After pioneering procedurally-generated music with the soundtrack to No Man’s Sky, the band took things a step further and created an endless audio loop.Continue Reading
R yan Reynolds says he is “so proud” of the Canadian national football team, following their first game of the 2022 Fifa World Cup. The actor, 46, praised the side for their “beautiful work” during the match against Belgium on Tuesday, saying they had “left it all on the field”. The game marked Canada’s first World Cup appearance in 36 years, having competed for the first time in 1986. “So proud of this team. They left it all on the field. Beautiful work out there,” Reynolds wrote on Twitter, reposting a tweet from the official Canadian team account. Read More Despite a promising start, Canada lost 1-0 at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, in Qatar. The squad missed a penalty andContinue Reading
T he stars of Love Actually will reunite for a special 20th anniversary special on US network ABC, it has been announced. The one-hour special will look at how the film became a beloved Christmas tradition and a global sensation, with exclusive interviews with cast members. Hugh Grant, Dame Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Laura Linney and Thomas Brodie-Sangster will sit down with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer for the show. It will also include an appearance from writer and director Richard Curtis, as well as a message from Martine McCutcheon. Read More ABC said the special would offer new insight into behind-the-scenes secrets and the film’s famous scenes as well as examining how the Covid-19 pandemic “refocused the ways weContinue Reading
O ver the past year, attacks against writers, on buses and in public squares around the world have again put freedom of speech, faith and violence at the forefront of the news cycle. While these attacks were unexpected, they are hardly surprising: these incidents are just another example of the consequences of intolerance and media that seeks to inflame rather than inform. What happens when society allows hate to spill over into popular culture? Unfortunately, we see the answer almost daily. And even in a day when people value diversity and inclusion, religiously motivated attacks are everyday occurrences around the world. Polarisation is largely to blame, but behind polarisation lies a more elusive culprit: misinformation and disinformation unchecked on socialContinue Reading
L abrinth said when he first signed to a big record label he was “not enjoying it” as he “allowed” other people to tell him how to work in the music business. The 33-year-old award-winning singer-songwriter, whose real name is Timothy McKenzie, said he had “no confidence” as his fame grew. In 2010 he produced and co-wrote the number one single Pass Out, which was sung by Tinie Tempah, and the rapper’s second single Frisky, which debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Labrinth was signed to Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco, in 2010, and made Electronic Earth, which peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart in 2012. Read More Labrinth told The Diary Of AContinue Reading
Review at a glance A warrior prince who “treats the proud city” he is supposed to protect “as if it were his whore”; a regime all too willing to “use a foreign threat to hide a local evil”: it’s not hard to find contemporary resonances in Benjamin Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia, even though it was premiered in 1947. Britten and his librettist Ronald Duncan locate the action in Ancient Rome, 500 years BCE, but this is an allegory of any period when sex and corruption go hand in hand (when do they not?). An underlying sense of apprehension repeatedly rises to the surface, but there is also some of Britten’s most sheerly gorgeous music. He wrote it forContinue Reading
L ouis Tomlinson has been forced to postpone a series of in-store signings after breaking his arm in a fall. The former One Direction star, 30, was returning from a concert in New York when he injured himself. He shared two scans of his arm with his 36 million Twitter followers appearing to show a break in his humerus. In a statement, he said: “Thank you to everyone that’s listened to the new album so far, it means the world to me. The show last night in New York was incredible. Read More “Unfortunately on the way back I’ve managed to fall and break my right arm pretty badly. So I’m gutted to say I’ll have to reschedule the in-storeContinue Reading
E urovision star Sam Ryder will deliver a special sung CBeebies Bedtime Story about showing your “true colours” and being proud of who you are. The British singer, 33, rose to fame after he came second behind Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra in this year’s contest, giving the UK its best result in more than 20 years. He sings the story True Colours from the book written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and illustrated by Sarah Walsh, which is based on the hit 1986 song performed by Cyndi Lauper. In the accompanying video, Ryder stands in front of a rainbow flag and asks viewers: “Do you like my colourful jumper? “We are all colourful inside and out. I am going toContinue Reading
I f you thought The Mandalorian’s Grogu – or Baby Yoda, as he has been affectionately nicknamed – couldn’t get any cuter, you’d be wrong. Grogu fans may need to get ready to fall in love with an anime version of the Star Wars character, in an interpretation by none other than Spirited Away creator Studio Ghibli. On Thursday (November 10), Studio Ghibli teased a collaboration with Lucasfilm in a mysterious video featuring both companies’ logos. The animation studio sent fans into a frenzy with a 15-second clip that has amassed 9.8 million views at the time of writing. Lucasfilm has collaborated with anime studios in the past, leading fans to believe another Star Wars spin-off is on its way.Continue Reading
Review at a glance T his series should come with a warning: “Do not watch unless your marriage is rock solid.” Although, if Mammals is right, that would mean it’s not for married people at all. The main characters, married couple Jamie and Amandine, agree on a manifesto early in their relationship: “…if love is impossible, we must believe in the impossible, we must believe in magic.” But if love is a mutual illusion, how can it be maintained over the long haul? Particularly when we’re mammals with evolutionary urges to satisfy. The series’s writer Jez Butterworth is a trickster, a lover of magic: magic realism, narrative sleight-of-hand, the spells socially unacceptable people can cast. With his iconic plays, JerusalemContinue Reading
