It matters very little to me whether people believe one thing or another. Life is short, even for those who live to a ripe old age, and we must live for the few who know and appreciate us, who judge and absolve us, and for whom we have the same affection and indulgence. The rest I look upon as a mere crowd, lively or sad, loyal or corrupt, from whom there is nothing to be expected but fleeting emotions either pleasant or unpleasant, which leave no trace behind them.
-Sarah Bernhardt, Memoirs
An impotent Italian man who kept his problem a secret from his wife until after their wedding must pay her damages for 'eroding' her right to have a family .... Scary, imagine if Australian women started doing this! Italy court makes impotent ex-husband pay damages
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Irritation is the sincerest form of flattery
I have a tendency to irritate most people around me; back in 1970s I irritated the communist chiefs in Poprad district who are part of the reason that there is no Czechoslovakia any more; In the 1980s and 1990s I irritated the self-centered law clerks at the NSW Parliament and now the entire world is my taxing oyster ;-) When it comes to risk taking, we're all like the one who has Marco Polo under the skin. Even the mainstream river of media is starting to treat the setting at Parliament House as an alluring postage-stamp or like a mini-monarchy with nice old chaps in splendid regalia
Paul Ormerod has a novel explanation for this regrettable but constant feature of political life. Its cause, he says, is not the incurable mendacity of politicians. It is that everyone who sets out on a large-scale enterprise usually ends up failing to do what they promised. Politicians are no worse than the executives of private companies, lawyers, architects, designers, builders, or anyone else. They are bound by the same law which governs every other human activity - and that law is that most of it fails.
The moral is simple: keep central planning to a minimum, and expect to be disappointed - whoever wins the next election
• The best-laid plans [The Book Standard profiles Liz Dubelman and her fledgling book promotion company, VidLit, which quite frankly, rocks VidLit: Book Trailers . . . Coming Soon to a Screen Near You ; Elizabeth Renzetti's profile of the crime writer in the Globe and Mail Mo Hayder ]
• · Sydney: Suggested reading and surfing ; Hollywood and New York are fading as creative capitals of the world. The action’s moving to Sydney, Dublin, and maybe even Bratislava, Tallinn Hitch your wagon to Estonia?
• · · In every industry, there are changes that are evolutionary and those that are revolutionary, and sometimes, it is difficult to tell one from another Jet Me to Work ; If you get lucky enough to publish and make a life as a writer, you will enter a field where anyone—truly anyone, in our Internet age—can make vicious, even personal, assessments. Get used to it. Toughen up. It's a relatively small price to pay for being published ... Every Secret Thing ; Suppose you run a cable channel dedicated to showing art house films. You wake up one day and realize that the independent film industry isn't making that many truly independent films anymore ... Innovating Film Channel
• · · · In a word, it is about democracy. No longer can anyone veto information Sex-crazed blogger is a Sania fake ;
• · · · · What's your favorite audioblog these days? A musicblogger/audioblogger/MP3blogger is a person who offers interesting, out of print, rare or otherwise engaging music to people at no charge, out of love for the sound and to promote artists that they would like to see get more popular. I'm not prejudiced; I also include record label sites, artist's personal sites, people who aggregate the daily adventures of other musicbloggers into digests... I like em all Fantastic list of MP3 artists; Parliamentary Odors: Gay and Straight Men React Differently to Sexual Odors ; Oklahoma Legislature Votes To Move "Gay" Books To Adult Library Section
• · · · · · What we need even more than that is considered, intelligent, thoughtful criticism that lays out reasons, arguments, analysis instead of “this sucks.” Part II: Theater Reviewing in NYC ; The age of 50 marks authors' peak: Fifty is the perfect age to write a novel, a study of the best-selling authors of the past 50 years has shown If 50 is the perfect age to write a novel, what the hell am I so pressured about to get my second manuscript finished by Christmas? (Speaking of deadline ... Grahame Cooksley you seem to be never at home when I ring ;-)