A spa in the home is the ultimate in luxury city living September 9, 2010 IN the past a health club was where you went to get pampered, a spa was a resort with natural springs and “wellness” was a hippy concept. Now that we’re both more health-conscious and luxe-conscious, however, spa facilities – meaning pools, treatment rooms, gyms, saunas, steam rooms and more – are a part of people’s [...]
PREVIEW: KINGS PLACE FESTIVAL September 9, 2010 AS YOU’D expect from one of the world’s great cultural cities, London is not without its fair share of arts festivals. Not many of them, however, enable you to see world-class performers for a mere £4.50. Just one in fact, and it’s running until Sunday at Kings Place, the multi-arts venue in King’s Cross which [...]
Saucy goings on in the country September 9, 2010 Film Tamara drewe Cert: 15 FINALLY: a comic book adaptation with nary a caped superhero in sight. Instead, we have Gemma Arterton in a vest and denim hotpants, reducing the male denizens of a rural backwater – and, frankly, most male viewers – to a state of sweaty-palmed lust. Arterton’s titular (pun intended) character, a [...]
OUT THIS WEEKEND PREVIEWS September 9, 2010 FILM GOING THE DISTANCE Romantic comedy with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. THE RUNAWAYS The story of Joan Jett and her band of 70s teen rockers, with Kristen Stewart. RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE Mila Jovovich kicks yet more alien butt in this umpteenth spin-off. DVD KICK ASS Post-modern superhero action nuttiness, with our very own Aaron [...]
Decanting: how to breathe life into your wine September 8, 2010 THE main thing about decanters is that they look nice – and make you look like you know about wine. At least, that’s what I thought until the folks from Riedel turned up at the City A.M. offices to demonstrate the worth of their wares. Twenty minutes after they entered bearing fine glassware, I had [...]
Know your fiction:?the Booker shortlist assessed September 8, 2010 IN A STRANGE ROOM BY DAMON GALGUT Atlantic, £15.99 Best for: travellers DAMON Galgut’s semi-autobiographical novel follows a man, named Damon, on three different journeys – through Greece, through Africa and through India. Although he encounters and connects with different people on each trip, and himself fulfils different roles in relation to them – the [...]
OUT OF OFFICE September 8, 2010 EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE AT THE TATE Tate Britain is playing host to an exhibition of photographs by one of the medium’s true pioneers. Muybridge’s images of bodies in motion – including horses galloping (proving for the first time that they had all four legs in the air at one point in its running stride) and wrestlers [...]
LIFE COACH September 8, 2010 I’ve been invited on a game shoot, but I’ve never been before and don’t know what to expect. What do I need to know? AS many people in the City will attest, going on a shoot is a terrific social occasion. There’s nothing like spending a day standing in fields blowing fowl out of the [...]
A car that’s easy to live in September 7, 2010 WHEN I was a kid, we spent every summer with family in Cornwall, and every year my father’s car used to break down, extending what was a gruelling journey into an epic, Herculean trial. Fortunately for me, motoring has moved on, and I’ve just done more than twice the distance in about the same time [...]
CAR TALK September 7, 2010 MINI COUNTRYMAN LAUNCHES MINI is launching its MINI Countryman on 18 September. With ALL4 four wheel drive available, the crossover car offers extra space inside, has 350 litres of boot space and a higher seating position for occupants. So it’s a less mini and more maxi version of the MINI – it’s also the car [...]