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The Independent •

Star Wars fans are all grown up and have replaced Comic Con with raves

As the first notes of John Williams’ “Imperial March” resounded from Catch One nightclub’s speakers, a sea of smartphones went up to record the moment. As it was the first piece of Star Wars’ iconic score we had heard all night I couldn’t help but capture it too, my arm lifting up alongside those pumping their stuffed Baby Yodas in the air. Others waved technicolour lightsabers in the air as if they were the famed Oscar-winning conductor himself. Twin Darth Vader helmets stared each other down i
The Independent •

Digital dating is on the rise — but can you find the ‘one’ with AI?

In the age of ghosting, gaslighting, and general dating app fatigue, finding “the one” (or at least someone halfway decent) has become a Herculean task. As tech advancements continue to turn the dating scene on its head, it was only a matter of time before people began test-driving the latest frontier, AI, as a new love interest.The rise in AI dating comes on the heels of a 2023 survey reporting that younger generations, particularly Gen Z, are open to the idea of exploring AI romantic companion...
The Independent •

The dating dumpster fire of Love Island USA is all too relatable

It’s a summer of love, or rather, of Love Island USA. The sixth season of the hit reality dating series – which airs its finale on Sunday, July 21 – is all anyone can talk about, and rightfully so.For nearly 10 years, Love Island UK has reigned supreme among the franchise’s multiple spin-offs, which includes US, Australia, Love Island Games, and Love Island All Stars. The steady rise in popularity of this season’s American iteration, which debuted on Peacock on June 11, came almost by word of mo...
The Independent •

Drag brunch continues to reign as a go-to Pride activity

For bartender Justine Musselman – who’s worked at Dromedary: Coming Out in Bushwick, Brooklyn, for the past four years – the bar’s weekly drag brunch is the only reason she will wake up early on a Sunday. “I have been working at drag brunch for as long as I’ve worked at Dromedary, and despite the inconvenience of that shift, I refuse to give it up,” she told The Independent.

Every Sunday afternoon, drag performers Emi Grate and Nancy Nogood put their chemistry on full display for both Bushwick
The Independent •

Will the TikTok ban spell the death of the influencer?

Craving what we don’t have has been a compulsion long before the surge in social media marketing-fueled consumption. Once upon a time, our material desires were cultivated through in-person interactions, in-store shopping, or word-of-mouth. Not long after, face-to-face became face-to-catalog, with consumers flipping endlessly through product pages, before television ads intensified their appetite for more, using fictional characters and celebrity actors as aspirational models for who the custome
The Independent •

The battle against IVF isn’t protecting children. It’s devastating families

When you’re a teenager, you have a basic understanding of how you came into the world. You don’t tend to ask your parents questions about your conception. At least, I didn’t because I wasn’t inclined to die of mortification.

Growing up, I’d only heard that my parents had tried for a child for a long time, so when my 70-something-year-old grandmother made a passing comment about how I’d had a twin in the womb, I took it as another one of her jokes. Offbeat and out there, but classic grandma.

I
The Independent •

The Los Angeles edition of the Willy Wonka Experience was an absurdist fever dream

Standing outside a graffitied warehouse in Los Angeles’ Arts District, I didn’t know what to expect from a recreation of Glasgow’s disastrous Willy Wonka event. I had heard a lot about the bungled children’s experience, which included AI-generated characters, sparse and low-budget sets and costuming, and a sad Oompa Loompa who had become somewhat of a local celebrity since the event. Unlike what happened in Glasgow, this event was primarily marketed to grown adults, capitalising off of the meme
The Independent •

Can you manifest the love you deserve?

There’s a fine line between being a hopeful and hopeless romantic, but that line becomes blurry when practicing manifestation comes into the picture.

Those who practice manifesting believe that they have the cosmic ability to attract whatever they desire through positive thinking and self-talk, visualisation, and symbolic actions. By believing their sheer willpower can change the will of the universe, they believe that they can get what they want - even love and romance.

Over the years, these
The Independent •

Why America’s third places are making a comeback

In the past year, loneliness, isolation, and a lack of connection have all been declared as causes of a major public health crisis, with the US Surgeon General being one of many to raise the alarm that Americans are more disconnected now than ever. Some believe that this crisis - an aftershock of the Covid-19 pandemic - is symptomatic of a decline in physical community spaces where quality connections can blossom.

Sociology professor Ray Oldenburg dubbed these physical community spaces as “thir
The Independent •

Why does Gen-Z prefer soft-launching their relationships?

As summer comes to a close, be prepared to see a wave of soft launches on your social media feeds.

“Soft launch September” was dubbed by The Cut back in 2021 as the natural precursor to “cuffing season,” defined as the period between fall and winter when lonely singletons get “cuffed” or “tied down” by a serious relationship or at least a relationship long enough to last the cold weather. But unlike cuffing season, the soft launch trend is specific to social media, as summer flings take things

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