Dig deep for this lame movie October 18, 2012 FILM BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Cert 12A ** Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of those films that will split opinions. Having heard about the great splash it made at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, I was expecting something special. Instead I got a film that required me to dig deep [...]
Iconic costumes take a leading role at the V&A October 17, 2012 First impressions count – and for actors, they count double. Aside from the rather crucial fact that they play an important role in determining whether or not we believe, for instance, that Johnny Depp is, in fact, a crazy pirate, costumes often tell you all you need to know about a character before they’ve even [...]
Fable: right game, wrong execution October 17, 2012 GAMES FABLE: THE JOURNEY Xbox Kinect * Fable: The Journey is exactly the game Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect needs: a much-loved title that plunges gamers into a familiar environment. The Kinect has shown it can excel in mini “party games” but has, thus far, come up empty on anything grander. It’s a shame, then, that The [...]
A childhood fear of household appliances didn’t put me off the new Dyson October 17, 2012 WHEN I was a child, I was afraid of the tumble dryer. Not an all-consuming phobia – more of a general distrust, as if the offending appliance wasn’t an immediate threat but a vaguely malign presence in the corner of the kitchen. When it rumbled into life I would adopt a low voice like a [...]
A bold pro-growth strategy could set the UK’s housing market free October 16, 2012 BY 2025, China will have 221 cities with over 1m inhabitants, adding more than 350m to its urban population. In response, 40 billion square metres of new floorspace will be built. In contrast, here in London, there is a dynamic underground housing market for beds in sheds in Thornton Heath, Southall, and Stratford. Despite pressing [...]
Bentley taps into the need for speed October 16, 2012 It’s pouring with rain as we speed along the autobahn towards the Bavarian Alps. I don’t have the cojones to get anywhere close to the 205mph top speed that this new Bentley Continental GT Speed is capable of, which is a shame because this is the fastest road-going Bentley ever made and we’re on an [...]
Car talk October 16, 2012 The new Turbo S Porsche is a powerful upgrade on the V8 Porsche has introduced a new flagship Cayenne SUV, the Turbo S. The 4.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 has had its power increased by an additional 10 per cent over the Turbo model. The extra 50bhp translates to a 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds and a [...]
Suspend your disbelief training October 15, 2012 The TRX system is the latest “must-have” fitness regime. It consists of several suspension cables, which you attach to either arms or legs as straps that then suspend you from a surface using your own body weight (and gravity) as resistance. The intensity of the exercise is determined by how you position the cables on [...]
Battle against the winter hair blues October 15, 2012 Summer is officially over and, just the way you swap your summer clothes for something more hard-wearing, you should do the same with your hair care products. Here are the top five to invest in this winter: Pantene 24hr Nourishment Leave In Conditioner, £4.99 Say hello to Pantene’s first ever non-aerosol conditioning foam. Stylist Danilo [...]
Resounding hit for London’s biggest art fair October 14, 2012 The biggest London Frieze Art Fair ever was in full swing this weekend, with 175 galleries packed into Regent’s Park and a separate Frieze Masters event featuring 96 galleries showcasing works from across the last 4,000 years. Organisers say they wanted to bridge the gap between contemporary collectors and those interested in older works, with [...]