The much talked about Meta/Facebook Twitter-like micro-blogging application, reportedly called Threads, will be launched later this week, according to Bloomberg. With well over one billion Instagram users, and approaching three billion Facebook members, Meta’s Twitter clone has t … | Continue reading
Just as well I still check in on Twitter. If not, I’d have not found what I found out about Sydney based refugee advocate, and Australian writer, Nadine J. Cohen. First up her Twitter account has been suspended, and second, her debut novel, Everyone and Everything, is being publi … | Continue reading
Who said no one reads books anymore? While television remains the preferred method of summertime “escape” in Britain, with just over one in two people tuning in, reading comes in as the next best means of putting the worries of the world aside. This according to data released by … | Continue reading
Wednesday 27 September 2023 will be a red letter day for fans of erstwhile Australian indie rock act Silverchair. That’s the day Love & Pain, a book co-written by Ben Gillies, the band’s drummer, and bass player Chris Joannou, is set to be published by Hachette Australia. That Gi … | Continue reading
Well over a year after a screen adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2017 novel The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo was announced, American filmmaker and screenwriter Leslye Headland has been named as director. Reid’s work of historical fiction spent over a year on The New York Time … | Continue reading
Radio and television broadcaster Myf Warhurst speaks to Good Weekend Magazine writer Melissa Fyfe, on the Good Weekend Talks podcast (Spotify link). I used to listen to Warhurst when she presented on Australian radio station Triple J, from 2000 to 2007. She later had a show on Do … | Continue reading
American actor Bill Murray has starred in all but two of Wes Anderson’s feature length films. Murray missed participating in Anderson’s latest, Asteroid City, after being side-lined by a Covid infection. Murray had been cast as a motel manager, but Steve Carell was brought in ins … | Continue reading
Perfectly made, beautifully acted and pitch-perfect. Charlotte Higgins, writing for The Guardian, of A Room with a View, the 1985 Merchant Ivory film that launched the careers of British actors Helen Bonham Carter, and the late Julian Sands: The film, in a small way, has followed … | Continue reading
A first edition print of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in the Harry Potter series, published in 1997, will be auctioned later this week and may fetch up to five thousand pounds. A British collector of books and memorabilia, who died recently, had purcha … | Continue reading
Fifteen hundred paintings and drawings by Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, who died in 1890, have been digitised and made available online by the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. Why didn’t this happen when I was studying high school art history? Van Gogh was of cou … | Continue reading
Scientists think low-frequency gravitational waves generated by super-massive black holes found at the centres of some galaxies may be sending ripples through the fabric of space-time. While astronomers still aren’t one-hundred percent sure these waves exist, they would help in t … | Continue reading
Julian Sands and Helena Bonham-Carter, in a still from A Room with a View. The remains of British actor Julian Sands, who had been missing since January this year, after setting off on a hike on Mount Baldy, in California, were located earlier this week. Sands’ disappearance spar … | Continue reading
One point two one billion smartphones were shipped in 2022, according to market intelligence firm IDC, the lowest figure since 2013. The decline in demand has been attributed to increased inflation and economic uncertainty. Purely anecdotal, but a few people I’ve spoken to have s … | Continue reading
archives.design is a digital archive of graphic design related items found on the Internet Archives, curated by Canadian graphic designer Valery Marier. This is a great resource. | Continue reading
Image courtesy of Veeka Skaya/Vancity Digital. What do social media influencers, through with influencing, wanting to try something new, do? They find a nine-to-five corporate job, and act as a consultant for other influencers likewise wishing to exit the industry, of course. Tha … | Continue reading
Long running science-fiction franchise Star Trek, which first to air in the 1960’s, is still with us today because of its intrinsic sense of optimism. This according to Anson Mount, who portrays Captain Christopher Pike, in the latest variant of the story, Strange New Worlds. For … | Continue reading
The awards span six categories fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children’s literature, poetry, and Australian history, with prizes of up to one hundred thousand dollars awarded per category. Entries are open to citizens or permanent residents of Australia, for titles … | Continue reading
Image courtesy of Pexels. Should mobile phones be banned at music festivals? What sort of question is that? After all, is not recording the happenings of the day, be it video clips, or photos, and sharing them online, part and parcel of the music festival experience? Well it is, … | Continue reading
American filmmaker Chad Stahelski, possibly best known for directing the John Wick films, starring Keanu Reeves, believes an Oscar Award for movie stunts is forthcoming. While promoting the latest instalment of the franchise, John Wick: Chapter 4, earlier this year, Stahelski, a … | Continue reading
Housing shortages, along with rising interest rates and mortgage repayments, are presently driving up rents and homelessness. To alleviate the problem, the supply of affordable accommodation needs to be increased. But planning and constructing safe, well-built dwellings, takes ti … | Continue reading
There are a million self-help books in the world, all filled to the brim with suggestions and methods to somehow make your life easier, better, or happier. But if you’re looking for the type of self-help these titles offer, which one — of the multitudes — do you choose? Chris Tay … | Continue reading
Kurzgesagt take on the difficult questions, and come back with easy to follow, and entertaining, answers. Some forms of cancer have proved seemingly impossible to treat, but the German animation studio feels confident that will change in the not too distant future. Let’s hope so. … | Continue reading
Strewth, it’s been one hundred years since Australia’s favourite yeast extract, Vegemite, hit the shelves of grocery shops. Although similar (sort of…) to Marmite, which came along in 1902, Vegemite was developed by Cyril Callister, a Melbourne chemist and food technologist in 19 … | Continue reading
For decades until the 1970’s, some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families by successive Australian governments. These children became known as the Stolen Generations. Indigenous woman Brenda Matthews was taken from her family aged … | Continue reading
Australians will be participating in a referendum sometime in the next six months to decide whether a change should be made to the constitution, to create an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Such a Voice would take the form of an independent body made up of Indigenous … | Continue reading
Book cover of The Lovers, by Yumna Kassab, named on the 2023 Miles Franklin shortlist. The shortlist of the 2023 Miles Franklin literary award was announced this morning. The following six books have advanced to the next stage of the prestigious Australian literary award: Chai Ti … | Continue reading
Debbie Disrupt, AI newsreader, image via Disrupt Radio. Entrepreneurial thinkers and business mavericks are in the sights of Disrupt Radio, Australia’s newest national radio network, which goes to air, or a streaming device near you, on Monday 26 June 2023. Australian comedian an … | Continue reading
The winners of the 2023 BookPeople Awards were announced last night, Sunday 18 June, at a ceremony at the Adelaide Convention Centre, in South Australia. The awards recognise both the efforts of booksellers across Australia, and Australian writers of adult fiction, adult non-fict … | Continue reading
Gayamaygal/Manly, Sydney, based Australian writer and editor Lauren Crozier has been named winner of the 2023 Text Prize, with her manuscript titled The Best Witch in Paris, which will be published in 2024 as part of the prize. Crozier’s novel is a middle-grade adventure, being s … | Continue reading
The Recording Academy of the United States recently amended their rules to stipulate that only human artists and creators can receive Grammy awards. Speaking in a recent interview, Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said AI musical compositions can be entered for con … | Continue reading
Meanjin/Brisbane based actor and screenwriter Anna McGahan has been named winner of the 2023 The Australian/Vogel’s Award for Young Writers, with her novel Immaculate, which is set to be published on Tuesday 20 June 2023: All Frances wants is a cure for her daughter, but that wou … | Continue reading
On the subject of self-publishing, retired Australian horticulturist journalist and foreign aid researcher Helen Moody recently published her own book, South Coast Islands NSW. While Moody’s title is selling well, six-hundred copies from a print run of seven-hundred have sold, Mo … | Continue reading
A fascinating overview of the book publishing industry in Australia, and probably globally, by Dave Gow, who recently went through the process of self-publishing a book: Traditional book publishers are essentially operating like startup investors or venture capitalists. They make … | Continue reading
Australian freelance writer and creative copywriter Michelle See-Tho has been named winner of 2023 Penguin Literary Prize, for her manuscript titled Jade and Emerald. See-Tho’s yet to be published novel tells the story of an acquaintance a lonely ten year girl develops with a wel … | Continue reading
Image courtesy of Pexels. With emphasis on the word little. Recent comments made by Sir Paul McCartney, bass player and co-songwriter of defunct 1960s British music act the Beatles, that AI has brought about a “new” song by the band, are perhaps a tad misconstrued. AI technology … | Continue reading
American author Cormac McCarthy, writer of novels including No Country for Old Men in 2005, The Road in 2006, and more recently in 2022, The Passenger and Stella Maris, died on Tuesday 13 June 2023. According to a statement on his website, he died of natural causes. So long Corma … | Continue reading
Design magazine Wallpaper* has published a selection of photos taken during the production of the new Wes Anderson film, Asteroid City. Anderson worked with his long-time collaborator, production designer Adam Stockhausen, to create the trademark “Andersonesque” sets of Asteroid … | Continue reading
The Literature Map charts the literary connection between writers. The closer writers are in literary style, the more likely a reader will have read the work of other authors in a writer’s “neighbourhood”. For instance, literary neighbours of Irish author Sally Rooney include Mar … | Continue reading
Applications are open until Monday 26 June 2023 for the inaugural Australian LUMIX seventy-two hour filmmaking challenge. To be in the running, aspiring entrants need to submit a film clip of thirty to sixty seconds duration. From there, ten selected filmmakers will be invited to … | Continue reading
Virtual community Second Life turns twenty this month, and continues to deliver what it always promised: a second life that’s sometimes better than the first: While in cities like New York or London you might never own a flat, in Second Life you could design, build and inhabit a … | Continue reading
Bad waitress, an essay by American writer Becca Schuh. Juggling the day job with writing ambitions, we’ve all been there, or maybe, are still there. This is reading for writers in either situation. Waitressing funded my rent and bills and food and clothes so I could spend the tim … | Continue reading
Quasars, are the single most powerful objects in existence, and are the subject of the latest video from Kurzgesagt. Thankfully, the nearest known such object is about six-hundred million light years away from Earth. As small as a grain of sand compared to the Amazon River, they … | Continue reading
Still from Don’t Worry, I’m Fine, directed by Philippe Lioret. Nineteen year old Lili (Mélanie Laurent), has returned to her parents place in Paris, France, after spending a year in Spain. She is alarmed to learn Loïc, her musician twin brother, stormed out of the family home day … | Continue reading
Still from Asteroid City, directed by Wes Anderson. Asteroid City, the latest feature by American filmmaker Wes Anderson, premiered in Australia at the Sydney Film Festival on the evening of Thursday 8 June 2023. While there was much excitement in the lead up to the release of An … | Continue reading
A few days ago Apple unveiled its much anticipated spatial computer headset device, Vision Pro. According to Apple, the product is “a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world, while allowing users to stay present and connected … | Continue reading
At the age of ninety, British actor Michael Caine has turned his hand to novel writing. His debut title, Deadly Game — set to be published in Australia by Hachette on Tuesday 28 November 2023 — quite possibly draws a certain amount of inspiration from some of Caine’s acting roles … | Continue reading
Montreal based Canadian software developer, and blogger, Julia Evans, dispels some of the blogging myths she believes are putting off people who are considering starting their own blogs. For instance, the myth that more material is always better — in other words, blog posts must … | Continue reading
In ten years’ time Vietnamese born American author Ocean Vuong may not be a writer anymore. For all anyone knows, including possibly Vuong himself, he might be a software engineer by then. Speaking to British journalist, and writer for The Guardian, Kadish Morris, Vuong says he m … | Continue reading