Cultural News Today

As a new season of TV’s paranoid satire Black Mirror is unveiled, its creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones talk ‘disrespectful’ chemistry, being grownup and why the show is not about tech During the recent school holidays, Charlie Brooker made a deal with his seven-year-old son. “I said, ‘Right, you’ve got these tests coming up’ (these stupid SAT things ),” he tells me. “I had a book of mock exams and I said, ‘If you do one of these every morning, half an hour, maths or English, then you can do whatever the fuck you want the rest of the day.’” Actually he didn’t swear, Brooker adds. And what did Brooker Jr want to do for the rest of the day? Play video games. He likes the ones where you create levels and customise characters, like Super Mario Maker . “If anything, he’s more into computer games than I am, which is a statement I didn’t think it was possible to utter,” his dad, 48, tells me, not unproudly. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WzmNYJ

From Sunset to Snail Mail, here’s our pick of the best films, concerts, exhibitions, theatre and dance over the next seven days Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2XkXXJm

Ava DuVernay pulls no punches in this urgent, astonishing retelling of an assault case that opened a window on injustice in America Director Ava DuVernay doesn’t spend long establishing the normality of the lives of young teenagers Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise and Raymond Santana. Where others might have chosen to insist upon it, she takes it as a given – as the boys did, before that fateful night in 1989 when they joined a crowd of other boys streaming to the park from Harlem and became, through a nightmarish concatenation of events, for ever subsumed under a collective identity. They are the Central Park Five. When They See Us is a dramatised account of how the five young boys came to be arrested, convicted and sentenced for raping and beating almost to death Trisha Meili – “the Central Park jogger” – a young white woman whose poor, battered body was found that same night. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/315UYqC

(On-U Sound Records) Producer Adrian Sherwood meets dub-reggae hero half way, with new tech to enhance Perry’s ideas – it’s a return to form For a while now, the annual Lee “Scratch” Perry album has seemed like a chore for everybody involved. The good bits usually came courtesy of Adrian Sherwood , the progressive dub reggae producer of four decades’ standing and a friend and collaborator of Perry’s for three of those. On Rainford, he brings a sense of control and confidence, providing the perfect environment for Perry to remind us why he was so special in the first place. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Wz9mbm

A remarkable memoir-diary about giving birth to premature twins is also a love letter to solidarity In October 2015, the novelist Francesca Segal met her 10-week premature twin daughters for the first time. The intensive care soundtrack was “a combination of control tower, server room and a busy canteen”. Her doll-sized daughters were too fragile for clothes so she found them naked, curled face down in oval nests of towels. When she peered at their faces, she saw little cloth hats and white Velcro sunglasses, their noses and mouths obscured by breathing masks and feeding tubes. For a few more days, their faces remained “a secret known only to each other” and she was unable to touch them. “They are half-beings in the half-light and in an instant my heart shatters, and I become half a mother, twice.” This is the reality of early motherhood for 100,000 women in the UK each year and it’s a story that, despite the recent plethora of literature about motherhood, has rarely been told by a

The star of The Office and The Mindy Project has defied typecasting by writing her own roles – and working very hard. She talks about Late Night, her new film with Emma Thompson, remaking Four Weddings, and her own real life rom-com “Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re doing it again, you’re insane! I love it! But you’re insane!” Mindy Kaling cackles when she spots me waiting for her in a central London hallway and points to my large pregnant stomach. Kaling and I first met when I interviewed her for her first very funny book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? in 2011. We then bumped into one another again in 2015 at the Cannes film festival, where she was promoting the Pixar film, Inside Out , and I was doing some interviews while pregnant. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WzmXzl

(Boy Better Know) Expectations are high after the Mercury-winning Konnichiwa, but Skepta’s flow ensures this follow up is a sensual pleasure Any rock band worth their leathers will at some point grandly declare that they will never record, tour, or speak to the bassist ever again after what happened in that sushi restaurant bathroom, but then reverse the decision a few years later. It channels one of music’s ancient energies: the comeback. Contentedly releasing an album every year doesn’t cut through the pop cultural noise – we want our stars to rise, fall so as to demonstrate their relatable humanity, and then rise again, in the neat three-act structure beloved of the recent rash of music biopics . But what happens after the comeback is complete? It’s a question faced by Skepta, the Tottenham rapper who, in 2016, completed perhaps the most iconic return in black British music. A withering battle MC who once destroyed an opponent with the none-so-vivid line “blow your nose you fucki

Transgender activists Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are set to be honored close to the location of the Stonewall uprising of which they were a part of in 1969 Over the past year, New York has seen big changes to its monuments – a controversial statue of J Marion Sims was torn down from Central Park after protests, while a new “anti-monument” paying tribute to Shirley Chisholm , the first black congresswoman, is slated to go up next summer in Brooklyn. This week, it was announced that transgender activists Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera will be remembered in a monument expected in 2021. Johnson and Rivera were key figures in New York’s gay liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and together they protested at the Stonewall uprising in 1969, which marks its 50th anniversary in June. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WBDEdx

Singer-songwriter, known for his Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley music, released 16 albums and retired in 2015 after health problems Singer-songwriter Leon Redbone has died at the age of 69. Redbone, known for Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley music, had retired in 2015 after health problems. Over his career, he released 16 full-length albums. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/30WCSXJ

Magician John Nevil Maskelyne captured the moon passing in front of the sun while in the US The first moving picture of a solar eclipse, captured by a British magician-turned-film-maker more than a century ago, has been rediscovered in the archive of the Royal Astronomical Society. The shaky footage, recorded by John Nevil Maskelyne using a specially-adapted camera, shows the moon passing in front of the sun while he was on a British Astronomical Association expedition to North Carolina in the United States. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HKxmjr

Firms refused to comment on filming in Northern Ireland where laws are stricter Netflix and Disney are threatening to pull film production in Georgia over the US state’s new abortion law – but neither company will comment on whether they will continue to make shows in Northern Ireland, where women face even more restrictions on their reproductive rights. Georgia’s proposed law, which has prompted a growing boycott from the entertainment industry and leading actors, will ban women from seeking an abortion after six weeks. By comparison, Northern Ireland’s longstanding ban on abortion is absolute from the moment of conception, with anyone obtaining an abortion theoretically facing life imprisonment . Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/30RCcDf

Among the new charges are four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, which carry maximum terms of 30 years in prison Prosecutors in Chicago have charged the R&B singer R Kelly with 11 new sexual crime counts, including some that carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The Chicago Sun-Times report ed that Cook county prosecutors filed the new charges against Kelly on Thursday. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2EJjy6V

In this unlikely comedy, a mother and son must find their way back to Essex after accidentally ending up in north Africa What does it say about the film industry that while Michael Fassbender has ended up in Hollywood, his equally compelling co-stars in Andrea Arnold’s breakthrough Fish Tank , Kierston Wareing and Katie Jarvis, have been left behind in EastEnders ’ Albert Square? Wareing, who had worked with Ken Loach (on 2007’s It’s a Free World … ) before Fish Tank, lands a starring role of sorts here, as a castrating mother in a scattershot comedy that sets out like a hybrid of Ray Cooney farce and Channel 4 reality show, and winds up making the most eccentric contribution yet to the recent wave of migration movies. Its heart remains broadly in the right place, yet there are points where you question just where its head is. I Love My Mum opens in Tilbury, with none-more-Essex lad Ron (Tommy French) involved in another contretemps with his mother, Wareing’s blowsy Olga. This one e

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The two leads shine as an angel and a demon facing down the apocalypse. But this adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s novel goes to hell when they’re not around In my heart I believe that Michael Sheen will never be better than he was as Liz Lemon’s “settling soulmate”, Wesley Snipes, in 30 Rock; a character who deserves to be lauded down the ages for the indescribable awfulness he created around a handful of zingers and a terrifying look of bright-eyed certainty. In the new Amazon miniseries Good Omens , as the soft, fluttery angel Aziraphale, he pulls off the feat of making goodness watchable and fun. Both Sheen and (a miraculously non-manic, given the potential of his part) David Tennant as the demon Crowley are wonderful in the six-part adaptation by Neil Gaiman of the much-loved fantasy novel he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett in 1990. Their chemistry is a joy, even if the banter they are given is often stale or overegged. (Crowley’s opening line is an uninventive riff

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The glaring feline who spooked audience members and horror-lovers with his performance in the 2019 Pet Sematary remake has died just over a month after the film’s release.Leo the Cat’s death was confirmed on Instagram late on Wednesday by animal trainer Kirk Jarrett, who adopted the fluffy Maine Coon shortly after filming wrapped on the Stephen King thriller.“It is with great sadness that we tell you that Leo has passed away,” Jarrett wrote on cat’s social media account, which boasts nearly 17… from South China Morning Post http://bit.ly/2Qy7JFq

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As a fourth-generation Chinese-American who grew up in Hawaii with many Asian role models around her, filmmaker, writer and director Robin Lung was surprised not to find more of them represented in books, films and on television.In her search for a strong Chinese female character, Lung stumbled upon the late Gladys Li Ling-ai, a fellow Hawaiian and second-generation Chinese woman who was born in the early 20th century.Li was a feisty self-promoter who was always photographed in Chinese outfits… from South China Morning Post http://bit.ly/2XiHGEG

Neil Dvorak’s Daily Cartoon reiterate’s Robert Mueller’s statement. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2W7TsAE

William Finnegan joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss Beto O’Rourke’s Presidential candidacy, and the challenge of finding a Democratic candidate to defeat Donald Trump in 2020. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2W4hHj4

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Stephania Taladrid writes about the photographer Graciela Iturbide’s images capturing the daily lives, the mores, and the remarkable diversity of Mexican people. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2KmyHir

Alex Ross writes about John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, a musical memorial to people who died from the AIDS epidemic that had its première at the Chicago Symphony, in 1990. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2WzpbPg

Troy Patterson reviews the new Netflix miniseries “When They See Us,” directed by Ava DuVernay, about the case of the Central Park Five. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2MjSMIL

John Cassidy writes on the recent parliamentary elections in Europe, which saw victories for the Greens and the centrist liberal-democrat bloc, which was strengthened by the presence of Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance alliance. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2XgSqmY

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Old Red Lion, London Emma Hemingford’s promising debut gets under the skin of a troubled relationship and refuses to take sides Emma Hemingford has written and co-stars in this promising debut play about a nervously cohabiting young couple. It’s a kind of angsty Private Lives for Generation Z and what it lacks in physical action it makes up for in its psychological acuity, showing two people bound together by a mix of ratty recrimination and fear of failure. Jess is a young actor, just out of drama school, living on hopes and dreams; her partner, Mark, is a City trader indifferent to the arts. But their relationship is marred by an incident in which, on the way back to their Bethnal Green flat, Mark flinched in the face of a potentially violent mugger. This blights the couple’s future life and underscores the fact that, in their aspirations and attitudes, they are marching to different rhythms. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Me29t9

★★★★☆ / ★★ ☆ ☆ ☆ Theatre by the Lake, Keswick Charlotte Keatley’s 1987 work about mothers and daughters is a wonderful gesture of empathy, while a staging of the Ealing black comedy fails to find the funny Charlotte Keatley has an acute ear for the way mothers talk to daughters – and how daughters respond. Straddling four generations, yet structured as if time doesn’t exist, My Mother Said I Never Should is brilliant in its observational detail. It captures every subtextual nuance in the conversations of those mothers who can’t stop parenting and the children who can’t stop answering back. But what her 1987 play also shows is how we are all products of historical circumstance. It isn’t temperament that embitters a woman who sacrificed everything to survive the war; nor is it a personality quirk that confounds a woman who was brought up to be a housewife when economics compel her to get a job. Their experiences made them that way. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian ht

Jason Adam Katzenstein’s Daily Cartoon will begin proceedings as soon as it’s politically tenable. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2HMDoAh

Mary Norris on the grammatical and political debate over whether “woman” should be used as an adjective, rather than “female.” from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2QIlD8d

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Sherrie Silver, who was behind acclaimed video This is America, launches virtual dance ‘petition’ to promote investment in farming She made a name for herself as the choreographer behind one of the most controversial yet critically acclaimed music videos of last year. Now Sherrie Silver , the creative force behind the dance moves in Childish Gambino ’s This Is America, is using her success to drive a social media campaign promoting investment in young people in rural Africa. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2QvuMRb

Sacha Gervasi, the director of Hitchcock and Anvil!, is attached to write and direct a film about the life of the Culture Club frontman A movie about the life and career of Culture Club frontman Boy George is in the works at MGM. No cast is yet attached but the director, Sacha Gervasi – whose previous subjects include Alfred Hitchcock and heavy metal band Anvil – is set to write and direct. The film will trace the singer’s life from his childhood in Woolwich, south-east London, with his Irish parents and four siblings, to his rise during the New Romantic era of pop in London, aided and dressed by Malcolm McLaren. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2EKmdNJ

Streaming firm says increases will let it spend more on shows as it looks to see off Disney+ Netflix is to raise prices for UK subscribers by up to 20% as it looks to invest more in programmes ahead of the arrival of deep-pocketed rival Disney’s eagerly anticipated service later this year. The streaming company, which has not raised prices in the UK since 2017, is increasing the cost of a standard plan by £1 to £8.99 and premium by £2 to £11.99. The price of a basic plan remains unchanged at £5.99. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2wpUZaE

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The new exhibition “Habitat” is a whimsical, art-filled lesson on ecosystems and how they work from Arts & Culture | Smithsonian http://bit.ly/2MsOLS2

Marc Burrows discovered Bill Gates interview in which the writer warned of ‘parity of esteem’ given to stories published on the net In 1995, the internet was a world of dial-up connections and Usenet newsgroups, but according to his biographer, Terry Pratchett had already “accurately predicted how the internet would propagate and legitimise fake news”. Marc Burrows was digging through old cuttings about the late Discworld author for his forthcoming biography when he came across an interview Pratchett had done with Microsoft founder Bill Gates in July 1995, for GQ. “Let’s say I call myself the Institute for Something-or-other and I decide to promote a spurious treatise saying the Jews were entirely responsible for the second world war and the Holocaust didn’t happen,” said Pratchett, almost 25 years ago. “And it goes out there on the internet and is available on the same terms as any piece of historical research which has undergone peer review and so on. There’s a kind of parity of es

People of African heritage are an integral part of the cultural life of Paris, though it is a side of the French capital many tourists never see. Jacqueline Ngo Mpii, author of a guide to exploring African culture in Paris, is hoping to change that. from http://bit.ly/2Wxb3WM

Ahead of the release of the Boss’s latest album, Western Stars, we rate all 18 of his studio albums to date Old songs, covers, revivals of old covers. It seemed as though, on his 18th studio album , Bruce Springsteen was, for the first time, casting around for inspiration. It’s not bad – no Springsteen album is genuinely bad – but it did seem more of a shrug than a statement. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WBPuUS

Pottermore Publishing due to release non-fiction ebooks, modelled on the curriculum followed by Harry Potter Harry Potter fans are due to be given new insight into the “rich history” of JK Rowling’s wizarding world in a new series of four short books exploring the origins of magic. Rowling’s Pottermore Publishing will release four ebooks next month, “bitesize” non-fiction that the publisher said will explore “the traditional folklore and magic at the heart of the Harry Potter stories”. Each is themed on a subject on the Hogwarts curriculum, with A Journey Through Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts, A Journey Through Potions and Herbology, A Journey Through Divination and Astronomy, and A Journey Through Care of Magical Creatures all on the way. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2wuktDI

Wenlock Books in Shropshire and Camden Lock Books in London are set to close, with owners citing business rates and online competition Wenlock Books , an award-winning independent bookshop that has served readers in the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock since 1991, is being forced to close, with the owner placing the blame squarely on the rise of Amazon. Anna Dreda, who won independent bookseller of the year in 2006 and founded the Wenlock poetry festival , said the decision to close had been “very, very difficult” because she has “just adored being here in the high street in my beautiful shop making wonderful connections with my customers”. But a combination of serious illness, an increasingly quiet high street and customers’ preference for online shopping are forcing her to close her doors by the end of June. Dreda has worked at the shop since 1991, and took over from the previous owner in 2003. A review of the shop in the Guardian in 2005 called it “nothing short of a gem”. Contin

Meet the mean girl of Booksmart and the good girl from Ma . from Culture - ELLE http://bit.ly/2YX4iLm

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Exploring the physical and mental scars of years behind bars, Bassam Jarbawi's film "Mafak", or Screwdriver, opens this year's Palestinian Film Festival in Paris. The director told us more about the metaphorical weight of incarceration in the Occupied Territories, while the film's producer, Yasmine Qaddumi, touched on the challenges of getting the début feature shot and released. from http://bit.ly/2KlX6oj

Louisa Thomas on the Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard, his performance in Game Five of the N.B.A. Eastern Conference Finals, and the Raptors’ matchup with the Golden State Warriors in the N.B.A Finals. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2wtZX6k

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Freed from Game of Thrones and waging eco-terror in the new monster flick, cinema’s go-to bad aristo talks about turning down 007 and paparazzi ambushes Charles Dance is 15 minutes late. “London, yer know?” says the 72-year-old actor through a mouthful of pastry. His friends call him “Charlie” and Americans call him “Chuck”, though for his mother there was never any ambiguity. “‘His name’s Charles,’ she’d say. She ’ad a few ideas above ’er station.” The voice is rougher and more gor-blimey than the one to which audiences are accustomed, as well as friendlier and less imposing. His thinning hair, formerly red and now sand-coloured, is swept back, and he is wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt over a white T-shirt. The silver bracelet halfway up his forearm could pass for memorabilia from Game of Thrones , in which he played Tywin Lannister , shot by his own son with a crossbow while on the loo. Any confusion between the upper-class roles in which Dance has specialised throughout his 35-

Ridley Scott has announced his intention to make a third Alien prequel. When will he and sci-fi’s other great auteurs learn to leave their franchises alone? If a film-maker sets out on a new project with the best of intentions, is it really fair for fans to criticise them when the result of their endeavours ends up the most rotten of eggs? Last week in this column , I asked whether, 20 years after the execrable Phantom Menace was first shown in cinemas, it might be time to forgive George Lucas. As recently as 2015, the Star Wars film-maker was still defending himself in public against critics of his second Star Wars trilogy, aghast that he should be subjected to such vilification when all he had ever wanted to do was make films. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2QB7r0z

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Nahiza Arebi’s visually arresting documentary focuses on the courage of the country’s fledgling national women’s team Where Hollywood opted for facile gender-flipping in its recent Ocean’s 11 remake , it could have been more adventurous in search of meaningful #TimesUp -era material. This superbly made, stirring documentary introduces us to what you might call Fadwa’s 11 – the fledging Libyan women’s football team. And there’s something of the heist about the clandestine training sessions they are forced to organise in the face of Islamists trying to brandish the red card. In the film’s desperate final act, as the near-disbanded team fight to attend a showcase international tournament in Lebanon, it even starts to feel like one-last-job territory. The women’s courage and perseverance, as well as their enormous potential symbolic impact for Arab society, shows up Hollywood hashtag feminism for what it is. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WgQYEL

Bournemouth International Centre Casting himself as a taboo breaker for his Netflix show Supernature, the cacklesome comic delivers a squarely liberal-baiting set ‘That’s not going in … That won’t make it in ... ” Ricky Gervais’s new standup set Supernature has already been bought by Netflix, we’re told in a characteristic bout of boasting at the start of the show. But will any of tonight’s material make it to the broadcast? Such is the line Gervais treads in this 70-minute standup set, now trumpeting his commercial credentials, now casting himself as a taboo breaker too hot for the mainstream to handle. Well, perhaps – if by mainstream we are to exclude the countless newspapers, chatshows and middle-aged male standup sets in which Gervais’s retro perspective on paedophiles, fat people and female comedians would feel perfectly at home. Gervais’s comedy draws fuel from the idea that we’re “not allowed” to say certain things any more. That everyone has a hair trigger, just waiting to b

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Kashana Cauley imagines a humorous list of events and occurrences that Democrats must be waiting for before they impeach Donald Trump. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2Kc0P7D

Thirteen years after it was abruptly cancelled, David Milch’s grimy, glorious western finally gets the ending it deserves. Take note, Game of Thrones! The moral panic caused by the Game of Thrones finale was a reminder that your biggest fan can turn Rupert Pupkin if they think you didn’t quite nail the landing. Whatever misgivings you may have had about The Iron Throne , at least the show delivered a grandstand finish. The 2006 finale of HBO’s Deadwood can barely be called that. A show abruptly cancelled after its third season was completed, its swansong fell flat with character arcs terminated in mid flight and a whole world of possibilities unexplored. Set in the historic lawless mining camp in the Black Hills gold rush of the 1870s, Deadwood melded profanity and poetry like no TV show before, reimagining the historic figures of the town in a bloody, grimy revisionist western that felt resolutely arthouse from its first shot to its last. It deserved better and now Deadwood: The Mov

Ma Jian spent five weeks with protesters in the Beijing square before the massacre 30 years ago. He remembers those who died for their beliefs As a child in the dark days of the Cultural Revolution , I dreamed of being a painter. My art teacher warned me that paintings could land a person behind bars, especially portraits, and advised me to stick to anodyne landscapes. In my 20s, after Mao died in 1976 and Deng Xiaoping rose to power, I moved to Beijing. The country was opening up at last. During the day, I took photographs for a state-run magazine; in the evenings I painted sombre impressionist visions of deserted streets, which I hung on the walls and ceiling of my one-room shack. Dissident scholars and writers would gather at my home to drink beer and discuss the latest translations of Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges or Claude Simon. We relished the small freedoms granted to us, but wanted more. We read Allen Ginsberg’s Howl , and longed for the day when we too could sing out

Marlene Dietrich’s iconic cabaret singer is as mesmeric as ever in Josef von Sternberg’s tale of a teacher’s foolhardy infatuation In 1930, Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich became pioneers of movie sexuality with The Blue Angel, now on rerelease. It was the first full-length German talking picture, and it fused the erotic and economic dimensions of “Weimar sexuality” in all its decadence and despair. It was directed by Von Sternberg and written by him with dramatist Carl Zuckmayer and others, adapting Professor Unrat, the 1905 novel by Heinrich Mann. Dietrich is Lola, the alluring cabaret singer at a sleazy nightclub called The Blue Angel, and Emil Jannings plays Professor Immanuel Rath, the pompous but poignantly lonely middle-aged schoolmaster who is outraged to find smutty postcards of Lola in his pupils’ possession, storms into her dressing room to confront her and falls under her mischievous, sensuous spell. His motives for showing up at this den of iniquity had been of

A Savage Dreamland: Journeys in Burmaby David EimerBloomsbury3.5/5 starsMyanmar was a little-visited country until a decade ago, struggling under a military dictatorship that had curtailed individual freedoms, stunted economic development and made the Southeast Asian nation an international pariah.Then, in 2010, the junta loosened its grip on power, allowing parliamentary elections for the first time in decades. Later that year, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest, an… from South China Morning Post http://bit.ly/2Kd0ly1

Bionic Showgirl is a risqué cabaret show opening soon at Paris's iconic Crazy Horse cabaret. Its star performer, Viktoria Modesta, has had her leg amputated just below the knee. Through embracing art in all its forms she challenges preconceived ideas about femininity, sexuality and disability. She joins us on set alongside the show's creative director, Andrée Deissenberg. from http://bit.ly/2IbGfl6

They have been called ‘worse than Nazis’ for their abortion-clinic comedy. But for Roni Geva and Margaret Katch, the hate pales beside the outpouring of gratitude The makers of Ctrl Alt Delete like to say it’s a typical workplace comedy. “But not your typical workplace,” says co-creator Roni Geva. “Do you come here often?” jokes a woman in the abortion clinic waiting room in the first episode, and from that moment they’re off – in short snappy episodes, the laughs come fast in this pro-choice comedy. At a time when the debate around abortion in the US is reaching vitriolic and absurd levels – see last month when President Trump said women were giving birth and then deciding, with their doctor, whether to “execute” the baby , and the number of states seeking to restrict abortions, including Alabama’s ban last week – it seems right for a different, more humorous and human, approach. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Il5FNx

Angry reaction to story of victims’ lives is extraordinary, says Hallie Rubenhold A historian who has told the true story of Jack the Ripper’s victims has spoken of the “offensive”, “stupid” and almost “laughable” trolling she has received from Ripperologists. Hallie Rubenhold said she had even been compared to Holocaust denier David Irving for her book, in which she challenges the traditional narrative that the murdered women were all sex workers. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2I7ahq9

Once his songs of loneliness and shyness made him a hero to misfits and outsiders. Yet now he is voicing his support for a far-right party It was once a hearing aid, or a swinging bunch of gladioli. In the 80s Morrissey had a unique way with stage props – let’s face it, he had a unique way with everything – utilising them to upend the macho cliche of live performance while offering solidarity to the marginalised. These days, however, Morrissey prefers a different kind of onstage provocation. During a recent performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (and at a number of live shows in New York), the former Smiths singer sported a For Britain badge. For those unfamiliar with it, For Britain is a far-right political party . Even Nigel Farage believes it is made up of “Nazis and racists”. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2JIMuAl

Revealing the five books in contention for the inaugural prize, Keyes hit out at the internalised sexism leading readers to assume women can’t write comedy Bestselling novelist Marian Keyes has railed against the sexist attitude that “people don’t expect women to be funny” as she announced the shortlist for the inaugural Comedy women in print prize. The £2,000 award was founded by the comedian, writer and actor Helen Lederer last year, after Keyes slammed the “sexist imbalance” of the Wodehouse prize for comic fiction. The Wodehouse is the UK’s only prize for funny writing, and has been won by four women in 19 years. Keyes, part of a judging panel for the CWIP that also features comedians Katy Brand and Shazia Mirza, said that “we are all so steeped in internalised sexism that we’re not even aware that it’s there”. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2QvNFnc

‘Not knowing if anyone would walk in gave me energy and inspired my powerful stance’ On a trip through Jiangxi province in south-east China two years ago, my friend and I were wandering around one of the area’s many small villages. It was tiny and empty apart from a few old men and women sitting in front of their houses. There was a single street which all the doors of the village opened on to. One had a normal black door with a sign above it that said something like “club” or “meeting hall”. It was the only indication of it being non-residential, so I pushed it open. We found an empty theatre with two raised stages. Chairs were stacked on one and on the other was this set: two chairs and a table, draped in red fabric. I instantly knew I had to take a photograph. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2JMAcH7

Band argue that game ‘is attempting to trade off on Iron Maiden’s notoriety’ and is confusing customers Iron Maiden are suing video game company 3D Realms over the game Ion Maiden , which they describe as an “incredibly blatant” infringement on their trademark. The lawsuit, which demands $2m (£1.58m) in damages, argues that the game’s title will cause “confusion among consumers”, “is nearly identical to the Iron Maiden trademark in appearance, sound and overall commercial impression”, and “is attempting to trade off on Iron Maiden’s notoriety”. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VW4Yid

The veteran film-maker races to the bottom with an astonishingly amateurish crime thriller that bores, frustrates and bewilders in equal measure There are a number of reasons why the hollow new thriller Domino is a tough watch. Firstly, it’s inarguably dull, an 81-minute film that’s somehow still plagued with a lumbering pace. Secondly, it’s amateurishly made, devoid of any distinguishable style and at times even a base level of craftsmanship. Finally, and this is where it really stings, it’s directed by the veteran film-maker Brian De Palma. We’ve not yet reached the midpoint of 2019 but it’s hard to imagine the cinematic year including a more unintentionally depressing experience than watching a once great director sleepwalk his way through a film so crushingly irrelevant it’s almost worth ignoring its very existence. Related: The Perfection review – gory Netflix horror offers imperfect intrigue Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2XfoNma

A quest to find unity among African Europeans introduces a singular new voice and reveals an unseen continent The term “Afropean”, Johny Pitts writes at the beginning of this beguiling book, “encouraged me to think of myself as whole and unhyphenated ... Here was a space where blackness was taking part in shaping European identity at large. It suggested the possibility of living in and with more than one idea: Africa and Europe, or, by extension, the Global South and the West, without being mixed-this, half-that or black-other. That being black in Europe didn’t necessarily mean being an immigrant.” Pitts is right that labels “are invariably problematic”. None of my black friends will identify as English. They shudder at the thought, preferring British. “English” for them is an exclusive label, previously denied to them and that will never be rid of its toxic associations. It’s British for now, then, but perhaps in the future “Afropean” will prove a better fit. Continue reading...

A bleak, bold saga of a desperately poor family in 20th-century France Bleak is the word. If EM Cioran, the great Romanian philosopher of the bleak, had been a novelist, Animalia is the kind of novel he would have produced. Published by the courageous Fitzcarraldo, this won’t make it on to a list of beach reads. But it is likely to be hailed as a modern classic. You can’t have everything. Jean-Baptiste Del Amo has published four novels in his native France. Animalia is the first to appear in English, in a translation by Frank Wynne, whose unenviable task it has been to take Del Amo’s original, Règne Animal , and to capture and convey something of its full throttle, bold, dark profundity. He has triumphantly succeeded: Animalia in English has a truly savage quality, all blood and stench and despair. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2wu2RrA

The N.R.A. Foundation faces potential regulatory problems for not disclosing its financial support for the Christian organization Youth for Tomorrow, Mike Spies writes. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2WA9Wpa

Jiayang Fan writes about the College Board’s new adversity index, which gives context to standardized-test scores with socioeconomic data, and the challenges of meritocratic college admissions. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2MjfUXH

Tate Britain, London He is up there with Turner, Rothko and Pollock. This magnificent show, which swings from joyous foam-filled works to serious meditations about slavery, is long overdue Why hasn’t 85-year-old Frank Bowling been honoured with lots of big museum shows before now? Born in 1934, in what was then British Guiana, he studied at the Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney and Patrick Caulfield . Yet many of his 1960s paintings were so undervalued they have long since vanished, including a self-portrait as Othello. Bowling’s neglect, however, is not just because he is black. It also has to do with the deeply unfashionable character of his painting for much of his career. His sin was to be an abstract expressionist in the wrong time and place. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/30VbSbi

As a greying Linda Hamilton dusts off the rocket launcher to take on a new Terminator, we look at how the cowering victims of 70s horror paved the way for today’s grizzled gunslingers T he trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate hinges on the return of Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor to the franchise. Halfway into it, she steps from an SUV with not one but two guns so big that the trailer slips into slow-mo in sheer awe. “Who are you?” another character gasps. Sixty-two year old women don’t usually get to be action stars. It’s common for guys like Clint Eastwood , Bruce Willis , Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger to tote firearms and perform stunts into their 50s, 60s, even 70s. But women in action films are typically younger than their co-stars, often by decades. In last year’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout , Tom Cruise was 55; female lead Rebecca Ferguson was 35. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2K9vORK

Francis Ford Coppola’s wildly ambitious take on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness premiered at the Cannes film festival 40 years ago – and won the Palme d’Or. Next month, recently discovered on-set photographs by Chas Gerretsen will be shown for the first time at KINO Rotterdam Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2EHrsO2

After 13-year-old Theo's mother is killed in a bombing at New York's Metropolitan Museum, his life is thrown dramatically off kilter, and the choices he makes in the aftermath set off a chain of events that will follow him through his teenage years and into adulthood. Directed by John Crowley, The Goldfinch is based Donna Tartt 's Pulitzer prize-winning novel from 2013, and stars Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson and Jeffrey Wright  • Clipped wings: the tragic true story of The Goldfinch Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2EJJwHo

The Broadway powerhouse talks about trusting Sondheim, hearing others sing her songs and waiting to be taken seriously Cafe Luxembourg, the closet-sized New York bistro Bernadette Peters chooses for our lunch, opened in 1983 and seems almost unchanged. That also goes for Peters, although she has been in business longer. As a child actor, she made her New York debut more than 60 years ago in a revival of The Most Happy Fella and has rarely been off the stage or screen since. A gift to musical comedy, in some very dishy wrapping, she synthesises sex, sophistication and emotional nuance. Has another Broadway baby made it to the cover of Playboy? “Just Ethel Merman,” she quips. At 71, she looks enviably young, in a way that suggests an unholy pact and/or a virtuoso dermatologist. (Her explanation? Good genes.) On the Cafe Luxembourg computer, the reservationist has placed a star next to her name and, really, who wouldn’t? Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2

Wyndhams, London Kenneth Lonergan’s tale of astronomy and midlife misery makes fine use of an A-list cast but never truly explodes into life With Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern heading the cast, this feels more like The Starry Vehicle. But, although Kenneth Lonergan has written superb screenplays such as Manchester By the Sea , and his 10-year-old play is wryly observant, it is too discursive to make great drama. Mark, its 52-year-old hero, who lectures at New York’s Hayden Planetarium but feels he has missed his vocation as an astronomer, occasionally reminded me of Uncle Vanya without the rich sense of life that accompanies the Chekhovian consciousness of failure. Lonergan interweaves a number of stories. The main one concerns Mark’s thwarted dreams and awareness of the gulf between his dull domestic existence and professional preoccupation with the cosmos. But we also follow the fate of his lover, a Puerto Rican single mum who acts as weekend nurse to a testy cancer

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On Wednesday, the special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his first public statement about President Donald Trump and the Russia investigation. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2JNtQaq

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Andy Borowitz satirizes the special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and President Trump’s reaction to the idea that people should read it. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2MgmHkO

Elisabeth Zerofsky writes about the results of the elections for European Parliament and the far right’s prospects in Austria. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2wvtr3u

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John Cassidy writes about the special counsel Robert Mueller’s public remarks at the Department of Justice on Wednesday, in which he reiterated the findings of the report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2YWEtei

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Eric Lach writes on Robert Mueller’s statement, on Wednesday—his first public remarks since being appointed the special counsel, in 2017—that reiterated the key points of his investigative report. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2QyZDfW

Little Angel theatre, London A hard-to-stomach character with a horrible voice and a nasty catchphrase leaves little for kids to latch on to in this loud, brash production There’s a buzz in the theatre and the children in the audience, including Ceci (aged three), hold their breath. When will the Slightly Annoying Elephant – pulled straight from David Walliams ’s bestselling picture book – arrive in young Sam’s living room? The anticipation builds and – finally! – the elephant arrives. But let’s just name the elephant in the room, shall we? This one is a bit of a disappointment. Just like Tony Ross’s original illustrations, the elephant in question is very bright and very blue. Ceci can just about handle that. In fact, the wacky colour choice makes her giggle. But there’s something about this elephant, designed with broad-brush sweeps by Ingrid Hu, that doesn’t convince. Crucially (and this will come as no great surprise), the elephant is really very big. Too big, perhaps, for the L

Isaac Chotiner interviews the historian Adam Tooze, author of “Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed The World,” on Matteo Salvini and Italy’s right-wing turn, and the reasons behind the success of European Green parties. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2Ww9ybh

Hollywood told her she could only do comedy. With When They See Us and Claws , she's proving she can do it all. from Culture - ELLE http://bit.ly/2I6XTqa

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Kimberly Harrington and Carolita Johnson humorously imagine answers to the question “Is your dog friendly?” that could also apply to dog owners. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2QwitnG

The Oscar winner devours her role as a lonely woman preying on a group of teenagers in a patchy yet mostly entertaining cross between Carrie and Misery There’s a great deal of fun to be had hanging out with Ma, a nasty yet surprisingly empathetic slab of exploitation with more than just carnage on its mind. There are shades of early 90s psycho thrillers , of the Single White Female/Hand That Rocks the Cradle mould, as well as echoes of Misery and Carrie, a film that follows a well-beaten path yet does so proficiently, a B-movie made with mostly A-grade skill. Related: Godzilla: King of the Monsters review – sound, fury and stupidity Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HIxH6n

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Nick Bostrom asks, Will we engineer our own extinction? from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2QtRtp1

Louisa Thomas on the Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, who is currently looking to defend her French Open title. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2JMZwg6

Lars Kenseth’s Daily Cartoon follows the European elections. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2VXzvMP

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The augmented-reality giant is promising to turn shuteye into entertainment but experts aren’t convinced about the gamification of sleep Having swept the world of augmented reality with Pokémon Go , Pikachu et al are about to augment the reality of our pillows with the Pokémon Company’s new game. Due to launch next year, Pokémon Sleep will make use of a Fitbit-style sleep-tracking device on a wrist strap that communicates with your phone via Bluetooth. The game promises to “turn sleeping into entertainment”, rewarding players for maintaining “good sleep habits as part of a healthy lifestyle”. The finer points of gameplay are not yet known, but it will connect with Pokémon Go, which is to say that those baffling obsessives who have kept up with the game since it launched in 2016, crashing into trees, buildings, cop cars and foreign borders in tens of thousands of recorded accidents , will now even be playing in their dreams. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bi

The immersive film team are dusting off the martini shakers and tight blue trunks to mount a Casino Royale experience. But which 007 movies might have made for more pressing engagements? When it comes to de luxe site-specific film screenings with steeply priced cocktail menus, nobody does it better than Secret Cinema. So it was only a matter of time before the pre-eminent curator of immersive movie experiences would tackle the world’s most famous agent provocateur. Its imminent Bond summer blockbuster will be a Casino Royale experience at a classified London location, promising glamour, intrigue and colour-coded murder-mystery party-style interactions. But after building an entire 1950s US town square and a frozen Rebel base – as Secret Cinema previously for its Back to the Future and Empire Strikes Back events – hosting a casino-themed VIP martini party almost seems a little vanilla. Daniel Craig’s glowering debut as 007 might strike a useful note of artistic self-seriousness but

Blondie singer says she was initially reluctant to write memoir but is already considering a second volume Debbie Harry, who became an icon as the frontwoman of Blondie, has announced her first autobiography. Face It will recount Blondie’s rise in New York, when the band drew together the three great music styles of the city in the late 1970s – punk, disco and rap – into their own brand of supremely successful pop. A mix of Harry-penned essays and interviews with journalist Sylvie Simmons, Face It will also feature unseen photos alongside art from fans. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HKb0P9

Eric Lach writes about a statement by the special counsel Robert Mueller about his investigation into Donald Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2W8YnpL

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Collars, car keys, poly bags – they’ve all made it into Frank Bowling’s gorgeously colourful paintings. We meet the Guyana-born painter who is finally receiving his dues Put something down in Frank Bowling’s studio and it could easily end up embedded in one of his vast paintings. Bangles, cigarette lighters, even his wife’s car keys – all have suffered this fate. So I am on my guard when I drop by his workplace in south London. And indeed, one of the first things he shows me is his latest painting: an exuberant seven-metre work-in-progress in which yellow, red and gold ripple out from two hemispheres. It’s decorated with scraps of a dress belonging to his grandson’s girlfriend – although, to be fair, the dress was offered rather than swallowed up by one of his vats of paint, as the car keys were. “She walked in with a dress she had made in Africa,” says the Guyana-born artist, “and she didn’t like it so we tore it up.” He points up at the work and says: “That black there across the m

Watch Live: Robert Mueller Makes a Statement on President Trump and the Russia Investigation from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2W1zxmx

Claude Lelouch has pulled off quite a feat for his latest film as he reunites Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant from "A Man and a Woman" more than 50 years after they made the Palme d'Or-winning film. Also, director Pedro Almodovar takes a bittersweet look back at an artistic life in the autobiographical "Pain and Glory"; film critic Lisa Nesselson tells us why Antonio Banderas’ performance deserved the best actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival. from http://bit.ly/30OGKtW

Lyttelton, London Allam shines as the tyrannical capitalist patriarch at the heart of Githa Sowerby’s powerful story of a society in transition It has been exactly 25 years since a National Theatre revival put Githa Sowerby ’s play back on the theatrical map. Written in 1912, it is now firmly established not just as a landmark of Edwardian feminism but as one of the most durable plays of the last century, comparable to the best of Harley Granville-Barker and DH Lawrence . Though I have a few cavils about Polly Findlay’s new production, it still makes a powerful impact thanks, in no small part, to Roger Allam . Seeing the play again, I am struck by Sowerby’s synthesis of socialism and feminism. Her protagonist, John Rutherford, is the patriarchal owner of a Northumbrian glassworks whose world is crumbling and who succeeds, in the play, at alienating all of his family. One son, John Jr, is cheated out of an invention that may save the tottering firm. Another, Richard, is a despised cle

PC; Blue Manchu/Humble Bundle Graphic novels and classic anime provide the inspiration for this frenzied and spectacularly smart survival shooter In space, no one can hear you make catastrophic decisions – and in Void Bastards, you will make plenty. This is a first-person shooter where shooting is often a last resort. Mostly, you’re weighing up the possibilities: can you make it to that alluring loot before your oxygen runs out? Do you have enough food to see you through the next two scavenging missions? What should you take with you: a Clusterfrak grenade launcher or a cute Kittybot to distract foes? One lesson you learn very quickly is that the universe is cruel. And also hilarious. What hits you immediately is the cel-shaded visual style and twisted humour. The grungy spaceship interiors and bizarre enemies all call to mind the 80s comic-book pomp of 2000AD , while the weird items and your plummy-voiced AI advisor owe a great debt to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. You’ve b

Olivia Wilde is on a quest to help victims of violence in this tough, tense tale imbued with a commendable naturalism The American writer-director Sarah Daggar-Nickson makes a seriously impressive debut here with her feminist domestic-abuse revenge fantasy featuring a lean performance by Olivia Wilde as Sadie, a lone-wolf vigilante who helps mostly female victims of abuse to escape using considerable force and asking for nothing in return but a little cash or food. It’s tough, tense movie with a couple of bone-snappingly violent moments, but critically it dials down the exploitation. You don’t have to sit through gratuitous assaults on women. This is a film rich with the texture of real life, shot in cold, grey wintry upstate New York where business is booming for Sadie. Disguised in a blond wig she poses as an insurance rep at the home of a controlling husband – a scary guy with ramrod posture wearing a crisp, creaseless white shirt. After a few minutes with Sadie, the shirt is co

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Lewis Capaldi, rappers Dave and Octavian and the Proclaimers among the acts joining headliners Stormzy, the Killers and the Cure The Glastonbury organisers have announced the full lineup and stage times for this year’s festival. Among the names joining the bill are UK chart-topper Lewis Capaldi, UK rappers Dave and Octavian and Scottish cult heroes the Proclaimers. Stormzy, the Killers and the Cure will headline this year’s festival, which takes place from 26-30 June. Headlining the Other stage are Tame Impala, Chemical Brothers and Christine and the Queens, while Jon Hopkins, Wu-Tang Clan and Janelle Monáe helm the West Holts stage. Atop the John Peel stage are Interpol and the Streets with one more act tbc, while Cat Power, Hot Chip and Rex Orange County lead on the Park stage. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2IawwvE

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The speeches of a young climate crisis activist who inspired global school strikes are sobering but tentatively hopeful In 1791, a tall, good-looking ex-naval officer called Richard Brothers claimed to hear the voice of an angel predicting God’s imminent destruction of London. In the same year, William Bryan – a Bristolian with mellifluous voice and “clear and gentle” eyes – prophesied the overturn of global monarchies, followed a few years later by the “fall” of Bristol, and an earthquake in which London would “burn like an oven”. Their critics accused Brothers and Bryan of “enthusiasm”, of falsely believing they were acting under divine inspiration. Satirists aligned them with the bloodiest of French revolutionaries. They seemed to exhibit the same disrespect for established social hierarchies, the same untamed emotions, the same wild eyes, torn clothes and dangerously unkempt appearance. Judging by the criticism levelled at Greta Thunberg – the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist

This breathtaking series throws us right into the hellish chaos of the nuclear disaster – and its terrors are unflinching and unforgettable After three of its five episodes aired, the miniseries Chernobyl found its way to the top of IMDB’s top 250 TV shows in history list. While the fan-voted chart might seem hyperbolic, given that the drama had only just crossed the halfway point, it is not undeserving of the honour. Chernobyl is masterful television, as stunning as it is gripping, and it is relentless in its awful tension, refusing to let go even for a second. That old ‘don’t spoil the ending’ joke about Titanic will inevitably be rebooted here, but it is confident enough to withstand any familiarity with the story. Related: Jared Harris: My wife can't believe how I keep getting bumped off! Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Xj8HrS

Barbican, London Dynamic paintings that fizz and fascinate rescue the endlessly surprising artist from her husband Jackson Pollock’s shadow in this thrilling major retrospective The bodies bulking their way out of the confines of the painting are either too big for the work, or we are too close. Buttocks, breasts, big feet. Something pendulous, like a testicle, a black smear of pubic hair, maybe an eye. It is hard to tell. Lee Krasner’s 1956 Prophesy was painted the year her relationship to Jackson Pollock was breaking down, and she said that it disturbed her. Pollock encouraged her to keep going. She left the painting on her easel when she took a trip to France, alone. While she was away Pollock wrapped the car he was driving around a tree, killing both himself and one of his two female passengers. Does it always have to be about Pollock? That he overshadowed Krasner, both in life and death, is inescapable. When Krasner met Pollock in 1941, she was already developing a significant

There’s plenty of Office-style, cringe-worthy humour in Jim Cummings’ comedy, but it’s hard to care about his hapless hero A southern cop goes excruciatingly and hilariously off-script giving the eulogy at his mother’s funeral in the opening scene of actor-writer-director Jim Cummings ’ offbeat indie comedy. Standing in front of the coffin in his police uniform, gulping back big showy tears, he speaks briefly about his mom’s kindness before rambling on about himself. Finally, he launches into an interpretive dance accompanying her favourite Bruce Springsteen song, Thunder Road – except the boombox isn’t working, so he gives audio commentary as he lets rip with the abandon of a four-year-old performing Let It Go from Frozen. The film, adapted from a short Cummings made in 2015, has won plenty of praise, and it hits the cringe-worthy highs of The Office in scenes like this. But I couldn’t buy into the affection for its self-involved hero. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guard

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Madeleine Trebenski imagines a satirical manual for an evil at-home fitness mirror, from which a user can stream workouts and satanic rituals. from Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews http://bit.ly/2MdbqBX

Budding Chinese science fiction writer Zhou Wen could not believe it when George R.R. Martin mentioned her name in a Twitter post last month. She is a big fan of the author, whose fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire was adapted to make the hit HBO TV series Game of Thrones.In his post, the author named Zhou as the winner of this year’s Terran Prize, which is sponsored by Martin, which gives her a scholarship to take part in this year’s Taos Toolbox workshop in the US state of New Mexico… from South China Morning Post http://bit.ly/2JK0v0p

How do you build the perfect town? You send for Public Practice, the architecture initiative shaking up our streets for the greater good “Developers keep looking at me as if I’m a total nutter,” says Ione Braddick. “I’ve got into the habit of asking them if people would feel joy when walking around their developments. I ask them to think, ‘Is this going to be a joyous place?’” Braddick is an urban design officer at Epping Forest council in Essex and her nuttiness is important. Her question is one that is rarely asked in the making of new places, when the forces of finance often trump any interest in the quality of the streets, buildings and spaces being created. And it is particularly crucial in this part of Essex, where a new “garden town” of 10,000 homes is currently being planned around Harlow – a scale of new development not seen there for a generation. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Wt5PLH

From Great Expectations’s Pip and Estella to My Brilliant Friend’s Elena and Lina, these volatile years have inspired many brilliant novels No wonder adolescent years are such fertile ground for novelists. It is one of those times when change is accelerated as we are pushed into unavoidable, exciting, frightening adulthood. Sometimes willing, sometimes not, we become aware of the controlled safety of childhood slowly retreating into the shadowy past. I always think of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as the essence of adolescence, where danger and excitement hang in the air but can evaporate in a puff of wind. Things can happen in that cliff-edge time. “There’s something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls.” So says a character in Megan Abbott’s thriller Dare Me. It’s something I wanted to capture in my new novel Crushed . The three girls in the novel are from very different backgrounds but the various alchemies of home life, coupled with their emotional trajectories, collide and e