My Father's Fling With Zsa Zsa Gabor |
My father, Lou Junod, had Zsa Zsa Gabor. That is, he slept with her. That is, he had sex with her. I put it this way because that's how it was put to me. I was a salesman just out of college, traveling all over American roads in the cause of selling handbags to stores that would in turn sell them to American women, not unlike my father had done. I was in Houston, Texas, calling upon a buyer my father had called on for years. We went out for dinner, and she began telling me stories about the old man. She didn't tell me anything I didn't know until she broke the news with those exact words: "And of course everybody knows he had Zsa Zsa Gabor." I had heard a lot of stories about my father and celebrities, most of them from his own mouth. In his stories, famous women flirted with him outrageously and helplessly, and famous men sought his company, paid him deference, or took umbrage after being upstaged by him. I neither believed nor disbelieved him, because although he was, by his own reckoning, "a very attractive man," and although I'd been with him several times when he was mistaken for a celebrity, he was still my father and still a salesman. All of his stories inherently doubled as myths, beyond the reach of fact checking. But the story the buyer in Houston told about Zsa Zsa Gabor was different. |
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| What's the Point of a Dress Code These Days? |
The trench coat is so deeply embedded in the way we think about menswear that it's almost strange to think of it having a (mostly) definable origin point. But it does. And that was way back in World War I, when upper-crusty British officers turned to the already-venerable outdoor outfitter Burberry to protect them from the elements in a new creation. Double-breasted, built for the realities of war but still designed to cut a clean line, it quickly made the transition from military garb to civilian essential, adopted first by the British establishment and soon after fixed in the firmament of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Looking to understand just how iconic this style is? Bogart wore a Burberry trench in the promo photos for Casablanca. Here's looking at you. Nowadays, you can get a trench from all kinds of makers and at pretty much any price from dirt cheap to astoundingly expensive. But there's one—an investment, for sure, but far from the ultra-luxury prices you can find with a quick online search—that deserves the consideration of anyone who cares about timeless style, a good story, and just plain looking great. It's Burberry's long Kensington trench. |
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Rahsaan Thomas Became a Runner in Prison. Now, He's Running the NYC Marathon. |
Rahsaan Thomas rounds the corner for his 105th—you read that right, 105th—lap. He's running the San Quentin Prison Marathon, where he doesn't exactly have the privilege of breezing past landmarks and skyscrapers and adoring fans. Hence the 105 laps, round and round in the prison yard, dodging rogue geese, flying basketballs, and dudes who simply don't give a shit about the race. In the home stretch, the 52-year-old Thomas has all the markings of a well-fought marathon. Pit stains. Legs like cinderblocks, plodding left and right, left and right. White headband, sopping wet. When Thomas crosses the finish line, he beams and throws his hands in the air like a certain Philadelphian boxer. "Woo!" he yells. "For all the people who come in last, this is for you." In 2000, Thomas was sentenced to 55 years and six months to life for second-degree murder conviction and other charges. During his imprisonment, Thomas co-hosted a Pulitzer Prize-nominated podcast, wrote for The Marshall Project, and founded Empowerment Avenue. It's a collective that uses journalism and art to, as Thomas explains, "break into the direction of trauma, cycles of poverty, and intergenerational incarceration." In January 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom commuted Thomas's sentence. He was granted parole the following August, and after a widely publicized delay, he was released from the San Quentin Prison in February 2023. So, what does a man who became a marathoner in prison do when he leaves prison? Run this Sunday's New York City Marathon. |
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Peter Jackson Takes Us Inside the Music Video for Beatles' Final Song |
"It's a significant moment for the entire world when the Beatles have a new song," so says one of the Fab Four's biggest fans—a man who just happens to also be one of Hollywood's most beloved directors. Peter Jackson was a precocious teenager when he first came across the Red and Blue compilations in a record store in his New Zealand hometown, buying them with the cash he originally intended to spend on model airplanes. It kicked off a musical obsession that has, now 50 years later, bled over into his professional lore. On the heels of directing the acclaimed 2021 documentary series The Beatles: Get Back, which chronicles the making of Let It Be and the band's famed final rooftop concert, Jackson now has the distinction of directing a retrospective music video for what's being billed as the last ever Beatles song: the ruminative "Now and Then." |
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The Best Early-Black Friday Deals on Amazon 2023 |
When it comes to holiday shopping, time is truly of the essence. Even though we tell ourselves every single year to not fall behind, somehow the week of festivities always creeps up and we're scrambling to find something. Well, let this be the year that you don't get caught up in last-minute shopping. Amazon is already dropping early Black Friday deals across the major gift categories like tech and home, so you can save money and get a head start. So now you can enjoy the day after Thanksgiving from the comfort of your couch instead of scrolling or shopping IRL to find the best sale. |
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Confessions of a Culture Writer With Celebrity Face Blindness |
There's a scene from ABC's Abbott Elementary that haunts me. Beloved Boomer-aged grade-school teacher Ms. Howard mixes up two celebrities while debating who should be the next Spiderman. "Well if they do go with a Black actor," she says, "I hope they go with that Mr. Brian Austin Green." Everyone pauses. Looks are exchanged. She means Brian Tyree Henry. The first time I watched this episode, a friend of mine howled at her mistake—Brian Austin Green is white—I laughed along. But in truth, I felt struck with fear. Because I have a confession to make: Like Ms. Howard, I am also deeply confused about who's who. This is all fine and even expected for the Ms. Howards of the world. Boomers like her aren't supposed to know anyone's name. It's part of their charm. But as a twenty-five-year-old culture writer, it is my explicit duty to know these things, or rather, these people. When my editor asks me to write about Liam Gallagher's new tour, I'm expected to know who that is and have an opinion about it. When my friends get a notification about Paul Mescal's latest film, I'm the person they text for more information. The expectation is not that I am furiously typing "paul mescal who" into Google. |
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