Polo Lifestyles January 2024: Bradley Cooper's "Maestro"

VOLUME VIII / ISSUE I / JANUARY 2024

ST. R EGI S ASPEN WORL D S N OW P OLO C H AMP ION S H I P

NEW UBER OF THE SKIES

MAESTRO

PRIVATE JETS GIVING PREMIUM TRAVEL SERIOUS COMPETITION

THE WORLD'S MOSTEXPENSIVE DESTINATIONS DON'T WEAR OUT YOUR WELCOME 5 RULES FOR A HAPPY & HEALTHY 2024 THE UNTHINKABLE IS HAPPENING TO WINE IN FRANCE

7 SCIENCE-BACKED REASONS TO SPEND TIME ALONE IN 2024 DON'T ASK A.I. TO MIX YOU A DRINK THE BEST AGE GAP FOR RELATIONSHIPS

NEW YEAR NEW MINDSET $32.95 USD

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VOLUME VIII / ISSUE I / JANUARY 2024

Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand Publisher

Dr. Michael J. Snell

Joshua Jakobitz

Lifestyles & Luxury Automobile Contributor

Editor-in-Chief

William Smith

Joey Velez

Copy Editor & Philanthropy Contributor

Wellness Contributor

Claire Barrett

Justin "Goliath" Johnson

Dana Romita

Raphael K. Dapaah

Head of Photography

Luxury Real Estate Contributor

Wellness Contributor

Art Contributor

Brand Representatives

Amritlal Singh

Design Contributor

Dr. Michael J. Snell - NYC Miriam P. Owens - NYC Stanley Pierre-Etienne - Spain Justin Johnson - Atlanta

Polo Photographers

Contributing Photographers

Ascension Contributor

Tom Landry

Katerina Morgan Justine Jacquemot Irina Kazaridi Helen Cruden Eva Espresso Matias Callejo Mark Beaumont

Xavier Merchet-Thau Aubrey Chandler Eric Carré Eva Espresso Rob Miskowitch Margarita Crotto

Polo Lifestyles is a publication of HT Polo Publishing Co. 995 Detroit Avenue, Suite A Concord, CA 94518 Cover photo of Bradley Cooper courtesy The New Yorker Content Copyright © Polo Lifestyles 2023 All Rights Reserved.

For information or to advertise Contact marketing@pololifestyles.com Read online at www.pololifestyles.com On Instagram & Facebook @pololifestyles A proud partner of Issuu, The Impression and Mixam

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NATIONAL POLO CENTER Joe Barry Memorial Ylvislaker Cup 2024 GAUNTLET OF POLO · C.V. Whitney Cup · USPA Gold Cup · U.S. Polo Open Championships Women's U.S. Polo Open Championships USPA Junior Open Final Florida Circuit 16-Goal Series ST-MORITZ Snow Polo World Championship KITZBUHEL Snow Polo World Cup GRAND CHAMPIONS POLO CLUB USPA North American Cup USPA National 20-Goal Legends of Polo Carlos Gracida Memorial AUCKLAND POLO CLUB NZ Polo Open MIAMI BEACH Miami Beach World Championship

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SCOREBOARDS & COCKTAILS

ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP

PHOTOS FROM ASPEN Page 28

POLO LIFESTYLES EDITORS & CONTRIBUTORS

Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand

Josh Jakobitz

Claire Barrett

William Smith

Publisher Polo Lifestyles @haiti_polo_captain

Editor-in-Chief Polo Lifestyles @joshuajakobitz

Claire Barrett Photography May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust

Eric Carré

Eva Espresso

Katerina Morgan

Photographer EC Photography @ti_carre

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Photographer

Eva Espresso Photography

@Eva.espresso

Head of Photography

Copy Editor & Contributor

@clairebarrettphoto

@willismith_2000

Polo Photographer Horse Polo Art Gallery @horsepoloartgallery

Amritlal Singh

Spirituality Contributor Monarch Visionary @monarch_visionary

Raphael K. Dapaah Art Contributor Dapaah Gallery @dapaahgallery

Joey Velez

Wellness Columnist

Velez Mental Performance

@velezmentalhealth

Michael J. Snell

Lifestyles & Luxury Automobiles Contributor @agnello_1

Tom Landry

Design Contributor House on Third @tomlandry2

Dana Romita

Real Estate Contributor Douglas Elliman @danaromita

Justin Johnson

Wellness Contributor Goliath Coaches

@goliathcoaches

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Don't overstay your welcome, page 68

What's the best age gap for a relationship? page 72

Predict the outcome of a coin Private jet travel using the toss accurately, page 54 Uber model, page 78

BRADLEY COOPER PORTRAYING LEONARD BERNSTEIN IN 'MAESTRO' & CAPTURING EMMY FAVOR PAGE 104

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ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP

BY NICK TININENKO

W

E SNUCK UP TO NAPA FOR THE YEAREND HOLIDAYS. FOR THE LAST YEAR, NAPA HAS BEEN OUR ESCAPE FROM THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA. With limitless options for day outings and evening dining, along with the crisp air and foliage so dense you can’t see the sun, it feels like a different world. There’s limited cellular service and out of range of WiFi, making my iPhone simply an overpriced camera, reminding me of a trip to Europe between my sophomore and junior years when I schlepped my flip phone all over Europe only to turn it on long enough to snap photos for my screensaver (the power cord wasn’t compatible with my adapter). I had a very artsy photo of the Coliseum on my lock screen for many years, but I digress.

Twenty-twenty-four is literally around the corner as I type this letter. By the time I catch up on a little sleep and postholidays reorganization, it will be 2024 and I really can’t believe it at all. I love the yearly ritual of changing the heading on Polo Lifestyles’ cover to update the volume, issue and month/year combo. It is one of the ways I mark the end of one era and the beginning of a new one.

Another one of my annual rituals is to revisit my day-by-day Moleskin notebook, noting anything that I might have missed in the flurry of activity and to ceremoniously open a brandnew planner. I have used a Moleskin notebook (Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Bruce Chatwin are among its notable fanatics) for many years now, and I love inscribing it with my contact information. Because I first started using Moleskin notebooks when living in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, I have – and continue to – offer a reward for the return of the notebook in local Haitian currency: 1,000 gourdes.

Many years ago, that was the equivalent of about $25 American dollars. Now, it’s significantly less, but out of habit and affection for the gourde, I still offer 1,000 gourdes for the return of a misplaced Moleskin to its (panicky) owner.

What are some of the ways you mark the end of one year and the beginning of a new one? Do you have any rituals of your own? Let me know on social media @joshuajakobitz or of course @pololifestyles.

Best, Josh Jakobitz Editor-in-Chief josh@pololifestyles.com

Beyond first class is a class of one.

INNOVATION EXISTS PURELY TO SERVE YOUR COMFORT, SAFETY AND CONVENIENCE VIA MULTIPLE SENSES. A VIRTUAL VOICE ASSISTANT LISTENS TO SERVE YOU. LIGHTING AND FRAGRANCE SUBTLY SOOTHE YOU.

CHOOSE YOUR X.

M B U S A . C O M M E R C E D E S - B E N Z U S A

VOLUME VIII / ISSUE I / JANUARY 2024

serenaandlily Furry friends love snow just as much as we do!

classicboats What do you think the dress code is for dinner like this?

er_stbarths Join a yogi for al fresco session following a big night out in St-Barths

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gstaad_official See you in Gstaad before Snow Polo starts in Europe this season

champagnepommery New Years is for champagne... and remember, champagne always tastes better out of a bigger bottle!

stickandball Alice Roosevelt was an avid equestrian, though gender roles at the time limited her options

loropiana The most-luxury igloo concept we've ever seen... where do we sign up?

tiffany Tiffany & Co. bringing just the right amount of sparkle for NYE

lalique Well, isn't this just the ice bucket to end all other ice buckets?

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Click and comment on our choices... Tag @pololifestyles.

We will share noteworthy comments with you next month.

irinakazaridi A gorgeous polo pony captured by fan favorite Irina Kazaridi

nobleman Where will your adventures take you in 2024?

harrywinston This iced-out piece from Harry Winston says you know how to party

moetchandon Cheers to 2024 and all the things we're going to accomplish this year

hauteliving You can't be missed on the slopes in these custom skies

stregisaspen As the winter glitterati crowd descended on Aspen, the St. Regis pulled out all the stops

theclubofstyle Don't worry, they've done this before!

bombardierjets That's a view of fireworks you won't soon forget

taittinger Whether toasting, spraying, sipping or indulging, Champagne Taittinger has a bottle (or two) for you

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We welcome the 2024 POLO SEASON In the Palm Beaches

@USPOLOASSN | USPOLOASSNGLOBAL.COM

Linen Slipper by Stubbs & Wooten

Retail Shop Opening Step into the 2024 Polo Season with our new luxury apparel collection.

Open every Sunday from 1 - 6 pm

Men’s EcoTech Polo

npcshop.com

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ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL: CASABLANCA 8 / 6 ASPEN VALLEY

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ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP ASPEN VALLEY POLO CLUB

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C

two-pointer in the three-day tournament and was named Most Valuable Player. It was Roldan’s fifth St. Regis tournament victory in eleven years.

In front of a sold-out crowd.

Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, 3, Hilario Figueras, 5, Nic Roldan, 9) held off Aspen Valley (Jason Crowder, 6, Marc Ganzi, 1, Adolfo Cambiaso, 10) for a hard-fought 8-6 victory.

“Any win is a good win, and this was a good win,” Roldan said. “This is one of our favorite events of the year. Grant and Hilario played amazing (sic) and are two competitive players. Kudos to them for stepping up and giving their all.”

Nine-goaler Nic Roldan scored a game-high five goals including his first

Argentine 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso, the sport’s greatest all-time player,

ASABLANCA WON ITS FIRST ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY AT RIO GRANDE PARK.

made his U.S. debut on snow. Unlike his 10-goal performance including three two-pointers, in Friday’s indoor arena qualifier, Casablanca held him scoreless and shut down Aspen Valley’s offensive attack that had scored 23 goals in four chukkers.

“Adolfo is the greatest of all time by far,” Roldan said. “He keeps impressing us and blowing our minds with what he’s doing. We didn’t really think about playing against him. It was a very tough game and very competitive. It could have gone either way.” page 31

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It was Ganzi’s fourth St. Regis title. Last year the Casablanca Ambassador teamed with Hilario Figueras and Tommy Biddle for Blade & Bow’s first tournament victory.

“I think this was a bigger win,” Ganzi said. “Having Adolfo’s debut and making the final and being able to beat him is huge. Having a fun team to play with against a very good team, this was a bigger win.”

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“It was a fun final,” Ganzi said. “Shutting out Cambiaso was rare. I don’t think he knew what to expect playing on snow. It was very different for him. If we could keep the ball away from Adolfo we knew that would benefit us greatly.”

“A hundred percent having him here was huge and added to the tournament,” Ganzi said. “Obviously, he is the best player ever. His accomplishments speak for themself. We were fortunate to get

him to come this year and add another amazing player to a great list of 10-goalers. It seemed like he enjoyed it and adapted very quickly.”

In a hotly contested game, Casablanca jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind goals

by Roldan and Figueras. Roldan’s two-pointer and another Figueras goal gave them a 5-2 advantage after two chukkers. “Two-pointers are always tough,” Roldan said. “I think there’s a lit-

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ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP ASPEN VALLEY POLO CLUB

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ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP ASPEN VALLEY POLO CLUB

tle bit of luck involved. You just have to try to hit it as softly as possible and hope that it just stays online, and it did.”

Aspen Valley clawed its way back in the third chukker for a 3-0 shutout to tie the game at 5-5. Going into the fourth and final chukker, the lead changed hands twice before Casablanca went ahead on Roldan’s 15-yard penalty conversion to break a 6-6 tie with two minutes left.

Figueras added an insurance goal for an 8-6 final.

“We got off to a quick start and then they started to work their way back in,” Roldan said. “In the end the idea was to be patient and not give away any fouls. It worked out well.”

In addition to Roldan’s five goals, Figueras had three. Crowder led Aspen Valley with three goals, Ganzi had one 34

and they were awarded two penalty-ones Added Ganzi, “We wanted to defend them well and play pretty simple. We wanted to do the same things we did the other day defensively. Most of our tactics were defensive. In the end, playing open polo and working a little harder for each other I think made the difference. We played a hard, smart game.”

Casablanca, the tournament’s apparel sponsor, produces the world’s leading equipment for polo players with the highest safety ratings and supplies supreme quality clothing.

“It’s great for Casablanca,” Ganzi said. “I am happy for the brand and happy to get their name on the trophy. It’s cool to be able to lead the team and do it. I think they should be happy.”

P H OTO G RA PHS BY N IC K TIN IN E N KO

There were three Best Playing Pony blankets awarded. The BPP for the final was Nadia, a chestnut mare played and bred by Cambiaso and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm. The tournament BPP was Nobu, played by Roldan, bred and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm.

The American Polo Horse Association BPP was Highlands, played by Hilario Figueras, also bred and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm.

In the Aspen Cup, St. Regis (Santos Bollini, 2, Juan Bollini, 6, Nacho Figueras, 6) defeated NetJets (Ricky Cooper, 3, Pete Webb, 6, Sugar Erskine, 7), 11-6, for third place. Figueras, St. Regis Connoisseur and team captain, scored a game-high 10 goals and was named MVP. On Saturday, Edmiston (Teo Calle, 1, Pancho Bensadon, 8, Alejandro Novillo

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Astrada, 7), rallied for a 5-4 victory over Blade & Bow (Scott Wood, 2, Juan Martin Nero, 10, Pablo Spinacci, 6) to win the High Alpine Cup and finished fifth. Argentine Alejandro Novillo Astrada was MVP. He scored the only two-pointer of the game.

The inaugural Potamkin Charity Chukker was held in honor of beloved Aspen resident Robert Potamkin, the father of Melissa Ganzi, who passed away recently. Each goal scored in the chukker earned a donation to charity.

Potamkin Black (Grant Ganzi, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Juan Bollini), earned $9,000 for the Calloway Young Cancer Center, winning 9-7 over Potamkin Yellow (Michael Calle, Sugar Erskine, Pancho Bensadon), earning $7,000 for the Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation.

Astrada led with a game-high five goals, Ganzi had three goals and Bollini added one.

In the Celebrity Polo Match, Sterling (Vinny Sangaline, Michael Sangaline, Aurora Figueras) defeated Lugano (Federico Farina, Sterling Jones, Michael Calle), 5-2. Vinny Sangaline and Figueras each had two goals for Sterling.

One of the world’s top snow polo tournaments and only snow polo tournament held in North America, was the final stop of the World Polo Tour. It’s also one of Aspen’s major international sporting events, attracting fans from all over the world.

For the eleventh consecutive year, Aspen Valley Polo Club owners Melissa and Marc Ganzi hosted the world-class event in a holiday setting against a backdrop of snow-covered mountains, kicking off the holiday social season in Aspen.

“Every year it seems to get better and better,” Roldan praised. “Melissa and her team have done an incredible job of putting this event together. We’re all hugely appreciative and very grateful to be able to experience this. It’s an awesome experience and (a) great way to end the year.

The win is just a bonus.”

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ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP ASPEN VALLEY POLO CLUB

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ST. REGIS WORLD SNOW POLO CHAMPIONSHIP ASPEN VALLEY POLO CLUB

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ASPEN

Each year, come wintertime, the party scenes of NYC and LA relocate to Aspen; skiers and après-skiers alike descend on the village, which is rapidly catering to meet the demands of these crowds—from new Michelin-starred dining destinations to luxury retail pop-ups to top-notch parties.

This December proved to be one of the more eventful ones—luring Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Kathy Hilton, Shaun White, Nina Dobrev, Zoey Deutch and more.

It kicked off with snow polo.

Marking its 11th year, the two-day event is the brainchild of Aspen Valley Polo Club proprietors Melissa and Marc Ganzi in partnership with St. Regis Aspen, and brings together renowned polo players, including Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Adolfo Cambiaso and Jason Crowder atop their prized ponies competing for the St. Regis Snow Polo Cup. But it’s on the sidelines where the real fun is had.

Lounging in the outdoor living room setup that felt equal parts Polo Bar and mountaintop chalet were Zoey Deutch, Pom Klementieff, Anna Kendrick and Naomi Glasses, who tried their hand at sabrage, the art of opening a bottle of Champagne with a saber, and enjoyed cuddles with the St. Regis Aspen’s resident mascot, Kitty the Bernese Mountain Dog. With frosty glasses in hand, the crowd enjoyed a hard-fought final match that saw the Casablanca Polo team (led by Grant Ganzi, Nic Roldan, Hilario Figueras—the son of polo fixture Nacho Figueras) take home this year’s win.

The team, along with their fellow competitors, could be found later that evening celebrating their victory at the town’s buzzy nightclub, The Sterling. page 39

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DISNEY+ DEBUTS

CRISTOBAL BALENCIAGA MINI SERIES THIS JANUARY

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ISNEY+ HAS UNVEILED ITS LATEST ORIGINAL DRAMA SERIES, “CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA,” SET TO PREMIERE ON JANUARY 19.

This much-anticipated series recreates the captivating story of Cristóbal Balenciaga, one of fashion’s most iconic designers, hailing from Guetaria, Spain.

Alberto San Juan stars as Balenciaga, portraying the designer’s journey from his early days in Spanish ateliers to the apex of Parisian haute couture. The narrative begins as Balenciaga launches his first Paris collection in 1937, marking his transition from Spanish aristocracy’s go-to designer to a revolutionary figure in the sophisticated world of Paris fashion.

The series captures Balenciaga’s challenging journey as he navigates a competitive landscape dominated by luminaries like Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy. His relentless pursuit of perfection and control over every aspect of his life shapes his unique style, securing his place as a pivotal designer in fashion history.

“Cristóbal Balenciaga” features a distinguished international cast, bringing to life prominent figures like Coco Chanel, played by Anouk Grinberg, and Audrey Hepburn, portrayed by Anna-Victoire Olivier. The cast also includes Belén Cuesta, Josean Bengoetxea, Cecilia Solaguren, Adam Quintero, Thomas Coumans, Gemma Whelan, Gabrielle Lazure, Patrice Thibaud, Nine d’Urso, and others.

The technical team behind the series comprises esteemed professionals like

composer Alberto Iglesias and costume designer Bina Daigeler, alongside director of photography Javier Agirre Erauso, art director Mikel Serrano, and makeup artist Karmele Soler.

Produced by Xabier Berzosa through Moriarti Produkzioak e Irusoin, the series reflects a deep commitment to authentically portraying the artistry and influence of Cristóbal Balenciaga. The production companies have a rich history of creating award-winning content, with notable nominations and international festival participation.

Disney+ ensures a family-friendly viewing experience with robust parental controls, making “Cristóbal Balenciaga” a suitable watch for a diverse audience.

The streaming service offers a vast library of content across six brands, catering to a wide range of interests and preferences. page 45

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DISNEY+ DEBUTS

CRISTOBAL BALENCIAGA MINI SERIES THIS JANUARY

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7 SCIENCE-BACKED REASONS TO SPEND TIME ALONE

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HEN I SUGGEST SPENDING A FEW MINUTES ALONE TO CLIENTS IN MY THERAPY OFFICE I OFTEN HEAR COMMENTS LIKE, “I’M TOO BUSY TO MAKE TIME FOR MYSELF,” OR “I CAN’T SIT STILL. I NEED TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

Inserting a little solitude into your overfilled schedule isn’t a waste of time, however. The busier you are, the more likely you are to benefit from some quiet time.

There are a multitude of studies that tout the benefits of solitude. Here are just a few science-backed reasons for spending time alone:

1. ALONE TIME INCREASES EMPATHY. When you spend time with a certain circle of friends or your co-workers, you develop a “we vs. them” mentality. Spending time alone helps you develop more compassion for people who may not fit into your ‘inner circle.’

2. SOLITUDE INCREASES PRODUCTIVITY. Although so many offices have started creating open floor plans so everyone can communicate more easily, studies show being surrounded by people kills productivity. People perform better when they have a little privacy.

3. SOLITUDE SPARKS CREATIVITY. There’s a reason a lot of authors or artists want to go to a cabin in the woods or a private studio to work. Being alone with your thoughts gives your brain a chance to wander, which can help you become more creative.

4. BEING ALONE CAN HELP YOU BUILD MENTAL STRENGTH. We’re social creatures and it’s important for us to have strong connections with other people.

But, solitude may be just as important. Studies show the ability to tolerate alone time has been linked to increased happiness, better life satisfaction, and improved stress management.

People who enjoy alone time experience less depression.

5. SOLITUDE MAY REDUCE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN KIDS. When you carve some solitude in your schedule you show your children that being along is a healthy thing to do. And research shows kids who learn to by themselves are better behaved than other children. Be a good role model and teach solitary skills early.

6. BEING ALONE GIVES YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO PLAN YOUR LIFE. Most people spend a lot of time planning weddings and vacations but never plan how to get the most out of life. Spending time alone can give you a chance to ensure there’s a purpose to all of your hustling and bustling.

Quiet space provides an opportunity think about your goals, your progress, and changes you want to make in your life.

7. SOLITUDE HELPS YOU KNOW YOURSELF. Being alone helps you become more comfortable in your own skin. When you’re by yourself, you can make choices without outside influences. And that will help you develop more insight into who you are as a person.

GET PROACTIVE ABOUT CREATING TIME TO BE ALONE Just last week someone said to me, “I don’t have a problem with alone time at all. In fact, I crave it. I often dream about being alone on a deserted island.”

If you find yourself daydreaming about being alone on a deserted island, I’m going bet you aren’t incorporating enough alone time into your life.

Set aside a few minutes each day to be alone with your thoughts — just 10 minutes a day can help. Silence your electronics and allow yourself to think for a few minutes.

If you aren’t used to solitude, it can feel uncomfortable at first. But creating that quiet time for yourself could be key to becoming the best version of yourself.

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PREDICT A COIN TOSS COINS ARE FAIR. THEIR TOSSERS, LESS SO.

Legend holds that the city of Portland, Oregon, was nearly called Boston.

A coin toss in 1845 between Francis Pettygrove, who hailed from a different Portland, in Maine, and Asa Lovejoy, from Boston (the one in Massachusetts) eventually decided the matter. But things might have turned out differently, per Frantisek Bartos, a graduate student at the University of Amsterdam, if people were not such wobbly tossers.

Bartos was interested in a prediction made by Persi Diaconis, Susan Holmes and Richard Montgomery, a group of American mathematicians. In 2007 the trio analyzed the physics of a flipping coin and noticed something intriguing.

Besides sending it somersaulting endover-end, most people impart a slight rotation to a coin. That causes the axis about which the coin is flipping to drift while it is in the air, a phenomenon called precession.

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After crunching the numbers, the physicists concluded that a coin thrown by a human should exhibit a subtle but persistent bias. There was about a 51 percent chance that a coin would land the same way up as it had been prior to being thrown. If it was heads-up in the thrower’s hand, in other words, it would be slightly more likely to land heads-up too.

Or at least, that was the prediction.

Enter Bartos, and his admirable dedication to empiricism. He convinced 48 volunteers to perform 350,707 coin tosses, using everything from an Indian two-rupee piece to a Swiss two-franc coin. His data confirmed what the physics had predicted. The coins landed same-side up 50.8 percent of the time.

The statistics revealed that the coins themselves showed no particular bias.

The determining factor was indeed humans’ apparent inability to throw straight.

Bartos was not the first person to collect

statistics on coin tosses. But he is the first to have done so on a scale large enough to detect the bias. (A previous effort of 40,000 tosses, conducted by two students at the University of California, Berkeley, lacked the statistical power to confirm the theory.)

A 50.8 percent chance is only very slightly different from perfect fairness.

But Bartos points out that it is bigger than the advantage enjoyed by a casino in most varieties of blackjack. And in some situations it may matter. In 2019 Sue Cudilla became mayor of Araceli, a town in the Philippines, on the toss of a coin after the election had been declared a dead heat. Even more importantly, a coin toss can determine who bowls or bats first in cricket. Professional athletes spend thousands of dollars and hours of training in search of marginal gains.

Perhaps they should look to the loose change in the umpire’s pocket.

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HIGH SOCIETY

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CO N T E N T CO URTE SY THE MJS GRO UPE

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PORSCHE

REDEFINES

THE LUXURY CAR-BUYING EXPERIENCE

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Actor Tom Holland noted he lacked, "Rizz," during an interview, but what in the world did he mean?

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HOW PORSCHE IS

REDEFINING

THE LUXURY EXPERIENCE

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UXURY CAR BUYING TRANSCENDS MERE TRANSPORTATION; IT’S NOW AN INDULGENCE TECHNOLOGY, LIFESTYLE INTEGRATION AND DESIGN MORE THAN IT’S EVER BEEN. The much-evolved consumer now requires a higher level of involvement from the brands they choose to own. This mentality takes us into a new meaning of ‘catering to expectations.’

Porsche, the esteemed automotive brand renowned for its innovation and commitment to luxury, continues to refine not only their products but the way they

are acquired as well. The Porsche Studio, which just opened in the King of Prussia Mall is the first east coast location, third opening in the United States and the 20th location globally. This groundbreaking platform puts a heavier emphasis on the digital and tactile ecosystem experienced during those pivotal moments of luxury car buying…right when you say to yourself “THIS is coming home with me!’ A seamless integration, combining cutting-edge in store technology delivers messaging of the brand’s iconic craftsmanship and heritage to redefine that customer’s experience making them want the Porsche lifestyle even more.

The Porsche Studio concept is a testament to the marque’s dedication to design,

further redefining the way enthusiasts explore, customize, and acquire their dream vehicles. Harnessing the power of personalized immersion, the studio offers a unique level of brand inclusion, giving visitors an ability to view and interact with display vehicles, shop from unique Porsche Design merchandise, enjoy freshly brewed cappuccinos and snacks from an incorporated coffee bar, and even get behind the wheel of select models on-site for a test drive.

This mix of ‘virtual tailoring’ allows the individual’s vehicle preferences to be created and shown, while also experiencing it in real-time set in an intimate and personal setting. Thus providing customers a relaxed, stress free look into the enjoypage 61

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ment levels accompany ownership.

At the heart of the Porsche Studio experience lies an intuitive interface, serving users an interactive journey through the brand’s illustrious lineup. With just a few clicks, customers can explore the exquisite design details, features, and performance capabilities that distinguish Porsche as an automotive trailblazer.

Also incorporated is a full design studio, outfitted with live samples of every wheel metal, interior finish, and paint sample you can imagine. It’s one thing to see it on a screen, but another to fully mood-board your vehicular passion.

The studio itself is overseen by local Porsche Pros who will help guide you in your journey of discovery. This particular Porsche Studio at King of Prussia is individually owned and part of Main Line Automotive Group, who also owns the parent automotive dealership, Porsche Conshohocken. Together, the two locations are set to work in partnership. Furthering the level of ownership

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experience, you can configure designs, discuss finance options and terms, place order commitments as well as utilize the studio’s location as a hub to drop off and retrieve vehicles for pre-scheduled service appointments.

“The launch of the Porsche Studio at King of Prussia marks a significant milestone in our commitment to offering a seamless and personalized luxury experience,” said Michael Brairton, Dealer Principal at Main Line Automotive Group. “We are thrilled to be able to introduce this innovative platform, empowering our customers to engage with the brand in an entirely new way, and make either their Porsche brand discovery or their ownership journey uniquely their own.”

While other Automotive brands have positioned themselves in mall settings aiming to capitalize on the retail-ready strategy, the Porsche Studio mission is not about garnering glances from curious shoppers or the additional holiday foot traffic, its specific goal is to educate on all

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facets of the brand, allowing for a more trusted and inclusive feel. In addition to this customer-centric approach, the Studio serves as a hub for exclusive content, local partnerships, and events, providing enthusiasts with insights into Porsche’s rich heritage and upcoming releases. Incorporated within the studio are local partnerships, highlighting talent from the region.

Local favorites at the new studio include Bucks County Coffee Company, who is responsible for providing the elevated caffeinated experience at the fresh-to-brew bar inside.

There is also a curated selection of art from Philadelphia-centric artisans like Joseph Mcclozkey, who has some of his works on display. With its ever-changing rotation of installations, deep calendar of events and product reveals, the studio helps to bring a deeper connective relativity between Porsche enthusiasts, aficionados, and owners as the brand’s legacy of

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DON'T WEAR OUT YOUR WELCOME

How Long Can You Stay with Friends or Family at the Holidays?

AT SOME POINT, TIME SPENT AS AN OVERNIGHT GUEST IS TOO MUCH TIME.

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T’S THE HOLIDAY SEASON, WHICH MEANS EITHER YOU’RE HEADING TO A LOVED ONE’S HOME FOR A VISIT OR YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE COMING TO YOU. EITHER WAY, YOU’RE SURE TO HAVE A GREAT TIME.

But maybe not as much time as you think.

According to Serta Simmons Bedding’s Sleep Disruptors Survey, which polled 2,000 Americans across generations, 49 percent of respondents said they believe spending four days or more at someone’s 68

home as a guest is too much. Luckily, 79 percent of those polled said their guests abide by this social normal, staying four nights or less throughout the holidays.

And really, it’s important to abide by this rule because, as the survey showed, both hosts and guests lose a ton of sleep during these visits. In fact, the bedding company noted, “Those hosting friends and family during the holidays lose two and a half hours of sleep per day when prepping to have others in their home.”

As for guests, the company noted that 75 percent of participants said their sleep cycle is thrown off during a stay because they often feel like they need to go to bed

and wake up at the same time as their host.

“Whether hosting guests or staying with a friend or family member this holiday season, it’s important to prioritize a good night’s sleep,” JD Velilla, head of sleep experience at Serta Simmons Bedding, shared in a statement. “When and where possible, try to stick to your normal routine, which may include daily exercise, consistent mealtimes and sleep/ wake times, and pre-sleep activities like meditation.”

And, you know, maybe limit your stays to three days, four if you’re really pushing it.

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THE BEST AGE GAP FOR A RELATIONSHIP

Examining the evidence, from divorce rates to life expectancy

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HEN A FRIEND OPTS TO DATE SOMEONE WHO IS OLD ENOUGH TO BE THEIR PARENT, A COMMON RESPONSE IS TO SEE IF THE DECISION PASSES THE “HALF THEIR AGE PLUS SEVEN” TEST.

The rule, whose origins remain mysterious, has been passed down through generations as a way of justifying or, more commonly, pouring scorn, on other people’s couplings. It’s fine for a 22-year72

old to go out with an 18-year-old. It’s not okay for a 38-year-old to go out with a 23-year-old, however a 26-year-old would be fair game. The older you get, the wider the permissible age gap: a 50-yearold can venture as old as 86.

or two older) men prefer women in their early twenties, regardless of their own age.

While women prefer a small and constant age gap, men are so hooked on the idea of a nubile young partner that they prefer a larger age gap the older they get.

That’s the theory. In practice, research conducted by Christian Rudder, co-founder of OKCupid, a dating website, suggests that when it comes to age gaps, men and women have slightly different ideas.

Are men searching wisely? In theory there are plenty of reasons to favor a small age gap. The ability of both members of a couple to sing a favorite childhood television theme tune could bond them together, at the risk of irritating those nearby. And sharing the joy of getting a free bus pass at a similar time, or saving

While female users look for men roughly the same age as them (or perhaps a year

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money from combining big birthday parties, is clearly attractive.

no different, on average, than those who married men closer to them in age.

Some economists have wondered whether smaller age gaps between partners could have wider, societal benefits, as they might help to narrow the gender earnings gap. Because earnings rise with age, and women tend to couple with older men, relative earnings around the time of childbirth could put subtle pressure on women to drop out of work.

Could a smaller age gap also make couples more likely to stay together?

In 2014, the Atlantic claimed that “a five year age difference makes a couple 18 percent more likely to get divorced, compared to a couple born on or around the same year.” While the study cited – which polled American couples and ex-couples – did show an association between divorce rates and age gaps, it did not prove a causal link. Something about the kind of person who opts into

That said, a study that compared Danish twin sisters found that the earnings of women who married older men were

a marriage with a large age gap could be driving the higher divorce rates, rather than the age gap itself. A bright young thing considering a silver fox should also take heart from a study by Britain’s Office of National Statistics. It did not find a strong link between age gaps and divorce rates in England and Wales, though there was some evidence that women marrying later than 30 who were more than ten years older than their spouse were more likely to divorce.

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age. Having someone to look after you in your dotage is wise, as is avoiding widowhood. A younger, healthier partner could make sense, at least from your side of the equation. Another study by Sven Drefahl of the University of Stockholm looked at people over the age of 50 in Denmark, and found that men with younger spouses survived for longer than those with ones of a similar age. The older their spouse, the worse their survival chances, even after controlling for things like education and wealth. Again, the link might not be

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causal: healthy men might be particularly able both to attract younger mates and live to a ripe old age. But mysteriously, this phenomenon does not appear to apply to women, where the bigger the age gap, the worse their survival chances, regardless of whether they were younger or older. In the case of women with younger husbands, Drefahl suggested, the gender difference could be due to women being less reliant on their partner for support, and so benefiting less from the energies of a younger spouse.

What evidence there is, therefore, vindicates the choices of OKCupid’s users: women should pick men who are as close as possible in age to them, while men should look for younger women. A true economist, however, would look for better evidence, perhaps by comparing the marital bliss of random couples with varying age differences. Unfortunately for them, but luckily for the rest of us, people make their own choices – and are free to ignore silly rules of thumb.

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THE NEW UBER OF THE SKIES HOW ON-DEMAND PRIVATE JET COMPANIES PLAN TO SIMPLIFY CHARTER EXPERIENCES

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“ W E W A N T T O C H A N G E T H E W AY P E O P L E T H I N K A B O U T ( P R I V A T E ) F L I G H T S .”

- K I N E CTA I R’S C O-C E O K AT I E B U S S

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E’RE ALL USED TO BOOKING COMMERCIAL TRAVEL WITH THE CLICK OF A BUTTON OR THE SWIPE OF AN APP, BUT THE HIGHER UP THE LUXURY CHAIN YOU GO, THE HARDER IT BECOMES TO DO THAT. THERE ARE PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS, EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION, UPLOADING TRAVEL DOCUMENTS TO SERVERS, ORGANIZING CATERING AND CAR SERVICE.

Chartering a private jet – a P.J. – usually means calling a broker – and if you don’t have one on speed dial, it can be an intimidating business. You might have to spend thousands on a membership to even get a quote, for starters. You might not know how much you’re splurging, either – private airplane operators can bill clients after the journey if extra fuel was consumed, for example.

But now, the Uber of private aviation has arrived. KinectAir aims to make the skies friendlier to clients dipping their toe into the world of private planes. Since 2019, you could already book a regular, on-demand flight

for private air travel in the Pacific Northwest. But from December 2023, you can snap up a private aircraft bargains by booking an “empty leg” repositioning flight – all over the U.S. And by bargain, they really do mean a (relative) bargain. The site offers quick hops starting at around $111 per person.

“We want to change the way people think about short flights,” said KinectAir’s co-CEO Katie Buss, a former pilot in the U.S. military.

“People think it’s only for the Bill Gates and Elon Musks of the world. It’s by no means cheap, but it’s more accessible

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than most people think. Instead of just going to Delta, we want people to see what flying private would be like … It’s a totally different way of travel.”

She says the company wants to “revolutionize” the private flight market in the same way that Uber did for taxis and AirBnB did for the hotel industry.

CHEAPER PLANES, CHEAPER FLIGHTS The site uses AI-backed software to trawl through private airplane operators, coCEO Ben Howard said. “We’re letting the software do that sifting through the haystack to make it more accessible and give [customers] a better chance of putting together the trip you actually want,” he said.

And to keep prices down, they’re working with turbo-prop and piston-engine aircraft. Both are cheaper to run than a regular jet, although they fly slower.

That difference in speed, however, is less crucial on a flight of under 500 miles, says Howard, who claimed, “If you fly a jet to the same location, you’d be paying five times as much and get it done a few minutes faster.”

The way they’re really dropping those flight prices, though, are through the

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“empty leg” repositioning flights – where the aircraft has already been booked for one journey, and can pick up passengers to take them to its next booked destination.

KinectAir claims that its empty leg offerings come at a discount of up to 75 percent of a regular private airplane price.

Most of the deals are for short-notice booking – from their data over the summer, three quarters of all bookings were made within 72 hours of travel, meaning that the empty legs were generated last-minute, too.

As a pilot herself, Buss says that the company will only add operators that pass their safety ratings.

CHEAPER THAN FLYING COMMERCIAL

Springs was $300, flying from Sky Harbor International on December 14 in economy. That fare includes a free seat assignment but not a checked bag, which would be an extra $30. A first-class seat would be $425 one way – nearly double the price of KinectAir’s empty leg.

For $264 you could pick a flight with Sun Country Airlines – but the journey would take 40 hours, with a stopover in Minneapolis.

And of course there’s no long check-in line or TSA when flying private.

Looking at another online broker, the cheapest deal from Phoenix to Palm Springs was $3,198 for a five-seater plane – or $639.60 per person.

Some of the prices KinectAir is advertising even beat flying commercial airlines in economy – when talking about last-minute fares.

Semi-private airline JSX, which operates out of private air terminals but sells individual seats on its aircraft, doesn’t fly that route. However, on a similar-length route from Phoenix to Las Vegas, prices start at $249 per person.

An empty leg flight from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport to Palm Springs was on sale for $698 – or $233 per person on the three-seater aircraft.

“In many cases, last-minute flights are more expensive per seat on commercial, and that’s not even looking at first-class tickets,” says Howard.

The cheapest direct one-way fare over the next week from Phoenix to Palm

“In our case, you’ve got to fill the full aircraft, but if a family of four is flying

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last minute, this is a really good option.

United might charge as much as a private flight.”

The cheapest flight for sale at the time of publication was in Sunriver, Ore., to Aurora, also in Oregon, on December 10, for $333 for a three-seater Diamond DA62 light aircraft – or $111 per person for the 48-minute flight.

The most expensive empty leg at press time was a Spokane, Wash., to Bozeman, Id., flight on December 13. The eight-person aircraft cost $1,792 for the 71-minute flight – or $224 per person.

There are no membership fees or transaction fees, as many competitors charge.

Wheels Up, for example, charges a minimum $2,995 initiation fee, with a mini-

mum $2,495 membership from year two onwards. NetJets also requires users to be members, as does UberJets. KinectAir’s fees are baked into the price you see. And you can see those prices without handing over your data or scheduling a phone call, as you do with Wheels Up, NetJets or UberJets.

While usually booking a private airplane means going with an estimate – and receiving the final bill after the flight, once any additional fuel has been calculated – it guarantees the price you’re quoted is the price you pay.

“We understand statistically how likely [additional fuel costs] are to happen, have good weather models, know it’s less expensive to fly one way than the other – so KinectAir absorbs the variability,”

says Howard. “We want to make private aviation work more like commercial.”

KinectAir’s closest competitor is Airble, which doesn’t charge membership fees, provides real fares - not estimates - and has a “deals” page for empty leg flights.

Airble also allows users to reserve a private flight, but mark it as a “shared flight,” which opens up seats to be booked by other users, bringing the price per passenger down. The cheapest Phoenix to Palm Springs one-way this week costs $10,740 for eight people, or $1,342.50 per passenger.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Of course, it’s a potentially contentious move to open a private airplane company as the climate crisis intensifies.

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A 2021 study by the environmental nonprofit Transport & Environment found that 1 percent of people were responsible for half of all global emissions from flying. The private aircraft industry is booming, expanding by 31 percent between 2005 and 2019. What’s more, 40 percent of private flights are “ghost flights” – empty of passengers as they reposition for their next pick-up.

Howard says that filling those ghost flights “is a way to make flights more efficient.” He adds that turbo-props and

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piston planes burn less fuel than traditional jets.

parts of the country.

Because private jets tend to make short hops, that makes them less environmentally sustainable – in Europe, for example, there’s an alternative by rail for 80 percent of the most popular private flight routes, Matteo Mirolo, Transport & Environment’s sustainable aviation policy manager told CNN in 2022.

But at the time, Mirolo said that because of their smaller size, private jets have the potential to be at the forefront to adapt to new technology as it comes on the market – and Howard says that the platform is also a first step towards preparing for the electric and hybrid planes of the future, which are expected to start with small aircraft.

The U.S. is in a different situation as regards public transport, however, with train travel not an easy option in most

In the future, the company hopes to start selling single seats, though they say it’ll take some time.

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EXUBERANT GETAWAYS FOR 2024

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EMBARK ON EXTRAVAGANCE DREAMY GETAWAYS TO THE WORLD'S MOST-EXPENSIVE HOLIDAY DESTINATIONS From gambling in Monaco and skiing in Gstaad to scuba diving in Bora Bora and shopping in St-Barth MO N AC O

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N A WORLD WHERE LUXURY KNOWS NO BOUNDS — WHERE INDULGENCE IS NOT JUST AN OPTION BUT A WAY OF LIFE. FROM INDULGING IN HIGH-STAKES GAMBLING IN MONACO AND SKIING IN GSTAAD TO EXPLORING THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA WITH SCUBA DIVING IN BORA BORA, PLAN YOUR DREAM VACATION AT THESE LUXURIOUS DESTINATIONS FOR THE PICTURE-PERFECT TRIP.× 88

To understand the cost of traveling to these exquisite holiday destinations, we must consider factors such as hotel prices, food expenses, transportation costs within the destinations, and attraction prices.

A study by Traveller’s Elixirs factored in these elements and researched over 60 countries to unveil some of the most expensive holiday destinations in the world.

Dive into luxury at the world’s most expensive holiday destinations

MONACO The playground of the rich and the famous, Monaco stands as arguably the most expensive holiday destination

in the world. With over 30 percent of Monegasques being millionaires, one can only imagine the five-star luxuries awaiting at every corner. Monte Carlo, host to the Formula 1 Grand Prix and Monaco Yacht Show, lures the uber-wealthy for a few days of opulence almost every year.

Places to see and things to do: Have a dreamy vacation in the second-smallest country in the world by exploring the Casino de Monte Carlo, Prince’s Palace of Monaco, Musée Océanographique de Monaco, Exotic Garden of Monaco, Grimaldi Forum, Larvotto Beach, Monaco Ville and Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo.

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ST- B A RTH

Best time to visit: March to May and September to November How to reach: Monaco doesn’t have a commercial airport; Nice (France) Côte d’Azur International Airport is the closest… from there, charter a helicopter or car services.

ST-BARTH Saint-Barthélemy, more commonly known as St-Barth, is the Caribbean getaway for global celebrities and icons like the late Princess Diana, The Real Housewives and the members of the Kardashian family, among others. The island is decked with five-star hotels, luxury private villas, trendy restaurants and luxury shops, along with catamarans and yachts, offering luxuries beyond imagination.

Places to see and things to do: While in St-Barth, check out the pristine beaches like Gouverneur Beach, Shell Beach and Saline Beach. Have fun in the water by chartering a yacht, riding jet skis,

surfing, snorkeling, flyboarding or scuba diving. Party at Nikki Beach and dance all night at Le Ti St-Barth or enjoy meals at the finest restaurants in and around Gustavia, St-Barth’s capital.

Best time to visit: November to April How to reach: Gustaf III Airport, also known as Saint-Barthélemy Airport, is the main airport on the island, accessible by charter and private jets between St. Maarten and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND Where do the wealthy and glamorous go to snowboard and ski? Gstaad! The quaint resort town in the Swiss Alps has been a wintery escape for royalty and celebrities alike. A winter sports hub, it has over 47 chair lifts, accommodating the adventures and thrills of those looking for a snowy vacation.

Places to see and things to do: Immerse yourself in the lap of luxury by staying in a Swiss chalet and spending your days

snowboarding, skiing, dog sledding, and enjoying all kinds of snow activities.

Surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty, don’t miss out on seeing Lake Lauenensee, Col du Pillon, Mount Eggli and Wispile. Visit tourist attractions like Glacier 3000, Mirage Gstaad, Fondue Caquelon Cheese Grotto, the Yurt, Kunsteisbahn Gstaad Ice Rink and Le Petit Chalet.

Best time to visit: November to April How to reach: Gstaad Saanen Airport

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND The capital of the “Land of Fire and Ice,” Reykjavik’s dramatic landscapes complement its metropolitan lifestyle. The bustling city stands to show the best of Icelandic culture and is the gateway to exploring the volcanoes and glaciers of the nation. Its remote location makes it a pricey city, with restaurant meals costing 44 percent more than the European Union’s average. page 89

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Places to see and things to do: Attend the music concerts at the iconic Harpa Concert Hall. Visit the Imagine Peace Tower, Icelandic Phallological Museum, Hallgrimskirkja, Sun Voyager, Árbær Open Air Museum and Aurora Reykjavík. Go whale-watching from the ports of Reykjavik, take a day trip to Thingvellir and see the Silfra Fissure. Or simply relax in the geo-thermal pool at Blue Lagoon.

Best time to visit: June to August How to reach: Keflavík International Airport is the main airport in the city.

BORA BORA Hidden in French Polynesia, Bora Bora boasts turquoise blue waters, soft sand beaches and alluring water villas set in the South Pacific Ocean. A truly romantic island, it has been chosen as the honeymoon destination by several celebrity couples like Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, as well as Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter.

Its uber-luxury properties and un-

touched environment make it an expensive holiday destination for water enthusiasts.

Embrace island life by hiking the extinct volcano Mount Otemanu, going on a safari in the tropical forests, enjoying a boat tour of the sand-fringed motus (islets) around Bora Bora, and sunbathing on Matira Beach. Explore the aquatic life by scuba diving in the coral reefs and perhaps encountering stingrays (and experiencing feeding them underwater).

Don’t forget to relax in a luxurious beach resort or a picturesque water villa.

NEW YORK CITY Ranked as the wealthiest city in the world and the third-best globally in 2023, New York is a financial, commercial and cultural hub, alluring people with its stunning skyscrapers. From iconic TV shows like Friends to HBO’s Gilded Age, Hollywood has romanticized the city through its film reel, striking the desire among travelers to visit the city and experience the NYC life portrayed on screens.

There is no shortage of things to do in New York, and here are some that should be at the top of your list. Witness the vibrant arts culture of MoMA, MET and the Guggenheim. Stroll around the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, the High Line and Central Park. Go to the Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, Empire State Building, and Rockefeller Center. Experience the thriving New York food culture and catch a Broadway show.

NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND For a quintessential New England seaside escape brimming with history, charm, Gilded Age mansions and fabulous seafood, head to Newport, Rhode Island, located on Aquidneck Island, just a short hop from Boston and New York City.

Whether you’re a history buff or sailing aficionado, or you just adore classic, preppy New England style, Newport reigns as one of the East Coast’s finest summer destinations thanks to its intimate luxury hotels, delicious restaurants, peaceful beaches, impressive (and competitive) sailing community and a dizzying array of historical attractions. page 91

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Despite its historical significance as a getaway for America’s most prominent families (Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Kennedys, to name a few), Newport is an elegant yet approachable summer destination, best enjoyed on the water or by indulging in fried clams and lobster rolls in an Adirondack chair while watching the sunset.

MYKONOS The island is known as a glamorous destination for the world’s wealthiest and most famous. Come the booming summer months of July and August, and the island swells with the A-listers, B-listers, C-listers, and D-listers, along with hundreds of thousands of vacationers, hard-partying dance-music junkies, and cruise-shippers.

Measuring just 33 square miles in size, the sunny and cool island is stuffed with hip boutique hotels, thumping beach clubs, haute couture shops, white sandy beaches, whitewashed alleyways, and swanky restaurants.

If this all sounds a little like the Spanish party island of Ibiza, I’ll stop you right there: The cool rich kids have moved on. They’re in Mykonos now. If there were any doubts, a look off any bay on Mykonos’ coast reveals waters swamped with freshly scrubbed yachts, superyachts, and mega yachts.

POSITANO Half the magic of Positano is its’ striking aesthetic. The steep cliff-side is filled with luxury, boutique hotels, fabulous shop-

ping, exquisite dining, and of course, beach-front access. Anywhere you are in the town center, you are usually only steps away from a magnificent viewpoint.

Thanks to the coastal location, you can be sure to indulge in freshly caught seafood and handmade pasta dishes, many of which include the local specialty, lemons.

One of the best ways to experience Positano’s coastal living is to spend a day on a private boat exploring grottos and secluded beaches either along the Amalfi Coast or to the island of Capri.

Positano is definitely a posh destination, and to cater to its’ fabulous clientele is filled with unbelievably charming boutique hotels and luxurious, family-run villas.

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WHERE DO AIRLINES SEND LOST & UNCLAIMED BAGS?

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LOST AND UNCLAIMED BAGS ARE MORE THAN A FRUSTRATION; THEY'RE A BUSINESS

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LANNING TO FLY SOMEWHERE THIS WEEK? YOU ARE NOT ALONE. THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION EXPECTS TO SCREEN 30 MILLION PEOPLE OVER THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY. THAT’S A LOT OF SUITCASES FOR AIRLINES TO KEEP TRACK OF, AND UNFORTUNATELY, SOME ARE BOUND TO GET LOST. SO WHERE DOES ALL THAT LOST LUGGAGE END UP? IN A STORE CALLED UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE, IN SCOTTSBORO, ALA. Every suitcase lost by an airline in the United States (and some lost on trains and buses) eventually ends up in this little

city about 150 miles northwest of Atlanta, in a 50,000-square-foot building. And it’s all for sale. At a big discount.

It’s laid out like a department store, clothes here, shoes there, shelves of books – because who hasn’t accidentally left a book on a plane? But that’s not the most exciting part.

“The most popular area of the store is the mezzanine,” says Sonni Hood, who first started working for Unclaimed Baggage as a teenager, but is now the public relations manager.

half the price of a new one.

But there are even more interesting things up here. Skis, snowboards, an entire bin of skateboards. (Who knew so many people travel with skateboards? They can’t all be Tony Hawk’s!) There’s a sled, a women’s pole vaulting pole and even a Bates Kimberly stock saddle. And brand new riding boots.

None of it surprises Hood.

“Anything that you can think of, someone has likely packed it in their suitcase.”

“This is home to our electronics department,” she says. “Anything from cell phones and laptops, tablets, headphones, you name it!”

And, unfortunately, lost it. But don’t feel too bad about that. When an airline loses a suitcase for good, they end up compensating the owner for the contents.

All electronics are wiped clean to remove any personal data, and checked out to make sure they work. The laptops, iPads and Nintendo Switches all sell for around

Here’s how it works: When a suitcase gets lost (or a pole vaulting shipping container) the airline spends up to three months trying to get it back to its owner. But after page 97

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three months, the airline gives up and reimburses the owner, up to $3,800.

In fact, 99.5 percent of suitcases checked on airlines do NOT get lost. It’s just that the 0.5 percent that does, adds up to a LOT of stuff. That’s where Unclaimed Baggage CEO Bryan Owens comes in.

His father started this business in 1970.

Owen’s father enjoyed listening to ham radios and one day heard a friend in Washington, D.C., say he worked with Trailways and didn’t know what to do with all the unclaimed bags they had.

“A little light bulb went off in my dad’s head and he’s like, ‘I think I can help you,’” says Owens.

So he borrowed $300 and a pickup truck and drove up to Washington, D.C., to buy the unclaimed luggage. Then he drove it back home and tried to sell it.

“People were just standing outside the door and in lines and we were open two days a week to begin with, and as the

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story continues his [dad’s] boss told him, ‘You gotta figure out which one of us you love the most, your insurance job or your entrepreneurial venture,’ and my dad didn’t think twice about it.”

Owens’ mom wasn’t so sure about it, but 53 years later, Unclaimed Baggage is one of the top tourist destinations in Alabama. A million people visit every year. They’ve had someone from every state. Many make an annual pilgrimage here.

It is a rare exception for something lost to make it back to its owner, but Unclaimed Baggage CEO, Bryan Owens, says it has happened.

A man from Atlanta showed up for the annual ski sale (an event so exciting people camp out in the parking lot in order to be first ones inside the door) and he purchased a pair of ski boots for his fiancée. And when he got them home to her, she looked inside and there was her name. She had previously lost them on a

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ski trip.

Sometimes the shipping containers hold the biggest surprises. Owens remembers peeling back the packing paper of one such container.

“And there was an item on a device inside of there that was, like, suspended by these rubber grommets. So it couldn’t touch anything. And it had a placard on it and — I promise you — it said, ‘Handle with extreme caution. I’m worth my weight in gold.’”

It turns out it was a guidance system for a fighter plane. The F-14 Tomcat.

“And it was the story that was going around the military, was that the Iranians stole it. It actually was not the Iranians – it was sitting in our warehouse in Scottsboro.”

Owens says they gave that one back to the Navy. And when a camera from a space shuttle showed up, they knew where to find NASA.

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Unclaimed Baggage has had so many odd things show up — a centuries-old violin that may have been made by a student of Antonio Stradivari, ancient Egyptian artifacts, and a suit of armor — they’ve created a museum. There’s even a giant puppet named Hoggle, from the movie Labyrinth, that Jim Henson told them they could keep.

Most people, though, are drawn here by the easy lure of discount high-end goods: a Louis Vuitton purse, Prada shoes or the hundreds of North Face jackets. Josh Elliott, who lives in Atlanta, made the drive over with a friend. “We found several coats, like bigger coats. He’s about to go to Germany. So we’re looking for something particularly warm and fluffy.”

They aren’t disappointed. There are several coats that look like they’re fit for an Arctic exploration. It’s Elliott’s first time here, and he is impressed by how organized it all is.

“Better than Goodwill,” he says.

That’s because people donate things they no longer want to Goodwill. Items at Unclaimed Baggage are things people liked so much, they took them on a trip with them.

In fact, a lot of the clothes here still have new tags on them since many people like to go shopping for a new wardrobe before they travel. Or, they shop on vacation.

Brands like Rolex and Chanel regularly pass through Unclaimed Baggage. There’s a little bit of Hollywood here, too.

Aside from the Jim Henson puppet, there’s a dress here believed to have once belonged to Marie Osmond. Not to mention, one of this year’s Best Director Academy Award winners, Daniel Scheinert, gave his acceptance speech in a tuxedo bought right here.

But it’s not just about consumption, reminds owner Bryan Owens.

“It’s really like an archaeological dig.

You open a bag and you can know what

kind of fashions people are wearing, even things like cosmetics or technology, things that they’re carrying with them. It really is a cross-section of what’s going on in America, and really across the world because the airlines are global.”

There is also the plain and simple joy of just imagining the stories behind these items. Was the owner of that pole vaulting pole an Olympian? Did she travel with a spare?

I hope the owner of that wedding dress in the formal wear department got lost on the way home from the wedding.

These things will remain a mystery but some are downright mystical. How is it that so many walking aids get left on a plane? Was the traveler cured mid-flight?

There’s a sizable amount of canes and crutches in a section some employees have taken to calling the “Miraculous Recovery Department.”

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MAKING ‘MAESTRO’ BRADLEY COOPER

STUDIED CONDUCTING FOR SIX YEARS TO PORTRAY LEONARD BERNSTEIN

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O PLAY THE 71-YEAR-OLD BERNSTEIN, COOPER SAT IN THE MAKEUP CHAIR FOR PROSTHETIC MAKEUP ARTIST KAZU HIRO FOR FIVE HOURS WITH PROSTHETICS MADE FOR HIS ARMS AND SHOULDERS AND A BODY SUIT THAT CHANGED COOPER’S POSTURE. It’s one thing to screen your feature directorial debut for Steven Spielberg.

It’s another thing to screen your feature directorial debut for Steven Spielberg as part of a job interview.

But that’s where Bradley Cooper found himself in 2018, when he was attached to star as famed composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. It was in the spring of that year when Spielberg, who had been developing a film about Bernstein for years to direct himself, called to tell his leading man that he would no longer be directing the film, instead focusing on his long-gestating West Side Story remake.

For most projects, this is the moment when it’s shelved, but Cooper, a self-professed lifelong classical music fan who would conduct imaginary orchestras as a child, had an idea: What if he directed the film, which would come to be called Maestro, himself?

“Bradley said to Steven, ‘OK, well, if you’re not going to direct it, I just finished mixing A Star Is Born, and if you want to come see it, I’ll show it to you right now,’” Maestro producer Kristie Macosko Krieger recalls. “‘If you like it, I’d love to throw my hat in the ring to direct.’ ” page 105

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Spielberg, Krieger, Spielberg’s wife, Kate Capshaw, and screenwriter Josh Singer, who at that point had been working on the Bernstein biopic for years, headed down to Los Angeles finishing house Company 3 to screen Cooper’s directorial debut. “Twenty minutes into the film, Steven got up from his chair and Bradley thought, ‘Oh shoot, he’s leaving,’” says Krieger. “Instead, Steven walked right over to Bradley and said, ‘You’re directing this fucking movie.’”

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Singer, who wrote the screenplay for Damien Chazelle’s First Man, which was in post production and set to open the week after A Star Is Born, recalls having some mixed emotions as he watched Cooper’s helming debut. “Within 10 minutes I went, ‘Oh my God, I have a great director [on Maestro].’ Then my heart sank because there was this great movie that was opening the week before First Man,” he says with a laugh. “I think I called Damien and was like, ‘I have good

news and bad news. The good news is for me, and the bad news is for me and you.’”

A Star Is Born would go on to earn $436 million at the global box office and rack up eight Oscar nominations, including for best picture.

Five years later, Cooper’s version of Maestro largely eschews Bernstein’s conducting career to focus on his marriage. Shot in both the U.S. and U.K. (including on location in Carnegie Hall

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and Ely Cathedral), the film is a big swing: Bradley shot on celluloid, mixed black-andwhite and color, and recorded the orchestra live on set while he himself conducted.

Even before Cooper had gotten off the awards campaign trail for A Star Is Born, his mind was on Maestro. While doing press on Star, Cooper ran into Krieger.

“He was like, ‘Can I pitch you my idea for the opening of the film?’ He pitched me, shot for shot, what we actually now see in a film in 2023,” says Krieger. “He thought about the movie for six years, nonstop. I would hazard a guess to say that I’ve probably received 3,000 texts from him, easily, over the course of us making the movie.”

Adds Maestro cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who worked with Cooper on A Star Is Born: “He will say, ‘Let me walk you through this scene.’ And it’s in his head and he won’t deviate from that.” He also notes that the actor-director isn’t a fan of storyboarding or shot lists.

“What I always do is play the movie shot for shot in my head from the very beginning, [thinking,] ‘How far can I get?’” says Cooper. “And I don’t start a film until I could go through the whole movie shot for shot in my head.”

Speaking to Cooper’s cast and crew, they all comment on the extraordinary amount of prep — years’ worth — Cooper did for Maestro. The result is a very specific vision for the story and look of the film.

Early drafts of the Maestro screenplay adhered to the more classic biopic mold, centering on Bernstein, his upbringing and ascent to the highest echelons of both his artistry and popular culture. His wife, Felicia Montealegre — played in the film

by Carey Mulligan — was a secondary character, but Cooper saw the marriage as the primary driving force of his film. He and Singer reworked the screenplay, centering it on Montealegre and Bernstein’s marriage, told over multiple decades, from the ’40s to the ’80s.

As for the look, Cooper wanted the film to include some key scenes in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, a squarer look as compared to the common 1.85:1 of modern filmmaking. The practical reason for this was that Cooper’s hand, when fully extended and upraised page 107

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during conducting scenes, could easily be cut off in a more horizontal aspect ratio.

The more thematic reason? “Because of his relationship to his destiny and God and the propulsion of going forward,” says Cooper.

“He just kept ratcheting up the stakes on how we were going to accomplish this,” says Krieger. “It’s like we’re going to jump.

And I’m saying, ‘How high?’ And he’s saying, ‘Really high!’”

When it came time to find a studio partner, all the aforementioned creative choices, to which Cooper was 100 percent committed, made things difficult. “Trying to sell it to all these studios, a movie about marriage with people who are not young for the most part, and it’s classical music and half of it’s in black-and-white and it’s in an aspect ratio that changes.

That was a hard sell,” says Cooper. A couple of the major studios passed on

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the movie, including A Star Is Born studio Warner Bros. But streaming giant Netflix signed on.

Finally, Cooper had the vision, the team and the backers, but he still had to put off filming for another year because the COVID-19 pandemic meant an orchestra would be unable to sit close together for a shoot. “It’s what we had to do to allow the musicians to breathe near each other,” explains sound mixer Steve Morrow.

The delay came with some upsides, with each department head and the acting leads having more time to research and prepare for the eventual 52-day shoot.

In all, Cooper spent six years learning to conduct — often soliciting the help of conductors and music directors — while also perfecting Bernstein’s singular style.

“He was the first conductor on the podium who allowed himself to com-

pletely embody the music and not just be this taskmaster with a stick in one hand, directing traffic,” says Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the music director of the Metropolitan Opera who worked as Cooper’s conducting coach. “He lived the music in every part of body. His eyebrows were conducting just as much as his hands.”

Nézet-Séguin would add voice overs to videos he would send to Cooper of Bernstein conducting, counting the beats and explaining Bernstein’s movements like a play-by-play on Sunday Night Football. He would rehearse in person with Cooper, and during filming would talk to the actor via an earpiece to remind him where to land the beats. “His commitment to authenticity was not only so it was right, but it was also to generate the right level of emotion and intensity,” says Nézet-Séguin. “True conducting and true music-making — there is something

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unique about it.”

For Mulligan, the extra time for prep was a welcome opportunity to perfect her character’s distinct accent, a result of the fact that Montealegre was born in Costa Rica to a Costa Rican mother and American father, later educated in Chile, and eventually landed in New York.

“When I first heard her voice, I thought, ‘I absolutely love the way she speaks, and I have no idea how I’m going to do it,’” she says.

In addition to working with a dialect coach, Mulligan took up painting. “[Montealegre] used to be a painter. It was a great love of hers, and so I thought, ‘Well, I have to have a go at painting, because I haven’t painted since I was about 5 years old.’ I made two of my friends do it with me, and we did art lessons once a week for about three months. I absolutely fell in love with painting.”

Mulligan would also travel to Chile to meet with living family members, walk the neighborhood where Montealegre grew up and visit her childhood school.

As she was leaving the country, she tested positive for COVID-19 and had to quarantine for 10 days. “I was isolated in my hotel room, and Netflix said, ‘What do you need to survive this?’ I said that I just need a canvas and some paints and an easel. I sat and spent 10 days doing Felicia’s paintings.” Production designer Kevin Thompson would use several of these paintings to set decorate the Bernstein family apartment in the film.

As for the crafts, the extra time was appreciated given that the film is not only a period piece, but one that spans four decades.

Thompson and his team were tasked with making period-accurate musical accoutrements that were also practical. Sheet

music, music stands and chairs were created for the live orchestra that allowed the musicians to play to the best of their abilities. Thompson’s team Frankensteined together chairs that had period legs and backs for the camera but modern cushions to enable the orchestra to play unencumbered.

Looking at old interviews and a feature in Architectural Digest, Thompson reconstructed the Bernsteins’ New York City apartment in the famed Dakota on a soundstage. Particular importance was placed on the pianos, which changed in style and model depending on the scene.

The set decorator and prop department head created a piano schedule (think: a call sheet, but just for pianos). Explains Thompson: “It had what the piano model would be for each of the locations depending on the time period.”

Libatique used the production delay to

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source the equipment needed to achieve the look of Maestro, which was shot on 35mm film on a Panavision Millennium.

“It would have taken a lot of work to try to achieve the texture in digital,” he explains. “The look of the film was embedded in the film stock.” But film, especially black-and-white celluloid, requires a kind of light that modern LED lights, which are lightweight and easy to manipulate, do not emit. Libatique and his team would have to use older tungsten lights.

“It was a harsh reality for me to realize we had to go back to what we used to do, which is a lot bigger and hotter. I was just happy they still had them,” says Libatique, who scoured the back rooms of rental houses to cobble together the right lighting equipment.

The look for the actors would be similarly challenging. “There was a lot of trial and error,” says costume designer Mark Bridges of making the tailcoats that Cooper would wear while conducting.

The trick was creating a garment that allowed for Bernstein’s trademark gesticulation but still hung like a traditional coat. “Bradley would do his movements in great form during the fittings and we would find out right away if it was going to work or if it wasn’t going to work.” As for Montealegre, Bridges worked with Chanel to re-create a classic suit that was a favorite of hers, with the fashion house providing period-appropriate fabrics, buttons and trim.

ed Cooper and the production. “It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose,” they wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

“Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.”)

In all, the prosthetics for Cooper took anywhere from two to five hours to apply on each day of filming. Given how long it took to be outfitted as Bernstein, and because he was pulling quadruple duty on the film as director/actor/producer/ co-writer, Cooper adapted to directing while in full makeup and costume. “He was amazingly adept at directing me as Lenny,” explains Mulligan. “The way that he would play a scene would inform the way that I played a scene. He would have

an idea of the direction he wanted it to go, so instead of giving me a verbal note off camera, he would just play Lenny in a way that would elicit a certain response from me.”

The culmination of the cast and crew’s work is perhaps best seen in the sequence that takes place in England’s Ely Cathedral, where Bernstein conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the ’70s to great acclaim. For filming, Cooper, too, would be conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.

Thompson and his team had removed the cathedral’s modern pews to replace them with seating that was in the church in 1976. Nézet-Séguin was on hand to warm up the orchestra and to be in Cooper’s ear as he conducted.

Prosthetic makeup artist Kazu Hiro built out Bernstein looks for several different stages of his life. For the Bernstein of the ’40s, there were prosthetics for the nose, upper and lower lip and chin, with Hiro experimenting with various medical tapes to lift Cooper’s jawline. Into the ’60s, chin, cheeks, neck and earlobe prosthetics were added. The final look, for Bernstein at age 71, included prosthetics for the arms and shoulders and a body suit that changed Cooper’s posture and shape.

(When the first teaser trailer for Maestro was released, some online observers questioned the film’s use of a prosthetic nose to make Cooper, who is not Jewish, look more like Bernstein.

Bernstein’s children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein, who were consulted throughout the filming process, support-

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Says Nézet-Séguin, “In the end, it was Lenny’s spirit that was with us.”

Cooper faced a similar dilemma for a climactic Thanksgiving Day fight between Lenny and Felicia in their Dakota apartment. It’s a powder keg of a scene that lasts several minutes and plays out in one locked-off shot. But that wasn’t always the plan, with Cooper initially opting for several setups’ worth of coverage. But, he admits, “I was only going to do coverage out of fear.”

After three takes in which Mulligan and Cooper played the entire scene from start to finish in a wide shot, everyone broke for lunch. “We came back and we were still setting up for coverage, and Bradley came over to me and he said, ‘Watch this take,’” Krieger remembers. “And I watched it all the way through to the end and he goes, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘It’s fantastic, I love it.’ And he said, ‘I’m not covering it.’” Krieger agreed with his choice but also knew that having coverage was the safer bet to guard against possible studio notes.

“It was kind of like hedging my bets,” remembers Cooper of planning the coverage. “But in the third take, I really felt like we got it, so much so that I thought we didn’t even have to do coverage then. I think Netflix probably lost their minds.”

Recording the music proved to be a challenge. “The question becomes: How do we capture that technically?” says Morrow. The answer: 61 microphones.

Recording sounds for Dolby Atmos meant microphones — many, many microphones — were placed throughout the cathedral.

This included hallways, next to the violins, in the middle of the horn section and on the opera singers. And because these microphones took hours to set up, they could not be moved between takes.

They had two days to film the sequence.

“We were conducting it live there, and the whole first day I had three cameras, five setups, and I messed up everything,” Cooper recalls. The second day, he arrived in the morning and went to Kazu to have Lenny’s hair and makeup applied. Having finished before the crew’s call time, he walked the halls of Ely Cathedral. “I real112

ized what the movie really needed, and it’s got to be done in one shot,” he says.

He knew he was taking a risk, but it was a calculated risk.

Originally, Cooper had planned the scene with multiple cameras and setups, figuring that if he made a mistake with his conducting, he could cut together a cohesive performance in post. Then he began to question that approach: “I designed that whole sequence out of fear that I couldn’t pull off the conducting. That is the truth.”

“They could have fired me and had somebody else shoot it. But the only problem was that I’m playing Leonard Bernstein. I kept thinking that the whole time: I’m also Leonard Bernstein, so I definitely have a leg up. Otherwise maybe I would’ve been fired. Of course, there could also have been another [person to play] Leonard Bernstein. But then contiWhen Cooper decided the sequence neednuity would be a problem.” ed to be done in one shot, he moved the cast, including many extras, outside while Looking back on that day, Cooper once he and the crew set up the new shot. “We again returns to the idea that the film had a Technocrane waiting outside for forced him to overcome his doubts. the exterior shot, and I brought it inside. I asked everybody back in and just said, ‘I’ll “Most of the movie I was able to make fearlessly,” he says. “Any time I made it do one fearlessly.’ And at least if I messed with fear, the movie sort of spit it back it up, then I did everything I could,” he out.” says. “And for whatever reason, I didn’t mess up.”

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The highly anticipated musical biopic, “Maestro,” is poised to explore Leonard Bernstein’s life with a nuanced focus on his sexuality, including his relationships with both his wife and male lover, portrayed by the talented Carey Mulligan and Matt Bomer.

Rumors suggest that Bernstein sought guidance from Aaron Copland on navigating life as an openly gay man, a particularly bold choice during a time when few American musicians were open about their sexuality.

The film delves into Bernstein’s marriage with Felicia Montealegre, with evidence drawn from a collection of intimate letters between the couple.

In one poignant letter, Felicia, the Costa Rican-American actress, addressed Bernstein’s sexual orientation directly, writing, “You are a homosexual and may never change.”

Despite this candid acknowledgment, Bernstein and Felicia shared a life together, raising three children—Jamie, Alexander, and Nina.

Scholars align on the consensus

that Bernstein while marrying a woman, identified as a gay man rather than subscribing to theories of bisexuality.

In his youth, Leonard Bernstein was a man of exceptional talent and striking handsomeness, his allure transcending gender boundaries as he engaged in relationships with both men and women.

His sexuality appeared to be all-encompassing, embodying a sense of omnisexuality—a testament to his insatiable appetite for life.

Bernstein was a whirlwind of energy, tirelessly working and playing throughout the day and well into the night.

His relentless drive, coupled with a motor that refused to shut down until physical exhaustion, fueled his pursuits in conducting, composing for both the concert hall and the theatre, piano performance, teaching, and engaging in various forms of media, including writing and television appearances.

His relentless commitment to his work and an internal struggle over unexplored creative avenues led him to

burn the candle from the middle out.

From the 1940s to the 1980s, Bernstein’s omnipresence in the cultural landscape was unparalleled—an intellectual American Adonis.

He seamlessly blended erudition with widespread appeal, demonstrating media savvy and an unstoppable fluency in his craft.

While many aspire to be the center of attention, Bernstein not only occupied that position but excelled in it, consistently giving more than he received.

Jamie Bernstein In her memoir, “Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein,” Jamie Bernstein, the firstborn daughter of the legendary Leonard Bernstein, offers an intimate portrayal of a family shaped and dominated by her overwhelming yet deeply loving and inspired father.

In a genre often marked by formality, Jamie’s narrative stands out for its physical intimacy, humor, and tenderness, presenting a complex portrait of a family overshadowed by the brilliance of its patriarch.

Growing up, Jamie grappled with the paradox of establishing her individuality within the shadows cast by her father’s genius.

Her memoir unfolds as a unique exploration of self-discovery amid the pervasive influence of a remarkable parent.

Unlike typical classical music memoirs, Jamie’s account navigates the ambivalence she felt toward her irrepressible family genius, offering readers a compelling inside view.

Released during the centenary celebrations of Leonard Bernstein, the memoir becomes a captivating lens through which to observe the glories and corrosions of Jewish-American family love.

It doesn’t merely aim to correct any perceptions (as Jamie consistently held her father in high regard), but rather, it paints a vivid picture of a family’s enduring love, complete with its complexities.

Amid the worldwide commemorations of Leonard’s

legacy, Jamie’s storytelling stands as a testament to her commitment to truth-telling over preserving a façade of dignity.

She authentically captures the unease inherent in living on the slopes of a metaphorical volcano, creating a narrative that resonates with readers on a deeply human level.

Felicia Montealegre Following a whirlwind chapter in his youth, Leonard Bernstein entered into matrimony with Felicia Montealegre in 1951 when he was thirty-three and she was twenty-nine.

Montealegre, hailing from Chile, embodied a fascinating blend of South American aristocracy and American affluence.

Her mother, of Costa Rican and Catholic descent, and her father, an American Jew and prosperous industrialist, painted a rich tapestry of her heritage.

Felicia, an accomplished actress with refined elocution, represented a bygone era of elevated dramatic styles, particularly in contrast to the rising popularity of naturalistic modes.

Proficient in narrating oratorios, she experienced success on the stage and within the burgeoning realm of live TV drama.

Once Bernstein assumed the role of music director for the New York Philharmonic in 1958, Felicia became a gracious hostess, entertaining luminaries from both the musical and social spheres.

Despite their divergent temperaments, with Felicia gravitating towards rules and order while Bernstein reveled in his idiosyncratic habits, the couple found themselves temperamentally at odds yet deeply enamored with each other.

Their union was characterized by a unique blend of love and tension, with Felicia providing a structured foundation for a husband who luxuriated in both disciplined and unrestrained aspects of his life.

The dynamic interplay between their contrasting personalities added depth to their relationship, creating a complex but enduring bond. page 113

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FASHION & STYLE GUCCI GIVES BACK

ZIMMERMANN OPENS PARIS BOUTIQUE COACH COLLABORATES WITH LIL NAS X

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GUCCI GIVES BACK $500,000 EUROS TO UNICEF

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UCCI’S RECENT PLEDGE TO UNICEF’S EDUCATION CAUSE MARKS ANOTHER CHAPTER IN THE BRAND’S ONGOING COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS

Gucci, led by creative director Sabato De Sarno, is making a significant contribution of 300,000 Euros to UNICEF’s education thematic fund. The luxury brand aims to support UNICEF’s educational programs, emphasizing the essential right of every child to quality education, 118

particularly in the world’s most vulnerable communities.

In light of the unprecedented disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gucci recognizes the enduring impact on children’s learning and access to education. UNICEF’s education initiatives have so far assisted 37.9 million out-of-school children, including 251,565 children with disabilities, providing access to education, and distributing learning materials to 28.3 million children.

Gucci has been a longstanding partner of UNICEF. In the period from 2005 to 2015, the luxury brand actively contrib-

uted to initiatives like Schools for Africa.

This project aimed to expand access to quality education for girls, orphans, and those in extreme poverty, influencing national education policies in countries such as Mozambique and Malawi. Gucci’s efforts during this period included training over 8,700 teachers, constructing nearly 300 school classrooms, providing 14,600 school desks, and building more than 1,800 water and sanitation facilities in schools.

Furthermore, Gucci played a pivotal role as a founding member of UNICEF’s Girls’ Empowerment Initiative, focusing

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on advancing girls’ rights and well-being in areas such as health, education, social protection, water, and sanitation.

Gucci’s commitment to humanitarian causes extends beyond education.

From January 2018 to August 2019, in partnership with UNICEF USA and BeyGood4Burundi initiated by Beyoncé,

Gucci supported the construction and rehabilitation of Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in Burundi. This initiative enabled 4,850 additional people to gain sustainable access to safe drinking water, benefiting over 36,000 people since January 2018.

During the challenging times of the

COVID-19 pandemic, Gucci demonstrated its ongoing support by donating $500,000 to UNICEF USA in December 2020. Additionally, the luxury brand contributed a further $100,000 on behalf of the Gucci community to aid UNICEF’s efforts in preparing for the global, equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in vulnerable communities worldwide. page 119

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IMMERMANN ANNOUNCED THE OPENING OF THEIR NEW BOUTIQUE LOCATED IN THE 8TH ARRONDISSEMENT OF PARIS. NESTLED ON THE CORNER OF RUE DU FAUBOURG SAINT HONORÉ AND RUE D’ANJOU, THE BOUTIQUE EXTENDS ACROSS THE FLOORS OF AN ELEGANT PRE-WAR BUILDING, NEIGHBORING THE BRITISH EMBASSY AND THE JARDIN DES CHAMPS-ELYSEES.

The iconic shopping precinct and cultural destination made the destination a natural next choice for the brand; located just a stone’s throw from the brand’s European headquarters and designed in collaboration with Studio McQualter.

“It’s such an exciting time in Paris and it’s great to be opening our new store on Rue du Fauborg Saint Honoré,” said Nicky Zimmermann, creative director.

“For this project we wanted our clients to feel like they were in a completely unique environment, one that captures the heart of our brand but still has a strong connection to the local area at

the same time. We’re excited to continue to connect with our clients in Paris and allow them to immerse themselves in the world of Zimmermann.”

The store occupies multiple floors over 288 square meters, and has been designed to create a place of warmth and optimism. Similar to its sister store on Rue Francois Premier, the exterior was made lighter and more approachable using metal windows, teamed with distinctive cream fabric awnings and twisted iron arm brackets.

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intersect the space, designed for an explorative experience. The ground floor features polished plaster walls and Palladiana marble flooring to unite the retail areas, while freestanding wardrobes, reclaimed timber window displays and modernist furnishings like Daniel Elm wood armchairs, art deco side tables and a rare 1970’s circular wood and glass table from Nerone Y Patuzzi give each area their unique character. Fitting rooms enclosed by a striped silk fabric and tented ceilings line the space.

A new void visually links the different stories, while a pre-cast concrete staircase leads to the second floor, where galvanized metallic and glass doors separate the collections, dramatically anchored with a vast red vintage lacquered Chinese coromandel screen, converted

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as a wardrobe. Natural light from tall doors suffuses the two retail areas, featuring freestanding chrome wardrobes, mid-century armchairs, lounge and cub chairs and modernist display tables for collection, separates and accessories.

Lighting, such as Phillippe Barbier table lamps, mid-century metallic wall sconces, an Akari floor lamp and 1950’s Italian chandelier gives the room a subdued luster, while honey colored parchment wall lights, bespoke striped Kilim rugs, modernist display tables and Bauhaus armchairs offer a timeless retreat with direct access to fitting rooms, via a bright Jim Thompson double-sided curtaining.

Oriol Garcia, is a standout feature of the store. Other pieces are just as compelling, including modernist vases from the likes of Nelly Yassef or Herman Kahler, and paintings by Australian artists such as Troy Emery.

A mural artwork positioned over the staircase, commissioned by Alistair McLuckie and executed in white and blue Sgaffito by Barcelona from Estucs

The Zimmermann Paris boutique is located at 46 Rue du Faubourg SaintHonoré, 75008, Paris.

The new Zimmermann Paris boutique will open with the Fall ’23 collection, presented at Paris Fashion Week alongside its campaign featuring Vivienne Rohner, and the Resort ’24 and Resort Swim ’24 collections – with recently unveiled campaigns featuring Barbara Valente and Malika El Maslouhi respectively.

CONTENT COURTESY THE IMPRESSION / PHOTOS COURTESY THE IMPRESSION

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COACH RIDES THE CELEBRITY COLLABORATION TRAIN WITH LIL NAS X

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OACH RELEASES “THE LIL NAS X DROP”, A SPECIAL CAPSULE FEATURING PIECES DESIGNED BY COACH AND CURATED BY LIL NAS X. THE EDIT INCLUDES PIECES FROM THE WINTER 2023 COLLECTION HAND-PICKED AND CUSTOMIZED BY LIL NAS X, INSPIRED BY THE ARTIST AND COACH BRAND AMBASSADOR’S EXPRESSIVE APPROACH TO STYLE.

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To create the capsule, Coach worked with Lil Nas X, referencing his individual style and sense of color to create the feeling of the collection. Coach Creative Director Stuart Vevers, then worked with the artist to select and customize his favorite pieces, including shearling coats in pop colors, graphics inspired by concert merch, and an American varsity jacket personalized with patches with symbols from Lil Nas X’s life, like his pet cats and zodiac sign, Aries.

Part of Winter 2023, the collection references American archetypes like leather biker and shearling jackets juxtaposed

with tees, sweatshirts and bags brought to life with youthful acid graphics and electric colors that evoke rave culture, and an archival Bonnie Cashin leopard print recontextualized for today.

“Our Winter collection is inspired by my belief that fashion is about exploring and celebrating all of who you are,” said Vevers. “To create the collection, we twisted the Coach archives and were also inspired by Lil Nas X’s connection to music and nightlife. We evolved heritage styles introduced on the runway last season by amplifying color, texture and graphics to create pieces that celebrate our love for individuality and authentic self-expression that we share.”

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PHILANTHROPY TODAY

MAKE YOUR GIVING COUNT IN THE NEW YEAR Seek Guidance and Look "Upstream" for your 2024 Giving Plan WILLIAM SMITH

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PHILANTHROPY CONTRIBUTOR @willismith2000

S THIS NEW YEAR BEGINS, MANY OF US ARE LIKELY MAKING SOME TYPE OF RESOLUTION OR PROMISE TO DO X, Y OR Z. A RESOLUTION TO LOSE WEIGHT. TO GET TO THE GYM OR YOGA MORE CONSISTENTLY. TO TRAVEL MORE. TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Whatever it is that might have worked its way onto your 2024 list, let me urge you to add one more: to give more to organizations doing charitable work.

Data from 2022 showed giving to non-profits in the United States fell significantly that year – down 6.4 percent or when adjusted for inflation, a whopping 13.4 percent decline. Early data for 2023 suggest the downward trend has not reversed, meaning that the many organizations that help support and create community where we live are facing hard times.

This downward trend has only been observed a few times over the past half century and the current decline is occurring at the same time as increasing inflation and a highly competitive em132

ployment environment have driven up real costs for non-profit organizations.

And perhaps to add to the heap, many organizations are dealing with greater need. For example, a recent count of homeless individuals in the U.S. found a 12 percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in 2023 compared to 2022, and the real number, some 650,000 people, represented the highest number ever counted since the data began being collected.

The need in 2024 for increased giving from individuals is real. As someone who has been in philanthropy professionally for the better part of a decade, here are a few thoughts to help guide your commitment to increased charitable giving in the coming year.

SEEKING GUIDANCE There are many ways to find out about the needs in your community, but one of the best is to contact and establish a relationship with your community foundation. Community foundations can be found across the country (and the globe) and are typically tethered to a particular geography, such as a city, county, state or region. This embracing of a particular geography almost always translates to an organization with staff that deeply understand the unique and pressing needs in their communities.

While many community foundations of-

fer products to potential donors to help carry out their desired philanthropy – such as Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) – it is also okay to establish a relationship with them that allows you to learn without creating a DAF. They might also offer forums or other types of sessions for learning. Just remember, that a community foundation is also a non-profit and a charitable gift to it for the learning you acquired would be appropriate and put to very good use.

LOOK “UPSTREAM” Philanthropic opportunities are consistently evolving. Over the past several years especially, an increasing focus has emerged on not just helping those in need but seeking upstream solutions intended to create fewer people in need.

Many of these organizations may focus on policy and advocacy to create what is know in the biz as systems change, a change to how the very systems that exist respond to increasing and complex needs.

If we look again at homelessness, for example, there are innumerable and incredible organizations that are providing direct services to the homeless, such as providing meals and temporary shelter. But we also know that homelessness is often the outcome of many other upstream issues like mental and behavioral health, income insecurity and a lack of accessible and affordable

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housing options, to name but a few. Organizations working on these upstream issues to create stronger and more resilient families and communities are critical.

If your philanthropy permits, finding a balance between the organizations doing direct service and those doing policy and advocacy, or if you can find the sweet spot of a single organization doing both, your own giving will have greater impact toward change.

DIG DEEP If your own circumstances allow, now is the time to dig deep and consider expanding your charitable giving.

Yes, this means deliberately stretching your limits and giving more financially, it is direly needed. But it can also mean becoming more deeply involved in the organizations and issues you love. Foster a dog or cat in 2024 – animal shelters are overflowing.

Volunteer to help staff that

local gala event fundraiser.

Become a volunteer docent at your favorite art museum.

Tutor a local child in math or reading and help create a stronger future for them. The opportunities are endless and deeply meaningful.

it must be done with intention and carried out with consistent purpose. Become informed. Make a plan. And then let your heart lead you to give, give and give some more.

2024 AND BEYOND Philanthropy can be the most powerful tool to change the world and the communities we call home. But like everything that has that power, page 133

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BUILDING THE HOUSE ON THIRD

REDEFINING THE SPACES WE DWELL

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N THE COURSE OF A CREATIVE’S LIFE, IT IS NOT UNCOMMON TO COME ACROSS SOMEONE YOU INNATELY CONNECT WITH AND WONDER WHAT IT MIGHT BE LIKE TO WORK WITH THEM COLLABORATIVELY. All too often, such thoughts are merely fleeting and fall wayside to the grind of reality. That was the very feeling designer Tom Landry had when he attended design school at IADT in Montreal some 23 years ago and met two sisters, Caroline & Christina Akatcherian. They instantly connected over their adoration for contemporary design and aesthetic restraint.

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Tom, from New Orleans, graduated alongside Carolina and Christina. He returned to the States to pursue his design career in residential and commercial design while acting as a North American design consultant for Aveda salons and spas for 20 years, while the sisters went on to work for renowned Montréal design studios. Joining forces some thirteen years ago, the sisters started a multi-disciplinary firm dedicated to the exploration of lightness in minimalism and all things beautiful. Their project work spans the gamut of built environments.

Tom returned to the city of his alma mater, Montréal while accompanying his son in his studies there. That’s when he reconnected with the Akatcherian sisBY TOM LANDRY / DESIGN CONTRIBUTOR

ters. Within days they knew there would be no better time to embark on that fleeting thought from some 23 years ago. Their shared authenticity restrained aesthetic and devotion to the craft has flourished since those long days in the classroom. Collectively they have a breadth of extraordinary contemporary residential & commercial interiors that span North America.

And then there is Miriam. Tom met Miriam while he was doing philanthropic work in Haiti. He later assisted her in the design of a former Prime Minister’s official residence. Miriam, a Dutch native, grew up in Haiti. She was a co-proprietor of one of Haiti’s top restaurants with her mother and was a personal advisor to three Haitian Prime Ministers

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- managing their official residences, receiving dignitaries and advising on all matters of protocol.

Over the course of many years, Tom and Miriam became dear friends - a relationship built on a shared sense of purpose, philanthropy, impeccable taste and humor! Miriam always admired Tom’s profession and often remarked how much she would love to work with Tom in some capacity. At the time, the connection wasn’t clear to Tom. A Dutch restaurant entrepreneur in Haiti working with an American interior designer?

Shortly before the world paused for the pandemic, Tom began importing luxury furnishings from heritage Italian and European brands to avoid the long lead times his clients were facing from domestic dealers. Soon he was asked to curate, procure and install furnishings for projects across North America. Architects and designers began requesting his involvement on their projects. It was an exciting yet overwhelming time. The pandemic made travel nearly impossible. Spending more time in one place meant clients were eager to see projects completed at light speed. Tom quickly realized he needed someone who could not only manage the challenging operations but also offer the same exceptional service to his clients befitting heads of state.

That’s when he phoned Miriam who had just recently relocated to NYC. Fast forward to today. The sisters’ and Tom’s fleeting thought some 20 years ago of the perfect team has become a reality. Miriam, Caroline & Christina immediately bonded over their love for all things beautiful and House on Third was born. The quad meticulously blend the intersection between beauty and design while focusing on the intricacies of execution. House on Third dissects design trends to exact a timeless, functional and astute contemporary aesthetic. They eschew the monotony of trend and focus on bringing their clientele interiors that remain unapologetically relevant and exceptionally beautiful.

House on Third offers interdisciplinary design services for both residential and commercial interiors, complemented with luxury furniture and art curation from across the globe. They also work closely with developers, designers and architects offering furniture curation, procurement and installation.

House on Third will join Polo Lifestyles as a quarterly Design & Lifestyle Contributor in 2024 to explore design architecture and the objects from around the globe that define spaces we dwell and those we swoon over.

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MANSION OF THE MONTH APOGEE HOUSE

VAIL VILLAGE, COLORADO 81657 USA

A MODERN MARVEL $39,000,000 USD

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MANSION OF THE MONTH

APOGEE HOUSE

A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY

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65 FOREST ROAD, LOCATED ON VAIL MOUNTAIN IS THE MOST EXQUISITE, NEW MODERN CONTEMPORARY ESTATE THAT ENCOMPASSES THE FINEST IN MATERIALS, TECHNOLOGY AND VIEWS. 75-FOOT LONG SUSPENDED GLASS BOTTOM POOL WITH EXCEPTIONAL 142

GORE RANGE VIEWS, REJUVENATING SPA WITH WATERFALL, FREESTANDING ELEVATOR WITH GLASS CEILING, FOUR-CAR GARAGE, FOUR COVERED PARKING SPACES AND CAR RINSE ARE SOME OF THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF THIS AMAZING ESTATE.

Designed with glass view corridors and sliding walls that seamlessly flow the living area into the exterior decks, patios and gardens. Over 6,500 square feet of outdoor heated decks, biometric recognition entry and entertaining roof deck completes this one-of-a-kind residence in Vail Village, providing your own private retreat.

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PRICE $39,990,000 | BEDROOMS 6 BATHROOMS 7 FULL AND 2 PARTIAL INTERIOR 8,801 SQ FT. EXTERIOR 0.43 ACRES

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MANSION OF THE MONTH

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MANSION MANSION OF OF THE THE MONTH MONTH

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NANTES PAYS DE LA LOIRE 44000 FRANCE

PRICE $29,967,206 USD BEDROOMS 8 / BATHROOMS 2 FULL INTERIOR 10,7639 SQ FT. / EXTERIOR 317.29 ACRES NANTES, PAYS DE LA LOIRE, 44000 FRANCE HUS STUD FARM This exceptional estate comprises not only a historic chateau but also one of France’s biggest equestrian facilities with 150

the capacity to house approximately 400 horses. The castle has been restored and offers 1000 sq. meters of perfectly renovated living space including an indoor pool, a steam room and a gym. The spacious grounds comprise 128 hectares including private access to the River

Erdre, a 30-meter mooring, extensive equestrian training facilities including show jumping and dressage with 200 hectares extra rental. Restored outbuildings, helicopter pad and only 35 kilometers from the international airport. The sale includes 300 horses.

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CASTILLO CARIBE CARIBBEAN LUXURY IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS PRICE UPON REQUEST

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OW YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL: LIFESTYLE, LUXURY, LOCATION AND LIMITED TAX LIABILITY. WITHOUT DOUBT CASTILLO CARIBE IS ONE OF THE FINEST BEACH-FRONT ESTATE HOMES IN THE WORLD OFFERING EVERY LUXURY FOR MODERN DAY LIFE WITH ALL THE LIFESTYLE OPTIONS ONE WOULD EXPECT FROM THE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND THE CARIBBEAN.

Although the Cayman Islands enjoy year-round sunshine and a temperate climate, this benefit is eclipsed in most people’s eyes by the Islands’ offshore status. The Cayman Islands are well known as a financial center on the world’s stage and provide the highest quality of lifestyle available in a tax

neutral environment, making it very appealing to people of high net worth to seek residency here - a position that is actively encouraged by the local government and, as a British Overseas Territory, is a very stable option.

There are a number of destinations in the world that are able to offer offshore status to a greater or lesser degree, but the Cayman Islands have no local taxes whatsoever: no property tax, no income tax, no capital gains tax and no inheritance tax. Castillo Caribe offers a rare opportunity to combine this with privacy, security, luxury and lifestyle all on a pristine white sandy beach overlooking the crystal-clear waters of the Caribbean Sea. The space afforded here is too limited to provide adequate description of all the properties features and amenities, please request a detailed package by emailing: heather.carrigan@sothebysrealty.com.

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In Search The Unthinkable of Solace is Happening in France

What Drastic Moves in France Mean for the Future of Wine

WILLIAM SMITH @willismith_2000 COPY EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR

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AST FALL, THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENED. WORD CAME FROM FRANCE THAT THE EUROPEAN UNION (E.U.) AND THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT WERE PONYING UP OVER $200 MILLION USD TO TAKE 80 MILLION GALLONS 156

OF FRENCH WINE OFF THE MARKET AND – GASP – DISTILL IT INTO PURE ALCOHOL FOR OTHER USES, INCLUDING TURNING IT INTO HAND SANITIZER. Yes, when you purchase that French eau de parfum next year, its alcohol base may have actually started out in the vineyards of the Languedoc or some other storied region, its promise sadly derailed from what might have been a stellar performer in the bottle.

This sobering development came on the heels of news in June of last year, that the French government was paying over $60

million USD to growers in the Bordeaux region to rip out some 9,500 hectares of vines. That is about 23,500 acres, or roughly 37 square miles, or an area the size of the city of Miami.

Many specific developments contributed to this situation, but the overall bottom line – hold your breath – is that France has too much wine.

And while it’s not unheard of for governments – even those that proclaim themselves to be “free market” devotees – to engage in agricultural market stabilization efforts such as this, the deployment of such a tactic applied to wine may be unprecedented.

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When this news broke, the wine world was abuzz. One publication (that I admire, by the way) pondered if this meant an existential threat to wine. It does not. Humans were consuming wine as far back as 6,000 BCE. An 8,000-year record of consumption is enough for me to jettison the characterization of there being a present wholesale threat to the existence of wine. Still, the moves in France do raise some serious issues about the future of wine and deserve further discussion.

First, there is the demand side of the equation and while inexplicable for wine lovers... demand is down, and nearly universally so where the data is collected. Let’s start in France itself, where according to the Washington Post from an article in early 2023, regular wine drinkers in France had gone from roughly 50 percent of adults in the 1980s to 20 percent today.

The E.U.’s action to bail out France was prompted by its own analysis and an

adopted set of measures to address the decline in demand and was based on research showing the estimated decline of wine consumption in Spain was 10 percent, 7 percent in Italy, 15 percent in France, 22 percent in Germany, and a staggering 34 percent decline in Portugal. And in America, wine is the least-preferred alcoholic beverage, behind beer and spirits with the only increasing segment of wine drinkers being among those 60 years or older.

Meanwhile, the countries comprising the E.U. were set to see a 4 percent increase in overall wine production in 2023 compared to 2022. In the U.S., analysts are estimating a greater than 4 percent growth in wine production between 2023 and 2028.

It’s a supply-demand imbalance that requires new markets, one reason why so many winemakers in countries with well-established wine economies are seeking out new consumers in Asia, where growth in consumption of wine

is expected to grow by greater than 8 percent over the next several years.

A second point to consider in the midst of the European wine glut, is that wine-producing countries in the Southern Hemisphere are manifesting marked declines in production.

According to 2023 data from the International Organization of Vine and Wine, the major wine producing countries of the Southern Hemisphere – namely Argentina, Chile, Australia and South Africa – saw production declines between 10 percent and 30 percent from 2022 to 2023. These are the same regions that were demonstrating strength in emerging wine production and sales prior to the COVID pandemic.

Finally, we know that much of the current disruptions in the wine industry are global in scope. The COVID-19 pandemic and its supply chain issues. Major climate-change impacts wreak havoc on every aspect of agriculture, including viticulture. And global inflation pressures

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In Search The Unthinkable of Solace is Happening in France

have increased costs and weakened the buying power of consumers, including those who buy and consume wine.

All of these dynamics are a wake-up call. The market of consumers for wine is shrinking and trending older. The costs for producing wine are increasingly out-pacing what can be charged,

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causing governments, like the E.U. and France, to come in with bail outs of public funds. And climate change and its predictable unpredictability, is shifting what ought to be grown and where.

Those not heeding the wake-up call, be they individual producers resting on their laurels or countries not actively

supporting efforts to counter these threats, will most assuredly find themselves languishing in rapidly shifting territory. Conversely, those looking out ahead – perhaps as France is in paying to supplant grape vines with other crops – will have the advantage.

As always, Salud!

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T H E

P O W E R

O F

U N L O C K I N G

Y O U R

M I N D

FIVE GOLDEN RULES TO A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2024

S

TEVEN BARTLETT, THE DRAGON’S DEN INVESTOR, ON WHAT HE’S LEARNED ABOUT LIVING A SUCCESSFUL LIFE FROM INTERVIEWING NEARLY 400 GUESTS ON HIS PODCAST 1. KEEP GOALS SMALL

“When people try and focus on ten goals at once, the probability is that all of them are destined to fail. Willpower is like a muscle, and if you’ve exhausted it too much [the theory is] it kind of collapses,” said Bartlett.

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“So my goals are small goals and they are all based on consistency.”

THAT EVERYTHING ELSE RESTS ON

To help ensure that your New Year’s resolutions are successful, he recommends choosing open-ended goals, removing what he calls “completable goals” from your list. “A completable goal might be ‘I’ll get a six pack for summer’, but when you’ve ticked that box and summer’s over, you lose your motivation. Instead, choose incompletable goals, such as ‘I want to be consistent in the gym’. That’s something that you have to show up for every single week.”

“The science is very clear – if you’re well slept, you’re much less likely to make amygdala (the emotional center in your brain) based decisions.” Optimal sleep, says Bartlett, revolves around our circadian rhythms.

2. SLEEP IS THE FOUNDATION

“Your body has this internal clock, and it’s releasing chemicals at certain times. So, melatonin (the hormone that prompts us to fall asleep) is produced when the lights go out, for example. And when we start violating those prompts, our circadian rhythm gets out of sync

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and we have dysfunctional sleep.”

Bartlett suggests avoiding drinking coffee after 12pm, not looking at a screen a few hours before you go to bed, and to cut out snacking, especially sugary foods a few hours before sleep. “But honestly, waking up at the same time every day is the best way to reset your circadian rhythm,” he says, before adding: “Sleeping in bed with somebody is not always the best thing, particularly if they have a different cycle to you. So, if my girlfriend gets up at 6am and wakes me up, I could lose 50 per cent of my restoration.”

3. USE DATA TO PERSONALIZE YOUR DIET “I had gut problems for three to four years and just assumed I was broken. I had this pain in my gut and this bloating almost every day,” he admits. “I’d come up with all the BS that I’d chosen to believe, like, I’m gluten intolerant. Turns out [after using Zoe for two months], the things I was eating just had a bad relationship with my particular gut microbiome.”

Bartlett likens his gut microbes to his French bulldog, Pablo. “I feed him the right things and I think about his nutrition [so] now I think about my gut microbiome as if it’s a Tamagotchi, like this organism that’s inside me that’s responsible for my serotonin and all these

other wonderful things.” For Bartlett, those things include protein with “at least 30 plants” a week; the magic number professor of genetics and founder of Zoe, Tim Spector, says is “the single most important dietary factor we found for better gut health.”

Zoe is a personalized nutrition program that works on a subscription model, beginning with the slightly undignified (though necessary) step of sending off a stool sample, alongside a blood lipid test, to determine how your body metabolizes fat. Subscribers are also encouraged to wear a blood glucose monitor for two weeks. Collectively these results inform the basis of your personalized diet.

“When I went through the Zoe process I got to understand glucose spikes.

Now, when I need to be cognitively on my A-game, I avoid high glucose, high carbohydrate foods from my diet beforehand.”

4. BEING FIT IS ABOUT CONSISTENCY, NOT INTENSITY “My exercise routine is messy but consistent. The goal is not perfection, it’s to have empathy for myself, and then try and be consistent. I used to aim at intensity, now I aim for consistency.

Which means if I go to the gym and I do a 10-minute run because I’m too busy [to stay longer] or I don’t feel good, I’m much prouder of myself for just

getting there and doing the 10 minutes.

Whereas before I would aim for amazing workouts every time and that sets you up to fail.”

5. HAPPINESS IS A DIRECT RESULT OF MANAGING EXPECTATIONS “Happy is an interesting word, because it’s actually a certain mood that we’re after. A better word is fulfilment or contentment – I’m not happy all of the time, sometimes I’m sad, upset or annoyed or whatever. But I am always exceeding my expectations.” Bartlett is referring to his favorite podcast episode with happiness expert Mo Gawdat and the one he’s most proud of.

“Mo is the guest that’s changed my life the most. He taught me that we’re happy when our expectations of how our life is supposed to be going are met. And we’re unhappy when our expectations are not met. 10 years ago, I was shoplifting Chicago Town pizzas to feed myself, and now I have the privilege of being able to eat really nice food.

“It’s very easy to see how, after a few months of eating really nice food, I’d just be meeting my expectations – unless I keep hold of all of the memories. That allows me to realize that everything [I now have] is exceeding my expectations.”

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DON'T ASK A.I. TO MIX YOU A DRINK YOU CAN, HOWEVER, ASK IT FOR A RECIPE OR SPIN-OFF O F A N O R I G I N A L O R FAV O R I T E

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ENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS SUCH AS CHATGPT DO NOT POSE AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT FOR BARTENDERS AND BREWERS THE SAME WAY THEY DO FOR WRITERS, MUSICIANS AND OTHER CREATIVES. THAT’S BECAUSE BREWING BEER OR MIXING A DRINK IS AN INHERENTLY TACTILE AND ANCIENT PRACTICE STEEPED IN THE PERSON-TO-PERSON CONNECTIONS THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO HUMANITY.

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So don’t worry about those robot bartenders that have popped up in places like Las Vegas. Those are and will remain a novelty similar to the animatronic puppets of yesteryear. But that doesn’t mean AI won’t change the way people drink, in fact, AI is already influencing how people find cocktail recipes, develop recipes, and even which breweries and bars they visit, albeit on a small scale currently. Here are some examples of how AI is already playing a role in beer and cocktail culture.

1: AI CAN PROVIDE EXISTING DRINK RECIPES If you are a professional or home bartender looking for a recipe for a

cocktail, you no longer need to look through your cocktail book or search the Internet. Instead, all you need to do is ask ChatGPT or another AI tool such as Bard from Google how to make the cocktail in question. I recently asked ChatGPT how to make a variety of cocktails including a spicy margarita, Last Word, Manhattan, and Naked and Famous. In each case, it provided a recipe instantly that was as good as could be found with a quick Google search.

But as with most-AI related technology I had questions. Where was ChatGPT getting the information for these drinks?

I worry the bartenders who create new drinks and the journalists and authors who compile them will go uncredited

ERIK OFGANG / SPECIAL TO POLO LIFESTYLES

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and uncompensated if ChatGPT or other AI becomes the go-to for drinks recipes.

2: AI CAN HELP PEOPLE FIND BREWERIES AND COCKTAIL BARS WHEN THEY TRAVEL AI chatbots have started to compete with search engines and sites like Yelp by providing travel itineraries for users on demand. One example is the OpenAI-technology powered tool GuideGeek. This free AI travel chatbot works through WhatsApp and can provide on-demand craft beverage itineraries for cities, states and regions — providing suggestions on top drinking spots much the same way a knowledgeable friend might. I asked it to suggest a brewery tour of Connecticut and within a few seconds, it suggested

visiting four excellent breweries in the state and provided brief descriptions of attractions at each. For instance, it correctly noted that New England Brewing Co. in Woodbridge, Conn., is known for its “hop-forward beers” and “Sea Hag IPA and G-Bot are highly regarded by craft beer enthusiasts.”

3: AI CAN DEVELOP NEW COCKTAIL RECIPES The truly spectacular and terrifying thing about generative AI is not just that it can summarize the Internet on demand for you, it can generate new, or at least new-ish content inspired by what it finds on the web. That’s why it can write, make music and create art.

But AI’s creative prowess extends to the bar as well. Several AI tools specialize in cocktail recipe development including

BarGPT. The tool has features that will allow it to create a drink based on what you have available in your liquor cabinet and upon ChatGPT-style prompts.

Though beverage directors should rest easy that it isn’t going to eliminate their jobs anytime soon. From my prompts, BarGPT wasn’t able to generate the type of complex drinks a skilled bartender could. My request for “a modern riff on a spicy margarita that would impress even my most snobby friends” resulted in a cocktail that was basically a Tommy’s Margarita with a cayenne pepper rim instead of a salt one. It wasn’t bad tasting, but it wasn’t particularly original. In time the robots may get better at conceiving drinks, until then I’ll stick with good old-fashioned human-conceived recipes.

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VOLUME VIII / ISSUE I / JANUARY 2024

MOLD YOUR MIND T H E

P O W E R

O F

U N L O C K I N G

Y O U R

M I N D

BECOMING MORE MINDFUL NEW YEAR, NEW MINDSET COACH JOEY VELEZ

MENTAL WELLNESS CONTRIBUTOR @velezmentalperformance

A

N UPANDCOMING TREND IN THE WORLD OF MENTAL HEALTH, ESPECIALLY IN SPORT PSYCHOLOGY, IS MINDFULNESS. WHILE THERE ARE A VARIETY OF BENEFITS TO PRACTICING MINDFULNESS THAT ARE BACKED BY RESEARCH, IT FEELS MORE LIKE A BUZZWORD IN TODAY’S SOCIETY. People have heard the term “mindfulness” before; they may have even used it in a sentence such as, “Just be more mindful next time,” but they have a hard time explaining what it means to be mindful.

Mindfulness is intentionally being aware of the present moment and accepting things just as they are without judgment. Being more aware of the present moment can not only help you enhance your training and performance by training your attentional focus and emotional regulation, but it can also improve psychological outcomes such as stress and anxiety, emotionality and depression, 168

it can improve memory and increase creativity, reaction times and mental and physical stamina increase, and can help you better enjoy and have more fulfilling relationships with other people. In order to achieve these benefits, we must develop and start a consistent mindfulness practice.

UNDERSTANDING MINDFULNESS Research shows that people who practice mindfulness on a consistent basis show greater activation in areas of the brain that are associated with attention and regulating emotions, both of which are fundamental components of high-level performance. Throughout your day, throughout your training and performances, things happen that are often out of our control.

However, the mind still develops a thought that triggers some type of physical or emotional response. In these moments, if you direct your attention to the physical or emotional response, then your performance will suffer because now your attention is no longer on the task at hand. However, the brain’s ability to focus only lasts five seconds, which is one of the reasons why mindfulness is so important. Practicing mindfulness allows you to be in control of where you place your attention, allows you to sustain attention on the task for longer while minimizing distractions, allows

you to understand what is going on internally and externally, and enhances your ability to shift your attention from one thing to the next.

To understand how being more mindful of every day experiences changes things, I am going to walk you through an exercise. Go into your kitchen and grab your favorite snack. It can be chips, candy, nuts or even your child’s fruit snacks… no need to go crazy, just a couple of pieces will do.

First, you are going to start by grabbing your snack item, and I want you to notice the texture, the shape, and the color as it sits in your hand. If your snack has a wrapper, notice the sound the wrapper makes as you tear it open, how the wrapper feels against your fingers. Next, bring the snack up to your nose and smell it.

Try to pick out the different smells, but also notice any thoughts present or if you are experiencing any physical responses, such as your mouth salivating.

Next, bring the snack away from your nose, and once again, notice what it looks like and feels like in your hand.

Place the snack in your mouth and let it sit on your tongue before beginning to chew. Notice what it feels like sitting on your tongue. Next, slowly begin to chew your snack, noticing what happens each bite you take. Take your time chewing your snack as you fully dive into this eating experience.

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THOUGHTS MATTER

Once you have finished your snack, reflect on the experience as a whole.

Ask yourself questions, such as, “What was that experience like? What thoughts were present? How was this different than how you normally eat?”

Practicing this kind of awareness will make it more clear just how much time you spend being passive in everyday experiences. Practicing mindfulness can allow for more active participation in every day activities, which can lead to more freedom and more control over how you live your life.

BUILDING YOUR FOUNDATION Establishing a foundation for your mindfulness practice starts with diaphragmatic breathing. Breathing through your diaphragm helps calm the mind and body, while also giving your mind one thing to keep track of. You know you are breathing through your diaphragm when your stomach expands on each inhale.

Doing this activates a very specific nerve in your body that triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, which activates your body’s rest-and-digest response.

Start by focusing on your breathing for

three minutes. Begin by taking nice, rhythmic breaths in through your nose, feeling your stomach expand with each inhale, followed by long, smooth exhales out through your mouth. Your mind is going to get distracted throughout this process, but this is normal. The key is to not judge yourself for losing focus and simply notice where it went and slowly guiding your attention back to your breathing. Each time that you do, you are strengthening your attentional abilities by regaining focus after losing it.

The next step in establishing a foundation for your mindfulness practice is through a sitting meditation. This is where you are simply focusing on the sensations of each breath, so what each inhale feels like and what each exhale feels like. A common response in these moments is the desire to change what is happening because you feel like you are doing it wrong, or that you should be experiencing something that you are not. However, what mindfulness teaches us is that it is more about observing what is happening in the moment rather than changing anything. Instead, simply notice what is happening and then guide your attention back to your breath with-

out judgment. After your mindfulness practice is complete, this is an opportunity to reflect on this experience to see where your attention went, why it went there, and how long it took you to regain attention. All of this can now be used as information for the next time you practice helping you improve.

FINAL THOUGHTS We try so hard to be happy that we end up missing the most important parts of our lives and destroying the very peace that we are seeking. Being able to achieve that peace and live a more satisfactory and fulfilling life starts by developing a consistent, deliberate mindfulness practice. Spending five to 20 minutes a day breathing and simply noticing your experiences can lead to being more mindful.

Whether you set time aside to go through your sitting meditation, or you take a second throughout your day to check-in with yourself and focus on your breathing, both are ways to build your mindfulness practice. It is a new year, so start the new year off on the right foot by starting a new practice today. page 169

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