| | | Summer in the city: Lauren Oyler on a bike accident in Berlin | | by Lauren Oyler Aug 14, 2021 | | The US author and critic recalls a summer of cycling in the German capital in 2018 • Read other authors on their memorable urban summers Every summer when I come to Berlin, someone says, “Wouldn’t you rather be at the beach?” No. I want to drink beer from the Späti (corner shop) and marvel at the sudden appearance of disparate architectures. But increasingly, there are heatwaves. If pressed, even these I can romanticise: everyone is carefree and dirty (even more so than usual) and doesn’t work (even more so than usual). I always end up crossing Alexanderplatz on a bike thinking, this is like a desert, but more than once I’ve run into someone I know in the bike lane, which renders the scene even more hallucinogenic. Still, I dread the heatwaves as if they are worse than they are. “They’re going to have to get air-conditioning,” I mutter with the rest of the Americans. The only real respite is, unfortunately, to go to the beach. Continue reading... | | | | | Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian review – a magical debut | | by Sana Goyal Aug 14, 2021 | | A novel about anxiety and ambition asks what it means to be both Indian and American In a fictional Atlanta suburb that’s a “bubble of brownness”, young Neil Narayan wonders if, in post-9/11 Bush-era America, “there were other ways of being brown on offer”. He is not sure there are, not unless he can “write himself” into American history. “There was no room to imagine multiple sorts of futures”, either. Sanjena Sathian’s satirical and magical debut, Gold Diggers, is full of such searches for answers: for alternative histories and futures. Pressured by Indian immigrant parents, Neil, like his peers, is desperate to excel. In his world, excellence means top grades, teen pageants and Ivy League universities. He is even more desperate, however, for the attention of his high school crush Anita Dayal. And then he discovers that she and her mother are gold thieves; they have been stealing jewellery, and by extension “ambition”, from folk within their community and melting it into an ancient alchemical potion in their basement. This “lemonade” is a shortcut to success, transferring the ambition of the owner of the gold to the drinker. Overachievers both, Neil and Anita can’t get enough of the drink and ride high on their own friends’ ambitions. But there are consequences to stealing a part of someone, and the lemonade soon begins to leave a bitter aftertaste. Continue reading... | | | | | | | Modesty pouches and masturbation montages: the making of Sex Education | | by Rebecca Nicholson Aug 14, 2021 | | The rude, raucous and revolutionary comedy is back for another term. The stars and creators reveal how it became one of Netflix’s biggest British hits Sex Education is back with a bang. Several, in fact. The Netflix hit’s third series starts with an epic sex montage. There’s sex in a car; in a living room; in a variety of teenage bedrooms. There are casual encounters, committed relationships, sex together, alone, virtually, playing the drums and with a sci-fi theme. It is a symphony of shags, an opera of orgasms, all set to the thumping beat of the Rubinoos’ I Think We’re Alone Now. As the old saying goes, there’s nowt so queer as folk, and Sex Education is determined to prove it. The Netflix comedy-drama only began in 2019, but thanks to its cross-generational, multinational appeal, it already seems like part of the cultural landscape. The funny, frank, flamboyant show about teenage life, sex and identity is an awards magnet and has made stars of its young cast, who now front fashion campaigns and appear regularly on stage and cinema screens. Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield star as mother and son Jean and Otis Milburn, who live in an enviable, chalet-style house overlooking the gorgeous Wye valley. Continue reading... | | | | | Streaming: the best of the Edinburgh film festival 2021 | | by Guy Lodge Aug 14, 2021 | | The festival returns with live screenings, but will continue to offer an online edition, with gems from Norway and Iran, plus a 30-year stop-motion passion project As the film festival circuit returns to semi-normal – Cannes wrapped a delayed but successful edition last month, with Venice and Toronto both taking place as scheduled this September – not everyone is keen to return to business as usual. For many cinephiles who are unable, even under the best of circumstances, to travel to all corners of the globe to catch new films, the pandemic-induced wave of online festivals was an improvement, not a compromise. Expect more festivals to consider the virtues of increased accessibility even when local in-person events are possible. One such example is the Edinburgh international film festival, usually held in June, which is returning to a delayed live edition this Wednesday – overlapping for the first time in years with the Edinburgh fringe – but will maintain a hybrid physical-digital format. (The fringe, too, is making itself available to digital audiences: a number of its performances will stream online.) And while most of the big-name UK premieres in the film lineup will be limited to in-person screenings, a worthwhile programme of 20 features, alongside several short film collections, will be available to view online for 72 hours following their premieres over the next two weeks. Continue reading... | | | | | Strictly Come Dancing 2021: the contestants – ranked | | by Stuart Heritage Aug 14, 2021 | | Robert Webb, AJ Odudu, Tom Fletcher and Nina Wadia are among the celebrities getting their dancing shoes on for Strictly. But who will succeed … and who on earth is Tilly Ramsay? The 2021 Strictly Come Dancing line-up has been unveiled in full, which can only mean one thing. It’s Christmas already. Merry Christmas everyone! But who are these brave celebrities who have dared to develop a close friendship with a professional dancer that has a statistically high likelihood of ending their marriage? Below you will find them all, ranked from worst to best in terms of probable success. Continue reading... | | | | | | | Banksy confirms he is behind British seaside 'spraycation' artworks | | by Staff and agencies Aug 14, 2021 | | Anonymous artist posts Instagram video charting his coastal tour in an ageing camper van Banksy has confirmed that he is indeed the author of a number of works that have appeared recently in seaside towns on the UK east coast. An Instagram video clip, just over three minutes long called “A Great British Spraycation”, shows the elusive artist taking a summer road trip in a beaten-up camper van with cans of spray paint stashed inside a cooler. Continue reading... | | | | | Grammy-winning folk artist Nanci Griffith dies at 68 | | by Adrian Horton Aug 13, 2021 | | The singer-songwriter known for songs such as Love at the Five and Dime and From a Distance has died with a cause unknown Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer known for her literary songwriting, has died at age 68. Her management confirmed her death in a statement on Friday afternoon, but did not specify a cause. “It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement. Continue reading... | | | | | Twenty photographs of the week | | by Jim Powell Aug 13, 2021 | | The end of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Taliban advance in Afghanistan, forest fires in Greece and protests in Bangkok – the most striking images from around the world this week Continue reading... | | | | | |
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