The 30 bands and artists to see live before you die … or they split up

With festival season upon us, from stadium-rousing anthemicists to legacy-honouring techno wizards and bowel-loosening drone-metallers, here are the performers that every music fan will want to tick off their bucket listTaylor Swift tours have quickly become the Marvel blockbusters of the live circuit, stuffed with famous cameos, era-specific multiverses and very online intertextual readings. At the heart of the maelstrom, however, is modern pop’s biggest megastar, deftly flitting between delicate folk balladry, heavyweight pop and empowered country, all tied up with a lyrical precision that can make a stadium feel like a theatre. Catch her – if you can – in the UK next year. Michael Cragg Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/24/30-musical-acts-to-see-before-you-die

#Music #Culture #Pop_and_rock

the Guardian

The 30 bands and artists to see live before you die … or they split up

With festival season upon us, from stadium-rousing anthemicists to legacy-honouring techno wizards and bowel-loosening drone-metallers, here are the performers that every music fan will want to tick off their bucket list

Even if Wagner rebellion fails, Putin’s presidency has never looked weaker

Images of tanks in streets of Moscow evoke memories of a faltering Soviet Union’s final months in 1991Russia-Ukraine war: latest developmentsFor months Yevgeny Prigozhin has theatrically railed against Russia’s military leaders. He has lambasted the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu ,and commander in chief, Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of bungling and incompetence over the war in Ukraine.In one video Prigozhin blamed Moscow for the deaths of soldiers from his Wagner mercenary unit. Their bodies were piled up behind him. In a letter, he challenged Shoigu to visit the bloody Ukrainian frontline for himself, where Wagner troops have been fighting and dying in the eastern city of Bakhmut. Luke Harding’s “Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival” is published in paperback by Guardian Faber Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/24/even-if-wagner-rebellion-fails-putins-presidency-has-never-looked-weaker

#Vladimir_Putin #Russia #Ukraine #Europe

the Guardian

Even if Wagner rebellion fails, Putin’s presidency has never looked weaker

Images of tanks in streets of Moscow evoke memories of a faltering Soviet Union’s final months in 1991

Buying a home in the US is expensive – and that isn’t changing anytime soon

Even if there are fewer home buyers and prices have been falling slightly, they’re still much higher than pre-pandemic and for many, more unaffordable than everAfter an intense two-year buying frenzy during the pandemic, the once-hot US housing market has started to cool.The US Federal Reserve set interest rates to its highest level in over a decade, and mortgage rates are sitting well above 6% for a 30-year fixed rate. The effect on the housing market has already started to show: the National Association of Realtors reports existing home sales in May were down 20% compared with a year earlier. And the median home sales price in May was $419,103, according to real estate company Redfin, a 3.1% drop compared to last year. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/24/us-housing-market-home-prices-expensive

#US_housing_and_sub-prime_crisis #US_news #Business

the Guardian

Buying a home in the US is expensive – and that isn’t changing anytime soon

Even if there are fewer home buyers and prices have been falling slightly, they’re still much higher than pre-pandemic and for many, more unaffordable than ever

How to make the perfect pumpkin gnocchi – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

As autumn’s array of delicious squashes hoves into view, this Italian classic is a welcome seasonal treat … but who makes the best version?If there’s one compensation for the loss of summer’s glossy harvest, it’s the sweetness of so many autumn vegetables – most notably, of course, the pumpkins and winter squashes that have become indelibly associated with Halloween. A relatively recent addition to the European menu, they represent a welcome rush of sugar among all the bitter greens and starchy root vegetables that will inevitably dominate our diets over the next few months.According to Anna Del Conte, pumpkin gnocchi, a more colourful and frivolous take on the potato-based version, are a speciality of Veneto and southern Lombardy, where, presumably, they would generally be served as a primi piatti before the main event; they also pair beautifully with savoury game stews, spicy sausages and sauteed mushrooms, though. They are, however, quite enough on their own, tossed in plenty of butter. And, frankly, what isn’t? Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/nov/02/how-to-make-the-perfect-pumpkin-gnocchi-felicity-cloake-recipe

#Food #Autumn_food_and_drink #Italian_food_and_drink #Vegetables #Cheese

the Guardian

How to make the perfect pumpkin gnocchi – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

As autumn’s array of delicious squashes hoves into view, this Italian classic is a welcome seasonal treat … but who makes the best version?

Top 10 books about fathers and sons | Blake Morrison

In memoirs by authors from Philip Roth to Michael Frayn, the Dad-Lit genre is always a little oedipal but there is also room for warmer feelingsThe first father-son story to leave a mark on me had Abraham, on God’s orders, preparing to kill his only son: “He bound Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife …” God then calls off the infanticide; a ram is sacrificed instead. It’s meant to be an upbeat ending but as a child the story terrified me. There I lay, on a pile of wood, about to be murdered by my Dad.Freudians offer a theory that’s the other way about, with the son killing the father. And the Dad-Lit genre can’t help but have a strain of the Oedipus complex, as the old man is ousted and the boy takes his place. But grudging affection is common too – for a life well lived, or a man who deserved better, or a rogue whose faults are dissected and, sometimes, forgiven. Daughters offer a different perspective on dads, with Jackie Kay, AM Homes, Kathryn Harrison and Aminatta Forna among the pick. But when I came to write my own memoir, nearly 30 years ago, my perspective was that of a grieving son. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/02/top-10-books-about-fathers-and-sons-blake-morrison-and-when-did-you-last-see-your-father

#Autobiography_and_memoir #Biography_books #Books #Franz_Kafka #Philip_Roth

the Guardian

Top 10 books about fathers and sons | Blake Morrison

In memoirs by authors from Philip Roth to Michael Frayn, the Dad-Lit genre is always a little oedipal but there is also room for warmer feelings

Ireland’s Call: Navigating Brexit by Stephen Collins review – how Dublin got Brussels on side

Though a forensic study of the Brexit negotiations from an Irish perspective might sound dry, it is anything butWhen I finished Stephen Collins’ book on how Ireland responded to Britain’s decision to leave the EU, a tale of shrewd politicking and diplomacy in Dublin, an image came to mind: a mouse whispering to an elephant, which then calmly sits on and squashes a chest-beating gorilla.No prizes for guessing which one was the UK. Boris Johnson’s myths about Brussels dictating the shape of bananas, after all, paved Brexit, a dreamland where Britain would be king in a new jungle. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/02/irelands-call-navigating-brexit-by-stephen-collins-review-how-dublin-got-brussels-on-side

#Politics_books #Books #Culture #Brexit #Ireland

the Guardian

Ireland’s Call: Navigating Brexit by Stephen Collins review – how Dublin got Brussels on side

Though a forensic study of the Brexit negotiations from an Irish perspective might sound dry, it is anything but

I finally quit monogamy – and found a romance I never expected | Tomasz Lesniara

I used to think open relationships were not for me because I would have to give up my romantic side. That just wasn’t trueIf you asked me a few years ago whether I’d ever quit monogamy, I would have laughed in your face. I identified as a classic romantic before I even knew I was gay. The idea that someone was out there somewhere, waiting for me to find them and become their everything, got me through my (often unbearable) adolescence.In conservative Poland, where I’m from, many bigots see being queer as a purely sexual thing. Even the more liberal ones view it as something that should remain “in the privacy of their own homes”. As if being gay was a fetish that doesn’t make any sense outside a sexual context. Deep inside, I knew that wasn’t true. I had my first crushes in primary school, and the purely sexual portrayal of queerness made me want a truly romantic relationship even more. And what’s more romantic than only having eyes for one person only, right?Tomasz Lesniara is a journalist based in Glasgow Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/02/why-i-quit-monogamy-found-romance-survived

#Relationships #Life_and_style #UK_news #Dating

the Guardian

I finally quit monogamy – and found a romance I never expected | Tomasz Lesniara

I used to think open relationships were not for me because I would have to give up my romantic side. That just wasn’t true, says journalist Tomasz Lesniara

Freaky games form some of my most vivid childhood memories

A new wave of indie horror games and remakes of haunting classics such as Silent Hill are getting more creative at trying to mess with your headHalloween might be over, but the scary memories last a lifetime, at least for me. I do not like horror. I am one of the world’s biggest wusses, and feeding my imagination with nightmare fuel will keep me up at night for weeks. I was recently so disturbed by a simple bus advert for the movie Smile that I read the Wikipedia summary of the plot, and just that was enough to screw with my sleep. My partner, meanwhile, cannot get enough of disgusting films and terrifying games, so he’s delighted to be living through something of a golden age for video game horror. Not only are haunting classics such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil getting endless remakes, there’s also an ongoing new wave of indie horror games that do ever more creative things with this medium’s ability to get inside your head.These days, I actively try to avoid horrible things, but the games that freaked me out formed some of my most vivid childhood memories. Zelda: Ocarina of Time had the Gibdos, desiccated corpses that lived in graveyards and dungeons. They could freeze Link in his tracks with a shriek, then walk towards him with horrible slowness, then speed up at the last second to leap atop his shoulders and try to suffocate him. And at the bottom of a well, there was an amorphous, eyeless, white monster whose many hands protruded from the Earth, ready to grab and ensnare. I had to play the entirety of the Shadow Temple, with its bloodstains and discordant choral music, through half-closed eyes and with a guide in hand.Simon Parkin interviewed Hideo Kojima for us in Tokyo. Kojima still won’t talk about exactly what happened during his infamous split with Konami, but gaming’s most famous director did discuss plenty of other interesting stuff, including how he feels about his past work and his conflicting relationship with social media.CD Projekt Red’s original Witcher game is going to be remade. I would love to revisit this game and I’m super-interested to see whether they will preserve the collectible “sex cards” Geralt collected by sleeping with every available female character. Those were gross at the time, but the idea has aged particularly badly over the past 15 years.Ikea is throwing a fit over a horror game set in an obvious satirical stand-in for its stores, which would be quite funny if it wasn’t also forcing the developer to revamp the entire thing for fear of getting sued.This greatly entertaining feature chronicles how players have come together over the years to translate Splatoon’s various in-game languages – only to discover that the dude who runs the clothing shop wears a T-shirt on Tuesdays that says “Fuck You”.The manager of an Amsterdam hotel is dismayed that the building features in the new Call of Duty game. “We have taken note of the fact that the Conservatorium Hotel is undesirably the scene of the new Call of Duty … More generally, we don’t support games that seem to encourage the use of violence. The game in no way reflects our core values and we regret our apparent and unwanted involvement.” Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/nov/02/pushing-buttons-freaky-horror-games-new-wave

#Game #The_Legend_of_Zelda #Games #Culture

the Guardian

Freaky games form some of my most vivid childhood memories

A new wave of indie horror games and remakes of haunting classics such as Silent Hill are getting more creative at trying to mess with your head

Beyond Movietown: Derek Jarman’s lost ‘novel’ echoes through his oeuvre

Published for the first time, Through the Billboard Promised Land Without Ever Stopping, chimes with many of the obsessions the director carried through his filmsIn Sebastiane, Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress’ 1976 film, the soon-to-be-martyred Roman soldier is warned by his friend Justin to stop fighting against their pagan authorities. “The truth,” Sebastiane responds, “is beautiful”. As they speak, Justin tends to the wounds of the third-century saint in an act of love that has the potential to endanger both of them if they are caught by their tyrannical overseer or their fellow soldiers. This moment of intimacy is luxuriant; where there could be a palpable sense of terror, Jarman and Humfress instead focus on the tenderness between two defiant men.Sebastiane’s “truth” is not just his devotion to Christ in a pagan society, but also his willingness to receive and give affection in the overtly masculine, violent and sexual environment of a military outpost. This is the kind of truth echoed in Jarman’s only known work of narrative fiction: Through the Billboard Promised Land Without Ever Stopping, which was written in 1971 and published for the first time in 2022 by House Sparrow Press. It follows a blind protagonist known as King who is accompanied on a trip across a mythical America by his valet John. On this trip (almost entirely on foot) they encounter pierrot clowns, poets excavating the land in search of old spoken verses and a mystic guide called Begum, who shows them the sights of Movietown. King and John, like Sebastiane and Justin, remain constants to one another in an increasingly unreliable and disrupted landscape. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/nov/02/beyond-movietown-derek-jarmans-lost-novel-echoes-through-his-oeuvre

#Derek_Jarman #Film #Books #Culture

the Guardian

Beyond Movietown: Derek Jarman’s lost ‘novel’ echoes through his oeuvre

Published for the first time, Through the Billboard Promised Land Without Ever Stopping, chimes with many of the obsessions the director carried through his films

The Spin | Travis Basevi: the Statsguru visionary who transformed cricket

The man behind Cricinfo’s search engine, who has died aged 47, was a one-off who paved the way for today’s data-driven gameTravis Basevi wasn’t the kind of man who sought the limelight. He was happy to just do his thing. And that thing was groundbreaking.Basevi, who died last month at the tragically young age of 47, leaving behind his wife, Jane, and son, Victor, was a genuine one-off, a man who transformed the way people looked at cricket and, by extension, the game itself. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/nov/02/travis-bavesi-the-statsguru-visionary-who-transformed-cricket-spin

#Cricket #Sport #Australia_sport

the Guardian

The Spin | Travis Bavesi: the Statsguru visionary who transformed cricket

The man behind Cricinfo’s search engine, who has died aged 47, was a one-off genius who paved the way for today’s data-driven game