Culture,Music

Once upon a timpani in the west

Once upon a timpani in the west

Lock up your daughters and fasten your shutters: there’s an ugly bunch of gringos rolling into town in October, but boy, can they hold a tune. Hailing from the Australian badlands, the Spaghetti Western Orchestra hit London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in October bringing a fistful of Ennio Morricone numbers with them. [Read more...]

Design

Pimp my Chesterfield

Pimp my Chesterfield

Great Uncle Bert’s old chair looking a bit tatty? You could get it reupholstered like everyone else, our you could follow designer Lee Broom’s example and add a carefully placed strip of neon tubing or some bare bulbs (though make sure they don’t set fire to your socks). [Read more...]

Style

The good, the bad and McQueen

The good, the bad and McQueen

If you’ve ever wondered what Alexander McQueen wears to the gym (you haven’t? really?) we can now put your mind at rest. The answer is a bat-wing rugby shirt, and narrow ¾ length tracksuit bottoms. We asked him to explain himself.

[Read more...]

Culture,Gaming

Get cape, wear cape, play video game

Get cape, wear cape, play video game

After the runaway success of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight”, you might be forgiven for assuming a new Batman videogame – themed heavily on the exploits of the Joker, to boot – would be little more than a hollow add-on designed to generate a large amount of money, and not a lot else. So it’s a pleasant surprise that Eidos Interactive’s Batman: Arkham Asylum is, in fact, the perfect blend of carefully layered plotting and third-person platformer combining combat, stealth, and detective work (sort of a ‘CSI: Gotham’ meets Assassin’s Creed). [Read more...]

Books,Culture

Desperately seeking The Stig

Desperately seeking The Stig

Just who is The Stig? Over the years a car-boot full of theories have developed about the identity of Top Gear’s mysterious racing driver (Nigel Mansell? Michael Schumacher? The ghost of James Hunt?). Now that his identity has apparently been revealed, it’s time to focus your attentions on his whereabouts. You can waste several more hours of your life trying to spot him in this amusing book, the latest in the ever-increasing roster of Where’s Wally? derivatives. [Read more...]

Film,Women we love

The salvation of Penelope Cruz

The salvation of Penelope Cruz

Recent Oscar-winner Penelope Cruz is no doubt deeply grateful that becoming Almodovar’s diva has proved the salvation of her own career, says Esquire film critic Richard T Kelly.  [Read more...]

Design,Travel

The (poster) art of travel

The (poster) art of travel

The eye-watering orange of EasyJet or the clumsy lettering of Ryanair are clear indications that travel marketing materials aren’t what they used to be. A forthcoming selling exhibition of vintage travel posters at Sotheran’s in London shows that it is possible to be stylish and elegant while flogging holidays. You listening, Stelios? [Read more...]

Style

The hand luggage solution

The hand luggage solution

That a man needs decent luggage on holiday is self evident, but the hardest bag to find is also the smallest. It’s the elusive one that’s perfect at the airport for tickets and passports, and perfect as a day bag when you’re on holiday for a map, sunglasses, camera, mobile and guide book. It’s the bag, in other words, to supersede your rucksack (because no one likes a sweaty back). After years of searching we have an answer, Brady’s bombproof Small Ariel Trout bag – and it’s made in Walsall. £118, www.bradybags.co.uk