Category Archives: Culture

Netflix announces surprise Michelle Obama documentary

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Becoming, which drops in May, follows the former first lady on her 34-city book tour, will offer a ‘rare and up-close’ look at her life

Netflix has announced a new original documentary focused on former first lady Michelle Obama to be released on 6 May.

Becoming will follow Obama on her 34-city tour to promote her book of the same name and will offer an “intimate”, “rare and up-close” look at her life. It’s directed by Nadia Hallgren, who recently made the documentary short After Maria, which looked at the effect of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rican families.

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Per Olov Enquist, celebrated Swedish author, dies aged 85

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Much garlanded novelist, playwright, poet and Oscar-winning screenwriter hailed as ‘a giant among European writers’

Swedish author Per Olov Enquist, described as “a giant among European writers” by his publisher, has died at the age of 85.

The author’s family told Swedish media that he died on Saturday night after a long illness. The much-celebrated novelist, playwright and poet, known by his initials PO, was winner of the Nordic Council’s literary prize and the Swedish Academy’s Nordic prize. His historical novel The Visit of the Royal Physician – set in the adulterous, backstabbing world of the 18th-century Danish courts, where the mad king Christian VII’s queen, the English princess Caroline Mathilde, falls in love with the court physician – won him the August prize, Sweden’s most prestigious literary award after the Nobel. It also made him the only Swedish author to take the Independent foreign fiction prize, the precursor to the International Booker, in 2001.

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Taylor Swift disowns new live album, calling it ‘shameless greed’

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Singer complains of ‘tasteless’ release amid coronavirus crisis by former label Big Machine, owned by frequent adversary Scooter Braun

Taylor Swift has disowned a new live album released under her name, calling it tasteless and “shameless greed” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The album, Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008, was recorded when Swift was 18, around the release of her Grammy-winning second album, Fearless. The live album has been released by Big Machine, Swift’s former label that was bought by music manager Scooter Braun from its founder, Scott Borchetta. Swift has frequently criticised Braun and Borchetta – leading Braun to allege death threats from fans to his family – and is planning to rerecord and rerelease her six albums put out by Big Machine to regain some control over her back catalogue.

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Beyoncé gives $6m to coronavirus relief, including mental health causes

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Pop star unites with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey to support charities working with ‘communities of colour’

Beyoncé has announced a donation of $6m for mental health and other initiatives during the coronavirus outbreak.

The singer teamed up with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s relief fund #startsmall to make the donation to the National Alliance in Mental Health, University of California Los Angeles, and local community-based organisations working to improve mental health. In a statement on her website, Beyoncé said mental burdens were accelerating for people who can’t access basic necessities during the crisis.

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The Rolling Stones release Living In a Ghost Town, first original music since 2012

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Mick Jagger says new single will ‘resonate through the times we’re living in’ and references coronavirus with the lyric: ‘Life was so beautiful, then we all got locked down’

The Rolling Stones have released their first original music since 2012, a new – and rather apocalyptic – single called Living in a Ghost Town.

Mick Jagger said the band were “recording some new material before the lockdown and there was one song we thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now. We’ve worked on it in isolation. And here it is.”

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Need zing in your Zoom? Let Warhol and the avant-garde vamp up your video conferences

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It’s hard to make much of a mark in the strange, static world of video-conferencing. But we could all learn a trick or two from famous arthouse film-makers, from Jim Jarmusch to Andy Warhol

Of all the many weirdnesses of the age of lockdown, video-conferencing must be one of the weirdest. This is the first time many of us have used Zoom, FaceTime, Google Hangouts and Houseparty. And, invaluable as they are, few would disagree that they are a strange way to communicate. From the stilted family group chat to the strained business meeting, it all feels messy and unnatural. Video-conferencing is nothing like real-life conversation, nor is it like cinema or TV, even though it is essentially watching people on a screen.

However, for a certain strain of film-makers and artists, the unblinking, unmoving gaze of the webcam is familiar territory. Could the art end of cinema help ease our pain and anxiety? Could we improve our new social rituals by rethinking them as experiments in avant garde film?

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‘You’re not welcome’: rap’s racial divide in France

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While the genre is hugely popular in the country and sells in vast numbers, the French music industry and politicians have tried to downplay its success

Dave’s Mercury prize-winning debut album, Psychodrama, was the biggest-selling British rap album in the UK in 2019, certified gold for selling more than 100,000 units. Those numbers wouldn’t even have landed him in the top 10 biggest rap albums in France last year, where artists from greater Paris sell more rap albums than acts from any other city. But, while Dave won album of the year at this year’s Brit awards, and gave a nationally televised performance decrying the prime minister as racist, at last month’s Victoires de la Musique – France’s equivalent of the Brits – none of France’s black or Arab rappers were nominated in an album, artist or song category.

Days after the ceremony, French music industry body SNEP, which is responsible for collating the charts, distributing royalty payments and more, declared rap music an “overexposed phenomenon” in their 2019 market report. It argued that “fan support for urban music must not eclipse the performances of other musical genres” – an explicit call for less promotion and celebration of the most successful French popular music movement of all time.

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Fortnite owner gives up battle against Google Play store

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Epic makes its blockbuster game available in store, an embarrassing climbdown

Fortnite for Android is available through the Google Play store for the first time, almost 18 months after owners Epic Games tried to use the game’s popularity to break the app store duopoly.

The release is an embarrassing climbdown for Epic, which has sunk significant resources into building its own independent games service, and is sure to reignite accusations of anti-competitive behaviour on the parts of both Apple and Google.

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Ronan O’Rahilly, Radio Caroline founder who inspired UK pop and pirate radio, dies aged 79

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O’Rahilly, who also managed pop stars and James Bond actor George Lazenby, was diagnosed with dementia in 2013

Ronan O’Rahilly, the Irish founder of the notorious Radio Caroline that popularised pop music on British radio, has died aged 79.

His death was announced by the radio station that is still broadcasting, who said: “In a pastime populated by unusual people, Ronan was more unusual than all of them combined.” He had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.

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Museums hold Twitter showdown to find world’s creepiest exhibit

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Locked-down institutions go online for Yorkshire Museum’s weekly ‘curator battles’

A zombie blowfish, a hideous mermaid and a lucky charm made out of a dead man’s finger are all competing to be crowned the creepiest exhibits in the world after an archaeological museum in the north of England challenged curators during the lockdown to showcase their most sinister objects.

Since its closure due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Yorkshire Museum in York has launched a weekly #curatorbattle on social media to challenge museums and visitors to put forward objects related to a particular theme.

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Peter Beard, photographer, wildlife advocate and socialite, dies at 82

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The body of the artist was found in Long Island, three weeks after he was reported missing

The body of photographer Peter Beard has been found, three weeks after he was reported missing.

The 82-year-old, famous for his images of African wildlife, had disappeared from his cliffside compound in Montauk at the tip of Long Island, New York, on 31 March. He had been suffering from dementia. His remains were found in a “densely wooded area” of Camp Hero State Park, according to the East Hampton police department.

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Yuval Noah Harari: ‘Will coronavirus change our attitudes to death? Quite the opposite’

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Will the coronavirus pandemic return us to more traditional and accepting, attitudes towards dying – or reinforce our attempts to prolong life?

The modern world has been shaped by the belief that humans can outsmart and defeat death. That was a revolutionary new attitude. For most of history, humans meekly submitted to death. Up to the late modern age, most religions and ideologies saw death not only as our inevitable fate, but as the main source of meaning in life. The most important events of human existence happened after you exhaled your last breath. Only then did you come to learn the true secrets of life. Only then did you gain eternal salvation, or suffer everlasting damnation. In a world without death – and therefore without heaven, hell or reincarnation – religions such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism would have made no sense. For most of history the best human minds were busy giving meaning to death, not trying to defeat it.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the Bible, the Qur’an, the Vedas, and countless other sacred books and tales patiently explained to distressed humans that we die because God decreed it, or the Cosmos, or Mother Nature, and we had better accept that destiny with humility and grace. Perhaps someday God would abolish death through a grand metaphysical gesture such as Christ’s second coming. But orchestrating such cataclysms was clearly above the pay grade of flesh-and-blood humans.

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Hackers exploit coronavirus lockdown with fake Netflix and Disney+ pages

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Criminals seek rich pickings as viewers stuck at home flock to TV streaming sites

More than 700 fake websites mimicking Netflix and Disney+ signup pages have been created seeking to harvest personal information from consumers during the coronavirus lockdown streaming boom.

Netflix, which is expected to smash its forecast of 7 million new global subscribers when it reports first-quarter results on Tuesday, is the main target as millions of new potential customers seek entertainment while confined to their homes.

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What the butler saw: sex secrets of French presidents’ palace revealed

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For 300 hundred years staff at the Elysée witnessed men flaunting their power over women, but no longer, says author of a new book

From the time of kings and emperors to modern day presidents, the Elysée Palace has stood as a symbol of male dominance in society and politics. Behind the wrought iron gates its gilded salons have witnessed conquests of many kinds – including, frequently, the sexual.

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Watch live! Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Rolling Stones to appear in global event to support frontline health workers

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One World: Together At Home is a global event featuring dozens of artists and comedians to support frontline healthcare workers and the WHO during the Covid-19 pandemic

This event is produced by Global Citizen and the World Health Organization and curated in collaboration with Lady Gaga. Read more about the show here. The Guardian will be streaming the first six hours today starting at 2pm ET. Stars appearing in the earlier part of the show include John Legend, Megan Rapinoe, the Killers, Samuel L Jackson, Jameela Jamil, Jennifer Hudson and many more.

This week the Guardian and Kaiser Health news launched Lost on the Frontline, a project that aims to honor the life of every healthcare worker in America who dies from Covid-19 during the pandemic. Read more about the project here.

The performers for the first six hours:

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On the trail of a Nazi war criminal: ‘It’s my duty as a son to find the good in my father’

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East West Street author Philippe Sands uncovers secrets and lies on the trail of Otto Wächter, his devoted wife – and the son brought up to believe his father was a decent man

In the 1960s, my brother and I often visited our grandparents in Paris, near the Gare du Nord. As children, we understood that the past was painful, that we should not ask questions. Their apartment was a place of silences, one haunted by secrets. They only really began to be addressed when I was in my 50s, the consequence of an invitation to deliver a lecture in Lviv, in Ukraine. Come talk about your work on crimes against humanity and genocide, it said.

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Every Drop of Blood review: how Lincoln’s Second Inaugural bound America’s wounds

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Edward Achorn delivers a fascinating account of an address which entered the national consciousness

As Abraham Lincoln prepared to take the oath of office for a second time, on 4 March 1865, the nation waited to hear what he would say about its future. Triumphalism at military success? A call to further sacrifice? Vengeance on the rebel South or an outline for reconstruction?

Related: 'What it means to be an American': Abraham Lincoln and a nation divided

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No match for Dr Fauci – are TV Doctors like Dr Phil causing more harm than good?

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Dr Phil, Dr Oz and others appearing on cable news now exist in a bizarre realm halfway between fiction and authenticity

Last week, a group of actors known for their roles as fictional medical professionals on television released a video on Instagram thanking the real doctors on the frontlines fighting against the pandemic, raising money on their behalf.

Olivia Wilde of House, Scrubs stars Zach Braff and Donald Faisona, Nurse Jackie’s Edie Falco, Julianna Margulies and Maura Tierney of ER, and others, came together to share a message of support for doctors and nurses, and joked in a way best summed up by Neil Patrick Harris: “I’m not a doctor, but I was paid to be one on TV.”

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No conferring! Take our devilishly hard University Challenge quiz

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Are you a brainbox like Brandon, or even half as wise as Wang? Ahead of Monday’s final, pit your wits against our truly tricky questions, as compiled by the show’s question setters

In which present-day country is the ancient kingdom of Sheba, whose queen visited King Solomon?

Oman

Yemen

Saudi Arabia

Which Latin-derived philosophical term was popularised by Ivan Turgenev’s 1862 novel Fathers and Sons, where it was used to describe the crude scientism espoused by the character Bazarov?

Nihilism

Nominalism

Probablism

Which US state capital was named after a dukedom conferred on the future James II (James VII of Scots) in 1664?

Albany

Hartford

Bismarck

More than 80% of compounds used in nuclear medicine are labelled using which radioisotope? It has atomic number 43 and mass number 99.

Gallium

Thallium

Technetium

Appearing in the title of an opera by Philip Glass, which term did Mahatma Gandhi use for his policy of non-violent resistance to British rule?

Satyagraha

Pratyahara

Swaraj

Named by the US sociologist Robert K Merton after a book of the Bible, which "effect" can be summarized as: "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer"?

Mark

Matthew

Genesis

Depicting an impoverished pea-picker and her children in 1936, Migrant Mother was a celebrated image by which photographer?

Dorothea Lange

Jack Delano

Arthur Rothstein

Polka dots and "infinity rooms" with mirrors are a characteristic feature of the installations of which Japanese artist, born in 1929?

Yayoi Kusama

Tatsuo Miyajima

Yoshitomo Nara

What term denotes the boundary between the solar wind and the interstellar medium? It lies about 123 astronomical units from the sun.

Heliopause

Heliosheath

Heliotrope

The first independent French-speaking African state, which country did Ahmed Sékou Touré rule from 1958 until his death in 1984?

Ivory Coast

(Republic of) Guinea

Mali

Describing an allegorical place populated by women of "great renown", The Book of the City of Ladies is a 1405 work by which French author?

Marie de France

Christine de Pizan

Clémence de Bourges

In transport history, the Rainhill Trials - won by Stephenson’s Rocket - took place towards the end of which decade?

1780s

1820s

1850s

Expressed in metric tons, what is one gigagramme?

1,000

10,000

100,000

Changsha is the capital of which Chinese province, the birthplace, in 1893, of Mao Zedong?

Hunan

Hebei

Hubei

Which Swiss architectural firm designed the Bird’s Nest stadium for the 2008 summer Olympics?

Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Mario Botta Architetti

Herzog & De Meuron

15 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

14 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

13 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

12 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

11 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

10 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

9 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

8 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

7 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

6 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

5 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

4 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

3 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

2 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

0 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

1 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

The University Challenge grand final airs Monday 20 April at 8.30pm on BBC Two

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‘I’m just like Anne Frank, like Indiana Jones’: Bob Dylan continues return to new songs

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Nobel prize-winning songwriter follows 17-minute Murder Most Foul with I Contain Multitudes, referencing everything from Edgar Allan Poe to William Blake and the Rolling Stones

Bob Dylan has continued to release his first original music in eight years, with a song in which he seemingly compares himself to Anne Frank, Indiana Jones, the Rolling Stones and William Blake.

At four and a half minutes, I Contain Multitudes is less lengthy than the song he returned with, Murder Most Foul, a 17-minute long track about the JFK assassination. Like that song, though, I Contain Multitudes is drifting and percussion-free, backed by acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitars.

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