| | Summer in the city: Elif Shafak on a night of disaster in Istanbul | by Elif Shafak Aug 13, 2021 | In 1999, as temperatures rose, tempers flared – and then a rumble began to rise from the ground • Read other authors on their memorable urban summers It was the height of summer in Istanbul, the combination of heat and humidity so suffocating that we had all become insomniacs – the cats on the streets, the people in their homes and the seagulls perched on the rooftops. I was 28, and lived in a small flat on Kazanci Yokuşu, the Steep Street of Cauldron Makers. It was a noisy place – chaotic, restless, dissatisfied. I had saved up money to swap my yellow typewriter for a Power Macintosh and now it towered over my desk, this gargantuan machine. I was intimidated not so much by its presence as by what I might write into it. In the afternoons, as I sat by the window jabbing away at the keyboard, I listened to the sounds of the city – the rolling dice from the backgammon boards at the teahouse nearby, the hum of cars and trucks, the beeping of horns, the shouting and swearing, an endless rage against other people’s mothers. As the heat built up in the summer of 1999, so did the levels of anger and frustration in the city. Continue reading... | | | Lockdown sensation Su Lee: 'I believe in sharing vulnerability – it relieves the pain' | by Kate Solomon Aug 13, 2021 | The South Korean designer turned songwriter uses goofy, DIY pop to explore issues such as depression and social anxiety If we could boil Gen Z internet, with all its anxieties and goofiness and creativity and openness, down into a person, the result would be Su Lee. The South Korean musician’s DIY pop songs shrug off frivolities such as love and sex in favour of bopping through the exhaustion and annoyance of having your brain chemistry work against you. Chuck in some videos featuring handmade wall art in “groovy chick” colourways and a dollop of ironic goofiness and Lee’s “spokesperson of Gen Z” status is pretty much assured. A case in point: when she logged on to Zoom for our interview, she asked: “Will we put this out as a video?” which made me feel ancient (and horrified). Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading... | | | Hot shame, dry heaving and dream audiences: a standup's return to Edinburgh fringe | by Fern Brady Aug 13, 2021 | The festival is back – and so are stage fright and self-loathing. But this year’s event has been small and beautiful I normally find Edinburgh fringe an extremely trying time. Now it’s an extremely trying time with fewer people. Before setting off this year, several people in my life told me to “have fun at the fringe” which is so absurd I burst out laughing before crying that my show is still only 15 minutes long and I’m expected to speak for an hour. Continue reading... | | | Tania Lacy review – a bittersweet ode to the trappings of fame | by Brian Logan Aug 13, 2021 | Available online Lacy’s tales about her time on Aussie TV may leave Britons bemused but her show finds its feet with a smart outlook on celebrity Tania Lacy’s standup show, Catch a Falling Star, is performed to an empty room and available on demand throughout the Edinburgh fringe. That’s a Covid measure, of course, but the absent audience is appropriate to the story Lacy has to tell: of the former “naughty child of Australian television” whose fame has long since abandoned her. Now “a postmenopausal straight white woman with a Facebook page”, Lacy takes to the stage to recall a career that found her choreographing and starring in Kylie’s Locomotion video, and co-hosting an anarchic pop music show with another Neighbours alumnus, Mark Little. Both were fired after staging an on-air strike. Lacy’s show seethes with the injustices inflicted on her for being a funny and outspoken woman ahead of her time. The industry, it seems, exploited her then cast her out. Heroin addiction followed. In the early stages of the show, this all sounds a bit self-justifying, as Lacy sings her own praises with minimal self-irony. That isn’t redeemed, as celebrity memoirs often are, by any nostalgic pleasure of our own; few British viewers will have seen any of the telly Lacy is talking about. Nor do the jokes compensate: from the anthropomorphic drugs roleplay to the confused aside about Louis CK, they are not Lacy’s strong suit. Continue reading... | | | Tony Bennett, 95, retires from live shows on doctors' orders | by Tim Jonze Aug 13, 2021 | The crooner’s son says there will be no more concerts – though his career is far from over Some might say that 95 is a decent age to call it a day. But Tony Bennett, who is retiring from live performance after more than eight decades in the business, is only doing so on strict doctors’ orders. According to the singer’s son and manager, Danny, last week’s sold-out shows alongside Lady Gaga at Radio City Music Hall in New York will be his last. “There won’t be any additional concerts,” Danny Bennett told Variety. “This was a hard decision for us to make, as he is a capable performer. This is however doctors’ orders. His continued health is the most important part of this, and when Tony’s wife, Susan, heard the doctors she said, ‘Absolutely not.’” Continue reading... | | | Femi Fadugba: 'There's no reason why Peckham couldn't be the theoretical physics capital of the world' | by Kadish Morris Aug 13, 2021 | The physicist‑turned-YA novelist talks about choosing to set The Upper World in south London, and how it was snapped up by Daniel Kaluuya for Netflix - Read an extract from The Upper World below
Had it not been for his secondary school caretaker, physicist-turned-novelist Femi Fadugba might never have gone on to study material sciences and quantum computing at Oxford University. “I don’t usually tell people this story because it sounds like something out of a movie,” he says, laughing, on a video call from Peckham, south London. “He gave me a Quantum Physics for Dummies book when I was 11. It was only a couple of years ago that I found his phone number and called him up. He told me that he had a PhD and was really into physics, but just wasn’t able to pursue it.” Similarly, had it not been for his career in quantum physics, Fadugba might never have written his debut sci-fi novel, The Upper World – a book about time travel set in Peckham and deeply informed by the study of atoms, matter, energy and relativity. “I decided I wanted to write this book because I’d have conversations with people who would ask me to explain quantum physics. They’d always be super fascinated and wanted me to recommend a book, but I couldn’t find one that I could put my hand on my heart and say: ‘You’ll dig this.’” Continue reading... | | | Sam Byers and Salena Godden shortlisted for the Gordon Burn prize | by Lucy Knight Aug 13, 2021 | Jenni Fagan, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Hanif Abdurraqib and Tabitha Lasley also in the running for prize to work of ‘dazzlingly bold and forward-thinking’ fiction or nonfiction Novels by Sam Byers, Salena Godden, and Jenni Fagan have been shortlisted for this year’s Gordon Burn prize for “forward-thinking and fearless” literature. Byers’ Come Join Our Disease, Fagan’s Luckenbooth and poet Godden’s first foray into fiction, Mrs Death Misses Death, are joined on the six-book shortlist by the genre-blurring A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa and nonfiction titles A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib and Sea State by Tabitha Lasley. All are in the running for a £5,000 cash prize and the chance to go on a writing retreat at Burn’s cottage in the Scottish Borders. Continue reading... | | | Aaliyah: 'Her sound is the R&B blueprint' | by Rhian Jones Aug 13, 2021 | She died in a plane crash 20 years ago – but her records still sound like the future. As they finally hit streaming services, fans and acquaintances explore Aaliyah’s enduring appeal Twenty years ago this month, the R&B superstar Aaliyah died at 22 after the badly overloaded plane she and her entourage were travelling in crashed taking off from the Bahamas, where she had been filming the video to her song Rock the Boat. From the almost shockingly sparse Are You That Somebody? to the addictive robo-funk of If Your Girl Only Knew, Aaliyah’s relentlessly future-focused records were as radical as pop gets. As much as she was admired by critics and other musicians at the time – and everyone from George Michael to DMX Krew tipped the hat to her startling 2000 single Try Again – Aaliyah’s slim three-album catalogue continues to insinuate its way through pop. Normani’s recently released Wild Side takes production inspiration from Aaliyah’s 1996 single One in a Million. Mahalia and Ella Mai paid homage to her tomboy style in their video for What You Did in 2019, and rising Detroit rapper Kash Doll has called Aaliyah her idol. Frank Ocean payed oblique homage by, like Aaliyah, covering the Isley Brothers’ 1976 song (At Your Best) You Are Love. Ciara has cited her as an influence, while Tinashe has credited her with bringing a “chill vibe” to R&B. Continue reading... | | | The Luminous Novel by Mario Levrero review – an extraordinary autofictional diary | by Sam Jordison Aug 13, 2021 | Mingling fact and fancy, this epic of digression and procrastination is wonderfully poignant In the year 2000, the Uruguayan author Mario Levrero won a Guggenheim grant to write the final chapters of an ambitious novel he had been unable to complete for the past 16 years. He then set about assiduously not writing them. Instead, he dedicated most of his effort to recording his lack of progress in an autofictional diary covering the 12 months before August 2001. A few completed chapters of the original novel are included towards the end of this wonderful book, but it’s the diary and its strange blend of fancy, fiction and daily reality that forms the bulk of its 500-plus pages. The entries, translated into delightfully clear and readable English by Annie McDermott, show the sixtysomething Levrero variously indulging and regretting his computer addiction (“I was playing FreeCell and now it’s six in the morning”); trying and failing to install an effective air-conditioning system ( “it certainly pains me to spend Mr Guggenheim’s money on home comforts”); not really trying to quit cigarettes (“ninety minutes without smoking: not bad”). Continue reading... | | | Andrew Cyrille Quartet: The News review – rolling coverage from octogenarian jazz hero | by John Fordham Aug 13, 2021 | (ECM) The 81-year-old drummer deploys crisp cymbals, hushed snares and even brushes on newspaper for this entrancing set alongside Bill Frisell, Ben Street and David Virelles It would be tempting to say that, at 81, Andrew Cyrille has probably forgotten more than most drummers have ever learned about stretching tempo and creating space for improvisers to thrive in – that is, if it didn’t do such a disservice to the Haitian-American master’s respect for his fellow players. Over six decades with stars from swing-sax pioneer Coleman Hawkins to Carla Bley and uncompromising piano virtuoso Cecil Taylor, Cyrille has learned all about jazz’s rich complexities – and then sought to distil them into ever simpler essentials in projects of his own. Continue reading... | | | Disney reports post-Covid rebound as theme parks reopen | by Mark Sweney Aug 13, 2021 | Streaming service Disney+ attracts 12m new subscribers, with company beating analysts’ forecasts The reopening of theme parks and 12 million new subscribers to Disney+ fuelled a post-pandemic recovery at the world’s biggest entertainment company, which beat Wall Street expectations in the quarter to 3 July. Disney+ reached a global user base of 116 million in the quarter, ahead of analyst estimates of 115 million, dispelling fears that growth was slowing after the company missed targets in the second quarter. Continue reading... | | | Joy Orbison: Still Slipping Vol 1 review – walking away from the dancefloor | by Tayyab Amin Aug 13, 2021 | (XL Recordings) The UK producer, a defining figure for more than a decade of underground dance, creates a stream of nostalgic, intimate tracks for his first full-length release Countless fans of the UK underground can trace their best club experiences back to London producer/DJ Joy Orbison. You could fill an entire dancefloor with anecdotes about his tracks: the catharsis of synth-y debut Hyph Mngo; the curiously quotable vocal cut-ups threaded through Sicko Cell, Ellipsis and Swims; every baptism in the submerging bass of Brthdtt; the decade-long yearn for unreleased cult hit GR Etiquette, and the collective jubilation last March when it was finally released for charity. While Joy Orbison’s earlier releases helped define an era of underground electronic music, they’ve never quite defined him. In recent years he has collaborated with rave luminaries Overmono and maverick saxman Ben Vince, hosted radio broadcasts both on Radio 1 and in Grand Theft Auto, and peeled far away from floorfillers on 2019 EP Slipping. He continues down a left-field path on this new mixtape: the first full-length project of his 12-year career. Continue reading... | | | 'The rug can be ripped at any point': how rapper Cashh reinvented himself after being deported | by David Renshaw Aug 13, 2021 | The Jamaica-born Londoner had just released a star-studded mixtape in 2014 when he was removed from the country. Now back in the UK, he has channelled his experience into a debut album In 2000, when he was seven years old, Cashief Nichols moved with his mother from Jamaica to Peckham, south London. They wanted to be closer to family and to widen their opportunities – which Nichols certainly did. As the rapper Cashtastic, he released his debut mixtape, Alarm Clock, in 2014, which included collaborations with the grime stars Kano, Wiley and Ghetts. Shortly afterwards, though, his stay in the UK came to an abrupt end: “I was put in a van and told where I was going,” he says. Nichols was ordered to return to Jamaica. Seven years on, he is back in Britain, starting music afresh as Cashh. But he remains bruised from a lengthy battle with the Home Office. “Growing up, it was instilled in you to belong wherever you go,” he says over a video call. “I was just the kid whose parents were from Jamaica.” Continue reading... | | | Modern Love season two review – these second-rate romcoms won't win your heart | by Jack Seale Aug 13, 2021 | Amazon’s anthology show, based on the hit New York Times column, is back with Minnie Driver, Kit Harington and Sophie Okonedo. What a shame the stars don’t align One day, Modern Love might find the one. Amazon’s anthology of standalone half-hour romantic dramas based on the New York Times column of real stories – not that it would change anything if it were fiction – feels like a format that could scrape soft barbs across your soul at any moment. Watching the second season make another eight stuttering attempts at the sublime, though, is to experience how rarely stars align. At its best, Modern Love has emotional heft because, yes, we once felt that too. In How Do You Remember Me?, Zane Pais and Marquis Rodriguez are two guys whose one night together was ended by circumstance. Some time later, they catch sight of each other in the street. As they step closer and closer, a Rashomon-style tale of small gestures and big mistakes plays out, each of them remembering the fateful evening from their own perspective. Writer-director Andrew Rannells conveys the sweet regret of a near miss, and the way lost moments are replayed and reshaped in the mind. Continue reading... | | | Beckett review – sturdy Netflix thriller provides simple throwback pleasures | by Benjamin Lee Aug 13, 2021 | A Luca Guadagnino-produced thriller about a man, played by John David Washington, on the run in Greece is an enjoyable homage to 70s conspiracy movies The *throws hands in the air and gives up* title of the new Luca Guadagnino-produced thriller is a telling sign of a film that no one knows quite what to do with. When Netflix picked it up late last year, it was switched from Born to Be Murdered (which sounds like a Lifetime movie starring Tori Spelling) to Beckett (which sounds like a comedy about either a wise-cracking detective or a mischievous dog or a wise-cracking detective who is also a mischievous dog), both rather awful and both rather far from what the film really is: a curious combination of propulsive on-the-run action and naturalistic Euro drama, too mainstream for the arthouse crowd and too arthouse for the mainstream, now hoping to find its place on a platform where anything and everything goes. Related: Vivo review – sweet but forgettable Netflix animation is Pixar-lite Continue reading... | | | The Magic Box by Rob Young review – a spirited history of television | by Sukhdev Sandhu Aug 13, 2021 | From spectral dreamscapes to The Year of the Sex Olympics, a lovingly researched history of British TV recalls the brilliant, the bizarre and the unworldly I grew up in the West Country but spent much of my adolescence peering at the Sheffield Crucible theatre. Like millions of other Britons, I was glued to championship snooker. Back in the 1960s, BBC Two’s controller David Attenborough had promoted the sport as a showcase for the wonders of colour TV; two decades later, I was still watching it on my parents’ black-and-white set. This should have been absurd, an inferior experience. In fact, my mind’s eye was more powerful than my actual eyes. My imagination transformed the grey balls into pinks and reds and blues. Were all programmes, broadcast on equipment probably less sophisticated than a pair of modern trainers, envisaged as much as seen? Rob Young’s The Magic Box, an exploration of British television from the late 1950s to the late 80s, seems to think so. It portrays its subject as an experimental educational centre that offered an alternative national curriculum. Television in those days harboured deviants. It was spectral, a dreamscape. This may have been inevitable: a key figure in the development of the cathode-ray tube was William Crookes (1832-1919) who was interested in spiritualism and also served as president of the Society for Psychical Research. (In 1890, he was initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.) Continue reading... | | | | | Shocking new scares from Dr Death – podcasts of the week | by Hannah Verdier, Hannah J Davies and Shivani Dave Aug 13, 2021 | Paolo Macchiarini is the subject of the latest series of the hit medical malpractice series. Plus: Fonejacker is back, and LOUD celebrates chart-topping music genre reggaeton Dr Death (available from 16 Aug) Just when you thought it was safe to step back into the surgery, here comes season three of Wondery’s unnerving blockbuster of a podcast, subtitled Miracle Man. This time round, the shady medic in question is “super surgeon” Dr Paolo Macchiarini, whose windpipe transplants and handsome looks caught the attention of TV producer Benita Alexander. In textbook Dr Death style, she’s floored by the “dashing, charming” George Clooney lookalike, and starts a whirlwind romance with the promise of a lavish wedding blessed by the pope. What could possibly go wrong? Hannah Verdier
All New Fonejacker Podcast Prank calls have the potential to seem passé in 2021, but not when they’re delivered by Fonejacker’s Kayvan Novak on his podcast. All eight episodes are available now, with Novak resurrecting his TV aliases including wheeler dealer Terry Tibbs, the ever-meddling Dufrais Constantinople, Donald Donaldson – permanently convinced that his wife is having an affair – and Brian Badonde, who can say any letter, as long as it’s b. Bitesized episodes mean that the characters don’t outstay their welcome, while “victims” are as unsuspecting as ever. Hannah J Davies Continue reading... | | | | |
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