"On a wall in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Newtown is a vast mural, featuring the face of Dr Martin Luther King Junior above his famous words, 'I have a dream.' To the left is a painting of the world as seen from space, while beneath is the black, red and gold design of the Aboriginal flag. On a wall facing the mural is a more recent piece of Aboriginal art. The text here expands on Dr King’s statement by adding, 'We have the Dreaming'..."

Taking a tour of the diverse street art of Newtown, Sydney.

[Read the full article here]

"Huge, colourful images of geishas line a brick wall off Adelaide’s Rundle Street, and they’re far more glamorous than the alley they overlook. A fine example of the street art to be found scattered through the city’s Central Business District, they’re attached to the wall of a nightclub called Sugar. Which seems appropriate, as the next stop on the Adelaide Feast tour is a chocolate shop. Or more elegantly, a chocolatier..."

Enjoying food and street art on a walking tour through Adelaide, South Australia.

[Read the full article here]

"'The stuff that goes on in making movies? They ought to make a movie about it,' says veteran film scout Randy Spangler. And he should know. Spangler’s been working in Hawaii’s busy film industry since the 1970s, when he got his start finding locations for the TV series Hawaii Five-O. So many productions have been filmed on the most populous island, Oahu, that I wonder why it’s so attractive to Hollywood and television studios..."

"Darius stepped away from the crack in the floor, now visibly expanding and contracting like a hungry mouth. He looked away from the sphere and caught Kovary’s eye. She appeared as mystified as he. Then, turning back, he saw that something was forming slowly within the golden light. It was vaguely humanoid, though it was almost three metres tall. There was something… animal… about the shape of its head."

My SF/fantasy thriller novel, Mind the Gap, was published by Harper Collins in 2014 and is available for purchase via Amazon.com and other outlets. For more details, visit the book's promotional website.

This book can be purchased online from Amazon.com.

[Read the full article here]

"Over the decades, the festival has attracted the talents of a vast array of comedians, even those used to larger audiences via radio and TV. One of these is Dave O’Neil. Why does he think Melbourne is the natural home of comedy? 'It’s the weather!' he says. 'It keeps people indoors. People in Sydney are outdoors on their rollerblades in bike shorts, whereas in Melbourne you’re sometimes forced to go indoors. That’s why good music and comedy comes out of Melbourne...'"

"The process by which buskers are allowed onto Melbourne’s streets seems a bit of a mystery.  I liked to imagine a scenario something like that in the famous beer ad modelled on the movie Flashdance. You know the sort of thing: singers belting out tunes, dancers flinging themselves about, human statues doing nothing much, while a primly-dressed panel sits at one end of a huge audition hall and scratches notes..."

"The basic conceit of the show – a ship’s crew travelling to distant lands full of strange and wonderful creatures – is an age-old concept, employed by Homer in The Odyssey. This resemblance was particularly apt during the tenure of the First Doctor, played by William Hartnell, who kidnapped his first travelling companions and had no control over where his space-time vessel, the TARDIS, would take them..."

"Oscar Wilde only wrote one novel, but The Picture of Dorian Gray is a cracking yarn. 'The book is a ‘deal with the devil’ story, where he never ages and never has to  confront his sins or his guilt,' says Room of Regret co-creator and director Emma Valente. 'It’s all manifested in an external object, as his sins get greater and greater until they peak. We’ve taken that idea and really tried to physicalise it...'"

"Art imitating life is one thing, but art imitating art is quite another. In the case of the Melbourne Festival production Brief Encounter, it’s actually a matter of art imitating art imitating art. This play about star-crossed married lovers in 1930s Britain is based on David Lean’s 1945 film of the same name, which was itself inspired by Noel Coward’s play Still Life..."

A guide to the literary highlights of the Irish capital, within this book profiling a variety of travel escapes around the world.

This book can be purchased online from Amazon.com.

"If you’ve ever sworn under your breath at fellow audience members fiddling with their smartphones during a live arts performance, you’ll be shocked by Blindscape. Not only does the team behind this Melbourne Fringe Festival show want you to have your devices out, they’re distributing them. 'It’s a circus show, and it’s a circus in the dark,' explains creator Skye Gellmann. 'It’s the audience who lights the performance...'"

"In 2011, Martin staged Tony Martin Reads Stuff Out at Trades Hall. 'Because the stories had so much dialogue in them and I had to jump through all the voices, it was like watching a one man radio play,' he says. 'And after I did that season I had a lot of people mention The Yeti, asking me to read that one.' So Martin bowed to popular demand, crafting that short story into a new show - tall tales about living in the boarding house..."

"Plunging into a well-groomed residential quarter, we pass the beautiful St Catherine's Church and admire the flash apartment building bought into by Salander after she fleeced a dodgy businessman of his billions. Descending hillside steps to the square in front of Slussen Metro station, I feel the memorable scenes of the Millennium novels have been vividly filled out in my mind by the colours, sounds and smells of Södermalm's real-life streets..."

"In less time than it takes to say, 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do', I find myself signed up for the tour and standing under the lone oak tree in the courtyard of the Stockholm City Hall, alongside other ABBA fans. We're in the hands of guide Eva Palmqvist, who smiles and flips up a photo of the pop-tastic quartet at their youthful height, arms splayed and dressed in denim, with the dour brick bulk of the City Hall in the background..."

Joining the ABBA City Walk through the centre of Stockholm, Sweden.

[Read the full article here]

"It takes a bit of deductive brainpower to find Speedy's Cafe. As it's north of busy Euston Road, with its drab modern office buildings and heavy traffic, I have to put in some fancy footwork to avoid getting run down by a red bus. Safely on the other side, I tap The Game is On on my phone and pick up my walking pace as the music plays. The signature tune from the recent hit BBC TV series Sherlock is a lively, action-packed number, and I'm getting into the mood for investigation..."

Deducing the London of Sherlock Holmes, both classic and contemporary incarnations.

"Melbourne is renowned for its active performing arts scene, from the regular events at the city’s sprawling Arts Centre to the big-budget commercial productions within its grand 19th century theatres. However, one vibrant element of the city’s culture often missed by visitors by is its lively independent theatre scene. Across Melbourne, small venues present drama, comedy, cabaret and music..."

"'We call him "the prick with the stick",' says tour guide Pat Liddy, cheekily referring to a statue of the writer James Joyce which stands proudly in O’Connell Street. It's all in good fun though, he adds, smiling as he returns to his pint of Guinness in an atmospheric old pub which is a former haunt of Joyce’s. It seems somehow fitting that we should be on a literary walk that’s immediately ended up at the pub, given the central role of such establishments in Ireland’s social and cultural life..."

"While popular uprisings have shaken the Middle East over the past year, the relatively unaffected North African kingdom of Morocco has remained a destination for Western travellers. It's in this country's remote desert hinterland that Melbourne woman Karen Hadfield has established an artists' retreat, within the village of Tissardmine near the Algerian border..."

"These stakes are raised in the theatre's new work, Liberate Yourself from My Vice-like Grip!!!. This time there are four men, and they're in a unique setting - within the hull of the last ship on earth as it cruises the endless ocean created by climate change. 'It's at the end of our planet's life,' says McCarthy, 'At the point of apocalypse - a progression from where we're headed at the moment...'"

"Akmal Saleh is facing the stand-up comic's equivalent of that tricky second novel - the need to move on to new verbal territory in step with one's advancing age. 'The thing is, I'm old now,' he says. 'I'm 48. I can't get away with just doing jokes any more. I really feel that I want to say something that I believe in, or moves me, without being pretentious...'"

"To stage one Comedy Festival show may be regarded as a challenge; to stage two looks like recklessness. At least, that's what Oscar Wilde might say if he was around to peruse the program of the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In culmination of a growing trend, several well-known comics are staging more specialised shows in addition to their main solo acts..."

"The former Wertheim factory site on Richmond's Bendigo Street has lived an interesting life - it started out in 1908 as a piano factory, then became a Heinz factory before being transformed into the headquarters of Channel Nine. This month, however, there's been a spark of life in the old dream factory as it's been temporarily reinvented as the Richmond Weekender, hosting a cafe, cinema and market..."

"As the mosquito drone of the grand prix engines faded from the air outside the InterContinental Melbourne at The Rialto last Friday evening, jazz legend James Morrison was about to fill its Market Lane Bar with more melodious sounds. With the musician tucked into one end of the room along with a band, the compact space of wood-lined walls and low lounges took on a hint of backstreet jazz club..."

"So I return to the bench to sit in the light drizzle, looking up at the windows and imagining Plum looking back at me - we are, after all, separated not by space but only by the trifling matter of seven decades. If I could somehow pierce that veil of time and shout up to him from the roadway, what would I say? “Don’t do the broadcasts!” comes to mind. If he’d listen, it would save everyone a lot of heartache..."

Visiting the town in Poland where author PG Wodehouse was once held prisoner.

"I've only recently watched the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes, so I'm understandably unnerved to discover a giant bust of a chimpanzee in bushland on the edge of Melbourne's suburban sprawl. A minute before, I was strolling across neat lawns behind the McClelland Gallery, admiring a gold-faced statue of Dame Joan Sutherland. Now I'm following a narrow track through native trees and things have taken a more primal turn..."

"Thanks to animators over the years, the leprechaun has become a well-known figure; we can all recall his buckled hat, beard, pipe, beguiling accent and pot of gold. 'Everyone who comes in here gives the same description,' says Mark. But he’s here to put me straight on the little people and their many other mythical colleagues. Despite the name, it’s actually a museum devoted to all of the island nation’s rich folklore..."

"Private investigator Felix Baker recently walked the streets of St Kilda, talking to homeless people and sex workers in an attempt to find a young runaway called Becky. Just another sad tale of a disadvantaged kid becoming entangled in a shadowy world of drugs, prostitution and sleeping rough, you might think. Except that both Felix and Becky are fictional, the lead characters within a new audio tour of St Kilda entitled Looking for a Girl?..."

"It looks like the end. I’m trapped in a small room with a bunch of other people off the street, feeling a jolt of fear as three Daleks close in around us. The metal villains from the popular BBC science fiction series Doctor Who are convinced we’re in league with their enemy the Doctor, and before we can react, their trademark cry of “EXTERMINATE!” rings out..."

"Genet was brought up on the wrong side of the Parisian tracks, the son of a prostitute, then turned to theft before joining the Foreign Legion. As a poet, novelist and playwright, he became friends with the likes of Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso, who helped keep him out of prison. This colourful back story gave him plenty to draw upon in his work; and The Maids is one of his more memorable creations..."

"The poem, set after the arcade closes at night, has a bunch of ornaments breaking out of fashion boutique Corky St Clair and running the length of the underpass. It's an amusing poetic romp, a light-hearted urban fairytale that provokes chuckles at the antics of the newly animated objects and their very Melbourne artiness..."

"'GET WITH THE ACTION'. It’s the type of advertising slogan whipped up by the 1960s ad men from Mad Men. In Sister Mary Corita Kent’s 1966 artwork For Emergency Use Soft Shoulder, however, it’s been cheekily appropriated to sell spirituality. For the artistic nun who created the work, the product on offer was God..."

"'What’s funny about the cabaret now is that more straight people than gay people come to see our shows. We have boys, girls, groups doing their bachelor parties and birthdays, straight couples coming to see the drag queens, it’s so amaaazing!' It’s easy to be swept up in the enthusiasm of Mado Lamotte, drag queen extraordinaire, as she sits in front of her dressing room mirror in a leopard-print dressing gown and prepares for an evening on stage..."

"Anyone who's strolled past the Melbourne Town Hall on a sunny April day knows what it's like to be the centre of attention. Passers-by are assailed by Comedy Festival performers bearing leaflets, a publicity strategy known as 'flyering'. They're more entertaining than charity muggers, but there's no mistaking the scent of desperation in the air..."

"'Hal's Wigs, Merrylight Wigs, Di'Napoli Men's Hair Pieces,' I murmur, reading the labels on a column of cardboard boxes that reaches from floor to ceiling. Each title is stencilled in an old-fashioned font that suggests a commercial enterprise of the 1950s or '60s. I catch myself reaching up to check the status of my own hairline, as the artist might have expected me to do..."

"There are many big events on the Melbourne calendar, so much so that it has become an attraction itself. In March you can choose between (or combine) the Grand Prix, the Fashion Festival, the Food and Wine Festival, the Queer Film Festival, the International Comedy Festival, the International Flower and Garden Show, and the decades-old Moomba Festival. However, one exciting element of the city’s cultural offerings that often eludes visitors is its vibrant independent theatre scene..."

[Read the full article here] (jump to p82)

"'Nothing succeeds like success,' goes the old saying, and it could well work as the
motto for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Since its inception in 1987, the festival has become one of Australia’s biggest arts events - with over 400,000 tickets sold last year. Now the Comedy Festival is turning 25. What accounts for its extraordinary success?"

Revealing the highlights of the 25th Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

"'St James for the gentlemen, Mayfair for the ladies,' says tour guide Simon Rodway. The dapper tour guide brandishing a silver-topped cane is leading us on his London of James Bond walking tour, the first of three tours I’m taking in connection with 20th century British fictional characters. He’s right on the money as he recites the old expression about these neighbouring London locales..."

"There's an unwritten rule in contemporary theatre - that you can include as much sex and nudity as you like, as long as it's tastefully understated. This is not, however, a view shared by Steven Dawson. Since 1997, Dawson has been writing plays that exploit the sheer cut-through marketing power of titles such as Big Dicks on Stage, Filthy Pervert Seeks Same and Naked."

"IT manager Ryan McNaught has a novel way of filling his out-of-office hours: he builds models out of Lego, the popular interlocking building bricks patented by Danish toy company owner Godtfred Christiansen in 1958. They're not, however, comparable to the simple misshapen houses you constructed as a kid. McNaught's creations are sizeable constructions, meticulously planned and involving hundreds of bricks."

"Which do you prefer: Mickey Mouse or Daffy Duck? The good-natured animated animal characters from the Disney stable, or the sassier gang from Warner Brothers? It’s the sort of question that might be exercising the minds of furry fans as they gather in Melbourne for the 12th Midfur convention. Furries are devotees of anthropomorphic art, which features humanoid forms with animal characteristics."

"No matter how you look at it, the suit gets a bad rap: ‘suits’ as a derisive term for corporate warriors, ‘men in suits’ to hint at masculine bias in the boardroom. Luckily the suit does have one true friend: the tie. This humble piece of neckwear has been allowed to be the one free and easy item in men’s power uniform, lending it the ability to mitigate the suit’s conformist look."

"I’m sitting on a low red brick wall within a decaying factory complex in Wroclaw, Poland. Beyond artist Tomasz Moczek, perched on his rickety bar stool, I can see the doorway to his studio, a cool cavernous chamber within this defunct brewery. It’s a beautiful day filled with warm sunshine, and beers are passed around as I chat with Moczek and his friends Marcin and Kuba. The topic of conversation is gnomes."

"Despite the progress made in achieving equality between men and women over the past half-century, the abuse of sexual power by sportsmen keeps raising its head. Now it's inpired a new documentary play about sexual violence and football, This Kind of Ruckus. Drawing on rugby’s sex scandals of recent years, the production starkly examines the psychology of sex and consent in both the sporting arena and the wider world."

"Stop me if you've heard this one - 683 punters walk into a Hobart bar to watch a comedy gig, and call it a comedy festival. In 2002 it seemed pretty funny, according to Hobart Comedy Festival producer Craig Wellington. 'We put on a stage show over summer, and called it "The Hobart Comedy Festival (The World’s Smallest Cultural Event)" as a joke.' But it turned out to not be a passing gag..."

"Beyond the revelry, Fremantle has always attracted writers. From big-name bestsellers like Tim Winton to Miles Franklin Award winners such as Xavier Herbert, there’s apparently something about the narrow streets and salt air that sparks creativity. 'It has its own culture, its own feel,' says Silvey. 'It feels a little bit spiritual, and it's a really vibrant, caring community. Artists tend to cluster around these sort of places.'"

"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad. But what happens when the gods move beyond wrath and manipulation, and simply become tired, worn out, and in need of a cup of tea and a good lie-down? They hire temps, of course, a group of actors who can fill in on Mount Olympus until they feel like returning to their heavenly abode. That’s the plot, in any case, of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Thespis."

"There’s a deliberately raw look to many of the statues, as if they’ve been part-hewn out of stone but never quite finished – presumably the intention was to show strength and power. However there’s also a dull sameness about most of them, as if one artist in a Moscow garret did the lot – which was also the idea, I suppose."

"Picture this... it’s Brunswick in the 1980s, well before gentrification swept across the suburb. A baritone walks into a dingy jazz club, accompanied by a female soprano. He exchanges a brief nod with the barman, who’s rumoured to keep a gun under the bar, and the duo ascends the stage."

"Even though it’s very Off West End, I still have the common London experience of going to the theatre and realising I’ve seen some of the actors on the telly or at the cinema. Outside on the wet streets, people are bustling through the rain toward Kilburn Tube station, or stepping into the welcoming pub opposite. There’s something both very British but very international about the scene."

"'Roman Polanski used to sit right there between classes.' Professor Andrzej Bednarek points to a stairwell within Poland’s National Film School. We gaze at the stairs together, he in fond reflection and I in moderate reverence. It’s not everyday you encounter a renowned director’s favourite spot for a smoko. And as Lodz is pronounced 'woodge' in Polish, there’s been no end of puns about 'Hollywoodge'."

"If a nerd like Lawrence Leung could revive the Rubik’s Cube in his TV series Choose Your Own Adventure, the time must be ripe for a geek-chic makeover of the 12-sided dice. Enter musical comedy trio Tripod, whose latest production is an exaltation of that epic pre-console time-waster: the role-playing game known as Dungeons and Dragons."

"Morgan takes us past landmarks illustrating his life in Freo: his primary school; the former Caledonian Hall where he learned to play the bagpipes; and the old Fremantle Prison which he once passed through en route to a juvenile correctional institution. So he was a bit of a bad boy, and he famously liked the ladies. 'His Mum still lives in a nearby suburb,' says Morgan. 'She was the only woman in Perth that he didn't sleep with.'"

"What would Christmas be without nuts? Or indeed, without The Nutcracker? This fairytale ballet by Tchaikovsky is the perfect way to introduce kids to dance, though adults will also be enchanted by the adventures of our heroine, Marie, and the toys she encounters along the way. 'Is there a magical transformation and a handsome prince?' I hear you ask. How could there not be? Sugar plum fairies included."

"Shad Thames is a curious laneway running parallel with the Thames, between a set of large brick warehouses. Above the street a series of walkways runs back and forth between the buildings. It’s an atmospheric sight; and it’s also, I remember, where Daleks were seen to roam when it was a dilapidated, rain-drenched strip in the 1980s. Which just goes to show - even metallic alien invaders can’t stop gentrification."

"I’m on my way into a pub when I’m stopped by a dangerous revolutionary. With one fist raised in protest and the other support a flying banner, he looks up at me with clear disdain. But perhaps I’m overstating my peril. For a start, he’s looking up at me because he’s only 50 centimetres high. And he’s made of stone. And he’s a gnome."

"Though the satirical illustration has been around since the 18th century, and the cartoon is still a fixture on newspapers' editorial pages, they've had a bumpy transition to the Internet, where users click to specific stories rather than view entire pages. Enter a new medium - the wall of a popular inner-city music venue. But why decide to feature cartoon and comic strip art in the first place?"

Talking to the creators of Strip Billboard, a street art project in Melbourne, Australia.

[Read the full article here]

"The power, the power! I’m standing at a computer console in London, selecting missions undertaken by a well-known secret agent. As I touch each icon, an impressive digital globe rotates on the giant screen above me, indicating the locations in James Bond’s adventures. Yes, I am a Bond villain and I hold the fate of Agent 007 in my very hands. Nyah-ha-ha!"

"Dodging part of a fast-moving actor’s costume is not one of the usual rituals of going to the theatre. But I’m at the Globe Theatre, and here the rules are quite different. There’s no real danger of losing an eye, of course - the actors know exactly where they’re treading - but there’s a great sense of energy and excitement when they wheel in your direction to spout Shakespeare’s famous lines."

"Tired of Hollywood fare? Had enough of third-rate sequels involving comic book characters and bad computer-generated effects? Getting a headache from lurid multiplex carpets and overconsumption of popcorn? ... This late night offering is sure to get you pondering, even if it’s only along the lines of 'What were they thinking?'"

Casting a cinematic eye over Melbourne's quirkiest movie venues.

[Read the full article here]

"Riddle me this: what do you get when you cross a cow up a tree, a giant eagle, and a bridge that looks like a Slinky? Find out on the Docklands Art Journey, a walk through the strange and stimulating public art of the former port area..."

A look at 20 great cultural experiences in Melbourne, from galleries to public art.

[Read the full article here]

"When Six Feet Under finally expires from natural causes after its final episode next Monday, it'll be the end of a long and intense emotional journey for its fans. But the drama about the lives of a family running a Los Angeles funeral home was never going to go quietly..."

A farewell to the cult favourite TV program about a family running a funeral home.

[Read the full article here]

"The future is taking shape in a sunlit studio high above Flinders Lane. Shepherd’s workspace is located in the Nicholas Building, a grand office block from 1926 and home to a community of artists and artisans. Like the building, the CybaFaeries studio is cluttered with reminders of the past. But the latest technology is also present, as Shepherd works on his current project, crafting robots as pieces of art that will move and see."

A profile of a man who makes 'fine art robots' in his studio in Melbourne's city centre.

[Read the full article here]

"Bendigo had never seen a night at the theatre quite like it. On the evening of 2 April 1856, residents of the thriving gold mining town had paid five shillings to see a performance of Asmodeus, or The Little Devil. It wasn’t the play they were interested in, but its star, Lola Montez. Celebrated and condemned in the world’s media, she was a magnet for scandal and gossip. However, she was about to be upstaged..."

The story of the scandalous Lola Montez and her 1855 tour of Melbourne and the goldfields.

"Like Another Planet, Redletter aimed to provide a voice to marginalised groups. It also established its own campaigns, usually addressing causes outside mainstream politics. The result was a steady stream of big, bold posters exposing new ideas and events to the world. They were a godsend to cash-strapped grassroots organisations, and activists hoping to insert a new viewpoint into the heads of unsuspecting passers-by."

The history of Melbourne's famous anti-establishment poster presses.

[Read the full article here]

"There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Or indeed, to visit Britain. The Romans came to conquer the place, the Vikings to plunder, and most modern visitors have images of castles, pomp and pageantry whirling in their heads. But some of the best English language TV and film has come out of the UK, and an increasing number of tourists make a different kind of pilgrimage – to the location of their favourite Brit flick."

"There’s nothing funny about technology. Just think about it: spam, pop-ups, incompatible hardware and help files poorly translated from Japanese. Worst of all, computer crashes. There’s nothing remotely funny about your hard drive crashing..."

Examines a number of Comedy Festival shows focusing on the funny side of technology. 

"Nostradamus had enough sense to keep it vague. His mysterious predictions kept the punters guessing well past his death. If only his descendants had learned from his wisdom. Time and again, 20th century prognosticators set their books, films and TV series in a specific year of the future. In many cases, these years have now actually passed, enabling us to check the accuracy of their predictions."

Nostalgia piece about TV shows set in a future year which has now passed.

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email:
tim@iwriter.com.au

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