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One of the occupational hazards of my job is that our kids have gotten spoiled with stupidly cute Pinterest-perfect rooms since the day they were born. They just popped into the world with animals wallpapered all over their rooms and carefully curated gallery walls. So easy! We are all EXTREMELY lucky and privileged, and while it’s not their fault, our kids have NO idea how much work, time, and money it takes to pull together a room. Before the pandemic it was different. I was so busy and had a team of designers that helped me with my own house. Emily Bowser and Julie Rose created the tent bed at the mountain house. Shade installed the rock climbing wall. Julie...

By Todd Woody | Bloomberg As temperatures hit triple digits on a blue-sky July day in the Los Angeles community of Pacoima, families escape the heat at a local park. Many of the surrounding homes lack air conditioning, and the neighborhood’s sparse stands of towering palm trees provide scant shelter from the sun. The streets are scorching, with the asphalt radiating 127° Fahrenheit of heat at noon, according to a temperature reading. An hour later, it rises to 141.8°. “It’s super-hot here,” says Jeniffer Ramirez, who lives across the street from Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park. “We used to have a fall, a spring, a winter. Now it’s just like summer the whole year and it doesn’t cool down until...

Make learning fun with an Amazon deal! For a limited time, head on over to Amazon or Target.com where they are offering this Osmo Little Genius Starter Kit for iPad for just $39.99 shipped (regularly $79.99)! This award-winning learning game lets your child interact with tangible educational toys and an iPad, bringing their actions to life! Your kiddo will learn to recognize letters and learn phonics (ABCs), develop pre-drawing skills (Squiggle Magic), identify social-emotional cues, experiment with clothes and colors (Costume Party), and develop problem-solving skills (Stories)! This game is designed for ages 3 – 5 and is compatible with all iPads except Generation 1 – 4 & Mini 1. See why Hip Sidekick, Chelsey’s family, is loving these kits…...

Michael Abels had a feast of a film to score with "Nope." Filmmaker Jordan Peele's genre-bender lets Abel play with different emotions and styles. The acclaimed summer movie can't be put in a box, and neither can Abels' score, even if it calls to mind great westerns and classic popcorn movies. "Nope" is referential, but unlike many nostalgia pictures today, it has its own vision. Abels and Peele take pieces from the past and run with them organically, not nostalgically. For years, the duo has been striking fear into audiences. They first collaborated on "Get Out," then sent chills down audiences' spines with "Us," and now, they deliver their most expansive work to date in "Nope." Recently, Abels talked to us...

Americans are rightly anguished by gun violence and the question of what’s motivating the young men who have committed a succession of horrific mass murders. We seem to be fumbling around for answers: Is it racism and radicalization, or untreated mental illness, or toxic video games, or too-easy access to guns? All of these may be parts of the problem, but equally none of them makes complete sense outside of the larger context: The gun industry’s modern marketing effort did not just arm these shooters; in a very real sense, it created them.This is something I know a bit about, as someone who spent a quarter century in the business. Over my years as a rising executive with a successful...