The watcherTelevisionThe Inglourious Basterds star is the best in the biz at sinister charisma, but his new office-based drama is hard to care about – even if it does seem designed to make you think of Elon Musk
We’re still deep in the puzzlebox era, I’m sad to report. You know what I mean: eight- to 10-episode TV arcs that revolve round a mystery, revealing the prestige of it via incremental steps and breadcrumbed clues, ideally with a couple of flashback scenes that seed more context as the story unfurls.
BarbecueYou don’t need a barbecue this summer. Be brave, says Neil Rankin from the Smokehouse restaurant, and just stick your steak naked straight on to the charcoals – you’ll get 100 times more flavour
Dirty food, to most people, is burgers served in doughnuts, deep-fried birthday cakes or some diabetes-inducing culinary challenge served in a hubcap. Thankfully, we’ve moved on. It’s no longer 2014. This summer, for me, is going to be all about dirty barbecue.
The West Virginia attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, was one of the recipients of the anonymous letter detailing alleged misdeeds within the state police. Photograph: Jeff Dean/APThe West Virginia attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, was one of the recipients of the anonymous letter detailing alleged misdeeds within the state police. Photograph: Jeff Dean/APWest Virginia This article is more than 6 months oldWest Virginia state police face damning claims: ‘The more we dug, the worse it stunk’This article is more than 6 months oldAn anonymous letter detailed abuses including hidden cameras, theft, kidnapping, druggings and rape – and their cover-up
MoviesReviewA mix of fiction and ethno-doc, this portrait of life on Indonesia doesn’t quite reach the soulfulness of its models Apichatpong Weerasethakul or Lav Diaz
Featuring non-professional actors from the Indonesian island of Java, this beguiling – and occasionally muddled – debut from the Spanish director Álvaro Gurrea treads the line between fiction and ethnographic documentary. Suddenly abandoned by his wife Olive, Yono (Yono Aris Munandar), a sulphur miner at the Kawah Ijen volcano, struggles to win back his beloved.
ScienceBig trouble in the world of 'Big Physics'Six months ago, Jan Hendrik Schön seemed like a slam-dunk nominee for a Nobel prize. Then some of his colleagues started to take a closer look at his research.In February 2000, a promising young physicist named Jan Hendrik Schön published some startling experimental results. Schön and his partners had started with molecules that don't ordinarily conduct electricity, and claimed they had succeeded in making them behave like semiconductors, the circuits that make computers work.
Fashion industry This article is more than 3 months oldBirkenstock shares fall 12.6% after landing on the US stock marketThis article is more than 3 months oldShoemaker lands on NYSE with $7.5bn valuation as investors bet there was less mileage in consumer demand for its sandals
Shares in Birkenstock fell 12.6% after landing on the US stock market, valuing the German shoemaker at $7.5bn as investors bet there was less mileage in consumer demand for its cork-soled sandals, which have become an unlikely fashion success story.
UK news This article is more than 10 years oldDale Cregan pleads guilty to murders of Mark and David ShortThis article is more than 10 years oldProsecutors say man who admitted murders of two policewomen had also confessed in prison that he killed father and sonIt was, said the prosecution, "the worst kept secret in Strangeways". That Dale Cregan, the one-eyed fugitive who killed two policewomen in a grenade attack last summer, had also murdered father and son David and Mark Short.
Guatemala’s flying stick dance – in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Men climb the 30-metre pole in pairs. At the top, they tie a rope to their legs and ankles, then jump together. The annual tradition in the northern town of Cubulco honours its patron saint, James the Great
Esteban Biba/European Pressphoto Agency
Main image: A brightly costumed dancer swings gracefully on a rope above the crowd in Cubulco, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala.
CultureHow much do you know about Little Women? – quizWith the news that a 'hyper-stylised, gritty' TV adaptation is being made, in which 'disparate half-sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy band together in order to survive the dystopic streets of Philadelphia', we take a look at Louisa May Alcott's original, to see just how much you rememberncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJqfpLi0e9CuoLNnYmV%2BdnvArp5oaGRkr7C7yqxkpaGkqbmmedaopJ6mXabCqsY%3D
ObituaryMary HansenPopular singer with indie band StereolabThe last time I saw the musician Mary Hansen, who has been killed in a cycling accident aged 36, she was strapping her bicycle bag across her chest, fixing a light to her clothes and walking to her funny hi-tech bike, preparing to cycle off in the drizzle. She had just been to a London gallery opening, was heading off to do something musical and was full of talk about the art foundation course she had recently started, the music she had been making with London-based indie band Chicano and the film soundtrack she had just completed.