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Lounge Loves: ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’, the Renaissance Punk art and more
Also featured this week, Serena Williams's crip walk, and ‘The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book’
Scam Alert
Stories about female scam artists have been the flavour of the season on streaming platforms for a few years now (The Dropout, Inventing Anna, and this year’s Scamanda) and while I squirm a bit about the probable misogyny behind highlighting these stories, I can’t lie that they fascinate me. I binged Apple Cider Vinegar, a new Netflix show about the notorious Australian wellness influencer Belle Gibson, who faked brain cancer in order to push her “eating healthy” narrative and sell her app and book, and enjoyed it thoroughly, more so because pseudoscience always gets my goat and nothing is more satisfying than seeing woo-woo peddlers being brought down by their own lies and hubris. Based on an investigation by two journalists, it was also hugely encouraging to be reassured that good journalism matters, even in the age of ChatGPT. —Shrabonti Bagchi
Moves like Serena
Kendrick Lamar’s continued digs at Drake even at the Grammys didn’t impress me much, but bringing Serena Williams on to dance to his diss track Not Like Us at the Super Bowl won me over. If his performance at the halftime show was good, the icing on the cake was her “crip walking” during it. The irony is that when she did the same move on court to celebrate winning gold at the 2012 Olympics, she was torn to shreds by (mostly white) critics. Many called her disrespectful, some even racist because the move was apparently a signature of an LA gang from the 1970s. For her to return 12 years later, perform it and be lauded for it this time warms my heart. Lamar is the revenge king and the whole world is taking notes from him.—Dakshayani Kumaramangalam
Subtle Cues via Art
While aimlessly searching for art that felt like me, I stumbled upon an online art gallery Nook At You’s “Renaissance Punk” collection. As the site describes, these pieces blend classic Renaissance masterpieces with “witty, sassy, and downright hilarious text.” I had to get the one that features a classic Renaissance-style portrait of a seated woman, dressed in period attire, overlaid with the text “Please, Leave By Nine” in a bold hot pink font. A fitting tribute to my newfound morning-person lifestyle, where late-night plans are a thing of the past. It’s been a fantastic conversation starter at sundowners, subtly explaining to the guests why they’re at a sundowner and not a dinner party... —Shephali Bhatt
Everyone's a Detective
I’ve always enjoyed puzzles and crosswords, and while the NYT Games app is fantastic, it’s not very good for my eyes to spend more time on screens. I recently came across The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book, based on some of Christie’s best-loved mystery stories, during a recent trip to Bookworm in Bengaluru, and have rediscovered the childhood joy of having an “omnibus” of puzzles to solve. Just like her books and plotlines, these aren’t the most scintillating puzzles but they’re joyful. There are simple word searches, smart crosswords, engaging riddles that have you locate the carriage the victim occupied on the 4.50 from Paddington, and puzzles to help Poirot find another murderer aboard the Orient Express—in fact, there were eight other crimes that apparently flew below the radar during that investigation. — Shalini Umachandran
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Business NewsLoungeArt And CultureLounge Loves: ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’, the Renaissance Punk art and more
First Published:17 Feb 2025, 11:00 AM IST
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