Cultural News Today

Recorded after she made peace with ‘ugliness and imperfection’ in music, Horn’s debut album is a skeletal marvel that evokes Yo La Tengo and soft country shuffles When Jana Horn wrote her song Jordan, she didn’t know what it was about. She had spent two days at her brother’s house following a breakup, ruminating over two chords, when a line came to her: “They called me to Jordan.” She followed the thread. “I had no idea what I was doing, but it felt really important, like I had to finish the story,” she says, calling from the last day of class in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she is a postgrad fiction-writing student and teacher. It became a five-minute narrative about someone who heeds that call and embarks on the long, trying journey by foot. On arrival, he is instructed to bomb the city where his family lives, but chooses death instead. Horn delivers this potent tale over those two colourless acoustic chords, her affectless, curious delivery evocative of Phil Elverum , or a twi...

In time for new year resolutions, a cultural historian chooses some of the best guides to making a better life, dating back to some of our earliest literature It is easy to dismiss self-help books and those who read them. But not only do we need serious self-help, we must also take self-help more seriously. Valued at $11bn (£8bn) worldwide, self-help is a major global industry. It both reflects and generates many of our prevailing ideas about the self and about the cultures in which we live. The self-help industry not only seeks to shape the way in which we think, feel and behave, but also provides many of the core metaphors on which we rely to talk about our inner lives. Many of those metaphors, not least that of the mind as a computer that might require reprogramming, are at best unhelpful. Critics of self-help believe that its current popularity is part of an all-pervasive neoliberal imperative to maximise efficiency. They see it as a sinister plot to direct all responsibility for...

The actor toils as a crusading lawyer but not even the looming apocalypse can inject this strange film with excitement The prospect of John Boyega playing an idealistic New York public defender in a John Grisham-style thriller is a very appealing one. But his talent deserves better than this clapped-out vehicle, a movie that constantly feels like it’s about to run out of narrative gas. The big gimmick here is a freaky sci-fi backdrop to the legal drama: unbeknown to the characters, the universe is about to implode (something to do with black holes causing ripples in space). It begins 10 days before what is described as “the collapse”. Boyega is a lawyer called Casi who is only three years into his career but already burned out and disillusioned by the US justice system. You can spot he’s a good guy by his brown corduroy suit – Hollywood’s liberal crusader uniform. The people Casi represents don’t stand a chance. Take his latest client, a drug user who got clean while out on bail; Ca...

Dickens’s novella has become a festive staple but it was intended as a polemic about the treatment of the poor ‘I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea,” begins Charles Dickens in the preface to the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It is a story so inescapable in British culture that nearly everyone knows about miserly Ebenezer Scrooge learning the value of compassion and kindness after being visited by three ghosts in the early hours of Christmas morning. As well as the popular film adaptations that unfailingly appear on TV over the festive season, stage productions this year include a Jack Thorne adaptation starring Stephen Mangan at the Old Vic , a Mark Gatiss version at the Nottingham Playhouse and an adaptation at the Sherman theatre in Cardiff set in Wales and with a gender-swapped Scrooge . Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/344sW4L

Singer also says not releasing new music is a way of hitting back at those who took advantage of her Britney Spears has said the years she spent under conservatorship have left her scared of the entertainment industry. The singer revealed her reasons for not being ready to return to the music business after her conservatorship was terminated in November in an Instagram post. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3py6lpl

As he releases new album The Boy Named If, the veteran songwriter will answer your questions on his decades-spanning career Next month marks the return of one of the UK’s most enduring and versatile singer-songwriters: Elvis Costello , whose new album with his band The Imposters, The Boy Named If, is out on 14 January. Alongside the release, he’ll answer Guardian readers’ questions, which you can post in the comments section below. Initially rooted in the righteous anger of the punk scene and the populism of pub rock, Costello has been a fount of strident, melodious songwriting since his breakthrough in 1977. Oliver’s Army, Pump It Up and I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea are defining moments in the new-wave era, while ballads such as Alison remain equally celebrated. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sBfL5l

Jacob Lusk was an American Idol contestant who had never found his true musical identity. Now, his astounding voice powers a trio who are steeped in the richness of Black musical history Jacob Lusk is getting a kick out of being the singer in Gabriels , the soulful, cinematic trio whose scant handful of London club shows this autumn were the buzziest gigs of the season. “This is the most authentic myself I’ve ever been,” he says down the phone from his home in California. “I can do whatever I wanna do, wear whatever I wanna wear, be who I actually am. I’m embracing me, more than I ever have before.” He is being embraced in return. At those shows, Gabriels were greeted with a fervour befitting Lusk’s own roots in spiritual music. It felt like watching a first kiss, but between a band and an audience. “That’s not a bad analogy. To be honest, it seemed more communal than anything. The audience gave us quite a bit of energy as well, so it felt more like a love fest than a show. ‘Hey, we’...

Author won the prize in 1985 for her first novel, The Bone People, which was described as a ‘unique example of Māori magical realism’ Acclaimed author and poet Keri Hulme, who was the first New Zealander to win the Booker prize, has died aged 74. The reclusive writer, who won the prestigious literary prize in 1985 for her first novel The Bone People, died on Monday at her home in Waimate in New Zealand’s South Island. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3qqQrwp

Online fans admire equal parenting and innovative play practised by canine protagonist’s father, Bandit A bright blue anthropomorphic dog may not have been the hero that dads had asked for – but he was the one they clearly needed. After years of being depicted as affable morons in children’s media – from Peppa Pig’s daddy to the accident-prone father in the interminable Biff, Chip and Kipper books – a new community of dads has formed around the children’s animated show Bluey, and more particularly Bluey’s father, Bandit. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3Jn8zzT

The last ever episode of Issa Rae’s Emmy-winning comedy. Plus: Worzel Gummidge gets twitchy. Here’s what to watch this evening Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3JnplPb

The British actor, whose messages to Depp regarding the latter’s wife Amber Heard were publicised during a trial in 2020, has commented on the process The actor Paul Bettany has spoken for the first time about having the text messages exchanged between himself and Johnny Depp concerning Amber Heard read out at Depp’s libel trial. Bettany, who is currently promoting A Very British Scandal , told the Independent it was “a really difficult subject to talk about” and said he was concerned doing so would “just pour fuel on the fire”. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3mCS0pL

The Canadian film-maker died suddenly at the weekend according to his representative Jean-Marc Vallée, the Canadian director best known for his work on Matthew McConaughey drama Dallas Buyers Club , has died aged 58. Vallée’s representative, Bumble Ward, said he died suddenly over the weekend in his cabin outside Quebec City. His two sons survive him. Jean-Marc stood for creativity, authenticity and trying things differently. He was a true artist and a generous, loving guy. Everyone who worked with him couldn’t help but see the talent and vision he possessed. He was a friend, creative partner and an older brother to me. The maestro will sorely be missed but it comforts knowing his beautiful style and impactful work he shared with the world will live on. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3ptIM0U

Former Radio 1 and Top of the Pops regular is remembered as a ‘broadcast legend and music lover’ Warm tributes have been paid to the trailblazing radio DJ and regular Top of the Pops presenter Janice Long, who has died at the age of 66. Long was an infectiously cheerful and knowledgable voice on a number of BBC stations for 40 years. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3z0vyvL

Dancing show is most-watched programme apart from Queen’s message, as BBC dominates top 10 Strictly Come Dancing’s Christmas special proved a ratings hit, claiming the most viewers of any programme apart from the Queen’s festive message. The Strictly special, which was won by the pop star Anne-Marie, was watched by an average of 5.8 million viewers, according to overnight figures from the BBC. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sAM6JM

Brighten up the dark days of winter with this collection of compelling one-a-day shorts – from big-name directors such as Jane Campion to Beyoncé and Chris Ware January can feel like the longest month: a full 31-dayer to begin with, of course, but also inordinately stretched by its sense of constant renewal. New resolutions to be kept, new standards to be met, new taxes to be filed – and that’s before we factor in Omicron, which looks set to make it an especially testing start to the year. All in all, it’s a good time to investigate new ways to entertain ourselves and nourish our minds. Cue the 31-day short film diet, a sequel to last January’s much-loved literary diet . This one-a-day starter pack – to form a different, more pleasurable kind of new year habit – is aimed at enriching our lives, not depriving it of small joys. Most of us don’t think of ourselves as regular watchers of short films per se , though we can be without realising it: what is a YouTube cat video, after all, ...

With a host of phenomenal debuts on the way, plus some dazzling new work from the likes of Douglas Stuart and Hanya Yanagihara, 2022 is positively groaning with great novels Nonfiction to look out for in 2022 Whether it’s a hangover from a pandemic-disrupted few years, a sign that writers had particularly productive lockdowns, or perhaps it’s the many centenaries coming up – Ulysses , The Waste Land and Jacob’s Room – but 2022 is positively groaning with great novels. We’ll leave the Observer ’s peerless debut feature to cover new novels from the UK and largely focus on books published in the first half of the year. Prepare your hearts, for Douglas Stuart is back. After the extraordinary success of Shuggie Bain , his second novel, Young Mungo (Picador, April), is another beautiful and moving book, a gay Romeo and Juliet set in the brutal world of Glasgow’s housing estates. Also following up a painfully affecting predecessor is Hanya Yanagihara , whose To Paradise (Macmillan,...

The Observer’s architecture critic pays tribute to a charismatic trailblazer whose courage and vision changed British architectural practice for good One way to understand Richard Rogers is as a man who wanted everything. He wanted beautiful new buildings, a fair and civilised society and success for himself and his friends and collaborators. He was generous and tough, romantic and political. He wanted to be in the middle of it all. Such wishes made for a lifetime of majestic achievement, an impact as great as any British architect has ever made. Two documents from his early life sum him up. When he was born, his cousin Ernesto Rogers, a fine Milanese architect, wrote him a letter: don’t eavesdrop behind the door of life, it advised, break through it. As a student at the Architectural Association in London, R got a damning report from one of his teachers. His drawing was bad, it said, his method of work chaotic, his critical judgment inarticulate. Continue reading... from Culture ...

Matthew Vaughn’s laddish origin story for the Kingsman franchise finds the first world war masterminded by a shadowy villain with a Scottish accent This superfluous Kingsman origin story sees writer-director Matthew Vaughn sketch a blueprint for the suited and booted secret spy organisation. The third film in the franchise, it begins with Ralph Fiennes’s Orlando Oxford, an aristocrat and widowed war veteran who regrets his part in plundering Britain’s colonies. A self-declared pacifist, he discourages his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) from enlisting in the army – but the first world war has broken out and a global disaster must be stopped. Orlando is flanked by arse-kicking comrades played by Djimon Hounsou and Gemma Arterton (the only woman in the film offered anything resembling a speaking role). The tone lurches awkwardly from sweeping colonial melodrama to grim battle epic, camp, pseudo-Bond caper and crass, unfunny farce. All exist on a spectrum of tedious laddishness, from Rhy...

The blockbuster battled on, British Caribbean art came home, and from Iran to Nero’s Rome, art transported us far and wide Mark Kermode’s best films of 2021 Read the Observer critics’ review of 2021 in full here This was the year of the great exhibition – in spite of the plague. Galleries offered online shows when they couldn’t open and riches when they could, no matter the havoc of cancelled loans, insurance hikes and unreliable transport. Schedules were dextrously shifted and blockbusters extended, so judiciously that Tate shows ran longer and the Royal Academy’s magnificent Late Constable continues straight through until next year. Still, one curator confided, 2021 was like playing poker while also juggling eggs. Terrific surveys of female artists continued apace, though still not fast enough to make up for lost time. The wild and stirring genius of the Scottish painter Joan Eardley was celebrated in multiple centenary shows across Scotland. Swiss modernist Sophie Taeuber-Arp’...

The actor, 57, on having a breakdown, aiming high and moving through life gently My first memory is cycling to the top of the path outside my childhood home, on a yellow kids’ bike with fat grey tyres. I turned on to the road and said aloud: “I’m me, doing this, now.” I was heading away from the home and people I loved, off on my own adventure. The love I felt as a child was unconditional, especially from my mother. I loved Dad deeply, but was wary of him. It was idyllic, our gang of kids playing out on a Salford council estate. My children are middle-class Londoners, but I sit on the porch and let them play in the street just like I did. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3qmaFqV