April 2017

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HUMOUR Excerpts from the revised and updated edition of Forget’s Dictionary of Inaccurate Facts, Furphys and Falsehoods

POETRY LETTERS & HUMOURApril 8, 2017

Bananarama: Bananas as far as the eye can see. Balderdash: The 100-metre event at the Follically Challenged Olympics. Barney: A fight with a purple dinosaur. BBL: Building Blocks of Life, technical chemical formulation of stout. Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Scottish anthem. Also, a pint of ale in the Lowlands. Capsicum spray: Garnishment on a plate of hor d’ouevres. Cavalier attitude: Being hanged for a ruffle as a lamb. Crash dummy: As in, “If you drink and drive, you’re a crash dummy!” Oliver Cromwell: Head of Charles the First’s last gibbet. Crud: Noun, valuables. Cubism: Painting for advanced squares. DNA: DioNaphtaAmoniate,…

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Apr82017

BOOK REVIEW That sinking feeling

MUSIC CINEMA & BOOKS, UncategorizedApril 8, 2017

TITANIC: Minute by Minute by Jonathan Mayo Short Books, London Paperback: 304 pages Price: AUD $22.99 Reviewed by Michael E. Daniel Just over one hundred years after the disaster, public interest in the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, shows no sign of abating. Jonathan Mayo, a freelance writer and former BBC journalist whose works include other publications in the Minute by Minute series, such as Hitler’s Last Day, D-Day, and The Assassination of JFK, explores the foundering of the Titanic. As the title of this book suggests, this volume re-tells the story of the sinking…

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Apr82017

BOOK REVIEW End to history nowhere in sight

HUMAN RIGHTS & FREEDOMS, LIFE MARRIAGE & FAMILY, MUSIC CINEMA & BOOKS, UncategorizedApril 8, 2017

THE DEMON IN DEMOCRACY: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies by Ryszard Legutko Encounter Books, NY Hardcover: 200 pages Price: AUD $34.99 Reviewed by Brian Coman In 1989, Francis Fukuyama published his famous essay entitled The End of History. Here he argued that, with the break-up of the Soviet Empire (then just beginning), the political system of liberal democracy would ultimately triumph over all others. Even those who disagreed with his thesis – and there were many – rarely disagreed with the notion that such an outcome would be highly desirable. Yet, a little over a decade earlier, one lone…

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Apr82017

MUSIC Program notes: Jazz’s two-tiered appeal

MUSIC CINEMA & BOOKSApril 8, 2017

There are many music festivals on the Australian calendar; it is one of the best ways to get access to international performers and get a sense of where the art form is heading. But how does one choose which performers to hear? The Melbourne International Jazz Festival (MIJF), probably Australia’s premier jazz festival, has just released its program. It is intriguing to go through the offerings and speculate about which gigs are likely to yield the most. Carla Bley Let us say, for the sake of argument, that there are two types of jazz: Entertainment and Adventure into the Unknown.…

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