Culture

  • Romeo in the '90s

    Romeo of the Underworld By Venero Armanno Picador Australia, 1994 Reviewed by Kylie Hunt There's something savage and real about Romeo of the Underworld. Venero Armanno makes you take it seriously from the first word — stronzo. Or to

  • Pulping fiction (and somebody's head)

    Pulp Fiction Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino Reviewed by Zanny Begg Pulp Fiction is an amoral film. It's a film full of violence. A young black boy's head is blown off in the back of a car. A boxer kills his opponent in the ring.

  • Three intellectuals of the left

    Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith Lectures By Edward W. Said Vintage, 1994. 90 pp., $12.95 (pb) Styles of Radical Will By Susan Sontag Vintage, 1994. 274 pp., $12.95 (pb) Revolutionaries: Contemporary Essays By

  • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

    Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Nativity in Black: A tribute to Black Sabbath Various artists Columbia Records Reviewed by Nick Fredman Before Metallica, before Soundgarden, before Spinal Tap even, there was Black Sabbath. With the insipid and

  • Colouring human relationships

    Three Colours: Red Directed by Krysztof Kieslowski Starring Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant Reviewed by Vannessa Hearman and Karl Miller The trilogy Blue, White and Red deals with the themes of liberty, equality and fraternity,

  • Melbourne Workers Theatre funding slashed

    MELBOURNE — A fortnight prior to the state government's "Arts 21" package being unveiled on November 23, the Melbourne Workers Theatre had its funding cut by $20,000. Arts 21 is the Kennett government's policy supposedly

  • Illusions

    IllusionsNeon lights selling lies of excitement and ultimate satisfaction. Consumption of synthetic food flamboyant dresses and the system's rotten relationships artfully wrapped in flashy screens

  • New CDs

    New CDs Didgeridoo Concerto Enrec Studios through Larrikin Duende Ellipsis Arts Reviewed by Francesca Davidson Didgeridoo Concerto is an impressive 51 minutes of solo didgeridoo playing by musician Mark Atkins — reputedly

  • An important part of women's history

    Mary Starring Lucy Bell, Linden Wilkinson and Brendan Higgins Writer/director Kay Pavlou Reviewed by Catherine Brown The beatification of Mary MacKillop, to take place in Sydney in January by Pope John Paul II, has probably not escaped the

  • First CD from Chain of Hearts

    First CD from Chain of Hearts Come On In Chain of Hearts Reviewed by Kylie Budge Chain Of Hearts' debut CD catches you by surprise. The photograph on the cover of band members thrashing around in a pool complete with a big orange

  • Menzies' orphan

    Menzies' Child: the Liberal Party of Australia 1944-1994 By Gerard Henderson Allen and Unwin, 1994. 382pp. (CD included), $29.95 (pb) Reviewed by Frank Noakes "Standing in front of a Union Jack, Menzies proclaimed that the Liberal Party

  • Leader of the way into the wasteland

    Crossing the Party Line: Memoirs of Bernie Taft By Bernie Taft Scribe Publications, 1994. 352 pp., $26.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon I remember one of the more humorous contributions to the "Prospects Discussion" in the Communist Party of