Sharp Magazine May 2015

FORE!

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THE DEFINITIVE 2015 GOLF GUIDE

LOOK

BETTER

MAY 2015

•

FEEL

BETTER

•

KNOW

MORE

S H A R P M A G A Z I N E . C O M

JIMMY FALLON IS HERE FOR A

GOOD TIME (AND A LONG TIME)

W AY S T O

LOOK AND PLAY LIKE A PRO

&

RORY McILROY HAS LIFE

BY THE BALLS

THE KILLING’S

JOEL KINNAMAN MIXES IT UP S I L I C O N VA L L E Y ’ S

AMANDA CREW CHARMS RUSSELL MARTIN COMES HOME FIGHT CLUB 2’S

CHUCK PALAHNIUK BREAKS RULE NO. 1

$ 5 . 9 5 | D I S P L AY U N T I L 0 4 / 2 4 / 2 0 1 5

T H E B L U E J AYS ’

Editor’s Letter

Earnest Goes to Late Night

Sharp is on the air The Sharp Magazine Show is now on SiriusXM Canada Talks (channel 167) every Sunday at 8 p.m. Hosted by myself and Ward Anderson (of SiriusXM’s Ward and Al), it’s yet another chance to enjoy everything you love about Sharp, in a funny, conversational format.

You can also download all of the episodes at SHARPMAGAZINE.COM/SHARPSHOW.

GREG HUDSON Editor-in-Chief

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Photo: Matt Barnes

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NTERTAINERS DON’T GET MUCH RESPECT, at least not in highbrow critical circles. We expect our cultural figures to say something, to be true artists. We want our authors, our movie stars and, perhaps especially, our jesters to have a little depth. Entertainers don’t have depth. We love our entertainers the same way we love breakfast cereal.

But it’s not only about depth. There’s something calculating about entertainment. Take Hollywood’s love of sequels, for instance (pg. 98): the fact that nearly every movie getting made is part of a blockbuster franchise certainly seems to favour appeasement over art. They’re creating a formula and it too easily comes off as cynical. True artists would create art even if it wasn’t projected to pull in hundreds of millions of dollars.

But then, there’s Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon is part of a grand entertainment tradition; a descendant of Vaudeville, variety shows, revues and celebrity roasts filled with actual celebrities. He’s unapologetically an entertainer. But, while his sketches, his bits, his videos that go viral, have clear planning behind them, they never seem calculated.

That’s because Jimmy Fallon never seems calculated. When he took over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno, he changed an institution based on passive entertainment into something more vibrant, surprising and alive. He raised the ability to entertain to an art form. And he didn’t do it by injecting social criticism or meta-commentary into the tired formula. He did it through sheer joy, talent and, most importantly, a disarming dose of earHELPFUL HASHTAGS TO USE nestness. He redeemed what it means WHILE READING THIS ISSUE. to be a simple entertainer so purely that it feels like a new genre. It isn’t, of #VirtualInsanity (pg. 50) course, but it’s not a throwback either.

So much of what we get in our TV, #IStillKnowWhatYouDidLastSequel movies, music and books is arch, ironic (pg. 98) or detached. It seems impossible to create something without it being #Kinnamenswear (pg. 104) some commentary, pastiche, rebuttal or rip off of what has come before. #SweetHomeAlabamaShakes Mostly that’s not a bad thing. But, (pg. 38) dammit, a little bit of earnestness isn’t a bad thing either. This isn’t to say that #yourwifehasacrushonJimmy Fallonbutthatsokay Sharp is going to go all Jimmy Fallon (pg. 80) on you. Frankly, we don’t have it in us to be that relentlessly positive all the time. But wouldn’t it be kind of neat if we did? Then, we could say things like “kind of neat” without calling attention to it.

Until then, we have Jimmy Fallon. Sure, he’s not deep. But he’s never been more important.

Contents May 2015 F E AT U R E S

80

JIMMY FALLON KEEPS A STRAIGHT FACE

On The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon can’t stop cracking up.

Behind the scenes, he’s all business.

Being king of late night is no laughing matter.

86

RORY MCILROY IS IN FULL SWING

76

FATHERHOOD

92

AMANDA CREW: NERD QUEEN

She may look flawlessly cool, but don’t you dare call Amanda Crew that. The Silicon Valley star insists she’s both awkward and nerdy. And she can prove it.

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THE SHARP GUIDE TO SEQUELS

Cinematic creativity be damned, sequels, reboots and remakes are the new normal in Hollywood.

Your guide to surviving the follow-up fever (with a vengeance).

Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall talks to his son about death—the only thing harder to explain to your kid than sex.

78

THE EDITORAT-LARGE

Jeremy Freed braves the wilds of a nude beach in search of serenity now.

92 AMANDA CREW

Photo: Ian Maddox

Not since Tiger Woods has a golfer rocketed to fame like Rory McIlroy. Can the world’s current No. 1 stay on course?

COLUMNS

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Pre-ramble

Where Are They Now?

SNL Cowbell Sketch Edition Because we know you’ve been asking

JIMMY FALLON: Became the host of The Tonight Show; landed on the cover of this magazine.

WILL FERRELL:

Starring this summer in Get Hard with Kevin Hart; co-founder of Funny or Die; comedy legend.

The Coolest Crews (Unranked) Some you want to be in. Some you want to run with. All of them are cool

BUZZ WO R D T H AT WILL TAKE OVER H O L LY W O O D :

“The Pre-boot” A hybrid of a prequel and a reboot wherein we re-start an existing franchise by going back to tell the story of how said franchise began. Example: Casino Royale, Mad Max Fury Road

CHRIS PARNELL: Played a series of memorable TV characters, including Dr. Spacemon on 30 Rock and Cyril Figgis on Archer.

American Crew

J.Crew

We all know the first rule of Fight Club. But there are other rules — a whole list of them. Here are some standouts in case you’ve forgotten:

8 17

NO MAN BUNS.

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN: He was already famous.

HORATIO SANZ:

Lost a lot of weight.

Appears in small, forgettable movies every once in a while.

All Mission Impossible movies ranked

Their quality directly correlates to the quality of Tom Cruise’s haircut.

Here’s hoping they hired a good stylist for the fifth one.

CHRIS KATTAN: Literally, no one knows what happened to Chris Kattan.

Penelope Cruz

KNOW YOUR MONGER A glossary of the English language’s greatest-sounding (and least-understood) suffix

FISHMONGER [FISH-MUHNG-GER]

1

Terry Crewes

2 Live Crew

Mötley Crüe

Speed 2: Cruise Control

WE CAN’T STRESS THIS ENOUGH: NO TALKING ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.

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IRONMONGER COSTERMONGER [COS-TER-MUHNG-GER]

Someone who sells you fruits and vegetables.

3

WARMONGER

Jabbawockeez

[WAWR-MUHNG-GER]

Someone who sells you war.

WHOREMONGER [HAWR-MUHNG-GER]

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Someone who routinely pays for sex.

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NO TALKING ABOUT FIGHT CLUB. REALLY.

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[AHY-ERN-MUHNG-GER]

2

63

NO TEXTING ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.

PARKING WILL NOT BE VALIDATED.

Someone who sells you fish.

Someone who sells you hardware.

MEMBERS WILL ALTERNATE BRINGING ORANGE SLICES ON A WEEKLY BASIS.

Amanda Crew

Man About Town Holt Renfrew Takes Us to Public School Designer duo Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, the braintrust behind acclaimed New York-based label Public School, took over Holt Renfrew’s Toronto flagship store to launch their inaugural Spring 2015 collection.

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Best of Times at the Global Watch Company Canadian jewelry giant Lugaro threw an opening bash for its GWC (Global Watch Company) concept store—featuring timepieces from luxury brands like Glashütte and Longines—in the heart of downtown Vancouver.

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Photos: TK

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May 2015 LOOK BETTER FEEL BETTER KNOW MORE

Guide

Hello Dave MAN SHOULD always be privy to the goings-on under his own roof.

This 170-degree, Wi-Fi connected camera from Netatmo uses facial recognition technology to determine who’s entering and leaving your home, and it sends you customizable notifications each time. Know exactly when your kids come home from school—or when your neighbour is about to stop by to watch your new television. N E T A T M O . C O M — ALEX NINO GHECIU

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Photo: Liam Mogan

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Guide A MAN WORTH LISTENING TO

Chuck Palahniuk Is still fighting the good fight

BY ALEX NINO GHECIU

So, a Fight Club prequel and a sequel?

That’s ballsy. Haven’t you seen The Phantom Menace? Or Speed 2? Your legacy is at stake here.

You know, I never thought I’d have to talk about it for the rest of my life. So, I thought I should expand the story.

Because, as it is, it’s a limited subject.

And, also, because the book really trashes fathers. So I wanted to see the narrator, 10 years later, as a father himself, doing an even worse job than he had perceived his own father doing. I didn’t want him to get away so scot-free. And because Fight Club had a happy ending, and I really don’t believe in happy endings. I think that the moment after that happy ending just comes more bullshit.

And by “more bullshit,” you mean more Tyler Durden?

Well, writing the sequel, I didn’t want Tyler to just be this unexplained aberration that occurred at this magic moment in this man’s life. I wanted to have flashbacks in the sequel, the graphic novel, where we’d see Tyler playing the same role in the lives of the narrator’s father, his grandfather and his great grandfather. He’s been the best friend that’s been unspoken about in every generation of his family. The narrator even knew Tyler as a child. And, in the sequel, he realizes his own child knows things that only Tyler could’ve told him.

HE FIRST RULE OF INTERVIEWING CHUCK PALAHNIUK IS: you talk about Fight Club. Of course you do. The author’s era-defining novel-turned-movie, which stirred much debate over the crisis of masculinity in the late ’90s, still inspires obsessive analysis to this day. So it’s shocking that Palahniuk has decided to break the first rule of a cult classic: don’t risk sullying its legacy by adding to it. He’s penned both a Fight Club prequel—a short story, “Expedition,” in his new book Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread—and an upcoming sequel, Fight Club 2, in the form of a graphic novel. If it ain’t broke, keep beating it into a bloody pulp.

Of course, Palahniuk has done other things over the past couple decades. His confrontational writing style has fuelled 13 more best-selling novels, several of which (Choke, Rant, Invisible Monsters) have become movies. But it’s still the swaggering gospel of Tyler Durden, the Fight Club narrator’s übermensch alter ego who critiques our capitalist-driven society for erasing men’s sense of masculinity, that strikes the sharpest nerve with a generation of disaffected dudes around the world.

Reports of real-life fight clubs still pop up. Academic articles inspired by the book, on topics like “the feminization of American culture,” are still published regularly. People haven’t stopped breaking the first rule of Fight Club—they talk about it constantly. Palahniuk knows this. So he’s doing it, too.

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Do you think every man is doomed to replay his father’s life?

I don’t think so. But I think that if you come from a family where the father has been absent for several generations, then there are very few fathering skills left. Very little to pass on. My father never knew his father. I can forgive him for not being the ideal father because he really didn’t have any model in his life. Once it’s gone for a few generations, it’s tough to bring it back.

In Fight Club, you wrote about the absence of male role models in our society.

Do you still see this problem today?

I’d say it’s worse now. Joseph Campbell, the anthropologist, used to talk about the role of the secondary father. There’d be the biological father, who could take

Guide MUSIC

Alabama Shakedown The band might be leading the Southern rock renaissance— but lead singer Brittany Howard would rather not be played like that

BY ALEX NINO GHECIU

OU’D BE HARD PRESSED TO read an article about Alabama Shakes that doesn’t suggest they’re torchbearers of the Southern sound. But Alabama Shakes don’t want the stinking torch.

Their sophomore record, Sound & Color, sees them try to, well, shake the Southern revivalist tag.

“We try not to think of what we’re doing in such large terms,” says frontwoman Brittany Howard. “Honestly, I would much prefer that people say we were doing what the Alabama Shakes are doing, not trying to recreate something

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that came before us.”

Whatever they’re doing, it’s sure as hell been working. Since releasing their debut, Boys & Girls, in 2012, the Shakes have gone gold, received near-universal critical adulation, played Saturday Night Live and earned two Grammy nominations. Whether they like it or not, the four-piece are a dad-rocking Boomer’s dream: they’ve got humble Cotton State origins, vintage R&B reference points and a powerful black female singer who sounds like the sweaty, done-wrong lovechild of Otis and Aretha.

So it seems counterintuitive for

Wrong Decade, Bro Alabama Shakes aren’t the only band that sounds transplanted from a past era. Here are a few other old souls worth getting hip to:

ZAC BROWN BAND

THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH

Sounds like: Alabama and Sounds like: Bob Dylan, The Oak Ridge Boys. A lot. thanks to his nasally drawl But, hey, it won them and dexterous picking finger. a Grammy.

Listen to: On Dark Bird Is Listen to: Jekyll + Hyde is Home, out this month, he a skillful but unoriginal mix rejigs the folk template of country, bluegrass and with lush orchestration and jam band sounds. ghostly backing vocals.

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SAM SMITH Sounds like: An early ’60s episode of American Bandstand. But he can also sound a bit like Tom Petty.

Listen to: His Grammynominated tune “Stay With Me.” As if you need to be reminded. It’s probably on the radio right now.

the Shakes to divert from the bluesy, foot-stomping sound that’s been their calling card. Sound & Color is a decidedly trippier, more meandering affair; there are psychedelic slow jams (“Gemini”), fuzzed-out funk jaunts (“Future People”), nu-soul meditations (“Over My Head”) and garage-rock bangers (“The Greatest”). It’s a sonic detour that might cost the Shakes some fans. But they’re okay with that.

“It would be dishonest not to say that you think about that occasionally, but we’re really proud of the direction we’re heading,” says Howard. “We have to stay true to ourselves and where we want to go, or else what is the point of doing this?

Also, I’m not really sure what the Southern sound is anymore.”

Southern or not, the Shakes get attention because Howard reminds people of something—not necessarily someone. It’s an ethos of a bygone era.

A time when vocalists conjured raw, agonizing pain at will, crowing and screaming, preaching and confessing, like the wounds are fresh and sting like hell. Even with its genre-bending avant-gardism, Sound & Color still sounds like rock ’n’ roll’s pure, openhearted early days, thanks to her agonized delivery.

Which, of course, makes journalists yearn for even more contextualization: is Howard the torchbearer for true, transcendent rock singers?

“I’ll let the critics figure this out,” she says. “It’s something that should be looked at in 10 or 20 years. This is our second record. We have such a long way to go.”

Guide A WELCOME INTRODUCTION

Carlson Young Laughs in the face of danger

BY BIANCA TEIXEIRA

HERE’S SOMETHING about Carlson Young that makes you feel like you’ve met her before. Maybe it’s her girl-nextdoor affability, or maybe it’s her contagious giggle. More likely, it’s because you definitely have seen her before—that is, if you’re a comedy fan. Young has been a fixture in funny circles for years, guest-starring on shows like The League, The Kroll Show and Key & Peele (Jay-Quelin, anyone?).

“I’ve been obsessed with comedy lately,” Young says. “I love women in comedy—like Amy Schumer—and what they’re doing right now. It’s just so much fun to work on hilarious shows.”

As a rule, the 24-year-old Texas native generally prefers laughing to screaming in terror. But this summer, she’ll be starring in Scream, the television adaptation of the iconic ’90s slasher flick.

It’s a good thing Young’s not above finding the humour in life’s little ironies: “Horror movies scare the crap out of me,” she says. “So it’s kind of funny that I’m a part of this.”

Photo: Ben Miller

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Guide RHINE STONE COWBOY

From: Big Rock Brewers, Edmonton Alcohol: 4.6% Tastes Like: Light and delicate with subtle fruity tones Pair With: Grilled chicken

Q&A with Central City Brewmaster Gary Lohin

FARM TABLE: MILD ALE VICES

HIGH PARK PILSNER From: Junction Craft Brewing, Toronto Alcohol: 3.5% Tastes Like: Crisp citrus fruit Pair With: Fried foods. Any and all fried foods

Join Us on the Light Side

From: Beau’s All Natural Brewing, Ottawa Alcohol: 3.7% Tastes Like: Plum and caramel Pair With: Steak

INDIA SESSION ALE

From: Central City Brewers & Distillers, Vancouver Alcohol: 4% Tastes Like: Tropical fruit–but in a good way Pair With: Seafood

RAFT BEER IS HEAVY ON FLAVOUR. That’s why we like it. But that flavour comes from the core ingredients—namely grains and hops—which also tend to make those brews, well, just plain heavy. Or at least it used to. Now, some of Canada’s best craft brewers are focusing on light beer, or “session beer.” In general, a session beer contains no more than five per cent ABV—because you should be able to drink many of them in a single session without… uh…collapsing. But don’t be fooled: while most experienced drinkers decry lighter brews as being light in (if not entirely absent of ) flavour, brewmasters have taken the challenge to infuse as many tasting notes as possible. The result? A full-bodied, hop-heavy profile that won’t make you tap out.

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Besides the alcohol content, what is the major difference between session ale and a regular beer?

Traditional, heavier beers have the malt backbone. Session ales don’t have that malt so it’s a little tougher to make them. You have to be careful with your flavours or else the beer won’t be balanced and it’ll taste watery.

Is there any difference in brewing?

The alcohol in beer comes from the sugar in barley. The more barley you have, the more alcohol you have. When you’re making a session beer, you don’t have as much barley so you have to balance that out with the amount of hops you’re adding, which should obviously be less as well.

Why are session ales are so popular right now?

There’s been a swing in the pendulum from the higher-gravity beers to the craft session ales because people want a change. Before they may have thought their only option was something like Coors Light, but session ales now are light in alcohol without having a lighter taste or flavour.

Always check the label, though. A few beers get away with calling themselves session ales when they’re still five per cent alcohol. If you’re going to do session ale, do it properly.

Guide FOOD

Get Hooked Steaks and burgers are all well

and good, but fish is what’s grilling this summer. Here’s how to do it right T THE CHASE, one of Toronto’s best power lunch spots, seafood is on the menu. Hell, seafood is the menu. It’s part of a trend across some of the best restaurants in the country, which are all putting fish front and centre. Which is great, especially now that the weather’s nice, because fish is ridiculously healthy. It’s low in cholesterol, high in omega-3 fatty acids (your hairline will thank you) and proven to fight heart disease. Plus, fish is a pretty light meal, so it won’t leave you heavy or lethargic the rest of the day. For all those reasons, we enlisted Michael Steh, Executive Chef of the Chase Hospitality Group, to tell us what to do with our underwater friends this summer.

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Make This: Stuffed Bass FOR THE RECIPE, VISIT SHARPMAGAZINE.COM OR DOWNLOAD THE IPAD EDITION

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Some fishy advice from Chef Michael Steh: 1. In big landlocked cities like Toronto (and, well, most cities in Canada), fish usually arrives at market between Tuesday and Friday. So the first rule is: never buy fish on a Monday.

2. When you’re buying fish, look at their eyes.

They should be clear—cloudy

or white means they’ve been sitting for too long.

3. Make it easy: find a fishmonger you like and can trust and go to him.

4. Cooking fish is all about timing. Have all your ingredients prepared and ready to go, and have the utensils

you’ll need (like a long spatula if you’re grilling the whole thing).

5. Treat fish like you’d treat meat, especially when you’re grilling it. That means when it’s cooked, rest it for a few minutes before serving so the juices stay inside and not all over your plate.

Guide T H E T R AV E L I N G M A N

Time to enjoy San Francisco’s moment, again B Y M AT T H E W B I E H L

3

CHINESE FOOD

2 HE BAY AREA IS BOOMING. There’s the tech stuff, sure. The city is the undisputed capital of the digital universe, home to some of the biggest companies in the US, and a playground for their suitably large-pocketed employees. But the net result of all that disruption is more than just Google busses and outrageous real estate prices. It’s a city that’s thriving on a human level. There’s the natural beauty of the bay, the multi-ethnic influences in food and architecture, and the fact that you can’t walk five minutes without finding a perfect cup of coffee or a killer craft cocktail.

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STAY: 1. THE

1

BATTERY

After Michael and Xochi Birch made a fortune with their social networking site, Bebo, in the early 2000s, they took the next logical step: opening a members’ only club and hotel—think of it like a social network, in real life. The Battery, which opened two years ago, is at the epicentre of cool in the city, nestled among the financial district, the piers

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Mission Chinese started as a hip pop-up inside an existing Chinese food restaurant in the rapidly gentrifying Mission District.

That was almost a decade ago. Since then, the pop-up has become permanent—and even expanded to New York. Chef Danny Bowien became famous for his Kung Pao Pastrami, and you should go out of your way to find out why.

MISSIONCHINESEFOOD.COM

3. SPQR

and Chinatown.

Membership is by invitation only, but booking one of the hotel’s suites as a guest is a kind of loophole. You can take advantage of otherwise private privileges, including access to the restaurant and bar (all local, sustainable California cooking), and the club’s jam-packed event schedule, featuring wine tastings, art talks, live music and all kinds of pop-ups.

In a city littered with well-reviewed, upscale restaurants, SPQR stands out for its totally clever, totally unexpected use of local ingredients. Chef Matthew Accarino transforms traditional Italian cooking with dishes like red beet and beef cheek farrotto and nettle and mushroom cannelloni. And, thanks to owner (and sommelier) Shelley Lindgren, SPQR consistently has one of the best wine lists in the city, focusing on smaller vineyards and lesser-known grapes from across Italy.

T H E B A T T E R Y S F. C O M

S P Q R S F. C O M

TOSCA CAFÉ

Once a gathering place for beat poets and, later, pseudo-beat Hollywood-types like Sean Penn and Johnny Depp, the Tosca was completey revamped last year. It reopened as one of the best restaurants in the city under the care of April Bloomfield, the much-celebrated New York chef. Now, you’ll find a menu of light and fresh Italian-American dishes, like a stellar roast chicken for two, alongside a menu of strong, retro gin cocktails like the Casino Bar Negroni and Tosca Pink Gin. T O S C A C A F E S F. C O M

4. NOPA

Nopa is San Francisco’s very Californian take on the traditional greasy spoon. The menu is all locavore, updated by season and availability.

Some standards include slow-braised pork shoulder with chickpeas and collard greens and soft scrambled eggs with croutons and avocado. Yeah, avocado. You’re in northern California.

Get avocado on everything.

N O P A S F. C O M

Photo: Ed Anderson (SPQR); Alanna Hale (Mission Chinese Food)

EAT: 2. MISSION

Guide

5

T H E T R AV E L I N G M A N

that churns out spoton beers like the earthy and hoppy red rye wheat ale.

BARTLETTHALLSF.COM

SHOP: 6. SELF EDGE

D A J A N I G R O U P. N E T

4 TADICH GRILL

Tadich Grill has been a San Francisco institution for more than 160 years, and the whole operation is suitably old-school: white tablecloths, white-coated waiters, huge portions of local food. Head straight for the counter, sit down and dive into one of their signature seafood dishes, like the steamed clams or the Seafood Cioppino.

TADICHGRILL.COM

DRINK:

THE DEVIL’S ACRE

The Devil’s Acre is an apothecary-themed lounge with revivalist cocktails from

BARTLETT HALL the 19th century, like the Prospector (an ode to pisco) and the Bourbon Crusta (a twist on the traditionally brandy-based drink). Sounds like fun, right? But the best part is in the back, down the secret staircase, at Remedie, the hidden bar-withina-bar, where you can stay long after most places in the neighbourhood close down.

THEDEVILSACRE.COM

5. NIHON

WHISKY LOUNGE

The wall of bottles behind Nihon’s bar is big. Like biggest-onthe-West-Coast big, boasting more than 500 bottles of liquid

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Bartlett Hall may be a full-service restaurant, but you’ll go there for the beer. Along with a strong selection of craft brews from across the country, Bartlett Hall has its own small in-house brewery, helmed by Christopher Wike of the Golden Gate Brewing Company,

SELFEDGE.COM

WELCOME STRANGER

Just north of the trendy Mission and Castro neighbourhoods, Welcome Stranger is the outfitter of laid-back techy cool. The store offers a strong mix of European (Barbour, A.P.C.) and American (Saturdays NYC, Rag & Bone) designers alongside its own eponymous line of unbranded casual staples. You’ll also find the requisite selection of books, home décor, grooming products and perfect, unexpected accessories.

WELCOMESTRANGER.COM

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Bay Area Bean Juice When it comes to coffee on the west coast, Seattle and Vancouver might be the obvious front-runners.

But a few hours south, San Francisco more than holds its own. Hell, Zuckerberg didn’t build Facebook into an empire without a little caffeine buzz now and then. Here’s where you’ll find the best brews in town.

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Fourbarrel

The founders of Fourbarrel are coffee obsessed, and, frankly, they expect their customers to be, too. No Wi-Fi or plugs in the cafe means you’ll have to actually talk to the person in front of you— ideally about the coffee you’re currently drinking. And if you’re really into it, there’s a full schedule of evening classes designed to teach you about sourcing and brewing coffee.

FOURBARRELCOFFEE.COM

Blue Bottle

The biggest mini-chain in town, Blue Bottle’s reach has expanded from the west coast to include both the east coast (New York) and the Far East (Tokyo). Each location is unique, but the commitment to only serving coffee that has been roasted in the past 48 hours is the through-line—and the obvious reason their coffee is so damn popular.

BLUEBOTTLECOFFEE.COM

Sightglass

Sightglass has two locations in San Francisco, but the flagship in SoMA is pretty much unparalleled. The large warehouse space functions as a combined roaster and coffee bar, so you can see the work that goes into every hyper-caffeinated sip.

SIGHTGLASSCOFFEE.COM

Photo: Liam Mogan. Styling: Joanne Jin.

gold. Almost the entire stock is available by the taste, glass or even the whole bottle. For those who don’t like their drinks neat, there are plenty of whisky-based cocktails to indulge in. And if you’re only in town for a few days (and you value consistency above all else), Nihon offers private storage lockers to keep your bottle(s) safe and set aside for next time.

As the name suggests, this store is all about denim. The staff is rigorously trained to help you find the perfect fit and teach you the proper way to care for your new jeans.

Once you get hooked on the meticulously curated stock, take comfort in the fact that you can also get your fix in New York, LA, Portland and, of course, online (thankfully, this store even ships to Canada).

May 2015 LOOK BETTER FEEL BETTER KNOW MORE

Style

TRENDS

Lighten Up They say you can’t wear linen after summer’s over.

And while they’re wrong, you should still throw some on pronto INEN GETS A BAD rap. It wrinkles.

It’s time-sensitive (if you care about conventional rules like that).

And it’s far too often associated with bad beach weddings.

So what’s different now? The best linen suits aren’t just linen—they’re blended with wool or cotton, which adds a bit of structure and means you don’t have to stand stock still to avoid the inevitable wrinkling.

LINEN BLEND SUIT ($1,650), WOOL SWEATER ($195), POCKET SQUARE ($65) BY BOSS.

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Photo: Matt Doyle. Styling: Christopher Campbell for Atelier Management. Grooming: Liz Olivier.

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Style GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

“I grew up in Portugal, studied in London, worked in Italy and moved to Paris. I’ve worked on projects with Nike and UNIQLO. That diversity gave me a broad perspective. It’s important because things are relative when you go to one place or another. There are no formulas for fashion.”

CREATE THE FUTURE

“It’s great to find a starting point from the past, but it is just a base to write the future. It’s pointless to do a photocopy of a collection of something that is from the ’30s or ’40s. There are a lot of things that are interesting in the history of the brand, but then it’s about making them evolve.”

HEROES OF MENSWEAR

Game, Set, Match Lacoste’s creative

director Felipe Oliveira Baptista has breathed new life into the French heritage brand with his refreshingly tailored take on sportswear

BY JOANNE JIN

TRAVEL AND COLLECT

“I travel a lot, so I’ll add one or two days for myself to go see museums, galleries, vintage stores, or just to wander around. It’s not just when I’m in New York or when I go to London or Paris, but it’s everywhere that I go. I always have a camera with me and I’m always seeing and collecting and buying books.”

BE AN INDIVIDUAL

“Fashion has never been so popular for both men and women. What is good for menswear is a lot of the dress codes. It’s a good time to relax and be more of an individual about things. What looks great on someone might look like crap on another person. For me, it’s more about individuality. Whatever makes you comfortable and confident is the key.”

DESIGN PROCESS

“There’s always one starting point.

For the spring/summer 2015 collection, we said, “Yachting.” We got pictures of the boats, we got all the pieces from the archives for sailing, then we started looking at representations of sailing elsewhere, in films and in art. Treating this idea of sails like transparency and lightness is what we wanted to translate into the clothes and how they were constructed. When the main kick-off idea is there, it can be fed by other disciplines and design and art.”

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Style

GAR RET T LE ($4 IGHT 50) X AT S MARK PEC M TAC CNAIR LE Y

GARRETT LEIGHT ($320) AT SPEC TACLE

S OS GR ND R A 65) TLE ($5 CU

S BOS 0) ($23 ÖGA ) ($270

TRENDS

Four Eyes Don’t need glasses?

Too bad F YOU WERE paying attention during the recent awards season, you might’ve noticed a trend: this year’s best actors (the ones over 25) were all sporting glasses with their formalwear. Why? Partly to see, we bet, but also because they’re a great way to look dapper, intelligent and a little like you don’t really care (witness: Michael Keaton and Steve Carrell). Classic shapes are still best, but we fully endorse having fun with colour and materials. Here are the glasses that are so good, you’ll wish you had an astigmatism.

CLAIR E ($420 GOLDSMIT H ) AT S PECTA CLE

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Photo: Liam Mogan. Styling: Joanne Jin.

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May 2015 LOOK BETTER FEEL BETTER KNOW MORE

Cars SPRING CLEANING EDITION

How to Buy an Awesome Car Right Now B Y M AT T B U B B E R S

OWN AN I C O N: LAND ROVER DEFENDER

EGEND HAS IT that the original design for what would become the Land Rover Defender was scribbled in sand on the beach at Red Wharf Bay in Wales.

That was 68 years ago. Since then much has changed. But not the Defender. Sure, you can get it with air conditioning now, but it’s still the rugged, cramped, utilitarian shed-on-wheels it always was.

Its utter simplicity became the canvas upon which so many adventurers projected their dreams. Defenders have made it to every corner of the earth. In the process, it has become one of the few true automotive icons.

This year, Land Rover is ending production of the Defender to make way for an all-new model arriving in a couple of years. So there’s no better time to find an original Defender of your own. In Canada, you’ll have to buy used (’97 was the last year they were sold here) or look at importing from Europe, where you can benefit from our country’s decree that any car built 15 years ago or more need not be environmentally tested. When you do find one, we suggest you drive it somewhere you wouldn’t otherwise go—like maybe to a beach far away from the rest of the world.

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Cars

The Spectre of Indulgence Rolls-Royce’s Ghost Series II is automotive art

BY JEREMY FREED

ROLLS-ROYCE ISN’T really a car,” says a ‘‘ company executive at the launch of the 2015 Ghost Series II sedan in Dallas. “You don’t need it.” With a starting price of $286,750, you can’t really argue this point. Nor is this much of a sales pitch.

Instead, he says, you need to think of it like investing in artwork. Comparing an automobile—even an extremely nice one—to a Rembrandt or a Warhol is a bit of a stretch, but

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not as much as you might think.

Rolls-Royce aims to sell a scant 4,000 vehicles this year, each the result of at least 450 hours of work by a team of 60 craftspeople at the company’s Goodwood, England workshop. Additionally, there’s virtually no such thing as a “stock” Rolls, with the vast majority of buyers customizing their vehicles with everything from bespoke paint colours to hidden humidors to diamonds embedded in the headliner.

While Goodwood won’t make

Specs ENGINE: 6.6 L TWINTURBO V12 POWER: 563 HP GEARBOX: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC PRICE: $350,000 (EST.)

We know what you’re thinking: yes, that’s a mighty big umbrella.

NEW A M E R I C A NA The Cadillac we’ve been waiting for That Cadillac is well on its way to reclaiming its former glory is not exactly news at this point.

The brand once synonymous with success, Elvis, and the American Dream had a rough patch in the ’90s POWER: and early ’00s. But the boys 455 HP in Detroit (by way of SoHo)

>

Specs

any changes that compromise the car’s safety, no other request is too far-fetched. They are in the business of making their customers’ dreams—gaudy, candy-coloured and diamond-encrusted—come to life. A Rolls is the ultimate reward for the successful entrepreneur, admission to an elite club whose members include sultans, sheiks, magnates and assorted billionaires.

Its customers are used to getting their way, and Rolls-Royce is happy to oblige.

The Ghost Series II may be the bottom of the company’s range, but that seems almost irrelevant in terms of the experience it offers. It’s still a Rolls-Royce, and as such, it’s worlds beyond just about anything else on the road. The interior is swathed in sumptuous wood and buttery leather (the latter sourced only from bulls raised in mountaintop pastures, far from mosquitoes and barbed wire, which can mar their hides). Chrome accents are plentiful, and plastic virtually nonexistent (you can find it, but you have to really look). The carpets are of the softest lambswool, and the 18-speaker sound system

turns the cabin into a moveable symphony hall. Under the hood thrums a 6.6-litre V12 good for 563 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque.

Save for the tsunami-like wave of torque that pushes the car forward when you depress the accelerator, you’d scarcely know that beastly engine was there, so blissfully absent are road noise and vibration. A satellite-aided transmission scans the road ahead for curves and downshifts in anticipation, making for a seamless delivery of power. It also has an advanced infotainment system; heated, cooled, massaging seats; and a bevy of other impressive onboard accoutrements, but listing them here seems beside the point. It would be akin to talking about the HVAC system at Falling Water or the paper stock of a Picasso sketch. What it does is entirely secondary to what it is: a statement, an indulgence, a reward, and yes, perhaps a work of art, too. It might just be the world’s most practical car you’ll actually want.

have been producing a strong ENGINE: lineup of world-class coupés 3.6-LITRE and sedans for a few years TWIN-TURBO V6 now. If you’ve somehow not yet looked at the ATS, CTS or GEARBOX: upcoming CT6 flagship, you 6-SPEED MANUshould. You’ll be surprised.

AL, OR 8-SPEED Which is all well and good AUTO for the Cadillac brand and its comeback, but their PRICE: newest car? Sure, it will help $73,000 (EST.) their brand, but it’s not for the kind of achiever that Cadillac typically speaks to.

This one is for us, the people who love cars and driving and, mostly, the thrill of speed.

It’s called the ATS-V, and the fact that it will be available with a six-speed manual gearbox shows Cadillac is very serious about making this a true performance car for enthusiasts.

Other sporting credentials include a twin-turbo, 3.6-litre V6 engine, 455 horsepower, 440 lb-ft of torque, huge six-piston Brembo front brakes and Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires that are stickier than maple syrup.

Cadillac uses the -V suffix to identify its most driver-focused vehicles. In time, who knows: -V may be regarded as highly as other famous automotive letters like M or AMG. Make no mistake, we are witnessing the birth of a new American dynasty. ­— M A T T B U B B E R S

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Column 1

I’m glad that Zev is staying at his mom’s, and doesn’t know yet. The vet administers the injection. When it’s over, we carry Bianca outside and, amongst the graves of pets past, bury her in the moonlight.

•••

Cats and Dogs One of the greatest life skills is talking about life’s end

B Y S H A U G H N E S S Y B I S H O P - S TA L L

O

UR DOG BIANCA EMERGED A DOZEN YEARS AGO OUT of the BC woods not far from my parents’ property. She was about five months old then, and though a mix of something or other, she looked like a pure white German Shepherd. My sister Cassidy, as she does with all strays, brought her home, where she quickly became the most calm, sophisticated, angelic member of our family.

My son Zev, though he’s spent most of his five years in Toronto, far from my folks in BC, adores Bianca (as well as the family cats: Yoda, Trousers, Oscar and Arrow), and often asks to Skype with them.

Now, just as we’ve moved here for a few months, Bianca has been stricken with cancer. Right to the end she’s had that glow, but finally, tonight, we’re putting it out.

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••• IN THE MORNING there’s a message from Zev’s mum saying that she broke the news to him and he has “lots of questions about what happens when I die or grandma or him, etc.” I decide not to ask if I am part of the “etc.”

Knowing this was coming, his kindergarten teachers gave me a picture book entitled Lifetimes. I look at the book while I wait for Zevvy to get out of school. When he does, I kneel down to hug him.

“How are you doing?” I say.

He nods. “I am good.” And we start to walk, down towards the park by the river. “Why did Bianca die?”

“Because,” I say, “she became too

Photo: Getty / Amanda Hall.

FAT H E R H O O D

I HAVE NEVER been good with death.

I guess not many people are, but I’m really bad with it. I remember staying awake at night as a child, obsessing over the idea of one day losing my mum or dad. I still do that. I hate talking about it. The vaguest mention of mortality is enough to derail me for days. Because, when it comes down to it, what is there to say?

But of course I’m going to have to come up with something. I can hug my poor heartbroken mum, dad and sister beneath the winter moon, but Zevvy will require something else.

I go to bed, sad for my family and dreading the day to come.

“The vaguest mention of mortality is enough to derail me for days.

Because, when it comes down to it, what is there to say?”

sick to get better again.” And then I start to paraphrase Lifetimes, which begins, “There is a beginning and an ending for everything that is alive. In between is the living.” I point out the ducks and the trees around us, guessing at their various beginnings and endings, and their living in between…

“But why did you give Bianca something that made her die?” says Zev. Oh. Of course. Euthanasia is such a complicated word for the most obvious question.

“Because,” I say, “she could no longer eat or drink, and we didn’t want her to suffer or be scared.”

He doesn’t seem sure about this, but nods, and I go back to pointing out ducks in the middle of their lifetimes until finally Zev says he’s hungry.

••• THOUGH I’M SURE I screwed up the death talk, Zev seems just fine—inquisitive, but not angry or sad. And that night he decides it is finally time to watch the original Superman movie, with Christopher Reeves. For three years he’s been too scared to try. When Pa Kent keels over from a heart attack we talk about dead dads—at least Superman’s. “But it’s ok, right?” says Zev. “Because he has another dad.”

“His other dad’s dead, too, though,” I say, sort of swallowing my words at the end.

“But he can still talk to him,” says Zev. It’s been a long day, and all I can do is nod at Marlon Brando’s ghostly head in the Fortress of Solitude.

••• A COUPLE DAYS later we have a little memorial for Bianca, so that

Zev can plant some flowers and say goodbye. Our neighbour brings over her five-year-old son, who is a particularly sensitive soul. He and Zev complement each other well.

“When my mommy told me Bianca died, I cried and cried for two whole days,” he says. His mom nods solemnly.

“When my mommy told me Bianca died,” begins Zev, “I said, ‘But we still have four cats…’” Unsure if this is a healthy outlook or a sign of sociopathology, I just nod, and kneel down to dig a hole for the primroses.

A week later, Yoda dies during the night. The wise and noble black cat given to my sister Reilley 17 years ago had been declining over the past year and, finally, last night, offered up his little Jedi ghost. I tell Zev while he’s still in pajamas, and he goes into my parents’ room to look. He pats the small lifeless body and says, “Goodbye, Yoda.” Then he asks if he can have waffles for breakfast.

“Yes,” I say.

“With maple syrup?”

“Yes.” That evening, for the first time ever, and without any sort of prompt, Zev tells me he loves me. He says it a few times, not solemn or silly: “I love you, Daddy.” I try not to let him see that it’s got me choked up.

We finish watching Superman.

Lois Lane dies in an earthquake and Superman turns back time by flying around the Earth backwards, really fast.

“No,” I say to Zevvy, before he can even ask. “That absolutely doesn’t happen. Not even Superman could do that. Even if he was real.”

I realize that superheroes might not be the best examples for the comprehension of mortality.

I THOUGHT THIS column was just going to be about learning how to talk to my kid about death a much less tactile dad skill than I usually attempt. But sometimes when it rains it pours cats and dogs. And now here we are, shovels in hands, and it’s about me teaching my son to dig a grave, right next to the one I dug last week the one my dad, Zev’s grandpa, showed me how to dig.

My parents have had this property for thirty years. In that time they’ve lost six dogs and five cats, and my dad has been forced to master the art of digging four-legged graves. You’ve got to go deep enough so that living animals don’t come burrowing, and not so deep that you hit the water table. The walls should slope inward, creating more room at the bottom than at the top, to allow room for the legs to fold and tuck beneath. You stand in the grave, and lay the body at your feet.

••• I HAVE REMOVED the primroses to dig the new hole, and now the neighbour’s boy is back to help re-plant them. Before he can start a new speech about his grief, Zev says, “When we planted these flowers before, I cried for a long time.”

This isn’t true, of course, but I appreciate the sentiment. I’d been expecting him to shrug and say, “We still have three cats left…”

But now the boys just bow their heads. I stroke Zev’s hair then hug him. What, after all, is there ever to say?

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T H E E D I T O R - A T- L A R G E

The Nudist and the Neurotic Extreme relaxation, it turns out, isn’t for everyone

BY JEREMY FREED

M

Y FIRST EVENING AT THE NUDE BEACH, I was invited to a memorial service for a guy named Dave. I’d never met Dave, but several people assured me that, had I had the chance, he would certainly have befriended me. Dave was just that kind of guy. I quickly learned that he was known for three things: his love of Pink Floyd, his staunch commitment to nudism and for making the best pot brownies in town. A one-time heavy drinker who’d messed up and done a spell behind bars, Dave had cleaned up his act, got sober and found his paradise here at the beach. He

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and his wife were retired. They spent their winters in Mexico and could usually be found walking down the sand, arm in arm, naked as the day they were born. The band played a rendition of “Wish You Were Here.”

Someone sang “Dust in the Wind.”

A tribute in the corner contained a framed picture of Dave, surrounded by photos of him and his friends from the beach. On top of the urn containing Dave’s ashes, wrapped in foil, was his last pot brownie.

I’m what you’d call an anxious person, my mind a constant stream of worries, what-ifs and potential dangers to be avoided. On occasion this helps me: I’m generally prepared, I’m observant, I don’t often lose my keys.

Sometimes I wonder, though, if these fringe benefits balance out a racing mind prone to pessimism and full of uninvited bad premonitions. As I embarked upon this grand revision of my life, I had two questions I wanted answered. Was there any circumstance under which I could relax my mind and free myself from worry in the long term? And second, what would I be giving up in return?

This, in short, is why I attended Dave’s memorial. A few weeks into my trip, and completely by accident, I arrived at probably the most relaxed place in Mexico (making it, in all likelihood, among the most relaxed in the world). It’s a little beach town known for its robust populations of dreadlocked hippies, gay men and gringo snowbirds with incredibly deep tans. It also happens to contain

Photo: Getty / Barnaby Hall.

Column 2

“I’m generally prepared, I’m observant, I don’t often lose my keys. Sometimes I wonder, though, if these fringe benefits balance out a racing mind prone to pessimism and full of uninvited bad premonitions.”

one of the few nude beaches in Mexico. There’s a lot of yoga here, not a lot of shoes and not much to do other than hang out on the sand, drink cheap beer and be just as weird as you feel like. Walk down the beach at any time of day and you’ll find people in various degrees of undress reposed on the shore, juggling, practising aikido, doing sun salutations, fishing and bodysurfing in the Pacific. There’s a shop selling locally made homeopathic lotions and mobiles with birds on them. Whales breach along the horizon, iguanas skitter through the jungle and baby sea turtles flop their way towards the waves.

It’s the sort of place people arrive for two-week vacations and never get around to leaving. It is to relaxation what Rotterdam is to shipbuilding, what Napa is to wine: it’s not just the chief industry, it’s a way of life.

I had been to the clothing-optional beach in Toronto on several occasions, but never felt comfortable being nude myself. I find the idea of being naked in public in broad daylight deeply unsettling. I think I was four years old the last time I swam nude in the ocean. Not long after that, I became both self-conscious and afraid of sea creatures, and that was pretty much that. But it felt different here. Or maybe I felt different. Or maybe it was the couple frolicking in the surf in front of me wearing nothing but luchador masks.

They looked like they were having so much fun. I slid off my trunks and walked towards the water, feeling the

sun and wind on my body. The water was cool but not cold. A wave rolled in, white foam forming at its crest as it began to break in front of me.

I shut my eyes and dove beneath it, kicking my legs, gliding through the water. I surfaced on the other side, tasting briny sea, ocean sparkling to the horizon, seawater dripping from my hair. I rolled onto my back and floated, the sun warming my eyelids.

It was nicer than I could ever have imagined. I felt completely free.

The next few days dissolved in a haze of sun and saltwater. I finished one book and began another. My tan deepened. I began to know the local characters by name. I was adjusting to the pace of life. I swam nude every day, and it was still nice, but it was never as good as that first time. One afternoon I had my hair cut by an aging, relentlessly energetic crossdresser named Chip who lived in a second-story palapa with a trapeze hanging from the ceiling. When I arrived, he was baking muffins. A monosyllabic young man with the torso of an underwear model and a lizard tattooed on his shoulder lounged on a sofa, smoking a joint.

When he finished with my hair, Chip insisted I try the trapeze, shouting after me as I left, “Come over anytime! We have so much fun here!” I believed him, but I also had a nagging feeling that perhaps I wasn’t capable of enjoying life here as much as he did. That his was a level of relaxation for which I was not suited.

I began to realize there were two

kinds of people here. There were the young ones, mostly stoned hippies living in tents along the beach, the more industrious of whom hustled pesos from yoga classes and handmade jewellery. And then there were Dave’s peers, the lifers like Chip, the ones who’d already had careers and families and owned homes in colder places where clothing was not optional. Like me they were all here in pursuit of relaxation, seeking to escape the anxieties of life back home. And for the most part it seemed to be working. But it wasn’t working for me. Given time, perhaps I could have earned a place in their ranks—taken up hemp weaving or juggling, or spent my evenings playing cribbage and drinking sundowners—but I couldn’t see myself being content doing either. It wasn’t just the lack of first-world toilet facilities I was missing, it was my friends back home, dinner parties and wine, reliable high-speed Internet, summer cottage weekends, good bread. I had imagined myself finding peace in a simple life of simple pleasures—sun on my shoulders, a cool ocean to swim in, a good book, a cheap taco— but these on their own were not a solution to my anxiety. I thought of Dave’s memorial, the pot brownie and the photos and his friends playing his favourite song. He had been happy here and I understood why.

He had everything he needed. My beach was out there, and I suspected I knew where to find it. It was a lot closer to home than I’d ever thought.

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INSIDE THE LAUGH-AMINUTE WORLD OF JIMMY FALLON: TALK SHOW HOST, FATHER, GROWN-UP

By Peter Saltsman

Photo by Art Streiber/ AUGUST

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THE SHARP GUIDE TO THE GREEN All the gear you need to up your game this season. Plus, a few lessons on living large, starring Northern Ireland’s golden boy Rory McIlroy 86 SHARPM AGA Z IN E .C OM

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Photo: Getty / Karim Sahib.

AMANDA CREW IS NOT COOL. SO QUIT SAYING The Silicon Valley star sets us straight

By Coleman Molnar

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Knit tank by Aqua; bra by La Perla; shorts by A Gold E; shoes by Converse.

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SHARP’S GUIDE TO PRETTY MUCH EVERY MOVIE YOU’LL BE WATCHING FROM NOW ON

You can bemoan them, deride them or say they represent a barren wasteland of cinematic creativity—but you’re still going to see them. (Box office numbers don’t lie!) Sequels, reboots, remakes and franchises are the new normal in Hollywood. Why make a movie, if it can’t spawn another three? We welcome the status quo (with a few caveats) and celebrate the best in cynical movie magic. Look Who’s Loving the Sequel, Too!

FIRST: WHY SEQUELS MATTER No, they aren’t all great, but they aren’t all dumb, either

BY TOMAS HACHARD

ARLIER THIS YEAR, American Sniper’s US box office haul pushed past the $337 million mark, making it the highest-grossing film released in 2014. To understand what an anomaly that is, you can look at the other 14 movies that round out the top 15 highest-grossing films of last year: all but one of them is a sequel or a potential sequel with a follow-up already in the works. The last time a non-franchise movie topped the annual US box office was in 2000, when How the Grinch Stole Christmas came out. And given that a new animated version of The Grinch is set for a 2017 release, even that might be stretching the case.

American Sniper’s significance, then, is its insignificance; its success is a blip in the data. And blips aren’t what Hollywood is about these days. In an article for Grantland late last year, Mark Harris counted 70 sequels planned over the next six years—47 in the next two alone, meaning that the total will surely be much higher. He also counted 32 Marvel/DC films, most of which, for all intents and purposes, serve as a prequel, sequel or companion to the rest. Franchises “are the movie business,” Harris argued with little celebration, and, frankly,

both the argument and sentiment are easy to understand. Anticipating the second Avengers, third Taken, fourth Transporter, fifth Pirates of the Caribbean, sixth Resident Evil, and seventh Fast and the Furious can feel like climbing further up a ladder of redundancy. A pernicious syllogism begins to form: we live in the age of sequels. Sequels suck, therefore our culture, as far as movies are concerned, is a black hole.

And yet, light does manage to shine through; quality can prevail. Sequels can be more than enjoyable wastes of time. They can be good. The key is calibrating our expectations so we can see that. If we’re going to talk about sequels—and at this point in the year, it’s either that or hibernating until November—we have to disregard The Godfather Two. Ignore The Dark Knight. Forget The Matrix sequels (like, really forget those).

Movie series in which visionary directors pursue high-minded ambitions are exceptions to the rule. More often, a good sequel is one that offers sparks of novelty within an otherwise expected, predictable package.

This can be a matter of writing—the WikiLeaks-and-Edward Snowden-inspired political thriller at the heart of Captain America: The Winter Soldier—or going full throttle with the visual spectacle, as with Brad Bird’s floating camera providing the high-flying Dubai set pieces in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. It’s rarely about overturning formulas. It’s about accommodating new ideas within them.

In this respect, the Mission Impossible series might in fact be the guiding light for our age.

Since 1996, it has been branded by Tom Cruise, but each instalment has been marked by the unique style of its four directors (in order, Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams and Bird). The four—soon to be five—movies in the series may all sound the same (literally, in the case of its iconic theme music) but the change in directors ensures they never look alike.

Compare, for instance, sequences in De Palma’s original and Bird’s fourth instalment that, on the face of it, are exactly the same: in both, Ethan Hunt has to break into a highly secured room to physically hack into a computer or server. De Palma’s scene is a paragon of precise, unflashy, near-silent visual storytelling; Bird’s is operatic, his camera flying drone-like as Hunt climbs a Dubai skyscraper to enter a server room from the outside.

To put it another way: the suspense in De Palma’s scene is predicated on watching whether a bead of sweat hanging on Hunt’s glasses will drop two inches onto a motion-sensor floor; in Bird’s, it’s predicated on Hunt’s potential 130-storey drop to his death onto the streets of Dubai.

I offer no preference here, only the lesson that there are many ways for Ethan Hunt to break into heavily secured rooms. And in most sequels, it’s the choice of that path, not whether or not to go down it, that demarcates the space for creativity.

Of course, you can’t ignore the money. Sequels have always been easy ways to sap an idea for all MAY 20 15

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Blurred Lines

Joel Kinnaman deftly mixes sportswear and suiting, proving the two are no longer mutually exclusive Photography by Kourosh Keshiri Styling by Gaelle Paul for Walter Schupfer Management

Viscose blend double-breasted suit ($600) by Tommy Hilfiger; cotton shirt ($100) by Kenneth Cole; leather sneakers ($130)

by Banana Republic; acetate sunglasses ($450) by Tom Ford

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Rank & File

1. DAVID DUCHOVNY He’s got a new folk-rock album, a new book, and the X-Files are coming back. All those years watching Red Shoe Diaries and who knew the man was such a polymath?

2. THE ROLLING STONES The rockers are re-releasing Sticky Fingers. The zipper’s still there, but the cotton briefs underneath have been replaced by Depends. (Get it?!

Cuz they’re old!)

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3. LETTERMAN He’s leaving TV, presumably for good. At least we’ll always have Buzzfeed when we need a Top 10 fix.

4. THE KENTUCKY DERBY It might be the mint juleps talking, but horse racing is far and away the classiest sport to pretend to be into.

6. VICTORIA DAY We’re still holding out for Queen Latifah Day. There’s less beer involved, but she’s still our favourite Queen.

5. WOMEN FALLING DOWN This month Rebel Wilson and Melissa McCarthy go head to head to see who can fall down more, while keeping their dignity intact. We never thought we’d say it, but maybe this gag is getting tired.

7. NORMCORE FOOD Taking a cue from the world of fashion, expect to find a wave of intentionally normal food. Soda crackers with everything.

Entertaining has suddenly gotten a lot easier.

9. ALLERGIES The one thing that makes us pine for winter when the weather is warming up. Allergies suck, huh?

10. SRIRACHA It’s the new bacon. And we’re pretty tired of bacon. Listen, it’s just hot sauce.

Photos: Getty / Rob Carr, CBS Photo Archive, Joe Kohen.

Our highly scientific ranking of things that do and do not deserve your attention

8. BARE ANKLES There’s nothing wrong with the J.Crew catalogue look, but we’d like to go on record and say there’s nothing wrong with socks, either.