Elections

In a town littered with would-be superstars, he’s trying to beat the odds by giving studios what they crave. It’s no coincidence he’s everywhere.The cookies weren’t selling.It was a blustery day in suburban Austin, Texas, in 1996, and Lauren and Leslie Powell had a sales quota to meet for their Girl Scout troop. But it was that cookie time of year: Thin Mints and Caramel deLites were seemingly up for grabs everywhere.Glen, their 8-year-old brother, suggested a marketing gambit. “He had us make signs that advertised ‘free gift with every purchase,’ and we put them up around the neighborhood,” Leslie recalled.Glen was the gift.“He would hide in some honeysuckle bushes and pop out after a purchase to perform Elvis songs,” she said, laughing. “That’s my big brother. Ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog.”I confess: Until I heard stories like that one — and spent time with the hound dog himself — I didn’t have high hopes for this profile. Glen Powell? I figured he was a dumb jock who coasted into a movie career on his all-American good looks. Boring.Yes, fine, Powell has been having a bona fide Hollywood moment. He stood nude on a cliff top with Sydney Sweeney in “Anyone but You” at Christmas. He is currently starring on Netflix in “Hit Man,” a comedy-drama-thriller-romance. And in July, Powell will be outrunning big-budget tornadoes in “Twisters.”But a superstar in the making?C’mon.I met Powell, 35, for breakfast in April at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, Calif. He showed up in a tight blue polo accessorized with a chain necklace and chest hair. (Perhaps he was in character, I snarked to myself, as Good-Looking Frat Guy, a bit part he played in “Stuck in Love,” a 2012 romance.) An omelet was ordered. Tabasco sauce was summoned and squirted.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

This month’s sci-fi picks include alienoids, bionic athletes and a little creature named Godzilla.‘Godzilla Minus One’Stream it on Netflix.Despite a surprisingly successful box-office run at the end of 2023, this evocative, often poignant take on one of the most famous screen creatures of all time was abruptly pulled from theaters. Then the film remained AWOL from streaming for months, until it popped up last week with no advance fanfare — a bit like Godzilla himself emerging from out of nowhere, actually. Takashi Yamazaki’s movie is set a couple of years after World War II, as a traumatized Japan slowly rebuilds and tries to overcome the physical and mental devastation caused by the atomic bombings. The lead character, Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), is a former kamikaze pilot who managed to survive and is guilt-ridden — though, of course, it’s easy to argue that the actual lead is the title monster. Koichi joins the ad hoc forces gathered to prevent Godzilla from finishing off the reeling Japan, and the final battle, which takes place at sea, is masterfully directed by Yamazaki (who also supervised the Academy Award-winning visual effects).Note that the movie’s incredible black-and-white version, “Godzilla Minus One Minus Color,” is available on Amazon and other platforms, and is expected on Netflix sometime this summer.‘The Mill’Stream it on Hulu.“Average person must survive a hostile environment by any means necessary” is a pretty familiar trope, and it is heightened when said environment is a single location — a boat, an elevator, a car trunk, a phone booth or, in the case of Sean King O’Grady’s “The Mill,” a grim courtyard enclosed by grim walls. That is where Joe (Lil Rel Howery) wakes up one day. His only company is an unseen neighbor (voiced by Patrick Fischler), whom Joe hears through a duct. Food and water get pushed through a slot in the door. Soon enough, Joe is told that his performance at work has declined so he’s been sent to “advanced career training.” His task is to complete a minimum of 50 revolutions a day on a large mill: He has become a beast of burden tethered to his yoke and reduced to mindless effort. Worse, he competes against other prisoners kept in similar yards. Howery is effective as a regular, ahem, Joe who must both make it to the end of each day and figure out what’s going on. While it ends on a note that feels rushed (but suggests a potential sequel that could be intriguing), “The Mill” is a fairly tight sci-fi thriller that argues for collective action over individualism in the face of faceless corporate power. It’s not Ken Loach, but it might reach more people.‘Alienoid: Return to the Future’Rent or buy it on most major platforms.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Just to confirm, the theft ring’s focus is, indeed, Lego.It may not be the kind of hard-boiled Los Angeles crime that attracts the likes of Sam Spade or Jake Gittes, but the police say they have arrested the perpetrators in a series of thefts.Of Lego.To be clear, Lego is not a new slang term for cars, diamonds or heroin. The thefts were of literal Lego.A Target store in San Pedro, Calif., reported some of the thefts, and the police observed Blanca Gudino, 39, of Lawndale, stealing Lego sets at branches of the retailer in Torrance and Lakewood, they said. They followed her to the home of Richard Siegel, 71, in Long Beach, where she delivered the items, they said.Upon searching the home on Wednesday, the police said they found 2,800 boxes of Lego, with individual values ranging from $20 to “well over” $1,000. They included Star Wars, Harry Potter and Marvel sets, KTLA reported.The items were being sold to buyers found through online ads, the police said. While the police were on the scene, some prospective buyers showed up at the home.Ms. Gudino was charged with organized retail theft, a felony, and held on a $20,000 bail. Mr. Siegel was charged with grand theft, also a felony, and was released on his own recognizance.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke of Westminster, married Olivia Henson today at the Chester Cathedral in Chester, England, with Prince William serving as usher.The society wedding of the year — as it was called by British tabloids — went off without a hitch on Friday at noon. Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke of Westminster and one of the richest people in the United Kingdom, married Olivia Henson at Chester Cathedral, a centuries-old Gothic church in England.Despite the rapid winds, hundreds of observers and even a few protesters gathered outside to catch a glimpse of the duke, 33, the new duchess, 31, and William, Prince of Wales, a close friend of the groom and an usher at the wedding. (He attended without Catherine, Princess of Wales, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.)The Very Rev. Dr. Tim Stratford, the Dean of Chester, led and officiated the Anglican service. Ms. Henson arrived in a vintage 1930 Bentley with her father, Rupert Henson, wearing a floor-length silk crepe satin dress with a six-and-a-half-foot detachable train and an embroidered veil inspired by one that Ms. Henson’s great-great-grandmother wore in the 1880s. The look was designed by Emma Victoria Payne, who is based in London. A hefty dose of sparkle was added with the Faberge Myrtle Leaf Tiara, which various Grosvenor women have worn since its creation in 1906.Birch trees lined the inside of the cathedral, and flower decorations included roses and campanula. Many of the flowers will be repurposed as bouquets for local charities and other organizations.Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster and mother of the groom, waving alongside Rupert Henson, the bride’s father, after the ceremony.Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesPrince William, center, engages in conversation with other guests outside the Chester Cathedral following the wedding ceremony.Peter Byrne/Press Association, via Associated PressAfter the ceremony, the newlyweds shared their first public kiss as a married couple before around 400 guests celebrated their union at the nearby Eaton Hall, which has been the home of the duke’s family since the 1400s. Eaton Hall sits on an 11,000-acre estate in Cheshire County, a four-hour drive northwest of London.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Jose Uribe is cooperating with the government. Prosecutors say he sought Senator Robert Menendez’s help to stave off fraud investigations into two allies.Until recently, Jose Uribe was an obscure New Jersey businessman who had been caught up in what prosecutors say was a sprawling and lucrative bribery scheme involving Senator Robert Menendez and others.But after Mr. Uribe pleaded guilty in March to trying to bribe Mr. Menendez and agreed to cooperate with the authorities, he vaulted into a more prominent position: star government witness.On Friday, Mr. Uribe is expected to testify against Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors said, as the senator’s corruption trial ends its fourth week.The senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are charged with conspiring to accept cash, gold bullion and other bribes collectively worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for Mr. Menendez’s agreement to direct aid to Egypt and to meddle in criminal cases in New Jersey. One of those cases involved Mr. Uribe.Who Are Key Players in the Menendez Case?Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are accused of taking part in a wide-ranging, international bribery scheme that lasted five years. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.Prosecutors say Mr. Uribe, a former insurance broker who worked in the trucking industry, sought the senator’s help to stave off criminal investigations the New Jersey attorney general’s office was conducting into two of Mr. Uribe’s associates. In return, an indictment says, Mr. Uribe helped to buy Ms. Menendez, then the senator’s girlfriend, a new Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The European Championship starts in a week. So why are the headlines about Manchester City?In front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the street has been blanketed in artificial turf, and a set of gigantic goal posts has been erected. On the waterfront in Hamburg, two dozen shipping containers have been painted in the colors of the competing nations. Part of Leipzig’s zoo has been handed over for a program of cultural events, though presumably not the bit with the tigers.Across Germany, the flags are being draped, the marketing plans are being finalized and anything bearing the logo of something other than one of UEFA’s official sponsors is being unceremoniously hidden from view. After six years of planning, the European soccer championship — Euro 2024 — is just a week away. The teams will start arriving imminently. The fans, in the hundreds of thousands, will follow close behind them.For the rest of Europe, meanwhile, these are the glorious, hazy days before the carnival begins — a time filled with bunting and sticker albums, stirring television montages, speculative lineups and sweet nostalgia. Or, rather, they should be, because it is hard not to suspect that everyone is going through the motions.It’s not that there is no appetite for a tournament traditionally outshone only by the World Cup. But it is definitely of the muted variety. All of the emotions ordinarily associated with one of soccer’s showpieces — hope, excitement, fear, wonder about how England will sabotage itself — have been overshadowed by something else, something closer to ennui.It’s almost go time in Berlin.Annegret Hilse/ReutersThe most immediate explanation for why that might be probably lies in soccer’s calendar, which has fallen out of sync in the last four years. The men’s World Cup ended only 18 months ago. The last men’s European Championship was three years ago, not four. The game’s body clock has gone awry. It is as if the sport as a whole is suffering from jet lag.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Sometimes, the many numbers included in the government’s monthly jobs report come together to paint a clear, coherent picture of the strength or weakness of the U.S. labor market.This is not one of those times.Instead, the data released by the Labor Department on Friday was a mess of conflicting signals. It couldn’t even agree on the most basic of questions: whether the economy is adding or losing jobs.The report showed that employers added 272,000 nonagricultural jobs in May, far more than forecasters were expecting. That figure is based on a survey of about 119,000 businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.But the report also contains data from another survey, of about 60,000 households. That data showed that the number of people who were employed last month actually fell by 408,000, while the unemployment rate rose to 4 percent for the first time in more than two years.The two surveys measure slightly different things. The employer survey includes only employees, for example, while the household survey includes independent contractors and self-employed workers. But that doesn’t explain the discrepancy last month: Adjusting the household survey to align with the concepts used in the employer survey makes the job losses in May look larger, not smaller.That means that the conflicting pictures come down to some combination of measurement error and random noise. That is frustrating but not unusual: Over the long term, the two surveys generally tell similar stories, but over shorter periods they frequently diverge.Economists typically put more weight on the employer survey, which is much larger and is generally viewed as more reliable. But they aren’t sure which data to believe this time around. Some economists have argued that the household survey could be failing to capture fully the recent wave of immigration, leading it to undercount employment growth. But others have argued that the employer survey could be overstating hiring because it isn’t accounting properly for recent business failures, among other factors. More

The coming-of-age show, streaming on Hulu, follows a 25-year-old living in south London, navigating the gulf between her reality and what she wants.In 2022, British television producers released an open casting call, looking for a Black full-figured woman, aged 22 to 30, with a London accent.Thousands of people sent in audition tapes, hoping to land the role of Queenie Jenkins, whom many in Britain already knew as the titular character in Candice Carty-Williams’s best-selling debut novel.Carty-Williams, who was also the TV adaptation’s showrunner, knew that she was looking for an actress who could convey Queenie’s introspection. Dionne Brown — whom she had met during auditions for another show — had the right temperament. “Dionne is constantly thinking in a way that Queenie is,” Carty-Williams said. “You see her standing there and her head is whirring — that was important to me.”“Queenie,” streaming on Hulu, is a coming-of-age story about the titular 25-year-old Londoner navigating the gulf, in love and life, between her reality and what she wants. She is a social media assistant at a newspaper, but has ambitions to write meaningful journalism; her relationship with her boyfriend is falling apart despite her efforts; and she wants carefree sex, but her encounters often leave her feeling disempowered.All the while, Queenie grapples with her childhood trauma and how those experiences complicated her relationship with her mother. The show also explores how culture influences mental health issues: Queenie’s background as the descendant of Jamaican immigrants, her religious upbringing and British society’s emotional repression converge, Carty-Williams said, to create “the Holy Trinity of how to have a nervous breakdown.”When Brown read the script for the eight-episode adaptation, she found Queenie instantly relatable, thinking, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know other women felt like this,” the actress said recently in an interview. “There was a lot of truth in a lot of the dialogue.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More