🐤 Movie magic

🏦 Markets: All eyes were on the Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday as it pursued yet another week of gains. And it didn’t disappoint, chalking up an 11th straight day of increases to secure its longest winning streak in more than six years.

Of course, the optimism wasn’t limited to just one index. Earnings reports and other economic data seem to be flying in the face of predictions that the U.S. was headed for a rough recession.

❎ -man: It’s official. The familiar blue bird that has been synonymous with Twitter since the earliest days of the social media platform has been replaced by a stylized black X. The change is tied to Elon Musk’s plan to reinvent the brand under the umbrella of his X Corp. While the site was otherwise generally unchanged when the new logo was unveiled on Monday, Musk has hinted that the platform will start to implement a host of new features in the future.

🌱 Seeds of change: Back in 2018, 72-year-old Arizona resident Stephanie Pullman had her electricity shut off due to a $51 debt. She later died of heat-related illness. Now that the state and much of the country remain mired in an excessive and prolonged heat wave, activists are citing Pullman’s case is heralded as the impetus for positive change making it harder for utility companies to cut off service … but advocate Stacey Champion insisted “we need more.”

🙈 Strange future: Tech insiders and business leaders have spent a lot of time lately thinking about how AI will change the way we all live in the future. For his part, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff thinks the advancement will lead to a “multisensory” experience in which AI agents are “more aware of us” and we are “more aware of them.” That might sound scary, but he noted that technologies are “never good or bad, it’s what we do with them that matters.”

👨‍⚖️ Sparking protest: An ongoing debate over the powers of Israel’s judiciary has sparked intense public demonstrations in recent days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was recently released from the hospital after being fitted for a pacemaker, has called for significant limitations to the branch of government. Members of Parliament upheld that change, prompting renewed protests from many citizens and harsh rebukes from opposition lawmakers.

If you’ve been on social media at all over the past couple of weeks, you’ve probably seen evidence of the latest cinematic meme: “Barbenheimer.”

In short, it involves the juxtaposition of two very different films — “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — that happened to debut on the same day.

The ensuing attention led many moviegoers to make plans to see one (or often both) of the movies during their premiere weekend, and the result was a box office phenomenon that shot both films to the top of the charts.

‘Barbie’ came out on top

It might not be all that surprising that a hearty dose of nostalgia drew audiences to the cinema over the weekend, but the amount of money that “Barbie” brought in was likely boosted significantly by all of the social media buzz it received in the days leading up to its premiere.

Let’s put its box office performance in perspective:

• It raked in $155 million in domestic ticket sales over the weekend.
• That’s the biggest movie opening of the year so far.
• No other female-directed film has ever beaten that opening.

While its U.S. numbers made up the lion’s share of the film’s weekend take, it’s worth noting that “Barbie” did premiere in a total of 69 territories around the world for a combined $182 million in sales.

‘Oppenheimer’ close behind

For a three-hour biopic drama about the man responsible for creating the atomic bomb, the Christopher Nolan-directed “Oppenheimer” proved to be a huge draw for audiences.

It finished in second place with $80.5 million in ticket sales, even though it was shown on more than 600 fewer screens than “Barbie.”

That total was good enough to make it the biggest opening for any Nolan film that wasn’t about the Caped Crusader.

While the U.S. team has clearly prioritized physical fitness as players attempt to defend back-to-back World Cup wins this month, there’s an even more important issue that the squad wants to their international platform to emphasize.

A personal plea

Two players on the U.S. Women’s National Team — Naomi Girma and Sophia Smith — were on the Stanford University soccer team when the school clinched the national championship in 2019.

One of their teammates, goaltender Katie Meyer, died by suicide last year, and now they are dedicating their World Cup performance to the cause of mental health.

Meyer, who died at the young age of 22, was “the last person you’d think would take her own life,” Girma wrote.

Now, those who played alongside Meyer and considered her a friend are left “with a void in our lives that is so deep that it’s impossible to put into words,” her former teammate added.

A lasting legacy

Determined to help others who are struggling with suicidal thoughts, Girma and the entire women’s team have joined forces with Common Goal to create a new initiative.

As a result of the partnership, Fox Sports has committed to using 1% of its coverage of the World Cup to “spotlighting the importance of mental health.”

Beyond merely addressing the issue, Girma said that the goal is to “make sure that young people have the tools to cope with depression, anxiety, stress, and the very bad days, when it feels like the weight of the world is on their shoulders and it can never get better.”

Common Goal executive director Lilli Barrett-O’Keefe also spoke out in support of the new joint venture, insisting that it is “long overdue that our soccer communities put mental health at the forefront when we discuss player care.”

Today’s youth are bombarded by far more screens than any generation in history. From tablets to phones to TVs to computers, there’s seemingly no escape from these high-tech diversions.

And while it’s too early to gauge exactly how all of these devices will help shape the lives of kids as they grow older, one long-term study might provide a few important clues.

Taking television to heart

Researchers in New Zealand began following a group of children way back in 1973 and continued monitoring them until they reached their mid-40s. Based on the findings, there appears to be a clear link between increased screen time and potentially serious health risks — like high blood pressure and obesity — later in life.

To be sure, it’s not necessarily that watching TV as a child caused these issues in adulthood, but more likely that the sedentary lifestyle resulting from excessive television viewing planted the seeds for a less healthy life.

That’s what Dr. Bob Hancox, the study’s lead author, concluded, explaining: “If you’re sitting watching TV, you’re not being active and therefore that increases your risk of being overweight and being less fit.”

Analyzing the potential risks

Even though TVs were about the only screens available 50 years ago, there were plenty of adolescents who spent much of their lives parked in front of one.

As adults, those individuals were found to have more trouble efficiently using oxygen during physical activity. Dr. Veronica Johnson of Northwestern Medicine explained that this fact supports the theory that habits honed in the developing years have lifelong consequences and highlights “the need to set up programs, schooling, and support to allow parents to be successful in helping their children be more physically active.”