In this week’s newsletter: When the video-sharing site launched in 2005, there were fears it would replace terrestrial television. It didn’t just replace it – it invented entirely new forms of content. ASMR, anyone?
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Barely a month goes by without more news of streaming sites overtaking traditional, terrestrial TV. Predominant among those sits YouTube, with more than 2.5 billion monthly viewers. For people my age – a sprightly 28 – and younger, YouTube is less of an app or website than our answer to radio: the ever-present background hum of modern life. While my mum might leave Radio 4 wittering or BBC News flickering in the corner as she potters about the house, I’ve got a video essay about Japan’s unique approach to urban planning playing on my phone. That’s not to say I never watch more traditional TV (although 99% of the time I’m accessing it through some other kind of subscription streaming app), but when I get home after a long day and the thought of ploughing through another hour of grim prestige fare feels too demanding, I’m probably watching YouTube. Which means it’s very unlikely that I’m watching the same thing as you.
When Google paid $1.65bn for the platform in 2006, (just 18 months after it launched) the price seemed astronomical. Critics questioned whether that valuation could be justified for any video platform. The logic was simple – unless YouTube could replace television, it would never be worth it. Nearly two decades on, that framing undersells what actually happened. YouTube didn’t just replace television – it invented entirely new forms of content: vodcasts, vlogs, video essays, reaction videos, ASMR and its heinous cousin mukbang. The platform absorbed new trends and formats at lightning speed, building what became an alternative “online mainstream”. Before podcasters, TikTokers, Substackers and even influencers, there were YouTubers.
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© Photograph: Chicken Shop Date
© Photograph: Chicken Shop Date
© Photograph: Chicken Shop Date
Barclays Center, Brooklyn
The Boy Is Mine pair were joined by guests such as Kelly Rowland, Fat Joe, Ciara and Tyrese for a sometimes strange, sometimes soaring throwback night
Supposedly feuding for over 25 years might be bad karma, but it’s great for ticket sales. Of course, Brandy and Monica aren’t actually fighting, they just did such a good job of pretending to hate each other on their 1998 duet The Boy Is Mine that the world has been convinced of it ever since. The R&B legends have taken pains to point out that their relationship is harmonious in multiple interviews leading up to this 32-date co-headline tour, even making fun of the drama in a recent Dunkin advert that featured them fighting over a frappe.
Happily, Brandy and Monica’s sisterhood also means they’re playing their biggest venues in decades. After emerging on stage from a vintage elevator wearing sunglasses and scowling expressions, the duo launches into a kind of sing-and-dance-off, trading places and performing a trio of classics apiece as the other watches with disdain. It’s a knowing nod to their purported rivalry that begins to take on the feeling of a variety segment, which isn’t helped by the trimming of songs like What About Us? and Like This and Like That to 90 seconds apiece. Even so, their camaraderie shines through as Brandy quickly breaks character to sway and sing along to Monica’s Don’t Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days), a showcase for her slightly raspy, soulful vocals during which she winds her hips and aims gun fingers at the audience.
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© Photograph: The Boy is Mine Tour
© Photograph: The Boy is Mine Tour
© Photograph: The Boy is Mine Tour
The man was tricked into thinking that he and Holden were going to live together
© Getty Images
Organisers say it will strengthen trust and transparency
© AP
Shah has been serving time since February 2023
© Spenser Heaps/The Deseret News via AP
Deux ans après la sortie de House of the Dragon saison 2, l'horizon se dégage pour la suite. La chaîne de télévision américaine HBO a donné le calendrier de sortie de la saison 3 et validé le principe d'une saison 4, qui arrivera dans deux ans.
Will Quaritch, the square-jawed representative of military-industrial destruction befriend the Na’vi in James Cameron’s forthcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash? And if so, what other unlikely character about-turns should we be prepared for?
It’s almost possible to feel a little sorry for Colonel Miles Quaritch, the main villain of Avatar. Imagine: first you’re sent light years from Earth to hang out with 14ft blue space hippies, then you’re suddenly dead. Then you’re resurrected as one of the 14ft blue space hippies. And now, according to James Cameron, you might just be starting to realise that the giant tree-hugging freaks you’ve spent two films trying to erase are your kind of people after all.
Speaking to Empire in an interview last week, Cameron revealed that the Quaritch we will meet in the forthcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash (although still played by Stephen Lang) is no longer the same person we first saw stomping through the rainforest in the original 2009 film. Yes, he’s a “recombinant” – a lab-grown Na’vi reboot of a man carved out of granite and patriotism – but he’s also going through a full-blown existential wobble after discovering in the last instalment that he has a human son, Spider. “Quaritch is undergoing an identity crisis,” said Cameron. “His interest in the biological son of his biological precursor form is all about trying to define, ‘Am I a completely new person? Am I bound by the rules and the behaviours of the person whose memories and personality I was imprinted with?’ It’s a true existential dilemma for him in the philosophical sense.”
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© Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy
© Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy
© Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy
From Claire Foy’s Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall to Adriana in The Sopranos, we meet the actors who had to bump off TV legends … and then face the wrath of the public
Talk about being a pantomime villain. It’s unpopular enough playing the antagonist who murders a long-running TV character. When your victim is a fan favourite, though, you risk being vilified even more. So what’s it like being the ultimate baddy and breaking viewers’ hearts? Do they get booed in the street or trolled online? We asked five actors who killed off beloved characters – from Spooks to The Sopranos, Wolf Hall to Westeros – about their experiences …
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© Photograph: Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte / Company Pictures and Playground 2013
© Photograph: Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte / Company Pictures and Playground 2013
© Photograph: Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte / Company Pictures and Playground 2013
He may now live in Germany, but he loves returning to Britain, not just to put on a show, but to enjoy the weather, the food, the humour – and the selfie-takers in galleries
Let’s suppose that you are a Turner prize-winning sculptor, with more than 50 years in the game. One restless night, an idea comes to you. You work it up in your studio and send it off to the foundry, to be cast in bronze. Finally, you’re ready to show it to the world, but the first person through the gallery doors barely glances at it before taking a selfie with it. What do you do? Bear in mind that you are Tony Cragg, Royal Academician, and you are on record bemoaning the preference of many art-lovers for listening to audio guides as they tour exhibitions.
The perhaps unlikely answer is that you welcome the selfie-taker with outstretched arms, or at least give a convincing impression of doing so. “No, I don’t have problem with that,” says Cragg, albeit faintly, as if he’s thinking about the people who might be crossing the threshold of his latest show, which just opened in London. “People are bound to respond in different ways.”
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© Photograph: George Darrell/© Tony Cragg, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
© Photograph: George Darrell/© Tony Cragg, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
© Photograph: George Darrell/© Tony Cragg, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 devait remettre la licence sur les rails. Entre un multijoueur chaotique, un mode Zombie méconnaissable et une direction artistique qui brouille tout, ce nouvel épisode peine pourtant à masquer sa nature : celle d’une mise à jour déguisée avec plein d'artifices et peu de substance.
Presenter Ives was breezy, while Cook fronted everything like the last ceremonial horse of some dying cavalry unit
You know what they say. Never judge a pitch until both teams have batted really badly on it. You know what they say. Over here you bat long, bat hard, bat short, bat soft. You know what they say, the Ashes in Australia is all about a hybrid maverick production with a fan-first identity.
Given the brilliance of the basic entertainment on day one in Perth, it was easy to forget that England’s Baz-facing tourists aren’t the only setup with a brave new philosophy in play, out there disrupting the norms, and in need, above all, of a decent start.
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© Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
© Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
© Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
As the loneliness epidemic worsens, young people are finding themselves and each other through the thriving culture of medieval and renaissance fairs
“I dunno what to tell ya, mate,” a young knight once told me through his helm’s lifted visor. “Gettin’ shield bashed just feels good.”
For the knaves among thee, a “shield bash” is what it sounds like: to bash, or be bashed, with a shield. It’s simple and to the point, like a mace to the face or an arrow to the knee. Witnessing a shield bash, you understand the “haha yesss” that the basher must feel upon bashing, just as you empathetically presume a long “oh noooooo” on behalf of the bashee. So I was surprised to learn being bashed was, in itself, just as fun.
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© Photograph: Otis Filley/The Guardian
© Photograph: Otis Filley/The Guardian
© Photograph: Otis Filley/The Guardian
Alice and Ellen Kessler, who died by joint assisted suicide this week, entertained – and occasionally scandalised – Europe with their glitzy and subversive pop music and classically informed dance
• The Kessler twins die together aged 89 – news
When Dean Martin announced the Kessler sisters’ appearance on his show in 1966, he remarked that he had been desperate to book them not just because the German-born dancer-singers were “so pretty and so talented”, but “also because they’re twins, that means there are two of them”. “They’re a double,” he added with a nod to his half-drunk crooner persona, “and there’s nothing I like more than a double”.
The two sisters, who died by joint assisted suicide earlier this week, also performed with Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte and Fred Astaire, but the American market never impressed them much. In 1964 they turned down a role in Elvis’s Viva Las Vegas for fear of being pigeonholed in American musical comedies.
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© Photograph: Loomis Dean/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Loomis Dean/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Loomis Dean/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
He has penned hits for Adele, Dua Lipa and Bieber, but the sought-after Canadian pop songwriter has only ever released one album himself. Now, 10 years on, comes a second –and it’s a scorching account of a breakup
Goon, the 2015 debut album by Canada-born LA musician Tobias Jesso Jr, was one of the revelations of the 2010s. An album of heartfelt, earnest ballads in the vein of 70s singer-songwriters such as Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, it instantly established Jesso as a rising indie star and was one of the year’s most acclaimed records. The problem was that Jesso didn’t care much for the attention: he struggled to feel like a genuine performer, leading him to drink heavily before shows, and felt he was playing a version of himself in interviews. “I was forced to do all these things I wasn’t really confident in,” he says. “I was just like … I don’t know what I’m doing, anywhere.” So, toward the end of his breakout year, he cancelled all future shows and, in essence, put his career on ice.
In the decade that followed, he kept himself behind the scenes, in the process becoming one of the world’s most successful and in-demand pop songwriters – thanks, in no small part, to his focus on simple, emotions-first songwriting. He co-wrote Adele’s hit When We Were Young and a handful of tracks on Dua Lipa’s 2024 album Radical Optimism; has collaborated with Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, FKA twigs and Haim; and in 2023 won the first ever Grammy for songwriter of the year.
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© Photograph: Justin Chung
© Photograph: Justin Chung
© Photograph: Justin Chung
Deux ans après la sortie de House of the Dragon saison 2, l'horizon se dégage pour la suite. La chaîne de télévision américaine HBO a donné le calendrier de sortie de la saison 3 et validé le principe d'une saison 4, qui arrivera dans deux ans.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 devait remettre la licence sur les rails. Entre un multijoueur chaotique, un mode Zombie méconnaissable et une direction artistique qui brouille tout, ce nouvel épisode peine pourtant à masquer sa nature : celle d’une mise à jour déguisée avec plein d'artifices et peu de substance.
Late-night host addressed Trump’s continued attempts to get him fired in punchy monologue
© YouTube
The masked singer’s jagged pop deals in suburban bleakness, English nationalism and jilted romance against a backdrop of DIY drum machines and acoustic guitar
From Darlington, County Durham
Recommended if you like Blood Orange, Dean Blunt, Elliott Smith
Up next The Dirt Pt 1 EP out now
As the internet spits out underground artists like mouthwash, it’s becoming harder to separate the visionaries from the vibe-hackers. But Pollyfromthedirt’s jagged pastoral pop demands more than just a passing scroll. Released independently this week, the County Durham native’s first EP clashes brass band samples, shuddering Midi strings and awkward acoustic guitar together. There’s a trace of Elliott Smith in his grey-skied songwriting, yet made entirely his own by the crude drum machines, pitched-up vocals and DIY production. At best, like the EP’s weirdest track, Kalm, the music departs from traditional song structure and coalesces into delay-steeped, swirling ambience.
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© Photograph: Willow Shields
© Photograph: Willow Shields
© Photograph: Willow Shields
The return of Charlie and Lola; the second lives of trees; the dangers of time travel; a YA Bluebeard retelling and more
The Street Where Santa Lives by Harriet Howe and Julia Christians, Little Tiger, £12.99
When an old man moves in on a busy street, only his little neighbour notices; with his white beard and round belly, she’s convinced he’s Santa. But when Santa falls ill, other neighbours must rally round to take care of him. Will he be better in time for Christmas? This sweet, funny, acutely observed picture book is a festive, joyous celebration of community.
I Am Wishing Every Minute for Christmas by Lauren Child, S&S, £12.99
Twenty-five years after their first appearance, this delightful, engaging new Charlie and Lola picture book is filled with Lola’s excited impatience as she and her big brother get everything ready for Christmas.
© Photograph: PR
© Photograph: PR
© Photograph: PR
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