Giya Kancheli obituary | Classical music

 Posted on May 23, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  967 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Classical musicObituaryGiya Kancheli obituaryLeading Georgian composer whose music combined stillness and beauty with expressive outbursts Giya Kancheli, who has died aged 84 of complications from a heart condition, became Georgia’s leading composer and one of the most distinguished in the Soviet Union in the late 20th century. His fellow Soviet colleague Rodion Shchedrin assessed him as “an ascetic with the temperament of a maximalist – a restrained Vesuvius”. Much of Kancheli’s music combines stillness and beauty with latent violence that occasionally erupts to devastating expressive effect. [Read More]

Hypnotically terrible: readers on 15 so-bad-theyre-brilliant Christmas movies

 Posted on May 23, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1396 words  |  Kary Bruening

MoviesWhether you want to watch the story of a killer shark, a royal romance or a long-eared donkey, these films have got you covered A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)The first film in the A Christmas Prince series features sledding, festive markets and a coronation. Thankfully, this follow-up provides the opportunity to dive into the political economy of Aldovia, which is mysteriously haemorrhaging money – a problem which must be solved by the royal family. [Read More]

NFL playoff race: Bills and Dolphins square off to decide AFC East title

 Posted on May 23, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1258 words  |  Kary Bruening

NFLBuffalo fly south to Miami in an eagerly anticipated regular-season finale with the AFC East championship and No 2 seed on the line As the regular season draws to a close, we’ll take a look each Friday at a game likely to affect the playoff race, along with the teams whose fortunes are rising and falling. And, so we don’t neglect the also-rans, we’ll see which teams are in the hunt for next year’s No 1 pick. [Read More]

The 10 best secluded campsites | Camping holidays

 Posted on May 23, 2024  |  10 minutes  |  1955 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Camping guide 2011Camping holidaysThe 10 best secluded campsitesIf camping for you is a way to find quiet, solitude and a slice of the simple life, Dixe Wills can suggest 10 such sites for sore eyesGumber Farm Arundel, West Sussex"Lift up your hearts in Gumber," declared the writer Hilaire Belloc. Given how crowded the south-east of England is now, the fact that Gumber Farm and its campsite is still an inspirational oasis of calm is all the more remarkable. [Read More]

The British Museum's exhibition on the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II | Art and design

 Posted on May 23, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  522 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

The British Museum unmasks Aztec ruler Moctezuma II Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email The British Museum is assembling rare and precious objects from Europe and South America for an exhibition on the life and mysterious death of the last elected Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma II, who ruled territory stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. The exhibition, the fourth and last in the museum's series on great world leaders, will run from 24 September to 24 January 2010 Tue 7 Apr 2009 11. [Read More]

The top 10 words invented by writers

 Posted on May 23, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1134 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Top 10sWritten language‘Authorisms’ – neologisms coined by authors which have entered the wider language – have been enriching English for centuries. From Shakespeare to Joseph Heller, Paul Dickson selects his favouritesI have long been interested in words but most specifically in the question of how a coinage makes it into the larger language, especially at a time when the English language seems to have more than enough words to sustain itself. [Read More]

Unforgotten series five, episode five recap TV doesnt get more head-spinning than this

 Posted on May 23, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1473 words  |  Valentine Belue

Unforgotten: episode recapsTelevisionDid Precious have a ‘sugar daddy’? Why was she blackmailing Karol? And will Hume make it to Zurich? A revelatory hour left us tantalisingly poised for the finale Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Unforgotten season five. Don’t read on unless you’ve watched episode five and please don’t post spoilers if you’ve watched ahead. Brothers in firearms“I’m not Joseph Bell. It’s not J for Joseph, it’s J for Jay. [Read More]

'My neighbour is stalking me - and now I've discovered that he has been to prison twice for harassin

 Posted on May 22, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  962 words  |  Aldo Pusey

First personWomenAt first I thought the man I kept passing in the street was just being friendly. Every morning as I left my house to commute to London, the short, balding man with the moustache would be returning from the newsagents. After a few weeks of cheery "good mornings", he told me his name was Karl and he lived next door. Then he began popping up everywhere. I left for work very early, always before my husband, but whenever I opened my door Karl would be there, putting out the rubbish or setting off to the paper shop. [Read More]

Devil's advocate: are satanists now the good guys in the fight against the evangelical right?

 Posted on May 22, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1718 words  |  Valentine Belue

Documentary filmsA new film, Hail Satan?, portrays the Satanic Temple as a voice of reason and humanism in the US. Has the time come to rehabilitate the dark lord? Over the past century of popular culture, Satan has acquired the souls of delta blues musicians, incited youth rebellions, possessed small children and goats, impregnated unsuspecting women and transmitted evil through backwards lyrics on heavy metal records. But recently, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, the nature of his game has been puzzling us. [Read More]

England fall to record defeat against India in one-off womens Test | Women's cricket

 Posted on May 22, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  939 words  |  Kary Bruening

The ObserverWomen's cricketEngland fall to record defeat against India in one-off women’s Test India 428 & 186-6dec bt England 136 & 131 by 347 runs Hosts sweep up 10 wickets in 27.3 overs England flopped to one of their worst Test defeats after India wiped them out for 131 in the second innings, sealing the win with a day and a half to spare. India’s margin of victory – 347 runs – is the highest recorded in a women’s Test by runs and raises questions about England’s progress under Jon Lewis after their embarrassing T20 series loss against Sri Lanka in September. [Read More]