Argentinian director Sofía Petersen’s self-conscious film tries for the weight of slow cinema, but is formless, inert and hibernating within its own heavy unlit gloom

Argentinian director Sofía Petersen’s film is a mysterious depiction of loneliness and loss in the stark landscape of Tierra del Fuego; it is extended and unhurried, unfolding often to the sole accompaniment of a thin, desolate wind. It was well-received at last year’s Locarno film festival, but despite believing in the importance of slow cinema, I have to admit that this defeated me.

Often formless and inert, I found its still life painterly compositions shot on 16mm film, heavy on lingering closeups on old spoons and watch-faces, redundant and self-conscious. The film seemed to be hibernating within its own heavy unlit gloom and its central theme – the meaning of grief – was not really exposed.

Continue reading...

The Highlands and Islands are rightly lauded for their superb seafood – but these days it’s not reserved for fine dining and can be found at the simplest waterside shacks and inns

The best oysters of my life arrive on a polystyrene tray, eaten elbow-to-elbow with strangers at a table littered with empty shells and damp paper napkins. We huddle beneath a tarpaulin, sheltering from the fine spray of rain rattling on the roof, the wind whipping around the hulking CalMac ferry moored metres away, and the beady-eyed scavenging gulls.

“Have you tried this? You have to,” says a woman who has driven from Glasgow just to eat here, pressing a rollmop herring into my hand. I take a bite, the thick skin giving way to sweet and salty flesh, juices running down my chin. Elegant dining this is not, but all the better for it. This is Oban Seafood Hut, tucked beside the ferry terminal for boats heading into the Sound of Mull. Diners shuffle around a shared table, listening for order numbers, with plates piled high with langoustines, crab and oysters. It’s cash only. In the back room, a team of women butter thick slices of soft white bread for crab sandwiches, wrapping them in clingfilm without ceremony, to be sold within minutes.

Continue reading...

Amanda Barry’s dad had always wanted to return to the continent, where he worked in 1948, but died before he had the chance. She fulfilled his ambition, and felt closer to him than ever

Amanda Barry was rummaging for something in her mother’s loft when she came across her father’s trunk. Delving beneath the old blankets, she uncovered a trove of photographs, letters and journals that would set her on his trail, all the way to the Antarctic.

Barry’s father, George, had died suddenly after a heart attack when she was nine. Her mother had kept alive the sense of him; his pipes and cigarettes were still in a drawer of the sideboard. Like her four older siblings, Barry owned a photograph, taken at Port Lockroy in Antarctica, where in 1948 he was base leader. “He always wanted to go back,” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘Well, Dad, I’m going to go. For you and for me.’”

Continue reading...

The comedians are back with a fifth series of their Weirdo’s Book Club. Plus, a fascinating look into some stories filed away in America’s National Archives

If IRL book clubs can feel a little twee (why is there always someone who hasn’t finished the book?!) Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd’s podcast might be a better way to get your lit fix. Season five kicks off with a recommendation for Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, which gave new life to its women, and Pascoe “butchering” the plot of Ulysses, while guests this time round include author Maggie O’Farrell and musician/writer Kae Tempest. Hannah J Davies
Widely available, episodes weekly

Continue reading...

In Poland, 80,000 people still work in coalmines – the last in the European Union that is fully committed to the energy transition. Once active mines are being converted to other uses, and yet coal is being extracted at record rates worldwide, and with the Iran war pushing up oil and gas prices, some in Poland are asking whether it is worth completely phasing out this fossil fuel

Coal dust is fine; it seeps into the pores of the skin. That is why a thin black line permanently traces the outline of Rafal Dzuman’s eyes, as if he were wearing makeup. Team leader of the G-2 mining crew, 49-year-old Rafal Dzuman has been descending every day to 700 metres below ground for at least 20 years, at the Murcki-Staszic coalmine in southern Poland. Opened in the mid-17th century and today owned by the Polish giant PGG, the mine sits on the southern outskirts of Katowice, and still extracts about 23,000 tonnes of coal a day.

Katowice, Poland: Miners exit the lift after working in the coal-mining tunnels at the Murcki-Staszic Mine (PGG Group), located on the southern outskirts of the city. Coal mining began here in 1657; today, the mine’s daily production stands at about 23,000 tonnes

Continue reading...

Band shows montage of leaders whose death or ousting the CIA has been proven or suspected to have been part of

US band the Strokes have used their Coachella set to make a stark political statement against America’s history of foreign intervention and war in other countries, including Iran and Palestine.

At the end of their set at the second weekend of the California music festival, the band performed their 2016 song Oblivius in front of giant LED screens that showed a montage of world leaders whose death or ousting the CIA has either been a proven or suspected party in, as lead singer Julian Casablancas sang the lyrics: “What side you standing on?”

Continue reading...

Eind jaren zestig ontdekte Jan Donkers de kracht van de Amerikaanse rock, soul en blues. Met zijn muzikale kennis, die was verweven met zijn persoonlijke ervaringen, was hij een van de grondleggers van de Nederlandse popjournalistiek.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Werkgevers gaan waarschijnlijk niet allemaal hun reiskostenvergoedingen voor personeel verhogen als het kabinet de onbelaste kilometervergoeding opschroeft van 23 naar 25 cent. En als ze dat wel doen kan dat bij bedrijven ook ten koste gaan van de loonruimte, waarschuwt werkgeversvereniging AWVN maandag na onderzoek onder bijna vierhonderd over het algemeen grotere bedrijven.

"Het zijn gewoon kosten", zegt een woordvoerder van de belangrijke adviseur van werkgevers over arbeidsvoorwaarden. "Het komt over of het gratis is, maar dat is niet zo. Het betekent dat je als werkgever meer vergoeding mag geven zonder dat de fiscus langskomt." De extra reiskostenvergoeding moet dan dus wel door de werkgevers worden opgehoest.

Het kabinet presenteert maandag naar verwachting een pakket energiemaatregelen, bedoeld om kosten te drukken en energieverbruik te verlagen. Eerder lekte al uit dat het kabinet denkt aan het verhogen van de onbelaste kilometervergoeding.

Tests scheduled for May can’t come soon enough after VGER 1 power glitch led to instrument shutdown

NASA has revealed it’s working on a plan called “The Big Bang” that it hopes will extend the working lives of the Voyager probes.…

Geen lucht van vers gebakken pizza's, maar de geur van een hennepkwekerij. Tijdens een inspectieronde vorige week vrijdag controleerden de politie en het ondermijningsteam van de gemeente Rotterdam verschillende pizzeria's. Op één adres werd er meer dan alleen maar pizza's gemaakt.