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☆ Who is Ken, really? The history of the world’s most misunderstood doll
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

March 11, 1961: When Ken met BarbieThis original Ken doll from 1961 was supposed to be so handsome and magnetic that Barbie fell instantly in love. 1970s -1990s: Ken tries to be trendyEven with an ever-fashionable companion like Barbie, Ken could never quite crack it when it came to personal style, though he certainly tried. Mod Hair Ken: A quintessentially ‘70s doll with a massive mop of hair, extra-long sideburns and bonus facial hair made for mixing and matching. Totally Hair Ken: It looks how it sounds — this ’90s Ken came with a long, unkempt mane, real hair gel and a small comb his owners could use to style him however they wanted. Mattel introduced a “new and improved” Ken doll almost two years to the day after his break-up with Barbie.

Persons: CNN — “ Barbie, Ken, Barbie, He’s, cinephiles, “ Barbie, Kenneth Carson, Ryan Gosling, Ruth Handler, ”, They’d, Ken wasn’t, diehard Barbie, ” M.G, Yvonne Hemsey, “ hipper, Dan Savage, ” Savage, Mattel, Savage, they’d, —, Russell Arons, Barbie “, ” Arons, Barbie – Blaine, Phillip Bloch, Bloch, Matthew McConaughey, Orlando Bloom, “ Ken, ” Bloch, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Michael Keaton, hadn’t, “, Valentine’s, Ryan Gosling cheesing, Gosling, Greta Gerwig, Robbie, Kenergy ”, ” Gosling, Ken’s, he’s, Jimmy Fallon, I’m, Ken —, Barbie ” Organizations: CNN, Warner Bros, Discovery, Mattel, New, Historical Society, New York Times, Pixar, ascot, Valentine’s, ” CNN, Facebook, Venice Locations: Barbie’s, Willows , Wisconsin, Cali, Europe, New York, Los Angeles

☆ Blind church band shows Nigeria there's 'ability in disability'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Kazeem Sanni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Visually impaired pastor Chimaobi Nduka sings with the faithful during blind people's Sunday church service at Bethesda Home for the Blind in Lagos, Nigeria July 2, 2023. REUTERS/Seun SanniLAGOS, July 21 (Reuters) - Every Sunday, worshippers at Bethesda Home Church in Lagos sing and dance to popular hymns. But there's a twist: the drummers, guitarists, keyboard player and choir are all visually impaired. "When (people) start seeing the ability in them, they will believe in them," said Ohakwe, who runs an NGO for visually impaired people. "I want anybody out there, as a visually impaired person or a disabled person, to have in his mind that there is a lot you can still do if you believe in yourself."

Persons: Chimaobi Nduka, Seun Sanni, Chioma Ohakwe, Ohakwe, Nathaniel Ndukwe, Ogungbe Abiola, Abiola, Hereward Holland, Nellie Peyton, Alison Williams Organizations: Bethesda Home, Blind, REUTERS, Seun, Bethesda Home Church, World Bank, Fed, Thomson Locations: Lagos, Nigeria, Seun Sanni LAGOS, Bethesda

☆ HulKENberg? Haas driver laughs off his Barbie movie look
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUDAPEST, July 20 (Reuters) - Haas Formula One driver Nico Hulkenberg joked about his Barbie movie vibe after turning up at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Thursday with a striking dyed bleach blond look. "No, not a bet... you know, that Barbie movie came out and I thought a bit of extra PR for me would be pretty handy this time of the season," he said. More seriously, Hulkenberg expected another tough weekend for his U.S.-owned team despite some minor upgrades to the car's floor. That means hard for the first phase, mediums for the second and softs for the final top 10 shootout. Haas are eighth overall after 10 races with Hulkenberg scoring nine of their 11 points to date.

Persons: Nico Hulkenberg, Barbie, Ken, Hulkenberg, Haas, Alan Baldwin, Pritha Sarkar Organizations: Haas, Thomson Locations: BUDAPEST, Hungarian, London

☆ OpenAI Worries About What Its Chatbot Will Say About People’s Faces
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Kashmir Hill | More About Kashmir Hill | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The chatbot that millions of people have used to write term papers, computer code and fairy tales doesn’t just do words. ChatGPT, the artificial-intelligence-powered tool from OpenAI, can analyze images, too — describing what’s in them, answering questions about them and even recognizing specific people’s faces. For the last few months, Jonathan Mosen has been among a select group of people with access to an advanced version of the chatbot that can analyze images. It told me about the tiles in the shower,” Mr. Mosen said. And with one picture, I had exactly the answers that I needed.”For the first time, Mr. Mosen is able to “interrogate images,” he said.

Persons: Jonathan Mosen, Mosen, Mr, ”, ChatGPT

☆ Mattel hated the 1997 song 'Barbie Girl' so much that it sued. Now, the song is making a return thanks to Greta Gerwig.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Aqua's chart-topping 1997 hit "Barbie Girl" called the doll a "blond bimbo" and was full of innuendos. "Barbie Girl" is now being revived in Greta Gerwig's film with a performance by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice. But no one really thought that the tongue-in-cheek song could have been written by Mattel, Lobel wrote. Years later, Mattel even bought the rights to the song from Aqua, Lobel wrote. The song is now making a comeback, in a way, thanks to Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" film, which is hitting cinemas this Friday.

Persons: bimbo, Greta Gerwig's, Nicki Minaj, Elton John, Barbie —, Lobel, Aqua, Barbie, Ken, Barbie's Dreamhouse, Lene Nystrøm, René Dif, hanky, Mattel, Alex Kozinski, Vinnie Zuffante, Michael Ochs, Nystrøm, Stone, Pamela Anderson, Kozinski Organizations: Mattel, MCA Records, Service, Universal Music, Michael Ochs Archives, Aqua, YouTube, Spotify Locations: Wall, Silicon, Norwegian, Australia, Barbie's

☆ Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling on Barbie and Kenergy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Nicole Sperling | More About Nicole Sperling | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Greta would say, run toward that, that’s going to be more interesting. Some things are tiny, like her referring to herself as Stereotypical Barbie. The word “stereotypical” has negative connotations attached to it. She needs to start there, referring to herself as Stereotypical Barbie, because she’s already putting herself down without realizing it. RYAN GOSLING Well, the title page said “Barbie and Ken,” and the “and Ken” was scratched out.

Persons: Barbie, Greta, ROBBIE, “, Blond Barbie, she’s, Ryan, RYAN GOSLING, “ Barbie, Ken, ”, Ken ”, Margot, churros, GOSLING, ROBBIE Barbie, I’ve

☆ Paddleball Paul’s Lonely War on Pickleball
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Allie Conti | Lanna Apisukh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

4, right in the middle of the pickleball hive, there was a man by himself who seemed to be in some distress. But really, he was a man who needed to use the bathroom. He was about to serve against a wall to himself when a young blond woman approached. He would have loved an opponent, sure, but what he really needed was somebody to hold the court while he ran to the men’s room. He knew that the moment he stepped away, some pickleballer would set up a net in his space.

Persons: Hulk Hogan Locations: Central Park

☆ How 'Birkin Bandit' George Mickum Infiltrated NYC Society
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Kate Taylor | Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +52 min

"He would know people's weaknesses and what they wanted and somehow always have something to offer," a former close friend said. Another close friend said Mickum once gave her a $1,000 loan "within minutes" when she needed it because of a credit-card crisis. He never "let the truth get in the way of a good story," a former close friend said. Hermès bags, like the Birkin and the Kelly, have always been symbols of unattainable luxury. There wasn't even a dust bag; Mickum claimed his mom's assistant would drop it off later.

Persons: George Mickum strode, Carlyle, Patty Hearst, He'd, Mickum, Birkin, swilling, Patty's, Gillian Hearst, Mr, George Mickum, Gillian Hearst's, George, Sally Painter, who'd, Peter Davis, Jackie O, Barbara Walters, Alessia Fendi, influencer Hannah Stella, Nick Hissom, Steve Wynn, Hearst, they'd, Prince Charles, Anna Delvey, Patty Hearst's, Rumor, he'd, wasn't, Met Breuer, Peter Poopat, George Santos, Trinity, Elisabeth Thieriot, Thieriot, Hermes, —, Painter, Paul Mickum, George Mickum III, Sally, Painter's, Poopat, PJ Pascual, Patrick McMullan, Ramona Singer, Lauren Lawrence, Lawrence, Van Cleef, Nicole Salmasi, Trudy, Mike Vitelli, Eric Schmidt, Schmidt, Eric, R, Couri Hay, They're, Astor, William Randolph Hearst, Orson Welles, Kane, Gillian's, Bill Clinton, Patty, Bernard Shaw, Gillian, Lydia —, Shaw, Maxim, Lydia, Kane we're, Christian Simonds, Pierre, Krista Corl, Dee Dee, Scott Buccheit, Naeem Delbridge, Pascual, who's, We're, buttering, Simonds, Matthew Kehoe, England, — Hearst, Delbridge, Hearst's, Mario Glen Coco, Hearsts, Astrid Stawiarz, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Justin Timberlake, Joe Lewis, Buccheit, Mary McCarthy, Lillian Hellman, Mickum's, Christie Grimm, Steve, Kameron Ramirez, Hissom, Ramirez, Nick, Hunt, Damien Hirst, Douglas Elliman, Harry Winston, David Fiszel, invitees, Fiszel, Darian, Winston, Martha Stewart's, Mendel minks, Vacheron Constantin, Tao, Melinda French Gates, Shawn Mendes, Bill, Hillary Clinton, Neiman Marcus, Damien Hirst's, Damien, weren't, Kelly, Alexis Clarbour, Clarbour, Paul Wharton, you've, Wharton, Sean Zanni, Michael Coste, Hannah Stella, Coste's, Stella, Scott Fitzgerald, Coste, Goodman, Courroies Birkin, didn't, Aman, Cartier, Mickum's bluster, skeptically, satchel, Clarbour's, He's, We've, Sider, Philippe, Buccheit texted Pascual, he's, Hay, Café Carlyle, Alexander Hankin, Burisma, Hunter Biden, Mickum hasn't, There's, They've, Amy X, Wang, King Charles, Tracey Amon, Amon, GEORGE MICKUM Organizations: Hearst, Blue, Potomac, Hamptons, East, Met, University of Delaware, Southampton Bathing Corporation, Fields School, Georgetown Law, DC, Town &, New York Daily News, The New York Times, Google, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Cosmopolitan, Symbionese Liberation Army, Hearst Corporation, Vogue, Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering, Stockbridge Golf, New, Tiger, Tottenham, Douglas, Martha Stewart's Hamptons, Mickum, Projects, Madison, Getty, Antibes, Nike, Rue du Faubourg Saint, Couture, US, UN, New Yorkers, Avenue Couture, Hermès, Republican, Justice Department, Blue Star, Town, New York Times Magazine Locations: Bemelmans, Clinton, York, Palm, New, London, Manhattan, Dalton, Bay, Windsor Castle, Haute, Washington , DC, New York, Baccarat, The, San Francisco, Wilton , Connecticut, Side, Wyntoon, California, Buccheit, woodsy Stockbridge , Massachusetts, Stockbridge, Bahamas, Albany, Nobu, Martha, Peking, Paris, Istanbul, St, Georgetown, China, Italy, Hermès, Amalfi Coast, du, Midtown, brunch, Rue, Central Park, Mickum, Turkey, La, Café, Ukrainian, Ukraine

☆ Here’s What Buy Side Staffers Are Buying on Sale for Prime Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +13 min

Here are products on sale that our team members are buying themselves—or already own and can highly recommend—during this year’s two-day Prime event. I’ve set goals to cook more than I eat out or order in to save money and for my health goals, so I’ll be purchasing this All-Clad cookware set this Prime Day for all my cooking needs. The 8-inch version is on sale for Prime Day, coming in at less than $300. Reviewers note that they’re ideal for larger hands.” —Leslie Yazel, editor, head of contentSalon-level styling tool“I bought the Revlon One Step Volumizer styling brush last Prime Day, and it has been a favorite all year. My partner always steals them when we travel, so this Prime Day, I’ll be buying him his own pair while they’re $100 off ahead of our fall wedding-season travels.” —Chao Li, head of product

Persons: what’s, juicer “ I’ve, ”, Nick Guy, I’ve, ” — Ian Salisbury, AirTag, Brittany Nguyen, Madeline Diamond, Emily Schwartzberg, It’s, ” — Emily Welsh, it’s, ” — Alix Milne, Rina Stone, I’ll, — Caroline Wernecke, Hydrating, — Irma Sahinovic, Astrid Stawiarz, ” — Leslie Yazel, Jessica Woodbury, I’d, Caroline Wernecke, ” — Bellamy Richardson, Bissell, ” — Chao Li Organizations: Side, Timex Men’s Expedition, Revlon, Altos, Colgate, Sony WH, 1000XM4, Sony Locations: France

☆ GOATs Are Everywhere in Sports. So What Really Defines Greatness?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Kurt Streeter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Some say GOAT’s origins actually spring from a flamboyant, blond-tressed wrestler, George Wagner, who was known as Gorgeous George and who in the 1940s and ’50s earned lavish paydays by turning trash talk into fine art. “So keep on bragging, keep on sassing, and always be outrageous.”This week marks the moment when sport’s most legitimate GOAT talk hovers over tennis and an event its organizers not-so-humbly call the Championships. That will drive fans of Rafael Nadal, who is stuck at 22 major titles, to distraction. They will argue that their idol would have won 25 major titles (or more) by now, if not for injuries. But, by goodness, he’s Roger Federer, fine linen with a forehand with 20 Slams and a raft of epic final-round battles to his name.

Persons: Ali, George Wagner, Gorgeous George, that’s, ” Ali, “, Novak Djokovic, Margaret Court’s, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, he’s Roger Federer Organizations: Wimbledon

Here are the meanings of the least-found words that were used in (mostly) recent Times articles. Literally, in Amleth’s case, as he hacks, stabs and cudgels his way over ramparts and through muddy dooryards and alleyways. — ‘The Northman’ Review: Danish Premodern (April 21, 2022)7. vanillin — the main part of vanilla extract:The treat is so beloved that Somerville is home to an annual What the Fluff? festival, where tens of thousands of people celebrate every possible use of the concoction, a mixture of corn syrup, sugar, egg white and vanillin. — In ‘Mandela: The Lost Tapes,’ a Veteran Journalist Finds Himself (Nov. 30, 2022)And the list of the week’s easiest words:

Persons: plena, — Bush, villanelle, Adam Giannelli’s paean, Proust, lollop —, palapa, appellee, Marshall, dooryard —, —, Eggers —, vanillin, Somerville, napoleon, paean, Stewart, Mr, Gutfeld, paeans, Stengel, ‘ Mandela, ’ Organizations: Scottish Highlands, Junior, Fox, Fox News, ‘ Locations: Puerto Rican, Mexico, Russia, Englanders, New York, Breton

☆ Hunter Biden’s Daughter and a Tale of Two Families
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Katie Rogers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There is a 4-year-old girl in rural Arkansas who is learning to ride a camouflage-patterned four-wheeler alongside her cousins. When she is old enough, she will learn to hunt, just like her mother did when she was young. The girl is aware that her father is Hunter Biden and that her paternal grandfather is the president of the United States. Her maternal grandfather, Rob Roberts, described her as whip-smart and funny. But at its core, the story is about money, corrosive politics and what it means to have the Biden birthright.

Persons: Hunter Biden, Rob Roberts, Mr, Roberts, Biden Locations: Arkansas, United States

☆ The Vietnamese American Artists Searching for Identity
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Joshua Glass | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

An-My Lê can barely recall the Hawaiian shirt that the blond American wore when he put her into a black cargo van. When dawn broke, she took one last glance at the landscape through the windows of the American C-130 aircraft as it disappeared into the clouds. Complicated emotions of uncertainty and anger, guilt and abandonment all intersect for artists from Lê’s generation; those who are not fully Vietnamese in Vietnam nor American in America. Shrouded in war, these Vietnam-born American artists use their memories not so much as a political protest as an emotional inquiry, through the generational traumas that have plagued their families since the day they left home. And only now are Western institutions finally giving these displaced artists room to engage with these traumas.

Persons: Nam, Lê Organizations: Communist, Western Bloc, Air Base Locations: Saigon, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Việt Nam, United States, Republic of Vietnam, Vietnam, America

☆ 'American Sikh:' How a turbaned Captain America shatters stereotypes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Harmeet Kaur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

In 2013, a photographer convinced the cartoonist to don a Captain America costume for a shoot on the streets of New York. Something about a Sikh Captain America seemed to resonate with people. He wants others to see Sikh Captain America as just AmericanIn summer 2011, Singh saw a promotional poster for “Captain America: The First Avenger” that sparked an idea. “I never fathomed that a 10-year-old White kid would connect to a turban and bearded Captain America,” Singh said. Singh’s Sikh Captain America subverted typical ideas of patriotism – instead of fighting Nazi agent Red Skull and other members of the Axis Powers, Sikh Captain America would fight hate crimes and intolerance in the US.

Persons: America, Chris Evans, Vishavjit Singh, Singh, ” Singh, Ryan Westra, Whoopi Goldberg, Indira Gandhi, Gandhi, “, ”, –, Osama bin Laden, Mark Fiore, White, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Red, Drew Heskett, Westra, Beard, ” “, ” Westra, they’ve, heartening, – Singh, “ Osama ” Organizations: CNN, Police, Tribeca, Sikh, Captain America, New York Comic Con, Nazi, America Locations: United States, New York, New Delhi, India, California, East Coast, Nazi Germany, America

☆ 'Barbie' movie's pink paint splurge led to global shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Lianne Kolirin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Creating the perfect backdrop for the upcoming “Barbie” movie required so much pink paint that it led to a global shortage, according to its production designer. “The world ran out of pink,” said Sarah Greenwood in a recent interview with Architectural Digest. Warner Bros. PicturesGreenwood, who has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including for the art direction of “Pride & Prejudice” and “Atonement,” said constructing the set involved huge amounts of Rosco’s fluorescent pink paint. Warner Bros.’ live-action movie, which hits theaters on July 21, stars Margot Robbie in the titular role and a blond Ryan Gosling as her plastic boyfriend, Ken. (Warner Bros., like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros.

Persons: Barbie, ”, Sarah Greenwood, Margot Robbie, Pictures Greenwood, ’, Ryan Gosling, Ken, CNN Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, “, Gerwig, Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Lauren Proud Organizations: CNN, Architectural, Warner Bros, Pictures, Warner Bros . Locations: London, Palm

☆ Barbie owes her existence to a 1950s German comic strip
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Barbie likely wouldn't exist if Mattel's founder hadn't stumbled across Bild Lilli, a plastic doll based on a comic strip. The first Barbie doll, from 1959, had Lilli's red lips, high blonde ponytail, and winged eyeliner. But these dolls had flat chests, big bellies, and squatty legs – they were built like overweight six- or eight-year-olds," Handler wrote. The newspaper began making Lilli dolls in 1955 because of the comic's popularity and to market the newspaper. "Here were the breasts, the small waist, the long, tapered legs I had enthusiastically described for the designers all those years ago," Handler wrote.

Persons: Barbie, hadn't, Ruth Handler, —, Ruth Handler —, Mattel —, Barbara, Handler, Lilli, SSPL, Axel Springer publication's, Reinhard Beuthein, Robin Gerber, Ruth, Gerber, Elliot, Frederic Neema, Mattel, Lobel, Greiner, Louis Marx, Marx, Fiona Hanson, Hausser Organizations: Bild Lilli, Service, Mattel, Getty Images, Hausser, Getty, Greiner, Hausser's Locations: Europe, Lucerne, Swiss, Los Angeles, Lilli, New York

☆ Iiu Susiraja: She Has Issues? No, You Have Issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Roberta Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The strange, discomfiting photographs and videos of the Finnish artist Iiu Susiraja push so many buttons that her provocative exhibition at MoMA PS1 should have been staged in an elevator — to paraphrase the theater critic Peter Marks. Ambiguously titled “Iiu Susiraja: A Style Called a Dead Fish,” the show features 49 photographs and 13 short videos dating from 2008 to 2022. Like most artists whose work matters, Susiraja has no shame. Born in 1975 in Turku, Finland, where she still lives, Susiraja (pronounced ee-you susi-rah-yah) started out as a textile designer. Easy resolution of their meanings is impossible, which creates a rich internal narrative in the viewer, often starting with one’s feelings about one’s own body.

Persons: Iiu, Peter Marks, Susiraja Organizations: MoMA Locations: Turku, Finland

☆ Superstar Billy Graham, Model of the Buff, Blond Wrestler, Dies at 79
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Richard Sandomir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Superstar Billy Graham, a professional wrestler whose extravagant presence — 22-inch biceps, dyed blond hair, feather boas, tie-dyed tights and an outrageous gift of gab — influenced the style of future stars like Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura, died on Wednesday in Phoenix. The cause was sepsis and multiple organ failure, said Keith Elliot Greenberg, who collaborated with Graham on his autobiography. Graham’s longtime use of steroids had weakened his bones, requiring at least six hip replacements, and made him sterile. He also received a liver transplant in 2002 after contracting hepatitis C.“If you look at those that came after him, more people have patterned themselves after Superstar Billy Graham and become a success in this business than probably anybody,” Triple H, the superstar wrestler whose birth name is Paul Levesque, said at Graham’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. “And when it comes to bodies, there was nobody, and I mean nobody, that could touch the Superstar.”Graham, who was born Eldridge Wayne Coleman, had been an evangelist, a bodybuilder who bench pressed as much as 605 pounds, a defensive end in the Canadian Football League, a debt collector and a bouncer before turning to wrestling in 1970.

☆ Chanel Takes Hollywood in a Return to Spectacle. Will It Pay Off?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Chanel’s Los Angeles cruise fashion show was full of pink and sparkles. Photo: ChanelLOS ANGELES—After Tuesday’s Chanel cruise show at Paramount Studios, Dr. Birgit Scheuer Niro bopped to the beat of a live Snoop Dogg show in a pink-tweed midriff-baring suit, her blond hair in a high ponytail. “A real, real, real Beverly Hills housewife,” she said of her look—although in reality, she is a German physician based in Paris and specializing in breast-cancer screening. “It’s a serious profession, and my hobby is fashion,” said Dr. Scheuer Niro, a Chanel client important enough to receive a coveted invitation to the fashion show. “I always enjoy when I see other clients in the same outfit,” said the doctor, of a nearby client in the same pink Chanel cruise look.

☆ In ‘Sweeney Todd,’ Annaleigh Ashford Puts It All Together
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Other roles came, several of them further variations on the dumb blonde: Glinda in “Wicked”; Essie in “You Can’t Take It With You,” her Tony-winning part; Sylvia in “Sylvia,” in which she played a blond dog. Yoked with that mind is a clarity of purpose, tinged with a belief in the divine, which can resemble a kind of innocence. Sarah Paulson, who worked with her on “Impeachment: American Crime Story” and filmed a movie with her last summer, described that clarity as lending Ashford a certain buoyancy. “She can seem like she’s dancing in the ether a little bit,” Paulson said. But Ashford also has a seriousness to her, which Paulson described as “a fierce self-possession, this unassailable confidence that is wild to me.”

☆ ‘Whatever It Takes’: The Street Teams Who Help Mentally Ill New Yorkers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Andy Newman | Hiroko Masuike | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Half a year with the street counselors who dispense free sneakers, monthly injections and gentle encouragement to some of the city’s most vulnerable and volatile residents. It had taken their team almost five months just to track down the 43-year-old homeless woman, chasing leads from the police and other homeless people. On this afternoon last August, they were trying to help her find the holy grail: an apartment where someone with a severe mental illness could build a stable life. The woman, M, flashed them a big smile. In her black baseball cap, long blond wig, oversize sunglasses and about 20 bracelets, she looked like a misplaced movie star.

☆ Muses Upon Muses Inside the Met Gala Cocktail Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Sandra E. Garcia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Nicole Kidman and her husband, Keith Urban, were among the first celebrities to arrive inside the Great Hall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday for the Costume Institute benefit, honoring the designer Karl Lagerfeld. The couple was accompanied by Baz Luhrmann and his wife, Catherine Martin. For the cameras, Ms. Kidman, with her long, strawberry blond locks, in a swath of peachy fabric, seemed to float toward Mr. Luhrmann’s side, in front of a towering centerpiece featuring hundreds of one-liter plastic bottles sourced from a recycling plant. The light of many flash bulbs reflected off the bottles, lighting Mr. Luhrmann’s face as he fluffed Ms. Kidman’s train, gesturing with his hands, softly, toward her face. Ms. Kidman, who starred in Mr. Luhrmann’s films “Moulin Rouge!” and “Australia,” poked her chin up, meeting the director’s hand in midair.

☆ John Blake: The story about race I didn't know how to tell
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

John Blake, seen here in a second-grade photo, grew up as the son of a White mother and Black father. What I didn’t know was that my community had died long before the Freddie Gray protests. That’s the story I wanted to tell, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to tell Harlow any of that because my story doesn’t fit traditional narratives about race or identity. My white family members didn’t change because I shamed them with an impressive lecture on systemic racism.

☆ Harry Belafonte, Folk Hero
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Wesley Morris | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

And rather than simply translate his hot-ticket cabaret act for American living rooms, Belafonte imagined something stranger and more alluring. “The bleaker my acting prospects looked,” Belafonte wrote, in “My Song,” his memoir from 2011, “the more I threw myself into political organizing.” That organizing took familiar forms — marches, protests, rallies. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with Coretta Scott King as the beneficiary, because Dr. King didn’t believe he could afford it. (“Martin began drafting his antiwar speech in my apartment.”) So, yes, Belafonte was near the psychic core and administrative center of the movement. But those bleak Hollywood prospects — some incalculable combination of racism and too-raw talent — kept Belafonte uniquely earthbound, doing a kind of cultural organizing.

☆ Why Did I Spend My Last Birthday Alone in Alaska? Ask My Astrologer.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Mya Guarnieri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I’m deep in an Alaskan forest halfway through an 8K race when I find myself alone. Above me, 100-foot spruces bend and bellow, set upon by wind so loud I mistake it for an airplane. I see my 7-year-old daughter’s chubby cheeks and dirty blond curls, my 5-year-old son with his thumb in his mouth. I was all swagger: Back when I lived in Jerusalem, I ran on isolated trails in the forest almost every afternoon. And being in Alaska — with its vastness, the way it dangles, lonely, at the edge of the continent — has only magnified those feelings.

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