Jacob Stern

Washington, D.C.

Contributing Writer at The Atlantic

Current contributing writer and former staff writer at @TheAtlantic | Yale Law ’27 | [email protected]

Articles

The Dream of Streaming Is Dead

May 16, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Jacob Stern

Remember when streaming was supposed to let us watch whatever we want, whenever we want, for a sliver of the cost of cable? Well, so much for that. In recent years, streaming has gotten confusing and expensive as more services than ever are vying for eyeballs. It has done the impossible: made people miss the good old-fashioned cable bundle. Now the bundles are back. Last week, Disney and Warner Bros.
The Dream of Streaming Is Dead

May 16, 2024 | newsbreak.com | Jacob Stern

Remember when streaming was supposed to let us watch whatever we want, whenever we want, for a sliver of the cost of cable? Well, so much for that. In recent years, streaming has gotten confusing and expensive as more services than ever are vying for eyeballs. It has done the impossible: made people miss the good old-fashioned cable bundle. Now the bundles are back. Last week, Disney and Warner Bros.
A Critic’s Case Against Cinema

May 2, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Jacob Stern

Before Pauline Kael was Pauline Kael, she was still very much Pauline Kael. When her first essay for The Atlantic ran in November 1964, she had not yet lost it at the movies. She had not yet become Pauline Kael, the vaunted and polarizing film critic for The New Yorker. She had not yet inspired a movement of imitators, the “Paulettes,” or established herself as one of the most influential film writers ever.
America Can’t Stop Watching Creepy Robot Videos

May 1, 2024 | newsbreak.com | Jacob Stern

The robot is shaped like a human, but it sure doesn’t move like one. It starts supine on the floor, pancake-flat. Then, in a display of superhuman joint mobility, its legs curl upward from the knees, sort of like a scorpion tail, until its feet settle firmly on the floor beside its hips. From there, it stands up, a swiveling mass of silver limbs. The robot’s ring-light heads turns a full 180 degrees to face the camera, as though possessed. Then it lurches forward at you.
How to Look at the World With More Wonder

Apr 21, 2024 | newyorkfolk.com | James White |Jacob Stern

This is an edition of The 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. Sign up for it here. Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what’s keeping them entertained.
Why Are Elo Ratings Everywhere Now?

Apr 19, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Jacob Stern

In October 2003, Mark Zuckerberg created his first viral site: not Facebook, but FaceMash. Then a college freshman, he hacked into Harvard’s online dorm directories, gathered a massive collection of students’ headshots, and used them to create a website on which Harvard students could rate classmates by their attractiveness, literally and figuratively head-to-head.
A Chess Formula Is Taking Over the World

Apr 19, 2024 | flipboard.com | Jacob Stern

Alleged Manifesto of Man Who Set Himself on Fire Outside the Trump Trial Posted OnlineThe New York Police Department confirmed the identity of the man who set himself ablaze outside the New York City courthouse where former President …
The Most Hated Sound on Television

Apr 15, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Jacob Stern

When American viewers flipped open the July 2, 1966, edition of TV Guide, they were treated to a bombshell story. This was the first installment of a two-part series on “the most taboo topic in TV,” the industry’s “best-known and least-talked-about secret,” the “put-on of all time”: the laugh track. At the time, almost every comedy on air was filmed live in front of a studio audience—or at least pretended to be.
An Unconventional Spy Show

Mar 31, 2024 | newyorkfolk.com | James White |Jacob Stern

This is an edition of The 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. Sign up for it here. Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what’s keeping them entertained.
Is That Candy or Nicotine?

Mar 29, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Jacob Stern

For something that isn’t candy, Zyn nicotine pouches sure look a lot like it. The packaging, a small metal can, looks more than a little like a tin of mints. The pouches come in a wide variety of flavors: citrus, cinnamon, “chill,” “smooth.” And they’re consumed orally, more like jawbreakers or Warheads than cigarettes. America has found itself in the beginnings of a Zyn panic. As cigarette and vape use have trailed off in recent years, Zyn and other nicotine pouches are gaining traction.