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Showing posts from March, 2018

How gay romance Call Me by Your Name, pulled from Beijing film festival, earned a huge following in China

The Oscar-winning gay romance Call Me by Your Name, which was suddenly pulled from the prestigious Beijing International Film Festival on Monday, has a sizeable cult following in China – where it has not been released in cinemas due to its LGBT theme. The idyllic coming-of-age drama starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer was released last year to widespread critical acclaim, earning a modest box office total of US$34.6 million worldwide. The film was due to show at the... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2pW66Vj
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Hong Kong-bound artist Sarah Morris, showing in Beijing, talks about films and the Olympics

Twenty years ago, the American artist Sarah Morris shot her first film, Midtown. There’s no narrative. She went out into the streets of that particular area of Manhattan for one day, and subdivided it into visual segments. Against the specific grid of the city, unintended patterns of colour (men in shirts) and texture (fountains) reoccur. Ten years later, in 2008, she went to Beijing to make a film of that name during the Olympics. Beijing, too, is a city that was built on a specific grid... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2Gszppg
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This week’s best home entertainment: from Save Me to Cunk on Britain

Lennie James’s gripping abduction drama comes to a cliffhanger conclusion, while Philomena Cunk embarks on her most ambitious project yet In a year of TV dramas characterised by boilerplate earnestness, Save Me has been a breath of fresh air. Lennie James’s creation has carried real emotional weight thanks to its flaky but likable hero, Nelly. In this finale, Nelly looks for answers in the pub – surely yet another reason to like the man. A second season is in the works so don’t expect closure. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GJtBLL
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Spying on Whales to Save Them

Marguerite Holloway discusses efforts by marine scientists to address a series of “unusual mortality events” among humpback, minke, right, and other whales along the U.S. Atlantic coast. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/2GIemSX
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What to Stream This Weekend

Richard Brody recommends five filmmakers’ first features, including Jerry Lewis’s “The Bellboy,” Elaine May’s “A New Leaf,” Ronald Bronstein’s “Frownland,” Maya Vitkova’s “Viktoria,” and Joyce Chopra’s “Joyce at 34.” from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/2H0fYFy
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Jet Li and Brigitte Lin star in martial arts romance epic Swordsman II (1992)

The best example of the swordfighting wave that re-emerged during Hong Kong cinema’s golden age of the 1980s and early 90s, Swordsman II features Jet Li Lianjie and Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia in a gloriously frantic homage to master martial arts director King Hu (A Touch of Zen [1971]). Directed by Ching Siu-tung, who is often associated with Tsui Hark, the producer of this second instalment, the Swordsman trilogy was notable for the way it used special effects, combined with reams of... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2IfaAOf
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The Cohens at Home

Calvin Trillin jokes about Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen revealing the Stormy Daniels story to his wife, Mrs. C, over coffee. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/2uzCClx
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Chinese American rapper and hip hop star on his rise and why he turned down The Rap of China – twice

During one notable performance in the US, Bohan Phoenix raps over a simple drum beat when he suddenly switches from English to Mandarin. Surprised looks spread across the faces in the crowd as the rapper, wearing a knowing smile, delivers his lines with a downward drawl, hyping up the crowd. Scenes such as this were common during his live shows in the US, but the 26-year-old Chinese-American rapper named Bohan Leung does not only perform in the States. Last year, he grew tired of travelling... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2IlwIXo
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Elena Ferrante: ‘I make an effort never to exaggerate with an exclamation mark’

Of all the punctuation marks, it’s the one I like the least. It suggests a commander’s staff, a pretentious obelisk, a phallic display I try never to raise my voice. Enthusiasm, anger, even pain I try to express with restraint, tending towards self-mockery. And I admire those who maintain a calm demeanour during an argument, who try to give cautious hints that we should lower our voices, who reply to frantic questions – “Is it true it really happened like that? Is it true?” – simply with a yes or no, without exclamation marks. Mainly, this is because I’m afraid of excesses – mine and others’. Sometimes people make fun of me. They say: “You want a world without outbursts of joy, suffering, anger, hatred?” Yes, I want precisely that, I answer. I would like it if, on the entire planet, there were no longer any reason to shout, especially with pain. I like low tones, polite enthusiasm, courteous complaints. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2pUFULe
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Joanna Scanlan: ‘Who would play me in the film of my life? A Nick Park claymation’

The actor on crying at Blue Planet, being unable to say no and driving Tilda Swinton’s car without insurance Raised in Wales, Joanna Scanlan , 56, became an actor in her mid-30s. Her TV work includes the comedy series The Thick Of It , Rev and No Offence , and she was nominated for a Bafta for Getting On , an NHS comedy that she co-wrote and starred in. Her film roles include Notes On A Scandal , In The Loop and Testament Of Youth . Most recently, she starred in the BBC drama Requiem , which is out now on DVD. She is married and lives in London. When were you happiest? Swimming down the Thames on a full moon night 10 years ago. It was dangerous, but extremely joyful. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GmdaFE
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Five books a refugee advocate in Hong Kong couldn’t live without: Mark Daly’s must-reads for a desert island

Mark Daly specialises in human rights litigation and refugee issues and has been working in Hong Kong since 1995. He is following in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Pam Baker, who was known for her work with Vietnamese refugees. He is the principal of Daly, Ho & Associates, which focuses on safeguarding the rights of transgender people, domestic helpers, sex workers and victims of human trafficking. He has litigated a number of landmark judicial review test cases concerning asylum... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2uzsIjP
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Have Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time got black feminism all wrong?

The trope of ‘black girl magic’ has gained box-office clout with recent films. But despite its progressive message, some fear it will become a marketing tool Related: Hidden figures: the history of Nasa’s black female scientists Hollywood is having a black girl moment. That’s right, coloniser! Melanin has been dripping off the big screen for little over a year, creating new stars, new social media challenges – and women have very much been at the centre of it all, both in front and behind the camera. Hidden Figures, which came out in the US in December 2016, told the true story of the three African-American mathematicians who played a pivotal role in getting US spacecraft into orbit. It made more than $200m globally. Then in the summer of 2017 came the brilliantly bawdy comedy Girls Trip. Grossing more than $140m, the film introduced global audiences to the actor Tiffany Haddish , and provided an invaluable education in the many uses of a grapefruit. Continue reading... from Cult...
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Arnold Schwarzenegger recovering in hospital after emergency open-heart surgery

Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital after undergoing emergency open-heart surgery due to a complication during a scheduled operation. The 70-year-old actor-turned-activist had planned to replace a pulmonic valve on Thursday, according to Schwarzenegger’s spokesman. Doctors rushed the Terminator and Predator star - known as “Arnie” to his fans - into theatre for open-heart surgery following a complication, operating... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2Eb0OdG
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John Thompson vs. American Justice

John Thompson was nearly executed for crimes he didn’t commit. His case raises a question: When prosecutors hold all the cards, can any defendant get a fair trial? from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/2Gs1w8k
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What to Stream This Weekend

Richard Brody recommends movies to stream on Amazon, Google Play, and other services, including “Isle of Dogs,” “Man's Favorite Sport,” and more. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/2GoZV6g
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All mixed up: Ready Player One's pop-culture crossovers are just empty nostalgia

Steven Spielberg’s film mashes together Jessica Rabbit, Sonic the Hedgehog and the Iron Giant, without much thought to how they would all get along On paper, it sounds like a utopia. Steven Spielberg’s new film Ready Player One presents itself as a party to which everyone is invited, its fictional VR dimension playing host to familiar faces from every blessed corner of the pop-culture universe. In the virtual plane known as the Oasis, players can captain the Millennium Falcon or the fluffy beast Falcor. They can try to sweet-talk Jessica Rabbit or befriend Sonic the Hedgehog . Brave warriors may fight alongside Freddy Krueger or Solid Snake , Mecha-Godzilla or the Iron Giant . Except that the Iron Giant is a lover, not a fighter. Tricking out the character with death-lasers goes against everything that he’s about, directly contradicting his native film’s guiding theme of pacifism in the face of violence. The way Ready Player One deploys the character undermines everything we unders...
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Agatha Christie reshoot with Ed Westwick stand-in is 'seamless'

Ordeal By Innocence airs on Easter Sunday with cast reshooting scenes in Scotland over 12 days The actor Christian Cooke who saved the BBC flagship drama production Agatha Christie’s Ordeal By Innocence, which finally screens on BBC One on Easter Sunday after being pulled from the Christmas schedule, described the process of starring in the reshoot as “surprisingly seamless”. A crucial 35 minutes had to be reshot over 12 days in Scotland in bitter January weather and stitched together with the original scenes that were filmed in summer sunshine. The sharp-eyed may spot that at one point while Cooke is manfully not shivering, his breath is steaming in the icy air. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uy0c21
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Stephen Colbert mocks Trump for saying Roseanne is 'about us'

‘I can’t wait for the episode where John Goodman blows the vacation money paying off a porn star,’ Colbert said Late-night hosts on Thursday discussed Donald Trump’s appointment of White House physician Ronny Jackson as secretary of veterans affairs and Trump’s comments on the success of the Roseanne reboot. Related: Stephen Colbert: Stormy Daniels 'won't go away, no matter how often Trump clears his browser history' Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2J4iUlf
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Beginners review – the rainy holiday that changed the world

Unicorn, London The enterprising children in Tim Crouch’s moving comedy learn that growing up is hard to do If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and seen a glimpse of your 10-year-old self, or glanced at your child and known exactly what they’ll be like in 20 years, then Tim Crouch ’s play will have you wagging your tail. Not least because it features a riotous dog (the brilliant Amalia Vitale) who appears to have ingested The Tempest and some Beckett plays. Your kids might enjoy it, too: Beginners is aimed at the over-nines and, like so many shows created under the Unicorn’s departing artistic director Purni Morell , it never underestimates its audience, whatever their age. It also never ignores the fact that growing up is hard to do, that our parents can fail us and that we lose them along the way. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uFxgW7
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Tennessee Williams lacked confidence, letters to friends reveal

Book of previously-unpublished correspondence shows writer’s constant need for reassurance He found fame with The Glass Menagerie and won Pulitzer prizes for his stage masterpieces, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but Tennessee Williams was plagued by self-doubt, previously unpublished letters reveal. The American dramatist’s lack of confidence emerges repeatedly through his correspondence with trusted friends -his publisher James Laughlin, and editor Robert MacGregor - over 25 years until his death in 1983. In 1964, he wrote of his “self-contempt”, adding: “I must confess that I have doubts and fears.” In 1972, he confided: “You know how badly I need reassurance about my work.” Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Gpngl5
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Rebel Prince by Tom Bower – digested read

‘What shall I do?’ Prince Charles asked his mother when news broke about Diana’s death. ‘Forked if I know,’ she replied. ‘I want to watch the racing on TV’ This book tells the untold truth of the last 20 years of Prince Charles’s life. Up till now, everyone assumed the heir to the throne was a much-respected and well-loved man. But thanks to my research – trawling through the cuttings and speaking to 120 people who don’t like him very much but refused to go on the record – I can now exclusively reveal that he is a bit of a pampered, out-of-touch loser who likes homeopathy and despises modern architecture . As someone who knows Prince Charles well told me: “He has never recovered from being bullied by his father – and with any luck he won’t recover from being bullied by you.” In July 1996, Prince Charles was a worried man. His valet was two minutes late bringing him his lightly poached free-range Duchy egg for breakfast and the newspapers were reporting that he was the least popular ...
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The Weeknd: My Dear Melancholy, review – beautiful backings for breakup bawling

Abel Tesfaye’s surprise EP – the follow-up to the massively successful Starboy – features ghostly and gorgeous production but lyrics that are suffocatingly solipsistic Few recent releases have had a more offhand kind of advance promotion than The Weeknd’s My Dear Melancholy,. It isn’t so much a surprise release as one announced with a shrug: “Should we drop Friday? I’m indifferent, to be honest,” ran the text message published by Abel Tesfaye on Instagram earlier this week. Indifference seems a curious attitude to take towards something on which a vast team of starry talent has worked: its supporting cast includes Skrillex, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Nicholas Jaar, French techno auteur and sometime Kanye West collaborator Gesaffelstein, plus songwriters and producers who’ve worked on everything from Camila Cabello’s Havana to Beyonce’s Formation. Perhaps its author’s apparent nonchalance is linked to My Dear Melancholy,’s brevity: at six tracks and barely 20 minutes lon...
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Meet the fashion illustrators capturing what runway photographers can’t

In the social media age, any smartphone-equipped individual can become a photographer, as seen on Apple’s building-tall advertisements. This is never truer than at fashion events, where snap-happy fashion lovers capture every moment from a myriad of angles and share them on digital platforms, while street-style photographers chronicle the sartorial lives of fashion insiders. Seoul Fashion Week highlights: #MeToo, street style and traditional tailored looks star in varied show But... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2pTSnOz
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‘There is a certain amount of glee at the sheer, sheer foolishness of Brexit’

Colm Tóibín talks about his Enniscorthy childhood, the inspiration behind Brooklyn – and why Boris Johnson is right about the Irish border The last thing Colm Tóibín does every night in New York before turning in is read the Irish Times: “There’s really nothing I don’t know about what’s going on in Ireland,” he says. The 62-year-old is in his overstuffed office at Columbia University, and although he has been coming to the city for years, he has only recently started writing about it: “What the sunset looks like on the Hudson. In the winter, you get this really extraordinary red, and if there’s ice on the river, it looks like the American sublime.” But every night, in his head, he returns home to Ireland. Home is one of Tóibín’s great themes. It’s an interest most explicitly explored in Brooklyn , his breakout novel of 2009, and to which he returns in House of Names , a retelling of The Oresteia by Aeschylus. As told by Tóibín, after witnessing his sister’s murder, the young Oreste...
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Ken's Show review – sublime choices from a non-expert put the pros to shame

Tate Liverpool Ken Simons has been hanging artworks in the gallery for 30 years. The decision to let him select his favourites from the vaults has resulted in an inspiring, unfashionable and richly connected show No curator at any Tate gallery is allowed to touch a work of art. That has to be done by art handlers, whose skills are a mixture of conservation science and DIY ingenuity. Until his retirement last year, Ken Simons was art handling manager at Tate Liverpool . It’s 30 years since the gallery opened and Simons was a key part of its team from day one. So to mark the anniversary, the museum had the sweet idea of getting him to curate an exhibition of his favourite works, drawn from all the art he has handled through the decades. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2pQLRsO
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Modern family: how Roseanne deals with the political divide at home

The rebooted sitcom lands the Conner family in the middle of a fractured climate and shows the day-to-day difficulties faced by those who struggle to align their beliefs In the opening titles of Roseanne, we see the Conner family sitting around a table together, laughing, squabbling, eating, and generally loving one another. Since it began in the late 1980s, Roseanne has presented a tough yet tenderhearted image of the white midwestern working class. The Conners may not have had money or power, but they were presented as complete people, rather than simply stereotypes. Not only that; they were also, despite their economic hurdles, pretty happy , even if they weren’t Hollywood perfect. At the end of the title sequence we always hear the same thing: Roseanne’s giant, loud, and completely joyful laugh. Related: Roseanne review – bittersweet reboot explores life under Trump Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GoEO0G
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Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway: is it time for Dec to fly solo?

Although most will be wishing him well, some ghoulish viewers will be hoping Dec slowly unravels into a performance of phantom limb syndrome Dec. Dec. Roll it around your mouth a little, try to say it without the tart-sour taste on your tongue: Dec. Just: Dec. “Dec.” Ladies and gentlemen … Dec! Something is wrong. You can feel it, deep in your soul. You can feel the spiritual rift. Something is misaligned in the universe and everything now feels cosmically altered. Tonight, while Ant recuperates away from the limelight following his drink-drive arrest, it’s on Dec to host Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway entirely Ant-less. There is something sinister about this, and I hate it. We have to admit now that Ant and Dec are the bedrock on which British culture is made, and pay them dues accordingly. For blockbuster Saturday night TV everyhosts who leaped fully formed from a harrowing drama scene in which one of them had their eyes shot out, they have between them an astonishingly de...
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Coraline review – creepy adaptation of Neil Gaiman's tale will turn kids on to opera

Barbican, London Terrific performances and special effects ensure children in the audience love Mark-Anthony Turnage’s take on the cult novella Given its world premiere by the Royal Opera at the Barbican, Coraline is Mark-Anthony Turnage ’s fourth opera, though it also marks something of a new departure for its composer. It’s his first stage work specifically aimed at a family audience, and consequently avoids the overtly combative or scatological stances of its predecessors. Its source is Neil Gaiman’s creepy cult novella about a restless 11-year-old, whose exploration of her parents’ new home takes her into a parallel world beyond a bricked-up doorway in her parents’ drawing room. The Other World seemingly offers limitless comfort and enjoyment, but its inhabitants mysteriously have buttons sewn over their eyes, and it soon becomes apparent that the love offered by Coraline’s Other Mother and Father is sinister in its controlling possessiveness. Rory Mullarkey’s libretto deftly co...
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Between Land and Sea review – the brutal beauty of a surfers' paradise

Ross Whitaker’s documentary is awash with phenomenal footage of the adrenaline junkies drawn to the craggy west coast of Ireland I have to admit there is footage in this Irish surfing documentary that gave me a major attack of the collywobbles. One aerial shot of a wetsuit-clad doodle paddling out into an Atlantic wave as tall as a cliff had the same effect on my guts as a decent horror film. Directed by Ross Whitaker, the film charts a year in the life of Lahinch, a surfers’ paradise town on the craggy coastline of County Clare. About a decade ago, big-wave surfers discovered the west coast of Ireland. Lahinch’s waves are particularly ferocious and bring out the poetic streak in surfers. “If you’re in the right spot it feels as still, as calm and as right as anything else,” murmurs one guy, lost in the memory. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2pUVMwq
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Hear all about it: how daily news podcasts became publishing's new hope

In the US, daily podcasts recapping events have become big business by providing income streams to newspapers while making stars out of their hosts. Could they cross the Atlantic? Morning news podcasts are having a moment. While storytelling such as Serial and Dirty John and good-quality interviews such as The Adam Buxton Podcast and WTF with Marc Maron have become a reliable route to an audio hit, listeners are now warming to a weekday news briefing too. The New York Times’s The Daily has become the genre’s breakout hit. With its bold claim that “this is what the news should sound like”, it promises a 20-minute bulletin by 6am (ET time) every weekday. It made a podcast star out of former New York Times political reporter Mike Barbaro soon after it launched in February 2017, and a year later it had been downloaded 200m times. Next week, its audience will be boosted even further with a move to public radio. Barbaro credits word of mouth for part of its rapid growth and is proud of t...
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The Voidz: Virtue review – Julian Casablancas growls but doesn't bite

(RCA) Julian Casablancas warmed up for the release of the second album by the Voidz – they’ve dropped their frontman’s name as part of the band identity since their 2013 debut, Tyranny – with a wildly entertaining and enormously confused interview , during the course of which he asserted that the world had not appreciated Jimi Hendrix or David Bowie during their lifetimes, and that the internet had killed truth but people are also much more informed than they were in 2004. Virtue is just as confused, but rarely so entertaining. It is, apparently, a political album, but you’d only know that from searching the lyrics out online. Casablancas’s exquisite drawl – one of the most appealing sounds in rock – is at times here somewhere at the level of Leslie Phillips after an especially heavy night on the martinis, rendering whatever he’s actually singing into a warm and smoky “nyurrgh, rrrruuuurrrr, hrrrrrrr”. You tell ’em, Julian! Musically, Casablancas has said Virtue is “futuristic priso...
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Three Tall Women review – Glenda Jackson's astounding return to Broadway

Golden theatre, New York Edward Albee’s psychodrama spells out the crueller fortunes of life for three ages of the same woman, leavened with some comic sympathy Existential dread comes very well-upholstered in the Broadway revival of Edward Albee’s dismaying and luxurious Three Tall Women. This is probably Albee’s most personal play, a barbed-wire wreath laid at the grave of his adoptive mother, but he has filtered his experience through an absurdist lens. The play’s vision of life aligns with Beckett’s: darkness on one side, darkness on the other, some pain and disappointment in the middle. “That’s it,” one character says. “You start and then you stop. Don’t be so soft.” No one has ever accused Albee of being soft, but in director Joe Mantello’s revival, starring Glenda Jackson , Laurie Metcalf and Alison Pill, there is a grudging sympathy underlying the spite. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2pRb4m1
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Madeleine Thien: ‘I can read a book over years, and not feel I have to finish it’

The Canadian writer wishes she’d written Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and was moved by Robert Macfarlane’s The Wild Places The book I am currently reading Fathers and Sons. Turgenev’s novel of generational politics, violence and the desire for change was published more than 150 years ago, but feels inescapably of our time. The book that changed my life Red Dust , Ma Jian ’s long walk across China to try to know, forgive and yet confront this world. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IihSAR
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Kate Nash: Yesterday Was Forever review – slightly stale pop nostalgia

(Girl Gang Records) ‘I want a takeaway with you / I don’t care if it’s Chinese food,” sings Kate Nash on her fourth album. It’s a lyric that could easily belong on her first, 2007’s Made of Bricks , a collection of gauche kitchen-sink pop that topped the charts and established Nash as the heir apparent to her early champion Lily Allen. But while the latter has continued to pump out attention-grabbing and occasionally brilliant pop , Nash’s career has floundered. Her new album demonstrates why. Since her zeitgeist-bullseye of a debut, Nash has made it clear she has little interest in remaining sonically relevant – 2013’s Girl Talk , for example, consisted purely of riot grrrl-related reminiscence. She’s retained some of the 90s rock references here, and those conspicuous retro flavours provide the album’s highlights – Life in Pink’s raucous pop-punk bridge; California Poppies’s cheesily industrial chorus – though less charmingly, Nash’s voice routinely descends into a ridiculously abr...
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The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin review – is it better to know your own fate?

Debauchery and wild times turn to frustration and fear after four siblings are told the exact dates on which they will die If you knew the day you were going to die, how would you choose to live? This is the question at the heart – and on the cover – of American author Chloe Benjamin’s second novel, The Immortalists (her first, The Anatomy of Dreams , was not published in the UK). Given the catchy Hollywood-style pitch, it is little surprise that the book has been snapped up by publishers across the globe and a TV adaptation is already in the works. Less predictable is just how engaging this bittersweet novel turns out to be. Benjamin’s story starts in a sweltering New York apartment during the summer of 1969. The four Gold siblings are restless. Something, it seems, “is happening to everyone but them”. The oldest, Varya, is 13, the youngest, Simon, only seven, but it is 11-year-old Daniel who hears about the woman on Hester Street who can predict the exact date you will die, and nin...
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From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan review – waves of compassion and anger

The lives of a Syrian refugee, a heartbroken carer and a crooked moneyman cross with poignant results There comes a moment in every novelist’s career where they must decide whether to plough the same furrow that has brought them great success or make their way cautiously into another field, uncertain whether the soil on neighbouring land is as rich. In his fourth novel, Donal Ryan has not only bounded over a wall into new territory, but built himself a castle there. It’s astonishing to realise that Ryan’s first novel, The Spinning Heart , was published only six years ago. Since then, across three novels and a story collection, he has displayed a sympathy for the voices of the dispossessed that few writers ever develop. His debut was narrated by 21 victims of Ireland’s economic crash; he introduced readers to Johnsey Cunliffe, the isolated and troubled young man at the centre of The Thing About December . Then, along came Melody Shee in All We Shall Know , who found solace with a you...
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The Vaccines: Combat Sports review – instinctive, top-drawer garage rock

(Columbia) The Vaccines were apparently booked to be on the cover of the NME the week it ceased its print version forever . Bad luck, given their energetic garage rock makes them as close to a perfect NME band as there currently is. But the extremely high quality songwriting on their fourth album means that their church will surely broaden beyond the indie faithful. There’s a huge waft of Dylan in the keening entreaties and imagery (“If I climb the mountain now / in my patent leather shoes”) of opening track Put It on a T-Shirt, paired with a 1960s girl-group shimmy; the maximal sensuality of Take It Easy sees them shamelessly ape Virginia Plain. Later on, they copy the Strokes copying the Cars (the beautiful Maybe, and Your Love Is My Favourite Band), while Nightclub is like The Clapping Song done by a pissed-off biker gang. There is also plenty of straightforward melodic English punk underpinned by a rhythm section in fifth gear – indeed, it’s only when the energy drops, on needles...
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F1 2018 game release date, price and all the latest rumours

F1 2018 game release date, price and all the latest rumours What you can expect from this year’s F1 game for Xbox One, PS4 and PC 29 Mar 2018 News from Life & Culture https://ift.tt/2J3DphX
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Is it really 2018? Evidence suggests we have no real way of knowing what year it is

Is it really 2018? Evidence suggests otherwise We base our dating system on the birth of Jesus – a contentious system with a significant margin of error 28 Mar 2018 In-depth from Life & Culture https://ift.tt/2Ii7NDX
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Digital doping: Are big data, AI and virtual reality creating an uneven playing field?

Digital doping: Is tech creating an uneven playing field? Artificial intelligence and big data analysis are boosting the performances of top athletes, but are they creating a sport-tech arms race? 23 Mar 2018 In-depth from Life & Culture https://ift.tt/2GVSq4w
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Ahead of Infinity War, how to understand the Marvel Cinematic Universe in seven films or less

How many Marvel Cinematic Universe films does one need to watch to understand Avengers: Infinity War? Some are obviously not needed; no one has to watch The Incredible Hulk. Other films might be really good but aren’t essential to understanding characters or plot-lines. With Black Panther out, we rank Marvel Cinematic Universe films from the worst to the best I have reduced the number of necessary films from 18 to seven. Note that these films are not necessarily the best in the MCU;... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2GnBZgq
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When Roger Moore stole my thunder: jazz singer Georgie Fame looks back

How long has this been going on? I was born (as Clive Powell) in Lancashire, in northern England, in 1943. When I left school at the age of 15, in the summer of 1958, I went straight to work in a cotton mill as an apprentice weaver. We had a coal mine at the back of our house and, when we were kids, we’d hear the siren, run to the pit head and see them bringing up the injured miners, covering them in red blankets and putting them in the ambulances. I thought, “I don’t want to... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2pPBy7i
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Arcade Fire: 'People have lost the ability to even know what a joke is. It’s very Orwellian'

The indie rockers rolled out their last record, Everything Now, with a satirical ad campaign. The result? Mass confusion and bad reviews. As they hit UK arenas, frontman Win Butler is defiant: ‘Let’s see if we can break through the noise’ In a corner booth, Win Butler sits beaming in a broad-brimmed black hat, at his elbow a large martini glass garnished with three fat green olives. It is Thursday evening in Manhattan’s theatre district and Butler has chosen a steakhouse once recommended to him by his late grandfather, the guitarist and swing bandleader Alvino Rey . When he began travelling the world as a teenager, Butler says, Rey would furnish him with tips. “The first time I went to London he sent me to this place that had been around for 100 years, to have the lamb chops.” Tonight, Butler is fresh from a rehearsal for his band Arcade Fire ’s appearance on Saturday Night Live. The day has seen several run-throughs of their single Put Your Money on Me , as well as a skit that refer...
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Paddy Considine: ‘I never wanted to sell my soul for this’

In his second film as director, Journeyman, the actor stars as an ageing boxer. Fighting off a shopping-related injury, he explains why he auditioned himself for the role and why he’s stayed loyal to Burton Paddy Considine is suffering. He put his back out the other day, lifting a basket of groceries at the Co-op down the road from his house in Burton upon Trent. He is clearly in a bit of pain but is seeing the funny side. “A lovely lady carried my shopping to the car for me because I was in such a bad way. I think she was in her 70s,” he says, grinning. “Not that age matters.” As she loaded up his bags, Considine, bent double, thanked her. “She hurled my shopping into the boot and said: ‘I’m a tough northern woman.’” That cracks him up. Actors talk a lot about keeping it real, but I don’t suppose many of them do their weekly shop at the Co-op in Burton. Considine’s realness is perhaps the essence of his quality as a performer. He is not the most famous British actor, or the richest, ...
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Indian Summer School review – five terrible teens are sent to India’s equivalent of Eton

It’s really about tossing some lazy kids way out of their comfort zone and hoping for tantrums, tears and entertaining bad behaviour It is not a new idea – send a bunch of badly behaved, underperforming kids somewhere different to try to get them to pull up their socks. Brat Camp , Jamie’s Dream School , The World’s Strictest Parents , That’ll Teach ’Em , they have all tried it. In this one, five delinquent Brits are sent to the Doon School in Dehradun, often called India’s Eton, to get some GCSEs. At the moment, they have one between them – 18-year-old Jack’s C in maths. Which is more than they have in terms of ambition, focus, belief, motivation and application. The show attempts to give itself credibility by being inspired by a couple of stats: the worst performing group in British education is white working-class boys, and they perform better in ethnically diverse classrooms. But it is really about tossing a bunch of lazy teens way out of their comfort zone, and hoping for amusin...
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The Titan review – unexciting Netflix sci-fi squanders its premise

Sam Worthington is a lifeless protagonist in a film about a government genetics experiment to evolve man into space Sam Worthington, the 41-year-old Australian actor, has become something of a sci-fi mainstay. And despite his unimpeachably good looks, directors keep turning him into aliens, or quasi-human hybrids, or terminators. Most recently, in the new Netflix release The Titan, Worthington plays a military man who’s subject to an insane government-funded genetic experiment, causing him to lose his hair, shed his skin, and acquire, among other strange metamorphoses, bat DNA. By the end of the film, he looks a lot like his character in Avatar, in other words far from the chiseled handsome actor he actually is. Related: Game Over, Man! review – painful Netflix comedy is Die Hard with dick jokes Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uwBCyv
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K-pop v Kim-pop: Battle of the bands, Korean style

Top K-pop girlband Red Velvet will star in a historic concert in Pyongyang this weekend, in a country where entertainment is usually served with a big dollop of state-sponsored propaganda. With performances on Sunday and Tuesday, the outfit will sashay onto territory normally occupied by North Korean’s own mega girl group, the Moranbong band. In the peninsula’s own Battle of the Bands, here’s how the two match up: K-pop or Kim-pop Red Velvet: Upbeat electro, disco, R&B and... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2J4AK7I
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Jarvis Cocker review – lusty and electrifying works in progress

Ramsgate Music Hall Moving like a spider and dispensing fruit to the audience, the one-time Pulp frontman’s new songs seem some of the best of his career The fastest-selling show in the history of Ramsgate Music Hall is an intriguing prospect: one of Britain’s best-loved musicians plays a midweek gig at which there will be no mobile phones, no reviews, no further explanation. Announced with only a couple of weeks’ notice as part of a short tour of intimate venues, all the information we are given is the official publicity statement: “JARV is a work in progress …” it reads. “JARV is an experiment … JARV is a live experience with no barriers.” In practice, it makes for one of the most electrifying shows of the year. Cocker is an imposing figure, accustomed to large stages and expansive audiences. He stands 6ft 2in tall and has the long-limbed ranginess of a cardinal spider. The Music Hall is a small room holding 130 people; bands must access the stage via a trapdoor, and find themselv...
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FT editor appointed new chair of Tate galleries

Critics say appointment of Lionel Barber to prestigious arts role is potential conflict of interest The Tate has appointed Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times, as its new chairman, one of the most prestigious positions in the arts. It is an unpaid role which, despite raised eyebrows in media circles over his demanding day job, is nominally supposed to take up one day a week. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IdJXJj
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Ruthless! review – showbiz schemers play dirty in ultra-camp musical

Arts theatre, London An over-the-top paean to stage ambition ends up in thrall to the world it tries to parody Camp, says one of the gay men in Matthew Lopez’s new play, The Inheritance , is like a degrading form of minstrelsy. That remark echoed in my mind while watching this 25-year-old off-Broadway musical with a score by Marvin Laird and book and lyrics by Joel Paley . It offers two hours of unrelieved camp that, by the end, had me longing for some other business than show business. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GmLeNZ
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Nyege Nyege: the Ugandan dance collective reversing colonial culture

Techno, soukous, abstract electronics – the Nyege Nyege collective draws from the cultural melting pot of Kampala’s music scene. But unlike other European visitors, it also gives something back The southern outskirts of Kampala are teeming with life, but head off the main strip leading to Ggaba beach and you will find Kawaku road: a quieter, wide, red and dusty street lined by a mixture of homespun shacks, open dried-up storm drains, and recently constructed villas. It’s also where you will find the home of Derek Debru, co-founder of Nyege Nyege , a collective of musicians from around the world who are turning the music scene in the Ugandan capital on its head. “We want to showcase sounds from across the continent into one experience,” says Belgium-born Debru, a chain-smoking idealist with a wild, unkempt beard, who, along with Arlen Dilsizian – a Greek-Armenian academic with an encyclopaedic knowledge of musical ethnography – was attracted to the city by “the energy, the freedom and...
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Proposed hostel at West Kowloon arts hub too expensive, artists lament

Overseas artists in Hong Kong for Art Basel on Thursday said a proposed “residency centre” at the West Kowloon Cultural District was too expensive and unlikely to attract artists unless the government offers subsidies or other incentives. Earlier in the day, the WKCD Authority announced plans to build a hostel for artists on a public-private partnership basis in between the future Lyric Theatre complex and Music Centre, located on the strip for performance venues between M+ and the... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2IaQIf9
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Isle of Dogs review – Wes Anderson unleashes a cracking canine caper | Peter Bradshaw's film of the week

Set in a dystopian Japan of the future, the animated story of a boy’s search for his lost pet is crammed with visual invention It’s set in Japan, though east London’s Isle of Dogs just happens to be a short drive from 3 Mills Studios, which did a lot of the work on this film. So maybe our Isle of Dogs influenced the director, Wes Anderson . Or maybe he chose the title because it sounds like: “I love dogs.” Isle of Dogs is another utterly distinctive, formally brilliant exercise in savant innocence from Anderson, somewhere between arch naivety and inspired sophistication. I laughed a lot, not really at jokes, but at its hyper-intelligent stabs of visual invention. It’s a stop-motion animation – like his Roald Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) – visually controlled to its every analogue micro-particle, a complete handmade world. The screenplay is by Anderson, along with Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and the Japanese actor and writer Kunichi Nomura who was also casting direct...
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Movie adaptations of video games are still mostly terrible. Why has no one cracked the code?

Games creators and writers give their theories on how an upcoming crop of adaptations could avoid the same pitfalls as Assassin’s Creed, World of Warcraft and Super Mario Bros No other film genre boasts such an unimpeachable reputation for dreadfulness as the video game adaptation. Some, such as this year’s Tomb Raider film and the zombie-themed Resident Evil efforts, almost achieve mediocrity. Others are so fascinatingly terrible that they have become Hollywood legend – for instance, the baffling interpretation of Super Mario Bros proffered by edgy British directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton in 1993, in which Nintendo’s bright, joyful Mushroom Kingdom was reimagined as a futuristic dystopia called Dinohattan, where everyone was dressed in fishnets and black leather trenchcoats. A quarter of a century later, it is still impossible to understand why anyone thought that was a good idea. The ever-expanding Marvel cinematic universe is ample proof that films can do an excellent...
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Rapper DMX jailed for a year over tax evasion

The once successful rapper is returning to prison, having previously been jailed for drugs possession, failure to pay child support and more DMX, who was one of the most successful rappers of the late 1990s with five US No 1 albums, has been jailed for a year for tax evasion. Federal prosecutors said the rapper, real name Earl Simmons, failed to pay tax on income earned from 2002 to 2005, and from 2010 to 2015. On top of the prison sentence, Simmons must pay $2.29m back to the US government. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2pPpJhu
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Brahms: Symphonies No 1-4 review – peak connection in bewitching Brahms

Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Ticciati (Linn Records) I wouldn’t usually recommend listening to all four Brahms symphonies back to back: too much of a good thing – and, in too many conductors’ interpretations, too much that sounds the same. In the case of this new cycle from Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra , however, I’d say gorge away. There is nothing here that sounds like bog-standard Brahms, nothing that hasn’t been meticulously thought through, barely a bar that doesn’t say something. If that sounds exhausting to listen to, it’s not; Ticciati’s care for keeping the music airborne, coupled with the lucent transparency of the playing, mean that the longest movements fly by. It equals and perhaps even exceeds the benchmark Brahms cycle the SCO recorded with Charles Mackerras , 20 years ago. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uuF50z
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BBC NOW/Van Steen review – dynamic showcase of young Welsh composers

Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff An invigorating, emotional programme of works by Boden, Lewis and Puw showed how committed conductor Jac van Steen is to championing new talent In his relationship with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales , conductor Jac van Steen ’s championing of a younger generation of Welsh composers is remarkable. His vigour and commitment constitutes its own advocacy. The new clarinet concerto by Mark David Boden (not to be confused with Mark Bowden, former BBC NOW composer-in-residence and member of the Camberwell Composers’ Collective ) was written for the orchestra’s principal clarinettist Robert Plane . By way of invoking common ground, Boden homed in on their shared passion for running in movements entitled Adrenaline, Isotonic, Threshold and Hypertension. Rather than elevated in aesthetic or philosophical terms, this was hyper-energetic, brimful with motor energy, with Plane’s tireless virtuosity speaking for itself. Sarah Lianne Lewis chooses evocative titles....
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In search of Chinese box office success, French filmmakers face censorship and erratic regulation

Last month, three French animated films were released in China within the space of a fortnight. Yellowbird, The Jungle Bunch and the screen adaptation of popular French graphic novel The Big Bad Wolf all share similar themes and feature an array of talking animal characters. Some might see this spate of releases as a sign of French filmmakers flaunting their presence in what is now their industry’s big­gest overseas market in terms of admissions. But it also represents both... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2E4kJL9
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British content is ‘under serious threat’ from Netflix and Amazon, says BBC

UK content is ‘under serious threat’ from Netflix says BBC BBC admits that the broadcaster is struggling to keep up with streaming giants, and vows to reinvent itself in second annual report 29 Mar 2018 News from Life & Culture https://ift.tt/2GDnYOP
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Wise up suckers! How grebo rivalled Britpop as the sound of 90s indie

In the early 1990s, blokes with questionable haircuts, tartan suits and a ragbag of influences sold millions of records, until Britpop spoiled the ‘grebo’ party. Now, after mental strife and ‘personal differences’, the likes of the Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin are back The British indie timeline is well established – documentaries skip from Madchester to Britpop swifter than Keith Allen necking a pint of lager down the Groucho Club. But this was never the full story. During the late-1980s, the small Black Country town of Stourbridge, just outside Birmingham, became the unlikely nucleus for a scruffily anarchic brand of indie that came to be known as grebo. Three bands – the Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – emerged from the town. They fused ramshackle punk, folk, electronic and hip-hop influences with idiosyncratic styles – dreadlocks, undercuts, army surplus clothing, baggy shorts, questionable tartan suits – and instantly identifiable band logos....
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A Streetcar Named Desire review – slow-burning update strips back the classic

NST City, Southampton Chelsea Walker’s intriguing take on Tennessee Williams’s play conjures illusions before cruelly dismantling them I don’t want realism. I want magic!” cries Blanche Dubois, a drama queen who can’t stop pretending that she’s something she’s not. Everyone pretends in Tennessee Williams ’s 1947 play, because the realities of their lives constantly remind them that they are not who they want, or claim, to be. In director Chelsea Walker ’s intriguing take, set in a contemporary New Orleans, Stanley (Patrick Knowles) is a violent loser who insists he’s a king, and Stella (Amber James) can’t see past the sex to the truth of her abusive marriage. In Walker’s production, Blanche’s arrival reveals what everyone is acting hard to avoid confronting. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Gorp8E
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'I'm fighting time': Akram Khan's last full solo, Xenos – in pictures

In his new show, Akram Khan will give his final performances as a dancer in a full-length piece. He explains how he merged the Prometheus myth with the tale of a shell-shocked colonial soldier There’s an African proverb that goes like this: until the lions have their say, the hunters will always tell the story. It is the victors who write history. But as the west has mostly written history, some stories have gone untold: like the millions of colonial soldiers who fought for Britain in the first world war. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GhGMDV
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Send us your questions for David Shrigley

The Observer New Review offers you the chance to quiz the artist on his darkly surreal work, life and inspirations Known for his absurdist, satirical drawings, artist David Shrigley was brought up in Leicestershire and studied environmental art at Glasgow School of Art. He has published more than 20 books, directed music videos for Blur and Bonnie “Prince” Billy , and had his work exhibited in galleries around the world. In 2013 he was nominated for the Turner prize, and his seven-metre-tall bronze sculpture Really Good appeared on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth from 2016 until earlier this month. On Sunday 29 April, the Observer New Review will publish an interview with the artist, with questions from readers and cultural figures. Fans of Shrigley’s darkly surreal work will be able to quiz him on his art, life and inspirations. Submit your questions in the comments section below, email us at review@observer.co.uk , or tweet @ObsNewReview by 4pm on Friday 6 April. Continue re...
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'Uncanny similarity': new Damien Hirst works in spot of bother in Australia

Dot paintings by British superstar likened to works by a renowned Indigenous artist The paintings in a new exhibition by the British artist Damien Hirst have raised eyebrows in Australia for bearing an “uncanny similarity” to works by Indigenous artists from the Central Desert. Hirst, one of the world’s highest-earning contemporary artists, premiered the works, titled The Veil Paintings , at a star-studded event at Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles on 1 March. His agent said Hirst had not been aware of the Indigenous artist’s work and press statements accompanying the launch said the brightly coloured, layered brush and dot-work paintings drew inspiration from pointillism and were built on Hirst’s 1990s Visual Candy series. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2J4h7g3
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PS Plus April 2018: The free PlayStation games for April are a mixed bag

The free PlayStation Plus games for April are a mixed bag Not quite the bounty of riches as we had last month 29 Mar 2018 News from Life & Culture https://ift.tt/2IYR9dL
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A Few More Questions for This Seder

Susanna Wolff asks the satirical questions on everyone’s mind this Seder, like “Why is it that, on this night, we have four cups of wine, when I feel like I need so many more?” from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews https://ift.tt/2J0D2V4
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Sean Penn's debut novel – repellent and stupid on so many levels

The Oscar-winning actor’s first foray into fiction, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, has met with derision online. But how bad can it be? Back in the heady days of 2015, it was thought that singer and eternal tester of patience Morrissey had taken the bad celebrity novel to the limit in List of the Lost, when his “bulbous salutation” simultaneously put everyone off both books and sex . But now Morrissey’s debut – a novel in which people didn’t just say things, they “topspin” them (“‘I have erotic curiosities,’ topspins Ezra”) – has a healthy challenger for the most mocked novel by a sleb. Sean Penn ’s Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff is a book in which people don’t just have vim or vigour, they have “spizzerinctum to spare”. Early and bad reviews of Penn’s debut novel ahead of its April release have prompted a lot of joy online. “Bob Honey is an exercise in ass-showing, a 160-page self-own,” was the Huffington Post’s verdict , while a new game, “Vagina bingo” was coined by one Twitter user t...
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Jack White review – a wild tightrope walk across thrash, funk and hip-hop

The Garage, London The former White Stripes frontman twists up and melts down material old and new – and channels Roxy Music along the way Some mischaracterise Jack White as a dad-rock revivalist in deadening thrall to tradition and craft, but this does a disservice to just how electric, wilful and weird an artist he truly is. This is a man who effected a rock revolution armed with limited musical elements, a monochromatic wardrobe and an ex-wife he pretended was his sister, and who tonight risks the ire of millennials by banning smartphones, to have thecrowd’s full attention. Doing things straight has never been a part of the plan. This explains his gonzo new album Boarding House Reach , which adds wild funk, offbeat gospel and, most unexpectedly, hip-hop to his palette and which, against fierce odds, mostly works. One of a handful of intimate gigs White is playing this week in Los Angeles, New York and London to celebrate the album’s release, tonight sees White debut a number of B...
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Cake review – Karachi sister act ditches melodrama for real

Asim Abbasi’s assured debut about a pair of siblings reunited around their father’s sickbed is richly realised Pakistani cinema has long struggled to match its Indian cousin’s commercial reach, but this impressive debut from Asim Abbasi feels like a sound bet, and even quietly revolutionary in places. Abbasi here revitalises a trope beloved of mawkish Bollywood melodrama – two thirtysomething sisters, reunited around an ailing father’s sickbed – by addressing the fallout with the deft, novelistic realism of a New Bollywood item such as Piku (2015). Uncommonly alert to small, telling details, while more expansive in its attitudes, the result proves far richer and worldlier than anything previously observed coming down the Khyber Pass. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IdrZXq
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Leslie Cheung’s suicide: how the King of Canto-pop’s death shook Hong Kong 15 years ago

“Pop star, actor and director Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing plunged to his death from the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Central in an apparent suicide last night,” ran the story in the South China Morning Post on April 2, 2003, reporting the Canto-pop star’s death 15 years ago. ‘Gor Gor’ fans mark anniversary of star’s death “Cheung, 46 – star of the hit 1993 movie Farewell My Concubine – fell from the 24th floor window of the hotel and was found... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2uwSAg8
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Life in post-war Hong Kong: a first-hand account by a famous Scottish author

Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, prolific Scottish author of travel accounts, memoirs, novels and stage plays – some of which were turned into successful films – was a house­hold name across the English-speaking world in the first half of the 20th century, yet he is almost completely forgotten today. Why Churchill didn’t want Hong Kong defended against Japanese, and how the colony survived wartime occupation Better known as Compton Mackenzie, most of his works... from South China Morning Post - Culture feed https://ift.tt/2GkYzdC
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