Author: Chris Mads

  • Around the world in 80 cocktails with Mr Fogg’s

    Immersive bar experiences are everywhere in London today. It is almost impossible to scroll through Facebook or Instagram without seeing a photo of cocktails in an outlandish vessel or staff dressed to the nines as anything from 1920’s high society to Game of Thrones-esque lords and ladies. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good…

  • Dressing Camp: Met Gala 2019

    The Met Gala 2019 took place last night. The “Oscars of the fashion industry” took its theme from the current Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion. Historically, the theme for the evening has caused problems for guests – in 2014, event chair and Vogue editor Anna Wintour declared Benedict Cumberbatch as the…

  • If cannabis is the answer, what is the question?

    This column originally appeared in DFNI* Late last year, United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described the production of industrial hemp as a “bright spot” for America’s embattled tobacco farmers. It was a marked shift for the man who, in 2014, told a radio station that legalising marijuana would be “giving up”. But the…

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    Spoiler Rules Version 2.0

    A few years ago I wrote about my Madden’s Laws on Spoilers. It was a fairly simple directive for what is and isn’t acceptable regarding sharing spoilers on social media in public. Like everything else in the world, things have become rather more complicated since then. The influx of blockbusters and’must-watch’ TV has muddied the…

  • First look at Disney’s new The Lion King

    We have been given our first look at Disney’s new version of The Lion King. Star Wars and Atlanta star Donald Glover and music megastar Beyonce lead a big-name cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar and John Oliver as Zazu and the return of James Earl Jones as Mufasta. The trailer includes recreations of some…

  • Ambrose Spellman: Netflix’s most stylish warlock

    The new series of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has landed on Netflix and that means the return of the world’s best-dressed warlock. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the master of boho chic: Ambrose Spellman. The once house-bound warlock, played simply brilliantly by British actor Chance Perdomo, spent most of the first series draped…

  • First look at Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker – and an Avengers taster

    “We don’t need another film about – or featuring – The Joker.” I have said it a few times. Jack Nicholson did a brilliant job. Heath Ledger somehow revived it with a second startling performance. Since then the Clown Prince of Crime has appeared all over the place – most notably in Jared Leto’s divisive…

  • A uniform: What do my clothes say about me?

    “You look very dapper. Do you always look so smart?” I had just stood up from the table to say goodbye to the contacts and clients I was having a drink with when this casual observation was directed my way. The scene was Yumn bar in Croydon’s Boxpark and my attire was a three-piece, navy…

  • Size does matter

    This column was originally published in DFNI* Are the days of giant boxes of cigars fading? It is starting to look that way, if the latest murmurings from the industry – and the latest releases – are anything to go by. Before you panic, the products themselves are not getting smaller; cigars are still being…

  • Hair at Wimbledon Theatre

    I have somehow managed to never see Hair before. I watched the film version at university for one of my modules, but I knew little about the stage show beyond the Age of Aquarius song and a vague outline of the plot. This situation was unacceptable to S, who is a huge fan of the…