T LOunge for September 1st, 2023

PinLeynia Restaurant – Puerto Cancún, Mexico

And there you have it. Happy FRIDAY. And for the American kittens, happy holiday weekend. We have some bits and pieces of red carpetry to show you today, but no podcast, since holiday weekends tend to be the worst time to publish one. We’ll be back with our cartoon voices early next week. Until then, pull up a chair and stare at the azure for a while.

“I want to be brave and do different things”: Charlize Theron’s refreshing approach to Hollywood beauty
From debuting a mullet on the red carpet to doing her own make-up in movies, the actress, producer and Dior Parfums ambassador tells us why she feels more beautiful than ever
Charlize Theron is one of the most influential actresses of our time, and one of very few known for presenting beauty looks that subvert Hollywood convention as much as symbolising them. Sometimes she’s the classic blonde bombshell (or literal golden goddess, as famously reflected in Dior Parfum ads, having served as the face of J’adore for nearly two decades). At other times she’s walking the red carpet devoid of make-up and with a controversial hairstyle – not only in the name of her art, but because she finds “real beauty” in the unconventional.

Ncuti Gatwa Is The Modern Pioneer
As he takes over our screens in Sex Education and Barbie, Ncuti Gatwa is making history.
In the past few years, Gatwa has been propelled from breakout actor to star of some of the most era-defining films and television series. That might sound hyperbolic, but he’s appearing in blockbusters (Barbie), British institutions (Doctor Who) and shows that have captured the cultural zeitgeist (Sex Education). He’s also been embraced by the fashion industry, not least Tiffany & Co, for which he starred in an advertising campaign for its Tiffany Lock collection. Though he has never publicly disclosed his sexuality, many have drawn assumptions from his portrayal of Sex Education’s beloved Eric.

The Unknown Librarian Who Saved Queer History
You probably don’t know the name Paul Fasana. But the librarian was instrumental in preserving hundreds of thousands of artifacts of queer history.
You probably don’t know the name Paul Fasana, but read enough LGBTQ history and he pops up in book after book over the last three decades—not in the text itself, but in the acknowledgments: Pink Triangle Legacies (2022);Language Before Stonewall (2019); Greetings From the Gayborhood (2008), Becoming Visible (1998). From 1995 until literally the week he died in April 2021, Fasana volunteered as chief archivist for the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one of the oldest and largest independent queer archives in the United States.

The best books by East and South-East Asian writers
The founders of the ESEA Publishing Network recommend their favourite works, by authors from Jia Tolentino to Frances Cha
In celebration of ESEA (East and South-East Asian) Heritage Month, which runs throughout September, the founders of the ESEA Lit Fest, Maria Garbutt-Lucero and Joanna Lee, have put together an exclusive edit of their favourite books, focusing wholly on writers from the region.
“Hearing Elaine Castillo read America is Not the Heart in 2018 was a watershed moment for me – her voice is so alive on the page and it was a revelation to encounter a contemporary writing so vividly about the place I was born,” says Garbutt-Lucero, who recommends Castillo’s How To Read Now in this list. “It seems wild to me now, that I didn’t realise what I had been missing up until that point, that there was this gaping hole in my literary education.”

Spain’s Luis Rubiales Continues To Make Men The Story Of The Women’s World Cup Final – Are We Surprised?
‘It took a lifetime for the Spanish team to get to the pinnacle of their profession. It took an instant to rob them of their glory.
Watching Luis Rubiales, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, kiss Spanish forward Jenni Hermosa, I was glad my teenaged daughters weren’t sitting there to see it. I was glad they hadn’t witnessed the Spanish team’s triumphant victory – the culmination of years of hard work, determination and sacrifice – become completely overshadowed by the selfish action of a man whose job it is to exalt these women, not diminish them. It took a lifetime for the Spanish team to get to the pinnacle of their profession. It took an instant to rob them of their glory.

A New Book Will Reveal Barbara Walters’ Last Words
The pioneering TV journalist’s parting words and final resting place had previously been under wraps.
It’s been eight months—almost to the day—since broadcast journalism trailblazer Barbara Walters died at age 93. Until today, her final resting place and last words were a closely-kept secret—but her biographer is ready to spill the beans, as part of a tease for an upcoming book on the reporter’s life and times.
USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page started interviewing Walters two years before her death, Axios reports, laying the groundwork for what would become The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters. The book is “the definitive biography of the most successful female broadcaster of all time,” someone “whose personal demons fueled an ambition that broke all the rules,” publisher Simon & Schuster says of the April, 2024 release.

The best face oils, and the skin types they suit
Confused by face oils? See everything you need to know here
The skincare market has become awash with face oils in recent years; whether you’re after firmer skin, a brighter glow or deeper hydration, there’s a formula promising to deliver.
Yet the very notion of applying oil to the skin still strikes fear in some – surely, more oil equals more problems? Even if you’re already on board with face oils, mystery surrounding how to use them correctly (bigger still, how they actually work) abounds.

Zendaya’s 15 Best Beauty Looks
Zendaya is the star (and former British Vogue cover girl) who has blossomed from Disney princess to acclaimed actor before our eyes. Award-winning performances aside, she also frequently delivers experimental beauty looks. Whether she’s wearing her hair in ultra-long box braids, or adorning her eyes with graphic liner, Zendaya’s beauty looks hit the mark every time.
On her 27th birthday, Vogue charts Zendaya’s beauty evolution over the years – and revisits some of her most memorable looks.

Is 2023 the Year Looted Art Returns Home?
A timeline of all the artwork repatriated this year.
Repatriated objects and artwork can originate from a wide variety of sources, ranging from private collections to national museums. In addition, repatriation doesn’t just mean returning to a country—it can be artwork returning to families, or remains returning to ancestral burial grounds.
“Members of the British government, for example, were quick to point out this winter that, under current statute, it is forbidden for the British Museum to break up its collection of Greek antiquities. But the movement for returning appropriated antiquities is having a moment at big institutions.”

Pets Allowed
Why are so many animals now in places where they shouldn’t be?
What a wonderful time it is for the scammer, the conniver, and the cheat: the underage drinkers who flash fake I.D.s, the able-bodied adults who drive cars with handicapped license plates, the parents who use a phony address so that their child can attend a more desirable public school, the customers with eleven items who stand in the express lane. The latest group to bend the law is pet owners.

Celine Dion’s sister says the singer is experiencing spasms that are “impossible to control” amid stiff-person syndrome diagnosis: “There’s little we can do to support her”
“She’s doing everything to recover. She’s a strong woman,” Claudette told the publication.
“It’s an illness we know so little about. There are spasms — they’re impossible to control. You know people often jump up in the night because of a cramp in the leg or the calf? It’s a bit like that, but in all muscles,” said Claudette.
She added: “There’s little we can do to support her, to alleviate her pain.”
Claudette once again expressed hope that experts will be able to find a way of curing her sister.

Meet the history-making Captain Elizabeth Godwin as she takes Talter behind the scenes at Horse Guards and Hyde Park Barracks
Captain Elizabeth Godwin made history when she became the first woman to commission into the Life Guards. In the October issue of Tatler, out now, she talks to Davina Chelsea about her life of royal duty, pageantry and legendary mess parties
The fortress-like gates buzz open and out walks one of the British Army’s most notable officers, Captain Elizabeth Godwin. Immaculately dressed in camouflage, with her glossy brown hair slicked back into a bun and topped with a blue beret, she emanates modern military chic. As she should: in 2020, Godwin became The Life Guards’ first female officer in the regiment’s prestigious history, after the Army’s decision in 2018 to allow women to engage in frontline combat operations.

Are We Finally Ready to Take Tammy Wynette Seriously?
The unsung godmother of so-called “sad girl” music — and one of pop’s most wrenching chroniclers of feminized pain — has long been misunderstood.
Born Virginia Wynette Pugh in 1942, Wynette had a resonantly sad voice and a life story to match. Married at 17; divorced with three children by 23; in and out of disappointing and sometimes abusive relationships (most famously with her frequent duet partner, George Jones); a sufferer of chronic health problems and bizarre, unexplained acts of violence; gone too soon when she died in her sleep in 1998, at age 55.
She was also, perhaps because of these experiences, one of the most wrenching chroniclers of feminized pain that popular music has ever known.

Decoding the Complicated Color Wheel of Wines
Once, the significant decision was red or white? Now, consumers face a much more challenging spectrum of selections. It’s a great thing.
You used to be able to go into a restaurant in New York, a cafe in Paris or an osteria in Florence and order a glass of red or white. That was all you needed to know if you simply wanted the wine without the rigmarole.
Now? The once easy-to-understand range of red, white and occasionally rosé and sparkling has expanded into a far more challenging spectrum of choices. The basics remain, but in between lie incremental alternatives that may offer a richer selection but require a greater degree of understanding.

36 Hours in Amsterdam
The Dutch capital is busier and more sanitized than you remember, but visitors can find glimpses of Amsterdam where the city’s creative spirit is still brimming.
Often caricatured as a sex-and-drugs haven, or a kind of continental Las Vegas, Amsterdam was not always an obvious choice for European cultural travel. Its image has undergone a significant transformation in the last decade, with government efforts to shrink its famous red-light district, curb reckless partying and orient visitors to its more honorable attractions. Now it’s a bonafide cultural mecca.

Why You Should Always Keep Cornstarch in Your Kitchen
There are so many ways to use this pantry staple that go beyond cooking.
Chances are you have a box or canister of cornstarch sitting in your pantry right now. It’s the sort of ingredient that makes it way into recipes of all kinds, but what is cornstarch and what does it do? Even the most seasoned home cooks may not know the answer to those questions, despite the number of times they’ve relied on this pantry essential. Rather than asking what cornstarch can do, it might be more apt to wonder what it can’t do—after all, its uses are numerous and wondrous.

How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen From Top to Bottom
Give your kitchen a thorough clean with this step-by-step guide.
Whether your kitchen is a hub for homework and hungry teenagers or for ambitious recipe creation and amateur baking—or for a little bit of everything—keeping it clean is the key to keeping it running smoothly.
A top-to-bottom scrub, from tackling the dust atop your cabinets to deep-cleaning your floor, allows your space to stay organized, your appliances to work more efficiently, and your cooking space to stay sanitary. Give your family’s hub this expert detailing to get it looking, smelling, and running like new.

This Ancient Pilgrimage Route in Rural England Passes Charming Villages, Wild Natural Landscapes, and a 14th-Century Pub
In Dorset, a nonprofit is spearheading the revival of multi-day walks to reconnect with nature and and visit historic sites.
In the chill of a 12th-century English church, a 30-something with a liquid baritone and a Harry Potter-ish gaze sang a medieval lament. We gathered tentatively around him, 23 near-strangers who had come together over the summer solstice to trace an ancient pilgrimage trail through Marshwood Vale, a valley in West Dorset.

[Photo Credit: cancunhotelresidence.com]

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