T LOunge for February 9th, 2023

Zaytinya Bar and Restaurant – New York, US

It’s THURSDAY and time for some grandeur, wouldn’t you say? Sit yourself down next to a massive window and soak up the sunlight or spend the day silently judging everyone who walks by. The procrastinating possibilities are wide open and the Buffet of Distractions is never-ending.

‘This Could Be a Career Ender’: Elizabeth Banks Risks It All for the Gory, R-Rated ‘Cocaine Bear’
After the rousing success of her directorial debut, 2015’s “Pitch Perfect 2,” about an all-female team of a cappella singers, Banks’ second film, 2019’s “Charlie’s Angels,” about an all-female team of covert spies, based on the late-’70s TV show, was the kind of humiliating flop that young directors, especially women, often don’t recover from. It wasn’t just that the $48 million film, which Banks also produced, wrote, and starred in, returned only $73.3 million worldwide — she stepped into a social media firestorm when an interview about how women in action films are received was interpreted as her blaming the film’s poor reception on sexism. After the film opened, Banks tweeted, “Well, if you’re going to have a flop, make sure your name is on it at least 4x.”

Who has the right to tell your story?
Pamela Anderson is finally having her say about Pam & Tommy – making us question if a biopic can ever truly be ethical
So, is there ever a responsible way to tell the story of someone who has been so unfairly treated? The Back to Black biopic may still prove its naysayers wrong, while Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis was a prime example of a tragic story told sensitively – and with his family’s consultation. Lurhmann reports how Priscilla Presley cried at the first screening, saying how accurately her late husband had been captured. There is also, of course, having the input of a living subject. Madonna was, until it was recently shelved, planning to produce her own biopic, starring Ozark actress Julia Garner.

Elizabeth Chambers Is Not Who She Married
In an intimate new interview, the Bird bakery owner says she is rewriting the recipe of her own life after leaving Armie Hammer.
Chambers tells me she has exited her Tell Me Lies era, referencing Hulu’s new streamer about a deeply toxic relationship, and is stepping into a new one where “I’m not taking any bullshit from anyone,” she says. “You stand up for what you deserve, for what you know is right.” With the table set, it becomes increasingly clear she is ready to dish about, in her words, “the events.”
The man she married is not who she is, and his purported appetites—true or not—certainly don’t define her. Call her by her own name: Elizabeth Chambers. The 40-year-old bakery founder and CEO is writing a cookbook, working on a TV show, and dating a new man who is helping heal “my body, my heart, and my mind.”

Mary Queen of Scots’ secret letters are found – and decoded to reveal her true intentions
Mary’s secret letters have been found in the online archives of the National Library of France – where they had been mistakenly labelled
The tragic death of Mary Queen of Scots has remained a shadowy mystery for centuries. Coded letters she wrote while under house arrest were used by Queen Elizabeth I as incriminating evidence to accuse her cousin of ‘treason’ – and thus she was behead in 1587, aged 44.
However, up until now, many letters Mary had written were lost. Historians were left to wonder at the deposed Scottish queen’s true motivation: was she really involved in a plot to overthrow her cousin, or not?

Is 2023 the Year Looted Art Returns Home?
A timeline of all the artwork repatriated this year.
Repatriation, and restitution, will be the big headline in the art world in 2023.
In France, politicians proposed three laws aimed at speeding up the process, addressing the return of human remains in museum collections, art belonging to Jewish families during World War II, and restitution of art from the colonial era. “I hope 2023 will be a year of decisive progress for restitutions,” French culture minister Rima Abdul Malak said in a speech, per ARTNews.
It’s not just art getting repatriated from museums, however—it’s also the remains of people. In the United States, Native American communities are bringing increased attention on the remains of their ancestors still held in museums around the country. An investigation by ProPublica published in January 2023 found institutions in America that still hold Native American remains that have not been returned to tribes, despite the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act that was passed in 1990.

All the Times Cate Blanchett Proved She Was the Queen of Red-Carpet Rewears
“It’s chic to repeat,” Cate Blanchett’s stylist Elizabeth Stewart posted on Instagram as the actor rewore a series of looks at Venice Film Festival in 2020. First, there was the sequined gown by Esteban Cortazar that she first wore at the London premiere of Carol. Then there was the reworked Alexander McQueen dress, which she had transformed into a top that she could pair with trousers—showing what a dash of imagination can do in the world of red-carpet fashion.

13 Nacho Recipes that Steal the Show
Crispy, crunchy, cheesy, gooey, savory, salty — we can go on forever about everything that makes nachos so irresistible. These recipes, from Three-Cheese Queso Nachos to Loaded Pita Nachos, are perfect for game day parties and all kinds of occasions. Whip up a platter of Andrew Zimmern’s Best Nachos of All Time, piled high with fixings including melty queso fundido. Or, combine nachos with another favorite to make burgers loaded with nacho toppings. Sounds good? Get ready to build the nachos of your dreams.

This 600-Year-Old Pub in Scotland Almost Closed, Until ‘Outlander’ Fans Saved the Day
There’s nothing “Outlander” fans love more than an underdog winning.
If there’s one thing Outlander fans love, it’s when the underdog wins. And that makes it little surprise that they’d come to the rescue of a beloved but struggling pub in Fife, Scotland.
The Red Lion Inn, located in the middle of where Outlander was filmed, has been a local institution for some 600 years. However, it came under threat when the previous owners considered selling it. According to The Herald, the community feared it would be yet another historic spot to be turned into a B&B, or worse. But thankfully, Mike Brown, who worked at the pub for 23 years, stepped in first.

We Tasted Every Instant Hot Chocolate We Could Find — Here Are the Best
Yes, Swiss Miss is part of the line-up.
Perhaps it’s a variation of classical conditioning or a Pavlovian response, but the taste of instant hot cocoa conjures visions of searing my tongue on too-hot cocoa at the ice skating rink. Is it just me or did this happen to all 10-year-olds? While I’ve gained enough patience with age to wait until my cocoa cools, the sheer joy of sipping a warm cup of chocolatey goodness in the winter remains unchanged.

The Remarkable Tale Of Grace Kelly’s (Two) Engagement Rings
Grace Kelly received not one but two distinctive engagement rings from Prince Rainier III of Monaco – and both were equally remarkable, says British Vogue’s jewellery and watch director Rachel Garrahan.
The Cartier diamond engagement ring that Grace Kelly was presented with by Prince Rainier III of Monaco is legendary. It centres on a monumental 10.48 carat emerald-cut stone that, in the decades since, has inspired countless engagement rings – including versions belonging to Elizabeth Taylor, Beyoncé, Amal Clooney and Anne Hathaway. The part of the story that’s less well known? The fact that the famous diamond was not the first engagement ring Kelly received from her husband-to-be.

This State Has the Most Expensive Pizza in America, With Pies Going for Almost $27
Sorry to everyone in Oregon.
We consider every day to be National Pizza Day, but unofficially, that day is meant to be celebrated on Thursday, February 9. Here’s where we all need to spare a thought for any Oregonians who are commemorating the occasion because, according to some recent data, the cost of a pie is higher in the Beaver State than it is anywhere else in the U.S.
Pizza delivery app Slice released its annual Slice of the Union report, and after it “munched and crunched data” — their words — from almost 19,000 independent pizza shops, it determined that the average cost of a pizza can differ by up to $14 (!!!) depending on which state you’re ordering in.

“I Felt Surrounded By Korean Love”: Rejina Pyo Commissioned A Traditional Silk Hanbok To Wear To Buckingham Palace
Rejina Pyo was among the guests at a Buckingham Palace reception honouring Britain’s East and South East Asian communities hosted by King Charles and the Queen Consort. Here, the London-based designer recounts the process of collaborating on a traditional Korean hanbok to wear to the Palace.
“The invitation from Buckingham Palace came in December, on the most beautiful paper. Because I’m from Korea and was 25 by the time I moved to the UK, I didn’t really know that much about the royal family or the Palace, nor did I ever imagine what a big deal it would be to be invited.”

America’s Oldest Cheese Shop is Closing After Struggling to Make $23,756 a Month Rent
“My store is the oldest cheese shop in America and the heartbeat of Little Italy. We’re a New York institution.”
In the depths of New York City’s Little Italy lives the oldest cheese shop in America, Alleva Dairy. Home to freshly sliced melt-in-your-mouth meats, creamy hazelnut cannolis, espresso sodas, and mozzarella made fresh daily, along with over 30 distinctive cheeses.
Like many now-closed restaurants, the beloved cheese shop could not survive the wrath of COVID-19. For that reason, the red and green-hued neon lights plastered outside of the Italian cheesery will shut off for good as the business closes its Grand St. doors on Mar. 1.

Doing It Their Way
Native artists are finally gaining visibility in museums and galleries—upending long-held stereotypes in the process
Up until recently, you could count on one hand the number of Native American artists valued by the contemporary art world. One of them, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, 83, has called it “the buckskin ceiling”—a rather vivid term for the institutional barriers or systemic racism preventing Native artists from landing regular exhibitions in mainstream art galleries and museums.
That much is finally changing. Thanks to work by artists and activists like Quick-to-See Smith, as well as the larger cultural reckoning that put the “I” in BIPOC, that buckskin ceiling has some serious cracks in it, with animal hides actually making an appearance in big galleries and museums. Also showing up: techno-themed Navajo weavings, abstract paintings inspired by Lakota quillwork, and more, as several artists are bringing ancestral techniques and materials into a contemporary art context, often overturning stereotypes about Native cultures in the process.

‘The Last of Us’ star Melanie Lynskey shuts down criticism over her casting: ‘I don’t need to be muscly’
Melanie Lynskey, who made her debut in “The Last of Us” on Sunday, has responded to criticism over her casting in the HBO video game adaptation after model Adrianne Curry suggested that her body type did not fit her character.
On the show, Lynskey plays Kathleen, the leader of a group of survivors who have overtaken the military group FEDRA, or Federal Disaster Response Agency, in Kansas City. The group are currently antagonists to the main characters, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey).
On Wednesday, the season one winner of “America’s Next Top Model” questioned Lynskey’s casting in the HBO series, writing: “Her body says life of luxury…not post apocolyptic warlord.

The Best Ways to Cook Tofu, From Air Frying to Baking and Braising
Cookbook author Maggie Zhu shares her favorite methods.
If there’s one ingredient you should keep stocked in your fridge, it’s tofu. The versatile, typically inexpensive, and often-overlooked plant-protein is essential in so many Asian recipes and can be used across a variety of cuisines as a meat substitute or to add extra protein and flavor.

How to Clean Books the Right Way, From Dusting Your Collection to Treating Cover Stains
Books can become a hub for dust, smudges, and stains when not cleaned regularly.
Whether you have an entire home library or simply keep a few books displayed on a shelf, cleaning your tomes regularly is a must. When not tended to properly, physical books can quickly become a hub for dust, smudges, odors, and other miscellaneous dander. Not only will routine upkeep of your paperbacks and hardcovers extend their shelf life, but adding this step to your cleaning routine will also keep excess dust out of your home.

[Photo Credit: Jase Varney via zaytinya.com, rockwellgroup.com]

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