Who killed the Gif? How the dancing banana split December 9, 2024 In a 2021 Twitter (now ‘X’) post, US journalist Jenny Zhang wrote, “Any time I see someone use a reaction gif I immediately know they are above the age of 33”. The replies to the post featured a mix of indignation and applause, but Jenny had a point. Once the quick and easy reaction to [...]
‘It’s about confronting death’: The people paying authors to write their life story December 9, 2024 How do you want to be remembered? It’s a question humans have asked since time began, but have you ever paused to think about it – I mean really think about it? Who do you want to be remembered as, which stories do you want your grandchildren to hear? When you’re dead and gone and [...]
Unstoppable: Jharrel Jerome goes the distance in athletics drama December 4, 2024 Tales of sporting bravery are as old as The Hollywood Hills, but there’s still an audience for movies that celebrate the art of going the distance. Unstoppable is the latest to that list, drawing from the autobiography of athlete Anthony Robles. Played by Moonlight’s Jharrel Jerome, the film follows Robles’ trials chasing his dream to [...]
Rumours is the political farce the world needs right now December 4, 2024 There may not feel like a lot to laugh about in the political world at the moment, but the dry humour in bizarre horror-comedy Rumours may hit the target. Set during a fiction conference, the leaders of the G7 countries set about trying to form a press release regarding an unknown crisis. Suddenly, they find [...]
Nightbitch review: Amy Adams plays a dog in motherhood horror December 4, 2024 Motherhood has been portrayed in various ways on screen, but few films will go to the same extremes as new drama Nightbitch. Amy Adams stars as Mother, a woman who has left behind a life as a successful artist in order to become a stay-at-home mum to Baby, a toddler with no shortage of energy. [...]
The Importance of Being Earnest at National Theatre review December 4, 2024 Max Webster’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest opens with Ncuti Gatwa’s Algernon swathed in hot pink ballgown and draped over a piano. Start as you mean to go. The play is a luscious, saturated explosion that unfolds like a musical number of carefully choreographed wordplay. It is a celebration of appetite and queerness, [...]
Last Orders: An appreciation of the takeaway menu, a dying cultural artefact December 3, 2024 When I walked through my front door in Gateshead as a teenager, the doormat would be covered in a carpet of brightly coloured paper. A cherry-blossom pink menu from the local Chinese takeaway, the red and gold of an Indian place, and pictures of row upon row of bargain buckets from the local chicken shop. [...]
Pearl Mackie: The Doctor Who star on her dream last supper December 3, 2024 Pearl Mackie, star of Netflix thriller The Diplomat and the upcoming production of Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre, tells us what she would eat for her last meal on earth My mum was vegetarian so I was veggie when I was growing up, until I was about 12. Back then it wasn’t great [...]
The weird and wonderful world of Japanese model food December 2, 2024 Japan is famous for the way its cultural artefacts seem to evolve separately from the rest of the world. Travel to Tokyo and you can find fax machines that have continued to develop new bells and whistles long after their use in the west began its terminal decline in the 1990s. Shokuhin sanpuru (literally: food [...]
Will our Christmas dinner guests soon be AI chatbots? December 2, 2024 Glad tidings of comfort and joy! Christmas has traditionally been a time for congregating with your fellow homo sapiens – but play nice over the turkey and sprouts this year: it could be one of the last where unmediated human interaction is still the norm. We’re about to enter a world in which AI bots [...]