Over 20 years before Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for Best Director, Sally Potter – the woman behind Orlando and Rage – made cinema history in 1983 with her first feature film The Gold Diggers.

Using an all-female cast and crew – all of whom received equal pay – the film was made for £250,000 and was a landmark in female filmmaking.

Radical and experimental, complete with dance numbers and songs performed by Potter herself, the story centres around a bank worker (Colette Laffont) who becomes obsessed by how money is circulated and traded, and the uncanny way it always ends up in the hands of powerful men. Her path converges with that of beautiful blonde, Ruby (Julie Christie) a film star who is herself an object trading on her beauty. Together they become a united front against bureaucracy and commodification.

As far as feminist-fantasy musicals go The Gold Diggers is in a category of its own making – for those in Glasgow this Thursday night there’s a rare chance to catch a big screen showing at the Centre for Contemporary Arts.

http://cca-glasgow.com

Tags: colette laffont, julie christie, sally potter, the gold diggers

Twin loves Marina Hyde:

“…if what you’re making isn’t a high camp movie but a documentary about child trafficking, and your famous trainwreck star keeps genuine experts from fronting such films, and your end product features a scene in which a very young and serially abused child labourer is required to comfort a Hollywood starlet, then it would seem fair to cast the production as such an obvious moral failure that it’s worth anatomising the wrongheaded decisions that led to such a flawed idea being aired – and wondering if they are not symptomatic of a wider cultural malaise.”

Read for yourself:
www.guardian.co.uk

Top image: Lindsay Lohan in India filming for the BBC. Photograph: BBC/Blakeway Productions

Tags: lindsay lohan, lindsay lohan child trafficking bbc3, marina hyde

‘Curiosity, imagination and small things that talk about bigger things’-this is what Luminous Books is all about.

Artist Louisa Bailey started out with just a single shelf of about 20 paperbacks before opening her pop-up shop tucked just off Dalston’s Kinglsand Road, at the George Polke Gallery in September 2009.

Every Saturday Luminous Books presents a highly edited collection of rare and unusual second hand editions. An act of defiance against the endless choices posed by bookshop chains and a great antidote to the online Amazon experience, book lovers are encouraged to browse through the works of writers like Jorge Luis Borges, Bertrand Russel and Miranda July, or contemplate Plato’s cave, whales and the Antarctic.

You can also catch Luminous at various East London markets, and this Easter Sunday at Wills-Moody Jumble Sale. Keep an eye out for copies of J.D Salinger in early April when illustrator Nicola Starr will present her collection of rare Salinger editions.

Luminous Books is open every Saturday 12 – 6pm. George Polke gallery, 3.5 Frederick Terrace, E8 4EW
www.luminousbooks.co.uk

Tags: George Polke gallery, Louisa Bailey, Luminous Books, Wills-Moody Jumble Sales

What better way to spend a Sunday night than at Let Loose. Twin’s surprise highlight was the understated presence of R-Patz who caused a certain hot hot heat amongst the female contingent of Bush Hall.

Tags: bush hall, let loose, r-patz, robert pattinson

Illustrator Poppy Chancellor reprises ‘Let Loose’ this Sunday. A late night fete with magnificent music and poetry, visitors will be treated to the sweet sounds of Eliza Doolittle, Plaster of Paris and more (a secret special guest is lined up). Last year Paloma Faith performed, and stretched atop a grand piano with a rose in her mouth!

The WORK IT! team will be selling vintage clothes, and there’s a chance to buy accessories and cakes – as well as the wares of up and coming artists who will host their own stalls. Sweet. All proceeds go to The Keith Mason memorial fund. Feel-good fun or what?

Let Loose, is at Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Road, W12 7lJ 7th March at 7.30pm, £8
www.bushhallmusic.co.uk

Tags: bush hall, let loose, poppy chancellor, the keith mason memorial fund

Few actors have consistently provoked like Samantha Morton. On-screen we’ve seen her skip town for Spain after her boyfriend’s sucide in ‘Morvern Callar’, get everyone talking as Sean Penn’s mute lover in ‘Sweet and Lowdown’ and even take on Marilyn Monroe in ‘Mister Lonely’.

Morton’s ability to mesmerise and disconcert is no less powerful in her 1997 debut ‘Under the Skin’. Here she plumbs promiscuity, masochism and rage as Iris – a young woman who tries to overcome her grief at the sudden loss of her mother through casual sex – pushing her relationship with her sister to the limits. The ICA are screening ‘Under the Skin’ this weekend. It’s well worth a revisit.

www.ica.org.uk

Tags: film, ICA, Samantha Morton, Sweet and Lowdown, Under the Skin

What captures the eye of New York gallerist James Danziger captivates us too. His personal blog The Year in Pictures sifts through the layers of our dense cultural world, distilling the best photographs, as well as other jewels, for us to fall in love with and delight in. Up there, a picture of William Eggleston and Charlotte Rampling, illustrating a post about Juergen Teller.

pictureyear.blogspot.com

Tags: James Danziger, personal blog, The Year in Pictures

This week,  Joana Preiss shares with us her top ten inspirational women…

1/ Sylvia Plath is a fascinating poetess. ‘The Bell Jar’ is, for me, a masterpiece
2/ Anaîs Nin for her freedom
3/ Hannah Arendt for her modern thinking. She was a big political theorist
4/ Pina Bausch is an essential figure in the history of movement and gesture
5/ Gertrude Stein for her avant-gardism
6/ Marilyn Monroe for her grace
7/ Lillian Gish – she’s divine
8/ Ingrid Caven for her fabulous work with Fassbinder, and for her singing
9/ Gena Rowlands for all John Cassavetes movies and for her incredible sense of improvisation
10/ Maria Callas for her unique voice

Tags: icons, Inspiration, joanna preiss, top 10

Some people just have it all. This time, the person in question is writer Molly Young. Not only does her wit make her one of our favourite scribes, but also pretty, charming and very, very young. Molly has already written for Maxim, The New York Observer and More Intelligent Life, as well as blogging alongside Spike Jonze on the official Where The Wild Things Are website. Not bad for a 22 year old. We wish her all the best and can’t help wondering when she’s going to add Twin to her prodigious editorial list.

magicmolly.tumblr.com

Tags: molly young, Where the Wild things are, writing

We wish the ‘Royal Dandie’ – the smallest miniature pot bellied pigs in the world – were sold in the UK. For our American readers, these very domesticated cuties will walk on a lead, and at 29-39 lbs are easy to look after and transport. But remember: a ‘Royal Dandie’ is not just for Christmas.

www.royaldandie.com

Tags: christmas, pet, pot bellied pigs, usa

Maggs Bros – one of the most beautiful purveyors of rare books and prints in the whole of London – have an exhibition and sale of flyers, photographs and prints all of a countercultural variety. The historical riches on offer in ‘Please do not bend’ are placed under some fascinating titles: Agitation, The Occult, Magic, Revolutionaries and Urban Guerrillas. Sounds like our kind of sale. One notable piece of left-field ephemera comes courtesy of the invitation pictured, sent out by Richard Neville during the infamous 1971 OZ obscenity trial. According to Carl Williams, curator of the counterculture section at Maggs, “On his way to the trial, over The Schoolkids issue of their wild underground magazine OZ, Neville added his own note to this invite.” We’re intrigued. My oh my, the publishing world certainly isn’t what it used to be.

‘Please do not bend’ is at Maggs Gallery, 50 Hays Mews, London W1J 5QJ from 15th December – 3rd January 2010.

maggs.com

Tags: maggs bros, maggs gallery, richard neville

We love these feline and fido themed lamps created by British designer and artist Stuart Haygarth. Part of his first show for Haunch of Venison, entitled ‘Found’, the lamps are one element of Haygarth’s enchanting exploration of discarded kitsch and taxonomy.

‘Found’ by Stuart Haygarth is at Haunch of Venison until 30th January 2010.

www.haunchofvenison.com

Tags: exhibition, haunch of venison, lamps, stuart haygarth

Darlings. I’ve abandoned you. But there is a reason for this, quite a sensible one, I’m sure you’ll agree. I decided that to fully live up to my moniker of Ms Shelebridee I had to start acting more like one. I was inspired. And it’s all Mariah Carey’s fault.

I realised that to be a real star I must stop – absolutely stop – actually doing anything at all. Just like her. I wanted an entourage. Entourage equals power, and that, darlings, is something that’s been severely lacking in Ms Shelebridee’s life for a while now. I wanted to be my own very mini-Mariah, right here in my own little corner of West London.

But it didn’t work. It was the tooth-brushing that did it.

I had recruited Gay Boy Number One as my assistant in this noble aim. Ms Shelebridee couldn’t quite afford any new staff, but luckily he thought this would be fantastic fun. So he carried me down the stairs at The Cow in Notting Hill which got us a few raised eyebrows, and he spoke on my behalf during a shopping trip down Sloane Street, while insisting no-one actually look me in the eye. GBNO even guided me around Waitrose and carried all my shopping home, but when I broached the subject of tooth-brushing, the Tiffany rattle was thrown out of the designer buggy.

No matter how much I stamped my feet and tossed my professionally blow-dried hair GBNO refused to brush my teeth for me. Even after I told him that Mariah Carey probably had her teeth brushed, he wouldn’t budge. While he said he’d brush Mariah’s teeth – mine, apparently, aren’t quite the same thing.

Truly, truly hurt I was. I even managed to ruin my new blow-dry. GBNO and I haven’t rowed like that since I said the Sticky and Sweet tour was boring. But true stardom is dependent on such frivolity. If he wouldn’t brush my teeth then the whole noble project had to be sent straight to the recycling bin. Mariah just wouldn’t approve if we tried to do this by halves. Sigh. Maybe in my next life I can develop a true entourage, without having to put up with Gay Boy Number One’s petulance. And if thinks he’s going to be my plus one to the Strictly Final, he’s got another thing coming.

Tags: mariah carey, ms shelebridee, teeth

Twin’s art editor Francesca Gavin has been busy working alongside artist Jonathan Yeo co-curating a permanent collection of artworks for the Dean Street Townhouse, the latest addition to the Soho House Group, which opens tomorrow.

In the style of Colmbe D’Or artists Tracey Emin, Sam Griffin, Fiona Banner, Tim Noble and Gavin Turk – to name just a few – were all given credit at the hotel, which was once the notorious Gargoyle Club, in exchange for their artworks. So visitors know they will certainly be in good cultural company.

www.deanstreettownhouse.com

Tags: Art, book, francesca gavin, jonathan yeo, soho house

This beautiful book – Fashion Etcetera by Sam Haskins – is top of our cultural wish-lists. We spotted this Tommy Hilfiger edition in Colette this weekend and quite frankly we need it in our lives.

€75.00 Available from Colette

Tags: book, colette, sam haskins, want one

My life is so completely and utterly unfair. I am supposed to lead this life of blatant excess, big hair and good shoes and yet I am reduced to sitting here – on my sofa by myself on a weekend night – seething. There is no better word for it. Seething because, try as I might, I cannot tear myself away. I am an addict. I want to switch off and go out; show off the new, subtle Botox injections I had last week but nothing works. Nothing.

It is mesmerising. There can be no doubt about that. The drama, the fever pitch of expectation, the knife-edge of excitement. And when it happens – when I see it in all its robust glory – I get a rush. My breathing is shallow and my heart races. I can’t help it.

I’m supposed to be working my way through a list of books that will hopefully make me sound more intelligent at social gatherings, but I cannot wrench myself away from this. I’m even turning down invites, which may be a crass admission, and no-one really turns down a good invite even though they might pretend to. Dinner at Scott’s, a little private launch for a new member’s bar in Chelsea and some art gallery thing were all discarded just so I could satiate the horror of this pure, unadulterated addiction.

And now the withdrawal symptoms start. I start wondering and contemplating, my mind a tormented mass of tangled possibilities. I want to know what will happen next. Not even going through the magazines during my weekly pedicure was enough. I’m counting the days, the hours, the minutes….

I just can’t get enough of the glossiness of it. The way it bounces.

I actually think I would kill to have Cheryl Cole’s hair.

I can’t believe there’s a whole television show built up around it. Well, she is worth it.

Tags: cheryl cole, ms shelebridee

The super style of the ‘Gentlemen of Bacongo’ is celebrated this month with a brief but brilliant exhibition. Photographer Daniele Tamagni’s images provide a fascinating insight into the vibrant street style of ‘The Sapeurs’ – the immaculately dressed dandies from the heart of the Congo. As King Kester Emenya, the Congolese musician says, “The white man may have invented clothes but we turned it into an art”. Apparently, Sir Paul Smith, who prefaced the original book based his spring collection on the images. Nuff said.

From 27th – 29th November, London Newcastle Project Space, 28 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DP.
www.trolleybooks.com

Tags: book, congo, gentlemen of bacongo, paul smith, photography, the sapeurs

Fantastic writer, performer and TWIN contributor Sophie Woolley – who imagined a fictitious female future in issue one’s ‘The Age of Aquarius’ – is set to star in Channel 4’s latest reality drama, Cast Offs. Frank, dark and funny the series explores what it’s like to live with disability in Britain – all with the help of the writers of Shameless, Skins and The Thick of It.  Sophie – who is partially deaf in real life – plays (Hear no evil) Gabriella, and appears in each twice-weekly episode. Catch her big moment on December 2nd.

Cast Offs airs from 24th November channel4.com/programmes/cast-offs

www.sophiewoolley.com

Tags: cast offs, channel 4, sophie woolley, TV

This week we went to Wahaca in Covent Garden to sample some ‘Mexican market’ food in honour of The Day of the Dead. The restaurant was in all-out festive mode with brightly coloured ‘papel picados’, hand-painted masks and energetic environmental art as far as the eye could see.

As I left – after masses of freshly cooked Mexican loveliness (and countless tequilas) – I grabbed a handful of what I thought were matches. They were in fact ‘grow your own Serrano chillies’. Sweet touch.

www.wahaca.co.uk

Tags: covent garden, food, mexican, restaurant, test

There is so much to be said about Madonna, whose life is as infinite and intriguing as the never-ending story. This is could be why Pud Whacker began his blog: Madonna’s Scrapbook. It’s more than just another trashy gossip website with juicy stories about Madonna and Jesus. In amongst the pictures from her latest trip to Malawi, you’ll find original Eighties editorials, funny pictures of Madonna as child, limited edition album covers and exclusive artwork. It’s definitely Twin’s bookmark at the moment.

madonnascrapbook.blogspot.com

Tags: madonna, melanie, scrapbook