It just feels so wrong. you take a single, gorgeous amaro—which probably has a semi-secret recipe perfected and handed down through generations—and shake the absolute hell out of it with ice in a cocktail tin. Isn’t that a sin against the liqueur gods? These bittersweet liqueurs, primarily from Italy, should be sipped room temperature or slightly chilled following an epic dinner and used in fancy aperitivo cocktails, right?
The original shakerato, the caffè shakerato, has been a fixture in Italy for decades. A bit of coffee, sugar, and ice, shaken and strained, results in something like an NA precursor to the espresso martini. At the historic bar Camparino in Milan, this same technique is applied to the classic amaro Campari. The method has slowly taken off in the United States among cocktail nerds, and it coincides with the broader rise in popularity of amaros. It’s easy to see the appeal: They typically have a lower ABV than whiskey or tequila, and Gen-Z loves a less boozy or NA cocktail. Plus, they’re authentic. If White Claw is practically digital, nothing feels more analogue than an amaro. And amaro labels look cool, dude.
Can you really call an amaro shakerato a cocktail when a cocktail has, by most definitions, at least three ingredients? Well, when you think about the make-up of amaros— mixtures of various sweet, bitter, and herbaceous ingredients—that’s pretty much what cocktails are. They are, in many ways, the original bottled cocktails.
What happens when you shake an amaro is the same thing that occurs when you shake any drink with sugar content: You dilute and chill the drink while everything aerates, emulsifies and integrates. The most important aspect to making a successful shakerato is the aeration. You need to shake it harder than you’ve ever shaken anything before and with less ice (or no ice). That is what will give you your fluffy head.
The technique works differently with every amaro—generally speaking, the higher the sugar content, the foamier the crema. We’ve tested a bunch and picked a few of our favorite amaros to shake (at right). You can experiment with drinks that blend two amaros together, like, say, the Ferrari—a combination of Fernet- Branca and Campari, more commonly served as a shot but, we think, much better in shakerato form.
Perhaps you’ve never liked amaros. Some people find them syrupy, almost medicinal. Chances are, though, that you’ll be won over by the shakerato. The technique softens and lengthens the amaro’s flavours to create an altogether different taste profile—one that provides a refreshing surprise. Love Negronis and espresso martinis but want something different? Again, the shakerato is the answer. It may never be as popular as those drinks, it might never become a TikTok trend, but being an under-the-radar classic has more cachet anyway.
There is no one way to make a shakerato, but there are some guidelines you can use to get the aeration and emulsification right. I find that the simplest thing to do is to shake the amaro with just a few cubes. This makes it easier for the air to mix into the drink. Use a Boston shaker or a martini shaker. And shake it hard. Like as hard as you can, for about 10 seconds. Do it enough and you’ll know when it’s got the right consistency. Then strain it into a glass.
A lot of pros do something called a reverse dry shake, which will give you a more robust crema. After you strain, return the contents to the shaker, shake some more, and then pour it into a coupe. It’s a simple enough cocktail for your party guests to shake on their own, too.
Originally published on Esquire US
I've been wearing smartwatches and fitness trackers around my wrist for years, but I’d never worn an Oura Ring before. I hadn’t considered myself much of a “ring guy,” but I admittedly wasn’t a watch guy before I started wearing an Apple Watch. Now I can’t go a day without it. After wearing my Oura Ring Generation 3 for more than two months, I can almost say the same thing about the tiny sleep monitor that currently lives on my finger at all times.
As a sleep tracker, the Oura Ring 3 is remarkable. As a fitness tracker, it’s not bad, could be better. As a piece of wearable tech, it’s comfortable to wear constantly and consistently, even in bed.
Let’s get straight to it. Does the Oura Ring do enough to replace a smartwatch? No. I think it serves an entirely separate function. To answer the trickier question of “Is an Oura Ring right for you?” it depends on what you’re looking for in a wearable health tracker.
If you want extensive amounts of data about your sleep and daily health tracking, as well as an accurate step counter, yes, it is. Want all that in a package that doesn’t look techy whatsoever? An even better reason to choose one. If you want a completely smart device that will show you texts, calls, and reminders and, most important, tell you what time it is, buy a watch.
My Oura Ring journey began like any other—with a sizing kit. After you choose your make and model, Oura will send you a box of ring sizers ranging from sizes 6 to 13. They recommend you wear the smart ring on your index finger, but—due to a Little League–related accident in my youth—I’ve found it most comfortable to wear on the middle finger of my non-dominant (left) hand. Indecision frequently haunts me, so I was initially worried that my chosen size (11) would be too tight or too loose, but after weeks of everyday wear, I can safely say I don’t think about it too much anymore.
Once your device (it feels strange to call something this small a “device”) arrives, it’s time to download the app. The setup process is pretty easy and the onboarding is gradual. Certain data, like stress levels, resilience, long-term trends, and reports tabs, are inaccessible on day one. To start, I primarily relied on the ring for sleep and restfulness data. In this way, the Oura Ring puts its best foot forward.
Oura offers several style and finish options for your ring. You can opt for Heritage, the original design with a raised plateau segment, or the fully rounded Horizon. Each has a selection of metal finishes to choose from. In terms of tech, the rings are all identical. No plus or pro offerings, just one ring to rule them all. Each Gen 3 has three sensors on the inside of the ring that use biometrics to track daily functions, including heart rate and blood-oxygen levels.
About a month into my time with the ring, I went on a family vacation and multiple people asked me if my Horizon Oura Ring was a wedding ring or an engagement band. That’s how slick it is. It’s that normal looking. The fact that it’s so high-tech and looks like any other SGD450 ring made it easy to incorporate Oura into my daily routine.
Since you are supposed to wear it all the time yet it’s also an electronic device, one of my first questions was “When will I charge my Oura Ring?” The answer: during showers. The ring itself is waterproof up to 330 feet; that means swimming is no problem, and the same goes for doing the dishes, washing your hands, etc. This is meant to monitor you at all times, remember? That makes it a great choice for swimmers who want to track their workouts.
Every morning, I wake up to see how I slept and to confirm the previous day’s activities, then I slip my ring off to shower and back on before I start my day. It ends up fading into the background of my busy life. Sometimes I’ll check the app to see my daily stress levels, but generally I only think about my Oura Ring in the morning and at night.
While heart rate and blood-oxygen sensing are the newest features of the Oura Ring (only available on the Gen 3), sleep tracking is the most impressive feature, and it has only improved with each iteration. This is where the form, factor, and function fully align to accomplish something a smartwatch has yet to do: provide accurate, seamless data about my sleep health.
At first, I felt the insights were a bit obvious. But I soon realised that I trusted the data, since it reflected how I was actually feeling in the form of a score. Now I wake up each day, ready for my scores to tell me how I slept, not the other way around. Even knowing simple information, like when exactly I fell asleep and precisely how many sleep minutes I get per night, feels like a breakthrough in understanding my body. And that’s just scratching the surface.
The main thing I gravitate toward is the scores. Each morning, once the ring determines I’m fully awake, I will get scores from 0 (typically above 50 if I slept at all) to 100 that rate both my sleep and my readiness for the day. I cannot emphasise how much I love these stupid numbers. Seeing a high readiness score can reinforce a feeling that I’m going to have a good day, while a lower sleep score is an excellent validation of why I feel like shit. In fact, this is where the sleep tab of the app truly comes into play. Broken-down stats on REM and deep-sleep time, or my overall sleep efficiency, allow me to quickly compare each night’s sleep with my norm.
Eventually, the app will start providing a Resilience rating. Mine currently reads “solid,” but with proper self-care, I can raise that to “exceptional” over time. This aspect is actually quite vague and difficult to engage with, but another Oura Ring wearer I spoke to called it her favourite feature. To each their own.
The health data is impressively accurate for a device like this, but it’s not perfect, especially the further your health is from the baseline of what’s expected. An example: I was born with a congenital heart condition, a bicuspid aortic valve, so I have a very strange-sounding heartbeat. My heart also has to pump twice as much as most people’s to produce the same blood flow. The point is, I already have a reason to be suspicious of how accurately the Oura Ring can monitor my heart health, confirmed by its rating of my “cardiovascular age” as thirteen years older than I am. Do I have the heart of a man in his early forties? Maybe, but I’m sure plenty of forty-year-olds have stronger hearts than I do.
The issue is, if I were unaware of my condition, this would be concerning. And everything that the Oura app can recommend is general, lowest-common-denominator health advice. Eating fruit and working out won’t actually do anything substantial for my cardiovascular readings. This is all to say, you are probably never going to get life-saving data from this thing. The most it can do is help you get better sleep and exercise more, which can admittedly feel life-changing.
In terms of general health tracking, like daytime stress and heart-rate data, the Oura Ring and app are very comprehensive. It’s easy to get lost in the sauce, and every week I swear either I’m gaining access to new features or the app is being updated. The amount of information here can be a little overwhelming.
When tracking my activities and exercise, the Oura Ring 3 has advantages and downsides compared with the smartwatches I’ve used. As a pedometer, it’s more accurate at tracking my steps and daily calorie burn than my smartwatch. It also provides way more data than I’ve ever gotten from my Apple Watch, but it’s worth mentioning that I don’t subscribe to Apple Fitness+. For this review, I received Oura’s subscription to test out all of the ring’s features, but there will be more on how that works later. Just know that for now, I was very impressed by the amount of fitness data provided. But when it comes to workout tracking and recognition, the ring lags.
This is one of my favourite features of the Apple Watch. When I start an elliptical workout or a bike ride or even a long walk, it will accurately identify it 95 percent of the time and ask me if I want to record the workout. As a result, I always have digital records of all my workouts on my phone, fully automated. Its tech wasn’t always this accurate, but Apple has invested a lot of time and money into it. I can’t say the same for Oura, unfortunately.
For starters, having to open the app to retroactively confirm and log my workouts is one more step than I’m used to taking. Beyond that, I found the functionality often lacking. Once, my Oura Ring correctly identified a forty-minute elliptical workout. More commonly, though, it will misidentify it as (maybe?) a walk, as it does most non-running workouts. Most days, I have to confirm four or five walks in my exercise log, meaning the ring doesn’t know the difference between a trek to the subway and a short hike.
Up front, an Oura Ring will cost you from approximately SGD450 before tax, depending on which style and finish you choose. The newer Horizon models will generally run you slightly more than the OG Heritage design, and fancier finishes like Brushed Titanium, Gold, and Rose Gold will add to the price tag. While that’s not nothing, I live in a city where a cup of coffee rarely costs less than five bucks. Four or five hundred dollars for something you will use every day is reasonable compared with, well, the state of everything else.
What really irks me is the subscription model that’s tacked on to that. After an included free month of fully featured access, Oura begins charging SGD9 per month for access to in-depth sleep insights, heart-rate monitoring, body-temperature readings, blood-oxygen readings—pretty much everything you would use it for.
It isn’t so much the cost that frustrates me (it’s fairly affordable compared with direct alternatives like Apple Fitness+) but rather the dread of that payment hanging over my head every month until I want to stop using the device—all to use its basic functions. What baffles me is how fundamentally useless the Oura Ring 3 is without a subscription. It just feels like another company trying to bleed its users dry when we’ve just invested hundreds of dollars in a product. You’ll have barely unlocked access to all the features after one month of use, making the free month feel like even more of a “lite” version of the true experience than is advertised. A free year would’ve at least been a compromise.
I really, really like the Oura Ring Horizon Gen 3. I like how it looks and how much of a conversation starter it has proved to be. Most of all, I like how it’s confirmed something I’ve always known but never had the data to prove: I get a pretty healthy amount of sleep. My bedtime is way more consistent than I expected. Even a small insight like this has started to change how I think about my sleep and, by extension, my mood and energy levels.
Even as an Apple Watch user for several years, I’ve found a way to slot the Oura Ring into my life and teach me something new about myself. That’s something I can’t say about most products I try. If I ever take this thing off, it’s either because I’m taking a shower or my subscription has finally lapsed.
PROS
CONS
At Esquire, we’ve been testing and reviewing the latest and greatest products for decades. We do hands-on testing with every gadget and piece of gear we review. From portable monitors to phone cameras, we’ve tested the best products—and some not-so-great ones for good measure.
To review this Oura Ring, I tried it out for many weeks before even sitting down to start writing. Plus, I spoke with other Esquire staff members about their past and current experiences with the product to get the fullest picture possible.
Originally published on Esquire US
Just when I thought we'd hit capacity on mid-tier consumer headphones, Sonos made its long-awaited entrance. We've already got classic brands like Apple, Beats, Bose, Marshall, and Sony. We've got luxury plays from Bowers & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen, and most recently Dyson. Consumer headphones are a multibillion-dollar industry (Statista values it at SGD24 billion globally), so there's a lot of money to be made off our active-noise-cancelling obsession, and there have been a lot of shitty attempts to enter the market.
So, did Sonos do it right? Do the brand-new Sonos Ace headphones move me in any way? Surprisingly, yes. After a couple months of testing, I think these are some of the best headphones available. At SGD699, they're good for music listening and travel, but they're best in class for at-home TV watching.
PROS
CONS
One thing: Sonos Audio Swap. Everything else that's great about these headphones—active noise cancellation, spatial audio, lossless streaming—other headphones do just as well. Audio Swap establishes these as TV-watching headphones, a category where they face little to no competition.
When you have a Sonos soundbar, Audio Swap uses the HDMI connection to pull hi-fi sound from the TV and share it with the headphones via Bluetooth. (Currently, this is only available with the Sonos Arc, but the brand is promising compatibility with lesser soundbars as soon as possible.) For flat living, it's great. My girlfriend and I are both guilty of holding unpredictable late-night movie-watching hours long after the other has gone to sleep.
Normally, there are two options. 1) Movie watcher tells sleeper to wear earplugs and get over it. 2) Movie watcher respectfully turns the sound down so low that the dialogue is impossible to hear. Sonos Audio Swap is the fix we've both craved. The Dolby Atmos spatial audio makes it feel as if you're listening on a proper surround-sound system, but it's all within your own head.
Full transparency, though: This is not a new concept. You can already stream TV audio to a pair of spatial audio-equipped headphones with Apple TV 4K and a pair of AirPods Max. The difference is that the Sonos home-entertainment ecosystem takes it up a notch.
See, since Sonos is already deep into home audio, the Ace has been built into that infrastructure. The most obvious example is in the TrueCinema technology. At the time of this writing, the software is still being worked on for a consumer rollout, but I got a little taste at an exclusive Sonos media event. TrueCinema will use the room-mapping capabilities of the Sonos soundbar to determine what your movie-watching experience sounds like in various positions around the room.
Then it shares that information with the headphones, so when you're sitting on your sofa, the audio sounds exactly the same as when it's coming from your soundbar. And if you walk around the room, the spatial audio centre doesn't move with you, so you get a different listening experience. Sonos is trying to replicate what it sounds like to watch TV without headphones while wearing headphones. An ambitious goal that I think will pay off big.
Yes, they're amazing for travel, music, podcast or audiobook listening, and everything else. But pretty much all the headphones in this price range are. When you're comparing any of these models, you have to dig deep to find differences.
As for me, I split the category into two (a bit arbitrary) subcategories: music headphones and podcast/audiobook headphones. Bose and Sony are podcast/audiobook headphones, because they have the best active noise cancellation. So is Bowers & Wilkins, because its bright house sound is good for dialogue. All-rounders like Bang & Olufsen, Apple, and the Sonos Ace are music headphones. (Beats are in their own bass-heavy category.)
The best compliment I can give the Sonos Ace is that they're the best competitor to the AirPods Max, which I love. The sound is full, from bottom to top. On the low end, you get deep bass and those rich low-mids that make you feel the music. In the middle, it's true to life. On the high end, you get crisp treble and vocals that cut through the rest of it. As expected, Sonos hit all the notes it needed to.
And how do they stack up to the AirPods Max in terms of usability? About the same. They connect quickly, and the Sonos app lets you play with EQ settings. They look good in either white or black. The headband is sturdy, with stainless-steel interior components, and smooth when adjusting. The case is fine. To be nitpicky, I think the recycled plastic feels a bit cheap. But the case itself is sturdy, slim, and great for travel.
Speaking of travel, that's where I think these would overtake the AirPods Max for me. They're ever so slightly lighter but feel just as substantial. The case is hard and about the size of a book, so it's easy to slip into a crowded carry-on without worrying about damaging the headphones. But the biggest win is that Sonos includes a USB-C-to-3.5mm jack in the case. That means no dongles or stupid pretravel purchases. From day one, you're good to go with in-flight entertainment.
If you've already got a Sonos home audio system, or have grand ambitions to get a Sonos home audio system, buy a pair. If you're a frequent flyer who's always wanted a pair of headphones with a better travel case and an included 3.5mm adaptor, buy a pair.
The music performance is great, but it's not miles better than the other options out there. What I can say for a fact is that Sonos Ace headphones are the best home entertainment headphones on the market. If you can drop the money on both these and the Arc soundbar, there's not a better home audio setup available. If you're not interested in sitting at home watching TV through your headphones, maybe play the field.
PRO: Easily the best headphones for watching TV and movies
CON: For music, podcasts, or audiobooks it's not clear cut—on-par with AirPods, in my opinion
Originally published on Esquire US
The Wolverine and Marvel Jesus save the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Six years after the events from Deadpool 2, Deadpool's (played by Ryan Reynolds) peaceful existence as a civilian comes to a halt when the Time Variance Authority recruits him to help safeguard the multiverse. When he realises that his own universe is at stake, he ropes in Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) (and a host of other familiar faces) to fend off the threats of Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) and Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
If there’s ever a remedy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe slump (causes: Jonathan Major’s scandal; the pandemic; run-of-the-mill storylines) Deadpool & Wolverine is it. First, it’s a great buddy movie. Reynolds and Jackman are pals in real life and you can taste the chemistry between them in the film (Antman and Wasp, please take note). Second, it’s actually fun and it's a lot to do with the wanton fan service. Deadpool & Wolverine exemplifies what a summer tentpole movie should be.
(The fourth wall-breaking helps, sure. But poking fun at the character and actor, who plays them (“Who is your dialect coach?”), as well as at any of Disney's sacred cows. It's a wish fulfilment of sorts that someone else is voicing what EVERYBODY ELSE IS THINKING.)
Third, I'm kept guessing, which is great because I'm very hard to surprise. While there's a narrative through-line of Deadpool and Wolverine trying to save the day, there are moments that cause you to do a double-take. Like the gall that they revealed X-23 as one of the characters appearing in the final trailer. If they are gonna do that for a promo, imagine what they will do in the main film.
Lastly, Corrin’s portrayal of Cassandra Nova is great. It's such a great deviation from your usual villain tropes. Cassandra Nova is equal parts camp and menace with their character and I, for one, would like to see more of Nova.
The thing about fan service, it might get too gratuitous; especially to those who aren't fans. Take the Deadpool Corps. A travelling band made up of multidimensional Deadpools? Great, sign me up. Can't wait for the hi-jinks. But in the end, it feels like the presence of the Deadpool Corps came about because someone in the writer's room opined, hey, wouldn't it be cool if we have this big battle scene involving dozens of Deadpools? and then fail to justify how it moves the story forward.
And wouldn't it be great if Cable or Domino made an appearance? But, we suppose, there's only so much the budget can be stretched.
Dogpool. That's it. Just look out for the face that launched a thousand Titanics.
Oh, you want more? Fine.
Cameos. Loads of them. Even the voice actors.
Or and, as usual, stay until the credits end.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now out in theatres.
An unnerving horror that is upset by its own marketing.
Agent Lee Harker (played by Maika Monroe) is tasked to solve a series of murders from the 1990s where the patriarch, without any provocation, kills his own family and then himself. Aside from the MO, the only thing that ties all these cases are the cryptic letters left behind, and the name that signs them off: Longlegs.
The best sort of horror films are the ones that still stick around after the credits roll. In the company of Hereditary and The Silence of the Lambs, Longlegs cling to you like cigarette smoke. It's palpable; the atmosphere that director Osgood "Oz" Perkins conjures up. He withholds information—scenes are played out in areas where light struggles to take root; bits and pieces of Longlegs (Nicolas Cage) are hinted at or glimpsed in most of the movie. You're kept on tenterhooks before the inevitable tug.
Monroe, who found her sure footing in It Follows, plays the mousey agent Lee Harker. The detective seldom makes eye contact and is a bit of an odd duck but her anxiety is evident, especially whenever she deals with her religious mother played by the captivating Alicia Witt.
You won't get all your questions answered in Longlegs. That might be frustrating to have a lack of closure on certain issues but that's the appeal of the movie. That violent acts sometimes occur without rhyme or reason. In the movie, the Satanic Panic is given weight as the devil (or some paranormal simulacrum of Old Nick) is the entity pulling the strings. Or is it just a convenient bogeyman to point a finger at? We'd never know but, again, it's this sort of uncertainty that lingers.
Longlegs also features a well-trod theme: how children survive their parents. Whether how parents raise their kids is intentional or well-meaning, we bear the marks (or scars) of our upbringing. Real life seem to have spilled over into Longlegs: Perkins is the son of Antony Perkins and his father's homosexuality being kept a secret inspired the film. Cage based his Longlegs performance on his mom, who was a schizophrenic and severe depressive. The hair, the white face, the incoherent utterances, Cage's performance is unforgettable. But on the other side of that same coin...
...Cage's performance may not ellicit the proper reaction from moviegoers.
During my screening, a few patrons started giggling when Longlegs appeared on the screen. Is it from how over-the-top Cage's acting is? Or from nervousness? We don't know but it took the rest of us out of the movie. Then, again Cage's portrayal was egged on my Perkins' directions so maybe the director knows something that we don't.
In what is seen as the ballsiest marketing move ever, Longlegs' production house and distributor, NEON, ran a campaign that did better than "show-not-tell"—they didn't show Longlegs. Instead, they ran clips to set the tone. One such marketing stunt involved Monroe's heartbeat that spiked when she first met Cage in his Longlegs persona. While it created buzz, it also set the bar for how scary the film is unrealistically high. I enjoyed Longlegs and think the movie is in a league of its own but when it is set against NEON's marketing highfalutin claims, I was a tad disappointed.
In short, don't buy into the hype.
Kiernan Shipka, who was in Perkins' The Blackcoat's Daughter (another atmospheric horror), returns here as the only known survivor of Longlegs' crimes.
Longlegs requires multiple viewings to fully pick up on the bits of easter eggs and clues. Like the "cuckoo" that Longlegs utters. There's a theory that "cuckoo" refers to the real-life behaviour of the cuckoos, who lay their own eggs in other bird's nests and trick the host into raising the cuckoo's young. Whether that's the reason for Longleg's "cuckoo", it just adds another layer of lore to the movie.
Also, there's little information about the film's composer, Zigli. He's an almost-unknown to the music scene and all that is known about him is, according to Milan Records, that the composer described himself as a “humanoid vessel for the delivery of sounds and songs.”
Longlegs is now out in theatres.
There's no doubt saunas are great. According to history and thanks to the Finns, we've been doing this for over 10 thousand years. There's just something about heat that soothes the bones and psychologically eases the mind.
Know what's better than a sauna? Applied heat. (Ha, bet you thought I was gonna say a sauna from home. I'll get to that). When the heat is not just in the air—we get enough of that here in eternal summer city—but in direct contact with whatever ailing body part needs it.
This is not just an old person thing, though sauna's marketing could afford to do better. Apart from natural pain relief, heat therapy encourages cardio-like effects, a metabolism boost, and even anti-aging. I recall using salonpas (another one that could do with a better rep) patches for muscle relief as a teen due to high intensity training and injuries.
That's kinda what the HeatPod Sauna Blanket 2 reminded me of. A warm embrace, enveloping the entire body. It's convenient enough that a spa experience can now be brought into your home, but setting up is quite nearly plug and play.
You unroll the double-side zippered bad boy, scooch in and turn on the magic. It's really commendable how quickly the Blanket can get to the temperature set. The second generation being an enhanced version of the previous year's, it currently achieves a maximum temperature that's higher than major competitors at 85°C.
Another meaningful improvement (don't you just love a company that takes feedback seriously) is on the user experience. Not only are controls simpler and sleeker, preferred settings can be saved on a "remember last mode", since we are such creatures of comfort. Precise adjustments can be made easily, but swiftly too, with long presses to bump every 5°C in either direction.
One huge benefit is its design. The quality of its construct looks and feels premium, and more crucially, is easy to clean. The evenly-distributed zero-EMF carbon fiber infrared heating coils are wrapped in SGS-certified vegan leather, which is a breeze to wipe down.
The accompanying pillow and footrest are equally sweat-proof, but honestly, the most useful accessory would be the towel insert. The breathable 100% waffled cotton is custom to the parameters of the HeatPod, like an inner glove that feels more comfortable on the skin.
Essentially, it's a heated sleeping bag. Inside its roomy 180x190cm, you are practically expected to fall asleep. More so after sitting in a cold office the entire day, which is why the end of session alerts are great to safely take that snooze. Plus, given how it folds up nicely in a carrier, you can literally bring this hot nap with you anywhere. Heck, bring it to said cold office.
The zip runs along three sides—top, right, and bottom; which allows it even more varied possibilities. A heated mat should you want to splay out completely, or share the space atop the bed as a heated mattress.
Still, it would be great if it could extend halfway down the left too, just so the arms have the option to stick out naturally rather than overhead. Especially when the port is wired to the bottom left (something I keep forgetting is on the underside as well when flinging the HeatPod open).
Apart from that personal preference, it is tough to find fault with the device. The portability and privacy is truly something you can't get from conventional saunas. Now if only our climate could be perpetually much colder, this would be perfect to enjoy regularly.
The HeatPod Sauna Blanket 2 retails from SGD799.
The song you're listening to heralds the birth of psychedelic symphonies, predating The Beatles by a staggering 130 years. Hector Berlioz, the French composer who wrote "Symphonie fantastique" (French for "fantastic symphony") in 1830, offers one of the earliest musical depictions of a transcendent journey. Celine creative, artistic and image director Hedi Slimane stumbled upon this masterpiece at just 11 years old and was instantly captivated.
Berlioz's composition vividly captures the torment of unrequited love and obsession. Regarded as an "immense instrumental composition of a new genre", "Symphonie fantastique" showcases Berlioz's unmatched orchestration skills, impressing critics with its avant-garde essence. Transitioning seamlessly to Slimane's fashion narrative for Celine's Winter 2024 menswear collection also titled "Symphonie Fantastique", the collection boldly revives tailoring, epitomising the designer's pure sartorial essence.
The fit: Bold and cutting-edge, the garments featured in the film embody Slimane's unmistakable design language in menswear. Embracing the iconic "I" line silhouette—reminiscent of 1960s tailoring with a nod to 19th-century Anglomania—the collection exudes timeless sophistication. Frock coats, three-buttoned suits, and intricately hand-embroidered waistcoats are meticulously crafted from sumptuous fabrics like silk, cashmere, and vicuña. Throughout, matte black, satin, and lacquered finishes dominate, infusing each garment with an unmistakable sense of opulence and refinement.
Standout pieces include iconic motorcycle jackets with cropped hemlines, elegantly paired with 1970s flared bottoms as well as pinstriped peacoats transformed into militaristic uniforms. As with every collection, embellished accents adorn a number of garments, adding a captivating touch. Well-dressed cowboys take the lead in ballooning denim and multi-pocket button-down shirts for more casual proposals from the collection.
The details: Silver hardware embellishments on leather jackets inject that signature Slimane edge into the garments. They create a striking contrast to the refined aesthetic of the collection, all the while maintaining the rebellious spirit of Celine. Wide-brimmed hats and square-framed sunglasses further punctuate the collection's distinctive style.
Three exceptional looks: An embellished golden coat catching the sunlight; a sleek mandarin-collar jacket; and a pin-striped coat accentuated with a velvet collar.
The takeaway: This collection vividly embodies storytelling. Each piece reflects Slimane's current fascinations, meticulously crafted in every detail—from the setting and casting, to the music and garments.
View some of looks from the Celine Homme Winter 2024 collection in the gallery below.
(Editor's Note: This was originally posted last year but we've re-up this write-up due to Oppenheimer's Oscar sweep.)
Get sucked in by the drama and Cillian Murphy's stare.
Now this is a story all about how / the world got flipped turned upside down / with a bomb from the Manhattan Project cadre / here's the life of Oppenheimer (and his thousand-yard stare).
Christopher Nolan isn't making films, he's creating an experience. For his latest trick, he presents the biopic of the father of the atomic bomb, J Robert Oppenheimer. Adapted from American Prometheus written by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, the film chronicle the famed theoretical physicist's life, from student life at Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge to being the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory to getting his security clearance revoked due to tenuous communist ties.
It seemed strange for Nolan to take up a profile like Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy). Especially, when it's shot in Nolan's preference for the IMAX experience. There are no action scenes, nothing that befits the movie being shot on large format film stock—IMAX 65mm and Panavision 65mm film—(there was an estimated 17.7km worth of finished film stock) but Nolan sees it apt to highlight Oppenheimer on such a scale.
It's quite amazing how it all came together. There's nary a dull moment throughout the film's three-hour running time thanks to Nolan's deft direction, stellar ensemble and immaculate sound engineering. Not content with a linear re-telling of Oppenheimer's life, the film jumps back and forth to key moments and not only that it switches between the perspectives between Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr), a senior member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC); one in colour and the other in stark black-and-white, respectively.
The sound and music for Oppenheimer is something to behold. Faithful to the physics, the sound follows after we see the explosion. This is also true during a storm, where we see the flash of lightning, followed by the boom of thunder. When the first nuclear weapon test started, the expected sounds of the explosion were sidelined by Oppenheimer's breathing as he saw the conflagration of fire and billowing smoke. In the theatre, we sat transfixed by the near-silence of the explosion before the sound kicked in.
In his second time working with Nolan, Ludwig Göransson took Nolan's advice in using the violin as Oppenheimer's central theme. Göransson said that the stringed instrument could go from "the most romantic, beautiful tone in a split second to neurotic and heart-wrenching, horror sounds".
The best example is the nuclear explosion at Trinity (the codename of the site where it took place). We were at the edge of our seats in the lead-up to the experiment. Which is weird because all the historical accounts said that the experiment went off without a hitch. But how it was edited and soundtracked, you hope the experiment will be successful.
Cillian Murphy, who is well-known for his tenure in the TV series, Peaky Blinders, puts on a defining performance as Oppenheimer. Demonstrating the complexity of Oppenheimer with nuance would hobble a lesser actor but not in Murphy's hands. With Murphy, Oppenheimer comes across as a sympathetic Frankenstein (the doctor not as most erroneously would assume, the monster), a man who witnessed the mysteries of the atoms with awe and, later in the film, as a nuclear shade who is now the self-appointed martyr for ushering in the Atomic Age.
Furthering adding to fleshing out Oppenheimer, Murphy went on an intense transformation by reading up on the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu religious text that Oppenheimer would quote from and going on a diet that reduced him to his character’s stick-thin frame.
Downey Jr gives one of the better performances of his career as the embittered Strauss, who has a fractious relationship with Oppenheimer. Driven by ambition, Downey Jr displays a man who is an imposing figure in America’s nuclear program but dwarfed by his pettiness against a slight from Oppenheimer. Emily Blunt plays Oppenheimer's wife, Kitty, and she holds her own in this movie. Her deathstare towards her husband's ex-colleague or her bemused reaction during an interrogation, Blunt conveys the hidden pillar of strength in Oppenheimer's marriage.
I'm just glad that Murphy is back to playing the lead for a major film. To my limited memory, the last movies that he headlined were Sunshine and 28 Days Later.
Because there's something mesmerising about the way he stares at you; as though vacant but yet arresting at the same time. I'm pretty sure if there was a short film of just the camera pushing in slowly into Murphy's haunted mien, people would pay money to see it.
I mean, look at him. Now imagine if this was in colour, you will DIE IN THOSE POOLS OF BLUE.
Seven words: NOT SEEING CILLIAN MURPHY'S DONG ON IMAX.
I'm joking. Mostly. I'll explain.
This is Nolan's first R-rated movie and it includes Oppenheimer's love life with Jean Tatlock (played by Florence Pugh). Nolan felt that the intimacy between Oppenheimer and Tatlock were necessary to showcase the couple's connection. There were rumours that this might show full frontal nudity from both actors but, alas, nothing from Murphy. Not even a bare buttock. (We are all about having male actors go the full monty on the big screen. CHILL IT WITH THE DOUBLE-STANDARD, HOLLYWOOD.)
I get that Nolan doesn't want to shy from Oppenheimer's intimate moments but it felt gratuitous. Instead of the sex scenes, maybe it would be nice to have more insight into Tatlock's life and motivations. The character does not seem fully fleshed out and even Emily Blunt's Kitty barely escaped this bare-bones characterisation.
The number of established actors that are part of this cast. Aside from the marquee names like Matt Damon as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves and Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, there are other notable faces to spot. Personalities like Jason Clarke as Roger Robb; Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence; Dane DeHaan as Kenneth Nichols; Benny Safdie as Edward Teller; James Urbaniak as Kurt Gödel; Jack Quaid as Richard Feynman; Olivia Thirlby as Lilli Hornig; Casey Affleck as Boris Pash; Kenneth Branagh as Niels Bohr; Gary Oldman as President Harry S Truman and so on.
The only notable person not in the cast is Sir Michael Caine. Having appeared in all of Nolan's production since Batman Begins in 2005, this is the only film that doesn't feature him.
Also, don't forget the end-credit scene that sets up the Oppenheimer sequel. JK.
Oppenheimer was out in theatres and now lives rent-free in our collective heads.
There’s a new foldable in town, and its name? The Oppo Find N3. But it’s not just any foldable; it’s the kind that leaves you genuinely impressed. We’re three iterations in, and Oppo’s commitment to getting it right is evident. Not only does it fold (of course, that’s the point), but it does so with an elegance that’s hard to ignore.
Slimmer than your average men’s magazine (ahem) at 5.8mm when unfurled, its design screams quiet sophistication – especially the gold model (albeit, still a little too ostentatious for us). The ‘Cosmos Ring’ on the rear isn’t just for aesthetics – it hints at a beautiful partnership with the camera boff’s at Hasselblad.
Speaking of cameras: you get a trio of powerful lenses (48MP wide, 64MP telephoto, 48MP ultra-wide). So far, colours have been vibrant with excellent clarity. But we’d need to spend a little more time with it at night before we can render the full review.
The fact that it folds isn’t just skin deep when it comes to photography. The N3’s "flex-form" mode lets one screen act as a mini tripod, letting you place it on counters/tables for steady images. The second screen then provides you with advanced controls.
Obviously, the main draw of a foldable is that screen. Here, you get a primary 7.8-inch display, boasting a 120Hz refresh rate, is lovely on the eyes. And for those quick phone checks and messages? The 6.3-inch AMOLED front display has you covered.
Under its stylish exterior, the Find N3 is a powerhouse. Packed with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and a whopping 16GB of RAM with 512GB of storage. It’s ready to handle any task you throw at it. Gaming, multitasking or streaming, it doesn’t skip a beat.
Battery life, often a concern when it comes to foldables because – obviously, this has many screens – is another area where the Find N3 shines. Thanks to Oppo’s cutting-edge charging tech, you can go from zero to 35% in a mere 10 minutes. Imagine that: a quick coffee break, and you’re powered up and ready to go.
The Oppo Find N3 then is not just another foldable in the market. It’s a blend of design, performance, and improvement. With this release, Oppo is not just participating in the foldable race; it’s really competing against the likes of Samsung (and the self-crowned king of foldable phones).
Originally published on Esquire ME
OPPO Find N3 is available for pre-order online.
You know an idea is so simple yet so great when immediate reactions sum up to, "Why didn't anyone think of this sooner?". Well, they did. Draft Land founder/bartender Angus Zou did, to be specific. Originally launched in ZhongXiao, Taiwan in 2018, the bar led the pioneering concept for cocktails on tap in Asia. The Draft System, created by beverage R&D company Drinks Lab, works by injecting N2 or CO2 into the tipples for a fast, high quality selection.
So why consider this approach clever? Firstly, you save on the wait time. If you can already get cocktails in a can, why not on tap? Sure, you don't get to witness the fancy shakes and distilled pours, but watching the 'draftenders' locate which of the identical taps—which aren't labelled or numbered—dispenses your order is itself a form of entertainment too.
Another undeniable benefit is the establishment's Sample Service, which allows you to try a shot of the cocktail before you commit to a full size. This was, in fact, an essential feedback the founders commonly received about bars that spurred the idea. The venture also comes as a collaboration with Nutmeg & Clove's Shelley Tai, so you can be assured that standards... are there.
With more standing spaces than seating, it's definitely a casual arrangement. There's nothing to complain about the industrial colour palette, cosy pub-style layout and straightforward overhead menu—unproblematic, if not for ingredients in a font size too small.
While accessibility and affordability are key here, going from SGD18 (SGD12 for non-alcoholic) a pop, the cocktails are surprisingly good. Perhaps the only giveaways in a hypothetical blind test would be the extremely smooth texture and lack of garnish. There are currently 20 mainstays, with savoury-sweet Popcorn & Coke marking the highest ABV on the board.
To commemorate The World's 50 Best Bars happening in Singapore for the first time, exclusive creations crafted by internationally-recognised bartenders are available throughout the month of October, highlighted in red on the menu board.
Oolong Tea Collins (Antonio Lai of Quinary, Hong Kong) is the first tea-infused attempt of several personally tried over the years that actually tastes like the perfect ratio of tea to alcohol; where both ingredients harmonised rather than kill each other in the fight for the spotlight. Peach & Coke (Demie Kim of Zest, Seoul) is a dream for those who love the flavours old school cough syrup. A safe choice for the unadventurous would be the Margarita Spritz (Matt Whiley of Re-, Sydney), while Soul of Osaka (Hidetsugu Ueno of High Five, Tokyo) would easily divide the room.
Fret not, you won't be drinking on an empty stomach. Taiwanese-inspired bites like the Braised Pork Arancini, Egg Pancake and duck-fat fries are amongst the yet-to-be expanded list of ideal companions.
Draft Land is located on 24 Purvis Street, Singapore 188601.
Apple just unleashed a quartet of new iPhones upon the world. You’ve got the standard lineup of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, in addition to the premium iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. So far, so expected. But is it time to trade in your trusted companion for a new titanium powerhouse? That’s what we’re here to help you decide.
While we can’t say we’re that surprised about any of the announcements – there’s been a new model every September for over a decade, and much about these ones was rumoured – we’re happy to report that, after going hands-on, we can say there are appreciable and noticeable upgrades to every phone in the new lineup.
We’ve been testing every new Apple phone and there’s nothing that we’d call a mere “S” model here. But, if you want all the most eye-catching changes, there’s likely only one that you’re lusting after: The iPhone 15 Pro Max.
It’s all about titanium in 2023. Light, strong, and ready for space exploration. Across the board, Apple has made its Pro phones less weighty. The 14 Pro was 206g, and the 14 Pro Max came in at 240g on the scale. With the 15 lineup, the 15 Pro is 187g and the 15 Pro Max is 221g – it is a big difference that you can actually notice.
Beyond that, though, all of these phones continue to look just like other iPhone models. You’ve got the same look with the massive triple camera setup on the back, and the “Dynamic Island” at the top of the display, housing the front lens and clever face recognition sensors. It’s worth mentioning that both this and the 15 Pro have the thinnest bezels ever witnessed on an iPhone, shaving crucial millimetres off the body of the handset and making it feel slightly smaller when held.
If you like your phone to live without a case, then Apple has some changes you’ll appreciate. It’s not only the reduced weight of the thing, but it now also has these lovely contoured edges and a slightly more matte finish to the back glass. It makes it feel less like you’re going to drop it, so it’s now a realistic option without a case (as long as you’ve got insurance).
Speaking of cases, Apple has ditched leather in an environmental push and replaced those cases with its “FineWoven” lineup. We do like the suedelike look and feel of these, but they feel a little overpriced and if protection is your focus, we reckon you’ll prefer highly durable designs like the ones from British brand Mous. If you like a soft touch, the FineWoven ones do feel lovely, though. Want to show off the colour of your phone? Look at Apple’s clear case.
On those colours, the Pro range now comes in four minimal shades: black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium and natural titanium. We’re aware of the critiques that these are all a bit similar, especially the white and the natural, but having seen them all in person in Cupertino, we think they’re easy to distinguish from each other. We think the blue and the natural titanium (the colour of our review unit) are especially appealing.
Let’s be honest, none of us were ever using that mute switch on the left side of our iPhones, were we? Ours has been left on silent since at least the iPhone 4, so it’s essentially useless. That’s why we’re so glad that Apple has replaced the toggle with a fully customisable “action button” on the side of the Pro devices.
By default, a long press of this button still changes your handset between audible alerts and silence, but you can hop into settings and alter it to quickly launch the camera, switch on the torch, put on “do not disturb”, record a voice memo, or do whatever you like with a “Shortcut” – effectively, this launches any app or does almost any action you can imagine. Want to press the button to start your podcast queue, hit play on a workout playlist or launch a third-party camera app? It’s all possible. Not enough of you are taking advantage of the power of shortcuts, so now’s the time to start.
We love this little button, but if we were being picky, we’d say that we’d appreciate even more customisation. Imagine if you could control what it does in different apps or if it could have different functions depending on your focus mode. We’re just throwing out ideas here, but with per-app functions, we’re picturing features to turn it into a way to hop back to the camera when browsing your photos app, while having it still be a way to control something else once in a different app.
Or maybe that if we’re in our “Reading” focus mode it’ll automatically open Reeder or Instapaper, without changing its main use when not in that mode. We’re aware some of this would be complicated to implement, but it’s exciting that there are possibilities and future upgrades could make this button even more useful. So long, mute switch.
We should be clear that we already adore the performance of the camera on the iPhone 14 Pro. And, if you’re not a discerning photographer, it’s true that it’s also getting harder to notice the increasingly gradual changes between versions.
But there are clear reasons why the 15 Pro series is yet another big step up. It’s a larger main sensor, with reduced lens flare, improved portraits in night mode and, well, just upgraded portraits overall. But there’s one last trick up the sleeve of the 15 Pro Max, and that’s an expanded zoom range. Say goodbye to the 3x zoom, and hello to a 5x reach.
First up, though, portraiture. Look, we can’t be the only ones here who appreciate the notion of the creamy bokeh-licious background blur of a portrait mode but find we barely ever remember to switch it on. Apple gets it. With all the iPhone 15 models, the portrait mode is automatic in photos with people and certain animals (yes to cats and dogs, but no to hedgehogs – sorry, we don’t make the rules).
This is going to make it much easier to fill your camera roll with pro-looking portraits, and we’ve already found it simple to use. It works every time with people but is a little more hit-and-miss with animals – it may have just not gotten along with the Shih Tzu we met in the park, but it worked for the Cockapoo we encountered in the pub. We’re fans of the depth control on all the shots, and how you can change the focus point after the shot. You’re getting a huge amount of creative control in a compact package here.
We tested out the longer 5x zoom on the Pro Max too, and we like the crisp and detailed shots from this third lens. We know Samsung fans swear by the absurd zoom length on the S23 Ultra, but we just don’t find it useful and the results are inconsistent, crunchy and too unnatural.
The iPhone is the better pick for consistency between the lenses and more true-to-life reproduction of details and colours. This system is a fantastic option for mobile photographers – we’d say if you lean more towards wildlife, outdoor events or field trips, the 15 Pro Max’s long 120mm equivalent zoom is better, but for a classic portraiture focal length, the 77mm telephoto of the 15 Pro is the one to pick.
Both Pro models also give you a new ability to choose your standard lens and switch between the 24, 28 and 35mm focal lengths. We’ve already seen some commentators confuse this with a digital zoom, but there’s actual computational wizardry going on here too.
You can tell because the output of each option is at the same 24-megapixel resolution, and the results do come out looking terrific. Where we can see this coming in handy is if we want to match the focal length of our main camera (a 35mm-equivalent Fujifilm X100V) while shooting and want to include a few iPhone snaps without them sticking out like sore thumbs.
Overall, we’re left feeling like there’s little that this camera can’t do for most photographers – it’s an absurdly capable piece of kit that delivers quality shots from every lens.
Rejoice, Apple has caught up with the rest of the industry and the direction of its own gadgets by finally adding a USB-C port to every iPhone 15. Everyone doesn’t always remember this detail, but Apple was in fact the first brand to put USB-C on a laptop back in 2015, when it added it to its 12-inch MacBook. So, it’s a bit of a shame that it’s taken this long to reach the phones (USB-C iPads have been sold to the masses since 2018), but we’re not about to complain.
At last, your iPhone can charge using the same cord that you use for every other gadget in your house, whether that’s your headphones, MacBook, portable speakers, or wireless mechanical keyboard – it also means you’ll have one fewer cable to remember to bring with your power bank when you leave the house, or when you pack for your travels.
We’ve been testing what this port can do, and it’s good news that it’s not locked down like Lightning. We’ve connected third-party memory card readers to access photos and videos taken on our camera, a powerful USB-C to 3.5mm DAC to drive our wired headphones playing music from high-res music streaming services, and to recharge the phone with the same charger we’d use for our laptop or iPad.
The devices will negotiate the required amount of power, and as long as you’re not buying weirdly cheap third-party chargers from no-name brands on Amazon there isn’t a risk because USB-C is a standard, and that’s why this change is such a welcome addition. Apple talks about how it can charge the new USB-C AirPods and an Apple Watch with the necessary cable, but it actually goes much beyond that.
We tested several connections and it can pass power over to another iPhone 15 with less remaining battery via a USB-C to USB-C cable – it’ll do the same to an older iPhone via a USB-C to Lightning cable or to the older AirPods. It appears to work to give a little charge to non-Apple wireless earbuds too. This is all super helpful if you’re low on power, and it’s something we’d use in a pinch. It’s also good news for Pro users that this port supports rapid USB 3 data transfer, allowing you to quickly move files to attached USB-C thumb drives or fast solid-state drives.
When it comes to overall battery life and recharging, we’re looking at essentially the same story as last year. The 15 Pro Max offers up to 29 hours of downloaded video playback and up to 25 hours of video playback over streaming, continuing to offer the fastest maximum charging speeds of a 27W to 29W peak that matches its predecessor.
We need a little more time with the phone to see if it delivers the quoted battery life, but we’d expect to get just over a day of regular use, depending on screen brightness and data use. You should find it hits about half full in 30 minutes, which we tend to think is fast enough for most people, especially as it also offers convenient wireless charging via both MagSafe (up to 15W) and Qi (up to 7.5W) stands and pads.
If you appreciate a bigger screen, bigger battery and all the latest features, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a tremendous option. It feels innovative rather than iterative and brings some long-overdue features and some seriously impressive additions to the Pro iPhones.
Sometimes, we do find it a little too large to use one-handed but if you’re worried about that, the 15 Pro is a great phone with the vast majority of the features you get in the bigger model. However, if that far longer 5x zoom is calling out to you, we’d pick the iPhone 15 Pro Max. We love the performance of this camera setup, the capabilities of the USB-C port and the gorgeous brushed titanium design.
Originally published on Esquire UK
A visually detailed universe of idiosyncrasies, with a human core.
In Barbieland—a world separate from reality and where the actual Barbies and Kens reside—Stereotypical Barbie (the Barbie, played by Margot Robbie) lives a perfect, plastic life that has seemingly no end. Until, she starts questioning her reality and begins deviating from her known, repetitive path. She ventures off into the real world in hopes of “rebooting” and finds out that women don’t rule it, among other things.
Let’s be honest. When a real-action Barbie film was announced, no one was expecting it to be this much of a cultural phenomenon spurring women and men to be decked out in all pink to watch the film. Nor could we have anticipated the first reviews to be anything but overwhelmingly positive. The Barbie movie franchise has always been based on fantasy and idealism typical of any ‘90s Saturday cartoon—regarding it as anything more seemed bonkers.
Yet, Greta Gerwig managed to craft a narrative that goes beyond the plastic veneer of a, well, doll.
But that’s not to say that Barbie is dark or too in touch with reality. In fact, Gerwig leaned into the absurdity of a Barbie utopia. Barbies are always physically on their toes when barefoot (just like the actual dolls), see little need for stairs as they defy gravity by floating down as though placed into position by human hands, shower with imaginary water, drink imaginary liquids, and change clothes (for every occasion) with nary a finger lifted.
Much has been said about the diversity of the extended cast, with naysayers decrying it as part of a woke agenda. Apart from the racial diversity that includes Issa Rae as President Barbie, Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie, and Ana Cruz Kayne as Judge Barbie, Barbie portrays other facets of humanity with transgender actress Hari Nef as Dr. Barbie as well as Nicola Coughlan and Sharon Rooney portraying Diplomat Barbie and Lawyer Barbie respectively. There’s even a Barbie in a wheelchair.
What dissenters fail to recognise is that Barbie the doll has always been inclusive. The first Black Barbie debuted in 1980—slightly over a decade after the original Barbie—and a new line of differently sized Barbies were introduced in 2016. And of course, that’s alongside the pretty impressive range of occupations that Barbie has held throughout its 64-year existence.
But back to the story…
The main narrative of Barbie is the Barbie gaining some form of sentience, away from the rest of the Barbies. It's almost like a reverse The Stepford Wives where instead of women being reprogrammed to be submissive robots in a patriarchal community, it's the Barbies who reign all while Kens are side characters that the former care quite little about (when Barbie gets asked where do the Kens stay, she simply says, "I've never thought about it.").
Stepping into the real world causes Barbie to actually experience real human feelings, complete with tears. But most importantly, she finds out that Barbieland's existence did not mean that women in the real world are completely liberated or at the very least, given the same opportunities and treatment as men. Ken too witnesses this and because he constantly feels that his existence is wholly tethered to Barbie, decides to head back to Barbieland and enforce real-world patriarchy. But in the most naive of ways.
The most human element of the film comes in the form of Ruth Handler (played by Rhea Perlman), the co-founder of Mattel and the creator of Barbie. It's not explicitly explained in the film but based on the fact that the film occurs in present-day reality, we can safely assume that it's a spiritual representation of Handler. She guides Barbie in realising that—like the countless other versions of Barbie created after her—there's no predestined ending to her path; Barbie can essentially decide what she wants to be.
If we were to nitpick, there are quite a number of loopholes that aren't exactly explained.
While it Barbieland is aware of the real world, it does seem as though the real world is somewhat aware of the existence of Barbieland too—at least that's what can be gleaned from the rather blasé reactions real-world humans had towards Barbie after she crossed over. The film describes an opening of a rift between the two worlds, but if that were the case, why do the Barbies allude to venturing to the real world as something that happens quite regularly?
The connection between how Barbie dolls are played in the real world and their affect on Barbies in Barbieland too isn't well communicated.
We're introduced to Kate McKinnon's Weird Barbie character that's a manifestation of kids mistreating their Barbies, but does her existence represent the countless number of Barbies constantly made to do the splits or getting their hair butchered? Which also begs the question: Why was Barbie's sudden existential crisis tied to a single person (America Ferrera's character)—are we to believe that no one else in the world were able to project negative thoughts onto Barbie?
There are more of such puzzling inconsistencies but we can always chalk them up to the fantasy nature of the film. Could they have been explained better? Yes.
Robbie and Ryan Gosling are by no means the only A-list faces in the cast. Barbie is quite a star-filled ensemble.
Look out for Dua Lipa as a trio of Mermaid Barbies, John Cena as Merman Ken, Sex Education's Emma Mackey and Connor Swindells as Physicist Barbie and a Mattel intern respectively, as well as Will Ferrell as Mattel's oddball CEO. Oh, there's also Helen Mirren as the film's narrator who cheekily breaks the fourth wall in one scene.
Because the Barbieland universe is incredibly detailed, take note of how everything was perfectly done to actual Barbie-like scale. For example, Barbie is proportionally bigger than her car, and even the items that she uses—hairbrush, carton of milk, etc.—were scaled according to the actual toys.
Finally, there's a scene where Handler shows Barbie what it feels like to be human, and does so through a collage of moments experienced throughout a woman's life. Gerwig called for submissions from the cast and crew of the film for this as a way of adding that personal, human touch. Brilliant.
Barbie is now out in theatres.
