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    Life & Luxury

    Arts & Culture

    Today

    Russell Brand shared the news of his baptism in a typically verbose Instagram video on April 29.

    The unlikely relationship between Russell Brand, Bear Grylls and God

    Why would chief scout Grylls, a man with a flourishing global career, team up with the “cancelled” Brand – and risk harming his own squeaky-clean brand?

    • Marianka Swain
    Testosterone levels fall in men who are involved in looking after their babies.

    How fatherhood will change your body’s chemistry

    Men’s physiology responds viscerally to parenthood, just as women’s does when caring for infants.

    • Angela Saini
    Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel were real-life lovers 20 years ago.

    The Taste of Things movie review – a feast for the eyes

    Director Anh Hung Tran has created an utterly absorbing film about cuisine as a model for life.

    • John McDonald

    Yesterday

    Hancock Prospecting chairwoman Gina Rinehart.

    Gina Rinehart lobbies NGA to remove Indigenous portrait

    The country’s richest resident has made her displeasure privately known about a portrait at the national institution.

    • Updated
    • Mark Di Stefano
    Shanae and Jade, 2005, a LightJet print by Petrina Hecks, carried an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000 in Deutscher and Hackett’s Australian and International Fine Art online auction on 14 May 2024.

    A little bird delivers record price for photographer

    A bird in the hand might be worth two in the bush, but Petrina Hicks’ photo of a budgie in a girl’s mouth was worth plenty on an otherwise disappointing night.

    • Elizabeth Fortescue
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    To make Furiosa her own, Anya Taylor-Joy allowed herself to be put through an emotional and physical wringer for six months.

    How Anya Taylor-Joy morphed from chess nerd to action hero

    Despite being the star of Furiosa, the actor’s status was cemented by a small role in another big film set in a desert.

    • Kyle Buchanan

    This Month

    Michael Brand

    Michael Brand’s weekend rituals and favourite restaurants

    The Art Gallery of NSW director has a packed weekday – and night – agenda. This is how he lets go on Saturdays and Sundays.

    • Elizabeth Fortescue

    Opera Australia bets on musicals, property development as losses widen

    Australia’s largest performing arts company will produce more musicals, and play more cannily with its property, as it tries to turn losses around.

    • Michael Bailey
    Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald is touring Australia.

    Audra McDonald brings Broadway brilliance to Sydney

    Her voice a marvel of power, control and emotional connection, the musical theatre queen deserved the two standing ovations she got at the Opera House.

    • Michael Bailey

    Think you know this week’s news? Answer these 10 questions

    Have you been paying attention this week? Test your knowledge across politics, business and world news.

    • Ingrid Fuary-Wagner and Daniel Arbon
    America’s largely unified political left is sustaining momentum.

    How the US Supreme Court became a political organisation

    When judges make decisions that should be left to politicians, they undermine democracy.

    • Amanda Stoker
    Monster and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

    ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Monster’ movie reviews

    One is set to be a blockbuster, but the other is one of those critically acclaimed films that can expect to enjoy only a modest success at the box office.

    • John McDonald
    John Coburn’s Yellow Landscape with White Bird, 2003, was estimated at $25,000 to $35,000 in Bonhams 7 May auction of Important Australian Art. It fetched $31,250 (including buyer’s premium).

    Brack bolts, Whiteley sinks on a tough night for art sales

    A John Brack with a fabulous backstory was a rare highlight at Bonhams, as Leonard Joel wheels out the big contemporary names for its Centum sale.

    • Elizabeth Fortescue
    Writer Constance Debré in Paris last April.

    Famous, poor and gay, this lawyer scandalised her class, and country

    Constance Debré left her husband for women. Denied custody of her son, she turned the story into a book that shocked France.

    • Claire Allfree
    For the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, music is a powerful tool.

    How Kim Jong-un’s propaganda song conquered TikTok

    “Friendly Father” is the first North Korean composition about the leader to go viral for its musicality.

    • Harriet Barber
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    Irish punk-traditionalist band The Mary Wallopers.

    What Shane MacGowan told this rebellious folk band

    Like a more political Pogues, Dundalk’s The Mary Wallopers have won acclaim for a rousing live show they bring to Australia this month.

    • Michael Bailey
    Shaun Lee-Chen and Melissa Farrow duet at Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Baroque Kaleidoscope

    Australian Brandenburg Orchestra proves good things come in twos

    A program heavy on duets, inspired by the twin mirrors of a kaleidoscope, was a thing of aural wonder.

    • Michael Bailey
    “There is no reason to assume that T. rex had primate-like habits,” says zoologist Kai Caspar of Heinrich Heine University in Germany.

    Like a chicken or a baboon – just how smart was T. rex?

    If the long-extinct giant wasn’t scary enough, imagine if it was as clever as a primate – but not every zoologist is on board with the idea.

    • Will Dunham
    Opera star Teddy Tahu Rhodes at Golden Boy restaurant on Adelaide’s North Terrace.

    ‘I loved’ my old accounting job – surprise confession from opera star

    Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes is nostalgic about his days working with spreadsheets before he quit the world of finance to fulfil his musical ambitions.

    • Simon Evans

    Think you know this week’s news? Answer these 10 questions

    Have you been paying attention this week? Test your knowledge across politics, business and world news.

    • Ingrid Fuary-Wagner and Daniel Arbon