Category Archive: AUSTRALIANIA
The Slaying
Fred Phillis ('Earn your pay with 18 goals on the day')
Central District v Glenelg 1975 The day dawned ominously on this minor round game. Glenelg would make yet another Grand Final that year, were near to full strength, and hungry. They had beaten the Dogs earlier in the year by a lazy 23 goals. Centrals were struggling, had had shocking luck with injuries and were forced to play boys who had started the season in the Under 17s. Glenelg wanted to go into its finals campaign with a full head of steam and wanted its mercurial full forward, Fred Phillis, to get near to his century so as not to prove a…
Continue Reading →Aboriginal Art
(by Howard Morphy) A sumptuous, encyclopaedic and expert review of indigenous visual art from ancient to modern times, from representative to decorative to spiritual to political, covering all mediums; yet another beautiful Phaidon addition to the good art libraries. Published in 1998, it could do with a new edition (to cover ‘newbies’ such as the contentious Sally Gabori, 1924-12/2/2015).
Continue Reading →Sydney Bookshops
CAT PATHWAY No Books Here Please
Lesley McKay’s at Woollhara looks like any other, small, new-book shop. Yet it has unexpected gems crammed into the teeny tiny spaces. Gleebooks (x 2, both on Glebe Point Road) is duller and more mainstream than in its heyday. Sappho (also on GPR) is well worth a visit – 4 floors of carefully chosen second-hand books rub shoulders in tea-table nooks. Notably there is a particularly impressive room of works on music and scores. Gould’s massive, industrial, mezzanined cavern at Newtown has no discernible order but is still terrific, with a cats’ crawlspace set aside especially. L got some very good Attic Greek language books at…
Continue Reading →The Babadook
As usual, the Australian film industry has worn its thin skin off patting its own back in praise of a predictable, derivative mess. “The Babadook” (even the name is a yawn) has some (very) minor suspense, good acting from the major characters and awful acting from some minor characters. The script is amateurish and lazy. If this film were shorter, it might make a workmanlike student film. Every poor horror film requires most or all of these elements: A cute, shaggy pet dog. Preferably white. An insect infestation. A concerned and mild-mannered neighbour or work colleague of the opposite sex….
Continue Reading →Fast and Furious 1985: Glenelg v North
Once again, we bussed to charmless, imaginatively-named Football Park at West Lakes, to see Glenelg contest another Grand Final. Having lost the first one there (1974) and subsequently losing the Grand Final in 1975, 1977, 1981 and 1982, we felt we were due. North felt due too, having lost its last Grand Final in 1973 (see the Greatest Game of Football Ever Played). The side was: Peter Carey (C), Stephen Copping, Chris Duthy, Adam Garton, Ross Gibbs, Tony Hall, Wayne Henwood, David Kernahan, Stephen Kernahan, Robin Kidney (int.), Chris McDermott, Tony McGuinness, David Marshall, Peter Maynard, Michael Murphy, Scott Salisbury…
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