Wednesday, July 27, 2005



Nearly 20 years ago, Eco compared Apple's Macintosh and Microsoft DOS to Catholicism and Protestantism, respectively. How would he characterize today's Internet? We could say that the World Wide Web aspires to be God. In The Divine Comedy, Dante looks directly at God and sees a single volume containing all the sheets in the universe. God is for him the totality of wisdom and information. But the Internet, while being well-informed, may be too much informed. It can't distinguish good from evil So I'd say that if the Web is God, it would be a very stupid God!

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: One way to see reading
Howard Jacobson worries about the lack of irresponsibility in modern fiction

We read novels to be freed from solemnity, to wage merry war with the world. And as the list of things that must not be ridiculed grows, the value of literature recedes


• The Interpretation of Screams Mystic of Literature [Our celebrities are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore Celebrity, John Updike wrote, is the mask that eats the face. Now it eats the brain. From Tom to Russell to Angelina to Courtney, our megastars are going megapsycho Celebrity and Its Discontents ; Arts funding, Tatt's tickets and the dole ; To be part of Operation Lifeblood and give blood please complete the registration form below. We will then contact you to arrange a convenient time and place for you to come in to give blood. Operation Lifeblood July 2005 Members of the Queensland Police Force showed their support for the Blood Service’s Operation Lifeblood campaign Red one Day Redder the Next ]
• · Epic, fantastic, dazzling, erotic - and coming soon to a stage near you. Jessica Duchen reports on the unlikely rise of Wagnermania as younger audiences revel in his power and magic The return of the original Ring lord ; Anger at size of Cannes 'junket' ; Our television production is at an all time low, with the ABC producing around 20% of the local drama it did ten years ago. A number of Australian officials chaperone a grand total of two Aussie films at Cannes - Doc Document Report July 2005 on Art by Rodney Hall
• · · Hard-to-follow French double cross From the Queen's English to the world's Globish … or not ; Lucy Sussex leads off this week's "Saturday Age" with a profile of Karen Joy Fowler New Matilda Round-Up #30
• · · · By 2004 there were 20,000 fewer men than women aged 30-something, a new report shows and this figure does not include not so straight guys ;-) Aussie man drought revealed ; We love Desperate Housewives far more than the Americans do
• · · · · In its 20th year, the Age Melbourne Writers' Festival continues to offer something for everyone Melbourne Writers' Festival; Fire your boss and find a job with even greater challenges and responsibilities Work should be fun, satisfying, and rewarding
• · · · · · Character is destiny, according to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Brisbane pair Jess Schipper and Libby Lenton crushed the field in the 100m butterfly at the world swimming championships in Montreal. It was not only the manner of their gold-silver finish, but the times they clocked that has the Australian women's butterfly scene seriously humming Our newest golden girl ; The son of European Jews who moved to Australia to escape the Nazis, Peter Singer studied philosophy in Melbourne before moving to Oxford. George W Bush and Peter Singer were born on the same day - July 6 1946. But there the similarity ends Peter Singer Moral maze