Watch brand Baume & Mercier celebrates the motor-racing legend Carroll Shelby November 4, 2016 Last year marked 50 years since Carroll Shelby’s invasion of Europe’s racing circuits, winning the World Manufacturer’s GT trophy with an all-American team for the very first time. He did this by importing British AC Ace coupés and fit them with Ford’s huge V8 engine – a combination with so much ‘bite’ that he dubbed [...]
Bremont celebrates magnificent men of 1934 November 4, 2016 It’s a tale of derring-do, pluck and grit that makes Biggles look positively timid. And the crying shame is that the 1934 “Macrobertson Trophy” air race is barely known beyond the yellowing pages of old Boy’s Own annuals. A situation that’s about to change, however, thanks to similarly plucky British pilot-watch brand, Bremont, whose latest [...]
Meet Mr Ibe, the engineering genius behind Casio’s iconic G-Shock November 4, 2016 It was 1983, the same year that Switzerland's poptastic Swatch hit the shelves, that Japan's own bit of cult plastic-fantastic was unveiled. Before then, if it wasn’t a diving watch, then your average timekeeper was born of a delicate disposition – a situation that, on damaging his father’s precious pocket watch, got a young engineer [...]
Patek Philippe’s Nautilus is four decades young, and proving as resilient as Captain Nemo’s own pioneering vessel November 4, 2016 Like Apple or Ferrari, the watch industry’s own gnomic leader, Patek Philippe, doesn’t “do” teasers. With such fanatical followers and peerless product, it doesn’t need to. However, this is the 40th-anniversary year of its sporty 70s icon the Nautilus, the brand has played its cards so close to its chest that it looked as though [...]
Amadeus review: Mozart is an insufferable little turdperson in this pathos-laden account of inter-composer rivalry November 4, 2016 When the brilliant and tortured Italian composer Antonio Salieri enviously considers Mozart’s final requiem – his masterpiece – the forsaken musician howls to God, “what need to mourn a man who will live forever?” In this excellent revival of Peter Schaffer’s pathos-sodden 1979 play, Salieri is the studious and distinguished muso whose work has been [...]
The Nest at the Young Vic: this play with a PJ Harvey soundtrack never quite clicks November 4, 2016 The Nest is the story of a couple preparing for the birth of their first child. It has slick dialogue, fine acting, simple but effective sets, and an impressive original score by PJ Harvey, but somehow the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Based on a 1975 German work by Franz Xaver [...]
Titanfall 2 review: Giant robots fighting one another has never been this fun November 4, 2016 Titanfall is a futuristic, multiplayer shooter about hyper-gymnastic soldiers who can perform cool parkour stunts, running along walls and leaping between buildings like well-armed squirrels. They’ve also got giant mechs: armoured walking tanks that they frequently use to pummel one another to death. While this sequel’s colourful and vibrant sci-fi setting feels fresh against the [...]
Here’s everything that happened in last night’s Apprentice episode November 4, 2016 In last night's episode candidates attempted a brand new task: crowdfunding some cycling products. Essentially, all they had to do was set up a crowdfunding page, pull off a snazzy PR stunt at a train station and pitch the products, which were already good, to some bike shops. Easy, right? Wrong, because even simple tasks are rendered impossible in the [...]
The Accountant review: Ben Affleck stars in silly but fun throwback to 90s straight to video thrillers November 4, 2016 David Fincher’s Gone Girl has done for straight-to-video thrillers what Wes Craven’s Scream did for the slasher movie. All of a sudden there’s a lucrative niche for acceptably trashy, middle-class mind-candy, paving the way for the likes of The Girl on the Train and now Ben Affleck vehicle The Accountant. It follows the apparently mild-mannered Christian Wolff, a [...]
Nocturnal Animals: Tom Ford’s second film is a heartbreaking tale of loss and vengeance November 4, 2016 Tom Ford has been doing interviews recently decrying materialism, which is a bit like Michael Fish admitting that the weather is a lie. Ford’s second film – after the heartbreaking A Single Man – continues the theme: possessions won’t make you happy, life is short, don’t waste it chasing the consumerist dragon. Where A Single [...]
