Lifestyle

The Cannes Film Festival attracts a glamorous set to southern France each spring in the name of cinema. And with typically sparkling weather (though chilly temperatures have prevailed this year), dozens of photo calls, after-parties and red carpets, the event is seemingly custom-made for high fashion.

Diane Kruger, a juror for the festival, has been the undeniable standout this week. Her choices have been nearly flawless, from a mint Giambattista Valli gown on opening night to a short lace-up piece from Versace Versus to a sequinned Vivienne Westwood column dress. Even the simple print frock she was spotted in at dinner with sweetheart Joshua Jackson was notable.
Diane Kruger in Vivienne Westwood with Joshua Jackson at the 65th Anniversary Party at the Agora. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto - GETTY IMAGES)

“Preparing for the Oath: U.S. History and Civics for Citizenship,” a new website designed to help immigrants study for the civics portion of the naturalization test was unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History as part of today’s naturalization ceremony. The partnership between the museum and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services uses curators and collections to answer the 100-question citizenship test, and provide a more textured sense of American history and an accessible study guide, according to officials.

Screenshot from the Smithsonian American History Museum's citizenship page. (Smithsonian)

Miles Davis, the great American jazzman and the symbol of “cool” in the jazz lexicon and beyond, will be the subject of a special issue of U.S. postal stamps.

The Davis stamp uses an iconic black and white photo with Davis, in a sleeveless shirt, leaning back and playing his trumpet. The stamp debuts June 12, along with a stamp of Edith Piaf, the renowned French singer.
U.S. Postal Service honors Miles Davis and Edith Piaf

The Davis family is overjoyed. “We couldn’t be happier,” said Erin Davis, the youngest son of Davis. “People have been writing in for years and saying Miles needs to be on a stamp. We certainly have lobbied for it. It couldn’t have come at a better time. There’s no better time than the present.”

Summer pop songs — which bring everyone to the dance floor at the prom and blast from the speakers at the pool — have common threads: innocence, sexuality, and irony. A good summer song is chaste enough for kids to hear it on the radio, but has a hint of something more for older listeners. It’s goofy enough to make hipster-ironic appreciation of the song, as well as parody, easy. Most important, it is danceable.

This year’s contenders for the song of summer are the cover story for this weekend’s Sunday Style section, by Chris Richards. What will we all be humming at the next barbecue — will it be one of the boy bands, still new enough to be difficult to tell apart? Will it be one of the European pop stars attempting to make it on the American charts?

The jury is still out on which song will, forever more, make people remember what they were doing when they last heard it in the summer of 2012, but as for the viral hit of the season, there’s almost no contest: Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” hits all the right notes. The 26-year-old former “Canadian Idol” contestant whose name makes her seem like she should have gotten her own show on the Disney Channel not only has everyone singing her song, but she’s got them making viral videos of it, too.

Singer Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the 2012 Wango Tango concert at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., May 12, 2012. (MARIO ANZUONI - REUTERS)

When journalist Bob Schieffer isn’t wearing his newsman suits, he dons blue jeans and joins the award-winning band Honky Tonk Confidential.
Bob Schieffer and Honky Tonk Confidential hogged the spotlight at Hill Country. (Sylvia Lin - Hill Country)

They’ve even played the Grand Ole Opry. And on June 14, the band and Schieffer will perform in a special Flag Day event at the National Museum of American History. The retro/alt country band will interpret songs popular during the Civil War in conjunction with a gift to the Smithsonian of Broadcast Music Inc. Archives Confederate Music Collection.

Schieffer, the chief Washington correspondent for CBS, has been the moderator of CBS “Face The Nation” since 1991. On the side he writes songs and performs. The program begins at 11 a.m. right outside the Star-Spangled Banner gallery.