‘The Great Gatsby' at 100: An All-American Enigma
When the narrator and outsider Nick Carraway first sees the enchanting Daisy Buchanan, she asks if friends miss her in Chicago and he feels obliged to offer her witty flattery: 'The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath, and there's a persistent wail all night along the north shore.' Though Daisy, married to Tom Buchanan, has social status, a pretty daughter and everything money can buy, she's spoiled and bored. Echoing T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land' ('What shall we do tomorrow? / What shall we ever do?'), published in 1922, she asks, 'What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon . . . and the day after that, and the next thirty years?'
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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
From competition to couple: 'Destination X' stars come out, announce they're dating
Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald knew they were in for the adventure of a lifetime when they joined the NBC reality competition show Destination X. But they didn't know they'd also find love, the pair tells Out in an exclusive interview. Destination X, hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, features a group of contestants who are transported around Europe while blindfolded. They have to use clues to guess where they are, and the person whose guess is farthest from the correct answer is eliminated. Even though the game was every person for themself, Bross and Fitzgerald teamed up on the show's first challenge after bonding over both living in Texas. However, when Fitzgerald won an advantage and almost saved fellow contestant Biggy instead of Bross, the two lost trust in each other. By the time Fitzgerald was eliminated last week and Bross this week, they were back in an alliance, but were nothing more than friends. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald smiling at each other on the Krosny/NBC In her intro on the show, Bross says she came into the game hoping to find Mr. Right. She was always looking for a husband, but she never got past a certain point when dating men. She had gone on dates with two girls she "kind of had crushes on," but when they weren't compatible, she assumed she must be straight. "But then I had so many relationships with guys where I just didn't feel that we could relate on an intellectual or emotional level. It almost was like, something's off here," she says. "And I only ever really wanted to be in relationships with men who I constantly needed to get approval from. It was like I was constantly working to be their idea of what a good girlfriend should be." "And yeah, every guy I met I did think was my husband," she says. "And maybe it was so easy to let go of all my husbands because I was going to have a wife." For a while, Ally did think she might've found Mr. Right when she began a showmance with contestant Shayne Cureton, and the two even continued dating for a short time after the show. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Shayne Pattaro/NBC After being on Destination X, Bross and Fitzgerald started hanging out simply because they lived eight minutes from each other in Austin, Texas. "I had found her Destination X water bottle on the bus, and I nabbed it. And I was like, 'I'm going to bring it back to her.' So I brought it back to her, and then we started hanging out a lot," Bross says. That first hangout included spending time eating crab rangoon and watching lesbian singer Chappell Roan's performances. Fitzgerald jokes that the sapphic pop "kind of put the seeds in" for their blossoming romance. Bross didn't fully realize her feelings for Fitzgerald until the two went on a trip together for a YouTube series they started together called Where the F Are We?. The series, like Destination X, features the pair taking each other on blindfolded journeys where they must guess their location. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald on Bross and Mack Fitzgerald (PROVIDED) On a trip to Finland, Bross says, her feelings for Fitzgerald solidified. "While we were in Finland, we were staying in this tiny little cabin that had just these two little twin beds. And I don't know if it's in the Finnish air or something, but I just suddenly had such a big crush on Mack," she says. "I was feeling like, 'Wait, this is way bigger than what it was before.' Before I knew I really wanted Mack to like me, I really wanted her around all the time. I was sad when she would leave my house. But it was really in Finland where I realized I had feelings for her." Bross reveals that it was a drunk airplane ride where those feelings were revealed. The two were separately filming content for their YouTube videos when she filmed herself "basically admitting my feelings for her" on camera. Bross had planned not to say anything, but when the pair started going through their videos together, her confession came up."I was so exposed," Bross says. "She watched it, and I was like, 'Oh my God, it's so embarrassing." Before dating Bross, Fitzgerald always identified as asexual and didn't believe in love. It wasn't until she thought about her feelings for Bross that she changed her mind. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and at a state fair.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED) "Once that was put on my radar, then I kind of had to ask myself what all of those little butterfly feelings were and kind of confront that," Fitzgerald says. "Then it was like, 'Oh, this is what people are talking about, this is the butterflies.'" "And then it was all of a sudden all I could think about was Ally and all I wanted to do was talk to Ally," she says. However, before they did anything, Bross had to break up with Cureton. She flew to Indiana to break up with him, then went to her grandparents' for Thanksgiving before returning to Austin and Fitzgerald. As soon as she did, Fitzgerald kissed her ("it was very smooth, I'll say," she brags). "And then I felt like everything inside of me exploded in a way that had never happened when I'd ever kissed anybody," Fitzgerald says. "And so then I was just like, 'Holy shit, this is what people are talking about. Fireworks and butterflies and... I don't know.' I still can't stop thinking about it even though we're together." Fitzgerald says that for most of her life, she thought everybody was "making up being in love." She even said that "coming home and having somebody be there" was her "absolute worst nightmare." "And then it's just like after even just one kiss, really, I was like, 'Oh, I was wrong.' Love is real. It's really good. It feels amazing. I don't want her to ever leave." Once they started dating, they immersed themselves in sapphic culture, watching things like The L Word, Blue is the Warmest Color, and The Ultimatum: Queer Love. They bought carabiners in every color and love to share clothes. They also took part in another long-held lesbian tradition: Uhauling. "I kissed her and never left her apartment," Fitzgerald jokes. "Yes, she never left. And now I live in her house," Bross adds. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and hugging in front of a forest.[Amanda Kioko] (PROVIDED) Bross says that coming out to her family and friends was "emotional," but happened quickly for her. She has a gay great uncle who has been with his husband since before she was born, so Bross knew her extended family would be accepting, but she was still nervous. "I'm the only granddaughter, and I didn't really know what everyone was going to say," she reveals. "My family has met a plethora of boyfriends that I said were going to be my husband. And they would always be so shocked when I would break up with a really nice one." Bross came out to her family over a long text. Her father said he knew how open-minded she is, and he wasn't surprised. Her mother was more surprised, but "not in a negative way," Bross says. "All of my friends were like, 'This makes sense. Duh, you're bi or queer or pan or whatever. We've all known this about you.' I was like, 'Really? Because I didn't know that. This is news to me!" "Coming out in general, no matter how you think people are going to react to it, it's scary. It feels so personal," Bross says. "And I was still coming to terms with the reality of it myself and facing a lot of comphet and things that I didn't really know how to explain until I did a bunch of research. Like, why am I feeling like this, you know? So it was even scary just internally. Once I say this to my family, this is real, right? And the whole world tells you to be one way. And yeah, it's scary to think that maybe you're a different way. But now it's the most beautiful thing in the world." Fitzgerald says that before this relationship, she never felt like she "was really attracted to anybody else." She'd get crushes on guys, but when they started dating, she'd just want to be best friends. "And then girls, I never felt attracted to, which is why I landed on asexual, somewhere around that spectrum," she says. "But then this is obviously not asexual, and so I understand that there's a spectrum." "I don't really care to figure it out because I know how I feel currently," she adds. "And hopefully this is forever, so it's not like I'm going to need to figure that out. But yeah, I'm happy with just being in love with Ally and that being the whole story." While Bross and Fitzgerald haven't publicly discussed their relationship before, some fans online have begun to suspect they might be more than just friends. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald looking lovingly at each other.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED) Fitzgerald says it feels "cool" to see people rooting for them, even if it's just "12 people on Reddit." It encourages her to see that the fans "are already accepting and supportive and excited about this." Bross understands where the fans are coming from. As soon as she realized her feelings for Fitzgerald, she was starving for sapphic representation, including "real-life examples of people who have maybe experienced what I feel like I'm experiencing." "So when we have young girls who are in high school DMing us on Instagram like, 'Is it true? Are you a girl kisser? Are you and Mack together?' It does make me really happy. Because even just the last eight months, anytime there's any mention of a queer couple, we're like, 'We got to watch that. We're watching that. I'm tuned in." Bross says that being part of the queer community has "been really liberating." Next up, the couple is going on a trip to Europe. When they get back, they're looking forward to attending Austin Pride and visiting some of their Destination X friends. They also have trips to Canada, Tokyo, and all around Asia planned. They'd love to go on another reality show, this time as a couple. "I have this fantasy pipe dream in my head that we could both go on Traitors at the same time," Bross says. "There was a couple (Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen on Season 2), so come on, NBC, I know you're listening!" This article originally appeared on Out: From competition to couple: 'Destination X' stars come out, announce they're dating RELATED Top 10 LGBTQ+ beach towns perfect for Pride and summer fun This LGBTQ+ Family Went Swimming with Whale Sharks Solve the daily Crossword
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Boston Globe
Al fresco and bilingual, ‘¡Qué Diablos! Fausto' gives the devil his due
Its world premiere production is being produced by Rhode Island Latino Arts in partnership with Trinity Rep, and staged by Teatro en El Verano. All of the company's productions, which have included translated and adapted versions of George Bernard Shaw's 'You Never Can Tell' and F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby,' are free to the public and take place at various outdoor locations throughout the state. The site of my viewing of '¡Que Diablos! Fausto' was an intimate grassy knoll in Payne Park, Pawtucket. Get Globe Rhode Island Food Club A weekly newsletter about food and dining in Rhode Island, by Globe Rhode Island reporter Alexa Gagosz. Enter Email Sign Up Valles's rendition tells this timeless tale of ambition, exploitation, and redemption with just six talented actors. Fausto is depicted as a skilled but flawed Rhode Island urgent care physician (an abundantly charming and physically agile Alexander Crespo-Rosario II) operating out of a strip mall, whose altruism and poor financial decisions leave his business on the brink of collapse. Desperate to save his practice and achieve greatness, and despite his sharp-witted assistant La Margie's (a very charismatic Marina Tejada) advice to the contrary, he makes a pact with the demoness Mephistopheles (a wonderfully seductive Ashley Aldarondo-Martinez). Advertisement Once Fausto trades his soul for wealth, power, and fame, he eagerly partakes in an assortment of sins (nicely personified by Mireya Hoffens, who also plays an angel representing good, and Ashley Soto, who also plays a devil representing evil). But the deal excludes love, which becomes Fausto's deepest desire. All the while, the celestial being Seraphim (Michael Green, whose comic timing is masterful) attempts to save Fausto's soul. Advertisement The playwright's strategy for addressing Marlowe's complex, 17th-century approach to spirituality and religion, humanist stance on individual morality, and attention to symbols that bring out elements of divine conflict is to stage it as if it were one of those live-action, educational children's television programs that once dominated PBS on Saturday mornings in the 1990s. It's an intriguing choice. Much like 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?' and 'Wishbone' – which were cleverly disguised and very entertaining lessons about grammar, science, classic literature, and American history – '¡Que Diablos! Fausto' is a smart and simple family friendly affair. There are a few lines from 'Wicked' and 'The Godfather' along with stealthy references to ICE interspersed throughout the script. Everything is set in perpetual motion by Armando Rivera's direction, which allows for actors to walk among and mingle with the audience. The acting is appropriately broad and animated. Dustin Thomas's contemporary costumes – which includes masks and headdresses – are bold and colorful. The painted images on Tiago Pereira's three-panel scenic design is humorously exaggerated to the point of being cartoonish, and the many props are larger-than-life cardboard cutouts. Lovanni Gómez's clever sound design includes snippets of songs by Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, and others to underscore key moments in the action. And there's a puppet. Advertisement All this results in a rather engaging night of Marlowe-lite. This bilingual production makes a classic play accessible to communities who don't speak the language of the original work, and it delivers it through the lens of Latinx voices and vision. And while the Saturday morning mindset, broad humor, and pop culture references come close to diminishing the original play's sober themes, it only succeeds in turning the dark 'tragical history' referenced in the original title into a mild-mannered morality play. The thing is, bilingual presentations like this – without the benefit of projected subtitles that translate Spanish into English in real time – are challenging. The dialogue needs to balance out the co-existence of English and Spanish without being excessively redundant, which becomes lengthy and tiresome for everyone. A graceful ballet of sorts between both languages, that seamlessly segues from one to the other and often in the same breath, is ideal. Despite the best efforts of the cast, the script for '¡Que Diablos! Fausto' offers more of an awkward two-step that keeps both groups of native speakers in the audience a little off balance and in the dark too much of the time. And so the aforementioned familiarity with the German legend or having seen Marlowe's play would certainly come in handy here. ¡QUÉ DIABLOS! FAUSTO Book by Christopher Marlow. Translated and Adapted by Jesús Valles. Directed by Armando Rivera. Advertisement Remaining performances of Teatro en El Verano's touring production take place on Tuesday, July 15 at La Galería del Pueblo, Central Falls at 6:30 pm; Sunday, July 20 at 195 District Park, Providence at 5:30 pm; Tuesday, July 22 at Roger Williams Park, Providence at 6:30 pm; Sunday, July 25 at Dexter Park, Providence at 6:30pm; July 25 Sunday, July 27 at The Edward King House, Newport at 4:00 pm; and Friday, August 1 at Southside Cultural Center, Providence, at 4:00 pm. Tickets are free.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Yahoo
I went to Cardiff's new small plates restaurant and there's one thing I would change
The sun is shining and the city is bustling with excitement as we have the pinnacle of beer garden weather. An impressive line-up of big acts are taking over Cardiff this summer and it can only mean one thing – concert-goers are all looking for some good pre-gig grub and somewhere to have a nice drink before dancing the night away. Nomad, a new small plates restaurant, has just opened in Cardiff's High Street in place of Terra Mare. They have a menu that changes monthly with a variety of fresh and tasty options. So we decided to try the new restaurant and see whether or not this could be the summer city hotspot to match the weather. For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here. READ MORE: Woman 'floored' by price of beer and tapas in Benidorm bar READ MORE: I ate at Jeremy Clarkson's pub 90 minutes from Wales — 1 thing I wish I'd known before going As we walked into the chic new restaurant we were impressed with how beautiful the interior was. The room was a gorgeous dark green with hints of gold and an exquisite bar that looks like it's been influenced by the roaring 20s – very Gatsby. They had a drinks menu that even F Scott Fitzgerald would be impressed with and going with the summery vibes I decided to order a Hugo Spritz. The restaurant itself was quite quiet to begin with as a new location but after we arrived diners started to trickle in. The staff were amazing and extremely accommodating and despite my favourite drink not being on the menu they went ahead and made me one regardless. I can imagine it would be a great venue for weekend drinks and somewhere nice for a dressed-up date we were disappointed to not really have the option of sitting outside during the nice weather. They had a few tables and chairs but they weren't equipped for dining and made a better option for a quick drink. The tables themselves weren't big enough to hold several small plates, which is a shame as other restaurants in the vicinity had the capacity. However if you are keen to stop for a quick drink in the sun then you'll have no problem. After ordering our drinks we moved on to the food menu. They had small plates, large plates, flatbreads, side options, and also a few desserts. In total we ordered a selection of the above dishes including the smoked fish pate, pickled mussels roe, and grilled sourdough, which visually looked amazing (see the main picture). The combination of flavours worked really well and contrast of textures worked well together on the sourdough. Our favourite dish had to be the white and brown crab Caesar salad, spenwood, anchovy and bottarga. It was extremely fresh and a great twist on a classic. On a warm day in Cardiff alongside a refreshing Hugo Spritz it was almost like we were in the Mediterranean. Despite not looking the most appealing the combination of the salty anchovies against the milder crab meat was beautiful. We also ordered the teriyaki chicken thigh, sesame, spring onion, red chilli, and frisée which was beautifully cooked and instantly fell apart though personally I would have preferred a little more teriyaki sauce as I love super-saucy food. The flavour of the teriyaki against the spring onion and the sesame made a lovely combination. Next we ordered my second-favourite dish – the chargrilled flatbread, brown butter, sea salt, Severn and Wye smoked salmon, rocket, capers ,and horseradish. Wow – this was so light and perfect for nipping out on your lunch break. The salmon and the horseradish worked really well together in a combination I'd never really tried. This was paired beautifully with the buttery flatbread and made for a fresh but filling option. It was already cut in to slithers meaning it was a perfect sharing dish. Lastly we ordered some sides in the way of Tenderstem broccoli, pesto, and shallot as well as some truffle and spenwood fries. We enjoyed the fries – while the taste of the truffle was a touch overpowering at times but regardless they were still very tasty. On the other hand we were not a fan of the Tenderstem broccoli as it was charred in such a way that it almost tasted bitter. Overall the food was very fresh and a great option for warm weather dining. There were some elements to the food that were a little lacking but the stand outs for us were the salad and the flatbread. The quality of the seafood on the menu was amazing and this was definitely a personal highlight – hopefully future menus keep the same standard when it comes to its fishy dishes. Would I go again? Well I think it depends on the future menus and what kinds of options they include. I'm a big fan of analysing a menu before I go anywhere and with a menu that continues to change you never know what you are going to get. Will they do thematic or seasonal options? Who knows. But I would be intrigued to see where they go from here – especially as a new restaurant in the heart of the city centre. One thing I will say is I do hope they improve their outdoor dining options for the summer with more people are keen to eat outside. You can read more about Nomad and what they have to offer here.
