These days, Advent calendars build off the popularity of “little treat culture.” Brands are now selling Advent calendars that contain everything from wine to jams to skin care to pet treats. Some have become coveted status symbols, especially those that are put out by luxury players like Diptyque and Dior Beauty. (Barkho, Modern Retail)
Read MoreAccording to WalletHub, the country is full of people committing sins. The outlet ranked nearly 200 American cities for sinfulness based on seven key dimensions—including anger and hatred, jealousy, excesses and vices, greed, lust, vanity, and laziness—to determine which cities are the most sinful and which are the least. (Obias, Mental Floss)
Read MoreIn his latest adventure, detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) encounters a congregation centered on its pastor’s authoritarian personality, rooted in reactiveness instead of restoration. Get ready for plenty of tropes about fire-and-brimstone fury. (Staub, Christianity Today)
Read MoreOxford University Press has chosen “rage bait” — defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive” — as its 2025 Word of the Year. (Schuessler, The New York Times)
Read MoreThe success of “Stranger Things,” which is about to end its run after nearly a decade, told us that the future of streaming TV was largely in the past. (The first four episodes of the final season arrive on Wednesday night.) (Poniewozik, The New York Times)
Read MoreThe European Union’s highest court ruled Tuesday that all member states should honor the civil status of same-sex couples married anywhere else in the bloc, regardless of domestic laws on same-sex marriage. The ruling does not force member states to legalize same-sex marriages. (Ríos & Klimentov, The Washington Post)
Read More