‘Materialists': A Romcom With Shrewd Observations About Love

R | 1h 56m | Rom-Com | 2025
Don't let A24's Nora Ephron-esque romcom marketing that makes 'Materialists' look like a fairy tale of modern dating in Manhattan fool you. Korean-American filmmaker Celine Song's second film attempts to be a discerning, perceptive, sharp-witted lament for what love has become in the transactional, commodity-driven age.

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At St. Peter's Fiesta in Gloucester, greasy pole competitors brave fog for a chance at glory

Boston Globe

an hour ago

Boston Globe

At St. Peter's Fiesta in Gloucester, greasy pole competitors brave fog for a chance at glory

Contestant after contestant ran across the pole — which is greased with lard, fish guts, and oil among other slippery substances. One by one, they all fell, failing their mission to capture a flag planted at the end. That is, until the Advertisement Sunday marked the fifth and final day of St. Peter's Fiesta, a festival honoring Cape Ann's Italian-American fishing heritage. For nearly 100 years, locals and tourists have flooded Gloucester's streets in celebration of the Feast of St. Peter, the patron saint of fisherman, shipbuilders, and sailors. Each evening, revelers gathered for live performances of Italian love songs and covers of Rat Pack crooners. Advertisement Down toward Gloucester's waterfront, street vendors sold treats and children lined up for carnival rides. On Sunday morning, the festivities began with an open-air mass at the flower-strewn altar in St. Peter's Square, followed by a procession. At 3 p.m., spectators gathered for the Blessing of the Fleet, as Catholic clergy offered prayers for the fishing boats bobbing in the harbor. For Gloucester's fishing community, long a Throughout the weekend, crews of 10 rowers, a helmsman, and a coxswain competed in seine boat races, rowing out a half-mile from Pavilion Beach and racing to be the first back to shore. On Sunday, three racing boats — the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria — set off into the fog and returned minutes later, the calls of their coxswains swallowed by the chatter of beach crowds and the low growl of breakers hitting the shoreline. But it was the greasy pole competition, with its odd mystique and can't-look-away sense of danger, that drew the most reaction from the crowd. It is a tradition that creates local Shortly before 5 p.m., a fog bank rolled in from the east, leaving spectators straining to see the pole as it faded in and out of the mist. More than 100 boats floated off of the beach, from inflatable craft with outboard motors, to fishing boats waving American and Italian flags, to kayaks to yachts. As the competition started, the crowd let out a great cheer, and boats let off blasts from their fog horns. Advertisement 'They could be jumping off right now, we wouldn't even know,' said Matthew Vallis, a retiree who lives in Gloucester watching from the beach. The competitors began their journeys, most of which ended in a quick fall. Some plummeted razor straight, others flailed their arms and scissor-kicked. One contestant wobbled out of control, but improbably made it nearly to the flag before falling, the crowd's growing cheer ending in a collective 'aww.' Another slipped and hit the pole hard, drawing a collective grimace of sympathy. Sandy Bartos, 32, was getting food with a friend and their tired, curly-hair dog Luca after spending the day in Rockport when they saw the crowd gathering. After hearing about the competition, they decided to come down to Pavilion Beach and check it out. 'We were told it was the greasy pole contest, and that's tough to beat,' she said. The festival was well-attended throughout the weekend. People of all ages crowded Stacy Avenue, eating ice cream and lobster rolls from food trucks. As the tide receded, kids splashed in the surf. And the harbor, Vallis said, was the most populated he'd ever seen it for the event: 'I've never seen this many boats.' Dan Glaun can be reached at

Glastonbury 2025, by the numbers, from the cows to toilets to pints to, yes, the music

Hamilton Spectator

5 hours ago

Hamilton Spectator

Glastonbury 2025, by the numbers, from the cows to toilets to pints to, yes, the music

LONDON (AP) — This week, thousands of music lovers from across the U.K. and beyond will flock to a farm in the southwest of England for the legendary Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. But just how many? Find out in this guide to Glastonbury — and all of its quirks — by the numbers. 210,000: Full capacity of the festival The festival's current license allows up to 210,000 people on-site, including fans, staff and performers — but, this year, a few thousand fewer tickets have been sold, to avoid overcrowding. The closest village of Pilton has a population of around 1,000 people. During the festival, though, the area becomes the seventh-largest largest city in the U.K. (more than double that of nearby Bath, which has a population of around 94,000). 1,200,000: Pints of beer stocked across more than 100 bars Brooklyn Brewery's pilsner has been the official beer of Glastonbury since 2023, keeping festivalgoers well lubricated. This year, they are preparing more than 1.2 million pints of lager for a hot and thirsty crowd. That's equivalent to two standard-size swimming pools. And that's despite Glastonbury's B.Y.O. standing, unique at British music festivals where bringing alcohol in from the outside is usually prohibited. At Glastonbury, if you can carry it, you can drink it, and it's not uncommon to see wheelbarrows and small trailers being pulled into campsites with a weekend's worth of supplies of food and drink. 120,000: Largest-ever crowd for one set The headliners on the iconic Pyramid Stage traditionally attract the biggest crowds, and Elton John's 2023 farewell gig attracted more than 120,000 fans as he closed the festival. Paul McCartney pulled in more than 100,000 festivalgoers for his headlining Saturday night set in 2022. 4,000: Number of toilets As well as standard portable toilets, the more than 4,000 toilets include the infamous 'long drops' — lockable, open-air toilets set up on high with a huge concrete gutter around 10 feet (3 meters) below (looking down not recommended) and 'compost loos,' with a bin of sawdust located outside to scoop and scatter over your business. There are also both men's and women's urinals for a speedy pee! By contrast, there are scarce few public showers. Organizers instead recommend a 'good ol' fashioned stripwash and making do.' 3,972: Performers across 120 stages this year This year's headliners are English indie rockers The 1975 on Friday, Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young on Saturday and American pop star Olivia Rodrigo closing on Sunday. But if that's not your thing, there are 3,969 other acts to choose from. 35: Minutes it took for 2025 tickets to sell out Tickets for this year went on sale in November 2024, more than 6 months before a single performer was announced, yet the general admission tickets sold out in 35 minutes. The resale round in April saw remaining tickets sell out in just 20 minutes. 1970: Glastonbury's birth year This does not mean this week is the 55th edition though, as traditionally the festival takes a fallow year roughly every five years to allow the farmland to recover. The last official fallow year was 2018, but the festival's 50th anniversary in 2020 and the following year's edition were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. If you're considering making Glasto plans for next year, don't bother: 2026 is a fallow year. 1,000: Acres constituting the festival's site This is equivalent to 500 soccer pitches or approximately 733 standard American football fields. That makes it the world's largest greenfield music and arts event. 1,000: Cows living on the farmland The rest of the year, that is — the humans and the cows don't cohabitate during the festival. Worthy Farm, where the festival is held, is a working farm with 500 milking cows and 500 young stock. During the festival, organizer Michael Eavis sends the dairy cows for a short stay at the Glastonbury 'Moo-tel,' a large shed based away from the action, while the rest go off to graze further afield. 400: Food stalls The more than 400 stalls go well beyond the traditional festival burger, offering just about every type of global cuisine you can imagine. Plus the Brits love a 'meal deal' (a combo of a main meal and a drink or side dish) and Glastonbury is no exception with 6-pound (roughly $8) meal deals offered across the site to keep things affordable. 30: Arrests made in 2024 Twenty-one of these were for drug-related offenses, but the festival retains a low crime rate overall. 8: Kilometers around the perimeter fence A 'Super Fortress Fence' was installed in 2002. Before this, there were tens of thousands of gate-crashers every year. Some jumped the fence, while others tunneled under, 'Great Escape' style. Eavis installed the impenetrable fence after he was fined in 2000 for breaching licensing conditions. 5: Days the festival site is open for business Ticket holders can get access starting 8 a.m. Wednesday to pitch their tents and bag the best spots. While there is entertainment and music over the first few days, the main stages start up on Friday morning and run through Sunday night. All festivalgoers must leave by 5 p.m. Monday, when the site officially closes. 5: Most headlining appearances of any band Coldplay has headlined the Pyramid Stage a record five times. They first topped the bill in 2002, followed by 2005, 2011, 2016 and, most recently, 2024. Arctic Monkeys, Muse and Radiohead are among an elite group of artists who have headlined three times. 3: Banned items that may surprise you Among the list of banned items you might expect, including narcotics, weapons and fireworks, are the less assuming Chinese lanterns, body glitter and gazebos. The first two are verboten because of environmental concerns — a couple cows have died from ingesting the remnants of a Chinese lantern! — while a sudden rash of gazebos would take up too much space in the busy campsites. 0: Number of plastic bottles sold on-site Glastonbury banned single-use plastic in 2019, installing more drinking water fountains around the site and encouraging festivalgoers to bring reusable bottles — for water or some other liquid of choice, of course.

Epoch Times

7 hours ago

Epoch Times