Author: NY TIMES

An indie comedy set in an Airbnb leans into the ways we distance ourselves from one another. Source link

When a young British man disappeared while vacationing on the Spanish island of Tenerife in mid-June, a familiar routine unfolded: search and rescue workers combing through the landscape, regular updates from tearful family members, a steady drumbeat of unconfirmed reports that he had been spotted.And soon after, they were joined by another increasingly common feature of disappearances: online sleuths who are certain that they can do what the police have not yet done and solve the case.This weekend, the Spanish authorities called off their search for Jay Slater, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from England who was visiting Tenerife, a popular…

So you have an opinion you want to share online — something you need to get off your chest. Maybe it’s about the current political climate. Maybe you want to have the final word on whether or not people should wear their shoes in the house.If you know you have a spicy take on your hands, you might look to the American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell to help you share it. Across social media, his work “Freedom of Speech” appears alongside all manner of strong opinions, from the highly serious to the absurd to the esoteric, enshrining itself into…

Plan B talks get louderThe Biden campaign’s attempts to soothe panicked Democrats and donors after the president’s calamitous debate appear to have cratered.One Democratic lawmaker has openly called on President Biden to withdraw from the race, while others are sharply criticizing his campaign’s response. Polls show his approval ratings are falling. And many party backers remain as nervous about sticking with him as they were last week — but also worry about the alternatives.The latest: Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first sitting Democrat to demand that Biden step aside. And some Biden allies qualified their post-debate defenses: Representative…

On a recent clear day, visitors were wandering through the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to gawk at works by Yayoi Kusama and Alexander Calder, and, a few blocks away, making their way through the galleries at the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Museum of the African Diaspora.That evening, music lovers poured in to Davies Symphony Hall to hear Esa-Pekka Salonen conduct the San Francisco Symphony and into the War Memorial Opera House across the street, where the San Francisco Opera was giving the American premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s “Innocence.”Although attendance at the city’s arts institutions remains down from…

The leader of the Universam gang — Marat’s brother, Vova — is also freshly returned from battle, having served in the brutal Soviet-Afghan War. He seems unbothered by what he saw there. None of his peers seem curious, either. This is the show’s aesthetic world: blank to the point of impenetrability. The director, Zhora Kryzhovnikov, rarely lets the camera wander beyond the rectilinear bounds of apartment blocks. The period details are hauntingly precise, but I still have no idea what Kazan actually looks like. The plot is somehow both frenetic and inert.The show is set in a critical moment. Everyone…

If old age is not for snowflakes — well, try directing a 90-minute feature film about old age in the iPhone era, as Niclas Larsson has done.Mr. Larsson, 33, greeted me on a recent morning into his 15th-floor terraced apartment in a former button factory in Manhattan, looking eerily like his dog, a blond lurcher named Ted, the way many owners do. He had settled here, the garment district of Midtown Manhattan, after rejecting “hipper” quarters in Brooklyn and the financial district.A native Swede with a deep appreciation of Americana, he was offering strong black coffee and strong opinions on…

The travel industry is in the midst of another hot summer as Americans hit the road and make for the airport to take advantage of slightly cheaper flights and gas. But the 2024 vacation outlook isn’t all sunny: Like the rest of the American consumer experience this year, it is sharply divided.Many richer consumers — always the lifeblood of the travel industry — are feeling good this year as a strong stock market and rising home values boost their wealth. While they have felt the bite of rapid inflation over the last few years, they are likely to have more…

It reminds me of what it was like to hang out with him and talk to him. One minute he’d be talking about quantum physics, the next he’d be talking about pop culture. I miss talking to Wayne, and playing this particular composition makes me feel like I’m continuing my conversations with him.Listen on YouTube◆ ◆ ◆Giovanni Russonello, jazz critic“House of Jade”Fittingly, the music on “Juju,” Wayne Shorter’s second album for Blue Note, has a dark-arts energy about it. These six tracks can send you spiraling into yourself, sounding out unnamed feelings, lost — but then they’re always somehow liable…

When Tim Bushe decided to trim some hedges one recent evening, he attracted more attention than usual for a routine garden chore.Walkers slowed to take photos and ask questions. Neighbors stepped over piles of leaf clippings to thank him. A driver honked and gave a thumbs up.Mr. Bushe is used to attention. It happens every time he gives his two gigantic, furry elephants a haircut. They are just one set of a collection of hedges on residential streets that Mr. Bushe has transformed from overgrown plants into whimsical creations. His hedge menagerie includes two cats, a squirrel, a hippo and…