Latest articles from Alan Tennie
What it feels like to ... jump off a bridge
Your first jump is impossible to describe. It goes against everything your mind and body is telling you. The freefall is amazing, a counterintuitive mixture of adrenalin and relaxation as the wind passes your face. It’s surreal. Being pulled back up by the cord is always a massive relief: you know you’ve survived.
Alan Tennie: The enduring allure of the circus
RAISED above the circus floor is a mesh sphere with a diameter of around four metres: the Globe of Death. For the first time ever in the UK, five motorcyclists have entered, reaching speeds of over 60mph as they pass one another at close proximity. The smell of popcorn and sawdust in the big top is now infused with exhaust fumes as the looping bikes roar. Thinking the experience could grow no more intense, the globe begins to split at the centre. Now separated by a metre long gap, the audience can see the riders’ eyes as they indicate to one another the relevant positions to take for the finale as the two hemispheres begin to close again. This is the final act of Zippos Circus in Falkirk, and it’s an enthralling and bizarre ride from start to finish.
Nightmares for the modern world: why 1930s monsters are being reinvented for a Dark Universe
THE Mummy's release opens a portal to a brand new shared cinematic universe, which will draw together monsters and ghouls from classic Universal Cinema. Dark Universe is set to reflect the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a series of remakes of the studio's 1930s monster films.
New Yorker: 'Corbyn's not a naughty boy - he’s the Messiah'
The New Yorker magazine has taken aim at the farcical pantomime that has been UK politics in recent weeks with a biting, biblical satire of the General Election, Brexit and Theresa May.
Exclusive Sunday Herald Culture Awards 2017 shortlist revealed
IT'S official - the shortlist for the Sunday Herald's Culture Awards, dubbed Scotland's Oscars, can be unveiled today.
A history of Wonder Woman in 8½ decades
1940s: The popularity of superhero comics explodes, but Harvard psychologists complain they portray a “bloodcurdling masculinity”.
Are you the next big Scottish band? Prove it and win the chance to open the Belladrum festival this August
Do you think you're the next Primal Scream? Franz Ferdinand? Young Fathers? Chvrches? Rather like the Devil, do you have all the best tunes? Are you so good, that it's not just your Mum who's your number-one fan? Are you designed, refined but as yet unsigned? If you are a brilliantly original young Scottish band shouting "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" at this paper, then pay attention, kids, for opportunity knocks.