T LOunge for April 28th, 2022

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PinBlack Rose The Bar – Marbella, Spain

We don’t ever want to leave today’s glorious LOunge. Let’s not, kittens. Let’s stay here forever.

Michelle Pfeiffer Is Definitely Done Second-Guessing Herself (Probably!)
The ‘First Lady’ actress on moving beyond the self-doubt that has come with being one of the most effortlessly cool stars of our time: “I jump in feet first and then I realize what I’ve gotten myself into.”
Pfeiffer typically comes around, and she’s gotten better at managing her fears, too. It took 20 years, but she no longer shakes her way through the first day on any new set and she’s finally stopped obsessing over daily footage of her work. She used to watch cuts to make sure she was acting in the right movie; but at this point in a career that’s earned her three Oscar nominations and $7 billion at the global box office, if Pfeiffer still doesn’t know if she’s in the right movie, “I deserve to be made fun of,” she says. Plus, watching herself had become a form of torture that she didn’t need to put herself through anymore.

Pioneering Designer Ann Lowe Gets Her Due in This Year’s Met Exhibition
Outside St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island, on a sunny September morning in 1953, a young woman then known as Jacqueline Bouvier emerged from her town car, ready to marry the recently elected junior senator for Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. The next day, it wasn’t just the minting of a new political dynasty that made headlines, but the new Mrs. Kennedy’s exquisite white wedding dress. The fairy-tale gown captured the imagination of women the world over and sealed her nascent status as a fashion icon whose style would echo through generations. Missing from the day’s coverage, however, was the name of the designer.

Andrew Garfield Believes Under the Banner of Heaven Is the Show We Need Right Now
“That feels very important for us as a culture right now—to move away from fundamentalism, away from extremism, away from certainty.”
After more than a decade of critically acclaimed big-screen performances (The Amazing Spider-Man, Hacksaw Ridge, tick, tick… BOOM!), Andrew Garfield is stepping into his first leading role on television, playing a devout Mormon detective in the new FX limited series Under the Banner of Heaven.
Based on Jon Krakauer’s best-selling nonfiction book of the same name and created for television by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black, the seven-part miniseries follows the events that led to the brutal murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her baby daughter, Erica, in Salt Lake Valley, Utah, in 1984. While investigating the events that transpired within the Lafferty family with his partner, Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham), Detective Jeb Pyre (Garfield) uncovers hidden truths about the origins of the LDS religion, forcing him to question his own faith and teachings.

Rare Photos of First Ladies You Probably Haven’t Seen Before
From pursuing hobbies to relaxing in the White House.
Grace, intelligence, and kindness are just some of the necessary traits to be the First Lady of the United States—and not every woman has what it takes to thrive in the role. But the ones who do are extraordinary in their own right and deserving of some recognition. To celebrate the new Showtime series The First Lady, which takes a deeper look at three first ladies: Michelle Obama, Betty Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt, we rounded up rare snapshots of presidential spouses through the years.

A Brief History of Political Statements at the Met Gala
When the Met Gala was first established in 1948, it was mainly as a means to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute—a mandate that remains to this day—although the fact that New York’s great and good also enjoy an opulent night out didn’t hurt its success either.
As the Met Gala has evolved over the past few decades from a soirée enjoyed by a rarefied corner of Manhattan high society to one of the most hotly anticipated celebrity events of the year (now closely watched by onlookers all over the world), the style prerequisites for the red carpet have changed. Sure, the theme of each year’s exhibition provides a guide: from the renegade looks that marked 2013’s “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” to the flounce and flamboyance of 2019’s “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” to the “gilded glamour” of this year’s gala, celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.” But as the years have gone by, and the spotlight has grown ever more intense, stars with a forthright political outlook have recognized the night as a forum to share their principles and fundamental beliefs through clothing. While it’s never been unusual for political figures to walk the red carpet—just take Hillary Clinton’s appearance at the 2001 gala, tied to an exhibition on Jackie Kennedy’s White House wardrobe—it feels like there’s been a turning of the dial towards more explicit political messaging recently.

“Diana’s Son Is Continuing the Campaign to Disrupt Charles’ Future Reign”: An Interview With Tina Brown
From lunches with Princess Diana to the Oprah interview, everything makes it into Brown’s new book, ‘The Palace Papers.’
Tina Brown is back, and it’s as though she never left. Her newest work, The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor—The Truth and the Turmoil, picks up where her 2007 best seller The Diana Chronicles left off, taking us behind the scenes through the last 25 years of the British monarchy. The British royal family has been a topic Brown has covered since her days as editor-in-chief at Tatler magazine, when a young ingénue named Diana Spencer arrived on the scene and soon catapulted into her role as the Princess of Wales. Since her Tatler days, Brown has gone on to edit Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and, most recently, The Daily Beast (which she also founded), in addition to other prominent masthead appointments. This is Brown’s first book wholly about the royal family since 2007—and, well, a lot has happened in 15 years.

The Blonde Leading the Blonde: An Oral History of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
Released 25 years ago this week, it’s something of a miracle that the film even made it to theaters. Based on two ancillary characters in a play by Robin Schiff, Romy and Michele trudged through half a decade of script overhauls, studio interference, disastrous test screenings, a director who threatened to take his name off of the film, and more before becoming one of the most influential comedies of its time. Now, one sees its DNA in everything from Broad City’s central slackers to the gleefully over-the-top antics in Barb and Starr Go to Vista Del Mar.

The Fine Art of Writing a Yelp Review
Be fair, concise, and embrace the fact that that no one will truly care.
There is a right way and a wrong way to craft a Yelp review for a restaurant, but no matter how it’s written, it will never earn you a Pulitzer Prize, nor is it something to add to a LinkedIn profile. Maybe if you eventually writes enough reviews, Yelp will bestow the title of Elite Yelper upon you, which is right up there with being knighted by the Queen of England. However, it’s more likely that the review will languish in the ether, peaking when one person clicks the icon beneath your review because they find it useful, funny, or cool. If you should choose to use your precious moments on earth to write a review for Yelp, here is how it should be done.

Jason Sudeikis ‘Had No Prior Knowledge’ About Olivia Wilde Being Served on Stage at CinemaCon
On Tuesday, while Wilde was presenting the trailer for her new film “Don’t Worry Darling” at the movie exhibitors convention, a mysterious manila envelope labeled “personal and confidential” was slid to her by someone in front of the stage. At first, onlookers believed the envelope to be a script from someone attempting to gain the “Booksmart” director’s attention — but Deadline reported on Wednesday afternoon that the envelope contained custody documents from Sudeikis.

How to Make Fresh Corn Tortillas
F&W 2021 Best New Chef Fermín Núñez shares his method for homemade corn tortillas. Use his tortilla recipe and follow along.
“A good tortilla is a mixture of very few ingredients and a highly developed natural instinct,” says Food & Wine 2021 Best New Chef Fermín Núñez. At his East Austin restaurant Suerte, Núñez and his team have honed those natural instincts through constant practice: They make thousands of tortillas by hand each day.
The technique employed at the restaurant is the same one Núñez uses when making tortillas at home. His rules are simple: rely on the highest-quality store-bought masa harina, a touch of salt, and just enough water.

The Facts Behind the Ugly Divorce Battle in ‘A Very British Scandal’
Amazon Prime’s three-part series “A Very British Scandal” dramatizes one of the most scandalous divorce cases in British history, between the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, in which the Duke (Ian, played by Paul Bettany) accuses Margaret (Claire Foy) of sleeping with more than 88 other men during their marriage.
Judge Lord Wheatley, who presided over the case, blasted her as “a completely promiscuous woman” whose attitude towards marriage was “wholly immoral.”
Writer and creator Sarah Phelps says she was sensitive to the fact she was penning a script about real people who had living relatives that she took into consideration. “There are strict laws about how to represent people and what impact it’s going to have on their living relatives,“ Phelps says. “But you also have a moral responsibility because you don’t want to do anything that is going to cause pain.”

Who Gets to Play Jewish?
Hollywood is long past the days of “write Yiddish, cast British”—or is it?
The idea of authentic Jewish representation is a complicated one, not least because the minority group—Jews are estimated to make up about 0.2% of the world’s population—isn’t neatly classified by race, religion, or ethnicity. According to current-day sensibilities, most Jews also present as privileged white people. Nevertheless, the Anti-Defamation League’s 2021 annual audit says 2,717 antisemitic incidents were reported last year. That’s a 34% increase compared to the 2,026 incidents the organization tabulated in 2020, when Jews were already the target of more than half of all U.S. hate crimes—more than any other group, according to FBI statistics cited by the American Jewish Committee. Many creatives may have opinions on the topic, but few seem willing to say them on the record; though I contacted more than two dozen Jewish and non-Jewish actors, writers, and directors for this story over the course of several months, only a handful were willing to speak to me.

Wake Up to a Slice of This Springy, Stunning Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Colorful, tart rhubarb is one of our favorite spring vegetables, right up there with peas, asparagus, and the other fresh ingredients the season has to offer. You’ll often find it featured in desserts, such as a crisp or a crumble. But in this week’s episode of Mad Genius, Food & Wine Culinary Director-at-Large Justin Chapple goes the breakfast and brunch route with his recipe for Rhubarb Coffee Cake, which is topped with bright rhubarb stalks and a buttery, crumbly streusel.
“You are going to love this delicious cake with its springy crumb and its tart, rosy rhubarb top,” he says.

We’re Living in the Golden Age of Competitive M&M Stacking
In just the past 15 months, the Guinness World Record for stacking a tower of M&M’s candies has been broken three times.
Guinness World Records tracks a lot of achievements: over 40,000 in total. Some are well-established, which makes them tough to break. For instance, the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest has been held for decades, and if you think you can eat more hot dogs in ten minutes than Joey Chestnut, you’re either Matt Stonie or delusional. On the flip side, some records are so insane, why would you want to try? I don’t own a pogo stick, and I doubt I could jump on one 88,047 consecutive times even if I did.
But occasionally, a record gets announced that feels breakable and people decide to give it a try, like stacking M&M’s.

Capturing the Fun and Glam Style of Betty Ford in ‘The First Lady’
How costume designer Signe Sejlund transformed Michelle Pfeiffer with her playful wardrobe for the Showtime series.
“This job was super terrifying because it’s such an honor to actually get a chance to tell the story of these amazing women,” says Sejlund. “[Along with director Susanne Bier], we wanted to do it right, but you have this foreigner designing costumes and telling the history at the same time. It was not a bad idea, as my eyes see this from another point of view. Things I see might be different from those of an American designer.”

Revisiting the Christian fantasy novels that shaped decades of conservative hysteria
Demons, angels, and elite liberal conspiracies: Frank Peretti’s books sound like today’s headlines.
A sinister schoolteacher steadily grooms kids in their care to accept liberal indoctrination, ultimately leading to the takeover of young minds by shadowy forces. All the while, the teachers are backed by a larger, high-powered conspiracy to control the government, the educational system, and the national media — all in the name of evil leftists battling the ongoing culture war.
That rhetoric might sound like sheer fantasy, but it’s increasingly becoming the dominant worldview of many right-wing US conservatives, especially white evangelicals. It’s also the literal plot of two novels by Christian fantasy author Frank Peretti, This Present Darkness (1986) and its sequel Piercing the Darkness (1989). Although not household names to many, these are very likely two of the most culturally influential novels in recent history.

Sweet and Squishy as Ever, the Gummy Universe Keeps Expanding
On its 100th anniversary, the colorful candy has evolved from dancing bears to a booming industry — and for some, a bountiful obsession.
“Gummies are the most popular kind of candy,” said Marcia Mogelonsky, a director of insight at the marketing analysis firm Mintel Food & Drink. “It’s not surprising that they are turning up everywhere else. They have a certain resonance. It’s one of those nostalgic things.”
It’s also probably a far cry from what the candy maker Hans Riegel had in mind in 1922, when he adapted a recipe for fruit-flavored pastilles to create the first gummy bear (or Gummibär, German for “rubber bear”) for his nascent sweets company, Haribo. The densely chewy, gelatin-based gummies were modeled after real-life dancing bears, a form of entertainment at the time, and later rebranded as Goldbears.

These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch
Experience the best museums — from London to Seoul — from the comfort of your own home.
While there’s nothing like setting foot inside an iconic museum and laying eyes on a world-famous sculpture created by a renowned artist centuries ago, it’s not always possible to hop on a plane to New York City, Paris, or Florence to tour the gallery halls in person.
But there is a way to get a little culture and education while you’re at home, gaining inspiration and intel for future trips as well. Google Arts & Culture has teamed up with more than 1,200 museums and galleries around the world to bring anyone and everyone virtual tours and online exhibits of some of the most famous museums around the world.
You get to “go to the museum” and never have to leave your couch.

[Photo Credit: blackrosebar.es, baradesignstudio.com]