In March, I was thrilled to be a part of Noted, Canberra’s first writers’ festival, an offshoot of YouAreHere.  Noted unofficially began on Wednesday the 18th of March, a highlight of which was the reopening of my favourite teenage hangout (the East Row incarnation of Impact Records) as YouAreHere Headquarters.  There I’d spent much of my time and ( Read more... )

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(Eleanor & Park is the St Edmund’s library Book of The Month on our intranet - here’s my review for everyone outside the school network.)


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So, I finally watched Joss Whedon’s newish film, Much Ado About Nothing.  The movie's not bad, but the dialogue isn’t up to Whedon’s usual level of wit, and sometimes it seems like characters are just speaking for the sake of adding polysyllables to the script.  Some even speak when no one else is around, breaking the fourth wall to explain their ( Read more... )

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Greetings, citizens of Canberra.  Did you know that the Department of Home Affairs received 764 suggested names for our fine town?  And that “Canberra” got twelve votes while “Austral City” received eighteen?  We should be living in Austral City.  How cool would that be?  I’d feel like I was living in a comic book.  Other potentials included “ ( Read more... )

Forethoughts:So I've come up with my top twenty songs by different artists that came out in the past twenty years and got into previous Triple J Hottest 100s.  I've also come up with a top fifty (including thirty songs that didn't quite make it in.)  The two conspicuous absences are Muse and Oasis.  For Muse, it's too hard to pick a single song, ( Read more... )

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“I have to write 500 words on why I want to be a teacher.  Any things I should say?”

I was asked this by my sister this afternoon.  As well as being a crucial part of the first sentence above, the word ‘why’ also happens to be one that Beth hears a supernumerary amount of times a day from my toddler nephew.  As infuriating as that can be, ‘Why?’ is ( Read more... )

“The World Wide Web is wonderful if you’ve got something to sell
But opinions often summon up a focus group from Hell.
It’s best not to be distracted and stay focused on your goals,
And take my advice: don’t feed the trolls.”

So sang Billy Bragg last night at the Canberra Theatre in the modernised version of his 1988 protest song, ‘Waiting for the ( Read more... )