Culture in Australia | The Guardian

Music Azealia Banks's Twitter beef with Iggy Azalea over US race issues misses point

Monica Tan

By accusing Azalea of failing to get behind ‘black issues’ in the wake of the Eric Garner tragedy, is Banks drawing attention away from those issues herself?

Azealia Banks's Twitter beef with Iggy Azalea over US race issues misses point
Books Wonder Woman: the feminist

Her creators were ‘sex radicals’ and she was designed to represent the suffragist as pin-up. Jill Lepore draws
on newly discovered private papers to tell the secret history of the world’s most famous female superhero

Wonder Woman: the feminist

Film 007 goes back to the future as new Bond movie, Spectre, channels 60s

The 24th James Bond movie, starring Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Léa Seydoux and Monica Bellucci, is named after the evil organisation first seen in 1965
In Spectre gadget Six things we learned from the James Bond title announcement
- In Spectre gadget Six things we learned from the James Bond title announcement
007 goes back to the future as new Bond movie, Spectre, channels 60s
Music Paul McCartney: 'I'm the guy who gets killed instantly on video games'

The Beatles legend talks about writing a song for the video game Destiny, whether Spotify is bad – and his lifelong approach to songwriting

Paul McCartney: 'I'm the guy who gets killed instantly on video games'
Film Crackerjack rewatched – a tournament film with Mick Molloy as a reluctant rookie

The comedian and his brother Richard riff on familiar narrative arcs for this feel-good comedy mishmash set in a classic Australian setting: the lawn bowls club

Crackerjack rewatched – a tournament film with Mick Molloy as a reluctant rookie
Culture Guardian Australia culture podcast – the prescribed fun episode

The culture team talks summer music festivals, whether fashion is art and if Australians are intellectuals. Plus we nominate our top December must-dos that don't involve tinsel
The week in arts Patricia Piccinini, Takahiro Iwasaki and Cinderella
- The week in arts Patricia Piccinini, Takahiro Iwasaki and Cinderella
Guardian Australia culture podcast – the prescribed fun episode

The forgotten five: 2014's least memorable blockbusters

James Luxford: While Marvel continued to turn out films with darker themes and sharper writing, other superheroes and sci-fi villains have had trouble keeping up
Terminator Genisys trailer: Arnie's back
- Terminator Genisys trailer: Arnie's back
The forgotten five: 2014's least memorable blockbusters
Sydney Biennale 2016: Belgiorno-Nettis family may be back as sponsors

Chairman Phillip Keir is hopeful Belgiorno-Nettis family will return as major donors to 20th Biennale after breaking ties with Transfield Services, which operates facilities on Nauru and Manus Island

Sydney Biennale 2016: Belgiorno-Nettis family may be back as sponsors

- Parthenon marbles loaned to Russian museum
  
  Headless statue of a Greek god Ilissos goes on display in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg
  
  Parthenon marbles loaned to Russian museum
- Ian McLagan: the man who made two great bands greater
  
  The keyboard player of the Small Faces and the Faces was a man who could bring whatever colour a song needed, and make it soar
  
  Ian McLagan: the man who made two great bands greater
- The Babadook is the scariest film I’ve ever seen, says Exorcist director
  
  William Friedkin offers to host a screening of Jennifer Kent’s fairytale horror
  
  The Babadook is the scariest film I’ve ever seen, says Exorcist director
- Let's keep dreamers in charge of the arts in Australia
  
  Ralph Myers
  
  The creeping replacement of artistic leaders with managers doesn’t just threaten arts organisations but national cultural life, says Belvoir’s artistic director
  
  Let's keep dreamers in charge of the arts in Australia
- Chris Rock When we talk about racial progress in America, it’s all nonsense
  
  Lanre Bakare in New York
  
  The comedian spoke at length about Ferguson, Bill Cosby and Obama’s presidency ahead of the release of his new film Top Five
  
  When we talk about racial progress in America, it’s all nonsense
- The gaming journalist who tells on her internet trolls – to their mothers
  
  When Alanah Pearce discovered her online abusers weren’t middle-aged men but young boys, she went straight to the source to tackle the issue
  
  The gaming journalist who tells on her internet trolls – to their mothers

Ben Okri wins bad sex in fiction award for scene featuring rocket going off

Booker winner beats distinguished peers to clinch Literary Review award on strength of passage from The Age of Magic

Ben Okri wins bad sex in fiction award for scene featuring rocket going off
After Shia LaBeouf's art gallery trauma we should affirm that all rapes are 'real', and all are breaches of trust

Van Badham

In Shia LaBeouf’s case, mainstream suspicion of contemporary art has intersected with the ingrained cultural habit of victim blaming

After Shia LaBeouf's art gallery trauma we should affirm that all rapes are 'real', and all are breaches of trust
Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer - a classic recipe trailed across the taste buds

Peter Bradshaw: With this brief teaser footage, director JJ Abrams looks to sweep away memories of the awful Star Wars prequels – and just about manages it

Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer - a classic recipe trailed across the taste buds
Cate Blanchett: I was so proud of Emma Watson's UN speech

The Australian actor speaks out in support of Watson’s HeForShe campaign, while praising Julia Gillard, Hillary Clinton and Christine Lagarde as role models for women

Cate Blanchett: I was so proud of Emma Watson's UN speech
Was Shakespeare gay, and does it matter?

John Sutherland

John Sutherland: Although not a new question, its re-emergence is germane to the interpretation of his plays, and not just a scholars’ spat

Was Shakespeare gay, and does it matter?
Popular Australian newsreaders channel Anchorman in epic broadcast battle

The Feed news show on SBS2 gathers some of the biggest names in public and commercial television journalism for violent parody of Ron Burgundy news clash

Popular Australian newsreaders channel Anchorman in epic broadcast battle
Records broken as vinyl sales reach 1m in 2014 – the highest in two decades

News: Vinyl becomes a £20m a year business, up from just £3m five years ago, driven in part by big sales of Pink Floyd and Arctic Monkeys albums

Records broken as vinyl sales reach 1m in 2014 – the highest in two decades
Still looking for Alibrandi: migrant teens deserve their own young adult fiction

Sarah Ayoub

First-generation teens ill-served by pop culture want to read a range of stories, says Sarah Ayoub, books that can help us all understand their lives

Still looking for Alibrandi: migrant teens deserve their own young adult fiction

Dream Team by the Grates Grown up garage rock that's missing its female drummer
3 / 5 stars

Muscly bloke drumming, and a few plodders impairs an otherwise decent album from the Brisbane three piece

Grown up garage rock that's missing its female drummer
Music Feldman: Two Pianos and Other Pieces CD review – transcendently beautiful
5 / 5 stars

This entrancing collection of works for one or more pianos and ensembles shows Feldman testing notation to destruction, says Andrew Clements

Feldman: Two Pianos and Other Pieces CD review – transcendently beautiful
- Film Exodus: Gods and Kings review – holy Moses, wholly acceptable for the devout
  3 / 5 stars
  
  Ridley Scott’s 3D Moses biopic is very long, very camp and very grim. But one thing it isn’t is offensive – unless you mean the panpipes
  
  Exodus: Gods and Kings review – holy Moses, wholly acceptable for the devout
- Music Take That – III first listen review: 'From electro-tinged paranoia to singalongs'
  
  Take That released their first album as a three-piece this morning. Our official Barlow & Co correspondent was on hand to give his first impressions
  
  Take That – III first listen review: 'From electro-tinged paranoia to singalongs'
- Film The Captive review - Ryan Reynolds in worrying crass paedophile thriller
  1 / 5 stars
  
  Another day at the Cannes film festival and another one-star turkey, this one so misjudged from start to finish it feels like a terrible dream
  
  The Captive review - Ryan Reynolds in worrying crass paedophile thriller

Film The Congress review – Robin Wright is remade for hit-and-miss satire of Hollywood
3 / 5 stars

A film bulging with ideas about our attitude to celebrity is let down by the use of garish animation sequences, writes Henry Barnes

The Congress review – Robin Wright is remade for hit-and-miss satire of Hollywood
Music Bertie Blackman: The Dash review – a stirring piece of pop wizardry
4 / 5 stars

Blackman’s fifth album may very well be the one to finally catapult this Australian singer-songwriter to deserved stardom

Bertie Blackman: The Dash review – a stirring piece of pop wizardry
Music Pixies: Doolittle 25 review – alt-rock milestone from US indie’s weirdest stars
4 / 5 stars

Alexis Petridis: Outsiders even within the weird world of 1980s US experimental rock, the Pixies made an improbable lunge for mainstream acceptance with Doolittle, and it actually kind of worked

Pixies: Doolittle 25 review – alt-rock milestone from US indie’s weirdest stars
Music Adams: Chamber Symphony; Copland: Appalachian Spring etc CD review – immensely suggestive
4 / 5 stars

This musical tour of 20th-century American classics is carefully thought out and performed with subtlety and panache, writes Andrew Clements

Adams: Chamber Symphony; Copland: Appalachian Spring etc CD review – immensely suggestive
Film Nightcrawler review: Gyllenhaal gets his hands dirty in brilliant news thriller
4 / 5 stars

Jake Gyllenhaal drops 30 pounds – mostly from his morals – to play an ambulance-chasing hack in this LA satire featuring an on-form Riz Ahmed and revelatory Rene Russo

Nightcrawler review: Gyllenhaal gets his hands dirty in brilliant news thriller
Film Men, Women & Children review: Adam Sandler gets a logon in ambitious digital sex drama
3 / 5 stars

Emma Thompson adds frisky voiceover to chaste visuals in Jason Reitman’s latest

Men, Women & Children review: Adam Sandler gets a logon in ambitious digital sex drama
Books Yes Please by Amy Poehler review – ‘beefs, advice and memoir’

The American comedian is so likable that she can be forgiven for this ‘non-book’. By Laura Miller

Yes Please by Amy Poehler review – ‘beefs, advice and memoir’
Music AC/DC – Rock or Bust first listen review – 'If this is to be their last album, they haven't disgraced themselves'
3 / 5 stars

Can AC/DC pluck triumph from the disaster of their guitarist’s departure and their drummer’s troubles with their 16th album?

AC/DC – Rock or Bust first listen review – 'If this is to be their last album, they haven't disgraced themselves'
Film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 review – revolution will be advertised
3 / 5 stars

Director Francis Lawrence manages to thrill despite working with a thin story, creaky script and limp special effects

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 review – revolution will be advertised
First Contact Precious moments and epiphanies in reality TV that just might prove its worth

Paul Daley

Six Australians have their first encounters with Indigenous Australia and push the red-hot buttons of race and fear and envy

Precious moments and epiphanies in reality TV that just might prove its worth

Jazz Twemlow on Aussie TV Big Brother to Dancing with the Stars: reality TV has its final flush

After a week of reality television finales and an incoherent interview with One Direction, Jazz Twemlow is is happily free of TV gastro

Big Brother to Dancing with the Stars: reality TV has its final flush
Rewatching classic Australian films Crackerjack rewatched – a tournament film with Mick Molloy as a reluctant rookie

The comedian and his brother Richard riff on familiar narrative arcs for this feel-good comedy mishmash set in a classic Australian setting: the lawn bowls club

Crackerjack rewatched – a tournament film with Mick Molloy as a reluctant rookie
Australian anthems Breakaway by Big Pig – fighting fate and longing for freedom

Opening the film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Breakaway is a punk-funk mutation of an obscure soul track from the 60s

Breakaway by Big Pig – fighting fate and longing for freedom
The mixtape The mixtape: Megan Washington, Sage Francis, Jane Tyrrell and more

Megan Washington teams up with the Australian Ballet, Sage Francis loves his cat, and Little Coyote champions weird and wonderful

The mixtape: Megan Washington, Sage Francis, Jane Tyrrell and more

Music Why music purists love to hate Steve Aoki and EDM

Few DJs wave the flag for the blockbuster sounds that finally brought dance culture to the US mainstream. But as Steve Aoki tells it on his Sydney stopover: ‘If people want to put me on the main stage, I’m going to do my thing on the main stage’

Why music purists love to hate Steve Aoki and EDM
- Film No spoilers: meet the film critic who's never watched a single film
  
  He reviews dozens of movies but hasn’t seen any of them. Tommy Edison, the Blind Film Critic, talks to Luke Buckmaster about American Hustle, audio description and the joys of his first silent movie
  
  No spoilers: meet the film critic who's never watched a single film
- Music FKA Twigs: ‘I’m appealing to people who want something different’
  
  With her hypnotic videos, provocative album and singular image, FKA Twigs is 2014’s most intriguing new pop talent. Over a tearful lunch in New York, she talks to Tom Lamont
  
  FKA Twigs: ‘I’m appealing to people who want something different’
- Art and design Matthew Barney at Mona: the artist on the edge of the world
  
  As his River of Fundament reaches Tasmania, the artist talks to Nancy Groves about near misses, full-frontal nudity and why he’s happy never quite arriving
  
  Matthew Barney at Mona: the artist on the edge of the world
- Rachel Perkins of First Contact Prejudice often comes from ignorance … people can change
  
  The film-maker on why reality TV was the perfect vehicle for exposing the gulf between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia
  
  Prejudice often comes from ignorance … people can change

Culture Beyond Batman: how Adam West built a new career by just being himself

Monica Tan interviews the lively 86-year-old star of the iconic 1960s Batman series
• Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham review – enjoyable run-out for familiar platform format

Beyond Batman: how Adam West built a new career by just being himself
Music 'I do have a big ego. And I'm in love with myself'

An exclusive interview with Mel B

Melanie Brown is back – surprise star of the X Factor and bolshier than ever. Simon Hattenstone meets her

'I do have a big ego. And I'm in love with myself'
Film Ethan Hawke: ‘Mining your life is the only way to stumble on anything real'

The star of Boyhood and Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy reflects on his past work, life experience and blurring the lines between reality and fiction

Ethan Hawke: ‘Mining your life is the only way to stumble on anything real'
Music AC/DC: 'If there's a bad-parenting issue, the US moral majority blames rock'n'roll. You can’t fix stupid'

For 40 years, they’ve fought off claims they were a threat to society. But, with a new album accompanied by unwelcome headlines about Phil Rudd’s arrest and Malcolm Young’s dementia, can AC/DC keep the wheels on?

AC/DC: 'If there's a bad-parenting issue, the US moral majority blames rock'n'roll. You can’t fix stupid'
Film Sex, cinema and secrets: early exposure at the arthouse

Erin Cressida Wilson drew on a young education in erotica for her first script, Secretary. Ahead of the release of Men, Women and Children, she looks back at those first glimpses from the back row

Sex, cinema and secrets: early exposure at the arthouse
Art and design Experimenta Recharge biennial of media art gives new insights into old stories

Media art involves everything from film, photography and immersive installation to sound art, animation and robotics, to name just a few

Experimenta Recharge biennial of media art gives new insights into old stories
Stage Joanna Murray-Smith – 'There is no question, writing has saved my life'

The playwright is closing out 2014 with two main-house premieres of her work: Switzerland, in Sydney, and Pennsylvania Avenue, in Melbourne

Joanna Murray-Smith – 'There is no question, writing has saved my life'
Music Dan Sultan tames the nervy, wild beast of success

The hardest-working man in Australian music tells how he got out of a rut and took greater control of his career

Dan Sultan tames the nervy, wild beast of success
Art and design Alex Prager's Hollywood: glamour, menace and heroines dying horrible deaths

The Los Angeles artist tells Alexandra Spring about her first solo exhibition in Australia, layering lies over truth and hiding her sister in her work

Alex Prager's Hollywood: glamour, menace and heroines dying horrible deaths

The works of four Australian photography greats – in pictures

Sydney gallery Badger and Fox is presenting work from some of the world’s greatest photographers – including Australia’s Max Dupain and Bill Henson

The works of four Australian photography greats – in pictures
Star Wars: The Force Awakens: watch the trailer - video

The first teaser trailer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally been unleashed, giving fans the first glimpse of what director JJ Abrams may have in store

Star Wars: The Force Awakens: watch the trailer - video
The beauty of a red-headed man – in pictures

The Red Hot 100 exhibition challenges social stigma towards ‘gingers’ by celebrating the modern-day, red-haired male

The beauty of a red-headed man – in pictures

School Gate: a microplay about education by the Guardian and the Royal Court – video

An after-school encounter captures two parents' hopes and fears for their children's future. A microplay about education starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Liz White

School Gate: a microplay about education by the Guardian and the Royal Court – video
Surreal in translation: Matt Lindley and Marcus Oakley's foreign proverbs – in pictures

The cat is out of the bag: proverbs sound odd when they’re translated. Writer Matt Lindley and artist Marcus Oakley have turned them into illustrations, writes Kathryn Bromwich

Surreal in translation: Matt Lindley and Marcus Oakley's foreign proverbs – in pictures
Blade Runner neon artist Chris Bracey retrospective – in pictures

Neon artist Chris Bracey started out making signage for Soho strip joints and went on to work on films like Blade Runner and Batman

Blade Runner neon artist Chris Bracey retrospective – in pictures
The building of Sydney's Anzac bridge – in pictures

Photographer David Moore’s construction images join a long tradition of honouring urban engineering feats – and the workers who sweat to create them
12 more beautiful Australian bridges – in pictures
- 12 more beautiful Australian bridges – in pictures
The building of Sydney's Anzac bridge – in pictures

Aria awards 2014 – in pictures

Winners of the 28th Arias awards included 5 Seconds of Summer, One Direction, Sia, Iggy Azalea and Hilltop Hoods, with Delta Goodrem and Katy Perry also in attendance

Aria awards 2014 – in pictures
160 years of war photography: an audiovisual guide to the world's most powerful conflict images

In 1854, Roger Fenton showed a cannon-blasted field in the Crimean war. In 2001, Simon Norfolk shot sheep among the ruins in Afghanistan. As a new exhibition opens, Tate Modern’s photography curator Simon Baker talks through some of the most iconic images of war

160 years of war photography: an audiovisual guide to the world's most powerful conflict images
Andy Warhol's psychedelic endangered animals – in pictures

Warhol, ever the animal-lover, was approached by environmental activists in the 80s to make a set of rainbow silkscreens that showed the horrifying numbers of near-extinct animals around the world. Get ready to enter Andy’s ark ...

Andy Warhol's psychedelic endangered animals – in pictures
Guardian Australia culture podcast – Melbourne festival and more

The culture team are back from Melbourne to talk about the most intriguing shows of the festival and pick November's must-sees

Guardian Australia culture podcast – Melbourne festival and more
Superheroes and Star Wars get a 16th-century makeover – in pictures

Photographer Sacha Goldberger has reimagined comic-book heroes and Star Wars characters in the style of old masters, in his photo series ‘Super Flamands’

Superheroes and Star Wars get a 16th-century makeover – in pictures
Groove is in the Heart: a microplay by the Guardian and the Royal Court – video

A tale of music and memory is unspooled through a schoolgirl's mixtape in this microplay starring Ruby Ashbourne Serkis and Tobias Menzies

Groove is in the Heart: a microplay by the Guardian and the Royal Court – video
The Strip-Steppers: backstage with burlesque dancers in the 1930s – in pictures

In 1936, Margaret Bourke-White went behind the scenes with top burlesque acts to show them setting their hair and tweaking their nipples before they hit the stage. Here are her most candid shots

The Strip-Steppers: backstage with burlesque dancers in the 1930s – in pictures
Apocalypse now: horrifying scenes from our ravaged planet

Nightmare droughts, landfill in idyllic places, and rivers suffocating with sewage. Six photographers have taken on the theme of scarcity or waste – and their results are chilling

Apocalypse now: horrifying scenes from our ravaged planet
'No worries': Angelina Jolie attempts an Aussie accent – video

Angelina Jolie and Jack O'Connell try some Australian slang during a press conference at the Sydney Opera House after the world premiere of Unbroken in Sydney Filmed entirely in Australia, Unbroken is the second film directed by Jolie.

'No worries': Angelina Jolie attempts an Aussie accent – video

Popular in culture
Popular across the guardian

Phillip King: 'sculpture is the art of the invisible'

Phillip King’s sculptures from the 1960s helped to define a new era in British art. As he turns 80, and ahead of a Tate retrospective of his work,, he talks to Nicholas Wroe

Phillip King: 'sculpture is the art of the invisible'
Can Deadpool make a superhero of Ryan Reynolds yet?

Green Lantern was a flop and the X-Men spin-off Deadpool looked dead in the water – that is until fans saw test footage of the actor as the wisecracking crimefighter, and decided that the red mask fits. By Ben Child

Can Deadpool make a superhero of Ryan Reynolds yet?
- Writers rejoice at ruling against ‘cruel and ludicrous’ prison books ban
  
  Authors including JK Rowling, Ian McEwan and Philip Pullman cheer high court judgment against embargo on sending prisoners books
  
  Writers rejoice at ruling against ‘cruel and ludicrous’ prison books ban
- Live Art Basel Miami Beach 2014 – live
  
  We’re at America’s biggest art fair, where artists, architects, collectors and celebrities hit Miami Beach to buy cutting-edge work by day – and go to parties by night
  
  Art Basel Miami Beach 2014 – live
- Ayn Rand’s ‘never-before-seen’ novel Ideal due out in 2015
  
  Atlas Shrugged author’s work, which she abandoned and adapted for the stage, will be released next year
  
  Ayn Rand’s ‘never-before-seen’ novel Ideal due out in 2015
- Benedict Cumberbatch to play lead role in Marvel's Doctor Strange
  
  The Sherlock actor will play the role of neurosurgeon Steven Strange in the latest Marvel caper, as producers praise Cumberbatch’s ‘depth and sincerity’
  
  Benedict Cumberbatch to play lead role in Marvel's Doctor Strange
- Hatsune Miku: Japan’s holographic pop star might be the future of music
  
  She may look like a pile of pixels but Miku is a lot more, including the world’s first open-source singer
  
  Hatsune Miku: Japan’s holographic pop star might be the future of music
- Review The best fiction of 2014
  
  Ali Smith’s How to Be Both, David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks … Justine Jordan rounds up
  the biggest fiction of 2014
  
  The best fiction of 2014

André 3000 on the Outkast reunion tour: 'I felt like a sell-out'

The rapper says he committed to the tour because he had to ‘support certain things’, and only customised jumpsuits made it interesting

André 3000 on the Outkast reunion tour: 'I felt like a sell-out'
Ryan Gander at Art Basel: 'If you want sell your work, you have to take your pig to market'

Amid the ‘crapstraction’ of Miami Beach, the British conceptual artist says he plans to go gently into that good night – ie, ‘Be really fucking hot for a really long time’

Ryan Gander at Art Basel: 'If you want sell your work, you have to take your pig to market'
The Circle: why is gay cinema so fixated on the past?

Ben Walters: The new docudrama Der Kreis looks at a groundbreaking gay rights organisation facing prejudice and harassment in 1950s Switzerland. Why is LGBTQ film trying to reclaim history?

The Circle: why is gay cinema so fixated on the past?
The Charlatans: revitalised by Twitter, Transcendental Meditation and coffee

Alexis Petridis: After the death of their drummer Jon Brookes, the Charlatans thought their gig at the Royal Albert Hall last year could be their last, but their new album, Modern Nature, finds them in surprisingly euphoric form

The Charlatans: revitalised by Twitter, Transcendental Meditation and coffee
The tracking shot: film-making magic - or stylistic self-indulgence?

Jonathan Romney: From Hitchcock’s Rope to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new movie Birdman, directors have used the tracking shot to create the sense of a seamless one-shot film. But is it brilliant movie-making – or just showing off?

The tracking shot: film-making magic - or stylistic self-indulgence?
Star Wars: The Force Awakens plot 'leak' hints at darkest movie yet

Info dump on 4chan from alleged Lucasfilm employee puts new film on a par with 1977’s Star Wars and claims JJ Abrams is locked in battle with Disney over key issues

Star Wars: The Force Awakens plot 'leak' hints at darkest movie yet
Billy Bragg: the privilege of playing with Ian McLagan

Billy Bragg remembers a bandmate who could make you cry with laughter one minute and dazzle you with his playing the next – all while looking impossibly dapper

Billy Bragg: the privilege of playing with Ian McLagan
Review The best poetry books of 2014

From Kate Tempest’s Greek gods to an ode to Didcot power station and Dannie Abse’s farewell – Sarah Crown hails this year’s poetry

The best poetry books of 2014
Toni Morrison to publish new novel on childhood trauma

God Help the Child, ‘a compact, fierce work of contemporary fiction’ by the Nobel laureate, is due in April 2015

Toni Morrison to publish new novel on childhood trauma
Helena Bonham Carter and Rebecca Hall join Steve McQueen's HBO series

News: The actors take roles in Codes of Conduct, about a black man rising through high society New York, which Oscar winner will co-write and produce

Helena Bonham Carter and Rebecca Hall join Steve McQueen's HBO series
James Bay named Brits Critics' Choice winner for 2015

Gravelly voiced singer-songwriter from Hertfordshire beats George the Poet and Years & Years to the first award of the season

James Bay named Brits Critics' Choice winner for 2015
Christmas every day: a year in the life of a pantomime producer

All four seasons are festive for panto companies: we search for stars in January, create blizzard scenes in spring, cast in summer and sew those final sequins in autumn before it’s show time, writes Emily Wood

Christmas every day: a year in the life of a pantomime producer
Philip Roth tops the bill at PEN's annotated first edition auction

More than $900,000 was raised for charity by the sale of first editions annotated by the author at the First Editions, Second Thoughts auction

Philip Roth tops the bill at PEN's annotated first edition auction
Jeremy Deller: my summer in Andy Warhol’s Factory

Jeremy Deller on watching Benny Hill with Andy Warhol and why there’s more to William Morris than floral wallpaper

Jeremy Deller: my summer in Andy Warhol’s Factory
Peter Pan Live!: the five worst moments in NBC's odd three-hour production

From the psychedelic crocodile to the weird racial undertones, Peter Pan Live gave the hate watchers plenty of ammunition

Peter Pan Live!: the five worst moments in NBC's odd three-hour production
Mary Burkett obituary

Champion of the arts, she explored Cumbria’s cultural heritage

Mary Burkett obituary
The day that Usher went to Art Basel and Ben Stiller played a permatanned hipster

The good ship Guide Daily is here to navigate pop culture’s choppy waters so you don’t have to. We’ll be trying to guess what 2015 films Benedict Cumberbatch isn’t appearing in, plus Usher’s art appreciation, Arnie returns and how Ben Stiller’s new film is death to all hipsters. Trailers, tunes, trash talk on the tweets @guideguardian

The day that Usher went to Art Basel and Ben Stiller played a permatanned hipster
Wu-Tang Clan, everything you need to know - infographic

Formed in New York City in 1992, Wu-Tang Clan were voted the No 1 greatest hip-hop group of all time

Wu-Tang Clan, everything you need to know - infographic
The 10 best Christmas story paintings

From Bruegel to Botticelli, Laura Cumming chooses her favourite depictions of the Christmas story

The 10 best Christmas story paintings
Peter Pan Live! - as it happened

As NBC’s hate-watch bonanza aired we tried to keep up with the dancing, social media reaction and snark.

Peter Pan Live! - as it happened
The day with the Vengaboys' return and Billy Eichner's Taylor Swift tribute - as it happened

Plus further insight into James Bay’s hat, Dr Quinn goes hardcore, bad Christmas songs, mashups galore and Lana del Rey does a thing. Vids, tunes, gifs, trailers, pics and nonsense from now until glorious pubtime. Tweet us @guideguardian and leave your comments below in the section marked ‘comments’

The day with the Vengaboys' return and Billy Eichner's Taylor Swift tribute - as it happened
Readers suggest the 10 best pirates

Last week we brought you our 10 best pirates. Here, we present your thoughts on which swashbucklers should have made the list…

Readers suggest the 10 best pirates
The worst things inflicted upon human ears this Christmas

We appraise some of this year’s more ‘interesting’ festive musical releases: the bad, the worse, and the really quite odd

The worst things inflicted upon human ears this Christmas
Jared Leto is the Joker, Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger go HBO, plus the rest of the day's breaking pop culture

Your daily roundup of the best digital pop content, featuring Leto, Gangnam Style’s destruction of YouTube and loads of other stuff that even we don’t know about yet.

Jared Leto is the Joker, Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger go HBO, plus the rest of the day's breaking pop culture
Strange and marvellous: William Blake’s studio recreated in Oxford show

Exhibition opening at the Ashmolean features more than 90 works, tracing Blake’s life from apprentice to master

Strange and marvellous: William Blake’s studio recreated in Oxford show
Listen to StartUp, a podcast about starting a podcast startup

StartUp started the trend for narrative-driven podcasts before Serial came along

Listen to StartUp, a podcast about starting a podcast startup
The week in arts: Patricia Piccinini, Takahiro Iwasaki and Cinderella

Patricia Piccinini’s uncanny creatures take over Newcastle, the National Archives throw open their doors and Japanese architecture gets reflective in this week’s must sees

The week in arts: Patricia Piccinini, Takahiro Iwasaki and Cinderella
Pornography law bans list of sexual acts from UK-made online films

Government restrictions an attempt to crack down on material ‘harmful to minors’, but critics say viewers will just access foreign films

Pornography law bans list of sexual acts from UK-made online films
Russell Brand says he is ‘volatile person’ after dispute with journalist

Comedian called Channel 4 reporter ‘a snide’ when asked how much his rent costs during New Era protest at Downing Street

Russell Brand says he is ‘volatile person’ after dispute with journalist
Russell Brand's Trews: 'I was in Rasputin mode' during 'snide' comment – video

Russell Brand looks back at the moment he called a reporter a 'snide' during a broadcast of the New Era housing estate protest outside 10 Downing Street

Russell Brand's Trews: 'I was in Rasputin mode' during 'snide' comment – video
The day Broad City saved our awkward Christmas party and Gwen Stefani showed us how to do a pop song in 2014

Your daily roundup of the best digital pop content, featuring Stefani’s return, Broad City’s festive tips and more Kanye West than you ever dreamed was possible. Sort of.

The day Broad City saved our awkward Christmas party and Gwen Stefani showed us how to do a pop song in 2014
Audrey Hepburn back at scene of her big break – at National Portrait Gallery

Exhibition of famously glamorous film star shows Hepburn from first appearances at Ciro’s nightclub, which is now part of gallery

Audrey Hepburn back at scene of her big break – at National Portrait Gallery
Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce: 'Sex and the City meets Golden Girls'

Bravo’s new divorce comedy is an interesting proposition with a pedigree-packed backroom but ultimately it’s not as original as it thinks it is, writes Brian Moylan

Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce: 'Sex and the City meets Golden Girls'

Chris Rock When we talk about racial progress in America, it’s all nonsense

Dream Team by the Grates Grown up garage rock that's missing its female drummer

First Contact Precious moments and epiphanies in reality TV that just might prove its worth

Rachel Perkins of First Contact Prejudice often comes from ignorance … people can change

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