LONDON (AFP) ― Wearing their finest tweeds, stroking their sideburns and filling the air with pipe smoke, competitors and spectators gathered for The Chap Olympiad, an annual celebration of the classic English gentleman.Hundreds of “chaps” and “chapettes” descended on a leafy square in central London on Saturday for the sporting social occasion, where regular pastimes are overlooked in favour of s

Female fast fashion brands open new lines of exercise wearLOS ANGELES ― With women willing to spend $100 on a pair of cute yoga pants, retailers are racing to make workout clothes that are as much about style as sweat.Athletic clothing has traditionally been relegated to the gym, where women would huff and puff in un-glamorous get-ups ― think oversized men’s T-shirts and baggy sweatpants.But now t

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Washington building known as the “temple of invention” when it was built in 1836 to hold the nation’s patents is revisiting its roots, hosting a new “Great Hall of American Wonders” to explore 19th-century innovations through art.The idea for this major exhibit that opened Friday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum was sparked in part by talk among experts that the United

CHICAGO (AP) ― Marilyn Monroe’s billowing skirt shows it’s possible to catch a nice breeze in the Windy City.As dozens of people watched Friday, an 8-meter-tall sculpture of Monroe in her famous pose from the film “The Seven Year Itch” was unveiled on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. In the movie, a draft catches Monroe’s dress as she stands over a subway grate to cool off.Many in the crowd that descen

A night tour of the island prison that housed notorious criminals includes a visit to the penitentiary’s hospitalALCATRAZ ISLAND, California (AP) ― When night fell on The Rock in San Francisco Bay, visitors moved shadow-like through the former prison’s lantern-lit hospital rooms, a gloaming against dingy walls with peeling blue paint.A hard wind whooshed and rattled a window in the hospital cell w

Since my first taste of Domaine Tempier’s rose years ago, I’ve been a fan of Bandol roses. Tempier’s prices are getting out of sight, though, and so I was happy to find this less expensive rose from Alain Pascal. (He began making wine only in 1997; before that, his family sold the grapes.) Domaine du Gros’Nore Bandol rose is made from Mourvedre, the grape that gives Bandol reds such canny complexi

Soon after Kim Sun-joo began her term as director of Harvard University’s Korea Institute, she was on a plane to South Korea to attend a conference on Korean studies organized by the Korea Foundation.On Monday she met with The Korea Herald to discuss her new role as Harvard Korea Institute’s first woman director.Professor Kim Sun Joo of Harvard University (Xing Lin/The Korea Herald)“Despite genera

NEW YORK (AP) ― It seems so familiar to us now ― puppet characters on television that are so real, so expressive, so alive that we forget there’s a human being doing the actual work behind the scenes.There’s a reason that’s so familiar, the organizers of an exhibit opening this weekend in New York say: Jim Henson.The master puppeteer and media innovator behind pop culture icons such as Kermit the

Woody Allen, the Brooklyn-born director who defined New York for filmgoers with such hits as “Bullets Over Broadway” and “Annie Hall,” is once again choosing Europe over Manhattan as the stage for his next movie.Following up films shot in London, Barcelona and Paris ― where Allen set the recently released “Midnight in Paris,” his most successful movie in years ― the idiosyncratic filmmaker is now

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is to be honored on Wednesday for her work promoting cinema links between India and France, the French Embassy said.The 37-year-old star, who is pregnant with her first child, will be made a knight of the order of arts and letters at a ceremony in New Delhi.The award, on the eve of France’s national day, was “a recogn

SAN FRANCISCO ― It’s the summer of Gertrude Stein.The expatriate art collector, poet and novelist (who would hate all these commas) died in 1946. But her image and influence are on display at two popular San Francisco exhibitions and in the hit Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris.”The attention likely would have pleased Stein, always her own best publicist.“She would have loved it,” said Dara Solo

MOSCOW (AP) ― He was naked, homeless and fiercely argumentative ― and his name is immortalized in one of Russia’s most remarkable buildings, St. Basil’s Cathedral.An exhibition detailing the lives of St. Basil and other religious zealots known as “holy fools” opened Tuesday as part of ceremonies marking the 450th anniversary of perhaps Moscow’s most famous tourist attraction.After years of restora

 

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes, founder of budget-travel giant AirAsia, will host the regional edition of the business-themed reality show “The Apprentice,” its producer said Tuesday.Like its U.S. counterpart, the Asian edition will be an elimination-style competition with the eventual winner earning the right to be a paid apprentice to Fernandes.“We are tremendously ex

MIAMI ― Victoria Allman has whipped up chocolate chiffon cake for captains of industry and salmon tartar for Brazilian socialites. She has shopped for fresh produce at the crack of dawn in markets from the Bahamas to Tahiti. And she’s done it all with a smile while working 18-hour days pampering the wealthy aboard super yachts that travel the high seas.Allman, 38, is a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-bas

 

NEW YORK (AP) ― An oil painting recently authenticated as the work of Leonardo da Vinci will be on display at the National Gallery in the fall as part of a larger exhibition on the Renaissance artist, the London museum said Monday.“Salvator Mundi,” which dates to around 1500, depicts a half-length figure of Christ with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding an orb.The National Gallery s

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Australia’s Aboriginal dance company Bangarra has won global accolades but says it has been a victim of its own success in terms of funding at home and at times faces demands for “ooga booga” abroad.Formed in 1989, the Bangarra Dance Theatre is the country’s foremost indigenous performing arts company and is often called on to be Australia’s cultural ambassador at major events.But t

BORDEAUX, France (AFP) ― For Charles Pillitteri, the fight against fraudsters began when he discovered fake bottles of his Canadian ice wine in Taiwan in 1998.He tried everything to safeguard his product from counterfeiting, from 22-carat gold to invisible ink, only to realize that none would protect the consumer at point of purchase.The proprietor of Pillitteri Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-La

PARIS (AFP) ― French choreographer and dancer Roland Petit, who helped set up Les Ballets des Champs-Elysees and formed several other dance companies, died Sunday in Geneva at the age of 87, the Paris Opera Ballet said.President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to what he called “an immense creator who left his mark on the art of dance in the 20th century.” Sarkozy in a statement expressed his condole