Category Archives: ARTS & CULTURE

Everything and anything to do with our arts and cultural activities

Griffin impugned for the West Basin’s awful future

A DICKSON RESIDENT, biodiversity, CANBERRA, cities, cultural, cultural landscapes, design, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, heritage, opinions, parks, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

Good journalism is welcomed and embraced. Journalism that is written to promote bad decisions by government must  be called out. Here’s an example of the latter.  The author, Tom Greenwell, starts well by making some points about Walter Burley Griffin’s planning for Canberra. But then he commits the crime of using Griffin’s name and visions to justify some outrageous developments being planned by the ACT Government (Urban Renewal Authority again!) that will destroy a wonderful part of the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin. Click here for the article in City News.

and for more about West Basin alternative facts – click here;  includes letters from Richard Johnstone of kingston – a supporter of West Basin developments.

And for more on the arguments against what Tom Greenwell has written – click here for a very well informed  piece by Penny Moyes, one of the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians.

ACT Government about to bulldoze a community site

A DICKSON RESIDENT, ARTS & CULTURE, bullying, CANBERRA, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, opinions, parks, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,
Crunch time looms for Dickson parklands

There’s a long saga at play in Dickson in Canberra. Here’s the latest on this – click here.

and there’s more..

Continue reading ACT Government about to bulldoze a community site →

Mythomania Peter Conrad

ARTS & CULTURE, books & readings, , ,
Recommended Reading

Mythomania: Tales of Our Times from Apple to ISIS – by  Peter Conrad, Thames and Hudson

Several years ago I had listened to most of Peter Conrad’s BBC podcasts on his topic of Myths – and loved them.

I have read just a little of this book so far – but can say that it as good as if not better than listening to the podcasts of Peter’s broadcasts. It is now part of my reading for the next weeks. And there are new topics covered.

Continue reading Mythomania Peter Conrad →

architecture

architecture, cities, urban design, URBANITY, , , ,
“Call us dull, call us sellouts, call us gentrifiers – just don’t call us copycats”

Our lust for originality is wrecking the city, delivering a rash of formally new but ultimately anti-urban hideous skyline baubles reducing city-making to a spectacle of super-size billboard branding gestures while inhibiting the multiplication of good ideas. Click here

NO is NOT enough

ARTS & CULTURE, books & readings, bullying, equity, GOVERNANCE, politics, , , ,
New book by Naomi Klein

“This is one attempt to uncover how we got to this surreal political moment. It is also an attempt to predict how, under cover of shocks and crises, it could get a lot worse.

And it’s a plan for how, if we keep our heads, we might just be able to flip the script and arrive at a radically better future.” — From the Introduction

Continue reading NO is NOT enough →

Frank Hurley and Australian Native Plants

ARTS & CULTURE, gardens, photography, URBANITY, , , , , , ,
INFORMATION CALL-OUT: FRANK HURLEY

Searching for Frank Hurley along our northern beaches

Did you know that Frank Hurley was a very keen gardener and photographer of wild flowers?

In April 2018 The Manly Art Gallery and Museum will be launching a very special exhibition titled: Frank Hurley – Sydney Harbour photographer: From Circular Quay to Collaroy.

Continue reading Frank Hurley and Australian Native Plants →

Hillary Clinton

ARTS & CULTURE, books & readings, bullying, distraction, equity, GOVERNANCE, politics, reviews, women, , , ,
The Destruction of Hillary Clinton

I have already reviewed this book – click here.

However I cannot stop pondering the challenge this story throws up for anyone interested in equity, fairness, and the role of the media in so many aspects of our daily lives.

If we had a real media, this story would have been totally different. Instead what happened here was the total manipulation of the media and through them members of the public, by all forms of malicious groups of people and individuals.

Continue reading Hillary Clinton →

Hillary Clinton

ARTS & CULTURE, books & readings, bullying, distraction, equity, GOVERNANCE, politics, reviews, women, , , ,
The Destruction of Hillary Clinton

It was on hearing certain phrases used over and over again on Australian TV programs talking about the 2016 US election campaign that I became suspicious that we were witnessing a lazy press.

Almost daily  the media was taking the same phrases and words and using them over and over again – with no evidence that they could be accurate except that they were the words and phrases being used by most journalists and commentators at the time.

On the basis we were supposed to accept their words as fact.

Continue reading Hillary Clinton →

New Philosopher

ARTS & CULTURE, books & readings, journalism, reviews, , ,
Totally recommended reading

The theme being – Future thinking

From the publishers:

Although the term and precise starting point might be disputed, many anthropologists believe that ‘behavioural modernity’ – when certain traits such as abstract thinking and symbolic behaviour are said to have emerged in humans – started around 50,000 years ago.

Continue reading New Philosopher →

Quarterly Essay – David Marr

ARTS & CULTURE, books & readings, GOVERNANCE, journalism, politics, , ,
David Marr – The White Queen

From the publishers: Most Australians despise what Pauline Hanson stands for, yet politics in this country is now orbiting around One Nation. In this timely Quarterly Essay, David Marr looks at Australia’s politics of fear, resentment and race. Who votes One Nation, and why? How much of this is due to inequality? How much to racism? How should the major parties respond to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim voices? What damage do Australia’s new entrepreneurs of hate inflict on the nation?

Continue reading Quarterly Essay – David Marr →