Author: OrchardKing

  • Critics Divided on Robert Pattison’s Bel Ami Performance

    Critics Divided on Robert Pattison’s Bel Ami Performance

    While most of the big-hitter reviews of Bel Ami, the British film adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s ripe tale of an impoverished ex-soldier’s social ascent through seduction in belle epoque Paris, were brutal – they were also divided. Some spoke highly of Robert Pattinson’s performance, while others took no prisoners. Ultimately, of course, it will […]

  • Interview with JRR Tolkein: New York Times 1967

    Interview with JRR Tolkein: New York Times 1967

    In 1967 Philip Norman interviewed JRR Tolkein for the New York Times. Here’s the scoop. It turns out that the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings was born in South Africa, worked as an altar boy in Birmingham (England) and ended up pals with C.S. Lewis.

  • Facebook IPO: EVERYONE is Connecting

    Facebook IPO: EVERYONE is Connecting

    Courtesy of The Verge. LETTER FROM MARK ZUCKERBERG Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected. We think it’s important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us, how we make decisions […]

  • Musical Histories: Data For Your Dinner Conversations

    Musical Histories: Data For Your Dinner Conversations

    Buzzfeed recently featured some rather disappointing facts relating to music sales. We felt inspired to showcase some more gossip-worthy tattle, so here goes. The histories of Rock and Dance, at your fingertips.

  • Fortnight Journal: ‘Honoring The Past, Archiving The Future’

    Fortnight Journal is a fantastic project that’s picked up steam this year and looks set to keep impressing with its array of talented contributors. Taking precocious ‘millennial generation’ individuals and showcasing their work and funneling them through 14 different discipline areas, Fortnight is a verifiable attempt to skip the top-down patronage of specialist hierarchy and invest instead in provocative, cross-germinated ideas from the first generation to not know what life is like without internet: ‘as social media helps topple autocracies around the world, our millennial contributors collaborate across borders. Only on Fortnight will a young Venetian video artist be set aside a young Vietnamese-American tribunal lawyer–the original work of both informed by ancient Rome. Staying multi-disciplinary allows Fortnight to nurture new networks around timeless affinities’.

  • All Eyes on Nicole Palmquist’s Latest Mural

    All Eyes on Nicole Palmquist’s Latest Mural

    We’re excited to feature Nicole Palmquist’s latest ‘booleep’ commission: a splendid mural on Hyperion (and Scotland) in Silverlake. We’re due to catch up with the prolific artist next year and talk shop about what 2012 has in store for her growing number of followers, many of whom would like to see more of Palmquist’s patrons share her work directly with the public this way. See how cool that is?

  • “War on Terror is in Our Hands, Now. Literally”

    “War on Terror is in Our Hands, Now. Literally”

    British troops have taken to playing ‘War on Terror’ – the controversial multi-player quest to dominate the globe – in the field. Pete W, a Task Force MED in Afghanistan, shows off the morale-boosting package that’s had a mixed reception from those who have a sense of humour and those who don’t.

  • News Corporation Ignominy: Some Scope For Celebration

    News Corporation Ignominy: Some Scope For Celebration

    It’s not enjoyable to see established, profitable publishers shut-down, context notwithstanding. But I’m delighted that the baying crowd has given itself a yardstick by which to measure its own ethical performance. Let me qualify: it’s not the appalling details of the hacking scandals so much as the general extent to which News Corporation employees were prepared to put their reputation on the line, which merits such extended analysis. Those decisions, taken in order to stay ahead of their competition, are what have exposed the ethical cost of prioritizing cash revenue so defiantly. Organizations like ProPublica and Spot.Us are leading the way for non-profit Journalism by putting their content first and developing communities around what they produce. But are there quality and impact benefits to feeling ‘coroporate’ as a publisher, that we’re in danger of leaving to algorithm-run social media sites and bloggers that mostly operate without any legally refined code of conduct?

  • Digesting All Your Critiques in One Sitting

    Digesting All Your Critiques in One Sitting

    Want to know what the critics are saying about the latest books, films and plays? “The Omnivore” rounds up press reviews, bringing you a cross section of critical opinion. It’s basically the credible resource you’ve been looking for to quickly help you make an informed decision on whether or not to shell out on a particular dose of cultural stimulation.

  • Confessions of Lethargy. Things You Find Yourself Surprised at Having to Actually Still do

    Confessions of Lethargy. Things You Find Yourself Surprised at Having to Actually Still do

    In this modern age of technology-inspired convenience, it’s difficult to keep track of what’s not yet possible. Here are some completely legitimate examples of such confusion.