Helena Vestergaard: sometimes actress, sometimes musician and always really, really ridiculously good-looking. The Melbourne-born artist has managed to squeeze a hell of a life into 19 years, from working with filmmaker Kai Neville in Dear Suburbia to acting in obscure Korean commercials. What initially drew you to acting? Ever since I was a child…
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My confession is that I hate King Lear. Possibly you disagree with me. But that is not to say that I hate all of Shakespeare (God forbid we have the arrogance to criticise the great Master!). Luckily, there is hope for me because others have retold and rewritten the play. Jane Smiley has done just…
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When I signed on to write a film column featuring the Studio Ghibli films, I was thrilled. While I may not be an expert – yet – on the expansive collection of animated films, I have certainly seen enough to be hooked. Over the past couple of weeks as my deadline for this review (and…
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Back when I was around fourteen, I was really into Lost. We still had dialup so I couldn’t Limewire it; I did it old-school, waiting for Christmas when my Grandad would buy me the latest season on DVD. I’d chew up four, five episodes at a time. My little sister, who would have been about…
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The editor of this anthology, Wendy Cope, says that she compiled Heaven on Earth: 101 Happy Poems as an argument of sorts against widely held ideas that joy ‘won’t be put down on paper’ and that ‘Happiness is the one emotion a poem can’t capture’. Certainly, as a writer, I have found that my most…
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that Bridget Jones is one of the most recognisable and loveable characters in modern novels and films. And author and creator Helen Fielding has revealed that the third novel concerning the life of Ms. Jones is to be released in October this year, entitled Mad About The Boy. This…
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The little girl grasps her pencil, pink tongue escaping her lips as she practises the alphabet’s lazy loops and disciplined lines. When she closes her fuchsia notebook, Barbie’s symmetrical smile gazes up at her. The girl stashes her pencil in a pencil case printed with three dainty Disney Princesses before opening a My Little Pony…
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I dodged the Emerging Writers’ Festival last year. Not only did I not feel “emerged” enough, I had a fairly strong suspicion that my attending would reveal me as a fraud. I thought about how stupid that assumption was at the start of this year’s EWF Writers’ Conference. People floated in casually, caffeinated, and their…
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The Emerging Writer’s Festival (EWF) is for writers. Midnight scribbler? For you. Aspiring novelist? For you. Screenwriter? Cartoonist? Got short stories published? For you. For you. For you. In its tenth year, the festival brings together newcomers as well as old hats in the media world (e.g. John Safran and Elmo Keep) to present a…
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There is a scene in the headline act of the Fremantle Street Arts Festival, a show by French company Bilbobasso, where the leading lady dances for the leading man, trying to convince him to come back to her. She dances with what look like the bones of two enormous metal fans, a series of lit…
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Seth MacFarlane is coming under fire for his hosting at the Oscars, in particular in regard to his “Boobs” song in which he points out various celebrities and what movies their boobs were shown in. It surprises me so many people are getting so upset or offended about it. Seth isn’t known for his subtle…
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A collection of seven short plays connected by the theme of water. This was the premise of the aptly-titled ReAction Theatre production At the Water’s Edge, which recently showed at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre. Composed of works penned by Australian and international playwrights, the show featured an eclectic mix of plays, some of which making…
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Move Past It tells a tragic story of a deeply unhappy young woman, in a very clever and thought-provoking way. It is a short film that was written and directed by Adelaide filmmaker Cameron Crothers. With haunting narration that is sparingly used, the skilful use of images does the rest of the storytelling. The colours and…
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Serena Chalker is a choreographer, improviser, performer, and the co-director of Anything Is Valid Dance Theatre (AIVDT). She’s part of Sydney Fringe Festival’s Life in Miniature. This dance piece is set and performed in a caravan to an intimate audience of 5 people at a time, and looks at the lives of two travellers. Lets…
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