Comment on Snow Days: Then & Now

PARIS — U. S. President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly apologized to Ukraine for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for bipartisan U. S. support “like it was during World War II.” Speaking in Paris, a day after they both attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, Biden apologized to the Ukrainian people for the weeks of not knowing if more assistance would come while conservative Republicans in Congress held up a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine for six months. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Still, the Democratic president insisted that the American people were standing by Ukraine for the long haul.

Quantity, not quality, defined the Peak TV era, an original-content bonanza that began when streaming services started making their own shows in the mid-2010s and was on the wane by the time Americans emerged from pandemic isolation. But the flurry of production inevitably facilitated some deeply strange—and often great—projects. Netflix let cult comedian Maria Bamford make Lady Dynamite, a surreal journey into her mental illness.

Even beyond the sparkling interior quality that marks a true movie star, actors are paid to play characters, not just buffed and polished versions of themselves. When we talk about “likable” actors, we’re responding to a performer’s ability to translate certain qualities onscreen. Our job as viewers is to be alive to their expressiveness, to the beauty of their features whether classical or quirky, to the way they swagger, slouch, or dance.

In Betty’s Bay, South Africa, one of the world’s wildlife celebrities, an African penguin, was busy shaking herself free from the sea. On land, cute and ungainly in equal measure, this princess of the ocean had a glint in her eye. It was late April during peak breeding season. She hurried toward rocks and scrub bed beyond the tideline.

Hulu’s wonderful new dramedy Queenie opens with an overhead, medium close-up shot that puts viewers face-to-face with the show’s namesake heroine. Twenty-five-year-old Queenie Jenkins is staring at the ceiling, her braids spread out on a white pillow, a tangle of necklaces grazing her clavicle, and an expression of idle bemusement twisting her features.

Lately, the biggest news in Alzheimer’s has been around a new drug treatment that can slow cognitive decline by nearly 30% among people in the early stages of the disease. In coming months, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision about another such promising therapy. But in addition to pharmaceutical interventions, which are expensive and require repeated infusions, making sustained lifestyle changes can also slow the progression of the disease, and possibly even prevent further decline, according to a new study. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] In the trial, an intensive program of diet, exercise, stress reduction, and social interaction slowed the progression of cognitive decline as measured on standard tests for dementia, and even improved some people’s symptoms.