Eurovision prize goes to Denmark, but real winner is Swedish host

Emmelie de Forest amasses 281 points, well ahead of runners-up Azerbaijan, while Bonnie Tyler limps home in 19thIt wouldn't be Saturday night without a Scandinavian crime drama. This weekend the action moved to Malmö in southern Sweden. The sensible knitwear was replaced by glittering spandex and the only thing murdered were pop songs.The 58th instalment of the Eurovision song contest, which aims to draw nations together while simultaneously giving them an opportunity to punch one another in... [continue]

Garry Winogrand, edited by Leo Rubinfien et al – review

Culled from thousands of prints and unprocessed films, this collection of Garry Winogrand's photographs confirms him as a giant of American photographyTo say that Garry Winogrand was productive is to dramatically understate the case. When he died in 1984, he left behind a huge archive: over 35,000 prints, 22,000 contact sheets and 45,000 colour transparencies. Perhaps more astounding still were the 6,500 rolls of unprocessed films, a testimony to a vocation that bordered on an obsession.In the... [continue]

Web-connected libraries for Africa: the dream of digital knowledge for all

New venture Librii is seeking to set up self-sustaining libraries with internet access in poor and isolated communitiesA decade ago, Brewster Kahle, philanthropist and founder of the Internet Archive, created the first digital bookmobile: a complete printing press in the back of a car. With a power source, satellite internet connection, printer and binder, the vehicle and its descendants subsequently printed thousands of public-domain books where they were needed most, such as in rural areas... [continue]

Maggie's cancer care centre, Newcastle – review

Ted Cullinan, the veteran architect behind a new Maggie's centre in Newcastle, talks about his lifelong love of building and the importance of climate, composition – and croquetThe question posed by Maggie's cancer caring centres is, can architecture make you feel better? The idea behind them is to create beautiful, calming spaces in which people affected by the illness can find support and consolation, to which end a number of celebrated architects have donated their time to design each... [continue]

Fries with Matt Dillon

Hitting the bars of Kansas with the Rumble Fish star back in 1987On a day off from playing a bank robber in the film Kansas in 1987, Matt Dillon was keen to drive me around the movie's location, a town called Lawrence in the titular state, despite the expletives scratched large into the paintwork of his car ("Some girl," he shrugged).Wearing a Jack Daniel's cap backwards, he soon homed in on "the poorest part of town" and cruised and mused on the lives of "drunk and armed folk" on crumbling... [continue]

Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception by Claudia Hammond – review

Why do we perceive time differently according to circumstances? Radio 4 presenter Claudia Hammond has some interesting answersThe time we have at our disposal each day is elastic, Proust claimed. It sounds an odd remark. Surely we have precisely 24 hours, no more and no less. Even the occasional leap second – introduced to keep calendars accurate – hardly changes the fixed time we have every day on Earth.But as Claudia Hammond, presenter of Radio 4's All in the Mind, argues in this... [continue]

Daniel Dennett's seven tools for thinking

Cognitive scientist and philosopher Daniel Dennett is one of America's foremost thinkers. In this extract from his new book, he reveals some of the lessons life has taught him1 USE YOUR MISTAKESWe have all heard the forlorn refrain: "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!" This phrase has come to stand for the rueful reflection of an idiot, a sign of stupidity, but in fact we should appreciate it as a pillar of wisdom. Any being, any agent, who can truly say: "Well, it seemed like a good... [continue]

Gary Hume: 'I couldn't hold down a job. That's why I became an artist'

A fully paid-up member of the rowdy YBA generation in the 90s, the artist made his name with his household gloss-painted life-size door paintings. On the eve of a solo show at Tate Britain, he talks about his agent Jay Jopling, his farm in upstate New York – and why he now confines his excesses to the studioThe basement floor of Gary Hume's expansive east London studio is a large, bright square room full of creative mess and clutter. There are shelves packed with tins of gloss paint, a table... [continue]

Rewind radio: Sony awards; The Danny Baker Show; PM; Cerys on 6 – review

Danny Baker, Eddie Mair and Cerys Matthews were deserving winners at last week's Sony awardsThe Sony Radio Academy awardsThe Danny Baker Show (5 Live) | iPlayerPM (R4) | iPlayer Cerys on 6 (6 Music) | iPlayerTo the Sony Radio Academy awards last Monday, radio's annual big bash. The Sonys have improved over the past few years: slicker and (slightly) quicker, with host Chris Evans ditching his cringey comments on women's appearances and, instead, this time, putting his son Noah on stage, for the... [continue]

Observer writer wins Ryszard Kapuściński award 2013

Ed Vulliamy won the prize for his book Amexica: War Along the Borderline, which documents the US-Mexican drug warsEd Vulliamy, the Observer writer, has won the 2013 Kapuściński award in Poland for his book Amexica: War Along the Borderline.Amexica describes the extraordinary horror of the drug war unfolding on the US-Mexican frontier. Vulliamy travelled across the border on and off for 30 years. His reporting included a 2008 piece for the Observer magazine.The prestigious award for literary... [continue]