June 3, 2020

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Jun32020

Poetry: Moonscape

Poetry Letters & HumourJune 3, 2020

MOONSCAPE Like a name-dropping traveller through the galaxy’s night, The moon dispenses a greater luminary’s reflected light; Locked into an orbit of its colourful overlord, Linked to its master on an invisible umbilical cord. Twenty-nineteen brought a lunar celebration; A golden anniversary for the U.S. nation. Fifty years since those heady sci-fi aims came true; A moon landing achieved by a brave Apollo crew. Daylight hours mask its reign, eclipses dim its glare, Allusions badged by soubriquets have been the moons to wear A ‘blue’ moon, spawned from the blue planet, no traces of that glow; A ‘harvest’ moon, yet…

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SKEWED VISION OF DEMOCRACY

Music Cinema & BooksJune 3, 2020

THE SMALLEST MINORITY: Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politicsby Kevin D. WilliamsonGateway Editions, Washington DCHardcover: 256 pagesPrice: AUD$53.99 Reviewed by David James Kevin D. Williamson’s book, The Smallest Minority, is an entirely reasonable critique of democracy’s shortcomings that just as entirely misses the point. He criticises the mob rule element in democracies, but there is no sense in which, in reality, democracies reflect the will of the people. Anyone who thinks that is either a simpleton or has spent far too much time watching reality TV. There are even empirical studies proving that government policies are routinely the…

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Jun32020

KEEPING HANNAH ARENDT CURRENT AND ARENDT’S THESIS ON SAINT AUGUSTINE

Music Cinema & BooksJune 3, 2020

WHY READ HANNAH ARENDT NOW?by Richard J. BernsteinPolity Publisher, CambridgePaperback: 120 pagesPrice: AUD$21.95 LOVE AND SAINT AUGUSTINEby Hannah ArendtUniversity of Chicago Press, ChicagoPaperback: 254 pagesPrice: AUD$32.99 Reviewed by Paul Gray Hannah Arendt is one of the most important thinkers of the late 20th century and, in this century, remains a key influence in con-temporary thought. The recent short volume, Why Read Hannah Arendt now?, by philosopher Richard Bernstein, an admirer of Arendt’s who has done important work of his own in extending understanding of the problem of evil in contemporary times, is an almost too readable account of her…

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Onward: Recovering the everyday magic

Music Cinema & BooksJune 3, 2020

by Symeon J. Thompson It was a time of wonder, of adventure and heroism, of quests and great feats. It was a time long ago, a time that never really existed – or did it? Is it perhaps a time that exists in a special way, a way that can be accessed in the here and now? Pixar’s latest feature Onward is about just such a world, a fantasy world that has forgotten the magic at its core. Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) is a teenage elf whose father Wilden (Kyle Bornheimer) died shortly before he was born, leaving him to…

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