‘All the Way’ by Marie Darrieussecq (trans. Penny Hueston)
By Bethanie Blanchard
In an era when even supermarkets stock the sadomasochistic confections of EL James, it seems strange that a literary work exploring erotic themes would elicit anything more than the lifting of an eyebrow. But the sexualisation of children is truly our last taboo, and Ma
  National Gallery of Australia
Toulouse-Lautrec
By Patrick Hartigan
Many years ago, on night-time walks down my street in inner-city Sydney, I used to see prostitutes through the open door of a terrace house: starkly lit women in their 50s and 60s, sitting around in lingerie amid the thick warm city air. Back home, propped on
‘Inheritance’ by Balli Kaur Jaswal
By Peter Pierce
There was no distinctive literary voice in Singapore till after the painful break with Malaysia in 1965. Then, among others, emerged the novelist Catherine Lim and the poet, academic and literary godfather Edwin Thumboo. Now, in the latest generation, a new ye
 
‘Love Story’ by Florian Habicht (director)
By Michael Lucy
There are times and places to wear a fedora: while boot-legging in 1920s Chicago, for instance, or while being Michael Jackson. Florian Habicht, Love Story’s gangly Kiwi director, co-writer and protagonist, reckons another is while starring in a self-consciously quirk
 
Radiohead
By Mark Mordue
Radiohead reach for a strange new music. Watching them perform, I wondered how the language of criticism, or any talk at all really, could articulate what they do. I would not be the first to fear that, global warming notwithstanding, the big chill has been on for quite some time in terms of how computers, social networking, chat facilities and a quickened,