Settle in and enjoy some of the best lifestyle and entertainment stories from our talented and award-winning journalists, from Beyonce to back pain, Married at First Sight to men’s health. Here are our top picks for this weekend - you can find more to read at our Lifestyle, Entertainment and Viva hubs.
‘There’s nothing else like it in Australasia’
Gow Langsford opens a stunning art gallery and community hub in Onehunga
On the corner of Princes St and George Terrace on the outskirts of Onehunga, opposite the big orange Mitre 10 and a stone’s throw from Auckland Radiators, sits an impressive, sparkling white structure guarded by a series of bronze sculptures.
A mesmerising anomaly in a manufacturing precinct, the building is Gow Langsford’s new art gallery, the biggest of its kind in Australasia, and those sculptures are by two of the gallery’s leading artists, David McCracken and Bernar Venet.
Set to open on April 6 with an exhibition of contemporary art, the 2000sq m building contains a pristine new gallery space with soaring ceilings and capacity for museum-grade exhibitions, with two viewing rooms, a suite of artist studios upstairs and an adjoining warehouse.
Read the full Viva Premium story here
How Kiwis can have better sex: Top tips from the experts
Becoming a better lover is a skill – and like any skill it requires practice. A couple of 40 years, a sex therapist, and a sex shop owner tell Sinead Corcoran Dye how you can improve your habits between the sheets.
‘Do not buy into this nonsense that sex is the playground of the young,” says sexologist Alexander Terblanche. “There is too much research now that suggests our sexual experiences can get better with age.
“The piece of advice I wish we all took on more, regardless of age, is that when it comes to our sex lives; we make the rules. We get to decide the measures, the definitions, the gauges of satisfaction. When we grasp that “great sex” is defined exclusively by us, the freedom that follows is wonderfully fertile ground for making improvements to our sex lives.”
Read the full Premium story here
Damian Hurley directed his famous mum in an erotic thriller. In his world, that’s ‘totally normal’
Elizabeth Hurley’s son was papped as a toddler, has Elton John as a godfather and now, aged 21, he’s directing his mother in, yes, an erotic thriller.
Damian Hurley isn’t easily rattled. “I’ve never really been starstruck,” he says. “I’ve grown up around industry giants so I’m fairly unflappable.” Though Elizabeth Hurley’s son admits that he was minorly flapped when cast in a modelling campaign alongside Naomi Campbell. Thankfully the original nineties super model is an “old family friend” and offered advice. “She really taught me — this is very interesting — so you have to have two thoughts when you’re looking into the camera, either ‘f*** me’ or ‘f*** you’,” he says. “It’s completely true. When you look at every single model in the world, that is what they’re thinking.”
Read the full Premium story here
Why (almost) everything you’ve been told about back pain is wrong
A new book claims the way we treat back pain is all wrong. Joanna Wane finds out why.
A few days before I talk with spinal pain expert Antony Bush, I ask him to look over a recent article from a United Kingdom newspaper titled “Seven daily habits to banish back pain for good”. Practitioners who give their professional advice in the story include a physiotherapist, a chiropractor, an osteopath, a personal trainer and a yoga instructor, so it’s right up his alley.
The next morning, Bush emails back the article covered in digital yellow sticky notes. In his view, more than half of the key claims it makes are myths, part-truths or simply not supported by evidence-based research. But instead of being shocked or outraged at this peddling of misinformation, he’s not surprised in the least.
“This is just classic — it’s all hearsay, handed down by well-meaning practitioners who are repeating what they’ve been taught, and it’s all been proven wrong in controlled clinical trials,” he says.
Read the full Premium story here
How Beyonce went country — and caused a storm
The superstar’s new sound has been dismissed by Nashville country radio, while critics have accused her of cynicism. Do they have a point?
In the weeks leading up to the release of her new album, Cowboy Carter — the second act in a three-part project that began in 2022 with the disco and house-influenced Renaissance — the music industry has tussled not so much over the quality of the songs, but rather on whether Beyonce doing country is, put simply, a good thing.
Some might argue the stats should speak for themselves. With Texas Hold ‘Em, she quickly became the first black woman to top the US Hot 100 with a country song. An endorsement from queen of country Dolly Parton followed. “I’m a big fan of Beyonce and very excited that she’s done a country album,” she wrote on Instagram, later hinting that Knowles Carter may have covered Jolene for the new record.
Read the full Premium story here
How to boost your testosterone and maintain your sex drive
Testosterone levels are on the decline, largely due to poor diet and lifestyle. Fortunately, there are ways to increase this vital hormone, writes personal trainer Matt Roberts.
Testosterone is a vital hormone that’s crucial for so many functions. It is responsible for growth, repair and sexual function, so maintaining a normal level is important. Men need testosterone for strong bones, building muscle and virility. But this sex hormone isn’t just in men — women, too, have it, but at lower levels.
In men, testosterone levels peak in the early 30s, before starting a gradual descent from that point onwards. But now, a large new research programme from the University of Massachusetts has shown male testosterone levels at the age of 54 are a staggering 22 per cent lower than only two decades ago, with scientists laying the blame on our poor diet and lifestyle.
If this is a real generational change — and testing within my own facilities would back those numbers up — we need to rapidly address the problem and raise the bar again. Our vitality depends upon it, so what should you do to reboot this essential hormone?
Read the full Premium story here
Where to eat this weekend: Advieh, where honesty (and butter) is always the best policy
Kina butter, pistachio butter, brown butter yoghurt - pass the fresh-baked flatbread, says critic Kim Knight after a look at the menu at the new InterContinental Auckland’s restaurant, Advieh.
Is “egg yolk butter” the new mayonnaise? Or is it just mayo?
My grandmother would call that kind of language “gilding the lily” and there was a small bouquet’s worth of it going on at Advieh. Coastal lamb neck. Day boat market fish. Matakana watercress. Dog poo crap leaves.
I beg your pardon?
Fortunately, I grew up in a province plastered with wine labels, and unlike my companion who will be following up dinner with an audiologist’s appointment, I heard correctly: “Pāua dolma, with Dog Point grape leaves,” said the very lovely waitperson.
Read the full Premium story here
From Dame Kiri to kiwi: NZ celebrity photographer’s new fine art exhibition
He’s one of New Zealand’s most successful contemporary photographers, with a career capturing the country’s biggest celebrities.
But this month Jae Frew is showcasing a different side of his work with an exhibition dedicated to NZ native birds and natural environment.
His name may be unfamiliar, but many will certainly have seen Frew’s work.
For more than 30 years, he has photographed NZ’s most recognisable faces, spanning everyone from Dame Jacinda Ardern to Paula Bennett, Dame Lisa Carrington to Ruby Tui, Sir John Kirwan to Sir Edmund Hillary, and many more.
His new exhibition, Manu Kōingo: Birds of Yearning, debuts this month at Parnell Gallery – showcasing his work that pays tribute to NZ’s extinct and endangered native wildlife, while raising awareness of our fragile and diminishing forest life.
Read the full Premium story here
What causes road rage and how we can stop it, according to a psychologist
Following a sobering Easter weekend road toll, New Zealand police are warning drivers not to let the “red mist” of road rage cloud their judgement.
Road rage has been identified as a factor in several driving incidents leading to injuries and deaths over the years, but what causes road rage in the first place? Bethany Reitsma talks to Victoria University professor of psychology Marc Wilson about why it happens and how we can avoid it.
How I learned to stop worrying and love Married at First Sight
Despite Married at First Sight not being a good show, Karl Puschmann can’t stop watching it. Here’s why.
To my great and eternal shame, I have been watching the latest season of Three’s Reality TV behemoth Married At First Sight (MAFS). Worse, I have been enjoying it.
Let me be clear; MAFS is not a good show. I can’t even call it good television. A guilty pleasure? No. Even that faint praise is going too far. It’s total slop devoid of any nutritional value. And yet I keep scoffing it down, night after night, like the gluttonous zombie the show quite correctly assumes I am.
Very Versace! Italian Luxury Brand Unveils An Unexpected Campaign Star
Cillian Murphy (and his cheekbones) join brand ambassador Anne Hathaway in Versace’s latest campaign.
Hollywood talent continues to be favoured by fashion brands, as they tap into the fandom, talent and cultural capital amassed by actors, and they play a starring role in Versace’s new campaign.
The Italian luxury brand has released its latest Icons collection — a capsule wardrobe range based on its design signatures — and tapped two familiar faces, Oscar-winners Anne Hathaway and Cillian Murphy, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
Both are in the midst of career highs — Hathaway enjoying a surge in popularity and high-calibre work, Murphy collecting an array of awards for his titular role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer — and their personal style has been under a spotlight.