Category: News

  • A slow extinction from apathy…

    Democracy’s a strange thing. We’re well into election season now in Aus; with the launch of Kevin 07 and John Howard’s YouTube videos, everything seems to be moving towards a federal election in November. Along with that, the attack ads have started on TV, parties trading insults in the breaks between the nightly news… it…

  • Greed, boycotts and the impact for aspiring writers

    Bookshop chain puts bite on small publishersI’ve just been catching up on some of the news I’ve missed over the past week. Not sure how this slipped by, but apparently Angus & Robertson have started asking distributors and publishers to pay to have their books stocked and displayed in A&R stores. A&R is the most…

  • Politics and the YouTube generation

    I’ve just been looking at the “Kevin07” website. I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. It’s good that politicians are trying to engage their audience in new ways, but doesn’t this all seem a bit cheesy? It’s very patriotic; bright colours, videos of supporters, news… it serves its purpose, I guess. But there’s…

  • Time on Earth

    Seems like it’s been a busy few months in music. Groups and bands we’d all thought had played together for the last time have reunited; while the Spice Girls grab the headlines, news that The Police, The Verve and Rage Against the Machine have reunited has brought equal excitement to their fans. In contrast I…

  • Do you feel sorry for Lindsay Lohan?

    I feel like I’m going crazy. Every day it seems like there’s another story about Lindsay Lohan or some young celebrity spinning out of control. It’s everywhere. Rehab, jail, speeding, drugs… it’s like some high school soap opera. Except it’s not a soap opera, it’s real life, and to be honest I’m not sure what…

  • Back to the past

    So I’ve almost finished Deathly Hallows; started it on Sunday and should have it finished later tonight. I’m enjoying it so far; the beginning is one of the best in the series and the pace is good throughout. I’m not going to give away spoilers, but there was something which caught my interest halfway through…

  • Exploring netiquette

    A few things have been going round in my head for the last few days. The first thing is that I’ve been helping my mother get set up online. She’s used computers for awhile, but she’s never really gone online more than to shop at Amazon and some fabric stores. For the last couple of…

  • Going wild about Harry

    Stephen King farewells Harry PotterJust been reading this column by Stephen King. It’s an interesting perspective; King has this uncanny ability to capture what people are thinking but aren’t sure how to say, and I think (as usual) he’s right on the money. There has been so much speculation about what’s going to happen in…

  • When does protection go too far?

    This hasn’t been a good period for John Howard. Howard forgot a Tasmanian Liberal candidate’s name on air, and then the ridiculous upgrades to the government’s VIP aircraft were revealed: $100,000 worth of upgrades, including $9000 in silk wall panelling and $6200 in almond-coloured leather added to the ceiling (refits that were later dropped). The…

  • 5 things that will never change at Wimbledon

    There’s been a bit of a shakeup at Wimbledon this year: women will earn the same prize money as men for the first time, Hawk-Eye is being introduced, and a roof is (finally) being built. All good changes, but to balance it here are 5 things that I think will never change.5) Players will always…