Nicolas Cage as The Joker could be a masterstroke or a major mistake | Movies
Posted on June 20, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 771 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Week in geekMoviesNicolas Cage as The Joker could be a masterstroke – or a major mistakeThe very good, or very bad actor, depending on your tastes, has said that he would like to play Batman’s nemesis. Will the studios take the bait?
If there were ever a Marmite actor, dividing opinion equally between those who believe he is a maverick genius and those who see him as a giant ham, it is Nicolas Cage.
[Read More]100 years ago: The cruelty of the otter hunt
Posted on June 19, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 262 words
| Delta Gatti
Country diaryEnvironmentOriginally published in the Manchester Guardian on 28 August 1912On one of the streams which I occasionally visit there is an otter – I am told a family of otters, - but I dare not reveal the locality. I do not wish it to be shot or trapped by those interested in the preservation of fish, but I would much rather that it should be slain this way than that it should be marked down as quarry for a hunt.
[Read More]Is Love Racist? The TV show laying our biases bare
Posted on June 19, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 1060 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
TelevisionYes it has a clickbaity title, and yes, this show will grind the gears of thousands – but it should. It will open everyone’s eyes to the segregated world of dating
An ex-boyfriend once told me that most of his friends didn’t date black women because they didn’t find them attractive. When I got upset, he was confused. After we broke up and I took to Tinder for the first time, my inbox was suddenly brimming with messages from men fetishising me for my race.
[Read More]Mexico's drugs war: in the city of death
Posted on June 19, 2024
| 13 minutes
| 2572 words
| Delta Gatti
MexicoIt was just another massacre in a country plagued by violence. But this time it was carried out by prison inmates – who'd been let out speciallyIt was past midnight and the hired band had launched into a raucous ballad, La Cabrona, to wind up the party. Guests joined in, belting out lyrics in a singsong under a Chihuahuan desert moon: "Dime si ya no me quieres cabrona . . .
[Read More]Readers' reviews: Rihanna's S&M video, TT3D and Donovan
Posted on June 19, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 656 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Readers' reviewsRihannaThe best of your comments on the latest film and musicThe raunch culture is corrosive and damaging to women," asserted dorothyherself beneath last week's piece by Charlotte Richardson Andrews about Rihanna's S&M video, and the pernicious effects of oversexualisation. "It presents women as objects to be fucked, which is also how most porn presents women. Sex, on the other hand, is lovely."
Dorothy was objecting to those who argued that the pop industry presents men in just as overtly sexualised a way as women.
[Read More]Texas flash floods cause death and destruction - in pictures | US news
Posted on June 19, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 416 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
Texas flash floods cause death and destruction - in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Days of torrential rain causes massive flooding in Texas with hundreds of homes swept away. In Johnson County, just outside Dallas, residents grappled with the third large flood in four weeks that have also included the region’s largest earthquake and a mile-wide tornado.
[Read More]A dictator's guide to the universe | Turkmenistan
Posted on June 18, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 837 words
| Christie Applegate
Books blogTurkmenistanA dictator's guide to the universeWhat would aliens make of Turkmenistan if they discovered a copy of Saparmurat Niyazov's panoptical Ruhnama?Two years ago in a McDonald's in Moscow I asked a man from Ashgabat about some of the bizarre stories circulating about his homeland:
"Is it true that gold teeth are banned in Turkmenistan?" "Complete bullshit." "I heard that beards are banned too..." "Don't believe what you read on the internet.
[Read More]All fixtures | Football | The Guardian
Posted on June 18, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 1000 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Saturday 27 January 2024Tuesday 30 January 2024Saturday 3 February 2024Tuesday 6 February 2024Friday 9 February 2024Saturday 10 February 2024Tuesday 13 February 2024Saturday 17 February 2024Tuesday 20 February 2024Saturday 24 February 2024Tuesday 27 February 2024Saturday 2 March 2024Tuesday 5 March 2024Saturday 9 March 2024Tuesday 12 March 2024Saturday 16 March 2024Saturday 23 March 2024Friday 29 March 2024Monday 1 April 2024Tuesday 2 April 2024
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJ6fpMGjrculZqWdkZzCpsDWqJ2op6SXrq24jp%2Bgsaylp7K0e8yoqZ5nYmV%2FdHulnploaWQ%3D
Photo of blonde girl found in Greece triggers thousands of inquiries | Greece
Posted on June 18, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 754 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Greece This article is more than 10 years oldPhoto of blonde girl found in Greece triggers thousands of inquiriesThis article is more than 10 years oldParents of missing children round the world call charity after seeing photo of blonde, blue-eyed girl found in Roma campA Greek charity said yesterday that it was pursuing at least 10 "promising leads" – many from parents whose children had gone missing – following a worldwide appeal to help identify a blonde, blue-eyed girl found living in a Roma camp in the country.
[Read More]The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon - review | Children's books
Posted on June 18, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 458 words
| Brenda Moya
Children's booksChildren's booksThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon - review'I really enjoyed this book and I thought it was hilarious and heart-breaking at the same time'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a murder novel written by Mark Haddon. Before you start reading the review, I am going to say that this is definitely not a book for the faint hearted.
[Read More]