For the love of rodents: why Australia should be enchanted by its long-haired rat
Posted on June 26, 2024
| 6 minutes
| 1134 words
| Chauncey Koziol
BooksAn eye-opening history of the mayaroo melds field guide with folktale to remove the stigma that has followed it for too long
Very few words land as heavy as “rat”. In almost any sentence it enters, it comes across as demeaning or funny, never beautiful.
But hungry for days, tracking circles in the dirt, Burke and Wills might not have died if they had paid one particular species – the long-haired rat – the respect it deserved.
[Read More]Nightmares on Wax: Mind Elevation
Posted on June 26, 2024
| 1 minutes
| 166 words
| Valentine Belue
MusicReview(Warp)Leeds-based Nightmares on Wax are hardly prolific: this is only their fourth album since 1990's classic early rave single, Dextrous. Their rate of work hasn't been helped by mainman George Evelyn's legendary dope intake, which led to stoner albums with titles such as Smoker's Delight and an invitation to judge Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup. Now Evelyn has apparently given up the weed, and although the titles are still silly (Bleu My Mind, for pot's sake), his music is more focused.
[Read More]Ukraine | World | The Guardian
Posted on June 26, 2024
| 1 minutes
| 36 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
Letters: Dr Alice Donald and Prof Philip Leach on cases where ‘pyjama injunctions’ have ensured British prisoners of war were not executed. Plus letters from Michael Meadowcroft, Jol Miskin and John Weightman
Published: 12:03 PMncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK%2Bfp7mle9SkqZqhnpo%3D
X-rated Avatar: a game-changer for pornography
Posted on June 26, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 316 words
| Valentine Belue
Lost in showbizCelebrityCan Hustler's blockbuster parody take James Cameron's vision to the next level?Even as the Academy froths itself into the frenzy necessary to spray James Cameron with eleventy Oscars for Avatar, it's heartwarming to hear how smaller studios have been inspired by the director's fabled game changer. To wit, Hustler has announced it is to make a porn parody of the movie.
Alas, the title – This Ain't Avatar XXX – feels a little uninspired, like no one at Hustler could really get past the tameness of Blue Movie to nail the Pandora's Box riff waiting to get out.
[Read More]10 of the best books set in Berlin
Posted on June 25, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 883 words
| Valentine Belue
Berlin city guideBerlin holidaysBerlin has been at the epicentre of history for the last century, a fact reflected in its incredibly rich literary history. City-Lit's Malcolm Burgess picks 10 classics set in the city As featured in our Berlin city guide
Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin, 1939Goodbye to BerlinChristopher Isherwood's compelling fictionalised autobiography defines the wild and wicked Berlin between the wars – and Hitler's rise to power.
"All along the Tauentzienstrasse, men, women and boys are hawking postcards, flowers, song-books, hair-oil, bracelets.
[Read More]Bob Babbitt obituary | Soul
Posted on June 25, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 773 words
| Valentine Belue
SoulObituaryBob Babbitt obituaryOne of the last surviving members of the Funk Brothers, the backbone of Tamla MotownThe bass guitarist Bob Babbitt, who has died of brain cancer aged 74, was one of the last surviving members of the Funk Brothers, that exclusive club comprising a dozen or so session musicians who created hundreds of tracks for Tamla Motown in the 1960s and early 70s. His playing can be heard on more than 200 American Top 40 hit recordings by Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Diana Ross and many others.
[Read More]Ernst Haass American West in pictures | Art and design
Posted on June 25, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 589 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
Ernst Haas’s American West – in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email The acclaimed Austrian-born photographer, who was behind Life magazine’s first ever all-colour photographic essay, moved to the US in 1951 and captured Americana in the hills and in the towns. His work has been celebrated in a new book Ernst Haas: The American West which is out now
[Read More]My life in sex: I have sensual encounters with my masseur
Posted on June 25, 2024
| 2 minutes
| 313 words
| Chauncey Koziol
My life in sexSexThe married woman who sleeps with her massage therapist
Thirteen years ago we became parents, and it sucked the wind out of my husband’s sails. He became depressed, and lost all interest in sex. In the past decade I have gone from trying, single-handedly, to make things happen in the bedroom to taking notes on how infrequently we were intimate (was I imagining things?), to seeing a counsellor.
[Read More]My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - review | Children's books
Posted on June 25, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 431 words
| Valentine Belue
Children's booksChildren's booksMy Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - review'Bittersweet, thought-provoking and poignant'Brilliant. My Sister's Keeper is bittersweet, thought-provoking and poignant. The story is about Anna, a 13-year-old girl who is average in every way except for the circumstances of her life. Anna is a genetically engineered baby, designed to be a genetic match for her sister, Kate, who has acute leukaemia. Anna has spent her life giving blood and bone marrow to Kate and is under pressure to give a kidney.
[Read More]Readers recommend songs about hats: the results
Posted on June 25, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 650 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
Readers recommendMusicFrom a fez to beret, a pill-box hat to a baseball cap, these suggestions span time, style and cultureJack Kennedy may not have killed the hat, but he was certainly lingering at the scene of the crime. Headwear was no longer compulsory for men when Kennedy took to the podium to give his inaugural address as president in 1961. Watch the video of his speech, however, and as he instructs the audience to ask not what their country can do for them, but what they can do for their country, there are surely some blokes in the background thinking: "
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