Chop and change: a retro shaggy mullet will be the hairstyle for summer

 Posted on March 28, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  918 words  |  Kary Bruening

The ObserverWomen's hairIn salons across Britain, a post-lockdown look that blends the best of the shag and the mullet is catching on fast In the three weeks since hair salons have reopened, Brixton Cowie says he has cut dozens of mullets. “Except none of my customers are coming in directly asking for a mullet. They don’t use that word, but they say they want it a bit long but a bit short, choppier, with more layers, and shaggier. [Read More]

For the love of Jean | Diana Athill

 Posted on March 28, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1752 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Diana AthillFor the love of JeanJean Rhys came to fame quite late in life and, despite having a reputation for being difficult, had a coterie of supporters. Diana Athill recalls the trials of being her editor, and what the writer thought of the feminist interpretation of her books'I don't understand why you were all so fond of her.' A friend said that to me about Jean Rhys, and I understand why she said it. [Read More]

Parthenon of Macedonia: site where Alexander the Great was proclaimed king reopens

 Posted on March 28, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  828 words  |  Valentine Belue

GreeceThousands flock to see the Palace of Aigai, the largest surviving classical Greek building, after 16-year reconstruction completed For 2,170 years it had lain in ruins: a palace that symbolised the golden age of antiquity, three times bigger than the Parthenon, unprecedented in architectural ambition, unparalleled in beauty. It was here in 336BC that the king of ancient Macedonia, Philip II, was murdered; and here in the great peristyle – or columned courtyard – around which its banqueting halls coalesced that his 20-year-old son, Alexander the Great, would be proclaimed king, a moment that would change the course of history. [Read More]

Rapper Wale on Frank Ocean and Sam Smith: 'If a dude was gay, hed get a Grammy' | Music

 Posted on March 28, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  402 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Music This article is more than 8 years oldRapper Wale on Frank Ocean and Sam Smith: 'If a dude was gay, he’d get a Grammy'This article is more than 8 years oldDuring a radio interview, the Washington DC rapper claimed the two artists owe their success to their sexuality Rapper Wale has claimed the Grammy award-winning artists Frank Ocean and Sam Smith owe their success to their sexuality, during a recent interview. [Read More]

The sights, shouts and smells of Syracuses Ortigia market, Sicily

 Posted on March 28, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  351 words  |  Kary Bruening

Local produce at Ortygia market, Syracuse, Sicily. Photograph: AlamyLocal produce at Ortygia market, Syracuse, Sicily. Photograph: AlamyA great little place I knowFood and drinkThe co-curator of the British Museum’s new Sicily exhibition on a slice of old island life An evocative and strangely nostalgic place that I visit over and over again in Sicily – and get up before 7am for – is the historic food market of Ortigia, the old part of Syracuse, on the east coast. [Read More]

Top 10 books about unlikely revolutionaries

 Posted on March 28, 2024  |  8 minutes  |  1508 words  |  Aldo Pusey

The most famous scientist of his age … Alexander von Humboldt by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, c1806. Photograph: Ullstein Bild/Getty ImagesThe most famous scientist of his age … Alexander von Humboldt by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, c1806. Photograph: Ullstein Bild/Getty ImagesTop 10sBooksNovels by Richard Powers and Colson Whitehead, and polemics by Rachel Carson and Mary Wollstonecraft show how ideas and words can change the world Revolutions are often associated with great upheavals and bloodshed – accompanied by metaphors of eruptions and earthquakes. [Read More]

Trump appointees interfered to weaken EPA assessment of toxic chemical | US Environmental Protection

 Posted on March 28, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1418 words  |  Aldo Pusey

US Environmental Protection Agency This article is more than 9 months oldTrump appointees interfered to weaken EPA assessment of toxic chemicalThis article is more than 9 months oldWatchdog finds PFBS toxicity value was altered in 2021 report, as scientists say episode part of ‘larger rot at the agency’ Trump administration appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) meddled in agency science to weaken the toxicity assessment of a dangerous chemical, a new report by the US body’s internal watchdog has found. [Read More]

'Public nudity is a uniform': the artist who stripped off at the Muse DOrsay | Art and design

 Posted on March 27, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  968 words  |  Valentine Belue

Art and designInterview'Public nudity is a uniform': the artist who stripped off at the Musée D’OrsayInterview by Joshua SurteesPerformance artist Deborah de Robertis discusses ‘political nudity’, police interrogation and filming her recent dressing down at a Paris museum The 10 most shocking performance artworks ever When Deborah de Robertis walked into the Musée D’Orsay in Paris and threw off her fur-collared coat in front of Édouard Manet’s painting Olympia to reveal her own naked body, it wasn’t meant as a fleeting publicity stunt. [Read More]

African Gothic review incest and madness in Afrikaaner horror story

 Posted on March 27, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  474 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

TheatreReviewPark theatre, London Two siblings in an isolated farmhouse role-play traumatic episodes from their childhood in this flesh-creeping metaphor for colonial decline This play certainly delivers what it says on the tin. It’s an early work, dating from 1986, by the prolific South African playwright Reza de Wet, who died of leukaemia in 2012. While many of her plays offer subtle variations on Chekhov, this one is an all-too-predictable horror story about the inexorable decay of Afrikaaner culture. [Read More]

British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig charged with child sexual abuse | UK news

 Posted on March 27, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  137 words  |  Valentine Belue

UK newsBritish conductor Jan Latham-Koenig charged with child sexual abuseRenowned classical music conductor was arrested at Victoria station in London on Wednesday A world-renowned classical music conductor has been charged with child sexual abuse. Jan Latham-Koenig was arrested at Victoria station in London on Wednesday after an investigation by detectives from the Metropolitan police’s specialist crime command, the force said. The 70-year-old, who was appointed an OBE in 2020 for services to music and UK/Russian cultural relations, is alleged to have arranged or facilitated a child sexual offence and sexual communication with a child. [Read More]