Sadie Sink Heads Back to School, in Broadway’s ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’
Sadie Sink Heads Back to School, in Broadway’s ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’
For much of her high school career, Sadie Sink took her lessons inside an old lifeguard shack that had been converted into a schoolhouse for the child actors on the set of “Stranger Things.” When the cast wasn’t battling Demogorgons in a parallel dimension, “everyone was studying different things at the same time,” Sink told me recently of her experience in the shack. “It was chaos.”
With that hit Netflix series nearing its end, and as Sink plotted her next move, she read the script for Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain,” a play about teenagers reading “The Crucible,” together, in a more typical school setting — though one that hides troubles of its own.
On a February afternoon, Sink sat at a desk in a rehearsal space in Manhattan’s Flatiron district, in a simulated classroom that had a timeless quality. There were pencil grooves atop the melamine desks, tennis ****** at the bottom of the chair legs. On a blackboard in the back, cryptic remnants of a lesson: “SEX IS POWER” was scrawled in chalk in uppercase letters, and below that, in lowercase, the words “changes nothing.”
Just as “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller’s 1953 classic, used the Salem witch trials as an allegory for McCarthyism, “John Proctor Is the Villain” uses “The Crucible” to interrogate the complexity of growing up in the #MeToo era. In an English class in Appalachia in 2018, the students are studying Miller’s play just as that movement against ******* violence tears through their one-stoplight town, breaches the doors of their school and collides with their reading of the play itself.
The result is a prismatic revelation: “John Proctor Is the Villain” is, at turns, a literary critique, a tender bildungsroman, a loopy comedy, a study of rural America and a Taylor Swift appreciation post. This month, it becomes a Broadway show, directed by the Tony Award-winning Danya Taymor.
Inside the rehearsal space, Taymor lit a stick of palo santo. Cast members — playing five high school girls and two boys — worked through a scene in which a meeting of the fledgling feminist club explodes into accusations against the men in their lives: a teacher, a student, the mayor. In each case, the students’ personal entanglements test their commitment to their ideals.
Mid-scene, Sink burst through the classroom door, the pages of her script rippling in her hand. Her character has returned to school after a conspicuous absence only to find that, despite all these revelations of male bad behavior, it is she who has been made the scapegoat. Sink’s eyes poked around the class, widening at her friends’ hypocrisy. Then she pinned one of the male students, Mason (Nihar Duvvuri), in her sights and sliced into his sweet exterior: “Thank you for being an ally,” she said.
They took the scene three times, with the actors testing out different kinetic impulses. Taymor paused after each iteration to ask: “Thoughts?” She wanted to know if they preferred to sit or lie on the couch, whether the doors to the classroom ought to stay open or closed. And how their understanding of the text was shifting in the room.
“This is the first scene in the play where the word ‘*****’ is used,” Duvvuri realized.
These characters can confidently discuss, as one puts it, how “white feminism is monopolizing the mainstream body positivity movement,” but they remain somewhat naïve to how power operates in their own lives. Now the glow of childhood has been rudely extinguished, and they must fumble through the dark toward a collective social consciousness.
Taymor advised her actors to resist the urge to make all of the lightbulbs appear to go off right away. “I know there’s discomfort because you care for your characters so much, but sometimes they don’t know yet,” she said. “They’re on the longest journey of discovery.”
A coven is a gathering of three or more witches, and it took the combined powers of Sink, 22, Taymor, 36, and Belflower, 37, to bring the play to the Booth Theater, where it will begin previews on March 20. (Sink also appears this month in “O’Dessa,” a musical movie coming to Hulu.) Over breakfast before that day’s rehearsal, they convened to tell the story.
The spark was lit in October 2017, when Woody Allen compared the mounting ******* harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein to a “witch hunt.” Belflower decided to reread “The Crucible.” She was struck by how John Proctor — long venerated as the tragic hero in this paradigmatic tale of American persecution — was also a menace who conducts an “affair” with Abigail Williams, a teenager working in his home.
“I was like, this is a teenage girl and a grown-**** man,” Belflower said. She began to envision a play of her own, one titled after her central revelation: John Proctor is the villain.
She wrote the script in 2018, with the help of a grant from the Farm Theater’s College Collaboration program, which commissions plays featuring younger characters and produces them at college drama departments. It has since been licensed for dozens of nonprofessional high school and college productions. “So, I kind of thought that was all this play was going to do,” Belflower said.
Instead, “John Proctor Is the Villain” went on to well-received runs in Washington and Boston, and eventually made its way into Sink’s hands. She was drawn to the role of Shelby Holcomb, a traumatized girl accused of smearing a good man’s name, not unlike Miller’s Abigail.
“When she comes in, it’s like a tornado,” Sink said of Shelby. “There’s a heaviness to her, masked by a lot of energy and a really fast mouth.” With Belflower and Taymor, Sink put together a workshop in Manhattan. “Every character felt like a real teenager,” she said, neither dumbed down nor overly mature. “And that is so rare to find.”
SINK WAS 10 when she made her Broadway debut, portraying various orphans in a 2012 revival of “Annie” before being promoted to play the title character. At 14, she joined the second season of the fantasy series and ’80s pastiche “Stranger Things,” which began streaming in October 2017 — just as the abuse and misogyny of the entertainment industry was erupting into public view. “It was a scary feeling,” Sink said. “It was an intense time, being so young and not really able to wrap my head around it.”
In the years since, she has emerged as somewhat of an avatar for her generation’s pop-feminist imagination, one that delights in remixing the cultural relics of the past. In “Stranger Things,” as the skeptical and scrappy Max, she gave Kate Bush’s 1985 weirdo feminist anthem “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” a new life on TikTok and the U.S. singles chart.
In 2021, Taylor Swift picked her to star in “All Too Well: The Short Film,” a music video set to a devastating expanded version of Swift’s 2012 power ballad about the end of a Hollywood love affair. As Swift ripped up her song’s foundation to show the grief and betrayal beneath its floorboards, Sink embodied the expanding feminist consciousness of the world’s biggest pop star, crystallizing the moment she reclaimed her music for herself.
Now, in “John Proctor,” that spirit of cultural revision and renewal comes to Broadway. “The play is so much about cycles, and about how systems of power perpetuate themselves,” Belflower said.
Though she wrote the play as #MeToo was developing, it’s now a ******* piece. But it also illuminates a generation contending with accumulated decades — centuries — of American cultural messaging. The characters make references to John Mayer and “Twilight,” Joan Didion and Daniel Day-Lewis, Walt Whitman and SparkNotes.
Alongside “The Crucible,” Belflower read the historian Stacy Schiff’s 2015 book, “The Witches,” which documents how Salem’s young women suffered PTSD from rampant violence. She quotes Schiff in the play’s epigraph, writing on how the Salem woman, though “officially voiceless,” made herself heard: “In legal records she hectors, shrieks, quarrels, scolds, rants, rails, tattles, and spits.”
Belflower’s text gives that insight a modern spin, transforming stigmatized feminine vocal tics into the raw creative materials of girls who must fight to be heard. On the page, her style takes on the cadence of a text message, its urgent lines freed from punctuation. As her characters challenge adult interpretations — whether of “The Crucible,” or of Lorde’s “Green Light” — they stage a proxy battle for the right to be the narrators of their own lives.
There is something enduring about this play, and about the teenage experience itself. Taymor claimed her Tony last year for directing the musical adaptation of “The Outsiders,” another ******* piece about the trials of youth. “Being a teenager — there’s something about it that never changes,” Taymor said. “For anyone who has been alive in America, this place will feel like home.”
Belflower wrote the play during the first Trump administration, and “John Proctor” will now have its biggest stage at its second coming. Callback auditions for the Broadway production fell on Election Day 2024. Actors vying for the role of Raelynn, Shelby’s on-again, off-again best friend, had to read a monologue in which she says: “one day / maybe / the new world we were promised / will actually be new / one day / maybe / the men in charge won’t be in charge anymore.”
“To hear that text,” said Taymor, “over and over that day — it was so, so intense.”
The #MeToo movement may not have destroyed gendered power structures in the entertainment industry, but “it shifted some things inside, internally,” Taymor said. It opened a lane of expression for discussing experiences that were previously suppressed, and allowed her and other women storytellers to recast their own lives from a new perspective.
Back in the rehearsal room, Sink, as Shelby, entered the classroom just after the remaining members of the feminist club emitted a spontaneous collective scream — as if Shelby had been drawn to the room by the howl of her wolf pack. In one iteration of the scene, Fina Strazza, playing the studious Beth, tested out wailing into the cushion of the classroom couch. Afterward, Belflower had a note: “Don’t you dare stifle that scream.”
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Why Mark in 'Severance' Drives a 1997 Volvo, and More Answers from the Show's Car Coordinators – The Drive
Why Mark in 'Severance' Drives a 1997 Volvo, and More Answers from the Show's Car Coordinators – The Drive
Why Mark in ‘Severance’ Drives a 1997 Volvo, and More Answers from the Show’s Car Coordinators The Drive
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F1 Academy’s Lia Block learned to drift from her dad. Now she’s making her own name
F1 Academy’s Lia Block learned to drift from her dad. Now she’s making her own name
Motorsports history is littered with sons of famous fathers following in Dad’s footsteps and trying to make their own names.
Michael and Mick Schumacher. Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bobby and Graham Rahal. The Andretti and Sainz families. Bill and Chase Elliott. The list goes on.
But motorsports isn’t just a man’s world anymore.
One of the women rising through the racing ranks is F1 Academy driver Lia Block. She’s the 18-year-old daughter of Ken Block, who made his name with his rally racing, the popular “Gymkhana” video series and brands such as Hoonigans before dying in a snowmobiling accident in January 2023.
Lia grew up in paddocks and naturally drifted towards off-road racing, eventually becoming a rally champion and later winning the Pro-Stock division of the Baja 1000 with her mother Lucy and the Block House Racing Team just over a year ago. Having become successful in her own right, the Williams Academy driver is now staring down her second full season in single-seaters, wanting to fight for the F1 Academy title.
Block is grateful that her father and his reputation opened doors to the motorsports world early in her career, but “it’s been really hard” navigating her career as ‘the daughter of.’
“I don’t want people (to) think that I’m cheating my way through it because I have a leg up. I do have a leg up into the sport because he was so renowned, and he gave me the opportunities to pursue my career,” Block told The Athletic ahead of the 2024 F1 Academy season. “But I do try and step away from it just a bit because I do want to create my own personality and I want to be my own self.
“I don’t want to be known as his daughter. I have a name, which is hard sometimes because I love being his daughter and I would take that over anything any day.”
Although Block’s early childhood was when her father competed in different rally and rallycross championships, her earliest motorsport memory happened at a racetrack in Florida.
Ken bought her an electric go-kart to use in their driveway. “It would only go 20 miles an hour,” Block says.
So, when she tried her first proper go-kart at around six, she was in for a surprise.
“I didn’t know that the faster you go, the less you have to turn. I got in this new go-kart, and it was a lot faster. I went into the first turn and went straight into the infield,” Block says, adding, “My dad held that over my head forever. It was just a funny experience. It wasn’t the time I really fell in love with motorsports. I was still trying everything else, but it was just what made me realize, ‘Oh, I gotta work hard for this one.’”
Growing up, she did gymnastics before switching to competitive dance. Those were constants in her life, even while trying other sports, including basketball, soccer, flag football, tennis and swimming. Block admits, “That’s kind of weird to say — ‘Hey, I was a dancer turned racecar driver,’ but I think that’s something I really loved growing up.”
Both of Block’s parents raced competitively. Ken secured podium finishes in various rally competitions, including the X Games, the World Rally Championship and World RallyCross. Lucy made her rally debut in 2009 and competed in her first full American Rally Association season in 2022.
Lia Block racing in Miami in 2024 (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
But they never forced her into motorsports, despite their passion for it. She says, “My dad had always given me open doors and given me the option to go and do motorsports.”
At around 10, she returned to racing. “It was kind of … on my own merit. And I think once I realized that I loved it so much and I tried all these things, I felt comfortable with myself and just knew that, ‘Yeah, I’ve tried all of this and this is really where I want to go.’”
A self-described “adrenaline junkie,” Block made her start in the Lucas Oil Off Road Series, which was a short-course series that competed in the United States and Mexico, and eventually went into karting.
At 13, drifting came more into the picture.
“My dad wanted to teach me how to drive stick. So I’d never learned how to drive stick. I was only 12 or 13 maybe, but he took me in his Ford *******, and I learned how to drive stick in that,” Block recalls. “He was like, ‘Hey, do you want to learn how to drift? You want to learn how to do donuts?’ And I was like, ‘Of course.’”
They filmed a YouTube video of it, which is nothing new for the family considering Ken created the popular “Gymkhana” videos that sometimes featured different racing stunts like those he and his daughter were doing.
“I looked back at it the other day, and I was like, ‘Wow, I was so awkward.’ I did not know how to talk to a camera,” Block says. “He was doing the Gymkhana videos on YouTube for a long time, so he’s always been kind of like a crazy person for drifting and making cars do really cool things. So being able to learn how to do donuts and do it like my dad was really cool.”
She learned how to drift in other cars but what kickstarted her career and brought her into the media was hopping into Ken’s famous 1,400HP Mustang ‘Hoonicorn’ to drag race at 14.
“I don’t know whose idea that was,” Block says, “but it was probably a bad one.”
Block followed in her parents’ footsteps in 2021 when she made her national-level rally debut at age 15, competing in the final round of the American Rally Association Championship for the Hoonigan Racing Division.
Bitten by the bug, she progressively added more rallying appearances before winning the American Rally Association Open Two-Wheel-Drive (ARA O2WD) championship in 2023, becoming the youngest ARA champ in history at 16. She was the first woman to compete in Group E for Nitrocross and the first woman to drive Pikes Peak, which she did in her father’s car (the Hoonipigasus).
“It just makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something,” Block says. “I think it definitely gives me a name. People can’t just say, ‘Oh why is she here?’ I’ve done something, and I think to carry that, no matter where I go in the future, is really special.”
But Block took a risk after winning that championship.
Williams announced in November 2023 that she would compete in F1 Academy with ART Grand Prix and join the F1 team’s academy. And that happened to be the same month she would go on to win the Baja 1000 with her mother. The two disciplines are completely different. “Kind of have to switch off one part of my brain that’s for rallying, switch on the other part that’s for open-wheel,” Block said.
F1 Academy marked Block’s single-seater debut. The first car she tested was from Formula Four, which is similar to those in F1 Academy, but she faced a steep learning curve. She went from winning a rally championship to being at the bottom of a different series and learning “everything from scratch.”
She had three months to prepare for the opening race in Saudi Arabia, and Block remembers thinking at one point, “Am I gonna be able to do this?”
It was a new car, all new tracks and people she’d never competed against in her career. Her goal is to be P1, but with 2024 being a learning year, Block knew winning the championship wouldn’t be possible. She qualified P7 for her first race at Jeddah Corniche Circuit, something she said, “I’ll take any day.”
She did damage her car’s rear wing while trying to pass for fifth during Race 1 that weekend, though it is a memory that she likely looks back on fondly given the aftermath. Back at the Block House headquarters in Utah, wrecked or damaged parts are displayed on the “Ain’t Care Wall.” A description above reads: “To strive to win at any cost, with zero mechanical sympathy or regard for one’s well-being.”
Her mechanics took part of that damaged rear wing and signed it. Block says, “My mechanic said that I can either not come back the next time or come back with the car in half. He said no more of the little crashes.” She brought that piece home from Saudi Arabia to be added to the wall.
Given Block’s motorsports career to date, her switch to single-seater racing raises a few eyebrows. But as Lucy explains it, this change makes sense for where her daughter is right now.
“She’s had a lot of calls for different types of driving. But at this point in her career, she really wants to focus on F1,” Lucy told The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck last spring.
“It’s something you have to get in at a younger age. She could rally when she’s 30. You can’t do F1 when you’re 30. She knows that, and she doesn’t want to look back in 10 years and say, ‘Oh man, I wish I would have done that.’”
Fast-forward nearly a year, Block is on a Zoom call with The Athletic, sporting a Rockstar Energy cap while at home in Utah. She’s still her bubbly self, balancing questions about the significance of this new partnership and how she’s prepared to fight for the 2025 F1 Academy title. But the biggest difference is a sense of quiet confidence.
Qualifying in Singapore last fall was “the big wake-up moment,” Block says. She secured her best qualifying spot of the season after a last-moment effort promoted her to fourth. She says, “It was when hard work started to pay off, and it’s hard when you work so hard behind the scenes and are doing so much and trying to learn so much, but you don’t really see it too much on track, and other people don’t see it.
“But that Singapore qualifying, it really felt like I was doing something right. I felt like I could be there, and I deserved that spot.”
Singapore was a breakthrough for Lia Block in 2024 (Joe Portlock/Getty Images)
Block scored a combined 24 points that weekend after consecutive fourth-place finishes, her biggest points haul of the seven-round season. She ended the year eighth with 44 points and now faces her second — and final — season in F1 Academy.
That debut season presented a massive learning curve for Block, as she went from winning the ARA O2WD championship to jumping into a single-seater for the first time. She did have higher expectations for herself heading into 2024 because, naturally, she wanted to win. But Block revisited those expectations around the Miami GP weekend in May, and both she and Williams talked about how “it’s just a learning year.”
One of the biggest lessons Block learned was patience.
“You have to take these little, small, marginal gains as really big accomplishments, because if you keep building those up, you keep going up the ladder,” Block explains. “Mentally, just stepping back, you can only control what you can control. Everything happens for a reason, and kind of just go with the flow.”
The 2025 season presents a new challenge, with over half of the grid changing from last year and four of the seven drivers who ranked above her last season no longer competing in the championship. The target is to become more comfortable with her car as well as improve working with her engineer and extract the maximum performance from the car each race weekend.
Block is keen to learn more about the mechanical side of the sport and dive deeper into the Formula One world.
“F1 Academy is the big focus this year. I want big wins, and I want to go for that championship, so it’s definitely the main focus,” Block says. “But I’m looking into doing some rally on the side in between, where we can fit it.”
This is where Rockstar Energy, her new sponsor, comes in. It’s no secret that motorsports is expensive, and Block says while her father’s career opened the door for her, “I’m an adult now, and I have to kind of pay for everything now.”
“I don’t think people know how expensive it is. Only really when you get to F1 is when you get paid,” Block explains, later adding, “Rockstar, they support me in everything I want to do. They’re here for me. Let’s go rally this year. Let’s go do some big projects as well as F1 Academy. It’s super-cool to have them and to be able to fuel my dreams.”
Block’s next step in her motorsports career will be decided based on how this season unfolds. F1 Academy only allows drivers to compete for two seasons, and she will need to show continuous growth. But rallying is still a big part of her life, a door she hasn’t closed entirely.
“I still really love rally and off-road and rallycross and stuff like that,” Block says. “But I also fell in love with the formula series and F1. I guess we’ll just have to see.”
(Top photo: Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
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Ricardo Scofidio, Boldly Imaginative Architect, Is Dead at 89
Ricardo Scofidio, Boldly Imaginative Architect, Is Dead at 89
Son of a Jazz Man
Ricardo Merrill Scofidio was born on April 16, 1935, in New York City to Earle and June (Matthews) Scofidio. He had a brother, Basilio. His father, a jazz musician who played the alto saxophone and the clarinet, was ******, “but he insisted to his dying day that he was Italian,” Mr. Scofidio told Arthur Lubow for an article in The New York Times Magazine in 2003. His mother “was light-skinned,” he said, “but she was actually half ******.”
He added, “I was continually told as a child to be invisible.”
He attended the Cooper Union School of Architecture and then Columbia University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1960. He began teaching at the Cooper Union in 1965.
In 1955, he married Allana Jeanne De Serio, with whom he had four children. They divorced in 1979. In addition to his sons Ian and Gino, he is survived by his wife; two other sons, Marco and Dana; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He lived in Manhattan.
By the late 1970s, Mr. Scofidio was unhappy with his marriage and his career. Attempting to practice architecture, he said in 2003, he spent “more time flying around meeting clients” than designing.
“It was a great frustration,” he added. “I realized at that point I had to change my life.”
Change it he did, after Ms. Diller enrolled in his architecture studio. Romantic entanglement was postponed, because “she was a student, and I respected that,” he said. But after she took a semester off to think, they moved in together. “It meant abandoning everything and starting over,” he said. “It was like shedding skin.”
In its early years, Diller + Scofidio was best known for designing theater and dance backdrops and installation art. In 1993, the couple installed a screen in Times Square on which a woman’s mouth, viewed in extreme close-up, murmured come-ons to passers-by: “Hey, you, wanna buy a ticket to paradise? Wanna buy a new lifestyle?”
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Steve Young still drives a 2011 minivan — here’s why even millionaires avoid flashy cars
Steve Young still drives a 2011 minivan — here’s why even millionaires avoid flashy cars
NFL legend Steve Young still drives a broken down 2011 Toyota Sienna with 132,000 miles — made over $49M in football but Dad told him to ‘get the most’ out of cars. Here’s what you can learn
Legendary 49ers quarterback Steve Young earned nearly $49 million playing football, according to Spotrac, but you’d never guess it from the beaten-up 2011 Toyota Sienna he drives.
In a recent interview with journalist Graham Bensinger, the two-time NFL MVP admitted he could easily afford a replacement for the car, which has 132,000 miles on it. However, he’s reluctant to let it go because of advice from his father, who always told him to “get the most out of it.” And he’s not the only Young family member who’s emotionally attached to the vehicle.
“This is a car that the kids all grew up in,” he told Bensinger. “My youngest Laila — that seat over there with the camera is the seat that she won’t give up. That’s her seat for life … she’s like, ‘No, I love this car [and] how it smells.’”
Surprisingly, multimillionaires driving modest cars isn’t as unusual as some might think.
Contrary to the common stereotype, most wealthy people aren’t driving around in flashy Ferraris and bright orange Lamborghinis. A 2022 study by Experian Automotive, found that the top car brands for households earning over $250,000 were Toyota, Ford and Honda.
Even billionaires opt for relatively inconspicuous cars. Warren Buffett reportedly drives a Cadillac XTS — no Bugatti for the Oracle of Omaha.
In other words, most affluent people who could splurge on luxury vehicles simply choose not to. Meanwhile, many ordinary consumers are stretching their budgets to the limit. A recent survey by CDK Global found that 57% of car buyers said they hit the top end of their budget, while 7% exceeded it.
The strain on consumers is also reflected in auto loan data. As of mid-2024, one in every 24 drivers with a car loan was paying more than $1,000 in monthly payments per vehicle, according to Experian — a ratio that has nearly quadrupled since 2020.
For many, the family car is becoming a significant financial burden. Here’s how you can avoid the growing auto loan crisis.
Read more: Jamie Dimon issues a warning about the US stock market — says prices are ‘kind of inflated.’ Crashproof your portfolio with these 3 rock-solid strategies
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For most consumers, cutting transportation costs is one of the most effective ways to improve their finances. According to a 2022 report by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, transportation is the second-largest annual expense for the average household.
One way to reduce this expense is by purchasing a car that’s within — or even below — your means. Buying a used car, for example, helps you avoid significant depreciation and can lower transportation costs substantially. As of 2024, the average used car costs roughly $20,000 less than a new one, according to Edmunds.
To figure out whether a vehicle fits your budget, consider the 20/4/10 rule:
By setting up firm financial guardrails, you can avoid the auto loan debt trap many consumers are driving into.
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
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Oldest living ex-MLB player dies at 100
Oldest living ex-MLB player dies at 100
Art Schallock, a little-known New York Yankees left-hander who treasured his late-in-life fame as the oldest living former major-league ballplayer, died Wednesday at age 100.
Schallock pitched a few dozen games for the Yankees from 1951-54, long enough to leave him with charming and oft-told tales of friends like Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. Schallock spent his final years at a senior living facility in Sonoma, Calif., where he delighted listeners by spinning yarns about facing Ted Williams or pitching in Game 4 against the Brooklyn Dodgers as the Yankees went on to win the 1953 World Series.
“I thought I had two strikes against me because of my size,’’ Schallock, who played at 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds, told The Athletic as he approached his 100th birthday last April. “But I made it. I mean, you can’t get any higher than the Yankees — world’s No. 1 team.”
With Schallock’s passing, Bill Greason, 100 years and 186 days old as of Saturday, becomes the oldest living former major-league player. Bobby Shantz (99 years, 163 days) is No. 2 on the list.
Checking out a commemorative 1953 Yankees bat with the oldest living former major leaguer. Art Schallock turns 100 (!!!) on April 25 and has some fun here remembering teammate Eddie Lopat. pic.twitter.com/2MDa8ZqAyU
— Daniel Brown (@BrownieAthletic) April 19, 2024
Schallock’s family released a statement Saturday saluting his remarkable life:
“As a pitcher for the New York Yankees, he was part of a historic era in the sport, contributing to multiple World Series championships. Beyond baseball, Art was known for his kindness, humor, and deep appreciation for the people around him. He lived a life filled with cherished friendships, family, and a passion for the sport that defined much of his journey.
“While we mourn his loss, we also celebrate the memories and legacy he leaves behind. We are grateful for the love and support he has always received from the many communities he was a part of.”
Schallock threw three complete games during a career in which he amassed a record of 6-7 with a 4.02 ERA. He spent much of his 58 career big-league games associating with baseball’s most legendary names. Consider that when Schallock got called up from the minors for his major-league debut on July 16, 1951, the Yankees made room on the roster by sending down a disappointing rookie named Mickey Mantle.
Mantle exacted his playful revenge in 1955, when Schallock was with the Orioles, by hitting a mammoth home run against him. The Mick smiled his way around the bases. “Jeez, he could hit that ball,” Schallock recalled.
Schallock’s first roommate on the road was Berra. In that arrangement, the veteran catcher shared his wisdom about attacking American League hitters while Schallock repaid him by doing a daily chore.
“The first thing in the morning, I had to run down to the lobby to get funny papers for him,’’ Schallock said. “Hell, I didn’t know a thing about comic books, but he’d say, ‘Go down and pick up a half-a-dozen comic books.’”
Schallock’s biggest claim to fame came many decades after his playing career. He took over the distinction of oldest living ex-MLB ballplayer when the aptly named George Elder died on July 7, 2022, at the age of 101.
As Schallock approached the century mark last spring, he found himself in national headlines, with profiles of his life and times in The Athletic, MLB.com, the Associated Press and the “CBS Evening News.”
Attendees at his birthday party held at his senior living community included Dusty Baker, the future Hall of Fame manager. Baker had never met Schallock but came to pay tribute to a bit of walking baseball history.
“The interaction between Artie and Dusty was truly phenomenal,’’ said Wendy Cornejo, the executive director at Cogir on Napa Road. “Witnessing two legends shake hands, look each other in the eye, smile, and exchange congratulatory wishes was incredibly inspiring.”
Today, Yankees players and Manager Aaron Boone had the opportunity to meet with former Yankees pitcher Art Schallock!
Art, who celebrated his 100th birthday this past April, is the oldest living @MLB player pic.twitter.com/Mx1AkyHA72
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 2, 2024
Not long after that celebration, the Yankees invited him to be their guest when the team visited San Francisco for a series at Oracle Park. Anthony Rizzo sat down in the dugout and spoke with the centenarian for several minutes. Manager Aaron Boone engaged in a spirited conversation with Schallock about batting practice and fielding drills.
Before that game, Schallock had not been to an MLB stadium since the early 1980s.
Arthur “Art” Schallock was born in San Francisco on April 25, 1924, and raised about 15 miles north, in the Marin County city of Mill Valley. His promising early baseball career took a back seat in 1943 when he was taken into the Navy and served as a radio operator on the USS Coral Sea during World War II.
Schallock was discharged in 1946, having received 11 battle stars. Not long after returning home, he went on a blind date with a woman named Dona Bernard. They were married for 76 years until Dona’s passing in 2023 at age 97.
She died on Art’s 99th birthday. They had two children and five grandchildren.
“They were amazing together. A true life-long love right there,’’ Zach Pascoe, one of the grandchildren, wrote in an email last year. “They were best friends. They truly enjoyed being in each other’s company, and as partners, they were even stronger. They complemented each other perfectly. They knew when to give each other space and when to be right there for each other.”
Schallock spent his final years at Cogir of Sonoma Plaza, where he relished his status as a celebrity. The senior living community released a statement Saturday, saying Schallock “was not just a resident but a friend, mentor, and storyteller who enriched our community with his wisdom and warmth. Whether sharing memories from his time on the baseball field or enjoying everyday moments with his fellow residents, Art had a way of making everyone feel valued and appreciated.”
(Photo courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)
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Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Continue ‘Wicked’ Theme at Oscars Red Carpet
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Continue ‘Wicked’ Theme at Oscars Red Carpet
In the words of Glinda, pink goes good with green.
After months of method dressing, “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo both arrived on the Oscars red carpet in their Ozian characters’ signature colors.
For Ms. Grande, nominated for best supporting actress, that meant an icy pink satin and tulle bustier gown from Schiaparelli decked out in more than 190,000 crystal sequins, rhinestones and beads. The wiggly waistline was inspired by an lamp designed by the artist Alberto Giacometti.
Ms. Erivo, who is nominated for best actress, opted for a shade of deep forest green, so dark it almost appeared ****** at first glance. But make no mistake, the subtle homage was intentional. Speaking with E! on the red carpet, she said the velvet Louis Vuitton gown — with an almost vampiric architectural collar — was a “nod to Oz, a nod to the green, and a nod to old Hollywood.” Her signature fingernails by the nail artist Mycah Dior were decorated with elaborate, hand-sculpted gilded art, including a tiny watch and clock.
Over the course of the “Wicked” press tour, both stars regularly stepped out in styles that referenced their characters. At the premiere in Los Angeles, Ms. Grande wore a pink Thom Browne gingham dress, while Ms. Erivo donned a green vinyl Louis Vuitton number.
Even at events not officially related to the film, the pair remained committed to the bit, like during an appearance at the Olympics in Paris where they each wore … well, you know.
The second installment of “Wicked” comes out later this year. We’ll have to wait and see if the duo will still be holding space for pink and green come November.
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The Big Clue Everyone Missed With John Cena's Heel Turn – Wrestling Inc.
The Big Clue Everyone Missed With John Cena's Heel Turn – Wrestling Inc.
The Big Clue Everyone Missed With John Cena’s Heel Turn Wrestling Inc.John Cena Drops Major Update After WWE Heel Turn — Teases a Nostalgic Return Yahoo EntertainmentCody Rhodes returns to SmackDown after John Cena’s vicious betrayal at WWE Elimination Chamber WWEJohn Cena Has Finally Turned Heel The RingerTopps unveils triple autograph card featuring The Rock, John Cena and Travis Scott ESPN
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International TV Series to Stream Now: ‘The Leopard,’ ‘Newtopia’ and More
International TV Series to Stream Now: ‘The Leopard,’ ‘Newtopia’ and More
The United States’ relationships with the rest of the world’s nations are fluid right now, but one thing is for sure: We keep importing their television shows. Here are some recent additions to what appears to be an increasingly large trade imbalance, at least when it comes to scripted series.
‘Dog Days Out’
With “Bluey” on a hiatus, this cheerfully mesmerizing South Korean cartoon — it’s like a crackerjack action blockbuster for toddlers — can fill the animated-puppies vacuum. You might even consider the lack of hyper-articulate dialogue to be an advantage: There’s something restful about a soundtrack that consists of smashes, crashes and a variety of canine shrieks and laughter.
On an idyllic suburban ****-de-sac rendered in candy-colored 3-D animation, the puppies come out to play when their barely seen masters are away and destroy everything they can get their paws on. Joining them in the slapstick mayhem are their toys, including a rainbow-hued chew doll that instigates much of the trouble; opposing them are curmudgeonly birds and crafty rodents. Many shows for preschoolers feature the same kind of nonstop action, but the animators at the South Korean studio Million Volt execute this one with a combination of fluid style and infectious spirit that can hook the unwary adult. (Netflix)
‘Douglas Is Cancelled’
Steven Moffat of “Sherlock” and “Doctor Who” wrote this dark four-episode comedy which, consciously or not, pulls a bait and switch. Starring Hugh Bonneville as Douglas, a popular broadcaster anonymously accused of having told a sexist joke, it begins as a brittle farce about the comfortably entitled running afoul of cancel culture and social media mobs. But then it shifts, becoming a sometimes didactic and unconvincing, sometimes powerful and unsettling, examination of men’s corrosive treatment of women.
Moffat, who can be a very clever writer, takes the male repertory of gaslighting, stonewalling and veiled aggression and turns it against the men in his story in amusing ways. It’s also noticeable, though, how the targets of the most pointed satire tend to be young women, and how the best roles are written for middle-aged men. Karen Gillan, as Douglas’s on-air partner, and Alex Kingston, as his wife, are fine in fairly monochromatic parts. But the spotlight is on Bonneville, who is excellent as always; Simon Russell Beale, who is hilarious as Douglas’s diffidently loathsome agent; and Ben Miles, who is chilling as an utterly cynical producer. (BritBox)
‘The Eastern Gate’
This low-fi Polish espionage drama, set in 2021, is very different in mood from the spy thrillers American audiences are used to. The Polish agents who are the show’s protagonists are harried and weary, resigned to being underdogs as they confront the raw power of Russia and the ruthlessness of Russia’s partner state, Belarus. An American general may show up to deliver a speech about cooperation, but the Poles are clearly aware that they are on their own (a fictional dilemma made all the more poignant by recent real-world events).
Lena Gora is terrific as Ewa, an agent who is smart and good in a fight but whose most important powers are resourcefulness and a determination that registers as principled rather than grim. The point of contention in the first season (which concludes on Friday) is the Suwalki Gap, a strip of Polish territory bordering Belarus that would be of vital importance in a confrontation between Russia and NATO. Amid reports of Russian mobilization, Ewa is sent to find a mole in the Polish embassy in Belarus. The disappearances, torture sessions, last-second rescues and threats to family members are familiar elements, but they feel fresh and authentic, set to a different rhythm and following different cues than those of slicker, more pretentious spy shows. (Max)
‘The Leopard’
This six-part series which premiered Wednesday, a British and Italian production, cannot help being seen in the shadow of one of the greatest historical dramas ever filmed: Luchino Visconti’s three-hour movie of the same title from 1963. The comparison is unfair, but Visconti’s “Leopard,” with its indelible performance by Burt Lancaster (in the title role of a Sicilian nobleman during the revolutionary 1860s) and its staggering, hourlong closing scene set at a ball, forces its way into your consciousness.
So if you have seen and loved the film, you might want to pass on this somewhat monotonous but perfectly unobjectionable Italian-language series. That might also be the case if you have read the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa on which both are based; in its second half the show’s plot diverges from the book’s in some predictably melodramatic ways. On the other hand, if you are a fan of conventional, handsomely appointed costume dramas, made with a degree of finesse and intelligence and with picture-postcard cinematography — shot on Sicilian locations, the series is very pretty to look at — then have at it. Just don’t expect any of the poetry that has graced this story in the past. (Netflix)
‘Newtopia’
The enthusiasm of the South Korean entertainment industry for zombies, and how it might tie into martial-law declarations and ultralow fertility rates, is probably generating a Ph.D. thesis at this moment. One of the jokes in this latest iteration, an eight-episode comedy written by Han Jin-won (who wrote the Oscar-winning “Parasite” screenplay with ***** Joon Ho) and Ji Ho-jin (“A Shop for Killers”), is that people in Seoul are actually surprised to see the undead running through the streets.
The outbreak of flesh eating, initially unexplained (the series’s sixth episode arrives Friday), is the framework for a romantic quest in which the soldier Jae-yoon (Park Jeong-min) and his girlfriend, Young-ju (the pop star Jisoo of Blackpink), struggle to reach other through the bloody chaos. But the engine for much of the humor in this consistently amusing show is Jae-yoon’s situation: He is part of an antiaircraft unit located on the roof of a high-rise hotel, where the bored soldiers normally spend their time messing up missile drills and sneaking down to the hotel kitchen for snacks. They’re a comic take on the unit lost in the jungle or on a desert island, except that the burning question here is when will the instant noodles run out. (Amazon Prime Video)
‘Zenshu’
A young, flavor-of-the-month animator, miserably blocked on her next project, eats a bad clam and apparently dies. She wakes up in the world of an anime that obsessed her as a child and inspired her career; even better, she now has magic drawing powers that she can use to help her childhood heroes defeat their giant buglike enemies. But each time she uses them, she pushes the story she remembers further off its track.
“Zenshu,” whose lead director (Mitsue Yamazaki) and writer (Kimiko Ueno) are women, is a jokey, good-looking example of the isekai subgenre of anime (protagonist wakes up in strange world) with a little something extra. The stakes are more real, and the dynamics less childlike, than usual; through nine of 12 episodes, the heroine, Natsuko, has believably progressed from malevolent grouch to inquisitive explorer and love interest. And the allegory of anime’s process and power is unforced but clear: Saving the day by herself at the last minute (on deadline) is exciting, but Natsuko will need to learn teamwork if she’s going to be successful either on the battlefield or in the animation studio. (Crunchyroll)
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Forza Horizon 5’s PlayStation debut comes with a surprising catch
Forza Horizon 5’s PlayStation debut comes with a surprising catch
When Forza Horizon 5 arrives on PlayStation, it will require a Microsoft account to play, it’s been revealed.
The game, which will be crossplay on all platforms and contain all of the content from both the Xbox and PC versions of the game, will require an extra account linking process from PlayStation players.
As pointed out by Does It Play? A newly published FAQ confirms that the game, which will mark the debut of the series on PlayStation platforms, will require the player to have both a PSN account and a Microsoft account on PS5.
Players will be prompted to do this when they start the game on their console. There will be no way around this, as the game is only being released digitally, meaning there is no way to play it on PlayStation without going through this step.
As Does It Play points out, this has implications for the preservation of the game, as now not only does it rely on the PSN being active indefinitely to verify the ownership of the game, but it also requires Microsoft to maintain its account system. This also allows both parties to revoke or end service on the game without any physical recourse.
Forza Horizon 5 will come to PlayStation on April 25 for those who purchase the premium edition, and then April 29 for standard edition players.
As well as the PS5 port, a new free content update for Forza Horizon 5 called Horizon Realms is coming to all platforms.
According to Playground Games, the Realms update “will give players the chance to explore a curated collection of some of the community’s favorite previously released Evolving Worlds, alongside some other surprises”.
Following its release in November 2021, Microsoft claimed Forza Horizon 5 had enjoyed the biggest launch in Xbox history at the time, with more than 10 million players in its first week.
VGC’s Forza Horizon 5 review called the racer “the first essential game of the generation”.
“Forza Horizon 5 is the best game in the series and the best Xbox Series X/S game to date,” wrote critic Chris Scullion. “Its flawless racing and wealth of activities are backed up by a gorgeous setting and a fantastic new progression system which encourages players to focus on the features they enjoy most. Utterly essential.”
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‘Oedipus’ and ‘Rocky Horror Show’ Are Returning to Broadway
‘Oedipus’ and ‘Rocky Horror Show’ Are Returning to Broadway
Roundabout Theater Company, the largest nonprofit on Broadway, will present three very different classics next season: a Greek tragedy, a drawing-room comedy and a monster musical.
The English writer and director Robert Icke’s “Oedipus,” a new version of the seminal Sophocles drama about a king who inadvertently kills his father and marries his mother, will come to Broadway in the fall. The production, starring Mark Strong (“A View From the Bridge”) and Lesley Manville (“Phantom Thread”), had an enthusiastically reviewed previous run in London, and just received four Olivier Award nominations (for best revival as well as for the work by Icke, Strong and Manville).
“Oedipus” is a commercial venture, with Sonia Friedman, Sue Wagner, John Johnson and Patrick Catullo as lead producers; Roundabout is presenting it this fall at Studio 54 and will offer it to subscribers as part of the nonprofit’s season.
There were multiple versions of “Oedipus Rex,” as the show is traditionally called, on Broadway in the early 20th century, but then it largely disappeared — the last production, a weeklong run in 1984, was performed in modern Greek.
After “Oedipus,” Roundabout will pivot to lighter fare: The musical “The Rocky Horror Show” in the spring of 2026 at Studio 54, and the play “Fallen Angels,” that same spring, at the Todd Haimes Theater. (The Haimes will close this fall for a renovation, which will include a restoration of the interior and an upgrade to the bathrooms, elevators and seats.)
“The Rocky Horror Show” is a 1973 sci-fi spoof by Richard O’Brien; it first ran on Broadway in 1975 and was revived once before, in 2000. The new production will be directed by Sam Pinkleton (“Oh, Mary!”), who had been scheduled to direct a version of the musical in 2020 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, but that production was scuttled by the pandemic.
“Fallen Angels” is a 1925 comedy by Noël Coward about two married women with a shared ex-lover. This revival will be directed by Scott Ellis, the Roundabout’s interim artistic director, and will star Rose Byrne (“Bridesmaids”) and Kelli O’Hara (a Tony winner for “The King and I”).
“Fallen Angels” has had two previous Broadway productions, in 1927 and 1956.
Roundabout also has an Off Broadway theater, the Laura Pels, where next fall it plans to stage “Archduke,” a play by Rajiv Joseph (“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”) about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Darko Tresnjak (a Tony winner for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & *******”) will direct, and Patrick Page (“Hadestown”) will star.
Roundabout plans to follow “Archduke” next winter with an Off Broadway production of “******** Republicans,” a satirical workplace drama by Alex Lin, directed by Chay Yew.
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‘[They] just about fell off their chairs’
‘[They] just about fell off their chairs’
Conservationists are cheering remarkable news out of France, as an otter was spotted in Normandy for the first time in nearly 100 years.
The animal was spotted on a wildlife camera near the Andelle and Lieure rivers, according to a report in The Connexion. Cameras had been put in the location by conservation groups to examine the wetland area, and when researchers reviewing the footage spotted the otter, they “just about fell off their chairs,” they told the publication.
The previous confirmed otter sighting in the region occurred in 1932.
Otters were once prevalent in France but had disappeared from much of the country by the 1980s, according to Wildlife in France. That population decrease was largely due to hunting, trapping, and habitat loss from the building of roads and the drying up of waterways.
At their lowest, The Connexion wrote, there were fewer than 1,000 wild otters in France. But a concerted effort to preserve and protect them has paid off.
“The reappearance of the otter is a direct result of our conservation policies,” local official Myriam Dutell told the publication. “The area has, since 2009, benefited from a policy of particularly intensive ecological management.”
Watch now: Giant snails invading New York City?
Officials aren’t sure if this newly spotted otter came from another area or may be part of a previously unspotted population in Normandy. But no matter how it got there, it’s an encouraging sign for the region. Reintroducing a species into a native area promotes a healthier, more diverse ecosystem.
In Alabama, for example, Eastern indigo snakes were reintroduced into a forest where they once thrived but hadn’t been seen in roughly 70 years. A reintroduced herd of bison is expected to help air pollution in Romania, and in the Galapagos Islands, reintroduced tortoises should improve biodiversity.
This also isn’t the first unexpected otter sighting in recent memory. Last year, two sea otters were spotted off the Oregon coast — the first such sighting since the early 1900s.
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Huge Battlefield 6 gameplay videos have inevitably leaked from this weekend’s test
Huge Battlefield 6 gameplay videos have inevitably leaked from this weekend’s test
The first Battlefield 6 gameplay videos have leaked online from the game’s ongoing pre-alpha closed testing program.
The first of EA’s ‘Battlefield Labs’ testing sessions kicked off this weekend, and despite users being sworn to secrecy, a significant amount of game footage has inevitably made its way online.
EA is taking a more transparent approach to the development of the next Battlefield, following significant community disappointment around the last instalment, 2042.
Initial Battlefield 6 tests will focus on the game’s core pillars, like combat and destruction, and later transition to balance and feedback for weapons, vehicles and gadgets, before moving on to maps, modes, and squad play.
Players can register now for the chance to participate, with initial invites set to be distributed to a few thousand players in Europe and North America. Over time, EA plans to open testing up to other territories and tens of thousands more users.
Four internal EA studios, which the publisher collectively refers to as Battlefield Studios, are building a connected universe set in the modern day.
Dice is responsible for its multiplayer component, Motive is working on multiplayer maps as well as single player mission content, Criterion is mainly focused on single-player, and Ripple Effect is creating a new experience for the series.
“Battlefield Labs is a place for us to test concepts and experiences we’re excited about with you, our players,” according to EA. “We want our community to play a key role in the future of Battlefield and this is an opportunity for many of you to do just that.”
“This is an unprecedented moment for Battlefield,” it added. “We will start by testing the pillars of play, like core combat and destruction. Then transition to balance and feedback for our weapons, vehicles and gadgets, ultimately leading to where all these pieces come together in our maps, modes, and squad play.
“And yes, we will be testing Conquest and Breakthrough, the heart and soul of our all-out warfare experience, but BF Labs will also be a place to explore new ideas and fine-tune and improve Battlefield pillars like our class system (Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon) to create deeper more strategic play.”
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AMD’s Zen 6-based desktop processors may feature up to 24 cores
AMD’s Zen 6-based desktop processors may feature up to 24 cores
AMD’s upcoming Zen 6 processors will remain compatible with AM5, but they are set to introduce a new chiplet-based CPU design and significantly boost core counts across desktop and laptop products, according to sources of ChipHell, as well as Moore’s Law Is Dead. Premium processors for gamers will also feature 3D V-Cache.
AMD’s next-generation Ryzen processors based on the Zen 6 microarchitecture will feature 12-core core chiplet dies (CCDs), marking a major shift from eight-core CCDs used in Zen 3/4/5 generation processors, if the linked reports are accurate. As a result, desktop AM5 processors will be able to feature up to 24 cores. Meanwhile, advanced laptop APUs will transition from a four Zen 5 eight Zen 5c (8+4) configuration to a 12-core structure, at least according to MLID. A Zen 6 CCD is 75mm^2 large, MLID claims.
Now, the increased number of cores is a big deal. However, premium versions of AMD’s desktop processors will feature up to 96MB of L3 cache, which is 4MB per core. 4MB per core is in line with existing Zen 5 configurations, so AMD does not cut down caches in favor of core count.
AMD is expected to release Zen 6-based products in 2026, so it is reasonable to expect them to use a more advanced node than they use today (TSMC’s 4nm-class), so think TSMC’s N3P (3nm-class) given that AMD does exactly use leading-edge nodes (possibly due to supply constraints), which will be N2 (2nm-class) next year.
AMD’s Zen 6-based Ryzens for gaming PCs will also feature 3D V-Cache. Some laptop processors with built-in graphics will also feature 3D V-Cache, though exact configuration is something that remains to be seen.
AMD Medusa Point and Medusa Ridge
Interestingly, and according to MLID, AMD’s standard APUs will be chiplet-based, moving away from the monolithic approach. Medusa Point — a laptop APU — is expected to feature a Zen 6 CCD with 12 cores and a 200mm^2 I/O die (IOD), featuring eight RDNA work groups, a 128-bit memory controller, and a large NPU. There is speculation that Infinity Cache may be added to enhance GPU performance.
MLID also claims that the desktop version of Medusa Point — allegedly called Medusa Ridge — will use up to two 12-core Zen 6 CCD in the AM5 form-factor. That product will have a 155mm^2 IOD without an advanced built-in GPU, but possibly with a large NPU.
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What to Know About the On-Again, Off-Again Trump Tariffs – The New York Times
What to Know About the On-Again, Off-Again Trump Tariffs – The New York Times
What to Know About the On-Again, Off-Again Trump Tariffs The New York TimesWe texted 1,000 Americans about Trump’s tariffs. This is how they responded. The Washington PostTrump’s erratic trade policies are baffling businesses, threatening investment and economic growth The Associated PressTariffs are likely to push auto prices higher. Should you buy a new car now? CBS News
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Timothée Chalamet Wears Butter Yellow Givenchy Suit at Oscars
Timothée Chalamet Wears Butter Yellow Givenchy Suit at Oscars
Timothée Chalamet’s sartorial playfulness has been a consistent theme as he stepped out in memorable looks for each red carpet event over the last few months. For the Oscars, the most conservative red carpet of them all, he did not disappoint.
Chalamet arrived in a monochromatic butter yellow custom Givenchy suit designed by Sarah Burton. A leather double-breasted cropped jacket with a notch lapel was paired with matching pants and a silk shirt.
“Love that suit,” Conan O’Brien said to Chalamet during the show’s opening monologue. “You will not get hit on your bike tonight.”
Chalamet’s girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, was cozied up next to him in the audience in a brown Miu Miu bustier gown with ****** crystal embroidery and cutouts. (Jenner did not attend the Screen Actors Guild Awards last weekend, which was held shortly after her friend and hair stylist, Jesus Guerrero, died.)
A best actor nominee for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in the biopic “A Complete Unknown,” Chalamet, 29, nonchalantly bobbed down the red carpet, hands behind his back, in his pastel outfit.
Leading up to the release of his film in December, through the months that followed on the awards trail, Chalamet has waged a viral campaign that diverted from the old, staid ways of Hollywood promotion. That has included a slew of eye-catching outfits, including an all-pink ensemble consisting of a Chrome Hearts hoodie and tank top that he wore at the Berlin International Film Festival.
And at the SAG Awards, where he wore a ****** leather suit paired with a lime green shirt, he accepted his best actor award with a speech that reaffirmed that he was serious about his job: “I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” he said. “I know people don’t usually talk like that but I want to be one of the greats.”
Whether he takes home best actor tonight or not, he takes the prize for men’s wear with his “movie-star trucker vibe,” as our men’s wear critic Guy Trebay wrote.
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Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Collectors Edition Will Cost $229.99
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Collectors Edition Will Cost $229.99
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March 9, 2025
A new leak has revealed that Death Stranding 2: On The Beach will have a collectors edition costing $229.99.
That’s according to reliable dataminer billbil-kun, who reports that the game is gearing up for an announcement later today.
It’s theorised that the announcement could come during Kojima’s appearance at SXSW 2025, where Kojima Productions is set to host a panel.
If the pre-orders are not announced during the panel, then it’s almost certain that an announcement will be made later this month, as billbil-kun obtains his datamined information from the backend of websites and stores, meaning that the information has recently been uploaded to the backend and thus, ready for an announcement.
According to the leak, the game will have two different physical editions:
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – Standard Edition : 79.99 euros / 69.99 US dollars / 69.99 pounds sterling
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – Collector’s Edition : $229.99 USD
As pointed out in the leak, the contents of the editions are currently unclear, but at a hefty $229.99 price tag for the collectors edition, it’s likely to contain some kind of statue. The original Death Stranding collectors edition featured a Baby BB Pod Replica.
Death Stranding 2 was officially revealed at the Game Awards in 2022 and is set to launch on the PlayStation 5 in 2025.
Are you excited for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach? Let me know in the comments or on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Diablo 4 is too easy but Blizzard is changing that
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Nintendo Switch 2 upgrades revealed by FCC: Amiibo, faster Wi-Fi, and more
Nintendo Switch 2 upgrades revealed by FCC: Amiibo, faster Wi-Fi, and more
New Nintendo Switch 2 technical upgrades have been revealed, via filings made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The filings reveal that Switch 2 will, like its predecessor, support NFC via its right Joy-**** controller, likely confirming support for Amiibo figures when playing original Switch games and Switch 2 software.
Switch 2 users will also be able to charge the console using either its bottom USB C port, or the new, second USB port which is located on the top of the device.
According to the filings, which were spotted by The Verge, Switch 2 will also support Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) networks with up to 80MHz of bandwidth, up from the original Switch console’s Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac).
FCC filings also indicate that Nintendo Switch 2 is rated for an AC adapter with a maximum of 15V, which is the same as the original Switch, but also mention an AC adapter that goes up to 20V, so it’s unclear whether Switch 2 has faster charging speed or more power when docked.
A previous leak had claimed that Switch 2 dock would require a far more powerful AC adapter than its predecessor, indicating that it may have more power when docked.
Nintendo officially announced Switch 2 in January, with a teaser video showing the console and Joy-Cons. The trailer also provided a brief look at a new Mario Kart game running on the Switch 2 hardware.
Nintendo plans to fully reveal the new console on April 2, during a special Switch 2 Nintendo Direct presentation.
Company president Shuntaro Furukawa said last month that the Switch 2 price will take into account numerous factors, including the trademark affordability of the company’s hardware.
He also said Nintendo will put measures in place to prevent resellers from significantly impacting Switch 2 launch supplies.
He said (via Nikkei, translated by VGC): “We will take all possible measures based on the experience we have accumulated to date (regarding scalpers and the like). We are making preparations.”
Market research firm Circana has predicted that Nintendo Switch 2 will sell over four million units in the United States alone in 2025, if it’s released in the first half of the year, accounting for approximately 1/3rd of all video game console hardware units sold this year.
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Elgato Wave Neo Review: I hope you got this as part of a bundle
Elgato Wave Neo Review: I hope you got this as part of a bundle
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Elgato’s stylish, all-white Neo line is designed to be a simple, straightforward, affordable line of plug-and-play (ish) streaming accessories. The current lineup includes five products — a microphone, a webcam, a stream deck, a key light, and a capture card — all priced under $100, except for the capture card, which is $119.99.
The Wave Neo is a simple, attractive white standalone USB mic with a (too) large and (too) sensitive tap-to-mute button, a sturdy-feeling but only half-actualized metal desktop stand, and an interchangeable pop filter (that Elgato sells, optionally, in five pastel colors).
The Wave Neo is small, lightweight, and designed to make you sound good right out of the box. And while it does make you sound pretty good out of the box, it’s a bit of a stretch to say it works well out of the box. The Wave Neo is, as it turns out, a pretty good example of how a mic’s sound is only one aspect of how well it works.
The Wave Neo retails for $89.99, but we’ve seen it on ***** recently for as low as $64.99. And even at that price, we’d recommend one of our best gaming mics — the Logitech Yeti Orb — over the Wave Neo in almost every situation.
Design of the Wave Neo
The Wave Neo is a small, pill-shaped USB microphone, housed in a white plastic chassis with an interchangeable foam pop filter, a large tap-to-mute button, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The microphone alone — without the stand or arm connected — measures approximately 4.78 inches (121.7mm) high by 2.08 inches (52.8mm) wide, and is 1.68 inches (42.6mm) deep. It weighs just 2.82 ounces (80g), though this jumps to around 6.65 ounces (188.5g) with the swing arm connected. The swing arm, which is metal, measures approximately 3.43 inches (97.5mm) long and attaches to the included stand or a ***** arm (it supports 1/4″, 5/8″, and 3/8″ mounting threads).
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The ****** foam pop filter is designed to be easily removable — it’s attached to a ring of plastic that you can just pull off to replace. Elgato sells additional pop filters for the Wave Neo on its site for $15 in pastel pink, blue, green, lavender, and light gray. Overall, the microphone feels just a little… cheap. Not only is it made of plastic, the seams around the tap-to-mute button and the replaceable pop filter don’t quite line up with each other — a minor detail, perhaps, but this is a $90 mic. Logitech’s Yeti Orb — which is also plastic, and retails for just $60 — looks better put together.
Still, it’s a nice-looking little mic that will fit better in a lot of setups than aggressively gamer-oriented USB mics like the HyperX QuadCast 2 S.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
On-mic controls are limited to tap-to-mute, which is better than nothing — the aforementioned Yeti Orb has zero on-mic controls. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack on the back of the mic, just above the USB-C port. The USB-C port is recessed, and the mic comes with a special USB-C cable that fits nicely into that empty space. (It will also work with other USB-C cables, it just won’t look as pretty).
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The microphone comes with a sturdy metal desktop stand that consists of a flat, round base that measures approximately 3.6 inches (92mm) in diameter and is 0.31 inches (7.9mm) thick and a riser extension measuring 3.93 inches (100mm) tall. The overall setup — mic, stand, and riser — measures around 11.1 inches (182mm) tall and weighs 1.17 pounds (530g).
The riser extension screws to the base and the microphone simply drops onto the riser. This sounds like it would be very simple, but it ended up being sort of finicky — screwing the riser onto the base was trickier than I expected, as it was difficult to keep the riser aligned with the alignment pin on the stand (okay, this wasn’t a major imposition, but it definitely wasn’t as “plug-and-play” as an already-mounted mic is). Dropping the mic onto the riser is convenient but not particularly stable — the mic wobbles on the stand and I also kept forgetting that the parts were not screwed together when I picked the mic up to move it on my desk.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
In the box, you’ll find the microphone and its stand — base, riser extension, and connecting hardware — as well as a 5-foot (1.5m) white braided USB-C to USB-A cable.
Although Elgato advertises this microphone as being “one mic for everything” and talks about how it can seamlessly work on every device from a PC to an iPhone, it comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable — and that’s it. So you’ll need to get some adapters to plug it into an iPhone — or any phone; I don’t think any phone has ever had a USB-A port. But also, you can plug just about any USB mic into a phone if you have an adapter, so this is hardly something notable about the Wave Neo.
Specs
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Capsule Type
Condenser
Frequency Response
20 – 20,000 Hz
Polar Pattern
Cardioid
Sensitivity
-23 dBFS (min gain) 7 dBFS (max gain)
Dynamic Range
94 dB
Resolution and Sample Rate
24-bit / 96 kHz
Connectivity
Wired (USB-C)
Adjustable Gain
Software
Software
Wave Link
Dimensions (L x W)
4.78 x 2.08 inches / 121.7 x 52.8 mm 11.1 x 3.6 inches / 182 x 92 mm (with stand)
Weight
2.82oz. / 80g (mic only) 6.65oz. / 188.5g (mic + swing arm) 1.17lbs / 530g (mic + swing arm + stand)
MSRP / Price at Time of Review
$89.99
Release Date
April 18, 2024
Performance of the Wave Neo
The Wave Neo has a condenser capsule with a cardioid polar pattern that records audio at a maximum sample / bit rate of 96 kHz / 24-bit — hi-res audio, which you won’t find on all budget mics (but also isn’t too difficult to find on budget mics these days). For example, while our favorite budget mic, the $60 Logitech Yeti Orb, records 48 kHz / 24-bit audio, the $99 HyperX DuoCast records 96 kHz / 24-bit audio and is currently on ***** at Amazon for just over $60. Also, this isn’t the right mic if you’re recording audio where a 96 kHz sample rate will make a difference.
The Wave Neo is a side-address microphone, which means you speak into the side (the front, where the tap-to-mute light is), not into the end (like you do with the Rode PodMic USB). It can be mounted on a ***** arm, but it’s more likely you’ll use the included desktop stand, which is designed to place the mic at an ideal distance from your mouth when it’s placed on your desk / table top.
The stand, while sturdily and solidly built, is also somehow not that sturdy. It’s designed to be used with the included riser extension, which screws into the base and uses an alignment pin to prevent it from wobbling or spinning around. This part is fine — the riser secures pretty tightly to the base, though the alignment pin did still allow for a very small amount of wobble. However, once the riser is secured to the base, the swing arm just kind of drops onto the riser, which means more wobble and a stand that keeps coming apart whenever you pick it up to move it. I suppose you can set up the stand without using the riser extension — giving the mic a total height of just under 7.5 inches (190.5mm). However, this is even less stable. Although the swing arm does have a notch for the alignment pin on the riser extension, this notch does not work with the alignment pin on the stand (though it seems like the idea behind the design was that the alignment pin was supposed to work with both the riser’s and the swing arm’s notches). In other words, if you set up the stand without the riser, you end up with a wobbly, spinning mic and a scratched-up base.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Don’t get me wrong — I like the look, feel, and built-in cable clip on the Wave Neo’s stand, but the overall implementation made me wish for the Yeti Orb’s less sleek, but stabler plastic tripod.
Stand aside, vocals on the Wave Neo sound pretty good out of the box. It’s not the best-sounding mic on the market, but it’s also not trying to be. Vocals are consistent, clear, and on the warmer side by default, which isn’t a bad thing. The warmth adds a full, round, friendly tone to your voice, and is probably what I’d call the ideal sound profile for this type of plug-and-play mic. Side-by-side, it’s pretty easy to tell that the Wave Neo is a standalone USB mic and not a headset mic, but it’s not necessarily going to be the audio upgrade you may have been hoping for. My colleagues were thoroughly unimpressed with the Wave Neo’s sound, stating that it sounded “…like a microphone.” Indeed.
The Wave Neo’s pop filter is also pretty flimsy, and plosives end up reverberating through the whole mic if you’re closer than about 6 inches (152.4mm). The mic has a cardioid polar pattern, which means it only picks up noise from one direction, but it still picks up a decent amount of background noise unless you turn on some software-based noise cancellation.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The mic has a large, oblong tap-to-mute sensor / light on the front, which is white when the mic is unmuted and red when the mic is muted. The actual sensor area extends past the light, however, so it’s easy to accidentally tap the sensor when you’re trying to adjust or move the mic (especially if you fumble the mic when you pick it up because you forgot that the stand is in two pieces), but that wasn’t a big issue for me. What was an issue, however, was that the mute sensor seemed to mute itself at various times, for various reasons. I couldn’t figure out all the situations in which the mute sensor accidentally triggered, but I did notice that it seemed to happen frequently when the mic’s USB cable was at certain angles and/or was touching things like cables or my PC case, and also when any part of the body of the mic (even the back) was touching things. This didn’t happen every time, but it definitely happened too often — I love a tap-to-mute button on a mic, but I wish I could disable the Wave Neo’s tap-to-mute and just mute the mic through software.
There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack on the back of the Wave Neo, which Elgato says is for zero-delay system audio — not mic monitoring. While you can turn on mic monitoring through the headphone jack in the Wave Link companion software, it is software-based monitoring, not direct, zero-latency monitoring.
Features and Software of the Wave Neo
The Wave Neo works with Elgato’s Wave Link audio software, which is essentially a virtual mixing studio — pretty useful software if you’re streaming or otherwise trying to mix audio sources, but not quite as useful if you’re just trying to sound good over a regular video call. However, it does tie in to Elgato’s online marketplace, which lets you add audio plugins: equalizers, compressors, de-essers, noise suppression/cancellation, effects, and voice mods.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Wave Link screen is for the virtual mixer, which lets you add different sound input sources (e.g. microphone audio and game audio) and mix them together to create a balanced, stream-friendly output. While this main screen is mainly for mixing audio inputs and monitoring outputs, this is also where you’ll find the option to mute the mic and add effects. You’ll need to open up the mic’s settings, however, to do things like check for firmware updates and adjust the mic’s gain, headphone volume, and LED brightness.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As usual, I have some issues with this software. First, it’s a hassle to set up. To install it, you can’t have any compatible Elgato products plugged in (which isn’t that much of a hassle, I suppose, but is an unusual requirement), and it requires a restart once it’s installed. But second, and more importantly, it doesn’t always fully recognize the products — the Wave Neo would show up in the software (the software can only be used if you have at least one eligible Elgato product plugged in — just, not while you install it, apparently). But I found that I often wasn’t able to adjust any of the mic’s settings or mix audio unless I restarted the software and/or unplugged the mic. Also, this was, luckily, the extent of what I needed to do to get it working — I did a cursory search when I first encountered the problem and saw that Elgato’s own customer service advised an AppData reset.
Bottom Line
The Elgato Wave Neo is a compact, plug-and-play, budget-friendly USB mic that sounds pretty good out of the box. It doesn’t require any software tweaks, though there is, of course, Elgato’s companion Wave Link software for those who are looking for more control. The included stand works a lot better in theory than it does in reality, but the good news is that this is a very small, very lightweight mic that you can mount on any dirt-cheap ***** arm from Amazon without issue.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
That said, the Wave Neo retails for $90 — though we’ve seen it on ***** for as low as $65 — which is closer to mid-range rather than budget-friendly. So, unless you’ve already bought into Elgato’s ecosystem (the Wave Neo does work well with Elgato’s other streaming products, such as its stream decks), the Logitech Yeti Orb is a better option: It also sounds great right out of the box, and it retails for $60 but can be found on ***** for around $50. The Yeti Orb lacks the Wave Neo’s hi-res 96 kHz sample rate, but neither of these mics are what we’d recommend for recording hi-res audio anyway. It also lacks an on-mic mute and a 3.5mm audio jack, but the Wave Neo would probably be better without the on-mic mute (and it would be the same without the audio jack, which is for system audio — not direct monitoring).
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How work requirements may reduce access to Medicaid
How work requirements may reduce access to Medicaid
Protect Our Care supporters display “Hands Off Medicaid” message in front of the White House ahead of President Trump’s address to Congress on March 4 in Washington, D.C.
Paul Morigi | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Cuts to Medicaid will have to be on the menu if House Republicans want to meet their budget goals, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report this week.
The chamber’s budget blueprint includes $880 billion in spending cuts under the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the program.
Medicaid helps cover medical costs for people who have limited income and resources, as well as benefits not covered by Medicare such as nursing home care.
To curb Medicaid spending, experts say, lawmakers may choose to add work requirements. Doing so would make it so people have to meet certain thresholds, such as 80 hours of work per month, to qualify for Medicaid coverage.
Republicans have not yet suggested specific changes to Medicaid. However, a new KFF poll finds 6 in 10 Americans would support adding work requirements to the program.
More from Personal Finance: DOGE layoffs may ‘overwhelm’ unemployment system Education Department cuts leave student loan borrowers in the dark Congress’ proposed Medicaid cuts may impact economy
Imposing work requirements may provide a portion of lawmakers’ targeted savings. In 2023, the Congressional Budget Office found implementing work requirements could save $109 billion over 10 years.
Yet that change could also put 36 million Medicaid enrollees at risk of losing their health-care coverage, estimates the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That represents about 44% of the approximately 80 million individuals who participate in the program. The estimates focus on adults ages 19 to 64, who would be most likely subject to a work requirement.
The idea of work requirements is not new. Lawmakers have proposed work hurdles to qualify for other safety net programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The approach shows an ideological difference between the U.S. and European social democracies that accept a baseline responsibility to provide social safety nets, said Farah Khan, a fellow at Brookings Metro’s Center for Community Uplift.
“We view ******** as uniquely polarized based on which party comes into power,” Khan said.
When one party frames it as a moral failing to be poor because you haven’t worked hard enough, that ignores structural inequalities or systemic injustices that may have led individuals to those circumstances, she said.
Medicaid work requirements prompt coverage losses
Loss of coverage has been a common result in previous state attempts to add Medicare work requirements.
When Arkansas implemented a work requirement policy in 2018, around 1 in 4 people subject to the requirement, or around 18,000 people total, lost coverage in seven months before the program was stopped, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. When New Hampshire attempted to implement a work requirement policy with more flexible reporting requirements, 2 in 3 individuals were susceptible to being disenrolled after two months.
“Generally, Medicaid work requirements have resulted in coverage losses without incentivizing or increasing employment and are a policy that is really unnecessary and burdensome,” said Laura Harker, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The “administrative barriers and red tape” from work requirements broadly lead to coverage losses among both working individuals and those who are between jobs or exempt due to disabilities, illnesses or caretaking responsibilities, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Notably, around 9 in 10 Medicaid enrollees are already working or qualify for an exemption, Harker said.
Separate research from the American Enterprise Institute finds that in a given month, the majority of working-age people receiving Medicaid who do not have children do not work enough to meet an 80-hour-per-month requirement.
Consequently, if work requirements are imposed on nondisabled, working-age Medicaid recipients, that would affect a large number of people who are not currently in compliance, said Kevin Corinth, deputy director at the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute.
Either those individuals would increase their work to remain eligible or they wouldn’t, and they would be dropped off the program, Corinth said.
“If you put on work requirements, you’re going to affect a lot of people, which could be good or bad, depending on what your view of work requirements are,” Corinth said.
Lawmakers may also cut Medicaid in other ways: capping the amount of federal funds provided to state Medicaid programs; limiting the amount of federal money per Medicaid recipient; reducing available health services or eliminating coverage for certain groups.
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‘The Interview’: Lady Gaga’s Latest Experiment? Happiness.
‘The Interview’: Lady Gaga’s Latest Experiment? Happiness.
The pop superstar reflects on her struggles with mental health, the pressures of the music industry and why she’s returned to the sound that made her famous.
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France captain Dupont has cruciate knee injury
France captain Dupont has cruciate knee injury
France captain Antoine Dupont ruptured cruciate ligaments in his knee during Les Bleus’ Six Nations win over Ireland on Saturday.
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The Best Dressed Men at the 2025 Oscars Skipped the Traditional Tuxedo
The Best Dressed Men at the 2025 Oscars Skipped the Traditional Tuxedo
If you wish to fully grasp Timothée Chalamet’s Oscars suit, you may do better to consult a food reporter rather than a fashion critic.
They might be able to tell you the outfit was a shade of French butter. Or was it egg yolk? Perhaps just lemon?
Whatever the tint of his monochrome look, Mr. Chalamet’s effervescent not-a-tux was the consensus gotta-talk-about-it outfit of the evening. There was certainly much to scrutinize. The jacket was cropped like a maitre d’s uniform. A tie? Overlooked. In its place, a dot of a pearl collar. The pants, which weren’t even suit pants but were, in fact, shaped like five pocket jeans, puddled indifferently around his glossed ****** boots.
It’s unclear if this outfit was nodding to an outfit Bob Dylan once wore, as some of Mr. Chalamet’s carpet looks have during this award’s season sprint, but his Oscars look at least had the spirit of Dylan. (This critic’s theory: It was “Blonde on Blonde” in outfit form.) This was a suit that smirked at ceremony but felt glamorous and elevated despite it’s provocation.
The unusual red carpet outfit also provided a crucial preview for Givenchy, who made it specially for Mr. Chalamet.
The Academy Awards came a day before Paris Fashion Week commences, a week that will include the first runway show from Givenchy’s recently appointed creative director, Sarah Burton. Alongside an Audrey Hepburn-ish ******-bowed gown worn by Elle Fanning, Mr. Chalamet’s Tweety Bird combo served as the amuse-bouche for whatever Ms. Burton is going to present days from now.
(Mr. Chalamet is the men’s fashion industry’s teaser of choice. In January he made noise at the Golden Globes in a sequin-speckled suit, the first design from Tom Ford’s new creative director, Haider Ackermann.)
Most actors continue to view the Oscars as solemn ground and dress for it. Adrien Brody, Joe Alwyn, Sebastian Stan and Ralph Fiennes reflected the overwhelming majority in aspirational, if expected, ****** tuxedos. Even “The Apprentice” nominee Jeremy Strong, the industry’s leading lobbyist for brown as an acceptable formal-wear color, wore a cappuccino Loro Piana tux that fit, well, as straight and to-the-body as a tuxedo should.
What brands like Givenchy seized on is that flouting conventions on the carpet can make for a great publicity, even if it doesn’t always make for praise.
Valentino deployed this tactic as well. The label is in the midst of a complete overhaul under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele, who joined Valentino last March after nearly eight years at Gucci. And what Sunday proved is that Mr. Michele’s aesthetic (think: Victorian grandpa after a few too many glasses of psychedelic-spiked sherry) may work better on the red carpet than the runway.
Take Colman Domingo’s Valentino suit jacket in a red even more potent than the carpet at his feet. Worn with some disco-y flares, the jacket was belted at the waist, like a kimono. Oh, it was rococo all right. But it also granted Mr. Domingo, who was nominated for best actor, a louche ease.
Or, Omar Apollo, an actor from “******,” who wore a ****** Valentino suit with beefy lapels and a bouffant scarf streaming down the front in lieu of a tie. (Another actor from “******,” Drew Starkey, wore a similar scarf-as-tie Valentino outfit at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Evidently, Mr. Michele doesn’t see men’s wear’s halting tie revival as revolutionary enough.)
There was, though, one more actor who swerved harder than them all: Adam Sandler.
During the show’s opening monologue, just after Conan O’Brien declared that “for such a prestigious night it’s important that everyone’s properly dressed,” the camera whipped to Mr. Sandler, dressed in mesh shorts and a hoodie, as if suiting up for pickup basketball.
It was a bit, sure. But it was the sort of outfit that has long made Mr. Sandler, 58, Hollywood’s version of John Fetterman. It was played for laughs, but it got at an earnest idea: Mr. Sandler’s passion for mesh is distinctively his own and can be capitalized on.
“You know what, Conan, I like the way I look because I’m a good person,” Mr. Sandler lobbed back toward the stage. “I don’t care about what I wear and what I don’t wear.”
You know who does care though? Aviator Nation, the brand that made Mr. Sandler’s hoodie. Moments after he appeared on the broadcast, the company sent out an email blast that the neon blue zip-up was available on its website for $175. How rare is that? An Oscars outfit, at a budget price.
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Truck stolen from Ovid recovered. Suspect in theft still on loose
Truck stolen from Ovid recovered. Suspect in theft still on loose
A truck stolen from Ovid on Thursday was recovered Saturday, and one person arrested, but Ovid police said the individual who had the truck was not the subject of a manhunt.
“Update!,” Ovid police said about 8 p.m. Saturday, “The subject that was just arrested by the Lansing Police Department, in possession of the stolen truck from Ovid, was identified at the jail, by a fingerprint scan. He is not our guy… but, we do have the stolen truck! Thank you LPD!! However, our #2 perp, that stole the truck from MMPA, is still on the run.”
Ovid police and other agencies have been seeking a man who fled from a home on the east side of Ovid Thursday morning. The man stole a truck in Ovid the same morning and may have been seen Saturday in Dimondale with the stolen truck.
The suspect was still driving a white 2015 Chevrolet Silverado pickup stolen from the Michigan Milk Producers Association employee parking lot, the Ovid Police Department’s Facebook page said on Saturday in a post that shared photos of the truck and suspect.
Later on Saturday, the department also posted that the second suspect was in custody before revising that statement.
“Events like this, being fluid, things can and do change. One of the drawbacks to posting too soon….,” the department said in a comment on the post.
In one post on Saturday, Rousseau asked the suspect to turn himself in in comments on a Facebook update.
“If the subject is tired of running, please, give us a call,” she said.
The search for the man began Thursday morning. Shortly after 8 a.m. that day an Ovid police sergeant went to an address on Warren Road in Shiawassee County, just outside the city limit, to assist the Shiawassee County Sheriff’s Office, Rousseau said in a statement Thursday evening.
Police at the address placed a person under arrest due to outstanding warrants. A second suspect, a man, fled on foot.
The man was spotted on Michigan Milk Producers Association surveillance cameras as 9:39 a.m. Thursday. At 11:15 a.m., police learned a 2015 white Chevrolet Silverado pickup was reported stolen from the MMPA employee parking lot.
On Saturday, Ovid police said the person and the truck were seen on security cameras in the Dimondale area. The man appeared to be stealing Amazon packages from a home.
Dimondale is about 40 miles from where the truck was stolen, just southwest of Lansing.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Truck stolen in Ovid recovered by Lansing police. Suspect still being sought
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1 Stock to Buy, 1 Stock to Sell This Week: DoorDash, American Eagle
1 Stock to Buy, 1 Stock to Sell This Week: DoorDash, American Eagle
• Trump’s trade war, inflation data, and last batch of earnings will be in focus this week.
• DoorDash’s imminent inclusion in the S&P 500 is likely to trigger a wave of buying that could propel its stock higher.
• American Eagle’s deteriorating earnings expectations and cautious outlook make it a stock to sell.
• Looking for more actionable trade ideas? Subscribe here to unlock access to ProPicks AI winners.
U.S. stocks finished Friday’s volatile trading session in the green, but the major averages still suffered their worst weekly decline in several months amid a negative mix of news related to President Donald Trump’s trade war.
For the week, the 30-stock lost 2.4%, the sank 3.1%, and the tech-heavy tumbled 3.5%.
Source: Investing.com
The week ahead is expected to be another eventful one as investors monitor fresh developments about Trump’s tariff decisions on imported goods from Canada, Mexico and China.
On the economic calendar, most important will be Wednesday’s U.S. consumer price inflation report for February, which could spark further turmoil if it comes in higher than expectations. The CPI data will be accompanied by the release of the latest figures on producer prices, which will help fill out the inflation picture.
Meanwhile, there will be no Fed speakers on the agenda as the central bank goes into its pre-FOMC blackout mode ahead of the March 18-19 policy meeting.
Source: Investing.com
Odds for Fed rate cuts have picked up considerably in recent days, as per the Investing.com , with the U.S. central bank now on track to cut interest rates three times this year.
And while the earnings season is drawing to a close, a few noteworthy reports loom in the coming week, including Oracle (NYSE:), Adobe (NASDAQ:), Kohl’s (NYSE:), Dollar General (NYSE:), *****’s Sporting Goods (F:), and Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:).
Regardless of which direction the market goes, below I highlight one stock likely to be in demand and another which could see fresh downside. Remember though, my timeframe is just for the week ahead, Monday, March 10 – Friday, March 14.
Stock to Buy: DoorDash
DoorDash (NASDAQ:) stands out as a compelling buy this week, as shares of the leading on-demand food delivery platform will be added to the key S&P 500 index as part of its quarterly reconstitution.
This announcement, made after Friday’s market close, signals a new chapter for the company, as it will join the benchmark index before the start of trading on Monday, March 24. Historically, such inclusions have often led to a surge in stock prices.
Source: Investing.com
DASH ended Friday’s session at $178.08, the lowest closing price since January 17. The Palo Alto, California-based online food delivery company has a market cap of $74.8 billion. Shares are up 6.1% so far in 2025.
The inclusion in the S&P 500 is a testament to DoorDash’s growth and stability. This move could lead to a substantial increase in buying of DoorDash’s stock, as index funds and other passive investment vehicles that track the S&P 500 will have to purchase shares to align with the benchmark’s composition.
The company has recently demonstrated strong operational performance, with analysts showing optimistic price targets. The most recent analyst coverage shows targets ranging from $175.00 to $235.00, with major firms like Truist Securities ($235.00), Barclays ($200.00), and Cantor Fitzgerald ($230.00) all maintaining positive outlooks.
Source: Investing.com
The consensus among analysts appears bullish, with most maintaining Buy or Overweight ratings, reflecting mounting confidence in DoorDash’s growth trajectory and market position.
Furthermore, InvestingPro’s AI-powered quantitative model rates DoorDash with a ‘GOOD’ Financial Health Score of 2.61, indicating a healthy profitability outlook and strong balance sheet.
Be sure to check out InvestingPro to stay in sync with the market trend and what it means for your trading. Subscribe now and position your portfolio one step ahead of everyone else!
Stock to Sell: American Eagle Outfitters
On the other hand, American Eagle (NYSE:), a popular clothing and accessories retailer, is facing headwinds as it prepares to report its Q4 earnings after the market close on Wednesday at 4:05 PM ET amid a difficult retail landscape.
Market participants expect a sizable swing in AEO shares following the print, with the options market pointing to a possible implied move of 8.9% in either direction. Earnings have been catalysts for outsized swings in shares, with the stock tumbling over 11% when the company last reported earnings in December.
Source: InvestingPro
Analyst sentiment is overwhelmingly bearish with 10 downward revisions and no upward adjustments recorded in the weeks leading up to the report. This negative sentiment suggests that the market is bracing for a possible disappointment.
American Eagle is expected to deliver earnings per share of $0.51 for the fourth quarter, declining 16.4% from EPS of $0.61 in the year-ago *******. Revenue is seen falling 5.9% year-over-year to $1.6 billion.
Looking ahead, the outlook for American Eagle appears dim as it struggles with a challenging economic backdrop characterized by elevated inflation and shrinking disposable income, leading to slower consumer demand for discretionary items, including clothing purchases.
As a result, investors might view American Eagle as a stock to sell, particularly in the face of mounting competitive pressures and cautious guidance on its future performance.
Source: Investing.com
AEO ended Friday’s session at $12.83, not far from a recent 52-week low of $11.65. At current valuations, the Pittsburgh-based clothing retailer has a market value of $2.5 billion. Shares, which are trading below their key moving averages, are down 23% year-to-date.
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Disclosure: At the time of writing, I am long on the S&P 500, and the via the SPDR® S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ). I am also long on the Invesco Top QQQ ETF (QBIG), Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP), and VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH).
I regularly rebalance my portfolio of individual stocks and ETFs based on ongoing risk assessment of both the macroeconomic environment and companies’ financials.
The views discussed in this article are solely the opinion of the author and should not be taken as investment advice.
Follow Jesse Cohen on X/Twitter @JesseCohenInv for more stock market analysis and insight.
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