Simon Armitage and Tim Dee's top 10 bird poems

 Posted on May 20, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  635 words  |  Valentine Belue

Top 10sBest booksFrom nursery rhyme to Baudelaire, the birdwatcher and the poet spot literature's finest flights of fancyAs well as being one of Britain's most popular and acclaimed poets, Simon Armitage is also a dramatist, novelist, broadcaster and the winner of an Ivor Novello award for his song lyrics to the Channel 4 film Feltham Sings. His nine poetry collections include The Universal Home Doctor and Travelling Songs. Tim Dee is a BBC radio producer based in Bristol. [Read More]

We became weirdly obsessed: how a poodunnit podcast about a weddings dirty secret wen

 Posted on May 20, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1198 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

PodcastsThree years ago, two brides and a ‘detective’ friend released a true-crime series in which they visited zoos, tracked submarines and interrogated guests. Now, it’s a word-of-mouth smash “If someone asked me about my wedding, the first thing that would come to my mind would be the bathroom,” says Karen Whitehouse. It is not the answer most people would give, but most people haven’t had the misfortune to find poop on the floor of the women’s loo at their wedding reception. [Read More]

What is the longest sports-team name, and what is the silliest? My vote goes to Borussia Moenchengla

 Posted on May 20, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  955 words  |  Valentine Belue

THIS SPORTING LIFEWhat is the longest sports-team name, and what is the silliest? My vote goes to Borussia Moenchengladbach. James, London, UK While accepting that it's only in translation that these seem endearingly eccentric, I'd like to offer the following: Stuttgart Kickers and Energie Cottbus from Germany, Young Boys Berne and Grasshoppers from Switzerland, Jeunesse Esche from Luxembourg, the perennial Ghanaian champions Hearts of Oak, Carl Zeuss Jena from (I think) the Czech republic, and virtually any team in the Japanese J league. [Read More]

Where can we collect and share photos online without having to sign up?

 Posted on May 20, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1313 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

DropEvent could be used to collate photos from volunteering groups such as Mitzvah Day Photograph: Gabriel WebberDropEvent could be used to collate photos from volunteering groups such as Mitzvah Day Photograph: Gabriel WebberAsk JackInternetGabriel’s organisation works with community groups on volunteering, and they want to collect photos of all the various projects as simply as possible The Guardian’s product and service reviews are independent and are in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. [Read More]

Are laboratory-grown diamonds the more ethical choice to say 'I do'?

 Posted on May 19, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1475 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Life and styleIn addition to cost savings and supposed environmental benefits, lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical and physical properties as mined diamonds Alexander Weindling has a fading, black-and-white framed photograph on the desk of his New York City office. It’s of his grandfather, wearing a hat and suit, posing more than a century ago with some of the workers of a diamond mine he oversaw in what was then known as the Belgian Congo. [Read More]

Cult heroes: Robert Calvert Hawkwind's prescient space-rock poet

 Posted on May 19, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1354 words  |  Kary Bruening

Cult heroesMusicCalvert was a unique creative force whose performance, poetry, wit and love of spectacle elevated Hawkwind into one of the most respected bands of the era I’m not the kind of person given to needing heroes. But adolescence is the time when they creep in under your defences, when you’re looking for somebody else’s attitude and worldview to co-opt. I’ve loved Hawkwind ever since I heard them thudding majestically through my older brother’s bedroom wall, so it made sense that Robert Calvert, the band’s resident poet and agitator, would be the figure to exert a hold upon my puny imagination. [Read More]

Incognito review Nick Paynes brainteaser is at the top of its class

 Posted on May 19, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  562 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Brainiacs: the cast of Incognito. Photograph: Joan MarcusBrainiacs: the cast of Incognito. Photograph: Joan MarcusTheatreReviewManhattan Theatre Club, New York The multi-narrative work sees the cast – including Charlie Cox – shift through neurological oddities. But is the whole thing too cerebral for its own good? Imagine for a moment the interior hubbub that occurs as any audience member watches a play: all those neurons, all those synapses, all those chemicals struggling to make sense of the bodies, the lights and the dialogue. [Read More]

Interview with a Bookstore: Heffers in Cambridge, celebrating 140 years of bookselling

 Posted on May 19, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1372 words  |  Kary Bruening

Heffers bookstore in Cambridge, UK Photograph: Literary HubHeffers bookstore in Cambridge, UK Photograph: Literary HubInterview with a bookstore by Literary HubBooksRun by staff that pride themselves on identifying and championing ‘Heffers books’, Heffers is the largest bookstore in the UK university town Interview with a Bookstore from Literary Hub is part of the Guardian Books Network Scroll down for the staff recommendations shelf Heffers opened in 1876 and is celebrating 140 years of bookselling this year. [Read More]

Kaepernick led the 49ers at the 2013 Super Bowl. Don't expect a mention this time

 Posted on May 19, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1088 words  |  Valentine Belue

Colin KaepernickWhen the NFL and Fox recall greats from San Francisco’s past this weekend, one name will be largely erased Nestled among this year’s silly Super Bowl prop bets – such as whether or not Jennifer Lopez will show butt cleavage during the halftime show – is a far more interesting one: will the Fox broadcast mention Colin Kaepernick’s name? Even once? Kaepernick is relevant this year, and not just for his activities off the field. [Read More]

Sophie Mathisen | The Guardian

 Posted on May 19, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  87 words  |  Valentine Belue

Sophie Mathisen is a writer/director and the festival director of For Film’s Sake (FFS) Festival, Australia’s longest running female film festival. In 2016 she created and implemented the AACTA sausage party protest, inciting a policy overhaul regarding national eligibility criteria for female filmmakers. In 2017 she was named as one of Westpac’s ‘200 women who will change the world’ as well as the Churchill Fellowship, during which time she will generate and implement best practice guidelines for international film festivals to achieve gender diversity in programming. [Read More]