.com, Adverts and Charity

Hi everyone!

I wanted to update all my wonderful readers for making my first months on the internet so fulfilling. It means a lot when you have views, rant about them rather terribly and people pay attention. Thanks to you, I’ve now been eligible to get advertising on my website! Advertising is something I was apprehensive about putting up. It takes away from the blog’s content and makes it feel a bit more commercial. But then I thought, hey, a blogger has to make money too, right? And it also became clear that I could put the money that I make to be put to a good cause. So, I’ve decided that 50% of the money I make will  go towards charity. No, not some slight portion, I mean 50% of the money. Remember, that every time you click an ad, you’re helping a charity. My idea is to change the charity every second month. This month’s charity is going to be getting safe water for 100 people in Haiti, which is going to cost £100. I’m setting the bar low because I don’t know how much money this is going to generate. I will be doing this through Oxfam and to find out more about how it works head on over to http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped/ecowarriors/safe-water-for-10-people-ou5087ws

This will all happen over on my new domain http://www.aculturedlad.com

All of these changes should be in place within the next 24 hours.

Thank you so much

Cultured Lad

Album Review: Master of My Make-Believe – Santigold

Santi White returns with her second album, four years after her hit debut, mainly due to exhaustion she says. But does it live up to the wait? In short, yes.

Her eclectic mix of art pop is back on top form. She hasn’t changed which is something I love about this artist. She doesn’t rely on her image, outlandish press stunts, crazy meat dresses or getting into twitter feuds with other celebrities to get her fame, she earns it. Not only is she the master of her make-believe, she’s the master of her image and her own genre. Words can’t describe what genre this record is. It’s just Santigold. What’s not to love?

Book Review: The Other Hand by Chris Cleave

“Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.” I’ve never agreed with the blurb of a book more. Chris Cleave’s quietly powerful novel manages to engross you from it’s first sentence. “Sometimes I wish I was a pound coin.” perhaps it’s these incredibly simplistic sentences that manage to captivate the reader. It enters your mind without any graces or claims to change your life yet Cleave’s grip on suffering and grief is so tight, it’ll captivate your mind and your heart.

The blurb on the back is deliberately vague as is my description of the book. Little Bee is released from a detention centre in London, the place she has come to after leaving her home of Nigeria. Sarah works as a magazine editor, she has a five year old son. Something dramatic has changed her life. The two have already met. That’s all I can divulge.

Album Review: Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls

Personally, I’m not a fan of blues, Eric Clapton or any of that kind of stuff. However; what’s so great about Alabama Shakes is how they breathe a whole ton of fresh air into this somewhat tired genre, that makes it seem far less overbearing and niche. Yet it’s not sugary pop (don’t expect Gotye). If anything it feels more soul inspired and the whole thing conjures up a world of sepia. That can’t be a bad thing.

Play Review: Can We Talk About This?

DV8’s new piece definitely talks. It moves as Lloyd Newson’s company does so well, but the talking is key to this spectacularly powerful and discursive piece of theatre. The play opens with a man asking the audience how many of them feel morally superior to the Taliban. Only 10% of people on the night I went put their hands up. The actor then begins to list some of the things the Taliban have done. People shift uneasily. That is what this show does, it pushes boundaries and it talks about something that I personally feel people are too scared to talk about.

The show examines cases of extremism in Islam ranging from Theo Van Gogh’s Muhammed Cartoons to the burning of the Satanic Verses. Each of these are verbatim from interviews carried out in the past or ones the DV8 have conducted themselves.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games seems to have taken the world by storm. Suzanne Collins’s ‘young adult’ fiction series has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and has been translated in more than 26 languages. I ad previously done a post previewing the film after it garnered so much hype at the most recent VMAs. I must add here, as I’m a bit of a Harry Potter nerd that this is most certainly not stepping on Harry Potter turf yet and is not expected to.

The story follows Katniss Everdeen, a teenager who lives in Panem, a nation in a dystopian future where North America has been destroyed. Panem has been divided into twelve districts and an affluent Capitol. Our heroine, Katniss, hails from one of the poorer districts, District 12. Due to people in the past rebelling against the Captiol, The Hunger Games have been set up. These are games in which a boy and a girl between the ages of 12-18 must be chosen from each district to fight to the death. Katniss’s twelv year old sister gets chosen so Katniss decides to volunteer in order to save her sister.

Play Review: Bingo at the Young Vic

Star power, revival, political, Shakespeare. Bingo has everything going for it and completely takes advantage of it. You won’t feel shortchanged after seeing this show, I can assure you of that.

Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death is a play written in 1973 and portrays an ageing, Shakespeare in his home in Warwickshire. Without giving much away, it shows Shakespeare engaging in land deals (sort of) and dealing with family trials and tribulations.

84th Oscar Predictions!

It’s that time of year again. The big night! Like I said in my last post my year begins tomorrow, when the Oscars are over and I’ve stopped looking back on the films of last year. Crazy, I know, but that’s just how much of a film lover I am. Here’s a video I put in my top ten list that I have been watching over and over. It’s great and reminds me of what a good year I’ve had. Hopefully you’ll feel the same too!

Top Ten Films of 2011

It’s that time of year. The Oscars, and the awards season. Everyone looks back at their favourite films of the year. Maybe this is because I’m a mad film junkie, my year doesn’t begin until The Oscars are over because I’m looking over last year so much. Crazy, I know. Just thought I’d share this great video with you guys. It really reminds me of what a great year I’ve had and how I love cinema. Bring on 2012!

Movie Review: The Descendants

After a seven year break, Alexander Payne is back with his latest offering which is a real Oscar frontrunner. It tackles some of the themes that we’ve previously seen in Payne’s work but certainly includes new material. It definitely goes along with his perfect track record.

Matt King (George Clooney) is a land baron in Hawaii. He’s supposedly in ‘paradise’ but life doesn’t seem to be very paradisiacal at the moment. His wife has just suffered from a boating accident and is in a serious coma. He’s now left to take care of his two daughters, and he’s the self confessed ‘back-up’ parent. While Ms. King is in the coma he finds out that she’s been having an affair.