Singer told to rest for two weeks, forcing him to cancel gigs in California and Los Angeles
The singer Morrissey is being treated for “physical exhaustion” after cancelling a number of dates on his current tour.
His tour manager said on Saturday he had been told to rest for two weeks.
Continue reading...Estate says Dudesy podcast outlet had no license to Carlin’s likeness or copyrighted material, which was used to create special
The estate of George Carlin is suing the media company behind a fake, hour-long comedy special whose creators boasted of using artificial intelligence to re-create the late standup comic’s style and material.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday asks that a judge order the podcast outlet Dudesy to immediately take down the audio special, George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead, in which a synthesis of Carlin delivers commentary on current events. Carlin died in 2008.
Continue reading...The artist once known as Jenny from the block is spearheading an animated feature about a Latino construction worker voiced by Anthony Ramos
Move over Barbie: the latest Mattel property set for cultural domination has been unveiled as Bob the Builder, the chirpy construction worker who debuted 25 years ago on CBBC and is being belatedly brought to the big screen by booty-shaking multi-hyphenate Jennifer Lopez.
In something of a spin on the original series, the film’s plot will see Roberto (AKA Bob) travel to Puerto Rico for a major construction job, where he “takes on issues affecting the island and digs deeper into what it means to build”.
Continue reading...Famed and derided for his minimalist aesthetic, the artist’s career was overshadowed by suspicions about his role in the death of his wife Ana Mendieta
Carl Andre, the minimalist sculptor whose life’s work was overshadowed by accusations that he had murdered his third wife, has died aged 88.
The artist was a pioneer of minimalism, and famed for austere works such as 1966’s Equivalent VIII, an arrangement of 120 fire bricks on the gallery floor. But he was also notorious for being a suspect in the murder of Ana Mendieta, who fell from the couple’s apartment window after an argument in 1985. Despite being acquitted of second-degree murder in 1988, the accusations continued to follow Andre for the rest of his life, with supporters of Mendieta turning up to protest at his exhibitions.
Continue reading...Objects to go on show at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi as part of Asante king’s silver jubilee celebrations
Gold and silver treasure looted from west Africa by the British army in colonial wars are to be lent to Ghana in a three-year deal, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum have announced.
The precious regalia, which had belonged to the Asante royal court, is regarded as part of the “national soul” of Ghana. Under the deal, 17 objects from the V&A and 15 from the British Museum, will go on show later this year at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the capital of Asante region. Many of the items have not been seen in Ghana for 150 years.
Continue reading...Canadian-born director of Moonstruck and Fiddler on the Roof was a three-time Oscar nominee
Norman Jewison, the acclaimed and versatile Canadian-born director whose Hollywood films ranged from Doris Day comedies and Moonstruck to social dramas such as the Oscar-winning In the Heat of the Night, has died at the age of 97.
Jewison, a three-time Oscar nominee who in 1999 received an Academy Award for lifetime achievement, died “peacefully” on Saturday, according to his publicist Jeff Sanderson. Additional details were not immediately available.
Continue reading...Films include a sci-fi about a man who rents out his dead wife’s body and a documentary about a hippo owned by Pablo Escobar
Colombian cocaine hippos, a Star Wars parody set in northern France and an unlikely father-daughter pairing of Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham all feature in an eclectic lineup at this year’s Berlin film festival, which was unveiled on Monday.
The 74th edition of the 10-day Berlinale will open on 15 February with the world premiere of Small Things Like These, based on Irish author Clare Keegan’s bestselling historical novel. Adapted to the big screen by Enda Walsh, the film sees Cillian Murphy reuniting with Belgian director Tim Mielants, who directed the third series of Peaky Blinders.
Continue reading...Around 900 of the estimated 11,100 job losses in the workforce last year were in the UK’s £5bn a year industry
Mass redundancies in the video game industry, with thousands of developers losing their jobs, have led to a record surge in workers joining unions, organisers have told the Observer.
The fledgling Game Workers branch of the IWGB union saw its membership jump by almost half between December 2022 and December 2023 as job cuts worsened in the sector, including at the studios behind bestselling games such as Fifa, Skyrim and The Witcher.
Continue reading...Weiss led US girl band with run of hit songs about teenage love and tragedy, including Leader of the Pack
Mary Weiss, the lead singer of the 1960s pop group the Shangri-Las, has died at the age of 75, her record label said.
The US girl band rose to stardom with a run of hit songs about teenage love and tragedy, including Remember (Walking in the Sand) and Leader of the Pack, and was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Continue reading...Sarah Grochala’s Intelligence follows Lovelace’s attempts to be taken seriously as a scientist in 1840s London
A play about the reincarnation of the Victorian computing pioneer Ada Lovelace has won this year’s Women’s prize for playwriting.
Intelligence, by Sarah Grochala, follows Lovelace’s attempts to forge a career for herself as a serious scientist in 1840s London and being continually obstructed by men.
Continue reading...Three-year €2.1m fund will prioritise former colonies of the two countries and could lead to return of items
Germany and France will jointly spend €2.1m (£1.8m) to further research the provenance of African heritage objects in their national museums’ collections, which could prepare the ground for their eventual return.
A three-year fund, with contributions of €360,000 a year by each country, was launched in Berlin on Friday. It has been designated to fund research on objects from anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa, though priority is expected to be given to countries that were colonised by France and Germany, such as Togo and Cameroon.
Continue reading...Announcement comes less than a week after Denmark’s longest serving monarch abdicated the throne
Having abdicated the Danish throne after 52 years on exactly the same date she became queen – and announced her surprise decision live on TV with just two weeks’ notice – there’s little doubt Margrethe II has a sense of drama.
After signing the abdication declaration last weekend, she left the room with tears in her eyes and the words: “God bless the king.”
Continue reading...The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, is seeking class action status for attenders of all other Celebration tour shows in the US that started late
Two Madonna fans in New York City are suing the pop star for starting her concert late, claiming that they “had to get up early to go to work” the next morning.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden say they bought tickets to a 13 December show at Barclays Center as part of Madonna’s Celebration tour.
Continue reading...Programme’s lexicographer says audiences are consumed by correct pronunciation of the word ‘scone’
As the in-house lexicographer on Channel 4’s enduringly popular Countdown programme, Susie Dent has been arbitrating on word-related disputes for more than 30 years.
Now, Britain’s most famous word expert has revealed the question she is asked most frequently about the sometimes idiosyncratic English language: the correct pronunciation of the word “scone”.
Continue reading...Statement from peak bodies argues independence and viability of global screen industry under threat unless mandatory quotas for non-US content introduced
Australia has joined an international campaign calling on governments to provide better protection for local screen industries in a market dominated by global streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.
Screen Producers Australia (SPA) issued a joint statement with counterparts in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada, demanding regulation to force streaming services to make content that is relevant to local markets where they operate.
Continue reading...June Givanni founded London archive documenting Pan-African cinema over 40 years
A pioneering curator, writer and programmer of African film is to receive Bafta’s outstanding British contribution to cinema award.
June Givanni is the founder of a London archive that has amassed more than 10,000 items – including films, ephemera, manuscripts, audio, photography and posters – documenting Pan-African cinema over 40 years.
Continue reading...UK’s national library apologises to researchers, saying full recovery could take until end of the year
The British Library is restoring online its main catalogue, containing 36m records of printed and rare books, maps, journals and music scores, 11 weeks after a catastrophic cyber-attack.
However, access is limited to a “read-only” format, and full restoration of services provided by the UK’s national library could take until the end of the year.
Continue reading...Hunter Walker and Luppe B Luppen, authors of The Truce, quote former staffers to vice-president in scathing assessment
Considering Kamala Harris’s fitness to take over from Joe Biden should the need arise, a top aide to the former California senator’s 2020 campaign said: “This person should not be president of the United States.”
The withering assessment, given after Harris was picked for vice-president in 2020, is reported in The Truce: Progressives, Centrists and the Future of the Democratic Party, by the reporters Hunter Walker and Luppe B Luppen. The book will be published in the US on 24 January 2024. The Guardian obtained a copy.
Continue reading...James Hunter alleges in a LA court filing that Goth intentionally kicked him while he lay on the ground playing dead
An extra has alleged in a Los Angeles court filing that British actor Mia Goth kicked him in the head on the set of slasher film MaXXXine.
James Hunter, a background actor on the latest instalment in the X series, which follows on from the success of X and Pearl, claims he was covered in fake blood and told to lie in the ground and play dead for a scene filmed in April 2023.
Continue reading...Theatreland is taking a gamble on a wave of quirky little shows to challenge the big but tired box office beasts
A fresh kind of musical theatre show, set apart by having started life on the fringe or in a small-scale provincial production, is challenging the established order in London’s West End this season.
A wave of new, quirky productions will be taking their places alongside Phantom of the Opera-style classics and all those big, popular musicals that rework a familiar film title or milk a superstar legacy.
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