| Jackass Forever review – unstoppable comedy stunt show still has a sting in its tail | by Peter Bradshaw Feb 2, 2022 | The gang are back with more fantastically pointless and bad-taste feats involving bears, bulls, scorpions and spiders Twenty years on, after innumerable TV series and spin-offs, lawsuits and movie franchise iterations the Jackass crew is back with yet another festival of fantastically pointless and immature bad taste, including a new younger generation of Jackass stuntsters who tell the camera they can’t believe they’re on the show they grew up with. The last film was Jackass 3D in 2010, part of the 3D craze in cinema which has now been quietly abandoned without anyone noticing or caring. But Jackass marches on. As ever, the guys are taking turns doing stupid and dangerous things, while the rest of the gang scream with supportive, incredulous laughter and the participants scream with laughter right back at them once the stunt is over. In fact, the real Jackass gonzo discipline would seem to be keeping up the grinning party mood even after a heavyweight boxer has hit you in the balls. Are there any cutting-room-floor-moments when any of them seriously lost their sense of humour? Continue reading... | | | 'Addicted to dreaming': James Bidgood, the Pink Narcissus director who defined camp | by Oliver Basciano Feb 2, 2022 | With his sexy bullfighters and tumescent belly dancers, the late filmmaker pioneered an aesthetic since imitated by everyone from David LaChapelle to Lil Nas X For nearly 30 years, Pink Narcissus was a film as mysterious as it is sensual and erotic. Clocking in at just over an hour, it was released in 1971 with an anonymous director, and skirted the obscenity laws. Artistic, radical, with a truly innovative cinematic palette, it remained unashamedly gay and pornographic. Shot on Super-8 and almost dialogue free, it builds a loose narrative around the dreams and fantasies a male sex worker has in his New York apartment between clients. He imagines himself a Spanish matador, a Roman slave, and among leather-clad bikers hanging around grimy toilets. As much as the acting, the sensuality of these scenes comes from the washes of scenographic colour: the bullfighter pulls up his high boots amid a variety of purple hues; the cottaging spot is a monochrome of black and grey; Narcissus is shown in a boudoir of burning pink. The climax comes when the sex worker – a mop of dark curly hair, high cheek bones – plays both a Middle Eastern potentate and his catamite, entertained by an increasingly energetic male belly dancer, the latter’s erection barely covered in a sheer veil. Continue reading... | | | 'It's fun to play the men we've been subjected to': meet Lazy Susan, reinventors of the female sketch show | by Rachel Aroesti Feb 2, 2022 | A spoof Lana Del Rey, hotlines for Twitter trolls and a satire of male-written female film characters: Celeste Dring and Freya Parker’s brilliant BBC Three series is a breath of fresh air The past decade has not been kind to the British sketch show. It is so rarely seen on television, that, in purely televisual terms, you would be forgiven for thinking the form had died out with 00s mainstays, such as the landline, DVDs and outrageous misogyny masquerading as friendly and completely harmless conversation. But sketch comedy has thrived on the perimeters of mainstream culture. Social media teems with incredibly clever and inventive quickfire skits, while character-comedy acts have been responsible for some of the slickest and most entertaining material on the live circuit in recent years. Continue reading... | | | Major collection of James Joyce documents and books donated to university | by Alison Flood Feb 2, 2022 | The donation from Joyce’s grandson includes a telegram from Samuel Beckett, wishing the Ulysses author a happy 49th birthday A telegram sent by Samuel Beckett to James Joyce on his 49th birthday, 91 years ago today, has been given to the University of Reading by Joyce’s grandson and his wife. The missive, in which the Waiting for Godot author tells his friend: “Teems of times and happy returns. Beckett”, is part of a major collection of books and documents given by Stephen James Joyce and his wife Solange to the university. The donation, which also includes a photograph of Solange and Stephen James Joyce at their wedding, with an awkward-looking Beckett, who was the best man, was announced to mark the centenary of the publication in Paris of Joyce’s seminal novel Ulysses, as well as the 140th anniversary of Joyce’s birth. Continue reading... | | | Mystery artist's sculptures from classic Scottish books raise £50,000 | by Severin Carrell Scotland editor Feb 2, 2022 | Money from auction of works left around country to be found by passersby will fund reading charity A set of delicately carved sculptures cut by hand from the pages of famous Scottish literary works have been sold at auction for more than £50,000, to fund a reading charity. The five pieces were made by an Edinburgh-based artist who began placing her first book sculptures in public places in 2011, captivating the city’s literary world. But she insisted on remaining anonymous, adding to the mystique. Continue reading... | | | | |
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