The Oscar-winning film-maker has announced he is months into making Musk, which will examine the controversial entrepreneur
Oscar-winning film-maker Alex Gibney has announced that he is in the process of making a documentary about Elon Musk.
The documentarian behind films such as Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is months into the making of Musk, “a definitive and unvarnished examination” of the provocative tech entrepreneur.
Continue reading...Geoffroy de Lagasnerie says focus on friendships over relationships or family is radical act in today’s society
Building your life around close friendships rather than family or romance is a joyous and necessary act of rebellion, and governments should put in place “friendship ministries” to radically rethink the way society is organised, a key French philosopher has argued.
Geoffroy de Lagasnerie this week publishes a manifesto for friendship, 3 Une Aspiration au Dehors, detailing his close friendship with two other writers, Didier Eribon and Édouard Louis. The three friends eat together in the evening, speak many times daily, wish each other goodnight and good morning every day and synch their schedules to make sure they prioritise friendship moments, namely meeting up for long chats. He described the friendship as the centre of their lives, “one long discussion that never ends”.
Continue reading...Heritage and property groups outline plan to boost energy efficiency at historical sites to create jobs, cut emissions and meet net-zero targets
Retrofitting the UK’s historicsl buildings, from Georgian townhouses to the mills and factories that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, could generate £35bn of economic output a year, create jobs and play a crucial role in achieving climate targets, research has found.
Improving the energy efficiency of historical properties – those built before 1919 – could reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s buildings by 5% each year and make older homes warmer and cheaper to run, according to a report commissioned by the National Trust, Historic England and leading property organisations.
Continue reading...The only member of the US rock band to appear on all of its albums, Rossington survived the 1977 plane crash that killed several of his bandmates
Gary Rossington, the Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and the last surviving original member of the band, has died at the age of 71.
No cause of death was given for Rossington, who died on Sunday, nearly four months before the band was set to embark on their next tour.
Continue reading...Uruguayan-born Viñoly’s sometimes controversial work included more than 600 structures around world
Rafael Viñoly, the Uruguayan-born and New York-based architect known for designing landmark buildings around the world, has died aged 78.
Viñoly’s death on Thursday was announced by his son, Roman, on the website of the family firm, Rafael Viñoly Architects.
Continue reading...The actor, best known for his tough-guy roles in war and action movies including Black Hawk Down, also had a turbulent private life
Tom Sizemore, the actor best known for appearances in Saving Private Ryan and The Relic, has died aged 61, his manager confirmed in a statement.
“It is with great sadness and sorrow I have to announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore … passed away peacefully in his sleep today at St Joseph’s Hospital Burbank. His Brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger (17) were at his side,” Sizemore’s representative, Charles Lago said.
Continue reading...Files show actor had relationship with Jho Low, on the run over links to 1MDB scandal, and Kim Kardashian was also interviewed
New details have emerged of the actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s ties to Jho Low, the Malaysian financier turned fugitive currently wanted by international authorities over his links to one of the world’s largest corruption scandals.
On Thursday, Bloomberg revealed previously undisclosed details from FBI documents in which authorities interviewed DiCaprio in 2018 about his relationship with Low, who is accused of involvement in a money-laundering scheme of over $4.5bn being siphoned from the Malaysian state investment fund, also known as 1MDB.
Continue reading...The director, whose Oscar-nominated film The Fabelmans depicts the racial abuse he faced in the 60s, said he was very surprised by its current resurgence
Steven Spielberg has spoken out about his impression of the current levels of antisemitism in the US.
Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Spielberg was asked whether the abuse faced in 1960s California by the young Jewish hero of his new film, autobiographical drama The Fabelmans, was something he recognised today.
Continue reading...Ex-PM criticises sensitivity edit of author’s works – and also rejects sending Parthenon marbles to Greece
Boris Johnson has criticised a publisher’s rewriting of some language in Roald Dahl’s stories by reciting a song by the Oompa-Loompas.
The former prime minister expressed his “irritation at wokeness and political correctness” after Puffin made extensive changes to the author’s work to remove language it deemed offensive.
Continue reading...Official figures show £9,982 was spent per 1,000 people on libraries by central and local government in England, Scotland and Wales last year, down from £11,970 the year before
Spending on libraries in Britain has fallen by 17%, according to new statistics, despite in-person visits increasing by 68% since the pandemic.
Figures released by CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, show that in 2021/22 £9,982 was spent per 1,000 people on libraries by central and local government in England, Scotland and Wales. This was down from £11,970 in 2020/21 and £12,646 in 2018/19.
Continue reading...The multiverse adventure picked up four major categories, while The White Lotus and Abbott Elementary won big for television
Everything Everywhere All at Once reigned supreme at this year’s Screen Actors Guild awards, winning four major awards and breaking the record for most wins for a single film.
The multiverse fantasy film picked up the night’s biggest award for ensemble in a motion picture, female actor for Michelle Yeoh and both supporting actor awards, for Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan.
Continue reading...Young ‘custodian’ hopes to make ancestral home of Muncaster first carbon-zero castle in UK
In 1990, the year Ewan Frost-Pennington was born, the final bears left Muncaster Castle in the westernmost corner of the Lake District. Winnie, an Asiatic black bear, departed Cumbria for Dudley zoo, along with Inca, her daughter, and her sister, Gretel.
Three decades later, the bear pit has now been covered over with a solar farm. It is the brainchild of Frost-Pennington, the heir to the 800-year-old pink granite fortress, as he tries to make Muncaster the first carbon-zero castle in the UK.
Continue reading...Ever since Beatlemania, UK acts have set their sights across the pond. Now spiralling costs are pulling the plug
“Breaking” America has been the goal of young British musicians since the days of Beatlemania, but that dream is being dashed. Hundreds of emerging artists could be affected by plans to hike visa fees by 250% – and music industry executives have criticised ministers for failing to act.
The US immigration service wants to raise visa costs from $460 (£385) to $1,615 (£1,352) alongside other changes that artists and their managers say would make it almost impossible for anyone but the biggest stars to perform in the US.
Continue reading...Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Pink, Sir Barry Gibb and Mariah Carey sent video condolences, which were played to the crowd in Melbourne
A host of international stars and dignitaries paid tribute to the late Australian star Olivia Newton-John in at a state memorial service in Melbourne on Sunday.
Thousands gathered at Hamer Hall and video tributes came from Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Pink, Barry Gibb and Mariah Carey.
Continue reading...The Story of Flanders, spanning 38,000 years of the region’s history, is funded by the nationalist government and is accused of stretching the truth
It is blockbuster TV, with Romans and Vikings, knights and Neanderthals, trains and the trenches of the first world war – and a hefty dose of political controversy.
The Story of Flanders, a 10-part history series airing in Belgium’s northern region until March, has been a cultural landmark. But the apparently lavish funding from the region’s government, run by the separatist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party, which seeks to make Flanders independent from Belgium, has led to accusations of propaganda.
Continue reading...The designer of the glasshouses at Kew Gardens fell out of favour – but supporters of a new museum hope to change all that
One major name is missing from the line-up of great British architects that students learn have shaped the way that Britain looks. And it is a name with quite a ring to it: Decimus Burton.
Now members of the Decimus Burton Society believe they are about to put that right by establishing this Victorian classical revivalist’s place alongside better known titans such as Christopher Wren, John Nash and Edwin Lutyens. A new museum celebrating his achievements is on the drawing board and awaits approval this spring.
Continue reading...Conversation with Francis Bacon emerges amid the row over updating controversial language in the children’s author’s books
One of Roald Dahl’s best-known characters was the Enormous Crocodile, “a horrid greedy grumptious brute” who “wants to eat something juicy and delicious”.
Now a conversation the author had 40 years ago has come to light, revealing that he was so appalled by the idea that publishers might one day censor his work that he threatened to send the crocodile “to gobble them up”.
Continue reading...Adler defends ‘courageous spaces to air opposing views’ as major sponsor and three Ukrainian writers pull out over comments from other invited authors
The Adelaide Writers’ Week director, Louise Adler, has vowed not to be dissuaded from creating space for “courageous” discussions of literature and opposing views, despite high-profile withdrawals and calls for her resignation.
Three Ukrainian writers and a major financial sponsor have withdrawn from next month’s Adelaide festival event in response to social media comments by two writers appearing at the event, Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd.
Continue reading...Five-yearly data drive to be conducted on 7 March, the same night as the singer’s Auckland show
Harry Styles will have to take part in the 2023 New Zealand census, which aims to capture the country as it was on the same night as his only show in the country.
The census is conducted every five years and requires everyone in the country, including overseas visitors, to take part. This year it happens to be held on the night of the British pop star’s Auckland show on 7 March.
Continue reading...Oscar nominated actor says a woman ‘put her hand on my ass’ after asking for photograph outside theatre where he is performing
The Oscar nominated actor Paul Mescal said he confronted a female fan who groped him outside the theatre where he was performing.
He told ES Magazine that the woman “put her hand on my ass” as he posed for a photograph with her outside the Almeida theatre in north London.
Continue reading...