Fresh from being abandoned at Glastonbury and adopted by Dolly Parton, the liveblog is back!

We'll have music, movies and musing all day long*

Get in touch on the comments and/or on Twitter via @guideguardian

*till 5-ish

10.22am BST

There will be no monkey-related puns here

Continue reading...

The 17th annual world bodypainting festival has taken place in Pörtschach, Austria. Thousands of visitors arrived to observe the bodypainting work of artists from 47 different countries on the theme of Pop Art.

Continue reading...

Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Opera Australia leave behind offstage drama of disgraced Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri for brilliant onstage performances

In an attempt to entice composer Giuseppe Verdi out of premature retirement in the late 1800s, Italian librettist Arrigo Boito wrote his own version of Shakespeares Othello. It stripped the narrative so that the action centred predominantly on its four main characters. As a result, Verdis penultimate opera, Otello, is not only one of Verdis most character-driven works, it is also one of his most focused and beloved.

Otello was first directed by German director Harry Kupfer for Opera Australia in 2003, who updated the work from 15th century Cyprus to wartime Germany. In this remount the set, by original designer Hans Schavernoch, retains its visually arresting grand staircase with its tilted, crumbling edge, and swastikaesque red cross. Similarly, the costumes preserve their symbolic allure, the sumptuous black and white evening attire of the chorus contrasting with the jewelled tones of Desdemonas emerald and purple evening gowns.

Continue reading...

The host of art + soul says that while Aboriginal art continues to innovate, many of the same profound themes and political messages remain

In 1965, the year that I was born, my father, activist Charles Perkins led the Freedom Ride through NSW. From the get go, politics was part of my blood, as well as that of my brother and sister (film director Rachel Perkins).

At the same time, I spent my early years surrounded by art. When I was a child, my mother started a gallery in our house. Back then, Australians were really not interested in Aboriginal art, so it was mainly for tourists. I'd always thought they were amazing pieces of work but its only now, as an adult, I realise their full significance as forms of political activism, and that art and politics are intricately linked.

Continue reading...

At Melbourne's Oz Comic Con, actor Kristian Nairn, famed for his single-word role in Game of Thrones, eloquently answered fans' questions. Here are some highlights

• More coverage of Melbourne's Oz Comic Con 2014

Given the nature of Game of Thrones in which many key characters are killed off, what kind of death would you like [author] George RR Martin to give your character?

I would like Hodor to die in the middle of a big speech. The first time ever he stands up to say something different he gets eaten by a wolf. That would be ironic.

Continue reading...

Shakespeare in Love looks to emulate the film's success, and Russian revolutionary artist Kazimir Malevich recieves a long-overdue retrospective at the Tate

Shakespeare in Love
John Madden's movie, co-penned by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, won seven Oscars. Can this version repeat the feat with Oliviers? While it may not boast Judi Dench and Gwyneth Paltrow, it does have Lee Hall the powerhouse writer behind the stage version of Billy Elliott.
Noel Coward Theatre, London (0844 482 5141), booking until 25 October

Malevich
With his iconic Black Square of 1915, Kazimir Malevich liberated art from the shackles of representation. A century later, Tate Modern hosts the first major survey of his art for 25 years minus the square, too fragile to move from Moscow but replete with paintings, sculptures and drawings by the Russian revolutionary.
Tate Modern, London (020-7887 8888), 16 July - 26 October.

Continue reading...

In the two months since she won Eurovision, Conchita Wurst has become a global star. Here she reflects on homophobia, gay marriage, Vladimir Putin ('a very handsome man') and her dreams of winning a Grammy

The photoshoot is in full swing. The starlet is a vision: she flicks her long dark hair, pouts, and expertly twirls her rainbow-coloured couture gown, which swishes around her like a waterfall. "Let's try a sultry one," the photographer says and she turns up the oomph. Lit up by the bay window behind her, she is at once angelic and full-on glamorous. Her face is all fluttering eyelashes and glitter, accessorised with a thick, soft-looking beard.

In the two months since winning Eurovision with the rousing power ballad Rise Like a Phoenix, Conchita Wurst has gone from well-liked personality at home in Austria to global gay icon. Outside, the annual Gay Pride festival is in full swing and the crowd, many wearing fake beards, cheers: "Conchita! Conchita!" She has just headlined Pride in London; Madrid and Stockholm are next. She attended Vienna's star-studded Life Ball, and in Cannes celebrities lined up to be photographed with her ("It was just like, 'Alessandra Ambrosio, of course you can take a picture with me.' It was so, so weird").

Continue reading...

There were plenty of comics, cosplay and cast members from Game of Thrones and X-Men on the first day of Oz Comic Con

• More coverage of Melbourne's Oz Comic Con 2014

Thousands of fans descended on Melbournes Royal Exhibition Centre on 5 July for the third annual Oz Comic Con. A strong lineup of television stars from the sci-fi and fantasy genre, including Game of Thrones and Doctor Who, was on offer, as well as from cult favourites like Community. Scores of pop-culture fanatics, some dressed in cosplay, were seen lining up for photos and autographs with the stars.

At midday Kristian Nairn, famous for his one-word role Hodor on Game of Thrones, took to the main stage with his co-star Daniel Portman, better known as the squire, Podrick Payne. For many fans, it was their first time hearing Nairn say more than just Hodor, and along with Portman, the actor and DJ proved to be an affable and funny panellist. Both stars delighted audiences with their insiders take and seemed to genuinely love being part of the show.

My new favorite people! Look at those little faces! @OzComicCon #Melbourne  pic.twitter.com/WNfbBecZH4

A 20-year-old girl made this completely badass #transformers costume in two weeks, several hours a day #OzComicCon pic.twitter.com/ZQFpEzXC2U

Continue reading...

Crucible Studio, Sheffield
Too much technical intervention lets Richard Wilson down not to mention Samuel Beckett

"I envy you," said a colleague, hearing I was going to see veteran actor/director Richard Wilson in Krapp's Last Tape. Well, having been, I cannot say I have seen. Samuel Beckett's 1958 text has the ageing Krapp sit at a table on which stands a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He selects spools from his archive and plays back memories recorded each birthday. Occasionally he eats a banana or disappears into darkness, from which issues sounds of chinking glass and pouring liquid. The drama of the piece lies in the interplay between the voices on the tapes and the character reacting (or not) to his youthful selves. Krapp's world becomes our own: its pettiness, its humour, its lost visions and, through all that, something tremulous, untouchable, yet inescapable the mystery of being. Great actors build this, little by little, with the audience, leading us to a state that simultaneously acknowledges and challenges isolation through the act of sharing.

Director Polly Findlay and designer Alex Lowde transform Krapp into a specimen to be examined. They encase him in a rectangular box. Its upper two thirds are glass windows. Spectators are seated all around. The box rotates continuously, clicking as it goes, setting a mechanical rhythm. Sometimes we see Krapp's face; sometimes his back; sometimes just an intervening bit of box. The taped voice and the living voice are both relayed through speakers; different from one another in quality but equal in artificiality (Dan Jones's sound design). Direct relation between performer and spectators is not possible; it is modulated by intervening technology. We become voyeurs of a surveillance spectacle.

Continue reading...

O2 Arena, London
Monty Python's reunion delivers few surprises but their comedic genius remains

"Our motto has been 'Always leave them wanting less','' Eric Idle joked in last week's press conference to launch Monty Python's series of reunion gigs at the O2, and frequently during this bells-and-whistles extravaganza you feel they have succeeded admirably. This is very much Idle's show; it was he who devised it in collaboration with Spamalot composer John Du Prez, and the shiny troupe of dancers choreographed by Arlene Phillips feels closer to the glitz of Broadway than to the original Flying Circus. Some of the more modest two-hander sketches, with their drab postwar costumes of trenchcoats and tweed, relying on word play, pauses and facial expressions, can seem dwarfed in comparison, yet it's here that the gold is to be found.

"Who'd have thought 40 years ago we'd be sitting here doing Monty Python?" Eric Idle asks, opening a reprise of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch that operates with an extra layer of irony now that the performers are the ageing millionaires they once pretended to be. If Python was a cult when it first appeared, it has since achieved the status of established religion for many fans; this first show sold out in 40 seconds, and plenty here are dressed up as favourite characters, calling out the lines of each sketch like a litany. If groundbreaking comedy relies on wrong-footing the audience with unexpected twists and unlikely juxtapositions precisely as these sketches did when they were fresh then this must be the opposite. But there's a different kind of enjoyment in the singalong delight of familiarity, and the Pythons serve that up with gusto.

Continue reading...

The frontman's cultural highlights include soul and blues singer Rag'N'Bone Man, Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream and his favourite Californian burger chain

Dan Smith is lead vocalist, songwriter and producer of four-piece rock outfit Bastille. Their debut studio album, Bad Blood, went straight to the top of the UK albums chart before going on to become the biggest-selling digital album of 2013. In February 2014, Bastille won best breakthrough act at the Brit awards, with nominations for British group, British single of the year and British album of the year. Excluding remixes and covers, Smith writes and arranges all of Bastille's music; as of February, the band have sold more than 3m records in the UK. Bastille play T in the Park on 13 July and Somerset House on 15 July.

Continue reading...

Tour de France | Sparkle | Nudefest | Out & about

Continue reading...

From Julien Temple to David Cronenberg

Continue reading...

Yvette Nicole Brown, known as Shirley from the TV show Community, has a legion of fans, and one hater she loves no less

You rarely ask a pleasantry like how was your flight? and hear a reply that made national news. But a few days ago, Yvette Nicole Brown, better known as Shirley Bennett of the television show Community, was on board a Qantas flight from Los Angeles that began flooding one hour after takeoff. She says a trickle, like spilled soda, quickly turned into a gushing river.

It happened while we were still ascending and being on the top level of a double decker plane, we thought, oh god where is all this water going? And sure enough it ended up seeping through the floor and raining on the people in the level below, Brown tells me over the phone.

Pipe burst on my #Qantas flight over the Pacific. We were diverted back to LA. River running thru the aisles #ScaryTimes #WillKeepYouPosted

Ruh-roh! Lol! RT @dawgsindabatub @EW @Yahoo dear yahoo. Save the show but get rid of that bitch Yvette Nicole Brown. #Community

Hey guys, it's all in fun. Negative, racist folks like @dawgsindabatub elicit my sympathy. Wittle guy just wasn't hugged enough as a baby ;)

Continue reading...

• It was Independence Day.
• We featured André-3000 as Jimi Hendrix, a Madonna teaser and Paris Hilton writhing on a bed of diamonds.
• #ReviewAnything returned you tweeted what you want us to review to @guideguardian.

5.19pm BST

As our independence day blog draws to a close here is a little run down of what we've learned today, finished off by Bill Pullman's Independence Day speech. It is quite emotional, even if it is ridiculous.

3.53pm BST

You've got to hand it to Paris for really sticking to what she's good at: being incredibly rich. Even when she's turning her endless talents to pop-dance music, she makes sure you know exactly how rich she is by lounging around on a bed of crystals for the cover of her new single, Come Alive. It's dropping next week and according to her tweet it looks like it's styled after Katie Price and Peter Andre's wedding. Ultimate richness.

3.12pm BST

Get the Guide tomorrow for your fill of completely unboring bands, unboring DJs and unboring apps! There's plenty of great stories including some which you can already get online RIGHT NOW including an interview with Silicon Valley creator Mike Judge.

2.42pm BST

#ReviewAnything is coming up in just a minute

but until then, here's a mighty new Disclosure remix of Usher's Good Kisser.

1.12pm BST

1// A snippet of a new Madonna song called Messiah, hot off Instagram. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out what it reminded me of but it's definitely the strings in Kylie's Confide In Me.

12.23pm BST

It's not just us regular people that are terrible at karaoke. Karaoke makes everyone sound awful, even those with an actual range or a flow. Like bucket hats or panel shows, it doesn't make anyone look good.

11.15am BST

The trailer for John Ridley's Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side is finally here, in which you can see André-3000 from Outkast in a fantastic Afro, heavy-fretting his way around the London gig circuit and between two love interests with excellent fringes (Hayley Atwell and Imogen Poots). Cue posh girl accents, dandy shirts, and some expertly flowery one-liners. It hits UK cinemas on September 26.

10.51am BST

I'm not one to objectify muscly men dressed as superheroes but here is a first-look photo of Henry Cavill as Superman from Zach Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Let's hope those anticipation levels last until it comes out all the way over in 2016.

10.12am BST

Hi hi hi. It's K-Hutch here at the Guide Daily controls as all pop culture breaks loose throughout the day.

First up, happy Fourth of July to all our American friends. To celebrate in typical Guide style, here's a freaky reworking of the Star Spangled Banner by Hyperdub's spatially aware electronic producer, Fatima Al Qadiri, and her next level haunt-house constructions. If that doesn't make any sense to you, have another coffee and then listen.

Continue reading...

People and characters lured by the sweet promise of apiculture

Vince Cable

Continue reading...

Each Friday we pledge to review whatever you've sent us over the past seven days, with absolutely no restrictions. We might not be nice about it, mind. From new music and podcasts to photos and dodgy texts, here's this week's selection

Ready? Steady? Review!

Continue reading...

Artist Tracey Emin, historian David Starkey, designer Margaret Howell and others champion their favourite exhibition space

A lot of people think that just because the Hayward has brutalist architecture it is tough, even macho. I used to live in Waterloo and visited it often, and I always knew that it wasn't macho. In fact it has very graceful spaces inside and, unusually for a museum, essentially square rooms with very high ceilings, which are among my favourite spaces in which to see and to show art.

Continue reading...

With threats of flash floods and hurricane Arthur, New Yorks king of games suggests seven fun ways to pass the time indoors

If you're already worried about how you'll get through another long weekend with your family, in-laws or old friends (how much do you really have to say to each other anymore?), we have a solution: bring a game.

No, we're not talking about Connect Four or Yahtzee or Monopoly or Sorry. There are many more options, as Mike Kilbert, co-owner of New York City shop The Compleat Strategist, explained to the Guardian this week. Mike took us around the store to suggest a range of games to play with your friends or family this holiday weekend. If you have your own to recommend, let us know in the comments.

The Forbidden series

Continue reading...

Tweet sent from Colfer's personal account said actor was leaving because of 'personal issues' but Fox confirms account was hacked

Glee star Chris Colfer is not leaving the show, contrary to a statement sent from his Twitter account on Thursday.

The tweet said Colfer was being let go from the show because of personal issues". Nearly 30 minutes later, the actors manager said Colfers account was hacked.

Due to personal issues, I have been let go from the cast of GLEE. Explanations will come shortly...

Continue reading...