Increasing stress levels related to urbanisation and global instabilities like the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have awakened a strong need for well-being.

With the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical and mental well-being have become a priority for consumers. Products that are able to create moments of relaxation and well-being are on-trend, leading to what we have defined as mindful hedonism, said Ben Webb, Givaudans regional head of fragrances, APAC.

At the same time, the consumers notion of well-being is evolving and becoming more complex, he added.

People are more and more aware of the importance of their holistic well-being, and especially the emotional side of well-being. The majority of them are more likely to buy products and services from companies that effectively engage in well-being.

Webb noted that our sense of smell played a significant role in well-being as it has direct access to the emotion and memory processing regions of the brain.

This enables fragrances to create a rich and vivid representation in your mind, more than just a chemical or molecular representation. Attractive odours or odours associated with positive memories can immediately influence a person's emotional state and this is why fragrance has a significant and positive influence on an individual's mood and well-being.

As such, fragrances are becoming more crucial into manufactures looking to forge an emotional connection between its products and the consumers.

Asia Pacific is going through several stages of poised growth as the next economic global powerhouse which entails urbanisation and a more sophisticated way of life. This has created more expectation from their daily use of personal care products and more interest in leisure and well-being, said Webb.

With the COVID-19 outbreak, these trends are set to accelerate swiftly and remain long even after the crisis blows over.

Frustrated by several weeks of lockdown, consumers will luxuriate in simple joys of product and treatment, using beauty for escapism. This desire for feel good products consumption will last even after the crisis, said Webb.

To mark Global Wellness day, Givaudan announced that it has developed Vivascentz, a tool to help guide developers to develop fragrances with well-being benefits scientifically.

The technology was developed by Givaudans Health and Well-being Centre of Excellence in Ashford in collaboration with a renowned research academic partner.

The technology leverages on the Swiss firms 30 years of expertise in neuroscience to build a metric that measures overall well-being, covering the psychological, physiological and social dimensions in a fragrance context

The tool was validated by rigorous tests carried out by more than 2,000 consumers, which concluded that it was possible to demonstrate that fragrances created with the VivaScentz technology were able to positively impact the users overall state of well-being

Thanks to VivaScentz technology, our perfumers have the knowledge to create tailor made fragrances and Oral Care flavours that delight consumers while enhancing their well-being, covering a wide range of olfactive areas, said Webb.

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Fragrance set to play a more powerful role in personal care as well-being comes to forefront - CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com

Agoston Haraszthy didnt hesitate to wear masks. A Hungarian immigrant, he became San Diegos first sheriff by portraying himself as a military colonel. Then, he sold himself as a metallurgist to win a top job at the San Franciscos first U.S. Mint office. He billed himself as royaltyCount Haraszthywhen he established the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma.

Joe Mathews

Opinion

By 1864, The Count was in trouble. The Civil War and mounting debts strained his wine business. Hed planted the vines too close together, and his attempt to create a sparkling California champagne literally fizzled. To stay afloat, he sold off pieces of the estate.

Despite all these troubles, County Haraszthy hosted a lavish Masquerade Ball, touted as the first in California history. The costumes and wine technologies drew enough of a crowd for the event to endure. It was held most recently in 2019.

Todays Californians, so wary of face coverings, might consider what The Count knew: Masks are about fun and finding light in darkness. What better time to don a mask than when your whole world is falling down around you?

Californias scolds, who use shame to force mask compliance, miss this point. They tell us, with considerable scientific justification, that we must wear masks to be good. But the true virtue of masks is that they allow us to be bad.

Behind masks, we cant be easily shamed. We can try on new identities and deviate from the norms of good citizenship. In this cultural moment, when we are surrounded by so much coerced and performative goodness, might more people want to wear masks if we emphasized their darker and more subversive appeal? Instead of framing face-coverings as solemn obligation, might the public health be better protected if we reimagined this moment as a lavish, statewide masquerade?

A man with a face mask reading COVID 19 waits at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

The current, highly polarized debate over masks is much too dumb and dull when you consider the history of our use of masks. Our modern conception of masking owes a debt to the Republic of Venice, where a mask-wearing culture endured for centuries. The Venetian devotion to masks was rooted in desirefor hedonism and equality. With identities shielded, people could do as they wished. Without faces, all had voices.

In the 18th century, the Venetian passion reached America. Of course, in this Puritan country, mask-wearing produced backlashes, with moralists claiming that masquerades were a foreign and immoral influence. By the second half of the 19th century and through the 1960s, major California municipalities from Los Angeles to San Francisco had laws barring public disguise and cross-dressing. Scholars have described those discriminatory ordinances as forerunners of todays so-called bathroom bills that target the transgendered.

Fortunately, the transgressive act of masking has won the cultural warFreddy Krueger has the box office receipts to prove it. Masquerade in California, from costume superstores to Comic-Con, is now big business. In L.A., the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball, first held in 1997, has thousands of attendees and an ongoing story line with newly invented characters and mythologies. Shawn Strider, its host, told me the balls are great levelers in status-conscious L.A., with regular Angelenos and A-list stars attending together, without learning each others true identities.

The appeal of masks in an age such as ours isnt hard to see. When everyone wants you to pick a side, the masquerade offers glorious ambiguity. When people are reduced to their political or racial identities, and digital surveillance seems all, masks provide anonymity, and the possibility of being our full selves.

For all these reasons, it makes little sense to turn masks into a symbol of compliance in the pandemic. Itd be wiser to use COVID to celebrate masks. Instead of enforcement, let government strike teams give out cash prizes for the most beautiful, funny or inventive masks that they see. Public kiosks outside grocery stores and food banks could help Californians make their own masks. And if people must gather, lets hold small, outdoor, socially distanced masquerades.

In other words, lets find ways to savor a difficult time as best we canlike Count Haraszthy did. Just two years after his 1864 masquerade, he was fired from his own wine company for extravagance and unfaithfulness. He declared bankruptcy and escaped to Nicaragua.

But one day in 1869, he disappeared, forever, into a river full of reptiles, leaving behind a lasting lesson. Wear all the masks you canbecause you never know when the alligators will swallow you whole.

About the Author

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zcalo Public Square.

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We're Doing This COVID-19 Mask Thing All Wrong - gvwire.com

Ive been indulging in a lot of screen time recently. I know Im not alone in this. But it somehow seems odd to spend so much of my time passively watching as history is happening right before our eyes. For a multitude of reasons, this year may turn out to be the most consequential year in modern world history, certainly in American history; and that thought is stressing me out. So, in search of answers, I have begun watching and reading about how other people have responded to crises throughout history.

There is currently a 24-part lecture series on Prime TV entitled The Black Death, and yes, it is about the plague that originated in China, and beginning in 1347, it devastated not only half of the entire population of Europe, but also its ruling institutions, including feudalism and the Catholic Church. But what fascinated me were the first-hand accounts, in both writing and art, as told by those who were living in the midst of it. Those who cared for the sick and then succumbed themselves; those who turned to prayer and self-flagellation, those who turned to hedonism or violence, those who were scapegoated for being Jewish, and those who tried to restore order and government.

During the next ten years, 75 million people perished. That is a staggering number. But it doesnt tell us about the human story of that pandemic. We can only begin to understand the meaning of such events by opening ourselves to the accounts of those who lived and died or survived in such times.

Such traumatic experiences are not the only stories of interest to historians. Other stories, of a gentler sort, fascinate as well. Perhaps because they stand out in relief against the larger backdrop of social upheaval.

I recently watched Anne Frank: Parallel Stories, in which Helen Mirren reads from Annes diary, which is filled with what we might call the normal preoccupations of an adolescent girl in the 1940s. She writes freely and imaginatively of friendship, isolation, love, romance, having her first period and her desire to improve the world. Her death in a Nazi concentration camp at the sweet age of 15 is what makes her story so poignant and so tragic.

When such stories are intertwined with those of other victims and survivors, we feel the true significance of the Holocaust. The weight of those stories has helped to stiffen my own resolve to resist any movement toward a world in which such evil could ever exist again. Engaging with history and realizing that our own stories are part of the entire human experience can really help put things in perspective.

Today, we are living through our own historical moment facing a worldwide pandemic; political upheaval; social unrest; continued racial injustice toward our own species and man-made environmental catastrophes that threaten to extinguish life itself.

So, how are we dealing with all this?

We all have stories about the disease that is crippling our society, keeping us in isolation, with little or no employment, unable to attend school, unable to make new friends or to date. Are your relationships stressed? Has the Black Lives Matter movement made a difference to you? Did you participate in the protests? How has your world changed? Are you worried about your health or that of your loved ones? Do you watch a lot of news coverage like I do, or post more on social media? Do you feel that youre actively engaged and are trying to make a difference?

The most important question for me is, What will I tell my granddaughter when she grows up?

There are so many stories that when taken together will inform future generations, as well as scholars, about how we survived here on Vashon-Maury Island, while so many in other places did not.

Now is a good time to think about sharing your own experiences. The Vashon Heritage Museum, our island equivalent of the Smithsonian, has begun what it calls the Vashon COVID-19 Archive Project. A team led by historian Bruce Haulman has begun collecting such stories for a future exhibit. Working in collaboration with Voice of Vashon, they will be conducting video and audio interviews at several locations around Vashon-Maury throughout the month of July. Participants only need to be willing to share their stories, but artifacts such as masks and photos, even screenshots of social media posts may also be of interest.

For more information visit vashonheritagemuseum.org/covidarchive. Also, check Vashon Heritage Museums Facebook page for updates on the location for the interviews.

Be part of history.

Art Chippendale has lived on Vashon for 24 years with his wife Tania Kinnear. He has been active in community organizations and co-founded the group Unifying for Democracy.

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What's your story? - Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science WriterActs of kindness may not be that random after all. Science says being kind pays off.Research shows that acts of kindness make us feel better and healthier. Kindness is also key to how we evolved and survived as a species, scientists say. We are hard-wired to be kind.Kindness is as bred in our bones as our anger or our lust or our grief or as our desire for revenge, said University of California San Diego psychologist Michael McCullough, author of the forthcoming book Kindness of Strangers. Its also, he said, the main feature we take for granted.Scientific research is booming into human kindness and what scientists have found so far speaks well of us.Kindness is much older than religion. It does seem to be universal, said University of Oxford anthropologist Oliver Curry, research director at Kindlab. The basic reason why people are kind is that we are social animals.We prize kindness over any other value. When psychologists lumped values into ten categories and asked people what was more important, benevolence or kindness, comes out on top, beating hedonism, having an exciting life, creativity, ambition, tradition, security, obedience, seeking social justice and seeking power, said University of London psychologist Anat Bardi, who studies value systems.Were kind because under the right circumstances we all benefit from kindness, Oxfords Curry said.When it comes to a species survival kindness pays, friendliness pays, said Duke University evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare, author of the new book Survival of the Friendliest.Kindness and cooperation work for many species, whether its bacteria, flowers or our fellow primate bonobos. The more friends you have, the more individuals you help, the more successful you are, Hare said.For example, Hare, who studies bonobos and other primates, compares aggressive chimpanzees, which attack outsiders, to bonobos where the animals dont kill but help out strangers. Male bonobos are far more successful at mating than their male chimp counterparts, Hare said.McCullough sees bonobos as more the exceptions. Most animals arent kind or helpful to strangers, just close relatives so in that way it is one of the traits that separate us from other species, he said. And that, he said, is because of the human ability to reason.Humans realize that theres not much difference between our close relatives and strangers and that someday strangers can help us if we are kind to them, McCullough said.Reasoning is the secret ingredient, which is why we donate blood when there are disasters and why most industrialized nations spend at least 20% of their money on social programs, such as housing and education, McCullough said.Dukes Hare also points to mama bears to understand the evolution and biology of kindness and its aggressive nasty flip side. He said studies point to certain areas of the brain, the medial prefrontal cortex, temporal parietal junction and other spots as either activated or dampened by emotional activity. The same places give us the ability to nurture and love, but also dehumanize and exclude, he said.When mother bears are feeding and nurturing their cubs, these areas in the brain are activated and it allows them to be generous and loving, Hare said. But if someone comes near the mother bear at that time, it sets of the brains threat mechanisms in the same places. The same bear becomes its most aggressive and dangerous.Hare said he sees this in humans. Some of the same people who are generous to family and close friends, when they feel threatened by outsiders become angrier. He points to the current polarization of the world.More isolated groups are more likely to be feel threatened by others and they are more likely to morally exclude, dehumanize, Hare said. And that opens the door to cruelty.But overall our bodies arent just programmed to be nice, they reward us for being kind, scientists said.Doing kindness makes you happier and being happier makes you do kind acts, said labor economist Richard Layard, who studies happiness at the London School of Economics and wrote the new book Can We Be Happier?University of California Riverside psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky has put that concept to the test in numerous experiments over 20 years and repeatedly found that people feel better when they are kind to others, even more than when they are kind to themselves.Acts of kindness are very powerful, Lyubomirsky said.In one experiment, she asked subjects to do an extra three acts of kindness for other people a week and asked a different group to do three acts of self-kindness. They could be small, like opening a door for someone, or big. But the people who were kind to others became happier and felt more connected to the world.The same occurred with money, using it to help others versus helping yourself. Lyubomirsky said she thinks it is because people spend too much time thinking and worrying about themselves and when they think of others while doing acts of kindness, it redirects them away from their own problems.Oxfords Curry analyzed peer-reviewed research like Lyubomirskys and found at least 27 studies showing the same thing: Being kind makes people feel better emotionally.But its not just emotional. Its physical.Lyubomirsky said a study of people with multiple sclerosis and found they felt better physically when helping others. She also found that in people doing more acts of kindness that the genes that trigger inflammation were turned down more than in people who dont.And she said in upcoming studies, shes found more antiviral genes in people who performed acts of kindness.___Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears .___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Not so random acts: Science finds that being kind pays off |870 AM 97.7FM News Talk WHCU - whcuradio.com

Day 4 of Synetic Theaters series of short pieces devised by members of the companys roster of artists shows much of the same agility and demonstrable translation into forms of physical theater from a classic text that marks the Synetic style. One has to ask, however, whether the individuals are really going as deeply into text as they might to find what has special resonance for todays audience and the current situation.

The Decameron is not, I would argue, simply a string of olios or short diversions. Underneath, it is a test of a group of friends staying isolated and socially distanced to survive a terrifying plague and a time to examine peoples values and what is of importance. Theres a lot of meat in the original text. Some of these short works, however, stay more as showcases for the language of stage combat, dance, and mime without much real attention to the emotional depth of Boccaccios intentions.

When seen live, the scores of resident composer Constantine Lortkipanidze blare at you, nailing you into the back of your seat. Whether you like his electronic pop/techno compositions or not, they are part of the immersive experience. Two of todays pieces incorporate his music and the scores feel more like sketches without helping advance the story in true music-theatre fashion.

Joshua Cole Lucas is a relatively new member of Synetic but has already shown his clown and mimetic abilities in a work like The Tempest, where he played the part of Trinculo. He chose well a scenario for his piece, based on Day 6, Story 4. It reads like a clown act with just enough scenario to create a conflict, reversal, and resolution without getting bogged down in complicated plot or character.

A cook, Chichibo, prepares a dinner for his master of a fine rare fowl his master has shot. The first scene update shows Lucas in conventional mime white face, assembling a chicken to roast, but the chicken prop seems to have other ideas. A quite amusing scene, Lucas wrestles with the fowl and tucks around the bird, made-vertical, potatoes and rosemary sprigs in its armpits. Almost immediately, however we have a continuity problem. The bird being delivered from the oven is on its side, and Voila! no rosemary. If that were not enough, in comes another figure and looks longingly at the succulent bird and demands a leg, which, reluctantly, Chichibo carves for him. But not before the two characters pass this roasting pan, presumably scalding hot from the oven, back and forth sans oven mitts.

Lucas plays not only Chichibo but the other two characters in the story, the eater of the chicken leg (who is another servant in the household although this is not made entirely clear; I thought maybe they were lovers or spouses,) and the lord of the manor. The filmed action deals cleverly enough with the triple casting, by having the three walking into and exiting the frame. But the punchline never did anything more than fizzle. Boccaccios biting retort in the original had the wily Chichibo supposedly convincing his master that birds, like the crane, only have one leg. Whatever might have been shown about the more serious relationship about the unequal power between master and servant went unexplored.

Nutsa Tediashvili took her inspiration from Day 7, Story 9, where, we are told, a woman takes control and embraces her own desire. I like that she poses the work as a question she wanted to explore: what is left then in the aftermath? This comes closer to current day needs to examine our own (often selfish) actions and the hurt we cause in our boredom and headlong rush of hedonism.

Tediashvili titles her piece I Did Things for Love. She is a beautiful and expressive performer on the small screen. Using her face in close-up, her relationship with the camera seduces us. As the woman who takes and takes, she is flanked in her performance by company members Phillip Fletcher and Alex Mills. Her husband is less decrepit than in Boccaccios story: hes more of a couch potato, more interested in whatever hes glued to on the small screen than his wifes insatiable appetites.Tediashvili also includes some nice cinematic elements to tell the story, including a scene shot in violet light where the physical action in silhouette gets quite stylized.

However, playing an old husband as a cuckolded fool may have been screamingly funny in 1347, and indeed was the stuff of many a commedia delArte scenario, but watching the young woman pull from her husbands mouth a perfectly good tooth, pulling out his beard, and grabbing his necklace (a bandana,) was torturous.

My favorite scene in the short film is a tango to Lortkipanidzes techno score. Complete with the triangle involving the sharing and devouring of a pear, it may not be quite the mouth-watering eating scene from Tom Jones the film, but it comes close. But Tediashvilis film abruptly ends, and I feel cheated; the piece never deals satisfactorily with its premise: what is the aftermath?

Karen Morales-Chacana has taken on one of the most complex and plot-driven stories in Boccaccios The Decameron. It is both a revenge tale and one that features gender switching.

Morales-Chacana has created a dual-language tale and that at first grabbed my attention. The setup of a wager was cleverly translated into a contemporary boozy deal made over a billiard table. In helping to further the story, Morales-Chacana uses repeatedly a gift box in close up, first delivered to the husband that reveals Frederick of Hollywood-style lingerie. (However, Im not sure if most viewers would get that a womans personal things serves as evidence to the husband that his wife has cheated on him unless one has read Boccaccio.)

I got a little befuddled trying to follow how Morales-Chacana handled the shifting plot points. I am not sure why the creator didnt follow the trail of that more interesting aspect of how this character, to escape her jealous and dangerous husband and on the run for six years, lived as a man. I also did not get the tone attempted in the subtitle, Revenge is truly a tastier plate when served cool.

Why do I continue to have trouble when Synetic actors speak? No me mat. Dont kill me. suddenly takes us into cinematic melodrama. Take your clothes off. I need all your clothes devolves the piece further and really isnt necessary. We see what is happening through the action in the film. Besides in such a short piece, with unisex fashion being ubiquitous, the scene doesnt tell us anything about her dramatic transformation. Shortly thereafter, the story jumps four years, and just when I might have re-engaged, as I said, where the character lives in a new society as a man, I get instead the banality, An invitation from the king. Wow!

Cut to movie music that sounds like Hitchcock, and were back on track, I think, with a nail-biting psycho-horror-and-revenge drama. But by the end, the whole thing devolves to reconciliation through spoken word, with the husband saying Forgive me, my love, Ill never doubt you again. Here was a magnificent opportunity, much like the character Paulinas bringing back to life the queen in Shakespeares The Winters Tale, to confront a jealous husband through tableaux vivants and pull off a tale of forgiveness and moral largesse (both of which we are much in need of today.) Its there in Boccaccio.

Day 4 of Synetics buffet-on-Boccaccio reminds us of the companys strength in movement-styled silent storytelling. Dealing with text demands rigor and serious time to excavate as the company has done in its best works.

Day 4 of Synetic Theaters The Decameron debuted July 13, 2020.

Tickets to watch The Decameronseries start at just $10 and are available now.

DCTS reviewsThe Decameron

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Review: Synetic Theater's The Decameron, Day 4. - DC Theatre Scene

Considering the times we're living in, it's hard to imagine Beavis and Butt-Head appealing to anyone outside of nostalgic Gen-Xers.

The idiotic cartoon, Beavis and Butt-Head, featuring the titular teenagers engaging in various jackass antics and providing their, uh, unique perspectives on music videos, is returning. Comedy Central and Mike Judge are giving Gen X the '90s nostalgia it craves. But considering the times we're living in, it's unlikely Gen Z, or anyone else for that matter, will relate to these gas-huffing, chronically chuckling air guitarists from Texas.

Pre-9/11 America was vastly different from society today. A detached and ironic take on life, exemplified by Gen X, prevailed. It was cool to not care. People were so sarcastic so often, it was hard to tell when they were being serious. Nighttime talk-show hosts like David Letterman and Conan O'Brien epitomized this attitude. Society was more carefree but, as became clear later, the country had its head in the sand. Nirvana famously attacked this clueless American hedonism and chauvinism by eviscerating glam metal, racism and homophobia. Beavis and Butt-Head, however, were largely a reflection of this period with their fartknocker and bunghole jokes.

RELATED:Beavis and Butt-Head Returns With New Seasons, Spinoffs

They were best known for their commentary on MTV music videos, pointing out what they did or did not like about a song or a musician's appearance (e.g., "This guy looks like a cheerleader," when discussing the frontman of the band Cinderella). But since the internet brought about the age of streaming and independent artists and labels have proliferated, music videos are no longer the staple they once were.

Though Gen Xers might still enjoy having Beavis and Butt-Head walk them through a Lana Del Rey or Ed Sheeren video, it's hard to see Gen Z, who grew up on candid and rather earnest YouTube videos and shows like Bob's Burgers, would find their observations nearly as amusing. Even if they did, the show already ran for eight seasons and was turned into a movie, making it hard to imagine what else could be done with this formula.

Apathy and disaffection also seem inappropriate when much of the country is dissatisfied with the current leadership, and movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo are still at the forefront of discussion. Immature comments about Trump's hair, which already abound, would add nothing to the conversation.

Unless Judge has plans to make the duo more outspoken and subversive, and less patently irreverent, an indifferent or even tone deaf take on modern issues by two white teenagers would not be well received in the current climate of cancel culture. It's also hard to say whether anyone would laugh these days at Beavis and Butt-Head playing frog baseball or putting balloons in dolphin holes.Animal-rights activists would not be happy, to say the least.

RELATED: 10 Guest Stars We Forgot Were On Beavis and Butt-Head

Many recently resurrected TV shows and movies, such as Twin Peaks and Pet Sematary, have received somewhat tepid reviews, which is not to say all remakes are unsuccessful. However, a show like Beavis and Butt-Head, which is so specific to a particular point in time, will most likely have difficulty bringing anything fresh to the table. Plus, ongoing shows like South Park already have the market in inappropriate cartoon antics cornered and have been commenting on current topics for a long time, so bringing Beavis and Butt-Head back seems unnecessary.

There's no doubt the new seasons of Beavis and Butt-Head will draw an audience of sentimental Gen Xers. Those wanting to escape the seriousness of current times may also be converted. But if the show is going to be worth revisiting, the disaffected tone will need to updated in order for its social commentary to translate to modern times.

KEEP READING: Without Beavis and Butt-Head, There Would Be No Rick and Morty or South Park

Community: 'Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' Shouldn't Have Been Pulled From Streaming

John Shin is a freelance editor and writer based in Seattle. A graduate of the University of Washington and Rutgers University, he has worked in publishing for over 15 years. His writing has appeared in various newspapers and the book One Word: Contemporary Writers on the Words They Love or Loathe.

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Beavis and Butt-Head Are Quintessentially '90s & Don't Need Revisiting - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves are one of Hollywood's sweetest couples, and they've been married for 8 years and together for a stunning 14 years.

However, you might be surprised to know it wasn't exactly love at first sight on Alves' part, because as People reports, Alves didn't know who the actor was when they first met. "We had two interactions at the bar. The first interaction, I did not know who he was," Alves hilariously revealed. "At the time he had a really long beard, and he had this rasta hat. He was all covered up, and I didnt really realize who he was."

Fortunately, the couple was able to click, and they've been together ever since. Here's what else you need to know about Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves.

The couple met at a bar in West Hollywood, with McConaughey telling People that he first saw Alves as an "aqua green figure floating across the frame, and my eye went up, and I said, 'Who is that? What is that?'" McConaughey then struck up a conversation with the Brazilian-born Alves in Spanish, since he didn't know any Portuguese.

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Alves also revealed that it was McConaughey's close friend Lance Armstrong who tipped her off to who the actor was. "Lance came to talk to me," she explained. "You knew they were always together, so Im like, OK, Im outta here. Im going to the other side of the room!

And while McConaughey said that he had been happily single for a while before meeting Alves, he believed that she was the right person for him at the right time. "We went out on our first date three nights later, and the next night I wanted to go on another date. And I've been wanting to go on a date with her for the last nine years. And not with anybody else."

McConaughey proposed to Alves on Christmas Day 2011, and they got married on June 9, 2012 in Austin. Guests at the wedding included Woody Harrelson, Reese Witherspoon, and filmmaker Richard Linklater, and one source told Us Magazine that the luxury campout-themed nuptials were "very emotional. There was a moment when [Matthew] leaned down and whispered something in [Camila's] ear and you could see a tear coming down her face. Everyone let out a collective sigh."

And while Alves revealed she was happy to marry McConaughey, she also saw the wedding as an extension of the life they already had together.

"We've been living a married life for over six years now. We have homes together, we have family together, we have kids, we've built a life together. So we've been living a married life this whole time," she explained.

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McConaughey and Alves welcomed son Levi in 2008, daughter Vida in 2010, and son Livingston in 2012.

In 2014, McConaughey talked to GQ about being a father, saying that it was "the one thing Ive always wanted to be. I knew when I was 8 years old. I mean, I wanted to be things like the Washington Skins running back and all that stuff, but the one thing I knew I wanted to be was a father."

And while Alves told Us Weekly that wrangling three kids can be tough, she also makes sure that she and McConaughey get some alone time. "It's important to remember that you and your husband came first, and that relationship needs to be nourished...[we enjoy] a lot of staycations, cooking together and staying at home, or getting a hotel room that's 10 minutes away from the house."

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As E! reports, McConaughey and Alves are also pretty accepting when it comes to their kids. "The main thing is that my wife and I, Camila, we have a similar moral bottom line," McConaughey said on Today in 2018. "And as you learn, if you have kids, every day they get older, you realize how much more it's really DNA. We can nudge 'em and shepherd 'em, et cetera et cetera, but they are who they are. And right now, I'm just happy to say we have three healthy ones and they're very much individuals."

Most recently, the couple talked to Town & Country about their Just Keep Livin' Foundation, a non-profit that works to help high school students by providing them with the tools to make healthy and safe choices for a better future, both physically and mentally.

"Ive always been a hedonist, and part of having a foundation is putting a capital H on hedonism. Being able to give back in ways is a selfish endeavor. It feels good to me to see a smile or hear a young person say thank you," McConaughey revealed.

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Posing on a podium of volcanic rock, a cormorant opens its wings to the mornings first rays. Flamboyant feather displays arent uncommon in Ibiza at this time of year, but today the sun is rising above a very different White Isle. Less footprints disturb the sandy coves and thumping beats have been replaced by the idle fizz of rolling waves.

July is typically high season for tourism. Playa den Bossa, the islands longest and most commercial beach, should be densely packed with sun loungers and cocktail-sipping revellers, sound tracked by turntables spinning from dawn till dusk.

Like everywhere in the world, 2020 is an exception.

Covid-19 has pulled the plug on Ibizas clubbing scene, and government restrictions on mass gatherings mean mega-venues like Ushuaa and H Ibiza wont reopen until 2021. Instead, the sleepy coastline has been reclaimed by birds and locals, who are making the most of fine weather and few crowds.

When I land at the airport, carousels creak with lonely pieces of luggage and DJs glare from billboards advertising parties that ended 10 months ago.

But slowly, following the lifting of quarantine restrictions for Spanish arrivals into the UK, tourists are trickling in. On July 11, TUI kickstarted its summer schedule with flights to the island from London Gatwick and Manchester, heralding the return of the package holiday to Europe. Those who choose to travel soon could be rewarded with scenes of Ibiza as it was 30 years ago.

Newly refurbished during lockdown, seafront hotel The Ibiza Twiins is eager to receive guests in its two towers, stacked with a honeycomb of 495 rooms. At check in, Im greeted by staff behind Plexiglass and encouraged to use automatic hand sanitisers dotted throughout the resort. In my bedroom, bathrobes and slippers come smothered in Cellophane and beach towels are neatly topped with a complimentary disposable face mask.

From today, wearing face coverings becomes mandatory in public spaces throughout the Balearics. Swimming pools, beaches and sun loungers are exemptions, so theres no risk of coming home with ridiculous tan lines; masks can also be removed while eating and drinking in bars and restaurants, although youll need to pop them back on for trips to the loo. Penalties range from 100 for individuals up to 6,000 for venues.

It has been suggested new regulations are partly a precautionary response to the return of tourism. According to figures published by the Spanish government, 2,249 people were diagnosed with Covid-19 across the Balearic Islands; from July 2-7, that number had dwindled to just 17.

The only other major difference to my resort stay is breakfast. Before entering the restaurant, a member of staff takes my temperature using an electronic gun. Anything over 37.5C, and Ill be quarantined for two weeks.

Controversially, the buffet has survived; although fried eggs, sausages and platters of cheese displayed on a one-way circuit of counters can only be plated by staff. Self-service is a thing of the past.

Were a hotel, not a hospital, exclaims Ricardo Munoz, Commercial and Marketing Director from the Sirenis hotel group who manage Twiins. People are on holiday and we want them to have a good time.

At night, the package holiday property is quiet. There are only 90 guests. We know this is not a summer to make money, concedes Ricardo.

Opulent light shows and Vegas-style fountains struggle to fill the empty space, and projected scenes of folkloric dancers are a far cry from the glowstick wavers and girls in hotpants who typically fill dancefloors.

But history and culture could be themes that shape a summer holiday in Ibiza this year. With a spotlight shifted from the club scene, local tour guide Pepe Costa sees this as an opportunity for tourists to focus on the islands colourful past.

We explore the ramparts of fortified old town and World Heritage Site Dalt Villa in Ibiza Town. From its 16th-century walls, the turquoise sea dazzles more than ever as prairies of protected Posidonia seagrass reflect the sunlight. Only a few boats glide to smaller neighbouring island Formentera, usually a busy thoroughfare.

In my 38 years as a guide, this is the slowest its been in July, says Pepe from behind a Perspex visor, a choice of face covering which makes it much easier for him to conduct tours. Locals have been enjoying their home during the last few weeks, he admits. But now were ready for tourists to return.

Numbers are steadily increasing.

At family hotel TUI BLUE Aura, in Port des Torrent on the opposite side of the island, the first influx of British guests is relaxing by pools and zooming down waterslides; next week occupancy will be at 55 per cent.

But further along the coast, San Antonios bay-side promenade is unrecognisable. Ibizas heaving heart of entertainment is missing more than a few beats.

O Beach, co-owned by Duane Lineker (nephew of famous former footballer Gary), is one of the few bars to take the plunge and reopen its pool parties.

By 5pm, groups of revellers are gathered in pre-booked areas, lazing on daybeds or dangling bronzed legs in the water. Masked waiters deliver cocktails in shiny pineapple caskets to tables, ordered from menus accessed by using mobile phones to zap a QR code.

The only noticeable difference is the absence of any dancing; thats not allowed anywhere on the island for now. This will be the year of the shoulder jig, jokes Gemma Charters, Director of Brand and Events, who says guests are briefed on arrival and given an info card outlining the new rules.

In true Ibizan spirit, fun seekers have found ways to adapt and ensure a new germ-free environment feels far from sterile. Plans to install a machine to spray guests with a disinfectant mist are both playful and practical, and DJs have crafted laidback sets to match the new low-key mood, with an earlier finish at 10pm.

O Beach also hopes to revive its acrobatic, cabaret-style shows; fitting with the current climate, new creations include a Freddie Mercury lookalike in a moustache mask singing I Want To Break Free.

Gradually, more venues and bars are coming out of hibernation, including the companys new venture Bam-Bu-Ku, a boutique family day club with sandpits and a surf machine.

People have a special bond with this island, says Gemma, who is confident tourists will come back. This is a chance to discover the gastronomy, the hidden beaches; youll never have an opportunity to experience Ibiza in this light again.

Its a view shared by Sarah Broadbent, Events Manager at iconic hotel, bar and restaurant Pikes, an institution revelling in its own bubble of hedonism up in San Antonios rural hills. During lockdown, she says the sky appeared bluer, the sea was clearer, and trails of bougainvillea were a spectacular vibrant pink.

Up here in this fantasy land of inflatable flamingos and welly-wearing dog statues, everything swings at a different pace. The pandemic has inevitably reshaped play: shows have been cancelled, theres no hanging by the bar, and lights are out by 2am. But have new regulations ruled out fun?

Never, smirks Yorkshire-born, veteran clubber Sarah, who wears a string of beads and a razor blade pendant around her neck.

One positive change, she says, has been a return to Ibizas roots. It feels like when I first came here in the 1990s. Back then, there were no VIPs. A shelf stacker from Tesco could rub shoulders with a Saudi princess on the dancefloor; everyone was treated the same.

One of the strictest lockdowns in Europe has been a great leveller, it seems.

Although the White Isle will look and sound different this year, its not unfamiliar. In the absence of big beats theres been a shift to a more reflective, relaxed tempo, and that could be music to so many peoples ears.

TUI Blue For Families is offering seven nights at the 4T TUI Blue Aura in Port des Torrents, from 758 per person all-inclusive, based on two adults and two children sharing and including one free child place.

TUI Platinum is offering seven nights at the 4T Ibiza Twiins in Playa den Bossa, from 770 per person B&B, based on two adults sharing. Half-board and all-inclusive options are available.

To book, go to tui.co.uk, visit your local TUI holiday store or download the TUI app. Prices are based on holidays departing in August 2020 from Gatwick and include transfers plus 20kg luggage allowance, subject to availability and change. Other UK airports and room upgrades are available.

Link:

A postcard from Ibiza, where dancing is banned and masks are mandatory but nature is thriving - Telegraph.co.uk

PUBLISHED: 14:00 07 July 2020 | UPDATED: 14:13 07 July 2020

Debbie Heath

OVO's production of Twelfth Night. Picture: Supplied.

Supplied by Debbie Heath

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Theatre makers have had to work even more creatively than usual to deliver the goods during lockdown.

Ever innovative, OVO took their immersive theatre making one step further by using Zoom to create a live and interactive performance of Twelfth Night.

There is one opportunity left on Friday, July 10, when you can attend this amazing virtual live theatre performance and I strongly encourage you to do so.

This production is based on their open-air version of 2019 and as director Adam Nichols explained, performing live on Zoom presented some similar challenges to the cast and crew.

Outside they are at the mercy of the weather and other unpredictables. Via Zoom, it is their own internet connections that present the challenges.

Flora Squires, who played Viola with aplomb in her first OVO production, told the post-show discussion group that at one point her internet went down completely and she actually got kicked out of the call.

Simon Nicholas, the film director, had to train the cast to be self-sufficient techies not only staying in character throughout but changing their own scenery and sound.

The play was appropriately re-set in a 1920s cruise ship, which emphasised the themes of hedonism, and transgenderism.

The audience, made up of about 50 home screens, were asked to dress in the 1920s style and join in the action of the play at points by wearing scary masks and making a lot of noise it was very rewarding.

We arranged to go with five other households. Seeing our friends pop up on screen throughout made us realise how we had missed having a shared live theatrical experience.

The audience were guided through not only the plot but also their own technical responsibilities by Will Pattle as Fabian, reimagined as the ships croupier.

He was not only a very effective MC but thoroughly believable in his role.

A highlight of the play was his well choreographed fight scene with David Widdowson as Antonio in the neighbouring window.

The entire cast deserves praise for their strong, playful performances, technical abilities and superb teamwork.

However, a particular mention must go to Faith Turner who played Malvolia with a comic sensitivity that worked well.

Malvolio, traditionally male and played as a puffed up popinjay, is thoroughly deserving of his downfall but this time we felt sad at the outcome. It was an interesting change of interpretation.

The fantastic performances, technical and set design were further enhanced by OVOs use of music.

Modern classics such as Britney Spears Oops!... I Did It Again were performed in the jazz style.

There were some outstanding singers in the cast, including Hannah Francis-Baker. These songs, although pre-recorded to prevent buffering time lapses, were still authentic as created via Zoom.

Once again I have left an OVO production feeling superbly grateful to the whole creative team for giving me such an enjoyable evening.

However, the buzz and glow I got from this musical was the biggest yet.

To share the experience with friends and audience members from all over the world emphasised how culturally starved COVID has left us until now.

We really felt on board that cruise ship. OVO proved that a bit of imagination can take you anywhere.

I urge you to make the journey yourself this Friday.

Visit maltingstheatre.co.uk/twelfthnight and http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ovo to book your tickets.

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Review of OVO's Zoom production of Twelfth Night - Herts Advertiser