Paris
CD: Air - Le Voyage Dans la LuneMonday, 30 January 2012
A semantic side effect of my longish involvement in music culture has been hearing certain phrases pass from fringe slang obscurity to mainstream acceptance. Among these is the term “chill out”, purloined by ravers from the hippies to describe post-... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Paris: The Oldest Film Star of AllSunday, 29 January 2012
The news that work is to begin in February on a major renovation of the 122-year-old Eiffel Tower reminds us that no other monument in the world, including the Statue of Liberty, the Houses of Parliament or the Coliseum, conjures up a city with such... Read more... |
The Underbelly Project: ParisSunday, 15 January 2012
Witnesses will have been puzzled. In a southern suburb of Paris, a group of maybe 16 figures trudge with purpose along the pavement at the witching hour of half past four in the morning. Some are carrying rucksacks. We are mostly male. Mostly... Read more... |
Dassin Noir: Three Film Noir Classics by Jules DassinThursday, 01 December 2011
Connecticut-born Jules Dassin graduated from lightweight suspense and comedy fodder for MGM to pungent, location-based crime dramas, hitting his stride with Brute Force (1947) and The Naked City (1948), both included in this package. However, his... Read more... |
Manon, Royal BalletWednesday, 09 November 2011
Manon is the planet around which a series of moons orbit, locked in place by her gravitational pull. There is Des Grieux, who gives up his seminary studies for nights of pleasure; there is her brother Lescaut, who translates her into cash; and there... Read more... |
Braquo and American Horror Story join the FX stableTuesday, 08 November 2011
In TV's seasonal rush of Spooks, Downton etc, we must also hail the sterling (if gruesome) work going on at the FX channel. Alongside series two of The Walking Dead, they've thrown in the additional delights of gory French cop thriller Braquo and,... Read more... |
The Last of the Duchess, Hampstead TheatreThursday, 27 October 2011
Is it nostalgic to constantly revisit the history of the royal family? In this new play by Nicholas Wright, which opened last night, we travel back in time to 1980 when the aged Wallis Simpson - widow of the abdicated King Edward VIII - lived as a... Read more... |
Cabaret New Burlesque - new arty raunch direct from ParisThursday, 13 October 2011
We know (we have the analytics) that quite a few TAD readers are not averse to a bit of arty burlesque – our candid interview with striptease artist Ursula Martinez was read by many thousands. The latest contenders in the burgeoning titillation... Read more... |
Midnight in ParisWednesday, 05 October 2011
Waiting for Woody Allen to turn in a half-decent movie is bit like inching through a recession. The green shoots of recovery are constantly hoped for, but slow to show. Now and then the new one will come along and seem marginally less dire, but... Read more... |
Pierre Boulez Weekend, Southbank CentreMonday, 03 October 2011
William Glock once claimed that Pierre Boulez could literally vomit at music he believed to be substandard. I wonder what he would have made of my friend, who fled at the interval of the opening concert of the Southbank festival on Friday blaming... Read more... |
Q&A Special: Ballerina Sylvie GuillemWednesday, 28 September 2011
The star ballerina Sylvie Guillem was rehearsing in London when she heard about the cataclysmic Japanese earthquake last spring, and the devastating tsunami in its aftermath. It was an apocalyptic blow that she felt personally. Since her first visit... Read more... |
Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement, Royal AcademyTuesday, 20 September 2011
A beguiling shadow play greets and enchants on arrival: the silhouettes of three ballerinas, each performing an arabesque, are cast upon the wall as you enter. The effect, as their softly delineated forms dip and slowly rotate, is mesmerising. It’s... Read more... |
