Book: The Pushman and Other Stories
Not many people have heard about artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Wikipedia has about four lines about him. This is all mighty strange, because his work is incredibly worthwhile – not just in the art department, but also story-wise. He’s considered the “grandfather of Japanese alternative comics” (or gekiga), and while in the 1960s...
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Book: The Crystal Bucket
Before the interwebs there was The Internet, and before that there was VHS, and before that there was plain old analog television. Remember TV? Remember wasting your life aimlessly rotating through those five measly channels? My housemate is still rotating, and it drives me nuts. For Christ’s sake, commit to a channel and mute the commercials...
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BOOK | The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton
One of my all time favourite quotes is Winston Churchill’s famous “Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down”. Although this can be seen as a justification for decadent laziness, for me it’s also a mantra for simplicity. Simplicity in writing is a wonderful, if often neglected, skill. Unf...
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BOOK | The Book of Genesis by Robert Crumb
Big surprise: Robert Crumb has produced another comic that’s misogynistic, bizarrely funny, and filled with sex, violence, wrath and pettiness. But the big surprise this time is that it’s not his own woman-hating, petty, smutty, repressed story he’s drawing: it’s the Bible! Crumb has adapted the first book of the Old Testame...
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Shop: Little Green Bookshop
There’s something about the organised clutter of the Gold Coast's cutest, greenest, second-hand bookshop that makes you want to go exploring. Any nooks or crannies not crammed with second-hand novels, non-fiction, records or DVDs are adorned with random toys and memorabilia. They’re not for sale, but nothing beats being watched by a tho...
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BOOK | We Don't Live Here Anymore by Matt Noble
Matt Nable may be a filmmaker, an actor, a novelist; but at first, he wanted to be a career footballer. He first played in the NRL, before heading to the UK to chase his dream. His first film, The Final Winter, charted the existential challenges faced by sportsmen who find their beloved game rapidly transforming into a corporate commodity. His firs...
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BOOK | 21 Nights in July: The Physics & Metaphysics of Cycling by Ianto Ware
According to many, the simple habit of riding around on bicycles will somehow set into reverse the bleak Nothing that has crept across western civilisation since the industrial revolution. It sounds fanciful, but when you consider the symptoms of mass consumerism - obesity, depression, boredom, environmental breakdown - cycling begins to look like ...
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BOOK | Exposure by Joel Magarey
So when I got given Exposure by Joel Magarey I was told it included an Ecuadorian sexual paradise, and - apart from the disappointing realisation that this sexual paradise was more of a ‘PG paradise’ as opposed to the debauchery filled ‘XXX paradise’ I so hoped it would be - I enjoyed the book. Based on ex-Adelaidean Magarey...
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BOOK | Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
I’ve read High Fidelity, seen the movie, and tend to watch Channel Ten’s annual showing of About a Boy, which, I hope, makes me qualified to review Nick Hornby’s newest book – Juliet, Naked. This latest offering runs in much the same vein as his other work; it centres on a dysfunctional, middle age, British couple &ndas...
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BOOK | Reheated Cabbage by Irvine Welsh
E’s no bad this Welsh felly, eh no? If there’s one gadge who’s writin ah cannae help but read wi glee fae cover to cover it’s Irvine Welsh. Thirs never nae lack ae zest an fuckin zing tae his stories. Strong characters and the cat dinnae shy away fae your more, likesay, dark social commentary. This here collection ae...
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