T LOunge for February 17th, 2023

Tramonto All Day Lounge – Oia, Santorini, Greece

Enjoy the sky, darlings. It’s FRIDAY and it all belongs to you today.

Vivienne Westwood Is Remembered In London
How can you encapsulate the life and legacy of Vivienne Westwood – a chief genius in England’s fashion canon and much, much more besides – in a memorial service? As her granddaughter, Cora Corré, conceded in the last address of Thursday afternoon’s event at Southwark Cathedral: “We can only really touch on the characteristics of the phenomenon that is Vivienne Westwood: a grandmother, a mother, a sister, a friend, a teacher, an artist, a designer – it will never be enough.”

36 Best Sci-Fi Movies That Are Out Of This World, From The Matrix To Alien
Live long and prosper with this list of must-watch films.
Sci-fi films offer movie-lovers a rare moment of pure escapism from the present and to immerse themselves in a fictional science-based world of aliens, artificial intelligence and space travel.
For centuries, humankind has been fascinated by futuristic worlds and mind-bending concepts of time travel and unidentified species lightyears away. And, as technology in film and production has improved in recent years, the possibilities of portraying such ideas has come on leaps and bounds, whether it’s James Cameron creating blue Na’vi species in Pandora, or Tim Burton’s super intelligent apes.
With so many sci-films to choose from, we’ve done the hard work for you and created a list of the best sci-fi movies to watch if you love to question the world, humans and technology.

Selena Gomez Survived Social Media and, With Her New Music, Is Ready to Leave Darkness Behind
And of course she raves about Steve Martin and Martin Short: “I really love them. I don’t like calling them my grandpas, but they kind of are.”
“I’m just so used to censoring myself that it was (a) me wanting to let go and (b) if they’re telling me to be quiet about it, that’s not good because that’s genuinely not the place I’m in anymore.
Maybe it was weird and uncomfortable for other people, and obviously I was worried, but I think it finally allowed me to start being open about everything. It’s not that I was kind of sad—I actually have things that are chemically imbalanced in my brain, and I need to understand what that is, take care of it, and nurture it. I’m not ashamed of it. I don’t ever feel, even for five seconds, that I’m crazy. My thoughts tend to ruminate, but it’s up to me to be proud of who I am and to take care of myself.”

How Kate Hudson Got Ready for the Michael Kors Show
“The minute you put on one of Michael’s designs, your whole mood changes,” says Kate Hudson. “It’s glamorous but easy and makes you want to wear it every day. You just feel good.” It makes sense, then, that the designer’s fall/winter 2023 show during New York Fashion Week was a can’t-miss for the actress, who most recently delighted audiences as former influencer-turned-fashion mogul Birdie Jay in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

A Family Photo Album Holds Black History
In the work of Renata Cherlise and Laylah Barrayn, the most personal images tell a bigger story.
The practice of photography has a long and complex relationship within the Black diaspora. As Tina M. Campt articulates in her 2012 book, Image Matters: Archive, Photography, and the African Diaspora in Europe, “The photographic image has played a dual role in rendering the history of African diasporic communities, because of its ability to document and simultaneously pathologize the history, culture, and struggles of these communities.” At its worst, the craft has been utilized as a means of data collection and racial caste enforcement, going back to the slave daguerreotypes of Louis Agassiz, colonial postcards that reinforced a mammification. But the visual medium has also provided a robust means for Black people across the globe to reject the negative stereotypes assigned to them. Black photographers and photography showcase how Black people see each other and the Black cultures formed in spite of the all-consuming force of white supremacy.

A Bridgerton Book About Queen Charlotte Is Coming
Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes co-wrote a romance about Bridgerton‘s Queen Charlotte and King George III.
While Bridgerton fans anxiously await season three, there’s more exciting news coming out of the Bridgerton-verse: a new story cowritten by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes all about Queen Charlotte.
Avon Books announced the new book, which will be “centered on Queen Charlotte’s rise to prominence and power.” The prequel “tells the story of how the young Queen’s marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift, creating the world of the Ton inherited by the characters in Bridgerton.”

Are These the Most Beautiful Pearls in the World?
Tiffany & Co. takes an iconic design and makes history.
Charles Lewis Tiffany was always a “just do it” kind of guy. One need only trace the early history of the house he founded in 1838 to see a theme emerge. If Charles Lewis Tiffany was going to do a company town hall he might issue the philosophy forth as such: “What is the best there is? Let’s go out and get it.” See: the acquisition of the French crown jewels in 1887, the opening of a store in London in 1891 when the jewelry world was dominated by European houses, then Paris in 1910, the discovery of the largest diamond in its history in 1878, the unearthing and naming of a pink stone called kunzite and a peachier specimen called morganite, and the generous use of rare materials like Montana sapphires and Russian demantoid garnets. Oh and tanzanite, that rich blue stone found on Mt. Kilimanjaro in the 1960s? They introduced and named that too.

Pasta Water Is the Austerity Times It-Girl We All Need
Having gone from humble byproduct to luxury candle, pasta water is living the American Dream.
The journey from humble pantry staple to “it-girl” ingredient is mystical and complex, paved by a quorum of influencers, chefs, and magazines, unfailingly documented on Instagram and TikTok. Many of the examples you’re most familiar with, like ramps, chili crisp, and sriracha, achieved virality relatively recently, despite being used in kitchens around the world for decades prior. Ramps, for example, have long been part of Appalachian cooking, while chili crisp is a core part of Chinese and Taiwanese cuisines, among others.
Befitting our austere economic climate and rising inflation, today’s buzziest ingredient is technically free –– a byproduct of boiling dried pasta in salted (or unsalted) water. Pasta water has, by all accounts, arrived.

Pepsi’s Peeps-Flavored Soda Is Back
Yes, everyone knows it should have been called “Peepsi.”
Two years ago, Pepsi announced an ultra-exclusive collaboration with Peeps, everyone’s favorite squishy seasonal treats. At the time, the Pepsi x Peeps marshmallow-flavored cola was only available to 3,000-ish contest winners who used a Peeps-specific hashtag on social media. But, on Wednesday, the two companies announced that the soda is coming back, and this time its bright yellow cans will be stacked on shelves nationwide.

Some Unsolicited Advice for Blake Lively, From a Fellow Mom of Four
Congratulations are in order for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, it seems! On Super Bowl Sunday, Lively posted a picture of herself in which evidence that she had been gestating a baby was noticeably diminished. Perhaps she’s the kind of woman who can wear high-waisted jeans while nine months pregnant, but if she’s entered the “land of four,” I have some extremely unscientific and very important advice to offer her, as a member of this parental minority. Here goes.

Diane Kruger on the Mysterious Pleasures of the Femme Fatale
In Marlowe, Cavendish’s strategic role as eye candy or a caged bird in the detective-protagonist’s diegetic (and moral) quest for answers is flipped on its head precisely because of the character’s resistance to any predetermined sexual politics. She double-crosses both men and women (including her domineering mother, played by Jessica Lange), dresses in demure frocks and men’s slacks, uses her sexuality but never her sex. She is also an Irish parvenu, but sits at the center of Hollywood wealth and privilege. This knotty conflict between the eroticized and empowered femme fatale is at the core of the film, as it is in the entire film noir tradition. Like the classic vamps before her, from Barbara Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson to Ann Savage’s Vera and Marlene Dietrich’s Concha Pérez, Kruger’s Clare Cavendish is a feminist character avant la lettre. Kruger agrees. “In a way [the film] is really feminist, because you realize that the women are the ones who are the most intelligent.”

Maude Apatow Takes Center Stage in Little Shop of Horrors
Apatow can trace her love of theater back to a single show: Little Shop of Horrors. She was in the first grade when her neighbor starred in a children’s production of the musical and would play the ‘60s doo-wop-inspired cast recording. Apatow fell in love and downloaded it onto her iPod Nano immediately, listening to “Suddenly, Seymour” and “Somewhere That’s Green” on an endless loop. When her filmmaker father Judd Apatow was shooting a project in North Carolina, she made the family attend a local production of Little Shop that officially opened her eyes to the magic of theater.

Don Lemon’s Apology for Nikki Haley Age Remarks Hints at Deeper Tensions at CNN Morning Show
Don Lemon, one of the three anchors of ‘CNN This Morning,” apologized Thursday afternoon for remarks made on the morning’s broadcast about when women are in their prime, during a segment about comments from new Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley regarding the age of some of her political rivals.
“She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime,” Lemon said on the program “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.” The comment spurred co-anchor Poppy Harlow to try to get Lemon to modify his stance. “What are you talking about, wait — prime for what?” she asked, a move that resulted in Lemon stepping even further into his position. “If you Google ‘when is a woman in her prime,’ it’ll say 20s, 30s and 40s,” he replied.

Bruce Willis Diagnosed With Dementia After Retiring Due to Aphasia
After Bruce Willis’ family announced in March 2022 that the 67-year old actor had been diagnosed with aphasia and would retire from acting, his condition has now progressed into frontotemporal dementia.
His family posted a statement on Thursday about Willis’ latest diagnosis.
“Since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD). Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” his family wrote in a statement on the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration’s website.

Women Talking’s Sarah Polley On Her Oscar Nod – And All The Female-Directed Films That Were Snubbed
There’s a moment in my interview with Sarah Polley when the writer-director – who began her career as a child actor more than three decades ago, before helming critically acclaimed dramas like Away From Her and Take This Waltz – begins to well up. We’re on the subject of this year’s Oscar nominations: her latest film, the harrowing and profoundly moving Women Talking, is up for Best Adapted Screenplay (for Polley herself) and Best Picture (for her producers, Dede Gardner, Frances McDormand and Jeremy Kleiner). It also happens to be the only film by a woman director to have made the 10-strong Best Picture line-up. But, these are not tears of joy from Polley – instead, she says, she’s disheartened by all the female-directed films that were snubbed, including Till, The Woman King and Saint Omer.

Your Guide to Growing Tomato Plants From Seeds
Here’s when to start your seeds so you can get your germinated tomato plants in the ground on time when the weather warms up.
The difference between a home-grown and store-bought tomato is like comparing a cashmere throw to an airplane blanket. Biting into a salad made with tomatoes planted and grown in your own garden is a sensory experience and one of the summer’s greatest pleasures. Of course, there is some hard work and care that must happen before you’re ready to slice into your harvest. First, you must pick what kind of tomatoes you want to grow, learn how to grow tomato plants from seeds, get sprouts in the ground, and pollinate them when they’re mature to ensure a bountiful supply.

Aubrey Plaza in Real Life
The “White Lotus” star on her dream collaboration with Mike White, her long-standing feud with Joe Biden, and her decade-plus search for a role that resonated.
I do not prefer characters that are written for me. In fact, even to this day, when I accept a role, and I hear the words “We’re going to tailor it to you, because you’re so weird,” or whatever it is, I’m, like, “Don’t do that! I’m an actor! I just want to act!” The whole point is to play a character. I think people have a real perception of me. But I would also say that I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing. I mean, I’m me. I’m gonna bring myself to every part that I do anyway.

How Jinkx Monsoon Uses Makeup to Tell an Unspoken Tale of Queerness in Chicago
The drag queen took us backstage to show Allure how she transforms into Matron “Mama” Morton.
Jinkx Monsoon hasn’t even finished hitting the high note at the end of “When You’re Good to Mama,” but the audience is already cheering so loudly I can’t hear her from where I’m sitting in the fifth row. It’s the first of her numbers during the second show the drag queen will perform as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago, her first-ever Broadway role, and it’s clear she brought a few friends with her tonight.

A complete guide to King Charles III’s sacred coronation robes
Steeped in history, the magnificent robes will be among a number of outfits donned by the king during the Westminster Abbey ceremony
As King Charles III’s coronation on 6 May draws ever closer, preparations for the historic occasion are in full swing. One key element of the Westminster Abbey service will be the monarch’s outfits, including the coronation robes, which carry potent symbolic meaning.
Although elements of the coronation ceremony – from the smaller number of attendees to the nods to different faiths – have been updated to be more in keeping with the times, Buckingham Palace has also stressed that the occasion is a ‘solemn religious service’ and will be ‘rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.’

A Fast Way to Orange Rolls, the Citrusy Sister of Cinnamon Rolls
Whether or not you have nostalgia for these breakfast treats, you’ll want to bake these homemade ones from Genevieve Ko.
It’s easy to forget that citrus has a season unless you live among the trees, somewhere warm where you can catch its daydream scent with the winter breeze. If you know that magic, you want to capture it. If you don’t, you want to experience it. There’s a hint of it when peeling an orange, but its full embrace comes in the warmth of sweet rolls.

Sheet Cakes Are the Best Cakes (and These 11 Recipes Prove It)
They’re low fuss, feed a crowd and travel well.
A lofty layered cake is a lovely thing when the occasion calls for one, but sheet cakes, while maybe not quite as impressive, have a lot going for them. Not only are they easier to bake — no annoying trimming or crumb coatings required — but they also feed a crowd and travel well, so you might just find yourself making cake more often. And who doesn’t need more cake in their life? Here are 11 of our favorite sheet cake recipes, including Texas sheet cake, tres leches cake and St. Louis gooey butter cake.

This Small Town Is Called ‘Michigan’s Little Bavaria’ for Its German-inspired Hotels, Food, and Culture
Leave your passport at home and experience a dash of German spirit in an unexpected place.
Straight out of a fairy tale, the Michigan village of Frankenmuth offers a dose of Bavarian culture in the heart of America. Founded by Germans in the 1800s, the town features a famous Christmas market and the world’s largest Christmas store. Beyond its holiday spirit, this destination is also teeming with incredible historical and culinary attractions, plus cozy accommodations set among picture-perfect architecture with exposed wood beams.
Here’s how to plan the perfect trip to Michigan’s Little Bavaria, as it’s called — an ideal place to scratch that Euro itch any time of year.

[Photo Credit: constantinosbikas.gr]

• T LOunge