Finalize a contract 7 little words

Zack Carlson is a huge fan of the 1981 horror film “The Evil Dead.” That’s why he won’t be seeing the new “Evil Dead” when it opens on Friday. “I wouldn’t watch it at gunpoint,” said Mr. Carlson, a writer for the horror movie Web site Bleeding Skull. As “High Noon” is considered a fundamental western, “Evil Dead” is a seminal horror film, and for many fans, one not to be messed with. A story of possession set in a cabin in the woods, “The Evil Dead” was part of a wave of low-budget independent horror films in the late ’70s and early ’80s that used crude effects and guerrilla filmmaking techniques to tell a scary tale saturated in outrageous gore. It was directed by Sam Raimi, who went on to direct the Tobey Maguire “Spider-Man” films and “Oz the Great and Powerful.” The original has two follow-ups: “Evil Dead 2” (1987), a dark horror-comedy that’s effectively a remake of the original, and “Army of Darkness” (1992), a horror-adventure sequel to “Evil Dead 2.” “It was … [Read more...] about New Ugliness in a Little Cabin of Horrors

In the new film “Lace Crater,” a young woman named Ruth has a one-night stand with a ghost named Michael. She catches something, and soon her body is covered in goo and she’s puking black ooze. We last see her pale and wrapped in a blanket, Michael by her side. We’ll get to how one obtains a supernatural lover in minute. But first: lace crater? Harrison Atkins, who wrote and directed the film, elaborated: “Lace is this word associated with traditional femininity that has to do with sexual shame,” he said. “Crater is this word that evokes an impact or an absence left after an impact. I think of the lace crater as this void that’s left in the world after Ruth disappears in it.” A meet-cute comedy mixed with Brooklyn ghost story, “Lace Crater,” with an opening date of July 29, is the latest entry in the horror genre’s long fixation on sexually transmitted diseases. Intimacy, illness and stigma have been ingredients of “It Follows” (2015), about a sexually transmitted condition … [Read more...] about As if Becoming a Vampire Isn’t Bad Enough

Every Tuesday and Friday, Ezra Klein invites you into a conversation about something that matters, like today’s episode with David French. Listen wherever you get your podcasts . Transcripts of our episodes are made available as soon as possible. They are not fully edited for grammar or spelling. [MUSIC PLAYING] EZRA KLEIN: I’m Ezra Klein. This is “The Ezra Klein Show.” All right. Before we start today, we are taking questions for the upcoming “Ask Me Anything” episode. So if you’ve got anything, anything at all to ask me that you want to hear answered on the show, send that into [email protected] We are accepting questions until Sunday, April 2. So anything that comes in after that, we’re not going to consider. We just get a lot. And we got to start sorting through it. So send it in before Sunday, April 2, if you want it to be part of the show. Speaking of dates, I’m recording this on Monday, March 27. And it’s a Monday with a lot of uncertainty. We … [Read more...] about Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews David French

BUDAPEST — Daniel Szabo and Gergo Birtalan are both optimistic about their job prospects in their native Hungary, which has a low unemployment rate for college and university graduates. But the two Hungarian students are in totally different situations. When Mr. Szabo, 24, graduates soon from law school, he will be free to go wherever in the world he wants. But Mr. Birtalan, 18, was required to sign a contract at the beginning of his first year as a sociology major because of a new rule introduced in September. As a beneficiary of the state-funded university system, he will be obliged to work for two years in Hungary for every year of his subsidized studies. Such contracts, the only ones of their kind in Europe, have met with broad opposition and street protests from both high school and university students. If Mr. Birtalan finishes a typical three-year degree, his movements will be restricted for six years after graduation, when he will be in his late 20s, or even older if he … [Read more...] about Students Receive Subsidized Studies in Hungary — for a Price

Welcome to The Wordle Review. Be warned: This article contains spoilers for today’s puzzle. Solve Wordle first , or scroll at your own risk. This month’s featured artist is Mark Pernice. You can read more about him here . ★★ Wordle 647 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ I’m stepping in to write today’s column and will do so even more frequently in the coming weeks. If you’re a regular in the Gameplay comments sections, you’ve seen my face and name around here pretty often already. In fact, my first guess for Wordle actually came from the comments section of the forum itself. Someone had guessed INLET for a previous day, which allows you to knock out two vowels right away. I thought it was a strong start. Unfortunately, INLET may have actually been one of the worst possible guesses. After I shot my shot, I saw five gray squares staring blankly back at me like unseeing eyes. This wasn’t my LUCKY day. (I would’ve used LUCKY for my next guess, but I knew the winning word didn’t have an … [Read more...] about Today’s Wordle Review

Homeowners held record levels of equity last year. According to CoreLogic , the average borrower had $280,000 in home equity in early 2022 — a gain of $64,000 over the previous year and a whopping $125,000 over five years. Not much has changed. "While equity gains contracted in late 2022 due to home price declines in some regions, U.S. homeowners on average still have about $270,000 in equity, nearly $90,000 more than they had at the onset of the pandemic," says Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic . With house prices still high and near-record equity levels, now may be an excellent time to convert your equity into cash via a home equity loan or HELOC. Here's how. One of the biggest perks of homeownership is the opportunity to build wealth. As you pay down your mortgage, you build equity — the dollar amount of your home that you own. Of course, the housing market also plays a role: If home prices rise, your equity may increase, and vice versa. To estimate your … [Read more...] about Your home has never been a more powerful asset