A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Voice of America, the government-funded international broadcaster whose prospective demise has alarmed advocates for press freedoms. The judge, J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, ruled from the bench during a hearing on a lawsuit filed by Voice of … Read more
Marvel’s big cast reveal for Avengers: Doomsday earlier this week was like something out of an avant garde endurance piece curated by Andy Warhol, a five-hour extended live stream during which a row of empty director’s chairs stood solemnly under the harsh glare of studio lighting. The names kept coming with metronomic regularity: Chris Hemsworth … Read more
On a Friday night in April 1966, 16-year-old Norma Ingram was one of seven young Aboriginal women formally “presented” as part of the inaugural Sydney Indigenous debutante ball at Paddington Town Hall. “It was a lot of that old English stuff, ‘coming out into society’,” the Wiradjuri woman says of the event, which was attended … Read more
It’s never exactly a done deal when Hollywood decides to take itself on. The film industry is such a roiling combination of wealth, jealousy, fear and obliviousness that, when the right person decides to send it up, the results can be spectacular. Look at Sunset Boulevard, Barton Fink – or even Bowfinger – and you’ll … Read more
They say never judge a book by its cover, but some viewers of The White Lotus have been doing exactly that. Online discussion around the critically acclaimed TV show has centred on the paperbacks glimpsed in the hands of several of the show’s characters and whether they offer clues about their psyches or fate. Take … Read more
20. Recently (1987) As with a lot of her 60s peers, Joan Baez seemed slightly out of place in the 80s. She only released two studio albums that decade but came out swinging on Recently. It’s a steely rebuttal of her ex-husband’s memoir, which was downbeat about both their marriage and 60s radicalism: “You could … Read more
Exhibition of the week Giuseppe Penone: Thoughts in the RootsThis veteran environmental artist has been celebrating trees for almost six decades. Does his bark still have bite? Serpentine, London, 3 April to 7 September Also showing Dormitorium: The Film Décors of the Quay BrothersCreepy dolls and east European atmosphere from the artists formerly known as … Read more
Over three seasons, The White Lotus, HBO’s acclaimed limited series-turned-anthology, has specialized in a particular type of scene: a group of American characters on vacation abroad – always rich and usually white, as per the real patrons of international luxury resorts – engage in conversation with the veneer of politeness but intent to draw blood. … Read more
My earliest reading memoryAndrew Lang’s Fairy books – the blue, yellow and violet ones. And the unadulteratedly grim Brothers Grimm, evocative phrases like “avenue of trees”, the now and then alluring English archaisms, the always expected three sisters or sons, the youngest first despised and then victorious. The book that changed me as a teenagerA … Read more
The Rule of Jenny Pen looks terrifying! Does the prospect of sudden ageing frighten you? BenderRodriguez It’s not sudden. I was in [King] Lear when I was 64 and said: “I need a wig that’s grey because he’s supposed to be 80.” Now I’m 73 and I still think inside I’m a brunette. This is … Read more