OpinionGrace Dent's Weekend column This article is more than 4 years oldIs Simon Cowell's surprising new face a vision of our deepfake future?This article is more than 4 years oldGrace DentIn the future, we might all embark on a side-slide not into younger, prettier people, but whole new personae
The human face, that subsection of appendages living just south of our eyebrows, has rarely been under such attack. Take the Bill Hader deepfake video that went viral this month, in which the comedian does impressions of Tom Cruise and Seth Rogen, and seems to morph into each of them as he goes. Read More...
The ObserverPoetryReviewThe songwriter and poet’s final writings are full of youthful spark, beauty and romanceThe first time I came across Leonard Cohen – before I had ever heard his songs – I was an opinionated 16-year-old. I was drawn to a volume of his poetry in a bookshop but when I got it home dismissed it as a) too depressed and b) – more snootily – as not literature. Now, decades later, I no longer care whether Cohen’s work is literature. Read More...
PaintingThe works of the Painter of Light have been reproduced on furniture and inspired the building of a whole village, but the verdict into his death reveals a bleaker pictureIn death, the man who at his peak claimed to be the world's most successful living artist perhaps achieved the sort of art-world excess he craved.
On Tuesday, the coroner's office in Santa Clara, California, announced that the death of Thomas Kinkade, the Painter of Light™, purveyor of kitsch prints to the masses, was caused by an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. Read More...