James Franco definitely gay up to a point

 Posted on April 8, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  532 words  |  Delta Gatti

Lost in showbizJames FrancoThe actor and poet has cleared up the confusion about his sexuality. Sort ofThere are many things in life today that can bring a Proustian whiff of the 1990s flooding back to one’s cultural nostrils. The Groucho Club. A Gallagher brother arguing ferociously about an immutable truth with an inanimate object. Cargo pants for girls. But nothing brings the decade back in such a heady rush as a man playing at being gay because it makes him look cool. [Read More]

Marc Maron: Im familiar with coke, anger, bullying, selfishness | Comedy

 Posted on April 8, 2024  |  15 minutes  |  3061 words  |  Christie Applegate

ComedyInterviewMarc Maron: ‘I’m familiar with coke, anger, bullying, selfishness’Hadley FreemanThe Glow star and hit podcaster talks drugs, divorces and his ‘horrible’ feud with Jon Stewart The night before I meet Marc Maron, I go to his standup show in London. These days Maron is best known for his hugely popular podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, which he started in 2009, and on which he has interviewed everyone from Barack Obama to Keith Richards and Chris Rock. [Read More]

Roberto Durn: boxing's imperfect hero is still swinging after all these years

 Posted on April 8, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1912 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

Roberto Durán poses with Édgar Ramírez earlier this month in New York. Photograph: Taylor Jewell/APRoberto Durán poses with Édgar Ramírez earlier this month in New York. Photograph: Taylor Jewell/APBoxingThe outsized personality of the iconic Panamanian boxer, whose life is the subject of new biopic, was on full display this week in New York I’m sitting in the lobby of the Smyth Hotel in downtown Manhattan waiting for Roberto Durán, the man they call El Cholo, when I get a phone call from his assistant. [Read More]

The Virgin Suicides at 30: why Im obsessed with this dark, dreamy novel

 Posted on April 8, 2024  |  8 minutes  |  1605 words  |  Delta Gatti

BooksI grew up in Florida, but Jeffrey Eugenides’s story of five doomed midwestern sisters felt intensely familiar. What is it that makes me return to this bleakly comic novel again and again? The Virgin Suicides was published in 1993, the year Bill Clinton became president, the first Beanie Baby went on sale, and Cern released the world wide web source code into the public domain. It was also the year I was born. [Read More]

Billy Vunipola ban deepens Englands problems before Rugby World Cup | England rugby union team

 Posted on April 7, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  525 words  |  Christie Applegate

England rugby union team This article is more than 4 months oldBilly Vunipola ban deepens England’s problems before Rugby World CupThis article is more than 4 months oldNo 8 given three-game suspension for red cardJoins Farrell in missing opening match against ArgentinaEngland’s Rugby World Cup campaign descended further into crisis on Wednesday after it was announced that Billy Vunipola, the only specialist No 8 in the squad, will be banned for the opening pool match against Argentina on 9 September. [Read More]

Dempsey v Carpentier July 1921: the start of modern sports broadcasting

 Posted on April 7, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1741 words  |  Brenda Moya

BoxingNo one heard his voice describing the world heavyweight title fight 100 years ago but radio enthusiast Andrew White changed the future of sport, radio and television “Carpentier is out … Jack Dempsey is still the heavyweight champion of the world.” It was Saturday 2 July 1921, a boiling summer afternoon in a field on the outskirts of Jersey City, and a raucous crowd of more than 80,000 had just witnessed what had been billed as the fight of the century. [Read More]

Does one get wetter running in the rain or walking? | Notes and Queries

 Posted on April 7, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  263 words  |  Christie Applegate

SPECULATIVE SCIENCEDoes one get wetter running in the rain or walking? Phil, Basingstoke, UK Walking. It may not be as simple as Will says, but consider the limiting case. If you walked incredibly s-l-o-w-w-w-l-y, you would get drenched. If you ran at 76% of the speed of light, you would get hit by very few droplets. JP Nicholls, Bristol UK Running is often quicker so by reaching shelter quicker you get less wet. [Read More]

Great little ski resorts: Vaujany, France

 Posted on April 7, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  713 words  |  Delta Gatti

Great little ski resortsFrance holidaysThis unspoilt village on the doorstep of the vast Alpe d’Huez ski area offers stunning scenery, but is free of the crowds and commercialism of the bigger resort Er, where?The village of Vaujany, an hour by car from Grenoble, struck unexpected gold in the 1980s when the government compulsorily purchased a giant chunk of land for France’s largest hydro-electric scheme. Astute villagers invested the money in what was then the largest cable-car in the country, to reach the slopes above the neighbouring Alpe d’Huez ski resort. [Read More]

I wouldnt admit I was an actor. I once said I was a tree surgeon: Gina McKee on confidence,

 Posted on April 7, 2024  |  11 minutes  |  2321 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

‘Basically, what I seek is variety’ … Gina McKee. Stylist: Ella-Louise Gaskell at Stella Creative Artists. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian‘Basically, what I seek is variety’ … Gina McKee. Stylist: Ella-Louise Gaskell at Stella Creative Artists. Photograph: David Levene/The GuardianActingInterview‘I wouldn’t admit I was an actor. I once said I was a tree surgeon’: Gina McKee on confidence, class and #MeTooZoe WilliamsAfter more than 40 years in film and TV, the star of Our Friends in the North is about to share the screen with Harry Styles. [Read More]

Nike puts foot in it with 'Black and Tan' trainers

 Posted on April 7, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  322 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

ShortcutsIrelandThey were supposed to commemorate St Patrick's Day. But calling them after a violent British paramilitary unit that terrorised the Irish wasn't a good moveJust in time for St Patrick's Day, Nike dubbed its new Dunk Low sneaker the "Black and Tan" in a nod to Ireland's great export – Guinness. The beer-themed trainer has a black-leather upper with tan elements, creamy swoosh and an image of a pint inside. [Read More]