| | | Lollapalooza drops DaBaby performance after homophobic comments | | by Guardian staff and agencies Aug 2, 2021 | - Rapper appears to apologize in video on Wednesday
- Artists including Elton John and Madonna condemn remarks
Lollapalooza cancelled a Chicago performance by the rapper DaBaby on Sunday because, the music festival said, it was “founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect and love”. “With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight.” Continue reading... | | | | | Welcome 2 America by Prince review – sub-par album from the vaults | | by Damien Morris Aug 2, 2021 | | (Legacy Recordings)
This shelved collection from 2010 is not peak Prince – and he knew it Every few months someone eagerly forwards me that clip of Prince’s majestic While My Guitar Gently Weeps solo at the 2004 Hall of Fame. It’s ages since anyone sent me an unreleased Prince song with similar enthusiasm. Recently discovered in Prince’s vault, this album won’t change that. Recorded in a week by a scratch band, its songs went unreleased and unplayed on his 2010 Welcome 2 America tour. It’s not immediately obvious why. The intriguing title track takes some spiky if unfocused shots at America’s frailties, and Prince deliberates on race, politics and religion elsewhere, but there’s no controversy – or anything like 1981’s classic Controversy. Perhaps he realised that, after writing “Slave” on his face to protest about his multimillion-dollar record deal, his thoughts on that topic might not be well received. Continue reading... | | | | | Old review – M Night Shyamalan's beach thriller is all washed up | | by Wendy Ide Aug 2, 2021 | | Gael Garcia Bernal and Vicky Krieps are all at sea in this holiday-from-hell drama There’s only a certain extent to which a director can flirt ironically with the clunky storytelling of a Tales of the Unexpected episode before it stops being ironic and starts being just ponderous and mannered. And with his accelerated-ageing mystery movie Old, M Night Shyamalan is long past that point. Gael García Bernal and Vicky Krieps both seem ill at ease in the roles of a husband and wife hoping for one last family holiday at an elite and secretive resort. Not surprising, since they are constantly having the kind of conversations that are more about dumping exposition than they are about shaping credible characters. And if we can’t believe the characters, how are we meant to accept the film’s central premise? Continue reading... | | | | | Jungle Cruise review – theme park ride leaves the handbrake on | | by Wendy Ide Aug 2, 2021 | | Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson fail to ignite in a Disney adventure that’s long on tropes and short on sparks By casting Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson, two actors of rare personal charm, this Disney adventure should have managed to transcend its somewhat unpromising origins (it was, like Pirates of the Caribbean, based on a theme park ride). But for some reason, while both are perfectly likable independently (Blunt in particular is a feisty joy as scientist Lily Houghton), they fail to gel on screen. Their lack of chemistry is not fatal to the film – director Jaume Collet-Serra creates a romp of a picture booby-trapped with adventure movie tropes (arcane curses, snakes, evil Germans) which, while they might seem familiar to Indiana Jones fans, still combine to make for a decent family flick. It’s just that a movie that requires its characters to “mend a broken heart” as part of an ancient riddle should probably have a heart to begin with. Continue reading... | | | | | Eimear McBride: 'Women grapple with shame because we're held to a higher standard' | | by Rachel Cooke Aug 2, 2021 | | The novelist on her first book of nonfiction – about women and disgust – and the complexities of prize culture Eimear McBride, 44, is the bestselling author of three novels: A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, which won the Women’s prize for fiction and the Goldsmith’s prize, The Lesser Bohemians and Strange Hotel. Her first work of nonfiction, Something Out of Place: Women and Disgust, is the result of an invitation by the Wellcome Collection to explore its museum and library, housed on Euston Road in London. She lives in east London with her family. How did your new book come about?
Wellcome was a place where I was a temp, back in the old days before I was a full-time writer. I worked in the library: I was the stack monkey. So when I was asked about doing this, I was very open to the idea; I’ve always been fond of Wellcome. I didn’t go to university, so I’d never had the experience of spending a lot of time just reading. Continue reading... | | | | | Bad genes, not rock'n'roll excess, killed Elvis Presley, claims biographer | | by Edward Helmore Aug 2, 2021 | | A new book by Sally Hoedel argues that the singer was a sick man supporting his family and friends Elvis Presley, who died 44 years ago this month, was not a drug abuser in the typical rock’n’roll lifestyle sense, a new book claims, but he was medicating to address a series of congenital illnesses. According to Elvis: Destined to Die Young, the singer’s downward spiral, punctuated by health problems routinely written off as the consequences of addiction, could have been caused by Presley’s maternal grandparents, who were first cousins. His mother’s family – including three uncles – were cursed by early death, the author Sally Hoedel says. Continue reading... | | | | | Hay festival director quits after bullying claim upheld | | by Vanessa Thorpe Aug 2, 2021 | | Exit of Peter Florence adds to list of woes that include two years of Covid cancellations and a sex assault claim against a Gulf royal The future of the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, one of Britain’s oldest and most esteemed annual cultural landmarks, was thrown into confusion this weekend after the resignation of its co-founder and director, Peter Florence. His decision to quit follows what the board described as the unanimous endorsement last Thursday of the findings of an independent investigation that upheld an internal complaint of bullying against Florence. Continue reading... | | | | | Shailene Woodley: 'Authenticity is my love language' | | by Alex Moshakis Aug 2, 2021 | | Despite being only 29, Shailene Woodley already has 25 years’ acting experience under her belt. Here, the star of Big Little Lies and Divergent talks about being free-willed, her hippy passions and her late-night calls with Kate Winslet The one and only time Shailene Woodley beams during our time together – a long conversation over Zoom, on a bright weekday morning – is when my young son sneaks into the room in which I’m bent over a laptop, points at the stranger appearing on-screen, and asks, not quietly, “Who’s that?” There is nothing to do but introduce them. Continue reading... | | | | | Lily Allen: from chart-topping handbag kid to the heart of London's West End | | by Vanessa Thorpe Aug 2, 2021 | | The singer is back in front of a live audience this week, playing ‘a woman with a real point of view’ in a spooky new play, 2:22 – A Ghost Story There, in the background, wearing drop pearl earrings, is 13-year-old Lily Allen dressed up as a little lady-in-waiting. Cinema audiences watching Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth when the film of that name came out in 1998 might have been concentrating on the queen’s courtly dancing in the middle of the frame, but yes, it really was Allen playing a mini royal favourite in director Shekhar Kapur’s lavish production. Now, more than two decades later, the 36-year-old singer-songwriter is taking centre stage as an actress in the West End, appearing in a spooky new play, 2:22 – A Ghost Story, which opens this week. Continue reading... | | | | | |
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