An Ode to Middle Age

From the outside it looks steady. It looks resolved. Sitting heavily in a chair, with settled opinions and stodgy shoes—there’s something unbudgeable about the middle-aged person. The young are dewy and volatile; the old are toppling into fragility. But the middle-aged hold their ground. There’s a kind of magnetism to this solidity, this dowdy poise, this impressively median state.

But on the inside … You’re in deep flux. A second puberty, almost. Inflammations, precarious accelerations. Dysmorphic shock in the bathroom mirror: Jesus, who is that? Strange new acts of grooming are suddenly necessary. Maybe you’ve survived a bout of something serious; you probably have a couple of fussy little private afflictions. You need ointment. It feels like a character flaw. Maybe it is a character flaw.

- The Atlantic

Le Belize d’un Montréalais, entre jungle et mer

Ce « mouchoir de pays » qu’est le Belize, comme l’écrit le journaliste et auteur français Alain Dugrand dans son livre sur l’ancien Honduras britannique, attire de plus en plus l’attention des Québécois. Un Montréalais, Daniel Lighter, y possède même deux hôtels, l’un à la mer, l’autre dans la forêt tropicale. Nous avons découvert les deux charmants visages d’un territoire encore peu défiguré par le tourisme.

- La Presse

How you actually get into the proposed 360-degree infinity pool

When plans were revealed for the world's first 360-degree rooftop infinity pool in London last week, people around the world couldn't contain both their excitement and their confusion. The biggest question everyone was asking was: How do you get in and out? Although Kemsley, Compass Pools' pool designer and technical director, had shared an initial explanation, it still wasn't entirely clear in the eyes of many.

- Insider

«PUNK THE CAPITAL», UNE HISTOIRE DU PUNK À WASHINGTON

Un précieux documentaire projeté jeudi à Paris, dans le cadre du festival Magnétique Nord, retrace de manière exhaustive la généalogie du punk dans la capitale américaine, des premiers pas à l'explosion du hardcore au début des années 80.

- Libération

Derrière la porte: la crise de la soixantaine d’Anne

D’aussi loin qu’elle se souvienne, Anne* est lesbienne. Jusqu’à tout récemment, elle n’avait eu que trois copines. Jamais couché avec un homme. Jamais exploré. Jamais trop vécu, quoi. Or, à 60 ans, elle a ressenti une pressante et irrépressible urgence de vivre. Et pour la première fois, elle se confie. Récit.

« C’est hors norme, mais il faut oser, confie la dame, attablée devant un café-filtre, à mi-chemin entre Québec et Montréal. Parce que la réalité, c’est que la vie est courte. »

- La Presse

What Is Pornography Doing to Our Sex Lives?

In the past few decades, digital pornography has been blamed for—well, pick a noun and add the word sex. It’s been named as a culprit for both sex addiction and sex abstinence. It’s been blamed for poor sex education, rampant sexual violence, and rising sexual dysfunction. Pornography is practically the Swiss Army knife of social calamity.

- The Atlantic

New Book Collects ROA’s Black-and-White Creatures in Photographs from Around the World

Those unable to experience the black-and-white murals of Belgian artist ROA (previously) in person can admire photographs of his works in the recently published Codex. Released by Lannoo Publishers, the 352-page book contains four chapters centered on Eurasia, Africa, America, and Oceania, regions where ROA’s depictions of local animals blanket building walls. The photographs portray a snake wound around itself, six different species perched on vertical ledges, and an alligator on its back with its tail scaling a fire escape.

- Colossal

Ego Death, Prosocial Behavior, and Other Cutting-Edge Research on Psychedelics

For December, we’re highlighting five new studies on psychedelics that we hope inspire some interesting holiday dinner conversations. And we’ve also collected clinical trials that are recruiting people to study the therapeutic uses of psychedelics. Clinical trials are research studies intended to evaluate a medical intervention. They allow researchers to study a particular treatment that may not have a lot of data on its safety or effectiveness yet.

- Goop

What we get wrong about time

Most of us tend to think of time as linear, absolute and constantly “running out” – but is that really true? And how can we change our perceptions to feel better about its passing?

- BBC

We have the tools and technology to work less and live better

In 1930, a year into the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes sat down to write about the economic possibilities of his grandchildren. Despite widespread gloom as the global economic order fell to its knees, the British economist remained upbeat, saying that the ‘prevailing world depression … blind[s] us to what is going on under the surface’. In his essay, he predicted that in 100 years’ time, ie 2030, society would have advanced so far that we would barely need to work. The main problem confronting countries such as Britain and the United States would be boredom, and people might need to ration out work in ‘three-hour shifts or a 15-hour week [to] put off the problem’. At first glance, Keynes seems to have done a woeful job of predicting the future. In 1930, the average worker in the US, the UK, Australia and Japan spent 45 to 48 hours at work. Today, that is still up around 38 hours.

- Aeon

We Went to a Parisian Sex Club for Swingers So You Don’t Have To

It’s a phone-less world down there in the underground lair of Les Chandelles, the infamous “club échangiste” – and something to be appreciated in itself before we get into the stuff you really want to know about. Inhibitions (and Instagram) are to be left above ground, and your time spent down there is intended exclusively for your pleasure and that of your companion’s. Whether it unfolds exactly as intended however, depends on a few other hidden variables that are less easily controlled for the curious newcomer…

- Messy Nessy Chic

D’où vient le mot «dating» ?

L’histoire de la rencontre, aux Etats-Unis, se scinde en trois étapes : le calling, le dating, le hooking. Dans un essai intitulé “Sex Friends”, Richard Mèmeteau raconte l’évolution des scripts relatifs à la séduction hétérosexuelle.

- Libération