The 10 best first lines in fiction | Books

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1160 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

The 10 best first lines in fiction Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Our guide to the greatest opening lines of novels in the English language, from Jane Austen to James Joyce Robert McCrum Sat 28 Apr 2012 19.01 EDT First published on Sat 28 Apr 2012 19.01 EDT James JoyceUlysses (1922)“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. [Read More]

Underwood Lane review John Byrnes rocknroll musical has pure heart

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  432 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

TheatreReviewJohnstone town hall A 60s Scottish skiffle band aim for the big time in the Tutti Frutti writer’s tribute piece to Baker Street singer and teenage friend Gerry Rafferty John Byrne is not a playwright you associate with jukebox musicals. The Slab Boys author – who, as a painter, is being celebrated in a retrospective at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove – has always had the popular touch. In his TV series Tutti Frutti and Your Cheatin’ Heart, he also made much of his love of popular song. [Read More]

A linchpin: Tributes paid after New Zealand hip hop artist Louie Knuxx dies in Melbourne | New

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  728 words  |  Delta Gatti

New Zealand This article is more than 2 years old‘A linchpin’: Tributes paid after New Zealand hip hop artist Louie Knuxx dies in MelbourneThis article is more than 2 years oldFriends of the musician, who also mentored young people, have described him as a ‘kind, generous person’ Tributes are pouring in for New Zealand hip-hop artist Louie Knuxx, whose real name is Todd Williams, after he died of a heart attack, in Melbourne on Friday morning. [Read More]

I had to grow up so quickly: Olivia Cooke on auditions, ageing, and House of the Dragon | Game

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  14 minutes  |  2851 words  |  Brenda Moya

The ObserverGame of ThronesInterview‘I had to grow up so quickly’: Olivia Cooke on auditions, ageing, and House of the DragonElle HuntThere’s nothing the modest Mancunian actor likes more than a chat in her local café. But now she’s starring in the new Game of Thrones prequel, her mum is determined to set her up with a Hollywood A-lister… If you happen to be worried about getting older, Olivia Cooke is an excellent friend to have. [Read More]

Musk believes in America: DeSantis defends X owner after antisemitic post | Ron DeSantis

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  851 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

Ron DeSantis This article is more than 1 month oldMusk ‘believes in America’: DeSantis defends X owner after antisemitic postThis article is more than 1 month oldFlorida governor claims he hasn’t seen the message in which Musk tweeted an enthusiastic agreement with antisemitic post Ron DeSantis defended Elon Musk as “a guy that believes in America” on Sunday as the Florida governor refused to condemn X’s billionaire owner for an antisemitic post that caused numerous key advertisers to desert the social media platform. [Read More]

Project 2025: plan to dismantle US climate policy for next Republican president | Climate cris

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1356 words  |  Delta Gatti

The ExxonMobil oil refinery in Baton Rouge. Project 2025 would bolster the oil and gas industry and gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Photograph: Barry Lewis/In Pictures/Getty ImagesThe ExxonMobil oil refinery in Baton Rouge. Project 2025 would bolster the oil and gas industry and gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Photograph: Barry Lewis/In Pictures/Getty ImagesBig oil uncoveredClimate crisis This article is more than 5 months old‘Project 2025’: plan to dismantle US climate policy for next Republican presidentThis article is more than 5 months oldRightwing groups penned a conservative wish list of proposals for the next conservative president to gut environmental protections [Read More]

The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun review life under late capitalism

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  416 words  |  Christie Applegate

Fiction in translationReviewIn this entertaining eco-thriller, the heroine curates holiday packages in disaster zones Following a spate of recent fiction considering the strange intersection of our work and leisure lives – novels such as Ling Ma’s apocalyptic satire Severance and Sayaka Murata’s oddly affecting Convenience Store Woman – The Disaster Tourist offers up another fresh and sharp story about life under late capitalism. Yona Kim is a programme manager for Jungle, a Seoul company that specialises in curating holiday packages in disaster zones. [Read More]

To Anyone Who Ever Asks by Howard Fishman review vanishing act

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1179 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

Biography booksReviewThe mysterious story of 1950s New York folk singer Connie Converse, who disappeared before her music found popular recognition In 2010, writer and musician Howard Fishman went to a Christmas party at a friend’s house where, not knowing many people, he took to scanning the bookshelves to quell his anxiety. As he did so, a song called Talkin’ Like You (Two Tall Mountains) came on the stereo that, he recalls, “swallowed me. [Read More]

Anohni, the artist once known as Antony Hegarty, on life beyond the Johnsons | Pop and rock

 Posted on April 14, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1854 words  |  Christie Applegate

Pop and rockInterviewAnohni, the artist once known as Antony Hegarty, on life beyond the JohnsonsBen Beaumont-ThomasThe force behind Antony and the Johnsons has returned with a new name and a new album denouncing Obama and climate change. She explains how pop is her political vehicle A modernist palace of culture built from 130,000 cubic metres of concrete, London’s Barbican Centre is the kind of building you can imagine future civilisations stumbling across like Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. [Read More]

Bio-Dome: Kylie Minogue's worst career move is a blueprint for managing isolation

 Posted on April 14, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  734 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

Bio-Dome’s Doyle and Bud are respectively played by one of the lesser Baldwins and Pauly Shore, who is a kind of weirder Adam Sandler. Photograph: Gene Page/Mgm/Kobal/ REX/ShutterstockBio-Dome’s Doyle and Bud are respectively played by one of the lesser Baldwins and Pauly Shore, who is a kind of weirder Adam Sandler. Photograph: Gene Page/Mgm/Kobal/ REX/ShutterstockStream teamCultureReviewStarring Pauly Shore and a lesser Baldwin, the 1996 comedy is full of gross-out humour, terrible jokes – and surprisingly salient lessons [Read More]