I was in a state of rage: playwright V, formerly Eve Ensler, on her long fight against violenc
Posted on May 15, 2024
| 11 minutes
| 2165 words
| Merlyn Hunt
The ObserverDomestic violenceInterview‘I was in a state of rage’: playwright V, formerly Eve Ensler, on her long fight against violenceEva WisemanThe activist and writer of the Vagina Monologues has no intention of stopping her quest to end violence against women
The new book by V – the playwright formerly known as Eve Ensler – is called Reckoning. She says the word slowly, as if it’s falling downstairs, or perhaps, was pushed.
[Read More]New Zealand 11-12 South Africa: Rugby World Cup final player ratings
Posted on May 15, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 1013 words
| Christie Applegate
The ObserverRugby World Cup 2023Pieter-Steph du Toit was immense for the Springboks while Will Jordan and Codie Taylor failed to fire for the All Blacks
New ZealandBeauden Barrett Doesn’t quite seem to have the zip he did four years ago but influence on the game grew. Struggled under Pollard’s high kicks but took try well. 7
Will Jordan Was pursuing try to take record outright for most in a single World Cup but well shackled in first half before a touch more involvement in the second.
[Read More]Radioactive city: how Johannesburgs townships are paying for its mining past | Cities
Posted on May 15, 2024
| 9 minutes
| 1763 words
| Delta Gatti
Cities This article is more than 8 years oldRadioactive city: how Johannesburg’s townships are paying for its mining pastThis article is more than 8 years oldMuch of the waste from 600 abandoned mines around South Africa’s largest city is piled high next to residential communities – most of which are poor and black
Johannesburg’s mine dumps look strangely beautiful from a distance. Lustrously yellow in the sun, blazing red at dusk, their huge molehill shapes provide the city with its distinctive skyline.
[Read More]Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera review a lyrical Mexican migrants tale
Posted on May 15, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 858 words
| Christie Applegate
FictionReviewA young woman’s journey to bring her brother back from the States takes on mythological proportions in this rich, strange novelFrom its opening pages, when gaping asphalt swallows a man, a car, a dog and “even the screams of passersby”, this marvellously rich, slim novel is working on many levels. The lethal sinkhole is located in a generic silver-mining town in Mexico, “riddled with bullet holes and tunnels bored from five centuries of voracious silver lust”.
[Read More]The Sport of Kings by CE Morgan review an epic journey into the deep south
Posted on May 15, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 825 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Book of the dayFictionReviewThis multigenerational saga, shortlisted for the Pulitzer and now the Baileys prize, explores Darwinism, horse racing and the legacies of slaveryThis novel is about horse racing the way Moby-Dick is about a whale; it has a similarly expansive scope, spiritual seriousness and density of grand themes. Shortlisted for the Pulitzer and now the Baileys prize, Morgan’s epic work builds to a climactic series of dramatic race scenes featuring a star filly named Hellsmouth.
[Read More]The Yellow World by Albert Espinosa review
Posted on May 15, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 941 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
The ObserverAutobiography and memoirReviewAlbert Espinosa's initially beguiling account of his 10-year battle with cancer is spoilt by self-help hokum"Humorous Spanish books about cancer" is probably a small section at your library. "Humorous Spanish books about cancer that mention Gary Lineker" is probably an even smaller sub-genre. In fact, it likely includes only this strange self‑help memoir.
Aged 14, Albert Espinosa was a typical football-obsessed schoolboy from Barcelona. Then doctors found a malignant bone tumour in his left leg.
[Read More]'How I helped to make Jimi Hendrix a rock'n'roll star' | Jimi Hendrix
Posted on May 14, 2024
| 7 minutes
| 1470 words
| Christie Applegate
The ObserverJimi Hendrix This article is more than 10 years old'How I helped to make Jimi Hendrix a rock'n'roll star'This article is more than 10 years oldLinda Keith lent a young blues player a guitar belonging to her boyfriend, Keith Richards – and the rest is history. In a rare interview, she tells her storyRock'n'roll has had many pivotal moments, but few are as clear cut as when Linda Keith, a 20-year-old British Vogue model and blues fanatic, lent a virtually unknown Jimi Hendrix a white Fender Stratocaster, the instrument that would become forever entwined with the guitarist's legendary and unsurpassed technique.
[Read More]Do the time warp | Science
Posted on May 14, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 356 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Far outScienceDo the time warpHis gestures, his intonation; how powerful they were! What flights of oratory," writes Father Pellegrino Ernetti, describing a speech by Marcus Tullius Cicero to the Roman senate in 63BC. Ernetti, who died in 1992, was a Benedictine monk, a respected historian of ancient music, author, physicist and exorcist; but what makes his description of Cicero intriguing is that he claims to have witnessed it at first hand.
[Read More]Jerry Moss obituary | Pop and rock
Posted on May 14, 2024
| 6 minutes
| 1068 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Pop and rockObituaryJerry Moss obituaryAmerican record company executive who co-founded the A&M label with the trumpeter Herb AlpertWhen a 50-1 outsider named Giacomo won the 2005 Kentucky Derby, it was not the first time that the horse’s owner, the American record company executive Jerry Moss, had defied the odds.
Moss, who has died aged 88, began his working life as a teenager paid $75 a week for getting doo-wop records played on New York radio stations.
[Read More]Special exhibition: Paris gallery opens doors to nudists | Paris
Posted on May 14, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 222 words
| Christie Applegate
Paris This article is more than 5 years oldSpecial exhibition: Paris gallery opens doors to nudistsThis article is more than 5 years oldPalais de Tokyo near Eiffel Tower embraces French capital’s flourishing naturist scene
A Paris gallery has given nearly 200 people the rare chance of a clothes-free visit, the latest opportunity for the city’s flourishing nudist scene.
Palais de Tokyo, a contemporary art museum in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, offered a guided tour before opening to the general public on Saturday.
[Read More]