Flagship

A new era on Centre Court?

Wimbledon 2023 begins on Monday. Four men, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, have shared all the men’s singles titles for the last 20 years. But Nadal is injured, Federer is retired, and Murray, though beloved at Wimbledon, is a shadow of his former self. Djokovic has won the last four, but is 36. We might see a changing of the guard, argues the Financial Times: 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz displaced Djokovic as world number one, and could be the first true men’s tennis great to emerge in 15 years. The women’s game is yet to find a successor to the Williams sisters: Since Serena won in 2015 and 2016, Wimbledon has seen five ladies’ singles champions, all first-time winners.

New Dune: Part Two trailer released

The latest trailer for Dune: Part Two, the second half of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science-fiction epic, was released. It includes the first sight of Christopher Walken playing the Emperor. Most modern sci-fi tropes can trace their ancestry to Dune, in the way that most modern fantasy is a series of footnotes to Tolkien. Star Wars in particular, with its desert planet, controlling galactic empire, and ancient order of mystics, wears its influence on its sleeve. The Matrix and The Terminator both owe a debt to Dune’s Butlerian jihad, the original war against the machines. Fans of the book adored the first film: If the second can keep the standards up, it will be a classic series to rival Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.

Klimt sets record at auction

Gustav Klimt’s Lady with a fan became the most expensive painting sold at public auction in Europe’s history. The $108 million that Patti Wong, a Hong Kong-based art adviser, paid for the painting at Sotheby’s London narrowly surpassed the $104 million an Alberto Giacometti sculpture fetched in 2010. It is the most expensive Klimt work ever sold. The painting depicts an unknown young woman against a backdrop of oriental textiles and the image of a phoenix, perhaps a good augur that post-Brexit London may regain its position as a top city in the art market. “The phoenix is the symbol of eternal life,” the Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe said.

How AI is changing music

A frenzy over an “AI-produced” song going viral is misplaced, and artificial intelligence hasn’t changed the music industry — at least not yet, according to a new piece in Rolling Stone. “AI has become an all-purpose, oft-confusing buzzword in music,” and the industry has overly focused on voice-cloning instead of the longer-term potential and pitfalls of entirely machine-made music, Brian Hiatt argued. “Somewhere deep in some distant server farm, something incalculably smart and eerily powerful is readying itself to sing.” The future of AI, as Flagship’s Tom wrote earlier, will be weirder than we can imagine.

Japan’s French adaptations

Omurice — a runny omelet over a bed of fried rice — is just one of the many, if unlikely, French-Japanese dishes that have become staples in menus and households throughout Japan. Attempting to cater to Western palates as the country opened up to the world in the late 19th century, Japanese hoteliers hired French chefs to run their kitchens. Most notable among them was Chef Beguex, a man who’s influence on Japan’s kitchens is perhaps as strong as ever. Besides omurice — which came together as a cook in Chef Beguex’s kitchen used what was at hand to put a quick meal together — korokke (croquettes) and katsuretsu (côtelettes) are now ubiquitous in the country.

Sales of French red wines have fallen by almost half since the early 1990s, bringing overall wine production in the country down by nearly 35%. According to vineyard owners, the drop is at least somewhat explained by overproduction and changing drinking habits. France is also one of the fastest growing markets for non-alcoholic drinks. The sharp drop in sales of red wine for French winemakers has been partially softened by a 93% increase in sales of rosé since 1995, according to the American Association of Wine Economists.

The time it takes for the Coast Starlink train to get from Los Angeles to Seattle, along what Conde Nast Traveler described as “one of Amtrak’s most scenic rail lines.” Passengers relax as they pass along the Pacific and through Oregonian forest, looking out at vistas that alternatingly feature woodlands, mountains, and lakes, all of which can be seen in observation cars equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows.

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