Friday, October 30, 2015
Bradley Cooper Transforms into a Culinary Master for 'Burnt'
Dani Filth Picks 6 Scary Songs to Listen to This Halloween
Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth has made a career out of being scary, so it figures that he’d know how to have a good Halloween. We asked the frontman, who told us he was suffering from a painful-sounding “bludgeoned brain” as a result of playing 13 (oooh) shows in a row, to pick some of the scariest music to listen to this Halloween so you can really ramp up the ghoulishness.
BLACK NO1 by Type O Negative
“The definitive Halloween track, immortalised by the line, ’Every day is Halloween’. Slow, richly melodic and creepy, this was a favourite for the season when I was in my late teens, and it was this track that reinvented the gothic metal movement in one pendulous swing. Type O’s singer Peter Steele was a Frankenstein’s monster of a man I respected hugely who sadly passed away a few years back – I had the very good fortune of touring with him. This song stands tall as his ghoulish epitaph.”
BLACKEST MAGICK IN PRACTICE by Cradle Of Filth
“Bludgeoned by crippling loss, the protagonist of the song resorts to a dark and vicious magic to exact his revenge upon those who raped and murdered his wife. Of course, I would drop a Cradle Of Filth track into the proverbial cauldron and this is my favourite from our latest musical excretion. In fact, it’s the subject of our latest video, which is due to be delivered in time for American Thanksgiving at the end of November. It’s a brooding tragedy that swings swiftly from poetic melancholia to pure horror and back again - but I would say that.”
HALLOWEEN by The Misfits
“A must play! I've blasted this out on every Halloween since time immemorial. There's no real question as to why – everything is apparent about this song. It's a four-minute horror-punk sing-a-long of frenetic, ghastly beauty, played by an iconic band that are as much a part of the Samhain celebration as pumpkins, pranks and poorly-made masks.”
THE OATH by Mercyful Fate
“An amazingly creepy track replete with cobwebbed organ intro, thunder and demonic mutterings. The singer King Diamond resonates between sounding like a tortured soul, shackled witch and optional restless ghost. My friends and I used to listen to this in the dark of an eve, with the window thrown wide to the wind and rain."
Soundtracks (various)
“I love soundtracks, especially epic, dark, tragic ones. So I recommend a bunch for you to choose your preference. There’s Bram Stoker's Dracula, John Carpenter’s Halloween, Hellraiser, Interview With A Vampire, Death And The Maiden, The Mother Of Tears, Sleepy Hollow, Perfume, Children Of The Corn, The Omen trilogy, Candyman, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Fly and La Sombra Prohibida... Guaranteed to get you in the cobwebbed spirit of things, which they do for me every day. Having a soundtrack playing makes a movie out of everything!”
RAINING BLOOD by Slayer
“I've got to be absolutely honest here, when I first heard this album as a youngster (my mum pre-ordered it for me from the States for Christmas) I was spellbound by every single second of its 28-minute running time. It is deeply intense, addictive and memorable, with a neck-cracking production by Def Jam legend Rick Rubin. This track is a raving monster of a tune heralding the return of the Dark One from exile. Put this on for the trick-or-treaters and you’ll be guaranteed to save your candy on the night.”
Thursday, October 29, 2015
22 Gift Ideas for Gym Rats
Do Something: We Got Pumped with Pumpkins for Halloween
Before we got involved, the best way to get fit at Halloween was by running away from murderous ghouls. We thought that was a bit extreme, so we grabbed a couple of (small, but deceptively heavy) pumpkins, stuck them on the end of a big metal bar, and invented the Devil's own biceps curl.
We took our freaky fitness equipment around the Coach office and challenged our colleagues to as many pumpkin lifts as they could muster. Check out how they got on:
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Fit For the Road: 6 Killer Cycling Workouts
What Scares the World’s Most Fearless Instagrammers?
Explorers, extreme sports professionals and other career daredevils race down mountains, hang out with some of the world’s most dangerous animals and risk their lives daily, so you’d think they’d be pretty hard to scare. Surely mundane stuff like spiders and clowns are nothing compared to a triple spin off a mountain on a snowboard?
To test this theory, we asked four of the most adventurous people on the planet (whose Instagram feeds will also give you serious wanderlust) if anything actually scares them. And guess what - it turns out they’re human after all.
Sean Conway (@conway_sean)
Endurance athlete named 2014’s Adventurer of the Year by the Scottish Adventure Awards
You’d think a man who’d completed a triathlon the length of Britain would be completely unflappable, but you’ll see a different side to Sean Conway if you pop a balloon in front of him. “Balloons on their own are fine, but any risk of popping, and I run,” he says.
While he isn’t afraid of heights, he also battles vertigo, and says he often feels dizzy – even while watching TV. And that beard serves a practical purpose: to stave off any jellyfish that might get too near his face.
Catherine Capon (@catherinecapon)
The woman who completed 12 adventures in 12 months
“My job involves me swimming with great white sharks and anacondas and coming face to face with Komodo dragons, grizzly bears and silverback gorillas,” says Catherine. “Although I have a healthy respect for these animals, they don't scare me. Humans are far scarier!"
She’s philosophical about the things that really put the frighteners on her: pessimism, forgetting to be thankful and conforming are all on the list. “For me, living on the edge is what makes me feel most alive,” she says. “The thought of losing my imagination and ability to be creative is terrifying.”
The Turner Twins (@theturnertwiins)
Self-described adventure guinea pigs
While others may simple climb the highest mountain in Europe, Russia’s 5,642m Mount Elbrus, Ross and Hugo Turner actually scaled the peak in the name of research. One twin wore modern mountaineering gear, while the other donned Victorian garb to help King’s College London’s Department of Twin Research understand the effects of altitude on the human body.
Impressive. Just don’t, whatever you do, make Ross cycle anywhere near a bus, because they terrify him when he’s on his bike. You won’t catch Hugo stumbling home late from a night out either, because he’s scared of walking home in the dark.
Jamie Nicholls (@jamienichollsuk)
British slopestyle snowboarder and Olympic finalist
At just 22, Jamie has already competed in an Olympic final at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. But while he might be able to tackle near-vertical slopes and disorienting white-outs, he probably won’t come to your rescue if there’s a spider in the room.
“Spiders – I can’t stand them,” he says. “It’s not the little ones that bother me, it’s the big house spiders. Everything else in life, like a new trick, I can mentally overcome, but spiders? No!”
Catch Jamie in action at the Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Show from 30th October-1st November in Manchester, and 5th-8th November in London.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Wade Davis: Why Ayahuasca Is Still Having a Moment
Revealed: The Insane Reality of Managing a Football Team
Which manager gives the best team talk?
When Brian Clough was at Nottingham Forest, he had a few tricks to inspire his players. Normally, just before kick off, the dressing room is an emotionally-charged place, with players pacing around, getting pumped up, and there’s music going at a million decibels. But Cloughie told everyone to be quiet, then he got down on his hands and knees and crawled slowly and silently across the floor. He laid a towel out and carefully put a football on top of it. Everyone was spellbound, they thought he’d gone mad. But then he pointed at the ball and whispered just three words: “Look after her.” That was his entire team talk, but that simplicity got the message across – look after the ball and the result will look after itself.
What other methods do managers use to inspire their players?
The age of furiously throwing teacups has gone. Managers today have to be emotionally intelligent, not least because dressing rooms are far more multi-cultural. There are certain cultures, like the South American, the Spanish, the far Eastern, where you cannot criticize and humiliate someone in public because they lose face and they will never forgive you.
So what do the managers do instead?
Gary Monk says it’s all about balance. If he went mental and spent five of the ten minutes he’s got at half time just bollocking someone, it won’t help the player or the group. It’s better to calmly get three bite-sized points across. The tone and feel of your words are as vital as what you actually say – that’s why Mark Hughes will watch TED talks on his day off, or study neuro-linguistic programming. Gary Monk is miked up at every training session he gives, so he can play his words back afterwards and see whether his points were made with clarity.
It all sounds very gentle compared to Fergie’s “hairdryer”…
Karl Robinson, who’s manager of MK Dons, goes to a behavioural expert. He cited one example where he’d tried to make eyeball contact with a player who was performing badly and called him a p**** because he wouldn’t return his gaze. The expert told him to be careful – you don’t what’s happened to this lad in his upbringing. He might come from an abusive background – your anger might impact and damage him. Anyway, what’s the point of screaming and shouting? If you don’t believe me, try this at home: think about a really important decision you need to make, one that could affect your job or family – and scream your lungs out at the same time. It doesn’t work, it’s a distraction.
Is being a manager easier these days?
The opposite. Last season, there were no fewer than 62 managerial changes out of 92 clubs. 47 were sacked, 15 resigned. The average tenure of a manager is less than 15 months. Shaun Derry told me about his sixth game in charge at Notts County. He’d had a tough start to the season and he looked behind him at the club chairman’s “guest” seats and saw seventeen unemployed managers sitting there, all willing him to fail so they could have his job. It was like a row of vultures. The pressure is mental.
Who copes with it best?
Paul Tisdale, the manager at Exeter City, is very strong. He’s actually the second longest serving manager, after Arsene Wenger. He told me what it’s like when you’re 1-0 down and there’s only ten minutes to go. The crowd are bellowing at the players to get stuck in, but you have to block them out and make decisions that you know will get you booed. You have to take off the bloke who’s hurling himself into tackles but not actually doing much positive. His feeling is that the crowd think about football for two hours a week, but he thinks about it for sixteen hours a day.
Have you seen managers crack?
Sometimes it’s the reverse. There’s a famous story about Jimmy Sirrel, who was a taciturn Scottish coach of Notts County in the 1980s. His wife Cathy died late on a Friday night, but he came into work as usual on Saturday morning, said nothing to anyone, gave his team talk, and won the game. Afterwards he went to the club bar and someone asked how Cathy was. He said, “Oh, she died about twelve hours ago.”
That can’t be healthy…
Brendan Rodgers told me that managers have to separate their private and professional lives. He’d just had the most successful four years of his life as a manager, with Swansea and Liverpool, but personally, he was in tatters. His mum and dad had died, he’d divorced from his wife of 23 years, and his son was on trial at the Old Bailey for sexual assault.
So fans should be more sympathetic to managers rather than shouting for them to be sacked?
It would be nice if they at least recognized that managers were people, not supermen. Take Ian Holloway, here’s a guy whose parents told him he was a “mistake”, whose own three daughters were born deaf, and whose wife was told she would die of cancer. On top of that, his career means he’s had to move house 33 times. The fans have no idea of the mental anguish.
Are any managers good at losing?
They all hate it. Even a cerebral man like Arsene Wenger turns into Basil Fawlty. If he could find a stick to beat his car with, he would.
Michael Calvin’s new book Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager, £16.99, is out now.
Monday, October 26, 2015
The War on Bacon Heats Up
Life Lessons From Bond Villains
Until they get taken down in an explosive-filled set-piece, Bond villains tend to be pretty successful. You don’t get to own your own private island, build an evil lair inside a volcano, or employ a voodoo spirit without being pretty organised. Here are some lessons to be learned from everyone’s favourite megalomaniacs.
Follow your passions
Auric Goldfinger bloody loved gold. He was determined enough to turn that passion into a livelihood, becoming a massively successful gold smuggler. When you do what you love, it doesn’t even feel like work.
Hey, pets are nice!
There are loads of health benefits to pet ownership, which Ernst Stavro Blofeld was presumably aware of when he got his cat – the man’s unwell, look at his gammy eye. Playing with pets helps increase serotonin and dopamine levels, making relaxation easier, which is perfect considering an elevated stress level is the last thing you need when taking over the world.
Everyone needs a hobby
All work and no play would make Gustav Graves from Die Another Day a dull boy, so he takes the time to indulge in a bit of fencing. He’s evil, but just imagine how much worse he’d be without that as an outlet.
Nobody can do everything
Elliot Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies knows there's nothing wrong with playing to your strengths and getting help where you need it – he runs a multinational media conglomerate, but when it comes to fisticuffs he gets his burly henchmen involved.
Look after your damn teeth
You probably won’t need them to bite through metal cables like Jaws in Moonraker, but keeping your gnashers in good nick can help stave off heart disease.
Don’t be over-reliant on technology
Raoul Silva from Skyfall is a computer genius, an expert hacker who manages to infiltrate MI6 with an intricately planned scheme. He presumably has all the apps in the world on his phone ensuring everything goes to plan, but when the going gets tough, ultimately he relies on his wits, fists and feet.
Think outside the box
Max Zorin from A View to A Kill had concerns about rival companies in Silicon Valley muscling in on his turf. Most people would try to improve their business strategies, but not Max – he attempts to trigger a super-earthquake to destroy the whole area and kill millions. Don’t do that – it’s really mean – but there’s a lot to be said for seeking out unorthodox solutions to problems.
Accessorising well never hurt anyone
Without his hat, Oddjob from Goldfinger is just a kinda fat dude, but once he’s got his bowler he’s a badass assassin, the henchman of all henchmen. The right hat is crucial, though - a trilby, fedora or fez just wouldn’t send the right message. 'Dress for the job you want, even if that job is ‘murderous right-hand-man.'
Friday, October 23, 2015
Transform Your Boring Office
Coach Eats: How to Pimp a Tin of Beans
Baked beans, AKA the most versatile comfort food ever, just got a whole lot cooler. The best part is you can be useless and hungover from the night before and still bash this out in 10 minutes with minimal effort. All you need is some brown sugar, barbecue sauce, barbecue seasoning, any random beans you like (eg pinto/kidney/chickpeas/black beans), and any meat that takes your fancy (chicken and pulled pork is a good shout).
We’ve signed up Richard Coates, co-founder of London’s best barbecue joint Bodean’s, to school us in the art of manly cooking. He’ll be covering everything including culinary hacks like pimping a humble can of baked beans, full-blown meal inspiration like searing a steak to perfection, and essential kitchen skills like this 60-second masterclass in baked bean badness.
Want Coach to teach you a particular skill in the kitchen? Follow us on Twitter here and hashtag your culinary request #CoachEats.