Features Archives

After over a year of art-fuelled banter, ArtsWom will be exiting the blogosphere and retiring to a farm somewhere with huge fields to run in and lots of rabbits to chase.

Looking back, it’s difficult to comprehend the sheer variety of topics we’ve covered on these pages! Everything from dirty car art, to the neuroscience of art sponsorship, and Terence Malick to Lucy Pinder, we’ve covered it all – and have expended a hell of a lot of words doing so.

In the manner of a teary-eyed employee, issuing our soggy goodbyes while everyone around us wishes we would just leave already and let them get on with their work, we would like to thank all our fellow bloggers who’ve been kind enough to bother talking to us every now and again and, of course, our readers who have (at least) validated our pretentiousness over the past months…

We’d also like to thank our sponsor Sky Arts for supporting us over the past 365-plus days. Without their involvement, ArtsWom as it is would never have happened and we simply wouldn’t have been able to deliver our usual, witty and culturally-inflamed prose in a delightfully ad-free environment.

So, where should you go now for your daily fix of mind-expanding art-cotics? See below for a link-blast of the blogs that have kept us going…

Jafabrit’s Art, Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music blog, John Baker’s blog, It’s a Crime (or a Mystery), Art News Blog, About:Blank, A Daily Dose of Architecture, Art Fag City, Art Knowledge News, Cartoon Brew, Cool Hunting, Core77.com Design Blog, Drawn! The Illustration Blog, English Russia, Bookarazzi, Inhabitat, Laughing Squid, TheWinger.com, We Make Money Not Art, West End Whingers, Who Killed Bambi?, Tales from the Reading Room, Reading Matters, No Such Thing as Too Many Books, Notebooks, Fametastic, watch tHe skies, Animation Ramblings, Future Movies, Filmstalker, HecklerSpray, FictionBitch, The Book’s Den, The Stage, Jarkko’s Blog, Forward to Yesterday…and anyone we’ve inexcusably forgotten…

Of course, to keep up to date with the latest goings-on of our sponsor, visit the Sky Arts Staff Blog or the Sky Arts homepage for a never-ending stream of artistic delights!

I don’t know how to end this. I guess that’s it, really.

Goodbye.

Thanks to everyone who entered the ArtsWom competition to win a Sony LCD TV. Of course, in such things there can be only one winner, but we hope everyone who entered feels as though their lives improved in some small way after doing so.

The question asked was, what channel is Sky Arts HD broadcast on? And the answer, of course, is channel 268, which you can check by following this link: www.skyarts.co.uk.

Answering this question correctly and being drawn randomly from the thousands of entries we received was Felicia from Essex. Congratulations! Your television will be winging its way across the country shortly.

There are some who would say that, to become an accomplished and respected artist, image is more important than talent. I’m not simply talking about the plague of manufactured pop rats infecting the music industry, across all fields there are examples of success brought about by style over substance. Is fame achieved in this way unfair and undesired or simply one aspect of the whole package that is art?

One such entertainer made himself a household name with his flamboyant appearance and outrageous lifestyle. His name still lives on in infamy whether deservingly or not – read more.

Not many of you reading this will know this, but ArtsWom turned one year old this month – we would have mentioned this on the actual day of our birthday, but we were unfortunately distracted with our typical artistic pursuits and a bottle of Jack Daniels…or five.

Regardless, now is the time to celebrate – and to do so, we’re giving away a brand-spanking new Sony LCD TV. All you have to do is answer a simple question. So what are you waiting for, click this link to enter!

Enter the competition – click here!

If you missed this the first time around, don’t miss this opportunity to catch it again. Why? Well, I could blather on about how it’s always entertaining to hear Stephen Fry’s gentlemanly accent, but the real reason is that you get to see his huge head broadcast in super-definition on your massive HD-telly!

Interesting fact/rumour: Classes teaching TV and film make-up across Britain are being closed as nobody knows how to properly disguise celebrities natural hideousness for the HD generation… - read more

It’s the battle of the babes, ArtsWom-style, as we pit the husky-voiced charms of cultural pin-up, Mariella Frostrup, against the less-subtle attractions of page 3 ‘stunners’ Keeley Hazell and Lucy Pinder. Article continues after we present our three contenders…

Of course, we like to do things differently here, and so we are judging the respective talents of Ms. Frostrup, Ms. Hazell and Ms. Pinder on three, uniquely ArtsWom-esque, criteria: cultural significance, how they would fit into the ArtsWom team, and overall design.

Cultural significance – While Lucy Pinder may be far better known for her breasts (once voted “the most beautiful all-natural pair in Britain”), not many people will know that she regularly hosts a nightly show on Nuts TV called ‘Book at Bedtime’ in which she reads an extract from a popular novel. That’s pretty cultural, and puts fellow glamour model, Keeley Hazell, to shame. For her part, Keeley has been hailed as an ‘environmental hero’ and made an undeniable impact on the cultural consciousness with a leaked video tape but, as far as we’re aware, her performance did not earn even an honourable mention at the Sundance Festival.

Overall, both ladies are out-shone by the lovely Mariella, who has built a successful career by presenting art programming on a variety of media, writing for a number of publications, and making frequent appearances as a judge for art competitions. Frostrup for the win!

How they would fit in to the ArtsWom team – Mariella is definitely the more experienced of the three (in terms of arty reporting if nothing else) so would appear to be a perfect addition to the team. Despite this, we’re worried that she would quickly take control and force us to actually work hard for a change. This is something we’re not prepared to do. Our choice of glamour girls is therefore the delightful Keeley.

Why Keeley? Well, as the younger of the two models, we feel she would be the most impressionable and therefore likely to do all the boring stuff we don’t want to do, such as muck out the ArtsWom writer pens and perform all the painful coding tweaks to the blog that we’ve never bothered to learn. Also, she just seems the most pleasant. And ArtsWom needs fun and laughter to keep us going like we need vast amounts of alcohol. Keeley Hazell – welcome to the team.

Overall design – Nearing fifty and still looking good in a schoolteacher-ly crush sort of way, Mariella would be the discerning gentleman’s choice. And, having never seen the page 3 girls in their natural element, we can’t in good conscience judge the aesthetic appeal of the younger ladies. All have their own charm and we’ll be happy to take all to our homes to see our mothers.

Considering Lucy Pinder has yet to pick up a point, however, we’ll let her take the aesthetic accolade. After all, millions of white van men can’t be wrong…

Conclusion – So the results are in – and it’s an undeniably dull, three-way tie. After much deliberation, however, we can confirm that, if we had our way, we’ll take Mariella to the library, Keeley to the funfair, and Lucy Pinder on a worldwide cruise in case we capsize and need some sort of easily-accessible flotation device.

Does Mariella light your cultural fire? - Find out more.

The news that a certain author is planning on promoting the release of his new book by sending the whole of the first chapter to your mobile phone, generates some seriously mixed feelings here at ArtsWom towers.

E-books have been eagerly awaiting entrance into the VIP lounge of the ‘Next Big Thing’ club for some time now, but the bouncers continue to turn them away. Even the well-hyped introduction of Amazon’s Kindle, the wireless reading device (as opposed to all those wired reading devices you’ve been getting tangled up in), has failed to make digital books more desirable than those old-fashioned paper ones. Is this a venture that is simply never going to catch on, or is it the fact that e-book readers like the Kindle cost in excess of $300 that puts people off? And if the latter is the case, maybe the mobile phone route is the way forward and this is a brilliant plan?

This leaves the question, could you imagine reading a novel on your mobile? Of course, the medium offers the exciting possibility of Dickensian serials sent to your phone as a text message. Just think, 150 characters of pure drama dropped into your SMS inbox weekly. “It woz t bst of times it woz t wrst of times…” This could seriously catch on…

Read more about Andy McNabb offering his novel as a mobile download – click here.

Ex-SAS man turned author has revealed he is to try and tempt new readers to buy his book by offering the first chapter to download for free on your phone. For more information, head over here.

Further to the news that the Government are in talks with four of the UK’s biggest internet service providers, BT, Tiscali, Orange and Virgin Media, to try and catch those who illegally download films and TV programmes, we think it’s time to take a look at the legal alternatives of downloading.
Sky Arts have their own legal downloading service where you can download the latest programmes for less a bottle of coke, check it out here

The Oscars. How does an event which offers so few surprises, has such little resonance with the common man, and is even more tightly controlled than Guantanamo Bay generate such excitement? Sure, the paparazzi shots on the red carpet offer the potential for starlets such as Scarlett Johansson to expose their ‘talents’ (thank you, The Sun), but the end result is always just a list. A boring, shockless list that is filed away neatly somewhere on Wikipedia and distributed to the drones that write the questions for new editions of Trivial Pursuit.

There was some concern this year about whether or not there would actually be any ceremony because of the writers strike. If the unshaven masses had held their resolve for just a few weeks longer we would have been treated to either an unscripted show – which surely would be even more painful than the horribly forced banter we’re currently subjected to – or they would have been forced to hold a smaller, low key event. Which is exactly how it should be, shouldn’t it?

Defenders of the garish spectacle claim that this is an occasion to (sigh) celebrate celebrities and give them a chance to let their hair down, squeeze into some diamond-encrusted fashion nightmare, and be recognised for their achievements. Er, hello? Isn’t that what happens all year round? Surely a more intimate event that dispenses with the carnival atmosphere and makes it about the business rather than the publicity would be more relevant and worthwhile?

Of course, I’m simply banging my head against a brick wall with this article as nothing, not even a giant Cloverfield-like monster ripping through Hollywood, will ever stop the implacable juggernaut of vulgarity. But it’d be great to find some time alone with the likes of Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Angelina Jolie, and Dustin Hoffman and ask what they would prefer.

Unfortunately, as they did not respond to our frequent emails and impromptu house calls, we’re forced to ask you, our non-dazzling readers - huge ghastly ritual sacrifice of taste and dignity, or intimate, delicate appreciation of talent and hard-work. You decide…

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. The world may be crashing down around our ears, but there’s still time for one last book - an opinion shared by Jack over at the Alcopop! blog. Having caught wind of our question “If the world was to end tomorrow, what would you read today?” Jack has made a case for ‘Trout Fishing in America’ by Richard Braugtigan to be the last thing on his mind as he departs this Earth:

Meanwhile, in between weeping for both Posh Fish and Ian Dowie this week, I caught a glimpse of this post on artsWOM asking for “people to submit their choices of books they would most want to read just before the end of the world” – which struck me as a rather cool question. So safe in the knowledge that goFASTER>>, 4 or 5 Magicians, Family Machine, Sam Isaac and DSP (amongst others) would be on the stereo whilst civilization crumbled – I decided I’d go for ‘Trout Fishing in America’ by Richard Brautigan as my novel of choice.
Why? Mainly because as the sun set on our dying earth, it would fill me with an ironic sense of humour, pity at the charming, and genuine parts of our lives that were being destroyed – and remind me that for all the brilliance this world provides, there’s a whole lot of crap that deserves to go down with it! Similarly, while this book embraces what is beautiful in the sanctity of nature, unlike those texts that naively paint only the cityscape as a brooding, dark and evil place – Brautigan reminds us that one cannot avoid the death and corruption – even amongst the shady glades.
Secondly, while Brautigan delights in exposing the pollution of nature and society as the result of urban expansion, one poignant scene at ‘The Cleveland Wrecking Yard’ sees a charming salesman selling slabs of the trout river itself amongst a stack of toilets, he does not deny that city life itself still may be fun. Despite their anti-social perceptions, drunken days on the city bench, and sharing happiness with the ‘Kool-Aid Wino’ bring a carefree positivity to proceedings.
A truly flawed genius, Brautigan’s seminal novel of a seemingly whimsical trout fishing journey through America, is in fact a disturbing, insightful and fantastic commentary on youth culture, the beat movement and general American politics. More than that though, it’s one of the most entertaining books I’ve ever read, packed with literary and historical references which mean there is always something new to discover (although this could perhaps be mildly frustrating if the world was about to blow) – and written in the kind of poetic prose that genuinely shocks, amuses and challenges the expectations of the reader – without ever appearing pretentious.
Yeah – so have that exploding world!

Have that indeed. It may be a bit of an inconvenience when the world ends, but it’s quite handy for finding new books; books that you’d probably never come across if you weren’t united with random people due to two thing in common: your love of literature and your impending doom.
Mariella’s back all this week with part 16 of The Book Show, featuring Sally Brampton, Jane Green, Alexander McCall Smith and much much more. Oh and don’t forget to enter the competition and win a shelf’s worth of new books!

ArtsWom are on the prowl for bloggers with a passion for all things cultural to contribute reviews, previews, and event write-ups to our site.

Occasionally, we get our hands on some tickets to arty events, advance DVD copies of cultural programmes due to air on TV and other special treats courtesy of our sponsors, Sky Arts. In the past, we’ve invited fellow bloggers to the Hay Festival, the opera, and some fantastic, arena-rocking concerts and we are hoping to continue this trend.

So, if you fancy the chance to attend some great cultural events or review programmes before they’re shown on TV send an email to info@artswom.co.uk and be sure to include a link to your blog and a summary of your interests so we know what to send you. For inspiration, check out the Sky Arts website for all upcoming shows that you want to review and be sure to include your favourites in the email.

Good news for people who like bad news: the world is about to end (again) and it looks like Arnie’s too tied up to come to the phone right now and save us. So let’s do the next best thing and settle down with a book before being annihilated. In our fifth installment, litlove from Tales of the Reading Room has provided us with this thoughtful response:

So, it’s quite a prospect, choosing a book to see out the end of the world with, when it’s often pretty tricky deciding what to take on holiday. If life as we know it is in rapid terminal decline then it seems logical to me that I’d pass the last few hours reading, even if what I really ought to be reading is Nuclear Bunkers for Dummies, or, shortly prior to this, Quick Drying Cement: Your Questions Answered. And obviously I’d need to know I had a clear stretch of time ahead. A four-minute warning would leave me with little choice other than reaching for a book of haiku. But still, this is probably not the moment to tackle the Great Literary Work that I’ve been saving up for a rainy day. It’s bad enough the world is ending; no need to make things worse by knowing I’ll never find out how War and Peace concludes.

now how can I be
a skeptic
about the
resurrection and
coming to life again
since in this world
I have many times
like my own imagination
died and
been born again
that is why
after a long agonizing life
as a hunter
I finally let go and got
hunted down and became free
Rumi

The idea of reading something to comfort oneself in a time of crisis is definitely a wise move, especially when confronting something as big as your own mortality. Thanks to Victoria for pointing us in the direction of Rumi and Hafiz, two poets to investigate further.
Don’t forget that The Book Show is on tonight at 7pm on Sky Arts and features presenter Mariella Frostrup talking to Helen Dunmore, Sophie Kinsella and Prof. Richard Dawkins. For more details, click the link. And, of course, there’s Sky Arts’ ace competition to win a bookshelf’s worth of reading material - head over to try your luck.

Civilisations rise and fall, worlds come and go in the blink of an eye, but literature is eternal. Inspired by The Book Show’s fantastic weekly competition to win a whole bookshelf’s worth of books, we’re asking the (thankfully) hypothetical question of “What would you choose to read if the world was to end tomorrow?” to bloggers who love literature. In part four, Kim from Reading Matters has kindly written why she would re-read George Johnson’s ‘My Brother Jack’.

“If the world were to end tomorrow what book would you read today?”

This is the question that the lovely people at ArtsWom asked me this week. I’ve been mulling it over for days — should I opt for something new, something old or something I’ve never actually read before?

What I love so much about this story is its brooding intensity and its quiet cynicism. It shows a harsh world in which ambition and material success are no replacements for a rich personal life. But I particularly identify with the narrator, a journalist who becomes an expat Australian, which is kind of the story of my life too.
All in all, it is a powerful read about a man struggling to come to terms with his own sense of self and sense of country at a time when such things were not discussed. The prose, too, is wonderfully evocative of another time and era, when class prejudices and propaganda dominated the ways in which people lead their suburban lives.
The reason My Brother Jack would make a good end-of-the-world read is simply because it’s one of those books that makes you feel all the more richer for having read it, as if you’ve learnt something new about the human spirit and the ways in which we all long for acceptance, particularly from our immediate family. And that’s kind of comforting if the world’s about to explode all around you, right?

Kim would like you give your own opinion on what you’d read if the world was to end, so let her know what you think, as well as us.

Don’t forget tonight’s Book Show is on at 7pm on Sky Arts and you can find out who’s speaking to host Mariella Frostrup by heading over to The Book Show’s dedicated page on the Sky Arts website.

In this modern age of walking robots, iPhones, 48” LCD screens and microwave ovens, it can often be difficult manoeuvring around the hundreds of TV channels to find what you want. For this little problem, there are two possible solutions. You can either switch over to MTV and watch 24hr repeats of Cribs, or you can read this article and become enlightened by ArtsWom’s choice of the best programming Sky Arts has to offer this week. For the sake of all that is decent in the world, please do the latter…

Monday 4th Feb –

The Book Show, series 2 episode 13 (7pm) - Your last chance to see episode thirteen of the Mariella Fostrup-hosted lair of all that is literary known as, The Book Show. As the only TV programme dedicated entirely to books, tuning in to this little gem should become as familiar to every book fan as paying off those overdue fines at the library.

Lesley Garrett’s 20 Operas to see before you Die, episode 1: The Barber of Seville (8pm) – This series, as presented by the delightful pin-up for men of a certain age, looks set to be a compelling introduction to opera for many who have thus far only dabbled in the art form and a must-see for aficionados. The first of the twenty operas is The Barber of Seville and we would offer a short synopsis, but it is opera after all and isn’t really supposed to make sense.

Tuesday 5th Feb –

John Lennon: Gimme Some Truth (9pm) – Part of Sky Arts’ Backstory series of behind-the-scenes documentaries, Gimme Some Truth reveals the creation of Lennon’s acclaimed album, Imagine. This is a great opportunity to follow the studio process, from inception to completion, of all the songs on the album. You can also see some mushy moments between the genius and Yoko Ono, if you’re into that sort of thing.

So Wrong They’re Right (00.25am) – Want to make an entertaining documentary? Pick some weirdness, travel to America, and expend a wad of video-tape interviewing these wackos. In the case of So Wrong They’re Right, the eccentricity of choice is a love of 8-track tapes. Not to be missed.

Wednesday 6th Feb –

London Visions with Peter Ackroyd (6.30pm) – Check out some spectacular shots of London from the most unusual vantage points with the author of London: The Biography. This unique and inspiring programme makes use of seasons, time, and weather to present some incredible views that will allow you to appreciate the capital in a completely new way.

Alice Cooper’s Rock Revolutionaries: Beach Boys Good Vibrations Tour (9pm) – It’s 1976, you’re in Anaheim Stadium and the five original members of the Beach Boys return to perform Good Vibrations, Surfin’ USA and It’s Ok for your benefit. They’d better play Sloop John B too…

Thursday 7th Feb –

Outback Opera (3:55pm) – It’s such a shame that shows like this one rarely make it to the primetime slot. Follow Opera Australia as they take Puccini’s tragic opera of bohemian love, La Boheme, on the road into rural Australia.

The Book Show, series 2 episode 14 (7pm) – Stick those reading glasses back on for more bookish banter. This episode features Helen Dunmore, Sophie Kinsella, and controversial atheist (is there any other kind?) Richard Dawkins.

Friday 8th Feb –

Ballet Boyz Night (8pm) – Settle in for the long haul as The Ballet Boyz hijack Sky Arts for a night of their schedule picks. Starting at eight with Johnny Cash: Live at Montreux, the night continues with a documentary following Radiohead on tour and concludes with Kuroneko, a Japanese film which tells the tale of a mother and daughter who are raped and murdered by soldiers, but return as vampire spirits, bent on revenge.

Find out more on at www.skyarts.co.uk

This is the end, beautiful friends. Yes, this edition is the final in our ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ take off as the parent programme comes to the end of its run on Sky Arts. We’re privileged to end with Ms. Julie Delvaux from her blog ‘Notebooks - Los Cuadernos de Julia’ . Julia has worked as an arts and culture journalist for webradio in Manchester, and her passions are “literature, music, and cinema, with the resent addition of photography, and my blog is primarily about these four things.”
Without further ado, we ask the famous ten questions for the last time…

What is your favourite word?
“Absolutely!” I picked it from P. G. Woodhouse’s book years ago. “Okay” is another one. So, I have two favourite words, I hope it’s absolutely okay.

What is your least favourite word?
Most swearing words, when used just for the sake of doing so.

What turns you on?
Intelligence + talent + sense of humour + sincerity = a totally irresistible concoction for any kind of relationship.

What turns you off?
Narrow-mindedness, fakery, and extremity of any kind.

What sound or noise do you love?
The sound of fallen leaves when I bury my shoes in them as I walk in the park.

What sound or noise do you hate?
The plastic foam being moved or broken - it gives me shudders.

What is your favourite curse word?
“Oh for God’s sake!”

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A singing actress.

What profession would you not like to do?
Dentist.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at
the Pearly Gates?
You know, Michel Polnareff was right: all go to Paradise – even folks like him and you.

Thanks to Julie and all our other bloggers who took the time to answer our questions, and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading them and finding some great new blogs in the process.
Tonight, James Lipton talks to Liza Minnelli in the penultimate ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ which you can see at 9pm only on Sky Arts. As ever, more details can be found here.