The Guardian · 7h ago
‘He liked to get people’s blood boiling’: metal masters Mastodon on the loss of bandmate Brent Hinds – and his shocking words before his death
The Grammy-winning band had an acrimonious rift with Hinds – then he died in a motorbike crash. They explain how they’re paying tribute on their new album, and why their love for each other never endedMastodon are near the end of a tour where they’re playing 22 shows in 14 different European countries during a record-breaking heatwave, when they video-call me outside a Bordeaux venue. Bassist and co-lead singer Troy Sanders says the experience has been “31 days of musical bliss”. He’s not being sarcastic, either.“Things are super energetic, even at day 31,” he insists. “We’re contemplating even staying in Europe for a few days when this tour is over, because we’re enjoying ourselves so much.” It’s pleasantly surprising to see Sanders and drummer/co-vocalist Brann Dailor, sat to his left, in such high spirits, given the anguish and unrest they’ve endured over the last 18 months. Continue reading...
BBC · 9h ago
Giant pink mammoth and Ceefax - Joe Lycett unveils first major solo art exhibition
The TV comedian's first major solo exhibition starts on Wednesday in Birmingham.
The Guardian · 9h ago
Spider-Man: Brand New Day review – Zendaya saves Tom Holland’s semi-Cronenberg-style superhero
Now 30, Holland is back as the vexed webslinger in a sometimes shocking, occasionally sluggish new instalment opposite his Odyssey castmateJust a few weeks ago, Tom Holland was telling us that his role as Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey was his “last chance to play a boy”. Well, Holland is back as the supposedly scrappy, gawky, arachnid young superhero Spider-Man. Not Spider-Boy admittedly, and these days Holland is actually a chunkier and more stacked Spidey than previously, flexing some pretty serious biceps. He is maturing in the role. But is the role maturing with him?The point is that this film is a reset. At the end of the last movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, courtesy of Dr Strange’s colossal psychic powers – which might have come in handy in this episode incidentally, part of the narrative-universe inconsistency that you just have to overlook – Peter Parker was able to erase everyone’s knowledge that he is, in fact, Spider-Man, and that includes his goofy best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and more to the point, the love of his life MJ (Zendaya). Continue reading...
BBC · 9h ago
Booker Prize longlist: See the 13 'dynamite' novels up for this year's prestigious award
Elizabeth Strout, Douglas Stuart and Marlon James are among the 13 authors recognised this year.
BBC · 9h ago
Richard Hammond fined £999 for speeding offences
The TV host is caught speeding twice in Herefordshire in the space of three weeks, magistrates hear.
BBC · 10h ago
House of the Dragon star Bethany Antonia joins Strictly line-up
She plays Lady Baela Targaryen in HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, and is the ninth celebrity to be confirmed.
BBC · 10h ago
Naga Munchetty to leave BBC Breakfast after 17 years
The BBC One show's co-host will swap the TV sofa for the presenter's chair on Radio 5 Live Breakfast.
BBC · 10h ago
Love Island UK crowns winners of twist-filled series
For the first time in the history of the UK series, only three couples were in the final after several twists.
The Guardian · 11h ago
Mary Beth Barone on provocative jokes, Palestine and manosphere misogyny: ‘It’s hard to stomach that those are my co-workers’
The comedian and actor’s new Netflix special is a gleefully absurd take on politics and potty-mouthed humorMary Beth Barone knows exactly who will be offended by her new Netflix special. “JK Rowling, Republicans, establishment Democrats, the British, the Irish and Zionists,” she tells me, reading a list from her Notes app. Then there’s “Katy Kats – which is what Katy Perry calls her fans – and male comedians and one specific girl named Tatiana”. When informed that this encompasses over half of the population of the US, she beams.Barone’s comedy is a delicate balance between sweetness and cynicism. In her standup she’ll adopt a ditzy pose while she tears down morally bankrupt politicians, sends up cis male entitlement or implores her audience to have sex with moderates in the hope of bringing them over to the left. In the past five years, she has edged her way closer to the mainstream with a Comedy Central web-series, a couple of standup spots on Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show, and a podcast co-hosted with her friend Benito Skinner that is so popular it has its own merch line. The past 12 months have seen her career go into overdrive: now she is the co-lead of a wildly popular TV show (Overcompensating, created by Skinner), chats to the A-list on the Golden Globes’ red carpet and sits front row at New York fashion week. Continue reading...
The Guardian · 12h ago
Why has Christopher Nolan got rid of all the sex in The Odyssey? | Zoe Williams
It’s a bit of a mystery why it takes Odysseus so long to get home if he’s not shacking up with Calypso and others ... I did not walk into Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey intending to pick holes. If there was zero sexual chemistry between Odysseus and Circe, who was I to say that’s not how it went in the poem? I was most likely thinking of a feminist retelling (Madeline Miller’s novel Circe), rather than Homer, anyway.Nevertheless, even allowing for metaphor and whatnot, even factoring in that Circe’s passion for Odysseus is (almost?) definitely a rumination on the double standards of godliness, in which the guy gods are allowed to sleep with whichever mortals they please, but the lady ones are not supposed to (I don’t think?), I am sure something happened. Continue reading...
The Guardian · 12h ago
‘People named their kids after us!’ Lost’s Penny and Desmond on being one of TV’s best ever romances
Sonya Walger and Henry Ian Cusick created a love so magical that they’re responsible for what’s widely regarded as the greatest TV episode of all time – not to mention inspiring a fan to get a full leg tattoo of their faces• More from our series Making Love: ‘We met and two minutes later we were kissing’ – how Gavin and Stacey became Britain’s most bang tidy TV coupleLost is one of television’s most romantic dramas. Forget smoke monsters, time travel and that infamous ending – this was a show fuelled by swoony stories. Sun and Jin; Rose and Bernard; Sawyer/Jack/Kate/Juliet; Charlie and Claire; Sayid and Nadia (not Shannon). Love was the reason behind so many of the islanders’ need to survive, or to sacrifice themselves.But it was Penny’s and Desmond’s relationship that defined the series. Continue reading...
The Guardian · 13h ago
Ariana Grande sues hackers who allegedly sold unreleased music and photos online
Pop star aims to use legal process to name ‘wrongdoers who hide in the shadows and wreak technological havoc with impunity’Ariana Grande has filed a lawsuit against hackers who she alleges have stolen unreleased music, as well as private photos and video footage, and sold them online.Grande filed the lawsuit in a Los Angeles court on Monday. It doesn’t name the hackers, who are referred to with the generic name John Doe. Grande will look to have them identified during the legal process “in order to hold them accountable for their invasive and reprehensible conduct”, the lawsuit reads. Continue reading...
