Monday, 12 April 2010 14:38
We all experience moments that require a little more from us. That three hour meeting. The lecturer who speaks in a monotone. The elderly relative who insists on retelling their recollections of August 6th 1953 (or what that May 6th? now let me see...).
What most of thankfully don't have is a camera in our face recording our reactions for posterity. When looking through this gallery, spare a moment of sympathy for President Obama. 
Monday, 22 March 2010 11:10
The Bedside Book of Beasts
Graeme Gibson.
Allen and Unwin
AUD $49.99 inc. GST
This book is, quite simply, ravishingly beautiful. Just to look at it and the exquisite animal art inside it is a pleasure.
Gibson has collected some of the thoughtful writing about beasts; lions, tigers and bears included, and strung them together as a reflection on the wilderness. His selection is wonderfully diverse and covers poetry, prose, myth and travel writing.
Written as a companion piece for The Bedside Book of Birds, it is meant as a bedside tome to reflect on before descending into dreams.
Tuesday, 02 March 2010 08:34
Eating Animals
Jonathan Safran Foer
Hamish Hamilton rrp $32.95
By Amy Goodhew
I didn’t want to read this book. I was happy, blissfully ignorant in fact, reveling in the occasional bacon binge and guilt free meat lovers pizza. I enjoyed Safran Foer’s earlier work ‘Everything is Illuminated’ so I clicked on a link when I read that his latest work had turned Natalie Portman vegan. What she had to say about the book was powerful and frankly - I was spooked. What did this book say that was so powerful about what we eat?
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Monday, 15 February 2010 12:26
Reviewed by Amy Goodhew
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray
Director: Wes Anderson
Genre: Comedy/children
You can spot a Wes Anderson film at 20 paces. Yellow futura font, classic 70’s folk rock soundtrack, highly stylized shot composition and a cast including, but not limited to, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson.
The fact that Anderson’s latest film is animated does not detract from the notoriously particular film maker’s style in the least. In fact, the medium seems to have given Anderson the freedom the explore his imagination in fresh new directions, revelling in autumnal tones and gloriously handmade looking characters.
Monday, 15 February 2010 08:51
Reviewed by Natalie Shymko
Starring: Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, Ernie Dingo, Geoffrey Rush
Director: Rachel Perkins
Genre: Comedy/Musical
This Aussie home grown musical is set in the summer of 1965. The story follows a young man named Wille (Rocky McKenzie) growing up in Broome who is in love with a beautiful girl named Rosie (Jessica Mauboy). Willie cannot bring himself to tell Rosie how he feels. Willie’s mother sends him to a boarding school in Perth which is run by a Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush), however after being punished for being rebellious Willie runs away on an adventurous journey that ultimately leads him back home accompanied by his uncle (Ernie Dingo).
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Monday, 14 December 2009 00:00
Heather Dowling
We all know that Christmas creates waste. You only have to look around the floor on Christmas morning at the piles of wrapping paper and torn packaging to see that.
But along with Christmas waste, we also create Christmas junk. The Australia Institute found that over 50% of Australians receive unwanted Christmas presents. As people get wealthier, the more unwanted gifts they receive. So what do people do with them?
Tuesday, 08 December 2009 09:09
Tony Floyd
Recently, while walking among several dozen stalls providing information about religions, different cultures and communities, and government responses to diversity, I was offered a cup of tea. More surprised than anything else, I accepted this kind offer. As I went to drink I was offered ‘sugar’, sweetened in quite unfamiliar forms. I put some into the cup. Gently I was told “In my culture we usually put the sweetener in our mouths and drink the tea over it”. Then we talked a little about her country, Iraq, and tea – the first sign of hospitality.
That brief encounter, and the wonderful cup of tea triggered memories for me.
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