MultiChoice, NBCU, SKY Team On Africa Streamer; Mexico/Hollywood Pact – Deadline

MultiChoice, NBCU, SKY Team On Africa Streamer; Mexico/Hollywood Pact – Deadline

MultiChoice, NBCUniversal and Sky have set a new partnership to bring content and technology to streaming customers across MultiChoice’s 50-market footprint in sub-Saharan Africa. MultiChoice launched Showmax as the first African streaming service in 2015 […]

Gorillaz: Cracker Island review – smaller, subtler, and better for it | Culture

The artwork for Cracker Island.

Here’s a sobering thought for anyone old enough to recall the early 00s first-hand: Cracker Island arrives 22 years on from Gorillaz’s debut single, Clint Eastwood. Founded by Damon Albarn, an alt-rock star apparently dabbling […]

Stormzy’s #Merky Books launches literature festival to ‘inspire young creatives’ | Books

#Merky Books literature festival logo

A free festival from Stormzy’s #Merky Books imprint, headlined by musician Wretch 32, poet John Agard and former children’s laureate Malorie Blackman, will aim to demystify publishing for aspiring storytellers across all media. The event, […]

The parched metropolis: can eco architecture save LA from megadrought? | Architecture

Record-breaking rainfall … the recent storms have not alleviated LA’s water shortage.

After weeks of record-breaking rainfall have seen freeways flood, hillsides collapse and the dry concrete gutter of the Los Angeles River transform into a raging torrent, you may have assumed that California’s water-shortage woes were […]

Bye-bye American pie: high price of visas keeps British musicians off US tours | UK news

Fergus McCreadie in a button-down shirt and tie, with a slight beard and his long hair in a bun, looking serious

“Breaking” America has been the goal of young British musicians since the days of Beatlemania, but that dream is being dashed. Hundreds of emerging artists could be affected by plans to hike visa fees by […]

Steel pan virtuoso Leon Foster Thomas: ‘Some people don’t think it’s a serious instrument’ | Jazz

Leon Foster Thomas.

Laventille, high in the hills above Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, may be a poor part of Trinidad but it has historic cultural riches. Chief among them is Desperadoes Steel Orchestra, […]

Men often ignore women musicians’ stories. I’m determined to let them finally be heard | Music

Babes in Toyland pictured in 1992 … (L-R) Michele Leon, Lori Barbero and Kat Bjelland.

In the past few years, a wave of documentary films have revisited the lives of famous (or infamous) women of the 90s, examining how their careers exploded under the weight of misogyny and undue media […]

‘There’s civic pride involved’: the UK acts scoring No 1 albums thanks to regional fanbases | Music

The Reytons.

When he started the Reytons in Rotherham in 2017, singer Jonny Yerrell wrote the song On the Back Burner about his dashed ambitions on the South Yorkshire open mic scene. “I can vividly remember the […]

Tinkling the ivories and tugging the heart strings: is The Piano the most uplifting TV talent show ever? | Television

‘It’s impossible not to wonder how many of those train travellers are seeing something that looks like fun’ … The Piano.

Is there an instrument with more emotional range than the piano? Sometimes, it is tough to believe that the same collection of wood and wires can make you stamp your feet with delight one minute […]

David Bowie Archive Including 80,000 Items Gifted To London Museum

Bowie, seen here as Ziggy Stardust in 1973, was a cultural icon for more than half a century.

David Bowie’s colorful carousel of personas are getting a permanent home in London. The Victoria & Albert Museum will open the David Bowie Center for the Study of Performing Arts in 2025, featuring more than […]

A moment that changed me: I was vilified as a gay teenager – but Mariah Carey saved me | Life and style

Ian Eagleton at school.

I was 12 when it happened. Dad was parking the car and we were getting ready for a torturous hour of food shopping. Suddenly, over the radio, I heard a voice that today is one […]

‘It was a proper shebeen, man!’: how Sistermatic blazed a trail for Black queer sound systems | Music

Yvonne Taylor preparing a set for Sistermatic in 1990.

On a February morning in Brixton, old friends Yvonne Taylor and Eddie Lockhart are laughing about their first forays into London’s lesbian nightlife – and how they eventually went on to transform it. In 1984, […]

Can The Super Mario Bros Movie end 30 years of terrible video game films? | Movies

Dennis Hopper, left, as King Koopa in 1993’s Super Mario Bros.

“The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Bros. It was a fuckin’ nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare. It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent. After so […]

Jenny Slate on making a film with her ex-husband: ‘I wouldn’t suggest it!’ | Movies

Jenny Slate as Donna in Obvious Child.

It is 9am in Los Angeles and Jenny Slate is smiling – or is that grimacing? – over Zoom. When I ask how she is, the comedian and actor is brutally honest. “I’ve been up […]