1 week ago AD FEATURE: Experience Christmas in Caerphilly this winter, with unmissable events across the borough

There will be markets, parades fireworks and workshops to spread the festive joy

Politics

1 week ago Channel 4 SWAMPED by applicants for new Virgin Island series after bosses struggled to cast first series

VIRGIN Island has had a flood of applicants eager to take part after seeing the first series of the saucy show.  The experiment featured a dozen innocents aged 22 to 30 on an intimacy course in a tropical retreat, with a group of “sex surrogates” standing by.  The six-part Channel 4 show was watched a...

Politics

2 w. ago Seven at 30: David Fincher’s devilish thriller is a chilling immersion in evil

The grim serial killer hit dared to take a mainstream audience to a hopeless place despite pressure from executives and test screenings to sanitiseIt had to end with the box. It nearly didn’t.Before David Fincher received a draft of Andrew Kevin Walker’s script for his 1995 psychological thriller Seven, he’d sworn off the possibility of ever directing again, still reeling from his notoriously rocky experience on his debut feature, Alien 3, which had ultimately been taken out of his hands. (“I’d rather die of colon cancer than make another movie,” he colorfully put it.) Walker’s script had already gone through various permutations since 1989, most notably a twist ending that had been written out of subsequent drafts for being irredeemably bleak. Yet, the original version was the one that Fincher read and he was unwilling to compromise, despite persistent pressure from executives and test screenings that seemed to confirm that it was too bleak an ending. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago I had a stroke during an ocean swim. Most people passed by unawares. One didn’t

When Graham Russell set out for a dip in powerful wintry surf, he had no idea that the beach where he had helped save lives as a surf lifesaver would become the place where his own was changedIt was an exhilarating day in every possible way. Standing on the cold sand on a Sunday morning, I saw the sun flash off powerful surf as it curved into whitewater that rushed up the beach. The sound of it boomed around the nearby cliffs. The passing clouds threw dark green patches across the frothy water, the air was crisp and dry. Today’s swim promised to be great.The members of my winter swimming club were pulling on cozzies, bright pink swimming caps and goggles as they assessed the challenging conditions. The car park was jammed with surfers from all around. Word had spread that MacMasters beach here on the NSW central coast was the place to experience this monstrous east swell.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago I had a stroke during an ocean swim. Most people passed by unaware. One didn’t

When Graham Russell set out for a dip in powerful wintry surf, he had no idea that the beach where he had helped save lives as a surf lifesaver would become the place where his own was changedIt was an exhilarating day in every possible way. Standing on the cold sand on a Sunday morning, I saw the sun flash off powerful surf as it curved into whitewater that rushed up the beach. The sound of it boomed around the nearby cliffs. The passing clouds threw dark green patches across the frothy water, the air was crisp and dry. Today’s swim promised to be great.The members of my winter swimming club were pulling on cozzies, bright pink swimming caps and goggles as they assessed the challenging conditions. The car park was jammed with surfers from all around. Word had spread that MacMasters beach here on the NSW central coast was the place to experience this monstrous east swell.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Spotify launches new feature for 'better listening experience'

CD like streaming comes to Spotify Premium with the release of Lossless audio.

Politics