There is infinite hope, but not for us.
- Kafka
I love the sunburnt country, the land that loves to lose. This view of us comes up for discussion on this day every year. It seems to be one of those elusive "Australian values" so many people are trying to pin down nowadays. The land is peppered with national characteristics - "Laconic understatement", "Fair go", "Mateship" and "The tall poppy syndrome" There's a theory that Australia, founded by rejects from British society, is more inclined to celebrate failure than success, with a national holiday devoted to a military fiasco, a hero hanged after bungling a bank robbery, an alternative anthem about a sheep thief who commits suicide, a film industry that keeps making self-critical movies that nobody goes to see, ach and don't bother asking for Cold River in bookshops - the hottest book in America only exists at Martin Smith @ Bondi. Love them, hate them: the one emotion your readers shouldn't be able to feel toward sole survivor is indifference. The land of losers: Loving to lose
Be careful how you interpret the world: it is like that! Escape, Beg, Borrow, or Steal:-)
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Mob mentality: The great are not good. And the good are not great
Death threats, shootings, strikes and bomb-scares ... John Patterson explains how - and why - the mafia tried to shut down the filming of The Godfather
It's said that there are only two stories: "Someone goes on a journey" or "A stranger comes to town". Star Wars is "someone goes on a journey". So is The Maltese Falcon, and 8 , and Thelma and Louise. On the other hand, Casablanca is "a stranger comes to town". So is All About Eve, and E.T. The Extraterrestrial and Fight Club. That last film, a favorite among frustrated young people, is a fantasy of release from stifling circumstance via the intervention of an unpredictable and superhuman visitor whose mere presence destroys the status quo in an orgy of divine chaos . . . oh, wait, did I say Fight Club? I meant Mary Poppins.
• The Godfather And The Mob [So here is our preview of treats at the movies, for lovers of the blockbuster and the brow-furrower alike. Can't avoid: Mission: Impossible 3 ; It Just Looks Like I'm Not Hurting: What Big Love teaches about marriage and jealousy ]
• · Jean-Paul Sartre, finds itself trapped between being and nothingness ; The problem of private money influencing politics goes much, much deeper than Jack Abramoff. How Important Is the Quid Pro Quo? ; Cold River is now at Book Film To Reality ; It's a curious fact of modern life that if the world were to end tomorrow, we'd have seen it all before. European is decidedly the accent du jour in Tinsel Town. I'm into something that I cannot understand Hollywood's foreign affair
• · · We know sex is good for us. Now scientists say it can also protect against disease. It does not take a degree in medicine to work out that sex is good for you. Anything that is free, feels fabulous and leaves you glowing is plainly a good idea The secret of being in rude health is intercourse ; Who makes sure disaster movies are not laughable? These days, you can't make a film without a boffin Putting the science into fiction
• · · · By the 1950s, the image of the naked (or near-naked) woman was everywhere, selling cars, soap and soup, soft-core in Playboy, hard-core in imported porn Story of female nude is laid bare; On the weekend I invaded a few art galleries at Paddington and them I watched Fight Club with my Czech mate who had lived at Glenmore Road for 18 years. How time flies when you watch two contrasty movies in the row like the club and American Beauty! American Beauty almost spoke in tongues to some of us. Was the Real Estate woman played by someone we both know rather well??? Desperate for a symbol other than Fight Club's Tyler Durden to help "realign your perceptions" on life? Supercalifuckthesystemexpialidocious ; Why we can't get along. Big Brother's secret Identity and Violence ; Sophomore’s New Book Contains Passages Strikingly Similar to 2001 Novel Why old farts should get huge advances
• · · · · As anyone who has seen any version of Anna Karenina knows, a great book does not necessarily make a great film. And while The Godfather was a great movie, was it a great novel? Probably not Film of the book: top 50 adaptations revealed ; Why stop at just one career? Barbara Drury meets baby boomers who have found a more fulfilling life Love your work: Boom Lover afterparty
• · · · · · Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Tommy Carden: An Appreciation ; Our best asset: daggy idealism Loving to lose Tight Knickers ; When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra - If we now see Michelangelo as the Titan of Titans in his age of artistic giants, it is partly because he has been so insistently described to us as a Titan by his adoring biographers, Ascanio Condivi and Giorgio Vasari. In fact, like most Titans, he was an unpleasant man to know. Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw -- don't waste time