T LOunge for May 18th, 2023 – Tom + Lorenzo

Gina Restaurant – Instanbul, Turkey

We don’t know about you, but we’re feeling the need for a little bit of elegance today. It’s THURSDAY, which calls for such things. Let’s all commit to ordering one cocktail or nibbly that we’ve never tried before. Let’s make plans no more ambitious than that for the day.

Penélope Cruz on embracing motherhood, imperfections and all, in L’immensità
At a time when queer youth remain under threat, she plays a woman trying to raise a young trans boy
Penélope Cruz has always had a maternal side. She’s known this for most of her life—since before she became a mother to her own two children, and even before she was one of the world’s most renowned actors.
“I’ve always a very strong maternal instinct—always,” Cruz tells Bazaar. “Since I was a little girl, since like five years old, I’ve been playing the role of a mother and saying that I for sure wanted to have kids when I was an adult. I always saw that in me. Pedro Almodóvar saw that in me—and most of the movies that I’ve done with him, I’ve been a mother or I was giving birth in a bus.” She laughs.

The History of the Hero: The Chanel ballet flat
This dance-inspired shoe has never been more en pointe; we explore the 66-year evolution of Chanel’s iconic ballerina
It’s time to reach into the recesses of your wardrobe and reacquaint yourself with the early aughts’ trend that was (with the exception of podiatrists, perhaps) loved by many. The ballet flat is back – not that it really ever went away – and we couldn’t be happier. Especially if the shoe in question bears a CC-stitched toe cap. Yes, we’re talking about the crème de la crème of ballet flats: the Chanel ballerina.
The Chanel ballet flat as we know it now didn’t come to fruition until the 1980s, but the foundations were laid much, much earlier – in 1957, to be precise. That was when Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel unveiled the two-tone, heeled slingback that was to become an icon of the house, along with the little black dress and quilted bag. Legend has it that the designer dreamt up the idea after seeing the two-tone shoes worn by staff on the yacht of her friend, the Duke of Westminster.

The extraordinary true story behind new TV series, A Small Light
A poignant new show heroes the ‘ordinary’ Miep Gies, who helped to hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during WWII
Miep Gies never thought she was extraordinary. Born in 1909 to a Catholic family in Vienna, she was sent to the Netherlands as a little girl and fostered because her own family could no longer afford to feed her. So she knew about resourcefulness, about risk, from an early age.
She married in 1941 and found a job in a jam-making business; in 1942, her employer Otto Frank told her his Jewish family would have to go into hiding to escape the genocidal persecution of the Nazis. Gies took it upon herself to help Otto Frank and his family; it is thanks to her, in large part, that we know about his daughter Anne, of the Secret Annex and the diary she wrote there. Yet Gies made no great claims for herself. “Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room,” she wrote.

Should we get our health advice from social media?
Knowledge may be power – but there’s a limit when it comes to unverified sources online
When Covid-19 hit our social-media feeds, we were all encouraged not to take scaremongering Facebook posts from our aunt’s friend’s sister at face value, and instead consult the World Health Organisation (WHO) for reliable health information. We were warned to question what we read online and to fact-check articles before sharing clickbait headlines, but social media nonetheless exploded with more health content than ever before. These days, health advice is a commonplace part of the social media experience.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Involved in “Near Catastrophic” Car Chase, Their Spokesperson Says
The couple’s spokesperson issued a statement highlighting the dangers of the incident.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been in New York attending an awards ceremony where Meghan was honored for her work. However, the celebratory trip took a very different turn as a spokesperson has revealed that the couple and Meghan’s mum Doria were involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase with paparazzi.
“Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi,” a spokesperson for the couple said. The spokesperson said that the pursuit lasted for more than two hours and resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers, pedestrians and the NYPD. “While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety. Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved.”

A British Island That Inspired Agatha Christie Is for Sale
Burgh Island, which inspired Christie to write And Then There Were None and Evil Under the Sun, is on the market for £15 million.
Burgh Island, a private island off the coast of Birgbury-on-Sea in South Devon, England, is on the market.
The hotel, built in 1929, sits on 21 acres and features 25 en suite guest bedrooms and suites. Famous guests over the years have included the Beatles, Nancy Cunard, Noël Coward, Josephine Baker and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. It’s even rumored that President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the hotel before D-Day in 1945.
But the most famous guest was perhaps Agatha Christie, who had a writer’s retreat on Burgh Island where visitors can now stay (it’s called”Agatha’s Beach House”). She set two of her novels on the island, Evil Under the Sun and And Then There Were None. Evil Under the Sun famously begins, “It is peaceful. The sun shines. The sea is blue. But you forget, Miss Brewster, there is evil everywhere under the sun.”

“Expensive Honey” Is the New Hair Color of Summer
Is it a slow news week? Because the internet is currently obsessing over the hair color journey of an increasingly intriguing character on Succession, HBO’s biting satire of the one percent. I’m talking about Willa Ferreyra’s road to what my hair colorist calls “expensive honey” (he also calls it “expensive, honey”). So, what’s the story behind Willa’s glossed-to-the-nines season four blonde?
The series that’s given us hours of TikTok hot takes, searing on-screen sibling rivalry, and a brilliant behind-the-scenes podcast, is the latest pop cultural moment to plant the flag for caramel hair.

Kit Kat Is Releasing a New Churro Flavor Just in Time for Summer
Kit Kat really knows how to celebrate National Churro Day.
Summertime is season for all kinds of special treats. Be it the treat of being out of school, playing hooky from work, and this summer, for picking up a limited edition Kit Kat flavor.
On Wednesday, the candy company announced its latest flavor, Kit Kat Churro, a mix of buttery cream and sugar atop those familiar crispy wafers.
The flavor addition, the brand shared in a statement provided to Food & Wine, is a homage to “the beloved dessert that brings back memories of summer at the amusement park, state fair, or boardwalk stand no matter where you are in the world.”

How to Quit Cars
They crowd streets, belch carbon, bifurcate communities, and destroy the urban fabric. Will we ever overcome our addiction?
Public transportation was the self-evident bedrock of working-class life. Yet it was also in the mid-fifties that the hipsters and beatniks and rebels feverishly celebrated the car and the burst of autonomy, even anarchy, it offered to postwar life. In Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” the car was the vehicle of liberty for the bohemian kids of those working-class Brooklynites. Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” pities those “who chained themselves to subways for the endless ride from Battery to holy Bronx on Benzedrine / until the noise of wheels and children brought them low,” while dreaming wetly of the glories of the open road, which leads to sex, possibly with an idealized version of Neal Cassady, subsequently memorialized as Kerouac’s irresistible Dean Moriarty. Cars are for poets and outlaws, the subway for the intimidated and the enslaved.

‘The Little Mermaid’ Stars Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King on Re-Creating Ariel’s Hair Flip, Singing Live and Prince Eric’s Dangerous Boots
The live-action feature required its stars to face their fears — and even a little danger — while filming Ariel’s rescue of Prince Eric at the beginning of the film.
One of the most famous shots from the 1989 animated film is when a now-human Ariel bursts out of the water at sunset and does her iconic hair flip. To capture this same moment with Bailey in live action, it took considerable teamwork.
“[A stuntman] would hold my hair underwater and then he would throw it for me when I came up, so that it didn’t feel like such a weight on my shoulders,” Bailey says. “So we did it multiple times to get it just right. It looks so cool and perfect in the animated film, so we were trying to re-create that in real life.”

A New Jersey couple bought a 116-year-old house for $435,000. They spent 5 years renovating it, finding new parts of its history as they ripped up carpet and restored floors — take a look inside.
The couple even received an anonymous package in the mail with old photos and real estate listings of their house that date back to the 1930s.
A New Jersey couple traded their rental apartment for a 1907 Dutch Colonial house that they bought for $435,000.
Maggie Rogers and Joe Gesualdo documented their lives and the five-year renovation on social media.
Now, they’re planning to relocate to a different state and sell the 116-year-old residence for $649,000.

The fabulous history of the Cannes Film Festival in pictures
As the annual French cinematic extravaganza returns, Tatler celebrates some of the most iconic moments of the Cannes Film Festival
Considered one of the ‘big three’ film festivals, alongside Venice and Berlin, the Cannes Film Festival lights up the French Riviera city annually in May, premiering the latest films from around the world. Originally launched in 1939, it was first touted as a rival to Venice, which had been used as a propaganda machine by the Italian Fascist Party.
The first edition saw Hollywood’s biggest stars transported to the South of France via an Ocean Liner chartered by MGM Studios, with Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Norma Shearer, Spencer Tracy and James Cagney on board. Yet it was cancelled just two days in, following Germany’s invasion of Poland, with the Axis powers of France and the UK drawn into war. It returned in 1946, with the current iteration being its 77th edition. In the 1960s, it saw acting royalty like Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor walking La Croisette’s famous red carpet, while actual royalty, including Diana, Princess of Wales, have since attended.

What Ever Happened to Just Drinking Water?
#WaterTok has been a boon for water-flavoring companies as enthusiasts buy out shelves of sugar-free syrups. But when does a drink stop being water?
In the past decade or so, water-flavoring offerings have exploded in the United States, where Big Soda has dominated the American palate for generations.
These water additive companies frame products — which are often made with artificial sweeteners and flavorings — as a way to help people hit their hydration goals. It’s Mary Poppins logic: A spoonful of (sugar-free coconut syrup) makes the (tap water) go down.

Florida School District Is Sued Over Book Restrictions
A free-speech organization and the country’s largest book publisher said the district violated the First Amendment and the equal protection clause.
A lawsuit filed in federal court on Wednesday said that a Florida county violated the First Amendment by removing or restricting certain kinds of books from its school libraries.
The free-speech organization PEN America and the country’s largest book publisher, Penguin Random House, filed the lawsuit, along with a group of authors and parents. The complaint said that the Escambia County School District and school board also violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution because books they targeted were disproportionately written by nonwhite and L.G.B.T.Q. authors and addressed themes of race, racism, gender and sexuality.

10 Basement Stair Ideas That Will Transform Your Home’s Lower Level
While basement stairs serve a practical purpose, they’re also packed with plenty of design potential.
Anyone with a basement knows that having a lower level is a design dream. But, while you might be fixated on how to make the most of your space—be it a home office, play area, or private theater—there’s a good chance you’ve overlooked your staircase while decorating. Although its purpose is wholly functional, your stairwell is teeming with endless design potential.
Not only is it possible to have pretty and practical basement steps, but it’s a lot easier than you think. The steps below run the gamut—some are sleek and glass-paned and others are accented with color and plush carpeting. To guide your design choices, think of your lower level’s overall look and feel first—your basement stairs should feel like an extension of this space. Once you’ve decided on your aesthetic, you’ll be one step closer to creating a beautiful basement.

How to Improve the Color of Your Hydrangeas
Get better, brighter blues and peak pinks by meeting this shrub’s water, sun, and soil preferences.
No matter how big your hydrangeas grow, a stunning display is about quality as much as quantity—which means faded and washed out blooms have no place in your garden. If your hydrangeas are getting too much sun, too little water, or the wrong type of nutrients, those pretty petals can turn pale.
But with regular watering, a partly shaded spot, and careful attention to the acidity of your soil, you can boost your hydrangea blooms to bold blue or pretty pink for a season-long show of gorgeous hues. (With some types of hydrangeas, you can even change the color by changing the pH of the soil.) We asked two pros—gardening expert Melinda Myers and Amy Enfield, a horticulturist at ScottsMiracle-Gro and Bonnie Plants—for their best advice on improving the color of your hydrangeas.

How to Set Up an Art Studio at Home
Three working artists share their expert advice on designing a creative space that works for you.
These days, more people are converting their homes into a workspace than ever before. Many of us work from home full-time—and creatives are no exception. Whether you’re a professional artist by trade or simply love to make things, having a space in which to create is imperative. Even though you know it’s important, building a home art studio can be daunting. It’s one of those “I’ll get around to it” tasks.
Now, however, is the perfect time to take on that home art studio setup. If you’re an artist or just want a space in your home dedicated to creating art, we have the steps you need to get started. And who better to weigh in than working artists with at-home studios? We tapped Rebecca Peloquin, commercial food and beverage photographer, Joel Parsons, artist, writer and director of Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College, and Laura Ann Meyers Daly, artist and creative director of Over the Moon Gift, for their expert advice.

[Photo Credit: wangan.studio., gina.com.tr]