A-listers die in quick succession as Contagion’s terrifying virus spreads October 20, 2011 Film CONTAGION Cert: 12A IT’S unusual to watch an A-lister die from violent convulsions in the opening five minutes of a film, but director Steven Soderbergh promised ultra-realism and on the whole, Contagion does the job admirably. Set in the present, as the world is wracked by a killer virus, there are no exploding heads [...]
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND October 20, 2011 PRIVATE EYE FIRST 50 YEARS EXHIBITION The V&A is hosting an exhibition to celebrate the first 50 years of the satirical magazine. Two rooms are packed with works from its most famous cartoonists, such as caricaturist Gerald Scarfe. Free, until 8 January, www.vam.ac.uk BANG BANG BANG, ROYAL COURT THEATRE A new play from Stella Feehily. [...]
DTZ launches sale after bid talks collapse October 20, 2011 DTZ, the debt-laden property agent, has put itself up for sale, just two days after announcing that its majority shareholder walked away from a deal. DTZ confirmed in May that Saint Georges Participations (SGP), the French group that owns 55 per cent of DTZ, had made a bid in partnership with the real estate arm [...]
Learning to cook El Bulli-style October 19, 2011 The Family Meal: Home cooking with Ferran Adrià Ferran Adrià £19.95, Phaidon WHERE the allure of Jamie Oliver’s and Nigella’s books comes from the idea that you’ll cook like them, “The Family Meal” is less “cook like Ferran”, but “eat like Ferran”. The recipes are a fresh insight into the working life at the now [...]
The reason for 4m sales of iPhone 4S? Monkey scrabble, of course October 19, 2011 I have written a lot about the iPhone 4S. Before I ever laid hands on one I had churned out countless paragraphs, covered each twist in the saga, vomiting Apple stories like some grotesque human Rube Goldberg machine. If you threw all these words into a bag, shook it up and handed it to troupe [...]
Following Soho’s Norman invasion October 19, 2011 RUSSELL NORMAN was the former operations director at Caprice Holdings, where he launched concepts such as the Ivy Club with Mark Hix, chef director at the time. He left in 2008 to set up Polpo, a Venetian bacaro, which serves small Italian plates in an informal setting. Following Polpo’s success (which was recently named 25th [...]
Reinventing the old-school bar legends October 19, 2011 LEGENDARY venues are currently undergoing reboots all over London. Home House’s newest portal to hedonism, The Vaults, draws inspiration from Studio 54 for a modern twist on the glory days of disco. This intimate space has a private entrance leading to a clandestine leather-clad door complete with chain-mailed peepholes. Inside, vaulted rooms of rich copper [...]
When touching and reading combine October 19, 2011 THE e-reader has reached adulthood, and bloomed with the addition of a touchscreen. Do touchscreen e-readers look better? Yes: they look more sleek and almost sexy. Are touchscreens necessary? Perhaps not. The reader experience is not so different to what we had when we were thumbing tiny keys, but, with the exception of the iPad, [...]
Pampering your leather October 18, 2011 IT may sound obvious that the number one rule of leather-care is… to take care of your leather. But when you think about the amount of wear and tear that happens when you haul your holdall through customs, scrape your bag through tube doors, drop your wallet in puddles, you start thinking that maybe this [...]
HOW TO GET DRESSED October 18, 2011 FOUNDERS OF ROUS ILAND MEMBERS’ BOUTIQUE Q. I love the idea of wearing heels but can’t bear my feet being uncomfortable. In the summer I can get away with pretty sandals and espadrilles, but I find winter really hard. What can I wear that’s suitable? A. The historic answer to this question has been to [...]