ZBlogR

Arts and humanitiesThe spy who loved herGabriele Kliem was engaged to her 'dream man' for seven years. But all along he was a Stasi agent, whose job it was to seduce women into handing over secret documents. Linda Pressly on the Stasi 'romeos' who haunted West Germany during the cold warGabriele Kliem remembers everything about the day Frank Dietzel walked into her life. It was a sweltering summer's evening in Bonn in July 1977.
Music This article is more than 15 years oldAmy Winehouse apologises for singing racist songThis article is more than 15 years oldThe singer claims she's "the least racist person going" after a video surfaces of her chanting a string of racial slurs to the tune of a popular children's songAmy Winehouse apologised yesterday for a video that surfaced over the weekend showing her singing a song full of racial epithets.
MoviesReviewA mix of fiction and ethno-doc, this portrait of life on Indonesia doesn’t quite reach the soulfulness of its models Apichatpong Weerasethakul or Lav Diaz Featuring non-professional actors from the Indonesian island of Java, this beguiling – and occasionally muddled – debut from the Spanish director Álvaro Gurrea treads the line between fiction and ethnographic documentary. Suddenly abandoned by his wife Olive, Yono (Yono Aris Munandar), a sulphur miner at the Kawah Ijen volcano, struggles to win back his beloved.
Australia weather This article is more than 1 month oldChristmas weather forecast to be slightly cooler as Australian heatwave makes way for rain and thunderstormsThis article is more than 1 month oldTemperatures around 27C-28C are forecast for Sydney over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, while Melbourne can expect temperatures in the low 20s Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails,free app or daily news podcast Christmas for large parts of Australia will be a slightly cooler affair with the heatwave that has marked the start of summer for much of the country making way for rain and thunderstorms.
Michelle Obama Michelle Obama hits the dancefloor with Ellen DeGeneres – video First lady Michelle Obama and TV talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres dance to Mark Ronson's hit Uptown Funk. Obama was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to promote a healthy living initiative. After chatting about her children and what she's looking forward to doing when she leaves the White House, Obama joins a team of dancers for a short choreographed routine – much to the delight of the studio audience Source: Reuters
Succession: episode by episodeSuccessionThe Roy family patriarch reaches new levels of vindictiveness and fury, as he takes his employees on a traumatic corporate retreat Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Succession season two, which airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK. Do not read on unless you have watched episode three ‘He can do whatever he likes, he’s a human Saudi Arabia’There are strong echoes of King Lear in Succession and one of the themes of Lear is of humanity recoiling into bestiality.
BarbieInterview‘There was no way that I wasn’t going to do whatever was asked of me’: Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt on making the Barbie soundtrack Elle HuntThe producing duo got more than they bargained for when they signed up to the biggest film of 2023. Originally slated to record two tracks, they ended up making the whole soundtrack – the most successful film score this century “In the very beginning,” says Mark Ronson of what proved the most marathon effort of his musical career, “there were only going to be two songs.
BooksA gifted writer blessed with impeccable connections, he has nonetheless remained in the shadows, eclipsed by accidents and grander egos The Way to Santiago (1941) is a heady hybrid of spy thriller, murder mystery, gun-toting adventure and sleek noir, playing out against the dusty landscapes of South America in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish civil war and the start of the second world war. It follows the hapless agency writer, Englishman Jimmy Lamson, as he attempts to find the murderer of a fellow press man, hoping to find his own journalistic integrity along the way.
FilmLeonie Cooper sits in on an event that finds the perfect aroma for a film. So how would Brokeback Mountain smell?It's a rainy Tuesday night, and I'm in a basement club in London wafting a perfume-impregnated cardboard stick under my nose. It smells good. I can detect a delicate floral note. But then I pick up the distinct aroma of cigarettes. The perfume is Jasmin et Cigarettes, a tobacco-infused scent made by Etat Libre d'Orange.