Category Archives: Blog
Margaret and Me
It’s been a busy day for me with both a lunch-time birthday at a pub at Manly, and then a dinner-party tonight in Surry Hills. The conversations covered a range of issues, including news of the death of Margaret Whitlam. At both functions there were both Labor and Liberal voters, and although we got into [...]
Cola Project @ 4a Gallery
Kate and I went to the opening tonight of the new exhibition, Cola Project at Sydney’s 4A Gallery. As always with 4A, it was adventurous and well-presented. The first thing you notice as you enter the gallery is a large mound of coal on the building’s first floor. And then you smell the coal, and [...]
Number 96 Turns Forty
“The thing I’m most proud about Number 96 is that it saved lives”, David Sale told us at tonight’s fortieth anniversary screening of the legendary Australian television show. As the creator of the show, and as a gay man, he was speaking about the impact of the program’s character, Don Finlayson, on the large number [...]
Sunday Art Walk
After the wet weather of the last few months, it was terrific to have such beautiful weather. Kate, a friend visiting from China, and I joined a tour around some of the artist-run spaces and pop-up galleries around The Rocks and Circular Quay.
If A Tree Falls
It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m feeling a little sad. Only a few minutes ago I walked out onto my balcony and noticed a sign on one of the trees across the road. I knew instantly that it was going to be a tree removal order. And not just one, but three. I’m lucky enough to [...]
Surry Stencils
Under the headlights of a nearby vehicle, I happened upon some stencil work in progress in the lane-way between Crown Street and Wiltshire Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. It’s all about the new shop next door which is opening soon, apparently. And this is what it looked like the following morning.
Who Was Alan Harrington?
“Who was Alan Harrington?”, I asked the waiter at the Charcoal Restaurant in Canberra last night. “I’ve never met him”, she told me, “But I’ve met his son. He came here from the age of one”, she added. According to the waiter, Alan Harrington lives in Queensland now, but was a regular at the restaurant [...]
Melodifestivalen 2012 #4
Over the last few days I’ve been gripped by the “controversy” in the Swedish newspapers about one of the artists who could represent Sweden at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. At the centre of the controversy is the song, “Mirakel” by Björn Ranelid, a sixty-something former football player, and academic, who is one of Sweden’s [...]
Finding Some Sanity
There was a time not so long ago when real estate dominated the conversation in Sydney. Now it’s the rain. And as boring as the real estate conversations were, the conversations about the rain are now equally as boring. But as boring as it all has become, it’s dominating life in Sydney right now. Normally [...]
Fyra år till – Four more years
Having seen Au Pair, Kansas the other day and all of its faux Swedish-ness, it was great to see a real Swedish film, as part of the Mardi Gras Film Festival. “Fyra år till” (Four More Years) tells the story of two Swedish male politicians with contrasting lives and viewpoints who fall in love. From [...]
Männer zum knutschen
“I’ve been to that bar, I’m sure”, I whispered in the ears of my friends as we watched “Männer zum knutschen” (Men To Kiss) at the Mardi Gras Film Festival. It was August 2008, I was in Berlin, and sitting in a bar there with the inspired name of The Sharon Stonewall. While there I [...]
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