Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Kingdom of Heaven

Sir Ridley Scott is no stranger to the period epic genre (most successfully with Gladiator) and in this, his latest Crusader blockbuster, his peculiar skill at choreographing violence and brutality, and graphically depicting Hell on earth, is unleashed to dramatic effect (its amazing what slow motion can do!). A material

Lifestyle

The Warrior

The penultimate feature in the British Institutes Talking Pictures programme of Indian Diaspora films and never the twain shall meet? This is a remarkable film debut for British born Asif Kapadia. An ambitious epic undertaking, spectacularly filmed in the deserts and mountains of Rajasthan, The Warrior is set in Indias

Lifestyle

Touching the Void

This is a breath-takingly thrilling drama documentary (Oscar-winning Director Kevin MacDonalds description) that brings a true story of a devastating moral dilemma alive on the big screen. Retracing the ascent of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes by two young British climbers in 1985, MacDonalds film slopes with

Lifestyle

Head in the Cloud

World War II melodrama of epic silliness and supreme vapidity (Rolling Stone) is perhaps not the best recommendation for this Chalize Theron and Penelope Cruz coupling. And coupling in various guises is what its all about. Theron plays Gilda (yes!),a 30s throwback (would-be) femme fatale fatally seducing all

Lifestyle

Deal with garbage?

CRASH! The sound of broken glass shatters the silence of the dark, rainy night. My jet-lagged brain takes a moment to process. It’s a Sunday night in January 1999, and I have just fallen asleep in the apartment that I’ve rented over the Internet for

Lifestyle

A day in Florence,

  I suggest that you and your friends begin your day with a visit to the Museum of Opificio Pietre Dure, Via Alfani, 78, a rare and precious museum, where, ...

Lifestyle

Modigliani

How do you make love to a cube? is the question at the centre of the rivalry between the Italian painter (he of the long necks) Amedeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso, reigning divo of the Parisian avant-garde circa 1919, and the question is one about style as well as

Lifestyle

Monsoon Wedding

The British Institutes Talking Pictures Indian Diaspora season, And never the twain shall meet? a series of celebrated films made by Indian Subcontinentals and others, exploring the burning issues of East-West migration and adjustment, this week features Misa Nairs award winning (Golden Lion, Venice 2001 ) MONSOON WEDDING, a romantic

Lifestyle

Spanglish

Bilingual Anglo-Latino romantic comedy, with an amazing star turn from Tea Leoni as an uptight Los Angeles housewife and mother who welcomes inter her household Mexican economic immigrants Flor (Paz Vega) and her daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce), while trying to cope with stark-raving calm super chef husband (Adam

Lifestyle

The Jacket

Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley star in this horror-thriller about an amnesiac war veteran and his out-of-body time travel experience in an institution for the criminally insane, under the care of a sadistic morgue-infatuated psychiatrist (Kris Kristofferson). Generally regarded as a bit of a disappointment after

Lifestyle

Super Size Me

Hard-hitting documentaries have been making a comeback in cinemas around the world, and there seems to be no end in sight to military-industrial-complex-bashing. The latest target is the fast food corporation (the one with the big yellow M in particular), held to account, in this refreshingly

Lifestyle

The purchase of real estate in Italy

We asked Bill Thomson, the managing director of the Knight Frank real estate network in Italy, to help us out with some basic questions regarding the purchase of property.   TF: Regarding purchasing property in Italy for non-Italians, we have been warned that it is easy to get “

Lifestyle

A Pre-Raphaelite Church

From the outside, it is just one among the many XVIth century palazzi which can be found at almost every corner of the city. But number 18 of via Maggio is no ordinary palace and hides more beauty than the eye can see at a first glimpse. Behind the Renaissance

Lifestyle

The Giro d’Italia…not just another cycling race

Sunday, May 15th the colourful carovana (caravan of Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) made its cheerful entry into Florence, which hosted the arrival of the 9th tappa (stage) of the 88th edition of La Corsa Rosa (The Pink Race), as the Giro is affectionately nicknamed. The Giro d&

Lifestyle

Florence nightlife 101: what to do and where to go

Much of Florence’s nightlife, especially now that Spring has settled, is to be found outdoors, and not just as a result of the anti-smoking laws implemented earlier this year. Indeed, the open areas of Italian piazze are perfect for evening and late-night hanging out, the cobbled

Lifestyle

Four escapes in Florence

The noise, the traffic, the heat, the dust of 600-year-old buildings and the exhaust of motor scooters and Pullman buses; the squadrons of German and Italian tourists dutifully following the high-held umbrella or long stemmed plastic rose; “too much ‘David’,” ditto the Madonnas

Lifestyle

Casa Howard,

If you have had enough of impersonal hotel rooms with indifferent service and  like the idea of a bit of luxury combined with the atmosphere of an elegant  private residence, 12-room Casa Howard could provide the answer.   Occupying a handsome palazzo on Via della Scala (a

Lifestyle

Are you newsworthy?

Italian journalism is like a secret Club – it’s hard to get into, your initiation period is long and foreigners usually fall at the first hurdle. Once you are in, membership is for life, renewable by a daily subscription to your chosen newspaper. But for the news novice,

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