π₯ Read this trending post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: John Irving,Fiction,Books,Culture π‘ Main takeaway: IIf some writers go through an imperial phase, reaching the top again and again, American novelist John Irving had a series of four rich and satisfying novels, from 1978's The World According to Garp to 1989's A Prayer for Owen Meany. These books were generous, funny, big-hearted, linking characters he called "radicals" to social issues from feminism to abortion.Since Owen Meany, returns have been decreasing, except for page length. His last novel, 2022's The Last Chairlift, was 900 pages of themes that…
β¨ Read this trending post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Film,Drama films,Documentary films,Period and historical films,Nuclear weapons,Culture,World news π Hereβs what youβll learn: DDystopia, post-apocalypse, mockumentary: these genres are common, even hackneyed, in films and television today. But when director Peter Watkins used them in the 1960s, they were revolutionaries, and Watkins himself was a revolutionary too β an English revolutionary, in fact, alive to the cruelty and injustice of kings, but also to the cruelty and injustice of people bent on cutting off heads. His cinema has consistently asked questions about who is in power, and…
π₯ Discover this must-read post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Film,Jesse Eisenberg,Culture,Health,Organ donation,Society π‘ Main takeaway: Jesse Eisenberg has revealed that he will donate his kidney to a stranger next month. The actor and director told NBC Today that he would "donate my kidney in six weeks" but wasn't entirely sure of his motives."I don't know why," he said. βI've been bitten by the blood donation bug. I donate altruistically [in] Mid-December. I'm so excited to do this.Eisenberg (42 years old) added that he first came up with the idea of ββdonating organs when he was still…
β¨ Read this must-read post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Richard Ashcroft,Music,The Verve,Culture,Oasis π Hereβs what youβll learn: RRichard Ashcroft is the man of the moment. Having championed Oasis as "the only man for the job," the former Verve singer is back with an arena tour (almost) for 2026, and a few more Oasis dates in South America, not to mention his seventh solo album, Lovin' You. We caught up with Ashcroft to chat about loving ABBA, being inspired by Serge Gainsbourg and fighting Liam Gallagher.Hi Richard! It's always a pleasure to interview another Richard - who…
π Check out this trending post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: RosalΓa,Music,Culture,Pop and rock,BjΓΆrk,Classical music β
Main takeaway: toLast week, RosalΓa appeared on an American podcast to discuss her fourth album. At one point, the interviewer asked her if she thought Lux was asking too much of her listeners: a not entirely unreasonable question, given that it presents a song cycle in four βmovements,β based on the lives of several female saints and includes the 33-year-old Catalan star singing in 13 different languages ββto the thundering accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra; And it doesn't look at…
π₯ Discover this awesome post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Film,Horror films,Thrillers,Brazil,Americas,Culture,World news π Main takeaway: TIt's 1996, the country is Brazil, and young firefighter Ana (Marjorie Estiano) returns to work after a layoff. We see in flashback that, as a young child, she survived the horrific experience of her disturbed mother attempting to carry out a murder-suicide. Unfortunately, one of her first jobs back at work was to answer a call from a run-down nursing home in the middle of nowhere. The first sign that something is wrong when she and the crew agree is that…
π₯ Read this must-read post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Photography,Art and design,Culture,Exhibitions,Oxford,LGBTQ+ rights,Artificial intelligence (AI) π Hereβs what youβll learn: IIt's the first day of Photo Oxford's fifth edition, but the first place I arrive at, Maison FranΓ§aise, is closed. Is this what Roland Barthes meant when he wrote that βto see a good picture, it is better to look awayβ?At least there's an outdoor exhibit - one of 30 displays in the city's community spaces, churches, colleges and pubs that are part of the festival this year. Michael Christopher Brown's book "90 Miles" refers to…
π Discover this trending post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Television,Culture,Television & radio π Main takeaway: Ghosts β I Spy the End of the World (2003)The episode begins with Team Spooks on lockdown while undergoing training relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials, but as things progress, it appears that there was actually an attack and a chemical weapon was unleashed. Tensions mount when incoming communications show a disaster taking place abroad, and it gets worse when the President appears to be infected, and two Home Office officials try to leave, forcing…
π Read this insightful post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Film,Awards and prizes,Film adaptations,Drama films,Romance films,Nigeria,Africa,Books,Culture,World news,UK news π‘ Key idea: My Father's Shadow, set in Nigeria, is the main contender at this year's British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), having picked up 12 nominations, including best British independent film, best director for Akinola Davies Jr, and best screenplay for Davies' brother Will. The film beat out "Billion," an adaptation of Adam Mars Jones's coming-of-age story, which received 10 nominations, and the biopic "I Swear," which received nine nominations.My Father's Shadow, which stars Sope Dirisu and is Davies's…
π₯ Read this trending post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Jennifer Lawrence,Film,Culture,Donald Trump,US news π Main takeaway: Jennifer Lawrence said she no longer feels it is appropriate to speak out against the Trump administration, fearing it will exacerbate unhelpful controversy and further divide.βI donβt really know if I should,β Lawrence said in an interview with The New York Times. βDuring the first Trump administration, I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But as we've learned, celebrities, in election after election, make absolutely no difference to who people vote for.β"So…
