Extraordinary work by a truly unique mind February 9, 2012 Art YAYOI KUSAMA Tate Modern ***** The Tate Modern’s new show, a retrospective of the work of Yayoi Kusama, Japan’s most famous living artist, is an engorgement of colour, size and intensity. Kusama’s work is a clear extension of her brilliantly volatile, unabashedly unusual mind. After a lengthy experimental period on the New York art [...]
GOING OUT February 9, 2012 EARLY 2012 openings are showing plenty of promise. Take Galante on South Ken’s Sloane Avenue. After a beefy expansion, Gaucho is opening its first cocktail bar. Inspired by Argentina’s gilded era, staff at the Art Deco-inspired Galante don traditional white jackets or chic lamé dresses to serve guests while the drinks are mostly classic South [...]
The Devil and Mister Punch is delightfully macabre and laugh out loud funny February 9, 2012 Theatre THE DEVIL AND MR PUNCH The Barbican **** The Devil and Mister Punch is the seaside theatre production from your nightmares, where human-sized puppets wielding baseball bats break loose from the stage and Mister Punch gets chased through hell by giant penises. The action takes place in a Punch and Judy tent that wouldn’t [...]
Dangerous Method but a sadly safe film February 9, 2012 Film THE WOMAN IN BLACK Cert: 12A **** by Stevie Martin Daniel Radcliffe returns post-Potter in this traditional ghostly yarn based on Susan Hill’s novel and the wildly popular West End show. Director James Watkins gives a masterclass in creaky gothic horror, complete with rolling mists, strange spectres with a penchant for black (and appearing [...]
The Muppets is a nostalgic treat February 9, 2012 Film THE MUPPETS Cert: U ***** Whether you loved it first time around, or never got the whole “fuzzy-animals-singing” thing, now’s your chance to catch up with the Muppets. When the young, Muppet-obsessed Walter (voiced by Peter Linz) visits Los Angeles, he not only finds the Muppet Studios in disrepair but overhears evil business tycoon [...]
Blow your mind with mega bass February 8, 2012 Headphones are about more than sound quality – make a statement with some of the most stylish musical headgear on the planet AKG REFERENCE HEADPHONES £499 akg.com If you want to stand out in a crowd, these mean, green sound machines are the headphones for you. SKULLCANDY HESH NBA THUNDER £55 uk.skullcandy.com Good sound quality [...]
Sending armed cops to arrest a hacker is like shooting gnats with a bazooka February 8, 2012 When police in New Zealand arrested suspected online pirate Kim Dotcom, they were accompanied by a dog unit and a SWAT team armed with automatic weapons. Could there be a better visual representation of the gulf between the people attempting to police the internet and those suspected of corrupting it? The man is even named [...]
TECH TALK February 8, 2012 APPLE ITV PRICE AND SPECS LEAKED Apple hasn’t even come close to confirming there will be an Apple TV – dubbed iTV in the US – but that hasn’t stopped its specs and price being leaked. Retailer Best Buy carried out a survey asking its customers if they would be interested in a 42-inch, 1080p [...]
Beijing rents outstrip NY February 7, 2012 BEIJING office rents have soared over 75 per cent over the past year, making China’s capital more expensive to locate an office than New York’s Midtown district, new research shows. Cushman & Wakefield, a property consultant, said Beijing experienced the steepest increase and now ranks as the fifth most expensive office market in the world [...]
Profits fall as CBRE starts to feel the heat in the Americas February 7, 2012 STRONGER revenue from sales and outsourcing helped global commercial property agent CBRE to surprise Wall Street last night despite leasing revenue falling in the Americas. The group posted a 16 per cent fall in fourth-quarter net income fell to $79.8m (£50.2m), or 25 cents per share. Earnings excluding charges rose 29 per cent to $149.3m, [...]