He found beauty and colour everywhere: celebrating the life of Nicholas Harding | Painting
Posted on May 12, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 660 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
Nicholas Harding in his Camperdown studio in 2010. ‘From the start, his work was beautiful if rather gloomy.’ Photograph: Marco Del GrandeNicholas Harding in his Camperdown studio in 2010. ‘From the start, his work was beautiful if rather gloomy.’ Photograph: Marco Del GrandePainting This article is more than 1 year old‘He found beauty and colour everywhere’: celebrating the life of Nicholas Harding This article is more than 1 year oldDavid MarrWe will miss the award-winning painter who died this week aged 66
[Read More]Lawmen: Bass Reeves review this utterly distinctive western is a rare treat
Posted on May 12, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 927 words
| Brenda Moya
TV reviewTelevisionReviewThis real-life tale of an enslaved man turned US marshal is a tense, thoughtful interrogation of what liberty means. Dennis Quaid and David Oyelowo put in wonderful performances
There is a challenge, amounting virtually to a moral responsibility, when making a drama set in the time of the American enslavement of Black people. That is: to find a way of bringing home its fundamental horror to an audience now long accustomed to depictions of it.
[Read More]Mark Blum obituary | Movies
Posted on May 12, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 813 words
| Delta Gatti
MoviesObituaryMark Blum obituaryActor known for his film roles in Desperately Seeking Susan and Crocodile DundeeThe actor Mark Blum, who has died aged 69 from complications of the coronavirus, gave a memorable performance in the screwball comedy Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) as a harried, unfaithful hot-tub salesman plunged into New York’s grungy bohemian underbelly when his wife goes missing. Searching for her, he teams up with the devil-may-care Susan, played by Madonna in her first major film role, and is exposed to her wayward, outrageous lifestyle.
[Read More]Nafessa Williams: As a young black girl I didnt have a superhero like me to look up to | Dr
Posted on May 12, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 794 words
| Christie Applegate
The ObserverDramaInterviewNafessa Williams: ‘As a young black girl I didn’t have a superhero like me to look up to’Rob WalkerNafessa Williams, who plays Thunder in Black Lightning, hopes her character will be an inspiration
It’s a genre dominated by white, straight males, so American actress Nafessa Williams admits she was moved to tears when she pulled on her costume for the first time to play a black, lesbian superhero. “It was a moment,” she says.
[Read More]The Flaming Lips 10 of the best
Posted on May 12, 2024
| 10 minutes
| 2105 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
10 of the bestMusicIn 33 years of sonic experimentation, Wayne Coyne’s band has lost members, won Grammys and released a catalogue of soaring, magical pop songs. Here’s our favourites, what are yours? 1. Five Stop Mother Superior RainThere’s a tendency, in 2016, to think of the Flaming Lips as rather soft-bellied beasts – glitter cannons, confetti explosions and laser-shooting hands. They’ve struggled in recent times to produce anything more striking than some by-the-numbers wackiness with Miley Cyrus.
[Read More]With Woman: the high stakes for a home-birth midwife in the US | News
Posted on May 12, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 244 words
| Brenda Moya
The Guardian documentary Documentary films With Woman: the high stakes for a home-birth midwife in the US Star is a Black midwife who helps Black women give birth in the comfort of their homes, in the state of Illinois. She is part of a long-established African-American tradition of home-birth midwifery, which is currently in a legal gray area across a number of US states, with midwives unable to obtain a license to practice.
[Read More]Dennis Hopper: the inside man
Posted on May 11, 2024
| 10 minutes
| 2030 words
| Brenda Moya
PhotographyCast out of Hollywood, Dennis Hopper picked up his camera as the LA art scene exploded. The resulting photographs have recently come to light and deserve acclaim in their own rightLost books by great writers occasionally turn up but, in a literary context, "lost" usually means "not worth publishing in his or her lifetime". The history of photography, on the other hand, is constantly updated and rewritten as entire bodies of work – by EJ Bellocq, William Gedney and others – are discovered.
[Read More]Manhole covers become collectors items in Japan | Japan
Posted on May 11, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 663 words
| Brenda Moya
Japan This article is more than 3 months oldManhole covers become collector’s items in Japan This article is more than 3 months oldKyoto to sell its obsolete manhole covers in a bid to cash in on the public’s fascination with the decorated pieces
They are heavy disks of cast iron that separate us from our subterranean sewage, but in Japan, they are also highly coveted works of art, symbols of regional pride, and now, sources of revenue.
[Read More]My journey into the dark, hypnotic world of a millennial guru | Religion
Posted on May 11, 2024
| 29 minutes
| 6063 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Bentinho Massaro offers to guide his followers towards communion with a higher life force. Illustration: Michele Marconi/The Guardian‘Spiritual influencers’ are flourishing online. Their model is built on recruiting eager followers – but what happens when they attract vulnerable people?
by Oscar SchwartzTowards the end of 2017, Bentinho Massaro, a 29-year-old self-styled spiritual teacher with a considerable online following, chose the town of Sedona, Arizona, as the location for a 12-day-long spiritual bootcamp.
[Read More]One to watch: Libianca
Posted on May 11, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 277 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
One to watchPop and rockThe Cameroonian-American Afrobeats sensation behind slow-jam hit People blends spiritual gratitude and romantic disappointment on her new single
Libianca can hardly be called an unknown artist – the 22-year-old Afrobeats sensation has 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify, after scoring a TikTok-fuelled global megahit last year with her mournful slow-jam People. The song struck a chord for the raw candour of its lyrics: it ranks as the fifth biggest Afrobeats track in Spotify’s history, and Libianca is the first Cameroonian to break the UK Top 10.
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