T LOunge for May 15th, 2023

Craft Gastro Bar, Dining & Garden – Zaventem, Belgium

Today is MONDAY, which means our LOunge must have both sunny, bright spaces to stimulate the senses and also dark corners where moody people can congregate and grunt their disapproval at everything. Meet us in Belgium, darlings!

Michael Musto Looks Back at His Life in Parties
The club chronicler, known for his exuberant style, reflects on New York City’s nightlife heyday.
One of the few times Michael Musto ever woke up early in the 1980s was to head to an interview for a gossip and nightlife columnist job at The Village Voice. “I was just a wreck, because I hadn’t existed in the morning for quite some time at that point,” he says. But he got the gig and continued a mostly nocturnal existence for the next few decades, documenting the dirt and glamour of New York City’s downtown scene. In the world of “La Dolce Musto,” as his column was titled, club kids, drag queens, and tabloid fixtures were every bit as noteworthy as pop stars and models. Often, they were partying together at the clubs Musto frequented anyway. “I’m not just always talking about the past,” says Musto, who remains a party fixture and writes cultural criticism for The Village Voice and other publications. “But I’m happy to do so, because I was there. I remember everything, and it was truly extraordinary.”

Pomp, Pageantry & Innumerable Pearls: A Century Of Royal Weddings In Vogue
If Coronations have the edge when it comes to ceremony, weddings are always the most joyful of royal spectacles. Following King Charles III’s crowning at Westminster Abbey, Vogue looks back at how it’s covered royal weddings through the decades.
1922, Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles
The first royal wedding to be covered in Vogue celebrated the marriage of Princess Mary – “a Fairy Princess with Youth, Beauty and Happiness as her attendants” – to Viscount Lascelles, later the Earl of Harewood. The wedding dress, by Messrs Reville, combined “youthful simplicity with royal splendour”, and was adorned with a trelliswork of roses in pearls and crystal beads. Even as early as 1922, the line between traditional privilege and public duty was becoming blurred, and the bride-to-be was expected to make various nuptial announcements. For Vogue, Princess Mary “waived her dislike of publicity” to share details of her trousseau and her honeymoon lodgings with readers.

The Princess Of Wales Just Made A Surprise Eurovision Cameo
The video was, of course, prerecorded, with the Princess wearing a one-shouldered Jenny Packham gown to play Joe Price and Kojo Samuel’s composition. The performance – and her choice of a Ukrainian-blue dress – were a welcome show of support for the eastern European country more than a year into Russia’s invasion. Controversially, the European Broadcasting Union banned President Zelensky from making an address during the contest this year out of concerns that it would violate the competition’s alleged political neutrality.

‘Beetlejuice 2’ Adds ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Edward Scissorhands’ Costume Designer Colleen Atwood
Four-time Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood will reunite with Tim Burton for “Beetlejuice 2.” Atwood confirmed the news to Variety in an interview on Friday.
Atwood is currently in London at work on the film, which is set to arrive in movie theaters next year. The costume designer said she had just finished her first week of production.
As previously announced, Michael Keaton will be back as Beetlejuice, and Winona Ryder is reprising her role as Lydia Deetz. Additional cast members include “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega as the daughter of Ryder’s character, as well as Justin Theroux in a yet-to-be-revealed role.

Taylor Swift Puts a Pause on ‘Bad Blood’ to Tell Security to Lay Off Fan at Philadelphia Show
There was almost some bad blood between Taylor Swift and stadium security at the singer’s show in Philadelphia on Saturday, as she took a pause in singing “Bad Blood” to repeatedly ask a guard or guards to lay off a fan as a confrontation developed.
Reaction on social media was enormously supportive of the singer, for being attentive to what was happening in the audience during her performance. The news also drew the attention of a far smaller number of commenters chiming in to say a performer should not be second-guessing security during a show.

Exactly How to Layer Necklaces, According to a Stylist
It’s so much easier than it looks.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say your favorite fashion girls are experts at accessorizing. Maybe they know when their ‘fit needs that extra touch with a hair ribbon or their wrists are stacked with just the right amount of bracelets to look cool. I’m also willing to bet they know how to layer necklaces and make it look effortless. Well, if you’re anything like me and tend to throw on random necklaces and pray for the best, you know that expertly layering necklaces is anything but effortless.

The Surprising Secret of the Costumes on Tom Jones
For designer Hazel Webb-Crozier, the series wasn’t just an education in choosing 18th-century clothes, but making them as well.
When Hazel Webb-Crozier first landed the job designing costumes for Tom Jones, the new adaptation of Henry Fielding’s classic novel airing now on Masterpiece on PBS, she thought her biggest hurdle might be learning to work with 1700s fashion. “I had never done an 18th-century piece before,” she explains. “So, it was exciting for me, but I had to do an awful lot of research just to know what it even was they wore.” But that wasn’t her trickiest situation by a long shot.

Cholula Is Making Salsa and Taco Seasoning Now
Plus, the brand recently released a tequila hot sauce.
Cholula hot sauce was originally introduced to the United States in 1989 and, in the decades since, it’s stuck to doing what it does best: Making those wooden-capped hot sauces that have become pantry essentials for folks who like to add a little heat to their meal.

107-Year-Old WWII Veteran Credits His Long Life to Beer and Popcorn
Jack Coe, New Zealand’s oldest man, even celebrated with a caramel corn birthday cake.
When Jack Coe was born in May 1916, the world was two years into the Great War, everyone was still more than a decade from seeing a film with sound, and now-essential inventions like hair dryers, zippers, and even sliced loaves of bread didn’t exist yet. It’s almost impossible to imagine all of the changes and discoveries that Coe has seen in his century-plus on this earth.
On Thursday, he celebrated his 107th birthday with a birthday card from King Charles, a slice of cake, and a cold beer to wash it down with. Coe, believed to be the oldest man in New Zealand, was born in a tent on New Zealand’s North Island, and other than a stint serving abroad in New Caledonia during World War II, he’s spent his entire life in the same general region.

A California-based woman bought 3 abandoned houses in a Sicilian village for $3.30, cashing in on Italy’s desperation to repopulate its fast-emptying ghost towns
Rubia Daniels flew to the town of Mussomeli in Sicily after hearing about its cheap homes.
She ended up buying three crumbling houses for $3.30 in 2019, and she’s restoring them now.
Many Italian towns have introduced similar schemes in an attempt to repopulate rural Italy.

Sweden Wins a Eurovision Song Contest That Showed Solidarity With Ukraine
After winning the competition last year, Ukraine should have been this year’s host, but Britain stepped in to help the war-torn nation.
The Eurovision Song Contest grand final, held in Liverpool, England, on Saturday, was meant to be Ukraine’s party.
After Ukraine won last year’s edition of the beloved, campy singing competition, the country won the right to host this year’s spectacle. But with Russia’s invasion showing no sign of ending, the event was relocated to Liverpool.
In the midst of a war, and with millions watching live, Ukraine’s entrant, Tvorchi, was among the favorites to win this year’s edition of the glamorous and, often, oddball event — a sign of the European public’s ongoing solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Welcome to the Era of Very Earnest Parenting
Millennials, guided by influencers like Dr. Becky and the women behind Big Little Feelings, are trying to deal with their children in a new way.
Parents seem to be reading from a script they saw on Instagram, trying their best to be empathetic in moments when they might want to simply say “Stop it” or “Because I said so.”
There’s not a lot of irony on the playground. Snark — the reigning tone of Gen X parenting blogs (and the internet more widely) in the aughts and early 2010s — is distinctly out. Millennial parents, guided by influencers, are proudly try-hard, embracing the notion that a kinder, more respectful parenting style can also be a form of self-healing.

These Road Trip Games Are So Fun, Your Kids Won’t Ask “Are We There Yet?” Once
The tech-free car activities on our list will also help you connect with your kids—whether they’re five or 15—on a deeper level.
The modern family road trip may look very different from the one you, your siblings, and your parents took decades ago, when you drove cross-country with maps instead of GPS, CDs in a Discman that skipped when you went over bumps, and nothing but pre-texting-era postcards to keep in touch with family and friends back home.
But one thing, at least, hasn’t changed: Family road trips, whether an hour-long trip to your beach house or a multi-state adventure through the National Parks, offer valuable time to connect and bond with the other travelers in your car—especially if you can convince everyone to set aside their tablets, phones, and earbuds.

How to Stain a Deck for a Long-Lasting Finish
We’ll also walk you through the prep work you shouldn’t skip—and help you choose the right stain color and opacity level for your wood.
If you’re busy getting your backyard ready for summer, one thing you don’t want to overlook is deck maintenance. Beyond cleaning, another important aspect of caring for your deck is staining it. Not only are stains a great way to enhance the overall appearance of this outdoor feature, but they also protect it from the elements and, in turn, extend its lifespan. While it may seem like a time-consuming process, staining your deck is relatively straightforward once you’re armed with a few tips and the right materials.

Tart Cherries Are Trending—Here Are a Few Ways to Experience Their Sour-Then-Sweet Flavor
This fruit and its flavor are making a splash on the natural food scene.
Tart cherries are trending—and foods flavored with this sour-then-sweet fruit seem to be everywhere, too. In stores, you’ll find tart cherry gummy supplements, syrups, crackers (studded with the dried fruit), seltzers, and more. It’s the fruit and flavor of the moment.

The Link Between Creativity and Mental Illness
Reporter Elaine Woo spoke with Getty curators, neuroscientists, and other experts to see if having a mental illness makes you a better artist
What makes great artists great? The eminent art critic Clement Greenberg jotted down his theory in a 1961 diary:
The best American artists + writers of my time = alcoholics or on the verge of alcoholism; or megalomaniacs; or hysterics. Pollock, Faulkner, F. Lloyd Wright, Still, Newman, de Kooning, Rothko. On the other hand, the manic-depressives: Cal [Robert] Lowell, Delmore Schwarz . . . . David Smith a hysteric? Ken Noland a manic-depressive like me.
Greenberg’s suggestion that exceptionally artistic people tend toward mental disorder is deeply embedded in our culture, traceable to the ancient Greeks and Romans and lent credence over the centuries by creative geniuses as different as Robert Schumann, Vincent van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, and Robin Williams. “Madness,” according to Socrates, “is the channel by which we receive the greatest blessings.” The notion of the “mad genius” is, however, as controversial as it is persistent.

[Photo Credit: wewantmore.studio, craftbrasserie.be]

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