee back then. Based on that and vibes alone, here is what he probably thought each time he tweaked the same scene again.

1. Ah! A fresh draft. This one shall be perfect and require no further changes.

2. What if the line were slightly sadder?

3. What if it were also a little funny?

4. Can something be tragic and funny? I shall invent this.

5. “To be, or not to be”—hmm. Feels wordy. Perhaps just “To be”?

6. No, no, no. Put the rest back. It was good. It was fine.

7. Actually, what if he says it while holding a skull?

8. Where would he get the skull?

9. I will simply give him one. The audience will not question it.

10. I am a genius.

11. Wait. What if the skull has a name?

12. Everyone loves it when objects have names.

13. Yorick. Yes. That feels right.

14. I should write that down.

15. I did not write that down.

16. Back to the top. “To be, or not to be”—still excellent.

McSweeney’s and Broadway Video present the official over-six-hundred-page comprehensive companion book to IFC’s Documentary Now!, made with the assistance of series directors Rhys Thomas and Alex Buono and including new writing by Seth Meyers, a foreword by Pulitzer Prize–finalist Matt Zoller Seitz, the complete sheet music for John Mulaney and Eli Bolin’s Co-op: The Musical, and much more.

The book is out today, and to celebrate, we’re sharing an excerpt featuring the show’s very first host, the legendary Burt Lancaster.

I knew I was committing a small social crime. But we hadn’t truly been friends for a long time

- by David Sleeth-Keppler

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"The phrase ‘tax the rich’ can be ‘just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs,’ according to the New York City billionaire Steve Roth, who said that the top 1 percent should be ‘praised and thanked.’” — The Guardian

First they came for the pieds-à-terre, which they said were driving up the cost of housing.

And I did not speak out.

Because my pied-à-terre was in Greenwich, Connecticut, not Greenwich Village.

Then they came for the capital gains, which they said should be taxed as income.

And I did not speak out.

Because I had all of my company stock in a tax-sheltered backdoor Roth.

Then they came for the bad landlords, who they said were ripping off tenants.

And I did not speak out.

Because I was so wealthy I didn’t even bother renting out any of my investment properties.

Then they came for the 1031 exchanges, which they said were an unfair tax loophole the wealthy use to buy fancier vacation homes.

Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.

These artists argue we shouldn’t shy away from AI – instead, we need to help shape its future with our human creativity

- Video by the Museum of Modern Art

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Screen-based life is deadening. Try some simple adventures and exercises to reconnect with the world’s sensory richness

- by Tereza Violet Stehlíková

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