Search Results: The Leopard
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
"...and the Nobel goes to..."
The 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Though a defensible choice (after all, didn’t the Man in Black himself say of Dylan: “This man can rhyme the tick of time”*), we see little point in arguing the point. The Varnished Culture congratulates him and trusts that he will not take it too seriously. We have written before on the alien ceremonies, the Noh system of awards, reserved for the very few. “Competitions are set by the people who win them” says a character…
Continue Reading →Wheels and Dollbaby Get-Togethers are Evil
At the Thrift Shop Bar. Image courtesy of Natasha Buccella
If you do not know that ‘Dita’ is both a burlesque artist and a cardigan; if you do not believe in cleavage, and if you think that leopard-print is old-fashioned, read no further. This post is for Annabels who say “yes!” to black satin pencil skirts and plunging necklines, who want a mermaid tattoo and love faux fur. Wheels and Dollbaby is an Australian women’s clothing brand with an instantly recognisable, sexy and sleek look, a retro vibe, a rockabilly hint. The brand’s creator Mel and her muse (the Dita von Teese) know their audience and do the same thing season after season with panache. I had only two Wheels items –…
Continue Reading →Tranquility in Sorrento
I essentially completed my novel, Tranquility in Sorrento, Tasso’s town, circa April 2013. Unlike Joseph Conrad, who, when finishing Lord Jim one early morning, shared a piece of chicken with his cat, I couldn’t hear my cat’s insistent calls to breakfast: he was thousands of miles away. Moreover, there was no feeling of triumph, merely relief floating in a sea of fatigue and alcohol. I started this thing in 1979, ignorant of vast swathes of modern fiction, an ignorance that cannot be overcome, perhaps only palliated, by reading 24/7. By 2013, having worked on it in time to spare and short periods…
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