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New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Can Embracing Punk Save Gen Z — and Our Flailing Country?
The writer and performer John Cameron Mitchell has a message for members of Generation Z: Stop playing it safe and embrace punk. Mitchell, who wrote 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch,' sits down with Opinion's deputy editorial director of culture, Carl Swanson, to talk about what he learned touring around the country and talking with college students about rebellion. Below is a transcript of an episode of 'The Opinions.' We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYT Audio app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Please note: parts of this conversation contain strong language. Carl Swanson: My name is Carl Swanson, and I'm the deputy editorial director for culture at Times Opinion. We are only four months into the second Trump administration, so it's too early to say what the cultural response will be, but it's not too early to ask the question: What should the response be from art, music and from youth culture? The actor, writer and director John Cameron Mitchell recently wrote an essay for us with an answer to that question: 'Today's Young People Need to Learn How to Be Punk.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Bryan Kohberger's 'toxic obsession'. New Idaho murders revelation that expert HOWARD BLUM says solves final unanswered question: What was the REAL motive?
I have written and reported on the murder of the four Moscow, Idaho college students since it happened on November 13, 2022. That is the date a masked intruder entered 1122 Kings Road just before dawn and brutally dispatched Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodel, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20, with a hunting knife.
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
I Love This Scandinavian Yard Game (And I Don't Even Have a Yard)
Spend a sunny day in a Copenhagen park and you will see at least one group, if not many, throwing a bunch of wooden rods at a bunch of wooden blocks. It might be a quorum of college students chilling with beers, a couple having a picnic, or a family with kids enjoying the sunshine. During the years I lived in Copenhagen, this lawn game — known as the king's game — quickly became a spring and summer staple. On a nice day after work, desperate to get out of our 500-square-foot apartment, my partner and I hit the park, spread out a picnic blanket, popped open two beers, and started counting paces to set up the field. Setting up a petite, garden-size game of kubb at the King's Garden in Copenhagen. Maria Adelmann/NYT Wirecutter It was a surprising turn of events because I've never been much of a yard-game gal. Growing up, cornhole felt too basic, croquet had a stuffy air, and I was quickly beaten in badminton by an older brother. And, as an adult, I've mostly lived in yardless apartments. But the king's game is different. It's relatively portable. It's just complex enough to hold your attention but simple enough that you can socialize. It takes skill and strategy but not necessarily athleticism — you can eke out a win over a seemingly more adept opponent. The game — called kubb (pronounced 'koob') in the US — is composed of 10 smaller wooden blocks, or kubbs, one large wooden block (the king), and six wooden batons. Most sets also come with stakes to mark the field as well as a carrying case for easy transport. This versatile, relatively portable outdoor game can accommodate two to 12 players of all ages. It's perfect for outdoor parties, backyard hangs, or sunny days in the park. As with many games, the rules are more complicated to describe than to execute in real life, but it mostly involves throwing batons to knock over the opponent's baseline kubbs. These fallen kubbs are thrown into the field to become field kubbs, which must also be knocked over. At the end, you have to knock over the king, the largest block positioned at the center of the field. (You might be better served by this rules page, which has a fun three-minute explainer video.) Like most kubb sets, the tournament-size set I own comes with 10 smaller wooden blocks, or kubbs, one large wooden block (the king), and six wooden batons, plus stakes and a carrying case. Maria Adelmann/NYT Wirecutter As I spent more time in Europe, I played the king's game beyond the park. More than once, I played a post-dinner, pre-dessert game in the yard of a Danish family. I played it in Germany with a group of colleagues, where, incidentally, they called it the Viking game. I began to see its versatility. It was just as enjoyable as a two-person showdown as it was for a party game of 12. You could play it with a bunch of adults or you could play it with grandparents and kids. It was perfect for an outdoor party, for a post-grilling backyard break, or to take along in the car on a chill weekend trip to the country. The game mostly involves trying to knock over these chunky kubbs with batons. Maria Adelmann/NYT Wirecutter While I've never played it on sand, dirt, or snow, it's apparently possible. And unlike some of the aforementioned games of my youth, it's relatively portable; it's a yard game you can enjoy even if you don't have a yard. While kubb isn't as well known in the US, it does have a loyal following — including in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, home to the largest weekly league in the world. Eric Anderson, director of the U.S. National Kubb Championship in Eau Claire, told me he loves kubb because it's a strategic game where any one can have success regardless of age, strength, or gender. 'We have had people that are young teenagers and seniors both do well here at the Championship,' he told me in an email. 'It also is a game where players have to interact with their opponent, which isn't always the case in other sports. It can be played at an extremely recreational level and also at a very elite level… both of which are extremely fun.' My colleagues at Wirecutter recommend it, too. It's recently become a top pick in our guide to outdoor games, and before that it was a staple in our gift guides (such as our guides to the best gifts for families and the best last-minute Father's Day gifts). It would make a great housewarming present. Tournament-size pieces — like this baton, king, and kubb — are heftier than garden-size pieces but easier to play with. Maria Adelmann/NYT Wirecutter The game is typically sold in two sizes: garden (also called backyard or yard) and tournament (also called standard or regulation*). The garden size has slightly smaller, lighter pieces and tends to be less expensive. Anderson recommends that even casual players stick with the tournament size, if possible. 'The garden/yard sizes make the game more difficult,' he said. 'It is harder to control the batons when throwing, they are much more susceptible to wind, and the kubbs are a much smaller target to hit.' That said, my tournament-size GoSports Kubb Viking Game set is fairly heavy — about 20 pounds — so it's a bit of a workout to walk it to the park. Garden-size sets can easily be 5 pounds lighter. Kubb is also amenable to house rules. In Denmark, I was taught a simplified version that I still use. Once a kubb is knocked over twice — that is, once as a baseline kubb and once as a field kubb — it's taken out of the game. Anderson told me this is one of the most common unofficial rules people play. While the legit rule of keeping all the kubbs in the game requires more strategy and offers teams more opportunities to have a comeback, the house rule does tend to make the game shorter. 'It is ok to make whatever rules you want,' Anderson assured me. If you're playing with kids, you can use fewer blocks, have younger kids throw from the half line, or create a smaller field. You have plenty of options. As for me, I continue to be in the unlikely position of being a yardless yard-game advocate. So while some people may host kubb tournaments in their backyards between dinner and dessert, it gives me the chance to throw batons around in unexpected places. I've played in a castle garden and behind a historic penitentiary, and, eventually, I imagine I'll play in Central Park. Speaking of, I'm off to challenge my partner to a game in the grass behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art. *Turns out, not all kubb sets sold as tournament/regulation sizes actually meet official guidelines. If you plan to play in a tournament, be sure to check the legit regulation sizes against the dimensions of the set you want. Serious players may also want to look for a set that comes with six stakes (four for the corners and two for midfield)—many sets come with just four corner stakes. The U.S. National Kubb Championship recommends sets from one of its sponsors, JP's Backyard Games . This article was edited by Hannah Rimm and Maxine Builder.
Japan Times
16-05-2025
- Japan Times
Fighting Osaka Expo fatigue? Walk the 21-km Loop Line for a cure.
As I stand outside Osaka Station one morning in mid April, a quartet of college students direct visitors to the train line that runs out to Osaka Bay and Expo 2025. It's mere minutes after morning rush hour, and beyond the station, the broad boulevards of Japan's second city are eerily, beautifully empty. Instead of rushing off to the Expo, I face a more mundane decision: clockwise or counterclockwise — which direction to start my trek along Osaka's 21.7-kilometer Osaka Loop Line. The Kanjosen, as it's known in Japanese, didn't start out as a loop. The initial section was born in 1898 as the Joto Line, connecting Osaka and Tennoji stations in the eastern parts of the city so as not to impede the ships that passed through the rivers of the western districts. A large section of the line was destroyed during an air raid on the final full day of World War II, and the rebuilt line was officially completed as a circuit in 1961. Today, an average of 12 trains per hour run the entire line, leaving Osaka and Tennoji every five minutes. Close to 270,000 passengers per day ride the striped carriages, a toned down version of the completely orange carriages of the 1990s. But on foot, the only rule I'd keep on my half-day loop trek was to pass by each of the line's 19 stations, close enough to hear the distinct departure melodies of each yet near enough to the city itself to discover the down-to-earth neighborhoods that the forward-looking Expo fails to capture. A walk along that Loop Line brings pedestrians through some of Osaka's down-to-earth neighborhoods. | EDWARD J. TAYLOR I start in the Umeda neighborhood that houses Osaka station. I've always felt that Umeda, with its tidy steel and glass towers, is the part of Osaka that looks most like Tokyo. But the sight of the highway offramp passing through the Gate Tower Building reminds me of Osaka's earthy pragmatism. It's only a single station away where the high rises dwindle into quiet neighborhoods, allowing the full warmth of the springtime to fall unimpeded upon the walker. The Fukushima neighborhood helps set what soon is a familiar pattern: narrow lanes running toward and along the station with a bevy of restaurants, bars and shops, many built into the base of the elevated train line itself. As the Kanjosen heads further west, I find myself in an industrial landscape straight from 1980s dystopian sci-fi, or at least the minds of 1980s city planners. Overall, Osaka lacks Tokyo's green spaces. Color tends to be more prominent around construction sites, the bright synthetic materials around cables and traffic cones meant less for aesthetics than visual warning. Color is more profound in the graffiti covering a large number of flat surfaces, and befitting the Japanese aesthetic, it serves more as art than as vandalism. In Osaka, color comes not through parks but via the graffiti covering a large number of flat surfaces. | EDWARD J. TAYLOR The only real highlight in this stretch is the Toda neighborhood's Osaka City Central Wholesale Market, Japan's second largest after Tokyo's Toyosu. The market was served by the city's many rivers, which are now a bane to the long distance walker. A pedestrian tunnel passes beneath the Aji riverbed before opening to Bentencho, the gateway to Osaka Bay. Its new station was built for the Expo, and a vintage collection of bars and coffee joints straight out of 1950s film noir now surround it. The patterns further develop. The Taisho neighborhood is a little slice of Okinawa with the restaurants lining the streets as if right out of Yasujiro Ozu films. Further along, Ashiharabashi once housed the Liberty Osaka human rights museum, dedicated mainly to Japan's burakumin outcastes, whose traditional work tanning hides reflects the numerous taiko (drum) shops along the route. The sense of economic hardship continues through Imamiya, long a center of day laborers, many brought to the area to rebuild Kobe after that city's 1995 earthquake. The area has more recently become the base for bargain-hunting tourists and backpackers due to the low accommodation costs and easy access to better known sites. Before Shin-Imamiya Station, there is a well-lit cluster of food stalls, and the Tsutenkaku landmark towers behind. Tennoji is the gateway to Osaka's south, and it's here on my walk that more and more tourists start to appear. The sheer number of attractions and restaurants and the accompanying crowds are almost overwhelming, especially bustling at lunch time. As this is one of the city's most popular tourist spots, I choose not to linger, following the curve of the Kanjosen as it turns north. At street level, Osaka has a peculiar personality that must be seen to be believed. | EDWARD J. TAYLOR There is a sort of continuity of food along the Loop Line's eastern edges. Scents of fresh bread and pork stock for ramen from the surrounding eateries make this stretch a befitting food tour or culinary walk. Tsuruhashi Station is dominated by Korea Town and its many yakiniku (grilled meat) and Korean restaurants. The bustling atmosphere around the station has been selected as one of the 100 Best Scented Landscapes by the Ministry of the Environment, and nearby is Goryeo Market, where food and items from the Korean Peninsula feature prominently. Approaching the grounds of Osaka Castle, I cut off-trail through the expansive park here, happy to have some soft soil beneath my feet. A replica of the Edo Period (1603-1868) Kyobashi Bridge leads me directly into that eponymous station. During that time, this was a staging area for those about to undertake the long walk to the capital in the east, and the current entertainment district also dates from that era. Kyobashi also bore the brunt of Allied bombing on the last day of World War II, with one bomb dropping directly onto the station itself (a memorial to the roughly 1,000 victims can be found near the station's south exit). My only rule for the walk was that I'd stay close enough to the rail lines to be able to hear the distinctive departure melodies of each station. | EDWARD J. TAYLOR The neighborhood north of Kyobashi Station takes on the wealthiest look of the walk so far. Kindergartners in private school uniforms walk beneath the weight of enormous randoseru backpacks as I pass Sakuranomiya Station, a famous cherry blossom viewing spot and one of the oldest stations on the line. After the Loop Line crosses the old Yodogawa River, I play peek-a-boo with the tracks down side alleys, spotting a lone brick arch along the way. I cross the 2.6-kilometer-long Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Arcade, a walk in its own right, bisecting its 800 shops. Then Umeda's towering ferris wheel finally welcomes me back to where I began. As I make my final steps, I spy a Luup scooter, which seems to mock me — admittedly, that would have been a far more pragmatic way to have done this, but be it at an amble or by the Loop Line itself, seeing Osaka's real history live on underfoot is worth the journey by any measure.
Washington Post
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Campus protests flare on a smaller scale than last spring, but with higher stakes
WASHINGTON — Campus activism has flared as the academic year winds down, with pro-Palestinian demonstrations leading to arrests at several colleges. Compared with last spring, when more than 2,100 people were arrested in campus protests nationwide, the demonstrations have been smaller and more scattered. But the stakes are also much higher. President Donald Trump's administration has been investigating dozens of colleges over their handling of protests, including allegations of antisemitism, and frozen federal grant money as leverage to press demands for new rules on activism.
