As those folks who are my friends on Facebook are no doubt aware, I successfully defended my PhD thesis at my final seminar on Thursday in the Humanities Program at QUT. That’s a milestone I’m really happy to have reached, and in a post-thesis universe, one thing I can do is make some more time for reading fiction! I was just thinking that it’s been ages since I wrote a science fiction post, and that in itself speaks volumes about the sorts of volumes that have been the staple of my reading diet over the semester just gone! I’ve been storing up some promising science fiction to read and have been finding Locus and blogs and online sf zines fabulous resources for both purchasing books and building up a sense of anticipation and excitement about them!
Anyway, all this prompted me to think that it’s about time that we had another thread about what we’re all reading, or indeed what we’re intending to read over the holidays. I’d also be interested in hearing from others how they pick new titles - recommendations, reviews, online, offline? Discussion doesn’t have to be limited to science fiction and/or speculative fiction, of course, but that’s what my piles of books to be read currently consist of!
Well it’s November so it must be time again to condemn. Here’s a 29th open condemnation thread. What’s getting up your goat this week so far? Which evil political, cultural, social, musical, religious and other phenomena need condemnation? (Or loud denunciation?)
You can condemn anything you like except Patti Labell. Though you can condemn Moby if you like.
Photo of the Obama event in Chicago courtesy of bcbeatty - licenced under Creative Commons.
So, since there was so much discussion before election day of where folks were going to meet up to watch the count in convivial style, how did everyone enjoy their election celebrations? Where did you go? What was the mood? Any good drinking games?
So, I need to know a good pub in Sydney where I can hang around next week with some likeminded souls and watch the US election results roll in. Who’s got some suggestions? What would be the best time to rock up?
I seem to recall noting that some of you have the misfortune to live elsewhere. What pubs would you recommend in your own vicinity?
It’s hard to ignore resurgence of the ‘Australia shouldn’t do anything until everyone else does’ meme, most recently by the National Party. Dennis provides another variation on the theme, spinning this fair and balanced question in the latest Newspoll:
Currently, the federal government intends to introduce the carbon pollution reduction scheme in 2010. Under the carbon pollution reduction scheme, the price of energy sources, such as petrol, electricity and gas may become more expensive. Do you think the federal government should delay or should not delay the introduction of the carbon pollution reduction scheme beyond 2010 because of the recent financial crisis?
Push poll much?
Climate Denialism is usually shorthand for someone who denies the truth of the basic science of global warming, but I think a more relevant redefinition is Climate Recalcitrant - someone who doesn’t believe that we can get organised to do something about the problem. What the Nationals and Dennis have in common are a desire to trash 15 years of global negotiations, bury their heads in the sand and yell ‘head for the hills (or the barracks)’! Continue reading ‘Climate Denialism whack-a-mole’
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!
I’m thinking of heading to the Powerhouse this afternoon to see Rachael Brady play @ Live Spark, where she’s launching her new album, somewhere sunshine:
….drawing on the best of folk, roots, blues & jazz influences: billie holiday meets jack johnson meets joni mitchell meets rickie lee jones - soul buoying, intelligent, acoustic quasi pop with equal parts grunt and delicacy…..
I saw her live a few years ago @ the Troubadour - always neat to support a Brisbane muso who combines a bit of a political theme with excellent tunes. Will post some photos later if I take any good ones! Now that I’ve got the heavy lifting on the phd thesis out of the way, and semester’s wrapping up, I’m really looking forward to getting out to some more gigs, so today might be a good time to start!
I for one appreciate the McCain campaign treating us like children. McCain will bring us back to a simpler time. A time when you could identify your neighbors’ jobs by the hats they wore. Like Sam the Fireman, Bill the Cowboy and Jose the stereotype. These are the people in your neighborhood. The people that you meet when you’re walking down the street. They’re the people that you meet each day. And what the people in your neighborhood, the Joe the Plumber, the Wendy the Waitress need are tax cuts for the wealthy and off shore drilling. They don’t need universal health care or last names.
Remember in the week before the 2007 election those Liberal campaign goons, including Jackie Kelly’s husband, who were caught distributing fake leaflets from a fake Islamic extremist group that supposedly supported Labor?
And remember how Labor went on to win in a landslide once it became clear that Liberal supporters were prepared to fan religious tensions in order to win an election?
Well, today in the USA an eerily similar hoax has just been uncovered. This time it’s a McCain campaign volunteer, 20 year old Ashley Todd from Texas who claimed she was mugged, beaten and mutilated by a black man while trying to withdraw money from an ATM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia. She even posted photos of herself online to show her injuries, except…
Well it’s been a fortnight so it must be time again to condemn. Here’s a 28th open condemnation thread. What’s getting up your goat this week so far? Which evil political, cultural, social, musical, religious and other phenomena need condemnation? (Or loud denunciation?)
You can condemn anything you like except Kaki King. Though you can condemn me for not knowing about her til I saw Spicks & Specks this week.
Thanks to the mysterious workings of Australia Post, I received in error this letter originally intended for Nigel Freitas:
—
Greetings, future Captain of Industry!
I’d like to extend the warmest of welcomes to you and your trust fund sponsor for choosing Young Liberal University, Australia’s newest and fastest-growing campus.
After careful consideration of your academic record, and even more careful consideration of the cheque you enclosed, we are delighted to accept your application. I can also confirm that we mailed your receipt to the Bahamas address you specified on the post-it note labeled *VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!*
At YLU, we guarantee academic freedom for every student. And I don’t mean that obsolete notion that academics should be free to pursue the truth without fear or favour. Real academic freedom exists where students like you are no longer required to engage with any ideas other than those with which you arrived. And we guarantee that’s exactly how you’ll graduate. Continue reading ‘Welcome to Young Liberal University’
I’ve felt quite uncomfortable watching a lot of the coverage related to the disappearance and death of Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne in Dubrovnik. In particular, I wondered whether her mother, Elke, was really helping matters any by so publicly displaying her grief and distress - or rather, I wondered also at the ethics of both the media and its viewers in representing and consuming so immediately her emotional reactions. I honestly don’t think this sort of coverage - in Australia - would have had any effect on the investigation in Croatia, and I was wondering whether Ms Lapthorne was taking appropriate care of her own psychological well being by working through her emotions so publicly. It’s difficult to know how to write about these sorts of events - and I really wanted to just link to an excellent piece by Audrey Apple on “vicarious grief”.
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