T LOunge for August 7th, 2023

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PinPeacock Alley Restaurant and Lounge at Waldorf Astoria – Xiamen, China

Darlings, it appears to be MONDAY once again. Sorry to have to break it to you. In order to make it up to you, we’ve selected a fabulously airy and gorgeous LOunge for you to spread out and make some news. We’re off to the content mines with our little picks and buckets, hoping to drum up a few pretty or not-so-pretty things for you to judge today. Talk amongst yourselves!

Ryan Gosling Surprises Greta Gerwig With ‘Barbie’ Flash Mob for Her Birthday
The actor’s gift involved a group of Barbies and Kens helping the filmmaker celebrate turning 40 as the Warner Bros. title continues to cruise at the box office.
Ryan Gosling came up with a memorable celebration for his Barbie director, Greta Gerwig, to help mark her birthday as the Warner Bros. film maintains its dominance at the box office.
The Barbie film’s official Instagram account posted a video showing Gerwig getting surprised during what appears to be a Pilates class as a flash mob of Barbies and Kens pop into the room in honor of the filmmaker turning 40 on Friday. Gosling plays Ken opposite Margot Robbie’s Barbie in the runaway hit that has topped the domestic box office for three straight weekends and on Sunday surpassed $1 billion globally, making it the first live-action movie from a solo female director to reach that feat.

Beyoncé paid $100,000 to keep trains running for an extra hour after severe weather delayed the start of her Renaissance tour near Washington, DC
Beyoncé paid $100,000 to keep trains running for an extra hour Sunday night in Washington, DC.
Her latest Renaissance World Tour show at FedEx Field was delayed due to lightning in the area.
Beyoncé’s team coordinated with the Washington Metro so her fans could get home after the concert.

Angelina Jolie Is Buzzing
About protecting the bees and the environment.
“I have always liked bees. I’ve never had a fear of bees, and I’m not allergic. I tend to lean toward the creatures in the world that are a little bit misunderstood. But I have grown in my admiration and respect for these beautiful little creatures over the years, as I’ve gotten to know more about their importance—the way they exist in community and what they contribute to our lives.”

17 Best Period Dramas To Watch For ‘The Crown’ And ‘Bridgerton’ Fans
‘The Crown?’ ‘Downton Abbey?’ Bring them on… Here’s a list of the best period dramas to watch.
Period dramas offer a sense of comfort unparalleled when compared to other television show genres like comedies and romcoms.
Giving viewers the chance to escape the humdrum of their day-to-day lives, period dramas invite us to explore and learn about the lavish lifestyles and homes of those living in 18th and 19th century England through Bridgerton and Downton Abbey, respectively, and become enthralled by dramatic and compelling stories relating to family obligation and forbidden love.

Celebrities Who Look Scarily Similar To Their Children, From Reese Witherspoon To Serena Williams
The apple really didn’t fall far from the tree for these famous offspring
From Gigi and Bella Hadid to Leni Klum and Hailey Bieber, it’s not hard to see who’s who when it come to matching children to their famous parents.
Red carpet events and luxury fashion shows often provide the perfect opportunity for A-listers to take their famous offspring with them and enjoy the perks of stardom while getting in some quality family time.
Whether it’s Brooklyn Beckham ‘stealing’ his famous dad’s clothes or Kaia Gerber sharing her mother’s love of all things catwalk, runway and fancy dress, who better for these famous A-list children to look to for sartorial guidance than their elders?

18 Of The Best Indian Restaurants For Spice Lovers
Turn up the heat with our list of the best Indian restaurants in London.
The UK has enjoyed a rich history of Indian food for centuries and now boasts one of the best Indian restaurant scenes in the world.
In addition to cities like Manchester and Birmingham, London has become a hotspot for those in search of dishes full of spice and aroma, whether it’s an aloo gobi, butter chicken, fish curry, palak paneer or papadums. Rice, whole-wheat flower, lentils and mung beans feature heavily in Indian food, as do spices such as garam masala, cardamon and fennel.

How Should You Get Rid Of Your Old Clothes, Exactly?
In an ideal world, all of our clothes would be forever purchases that would stay in our wardrobes for a lifetime. In reality, this doesn’t always happen: we grow out of them, they get worn out, or perhaps we feel like they just don’t suit us anymore.
But given that a shocking 70 per cent of our clothes end up in landfill, often in countries in the Global South, how should we get rid of our old clothes in a responsible manner? While a growing number of brands are now offering take-back schemes that promise to give your garments a second life, a recent investigation by the Changing Markets Foundation found that the majority of items were downcycled or destroyed, lost in limbo, or shipped to Africa.

How Much Can I Really Blame On My ADHD?
Last year, I was diagnosed with ADHD. When I shared the news with friends, many of them responded with, “Well, I could’ve told you that!” In their defence, at 26, I had decades of ADHD-engendered behaviour under my belt: think overzealousness, perpetual lateness, occasional tactlessness, and a voice that I just couldn’t modify for inside. I was the (now archetypal) child in school who talked the proverbial ear off of everyone in my vicinity, and spent as much time standing restless outside the classroom as I did inside it.
But it wasn’t just my inability to adhere to the education system’s exacting methods that my diagnosis helped to explain. It was ADHD’s lesser-known social and emotional symptoms, most of which, in psychology parlance, fall under “emotional dysregulation”. According to Healthline, these include “lower resilience, an inability to restore emotional balance, deep focus on conflict, and persistent negative emotion”.

I Take An Apple Cider Vinegar Shot Every Morning – Here Are All The Benefits
In a world in which every day brings a new “miracle” health hack, it can be difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff. So, when I noticed that apple cider vinegar (ACV) was having a renaissance on social media – there’s been a huge uptick in Google searches, as well as millions of views on TikTok – it felt like my duty as a health and beauty editor to fall on my metaphorical sword, see what all the fuss is about, and report back.

What Is Berberine? Everything We Know About the Herbal Supplement TikTok Calls “Nature’s Ozempic”
As the frenzy over Ozempic, Mounjaro, and other incretin-based weight loss prescriptions continues, a herbal supplement known as berberine has gone viral on TikTok, with devotees calling it “nature’s Ozempic.”
“I first heard about it from a friend who learned about it on social media,” said Esther Andries, a 34-year-old vegan and wellness entrepreneur who lives in LA. Unlike most berberine devotees posting on TikTok, Andries says she wasn’t motivated by weight loss. “I’m very passionate about my health so after doing some research, I thought maybe it could help me. I’m a vegan and I’ve had some issues with bloating and it definitely helped with that. It also decreased my sugar cravings and gave me more energy.”

Searching for an Aperol Spritz Alternative? Behold: Sant Ambroeus’s Spritz Bianco Recipe?
August is here, which means it’s high time for a spritz, the prosecco-based cocktail that has become the unofficial libation of the summer. (Don’t take just our word for it—according to Drinks International, Aperol spritz was the sixth-best-selling cocktail worldwide in 2022.)
The spritz has a rich history, it turns out. “The spritz name derived from the German word Spritzen (meaning spray/splash) and its popularity started around the 19th century in Veneto, the northern region of Italy with Austrian influence and heritage,” Damiano Coren, mixology consultant for Sant Ambroeus, tells Vogue. “During the summer days, the population was used to flavoring wine with cordials and a bit of soda. Eventually, this evolved into the world-acclaimed Aperol spritz (thanks to massive support from the Campari Group).”

The internet’s new anthem is a glorious Eurodance parody
Boom, hear the bass go zoom!
It’s no longer rare for artists who get big on TikTok to channel that virality into the mainstream music industry — Flyana Boss’s infectious “You Wish” is a contender for song of the summer after the duo’s mesmerizing running videos, and it was all the way back in the spring of 2019 when Lil Nas X shook the country scene with “Old Town Road.” What’s still rare, though, are non-artists who make parodies of a niche genre of music that then, against all odds, become surprise hits before they’re even released.
This is what happened when, on July 28, comedian Kyle Gordon and singer-influencer Audrey Trullinger released a video clip called “Every European Dance Song in the 1990s.”

A reading guide for grownups who don’t read
Librarian secrets to getting into books for the very first time.
There seems to be, for one reason or another, a surprising number of adults in the world who are literate and fully capable of reading a book, but who have chosen not to for a long time. They might have fallen out of the habit during lockdown, when the idea of giving something sustained attention felt impossible; or after they left school, when no one was forcing them to read; or perhaps they never found the habit of reading whole books in the first place.

Welcome to the Age of Hard Juice
Once considered only a passable mixer, juice is finding its way into canned alcoholic drinks.
Since its introduction in 1963, SunnyD has been a favorite for generations of American children, served as an after-school treat or at the end of soccer or baseball practice.
But it’s also been a longtime favorite on the house party circuit, which is why Harvest Hill Beverage Company, the brand’s owner since 2016, recently introduced a canned SunnyD Vodka Seltzer. “Our consumers have been using SunnyD and juices as mixers for years,” said Ilene Bergenfeld, Harvest Hill’s chief marketing officer. “We just made it more convenient.”

A New Frontier for Travel Scammers: A.I.-Generated Guidebooks
Shoddy guidebooks, promoted with deceptive reviews, have flooded Amazon in recent months.
Their authors claim to be renowned travel writers. But do they even exist? Or are they A.I. inventions?
In March, as she planned for an upcoming trip to France, Amy Kolsky, an experienced international traveler who lives in Bucks County, Pa., visited Amazon.com and typed in a few search terms: travel, guidebook, France. Titles from a handful of trusted brands appeared near the top of the page: Rick Steves, Fodor’s, Lonely Planet. Also among the top search results was the highly rated “France Travel Guide,” by Mike Steves, who, according to an Amazon author page, is a renowned travel writer. […]
Though she didn’t know it at the time, Ms. Kolsky had fallen victim to a new form of travel scam: shoddy guidebooks that appear to be compiled with the help of generative artificial intelligence, self-published and bolstered by sham reviews, that have proliferated in recent months on Amazon.

Barbie‘s a billion dollar girl in a billion dollar world, as Greta Gerwig makes history
Meanwhile, Meg 2: The Trench and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem make solid debuts as Oppenheimer holds strong.
“I think I told them that it’d make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?!”
That was part of Margot Robbie’s pitch to get the Barbie movie made and it turns out, she wasn’t overselling at all.
In its third week of release, the Greta Gerwig-directed film about the world’s most famous doll became the second film this year to cross the billion dollar mark globally. The year’s highest grossing film (so far), The Super Mario Bros. Movie, accomplished that feat in April after four weeks.

How ‘Rings of Power’ Artisans Brought Middle Earth to Life, From 2,000 Costumes to Epic VFX Battles
It took a village to bring Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” to life and into homes.
The Middle-earth fantasy drama wowed Emmy voters with its craft- work, scoring nominations in main-title design, prosthetic makeup, fantasy/sci-fi costumes, sound editing, special visual effects and original main-title theme music. Set thousands of years before the Third Age of the Peter Jackson-helmed “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, the first season introduced viewers to elves, dwarves, orcs and Harfoots (one of three hobbit races) during a time of prosperity and relative peace.
Costume designer Kate Hawley and her team built more than 2,000 outfits. By using vegetable dyes as well as berry stains, she achieved unique shades and tones for her costumes.

[Photo Credit: hilton.com]

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