BlackBook

The skepticism began when I received an invitation to fly down to North Carolina to drive a Lexus around a racetrack that wasn’t their LFA flagship supercar. Rather, I would be driving the newly redesigned for 2014 Lexus IS. My lack of enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that previous iterations of the IS have never showed any signs of sport, despite their place in the entry-level luxury sports sedan segment. They weren’t bad cars by any means, and they embodied the luxury, comfort, and reliability that Lexus is known for. But when compared with its German—and now, with the addition of the Cadillac ATS—domestic competitors, the Lexus IS always fell short in the fun-to-drive department.

In the depths of the night (or morning, I guess, with the time zones and all), Sheffield garage-rock quartet Arctic Monkeys put a new single online and, by the morning, they had fired up the salivary glands of musical Anglophiles the world over. "Do I Wanna Know?" comes more than a year after their last single, the Drake-inspired "R U Mine?," which dropped in February 2012 and was released physically for Record Store Day. Adding another new song on the pile will likely spur more rumors about a potential fifth album, the follow-up to the generally-liked Suck It and See. 

Back in April, we expressed our unwavering thrill that genius playwright Harold Pinter's Betrayal would be heading to Broadway. And not only that, but Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig would be taking on the leading roles in the production, with direction by the iconic Mike Nichols. And as his work is wont to be, Pinter 's play is a biting and absurd tale of the painful romantic entanglement caught in the nuances of everyday life. 

On a recent trip to Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, I contemplated the sublime luxury of Biras Creek Resort and Oil Nut Bay Estates, along with a handful of philosophical questions and particularly poignant first world problems. Among the questions, I wondered if there is a certain level of wealth beyond which every additional dollar represents a diminishment of happiness. Is it possible to be too rich? (Only one way to know for sure.) To the latter, the meme-generators would have a field day with the so-called problems I experienced there. My biggest problem was ridiculously unfounded jealousy. Drew, a fellow journalist on this junket, was given the Fendi Casa to stay in on our last night (pictured below), open living room and all, while I had the marginally smaller--but still amazing--cliffside casa beneath it. At least I got to feel superior to Katie, who had the casa beneath mine. There is some justice in the world.

Well, as if David Lynch hadn't given us enough grotesque pleasure lately—between the haunting snippets off his new album The Big Dream and that tranquil "I'm Waiting Here" video—now, it appears that he'll saddling back up in the director's chair for a new project…with the newly refurbished Nine Inch Nails. As the perfect pairing of twisted minds, Trent Reznor and David Lynch have collaborated in the past, most notably with Lost Highway, but now Lynch will be at the helm to direct the music video for their first single off Hesitation Marks, "Came Back Haunted."

Following investigations that began all the way back in 2008, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have been found guilty of tax evasion. They were reportedly hiding a whopping 416 million euros (or approximately  $540 million) from tax authorities. The Italian design duo are sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. The intense ruling was appointed by Judge Antonella Brambilla in Milan after a three-hour jury room session. Although D&G were not present for the sentence, WWD reports that they're expected to appeal the decision. To illustrate the fact that $540 million is a pretty huge deal, read on for a list of pricey items that you can get for that amount instead. 

In life, you occasionally come across someone who appears to have it all figured out. Even more rare is the couple that appears likewise. Especially endangered, though, is the artist about which one can say this. So an artistic couple working together with such seamless confidence—as Pure Bathing Culture does, delivering a stellar set at Mercury Lounge two weeks ago—is not a discovery to take lightly. The duo’s chiming, beautiful, full-length debut, Moon Tides, arrives in late August, but they’re already touring the country, and we had a chance to ask some questions about their travel soundtrack, among other topics. Check out their answers and listen to first single, “Pendulum,” below.

Director James Ponsoldt's first feature Smashed, the adult coming-of-age story about a woman's struggle with alcoholism, struck a chord with us back in the fall. The raw and humanistic film that amalgamated tender emotion with the comedy inherent in the foibles of everyday life established Ponsoldt as a filmmaker to be excited for. And with his second film The Spectacluar Now—which premiered to rave reviews at Sundance—he seems to be swimming through very similar thematic tones and emotional textures as his first feature with an honest and witty look at the the flawed beauty in everyday life.