Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2023 i Zoomer Magazine

For as long as humankind has created art, it's immortalized “the kiss.” Sculptor Auguste Rodin eroticized the moment in marble with two nude lovers on the very edge of falling onto one another, in the late 1890s. In 1907, Gustav Klimt painted his lovers cloaked in gold, with the male taking the female's face in his hands as if to devour it whole. And in 1964, using primary colours and comic book-style graphics in Kiss V, Roy Lichtenstein cemented his version into pop culture history. Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Oxford University say they've discovered humanity's earliest documented romantic kiss. "My upper lip becomes moist, while my lower lip trembles! I shall embrace him, I shall kiss him," is just one of the ditties found in…

Everyone’s favourite New York City “It” girls – Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte – have always been up for a good party, and celebrating Sex and the City’s 25th anniversary was no exception. At the And Just Like That… It’s Been 25 Years, A Sex and the City Experience, a four-day exhibition in Manhattan in June, visitors were able to live their best Carrie Bradshaw lives, playing house in her apartment in a quintessential New York brownstone, and even posing for photos at her signature laptop. For the lucky fans who attended it was pure fantasy, and a poignant reminder that, in its portrayal of a certain rarefied echelon of New Yorkers, the TV show was never exactly realistic for the rest of us. But that doesn’t mean being…

BODY FORE THE WIN Some of us need no excuse to go golfing – it’s Canada’s leading participation sport, with more than five million of us taking part. But for those who need cajoling onto a course, a study by the University of South Australia found it is associated with better physical and mental health – including for players with osteoarthritis (OA). Compared to 64 per cent of non-golfers with OA, 91 per cent rated their health as good to excellent. Golfers with OA were also three times less likely to report high levels of psychological distress. Cause wasn’t explored in the study, but authors noted that golfers with OA logged, on average, four times more moderately vigorous physical activity per week than non-golfers with OA. That’s important, they say,…

ON THE MORNING OF June 11, I was sipping my first coffee on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean in the Israeli city of Herzliya, but in spirit I was with Joni Mitchell at the Gorge in Washington State. It was showtime. Her first time in 23 years headlining a show. Must be cold in that amphitheatre at night, I thought, but the heat of the giant stage lights should keep her warm. “I’m a little excited,” Joni told me on the phone three days before. I had butterflies, I was so excited and so thrilled she was performing under the open skies. Joni broke through every ceiling, not just the glass one. Then, just when I was aching to be at that concert, my phone started pinging like crazy with…

JUST HOW DID REINA LAFANTAISIE, a 78-year-old great-grandmother from Sudbury, Ont., end up on stage at the 2023 Grammys in Los Angeles, giving the biggest award of the night to the biggest pop star in the world, on live TV? It’s the sum of the fervour of a true believer, a granddaughter who is a talented creator and knows content gold when she sees it, the alchemy of social media, multiplied by a Christmas miracle. “I went up north to spend the holidays with my family, and that’s when I realized that my mémère was in love with Harry Styles,” says Renee Grenon, a Toronto-based influencer and host of The Mom Room podcast. “That’s all she talked about. And we were just having a family get together on Christmas Day,…

THE UNDERWORLD by Susan Casey The U.S.-based Canadian journalist – who has written books on sharks, waves and dolphins – tackles the people, machines and technology that make deep-sea exploration possible. Casey’s reportage takes on new significance after the Titan submersible imploded and killed all five people on board, including Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, whose arrogance and recklessness she decried on Instagram. “The deep doesn’t negotiate,” Casey wrote in a post shortly after the implosion in June. “If you want to go down there, she sets the rules. The price of admission is humility.” The book promises a deep dive into the importance of the world’s oceans, which are under threat from mining, overfishing, global warming and pollution. FURIES by Margaret Atwood et al. This anthology of wild works…

MY VERSION OF A PARTY TRICK is throwing around erudite-lite quotes when talking about style. This is not the application 18th-century poet William Blake had in mind when he wrote, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom; for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough,” but it comes in handy when I need to let others know that I know they think I am overdressed, without actually agreeing that I am. I use “I loathe narcissism, but I approve of vanity” – courtesy of the ’60s-era Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, who coined the term “youthquake” – as a self-administered hall pass to justify my chronic lateness, due to fashion-related drama. This could be choosing which gold-embossed pair of Gucci…

The old golfing adage “drive for show, putt for dough” was proven yet again when Nick Taylor hit his now-legendary 72-foot (21-metre) putt to win the RBC Canadian Open in June, taking home a tidy US$1.62 million. The prize money for the 35-year-old Abbotsford, B.C., native, who became the first Canuck to win the country’s national tournament in 69 years, paled in comparison to the US$3.6-million booty that U.S. golfer Wyndham Clark took home when he won this year’s U.S. Open – that’s a lot of green for four days. In order to pay out these ever-more-exorbitant purses, the Professional Golf Association (PGA) struck a Faustian bargain with its bitterest enemy, LIV Golf. The LIV tour is backed by the Public Investment Fund, a US$650-billion oil slush fund controlled by…

Neither Elaine, 72, nor Fiore Mendicino, 67, both of Oshawa, had any interest in going on a blind date. But his daughters, and Elaine’s esthetician, all felt deep down it was meant to be. Elaine Mendicino: I’m a retired nurse. My husband died suddenly in 2011 after 39 years of marriage. Fiore Mendicino: I was born in Italy, immigrated at three, grew up in Oshawa and worked at General Motors. I have four girls from my first marriage, which ended in divorce. EM: Two of his daughters were clients – and friends – of my esthetician, Arezou. She’s Iranian and is said to have a third eye. One day she said, “I have these friends and they have this father …” She told me he’s retired and likes golf.…

LONG BEFORE HE ASCENDED to the throne, King Charles III was topping best-dressed lists. An unwitting style icon, he achieved this status not through fashion-forward silhouettes or trends but by following tradition. When most men switched to single-breasted suits, Charles famously stuck to double-breasted, a brave move that at times had people making fun of his supposed fustiness. But what it really demonstrated, as we all learned, was Charles’ keen eye for craftsmanship and concern for sustainability. His is the opposite of fast fashion, with his shirts sewn from 33 pieces of cloth by Jermyn Street’s Turnbull & Asser and bespoke suits created by Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes and Anderson & Sheppard. Charles embraces these traditionalists not because they epitomize luxury, but because their expertise is, in his…

AS I BITE INTO MY quesadilla, my entire world distills down to one burning question: Why does this vegan cheese taste and feel like I’m chewing down on glue? I was tasting my way through a taqueria’s menu when I spotted the plant-based cheese alternative and asked to try it. “I’ll save you the trouble,” a staff member told me. “It’s not very good.” She was right. It’s a pale yellow colour, similar to mozzarella or Mexican queso de hebra, and it melts. But in every other aspect it was less like cheese and more like the liquid adhesive my daughter uses to affix pompoms to cardboard. I don’t think vegan diners should have to suffer through this quesadilla, so as a consultant for the Winnipeg food hall where…

UP The eco-warrior retires, but refuses to give up the fight David Suzuki, 87, exits The Nature of Things after 44 years, but tells Zoomer he'll continue to fight for the environment while getting “back to what is really my most important job, which is being a full-on grandfather.” A Maine centenarian dubbed the “Lobster Lady” turned 103 and renewed her lobster fishing licence for the 95th straight year Much to the chagrin of the state's lobster population, who’ve dubbed her “that horrible lady with the traps who won’t leave us alone.” They say age is a state of mind, but it turns out that longevity may be more of a gut feeling University of Copenhagen scientists studied Japanese centenarians and concluded that unique gut bacteria, flora and viruses…

One of the most famous lines in movie history took place between a champagne cork popping and two glasses clinking. As Humphrey Bogart stares into Ingrid Bergman’s eyes in Casablanca, he says the magic words: “Here’s looking at you, kid,” during the pair’s first rendezvous in Paris. If their eyes weren’t trained on each other, they might have noticed the tiny bubbles in their glasses rising in a perfectly straight line to the top and wondered how they did that. At Brown University in Rhode Island, engineering professor Roberto Zenit wondered the same thing. In a series of recent experiments, the self-confessed “nerd who likes bubbles” found the magic element was surfactants. Created during the fermentation process, surfactants change the properties of the bubble's surface, making it less slippery.…

Few film genres are as rich or as divisive as biopics, especially those featuring contemporary figures. The portrayals need to sit right with the memories of those old enough to recall the actual person. Queen fans howled at multiple inaccuracies in 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, particularly the fudged timeline that put Freddie Mercury’s 1987 HIV diagnosis before his band’s legendary 1985 Live Aid performance. Though Rami Malek snagged a best actor Oscar, the sloppiness cast a pall on the film’s reception. By contrast, while historians groused that Salieri didn’t hate Mozart as depicted in the 1984 period piece Amadeus, the rest of us just saw a snazzy plot device. (F. Murray Abraham also scored an Oscar for his role as Salieri.) The stakes are higher when the subject is a controversial…

Are you, like me, finding yourself pushing back on what amounts to “point of sale panhandling” these days? The increasing demands for higher tip percentages on every transaction, no matter how small or completely devoid of service seem endless. A few months back it was the outrage of the season – with everyone complaining in polls, as well as tips and tricks to avoid it. Now, I wonder if most of us have just quietly given in? I admit that I have. It started as a gesture to help service workers who were working during the pandemic, doing jobs that put them at high risk for little pay, while so many of us were safely sheltering at home. And it’s hard to take away a nice perk after it has…

To live stylishly at this age & stage, all you need to do is take pleasure in the details … The exaggerated length of a cuff, the sultry swing of a skirt, an oversized ice cube melting slowly in your cocktail. We show you how to use style to feel good, elevate your surroundings and stay connected to your inner self. Here are the simple, playful things to give your everyday life a glow up. In our new column, The Zoomerist, we’ll consult a coterie of experts to answer your questions about style, sex, grooming and aging gracefully. Ask us anything at TheZoomerist@Zoomermag.com…

GET READY TO GO BIG AT HOME, because saturated colour and exuberant patterns in decor are back, baby! It’s been more than a decade since American interior designer and Fixer Upper star Joanna Gaines started spreading her spare, farmhouse-style gospel, with its white interiors and black accents (especially in kitchens), adorable graphic vintage signs and shiplap walls, but now the era of crisp and minimalist homes is on the wane. The new look owes a debt to fashion, namely former Gucci designer Alessandro Michele’s too-too-much-much mashup of bold colours, imagery and textures. Translated to decor, it means bold wall colour is replacing the ubiquitous neutrals of the 2010s, with a return to wallpaper and over-the-top murals. The pinnacles of this new style are evident in the new restaurant Bacchanalia in…