Forget the picket at Max Brenner’s, the Jewish chocolatiers! There’s a Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement against the playing of Wagner‘s works in Israel. We learn from an interesting piece in ‘The Australian’ of 13 May 2017, by Vic Alhadeff, the chief executive of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, that there is a longstanding unofficial ban, despite recent attempts to overcome it by such luminaries as Daniel Barenboim. Mr Alhadeff refers, as part of his case, to the repulsive pamphlet, “Jewry in Music” which is certainly strident and virulent, but might more properly be seen as a reflection of Wagner’s…
Continue Reading →Kiev, May 14, 2017 The Varnished Culture can’t reveal the results of our unique Eurovision drinking games, but we can report upon our patented ‘Euro-Points’ results. You’ll recall that Euro points are given for: 1. Dry ice 2. Contortionists 3. Bad Dancing 4. Any item of Clothing being Torn Away 5. Dwarves 6. Angel Wings or Mock Flying 7. Clowns 8. Piano as Furniture 9. Bearded Ladies 10. Puffs of Smoke This year was marked by really bad dancing (Norway even had a cavorting gimp), poor retro fashions, the odd dopey prop (Belarus perched on a fake hovercraft; a chap from Moldova pretended…
Continue Reading →The South Australian Circle of Hell, 2017 Our littoral is a burning shore – lit by a million candles. The water burns. The air burns. The wind is uncomfortably warm. The rain is as blood. Drones hover. Wind turbines whine uselessly. Our power-grid hangs on a fraying thread, all insulation melted away. Water bursts through the earth on the hour, coursing water, vermin and ordure into homes and shops. Infrastructure crumbles. Bridges fall. Black dust swirls and eddies about once pristine sands. Our old folks are bound, gagged, doused with turpentine and they scream with pain. We await the wintry day when the crippled and…
Continue Reading →Adolf Hitler (born 20 April, 1889 – died 30 April 1945) This garrulous monk of ravenous bent, Of whom the Duce said “Non mi piace“, Who in every message sent Sold fear at length and very archly And much that he meant. While promising Germany greatness again His goons torched the Reichstag, thus warming-up A war-ready State that was greedy for gain, Enlivened by monstering Röhm and Krupp, Tagging a part of the people as bane. He chewed upon hunks of shriveling maps, He bit and swallowed, he gulped and blew, While better men showed convulsive flaps, Appeasing while his confidence grew, Setting and priming…
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