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    In This Trump Presidency, the Domination Will Be Televised

    There was a Caesar-at-the-Colosseum air to President Donald J. Trump’s appearance at this year’s Super Bowl, the first by a sitting president.The leader of the state took his place in the grand arena — which figuratively included more than 127 million TV viewers — to preside over his people’s biggest event of gladiatorial combat. Fox cameras captured him saluting during the anthem, amid shots of service members and a military flyover, part of the increasingly martial pageant of the pregame ceremony.He even had Super Bowl ads, of a sort: Spots for Fox News during the game repeatedly featured a photo of Mr. Trump raising a fist after the assassination attempt against him last summer.Seeking the media spotlight is nothing new for Mr. Trump. But in his second term, there is already a pronounced trend in how he and his allies are using imagery with an almost imperial aesthetic to project an air of ubiquity, authority and invincibility.On TV news and social media, his immigration-enforcement raids are being packaged like mini reality-TV shows — complete with perp walks and even guest stars — to flood viewers with images of relentless action. His signing ceremonies are playlets of theatrical conquest. Even in his inaugural portrait, where he smiled in 2017, he now scowls.The Trump 2.0 penchant for dominance theater was evident from the inauguration, at the arena show where Mr. Trump basked in the cheers of a MAGA crowd as he signed executive orders at a makeshift presidential desk. The manner of the signing said just as much about Mr. Trump’s vision of leadership as the text of the orders did: the sole decider lifting his pen and ruling by decree.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

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    The Yellowjackets Are Back. Here’s Where We Left Off.

    The Showtime survival drama returns on Friday for Season 3. Memory a little fuzzy? Hint: There was a bunch of cannibalism and even more ’90s rock.Season 2 of Showtime’s “Lord of the Flies”-inspired survival drama, “Yellowjackets,” ended with a shocking death in the present timeline and a cabin fire in the 1990s one. But now that nearly two years have passed, you may be a little fuzzy on the details.Who burned down the cabin? How did Natalie die? What was going on with Taissa? And wasn’t there something about eating a raw human heart?Here’s what to remember about where we left the members of the cannibal soccer team from hell. Season 3 premieres on Friday.Misty, accidental serial killerBack in the ’90s, in the Canadian wilderness, Young Misty (Samantha Hanratty) had already demonstrated a dint for the psychotic in Season 1, when she smashed the plane’s emergency transmitter because she liked feeling essential. About midway through Season 2, she told her friend Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman) what she did, and Crystal was horrified. Misty threatened her, and Crystal backtracked — right off a cliff to her death. It wouldn’t be Misty’s last accidental kill.Shauna’s babyTired and exhausted, Young Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) went into labor late in Season 2, but let’s be honest: This baby was never going to make it. Shauna was barely ingesting enough calories to sustain one person, let alone grow another. Her baby was stillborn.A half-starving Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) gave birth in the wilderness, which unsurprisingly didn’t go well. Kailey Schwerman/ShowtimeWe 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

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    ‘Cobra Kai Never Dies’: The Creators on Saying Goodbye, for Now

    After six seasons, this “Karate Kid” spinoff, on Netflix, is closing up its dojo. But as one creator put it, “we are not ready to leave this universe.”Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, the creators of the karate-centered Netflix series “Cobra Kai,” can’t agree on which of them would win in a fight.“I would say me,” Hurwitz said.Heald disputed this. “I’m taking Muay Thai right now,” he said. “But I think Hayden would be the most creative. He’d do something dirty.”“I’m doping their water bottles,” Schlossberg said. He also mentioned blackmail.Happily, in their years spent making “Cobra Kai,” which just completed its sixth and final season, they have never come to actual blows. Or crane kicks. Hurwitz and Schlossberg, the writers of the “Harold and Kumar” movies, met (as all cool kids do) in high school debate club in the 1990s. Heald, a writer of the “Hot Tub Time Machine” movies, became friends with Hurwitz a few years later, as college dorm mates. Once all three had been introduced, they bonded over a shared obsession: the “Karate Kid” movies.“Our ‘Star Wars,’” Heald said.The 1984 movie “The Karate Kid,” set in the San Fernando Valley, culminated in a championship fight between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), the bullied child of a single mother, and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), the bully. Two sequels were quickly released. An animated series and a couple of reboots — one starring Hilary Swank and another with Jayden Smith — followed. Had the franchise tapped out?Heald, Hurwitz and Schlossberg didn’t think so. They had hidden “Karate Kid” Easter eggs in nearly all of their films, and for years they had talked about writing a Johnny Lawrence movie. But it was only talk. They had no hope of getting that movie greenlighted.Then in 2016, having witnessed the rise of streaming and the success of 1980s nostalgia plays like “Stranger Things” and “Fuller House,” they retooled their pitch, reimagining the movie as a series.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

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    The Restaurant Where ‘S.N.L.’ Celebrates Tuesday Night

    Lattanzi doesn’t exactly scream “celebrity magnet.”Its brick-walled, burgundy-carpeted dining room, lined with black-and-white photos of Rome, feels more antique than affluent. The menu leans on old Italian standbys like veal scaloppine and chicken piccata. There’s no bouncer, no photos of famous regulars, no gatekeeping host. The location isn’t some trendy downtown neighborhood, but Restaurant Row, a stretch of West 46th Street that’s been a theater-district fixture for nearly a century.Yet every Tuesday evening before a new episode of “Saturday Night Live,” Lattanzi is where you’ll find Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator and kingpin, and that week’s celebrity host, along with a rotating cadre of eight or so carefully chosen “S.N.L.” producers, writers and cast members.After decades at the helm — the show will celebrate its 50th anniversary this weekend — Mr. Michaels is well-known for his rituals: the basket of popcorn kept replenished at his desk, the so-called “Lornewalks” he takes to clear his head, and the Monday meetings in his office with the cast and host, said Susan Morrison, an articles editor at The New Yorker who wrote the forthcoming biography “Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live.”Lattanzi, which specializes in Roman food, has been around since 1984. Mr. Michaels has been bringing celebrities and staff members there for decades.Nico Schinco for The New York TimesBut the Tuesday dinners are especially sacred, she said — one of the few predictable events in the weekly lead-up to a show that traffics in unpredictability.“In a week where everything is going 100 miles an hour and everything is hurtling toward Saturday night at 11:30, it was a moment of civilized calm,” she said.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

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    It’s Bring a Kid to Work Day on ‘The Tonight Show’

    Elon Musk took his son to the Oval Office, so Jimmy Fallon saw no reason not to walk onstage with a child, too.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Don’t Touch My Chicken NuggetsOn Tuesday, Elon Musk brought his 4-year-old son to the Oval Office for an appearance with President Trump. So on Wednesday, Jimmy Fallon walked onto the “Tonight Show” set with a little boy on his shoulders.“Daddy has to do a monologue,” Fallon said as he let the boy down.“Elon Musk and President Trump held a press conference in the Oval Office, and they were joined by Elon’s 4-year-old son. Don Jr. was, like, ‘Wait a minute, my dad said there’s no such thing as Take Your Son to Work Day.” — JIMMY FALLON“Trump was looking at him like, ‘[imitating Trump] Don’t you dare touch my dinosaur chicken nuggets.’” — JIMMY FALLON“Eventually they bonded, though. While Elon was talking, they both watched an episode of ‘Bluey’ on an iPad.” — JIMMY FALLON“I mean, that poor kid. His dad literally runs Space X, and Elon took him to a meeting on federal spending.” — JORDAN KLEPPERThe Punchiest Punchlines (From Russia With Love Edition)“President Trump spoke today with Russian president Vladimir Putin on the phone. And, bad news, you guys, we gotta change the name of the gulf again.” — SETH MEYERS“In a post on Truth Social today, President Trump said that he spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin and discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, energy, artificial intelligence, the power of the dollar, Moo Deng, Sydney Sweeney, the return of the Shamrock Shake and this season of ‘The Traitors.’ ‘[imitating Trump] We got off track towards the end of the call. We got a little off track.’” — SETH MEYERS“President Trump said that he had a nice phone call with Vladimir Putin. Putin was like, ‘[imitating Putin] I told you I wouldn’t forget Valentine’s Day.’” — JIMMY FALLON“The only awkward part of the call was when Putin said, ‘Is the president there?’ and both Trump and Elon said, ‘Yes?’” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingJimmy Kimmel’s sidekick Guillermo pitched his exciting new crypto venture on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightHarper Steele, the former “Saturday Night Live” writer and star (with Will Ferrell) of “Will & Harper,” will appear on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”Also, Check This OutAn undated photograph of Amy Tan, from her days in the literary-world supergroup the Rock Bottom Remainders.via Amy Tan/Bancroft Library at the University of CaliforniaThe Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, has acquired the archives of Amy Tan, author of “The Joy Luck Club,” who’s changed her mind about having her papers destroyed posthumously. “My 22-year-old mind is thrilled: Accepted into Berkeley!” she said. More

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    David Edward Byrd, Whose Posters Captured Rock’s Energy, Dies at 83

    David Edward Byrd, who captured the swirl and energy of the 1960s and early ’70s by conjuring pinwheels of color with indelible posters for concerts by Jimi Hendrix, the Who and the Rolling Stones as well as for hit stage musicals like “Follies” and “Godspell,” died on Feb. 3 in Albuquerque. He was 83.His husband and only immediate survivor, Jolino Beserra, said the cause of death, in a hospital, was pneumonia brought on by lung damage from Covid.Mr. Byrd made his name, starting in 1968, with striking posters for the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Iron Butterfly and Traffic at the Fillmore East, the Lower Manhattan Valhalla of rock operated by the powerhouse promoter Bill Graham.For a concert there that year by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Mr. Byrd rendered the guitar wizard’s hair in a field of circles, which blended with the explosive hairstyles of his bandmates, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell.For a 1968 concert at the Fillmore East by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, David Edward Byrd rendered the guitar wizard’s hair in a field of circles, which blended with the explosive hairstyles of his bandmates, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell.Design sketch via “Poster Child: The Psychedelic Art & Technicolor Life of David Edward Byrd,” by David Edward Byrd and Robert von Goeben; final poster, Bill Graham Archives, LLCMr. Byrd also put his visual stamp on the Who’s landmark rock opera, “Tommy,” producing posters for it when it was performed at the Fillmore East in October 1969 and again, triumphantly, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York a few months later. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award for his illustration work on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s rendition of “Tommy.”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

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    The N.E.A.’s New Gender and Diversity Edicts Worry Arts Groups

    As the National Endowment for the Arts adjusts to comply with President Trump’s executive orders, “gender ideology” is out and works that “honor the nation’s rich artistic heritage” are in.The National Endowment for the Arts is telling arts groups not to use federal funds to promote “diversity, equity and inclusion” or “gender ideology” in ways that run afoul of President Trump’s executive orders — causing confusion and concern.Black Girls Dance, a Chicago-based nonprofit that trains and mentors young dancers, was recently approved for a $10,000 grant to help finance an annual holiday show called “Mary.” Now the small company is wondering if it still qualifies for the money.It was the company’s first grant from the N.E.A., and Erin Barnett, the nonprofit’s founder and executive director, said that receiving it had been “a step of validation — like ‘We see you and we support the work that you’re doing.’” But she said that if the grant were canceled for running afoul of the new requirements, she would persist. “I serve a God that sits on the highest throne of all, and he’s not going to stop this show,” she said.It is unclear what the new rules will mean for groups seeking grants, or for those that already have them in the pipeline. Many arts organizations have pledged to support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and several groups that have received funding in the past have presented works about transgender and nonbinary people.The new N.E.A. rules require applicants to agree not to operate diversity programs “that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws” and call on grant applicants to pledge not to use federal funds to “promote gender ideology.” They refer to an executive order Mr. Trump signed that declares that the United States recognizes only “two sexes, male and female.”The N.E.A. did not answer questions about whether organizations that have already been told they would receive grant money would be affected.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

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    ‘Henry IV’ Review: Two Plays Become One

    The relationship between Prince Hal and John Falstaff, a favorite of Shakespeare scholars, is the focus of this condensed adaptation.A young prince and an old knight walk into a tavern …So much of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” plays like a setup, either to a joke or to a significant turning point in English history. It’s perhaps the most defining, and trickiest, element of the Henry plays, which often combine the interpersonal high jinks of a comedy with the politics and knavery of a war drama, sans the typical dramatic structure.In a new production from the Theater for a New Audience, the two “Henry IV” plays are combined into a single adaptation that clocks in at nearly four hours. The script, by Dakin Matthews, condenses and restructures the material, while the direction by Eric Tucker opts for a more classic, toned-down staging. For all the successful work this “Henry IV” does to combat the unwieldy bloat of the two history plays together, it does not probe the central characters enough to uphold the stakes and maintain the tension throughout the lengthy running time. The result is a serviceable production that lacks fresh revelations.The “Henry IV” plays are part of the Henriad, the series of history plays that begin with “Richard II” and end with “Henry V.” Often considered the less glamorous section of Shakespeare’s oeuvre, the plays are about the making and unmaking of kings, the burdens of the crown, revolts, betrayals and the disastrous clashing of many male egos.At the start of “Henry IV,” Henry Bolingbroke (played by Matthews) has usurped the crown with the help of the Percys, a family of English lords who now lead a rebellion against Bolingbroke for that same crown they helped him procure. Meanwhile, Bolingbroke’s son, Prince Hal (Elijah Jones), fetters away his time drinking and palling around with the crooked old knight John Falstaff (Jay O. Sanders) and his reprehensible cohort. Hal and Falstaff’s trivial pursuits are interrupted, however, when they’re called to the battlefield, and by the end of “Henry IV,” Hal has renounced his old habits, brutally rebuffed Falstaff and taken his place on the throne as King Henry V.The relationship between Hal and Falstaff, a favorite of lit majors and Shakespeare scholars, is the true heart of the material. The young prince and the old knight are like father and son, mentor and mentee, but also serve as each other’s foils. They represent opposite sides of age and privilege, and their gradual dynamic shift reveals the nuances of their characters. For all his comedic purpose in the story, Falstaff emerges as a tragic figure — the niggling sideshow act in a grander story about nobility and a nation’s evolution. He’s the sacrificial lamb to Prince Hal’s ascension.Each of the three acts ends with a major scene between Hal and Falstaff, marking another dramatic crux in their story. One of the production’s strengths is how Matthews cleverly structures the script to steadily follow the arc of these two characters. However, the same nuance and decisiveness is less present in the direction and some of the performances.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