The Sydney Writers Festival is in a full swing ... it is time to exploit one and all local and international voices at the most soulful location in the world!
Blind swimmer's boost for charity Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), 21/05/2006, on page 34 By: Sharri Markson: James Pittar, 36, is training for a 23km swim from Luna Park to Manly, a goal made more remarkable by the fact he is blind. The Tax Office worker also plans a swim from Catalina Island to Los Angeles in September to raise money for the Fred Hollows foundation Long-Distance Swimmer James Pittar
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Freud Lives!
A century ago, Freud included psychoanalysis as one of what he described as the three ‘narcissistic illnesses’
In recent years, it’s often been said that psychoanalysis is dead. New advances in the brain sciences have finally put it where it belongs, alongside religious confessors and dream-readers in the lumber-room of pre-scientific obscurantist searches for hidden meaning. As Todd Dufresne put it, no figure in the history of human thought was more wrong about all the fundamentals – with the exception of Marx, some would add. The Black Book of Communism was followed last year by the Black Book of Psychoanalysis, which listed all the theoretical mistakes and instances of clinical fraud perpetrated by Freud and his followers. In this way, at least, the profound solidarity of Marxism and psychoanalysis is now there for all to see.
• Slavoj Zizek [Three takes on the lot of women today challenge the feminist in Jessica Warner Books on the lot of women ; The male obsession with size appears to be universal: Sexual ornaments – such as antlers or a peacock's feathery display – become disproportionately large as body size increases. Overall body size makes good evolutionary sense ; In sex positive Germany, millions of teens first learn the ins and outs of flirting, falling in love and having sex in a wildly popular column in Bravo magazine Dr. Sommer, the Birds and the Bees ]
• · People argue that the music someone listens to says a lot about who he is, but that discussion rarely concludes in descriptions like "cracker" and "racist". One Man's Musical Tastes as Fodder for a Flame War ; Frank Furedi on why the "politics of happiness" makes him mad - Emotions are classified into the positive (joy, happiness, contentment) and the negative (fear, anger, sadness, hate). If you’re unhappy with state-sponsored happiness programmes, clap your hands ; THERE has been a surge of interest recently in the idea of "teaching happiness" in schools and universities an article on teaching happiness, not dogma
• · · When it comes to choosing a partner, does height, shape, girth, length, or even the number on their bank balance really matter? Do short blokes suffer from Little Man Syndrome? And why all the fuss over slimming down when bigger is often better? I always only date tall men; America is on the threshold of a significant transformation in cultural life Cultural Renaissance or Cultural Divide?
• · · · The art of sport Legendary plays, but are they also beautiful? ; Tyler Cowen on a contrarian look at whether chief executives are overpaid - Mike Wilkins club: The average compensation of an American chief executive at a top 500 company rose by a factor of about six
• · · · · The teenage oral sex panic began in the late 1990s. It is in some ways a part of the Clinton legacy—more specifically, the Clinton-Lewinsky legacy The Great Fellatio Scare: Is oral sex really the latest teen craze? ; The relationship between expectation and therapeutic outcome is a wonderful model to understand mind-body interaction 13 things that do not make sense ; "American Idol" to Paris Hilton to an army of jiggly video stars, vapid females seem to be everywhere these days. Return of the brainless hussies ; Why is Beloved beloved? After all the plaudits, it's time to look at the novel's merits Yes, but are you any good?
• · · · · · Mahzarin Banaji can show how we connect "good" and "bad" with biased attitudes we hold, even if we say we don't. The Implicit Prejudice ; Professorial Pimps and Humanist Harlots: A new form of superstition blends historical implausibility with a modern passion for intrigue and a postmodern indifference to truth. I envy Dan Brown. Not for the money he’s made, though I would trade his cash flow for mine any day. I envy him because he has succeeded by accident