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Showing posts from January, 2020

Why some sports films are more about propaganda than athletic prowess

“Faster, higher, stronger” was the title of the Paris-based Centre Pompidou’s showcase of sports films last autumn. Comprising 64 movies produced throughout the 20th century and the past two decades, the programme was designed to highlight how filmmakers documented what curator Julien Farenc described as the “cinematic spectacle of bodies in motion”. It is important to acknowledge, after all, that the precursor of the cinema was chro­no­photography, a technique that physio­logists such as… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2vDQBaR

Amid coronavirus emergency, a fight to save Hong Kong Arts Festival, with venues closed and less than two weeks to go

With less than two weeks to go until Hong Kong’s biggest annual arts event is due to begin, organisers face a race against time to ensure as much of its programme as possible goes ahead amid the coronavirus emergency.Speaking hours before the American orchestra that was to give its opening concert withdrew, Hong Kong Arts Festival executive director Tisa Ho Kar-kuan said: “We would very much like to deliver festival performances as scheduled, or with some adjustments if necessary.Still, the… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/31a6odn

'It's a war zone': why is a generation of rappers dying young?

Overdoses or violent crime have claimed Mac Miller, Juice WRLD and Nipsey Hussle. ‘It’s not a fairytale lifestyle,’ admits an insider – but should the business do more to protect its stars? It might sound callous, but Jacob Thureson’s parents, Erik and Judy, were not too worried when they heard about his latest overdose. It had happened a couple of times already and the 18-year-old rapper had always made it out of hospital in one piece. Thureson, who performed under the name Hella Sketchy , was among the wave of emo-influenced trap rappers who came up using the music platform SoundCloud . He had recently relocated from the family home in Texas to Los Angeles after being signed to Atlantic Records. As Erik drove to work, he cycled through a mental list of options: more inpatient treatment? Thureson had already been to rehab, twice. Ketamine therapy? Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3aRAEho

Captain Scarlet! Ab Rogers brings a rhapsody of red to a hospital car park

It was the first hospital in the world dedicated to cancer. Now Royal Marsden is home to an uplifting Maggie’s centre full of zing and zest. Ab Rogers clearly shares his dad Richard’s love of colour Dressed in a red jumper, burgundy cords and bright orange trainers, with pink socks and a pink collar visible beneath his orange overcoat, Ab Rogers is hard to miss. He is standing outside his first completed building, a new Maggie’s cancer care centre in Sutton, London , that equally revels in reds. “I like red,” he says, in case it wasn’t obvious. Behind him, a carmine-coloured building emerges from a cherry-red one, which in turn nestles inside a postbox-red enclosure, itself emerging from the biggest structure of all, which is the colour of a ripe tomato. Standing like a group of oversized shipping containers tumbling out of each other in a curved huddle, the building is a striking thing to encounter at the back of the Royal Marsden hospital’s car park . On closer inspection, the bu

Alina Szapocznikow’s Self-Portrait: an ancient marble hero

The Polish artist who survived Auschwitz creates work reflecting a bygone era This plaster head might have tumbled off an ancient marble hero. In fact, it’s a 1971 self-portrait by the Polish artist Alina Szapocznikow, who often cast her own features and body in her work. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2vG3e5v

Super Bowl show for Jennifer Lopez tops great year after success of Hustlers and turning 50

It’s been a pretty big year for Jennifer Lopez.She turned 50, went on tour, earned rave reviews for her turn as a shrewd stripper in Hustlers, judged a new season of World of Dance and got engaged to retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez.And on Sunday, she will take on the Super Bowl half-time show in Miami, one of the most-watched half-hours in American television, with Colombian singer Shakira.“It’s a lot of energy, it’s very entertaining – there are heartfelt moments,” Lopez says. “It’s very… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2tiZlT6

The Sims at 20: two decades of life, love and reorganising the kitchen

In The Sims, if you get a job, buy a house and earn more money then happiness will follow. It’s a beguiling capitalist fantasy Like many girls of my generation, I first played The Sims at a sleepover. It was at my friend Hannah’s house; three 11-year-olds huddled in front of her dad’s bulky old computer monitor at midnight, gazing into a miniature house populated by tiny people going about their inexplicably compelling daily business. We took turns sending them to work, changing the wallpaper, and ordering them to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher instead of leaving them to gather flies. We bought them a little telly, a nice couch, a blender, paging covetously through the game’s furniture catalogue. With a thrill, we discovered we could make Sims “smooch” (though we were disappointed to learn that they couldn’t actually bone down – that wouldn’t happen until The Sims 2). Before we knew it, it was 3am. Almost everyone has played The Sims. With four main instalments, countless add-on

Squarepusher: Be Up a Hello review – devilish, danceable return

(Warp) Tom Jenkinson goes back to his mid-90s moniker and makes use of old electronic hardware in a fun, if bumpy, ride Emerging in the mid-90s as part of the generation of artists defining Warp Records’ IDM sound, Squarepusher now presides over a discography that positions himself directly opposite the genre’s ideological associations. His dense, frenetic electronica interprets sonic complexity as a million open invitations, rather than as barriers to entry. Pairing machine programming with dazzling live performance and eschewing loftiness in favour of embracing the straight-up silly, his is a sound that presses its abundance of influences into something that can only be processed through movement. Drum’n’bass, acid and Essex rave collide with jazz, organ music and television themes to create something both devilish and danceable. It’s a high-risk, high-reward gamble that’s present once again on new album Be Up a Hello and, as with many Squarepusher releases, you’ll know where thing

Kesha: High Road review – bringing the girl back to the party

(RCA/Kemosabe) Kesha’s fourth album sees her return to her party-girl 2010s persona, full of glitter-pop but with a new self-awareness Kesha’s new album begins with a U-turn. After a few bars of tinkling piano balladry, the pop star drops a low-riding bassline and launches into the bratty style of rap-lite that made her famous in 2009 (recall her debut single Tik Tok , when she announced that she brushes her teeth with Jack Daniels). The quick genre-flip in Tonight is a sign of things to come from the singer’s fourth album: she has mostly ditched the gutsy drama of her last record and, instead, re-embraced her party girl persona. Case in point: the bouncy title track High Road, with its not-so-subtle double entendre: “I’m taking the high road / I’m high as fuck.” This is more like the Ke$ha who arrived in the early 2010s: dirty mouthed, silly, and always up for a big night out. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/37HXtlG

Shenseea: 'I grew up listening to Rihanna. Now she's listening to me'

Described as ‘radical and disruptive’, Shenseea has conquered Jamaica’s dancehall scene – and now she’s coming for the rest of the world Shenseea is midway through a European tour, staying in a budget hotel at the side of a dual carriageway in London. Despite her surroundings, she exudes A-list energy. In the lift, the Jamaica-born 23-year-old checks her face in the mirror and shares her goal: to become an international star. How big are we talking? “Rihanna levels,” she shoots back, from behind large, studded shades. “And I’m on my way.” It is a reasonable goal for a woman who grew up watching a fellow island girl dominate pop music across the globe. And it is tantalisingly close. Last year, Shenseea signed to Interscope, a major US label. Within months, she had a global hit with Blessed, a tune that hit a sweet spot somewhere between dancehall, Latin trap and bass-heavy club pop: it has had 36m YouTube views. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2OfsUvW

BoJack Horseman review – what will we do without him?

From alcoholism to miscarriage, Netflix’s hit animation has tackled the toughest of subjects with a side of animal magic. As it ends, it remains both wise and poignant If you had to be part horse, which would you prefer: human head and horse’s body, or vice versa? If you had a horse’s body, you could leap over fences naked without flouting social convention, but it would be hard to swipe right on Tinder. Equally, if you had a horse’s head, how would any humans you hoped to seduce understand you? Neighing, in my experience, rarely gets one past first base. Wittgenstein wrote: “If a lion could speak, we could not understand him.” The same goes for horses. This matter has been on my mind for years, ever since I reviewed the premiere of BoJack Horseman (Netflix), the cartoon about a talking horse actor and other anthropomorphised animals coexisting with humans in Hollywood. How could it have anything more to say than one hoof stamp yes, two no? And yet it has amassed awards and outlived

Mary Beard sits for naked portrait in new BBC programme

The academic’s latest TV show investigates the line between art and pornography The academic and TV presenter Mary Beard has taken a bold approach to her new two-part investigation of the history and impact of the nude in art by choosing to sit as the subject of a naked portrait herself. Beard’s new programme , Shock of the Nude, sees the academic examine famous examples from Michelangelo’s David to John William Waterhouse’s pre-Raphaelite painting Hylas and the Nymphs, and discuss the experience of sitting as a subject for Catherine Goodman . Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2te7JmT

Harvey Weinstein hired Black Cube to block New York Times article, jury hears

Israeli private detective firm employed by mogul to try to foil publication of sexual misconduct allegations, New York court told The jury in the New York rape trial of Harvey Weinstein has heard that the once-powerful movie mogul employed the Israeli private investigation firm Black Cube to try to squash a New York Times article that blew the lid on sexual misconduct allegations against him and sparked the #MeToo movement . Dev Sen, a corporate lawyer at the prestigious New York law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, told the court that his company had acted as go-between connecting the beleaguered movie producer to Black Cube. The private detective firm has a staff largely consisting of alumni of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad . Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/36GorJl

Richard Jewell review – Clint Eastwood's bomb-hero drama fails to detonate

The true story of the nerdy security guard who saved many lives during a terror attack at the Atlanta Olympics features a couple of great performances – and a lot of silliness C lint Eastwood ’s latest film is a miscarriage-of-justice tale taken from real life, a parable about the evils of “big government” that plays like a weird mashup of Paul Blart: Mall Cop with a bit of Marty, the 1955 Ernest Borgnine film about a sweet, unattractive guy who lives with his mother. It’s got a couple of great performances – and a lot of ropey acting from actors playing crass and mendacious caricatures. During the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, an extreme-right terrorist named Eric Rudolph planted a pipe bomb at the city’s Centennial Park that killed one person and injured many; he was not caught until 2003. The fact that the casualties were not higher is down to the unassuming heroism of one man: private security guard Richard Jewell, a nerdy, overweight guy who lived with his mom, yearned to be a

Sam Lee: Old Wow review – Britain's nature crisis in gnarly song

(Cooking Vinyl) Lee’s twee-free third album, produced by Bernard Butler and featuring Liz Fraser, is a stark reminder of this country’s environmental concerns Sam Lee has always sat slightly awkwardly within folk music. He has a raffish campness live, that betrays his past as a burlesque dancer. He had a Top 20 single last year when he edited birdsong together for the RSPB’s Let Nature Sing . He’s now made an album produced by guitar demigod Bernard Butler , with guest vocals from the Cocteau Twins’ rarely heard Liz Fraser. Such cheek only reveals his desire to project his love of folk further. Old Wow is Lee’s phrase about the enduring power of nature. But the crisis that surrounds it twists its gnarly roots around these songs. His choices are obviously political: in Turtle Dove, he isn’t mourning a metaphorical lover, as many have before him, but the actual bird, which is facing extinction . In The Moon Shines Bright, a song Lee collected from Gypsy singer Freda Black , he mourns

Persona review – it’s Bergman, but without the intensity

Riverside Studios, London Alice Krige’s commanding presence can’t ignite this stark adaptation, which suffers from needless narrator interjections Ingmar Bergman adaptations have provided a steady supply of theatre productions this century, from Trevor Nunn’s scalding Scenes from a Marriage to Fanny and Alexander at the Old Vic and a clammy three-hour double bill by Ivo van Hove of Persona and After the Rehearsal. A new interpretation of Persona – reopening the Riverside Studios in west London – has now tempted Alice Krige back to the stage after two decades. And no wonder: this influential 1966 psychodrama is both a cornerstone of arthouse cinema and the film that rescued its creator from the doldrums. Bergman was recovering in hospital from double pneumonia when he wrote the feverish screenplay about two women – one garrulous, the other silent – whose identities begin to merge. This stark production by Krige’s husband, Paul Schoolman, introduces a narrator figure, played by School

Parasite director Bong Joon-ho: 'Korea seems glamorous, but the young are in despair'

After an indifferent sojourn in Hollywood, the film-maker went back to South Korea do his next film – and produced an undisputed masterpiece. Why is his stunning critique of the class system striking chords all over the world? The past year has been a whirlwind for Bong Joon-ho, and he is still in the midst of it. His movie Parasite has whisked him to places few directors – and certainly no South Korean director – have been before. It started with winning the top prize at the Cannes film festival last May, and the momentum has not let up: critical adulation, box office success , US talkshow appearances and a ridiculous 170 awards and counting. And not just not just awards in the “foreign film” categories; Parasite is the first foreign-language film to win the Screen Actors Guild’s coveted ensemble performance award . It is also up for six Oscars, including best picture and best director. Before, it was only connoisseurs who appreciated Bong’s singular output – including Donald Glove

Behind the scenes at Alice's Adventures Under Ground – a photo essay

How do you bring Lewis Carroll’s surreally anarchic books to musical life? Photographer Tristram Kenton went to watch the Royal Opera House’s fast and furious new production of Gerald Barry’s opera take shape • Alice’s Adventures Under Ground is at the Royal Opera House, London from 3-9 February Above: director/designer Antony McDonald during rehearsals for the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground at London’s Royal Opera House Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2OemCN3

Tony Leung Ka-fai, four-time Hong Kong Film Awards best actor, turns 62

One of Hong Kong’s most recognisable actors, Tony Leung Ka-fai has starred in more than 130 films since his film debut in 1983. Leung is often nicknamed “Big Tony”, to avoid confusion with Tony Leung Chiu-wai, a shorter peer in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.In a career spanning almost 40 years, Leung has played gangsters and police officers on numerous occasions. There is no doubt, however, which side he is on in real life.In late June 2019, the actor was spotted at a pro-police rally… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/37HGksh

Boston Symphony Orchestra cancels Asia tour over coronavirus outbreak; Hong Kong Arts Festival ‘disappointed’ – its concert was to have opened the festival

A major American symphony orchestra has cancelled its East Asia tour to four cities, including Hong Kong, citing concerns over the deadly coronavirus outbreak.The Boston Symphony Orchestra was to have opened the Hong Kong Arts Festival on February 12 in the first of two concerts in the city. However, the venue for the concerts, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and other public performance venues were closed indefinitely this week to avoid large gatherings of people when the Hong Kong government… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2teLP2T

Actors' union creates 'landmark' rules for filming sex scenes

Screen Actors Guild guidelines for intimacy coordinators are designed to protect performers filming nudity or simulated sex The Screen Actors Guild, the US actors’ union, has published guidelines designed to regulate filmed sex scenes and nudity, as part of a drive to eradicate sexual misconduct in the film and TV industry. In a statement , Sag-Aftra (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) said its new standards and p rotocols for the u se of i ntimacy c oordinators was “a landmark document that will help ensure our members who are filming scenes with nudity or simulated sex are able to work in a manner that suits their creativity while maintaining their personal and professional dignity”. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uGUUBZ

'I'm yet to grow, but I feel I have lived': 16-year-old girls on being 16

Sixteen is an age of transition, of developmental and social change. From the pressures of studying and growing up, to gang violence, racism, mental health, family and music, these 16-year-old girls write about the things that matter to them. Portraits by Linda Brownlee, Jillian Edelstein, Craig Easton, Stuart Freedman and Roy Mehta, are amongst the images forming a touring photographic exhibition , including an outdoor display at London City Hall Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/36zzbZO

China: Coronavirus freezes cultural life

With amusement parks, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China, as well as museums and cinemas closed, how are people managing in the cultural realm? A conversation with Li Yunzhong, cultural manager from Wuhan. from Deutsche Welle: DW.com - Culture & Lifestyle https://ift.tt/2GBq7Jy

Why Jojo Rabbit should win the best picture Oscar

Critics are divided on this whimsical satire about the Hitler Youth but ultimately it’s an uplifting movie about love trumping hate Only the most die-hard Taika Waititi fan would think that Jojo Rabbit is anything but a plucky outsider when it comes to the best picture race. Comedy notoriously doesn’t do well at the Oscars but a whimsical satire about a fanatical Nazi-loving 10-year-old whose imaginary best friend is a stroppy Adolf Hitler? Well, it’s hard to imagine that going down comfortably with Academy voters who tend to be risk averse and much prefer to stick with worthy prestige dramas. But people love an underdog and Jojo Rabbit is far from an obvious choice for this category. Raising laughs from such a gruesome period of history is a tricky – and not to mention downright risky – tightrope to walk, but the New Zealand film-maker takes to it with acrobatic skill and poise; applying his distinctive wit to a big-hearted and ultimately uplifting tale about family, acceptance and

Nora Roberts: ‘I could fill all the bookstores in all the land’

Her 220 novels – from crime to romance to suspense – have sold 500m copies around the world. Her secret? Early morning Coca-Colas and an eight-hour day Nora Roberts was a young stay-at-home mum with two small boys when 3ft of snow hit Maryland in February 1979, and the family was stuck inside. She picked up a notebook and had a go at writing a romance novel. “I thought, I’m going nuts here, so I’ll take one of the stories out of my head and write it down,” she says. “And I just fell in love. Before that I’d sewed, baked bread, crocheted, macramed two hammocks. I was desperately searching for a creative outlet and as soon as I started that was it.” Today, Roberts is the author of more than 220 novels , publishing at least five a year. Known by her legions of fans as La Nora, she’s a perennial New York Times bestseller who has sold more than 500m books worldwide. Forbes estimates her net worth at $390m. We’re talking in the stunning setting of Ashford Castle in Ireland, the inspirati

Smash and grab thieves take Salvador Dalí art from Swedish gallery

Bronze sculptures and etchings by Spanish surrealist stolen from Stockholm’s Couleur gallery Thieves have stolen bronze sculptures and etchings by the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí from a gallery in Stockholm in a smash and grab raid. The Couleur gallery, in the Swedish capital’s upmarket Östermalm district, was holding an exhibition of work by Dalí containing about 10 pieces by the Spanish artist, the news agency TT said. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/37GUPwx

Madonna review – London residency short on hits but big on British banter

London Palladium From a fake riot to a brilliant staging of Frozen, the pop artiste is at her most experimental – and intimate A curious mix of anticipation and trepidation hangs in the air of the London Palladium as the audience dutifully stash their mobile phones in locked pouches and await the arrival of the biggest-selling female recording artist of all time. The Madame X tour arrives in Britain trailing a different kind of controversy to the one you might expect from Madonna . There have been cancelled shows , talks of health issues, hotly contested reports of slow ticket sales, and stories of audiences booing and even attempting to sue her for turning up on stage hours late. And there are the grumbles about a setlist that’s bullishly heavy on tracks from her most recent album and takes what you would politely describe as an intriguing approach to her back catalogue. She sings the bare minimum of big hits – Vogue, Like a Prayer, Human Nature – with Express Yourself and La Isla B

Jonas Brothers review – slick, bombastic and knowingly cheesy

Birmingham Arena Maximalist staging and fiendishly catchy songs from the Disney alumni make for a night of escapist pop fun Disney alumni often proudly distance themselves from the mouse that built them. Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez have left behind clean-cut images to create music that sits among today’s idiosyncratic , personality-driven artists. Yet the Jonas Brothers seem, on their 2019 comeback album Happiness Begins, largely as shiny and frictionless as the silver purity rings they once wore . It was their highest-charting UK album to date, reaching No 2 last June. Playing to 16,000 on the opening night of their UK tour, the brothers prove that their slick, energetic live show is a different story. For 90 minutes, they bound around a neon-trimmed stage that turns out to be a jack-in-the-box of pop trickery, intermittently sprouting confetti cannons and wacky inflatable tube men. A medley races through choice early singles, and 10-foot flames shoot from stage duri

Nancy Newberry's best photograph: restaging the spaghetti western

‘I’m from Texas, about 60 miles from the Mexican border. It’s hard to not think about the border when you live here’ I have photographed these sisters, Sam and Lizzy, many times, in many costumes, over many years. This was a particularly difficult time in my life. It was late February, and my mum had been killed in a car crash the September before. After she died, I just wasn’t interested in photography. My mother had liked to sew when I was young, so instead I started cutting up old clothes or using scraps to make crude flags. I was just trying to make sense of what was happening in my world. I thought I might use them as props in the future. I was also going for daily walks with my dog, and a few houses down the road I came across this bizarrely tied-together pegboard fence. I see things cinematically. Bits of stories emerge from whatever I’m looking at. This image came from me sitting at my mother’s sewing machine, sewing those flags, and then finding that fence. I called up Sam a

If Bollywood thinks it doesn’t need foreign audiences it will lose out, top Indian actor Saif Ali Khan says

Saif Ali Khan, bona fide Bollywood royalty and star of Netflix hit Sacred Games, says India’s massive film industry does not need international audiences to thrive.But that may not be a good thing, he cautions.The 49-year-old actor, whose latest film, Jawaani Jaaneman (“Youthful Lover”), is released on Friday, has starred in multiple blockbusters over the years, from Dil Chahta Hai (“The Heart Desires”) in 2001 to Tanhaji, released earlier this month.Yet even as foreign films – such as South… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2ObElF1

Unmasked singer: Kelis on music, men and her missing money

Twenty years after her debut album, the singer talks about refusing to be pigeonholed, her fallout with Pharrell, and why she has moved to a remote farm To find Kelis these days, you don’t just have to leave Los Angeles, the city where, until last summer, she had lived and worked for almost all her adult life. You have to go to the opposite of Los Angeles. LA attracts people who believe they exist only if other people are watching them. Kelis wanted to go where no one could see her. “Over in that front corral is where the vegetable garden is, and then I’ve got my seedlings here. I’m waiting for my greenhouse to be built. We have chickens coming and also baby goats,” she says as we sit on her front porch on a cool, cloudy day. She is, she adds, considering “a cow situation”. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2vqivHd

Tate Britain's £40k 'head of coffee' role sparks row over low curator pay

Gallery defends job advert, which critics say shows how little museum workers are paid Tate Britain has defended advertising for a head of coffee with a salary of nearly £40,000 – more than the average wage of a London-based curator – after critics said the role highlights how low museum professionals’ wages are. The wage comparison site Glassdoor states that the average annual wage for a curator based in London is £37,300 . The Prospect union said the pay discrepancy was a reminder of how badly paid museum professionals are in comparison with other jobs in the arts sector. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Ob1GXv

'To be silly is quite an art': the weekend I became a mime

The first rule of mime club? You do not talk. Well, not when you’re hard at work. Our writer takes lessons from Marcel Marceau’s former student, Nola Rae Early on in mime school, I hit a brick wall. It’s about 6ft high and the width of my outstretched arms, but you can still see my shiny, plum-faced embarrassment through it. “First you hate the wall,” internationally renowned mime artist Nola Rae prompts, as we scratch and smack at the stale air, “and now you love the wall.” We drool and shimmy against the imaginary bricks and I wonder if I’m secretly being filmed for a prank show. I wave my arms awkwardly in a caress, wondering how much shame I’m willing to wade through. “It is the most beautiful wall you have never seen.” Rae is a co-founder of London international mime festival . Originally a dancer, she trained with M arcel Marceau in Paris. I’ve joined the 70-year-old Australian performer’s coveted two-day workshop at the festival to attempt to learn her art. Continue reading

At Sundance Film Festival, streaming services compete to buy indie films, documentaries and series

At Sundance, the film festival in the American state of Utah known for launching the careers of filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, corporations are stealing the show this year.Among the hot tickets were a Netflix documentary about pop star Taylor Swift and a four-part Hulu series about Hillary Clinton. Many other hotly anticipated pictures were snapped up by streaming services before they were submitted to Sundance or just before the festival started.Hulu and indie distributor Neon said they… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/38NtU2g

Kobe Bryant to be honoured at Oscars

The Academy plans tribute to the Oscar-winning athlete and has announced additional performers Elton John and Cynthia Erivo The Oscars will honour basketball great Kobe Bryant during the Academy awards ceremony on 9 February. Bryant died on Sunday in a helicopter crash in California , along with his daughter Gianna and seven others. Bryant won an Oscar for best animated short film in 2018 for Dear Basketball, adapted from a poem he published in 2015 about his retirement from the sport. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Gunlpc

Row over Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi erupts in the LRB

Dispute is over whether the painting was for sale before its display at the National Gallery A bitter row between art experts has erupted in the pages of the London Review of Books (LRB) over the Salvator Mundi, a previously unknown painting , that was first shown in the National Gallery ’s Leonardo exhibition before going on to sell for a record $450.3m (£342.1m). The dispute centres on an unwritten rule that public collections should avoid showing pictures that are available for sale and a statement by Robert Simon, one of its then owners, says that it was “not for sale” when its National Gallery unveiling was announced. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Rz6XKv

Vault festival 2020: all of the latest reviews

Keep track of the shows at the sprawling arts extravaganza beneath Waterloo Station in London. This page will be updated throughout the festival Until 1 February Simon David’s autobiographical solo show opens with quite the musical showstopper. In flared sequin suit, fishnet tank top and beret, he belts out I’m Gay (“That’s literally all I have to say!”), a rhyme-studded dazzler about how you won’t find his sperm swimmin’ anywhere near wimmin. Then comes a neat routine, delivered with mock horror, about realising a man’s decision to “renege on our date” was a brush-off rather than “a gay thing involving Renée Zellweger”. Next, he’s quizzing an audience member about masturbation. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/36DaX0S

Top 10 books about the human cost of war | Maaza Mengiste

The novelist explains how literature illuminates soldiers’ experience, and how it helped her depict the women who fought Mussolini in Ethiopia Growing up with the stories of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 and Ethiopia’s eventual victory, I did not need much prodding to imagine the conflict. On one side: white-clad Ethiopian soldiers racing down rugged hills with spears or outdated rifles to confront rows of modern artillery. On the other: steely-eyed Italian troops waiting with cannon and tanks, unaware that courage could defeat bullets. It was not until a revolution tore my country apart that I began to understand how war could render decent people unrecognisable. Only when I had felt real terror did I begin to comprehend the many ways that conflict can devour us without spilling a drop of blood. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uHnHGx

Faustus: That Damned Woman review – devilish drama is far from divine

Lyric Hammersmith, London Chris Bush’s female Faustus is original, ambitious and fantastically revisionist – but this bare-boned production fails to save its soul Doctor Faustus, as we know him from folk legend, is a doomed overreacher whose quest for worldly power earns him eternal damnation in his pact with the devil. Chris Bush’s antihero is a very different creation : Johanna Faustus is an earnest 17th-century working woman whose mother has been hanged for witchcraft. Bush, who has previously contemporised the medieval mystery plays, refashions the Faustus myth with promising inversions beyond the gender switch. Where the Faustus of Goethe and Marlowe’s plays is led to the devil by hubris and ambition, Johanna is a principled renegade who wants to use her diabolical powers altruistically. “I shall do good,” she says as she seals the deal with Lucifer. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2RBXaU4

Sturgill Simpson review – a trudge along the highways of Southern rock

O2 Forum Kentish Town, London The expectation-defying, Grammy-winning country singer throws all his eclectic styles into the mix – with surprisingly boring results It’s hard not to admire Sturgill Simpson ’s refusal to give two hoots about expectations. This is a man who followed his breakthrough album of psychedelic-but-hard country with one of Southern soul , which duly won him a Grammy for best country album, and then followed that with one of 80s-style electro hard rock . All three were excellent, but how would he meld these disparate styles on stage? As it turns out, by once again not giving two hoots, and turning everything into a long, hugely tedious trudge along the highways of lumpy, dumpy Southern rock. Solo follows solo and on unto eternity, and the booming sound of a not-quite-full Forum makes everything Simpson sings unintelligible: from upstairs, it sounds like he’s doing an impression of a trapped dog, all mournful yelps and barks. Continue reading... from Culture |

If You Teach a Man to Fish

Eli Grober writes a humorous alternative take on the proverb “If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man how to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.” from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/2tQJgEB

Night of the Living Dead – Remix review – addictive Romero replica

Leeds Playhouse Imitating the Dog recreate the groundbreaking 1968 horror film live on stage with remarkable results This extraordinary shot-by-shot remake of George Romero’s 1968 cult horror film is obsessively detailed, carefully playful and impeccably timed. With intense precision, the Leeds-based company Imitating the Dog recreate every sharp, shadowy angle of the original flesh-eating story in this Wooster Group-inspired valentine to the game-changing horror flick. Directed by Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, the production is trippily addictive; you don’t want to look away for a second. There are two screens above the stage, side by side. On the first is Romero’s film, in which a group of strangers hide from zombies – or “ghouls”, as Romero called them – in a farmhouse in Pennsylvania. The second screen shows Imitating the Dog’s version, filmed live using three cameras – two handheld, one standing – right in front of the audience. The stage becomes an active film set. Laura Hop

'No philosophy and everybody is welcome': how Closer catalysed Ukrainian electronica

From small beginnings in 2012, the Kyiv club-cum-cultural centre has become an eastern-European scene-leader You get the feeling you’re in for a big night as soon as you exit the taxi outside Closer. Climbing the graffitied staircase that leads to the Kyiv club evokes a childlike sense of adventure; not least at tonight’s Masquerade, an annual marathon session where everyone hides behind a face mask in celebration of the crew’s eighth birthday. Many of the mystery figures inside will stay glued to the wooden dancefloor from Saturday night until the final glimmers of the party on Sunday evening. It’s not entirely an endurance test: while the main room is all whistles and whooping, the cushion-filled ambient floor has a similarly meditative vibe to Glastonbury’s Green Fields. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GwK04b

'A godlike, pounding power': Van Eyck and the Ghent Altarpiece Restored – review

Ghent, Belgium The stupendous restoration of the altarpiece, and the magnificent exhibition nearby, confirm Van Eyck as a painting colossus. Get yourself to Ghent! According to the Italian art critic Giorgio Vasari , writing hundreds of miles away and more than a century later, the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck “delighted in alchemy”. As he mixed up compounds by candlelight in a workshop by a canal in Bruges, he hit on the secret of oil painting. There’s no proof of any of this – but as you look at his uncannily perfect paintings in the epochal new survey of his genius at Ghent’s Museum of Fine Arts, it’s easy to believe he dabbled in magic. The proof twinkles between the thumb and index finger of Jan de Leeuw, in Van Eyck’s 1436 portrait of this fellow craftsman. De Leeuw was a leading Bruges goldsmith and, as he fixes a sharp, clear gaze straight at you, he holds a ring he has made. It’s as much rivalry as homage. The jeweller’s art is intricate, but painting is something else. The

The Secret Guests by BW Black review – John Banville’s royal yarn

From Banville’s alter ego, a novel about the young Windsors being evacuated to Ireland during the second world war In The Secret Guests , BW Black – AKA Benjamin Black, AKA Irish novelist John Banville – gussies up a wartime rumour of royal jiggery-pokery into a fanciful yarn that has just enough plausibility to see it home. Time was when such speculative mischief might have given them conniptions at the palace; nowadays the royals are surely too busy tearing their own reputation apart to notice a mere commoner having a dig. The story opens in London 1940 as a young girl at a tall window watches bombs fall over the city. This turns out to be the 10-year-old Princess Margaret (“she hated being 10”), at home in Buckingham Palace. Such is the danger from the blitz that Margaret’s parents decide that she and her 14-year-old sister, Elizabeth, should be secretly packed off to a safe house till the coast is clear. Some bright spark chooses neutral Ireland as their bolt-hole, specifically C

Shamen, spirits, survival: how Claudia Andujar fought for the Yanomami tribe

The Swiss photographer found both friendship and a lifelong subject in the indigenous people – whose existence under Bolsonaro is more threatened than ever At 89, Claudia Andujar still has her work cut out. For five decades she has photographed the Yanomami indigenous people, an Amer-Indian tribe who number 33,000 and live in 192,000 square kilometres of rainforest that straddle the borders of Brazil and Venezuela. Until the early 20th century they had lived almost entirely in isolation from the outside world, but since then disease, deforestation and climate change have taken their toll. The election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil has proved a further threat. Vehemently against legislation protecting indigenous lands, last week the far-right president commented : “Indians are undoubtedly changing … They are increasingly becoming human beings just like us.” Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3aQ0T7Z

A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister review – from blindfolds to bikes

Arousal, adultery and desire … an anecdote-rich chronicle that uncovers layer on layer of oppression This book contains, as the title promises, many delightful curiosities. There are people, for instance, who get aroused by the sun. “Actirasty”, it’s called, which sounds like a probiotic yoghurt drink but would of course be life-changing if you lived in Málaga. James Joyce used to address his letters to Nora, “dear Fuck Bird”. The ultimate and – implicitly – best euphemism for the word “cunt” is “the monosyllable”. As late as the 20th century, grafting a monkey’s testicle on to your scrotum was considered a plausible cure for impotence and general sluggishness. As early as 1139, it was signed into canonical law that impotence was grounds for the annulment of a marriage, so you can see why the try-anything approach persisted, when a person could be unmade by physical failure, publicly ejected from the organising bond of society. Dough has reminded humans of sex, one way or another, p

Why Little Women should win the best picture Oscar

Greta Gerwig’s remake of the classic is a clever balance of staying true to Louisa May Alcott and updating her feminism This article contains spoilers Greta Gerwig embarked upon her remake of Little Women with fanatical attention to detail. She took the cast on tours of Louisa May Alcott’s home in Concord, Massachusetts, and wangled the budget to shoot the film nearby. She gave her actors extracurricular reading to get into character. She even had Alcott’s and her own birth charts compared (Gerwig is probably the only director who could say something so wafty and not make me pull a muscle rolling my eyes). Clearly, she had also anticipated the resistance that her Little Women would engender: a film about women’s domestic lives remade at a time when it seems as if the greatest accolade available to female directors and actors is helming a superhero movie and proving they can play with the boys. It’s there in the first scene of her reordered adaptation: the adult Jo March (Saoirse R

Sundance Film Festival: Steven Yeun on immigrant story Minari, the brilliance of Parasite’s Bong Joon-ho, and his lucky career

Korean-American actor Steven Yeun, known internationally for his portrayal as Glenn Rhee in TV series the Walking Dead, is attracting some of the best reviews of his career for a major hit at the Sundance Film Festival in the American state of Utah.Minari, an immigrant story shot mostly in English, was written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Abigail Harm) and produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company. It is entered at Sundance in the US Dramatic Competition.Yeun, 36, who brought the… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2U3pCj5

Mapping Northern Ireland’s Post-Brexit Future

Anna Russell writes about the Catholic and Protestant divisions in Northern Ireland and Lurgan College’s Shared Education Programme, part of a nationwide initiative to bring young people from Protestant and Catholic backgrounds together. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/3aJ11Gp

Nicholas Parsons, host of Just a Minute, dies aged 96

Presenter of BBC Radio 4 radio comedy and TV panel show dies after short illness Nicholas Parsons, the veteran host of the TV and radio panel show Just a Minute, has died aged 96 after a short illness, his agent said. A statement issued by his agent, Jean Diamond, on behalf of his family, said: “Nicholas passed away in the early hours of 28 January after a short illness at the age of 96. He was with his beloved family who will miss him enormously and who wish to thank the wonderful staff at the Stoke Mandeville hospital.” Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3aO4BPw

Flights review – lads' drinking game ends in grief and regret

Project Arts Centre, Dublin Cracking male banter gives way to seeping sadness in John O’Donovan’s play about three men grieving for their friend Tripping on drugs, 17-year-old Liam lies down on an empty road and sees his future flash before him. In John O’Donovan ’s intricately structured new play for One Duck Theatre , the mystery of Liam’s final hours on a summer’s night in County Clare brings his three best friends together but also threatens to push them apart. In an empty shack on the edge of town, Cusack (Conor Madden), Barry (Colin Campbell) and Pa (Rhys Dunlop) gather to mark the 17th anniversary of Liam’s death. Playing a comically elaborate darts and drinking game, they tear through the cans and cocaine. This could be a regression to their youthful selves for one night, but director Thomas Martin ’s sensitive staging suggests a sense of arrested development; as if their bereavement is something they can’t get past. As in O’Donovan’s previous work , cracking male banter shif

Beautiful buildings in architecture photography prize – in pictures

The 2019 winners of the Art of Building competition, run by the Chartered Institute of Building, have been announced. The overall winner was a surreal shot of the science museum in Valencia, Spain, taken by Pedro Luis Ajuriaguerra Saiz. The prize attracted entries from more than 100 countries Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2U1cw5V

Paulo Coelho deletes draft of children's book collaboration with Kobe Bryant

Alchemist author says basketball player’s death in helicopter crash means book has ‘lost its reason’ Author Paulo Coelho has deleted the draft of a children’s book he was working on with Kobe Bryant, saying that without the basketball player’s contribution, “this book has lost its reason”. The bestselling Brazilian author revealed on Monday that he had been writing a children’s book with Bryant, a fan of Coelho’s spiritual fable, The Alchemist . Following the NBA legend’s death in a helicopter crash on Sunday, along with his daughter and seven others, Coelho said he would delete what the pair had worked on together. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2O2myQn

Sex/Crime review – lust, shock and despair in role-play thriller

Soho theatre, London Two men reimagine the acts of a serial killer in Alexis Gregory’s dark play about love, loneliness and longing Writer Alexis Gregory has described his show Sex/Crime as a “queer thriller” but it’s a tough one to classify. This is a two-hander about some exceptionally dark sexual role-playing, which finds two men breathlessly reimagining the murders committed by a gay serial killer. There’s lots of leather, drugs and violence – yet the script’s punches never quite land. The show premiered last year at Jonny Woo’s queer venue, the Glory , in east London and Woo performs alongside Gregory. Woo plays Man A; Gregory is Man B. Woo is a tax-paying, admin-abiding, suited citizen, who just happens to run sexual role-plays for a living. Gregory is his customer. He wears black gym gear and prowls about the stage with lust, verging on desperation, etched on his face: “Promise you’ll make me forget who I am.” Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/

Bow down to the vulva! Why Gwyneth's Goop Lab isn't all bad

From psychedelics to skipping solid food, the star’s Netflix show sounds like bunk. But – shock horror – there is wisdom here if you look hard enough Even though her vagina smells amazing , funnily enough the sound of a Netflix show based on Gwyneth Paltrow’s $250m “health and lifestyle” empire does not appeal to me. (The show’s title, the goop lab, is styled all lowercase, though, as it turns out, bell hooks has nothing to be worried about.) For one, I am the antithesis of Goop. I balk at reading Instagram captions about peoples’ “journeys”. Especially when they are, more often than not, to the Cotswolds. Second, this is Paltrow, who once sold something called “psychic vampire repellent” on her website. So I decide to watch it, with the sole purpose of ripping it to absolute shreds. At first, it seems an easy task. In the opening montage, Paltrow, sitting on a pastel-pink sofa that resembles labia in SheEO mode, tells us she is going to “milk the shit out of” life. Given her tr

Dozens of UK theatres at risk of being demolished, experts say

Theatres Trust urges people to try and persuade local councils to invest in buildings The UK’s cultural heritage is at risk unless there is a significant shift in how theatre buildings are preserved, according to a study which shows that dozens of institutions could be lost. The annual Theatres at Risk register, which is collated by the Theatres Trust – the national advisory public body for theatres – lists 30 buildings across England, Scotland and Wales it believes could be demolished or redeveloped, despite having a potential future if restored. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2tN0p1W

How BoJack Horseman and The Good Place changed comedy forever

With their penchant for puns and bittersweet humour, the hit shows, both ending this week, explored humanity’s big existential questions As the first month of 2020 draws to a close, two things hang in the balance. One is the fate of the whole of humanity; the other is the fate of one rather damaged cartoon horse. On the surface, glossy sitcom The Good Place and acerbic animation BoJack Horseman do not have much in common. But with their final episodes dropping this week, the bracket of “cerebral TV comedy” is losing two shows that have uprooted expectations and shrewdly asked questions of what it means both to be good and to be happy. Neither show is an easy sell: one a high-concept comedy about moral philosophy set in the afterlife; the other an anthropomorphic satire of celebrity culture centred on a Hollywood has-been horse reckoning with his own unhappiness. But both became critical and word-of-mouth successes, providing escapism, wit and warmth, not to mention an unexpected pen

Why 1917 should win the best picture Oscar

We start our annual series with the frontrunner: Sam Mendes’s cinematic groundbreaker, which immerses us in the horror of war as never before Ever since All Quiet on the Western Front , the least we’ve come to expect from a war-is-hell actioner is grungy realism. Yet in Sam Mendes’s 1917, the trenches are dry, wide and handsomely constructed. Uniforms look fresh out of Brooks Brothers. Even the rats seem pet-shop friendly. The flatlands of Flanders improbably furnish rapids and a plunging cataract, while corpse-strewn, shell-ravaged battlefields quickly give way to flower-strewn meadows. The incineration of a town becomes an alluring firework display. This unconvincing backdrop foregrounds cardboard cutout protagonists devoid of backstory or interiority. Minor roles are cliched caricatures, peppered with pointlessly distracting star cameos. Wooden dialogue limits the scope for acting prowess. A bald, subplot-less storyline embraces both sentimentality and implausibility, as our hero-

Actor Daniel Kaluuya says he is tired of being asked about race

Queen & Slim star says ‘I’m not defined by it. I’m just Daniel, who happens to be black’ The Get Out and Black Panther star Daniel Kaluuya has said he doesn’t want to be defined by racial issues and he finds it boring to talk about his work in terms of race. The British actor and writer gained international fame with his starring role in the horror film Get Out, for which he was nominated for a string of awards, before moving on to Marvel’s Black Panther and the Steve McQueen thriller Widows. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/30ZRar1

Margaret Atwood to publish first collection of poetry in over a decade

Dearly, out in November, will be the Canadian author’s first book since The Testaments Margaret Atwood is set to publish her first collection of poetry in over a decade, an exploration of “absences and endings, ageing and retrospection” that will also feature werewolves, aliens and sirens. After jointly winning the Booker prize with Bernardine Evaristo last year for her bestselling sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, Atwood’s publisher said today that the 80-year-old Canadian author’s next book would be Dearly. Out in November, the collection will be Atwood’s first book of poetry since 2007’s The Door. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/38HByv6

The Windermere Children review – how the Lakes saved the lives of Nazi survivors

This little-told story of the young people rescued from concentration camps and sent to Britain is poignant, hopeful – and should shame our government to the core The most powerful moments of The Windermere Children (BBC Two) come in the final few minutes when the drama stops and the teenage Polish actors playing Holocaust survivors brought to Britain after the war are suddenly replaced by the survivors themselves – real people, still alive, talking about their happy and fulfilled lives. It seems more than just a familiar device to show that the film is based on actual people and true events. This has been a story about survival and recovery from unimaginable trauma, so seeing these men smiling, thriving, provides an unexpectedly optimistic conclusion. In 1945, the British government agreed to accept about 750 children rescued from Auschwitz and Belsen; 300 of them were brought to Windermere for a period of rehabilitation before being found permanent homes. The children file off the

Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride review – evasive and claustrophobic

Eimear McBride’s tale of a woman drifting from one hotel to another leaves our reviewer scratching her head If you’ve read so much as a sentence of Eimear McBride’s writing, it is likely to have burned into your brain. Her first two novels, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing and The Lesser Bohemians , were both written with a ferocious immediacy, in hurtling, viscerally direct prose that captures pre-verbal thought processes “far back in the mind”, as McBride put it. Strange Hotel feels like a book determined to show just how different it is from its predecessors. An unnamed 35-year-old woman checks into a hotel in Avignon; over the years, we’ll meet her in several more – in Prague, Oslo, Auckland and Austin. She monitors her desire to drink, to have casual sex, and to not quite look at her own past. She is haunted by a lost love, and these encounters with others – or mostly, really, with herself – in these anonymous rooms bring painful flashes of that former relationship. Continue r

The Father review – Anthony Hopkins drives devastating dementia drama

A brutal, trippy portrait of what it must feel like to lose your grip on reality boasts an Oscar-worthy performance Most years at Sundance, usually within the midnight movies strand, a horror film breaks out, terrifying all those able to endure it, kickstarting a buzz that continues through to release with poster quotes daring only the bravest of audiences to go see. In previous years there’s been Saw, Hereditary, Get Out, The Babadook and The Blair Witch Project but this year, the scariest film isn’t about a sadistic killer or an evil cult. It’s not even a scary movie in any traditional sense. It’s a film about the bone-chilling horror of living with dementia and it’ll haunt me for weeks. Related: The Nest review – Jude Law and Carrie Coon fall apart in eerie 80s drama Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2t6YGEc

Wendy review – Peter Pan fantasy that never grows up into an interesting film

Beasts of the Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin returns with an overlong and sometimes excruciating update of the Pan story Wendy, a spin on JM Barrie’s Peter Pan myth, takes all the chaos, noise and lack-of-focus of director Benh Zeitlin’s earlier picture Beasts of the Southern Wild and amplifies it. The 2012 surprise hit, which went from Sundance discovery to four Academy Award nominations, got a tremendous amount of mileage from its peculiarity of place and heartfelt father-daughter relationship. That’s very much missing here. What we’re left with is something like Spike Jonze’s 2009 adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are without the adorable creatures. Wendy is undoubtedly self-assured and in-your-face, and the gorgeous location photography certainly has an impact. But it’s wrecked by chapters so lengthy they become simply excruciating. We begin with a tense scene in a greasy spoon diner loaded with crusty characters inches from a train yard hauling freight. After a child to

Rita Tushingham on life after A Taste of Honey: 'It was a shock when the 60s ended'

She caused outrage as a wide-eyed teen in her very first film. As the actor returns in a spooky Agatha Christie, she relives life as a 60s icon – and the taunts she endured in the street One day nearly 60 years ago, Rita Tushingham was walking through Soho with her friend, the late British actor Paul Danquah, when a passerby yelled: “Blacks and whites don’t mix!” Tushingham looks troubled by the memory. “It happened to Paul a lot,” she says. “I remember he shouted back, ‘Don’t worry! She’s only been on holiday and got a tan.’” That was Britain in 1961, before London swung, before sex between men was decriminalised, before a black man and a white woman walking in Soho might pass unremarked. There’s a photo in the National Portrait Gallery of the pair that very year, her leaning in care-free, him eyeing the street as if on alert for the next racist. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/37zDpSD

The scandal of the £20bn bailout to slave-owning Brits

In 1833, Britain took out a loan to compensate slave owners – only recently paid off. Juliet Gilkes Romero reveals the shameful history that inspired her play The Whip ‘This gives me goosebumps,” says playwright Juliet Gilkes Romero . We’re looking at a sign offering a two-guinea reward for Peter, a runaway “negro manservant”. Gilkes Romero marvels at this lost figure from the 19th century, whose plight is chronicled in the Museum of London Docklands . “Who was Peter?” she says. “Where did he go?” Gilkes Romero’s work pursues the history that falls through the cracks. After exploring the first world war’s Caribbean soldiers ( At the Gates of Gaza ) and Mexican disappearances ( Day of the Living ), her new play for the Royal Shakespeare Company excavates the messy alliances that produced Britain’s slavery abolition legislation in the early 19th century, in particular a bill compensating slave owners for their loss of human property. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian h

Pandemic, Netflix series about doctors, scientists fighting viral disease outbreaks, carries a dire warning

When the Netflix docuseries Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak began streaming last week, it landed just in time for the peak flu season. It also coincidentally aired as a deadly new coronavirus first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan put health authorities worldwide on alert.Wuhan and several other Chinese cities are in lockdown over the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese usually travel for family reunions and breaks.The docuseries carries a dire warning: “When… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2TTeDsF

The Once and Future MOMA

Jordan Orlando writes about the latest renovation of the Museum of Modern Art, which aspires to accommodate the museum’s dual purpose of showcasing its aging treasures while upholding its perpetual obligation to find the best and most important contemporary work. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/38K6jj7

Sunday Reading: Critics on the Classics

From The New Yorker’s archive, original reviews of literary masterworks, from “The Handmaid’s Tale” to “Invisible Man,” by Lionel Trilling, Clifton Fadiman, John Updike, Dorothy Parker, Susan Lardner, Anthony West, Hilton Als, Susannah Clapp, and Judith Thurman. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/3aImsr5

Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge: a glimpse of hope and hardship in decade before catastrophe

A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land: A Novel of Sihanouk’s Cambodia, by Suon Sorin (translated by Roger Nelson). Published by NUS Press. 5/5 stars A rare and precious glimpse of pre-Khmer Rouge literature, Suon Sorin’s A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land, originally published in 1961, harks back to Cambodia’s late colonial and postcolonial eras under monarch-turned-politician Norodom Sihanouk. Apart from the conclusion and prologue, in which protagonist Sam, the driver of a cyclo three-wheel… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2RSVap4

Giri / Haji: BBC-Netflix show transplants Tokyo’s yakuza into London’s underworld

When two underworlds collide there’s likely to be hell to pay, and so it proves in Giri / Haji, the Japanese-British crime drama linking Tokyo’s yakuza territory to London’s gangster turf. Morose Japanese detective Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira), henpecked and harassed at home in Tokyo, is on a now-streaming, eight-episode Netflix mission: to flush out and return home Yuto (Yosuke Kubozuka), his missing yakuza brother, presumed dead but actually in hiding in London, having been run out of his… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/38Gqa2I

Revival for Philippine protest songs from era before Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law

The bell still tolls for veterans of a period of unrest that rocked the Philippines during the first three months of 1970. Known as the First Quarter Storm (FQS), the movement mainly consisted of students and other young people enraged at government subservience to foreign powers and the looming dictatorship of then-president Ferdinand Marcos. Two years later, Marcos would impose martial law that effectively remained in place until he was deposed in 1986 by massive demonstrations. The music… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/38wZKAi

Hong Kong martial arts cinema: Bruce Lee’s quotes on karate – ‘These guys never fight’

In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved genre.Although Bruce Lee’s personal philosophy emphasised humility, he was adept at promoting himself, his films, and kung fu – especially if it gave him a chance to criticise karate, which was then the most well-known martial arts form in the West.Below is a selection of… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/38ADWUc

Adam Schiff and His Colleagues Did Their Duty in the Trump Impeachment Trial

The Senate Republicans may well vote to acquit President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial, John Cassidy writes, but they will not be able to erase the record that Adam Schiff and his House colleagues laid down over three days of arguments. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/3aS1Ht8

Hongjoong from Ateez: the cute, serious K-pop group leader sings, dances, and writes the hits

It’s only been a little more than a year since K-pop boy group Ateez made their debut in October 2018, but a devoted community of fans – called the Atiny – has formed around the eight-member group, with followers to be found everywhere from South Korea to the United States. Ateez were initially known as “KQ Fellaz”, named after their small idol agency, KQ Entertainment. They were launched to fame via the YouTube series “KQ Fellaz American Training”, in which members travelled across the… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/30Tk1NL

Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Quentin Tarantino reflect on their struggles to make it in Hollywood

“I swear to God, I had to hide a tear,” Brad Pitt says, looking over at Quentin Tarantino and Leonardo DiCaprio, remembering the first time Tarantino played him the José Feliciano cover of California Dreamin’ on the set of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.“Look,” Pitt continues. “I’m not ashamed to say it. I got a little misty.”We’ve settled onto a couple of sofas inside a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, because where else would we meet to talk about Tarantino’s wistful elegy to… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2RnOTmu

How migration lifts poor from poverty explored in Filipino family’s 30-year journey

A Good Provider is One Who Leaves, by Jason DeParle. Published by Viking. 4/5 starsThe Philippine economy has, relative to both its history and many other parts of the world, seen something of a recent boom. Yet although the poverty rate plunged by about a third in the three years to 2018, many Filipinos still leave their country for a future abroad.Long-time New York Times reporter Jason DeParle explores global migration through a tightly woven biography of a Filipino migrant family in A Good… from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/37s1U3X