Category Archive: AUSTRALIANIA
In Our Nature
Museum of Economic Botany, Adelaide Botanic Gardens, March 2018 With the mosquito-like turbines of ‘Supercars‘ ringing in our ears, The Varnished Culture sought solace in the Gardens, and found this temple of unguents and ointments, a showcase for the interaction twixt people and plants, open for once. This was to exhibit a series of highly-stylised photographs by Tamara Dean, but first, we took-in the rather Belle Époque interior of the Museum, with its wonderful ceiling and the busts of several of the great botanists (Banks, Humboldt) lit atop various display cabinets. It was worth a visit for the magic mushrooms alone……
Continue Reading →At the Carbine Club
Adelaide Convention Centre, 28 February 2018 The Club was started by some fellows after a long lunch in Melbourne in the 1960s, made up of men distinguished in the playing, and or administration, of sport. ‘Carbine’ was a famous racehorse from a long time back, (Melbourne Cup, 1890) but men in any type of popular sport are welcome. (Only men, mind – it’s an old fashioned, very Melburnian club. They still have a ‘loyal toast’ to Her Majesty and the people of Australia, and though this is a tad ‘quaint,’ it is at least a refreshing change from the soulless,…
Continue Reading →Valentine’s Day
"The Morning of St Valentine" by John Callcott Horsley
TVC will, as usual, celebrate St. Valentine’s day with a fancy dinner and a private viewing of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Unlike the poor sainted martyr, the idea on his day is to lose one’s heart, not head. Here’s a little from Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto that featured so sweetly in “Picnic” to enliven the day…
Continue Reading →Swinging Safari
(Directed by Stephan Elliott) (2018) We at TVC stand up for the 1970s but this coming-of-age-weren’t-mum-and-dad-shockers film sums up the shakiness of such a gesture. Lurching from the 1960s Eden to the next decade’s Gethsemane, this Australian comedy tries to be an amusing take on the generational poison encapsulated in Philip Larkin’s This Be The Verse. Instead, it serves up a meaningless pastiche of Don’s Party, Puberty Blues, Porky’s and The Ice Storm. Whilst the parents (Guy Pierce, Kylie Minogue, Asher Keddie, Julian McMahon and Jeremy Sims among them) seem to be living it up, most of the comedy is so broad as…
Continue Reading →Workshy by Dave Graney
(Adelaide launch, 10 November 2017) At Imprints on Hindley Street, The Varnished Culture attended the launch of Workshy: My Life as a Bludge, the modestly titled autobiography by the undisputed Funky King of the Lounge Lizards, Dave Graney. Mr Graney read excerpts with verve and wit and then thrilled the crowd with a couple of acoustic numbers, including “Night of the Wolverine.” Graney’s songs insinuate themselves into the brain till they become giant, lurid earworms. Think “Rock ‘n’ Roll is Where I Hide.” His prose is similar. His account starts with his childhood in Mount Gambier at the bottom of South Australia….
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