By Anna Winter on November 2, 2011
I really wanted to write a good review of this book, but this was not the book to do it. Abbott is a conviction politician, no matter how angry certain commenter may be when I say that. He wants power, yes, and he is ruthless in his pursuit of it. But he wants power for a reason, not just for its own sake. I just hope that the debate this book sparked gets people talking about what those reasons are.
Posted in Books, Writers & Writing, Feminism, Politics, Religion, Women | Tagged Culture Wars, gender & equality, ideology, politics&govt, Susan Mitchell, Tony Abbott, Writings |
By Mark Bahnisch on October 16, 2008
Bruce Moore’s new book, Speaking Our Language: The Story of Australian Language got a fair bit more press coverage – in the news pages as opposed to the reviews sections – than is usual for a tome authored by an [...]
Posted in Australiana, Books, Writers & Writing, Culture, Education, History, Imperialism, Language, Media, Nationalism | Tagged Australian accent, Australian English, Australian history, Book review, Bruce Moore, cultural studies, Language, linguistics, post-colonial cultures, social linguistics, Sociology, sociology of culture, Speaking Our Langage, vernacular culture, Writings |
By Kim on October 8, 2008
<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/henson-cover.jpg" align=left Well, I shelled out $24.95 for David Marr’s book, The Henson Case. I’m still inclined to think that Marr is being a bit disingenuous in claiming that he’s horrified and surprised by the furore that’s arisen over [...]
Posted in Advertising, Art, Books, Writers & Writing, Consumerism, Ethics, Media, Parenting, Politics | Tagged art & artists, bill henson, bill henson case, Bill Henson controversy, bill henson photography, Book review, Culture Wars, David Marr, Michael Hayward, Sociology, Text Inc, Writings |
By Mark Bahnisch on October 5, 2008
Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all! Although it’s been uni break over the last week, I’ve been a busy [...]
Posted in Books, Writers & Writing, Brisbane, Education, Film, TV, Video etc, Life, Photography, Urbanism | Tagged Brisbane, clean, dvds, Film, Given Terrace, humanities, irma vep, LaTrobe Terrace, maggie cheung, olivier assayas, Paddington, Paddo, phd thesis, Photography, QUT, Sociology, streetscape, travel guide, travel writing, urban sociology, Urbanism, visual sociology, Writings |
By Kim on October 4, 2008
Jennifer Schuessler at the New York Times has been boosting the “turn the Veep debate into a poetry slam” movement. Two poems selected from her Paper Cuts blog post: Haiku’s not the form For Senator Joe Biden Because the last [...]
Posted in Culture, Foreign Elections, Language, Levity, Media, Politics, USA | Tagged american election 2008, comic verse, haiku, Joe Biden, light verse, palindrome, poetry, poetry slam, political debates, political verse, sarah palin, US election 2008, USA Election 2008, Veep debate, vice presidential debate, Writings |
By Kim on September 26, 2008
<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/20070801_jinnan_texting.jpg" align=left Hot on the heels of lexicographer Erin McKean’s advice that if it feels wordish, use it, here comes some more legitimation for linguistic innovation. The well known author and linguist, David Crystal, has published a new book [...]
Posted in Books, Writers & Writing, Language, Sociology, Technology | Tagged cultural studies, David Crystal, education policy, education wars, Language, linguistics, literacy, sms speak, Sociology, sociology of culture, spelling, spelling variants, text messages, texting, txtng, Writings |
By Kim on August 31, 2008
[Via Boing Boing] I must confess the idea of listening to some music tracks to get myself in the mood for reading a particular book has never occurred to me. But it has occurred to William Gibson. Here’s his playlist [...]
Posted in Books, Writers & Writing, Film, TV, Video etc, Music | Tagged Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Spook Country, William Gibson, Writings |
By Mark Bahnisch on August 28, 2008
<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/mark-davis.jpg" align=left At one stage, having read a lecture by Mark Davis in Overland, I thought his new book was going to be an update of Gangland. I’ve just started reading The Land of Plenty: Australia in the 2000s [...]
Posted in Anzac Day, Australiana, Books, Writers & Writing, Culture, Ethics, History, Indigenous, Markets, Media, Nationalism, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged 2007 federal election, ALP, Australian culture, Australian history, Australian nationalism, Australian studies, battle of ideas, Book review, Culture Wars, egalitarianism, fair go, Gangland, Kevin Rudd, Labor, Mark Davis, Melbourne University Press, neoliberalism, Nettie Palmer, political culture, political ideologies, politics & government, Rudd government, social democracy, sociology of culture, The Land of Plenty, Writings |
By Kim on August 21, 2008
Well, as I noted on another thread about Germaine Greer, I’ve bought and now read On Rage. I’d like this post to stick to discussion of the merits of her arguments, which I continue to think has been something largely [...]
Posted in Culture, Disasters, Feminism, Howardia, Indigenous, Policy, Race, Sexuality, Women | Tagged Bob Katter, Book review, child sexual abuse, Germaine Greer, hunter gatherer societies, Indigenous Australia, Indigenous dispossession, Indigenous policy & reconciliation, Judy Atkinson, Marcia Langton, Melbourne University Press, Noel Pearson, NT intervention, On Rage, political journalism, race relations, rural suicide, Sociology, Stolen generation, welfare policy, Writings |
By Kim on August 21, 2008
There was an interesting discussion on this post on the whole “what is different about blogs and MSM “blogs” theme” with George Megalogenis recently. I generally agree with those who argued that whatever takes place on the bulletin boards of [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Blogging, Books, Writers & Writing, Culture, Ethics, Levity, Media, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, The Web | Tagged blog moderation, bloggers, Blogging, blogging practice, blogosphere, communication, cultural studies, Jurgen Habermas, media and society, new media, News Limited columnists, political journalism, professionalism, public sphere, Sociology, sociology of culture, sociology of media, status, virtual community, Writings |
By Kim on August 20, 2008
Here’s another don’t waste your $34.95 book review, and for many of the same reasons as Mark identified as failures in an earlier 2007 federal election tome from Melbourne University Press – Christine Jackman’s Inside Kevin07. If anything, Peter Van [...]
Posted in Advertising, Blogging, Books, Writers & Writing, Federal Elections, Howardia, Media | Tagged ALP, Book review, campaign strategy, Christine Jackman, Christopher Pearson, Dennis Shanahan, Federal election 2007, Glenn Milne, heiner affair, Howard's End, Inside Kevin07, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Labor, Liberal Party, Melbourne University Press, Mungo McCallum, MUP, News Limited columnists, Peter Van Onselen, Philip Senior, Piers Akerman, political journalism, political science, Polls, publishing, Writings |
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