Category Archives: Monthly Picks
The Culture Now: Palestine
Across Gaza, the West Bank and a scattered diaspora, the past five years have produced an unusually intense body of work — made, in large part, out of catastrophe A note on scope before anything else: “Palestinian culture” today is made across more places than any single capital could hold — Gaza, the West BankContinue reading “The Culture Now: Palestine”
The Culture Now: Lebanon
A country that keeps rebuilding its culture before it finishes rebuilding anything else There is a version of Beirut that exists mostly in retrospect — golden light, café terraces, a cosmopolitan capital briefly nicknamed the Switzerland of the Middle East. That version keeps reappearing in the culture discussed below, not as nostalgia exactly, but asContinue reading “The Culture Now: Lebanon”
The Culture Now: Iran
In a country reshaped by war, censorship and exile, art has become the nearest thing to a free press There is a particular kind of vertigo that comes from trying to describe a culture at the exact moment it is happening. The historian has the comfort of distance; the critic reviewing a single film orContinue reading “The Culture Now: Iran”
Villa San Michele
Above Florence Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, has just reopened above Fiesole after eighteen months of renovation — and the view from the terrace is, as it has always been, the finest available in Tuscany There is a concept the Romans called otium — a form of leisure quite distinct from idleness, devoted toContinue reading “Villa San Michele”
The Examined Life: Wim Wenders and the Radical Ordinariness of Perfect Days
On toilets, cassette tapes, and the philosophical weight of a life lived well Forget about the Oscars, Perfect Days (2023) is all you need this week. There is a scene near the midpoint of Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days in which Hirayama, a cleaner of public lavatories in Tokyo, lies on his futon in the amberContinue reading “The Examined Life: Wim Wenders and the Radical Ordinariness of Perfect Days”
The Novel Rediscovery of Old Favourites
On returning to E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes — two novels about the terrible and liberating cost of desire. There is a particular kind of reading that only happens the second time around. The first encounter with a great novel is, of necessity, an actContinue reading “The Novel Rediscovery of Old Favourites”
The Glamour of New Year’s Eve Style
New Year’s Eve has always been more than a date — it is a performance. The last night of the year invites transformation: sequins shimmer brighter, velvet feels richer, champagne tastes sharper. Fashion has long been the language of this ritual, each decade reinventing how the midnight hour should look. The Jazz Age Sparkle InContinue reading “The Glamour of New Year’s Eve Style”
The Spirit of Giving: A History of Love and Joy at Christmas
Beyond decorations, feasts, and gifts, Christmas has always carried a deeper promise: the idea of love and joy shared in the darkest season. Across centuries and cultures, the holiday has been a time when generosity became ritual, kindness a tradition, and joy a collective act. Medieval Charity In the Middle Ages, Christmas was a momentContinue reading “The Spirit of Giving: A History of Love and Joy at Christmas”
A Christmas of Light
At the heart of Christmas is light: candle flames against the dark, lanterns in windows, fairy lights strung through trees. More than decoration, light is symbol — of hope, of renewal, of winter’s end. Candlelight Rituals In Scandinavia, Saint Lucia’s Day crowns a girl with candles to banish the darkness. In churches, midnight mass glowsContinue reading “A Christmas of Light”
My World of Interiors 