Author: NY TIMES

If AI were ever prompted to generate an avatar of a game show host, surely the result would be Pat Sajak.After four decades on the air, Mr. Sajak, 77, presides over his last episode of “Wheel of Fortune” on Friday. And his departure — Mr. Sajak has suggested in a series of televised exit interviews with Maggie Sajak, his daughter, that this will be a welcome retirement — offered a chance to reappraise what it is that made him such a durable fixture of the American cultural landscape.Mr. Sajak, it is probably worth remembering, has been with viewers through seven…

One of the most captivating pieces of entertainment I’ve seen so far this year is a four-hour-long YouTube video in which one woman describes her stay at a Disney World hotel. I’m as shocked by this as anyone.To be clear: I was initially resistant when my partner encouraged me to watch Jenny Nicholson’s epic “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel,” which breaks down in microscopic detail her visit to Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. During the experience, now closed, guests on vacation were encouraged to live out their George Lucas dreams by participating in a role-playing game while…

Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTubeThis week, we host a cultural exchange. Kevin and Casey show off their Canadian paraphernalia to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and he shows off what he’s doing to position Canada as a leader in A.I. Then, the OpenAI whistle-blower Daniel Kokotajlo speaks in one of his first public interviews about why he risked almost $2 million in equity to warn of what he calls the reckless culture inside that company.Guests:Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of CanadaDaniel Kokotajlo, a former researcher in OpenAI’s governance divisionAdditional Reading:Credits“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin…

Julia Louis-Dreyfus journeys from denial to acceptance in this imaginative fantasy-drama about grief and motherhood. Source link

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel will address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24, the top two congressional Republicans announced on Thursday night.Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, said in a statement that the speech would offer Mr. Netanyahu the opportunity to “share the Israeli government’s vision for defending their democracy, combating terror, and establishing just and lasting peace in the region.”But in a separate statement that hinted at the deep political divides over Mr. Netanyahu and Israel’s war in Gaza, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York…

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week’s issue is written by Pete McKenzie, a reporter based in Auckland, New Zealand.In 2022, Lucy Schultz was fed up. She and her husband were traveling across the United States in a recreational vehicle while she worked as a wedding photographer. Everywhere they went, communities seemed polarized and the news felt bleak. “Our opinion of America was at its lowest,” she said. “It was an endless time warp of confusion.”Then Ms. Schultz was hired by an American client who wanted to marry in New Zealand. She had previously…

In 2000, Sheri Kathleen Cole and Ellen Elizabeth Moore took one of the greatest steps toward commitment in the modern era: They bought a home together.The act of purchasing a small rowhouse in the Southwest Center City section of Philadelphia felt like a natural progression in a friendship that began in 1992, when the two met at the University of Cincinnati while pursuing master’s degrees in women’s studies.The glue that initially bonded them? Duran Duran. Ms. Cole, 54, who described fandom as “basically obligatory” when she was in high school, hadn’t listened to the band much since. That is, until…

Before the Indian election results emerged this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was widely viewed as a charismatic and popular strongman celebrated by the business world for elevating its importance, even as he failed to solve a vexing problem: how to turn swift economic growth into critically needed jobs.After the election, Mr. Modi finds himself staring at that same monumental puzzle, yet relegated to an uncomfortable new status. He is the head of a party that has been chastened at the polls, forcing him to forge a coalition to maintain power.Mr. Modi’s governing authority is likely to be constrained by…

The filmmaker talks about the inspirations for the characters in “Megalopolis” and “The Godfather,” and responds to recent allegations. Source link

Facing international criticism of its conduct of the war and its latest strike a U.N. school building being used as a shelter in Nuseirat, the Israeli military offered a full-throated defense of the operation, insisting its forces had targeted a group of about 30 militants using three classrooms as a base.A military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Israel had carried out “a precise, intelligence-based strike” against “dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists hiding inside a U.N. school.” He said some of the militants had participated in the attacks against Israel on Oct. 7.Admiral Hagari said the operation took…