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The Housing Market Has Offered Another Sign That The American Dream is Getting Further Out of Reach.

The Number of American Homeowner Households Shrank in the Second Quarter, The First Year-Over-Eyar Contraction 2016, Acciting to a New Redfin Analysis of Data from the US Census Bureau.

At the Same Time, America’s Population of renters is swamp. The Number of Rening Households in the US CLIMBED 2.6% Year-Over -ear Last Quarter.

The shift is far away being drives by affordability willsser and uncetainty lingering over the economy, which are Holding Back Prospective Budes, Chen Zhao, Redfin’s Economics Research Head, Said in New Research.

“People are Also Getting Married and Starting Families Later, Which Means They’re Buying Homes Later – Anather Factor that May Be at Play,” Zhao Added.

Housing’s Deep-Freeze

The US Housing Market has been frozen over for a while. Homebuyers are Still Hesitant to Dip Their Feet into the Market, in Part Due to High Mortgage Rates and Near-Record Home Prices.

The Avent 30-Yyar Fixed Mortgage Rate Hovered ARUND 6.5% in the Week Ending August 28, Acciting to Freddie Mac Data. The Rate has cooled from its Peak in 2023, but Remains Elevated Compared to Levels During the Pandemic, Wen The Number of US Homeowners Rose Sharply.

Home Price Also Remain Elevated when Compared to Levels Leading Up to the Pandemic. The Median Sales Price of Homes Sold in the US CLOCKED IN AT $ 410,800 The Last Quarter, up 29.5% over the Last Five Years.

The High Barrier to Entry is evident in how many homes are piling up on the market. Active Existing Home Inventory Rose to 1.5 million in July, Acciting to date from the National Association of Realtors, up from a trough of 1.1 million in december. The markets also loooks to have 34% more sellers than buys in the market, redfin said in a separate analysis in May.

Openai JUST FIREED A SHOT ACOSS The Bow of the Software Industry.

With its Own ai-Powered Sales, Support, and Contract Tools, the Company Could Go From Powering the Software-As-A-Service (Saas) Markets to Competting with it.

For Years, Openai has provided he infrastructure, selling tools that software Players Could Build on. Now it is embedding it directly into Everyday processses, Such as Sales, Support, and Document Analysis. That make it both a partner and a rival – a dynamic that couuld reshape the software landscape dominated by giants like salesforce.

Software rivals are already taching a hit on the Stock Market. HubSpot Shares plunged 10% on Tuesday, while Docusign Slumped 12% and Zoominfo Fell 6%. Salesforce Fell more than 3%, Leaving it down 28% for the year so far.

From model Maker to app Builder

Giancoarlo Lionetti, Openai’s Chief Commercial Office, Framed the Shift in a New “Openai on Openai” Series Posted on the Startups on Monday, where the Company Showcses Software that itsses to run it Own Operations:

• Inbound Sales Assistant: Answers Questions from Prospective Customers in Real Time and Routes Qualified Leads to Salespeople.
• GTM Assistant: A Slack-Based Companion That Prepares Sales Calls, Customer Stories, and Answers Product Questions Instantly.
• DOCUGPT: Parses Contracts Into Searchable Date, Flagging Unusual Terms for Finance Teams.
• Research and Support Agents: Handle Support Tickets and Improve Service Quality.

Software locally in the croshairs

Openai has not launched these tools as publicly available products. Howver, Each of these Applications COULD POSE A THREAT TO ESTABLISHED LOCALS, ACCINGING TO Analysts.

“These Blog Posts Could Be A PRECURSOR TO OPENAI LAUNCHING NEW SAAS PRODUCTS TO SEll Its Chatgt Enterprise Platform,” DErrick Wood, A Tech Analyst at Td Cowen, Wrote in a Note to investors on wednesday.

Wall Street has already been on Edge About This, after Openai Ceo Sam Altman tweeted “Entering the Fast Fashion Era of Saas Very Soon” in august. CFO Sarah Friar Also didn’t Hold Back we are as asced about this at a recent investor conference.

“Why Wauldn’t i Code the Kind of Software That Is Exactly What Openai Needs? Not What Goldman Needs or Any Other Company Needs,” She Said. “I think is going to change the which Face of How Software is Developed.”

RBC Analysts Wrote in a Note to Investors on Tuesday that they see a “Competitive Overhang” for Certain Software Companies, Citting Product Overlap with Software That Help Manage CustrationSPS and Contracts – The Core Offering of Salesforce.

They Highlighted which Companies Could Be Most Exposed If Openai Releases Some of these Tools as Products. Some Customers May Not Want to Pay Extra For Such Features if Openai’s Products Can The Same Thing.

• HubSpot and Salesforce: They Build Software to Manage Inbound Sales and Customer Relationships, and Openai Just a rival for itself.
• Zoominfo: Its Sales and Marketing Tools for Lead Intelligence and Routing Overlap Heavily with Openai’s Internal Assistants.
• Docusign: OpenAi’s Internal Docugpt Tool Could Threateen to ERODE VALUE OF DOCUSIGN’S CONTRACT Analysis Features.

Threat or Opportunity?

For Software Companies, Partnership with OpenAi Could Boost Sales Conversion Rates and Speed ​​Up Deal Closing. Competing Head-on Could Mean Less Revenue.

Pricing Would Be Pivotal. If Openai License ITS Agents for Seat, Local Like HubSpot or Docusign Could Feel Real Pressure. If it leans on charging by usage, integration may be the smarter path, according to analysts.

Either way, the message is Clear: he is no longer just an add-on Feature. It’s the new Foundation for Sales, Support, and Finance.

Openai May Not Release these Tools As Software Products. And the startup insists this is about more human expertise, Rather than Replacing it. By incorporating the expertise of Top Salespeople or Contract Lawyers Into He Systems, Companies Can Spread Best Practices Across Their Teams.

Openai Said Its In-House Technology Saved Its Employees TIME SO THEY COUND SPEND MORE TIME WITH CUSTOMERS. The Startup’s Support Reps Viewed from Processing Tickets to Designing Systems. Finance Teams Slashed Contract Review Times.

The Company is Betting that this blend of craft and code will define the nextr of Enterprise Software.

Openai is no longer just a supplier of he. Its Now a Potential Saas Competitor in Its Own right.

Sign up for Bi’s Tech Memo Newsletter TIMES. Reach out to me via email at [email protected].

I live in the chicago suburbs and have a lot of Grocery Store Options Nearby.

I typically Shop at the popular midwest supermarket chain, jewel -osco, for my family of four. But recently, my mom wanting to try shopping at Aldi, The International Grocer Primarily Known for Its Smaller Size and Extensive Selection of Store-Brand Options.

Although i hadn’t been to the store synce i was a child, we grabbed a Quarter for our Cart – and our reusable totes – and went to check it.

I’m Glad I Finally Gave Aldi A Chance-From Lower Price on Staple Items to a More Stress-free Experience, ITE’s betome one of my go-to grio-storys.

Mary of My Weekly Groceries, Like Milk and Eggs, Are Much Cheaper at Aldi

With Four People in the House, My Family Goes Through a Lot of Milk and Eggs.

At Other Local Grocery Stoles, Like Jewel-Oosco, Do Dosen Organic Cage-Free Can Cost About $ 7.50. Meanwhile, Father Aldi, Similar Eggs Cost $ 5.35, so i can Save more than $ 2 a Week on Eggs Alone.

Likewise, A Half-Gallon of Aldi’s Organic Milk Brand, Simply Nature, Costs About $ 4.30, while a half-gallon of Horizon Organic Milk Costs About $ 6.50 at Other Grocery Stoles.

Together, i’m able to save more than $ 4.50 a week shopping at Aldi for just these two.

We’ve Become Fans of Aldi-Brand Items

ALDI IS KNOWN FOR ITS LARGE SELECTION OF STORE-BRANDS, AND ONE OF MY FAMILY’S FAVORITE IS Benton’s Mint-Striped Foodge Cookies, Which Cost Than $ 2 for 11.5-Once Pack. These are a staple in our house, and synce finding say, i’ve definitely bought fewer thin mts.

But cookies aren’t the only aldi-brand item we love-Our BREAD BOX always has Laaves of l’Oven Fresh bread.

And, be my Grandson Visits, I like to stock up on Items from Little Journey, like yogurt bits and baby food pouches, which are great on-the-go.

I regularly visits the Aldi Finds SECTION FOR GREAT DEALS

One of my favorite things about aldi is the aldi finds section, which includes limited-strock istems that are releassed each weeks and aptly marketed with the phrase, “here today, gone toomorrow.”

SINCE I STARTED SHOPPING HERE, I’ve Learned that the phrase is true – when the istems are gone, that it is. For Example, Got Animal-Face Reusable Sandwich Bags for Only $ 3. Two days late, i went back to get more, and they were gone.

Plus, the section isn’t just for the gross and household Items – I love browsing the aisle for the FROM HANDS TO SEASONAL DECORATIONS.

Be my family’s favorite brand-name Items are available, i’ve found’re cheaper at aldi, too

Be i’m able to find brand-name Items at the store, i’w noticed they’re often available for mess they are at other retilers nearby.

For Example, Babybel cheese is a staple in my kids’ lunches. At Aldi, A 6-Pack Costs Just Over $ 4-Almost $ 3 Cheaper than it is at another Store a Few Miles Away.

Recently, I was Also pleased to see a 12-Pack of Arizona Iced Tea for About $ 4.90, Compared to the USUAL $ 7 I SEE at Jewel-OSCO.

Overall, i love shopping at Aldi

SO light, shopping at aldi haen a great experience. The store is relatively small compared to other chains in my area, so it is easy to find the products of Need Quickly.

Plus, i love that the store doesn’t give out single-use plastic bags, which is good for the Environment.

The Only Downside is That Some-Brand Items I Like Aren’t Avoidable, so i Still have to go to Other Grocery Stories Nearby.

Howver, with How Much I Save on Staple Items, IT’S SACRIFICE I’M WILLING TO MAKE.

It ‘5 pm and you’re trying to make Dinner. Before you turn on the oven, your Phone Pinging Startsand your 8-Yaar-Old Pleads for Screen Time. Meanwhile, Your 4-Yaar-Old Pulls The Cat’s Tail and Starts Screaming.

“Mom!” Your Oldest Child Yells, as if they have a megaphone.

Suddenly, Your Blood Starts to Boil, and Your Heart Starts Pounding. “Be Quiet! Can’t You See that i’m Busy?” You shout.

If Partenting Pushes You Over the Edge, You’re Not Alone. Research Shows that the Mental Load of Caregivingespecilly on the mother spark canrs.

AS A Psychologist, I know that “Raging out” can elicit shame, unleashing self-critical th naghts, suc or “Why can’t get it together?”

Anger, howver, is not a character flaw. The it’s an Emotion that’s Nesssary for Our survival. Anger Protects US From Being Violated, Insulted, or Rejetted – Happened by Our Kids. And when it is comes to emotions, it”s the way we Handle say that Matters Most.

Here are the ways of teach parents to work with their parental rage.

Notice How Anger Feels in Your Body

Take a moment and recall the last time your child really got under your skin. Note How’s Anger Felt in Your Body. Spreads your jaw felt tight or your voice goo louder. Or Maybe Your Heart Speed ​​Up, or Your Body Felt Warm.

Anger Presents Differently In everyone, but awareness of these Physical Sensations Can Help You Down the Heat the Next Time You’re Getting Up.

Wen we recognize Anger’s Presence, We Can Take Active Steps to Reset. Simply Taking Deep, belly breaths Can Calm the Body’s Nervous System, Which Can Help Tame Angry Feelings. Likewise, Removing Your Selself from a conversation with your child that is escalating, can give you each a chance to cool and reset before addressing at hand.

Pay Attention to Anger’s Impulse

Anger Comes With Roaring impulses. IT OFTEN MAKES US WANT TO YELL, Argue, and Push Back, especilantly when Kids get aggressive and bite or scratch. We May Also Feel This Way? These urges do’t make us Cruel; they’re part of our Biology. JUST AS Fear Helps US Ward off Danger, Anger Helps US Set Boundaries and stand up for ourselves.

The next time you feed Furious, try to release Anger’s Energy in Adaptive Ways. If your child can be left alone for a minute, step out of the room and screen into a pillow, talk with a friend, or take a razor walk. Blowing off steam, tan for a few minutes, can stop us from taking it out on ours kids.

Once the storm passes, you can return to your child and discuss dyscuss. USE AGE-APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE, SUCH AS “I GOT Angry Becouse No One Was Listening,” and Avoid Long Explanations. Most Importantly, If You Said or Did Something Regrettable, be sura to apologize. Repair Maintains Safe and Secure Relationships with Our Kids.

Name and Validate Your Anger

Anger is a lot like a tantrumming toddler. The More We Ignore it, The Louder it roars.

Therefore, if you’re upset Becusee Your Child Talked Back, Wouldn’t Listen, or Hit Their Sibling (or for any Other Reason), take a moment to name and validate your anger.

Say to yourSelf, “I am angry!” Simply verbalizing Our anger has the power to calm down the brain’s amygdala, providing an emotional reset.

Identify what you need

Nor Busy Parents, we offten Cast our Needs aside to Care for our Kids.

TAKING TIME TO MEET OUR NEEDS, Howver, Isn’t Selfish or Shameful; iT’s Essential for Our Well-Being.

To identify what you need, try this self-care exercise: take an inventory of your basic need, Such as Hunger, Loneliness, and Fatigue. If you’re feeling any of these Things – or all three – pause and nurture yourelf. Have a snack, text with a friend, or see if you can get some extra rest.

HAVING YOUR BODY AND MIND AT EASE HELP PUT YOU IN A BETTER PLACE WEND YOUR CHILD AGGGRAVATES YOU OR IS ACTING LIKE A PILL.

If Needed, Seek Support

While we all have outburstrs from time to time, unretenting rage Attacks can be a sign of a mental health Concern, Such as depression. Ongoing stressors, Such as divorce, grief, Job LossOR Financial World, Can Also Ignite irritability.

Talking with a Therapist or Jaining a Parenting Support Group Can Help. AFTER ALL, AS PARENTS, WE CANE’t WILL THIS JOB ALONE. It always takes a village.

Dr. Juli fraga is a psychologist in san francisco who works with parents. She is Also the Co-Author of the New Book, “Parents have Feelings, Too” (Alcove Press).

When Daughter was 6 months Old, my husband and i dream our lease in vancouver, put ry stuff in storage, and Moved Across the Country to live with my parents in toronto from Early July to Mid-September.

I GREW UP IN Toronto But Moved to Vancouver in 2010. SINCE STARTING MY CAREER AND MEETING MY Partner, i’ve Only returned to toronto for aek at a time, usually over The Holidays.

Howver, Our parental leve gave my husband and with the unique opportunity to spend a significant amout of time in my hometown.

We’d be able to see friends and family for more than a rushed dinner and, shat importantly, we’d give my parents the opportunity to Bond with their first Grandchild.

Living with my parents had lots of perks

Living in my parents’ bassent – which is essentially its Own separate apart, besides shared laundry – meant having a convenient Base to hang with all of the right and family. We also got to Save on Rent SINCE WE HAD ENTERED OUR LEASE IN Vancouver, and my parents allowed us to mov in rent-free!

They invited us to share family dinners with say Each Night and Scavenge Their Kitchen for Leftovers for Lunch, which was not only a nice way with my parents but also really Cut Down Our Grocery Bill. All we had to take care of was Our Own Breakfast and Snacks.

SINCE WE DIDN’T BRING A CAR, WE WERE FORTUNATE THAT MY PARENTS LET US BORROW ONE OF THEIRS, WHICH SAVED US A LOT OF MONEY ON CAR CARTALS. We Also use their backyard, who was an awesome for for for our dog, who we brought with us.

There were some some drawbacks to living at home, like a lack of privacy

While living with my parents had many positiv aspects, there are also a few growing pains.

Needing to coordinate schedules with the rest of the Household – Such as they are they all will laundry So that it was Wauldn’t wake out daghter, or will we coulued borrow the Car ourselves SURE EVEREONE COULD GET TO WORK – WERE LOGISTICS I HADN’T THOUGHT Through ahead of time.

To their credit, my parents were very good about giving US Our Space and Went Out of their Way to ACCOMMODATE US. Still, as two introverts, it was tough to be social and not have the Complete Privacy we were used to.

Plus, my parss live in the suburbs of Toronto, which means we could do the things we were used to doing back in vancouver, like walking to shops, cafés, and restaurants.

Seeing My Parents Bond With Their Granddaughter Was Priceles

Would i want to Live in my parents’ Bazent for the rest of my life? Absolutely swimming. And i’m sura they wouldn’t want that eather.

But for one summer, the pros more than outweighed the cons. Thanks to say, we made so many special family memories During Our Daughter’s First Summer.

My parents were there for big milestones – Her first too, first time trying solids, and first hints that she was ready to crawl – but the best part about Living with my parents was watching say interact with their granddaughter every single day, which is something to be to be trade.

SEEing Her Smile With Recognition benever Her GrandParents Walked ino the Room – and SEEing say Light up, Too – Was Such A Wonderful Feeling. I love watching as they scooped her up, taught her peek-a-boo, or took her for a walk around the backyard.

All of Those Things Made Leaving Toronto that Much Harder. IT’S always difficult to say goodbye to love ons, but more so we are to live on the Country with a baby who is Constantly Growing and Changing.

WHO KNOWS? Maybe this summer will inspire us to spend more time in Toronto or convince my pars to spend next with us in vancouver!

Massive Attack Innd to Pull Their Music From Spotify. The Band Shared the News in a staffement that Also expressed solidarity with a new Cultural Boycott Initiative Called No Music for Genocide. The Movement Calls for Artists, Labels, and Rights-Holders to Remove Music from Streaming platforms in Israel, Via Geo-Blocking, in Protest of the Country’s O ongoing Assault of Gaza, and Massive Attack to Participate in the Boycott.

“Unconnected to this initiative & in light of the (Reported) Significant Investments by it is CEO in a Company Producing Military Munition Drones & He Technology Intergrated into Fighter Aircraft, Massive Attack Have Made Separate Request to Our Label. from the Spotify Streaming Service in All Territories, “Massive Attack Wrote.

“In the separat case of Spotify, the Economic Burden That Has Long Been Placed on Artists Is Now Compounded by A Moral & Ethical Burden, Where the Hard-Earned Money of Fans & The Creative Still of Musicians Ultimately Funds Letal, Dystopian Technologies,” The Band. “Enough is more than Enough. Another Way is Possible.”

Numerous Artists have Removed Their Music from Spotify in Recent Weeks, Large in Protest of Chief Executive Daniel Ek and His Venture Capital Prima Matta’s Investments In Helsing, A Defense Company That Currently Operates in The United Kingdom, Germany, and France, and Sels Software that artificial intelligence (he) to inform Military Decisions. Helsing, in a staffement Posted on September 17, Wrote: “Currently We See Missinformation Spreading That Helsing’s Technology is depleoyed in War Other than Ukraine. This is not correct. Ukraine Only. ”

Among the Acts to Pull Music from Spotify Recently Are: Hotline Tnt, Young WidowsGodspeed you! Black Emperor, Wu lyfKing Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, XIU XIU, and Deerhoof.

Will Neil Young and Joni Mitchell’s Departure Spark a Bigger Spotify Exodus?

Once the height of a Certain Kind of Fashion.
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Like a lot of men, I used to shop at Brooks Brother. Founded in 1818, It”s the Oldest US CLOTING BRAND IN CONTINUOUS OPERATION, and it leans into conservatism, selling that look High Quality Being Terribly Noticeable. A brooks brothers suit Sayys “i’m a business person,” and when I was first working, that was something to be me Telegraph. But i stopped shopping there are a decade Ago. Sink then, some of the long-run trends that caused me to take my business elsewhere made brothers financially vulnerable. Now, Like J.Crew before it, the coronavirus crisis has typped the company into bankruptcy.

Well before the Pandemic, the Men’s Suit Industry Had Been in Trouble Thanks to America’s Increasingly Casual WorkPlaces. Total Annual Sales in the USA AMOUNT to Only Around $ 2 Billion, and They Have Been Falling Gradually As Wear Suits LESS FREUENTLY AND NEED TO BUY NEES LESS Frequently. These days, be need a suit, i buy it at suitsupply, a dutch retailer that entered the US Market Ago and is a Little than Brothers, with more fashionable tailoring. But i shatly don’t buy suits at all, simply Becuse i don’t sayar very much. I Once Frequently Wore Suits to Meetings; Now, They Mostly sit in my closet, unless have a wedding or funeral to attven.

Brooks Brother is more than just suits – The Wall Street Journal notes that Tailored Clothes Only Make Up 20 Percent of the Company’s Sales. But the Company’s More Clatual Clothes Are Oriented User at Work, and in the Non-Tailored Clothing Market, Brothers Brothers Faces a Much Wide Set of Competitors and does not benef from the brand of the suits.

The Covid-Driven Clide of Offices has stunned Demand for Dress Attire Overall. My husband and i recently sent out dry cleaning for the first time Since March; It tours out you can get a lot of wear out of a drast shirt between cleanings if you do only it on for 20-minute tv appeanencies and zoom calls. But it’s not just just that men are anen’t dressing up right now. If and when we will return to the office, we will have closhes in the closet that haven’t been subject to wear, and we won’t need to replace as soon as we might have otherwise.

The Shift Toward Casual Attire May Also Be One of Those Preexisting Trends That The Crisis Accelerates. I am skeptical that there will be a long increes in full-time work-from-songments, but i will find it likes more People work from home, Having Found Ways to doing so throughout the pandemic. SINCE I DON’T EXPECT MEN TO WEAR SUITS AROUND The House (Event Zoom-Call Attire haen been getting more casual nor we have settled into virtual work), that it is a permanent reduction in sales for the suits and events for Business-Casual Attire. One Silver Lining for Mine SUITS COULD BE THAT SOME MEN WHO HAVE PUT ON WEIGHT DURING THE PANDEMIC NEED NEW, LARGER SUITS WEND IT FINALLY ENDS. On the Other Hand, in Some Industries, they just May Start Wearing Sweatpants to the Office. (Did i mention that america’s workplaces were beComing increasingly casual?)

SO that’s what’s working against Brooks Brothers: A Powerful, Pre-Pandemic Trend Away from Its Products; a crisis that force the store and caused a sudden, Sharp drop in Demand; and an uncetain outlook for that demand rebounding;

Still, The Brooks Brothers Brand Likely Won’t Go Away. The Market for Men’s Suding Will Continue to Exist, at A Smaller Size, and SO the Bankruptcy is Expective to Result in the Brand’s Continued Under New Ownership. But it Products are Likely to take mess space in closets as the way American Men Dress Continue to Change.

Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

When we ask newlyweds to think back on what they wanted most for their big day — and we’ve interviewed hundreds of them over the years — the most common response is “For it not to feel like a wedding!” Gathering with old friends and eating mini grilled cheeses in formalwear to celebrate love feels more special these days than ever, even downright miraculous. And the betrothed have never been less attached to the old wedding handbook — or the need to please their great-aunt. So in a flurry of pampas grass and perfectly mismatched-to-match bridesmaid dresses, how do you pull off a non-cookie-cutter affair? For the answers, we decided to interrogate the cool couples whose weddings we would actually want to steal, right down to the tiger-shaped cake toppers.

Here we spoke with Marwa Safi and Ben Borden, a Los Angeles–based couple who struggled in their planning to answer a few questions: Why can’t you plan a wedding in six months? How can a celebration be “just Afghan enough,” in honor of the bride’s heritage? And why does every long green dress on the market look like something you’d wear to a beach resort? Fortunately, they both have an eye — Marwa is a creative producer in the fashion industry, while Ben is a teacher and fine artist. They were able to thread the needle for an intimate, semi-traditional celebration in San Diego for 65 guests just last month that featured Uzbek robes, an Islamic ceremony, and a Mamma Mia moment. 

Marwa: Right off the bat, from the beginning, my gut was telling me, Whoa. This is going to be something different. 

Ben: I was having dinner with some friends at Café Triste in Chinatown in 2023, and I went over to say hi to another friend, who was sitting there with Marwa. He zipped out to have a smoke, and I was at the table with her and it just felt really natural.

Marwa: He had just gotten back from teaching a class at the Royal Academy in Antwerp, and I thought he seemed very interesting. I did something I really hadn’t before, which is ask this friend to pass on my phone number.

Ben: I was like, Really? Wow! She thinks I’m cute? That’s amazing.

Marwa: We went on our first date in Chinatown also, and then he asked me to go to the library at the Art Center in Pasadena, where he also teaches, which I thought was very sweet.

Ben: It was one of those magical L.A. days where it’s really pouring rain, which never happens, and we’re at a library up in the mountains.

Marwa: It felt very sincere from the beginning.

Ben: There was a moment where she said, “You’re my best friend,” and I realized, We’re going to be a team. That sincerity really moved me.

Marwa: As we got to know each other, it felt like, Okay, I could do this forever. 

Marwa: He proposed at Sea Ranch, on the beach, just the two of us. This was in October 2024.

It was very sweet and kind of silly, too, because beach proposals are really not us at all.

Ben: I was like, Should I do something clever? Something ironic? On a jumbotron? And I thought, No, let’s go the opposite and go cliché and sincere. I’m going to propose on a beach. Mind you, it’s Northern California, so it’s an epic, foggy, crashing-wave kind of beach.

Marwa: We were both laughing. It was sweet.

Ben: I started getting on my knees and she’s like, What are you doing?!

Marwa: The hardest part from the beginning was deciding if it was going to be an Islamic wedding only, or if it would be mixed in with a white wedding, where I change into a white dress. I knew I wanted it to feel different than traditional Afghan weddings I’ve been to. I wanted it to feel comfortable, easy, fun.

Ben: I didn’t want it to be out-of-control big. Something we could manage.

Marwa: Afghan weddings tend to be drawn out, and there’s a formality I don’t love about them. The bride and groom are normally sitting on a stage, and I wanted to feel like we were at the party, not observing it.

Ben: We talked about having it in Texas — I’m from Corpus Christi — but I have a really small family, just me and my parents‚ and so much of Marwa’s family is in San Diego, including sisters with young children. We figured it would be a lot easier to do it there.

Marwa: I actually really love to plan parties and enjoy the process, so keeping it fun was my main concern the entire time.

Ben: Part of the consideration with a venue was, Is this a place that can help us manage everything? We wanted a place that would help with logistics like furniture and food.

Marwa: When we got engaged, I knew Rancho Valencia in San Diego was where I wanted to do it. It’s this hotel and spa that my sisters and I have been going to for years. We asked what dates they had in April, they sent some options, and that was that. We didn’t look at another location. It has a mixture of indoor and outdoor spaces, and it feels like a Spanish or Italian villa. There’s a beautiful fireplace, the view is stunning, and it doesn’t need a lot.

Ben: Rancho Valencia is one of those old California places where you drive in and you’re like, Wait, where are we going? It feels like being transported somewhere else. We were like, Why does it need to take longer than a few months to get this planned? It’s to Marwa’s credit that she was like, We could get this done. We don’t need to drag this on. Let’s go. We saw this opening at the venue and decided to go for it.

Marwa: I approached the aesthetics the same way I do a photo shoot — I made a creative deck with mood boards, and then a log of the budget and what needed to be done: locations, vendors, photographer. Our flowers were by Native Poppy in San Diego. I wanted it to feel like a warm spring day: light pinks and greens, a few pops of berry, lush but in muted tones. My favorite part was the archway, with beautiful hanging flowers, that we put behind our seats, along with a six-sided candelabra that Ben designed. Having his designs in the mix was really special. But a lot of the aesthetics came from my mom. My parents were in Afghanistan in the months leading up to the wedding, and I sent my mom the deck, too. A lot of the things we used came from Afghanistan, like the table the ceremony took place at, the lapis bowls, these tapestries.

Ben: Marwa’s mom got me a traditional Uzbek robe in Kabul. We WhatsApped for months leading up to this, and she was sending me different robe ideas and colors. I knew I wanted some variation on brown. A month before, we went to this menswear store here in L.A. called Mohawk, where our friend Carl is the menswear buyer. I was like, Help! He got me a suit. We had a plan to do an Issey Miyake shirt underneath, and pretty much the night before, Marwa’s mom vetoed that, which I think was the right move. I had brought a Dries tie with a muddy floral print that I really liked, and Marwa’s dad was like, “You’re wearing it with one of my white shirts.” We did this spontaneously.

Marwa: Green is the traditional color of Afghan weddings, and I knew from the beginning I wanted to do something semi-traditional. It’s really hard finding a green dress; a lot of them were almost matronly or looked like vacation dresses. The one I wore is actually Ralph Lauren, a real American heritage brand, which I found at Neiman Marcus in L.A. It felt elegant, and I liked the silhouette a lot. My mom found a traditional Uzbek robe in Afghanistan, and she got parts of it custom-embroidered. All the jewelry was vintage pieces she found and took to craftsmen and had refurbished. Together, we designed how we wanted these pieces to look as a cohesive set. I knew I wanted braids in my hair, because I was inspired by this picture of Kirsty Hume getting married in the ’90s in Scotland in a headpiece with long braids. I did my hair and makeup myself. I had a vague Penélope Cruz reference in mind, but then, I always do.

Ben: We walked into the ceremony together, while Marwa’s little brother Zak was behind us holding the Quran over our heads. I converted a little over six months ago. I’ve been around Islam a lot of my life; I worked at the Islamic Studies library in college, and I’ve had Muslim friends. I did it in San Diego with Marwa’s family, and it was really moving — it felt like being welcomed into her family as well.

Marwa: Imam Saif is the imam at the mosque I grew up going to, and he was the one who converted Ben. The morning of the conversion, we talked with him and really liked the things he was saying to us about marriage and love. It had to be him.

Ben: We sat down at the head of the table and there was a beautiful tableau in front of us, with a bowl of honey and a mirror facing us, which in the history of this ceremony, would be the first time you saw your husband or wife. Marwa’s brother, uncle, and father, and my dad and the imam were sitting around this table.

Marwa: The imam gets started with a sermon, talking about the beauty of love and what marriage means in Islam. Then he asked me if I accept, and I said I do. He asked Ben, and he said he did. And that was it!

Ben: All the weddings I’d ever been to were Christian, or even at a courthouse, with the bride and groom facing away from the audience, whereas here everyone was sitting looking at us, which was very emotional and actually pretty intense.

Marwa: I’m really glad we did it the way we did — right before the party — because some people do it the night before. Doing them together heightened the emotion that was going around, the love I felt for everyone who came.

Ben: There was a cocktail hour, which I thought was an interesting nod to the two cultures. I don’t think you would traditionally think about a cocktail hour living happily alongside a Muslim wedding.

Marwa: We had a cheeseboard and appetizers. There were live musicians playing traditional Afghan instruments — a tabla player named Hashmat and a rubab player named Haji Sadiq. The music is really melodic, and it felt nice in the background. The hotel has an amazing restaurant, so it was catered by the chef on-site. For dinner, we started with this delicious English pea risotto, then we had a farm salad, then people could choose between a filet, a salmon, or a vegetarian option. We finished with a crème brûlée chocolate cake.

Ben: My biggest concern was, Is everyone going to be satiated, is there going to be enough food? There were no speeches, but we went around the tables and said thank you and hi to everyone individually.

Marwa: My favorite part of the night was the dancing.

Ben: My mom is a musician and really rhythmically in touch. She had never danced to Afghan music, but she just got up and danced with Marwa’s aunt and killed it.

Marwa: She picked up on the Afghan rhythm and the foot and hand movements immediately, which is not that easy. Everyone was so touched.

Ben: It really helped the evening kick off.  Everyone was jaw-on-the-floor excited that she did that. We did a little bit of a first dance, but I’m a horrible dancer, so people came in and started dancing pretty soon after it looked like we needed help. After the traditional musicians, we had DJ NP.

Marwa: He took over and played mostly Afghan, Persian, and Arabic music. We were outside dancing, and then it started raining, which was kind of a shock. We weren’t expecting the rain, especially in San Diego at the end of April. Everyone was pretty loose at that point, so it was fun — I had always said I wanted my wedding to feel like a Mamma Mia movie.

Ben: It rained at both of Marwa’s sisters’ weddings, so we would have been offended if it didn’t rain, honestly. We went inside and the DJ re-set up all his equipment, and by then we were begging him to play some American music, and he promptly put on Daft Punk and Eurodance, which was even better. That’s how we wrapped up, with the venue kicking us out.

Marwa: No one wanted to leave, which I loved. We went back to our hotel room with our friends and opened a bottle of Champagne. And then that was it!

Ben: It was just so much love, being welcomed into Marwa’s life by her family, and my parents and her parents coming together. All these moments of happy people.

On her wedding day, Marwa did her own makeup (with a touch-up here by her sister). “I had a vague Penélope Cruz reference in mind, but then, I always do,” the bride said. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

The bride and groom both wore Uzbek robes sourced by the mother of the bride, who’s part Uzbek, in Kabul. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

Marwa’s jewelry and headpiece comprised vintage pieces her mother sourced and then reconfigured. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

They entered their ceremony with Marwa’s brother Zak holding the Quran over their heads. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

Present at the table were the imam, Marwa’s immediate male family members, and Ben’s father. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

After a sermon from the imam and some paperwork, the couple were wed. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

Facing toward their family and friends lent another layer of emotional intensity to the proceedings. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

During the cocktail hour, their 65 guests grazed at a table of fruits, cheese, and olives. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

The bride, embraced by friends. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

Traditional musicians played the tabla and rubab in the dancing portion of the evening. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

Marwa’s mother, in red, contributed as a kind of “creative director” for the wedding, the bride said, by sourcing ceremonial pieces and clothing in Afghanistan. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

The vision for the flowers was “warm spring day,” with muted tones and hints of deep berry. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

Dinner was catered by the venue, Rancho Valencia, and began with a pea risotto. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

While there were no speeches during the meal, the couple made sure to go around and thank guests for coming. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

The couple had a quick first dance before being joined by their guests, who danced into the night (and the rain). Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

The evening ended with their best friends and a bottle of Champagne. Photo: Negine Jasmine Sekandari

From left: Ruth Negga in Presumed Innocent, Owen Cooper in Adolescence, Cristin Milioti in The Penguin. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Everett Collection (Netflix, Apple TV+), Macall Polay/HBO

Because we’re in the thick of the Emmys race, it sometimes feels like we spend a disproportionate amount of time on the Drama and Comedy categories. But it’s only because that’s where the bulk of scripted programming resides. This year, 126 dramas submitted for Emmy contention, compared to 69 comedy shows and only 33 limited series. But limited series have always been TV’s preferred format for prestige programming, be it Roots or Band of Brothers or Angels in America. And since the streaming boom, the lines between ongoing dramas and limited series have blurred to the point where shows start off as the latter but become the former, with The White Lotus being the most celebrated example.

Last year’s Limited Series race was perfectly indicative of where the category stands now, with early favorite Shōgun — a high-production-value literary adaptation — ultimately getting renewed for a second season (and thus moving over to Drama Series, where it nearly swept the top awards), leaving room for Netflix’s buzzy trauma-com Baby Reindeer to ascend.

This year, Netflix, HBO, and FX are once again battling it out for Limited Series supremacy. Those three platforms have combined to win this category every year for the last 13 years. You have to go all the way back to the first season of Downton Abbey (which was initially considered a miniseries), back when the category was called Outstanding Miniseries or Movie, to find an outlier. Certainly a platform like Apple TV+ would love to break that streak, but this year’s contenders suggest that probably won’t be happening. Still, each of our ostensible Big Three platforms has a lot riding on the Limited Series race, and some are better positioned than others. Here, the five most urgent questions facing the competition ahead of nomination day.

Netflix had a very good night at the 2021 Emmys. The streamer finally won its first Outstanding Drama Series trophy, for The Crown, and scored an upset Limited Series victory for The Queen’s Gambit over HBO’s Mare of Easttown. It also collected five acting awards, the most of any other network or platform. The year before, Netflix collected a record-setting 160 Emmy nominations, finally besting rival HBO (which had 107) in the nomination tally. And while HBO clawed back on top for 2021, the margin was miniscule, with merely 130 total nominations to Netflix’s 129. The streamer was, at worst, neck and neck with HBO at the top of the prestige-TV food chain.

Unfortunately, Netflix has struggled to compete in the Drama and Comedy categories ever since. Last year’s 107 nominations once again led the overall Emmys field, but that number was fool’s gold; in its final season, The Crown limped across the finish line with only one major win (for supporting actress Elizabeth Debicki), while only one other Netflix show was nominated for Drama Series (remember 3 Body Problem??) and none were nominated for Comedy Series. In both 2020 and 2021, Netflix placed five shows in those top two categories. This year, while Netflix has likely nominees in the Comedy and Drama races, including new series The Four Seasons and Nobody Wants This and the second seasons of Squid Game and The Diplomat, none are expected to take home any major-category wins.

But Netflix continues to kick ass in Limited Series. That 2021 Queen’s Gambit win kicked off a run in which Netflix took home the Outstanding Limited Series Emmy in three of the last four years (Beef in 2023 and Baby Reindeer last year). Over that span, Netflix limited series have won six acting trophies, three directing awards, and two writing awards. Only HBO (six acting trophies, one directing award, and two writing awards) comes even close. Netflix is positioned to continue that dominance this year, with Adolescence — the four-part British series from writer-producers Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne about the aftermath of a 13-year-old boy murdering his classmate — practically lapping the competition. After dropping on Netflix in March, the series was immediately recognized as having the same combination of trenchant social commentary (in this case, a look at the manosphere-style toxicity that can poison young males at a shockingly early age) and daring formal style (each episode is a single continuous take) that boosted Baby Reindeer’s fourth-wall-breaking depiction of issues like queer identity and sexual assault last year.

Graham also stars in the series, playing the young boy’s father, and after years stealing scenes in small tough-guy parts in shows like Boardwalk Empire and films like The Irishman and Blitz, this unexpectedly tender role has him near the top of Best Actor predictions. His co-stars Owen Cooper (as his character’s son, Jamie), Ashley Walters (as the detective investigating the case), and Erin Doherty (as a court-appointed psychologist) are also strongly positioned for nominations.

Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story also stands a strong chance at more nominations for Netflix, particularly for stars Cooper Koch (as Erik) and Javier Bardem (as father Jose Menendez). Given that the first Monster series, about the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, pulled in 13 total nominations plus a win for supporting actress Niecy Nash-Betts, it would be foolish to overlook Murphy, whose shows tend to perform very well at the Emmys (54 wins and 270 nominations, all told).

There’s also Apple Cider Vinegar, the somewhat out-of-time series about real-life Australian wellness grifter Belle Gibson. TV’s grifter boom peaked back in 2022 with the likes of The Dropout and Inventing Anna, but star Kaitlyn Dever’s committed performance, combined with her momentum for her pivotal The Last of Us arc, could pull a nomination. It’s also a Black Mirror year. The techno-parable anthology series is intermittently an Emmy fave, and this season featured the likes of Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Chris O’Dowd, and Cristin Milioti, all of whom could snag a nomination.

It is, objectively, a tough time to be repping the excellence of superhero TV. Marvel is looking to reverse a downward swing that many, including Kevin Feige, are blaming on the company investing too much story into its TV shows. Warner Bros. Discovery can’t blame the woes of the DC superhero saga on TV shows, but the Peacemaker spinoff from James Gunn’s Suicide Squad movie didn’t exactly light the world on fire. And yet excellence is exactly what HBO Max delivered with The Penguin, a twisty crime drama spun off from Matt Reeves’s The Batman film. Stars Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, and Deirdre O’Connell gave performances that bordered on the operatic, but the show’s grimy style, established by showrunner Lauren LeFranc, ensured they fit right in.

But Emmy voters have also tired of superhero TV in the last five years. We’re a long way from Watchmen’s 2020 victories (and that show was up to something far different from the corporate brand synergies of the MCU and DCEU, anyway). WandaVision got 23 nominations in 2021 but didn’t win any of the major awards it was up for that night. Subsequent MCU shows were shut out of the major categories, even seasons as well-regarded as Loki’s first. Agatha All Along will venture to reverse course on that trend, though I wouldn’t bet anything I wasn’t prepared to lose there. The Penguin stands a much better chance, if only because the Emmys have historically loved crime dramas. And by de-emphasizing the show’s superhero elements — nary a mention of Batman, and “Penguin” is merely a pejorative nickname bestowed on our mobster protagonist, Oz Cobb — Emmy voters will simply be asked to consider the show as a well-appointed crime drama.

Instead of making another movie that would undoubtedly have earned critical acclaim and an Oscar campaign, two-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón chose to make a limited series out of Renée Knight’s 2015 novel about a documentary filmmaker threatened with the reveal of a long-held secret. Cuarón cast another two-time Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, in the lead role, and the folks at Apple TV+ had so much confidence in the show that they previewed it at major film festivals in Venice and Toronto.

Then it premiered in October and made zero impact. Anecdotally speaking, I haven’t heard anybody talk about it, either online or in person. The handful of people I know who actually saw it were TV critics and entertainment writers who treated watching it like eating vegetables.

Yet over the course of the last six months, Disclaimer has collected a significant handful of precursor nominations, including Golden Globe nominations for the series, Blanchett, and Kline. The same three plus an additional nod for supporting actress Leila George came from the Critics Choice Awards. Blanchett and Kline were nominated for SAG Awards. Cuarón picked up a Directors Guild nomination. These are the dutiful nominations you dole out to prestige talent and shows with big promotional budgets in order to fill out a category. Can a series that drummed up zero enthusiasm grab multiple Emmy nominations on reputation alone? The experts seem to think so. (Gold Derby has Blanchett, Kline, and Leslie Manville all lined up for nominations, as well as the series itself.)

In the last 13 years, FX produced 14 nominees in the Outstanding Limited Series category and three winners (the first season of Fargo and the American Crime Story seasons on O.J. Simpson and Gianni Versace). Heading into this year, the network had two remarkably strong contenders. The Michelle Williams–starring Dying for Sex, a comedy-drama from Kim Rosenstock and New Girl creator Liz Meriwether, is based on the podcast of the same name about a woman whose terminal diagnosis spurs a sexual awakening. Say Nothing, an Irish coming-of-age drama set within the ranks of the IRA during the Troubles, received exquisite reviews when the entire nine-episode series dropped via FX on Hulu in November.

While far from the production spectacle Shōgun was last year (a program that up until late in the season was being campaigned in Limited Series before transitioning to Drama), both Dying for Sex and Say Nothing present compelling Emmy cases: important subject matter, strong reviews, and in the former case, stars like Michelle Williams, Sissy Spacek, and Jenny Slate. And yet, to varying degrees, these shows have been on the far-back burner during campaign season. Williams — a former Emmy winner for Fosse/Verdon and easily the show’s best promotional weapon — has been absent from the traditional roundtable and actor-on-actor discussions. It may well be that FX is holding her back to keep her fresh to campaign post-nominations, but it’s not like THR or Variety reboots these roundtables for phase two. Slate, it should be noted, has been out there hustling for a much-deserved Supporting Actress nomination, but for a show that absolutely ranks among the year’s best, the drumbeat is distressingly quiet.

But quiet is better than silent, which is the case for Say Nothing. I asked Vulture critic Nicholas Quah, who enthusiastically reviewed the series back in November, whether he thought FX had erred by releasing all the episodes in a single binge. “Definitely,” he said. “Quality aside, Say Nothing was always going to be a tough sell for viewers who were already invested in Patrick Radden Keefe’s book or the story of the Troubles. It’s a dense nine-episode political drama that ping-pongs between time and features mostly unknown actors — Anthony Boyle, the biggest name on the call sheet, is at best on the cusp of fame. The burden fell on FX to market it well, and if we’ve learned anything about the binge-drop model, it’s that the only real way to make it work other than simply appearing on the front page of Netflix — a luxury FX obviously does not have — is to position the release as an event. Otherwise, the show vanishes.”

Quah told me that anecdotally, the show was unknown to viewers. “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve recommended the show to who (a) knew the book, (b) didn’t know there was an adaptation, and (c) ended up adoring the series when they checked it out.”

A weekly release certainly could have helped build word-of-mouth momentum, just like it did for the Emmy-winning Shōgun. “Say Nothing feels like exactly the kind of series that would have benefitted from a weekly drip,” Quah adds, “especially since a good deal of why you’d be drawn into the show is the strength of its performances.” Currently, the best odds for a Say Nothing nomination reside in the Lead Actress category with Lola Petticrew, who plays the real-life Dolours Price, though Boyle would also make for a richly deserving Supporting Actor nominee.

Alternatively, Apple TV+ had a word-of-mouth win with Presumed Innocent and its week-to-week release, but dropping such a strong series as early as possible in the Emmys window likely doomed it to outside chances in the race. Which is a shame, because while not exactly operating in rarefied air, Presumed Innocent was an engrossing legal drama featuring a ton of red-meat Emmy performances from the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal, Ruth Negga, Peter Sarsgaard, Bill Camp, and O-T Fagbenle. (The former Handmaid’s Tale Emmy nominee was doing things with vocal delivery that Stanislavsky never dreamed of.)

Premiering in June 2024, Presumed Innocent has been out of sight longer than any of this year’s major contenders. And though I don’t relish the burgeoning trend of two dozen Emmy-bait shows dropping from mid-March to mid-May every year, it still feels like utter foolishness to put a show with that much potential out to pasture while voters are still catching up on last year’s contenders. Yes, The Bear does this every year, but The Bear is a continuing series, so new seasons do the work of promoting old seasons. We’re not getting a new season of the anthologized Presumed Innocent until presumably 2026, leaving the show stranded in the past as far as this year’s Emmys are concerned.