Culture Index: ‘The Mummy,’ LaCroix Boi, Tony Awards, More

One of those things that never gets old is hearing about the love and dating lives of other people. We’re endlessly fascinated by those who document their experiences meeting and sometimes hooking up with possible mates, as well as all of the good, bad and ugly details they’re willing to share. 

Alix McAlpine, with her new-ish, funny and addictive podcast “Swipe Out,” may have mastered the art of date world storytelling, giving us all the highs and lows in this era of Tinder, Hinge and the rest. McAlpine and her guests hold nothing back and turn the podcast into something like a Sex and the City post-date gossipfest for 2017. 

When, where, why and how did LaCroix, a seltzer your mom maybe drank after doing aerobics or Jazzercise, get so popular with good looking hipsters from Silver Lake to Williamsburg? Does anybody really know? Does anybody care? If we can move past that question, try and enjoy Chicago rapper Big Dipper’s homage to the bubbly stuff, complete with a guest spot from drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Believe it or not, all those hours playing Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog really meant something. Andrew Ervin takes a brilliant look at the effects of those games – which did not, in fact, rot our brains.

Want to get scared? This one almost got four stars from Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers because it’s an “unnerving as hell” look at two families just trying to survive the postapocalypse. It’s tense, it’s violent and it’s full of “drama so intense it would make John Cassavetes flinch.” How can you go wrong? Don’t you need a little excitement in your life after a week filled with Trump, Comey and whatever the hell else happened? 

Since Hamilton can’t win anything else this year, the 2017 edition of the Tonys should provide a few surprises. Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 leads the musical field with 12 nominations, so the musical version of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace will probably pick up one or two awards. Besides that, there’s Bette Middler to look forward to. Whether or not she wins for her turn in the revival of Hello, Dolly! doesn’t really matter because this is Better Middler we’re talking about. Tune in just to see the icon. Watch them live this Sunday at 8 PM Eastern time. 

Peter Travers thinks this latest reboot is a “monster fail,” awarding Tom Cruise’s attempt at resurrecting some Egyptian evil with tons of CGI a single star. But here’s the thing: it’s perfect if you just want to watch something dumb, and it will also make you miss Brendan Fraser like crazy.