Culture

Stephen Fry launches a campaign to promote reading for pleasure | books

Stephen Fry launches a campaign to promote reading for pleasure | books

πŸ”₯ Read this must-read post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Books,Culture,Hay festival πŸ’‘ Main takeaway: Hay Festival chairman Stephen Fry is backing the organisation's new campaign to collect recommendations for the most interesting books to attract new readers, in a bid to combat low literacy rates in the UK.The Pleasure List campaign, run in partnership with the government's National Year of Reading 2026, will share the "most ignorable" reads in the hope of helping to reverse the downward trend of adults reading for pleasure.The National Year of Reading is β€œgreat news for book lovers, but the statistics…
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β€œIt became a running joke how much my siblings and I hated it”: The Sound of Christmas to Me | music

β€œIt became a running joke how much my siblings and I hated it”: The Sound of Christmas to Me | music

πŸ”₯ Read this trending post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Music,Culture,Pop and rock,Christmas πŸ’‘ Key idea: Cockayne Soul - Death ChristmasI'm always fascinated by the ways my generation is able to participate in the circulation of music. Amateur TikTok edits are reviving forgotten gems and turning obscure stars into sensations; Local producers make entire albums if their favorite rapper doesn't release enough. Such is the case with Doom Xmas, the brainchild of Grammy Award-winning Spanish producer Cookin' Soul, which remakes the work of the late rapper MF Doom into Christmas music. There are scruffy Grinch soundtracks, frenetic…
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Nick Reiner: What do we know about Rob Reiner’s son who was arrested? | Rob Reiner

Nick Reiner: What do we know about Rob Reiner’s son who was arrested? | Rob Reiner

πŸš€ Read this trending post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Rob Reiner,Film,Culture,US crime βœ… Key idea: At the center of the horrific news of the death of Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle Singer Reiner over the weekend is their 32-year-old son, Nick.The screenwriter was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after his 28-year-old sister Romy found their parents dead at home with injuries consistent with a knife attack.Nick had dealt with drug addiction and homelessness, and entered rehab for the first time when he was fifteen years old. He referred to his struggle during the β€œdark…
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Study shows that over 90% of live shows created by white people | American television

Study shows that over 90% of live shows created by white people | American television

πŸš€ Explore this trending post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: US television,Television industry,US news,Television,Culture,Television & radio,Race,Trump administration,Gender,Women βœ… Main takeaway: A new UCLA study shows that popular scripted series on streaming services have shown a marked decline in cultural diversity behind and in front of the camera in the past year as inclusion programming dwindles in Hollywood.The latest edition of the school's Hollywood Diversity Report, published Tuesday, found that of the top 250 most-watched current scripted and office series in 2024, more than 91.7% were created by a white person, and white men account for 79% of…
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The Housemaid review – Sydney Sweeney takes the job from hell in a gruesome thriller | film

The Housemaid review – Sydney Sweeney takes the job from hell in a gruesome thriller | film

✨ Read this must-read post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Film,Thrillers,Sydney Sweeney,Paul Feig,Amanda Seyfried,Film adaptations,Books,Culture πŸ’‘ Key idea: DDirector Paul Feig is known for his broad comedies. Now he turns the serious schlock dial for a highly entertaining - or at any rate very entertaining - psychological thriller in the spirit of 1990s noir thriller, adapted by screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenschein from the 2022 bestselling book by Frieda McFadden. We're back in the glossy, sleazy world of Curtis Hanson's The Hand That Rocks the Cradle or Joe Eszterhas's Basic Instinct, but we're much closer to satire, if not…
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Reveal Day: First trailer for Steven Spielberg’s star-studded UFO film | Steven Spielberg

Reveal Day: First trailer for Steven Spielberg’s star-studded UFO film | Steven Spielberg

πŸš€ Discover this insightful post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Steven Spielberg,Emily Blunt,Colin Firth,Josh O'Connor,Science fiction and fantasy films,US news,Culture,Film πŸ“Œ Here’s what you’ll learn: The first trailer for Steven Spielberg's mysterious UFO thriller has provided more details about what audiences can expect.Revealing Day, written by Jurassic Park's David Koepp and based on Spielberg's story, sees a star-studded take on the discovery of aliens. β€œWhy does He create such a vast universe and save it only for us?” says Elizabeth Marvel's character at the end of the teaser.The film stars Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Colman…
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Hodge’s report to Arts Council England: ‘Not exactly a roaring endorsement’ | Arts Council England

Hodge’s report to Arts Council England: ‘Not exactly a roaring endorsement’ | Arts Council England

πŸ”₯ Read this trending post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Arts Council England,Arts funding,Margaret Hodge,England,Opera,Classical music,UK news βœ… Key idea: Underfunded, the arts in England have been hit by Covid-19 from which many organizations have yet to recover. But that was only part of the story. The enormous burden of filling out the required forms, the endless bureaucracy, and the simply unwieldy long time it takes He is Funded by Arts Council England (ACE) it has caused global frustration among those working in the arts. There is a lot of talk about burnout and burnout.Many organizations have…
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From Harry Potter to The Crying Game, Susie Figgis’ explosive enthusiasm makes her an indispensable casting director film

From Harry Potter to The Crying Game, Susie Figgis’ explosive enthusiasm makes her an indispensable casting director film

πŸ’₯ Read this insightful post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Film,Books,Culture,Film industry,Business βœ… Key idea: I I first met Susie Figgis over 40 years ago when I interviewed her for The Company of Wolves, my first film production with Neil Jordan. We met at the Scala cinema where I was working at the time, it was a busy and noisy office, but it was a sunny day, so we went up to the roof. Susie, already a legend having starred in Stephen Frears' Bloody Kids, Laura Mulvey's groundbreaking films and Ben Kingsley's Gandhi, unleashes a volcanic eruption…
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Prashasti Singh: Divine Feminine review – A captivating hour of absurdly intelligent stand-up | comedy

Prashasti Singh: Divine Feminine review – A captivating hour of absurdly intelligent stand-up | comedy

πŸ’₯ Read this must-read post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Comedy,Comedy,Culture,Stage,Soho theatre βœ… Key idea: MOdesti: β€œI don't speak for all women...” Swagger: "...but I speak for many." Prashasti Singh's novel The Divine Feminine moves between these two poles, now denouncing her vulnerabilities as an unmarried woman in her thirties in modern India, now running the pedestal of twenty-first-century gender politics. A deft balance is struck, with enough self-mocking silliness to endear itself and keep us entertained, but also some engaging reflection on Singh's home country and the progress she has made towards women's liberation.This is the…
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β€œTo be really successful, you have to be straight-up sexy”: Ben Whishaw in New York voluptuousness as Peter Hogar | the biography

β€œTo be really successful, you have to be straight-up sexy”: Ben Whishaw in New York voluptuousness as Peter Hogar | the biography

πŸ”₯ Discover this trending post from Culture | The Guardian πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Biopics,Film,Ben Whishaw,Peter Hujar,Art and design,Culture,Rebecca Hall,Drama films,Photography,Art πŸ’‘ Here’s what you’ll learn: HeyOn December 19, 1974, writer Linda Rosencrantz went to her friend Peter Hujar's apartment in New York and asked the photographer to describe exactly what he had done the day before. He spoke in great detail about Allen Ginsberg's photo shoot for the New York Times (it did not go wellβ€”Ginsberg was too performative for the kind of intimacy Hugar craved). He also described the Chinese takeaway he ate and how his friend Vince Aletti…
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