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Entertainment

5 Issues to Do on Labor Day Weekend

5 Things to Do on Labor Day Weekend

In 1997, the courtyard at MoMA PS1 became the main venue for “Warm Up,” a summer event that mingled art, music and design in order to draw new audiences. But things change. “Warm Up” certainly hasn’t gone away, but last fall, the institution began “PS1 Courtyard: an experiment in creative ecologies,” a program testing out ways to use the outdoor space that encourage community engagement.

The initiative’s projects include a fountain from Niki de Saint Phalle, part of a larger exhibition at PS1 that closes on Monday, and Rashid Johnson’s “Stage.” Visitors are welcome to get up on his installation’s large yellow platform and freely use its five live microphones of varying heights. By showing a microphone as a dynamic social tool, Johnson’s piece, which will be on view through the fall, indicates the many things a stage can represent: a site of protest, music making, solidarity and, most important, amplification of your voice.
MELISSA SMITH

Film Series

The maximalist moviegoing event of Labor Day weekend is “Lawrence of Arabia,” screening on Saturday and Sunday on 70-millimeter film at the Museum of the Moving Image. But for a minimalist alternative, try Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons — four features, each set at a different time of year, that Rohmer, the most conversation-oriented French New Wave director, turned out from the late 1980s through the late 1990s. (Together, the running times total roughly two showings of “Lawrence of Arabia.”) With the changing of the seasons, Film Forum is showing all the titles separately from Friday through Sept. 9.

Watching them in tandem illustrates how Rohmer — superficially so consistent and serene — subtly toys with structure and variation, recombining types of characters in friendships and romances that rarely develop as expected. The most summery is, naturally, “A Summer’s Tale.” Melvil Poupaud plays a commitment-phobe vacationing in Brittany who somehow winds up juggling a surfeit of commitments to women.
BEN KENIGSBERG

Jazz

In 1971, seeking refuge from an exploitive, increasingly commercialized jazz industry, the trumpeter Charles Tolliver and the pianist Stanley Cowell founded Strata-East, a record label offering artists creative freedom and relative commercial control. Though short-lived, Strata-East inspired Black musicians in other cities to undertake similar efforts. And it captured a moment in time: Nearly every Strata-East album simmers with the heat and tension of the Black Power era, delivering terse, syncopated rhythms and pushing jazz linguistics into a more spare, confrontational zone.

Cowell died last year after a prolific career, but Tolliver, 79, continues to perform. At Birdland through Saturday, he is celebrating the label’s 50th anniversary with an ensemble of all-stars, including some who recorded on Strata-East in the 1970s: the tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, the pianist George Cables, the bassist Buster Williams and the drummer Lenny White. Sets are at 7 and 9:30 p.m. The late show on Saturday, which will also be livestreamed at dreamstage.live, will feature a guest appearance by the storied bassist Cecil McBee and will be hosted by the actor Danny Glover.
GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

Even workaholics know they should take it easy this weekend, and fans of “Workaholics” will recognize the headliner at Carolines on Broadway through Saturday: Erik Griffin, who played Montez Walker on that Comedy Central sitcom. Griffin also portrayed a stand-up in “I’m Dying Up Here,” a dramedy about comedy in the 1970s on Showtime, where you can find two of Griffin’s comedy specials. At Carolines, he will perform one set at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and two sets at 7 and 9:30 on Saturday. Tickets start at $31.25.

On Sunday at 7 and 9:30, Carolines will welcome Rosebud Baker, who released her debut special, “Whiskey Fists,” in August on the Comedy Central Stand-Up YouTube channel. Tickets are $27.25 and up.

There will be a two-drink minimum at each show.
SEAN McCARTHY

KIDS

In New York, casual basketball games are about as common as strutting pigeons. But the contest scheduled on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Bronx should result in a lot of head-turning, not to mention wheel-turning.

That’s when the King Charles Unicycle Troupe will play — while riding its favorite vehicles — at the basketball court in Clinton Playground in Crotona Park. (Enter at Clinton Avenue and Crotona Park South.) A beloved local circus act, these guys can double-Dutch jump rope on one wheel, too.

Their show is a highlight of the 12th annual NYC Unicycle Festival, a free outdoor celebration presented by the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. The festivities also include long-distance group rides on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which proficient young unicyclists can join if they’re accompanied by an adult. (Details are on the festival’s website.) Experienced riders can participate in a post-performance pickup game with the King Charles players on Saturday, too, along with a free-throw basketball contest and a unicycle obstacle course.

Neophytes, however, can do more than watch. On Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m., at Grant’s tomb in Morningside Heights, the festival’s conclusion will offer instruction and youth-size equipment for children who want to give unicycling a whirl.
LAUREL GRAEBER

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Entertainment

Sean Penn and Dylan Penn Make ‘Flag Day’ a Household Affair

Sean Penn and Dylan Penn Make ‘Flag Day’ a Family Affair

MALIBU, Calif. — Sure, Sean Penn has two Oscars. But at home, his children Dylan Frances Penn and Hopper Jack Penn wanted to pelt him with tomatoes.

“I tell jokes terribly,” Sean admitted. “They always tell me, ‘You probably should have stopped there.’”

“As you do with your dad,” Dylan added, rolling her eyes affectionately. Despite her father’s failings as a stand-up comic, she trusts him as the director who could kick-start her acting career — if she wants one. “Flag Day,” which premiered in competition at Cannes and is in theaters Aug. 20, stars the two in an adaptation of the journalist Jennifer Vogel’s memoir, “Flim-Flam Man,” about her shaky young adulthood in the orbit of her charismatic con man father, who died following a high-speed police pursuit.

Sean handed Dylan the book when she was a teenager. She passed. Now 30, she took nearly 15 more years to agree to make the film, long enough for her 61-year-old father, Sean, to come around himself to doing double-duty as director and leading man, the first time he’s tried to do both. “I don’t think stereophonically,” Sean said.

He had an easier time convincing his son, Hopper, to sign on to a small role as Vogel’s brother.

“He just asked me to play Nick and that was that,” Hopper said by email.

Sean and Dylan were sitting in their front yard in the shade of an Airstream trailer named Las Vegas, in honor of Sean’s intended elopement to Leila George. (Because of the pandemic, the couple was instead married by a county commissioner over Zoom last summer as Sean’s nonprofit CORE opened a Covid-19 testing site at Dodger Stadium that has since evolved into a fleet of mobile vaccination units.)

Alongside three large dogs continually changing their mind about where to nap, the two talked over each other, and indulgently allowed themselves to be interrupted, as they hashed out their maturing relationship. “I know what the stamps are in her passport — and she knows mine,” Sean said. “And it was thrilling that we were able to transfer it to a movie.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

This is a film about finding your own identity apart from your parents. Dylan, you avoided acting. You worked at an ad agency, you helped edit scripts, you delivered pizzas — how were your tips?

DYLAN PENN Terrible.

SEAN PENN That terrified me. All those frat houses around U.C.L.A.

DYLAN I started modeling like six months into being a pizza delivery girl. I would work at night doing pizza deliveries, but during the day, I was doing full hair and makeup for a shoot. So I would show up to these frat houses and they’re like, “Oh, did someone order a stripper?” Nope! Just a pizza. I always thought I would be in the film industry, but I expected to be behind the camera. When I was, like 15, 16, the first time you came to me with this project, I just felt like it was a really silly thing to do.

Acting?

DYLAN Adults dressing up as different people. The real reason that I got into acting in the first place was because I told my parents [her mother is the actor Robin Wright] I wanted to direct eventually, and both of them told me that I should know what it’s like to be an actor before I direct so that I know how to direct an actor.

Was this film always going to be the two of you?

SEAN I was going to be involved in it first as an actor. She didn’t feel ready for it. And then when it came back around, it came to me as a director. So then I was just going to direct it. And then we got into a bind about a month out from shooting, and I had to just jump in and I’m so glad that I did.

DYLAN It was a real shock because we’ve never worked together. The idea of him directing me was already like a big undertaking. The idea of being so vulnerable with your own family in front of 40, 50 crew members is daunting.

SEAN Your dirty laundry is going to be aired on a daily basis. I don’t mean your family history dirty laundry, but I mean that day’s emotional interactions with each other. But on the upside, I’ve never been so excited on any movie set as when I was in a scene with her, or just watching her kill it. In particular, the thing that all actors say, but very few do, is that listening is everything. She listens in a way that I love watching because she doesn’t tell you what she’s thinking. I like putting the camera close on her because she’s not going to wink at you.

What about Sean as a director makes him unique?

DYLAN His vision is so fully realized ahead of time. Even working in a space where, financially, it was a bit of a constraint, there was no limit to making that vision become a reality. A prop, a location, my hair. Literally, the opening where Regina King and I had a scene together. I walked in and he was like, “You would not be wearing mascara.” And I remember being so pissed. It was a fight for 10 minutes to take the mascara off.

SEAN It was a two-and-a-half-hour standoff.

DYLAN I was wrong. But I’m stubborn and it was a fight.

SEAN I will just say on your behalf, a lot of times where she had a different view, more often than not, I came around to thinking that she had the right idea. So I would be very interested in seeing the things that she directs.

Acting dynasties go back to the Barrymores. But it feels like your family is shaping a directing dynasty. Dylan, both of your parents released films in the last year that they directed, and Sean, your father, Leo Penn, was a director.

SEAN I spent a lot of time with him as a kid on sets. TV one-hour dramas. He was much more patient. A gentler sort. But I’m sure that a lot of my general sense of what a director’s job is comes from him.

And he directed you in “Little House on the Prairie”?

SEAN That was summer money as an extra as a kid. I didn’t think I wanted to get involved in film until senior year of high school.

And “Judgment in Berlin” [a 1988 film that featured Sean as a trial witness].

SEAN That was a great experience. We talk about in this story, how much of your parents do you really know? The deceptions in the relationship between John and Jennifer — from John to Jennifer.

Even with a gentle, open, loving man, it took going to Berlin, knowing [that during World War II] he’d flown those low-altitude bombing missions virtually where we were, and walking with him through a square where mothers are pushing strollers. I won’t call it regret by any means, but the humanization of what he’d done from the air had wiped him out.

Getting to know one’s parents makes me think of Dylan’s Instagram post from a couple of years ago of your dad’s first wedding day.

DYLAN It was the first time that I realized, “Oh, my parents are people without me.” And this is like on a deep level, after going through a lot of family therapy. I get asked so much, “Wait, so you’re Madonna’s daughter?” Oh right! He was married to her — they had a life together.

You were 5 when you left Los Angeles and moved to Northern California. Just before, your mother was surprised by people with guns in your driveway. Do you remember that?

DYLAN I remember it vividly. It was me, my mom and my brother in the car. We pulled in around 10 p.m. and these two guys were standing in the driveway. My mom just said, “Don’t get out of the car. Don’t make a sound.” She got out and they pointed a gun at her stomach and she threw the keys in the bushes and yanked us out of the car. That superhero thing that moms take on when their children are in jeopardy.

SEAN And then they took the car.

DYLAN They crashed.

SEAN They finally crashed into a dumpster and took off running. They actually caught the second guy with a heat sensor from the aerial unit. He had gotten into a dumpster himself, but because he’d been running, his body was hot and they were able to see his heat.

DYLAN [This is one] reason my mom has said she didn’t want us growing up in this paparazzi frenzy that L.A. was becoming. Now, it’s beyond what it was in the ’90s.

It’s pretty impossible for anybody not to remark on how much you look like your mom. On the inside, do you see your dad?

DYLAN Oh my God. I feel like we’re both very alpha personalities, but with that, also being introverted in terms of our private life. I think a lot of my strength comes from watching my dad. My mom, as well, but just in different ways. I also think we see things in similar ways and emotionally react similarly, just in terms of, like movies that we watch, that we cry at —

SEAN Everything.

DYLAN It’s like what a lot of people have with their best friends. You both observe the same things.

SEAN Through a similar lens.

DYLAN Yeah, through a similar lens.

Some of these scenes seem like they would have been hard to shoot, really harrowing. You’re recording her as she’s watching you die onscreen.

DYLAN It’s an awful thing to watch. It was the first time that I felt 100 percent like my dad is not there — this is my dad — and I really felt like he was shooting himself in the head. I was crying and I could hear him crying behind the camera.

SEAN Watching you cry over me. [Fake sobbing] It’s so sad to see you lose your father!

You were crying, too?

SEAN She made me cry a lot. She makes me cry a lot. You kind of feel like somebody should call Child Protective Services on you for directing. What are you putting your kid through?

There’s a line in this film: “I think the greatest hope a man can have is to leave something beautiful behind — something he made.” Am I alone in thinking that line had a resonance for you?

SEAN Oh, no. It has resonance for me as you say it. Yes. Listen, I don’t know what else I was doing here. Now with two kids that I feel so proud of who are already accomplishing things out of their own gifts. On a beautiful day, despite a pandemic and everything else, you kind of go, it’s all gravy from here. Knock wood. [Knocks on a palm tree] But no question, I would be lost without ’em.

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World News

‘I stay on $47 a day — right here’s how I spend my time’

'I live on $47 a day — here’s how I spend my time'

Before Covid hit in March last year, I was making a decent income of about $4,000 per month as a freelance video producer. But as the pandemic intensified, those gig earnings quickly dwindled to $700.

Due to all the uncertainty about the future, I found myself sleeping on a futon at my sister’s house in New Jersey. I felt restless and missed all the traveling I used to do for work.

But a few months later, my prayers were answered: Croatia announced that it would start offering a one-year residence permit to digital nomads (anyone outside of the European Union working remotely) in January 2021.

I had visited Croatia before and was utterly captivated by the country, so I decided to apply.

Getting Croatia’s digital nomad residence permit

I did a lot of prep work between April and December before getting approved for the permit.

The application processing fee was $100, and to qualify, I needed to have a monthly income of at least $2,750. So throughout the following months, I aggressively built a recurring income stream from freelance gigs (video producing and copywriting) through Upwork.

By December, I was back to making around $4,000 per month. I was also an obsessive saver and rarely spent my earnings. So with the $76,000 I had in my savings account, I felt financially secure enough to live abroad.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

A beautiful street in the heart of downtown Split

Photo: Steve Tsentserensky

In addition to the income requirement, I needed to show proof of international health insurance (which I got through a U.S.-based travel insurance company called Seven Corners), obtain an FBI background check and provide an address I’d be staying at.

I spend much less in Croatia than in the U.S.

I currently live in Split, Croatia’s second-largest city, located on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.

The views are gorgeous, and the cost of living is much cheaper compared to most major U.S. cities. The average rent for a one-bedroom in Jersey City, for example, is $2,779 (not including utilities), according to rental listing website RentCafe.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Steve Tsentserensky’s average monthly spending

Gene Woo Kim | CNBC Make It

I live by myself in a 650-square-foot apartment, which I found through a Facebook group for expats in Croatia. I’m renting directly from the owner for $540 (including utilities) per month.

Marmontova Ulica, a busy street in Split filled with several shops and restaurants. Pictured in the distance is the island of Brač.

Photo: Steve Tsentserensky

I spend an average of $47 a day. Here’s a breakdown (as of June 2021):

  • Rent and utilities: $540
  • Health insurance: $65
  • Food (groceries, eating out and drinks): $608
  • Subscriptions: $14
  • Phone: $12
  • Recreational travel: $185

Total: $1,424

How I spend my days

As soon as my alarm goes off at 6:30 a.m., I’ll make some Turkish coffee and have a simple breakfast — usually some eggs, vegetables, cheese and toasted bread.

Then I dive straight into my freelance projects. I try to put in about eight hours of work on weekdays. Since most of my clients are based in the U.S., I’ll schedule work calls on Eastern or Pacific Standard Time.

If I feel like eating out for lunch ($10 to $14, including tip), there are several places within walking distance. I love trips to the bakery for a tasty burek, a savory pastry typically filled with meat or cheese ($2 to $3).

A cheese burek and a double espresso at a café in Split costs around $5.

Photo: Steve Tsentserensky

A nice dinner on the coast will include lots of seafood dishes like tuna, octopus and squid ink risotto ($18 to $30, including drinks and tip).

Squid ink risotto and a beer from Dujkin Dvorlocal, a local restaurant in Split, for just under $18.

Photo: Steve Tsentserensky

I’m a pretty social person, and I’ve met a lot of great people in Split — both locals and other expats. On weekends, I could spend hours having meaningful conversations with friends over $2 espressos.

From my apartment, I’m a three-minute walk to the famed ruins of Diocletian’s Palace. Built at the turn of the fourth century and considered the heart of the city, the streets of this UNESCO World Heritage Site have been worn smooth by pedestrians.

The famed ruins of Diocletian’s Palace

Photo: Steve Tsentserensky

I’m also six minutes from the Riva, a waterfront promenade filled with cafés, bars restaurants and shops.

At 35, traveling has always been an essential part of my life. Since arriving in Croatia, I’ve taken a number of trips to see more of this endlessly beautiful country.

A few places I’ve been to: Zagreb (where I lived for a few months), Rijeka, Zadar, and the islands of Hvar and Brač. Most recently, I took a two-hour bus ride ($28 for a round trip) to Zaton.

A view of the Zagreb Cathedral, a Roman Catholic cathedral-church and the second tallest building in Croatia.

Photo: Steve Tsentserensky

The pace of life in Croatia is dramatically different — and much more my speed — than in New Jersey. When you combine that with the affordability, friendly people, fun activities and low crime rates, there isn’t much to complain about.

Continuing the nomadic life

One of the downsides of working and living abroad is missing and being far from my family and friends, so I’m hoping to take a trip back home at some point.

One of Split’s most iconic attractions is the Cathedral of St. Domnius — filled with murals, carved altars and a steep bell tower.

Photo: Steve Tsentserensky

While Croatia will forever hold a place in my heart, several other countries, including Georgia and Portugal, also offer digital nomad visas. Once my permit here expires in March 2022, I plan to take advantages of those opportunities and continue the nomadic life for as long as I can.

The freedom to work from anywhere and chart your own course is a bit addictive, and the spontaneity of it is a big part of what brings me joy.

Steve Tsentserensky is a video producer, photographer and writer. He currently lives in Croatia through a digital nomad residence permit. Follow him on Instagram.

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World News

The Day After the Fall

The Day After the Fall

When the Taliban entered Afghanistan’s presidential palace on Sunday, the insurgent group completed a two-decade fight to take back control of the country. The president had fled; the interior minister announced there would be a peaceful transfer of power for greater Kabul.

Monday offered the first glimpse of a country coming under Taliban control. We’ll look at how the day unfolded in three places: the airport in Kabul, where people made a desperate attempt to escape; the city itself, where most people spent the day hiding; and Washington, where President Biden stood by his plan to withdraw U.S. troops.

For much of Monday, Kabul’s main international airport was a scene of anguish and panic. Thousands of Afghans rushed boarding gates and flooded the tarmac hoping to find a flight out of the country. At one point, a crowd ran alongside a departing U.S. military plane, with some Afghans clinging to the side of the aircraft.

At least half a dozen Afghans died — some fell from the plane as it flew off, and at least two were shot by U.S. soldiers trying to contain the surging crowds.

U.S. forces took over air traffic control, halting most commercial air traffic to allow more flights carrying in reinforcements and evacuating foreign citizens. Some Afghans said the efforts prioritized Americans and other Westerners over Afghans.

Thousands of people camped in terminals overnight waiting for flights out of the country, many of them employees of international organizations and media companies the Taliban has targeted.

With runways cleared of civilians, military flights resumed evacuating foreign nationals early this morning as more U.S. troops arrived to oversee a frantic escape. By later this week, 6,000 American troops will conduct security at the airport, though Biden said they would only be in Afghanistan briefly.

Even with U.S. military restoring order within Kabul’s international airport, it was unclear whether Afghans could make it there. Despite assurances from the Taliban of safe passage, there were more ominous signs on the ground.

The Taliban spread out across the streets of the capital city, riding motorbikes and driving police vehicles and Humvees taken from the Afghan security forces.

Armed men visited the homes of Afghan government officials, confiscating possessions, while others directed traffic. But compared to the chaos at the airport, the city was eerily quiet, residents said.

Kabul’s streets were empty for much of Monday, Al Jazeera reported. Taliban fighters took selfies with passers-by and told residents not to fear them. “There will be no revenge” on civilians, a Taliban official told the BBC.

The Taliban have sought to assure Afghans that life under their fundamentalist rule will be less oppressive than in the 1990s. But many are still scared. In Kabul, some residents tore down advertisements that showed women without head scarves. In other parts of the country, there were reports that fighters were searching for people who had collaborated with Americans or the fallen government.

A young woman in Kabul told the BBC that the city was “silent,” with many people hiding in their homes. “I’m just seeking for a way to get out of Afghanistan because there is no hope for women and the future,” she said.

In a speech at the White House, Biden said the withdrawal had been “hard and messy and, yes, far from perfect” and acknowledged that the Taliban had taken over faster than his administration had anticipated. “The buck stops with me,” he said.

But Biden also blamed the rapid collapse on the Afghan government and armed forces, and said he stood “squarely behind” withdrawing. “The events we’re seeing now are sadly proof that no amount of military force would ever deliver a stable, united, secure Afghanistan.”

Biden said U.S. soldiers would help evacuate thousands of American citizens, vulnerable Afghans who qualify for special immigrant visas and news agency workers. “Our current military mission is short on time, limited in scope and focused in its objectives: Get our people and our allies as safely and quickly as possible.”

And he vowed a “swift and forceful” response if the Taliban attacked U.S. forces or tried to interfere with evacuations.

The latest:

  • The federal government declared a water shortage at Lake Mead, triggering supply cuts to Arizona farmers.

  • Grace, which made landfall in Haiti on Monday as a tropical depression, restrengthened into a storm early today. There’s a risk that mudslides and flooding could hamper earthquake recovery efforts.

  • Federal regulators are investigating the Autopilot system in Tesla’s electric cars after a series of crashes.

  • California voters began receiving mail ballots for a Sept. 14 recall election that could oust Gov. Gavin Newsom. Recent polls of likely voters show a near tie.

Raising the minimum wage can create jobs, Peter Coy writes. Sign up for his new Opinion newsletter, exclusively for Times subscribers.

Buzz: What if you could become invisible to mosquitoes?

Reflections: Why dancers keep showing up in front of an empty building in Paris.

A Times classic: How to meditate.

Lives Lived: Michael M. Thomas had three careers, as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and, finally, a writer. He died at 85.

Last week, videos about sorority recruitment at the University of Alabama were all over TikTok. Many featured women in the middle of the process, also called “rushing,” as they documented their outfits. TikTok’s algorithm turned the videos into a phenomenon, inspiring parodies and a fandom. So far, the hashtag #bamarush has more than 260 million views.

As Kalhan Rosenblatt wrote for NBC News, rush videos have done well before on social media platforms like YouTube. But TikTok’s “For You” page, in which the app determines which videos users see next, introduced the genre to an audience that hadn’t engaged with college Greek life before.

What’s so transfixing about the videos is that they immerse people in an experience that’s likely to be unfamiliar. “You can follow an account and basically watch your own reality show,” one TikTok user told NBC News. “Southern sororities are so niche and so particular to a specific area in America, everyone finds it fascinating.”

For more, Slate’s ICYMI podcast has an episode dedicated to the topic. — Sanam Yar, a Morning writer

The pangram(s) from yesterday’s Spelling Bee was logophile. Here is today’s puzzle — or you can play online.

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Health

When Work Weighs You Down, Take a ‘Unhappy Day’

When Work Weighs You Down, Take a ‘Sad Day’

“I think the safe advice is not to be upfront,” said Andrew Kuller, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Not everyone values ​​mental health, he added, and “unless you are close to your manager.” a risk.”

But say you work in an organization where you can tell the truth without facing punishment. In this case, you are still not obliged to state why you want to call in sick. However, if you have something to share (or are interested in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health), you could reach out to your manager and say, “I think I would really benefit from taking a day to help out. to relax a little, “said Dr. said Grant. “I want to get back to work with all my energy.”

When employees are mentally and physically exhausted, it affects the quality of their work, their productivity, and the people around them, added Dr. Grant added.

“I think it’s easier to have a conversation about burnout than about sadness, depression or anxiety, so I would probably play it safe there and highlight why this is good for the organization, not just you,” said he

If you feel ready, you can also try putting together a coalition of people in your department who are concerned about mental exhaustion, said Dr. Grant, whose latest book “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know,” challenges readers to change long-cherished thought patterns. As a group, you can discuss concerns such as missed deadlines or mistakes that could be made worse by burnout, and then bring these issues to your manager, who may be motivated to find a solution. That way, you can try and change the system for everyone, including yourself.

When deciding how to use a mental health day, it helps to think about what got you there in the first place. Do your personal relationships need attention? Are you exhausted from your workload and want to switch off from it all? Did you have a particularly stressful week and want to spend some time decompressing? Maybe it’s a combination of several things.

Thinking about it ahead of time will help you make the most of your day as possible. While one person is benefiting from a massage or a pampering day, another person may want to paint or garden. Others will find the greatest value in reconnecting with friends or family members.

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World News

Shares rally for a second day, Dow jumps greater than 200 factors to recoup Monday’s losses

Stocks rally for a second day, Dow jumps more than 200 points to recoup Monday's losses

US stocks rose higher on Wednesday as stocks continued their recovery from a one-day loss earlier in the week.

Better-than-expected earnings reports from Dow members Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson added to the bullish mood.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 286.01 points, or 0.83%, to 34,798 points. It sits less than 1% from a record. The S&P 500 was up 0.82% to 4,358.65. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.92% to 14,631.95.

The 30-share index rose nearly 550 points on Tuesday after falling 725 points on Monday for its worst session in eight months. The successive rallies have now completely wiped out the losses from the beginning of the week for all three indices.

“Tuesday was an oversold course in the textbook after the collapse on Monday,” Thomas Essaye of Sevens Report Research said in a report on Wednesday. “However, aside from short-term swings, we need to see returns hit rock bottom and economic growth beat estimates (two things we think will happen) for value and cyclicals to regain leadership.”

The bond market, particularly the 10-year government bond yield, is driving the equity markets. On Wednesday, the 10-year yield rose 8 basis points to 1.293% (1 basis point equals 0.01%). The yield fell to a new 5-month low on Monday before stabilizing on Tuesday. The collapse in interest rates unsettled equity investors by signaling a possible slowdown in the economy due to the spread of Covid variants or a possible error by the Federal Reserve.

Even if bonds move up, the trend is still down compared to five months ago when the 10-year price was above 1.7.

“The catalyst for why investors have become familiar with risk assets in the past two days is admittedly difficult to pin down,” said Chris Hussey of Goldman Sachs on Wednesday. “Perhaps investors have just embraced the notion that the response function to a new wave of the virus is unlikely to be the same as the response function deployed in spring 2020.”

Stocks, which would benefit most from a sustained rapid economic reopening, rose on Wednesday after recovering from Monday’s sell-off in the previous session. Carnival’s shares rose more than 9%. Las Vegas Sands was up 3%.

Energy stocks led the ongoing rally as oil continued to rebound after falling below $ 70 a barrel on Monday. The Energy Select SPDR is 3.5% higher that day.

Dow member Coca-Cola gave market sentiment an early boost after it reported quarterly sales surpassing pre-pandemic 2019 levels and raised its guidance for the full year. Coca-Cola shares gained more than 1%.

Dow member Johnson & Johnson’s stock traded almost unchanged even after the drug maker reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the second quarter and also raised its guidance for 2021.

Moderna has joined the S&P 500, giving the stock a 20% gain from when it was announced a week ago. The shares have gained 4.5%.

Verizon’s stocks rose slightly after reporting better-than-expected revenue and subscriber growth and raising their outlook for the full year.

Chipotle’s shares surged more than 11.5% as the Mexican fast food chain reported quarterly sales ahead of pre-pandemic levels as diners returned to their restaurants for dinner.

Netflix reported disappointing subscriber forecasts for the third quarter after the bell on Tuesday. The streaming giant expects 3.5 million net subscribers in the third quarter, nearly 2 million below analyst estimates. The company also reported results that fell short of expectations.

Netflix shares recently lost 3.2%.

According to FactSet, about 85% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported to date have beat estimates.

On Tuesday, reopening stocks rallied sharply from Monday’s sell-off sparked by a Covid-inspired global growth fear. American Airlines was up 4% and Norwegian Cruise Line was up 10%.

Some strategists see the market heading for a volatile phase in which there could be a deeper pullback. Investors juggle inflation concerns as well as new Covid cases that are recovering in the US when the delta variant spreads.

“I think what we’ve seen here are the early warning shots of a correction that we’re likely to see … in late August, September, October,” said Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak.

However, data shows that spikes in the number of Covid cases don’t typically keep the stock market down for long. In the 14 months since the April average daily cases peak last year, case numbers in the US have risen four times while the S&P 500 remained positive.

Goldman’s Hussey said knowing better about Covid and the vaccines available to mitigate its effects could help build market confidence that U.S. economic activity is unlikely to freeze again with another wave of virus cases.

“We should expect the whiplash behavior of investors to continue”,

Rich Steinberg, chief marketing strategist at The Colony Group, told CNBC that he expects “whiplash behavior from investors to continue.”

“We will follow the rally as investors have been conditioned to buy the dip,” he said. “You’ve also been negatively conditioned to worry about the economy and the virus out of last year’s stressful world. I would describe the environment as fearful, but we’re not seeing high levels of short-termism.”

– with reports from CNBC’s Patti Domm and Michael Bloom

Categories
World News

On England’s ‘Freedom Day,’ Rising Virus Instances and a Prime Minister in Isolation

On England’s ‘Freedom Day,’ Rising Virus Cases and a Prime Minister in Isolation

Freedom Day arrived in England on Monday, with its chief architect, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in quarantine, millions of Britons who might join it there and countless people more concerned about the risks of liberation.

Those were the inconsistencies on the long-awaited day the government lifted all but a few remaining coronavirus restrictions – a day the virus infected 39,950 people and carried away tens of thousands more, from the National Health Service’s cell phone app were notified after they were in contact with an infected person.

Mr Johnson defended the decision to reopen Checkers from his country estate, where he has been in self-isolation since Sunday after the NHS notified or “pinged” him for contact with his Health Secretary, Sajid Javid. who on Saturday said he had mild symptoms of Covid-19.

“If we don’t open up now, conditions are even tougher in the coming months, if the virus has a natural advantage,” Johnson told a video feed at a press conference in a slightly hushed voice and a slightly blurry image. “We have to ask ourselves: ‘If not now, then when?'”

“It is right to be as careful as we are,” he added. “It is also right to acknowledge that this pandemic is far from over.”

Mr Johnson’s safe tone captured the sharp shift in sentiment since the Prime Minister first announced and then withdrew the date for most restrictions to be lifted. British newspapers quickly dubbed Monday “Freedom Day” and celebrated it as a symbolic end to the country’s 16-month ordeal with the pandemic.

But as new cases have skyrocketed and hospital admissions started, the plan to open the economy instead looks like a likely prescription for a massive third wave – a wave of infections that Mr Johnson believes is inevitable and worthwhile with while of summer when the warmer weather and school holidays reduce the key chains of transmission.

The government’s decision represents a staggering gamble that a country with relatively widespread vaccines can learn to live with the coronavirus in its adult population. Much will depend on the resilience of vaccines and the ability of the country’s health system to deal with those who actually get sick.

“The government is basically saying, ‘We have done all we can. Now it’s up to you, ‘”said Devi Sridhar, director of the global public health program at the University of Edinburgh. “You are the first country to surrender.”

Keeping some restrictions in place for a while, Professor Sridhar argued, would allow vaccines to roll out further and hospitals to develop better treatments. “You’re devaluing time,” she said.

According to the new rules, pubs and restaurants can operate at full capacity and night clubs are allowed to reopen. The restrictions on the number of people who can meet indoors, generally limited to six, have also been lifted. The legal requirement to wear face masks has been dropped, despite the government urging people to continue wearing them on public transport. (They are compulsory to stay on London Undergrounds and buses.)

Mr Johnson initially hoped to avoid self-isolation by participating in a program that would have allowed him to continue working in the office had he been tested daily. But after being accused of breaking the rules, he reversed course and said he was self-isolating like everyone else.

Updated

July 19, 2021, 2:50 p.m. ET

The Prime Minister warned young people that they would likely need to show a full vaccination card to enter nightclubs and other crowded places. He said the flood of people ordered to isolate was an inevitable side effect of reopening. And he refused to rule out the reintroduction of restrictions, as the Netherlands recently did when hospital admissions rise catastrophically.

Almost 70 percent of adults in the UK have received both doses of a vaccine. That leaves a large pool of unvaccinated people, especially younger people, through which the highly transmissible delta variant is spreading rapidly. While these people are less likely to get seriously ill, they can transmit the virus to unvaccinated older people who remain vulnerable.

To add to uncertainty, the government said it would only offer vaccines to children ages 12-18 if they have pre-existing health conditions that make them particularly susceptible to the virus. Some scientists questioned the decision, saying the long-term effects of Covid-19 on children were unclear and that if they were not vaccinated they could speed up the infections when schools start next month.

In London, where the lifting of restrictions coincided with the mildest weather of the summer, sunbathers near Liverpool train station expressed a mixture of relief and concern as the country broke new ground.

“I don’t think it’s the right time, but we can’t hold up our lives for long,” said Silvia Andonova, dentist, 43. “There will never be a right time.”

She said she intends to continue wearing masks on public transport and in crowded places, but the instructions are not clear enough. “The government put it confusing,” she said. “What should I do?”

After long months of restrictions, there were signs of a serene mood and many restaurants wrote “Happy Freedom Day” on their signs. Still, many people said they felt conflicted over the government’s decision to relax the restrictions.

“No matter what the politicians say, I will wear my face covering in the transport,” says Saj Sangha, assistant to a law firm. Still, Mr Sangha, 52, said he looked forward to ordering a beer in a pub without the inconvenience of having to reserve a table in advance.

Not all young people believe that returning to nightclubs is safe. “The deaths are a little lower with the vaccination, but people still have Corona – we still have high numbers,” said Simone Papi, 24, cook.

In the northern city of Bradford, 26-year-old Kasim Khan stood in line to receive his first vaccination. “I am hopeful,” said Mr. Khan. “I hope to go to where my family is from, Pakistan,” he said, adding that it could be some time before this could happen as the government is currently requiring travelers from Pakistan to arrive in the UK upon arrival Quarantine hotels.

Another Bradford resident, Kirsty Mcguire, 33, said she plans to continue taking some precautions, like wearing a face mask, despite the new freedom.

“It’s out of respect for the elders and I have children,” said Ms. Mcguire, “I’m afraid something will happen to them, so I hope that people still hold on to what they were.” “

Isabella Kwai provided coverage from London and Aina Jabeen Khan from Bradford, England.

Categories
Health

Mark Wahlberg-backed F45 pops on IPO day. The actor touts exercises’ vitality

Mark Wahlberg-backed F45 pops on IPO day. The actor touts workouts' energy

Global fitness company F45 Training, backed by actor Mark Wahlberg, made its stock market debut Thursday.

Under the ticker symbol FXLV, it started trading on the New York Stock Exchange and went as high as $17.75 per share on its first day for a $1.6 billion market cap. The initial public offering of 20.3 million shares was priced Wednesday evening in the middle of the expected range at $16 per share. The company raised $325 million. The stock drifted back toward its offering price in afternoon trading, closing up 1.25% at $16.20 per share.

Before the stock opened, Wahlberg, known for his physique and his intense early morning workouts, told CNBC from the floor of the NYSE why he likes the company’s approach so much.

“Die-hard fitness enthusiasts who don’t have the schedule, got to do it in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning, don’t want to get on a bike. That’s fine. But eventually that becomes, stagnant and boring,” Wahlberg said. “You want to be in there with the energy of people working out with you, alongside you, inspiring you, pushing you and supporting you.” He added, “The energy is absolutely incredible.”

Founded in 2013 in Australia, F45 Training offers what it calls functional 45-minute studio and home workouts for people across all fitness levels. It has new workouts each day, inspired by a database of over 3,900 high-intensity interval training exercises consisting of both cardio and resistance.

The company currently has 1,555 studios and 2,801 franchises across 63 countries, and aims to ultimately have more than 23,000 studios worldwide.

“People at any level of fitness can come in and do the workout, and I had never seen that before,” Wahlberg said on “Squawk Box.” “Somebody who’s clearly in the beginning of their fitness journey working out with somebody who is an elite athlete, and being able to do the same exercises, where they’re modified, never the same exercise twice. It’s absolutely fantastic.”

Mark Wahlberg, left, and Adam Gilchrist, CEO, F45 Training Holdings at the New York Stock Exchange, July 15, 2021.

Source: NYSE

In addition to Wahlberg, F45 Training said in its IPO filing that it has promotional relationships with basketball legend Magic Johnson, soccer great David Beckham, standout golfer Greg Norman and super model Cindy Crawford.

The company plans to use $190.7 million of the IPO’s net proceeds to repay debt, $2.5 million to give select cash bonuses for select employees, and $25 million to acquire the Flywheel indoor cycling chain.

“We’re going to be opportunistic with that capital,” F45 founder and CEO Adam Gilchrist told CNBC, standing next to Wahlberg. “We’ve been fiscally conservative since 2013, having never had an unprofitable quarter, and there’s not many start-ups that have been growing at this sort of breakneck speed that can boast that.”

Gilchrist called the company’s acquisition of Flywheel a “great investment” because he said the cycling chain had invested $65 million in technology, saving F45 Training about $40 million on costs and the three years, he believes, it would have taken F45 to build that technology.

F45 Training prides itself on providing a judgement-free zone, Gilchrist said, adding the company’s studios are considered “sanctuaries” for members, with no mirrors and no scales. The program applauds people for coming in three times a week.

An average F45 Training studio has 175 members while the company’s break-even point — when total revenue equal total expenses — is 75 members, he said. The CEO added that 75% of the company’s members are female and 25% are male, with the general age demographic ranging from 25 to 42 years old.

The small membership size develops a tight-knit community within the studios, he said, where members show up at 6 a.m., and know each other by name.

“We are a premium product where they pay anywhere up to $3,000 a year,” Gilchrist said, adding that the company’s monthly retention rate is in the “low single digits.”

Wahlberg said the company has seen people in the second months of their membership visiting the studio more frequently than they did before the Covid pandemic.

“We’re trying to create communities and community for us is actually even more important than the actual workout,” Gilchrist said. “We want people to have a third place to go. Obviously, they have home, work, and F45 is that spot where … it’s a sanctuary for people to turn up, and just have a fun 45 minutes of the day.”

F45 Training agreed in June 2020 to merge with Crescent Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, but later canceled the deal as the pandemic shut several of its studios.

— Reuters contributed to this report.

Categories
Entertainment

Assessment: A Higher Day Dawns With Pam Tanowitz’s Witty New Dance

Review: A Better Day Dawns With Pam Tanowitz’s Witty New Dance

RED HOOK, NY – For a moment or two, Pam Tanowitz may have regretted the title of her latest dance: “I’ve been waiting for the echo of a better day.”

The sentence comes from a film by Jean-Luc Godard, and Tanowitz certainly meant the accusation of a return to live and in-person performances. But the work commissioned by the Bard SummerScape Festival is designed for outdoor use, and the premiere originally scheduled for Thursday has been canceled due to rain. So was the Friday show. The title threatened to become an explanation for the unprecedented premiere.

On Saturday, however, the weather cleared long enough for “I was Waiting” to make its debut. The wait was worth it. As for better days, since the pandemic began, I can only imagine a few dance experiences as exciting as this one.

Unlike many performances forced outdoors by coronavirus protocols, this one really took advantage of their surroundings. This wasn’t a dance that would have been better in a theater. It cannot have existed in one.

In the beginning, the setting was wonderful: Montgomery Place, a property next to Bard College that belongs to him and where Tanowitz works as a choreographer in residence. A pleasant walk (or a golf cart ride) around the grounds led to a steeply sloping strip of lawn that stretched from the balustrade and steps of a mansion to a pond with views of the Catskill Mountains and a sliver of the Hudson River.

We spectators sat on the lawn, isolated from each other in areas like circles on a twister board. String quintet players – including the violinist Jessie Montgomery, whose lively compositions served as the score – got ready on a covered platform. But where should the dancers dance?

Everywhere turned out. And that was the fame of that 45 minute work. First the audience had to turn back to look at the view like at a wedding to see how the first dancer – the brilliantly clear Zachary Gonder – flew down the slope and darted between the circles like a firefly. Other dancers followed, but the first surprise wasn’t in the foreground: there were dancers in the distance, dressed in bright yellow or blue, arabesques between the trees, visual echoes that expanded the dance.

This was the general effect of Tanowitz’s brilliant use of space: to stretch one’s attention with relish. Sometimes a couple of dancers would continue down by the pond while something else up in the mansion did something else. But this more-than-you-see simultaneity was just one option among many.

When a dancer caught our attention, one or two or three others would often emerge from the surrounding foliage: more visual echoes that, by changing the shape and direction of the dance, seemed to change the space around them. When the dancers embarked on a new path or ventured into new open grass, it was like illuminating landscape features and illuminating discoveries. When Melissa Toogood drove down from the balustrade to the pond in a solo part – and then past it to perform in a new place, closer to the river – the dimensions of the dance increased once more, as it is only possible outside. It was a funny move that aroused amazement.

This choreography of the room was enlivened by a movement vocabulary that is more complex, intricate and varied than one would expect from dancers in sneakers on wet and uneven terrain. These dancers – Jason Collins, Brittany Engel-Adams, Christine Flores, Lindsey Jones, Victor Lozano and Maile Okamura, and Gonder and Toogood – are marvels, alone and together. In slow sections they merged into sculptural groups of great, balanced beauty.

Their phrases had their own music, but it harmonized with Montgomery’s score and its oscillating rhythms, quickening pizzicati, scraps of gershwinesque tunes, folk songs and the roar of insects. Birds fell into the silence.

To me, the joys of “I Was Waiting” mirrored the joys of previous Tanowitz works, including the sublime “Four Quartets” that she debuted at Bard SummerScape (indoor) in 2018 and me of Ronald K’s bold, grand SummerScape program Brown / Evidence in 2019. This series builds a track record of dependable transcendence, a promise for better days.

Pam Tanowitz dance
Montgomery Square, July 10-11; bard.edu.

Categories
Health

Do We Actually Must Take 10,000 Steps a Day for Our Well being?

Do We Really Need to Take 10,000 Steps a Day for Our Health?

Another, more extensive study from last year with almost 5,000 middle-aged men and women of different ethnicities also found that 10,000 steps per day is not a prerequisite for a long life. In this study, people who walked about 8,000 steps a day were half as likely to die from heart disease or other cause as those who walked 4,000 steps a day. The statistical benefit of additional steps was small, which means it didn’t hurt people to collect more steps up to the 10,000 step mark and beyond every day. But even the additional steps did not offer any additional protection against dying in youth.

Realistically, few of us reach that 10,000-step goal anyway. Recent estimates suggest that most adults in America, Canada, and other western countries walk an average of less than 5,000 steps a day.

And when we hit the 10,000-step goal, our performance tends to be short-lived. A famous study in Ghent, Belgium, made pedometers available to local residents in 2005 and encouraged them to take at least 10,000 steps a day for a year. Of the 660 men and women who completed the study, about 8 percent ended up meeting the daily goal of 10,000 steps. But in a follow-up study four years later, hardly anyone went that far. Most had returned to their baseline and were now taking about the same number of steps as at the start of the study.

The good news is that increasing our current step count by as much as a few thousand extra steps on most days might be a reasonable, sufficient – and achievable – goal, said Dr. Lee. The formal physical activity guidelines issued by the United States and other governments use time, not steps, as a recommendation and suggest that we exercise at least 150 minutes a week, or half an hour most days, in addition to any exercise as part of our normal, daily life. Translated into step numbers, said Dr. Lee, that total would add up to a little over 16,000 steps a week for most people, or about 2,000 to 3,000 steps most days. (Two thousand steps is about a mile.) If we currently, like many people, take about 5,000 steps a day in everyday activities such as shopping and doing housework, with the additional 2,000 to 3,000 steps we would total between 7,000 and 8,000 steps most days, what according to Dr. Lee seems to be the sweet spot for step count.