Gilead
(by Marilynne Robinson). I had read rave reviews of this book and was so pleased to find a decent second-hand copy. I started it, but couldn’t “get into it”. I thought that was just “me”. I then found a copy of the second book in the trilogy, “Home”. Yay! When I heard that the final book was available for pre-order I skipped to my computer and ordered it. I then waited, thinking it a good idea and motivational to put off reading the first book until I had all three. That would make it all the more fascinating the second time round. So, when…
Continue Reading →Harmony Crochet Bag and Juliet Blues Too
Dear Annabels, you will remember part one of my progress with the Harmony crochet bag here. Guess what! Kathryn herself, the designer from Crafternoon Treats has commented on my post! It’s marvellous to have my version of her beautiful creation noted by the lady herself. Well, having been heartened by this, I got back to work on the bag, which, I must confess, had been put on the backburner due to my fear of the horrific job of finding and selecting lace for the next stage. I am afraid of trying to find lace in my craft room (known as “Wuthering Heights” because (cue…
Continue Reading →Eraserhead
(Dir. David Lynch) (1977) A hilariously creepy, surreal, slice of family life set in an urban landscape of industrial nightmare. Henry (Jack Nance, a Tim Finn parody) finds his life, such as it is, a gigantic and miserable chore. Every human crossing his path seems straight out of Brother’s Keeper. His prospective parents-in-law belong in the zoo. So do the chickens they serve. Their home, adjacent the railway tunnel, is a jet-black version of the cardboard horror from Targets. Scenes of amateur squalor abound. A show-stopping singing number (one of P’s preferred funerary songs) is performed by a deformed inamorata. His near catatonic girlfriend takes off when the fruit…
Continue Reading →Big Blue Sky
"oh the temper of the time..." (photo Gympie Times)
(by Peter Garrett) (2015) A famous singer in a leading Australian rock band, environmental activist and all-round bien pensant, it was Peter Garrett’s stint as Federal Arts Minister that impelled The Varnished Culture’s perusal of his book. A lot of the time it is a happy memoir – from middle-class childhood in suburban Sydney, with warm milk and bush cricket, trains into the city and boarding school, discovering girls and rock and roll. Garrett’s early account is written with flair and humour. When as a kid he signed up to Australian Record Club, receiving a record in the mail every few months, it “was the only…
Continue Reading →The Horse in Art
"Whistlejacket" by George Stubbs (National Gallery, London)
“Horses are the survivors of the age of heroes.” (Theodor Adorno) With the Melbourne Cup on today, the Race that stops a Nation (and in particular, the State of Victoria), and The Varnished Culture jaded by the whole thing (P hasn’t made money on the cup since Gold and Black), we thought a tribute to cultural nags would be nice. They feature heavily in painting of course, from pre-history (above) and beyond: And sculpture even more: Horses have been acting humans off the screen since the medium started: Though some of the equine roles can be unusually challenging: Then there’s the horse…
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