Author: NY TIMES

It’s been more than five decades since Dustin Hoffman’s character in “The Graduate” was offered a kernel of wisdom about the path to prosperity.“Plastics,” he’s told by Mr. McGuire, the starched corporate executive who offers the advice. “There’s a great future in plastics.”Plastics have indeed been a game changer for humanity, and the enormous range of cheap, durable plastic goods, from food containers and PVC pipes to polyester clothing and single-use medical products, have inarguably improved life.The problem, as nearly everyone knows, is that plastics are forever and very little of it has been recycled. The U.N. has estimated that…

Snubbed!Every year since the Academy Awards were invented, somebody has been overlooked, ignored, passed over, disregarded or brushed off. You know what they say about beauty and beholders.But perceived Oscar omissions — snubs, as we have come to call them — have grown into a frenzied annual conversation, with people left off the nomination list, or nominated but denied a statuette, sometimes receiving as much attention, or more, as those who win. “Barbie” was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but Greta Gerwig’s exclusion from the best director lineup has been the headline (never mind that she is in the running…

Voters in Ireland have rejected two proposed changes to the country’s Constitution that would have removed language about women’s duties being in the home and broadened the definition of family beyond marriage.The results, announced on Saturday, were an unexpected defeat for equality campaigners and for Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, or prime minister.Mr. Varadkar, speaking late Saturday afternoon after most of the votes had been counted, said that it was clear that the proposals had been defeated, and that the government respected the results.“As head of government and on behalf of the government, we accept responsibility for the result,” he said.…

This article is part of our Design special section about innovative surfaces in architecture, interiors and products.An Exceptionally Hard-Working ValentineLove’s bonds can be delicate yet feel constraining and require hard work to maintain. How better to express all that than by slicing paper into handmade greeting cards, with whorls that can be pulled up to form gossamer cages for images of lovebirds, bouquets, engagement rings, or even rodents?The cards, known to fans as cobwebs or beehives, became popular in the 1800s. Some will be for sale March 16-17 at the Ephemera Society of America’s annual fair at the Hyatt Regency…

New cars are more available this spring, and manufacturers have even begun offering deals to entice buyers.But at the same time, lenders have been tightening the terms of car loans as they deal with a rising number of delinquencies. That has made it harder for some people to get affordable loans.Access to auto loans for both new and used cars was generally worse in January than in December and down year over year, according to Dealertrack, a Cox Automotive service that tracks credit availability based on factors like loan approvals, terms and down payments. The impact was seen at banks,…

The best documentary award became part of the Oscars in 1942, and the list of winners is genuinely fascinating. In the category’s early years, the State Department and various branches of the U.S. military were routinely nominated, and even won. As time wore on, films critical of the government and its policies — whether the focus was labor, nuclear war or the surveillance state — were more likely to take home the prize. At the Oscars, the documentary category might tell us more about America than any other.One of my favorite winners is from 1970: Michael Wadleigh’s “Woodstock” (for rent…

The glare of public attention has often left Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, on the receiving end of strong opinions. And Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pushed back at that directly on Friday, criticizing a culture of bullying on social media.“We have forgotten about our humanity, and that has got to change,” she said, while appearing on a keynote panel at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, focusing on the representation of women in entertainment and the media.Meghan and Harry have voiced repeated concerns about how negative media attention has affected them, both while they were active members…

On May 6, 2023, about 10 minutes after they were pronounced husband and wife in front of 120 guests, Dr. Erika Frances Amundson and Eli Brownlie Newell were in the back of an ambulance speeding toward Los Angeles General Medical Center. From his gurney, as sirens wailed, Mr. Newell signed their marriage certificate.Major medical decisions awaited them, and he wanted Dr. Amundson to make them as his wife.Dr. Amundson, a resident in pediatrics, had already been the one to decide that Mr. Newell was in no shape to continue the wedding celebration. Friends at Millwick, an events space in Los…

On Feb. 23, John Richards traveled more than 100 miles to place bets on the Oscars. He took a train from Washington, D.C., to Wilmington, Del., and then hopped into an Uber car to take him to a truck stop in New Jersey.Once in that state, where bets are legal, he opened his DraftKings, FanDuel and bet365 apps and spent about $1,800 on a series of wagers: Lily Gladstone for best actress, “The Creator” for best visual effects, “Maestro” for best makeup, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” for best animated film, “Oppenheimer” for best sound and “War Is Over! Inspired by…

I have never forgiven the Oscars for picking “Birdman” over “Boyhood.” What can I say — “Boyhood” was moving and meaningful, while “Birdman” was pretentious and obtuse, and none of my cinéaste colleagues are going to persuade me otherwise. MICHAEL PAULSON, theater reporterI am still mad about the academy’s refusal to recognize, even just to nominate, Greta Gerwig for her creative work on one of the best movies of its decade. The film I’m of course referring to is “Frances Ha,” for which Gerwig was the lead actress and co-screenwriter (with Noah Baumbach, who directed) — a brilliant, joy-filled movie…