TikTok frog army stunt could have grave consequences, experts warn | TikTok

 Posted on June 14, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  796 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

TikTok This article is more than 1 year oldTikTok ‘frog army’ stunt could have grave consequences, experts warnThis article is more than 1 year oldScientists alarmed at claims of releasing 10m frogs and 100m ladybugs to rack up viewers as relocating species can have ‘extremely negative consequences’ A TikTok “frog army” has racked up millions of likes – but the potential consequences of the bizarre stunt are no joke, experts say. [Read More]

Frances Cuka obituary | Theatre

 Posted on June 13, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1174 words  |  Brenda Moya

TheatreObituaryFrances Cuka obituaryProlific character actor on stage and screen, from Shakespearean classics to Friday Night Dinner and Casualty Although she became one of the most loved and reliable of character actors on stage and television, Frances Cuka, who has died aged 83, seemed destined for stardom when her career took off like a rocket in the late 1950s with Joan Littlewood at Stratford East and George Devine at the Royal Court. [Read More]

Justin Theroux as Seamus O'Grady

 Posted on June 13, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  52 words  |  Brenda Moya


Justin Theroux as Seamus O'Grady
The bad guy - I used to look like that in my time, you know. Seamus leads a dangerous band of Irish mobsters. He's not a good kid, and there's every chance the Angels are going to kick his ass. Fingers crossedCharlie's Angels: Full Throttle

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The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enrquez review unsettling tales

 Posted on June 13, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  893 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

Short storiesReviewA gripping collection that draws on the Argentinian military dictatorship to mix daylight horrors with supernatural shocks In 1927MR James, author of some of the most indelible ghost stories ever written, gave a lesson in how to do it: “Let us, then, be introduced to the players in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings, and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage. [Read More]

The Question: Is 4-2-1-3 the future? | Sport

 Posted on June 13, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  975 words  |  Brenda Moya

The questionSportThe Question: Is 4-2-1-3 the future?Although little different from 4-2-3-1, it is significant if the central creator plays deeper, for a whole number of reasonsEvolution never stops. As the World Cup showed, 4‑2‑3‑1 has come to replace 4‑4‑2 as the universal default (18 of the 32 teams played some form of 4‑2‑3‑1 at some stage, with another three fielding a 4‑4‑2 that perhaps should have become 4‑2‑3‑1) so the system at the very highest level has already begun to mutate. [Read More]

The Swordsman review thrilling fight scenes in spectacular Korean action drama

 Posted on June 13, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  342 words  |  Brenda Moya

FilmReviewAn intricate tapestry of 17th-century political intrigue and family feuding is bolstered by fabulous costumes as Chinese invaders are dealt with The Swordsman, a pacy, crisply choreographed South Korean action film set in the 17th century handicaps itself by opting for such a bland, generic title. It’s like naming a Hollywood action movie The Gunman or The Cop. Debutant writer-director Choi Jae-Hoon could have been a little more specific about the protagonist Tae-yul (played by boy-band-beautiful star and sometime rapper Jang Hyuk) by calling it The Blind Swordsman, given the character’s vision impairment. [Read More]

Disused Tottenham Ikea store to become 15,000-capacity cultural venue | Music

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  589 words  |  Brenda Moya

Club cultureMusic This article is more than 6 months oldDisused Tottenham Ikea store to become 15,000-capacity cultural venueThis article is more than 6 months oldDrumsheds, a venture from Printworks company Broadwick, will preserve industrial elements of the 608,000 sq ft space It once played host to the sound of staff announcements, bored children and tense couples arguing over wardrobes with semi-pronounceable names. Now, a 608,000 sq ft Tottenham warehouse that was home to an Ikea for 17 years is to vibrate to sub bass and repetitive beats, as it becomes a leading new cultural venue for London. [Read More]

Finland closes entire border with Russia after tensions over asylum seekers | Finland

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  952 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

Finland This article is more than 1 month oldFinland closes entire border with Russia after tensions over asylum seekersThis article is more than 1 month oldTemporary closure comes after Finnish intelligence suggested Russia was helping asylum seekers reach the border Finland has announced it is temporarily closing its entire border with Russia after weeks of tensions between the countries over asylum seekers that Helsinki has labelled a “hybrid operation” by Moscow. [Read More]

Orwell by DJ Taylor review a very English socialist

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1094 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

Book of the dayBiography booksReviewGeorge Orwell’s voice comes alive again in a biography drawing on newly discovered letters Though he worked for the BBC for two and a half years and often spoke on air, no recording of George Orwell’s voice has been found. Many friends and memoirists have described it, and his struggles to make himself audible (all the more so after a sniper’s bullet went through his throat in Spain), but their accounts vary: was his voice high-pitched or husky, old Etonian or a Cockney drawl? [Read More]

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  258 words  |  Delta Gatti

Classics cornerFictionReviewIf you think that the best response to religious extremism is to laugh at it, then James Hogg's most famous work, published in 1824, demands your full attention. A tale of demonic possession, it is also a caustic comedy, skewering the religious bigotry that existed among the era's Scottish Reformers. The plot is a satire on the Calvinist doctrine of predestination: the belief that God has, since the start of time, preordained the saved - those who will go to Heaven - and those heading for the other place. [Read More]