Mammoth Lakes: The ski resort within driving distance of LA December 6, 2021 Mammoth Lakes has been the ski area of choice for Los Angeles residents since the early 1950s. These days the 5-hour drive can be a frantic scramble from the City of Angels when big snow is forecast. The journey is similar in length for anyone wanting, or needing, to escape the madness of Las Vegas [...]
Lamborghini to ‘celebrate the combustion engine’ with new models December 6, 2021 Lamborghini will give the internal combustion engine a suitable send-off before embracing electrification – including two new cars for 2022.
The Hand of God review: Childhood memories and Maradona obsessions December 3, 2021 Awards season can often be a time when great directors get reflective. Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma became an Oscar contender two years ago, while Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari have both won acclaim in recent years as films based partly on the filmmaker’s experiences. It’s a tricky path to take, however, sometimes [...]
Novel coronavirus: Meet the writers who penned a book during lockdown December 3, 2021 They say everyone has a book in them, but usually that’s where it stays. Writing a novel is a time-consuming business, a months- or years-long project, often undertaken with little guarantee anyone will ever read it. Every successful author has their ‘origin story’, from JK Rowling scribbling away in an Edinburgh cafe to Dostoyevsky bashing out The [...]
Hitting the note or off pitch? Quick fix for music streaming won’t help us December 3, 2021 Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art, or so said Claude Debussy in his approach to composition. For Labour MP, Kevin Brennan, a love of music and rules for art is at the heart of his fight against streaming companies, which he claims don’t pay artists fairly. His private member’s [...]
The wine diaries: Living the roaring 20s with Ramon Bilbao December 2, 2021 What a night was had at the celebratory launch of Ramon Bilbao’s The Journey Collection at glamorous Hispania. Throwing back to the joie de vivre of the 1920s, guests in varying degrees of vintage dress clinked crystal martini glasses in front of jazz singers before being swept up the turning staircase to a sumptuous candle-lit [...]
Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny named Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally, beating the likes of Taylor Swift and Drake December 1, 2021 Spotify has today unveiled its annual 2021 Wrapped campaign and personalised user experience for more than 381 million users worldwide, unveiling the top artists, albums, songs, playlists and podcasts. With more than 9.1 billion streams this year on Spotify, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny is the most-streamed artist of 2021. The second most-streamed artist – and most streamed female artist of the year [...]
How the Berlin Wall still influences culture and commerce December 1, 2021 Nature is reclaiming the Death Strip. Pioneer birch trees have self-seeded, creating a winding, shady memorial that cuts through the heart of Berlin. There are cherry blossoms too, a gift from the Japanese government. But it is the slim, silvery trunks of the birches, and the dappled, dancing shadows they cast on the path, that [...]
Wine Wednesday: Buy Burgundy – and buy it now! December 1, 2021 Burgundy has established a world-wide reputation for excellent quality, premium wines, despite the term being created as an Anglicised word for marketing purposes. In France the region and wines are ‘Bourgogne’ and there is a push among winemakers in the area to reclaim this original name. Whether you call it Burgundy or Bourgogne, however, if [...]
Quick review: Wine bar and restaurant Hackney Coterie is boldly sophisticated December 1, 2021 WHAT IS IT?A wine bar and restaurant, Hackney Coterie manages to both be relaxed and boldly sophisticated. Opened in July 2021, it’s the brainchild of two friends, restaurateur Anthony Lyons (of Lyons Seafood & Wine Bar) and sommelier Kelvin McCabe. The wines hail from across Europe, and form a seriously impressive collection. As for the food, [...]