Black and white brings immediate and undeniable charm to almost any photo. Having said that, Jane Brown’s portraits don’t appear to need much help in the charm department. Brown worked as a photographer for The Observer for the past 60 years and has made portraits of a wide variety of subjects including Michael Caine (see below: who would’ve thought a man wearing a skivvy and drinking a cup of tea could look so suave), Mick Jagger, Margaret Thatcher, Orson Welles and Truman Capote to name a few. Apparently she found Paul McCartney to be ‘a bit pompous’ and Robert Redford good looking but boring.
Brown is testament to why if you think having the latest camera is the only way to get a good shot you’re barking up the wrong tree. She still shoots with her 40 year old Olympus camera, using the same lens and almost exactly the same settings for each portrait. She even shuns the use of a light meter, preferring to gauge the lighting by looking at the back of her hand.
You can see 30 of her portraits here at The Observer website.
When watching Whip It last night I was very surprised to find that a song from the debut record of Strokes drummer, Fabrizio Moretti’s side project, Little Joy, was featured on the soundtrack. Why is it so surprising, I hear you ask. Well, the film is the directorial debut of actress Drew Barrymore. Made the connection yet? No? Fabrizio and Drew dated for five years after meeting at a concert back in 2002 until Moretti called the relationship off in early 2007.
Obviously things between the two are on reasonably good terms. I say this because not only is one of the songs from the record in the film but the particular song chosen features the vocals of Binki Shapiro, Moretti’s band mate and new girlfriend.
I was lucky enough to catch Vivian Girls play on Saturday night at Spectrum in Sydney. Having not read any reviews of their live act I was pleasantly surprised by their on-stage antics. Not only is bassist Kickball Katy a total babe, she wasn’t afraid to get out amongst the crowd. She even played half a song lying on the floor in the middle of the mosh. The girls also managed to pull off a seamless mid-song instrument swap over during their encore. Talk about multi-talented.
They’ve announced another Sydney show at the Hopetoun on Sunday the 3rd of October. I am very tempted to go but circumstances beyond my control (read: excessive amounts of uni work) will prevent that from happening. I would highly recommend the gig to anyone who has a taste for anything vaguely resembling garage/punk/shoe aze/jangle pop etc..You won’t be disappointed. Oh, and you can’t use the excuse that it’s a school/work night as it’s a public holidays on the Monday!
Seeing them has further solidified my desire to start a garage band. I’ll get around to it one day…
EDIT: It looks as though the Hopetoun is closed until further notice. This gig will now be happening at
Does it still count as booklust if there aren’t actually any words on the inside? I have decided it does. These notebooks from Archie Grand are probably not the most useful (how many Equestrians do you meet in any given day) but they sure do look good.
I’m thinking that the only people this one might actually be useful for would be Elizabeth Taylor and that crazy Indonesian lady I heard about the other day who was getting married for something like the 27th time. You’d be forgiven for losing track of them once you hit the 5th or 6th mark.
Note the use of liked instead of like. It is probably safe to assume that if you were once married to someone that you did actually like them at some stage, however short that stage might have been.
I’m guessing these ones are for display purposes only.
A couple of weeks back a friend informed me that on their upcoming Australian tour, punk rock band The Bronx would be supporting themselves as their alter-ego ‘Mariachi El Bronx‘. When another friend gave me a copy of the album to say I was skeptical would be an understatement. Surely this was a joke. Even if it wasn’t, surely a hardcore punk band would fail miserably at any attempt to create a legitimate mariachi record.
In the interests of full disclosure, it would be pertinent to reveal that I have never been a fan of the Bronx. This may go a little way to explaining my reluctance to give the album a chance. Luckily, my curiosity was strong enough to overcome my skepticism. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that the record is not just great musically, but Matt Caughthran’s voice seems strangely appropriate.
To say that I am well versed in the nuances of the mariachi genre would be to tell a lie but I am so impressed by the record that I am considering buying tickets to their upcoming Sydney gig. All I can say is, I hope that die-hard Bronx fans will give this record the credit it deserves!
The Decoder Ring Design Concern have come up with two great alternatives to the traditional gig poster. The first is a pillow advertising a Broken Social Scene gig. According to their website “the poster was printed on pillowcases, with a cute lil’ line suggesting that you cut the pillow in half”, signifying the ‘broken’ social scene which occurs when a couple split up. Very clever indeed.
The second clever idea was in the form of a promotional book cover used to advertise a Decemberists gig. 500 Reader’s Digest compendiums were salvaged, covered with the poster and placed in various bookstores, bars, record shops and cafes.
As well as coming up with innovative ways to advertise gigs, Decoder Ring Concern are also doing a darn good job of the old fashioned paper poster. One of my personal favourites is this Spoon poster.
They have also designed CD packaging for the likes of The Hold Steady, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Kweller and Lucero.
The Northern Territory intervention has lost the support of Arnhem Land leader GalarrwuyYunupingu. Yunupingu has likened the intervention to ‘a form of apartheid’. The Federal and Northern Territory governments have demonstrated an inability to deliver on the promises which the Intervention aimed to deliver. This is shaping up to be yet another in a string of disappointments for Indigenous Australians who cannot be blamed for losing faith in the ability of the government to fulfil their commitments to ‘Closing the Gap’.
Although Indigenous Affairs minister, Jenny Maklin has stated that it is the government’s view that long-term effectiveness of any initiative relies on indigenous engagement, this view does not appear to be reflected in the implementation of government policies. There is a stark contrast between the bureaucratic red tape and delays demonstrated by the government and the rapid success of indigenous lead housing initiatives.
Yunupingu’s housing scheme which has been running since May has employed local indigenous workers and successfully constructed an eight bedroom home. This initiative is not only serving the purpose of creating desperately needed housing but is also training young men and women in the skills required to build, plumb and wire houses. Yunupingu expressed his frustration over the stagnation and inactivity of the government who have failed to deliver one single house in the two year period since the Northern Territory government announces this $700 million initiative. His scheme has achieved more in four months than the government has managed to accomplish in a two year period.
Similarly, the residents of Tiwi Island have been told they will receive less than a third of the new housing which was promised to them by the federal government’s under the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program, a joint initiative undertaken with the Northern Territory government. Delays in delivering promised housing have been attributed to the large costs associated with demolishing existing housing which had not been factored into initial estimated. Also, a desire from residents for a variety of housing designs has been blamed for a reduction in economies of scale.
The further my eyes traced down the page on the Continuum Books website dedicated to the thirty three and a third series the more excited I became. The series was launched in 2003 and takes its name from the speed (33 1/3 revolutions per minute) required to play an LP. Each of the titles in the series focuses on a particular album and gives an insight into the significance of that album historically, musically and for the author him or herself. Rolling Stone dubbed the series “[i]deal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just aren’t enough“.
Out of all the titles covered by the thirty three and a third series a few really caught my attention. First and foremost was Elvis Costello’s ‘Armed Forces‘, written by Franklin Bruno, singer-songwriter, academic, writer, music critic and occasional member of The Mountain Goats. If you have been following my blog you’ll know that obsession with Elvis Costello is no secret.
Another of the titles which grabbed my eye was Magnetic Fields’ ‘69 Love Songs‘ told by L.D Begtol. I only discovered this triple album quite recently after The Shins cover the Magnetic Field’s song ‘Strange Powers’ prompted me to delved a little deeper. ‘69 Love Songs’ has been heralded as the strongest of the Magnetic Fields’ releases and so was an obvious first choice in exploring the band’s back catalogue. The book is a fully illustrated history of the 1999 release from the perspective of Begtol who has written extensively about pop music for Time Out New York, The Advocate and The Village Voice and who performed on the album.
Other titles in the series cover which I would very much like to get my paws on include The Flying Burrito Brothers’ ‘Gilded Palace of Sin‘, Belle & Sebastian’s ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister‘, Bob Dylan’s ‘Highway 61 Revisited‘, Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds‘, Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures‘ and R.E.M.’s ‘Murmur‘. In fact, I would love to collect the entire series. You can see the full list of titles here.
‘Heavy Rotation‘ is in the same vein as the 33 1/3 series although the focus is more on the personal impact the album on the author rather than the historical or musical significance of the record, asking writers to discuss how the record influenced their lives in a profound way. Unsurprisingly, the writers’ stories are as varied as the albums themselves ranging from Benjamin Kunkel’s Smiths induced transformation into an ‘adolescent Anglophile’ to Pankaj Mishra’s tale of how a bootleg cassette of ABBA awoke him to a world outisde of his small village in India. The publisher’s website calls it ‘unforgettable celebration of the unique and essential relationship between life and music‘ which sounds just a bit wanky to me. I still want to read it though.
Sunday’s Good Weekend featured an article in which four women confessed how much they spend in a year to maintain their appearance. The grand total spent by the four women interviewed ranged from $11,187 through to a staggering $19,090. My first shock when reading the article was the $1,350 spent by a 28 year old on botox injections for her ’strong frown line’. The next, was the $6,240 spent on 2 or 3 salon blow-drys a week by a 50 year old woman who stated “I rarely do my own hair. I don’t even buy shampoo and conditioner any more.” This 50 year old woman also spent $405 on spray tans, $2,280 on haircut and colour and an astounding $1,220 on shower gel and body lotion.
All of the four women interviewed had a pedicure and manicure either weekly of fortnightly, spending between $1,560 and $2,990 annually. I have never understood the importance of the mani-pedi, having had zero pedicures and only two manicures in my entire life, one on a whim and the other for a school formal.Is it really that difficult to master a pair of nail clippers, a nail file and maybe some clear polish? I had one friend in high school who was incapable of leaving the house unless her toenails were perfectly painted. Perhaps I am in the minority.
These women justify their spending in various ways. One woman claims she does it all for herself, another says she does it for herself, the men in her life, other women and anyone she encounters on a daily basis. All women acknowledge that when you look good, you feel better about yourself. I certainly agree with these women when they say taking pride in your appearance is important but at what point does having pride in your appearance become straight out vanity and narcissism? Don’t get me wrong, I wear makeup and style my hair almost every day.I am not afraid to admit that I do consider what others will think of me when I look in the mirror but in my opinion, spending almost $20,000 every year is nothing short of absurd.
When watching Whip It last night I was very surprised to find that a song from the debut record of Strokes drummer, Fabrizio Moretti’s side project, Little Joy, was featured on the soundtrack. Why is it so surprising, I hear you ask. Well, the film is the directorial debut of actress Drew Barrymore. Made the connection yet? No? Fabrizio and Drew dated for five years after meeting at a concert back in 2002 until Moretti called the relationship off in early 2007.
A couple of weeks back a friend informed me that on their upcoming Australian tour, punk rock band The Bronx would be supporting themselves as their alter-ego ‘
Out of all the titles covered by the thirty three and a third series a few really caught my attention. First and foremost was Elvis Costello’s ‘Armed Forces‘, written by 
Another of the titles which grabbed my eye was 
Sunday’s Good Weekend featured an article in which four women confessed how much they spend in a year to maintain their appearance. The grand total spent by the four women interviewed ranged from $11,187 through to a staggering $19,090. My first shock when reading the article was the $1,350 spent by a 28 year old on botox injections for her ’strong frown line’. The next, was the $6,240 spent on 2 or 3 salon blow-drys a week by a 50 year old woman who stated “I rarely do my own hair. I don’t even buy shampoo and conditioner any more.” This 50 year old woman also spent $405 on spray tans, $2,280 on haircut and colour and an astounding $1,220 on shower gel and body lotion.
August 12, 2009
Are we any closer to ‘Closing the Gap’?
Although Indigenous Affairs minister, Jenny Maklin has stated that it is the government’s view that long-term effectiveness of any initiative relies on indigenous engagement, this view does not appear to be reflected in the implementation of government policies. There is a stark contrast between the bureaucratic red tape and delays demonstrated by the government and the rapid success of indigenous lead housing initiatives.
Yunupingu’s housing scheme which has been running since May has employed local indigenous workers and successfully constructed an eight bedroom home. This initiative is not only serving the purpose of creating desperately needed housing but is also training young men and women in the skills required to build, plumb and wire houses. Yunupingu expressed his frustration over the stagnation and inactivity of the government who have failed to deliver one single house in the two year period since the Northern Territory government announces this $700 million initiative. His scheme has achieved more in four months than the government has managed to accomplish in a two year period.
Similarly, the residents of Tiwi Island have been told they will receive less than a third of the new housing which was promised to them by the federal government’s under the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program, a joint initiative undertaken with the Northern Territory government. Delays in delivering promised housing have been attributed to the large costs associated with demolishing existing housing which had not been factored into initial estimated. Also, a desire from residents for a variety of housing designs has been blamed for a reduction in economies of scale.
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Filed under Current Affairs, Social Commentary
Tags: closing the gap, northern territory, the intervention, intervention, housing crisis, housing, jenny maklin, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Current Affairs, australia, indigenous australians