Author: NY TIMES

The trainer, Jo Vaughan, had about 12 weeks to prep the cats. A significant portion was spent familiarizing them with being carried and walking on leashes. “If there’s two things cats don’t like,” Vaughan said, “one is being on a harness and lead, and two is being carried.”The cats weren’t the only ones who had to adapt to something they didn’t like: When filming began, Nyong’o, who won an Oscar in 2014 for her role in “12 Years a Slave,” was afraid of the creatures. Sarnoski said she spent about an hour before shooting each day doing “cat time” to…

As the rest of the world zigs toward a four-day workweek, Greece is opting to zag.On Monday, a law came into effect that allows some companies to enforce a six-day workweek, a shift that is intended to prop up the country’s aging work force, compensate strapped workers and hold firm to the Greek way of life.The law applies to private sector workers in certain industrial and manufacturing sectors, or to those who work in a business that operates continuous shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with some exceptions. And it would be allowed only “in exceptional circumstances,”…

A Fuse Meant to LightI left the book on the couch. Mom sparked a conversation. “I see it’s about a gay man. Do you think you might be?” “Doesn’t everyone wonder at some point?” “Perhaps. Uncle Mike is gay; you know we love him.” The book ignited my innermost thoughts but I wasn’t ready. I quietly stored her words like dry fuses. Three years later, on July 4, Uncle Mike’s birthday, with my brother alongside, I declared my independence. “I always knew,” Mom said. “Love you,” Dad replied. Surrounded by family and fireworks, I finally lit the fuse that illuminated…

We are almost halfway through the Indian action extravaganza “Kill” before the title card slams onscreen, by which point its simple imperative — and the film’s entire raison d’être — has been obeyed so many times it’s essentially redundant. Much like the movie’s English subtitles: The dialogue might be in Hindi, but the language of blood and bones is universal.Speaking it fluently is Amrit (Lakshya), a hunky military commando who has followed his childhood sweetie, Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), onto an express train to New Delhi in the hope of rescuing her from an arranged marriage. The lovebirds’ quivering reunion, however,…

In the 1980s, a French punk rock band coined a rallying cry against the country’s far right that retained its punch over decades. The chant, still shouted at protests by the left, is “La jeunesse emmerde le Front National,” which cannot be translated well without curse words, but essentially tells the far right to get lost.That crude battle cry is emblematic of what had been conventional wisdom not only in France, but also elsewhere — that young people often tilt left in their politics. Now, that notion has been challenged as increasing numbers of young people have joined swaths of…

This poignant animated film casts the world of imaginary friends as an arena to reckon with emotional turmoil and loss of innocence. Source link

Voters streamed into a polling station in Portsmouth, a city nestled along England’s southern coast that is known for its naval base and historic dockyard, on Thursday morning as ballot workers greeted them warmly.Older couples walked hand in hand into the local church, which had been temporarily fitted out with ballot boxes, alongside parents with children in strollers, and young adults rushing in on the way to work.One by one, they weighed in on the future of the nation in a vote that polls suggested could end 14 years of Conservative-led government.“I just want to see change,” said Sam Argha,…

When Cindy Crawford walked into a lounge in the Santa Monica Proper Hotel on a morning in early June, her vibe was immediate: comfortable, professional, direct. No artifice. No entourage. Just her longtime publicist Annett Wolf, who made a brief introduction and disappeared, leaving Ms. Crawford at the head of a table set with a display of the products from her Meaningful Beauty line of skin and hair care, a $400 million brand she introduced 20 years ago.“Where do you want to start?” Ms. Crawford asked. “What feels the most organic?”It’s tempting to describe Ms. Crawford, 58, as casual, but…

In a furniture store devoid of customers, an elderly matriarch, referred to only as “Mother” and played by Ellen Burstyn, has settled on a couch. That is, she’s really settled on a couch. She’s sitting on it and refusing to budge. She promises that if anyone tries to move or carry her off the couch, she will struggle to the extent that, “I will fall and hit my head so hard it will burst.”No one in “Mother, Couch” is inordinately pragmatic, or else this movie, written and directed by Niclas Larsson, adapted from a novel by Jerker Virdborg, would be…

Israeli ministers were set to meet Thursday evening to discuss Hamas’s response to a new proposal for a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages, as mediators sought to revive dormant talks for a cease-fire after nearly nine months of war.On Wednesday, the Israeli government said in a statement that it was examining Hamas’s response to the latest proposal and would send its own reply to mediators. The discussions are based on a three-stage framework deal publicized by President Biden in late May and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council.An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said…