TV Features

Maybe Love Is Blind—But It Doesn't Happen Within 30 Days

Can you truly know you love someone within the span of a few weeks?

Netflix

After my last serious relationship, I decided to "put myself out there" again and downloaded Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid.

Being an active user on all these platforms solidified to me how different the dating scene is nowadays. Most of it is due to technology and our social media culture, which has definitely made us a bit more narcissistic, fake, and even cold-hearted. Romance in this day and age is pretty much dead—and, without a doubt, so is chivalry. Only two of my most recent 20 dates opened a door for me, so now I go on dates with zero expectations. Most of these guys just want to hook up, thinking a first date and a couple drinks warrants the perfect opportunity to proposition me.

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Culture News

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner Are Expecting a Baby

The Jonas Brother and the actress got married last year.

Jonas Brothers - What A Man Gotta Do (Official Video)

Just nine months after their kitschy Las Vegas wedding, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are expecting a baby!

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CULTURE

Rihanna Just Saved Print Media

Rihanna has announced her first book, in the nick of time.

Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Today, Rihanna (mogul, fashion designer, superstar, icon) announced that she's going to be releasing her first book.

For a long time, it's seemed like books and print media were on a downward spiral, but fortunately Rihanna has arrived just in time to fill the physical book industry with new vigor and promise. Only someone with her kind of star power could achieve such a feat.

Enter Rihanna, a new "visual autobiography" that contains over 1,000 photos across 504 pages. Its images will span the early years of her childhood in Barbados to her world tours and everything in between.

Weighing about 15 pounds and costing about $175, the book will be released on October 10th. Its release will coincide with a party at the Guggenheim, hosted by Rihanna herself.

What is it about Rihanna that makes her so aesthetically pleasing to look at, which will ultimately make her photo book a surefire bestseller? It's possibly because she's beautiful inside and out—her company Fenty Beauty has made waves for its unprecedented diversity, and Rihanna herself has schooled Internet users on everything from trans rights to inclusivity. She's brashly sensual, super confident, entirely ageless, honest, and unashamed. She's given us eight exquisite pop albums. She continued to thrive after everything that happened with Chr*s Br*wn. She effortlessly avoids questions about her next album and remains unshaken by pregnancy rumors. She seems to exist in a slightly separate universe from the rest of us, evading most of the typical waves of controversy and shaming that surround most stars in our modern media landscape.

In many ways, Rihanna floats outside of our messy reality, shimmering in a dimension of her own and representing a sort of archetypal beauty, composure, and power that we all can't help but envy. It's kind of impossible to imagine her posting a mental health confession, as so many other celebrities have, or showing up anywhere looking less than angelic. (That's not an accident: She reportedly spends $38,000 a week on her beauty regime. Of course, she also operates several charities and hosts a multitude of benefit galas). She almost seems like a relic of the 2010s' vision of unattainable, impenetrable, perpetually camera-ready glamour, but her sway over our contemporary universe cannot be underestimated: Snapchat lost $800 million after she criticized an ad for making light of domestic violence. And have you seen her first selfie?

Sure, she's milking capitalism and her own image for all they're worth to great success—with a net worth of $600 million, she's the world's richest female musician—but it's hard not to worship at her altar. She's Rihanna, after all.