Culture

Unsatisfying look at the seedy side of life

The JungleBy Louis NowraPlaying at Wharf 2, SydneyOctober 25-November 18Previewed by Jen Crothers The Jungle comprises 16 self-contained playlets, all set in Sydney over a 24-hour period, from dawn to dawn. It's a cynical look at modern life through

East Timor, the media and the truth

East Timor, the media and the trutBy Jefferson Lee October 16 marked the 20th anniversary of the murder by Indonesian soldiers of five Australian journalists in Balibo, East Timor. The same day a new report to the British Parliamentary Human Rights,

Politics in a land of discourse

Solidarity in the Conversation of Humankind: The Ungroundable Liberalism of Richard RortyBy Norman GerasVerso, 1995, 151 pp., $34.95 (pb)Reviewed by Neville Spencer In the last two decades a new philosophical current has grown. Most generally it

Cloak and dagger intrigue at St Pauls Cathedral

White LiesAs it Happened, SBSThursday, November 9, 8.30pm (8pm in SA)Previewed by Norm Dixon Anybody who has had an involvement in the struggle against apartheid over the years will probably have heard of the International Defence and Aid Fund

Not a feminist text

Women in the Age of Economic TransformationEdited by Nahid Aslanbeigui, Steven Pressman & Gale SummerfieldRoutledge, 1994, 232 pp.Reviewed by Carla Gorton Does privatisation marginalise women? How are women affected by the development process? Are

Garbage to treasure

GarbageGarbageWhite Records through MushroomReviewed by Jen Crothers One person's garbage is another person's treasure, to paraphrase an old saying. That's how the name of this new band originated. On hearing some early material, one musician's

Secondary Students in Dissent (10K)

Student underground papers: 1968-6 Secondary students in dissent Student underground papers: 1968-6 By Natasha Simons "This news sheet ... is an attempt to make students realise that there is another attitude to the [Vietnam] war besides that of the

Polemical titbits against creationism

River out of Eden:A Darwinian View of LifeBy Richard DawkinsWeidenfeld & NicholsonScience Masters Series1995, $19.95Reviewed by Dot Tumney This river is a river of DNA flowing through time. Genetic information flows through living things in the

Laughing with Australian Samizdat

I enjoyed this book, but I won't tell you to rush out and buy it. If you tried to do so, you wouldn't succeed. In the '70s and '80s, dissident writers in the Soviet Union invented samizdat — "self publishing" — the distribution of manuscripts by

Magic Realism Hollywood-style

A Walk in the CloudsStarring Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Anthony Quinn and Giancarlo GianniniDirected by Alfonso ArauReviewed by Barry Healy Magic Realism, the heady mix of gritty emotion and surreal dreaminess, has started to seep out of

Going separate ways

The SeparationDirected by Christian VincentScreening at Cinema Como in South YarraOpens in Sydney on November 16 at Verona Cinemas, PaddingtonReviewed by Margaret Allan. The Separation is a very good French film about the deteriorating relationship

A skilful defence (7K)

Trotsky as AlternativeBy Ernest MandelVerso, 1995, 186 pp., $44.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon Leon Trotsky has defied the efforts of enemies and friends alike to wilfully or inadvertently blacken the political heritage of one of the twentieth