T LOunge for February 28th, 2023

The Peterman Bar at Forty Seven – Manchester, UK

Kittens, let’s all feel cool and swanky today! Why not? Haven’t we earned it? Is today not TUESDAY, typically the most vexing day of any week? Sidle up or slide in. Let’s be fabulously lazy today.

The Hollywood Sign at 100: The Ultimate Symbol of Fame’s Power and Price
In the century since its debut as a real estate advertisement, the monument has been rebuilt, rebranded, and reborn as a beacon for aspirants from around the world—and a reminder of just how few dreams of stardom come true.
You are surrounded by 45-foot-tall white letters, so close you cannot discern what they say.
Fourteen hundred feet above the city of dreams, you can see the sweep of the metropolis, from the hills to the sea, and within it the cauldron of struggle and strife that is Los Angeles. But the eyes down below are staring at you, for you are atop the town’s most famous monument, the ultimate symbol of fame, fortune, and the fantasy of moviemaking worldwide.
You are standing atop the Hollywood sign.

Building the ‘Last of Us’ Mall: Production Designer Explains How They Made That Arcade, Carousel and More
“The Last of Us” production designer John Paino’s biggest challenges is bringing the much-beloved world of the video game to life and populating the HBO show with easter eggs. This week, Paino delivers one of his most significant nods yet in a “blink-and-you-miss-it moment.”
Paino was hoping to find an American-style mall in Calgary, Canada, where “The Last of Us” shot: “I’m a child of the ’70s, and the mall was a temple. The size of 10 football fields. I’d spend a lot of time there and in the video arcade. So, we were hoping to find something like that. We found an abandoned mall that was completely stripped and didn’t have a second floor. We built the rooftops and the stores, but what they look from the balcony, it’s all CGI because our mall didn’t have a second floor.”

Inuit Lawyer Aaju Peter on Her New Documentary and the Ongoing Fight for Indigenous Rights
The Inuit lawyer, 63, was visiting the ski resort for the Sundance Film Festival, where Twice Colonized—a documentary about Peter directed by Lin Alluna, shot over the course of seven years—was premiering. On seeing the film’s posters around town, her portrait staring out regally and dressed in a traditional collar made of sungaujait (beads), her chin and forehead adorned with tunniit (facial tattoos denoting the passage into womanhood), she says, “I realized that I had been colonized twice, and that is done. Now I am in the process of decolonizing twice. So the next journey is about how I go back to my values, beliefs, and way of being in this world. I’m in the process of that right now, which is very exciting.”

David Hockney Is Not Afraid to Go High-Tech
In cultural spheres, “immersive technology” is a suspicious phrase. Associated with metaverse experiments and 4D theaters, it is dangerous territory for serious artists. Which is what makes David Hockney’s Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away), a nearly hour-long exhibition of multimedia projections that opened in London last week, even more of a triumph.
Using pictures and videos from every stage of his prolific career, Bigger & Closer transforms and elaborates on even the most familiar of Hockney’s work, from 1960s paintings to 2020s iPad drawings. “I wanted to see the paintings new, and I think that’s what I’ve done,” Hockney said in an interview before the unveiling last week, wearing canary yellow spectacles and a button affixed to the lapel of his checked suit that read “End Bossiness Soon.” “I think it’s now a new work of art in itself.”

Airline Passenger Says He Was Served a Single Banana as the Entire ‘Vegan Meal’
“When she served the banana after takeoff I thought it was just an underwhelming appetizer.”
With very few exceptions, the in-flight meals on most airlines range from “slightly better than nothing” to “slightly better than taking a bite out of the tray table.” But even when air travelers go into their flights expecting disappointment, it’s still possible to be let down. Just ask this business class passenger flying on Japan Airlines from Jakarta, Indonesia to Tokyo, who says they were served a banana — one single banana — as a “vegan meal.”

Austin Butler Reflects on ‘Elvis’ Journey, How He Learned to Embrace Auditions and Early Acting Years: ‘I Was Cripplingly Shy’
By now, Butler’s story of landing the life-changing role of Elvis Presley is fairly established. How he pursued the part, working with movement, dialect and singing coaches just for the audition. How a major turning point occurred one late night when he was thinking about his mother, who, like Presley’s, died when he was in his 20s. In a bathrobe, Butler sat down at a piano and recorded himself singing “Unchained Melody” in honor of her. He had already sent one audition to Luhrmann but his agent urged him to send this one as well, and it was that video that caught the director’s eye. How a five-month process took place before he landed the role. And then how production was shut down right before filming due to the COVID pandemic, but Butler stayed in Australia to work on the role.

Courteney Cox Reflects on ‘Friends,’ Her Career, and Yes, Prince Harry Doing Mushrooms at Her House: ‘I Definitely Wasn’t Passing Them Out’
She never imagined a time when she’d land a leading role on the biggest show on TV and star in all 236 episodes. She didn’t see a time when she’d be a seven-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee, one of which she won. Cox wasn’t aware that when she took on the part of a horror movie “bitch,” as she describes it, she’d hold on to the role for nearly three decades.
But that all happened, thanks to her hard work.

The Right Way to Cut an Apple—Whether You’re Slicing it for Snacking or Making a Pie
We compare three popular techniques—and there’s a clear winner.
Whether you’re slicing up an apple for snacking, or cutting it to use in a pie, salad, or other dish, knowing how to cut an apple into neat slices, wedges, or an even dice is a basic kitchen skill worth mastering. We compare three popular techniques for cutting apples—including the easiest, most efficient method—and share whether it’s best to use a knife or an apple corer.

The Easiest Way to Make Smoked Cocktails at Home, According to Bartenders
It’s the best way to advance your mixology skills.
Now that you’ve mastered making cosmos and martinis at home, it’s time to take your mixology skills to the next level: learning how to smoke a cocktail. Not only does this truly elevate a drink, but smoke can also maximize flavor and bring out subtle tones that would otherwise be missed on the palate—and it allows other senses to have a bit of fun, too. The unveiling of a smoked cocktail is a stunning visual; the aromas dance across one’s nose in a way that is almost magical, and a dryer feeling on the palate rounds out the experience.
Learn what spirits are best suited to smoking, other ingredients you can smoke for cocktails, and what equipment you need with expert insights from bartenders and other mixologists.

The End of the English Major
Enrollment in the humanities is in free fall at colleges around the country. What happened?
The crisis, when it came, arrived so quickly that its scale was hard to recognize at first. From 2012 to the start of the pandemic, the number of English majors on campus at Arizona State University fell from nine hundred and fifty-three to five hundred and seventy-eight. Records indicate that the number of graduated language and literature majors decreased by roughly half, as did the number of history majors. Women’s studies lost eighty per cent. “It’s hard for students like me, who are pursuing an English major, to find joy in what they’re doing,” Meg Macias, a junior, said one afternoon as the edges of the sky over the campus went soft. It was late autumn, and the sunsets came in like flame on thin paper on the way to dusk. “They always know there’s someone who wishes that they were doing something else.”

Red Carpet Revelations: Don’t Outshine the Star and Other Unwritten Hollywood Rules
Stars and stylists share the fashion do’s and don’ts that apply based on where someone fits into the pecking order at entertainment events: “I wanted to look good, but not too good, you know?”
At a world premiere of a new streaming series in Hollywood in February 2022, a castmember walked the carpet in front of TCL Chinese Theatre wearing a bold, asymmetrical top paired with black flare-leg trousers. After fielding a journalist’s compliment, the actress responded with a brief explainer of why she picked the understated yet chic look.
“I wanted to look good, but not too good, you know? I’m not the lead,” offered the veteran actress, who appears in a handful of episodes but not all of the season’s full order. “It’s never a good idea to outshine the stars of the show.” That didn’t happen on the night in question, as her famous co-star turned up in a showstopping gown.

Sake Is Booming in America
Imports are way up, retail shops are proliferating and more sake breweries are opening.
When Shinobu Kato first tried sake as a young man in Tokyo, it tasted harsh and sharp to him. He hated it. But, he recalls, an older colleague told him that he was drinking cheap, poorly made sake. As he was introduced to better styles, Mr. Kato grew to love it.
When he moved to the United States in 2004 to study business at the University of Maryland, he could afford only the sorts of bad sake that had left such a terrible first impression. So he decided to brew his own, steaming and fermenting rice in his kitchen. To his surprise, he and his friends adored it.

Why You Should Renew Your Passport Now If You Plan to Travel Abroad This Summer
Passports are currently taking eight to 11 weeks for routine service and five to seven weeks for expedited service.
The State Department is encouraging travelers who plan to go aboard this summer to apply now to renew their passport due to increased wait times.
Passports are currently taking eight to 11 weeks for routine service and five to seven weeks for expedited service, which costs an extra $60, according to the State Department. The State Department warned the estimates only include processing time and do not include mailing time, which may add several more weeks.
On Friday, the State Department tweeted the longer processing times, warning Americans to “Apply now if you plan to travel this summer.”

10 Dreamy Amalfi Coast Towns to Visit in Italy
Picture-perfect seaside villages await along the Amalfi Coast.
The Amalfi Coast is an idyllic 30-mile stretch of coastal dreaminess on the southern edge of Italy’s Sorrentine Peninsula that’s prized for its dramatic landscape, delicious cuisine, and colorful fishing villages — each seemingly more lovely than the last. While all the seaside towns offer something unique and special, travelers can bet on spellbinding scenery (think: towering cliffs, sheltered coves, vineyards, lemon groves, and cerulean waters) across the region. The accessibility factor means visitors are able to hit a few stunning spots in a single trip. Can’t decide which photogenic destinations deserve a place on the itinerary? Scroll on for 10 of the prettiest Amalfi Coast towns you’ll want to visit.

[Photo Credit: fortysevenmanchester.co.uk, wearelxa.com]

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