Historical movies can be some of the best storytelling on offer. Recent films such as The King’s Speech and Lincoln have shown the amazing results that can come from the dramatisation of real events. However, sometimes a movie which promises fresh insight into important historical figures can simply provide an uninteresting journey down memory lane. Unfortunately,…
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I’m no relationship guru, but for the love of Thor will someone advocate ownership of feelings and spare us all the turmoil of the ‘does he like me?’ conversation. This isn’t an exclusively female issue but since most of my conversations on this have been with women, I’m going to address it from that perspective….
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Many women use tattoos to indicate ownership of their bodies. Tattoos became a symbol of rebellion for women in the 1970s, amidst the fight for abortion and contraceptive rights. While tattoos apparently had a brief popularity amongst Victorian women, they have predominantly been a male arena since their introduction in Western culture into the 1700s….
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We’ve all been there. You’re having a casual shower and suddenly find yourself a little peckish. What is there to eat in here? Soap? No. A loofah? No. Perhaps the grout? Definitely not. Well, thanks to the ‘no shampoo’ movement, there are several natural alternatives to shampoo you can try that are, if hunger strikes…
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I remember when Game of Thrones first really started blowing up in its first season, a friend of mine told me she found it worrying. Actually the word she used was “weird”; she is a very diplomatic person. The fact that the most popular show on TV, a show everyone was talking about, prominently featured…
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Uganda moves to ban miniskirts. Uganda looks to ban miniskirts and other “provocative” clothing with the introduction of the Anti-Pornography Bill 2011. Women found guilty of wearing anything cut “above the knee” will face a fine and up to 10 years in prison. The same length requirement does not apply to men. Uganda’s ethics and…
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Welcome to my kitchen sink. This is where full potential has failed to reach. Young mother Elspeth Dickens (Laura Michelle Kelly), a British immigrant, is isolated at her Tasmanian homestead with her twin sons while her whale saving husband, Jimmy (Ronan Keating), works away for long periods of time. To keep connected, Jimmy gives Elspeth…
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Everybody knows that age-old cliché, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. It’s a well-meaning expression. Yes, we should probably take a closer look at the book before deciding whether or not to read it. Yes, it’s better to get to know a person rather than forming opinions based on their appearance. And yes, Lizzy…
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I have been nostalgic about the past for as long as I can remember. The clothing, technology and society of bygone eras have always seemed far more interesting to me than the present day. This interest in mind, I found myself drawn to the new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, which…
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Nina Conti returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for another year of puppetry and improv with her latest show, Dolly Mixtures. The versatile ventriloquist introduces a range of new characters including her child, Nina, a former philosophy professor, and hunky builder, Stefan. The show combines Conti’s self-referential humour with the risky element of audience…
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[**Spoiler Alert**] Lore is not your typical film about World War II. The story is based on a novel by Rachel Seiffert and is about a young family of middle class German children who are forced to flee their home as the allies overtake Germany at the end of the war. It is an eye-opening…
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I am a big fan of meals that have more than one course. It lends a sense of occasion to weeknight dinners and makes the host/cook of dinner parties seem very impressive (especially if they sigh happily after taking the first bite – it’s a fabulous ego boost). The problem I encounter when preparing two…
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In a response to the December 2012 gang rape of a medical student in India, which sparked huge protests and a call to the Indian government to address the growing issue of sexual assault and violence against women in the nation, three engineering students from SRM University in Chennai have come up with what they…
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My Mum used to tell stories at bedtime, and one of my favourites was Upside Down World. Visitors to this realm would sip donuts through straws and slide backwards up slippery dips; the laws of our universe were reversed. In The Age this week, Amrit Dhillon explores a society that sounds like a real Upside…
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