First, there was the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos biopic (complete with an Oscar-nominated song). Then came “Tetris”; “Air,” about Nike Air Jordan sneakers; “BlackBerry”; and “Barbie.” It is, in other words, a golden age for product-origin-story movies. The latest is “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tarts Story,” a satirical history that Jerry Seinfeld has expanded from his stand-up act.…
A year ago, Jonathan Grahm, a chocolatier, visited Paris and noticed the ubiquity of lavender in French soaps and lotions. He wanted to add a floral-leaning chocolate to his lineup at Compartés, a confectionery shop in Los Angeles established in 1950, and figured that lavender was his way in. Mr. Grahm harnessed his inspiration into…
As a girl, Sofia Coppola liked to melt down her lipsticks, mixing colors and consistencies to make a tint that conformed to her aesthetic ideal. She was after the look of Tess, the titular character in Roman Polanski’s 1979 film adaptation of the novel “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” portrayed by Nastassja Kinski. In one scene,…
To become a city’s coolest new neighborhood, there are certain prerequisites: a crop of cafes that toe the line between cozy and snobbish, chefs combining the innovative with the Instagrammable, and shops so sincere that they are doomed to close when rents rise, which they inevitably will. But then it must also have quirks. Chacarita,…
Even leading experts in vaccine science have run up against disbelief and ambivalence. Dr. Gregory Poland, 68, editor in chief of the journal Vaccine, said that a loud whooshing sound in his ears had accompanied every moment since his first shot, but that his entreaties to colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
“They were like hysterically crying,” Ms. Bonito said. Liz Dent and Corey Sunstrom found the open communication that a nontraditional proposal offers alluring as well. Mr. Sunstrom initially wanted to surprise Ms. Dent. But the more they thought about it, the more they found themselves questioning that route. “We’ve both been married before, and we…
While living in Warsaw in 2009, Tusia Dabrowska was always on the hunt for potential creative collaborators. Friends suggested that she meet Wiktor Maria Freifeld, who, like her, was Polish and Jewish, and making art. “We met at a party that I don’t remember,” Ms. Dabrowska, 44, said. “Then we met twice to talk about…
She showed him her favorite spots around Paris, and they spent days walking around, getting lost, people-watching and drinking wine. They went to Le Champo, an art house theater, to see “An American in Paris.” “That was the most radiantly happy I’d ever been in my whole life,” Mr. Bramesco said. In October 2022, Mr.…
Later, at home, I saw a photo on my phone from Dec. 12, 2022, exactly a year earlier, of Kiki flopped on the couch in sweats, hair in a ponytail, smiling up at me. A cardboard box of ornaments on the floor beside her, our tablecloth with the elves and candy canes draped over the…
When Sasha DuBose uses the word “queer” to talk about food, it’s a verb, not an adjective. To Ms. DuBose, queering food is “taking how we define food and how we engage with it and twisting it, making it more fun.” To them, queer food is also okra. “They way you slice into okra and…