The imbecilic truth about the Tropic Thunder retard debate | Film
Posted on April 13, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 836 words
| Aldo Pusey
Film blogFilmThe imbecilic truth about the Tropic Thunder retard debateLast month, Ben Stiller's comedy Tropic Thunder was the subject of an America-wide Rally for Respect, organised by a coalition of disability groups. Participants were urged to picket cinemas, leaflet audiences, lobby newspapers and protest to the film's producers. The complaint was that the word "retard", used 17 times in the film to denote a person with learning difficulties, was unacceptable. "
[Read More]The Pages by Hugo Hamilton review if a book could talk
Posted on April 13, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 886 words
| Kary Bruening
Book of the dayFictionReviewThe narrator of this ingenious fable about Germany, nationalism and the tides of history is a century-old Joseph Roth novel
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth, best remembered for his masterpiece Radetzky March, anticipates several of its themes in his third novel, Rebellion, first published in 1924. It tells the story of Andreas Pum, a survivor of the first world war who has “lost a leg and been given a medal”.
[Read More]Too provocative mermaid statue causes stir in southern Italy | Italy
Posted on April 13, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 571 words
| Valentine Belue
Italy This article is more than 8 months old‘Too provocative’ mermaid statue causes stir in southern ItalyThis article is more than 8 months oldArt school headteacher hails ‘tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy’ amid social media uproar
The voluptuous statue of a mermaid placed in a square in a fishing village in Puglia, southern Italy, has caused a stir for being “too provocative”.
The statue was created by students at the Luigi Rosso art school in Monopoli before being positioned in a square named after the scientist Rita Levi-Montalcini.
[Read More]Chinese websites censor fatty nickname that mocks Kim Jong-un | China
Posted on April 12, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 365 words
| Kary Bruening
China This article is more than 7 years oldChinese websites censor ‘fatty’ nickname that mocks Kim Jong-unThis article is more than 7 years oldBan on ‘Kim Fatty the Third’ comes after North Korean officials formally ask China to stop such insults appearing in media
Chinese websites are censoring a phrase meaning “Kim Fatty the Third”, a nickname widely used to disparage the North Korean leader, after officials from his country reportedly conveyed their displeasure in a meeting with Chinese counterparts.
[Read More]Christopher Hibbert | History books
Posted on April 12, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 1012 words
| Valentine Belue
History booksObituaryChristopher HibbertPopular historian whose favourite subject was ItalyIt is a well known fact that Christopher Hibbert, who has died aged 84, was the best loved and most widely read popular historian of the latter part of the last century. "It's a well known fact that ..." was how he would start, and embark on some wildly exaggerated and embroidered story to the delight of his friends and family. "No, really!
[Read More]Disco kitsch: are these the world's most ridiculous record covers? in pictures | Art and design
Posted on April 12, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 351 words
| Chauncey Koziol
Disco kitsch: are these the world's most ridiculous record covers? – in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Soft porn, engorged limes, erect bananas – and an extra-special zebra print carpet courtesy of Kool and the Gang ... disco cover art is endlessly, brilliantly OTT. From Grace Jones to Giorgio Moroder, Cerrone to Chic, here are our favourite artworks from Disco: an Encyclopaedic Guide to the Cover Art of Disco Records
[Read More]Hidden Portugal: where to stay and what to do off the beaten track
Posted on April 12, 2024
| 11 minutes
| 2210 words
| Aldo Pusey
Holiday guidesPortugal holidaysHauntingly beautiful villages, thermal springs, unspoilt beaches, fairytale castles ... Portugal has so much more to offer than the bustle of the Algarve
Hidden …Greece | Croatia | Italy
Britain’s love affair with its oldest ally is set to be reignited this summer. The UK is Portugal’s biggest overseas tourist market, and it became the first EU country to allow Britons fast-tracked entry, post-Brexit, via electronic passport gates. Thanks to the easing of Covid travel restrictions, hundreds of thousands of British travellers are expected to head back there this summer, drawn mainly by its sunny south coast.
[Read More]Instead of a scar, I had a piece of art: women on their post-mastectomy tattoos | Women
Posted on April 12, 2024
| 12 minutes
| 2472 words
| Kary Bruening
Sarah B: ‘Deciding to have the tattoo done was an empowering act in itself.’ Photograph: Kate PetersSeven women tell Gem Fletcher why getting inked after breast cancer made them feel whole again
Sarah B, ColchesterI found a hardening in my breast in 2005, and although my GP wasn’t concerned, he sent me to get it checked out. It was a total shock when I found out I had stage 2 breast cancer.
[Read More]Naked ambition: Sydney swimmers bare all but fail to reach world record | New South Wales
Posted on April 12, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 586 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
‘How amazing is this?’ … The annual Sydney Skinny event, held at Cobblers Beach on Sydney Harbour, drew more than 1,000 eager to take a nude swim. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images‘How amazing is this?’ … The annual Sydney Skinny event, held at Cobblers Beach on Sydney Harbour, drew more than 1,000 eager to take a nude swim. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty ImagesNew South Wales This article is more than 10 months oldNaked ambition: Sydney swimmers bare all but fail to reach world recordThis article is more than 10 months oldMore than a thousand nude swimmers stripped off and plunged into Sydney Harbour for the annual event held for the first time since 2019
[Read More]Peggy Nolan: the late-flowering artist who found freedom in photography | Photography
Posted on April 12, 2024
| 9 minutes
| 1764 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
‘Her images possess a palpable physical dynamic that will be all too familiar to anyone raising – or raised in – a large family.’ Photograph: Peggy Nolan/TBW books‘Her images possess a palpable physical dynamic that will be all too familiar to anyone raising – or raised in – a large family.’ Photograph: Peggy Nolan/TBW booksThe ObserverPhotographyInterviewPeggy Nolan: the late-flowering artist who found freedom in photographySean O’HaganForty years after she began taking pictures of her seven children, Nolan’s striking images are being published for the first time.
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