The Dandenong Ranges, just on the edge of Melbourne, is full of Devonshire tea, tourists and the tallest flowing plants in the world. The other day I visited a particularly green and serene bit: William Ricketts Sanctuary. For decades this artist lived on the side of a mountain and dedicated his art and life to the … Continue reading Review: lessons on appropriation
Reviews
Exhibition Review: things borrowed, all of them blue
I ducked in to see Alchemy of Colour at the National Gallery of Victoria, as a kind of respite. It was a dark retreat from a Friday afternoon in the city. It was quiet, and peaceful. It was everything I needed. It was blue. Although the exhibit closes on April 3, most of the works are … Continue reading Exhibition Review: things borrowed, all of them blue
Review: Of Marthas and Whistlers Mother
Yeah, I saw Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. So, spoilers ahead. I know, people loathed it. Put it this way, I enjoyed not liking it all, and I didn't hate it either. It felt like a long, slow motion languid symphony for random chess moves, before everything was in place for the action. And then Saruman … Continue reading Review: Of Marthas and Whistlers Mother
Demolishing a Rhodora
In which we find Bec, seized by an un-poetic and unforgiving mood, interrogating a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem, because the sages say boredom is its own excuse for being. The Rhodora In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, Evocative, but is starting with weather clichéd scene setting? I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, That's nice, but who … Continue reading Demolishing a Rhodora
Review: Ideation & Lucy
This year I attended Melbourne's White Night after years of not. It seemed a little like it had jumped the shark and many attendees were less than impressed. The highlight was Ideation at the State Library of Victoria, staged in the domed Reading Room. It was a spectacular and moving visual paean to human knowledge and the … Continue reading Review: Ideation & Lucy
A review: abominable TV
The Abominable Bride, the next instalment of Sherlock, aired in Australia. Well I say aired. It was available via BBC Worldwide (through proper pay TV) and via subscription streaming TV and it also screened at selected cinemas for about 2.5 seconds. Needless to say, I missed these. It's typical Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, self-referential, messing … Continue reading A review: abominable TV
Balancing Big Themes and Small Moments
To depict big themes, the advice to writers is to focus on small items and moments. If disease is the theme, the moment in a global pandemic is how a medico might be motivated by the sight of a toy box in an eerily empty children's hospital ward. Emotional, concrete, and reasonably relatable. Conspiracy to commit writing In … Continue reading Balancing Big Themes and Small Moments
Dead right & so wrong
I don't have the deep back ground knowledge and appreciation of the mythos behind the current Marvel and DC films. I didn't grow up with the comics or cartoons, except perhaps the occasional Superman film or Batman outing and before that Wonder Woman. The only comics I remember reading were the Asterix editions in the school library. But I'm not … Continue reading Dead right & so wrong
Lessons from novels: Umberto Eco
Vale author and academic Umberto Eco, thank you for your many 'little scraps of wisdom'. I can remember exactly when I first saw Name of the Rose, but I do remember when I first read it. It was as part of the recommended reading for my undergraduate degree and it was over the summer break. After … Continue reading Lessons from novels: Umberto Eco
Doctor Who: big night out
Doctor Who 2015 Christmas Special - beware: spoilers, sweetie. He's right, The Doctor hasn't laughed for a long time. Hopes have been dashed, with companions lost. Plus, he's continually confronted by the every day mortality of those he loves or just encounters, until all he's left with is a time machine trying to cheer him up. … Continue reading Doctor Who: big night out
Writing Bec 