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☆ Welcome to Barbenheimer Weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | More About Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Start the day with the darker fare: Christopher Nolan’s moody “Oppenheimer,” about the physicist who ran the Los Alamos Laboratory during the development of the atomic bomb. The movie industry hopes so. Ticket sales for the year in the U.S. and Canada are down about 20 percent from the same period in 2019. Analysts predict that “Barbie” could take in $100 million domestically through Sunday; “Oppenheimer” around $50 million. “These are not the tried-and-true safe bets that are the hallmark of the summer movie season,” he said.

Persons: Christopher Nolan’s, Oppenheimer, ”, Milk, Greta Gerwig’s “, fantasia, ” “ Barbie, ” “ Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, “, ‘ Oppenheimer, Barbie ’, Will Barbenheimer, Barbie ”, Paul Dergarabedian Organizations: Los Alamos Laboratory, Alamo, Times Locations: Chicago, U.S, Canada

☆ Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne Resigns Amid Concerns Over Research Practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/stanford-president-tessier-lavigne-resigns-amid-concerns-over-research-practices-2c7229eb

Persons: Dow Jones, tessier, lavigne Organizations: stanford

☆ Reconsidering the Staycation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | More About Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I’ve always been skeptical of the staycation. So I was intrigued to discover, thanks to my colleague Catherine Pearson, that I have been staycationing all wrong. Evidently, my tendency to stumble into time off without a plan is unlikely to produce a restorative effect. This weekend, you could, for instance, seek out some vegan ice cream that doesn’t taste terrible. You could try running in a pool, which is easier on the joints but as effective as running on land.

Persons: I’ve, van, Catherine Pearson, Jaime Kurtz, “, ”, we’re Organizations: James Madison University

☆ ‘The Bear’ and a Chaotic Vision of Work
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Business leaders are resorting to desperate measures to entice workers back to the office, my colleague Emma Goldberg reported recently. “It’s been three years of scattershot plans for returning to in-person work — summoning people in, not really meaning it, everybody pretty much working wherever they pleased,” she wrote. One idea I haven’t seen floated is to offer screenings of the series “The Bear,” whose second season was released in June on Hulu. When it debuted last year, “The Bear” was praised for its authenticity, for depicting the chaos of a real restaurant kitchen. Hands are burned, fingers slashed; the pace of the prep rush turns the kitchen staff into sweating, shouting bodies, meat cooking meat.” Hardly a convincing argument for in-person work.

Persons: Emma Goldberg, “ It’s, ”, “, Will inducements, Salesforce, James Beard, ” James Poniewozik, begrudgingly Organizations: Hulu, The Locations: Chicagoland, The Times, The

☆ Can Colleges Be Racially Diverse Without Affirmative Action? Experience Suggests No
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-affirmative-action-college-admissions-e3de89d8

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Your Intentions for the Summer
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The message was perfunctory, left by the shop owner, a usually grumpy guy who sounded like his usually grumpy self. I’ve come to interpret it as, “Whatever amount of time is before you, enjoy it, and don’t take it for granted.”So I’m planning an “Enjoy Your Time” summer. I asked you recently what sort of personal summer “brand” you might declare, what this will be “the summer of” for you. I hope they make you think a little more creatively about the possibilities for your own summer:Your summer plansIt’s the summer of Frosty Fridays, where I take my three kids out to a new ice cream shop each Friday. — Pete Horvath, ChicagoThis is #granolagrandma summer.

Persons: ”, I’ve, — Pete Horvath, — Katherine Knight Organizations: “ Locations: ”, Chicago, Knoxville, Tenn

☆ Columbia University Pulls Out of U.S. News & World Report College Ranking
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/columbia-university-pulls-out-of-u-s-news-world-report-college-ranking-ebebb798

Persons: Dow Jones, ebebb798 Locations: columbia

☆ What Will Be the Theme of Summer?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I proclaim this: the Summer of George!”Setting intentions for summer is the low-stress, seasonal version of a New Year’s resolution. Megan Thee Stallion ushered in the notion of the “Hot Girl Summer” with her 2019 song, which led to the hopeful but mostly unrealized “hot vax summer” of 2021. Any eccentric pattern can become a designation: “‘Sharknado,’ Cronut … Is This the Summer of the Neolexic Portmanteau?” Slate asked in 2013. Hayley Phelan instructed Times readers on ways to make the summer of 2018 the summer of missing out, introducing the concept of JOMO (J for joy), FOMO’s “benevolent cousin.”In branding summer, we relinquish some of the season’s intoxicating agency: Is it caftan summer? My friend Sarah claims she’s observing an “I’m not showering” summer.

Persons: Seinfeld ”, George, he’s, ”, frivolously, Megan Thee, Nature, Callie Holtermann, Slate, Hayley Phelan, Natalie, Sarah, she’s Organizations: Yankees, The Times Locations: Bay

☆ The Cannes Film Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Cannes Film Festival began this week with Maïwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp as Louis XV, and ends on May 27 with a new Pixar film, “Elemental.” In between, there will be many screenings, many awkward standing ovations, many awards bestowed. Wes Anderson also has a new one, “Asteroid City,” about a junior stargazing convention. It features many members of the Andersonian repertory — Jason Schwartzman, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody and others. In “Firebrand,” from the Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz, Alicia Vikander plays Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, who’s played by Jude Law. Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose film “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or in 2018, has a new film, “Monster.” It stars Sakura Ando from “Shoplifters,” and the composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died last month, did the score.

☆ What’s in Our Queue? ‘I Hate Suzie’ and More
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

What’s in Our Queue? ‘I Hate Suzie’ and MoreI’m the deputy editor of the Culture & Lifestyle department at The Times, and I write the Morning newsletter on Saturdays. Here are five things I’ve been watching, reading and listening to →

Persons: Suzie ’, I’ve Organizations: &, The Times

☆ Appeals Court Tosses Convictions of Two Parents in Varsity Blues Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

As part of the largest college-admissions scam ever prosecuted, some parents allegedly paid others to create fake photos of their children as top athletes. WSJ finds out just how easy it is to manipulate photos by asking an expert to combine pictures of Tom Brady and Bradley Cooper. Photos illustration: David StarrA federal appeals court vacated the convictions for two parents who were found guilty of fraud in 2021 as part of the Varsity Blues college-admissions cheating case, highlighting the contentious legal claims underpinning the original charges. A jury ruled in October 2021 that Gamal Abdelaziz and John Wilson were guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery involving a school that receives federal funds—in their case, the University of Southern California. Prosecutors alleged they had worked with corrupt college counselor William “Rick” Singer to make illicit payments and pretend their children were star athletes to secure spots for them at top universities.

☆ Princeton Review and Tutor.com Are Now Owned by a Chinese Company
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Princeton Review and Tutor.com were purchased by China-based private-equity firm Primavera Capital. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesPrinceton Review and Tutor.com say a Chinese private-equity firm has received regulatory approval to buy the test-prep company and online tutoring platform, more than 15 months after the acquisition closed. Primavera Capital Group, based in Hong Kong, quietly purchased the well-known brands from Korean education company ST Unitas in January 2022, at a time of increased scrutiny of Chinese investment in the U.S.

☆ Chinese Company Now Owns Tutoring Firm Contracted by Military and Schools in U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ It’s Coronation Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But as with a sports playoff game or Hollywood awards ceremony, the coronation of Charles III has made me into an instant, if temporary, royals superfan. In a recent poll of 3,070 adults in Britain, 64 percent of respondents said they had little to no interest in today’s coronation. The ceremony has been modified to be more inclusive, but still “the hoary rituals of the coronation are a reminder of how — in a secular, multiethnic, digital-age society — the crown is fundamentally an anachronism,” wrote The Times’s London bureau chief, Mark Landler. An over-the-top coronation for a new king does make for an incongruous viewing experience while Commonwealth nations call for Britain to redress its colonialist legacy and the country reckons with a cost-of-living crisis. It’s possible to be fascinated by the pageantry while remaining skeptical of it, to gawk at the fairy-tale elements of the coronation while still questioning the system that supports them.

☆ Check out the 16-slide deck Rebel Girls used to raise $8 million to expand its empowerment-focused storytelling to TV, film, and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rebel Girls is a certified B Corp focused on empowering girls through inspiring content. Rebel Girls is a media company that started in 2016 with a mission to empower girls through inspiring, women-focused content. "It used to be if there was a female protagonist, she'd use magic — and the female protagonist was considered just for girls," Rebel Girls CEO Jes Wolfe told Insider. Rebel Girls' content strategy is to show up everywhere girls are, online and offline. Scroll down to read the pitch deck Rebel Girls used to raise its Series A.

☆ What Home Depot's billion-dollar pay raise may help prove about workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Bob Woods | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"We are confident we can make the investments needed to remain competitive in a tight labor market while also growing our profitability." "The [home improvement] environment seems to be weakening, not accelerating, and therefore incremental wage investments at this time would open the door to more questions and surprise. "They're behaving as they should given the tight labor market, showing leadership and not just thinking about a 12-month timeframe. And in a tight labor market, it's getting increasingly difficult to keep talent [if] you pay unlivable wages and [offer] few opportunities for growth and success." It's hard to say when, and if, Home Depot will see a demonstrable return on the monumental expenditure for its frontline workers.

☆ ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ Arrives
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If you ask any kids who grew up reading Judy Blume, they’ll tell you precisely what they learned from each of Blume’s books; which taboo rites of passage each book introduced; probably even where they were, physically and developmentally, when they first stumbled on this information. They might very well remember the precise page number of the paperback that was passed around middle school on which the most eye-opening passages appeared. I recently reread her classic, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” in advance of seeing the film adaptation that opens this week, 52 years after the book’s publication. In my memory, “Margaret” was chiefly about puberty, specifically about getting your period for the first time.

☆ Your Spring Soundtrack
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On weekends in springtime, when the warmer weather has yet to click into place, relaxing can be hard. The playlist, a collaborative effort by readers of The Morning, is a big sprawling thing. We weren’t able to include every song submitted, but at over 24 hours, the playlist is more than long enough to provide a soundtrack for your entire spring. Put it on while you’re making breakfast, while you’re running errands, while you’re on a long drive. How long had it been since I found myself with a totally unscheduled hour in a strange place?

☆ Yale Law Still No. 1 on U.S. News & World Report’s Rankings Despite Leading Revolt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/yale-law-still-no-1-on-u-s-news-world-reports-rankings-despite-leading-revolt-426f2194

☆ The Unraveling of the U.S. News College Rankings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Melissa Korn | Photographs Christopher Capozziello For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken floated the idea past a small circle of colleagues. And then, on Nov. 16, she started the revolt. Like many university administrators, Ms. Gerken had tried for years to get U.S. News & World Report to rethink its law-school rankings. The problem for Ms. Gerken wasn’t Yale Law’s score—it had been No. She worried about the broader effect on schools and their priorities.

☆ More Storms Set to Hit California This Week, Continuing Deluge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The West Coast is bracing for another round of storms beginning Sunday, with wet weather expected in California through the middle of the week and the Sierra Nevada region anticipating more snow. A first storm will roll through the Central and Northern California coast Sunday night, delivering a modest amount of rain as well as more than a foot of snow in the mountains, with little impact in the southern part of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

☆ Ivy League’s Agreement to Ban Athletic Scholarships Is Illegal, Lawsuit Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The lawsuit was filed by current and former basketball players from Brown University. The eight schools that make up the Ivy League engage in illegal price-fixing by not awarding athletic scholarships, alleges a lawsuit filed Tuesday by current and former Brown University basketball players. While all Division I athletic programs award financial aid to selected athletes, Brown, Harvard, Yale and the other Ivies have for years agreed to provide only need-based financial aid to students, including athletes. According to the suit, that agreement violates federal antitrust law, and harms recruited athletes who otherwise could have gotten scholarships covering tuition and fees, or been eligible for reimbursement on thousands of dollars of other school-related expenses under National Collegiate Athletic Association regulations.

☆ Frank Founder Says JPMorgan Knew How Many Users Her Firm Had in $175 Million Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( David Benoit | Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The woman who sold financial-aid startup Frank to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $175 million said the bank understood how big the company was before going through with the deal and that its fraud claims are unfounded. Charlie Javice said the bank is trying to blame her for a failed strategy in a lawsuit it filed in federal court in December. In her reply to that suit Monday, Ms. Javice said JPMorgan’s claim that she invented 4 million customers out of whole cloth with a professor and some artificial intelligence is an effort to hide the reality that the biggest bank in the country just flopped on the transaction.

☆ Colorado College Withdraws From U.S. News & World Report Undergrad Ranking
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Colorado College’s administrators surveyed students, alumni, parents and faculty before making the decision to withdraw. Colorado College will no longer cooperate with U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the nation’s best colleges, making it the highest-ranked college to pull out of the undergraduate rankings in decades. “We have a very strong vision for where we want to go in the future. Those metrics that U.S. News measures are just inconsistent with who we are,” said Colorado College President L. Song Richardson. The school has consistently ranked among the nation’s top 30 liberal-arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report’s measure, landing at No.

☆ Michigan State University Shooting Spotlights Campus Security Efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Colleges nationwide are tapping increasingly high-tech tools to try to prevent or respond to violent attacks, but their open gates can complicate efforts to bolster campus security, school officials and safety experts said in the wake of Monday’s fatal mass shooting at Michigan State University. On Monday night, police said, 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae , of Lansing, Mich., fired shots in two Michigan State buildings, killing three students and injuring five more. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a few hours later, after being confronted by police off campus. Mr. McRae had no known ties to the university, police said.

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