Have you ever had the experience of getting tantalisingly close to a big opportunity in your creative career a but not quite making it? Maybe it was a pitch, or a competition, a publishing opportunity, a senior role, or a funding application. Maybe you got really positive feedback. They said you were great, your work [â¦]
The post Are You in the Ballpark? (finally, The 21st Century Creative on YouTube) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
When the Covid 19 pandemic struck in 2020, human life on earth was massively disrupted. Not only the human tragedy of millions of lives lost, but also the social and economic damage caused by the virus and our attempts to control it. As a writer and a coach for creatives, I have been particularly concerned [â¦]
The post Creative Disruption: How 12 Creatives on 5 Continents Rose to the Challenge of the Pandemic appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 10 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Itas been my most ambitious season yet, with creatives from 5 continents and probably the closest Iall ever [â¦]
The post How I Created, Funded and Launched My New Podcast (while the World Was in Meltdown) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 9 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. This week we are off to Tokyo, to meet Ichi Hatano, a wonderful artist whose work has deep [â¦]
The post From Tattoos to NFTs with Ichi Hatano appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 8 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Have you ever had the idea for a creative project that youave never quite got round to starting? [â¦]
The post Using Lockdown to Launch a Dream Project with Nicky Mondellini appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
If you work on your own a in your office or studio, or your bedroom or at your kitchen table a it can feel like no one is watching. So it doesnat matter whether you show up. If you skipped a day on your novel, who would know? If you didnat go to the studio [â¦]
The post All Arts Are Performing Arts appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 7 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today weare focusing on a creative sector that is close to my heart, which was massively disrupted but [â¦]
The post Taking Deep Work Online with Laura Davis appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
A few months ago I was listening to the DavidBowie: AlbumtoAlbum podcast, a terrific show about Bowie hosted by Arsalan Mohammed. In Season 3 episode 11 Arsalan spoke to Donny McCaslin, the leader of the jazz band that Bowie discovered in a New York club, and asked to work with him on what turned out [â¦]
The post Sometimes You Have to Grind the Work Out appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 6 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are off to Australia in the company of Charlotte Abroms, a music manager based in Melbourne [â¦]
The post Helping Musicians Through Lockdown with Charlotte Abroms appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Last week I suggested that if youare serious about achieving your creative ambitions, you need to think in terms of projects, not tasks. Because if you get up every morning and ask yourself aWhat should I work on today?a you risk making decisions based on what feels urgent right now, rather than what will make [â¦]
The post Work on Multifaceted Projects appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 5 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are going to look at one of the biggest challenge for many people during lockdown, whether [â¦]
The post Staying Creative as a Parent (Even in a Pandemic) with Kay Lock Kolp appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
When we think of productivity we typically think about tasks and to-do lists, working habits and routines. We focus on how to make the most of our time on a daily or at most a weekly basis. All of which is great, but if this is all we focus on, thereas a danger of getting [â¦]
The post Focus on Projects, Not Tasks appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 4 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we meet Amrita Kumar, the co-founder and CEO of Candid Marketing, an innovative marketing agency in India. [â¦]
The post Launching a New Business in the Pandemic with Amrita Kumar appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Marketing is a word that strikes fear into the heart of a lot of creatives. Itas an area where a lot of us feel we donat have a natural talent a weare far more comfortable making work than telling the world about it, let alone trying to get people to buy it. One reason for [â¦]
The post Make Your Marketing Personal with a Media Dashboard appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 3 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are looking at the world of film and TV production, which was massively disrupted by the [â¦]
The post Rebooting Global Filming with Hometeam appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
A lot of creative professions involve submitting work to gatekeepers of various kinds: agents, editors, publishers, gallerists, funders, producers, studios and competition judges and so on. Yes, the 21st century gives us plenty of options for creating things without gatekeepers a you can sell direct, build your own platform, launch your own event, self-publish or [â¦]
The post Why Rejection Doesnat (Necessarily) Mean Your Work Isnat Good Enough appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 2 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. This week we are off to South Africa, to hear from Earl Abrahams, an artist and filmmaker who [â¦]
The post Lockdown Series: Windows on a Changed World with Earl Abrahams appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
aEat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.a This quote is often attributed to Mark Twain. Apparently thereas no hard evidence linking it to him, but that hasnat stopped it from concentrating the minds of many people when they ask themselves [â¦]
The post Eat that Frog (But Eat the Cake as Well) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Today we kick off Season 6 of The 21st Century Creative, the podcast that helps you thrive as a creative professional amid the demands, distractions and opportunities of the 21st Century. The theme for this season is CREATIVE DISRUPTION. Every episode will feature an interview with a creator whose work was disrupted by the Covid-19 [â¦]
The post The Rocky Road for Theatre through the Pandemic with Steven Kunis appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
I hope this finds you as well as can be. Here in the UK weare bracing for what we are assured will be a large wave of Omicron. I know things may be very different for you, depending on where you are in the world. But whatever the circumstances, I hope you are finding your [â¦]
The post Video: Forget the Career Ladder a Start Creating Assets appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Today is the launch of my new podcast, and itas something Iave been planning and dreaming of sharing with you for years. Itas called A Mouthful of Air. And in several ways, itas the opposite of my 21st Century Creative podcast. I designed the two shows to work together from the start, although itâs taken [â¦]
The post My new podcast (and why itas the opposite of The 21st Century Creative) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Last night I was about to go to bed when I suddenly remembered an idea Iad had for an article a few months ago. Though I say so myself, it was a great idea, and I was keen to revisit it, so I opened up the Scrivener project where I had written it downa| and [â¦]
The post Ideas Are Leprechauns appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Michael Bungay Stanier, a returning guest whose interview way back in Season 1 proved very popular. And his book The Coaching Habit turned out to be even more popular, as it went on to sell three quarters of a million copies. Michael is back with some excellent [â¦]
The post Avoiding the Advice Trap with Michael Bungay Stanier appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
A lot of productivity advice tells us that we need to stop procrastinating, beat Resistance, and get things done. The Americans like to talk about ashippinga, meaning finished and sent out for delivery. This emphasis on getting things done and out to market is part of their extraordinary entrepreneurial culture. Famously, Guy Kawasaki even said [â¦]
The post Every Creative Project Is a Revolving Door appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Krystal Lauk, an illustrator who took an unconventional path by creating illustrations for tech companies, and founded a studio that counts Google, Uber, Facebook and The New York Times among its clients. Itas a fascinating story of discovery and enterprise at what Krystal calls athe intersection of [â¦]
The post The 21st Century Illustrator with Krystal Lauk appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Iave recently started taking one-to-one Japanese conversation lessons. It hasnat been easy. In fact, itas been a bit of a humbling experience. Between work and family responsibilities, I only have 30 minutes a day to study Japanese, and Iave spent this time every day for the past two years memorising kanji characters, vocabulary and grammar [â¦]
The post You Have to be Bad to Get Good appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Cynthia Morris, a coach for creatives who shares insights on the book-writing process, based on her latest book The Busy Womanas Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book. So if you are contemplating writing a book â whether itas your first one or your twenty-first â there is [â¦]
The post Writing a World-Changing Book with Cynthia Morris appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
If you think about overhearing something, you probably think of listening to someone elseas conversation, whether deliberately or accidentally, and picking up a titbit of information that you would never otherwise have been privy to. It might be funny, or shocking or useful, or â as in the case of so many loud phone calls [â¦]
The post The Art of Overhearing Yourself appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Emily Kimelman, a thriller author who has travelled the world in a boat and criss-crossed the USA in an Airstream trailer while writing and publishing her books, and selling hundreds of thousands of copies in the process. Emilyas adventurous spirit shines through in her writing as well [â¦]
The post The Adventure of Writing with Emily Kimelman appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Tit-for-tat attacks have breached taboo of direct strikes on each otheras territory but Tehran has no aimmediatea plans to retaliate
World leaders urged calm on Friday after Israel conducted a pre-dawn drone sortie over Iran following a cycle of tit-for-tat attacks that crossed an important red line that has for decades held the Middle East back from a major regional conflict.
There were tentative hopes late on Friday that the apparent strike attempt against an airbase near the city of Isfahan was sufficiently limited to fend off the threat of a bigger Iranian response and an uncontrolled spiral of violence between a nuclear power and a state with the capacity to develop nuclear weapons quickly.
Continue reading...Officials report casualties with some citing air strike on former anti-Isis unit known as Hashed al-Shaabi, which is now part of Iraqas regular military
An explosion has hit an Iraqi military base housing pro-Iranian paramilitaries, according to security sources.
The explosion on Friday night was at the Calso base, where former pro-Iranian paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi a now integrated into the regular army a is stationed, an interior ministry source and a military official told Agence France-Presse.
Continue reading...Israel launched a limited attack on Iranian soil on Friday morning, in the latest tit-for-tat between the two countries
Israel launched an attack on Iranian soil on Friday, in a tit-for-tat battle between the two foes, days after Iran launched an unprecedented strike on Israel with a barrage of drones and missiles, most of which were shot down. The Iranian strike was a response to an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on 1 April.
The strikes have brought a long shadow war between the two sides into the open and also come against the backdrop of Iranas support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose assault on Israel on 7 October triggered the invasion of Gaza.
Continue reading...Tit-for-tat attacks present Sunni monarchies with complicated choices over regionas future
Iranas missile and drone attack on Israel had, by the end of this week, become one of the most interpreted events in recent modern history. Then, in the early hours of Friday, came reports of Israelas riposte. As in June 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in a moment that ultimately led to the first world war, these shots were heard around the world, even if few can agree conclusively on what they portend.
By one de minimis account, Tehran was merely sending a performative warning shot with its attack last Saturday, almost taking its ballistic missiles out for a weekend test drive. The maximalist version is that this was a state-on-state assault designed to change the rules of the Middle East. By swarming Israel with so many projectiles, such an assessment goes, Iran was prepared to risk turning Israel into a mini-Dresden of 1945 and was only thwarted by Israeli strategic defences and, crucially, extraordinary cooperation between the US, Israel and Sunni Gulf allies.
Continue reading...Majority leader Chuck Schumer says approving bill was aright thinga for Democrats and Republicans to do
The US Senate voted late on Friday night to approve the reauthorization of the controversial Fisa surveillance program, narrowly preventing its midnight expiration.
The reauthorization secures what supporters call a key element of the United Statesa foreign intelligence-gathering operation.
Continue reading...Vote makes Chattanooga factory first auto plant in US south to unionize via election since the 1940s
Volkswagen workers at the carmakeras Chattanooga plant in Tennessee have voted to unionize with the United Auto Workers, a historic victory for the union and the labor movementas efforts to expand to the southern United States.
The vote was the first union election to be held as part of the UAWas ambitious organizing drive aimed at unionizing 150,000 workers at non-union auto plants around the US.
Continue reading...With the panel selected, Donald Trumpas trial can enter its next stage, with opening arguments expected on Monday
Donald Trumpas hush-money trial gained momentum on Friday afternoon with the conclusion of jury selection.
Five alternate jurors were chosen on Friday, following Thursdayas proceedings when the 12 jurors and one alternate juror were picked.
A guide to Trumpas hush-money trial a so far
The key arguments prosecutors will use against Trump
How will Trumpas trial work?
From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: the key players
Continue reading...Actor and wife Katherine Schwarzenegger dismantle 1950 Zimmerman house designed by architect Craig Ellwood
Chris Pratt has drawn ire from architecture aficionados after news broke that the actor and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, had razed a historic, mid-century modern home to make way for a sprawling 15,000-sq-ft mansion.
Last year, the couple purchased the 1950 Zimmerman house, designed by the architect Craig Ellwood, in Los Angelesas Brentwood neighborhood for $12.5m. The residence, with landscaping by Garrett Eckbo a who has been described as the pioneer of modern landscaping a had previously been featured in Progressive Architecture magazine.
Continue reading...University says it is aredesigninga commencement plans days after it decided to prevent Asna Tabassum from speaking on 10 May
The University of Southern California is aredesigninga its entire commencement plans a just days after making the controversial decision to cancel the valedictorian speech of a Muslim student a and will also cancel the keynote speech by film-maker Jon M Chu.
The Los Angeles universityas provost, Andrew Guzman, said on Monday that it took the unprecedented step of canceling valedictorian Asna Tabassumas speech at the 10 May ceremony because because the aalarming tenora of reactions to her selection as valedictorian a along with athe intensity of feelingsa surrounding Israelas military strikes in Gaza a had created asubstantial risks relating to securitya. They did not cite any specific threats.
Continue reading...US House of Representatives moves closer to passing Ukraine aid; bureaucracy delays APS500m in foreign assistance channelled through UK Ministry of Defence. What we know on day 787
Russia came under attack from Ukrainian drones Friday night and into Saturday morning, the defence ministry in Moscow said. It claimed there were 50 Ukrainian UAVs detected: 26 over the Belgorod region, 10 over Bryansk, eight over Kursk; two over the Tula region and one each over the Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga and Moscow regions.
Various reports suggested Ukraine mounted a wave of attacks on Russian electrical and petrochemical facilities. One of the attacks left an oil facility burning in Kardymovo a about 100km from the Ukrainian border inside Russiaas Smolensk oblast, the regionas governor said on Saturday morning.
Russian officials said Ukrainian drones also attacked an electrical substation in Bryansk oblast, about 50km inside Russia. Unconfirmed videos and pictures online showed a large fire. In line with Moscowas usual information tactics, the ministry claimed all the drones were shot down, while local officials said any damage was only done by falling debris from the intercepted UAVs. There was no independent confirmation.
Ukraine said it shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber from a distance of 308km (180 miles) after it took part in a long-range airstrike that killed eight people including two children in Dnipro. aI can only say the plane was hit at a distance of 308km, quite far away,a said Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraineas military spy agency, the GUR.
An intelligence source told Reuters the plane was hit with a modified S-200 Soviet-era long-range surface-to-air missile system. Unconfirmed social media footage showed a warplane with its tail on fire spiralling towards the ground. The Russian defence ministry confirmed the crash in Russiaas southern Stavropol region but claimed it appeared to have been caused by a technical malfunction. Four aircrew ejected with one dead, two rescued and another missing, the Russian regional governor said.
Ukraineas president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visited the site of the strike in Dnipro and again called on Ukraineas allies to rush in more air defences. Zelenskiy said Russian missiles also struck the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi in the southern Odesa region on Friday afternoon, destroying grain storage facilities and the food inside.
In the US, the House of Representatives has pushed ahead through procedural hurdles towards passing a foreign aid package that includes $61bn for Ukraine, Joanna Walters writes. The House is expected to vote on Saturday on the legislation. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic party leader in the Senate, has told senators to be prepared to return this weekend if the package passes the House and goes back to the Senate. If passed by the Senate, it must be signed into law by president Joe Biden a after which the US would ship arms to Ukraine aright awaya, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters on Friday.
More than half of an international APS900m military fund for Ukraine run by the British Ministry of Defence has not been used because of bureaucratic delays in handing out contracts, Daniel Boffey reports. Critics claim slow provision of weapons to the frontline by the International Fund for Ukraine, with just APS404m spent and ministers admitting some of the equipment is not expected to reach Ukraine until spring next year.
The fund was set up in August 2022 and was designed to be aflexiblea and alow-bureaucracya. Delays are said by MoD officials to have been caused by a need to assess each of the huge number of defence companies that have tendered for contracts. An MoD spokesperson said: aThousands of responses have been received from industry to International Fund for Ukraine requirements, each of which have had to be individually reviewed. We make no excuses for having made sure this was done properly and in a way that most effectively helps Ukraine.a
Continue reading...More than 11,000 people told to leave their homes after Mount Ruang erupted at least three times since Friday afternoon
More than 2,100 people living near an erupting volcano on Indonesiaas Sulawesi island were evacuated on Friday due to the dangers of ash, falling rocks, hot volcanic clouds and the possibility of a tsunami.
Indonesiaas volcanology centre recorded at least three eruptions since Friday afternoon, with the maximum height of the eruption column reaching 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).
Continue reading...Protesters into seventh day of hunger strike in support of Palestinians and in effort to demand university divestment
A group of students at Yale University were on Friday into the seventh day of a hunger strike in support of Palestinians in Gaza and in a protest to pressure the university to divest from any weapons manufacturing companies potentially supplying the Israeli military.
The group titles itself Yale Hunger Strikers for Palestine and one protester, the graduate student Miguel Monteiro, described losing weight and feeling dizzy, while attempting to put the groupas efforts into a wider perspective.
Continue reading...Nick Bostromas Future of Humanity Institute closed this week in what Swedish-born philosopher says was adeath by bureaucracya
Oxford University this week shut down an academic institute run by one of Elon Muskas favorite philosophers. The Future of Humanity Institute, dedicated to the long-termism movement and other Silicon Valley-endorsed ideas such as effective altruism, closed this week after 19 years of operation. Musk had donated APS1m to the FIH in 2015 through a sister organization to research the threat of artificial intelligence. He had also boosted the ideas of its leader for nearly a decade on X, formerly Twitter.
The center was run by Nick Bostrom, a Swedish-born philosopher whose writings about the long-term threat of AI replacing humanity turned him into a celebrity figure among the tech elite and routinely landed him on lists of top global thinkers. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tesla chief Musk all wrote blurbs for his 2014 bestselling book Superintelligence.
Continue reading...Local people say archipelagoas outdated industry made life unaffordable and prompts environmental emergencies
Thousands of people will join protests across the Canary islands on Saturday to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelagoas tourism industry and a freeze on tourist numbers, arguing that the current, decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for local people.
The protests a which will take place under the banner aCanarias tiene un lAmitea (The Canaries have a limit) a are being backed by environmental groups including Greenpeace, WWF, Ecologists in Action, Friends of the Earth and SEO/Birdlife.
Continue reading...Moas staff evacuate 80% of critically wounded soldiers from regionas battlefield, where medics say morale is falling
It is around midnight in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, and the first emergency ambulance of the night is charging 75mph down a single carriageway road from the frontline. Inside, under the care of two watchful medics, is Ihor, an unconscious soldier wounded from the battle of Chasiv Yar, with shrapnel, perhaps from a mine, in his abdomen.
The medicsa task is to complete the last leg of evacuation from the battlefield, which involves Ihor and tonightas most serious casualties being taken to a hospital in the safe central city of Dnipro. Four ambulances are following on a bumpy high-speed run that takes three hours down roads largely deserted because of the 9pm curfew, the full single beds creaking and bouncing as they go.
Continue reading...As militias targeted the Masalit community in a wave of ethnic violence, one man offered shelter and an escape route across the border
Every night, for weeks at a time last year, Saad al-Mukhtar put a small group of people in the back of his Toyota Land Cruiser and drove them under the cover of darkness from his home in the Sudanese city of Geneina across the border and into Chad.
The operation was an extraordinary act of bravery and selflessness: Mukhtar is an Arab, and the people he was smuggling to safety were members of the darker skinned Masalit community who were being targeted in a vicious wave of ethnic violence perpetrated by Arab militias.
Continue reading...Amnesty International researcher Matt Mahmoudi discusses the IDFas use of the techonology as a tool of mass surveillance
Governments around the world have increasingly turned to facial recognition systems in recent years to target suspected criminals and crack down on dissent. The recent boom in artificial intelligence has accelerated the technologyas capabilities and proliferation, much to the concern of human rights groups and privacy advocates who see it as a tool with immense potential for harm.
Few countries have experimented with the technology as extensively as Israel, which the New York Times recently reported has developed new facial recognition systems and expanded its surveillance of Palestinians since the start of the Gaza war. Israeli authorities deploy the system at checkpoints in Gaza, scanning the faces of Palestinians passing through and detaining anyone with suspected ties to Hamas. The technology has also falsely tagged civilians as militants, one Israeli officer told the Times. The countryas use of facial recognition is one of the new ways that artificial intelligence is being deployed in conflict, with rights groups warning this marks an escalation in Israelas already pervasive targeting of Palestinians via technology.
Continue reading...How do I know what soil I have? Do bulbs come back? And how did people garden before Google? As the growing season gears up, our experts are here with a barrowful of advice
Few domestic gardens need work every weekend a whisper it, but theyare quite good at looking after themselves. Broadly speaking: new growth on twiggy, brown (or woody) stems is a fair sign to prune old growth back to encourage the new growth into a neater, fuller shape; a shift to spring and summer signals a need to feed plants; if your plants are romping away, your weeds probably will be too a pulling them out while theyare small is easier a and planting or sowing things late is better than not at all. Mulch whenever you think about it. Alice Vincent
Tourists have been descending on Achill ever since Heinrich BAPll wrote effusively about its inhabitantsa customs and idiosyncrasies
In 1954, the German writer Heinrich BAPll landed in Ireland for the first time, headed west and kept going till he reached the Atlantic Ocean. He was seeking a refuge from the brash materialism of postwar Germany, and found it on Achill Island, where waves crashed against cliffs, sheep foraged in fields and villagers went about their business of fishing, farming and storytelling.
The following year he returned with his family and began to observe and chronicle the customs, idiosyncrasies, sorrows and joys of its inhabitants. So began a literary love affair between Germany and a windswept corner of County Mayo that endures 70 years after the Nobel laureateas first visit.
Continue reading...The Tortured Poets Department depicts a spell of post-breakup mania against the perfect backdrop of the Eras tour a a thrillingly immature reality undermined by safe music
As The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) finally sees its official release, the intention behind the title remains as enigmatic as it was when Taylor Swift announced it two months ago. The title track seems to mock one such tortured poet who carts a typewriter around and likens the budding couple to Patti Smith and Dylan Thomas. aWeare modern idiots,a Swift laughs. The albumas aesthetic wallows in anguish and Swiftas liner notes and social media captions are littered with self-consciously poetic proclamations. And the erratic period captured in the lyrics couldnat be further from a life of cloistered studiousness.
TTPD depicts a manic phase in Swiftas life last year, the reality behind the perfect stagecraft of the Eras tour. Wild-eyed from what sounds like the slow dissolution of a six-year relationship, she lunged at a once-forbidden paramour with a taste for dissolution, a foul mouth and a well-founded bad reputation. The latter, she makes clear as she sings repeatedly about flouting paternalistic and public censure, was a central part of the attraction: aHe was chaos, he was revelry,a Swift sings on But Daddy I Love Him (evidently about the 1975as Matty Healy).
Continue reading...(Monkeywrench/Republic)
With superproducer Andrew Watt working his magic, the Seattle grunge veterans sound on point and full of energy in their 35th anniversary year
Discussions about Pearl Jamas 12th record should dwell on the extraordinary longevity of this grunge-era band, who arrive in their 35th year largely intact and on the right side of history a pro-environment, pro-voting. For their latest album they have turned to 33-year-old rock fan turned superproducer Andrew Watt (happy customers include Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop and the Rolling Stones, plus PJ singer Eddie Vedder solo), who applies Spotify-era tweakments to heritage acts. Here, he amplifies melody, foregrounds crunch and trims fat, while harking back to Pearl Jamas first two hits, Ten (1991) and Vs (1993). By now, most listeners will know where they stand on Vedderas distinctive holler and the bandas beefiness; little on Dark Matter is likely to enchant gen Z away from their own heroes.
But the faithful will rejoice. In contrast to Pearl Jam works assembled more lugubriously a Gigaton (2020) a you can really hear the guys-in-a-room energy percolating through faster songs such as Running. React, Respond finds Pearl Jamas rhythm section and guitars feeding off one another. Something Special, addressing Vedderas daughters, is less enticing. But there is nothing amiss with the title track, a pile-driving swirl complete with headphone Doppler effect that doesnat need a 90s revival to sound on point.
Continue reading...You need to consider why this bothers you so much and if you should bring it up. Without asking directly, itas hard to know his motivation
aC/ Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a family-related problem sent in by a reader
Over a few drinks, a good friend of mine recently let slip that he keeps a spreadsheet of his friends, which he uses to rank them in tiers. Initially I laughed it off as drunken ramblings, but he then proceeded to show me the actual document, saved on his phone with comments next to peopleas names.
I learned that he keeps a running score of his friends based on how often they WhatsApp him, take the time to call him or go to the pub or on a trip abroad together.
Continue reading...Late-night hosts discuss the first week of Trumpas trial, strange election polls and the media playing Guess Who? with jurors
Late-night hosts talked Trump jurors, the former presidentas complaints about his trial and some strange polling before the 2024 election.
Continue reading...Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is challenging incumbent Rick Scott and highlighting his aunapologetic and prouda support for the stateas six-week ban
A round table on abortion rights, hosted by Floridaas Democratic Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, has only just begun, and already she finds herself comforting a woman in tears with a very personal story to tell.
The woman is from Colombia, and speaks softly in Spanish as she tells the intimate gathering of the Miami-Dade Hispanic Democratic Caucus about the distressing decision her daughter had to make to terminate a pregnancy after learning the fetus was not developing.
Continue reading...The animated, Seth MacFarlane-produced return for the much-loved sitcom relies on lazy poverty porn and stereotypes, a misunderstanding of what fans want and expect
The Good Times reboot opens in the Chicago projects with its next-gen patriarch in the shower naked duetting the original theme song with a roach on the window sill. Dy-no-mite, this is not.
We may well now have the official cause of death for Norman Lear, the god-like sitcom producer who brought Good Times a a spinoff of a spinoff of the groundbreaking TV series All in the Family a to network television in 1974. The reboot, an animated show now, was among the final credits Lear had before his death late last year at 101. Carl Jones, the brilliant writer-animator behind Adult Swim bangers like the Boondocks and Black Dynamite, bailed on the project adue to creative differencesa, he wrote after Netflix dropped a trailer for the new show to the horror of TV fans who have long viewed the show as cornerstone of Black Americana. Some character wardrobe pieces are on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, along with works from Ernie Barnes, the Black Romantic whose Sugar Shack painting was used for the closing credits and a Marvin Gaye album.
Continue reading...From films about Play-Doh and Barbie to the Shrek aexperiencea, consumer capitalism has run out of ideas
When it was announced last week that Margot Robbie will follow up the success of Barbie with a film based on Monopoly, my heart sank, did not pass go, and did not collect APS200. Robbieas production company will partner with Hasbro, just as the Barbie film was an initiative from rival toy company Mattel. Barbie was criticised for being little more than a 114-minute toy ad, but it did so well at the box office a buoyed, significantly, by a $150m marketing budget, which was larger than that spent on making the film a that a glut of similar titles are planned: a Barney film produced by Daniel Kaluuya, a Polly Pocket film written and directed by Lena Dunham, and a film based on the card game Uno. Robbie is also making a film version of The Sims video game, while Hasbro has licensed a Play-Doh feature film, a cinematic adaptation of an inert substance.
Where does it end? Why not make Alpro vegan yoghurt into a series of detective novels? Why not write an opera about the Adidas Predator football boot? Or, for that matter, why not aimagineera your way to full 360, helicopter-vision integrated brand synergy and make a football boot inspired by Wagneras Ring cycle, or a Raymond Chandler-themed yoghurt? It is almost as if the gatekeepers of popular culture have completely run out of ideas. All that remains is a kind of infinite consumer ceilidh, where brands line up and take it in turns to partner with one other for 15 minutes of coverage and social media consternation. Weare told that capitalism is all about innovation, disruption and the unbridled individual genius of the human mind. So why do I now turn a corner in Londonas West End and half expect to see a billboard for Marmite: The Musical, next to a pop-up shop selling Nespresso x Nike limited edition streetwear?
Dan Hancox is a freelance writer, focusing on music, politics, cities and culture
Continue reading...Both seem keen to limit hostilities, and key Arab states are ready to resist Tehran. But real change will require new Israeli leadership
When it comes to the Middle East, itas the pessimists who look smartest. Predict the worst and youall rarely be proved wrong. If you are, itas usually because your forecast was insufficiently bleak.
So put on your gloom-tinted spectacles and assess the events of the last week. Youall see the dawn of a grim new era, in which the regionas two strongest powers, Israel and Iran, trade blows directly. Last weekend, Iran crossed what had previously been a red line, aiming a barrage of missiles and drones directly at Israeli territory for the first time. In the early hours of Friday morning, Israel responded with a series of drone strikes on targets inside Iran, including Isfahan, site of an airbase and the countryas burgeoning nuclear programme. You donat have to be Clausewitz to know that two regional powers, one an aspirant nuclear state, the other already there, engaged in a tit-for-tat exchange of fire aimed at each otheras sovereign terrain spells danger.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
Guardian Newsroom: Crisis in the Middle East
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Continue reading...Both Iran and Israel are calibrating their responses. That does not mean the region should breathe easy
The danger facing the Middle East is not from wild or impulsive action, but from the considered decisions of men who believe they know what they are doing and how their opponents will respond. Their confidence is not reassuring when their judgment has previously fallen short.
On Friday, Iran was quick to play down the overnight strike by Israel, suggesting that it was unclear who was responsible and indicating that there would not be immediate retaliation. Israel had chosen to launch a limited attack on Isfahan, the home of a major nuclear site, without targeting the facility itself. The aim was apparently to send a message about what it could do, not to cause significant damage now. If this is the extent of its response to Iranas weekend attack, it is far from the worst that many had predicted. The optimistic view is that both sides feel, or at least feel they can claim, that they have restored deterrence to some degree. A moment of respite is welcome. But relief would be premature.
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