Writing about true stories can often be a rewarding experience, because these are the most relatable and intriguing ones for the reader. However, on the flip-side there are also ethical questions involved in this particular game and one needs to ensure that a subject is properly represented. This tug-of-war act between the journalist and the…
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These days our tabloid magazines are obsessed with the love lives of the rich and the famous; but have you ever wondered what these stories would look like if the subjects were famous composers from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries? ABC broadcaster Christopher Lawrence has the answer along with a dash of poetic licence…
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Susie Elelman is a much-loved Australian media personality who has appeared on daytime television and radio for several decades. She has also waged a rather public battle with her weight and those experiences shaped her first book, Half My Size released in 2005. Now in 2018, Elelman follows-up that title with another self-help book, Still Half…
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Suffragette was a film that covered the British women who protested in order to gain the right to vote. The Divine Order (Die göttliche Ordnung) is a film that covers things from a Swiss perspective. Whereas the suffrage movement happened in the UK in the early 20th century, for Switzerland it was 1971 before the…
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There are some people who believe that timing is everything. American author and speaker, Daniel H. Pink is someone who appreciates the importance of timing, as he describes in his new book – When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Pink believes that timing is not an art but a science, and has created a highly…
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A lot of us are now aware that the brain is plastic and has the ability to change and adapt. A new area of neuroscience that looks to take advantage of this phenomena is cognitive enhancement. This is a field that sees individuals alter the way their brain and mind works in order to make…
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The original Sandinistas (AKA the Sandinista National Liberation Front) were a group with the odds stacked against them. By their own admission, they were a bunch of “Poorly armed kids.” But they successfully overthrew the Nicaraguan president in 1979. A large number of the Sandinistas were women. Society had expected these women would marry and…
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Ringo Starr told people to stop and smell the roses. Ferris Bueller also reminded us that life moves pretty fast and encouraged us to stop or we’d miss it. Matt Green is someone who is doing just that. This 37-year-old former engineer is walking every street in New York City’s five boroughs. It’s a journey…
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In Australia we had John Safran playing provocateur and spending time with white nationalists in his book, Depends What You Mean By Extremist. In the US, a SXSW documentary takes a similar approach with filmmaker, Adam Bhala Lough embedding himself with some representatives from political extremes in Alt Right: Art of Rage. The film ultimately…
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Microsoft have asked us, “Where do you want to go today?” The answer can be found in their new slogan, “Empowering us all” and in the film, Big Dream, which they helped fund. This documentary draws together the stories of several inspiring young women who are challenging the male-dominated STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths)…
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Jennifer Lawrence may look like a black swan in Red Sparrow but this bird fails to fly. Red Sparrow is a tense, spy thriller that is so dark and brutal at times that it isn’t for the faint-hearted. While the action is more slow-burning in nature compared to other espionage-type films, the scenes involving torture,…
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Auguste Rodin was a renowned French sculptor who produced works like “The Thinker” and “The Kiss”. Some people even declare this artist a genius. But the same cannot be said about his eponymous bio-pic. This French film manages to make this famous man’s life seem so hollow and pedestrian that there is more life emanating…
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They say that film stars don’t die in Liverpool but this bio-pic of the same name just might. Okay, that’s a bit harsh but the fact is the story is quite a basic one that could have been realised in a much better way. While the performances are top-notch you can’t help but feel like…
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Rock’ n Roll is a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The same can also be said about the film’s star, writer and director, Guillaume Canet. The result is an uneven French comedy and a satire that examines the worst of Hollywood and show business ego, and while it deserves points for originality, the…
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If ever there was a film that did what it said on the tin then it is Finding Your Feet. This boomer rom-com and English dramedy is all about second chances and discovering your true self. The film is a pleasant and predictable one that should appeal to fans of Hampstead and The Best Exotic…
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It has been 15 years since Queer Eye For The Straight Guy graced our TV screens. Fast forward to 2018 and the show has been rebooted and will be exclusively streamed on Netflix. A new cast of handy men will doll out advice, sass and free make-overs for those that need it most. We run…
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If anyone knows the definition of the word “tough” then it’s Warren Mundine. This businessman and advisor to five Australian Prime Minsters grew up in poverty in Grafton. He faced racism and discrimination but he was also buoyed by the success of boxer, Lionel Rose. Mundine managed to rise above all of this and become…
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This year marks the 30th anniversary of The Go-Betweens’ 16 Lovers Lane. Three former members of the band played a special tribute at the State Theatre for Sydney Festival. And rather than dive for the group’s memory, the artists rose up and soared in a sea of nostalgia while supported by a cast of contemporaries…
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Man on the run. Sweet Country is based on the true, Australian story about a point in history where justice was put on trial. For this reason, it has echoes of To Kill A Mockingbird except that here, Atticus Finch isn’t a lawyer but a preacher played by Sam Neill. The result is a shockingly…
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The name Jean-Jacques Perrey could mean everything and absolutely nothing to different people. Perrey was a musical chameleon and the first and only virtuoso of the Ondioline, a rare French electronic musical instrument and precursor to the modern synthesiser. Perrey’s work has been sampled by rap artists, played on South Park and garnered the likes…
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The original “Town Hall” debate was no ordinary affair. So it should come as no surprise that the one-act play based on this historic event is no ordinary piece of theatre. The show comes courtesy of New York’s The Wooster Group and rather than a straight, re-telling of an already chaotic feminist discussion, they inject…
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These days the words, “The Post” are more likely to get you thinking about a blog then a newspaper. In fact, Steven Spielberg’s latest film, The Post is all about history and a bygone era in print journalism. It’s a historic thriller and bio-pic that looks at how The Washington Post handled the decision to…
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Winston Churchill was a leading writer and orator. So it should come as no surprise that Darkest Hour, a new biopic about the British leader sees the usual guns and weaponry synonymous with wartime films replaced with words, glorious words. While the story is not the most necessary one (as it has been told countless…
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For decades Oliver Sacks was lauded as a gifted scientist and storyteller. He penned several books, the most famous being Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat. Prior to his death from cancer in 2015 Sacks had been busy working on two final books. The first, Gratitude, was published posthumously in late 2015. The latest…
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A lot of us have heard of the metaphor involving the carrot and the stick. It describes the idea of reward versus punishment, such that a cart driver can use the former to motivate a reluctant mule or they can hit it with the stick. When we think about self-help books they typically use the…
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Seeing is believing. Especially when you are watching a theatre show like, The Unbelievables. This variety show comes from the producers of The Illusionists and Circus 1903 and promises to be the “greatest” one on earth. The finished product is a grand assortment of different treats and tricks, with performers from multiple disciplines and presentations…
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When The Four Tops sang about “Standing in the shadows of love” Lily Tuck’s Sisters wasn’t quite what they had in mind. And yet, this novella by a National Book Award recipient feels like it could use that track as an anthem. This story is a tense piece about a second wife who is obsessed…
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Just To Be Sure (Ôtez-moi d’un doute) is a French comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It deals with some important and weighty issues like: family, identity and roots but handles these in a quirky and funny way. What could have been a self-proclaimed neo-Greek tragedy actually turns out to be a fun and…
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On paper, Wonder Wheel seems to have all of the right credentials. It’s a dramatic film set in the 1950s so it’s bound to look great. It stars Kate Winslet and is directed by Woody Allen. It is also set at the Coney Island Amusement Park. But even with all of this stuff on offer,…
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Alan Burdick’s book, Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation is one with a fascinating premise that we can all relate to. A staff writer from the New Yorker, Burdick specialises in penning articles about science and technology. Here, he poses the question, “What is time and why does it speed up as we age…
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