ALSO OUT THIS WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT July 15, 2010 FILM BLUEBEARD Austere French version of the classic medieval tale by auteur Claire Denis. THE CONCERT Another French drama, set in the world of classical music and orchestras. RAPT Yet another French film, this one a kidnap thriller. DVD GREEN ZONE Matt Damon stars in this Iraq war thriller from Bourne director Paul Greengrass. LOURDES [...]
The rising stars of London’s wine scene July 14, 2010 REMEMBER the old days, when you’d sit down in a posh restaurant and a scary-looking French man with a handlebar moustache would sidle over to you with a book the size of the bible? Well, times have changed, and a gaggle of young studs and studettes have taken over London’s best wine lists. Well under [...]
A very Moghul drama July 14, 2010 EMPIRE OF THE MOGHUL: BROTHERS AT WAR BY ALEX RUTHERFORD Headline £18.99 by Verity Pugh THE Moghul dynasty, which spanned the 16th to 18th centuries in South Asia, is in itself like a work of fiction. Its turbulent history is rich with tales of great emperors, passion, deceit and violence. Diana and Michael Preston (pen-name [...]
Is snubbing a colleague on holiday okay? July 14, 2010 DEAR VEXED: It turns out a close colleague and I have booked a week’s holiday in the same resort in France, each of us with a group of friends. She’s really keen to hang out when we’re there but all I want to do is forget work – plus, we’re not really close friends. What [...]
Little black book: the Wharf’s new hotspots July 14, 2010 CANARY Wharf may have gleaming skyscrapers but it hasn’t exactly led the way with high quality bars or top-end members clubs (and no, Brodies doesn’t count). Most serious financiers have stayed put in their own private dining rooms rather than venture to street level, unless a driver is eagerly waiting with a TomTom pre-programmed to [...]
£97,000 worth of fun July 13, 2010 THE reason that Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage is so well-loved is all to do with a little valve in the exhaust system. Around town and driving normally, the V8 Vantage delivers the usual Aston Martin contemplative serenity, but under full acceleration the V8 Vantage makes the most fantastically hellish noise as the valve opens up. [...]
CAR TALK July 13, 2010 RENAULT’S BRAVE NEW WORLD This is Renault’s latest concept car, a two-seat sports coupe called DeZir. It’s the first car created under new design chief Laurens van den Acker and it’s a stunner. Proving electric cars can be exciting, the prominent grille and the ripple effect on its flanks – if not the asymmetrical scissor [...]
OUT OF OFFICE July 13, 2010 DON’T MISS: HOFESH SHECHTER DANCE Hofesh Shechter made a huge splash in the UK with Uprising in 2007. Now he takes the first full length piece since Uprising, called Political Mother, on tour. The 10-dancer show brims with Shechter’s “emotional and gritty complexity, powerful percussive grooves and a raw and honest physicality” and is accompanied [...]
How to be a water baby July 12, 2010 YOU never regret a swim,” the saying goes, and anyone who swims regularly will concur. It’s the ultimate summer workout – you can huff and puff outdoors without breaking a sweat. But if you want to work out in the water, you’re going to have to resist the temptation to just splash and paddle. You [...]
FIVE OF THE BEST OUTDOOR POOLS July 12, 2010 HAMPSTEAD HEATH SWIMMING PONDS, NW5 1QR Unlike anything else in London, the Hampstead Heath ponds are three distinct oases of nature and calm just a few kilometres from the centre of the world’s largest cities. Swim amid the lilies, willows and assorted plant life in one of three ponds that date back to 1860: one [...]