Metal ring that holds a pencil's eraser / SUN 5-12-24 / Digital "container" associated with Bitcoin / Formula 1 tour stop since 2023, informally / Lady Gaga vis-à-vis Billie Eilish, e.g. / Polemology is the study of them / Dystopian classic whose title comes from "The Tempest" / 1995 blockbuster with numerous historical inaccuracies / Title Disney character of 1998 / Fruits exchanged on Chinese New Year / Spiritual hermitage / Suspense-building words

Theme answers:

• CARS—25A: Original host of MTV's "Total Request Live" (CARSON DALY) / 11D: Prominent figure at the Academy Awards (OSCAR STATUE)
• LUCA—35A: Tourist destination in Baja California Sur (CABO SAN LUCAS) / 27D: Certain streaming library (HULU CATALOG)
• UP—61A: Cloud nine, so to speak (EUPHORIA) / 57D: Two-family dwelling (DUPLEX)
• SOUL—85A: Fried chicken, cornbread, collard greens, etc. (SOUL FOOD) / 62D: Home to the University of Montana (MISSOULA)
• WALL-E—96A: Digital "container" associated with Bitcoin (CRYPTO WALLET) / 67D: Refused to answer questions (STONEWALLED)
• BRAVE—98A: Dystopian classic whose title comes from "The Tempest" (BRAVE NEW WORLD) / 98D: 1995 blockbuster with numerous historical inaccuracies (BRAVEHEART)
• COCO—117A: Palm tree product used in skin care (COCONUT OIL) / 100D: Drink often served with marshmallows (HOT COCOA)

Word of the Day: Al OERTER (97D: Al ___, discus thrower in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame) —

Alfred Oerter Jr. (/ˈɔːrtər/; September 19, 1936 – October 1, 2007) was an American athlete and a four-time Olympic Champion in the discus throw. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Games. Oerter is an inductee of the IAAF Hall of Fame. In 1973, he starred in the short-lived ABC legal sitcom Oerter in the Court! (wikipedia) (OK I made that last part up)

I'm trying to think of that Finnish runner I used to have to know for crosswords, back when 20th-century Olympians with crossword-convenient names were a much bigger deal ... ah, there it is: PAAVO NURMI ("The Flying Finn"). I bring this up because I cannot remember the last time I had to remember Al OERTER. Feels like 2008, but it's probably something like 2022 and I just forgot. Let's see ... ooh, no, I was pretty close: 2010! Fourteen years OERTER-free. He's only appeared in the NYTXW three times total (!?!?) ('03, '10, today), which doesn't feel like enough times for me to become familiar with his name, but familiar I am, and (I assure you) solely because of crosswords. I was not alive when he was an Olympian, and I am not a discus aficionado, so there's no other way I'm learning OERTER except for crosswords. Last time he appeared, I nearly Naticked on OERTER / BARKCLOTH (!?!?!). Man, fill was rougher back then. My Word of the Day that day was someone named Lin PIAO. Needless to say, that name hasn't stuck (that 2010 appearance remains of PIAO's sole NYTXW appearance). I think all the crosses on OERTER are fair today, so hopefully you survived that trip down Olympian Lane. [My cat has decided to get on my desk and threaten to walk across my keyboard so pardon me while I evict her] [Well now she appears to be evicting herself, so back to business]. The only name I truly didn't know was whoever that JEN person is. I try desperately not to know anything, not a thing, no thing, about the "Biden White House" (or any White House, I'm done—and what does it even mean to be "of the Biden White House"? Like, say the job title or don't say the job title, come on). Wasn't there a JEN Psaki "of the Biden White House"? How many JENs does he plan on employing? Voters need to know. Looks like today's JEN, JEN O'Malley Dillon, is the first female campaign manager of a winning presidential campaign (Biden '20). Seems noteworthy. Like ... the kind of thing you might put in a clue, even.

As for today's theme, shrug, not really my thing. I have heard of all these movies, so that's something, but I have no idea which movies are Pixar and which aren't. Apparently MULAN isn't (kinda bugged me to see a non-Pixar animated film in this grid, for some reason—like, enough animated films, already; mix it up). The other movies are indeed movies. Some are famous, some slightly less so. Some are truly hidden in their respective answers (EUPHORIA, CRYPTO WALLET), some are definitely not (BRAVE NEW WORLD, SOUL FOOD). It's a straightforward rebus puzzle that's basically a short movie title Easter egg hunt or Whac-a-mole or whatever. Some of the "hiding" solutions are pretty clever (HULU CATALOG being the most desperate / inventive / interesting). The theme was just OK, but the rest of the puzzle was maybe slightly better than normal. Maybe. Anyway, I didn't hate the solving experience as much as I (frequently) have on previous Sundays. This was fine. 

But FERRULE! (31A: Metal ring that holds a pencil's eraser). FERRULE is the OERTER of pencil parts, in that it's pretty obscure and I also wouldn't know it at all if it weren't for crosswords. Actually, I may be confusing it with a different FERULE (is there a one-R FERULE? Can there possibly be multiple FER(R)ULEs?!). I thought it was a rod for beating children with or something like that. No, seriously. Hang on ... Ha! One-R FERULE is "an instrument (such as a flat piece of wood like a ruler) used to punish children" (merriam-webster.com). Told ya! Wow, a one-R and a two-R FER(R)ULE. What wonders and horrors the English language has lurking in its heart. This is two-R FERRULE's fourth ever appearance. One-R FERULE, on the other hand, has appeared a whopping 23 times, though only seven times in the Modern (i.e. Shortz/Fagliano) Era.

Ironically ... or strangely, anyway ... the toughest part of the puzzle for me today was nowhere near a rebus square. It was LABELMATE and everything around it. Well, not everything. I knew LENTILS, obviously (56A: Dal ingredients), and that Homer quote re: ALCOHOL is Hall-of-Fame, put-it-on-a-T-shirt level famous (51D: "The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems," per Homer Simpson). But somehow I thought 42A: Beam at a bar (JIM) had to do with sushi (probably thinking "bream"??) and as we've established I didn't know JEN, and MUMMIES eluded me (32D: They're kept under wraps), and also BELABOR (49A: Go on and on about). But mostly it was just the word LABELMATE (49A: Lady Gaga vis-à-vis Billie Eilish, e.g.). I have no idea what label anyone is on anymore. Not that I ever did, but I used to have at least a vague sense of whether someone was on Island or Sire or Electra or I.R.S. or whatever. Now? Zero idea, none, even if I know the artist reasonably well. So LABELMATE slowed my forward momentum more than anything else today. 

Notes:

• 108A: Picture book with characters like Odlaw, Wizard Whitebeard and Woof (WHERE'S WALDO?) — Pretty sure I've asked this before, but ... characters? Don't you just find the stupid stripe-shirt / ski-hat guy in a crowd? Is there really drama? A narrative arc? "Characters" implies such things. I had no idea.
• 59D: Frequent antagonist of Winnie-the-Pooh (BEE)— "Antagonist" seems kind of ... dramatic. Hyperbolic. Also, just one?? I don't remember my Pooh, but it seems more likely that there were many BEEs. Hmm, the Disney Fandom wiki (an august authority, to be sure) says the BEEs are "recurring antagonists" to W the P, so alrighty then. Nevermind.  
• 22A: "My only request ..." ("ALL I ASK...") — my favorite answer in the grid, along with "WAIT FOR IT ..." (4D: Suspense-building words)
• 66A: Formula 1 tour stop since 2023, informally (VEGAS) — Hey Siri, write a crossword clue that has nothing to do with me whatsoever. Like, combine the things I'm least interested in in one perfectly un-me clue/answer pairing. Thanks.
• 108D: Polemology is the study of them (WARS)— absolutely positively had TARS here at first. Luckily my brain refused to accept the existence of a THERE'S WALDO! (hell of a sequel title, though, you've gotta admit). 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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