Light as a feather April 28, 2015 Give your living room a talking point with these kitsch-but-cool, ornithological-themed table lamps House of Hackney is a one-stop-shop for kitsch but cool homeware, selling everything from curtains to cutlery. The Shoreditch-based brand was founded in London in 2010 by husband and wife team Javvy M Royle and Frieda Gormley with a mission statement to [...]
Car review: The Phantom’s little bro grows up – meet the Rolls-Royce Ghost II April 27, 2015 Drive the Rolls-Royce Phantom for any length of time, as City A.M. did last August, and there’s a strong chance you’ll come away deeply impressed. Your CEO may well own one and, you’ll undoubtedly agree, he/she is a person of great taste. Alan Sugar has a Phantom. So does Simon Cowell, Kim Kardashian and [...]
Not convinced? April 27, 2015 CHECK OUT THESE ALTERNATIVES… BENTLEY MULSANNE PRICE: £229,360 0-62MPH: 5.3 secs TOP SPEED: 184mph CO2 G/KM: 342g/km MPG COMBINED: 19.3mpg THE VERDICT: DESIGN Four Stars PERFORMANCE Four Stars PRACTICALITY Four Stars VALUE FOR MONEY Two Stars MERCEDES-BENZ S600 L PRICE: £140,615 0-62MPH: 4.6 secs TOP SPEED: 155mph CO2 G/KM: 268g/km MPG COMBINED: 25.4mpg THE VERDICT: DESIGN Four Stars PERFORMANCE [...]
The ultimate foodie safari in Sabi Sabi: Michelin-starred chef Eric Chavot brings Mayfair flair to South Africa’s Earth Lodge April 26, 2015 The streets of Mayfair may seem a world away from the remote South African bush, but for discerning gourmet travellers the metaphorical – if not physical – distance between the two has just become smaller. A new initiative at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve invites some of the world’s top chefs into the kitchen at [...]
48 hours in… Granada, Spain April 26, 2015 WHERE TO STAY Set within the citadel of the Alhambra palace, Hotel America oozes rustic charm with antiques in the rooms, wooden beamed ceilings and fountains in the courtyard gardens. Rooms from £68 a night, hotelamericagranada.com WHAT TO DO You can’t go to Granada and not see The Alhambra, a palace and fortress that was [...]
Theatre review: Ah, Wilderness! April 24, 2015 Young Vic | ★★★★☆ The life of American playwright and Nobel Laureate Eugene O’Neill was often tragic but in Ah, Wilderness! he mines his youth for comedy, and the results are unexpectedly delightful. The action takes place over the 4 July weekend, 1906, mostly at the Miller family’s Connecticut beach house. They suffer [...]
Theatre review: Carmen Disruption April 24, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Carmen Disruption asks two big questions: 1) what becomes of a performer who plays the same role over and over again for her entire life, and 2) what happens when a culture becomes obsessed with disruptive, distracting technologies? Prolific playwright Simon Stephens obviously thinks one informs of the other – [...]
Film review: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence April 24, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★★ “We just want to help people have fun,” intone two ashen-faced salesmen of crummy novelty items. Lord knows the people in this film need the help. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is the third part of Swedish director Roy Andersson’s trilogy “about being a human [...]
Film review: The Falling April 24, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Jean-Luc Godard once said that a story should have a beginning, middle and end, but not necessarily in that order. The Falling has several middles, even more beginnings, and an end that doesn’t resolve any of them. This is no feat of narrative ingenuity – just a mess. The setting [...]
Avengers: Age of Ultron is another Marvel marvel – film review April 23, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ Marvel has achieved a rather incredible thing with Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s a bubbling cauldron of a film, filled with dozens of characters, layer upon layer of convoluted plotting, flash backs, flash forwards and dream sequences. It draws upon details introduced over no less than 10 previous movies – [...]