Category Archives: Culture

RHS garden with burnt-out cottage ‘shows Ukraine’s spirit cannot be erased’

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Victoria and Oleksiy Manoylo, who were in Milan when Russia invaded, have poured their trauma into garden

A burnt-out cottage decorated with embroidered cloths and surrounded by swaying barley, designed by a Ukrainian couple unable to return to their war-ravaged village, is set to be one of the unexpected highlights of the RHS’s largest flower show.

Victoria and Oleksiy Manoylo, landscape designers who were at a garden festival in Milan, Italy, when Russian troops invaded their village near Bucha and destroyed their home, have poured their trauma and defiance into the garden, which will feature at the RHS Hampton Court Palace garden festival next month.

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Whoopi Goldberg joins international backlash over Sydney Morning Herald’s treatment of Rebel Wilson

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Editor Bevan Shields has now accepted full responsibility for the paper’s coverage and apologised for the delay in acknowledging mistakes were made

The international backlash against the Sydney Morning Herald over its reporting of Rebel Wilson’s new relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma has intensified, with celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg now criticising the masthead.

Columnist Andrew Hornery and Herald editor Bevan Shields have this week apologised after Wilson was given a two-day deadline to respond to plans to write about the relationship.

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Britney Spears’ ex-husband given restraining order after crashing wedding

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Jason Alexander pleads not guilty to charges of stalking, trespassing, battery and vandalism

Britney Spears’ ex-husband Jason Alexander has been charged with stalking her, after he appeared unannounced at her wedding last week.

After streaming a video live on his Instagram at the wedding venue, in which he claimed that Spears had invited him and said “I’m here to crash the wedding”, Alexander was confronted by security guards, arrested and taken to a local jail. Spears’ wedding to Sam Asghari, her third husband, went ahead.

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Lizzo removes ‘harmful’ ableist slur from new song Grrrls after criticism

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Pop star says she ‘never want[ed] to promote derogatory language’ and re-releases song, removing offensive term for spastic diplegia

Lizzo has removed an offensive term for disabled people from her latest song after days of public criticism, saying she “never want[ed] to promote derogatory language”.

Grrrls, the latest track from the musician’s upcoming album Special, was released on Friday. In the opening verse, the pop star – who has become well-known for her lyrics championing acceptance and self-love – used a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.

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Rolling Stones cancel Amsterdam show after Mick Jagger tests positive for Covid

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Singer, 78, developed symptoms as he arrived in Dutch capital for Sixty tour, which includes dates in England

Sir Mick Jagger has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting the Rolling Stones to cancel their show in Amsterdam on Monday.

The singer, 78, began to develop symptoms as he arrived at the Johan Cruijff ArenA in the Dutch capital earlier in the day.

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Columnist apologises after being accused of trying to out Rebel Wilson

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Andrew Hornery, gossip columnist for Sydney Morning Herald, says he regrets how he handled the story

An Australian newspaper columnist has apologised after being accused of trying to out the actor Rebel Wilson.

Andrew Hornery, who writes a gossip column for the Sydney Morning Herald, said he regretted how he handled the story – which has been characterised as an attempt to expose the sexuality of the Pitch Perfect star.

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Amber Heard calls out ‘unfair’ role of social media in Johnny Depp case

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Actor says she doesn’t blame jurors for ruling against her in defamation trial but criticizes online commentators

Amber Heard doesn’t blame jurors for ruling against her in the defamation trial pitting her against her fellow actor and former husband Johnny Depp over domestic abuse allegations, but she did dismiss the social media commentary surrounding the case as “unfair” to her, she said in her first remarks since the blockbuster verdict.

Heard made the statements during a sit-down interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, a preview of which aired on Monday morning on the network’s Today show.

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Saudi Arabia bans Pixar’s Lightyear over same-sex kiss

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The Hollywood film has been banned in a number of countries in the Middle East because of a kiss between space ranger Alisha and her partner

Toy Story spin-off Lightyear will not be released in Saudi Arabia due to the inclusion of a same-sex kiss, the latest in a string of Hollywood films that have been banned in the Middle East over LGBTQ+ content.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the scene in question involved a space ranger called Alisha (voiced by Uzo Aduba) and her partner who greet each other with a kiss on the lips. Variety reports that Lightyear was not submitted to censors in Saudi Arabia, as it was anticipated it would not pass due to the country’s total prohibition of same-sex relationships. However, the Pixar film was submitted to censors in the comparatively more liberal United Arab Emirates, but the film’s licence was revoked after complaints on social media.

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‘Germany was 10 years behind’: how Brexit helped Europe’s galleries

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Curators who left the UK after the referendum took with them experience that is reshaping their cities’ art scenes

One of the things Stephanie Rosenthal acquired during her 10-year stint in London’s gallery world is an appreciation of the British art of queueing with a smile on your face.

After the German art historian quit her job as chief curator at the Hayward Gallery in the wake of Britain’s referendum on leaving the European Union, she exported her specialist skills back to her country of birth.

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‘I am amazed’: 101-year-old Dutch woman reunited with painting looted by Nazis

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Exclusive: she will sell the 1683 portrait of Steven Wolters by Caspar Netscher through Sotheby’s so her family can benefit from the proceeds

At the age of 101, a Dutch woman has been reunited with a painting that had been looted from her father by the Nazis during the second world war, but she has decided to sell it through Sotheby’s in London so that her family can benefit from the proceeds.

Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck, a non-practising Baptist who joined the Dutch Resistance, had never given up hope of finding the 1683 portrait of Steven Wolters by Caspar Netscher, a Dutch master whose paintings are in the National Gallery, London.

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‘I had imposter syndrome’: Taylor Swift talks becoming a director

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At a Tribeca film festival event, the singer discussed directing the short All Too Well as well as the difficult time she went through over control of her music

Lines of young fans stretch down Broadway. Selfies aplenty snapped in a crowded lobby. Wild cheers as anticipation built inside, followed by intermittent shrieks during an opening speech from Tribeca film festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal. A short film screening that morphed into a pop concert, complete with sing-along.

It’s safe to say this wasn’t your standard film festival event. But what else do you expect when the festival, now in its 20th year, decided to trot out the newly-minted Dr Taylor Swift to muse about film-making in honor of her music video-slash-short film aptly dubbed All Too Well: The Short Film? Released in November and directed by Swift herself, it fit like a glove into the festival as production partly took place in the actual Tribeca neighborhood in New York.

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The Quiet Girl: Irish-language film breaks box office records in Ireland and UK

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An Cailín Ciúin, as it is known in Irish, has earned more than €600,000 since its release last month

An Irish-language film has shattered box office records in Ireland and the UK and become a standard-bearer for a language seldom seen on the big screen.

The Quiet Girl has astonished the industry by quadrupling the previous record for an Irish language film, and by last week earning more than €610,000 (£518,000) since its release in mid-May.

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‘It isn’t about politics – it’s about money’: will Hollywood take Johnny Depp back?

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The actor has been coy about returning to movies after his blockbuster defamation case – but PR moves are being made

Johnny Depp can probably thank his lawyers and PR for suddenly having a shot at a dramatic public image resurrection, but the question remains whether Hollywood will soon restore him to the big screen he used to dominate.

In the wake of his dramatic win in the defamation case against his ex-wife and fellow star Amber Heard – though Heard herself also won on one count against her former husband’s agent – speculation is now rife that Depp may go back to movies, despite his own claims that he has no interest in returning to the franchise blockbusters that supplied his fortune.

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Australian soap opera Neighbours wraps up filming after 37 years

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Show shared final photo of cast and crew on final day of filming when ‘tears were shed’

Neighbours has shared a final photo of its cast and crew after filming wrapped on the last scene of the long-running Australian soap opera.

The show’s executive producer revealed tears were shed on the final day of filming but feels its 37-year run is an “incredible achievement” that should be celebrated.

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Miles Franklin prize removes novel from longlist after author apologises for plagiarism

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Exclusive: The Dogs by John Hughes withdrawn from $60,000 prize after novelist admits he used parts of nonfiction work of Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich ‘without realising’

Australia’s most prestigious books prize, the Miles Franklin literary award, has pulled The Dogs by John Hughes from its 2022 longlist, a day after Hughes apologised for plagiarising parts of the work of a Nobel laureate “without realising” in his acclaimed novel.

Following a Guardian Australia investigation that uncovered 58 similarities and instances of identical text between parts of Hughes’ 2021 novel The Dogs and the 2017 English translation of Svetlana Alexievich’s nonfiction The Unwomanly Face of War, Hughes apologised to Alexievich and her translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky “for using their words without acknowledgment”.

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Ardern’s fiance takes swipe at Albanese’s outdated music taste after leaders exchange records

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‘What is this, 2004???’ Clarke Gayford posted in response to Australian PM’s gift of Midnight Oil, Spiderbait and Powderfinger albums

Jacinda Ardern’s fiancee has taken a cheeky swipe at Anthony Albanese’s music taste after the Australian prime minister and his New Zealand counterpart exchanged records during the pair’s first face-to-face meeting.

Ardern and Albanese, who have both moonlighted as DJs in the past, made the customary display of gift-giving at their first meeting since the federal election in Sydney on Thursday, with both opting for the high-risk, high-reward gift of music.

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‘I won’t believe humans any more’: Johnny Depp releases self-penned ballad lamenting fame

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New single This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr is a ballad about the difficulties of film stardom, taken from Depp’s forthcoming album with Jeff Beck

Johnny Depp has released a new self-penned song performed with Jeff Beck, This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr, taken from the pair’s forthcoming collaborative album, entitled 18.

A trudging rock ballad sung by Depp interspersed with solo vocals from Beck, it hymns the 1940s film star (and innovative electrical engineer) Hedy Lamarr, though this lament about fame will inevitably be read as a reaction to the high-profile, frequently ugly defamation case he recently brought against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

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Unseen works by ‘queen of gothic fiction’ Shirley Jackson published

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Two previously unseen short stories by Jackson, rated by Stephen King as one of the great horror fiction writers, are to appear in US magazine the Strand

Two previously unpublished short stories by Shirley Jackson, the queen of gothic fiction, have been released.

Charlie Roberts and Only Stand and Wait were both published on 9 June in Strand magazine, a US-based print magazine that publishes short fiction and interviews.

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‘Unflinching’ debut written ‘for something to do’ during lockdown wins top book prize

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Diana Reid’s Love & Virtue wins book of the year and literary fiction category at Australian Book Industry Association’s annual awards in Sydney

First Nations writers and female authors have dominated the 2022 Australian Book Industry Association’s (Abia) annual awards, with a debut novel by one of the nation’s most promising young writers taking out top honours.

Diana Reid’s Love & Virtue won the Abia book of the year and literary fiction book of the year at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night. Judges praised the novel as “a darkly funny yet unflinching glimpse of early adulthood”. In her review for Guardian Australia, Zoya Patel praised Love & Virtue as “a multilayered page-turner on power, unrequited love and campus rape culture, wrapped in a coming-of-age narrative”.

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