February 2012

Fred Schepisi & Vladimir Putin

By Shane Maloney

As Fred Schepisi was whisked along the Rublyovka highway, past luxury car showrooms and Gucci boutiques, he reflected on how much Moscow had changed in the 18 years since he’d last seen it. Back then, Mikhail Gorbachev occupied the Kremlin, the USSR was a superpower and, despite the promise of perestroika, drab lines of people still waited outside shops. On that occasion, he was there to di

'Outland' by Kevin Carlin

By Benjamin Law

On paper, the premise of the new ABC1 sitcom Outland seems too self-consciously quirky for its own good. Homosexuals and sci-fi nerds? While we’re at it, why not make a series about, say, Indigenous lesbians with physical disabilities? (Too slow: Outland gets to that punchline first. Christine Anu plays an Indigenous lesbian in a wheelchair.) In any case, speculative fiction has always been

'The Chemistry of Tears' By Peter Carey

By Jennifer Byrne

In the peaty depths of Germany’s Black Forest, nineteenth-century English gentleman Henry Brandling commissions a giant clockwork automaton so wondrous, so eerily lifelike, that he believes the very sight of it will restore his beloved young son to health and spirits. Nearly two centuries later, it lies in pieces in a small London museum where conservator Catherine Gehrig, reeling after the sudden death of her colleague and secret mar

Roger Scruton’s 'Green Philosophy: How to Think Seriously about the Planet'

Philosophic Emissions

By Peter Singer

Climate change is a threat to us all but it poses a particular difficulty for those who, like English philosopher Roger Scruton, are on the political right. Conservatives tend to favour market solutions and oppose expanding the reach of government. If the emission of greenhouse gases as a result of human activity is causing potentially catastrophic global wa

Allen Toussaint and New Orleans

Gumbo

By Paul Kelly

My job as a singer–songwriter often involves being interviewed. One of the questions I’m asked most frequently, up there with “What comes first, the words or the music?” and “Do you write your songs from real life?”, is “What has been the highlig

Brian Kellow’s 'Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark'

Citizen Kael

By Christos Tsiolkas

The day after I finished reading Brian Kellow’s Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark (Viking, 432pp; $39.00), I watched John Cassavetes’ Faces. It had been nearly 20 years since I had last seen it and on re-visiting the film I had Kael’s voice in my head, so

Akira Isogawa

The Bride Wore Black

By Peter Robb

Think ‘dress designer’ and what comes to mind? Not a whole lot of fun. Think of the last picture you saw of Karl Lagerfeld or John Galliano. I approached Akira Isogawa with great caution and serious questions. How was it that a designer so absorbed in the history of

Republicans and the US Presidential Race

Angry Boys

By Julia Baird

The Family Table Restaurant is a small, dingy diner in Atlantic, Iowa, the state known as the Hawkeye State, that claims to be the corn capital of the world. It sits opposite a gas station on a road leading through acres of cornfields, now razed to bristly row

Burma

In the Picture

By Sebastian Strangio

The woman they call the Lady is all over town, staring down from the walls of teashops, hanging on sun-dappled street corners, perched on the dashboards of Rangoon’s ramshackle taxis. It would have been hard to imagine a year ago: in Burma, displaying a portrait of Au

Australia–India Relations

The Elephant in the Room

By Michael Wesley

Great expectations attend the Australia–India relationship. The Labor Party’s agreement to sell uranium to India has removed a major impediment to closer relations. Planning is underway for mutual prime ministerial visits. Free trade agreement negotiations

Scott Morrison

So Who the Bloody Hell Are You?

By Nick Bryant

In a country that has always exhibited a fickle streak towards foreigners heading for its shores, Scott Morrison is especially well credentialled to speak on the subject of his shadow portfolio, immigration. The Liberal politician who has spent much of the pas

The Australian Greens Party

Divided We Fall

By Sally Neighbour

*Nine days after the Christmas drinks in Canberra, a far more toxic atmosphere prevails as the NSW Greens assemble for their bi-monthly meeting of the State Delegates Council (SDC) at the Indigenous Yaama Dhiyaan centre in Darlington. It’s been a tortuous year for the

Trixie Gardner

Long in the Tooth

By Paola Totaro

The Baroness Gardner of Parkes, Conservative member of the British House of Lords, waves me through the Peers’ Lobby and with an informal “This way!” called over her shoulder, she presses onward and upward into the Gothic gold and stone splendour of Westminster Palace’s innards. Diminutive, perfectly coiffed, she walks briskly and without the creaky

The Rise of Cosmetic Medicine

The Looks Department

By Tanveer Ahmed

Dr Joseph Ajaka came to the world of cosmetic medicine in 2006 after the messy rupture of his training to become an anaesthetist. After five years of specialist training, Ajaka was on the verge of sitting for the final exam. But a personal spat with a senior anaesthetist prevented him from engaging in a critical ‘practice viva’. “I was sick of being treated like shit,” says Ajaka. He thoug

Sex and Secrets in Public Parks

The Beat Goes On

By Sonya Hartnett

In a corner of the Darling Gardens in Melbourne’s boutique inner-city suburb of Clifton Hill stands a small, well-maintained toilet block that sports a sign warning that plain-clothes police regularly patrol the area. In the year I lived within a stone’s t

Wim Delvoye at MONA

The Art of Ideas

By Amanda Lohrey

The phenomenon that is Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is a Plato’s cave of multi-layered subterranean space where shadows of the real in the form of artworks are installed within vaults of Triassic sandstone. Since the museum’s opening in Janu

Address to the US President

Comment

By Don Watson

Mr President, Thank you for making room in your busy schedule to see me while you are in Darwin. In the short time I have at your disposal, let me welcome you to our shores. I trust you have found your soldiers in good spirits and enjoying their vital role as guardians

The Politics of News

By David Marr

Australian journalists have a sad history of going off to Washington to be ruined. They leave home the hope of the side but after a visit to the boiler room and a peek into the furnace they return enthralled by American ambitions and dream of becoming players in its games of power. Rupert Murdoch was one of these. Visiting Washington in 1972, the young tycoon fell under the spell of Richard Nixon