Friday Finds

In very sad news, one of Australia's most prominent and influential authors, Colleen McCullough, passed away. She wrote some really formative works that, I believe, are a key part of Australia's literary canon, so it's heartbreaking to see her go. 

In flat out awful news, The Australian's obituary of her focuses not on her talent as a writer, or even as her skills as a neuroscientist, but on her weight. Way to go, guys.

What a way to end a week.


- These abandoned greenhouses are wonderfully inspiring.


- Your week in trailers: new Hannibal!! New Agents of SHIELD!! Timbuktu looks incredible. Turbo Kid looks crazy fun! Fantastic Four! Which...might be good? I really enjoyed Chronicle at least.


- I adore X-Men (even if I've never been a big fan of the films), and the promise of a new live action TV-series is promising? I hope!




'Razors Pain You: what Dorothy Parker teaches us about our addiction to female suffering' is a really fascinating piece unpacking the nature of tragedy, pain and mental health concerns many women writers fall prey too. 

More of a #longview than a #longread, but the ladies at Sundance Film Festival panel is awesomesauce, particularly if you're interested in working in film and TV as a creative. 

Sunday Short: 'Damage' by Mariya Karimjee

After the fateful conversation in my bathroom, though, I learned what it was like to love someone without forgiving her. The two halves of my relationship with my mother did not match. Most days we’d go about our lives, her betrayal far from my mind. She’d groan when I turned up the radio to a song she particularly disliked, and I’d grin back at her and then sing, in the off-key, toneless voice I’d inherited from her. Other times, she’d say something entirely innocuous and I’d be filled with a murderous rage. How could someone who claimed to love me so much have done something so horrible, I wondered.
Oh, man. I have no words for this intensely moving piece by Pakistani American writer, Mariya Karimjee on female genital mutilation. The feature beautifully and tragically captures the anger and isolation caused by FGM, but also that of change and generational differences between Mariya, her mother and grandmother. Wonderful writing.

You can read 'Damage' by Mariya Karimjee over at The Big Round Table.

Friday Finds

Hey! Bookfest is on this weekend! If you're in Brisbane I highly recommend. Even if you're not a big reader, they have games and puzzles too.

- There's a second part to the 100 years of hair video for black ladies! It is AWESOME!

- This video on why Taylor Swift songs are so catchy is super interesting too.

- These 30 photos of an 1960s nightclub are pretty amazing.

- Jane Goldman and Nikolaj Arcel are working on a Fables movie which makes me pretty darn excited.
- Digital Writers Festival has posted their pre-release program for their 2015 festival. I'll be doing a detailed round up closer to the date, but you can check out these early releases here.



The Working Life of Gwyned Filling, the career girl of 1948 is a really interesting read. AC Bern goes back through an old copy of LIFE Magazine to dissect an article covering a week in the life of a working girl in the 40s. It's a great resource, particularly if you're working on something set around the era.

This piece care of Thought Catalogue on women soldiers in the civil war is fascinating too.

Working as a freelance artist, writer or cultural producer? ArtsHub has a terrific piece on their website about how to ask for money.

Shop Girl: Karou 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone'


I've been compulsively reading Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy of late. A terrific, expansive fantasy series with some of the most detailed and compelling world building I've seen in a long time. The hero of the story, a young, blue haired woman named Karou is, equally, pretty terrific. She's strong, intelligent, and vulnerable, an artist, an errand girl, a resurrectionist. She's a lot of pretty darn magical things.

Being a total nerd for both books and fashion, and, well, seeing the cardigan in #3 that just fits her SO PERFECTLY, this Shop Girl column's been born for look's inspired by favourite characters.

Karou, Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
1. Levi Hi Rise Skinny Jeans in Scandinavian Blue. $120.
2. Topshop Ribbed Crop Cami Top. $12.
3. See the Signs Modcloth Cardigan. $55.
4. Manic Panic Blue Moon Hairdye. $14.
5. Giles & Brother Wishbone Necklace. $138.
6. Black Rose Dr. Martens. $239.

Honourable mention to these Gold Faux Tooth Earrings. $20. too.

Is there anything you've seen that fits the character too?

Oscars 006

About  three years ago, I got it into my head to watch every film ever nominated for an Oscar. It's a pretty insane feat, given that the nominees are well into the thousands, but it's a project I'm yet to regret embarking on. It's just a hell of a lot of fun and has given me this sort of startling education in the history of cinema and narrative. While I've been watching films on an ad hoc, out of order basis over on tumblr, I am finally starting to be able to cross full years off my list, and as I do, I'll be recapping them here. 


It feels a little funny to write this post only days after the nominations for the 87th Oscars have been announced. It makes me realise how far the Academy has come in some regards and how little in others. The diversity in genre and subject matter is leaps and bounds forwards from an era that seemed to rotate around ruined women, backstage musicals, prison dramas and war films, but the diversity in the voices telling them hasn't really moved at all. It's disappointing to say the least.

It's also interesting to see Meryl Streep take centre stage again. I love Meryl, but didn't love Into the Woods all that much. Meryl's become a staple of the awards though, and so looking back at the sixth ceremony is oddly well-timed as it's when another staple exploded onto the scene. Katharine Hepburn would be nominated for twelve Oscars in her lifetime, and would win four, the first one she won this year for her work in Morning Glory, a sweet film about a young actress working her way up to stardom. It relies on the same tropes of many women-centric films of the era, only instead of punishing her like All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? do, it rewards her.

Unfortunately, that's probably one of the few interesting things about this year. Not that it was a bad one, just if the third, fourth and fifth were more compelling years for cinema, 1933 felt like going through the motions. Backstage musicals, prison films, war films, biopics and romances dominated with little to break up the monotony.

Well, all but The Sign of the Cross. This seems to be the start of epic, biblical or at least Christian-inspired films. The Sign of the Cross is the first real epic to not focus on World War I and to instead turn an eye to religious themes and Roman empires. It'd be followed in later years by more iconic films like Ben Hur. Samson and Delilah and even The Passion of the Christ, all of which would receive greater acclaim and recognition from the Academy.

Three to Watch
A Farewell to Arms. I'm not really sure why this beautiful adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel didn't receive greater recognition. It's beautifully made by incredible filmmaker and first ever best director winner, Frank Borzage (who you may remember from his earlier work 7th Heaven and Street Angel, both nominated in the first ever Oscars), and wonderfully performed by the always-charming Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. It circles themes of obligation both socially and politically against a backdrop of World War I in similar ways to All Quiet on the Western Front. It's a pretty special film.

Gold Diggers of 1933. Backstage musicals are a dime a dozen in the thirties through to the early sixties, which is why it's exciting to see a film get it so right and have so much fun with the form. This story about a broke production scrambling to save itself is totally charming with some amazing costumes

One Way Passage. This one took me by surprise. The premise is a bit of an odd one. A murderer and a woman suffering from a terminal illness meet on a ship and fall in love. It could've been awful, but with the charismatic William Powell and Kay Francis in the leading roles, and the wonderful cinematography by Robert Kurrle it becomes something magical.

Three to Miss
Cavalcade. Since starting this project, I'm noticing a trend across best picture winners of films that seem to be topical or of the moment, but don't translate well beyond the fact. This isn't always the case of course - All Quiet on the Western Front is both iconic and every bit as relevant today as it was in 1930. What I'm saying is that Cavalcade hasn't aged well, and on top of that it's both really long and really boring.

Rasputin and the Empress. In some ways, this is worth watching purely because all three Barrymore siblings are in it. In other ways, it's totally not worth watching. It's chock-full of caricatures, over-acting and at just two hours, it feels like six.

She Done Him Wrong. It's hard for me to say this as I love Mae West, but this is such a weird little film that never seems to really go anywhere. Plus, it's got a bit of an icky ending played off as romantic when it's really not.

Sunday Short: 'I Will Wade Out' by E. E. Cummings


i will wade out
                        till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
I go on and off poetry, depending, but I'm in a bit of an on period with it at the moment. One of the poems that jerked me back in though was this beautiful one by E.E. Cummings. It's a gorgeous, emotive thing and just, man, the imagery of eating the sun and moon is a wonderful one.

You can read 'I Will Wade Out' by E.E. Cummings over at hellopoetry.com

Laurel and Hector FW 2014


Ah! I love EVERYTHING about this collection from Laurel and Hector. From the colours to the mix-match prints to the silhouettes to the styling. It's pretty much perfection. You can view the full collection over at SuperSelected.com.




 

Sunday Short: 'The Elements' by Laura Elvery

A few years ago, in the summer of 1916, shark attacks made big news along the Jersey Shore. It was during the heat wave while families were on vacation in July. The polio made it worse, Father read in the paper, because everyone wanted to go into the sunshine and too many people were in the water. There was absolute panic for whatever was down there—some said they weren’t even sharks, just fish or sea turtles. Barbara and I heard about the attacks and spent a day laid out on our towels in her back garden. Barb’s blouse was dotted with tiny blue fish and her thighs were elastic brown in the sun. I borrowed her sunglasses and we talked about Robert Wade in my English class, and about James Barclay who was handsome but whose mother had run away with a man from the brewery. Barb’s mother brought us sandwiches on a tray. I said I wasn’t hungry and Barb ate them all, and then she lay back on her elbows and her neck arched in the sun.
Laura Elvery is all over the place in Queensland writing recently - she won the Josephine Ulrick Prize in 2014 as well as the QUT Postgraduate Creative Writing Prize. Both are wonderful achievements and reading her short story, 'The Elements', for which she won the latter prize, it's easy to see why she was awarded. She has a beautiful sense of character and time, letting the story unfold around a young woman working in a factory - her history, her future, just her becoming more compelling and rounded with every interaction or stray thought. It's pretty magical.

You can read 'The Elements' over at Kill Your Darlings.

Friday Finds

Happy Friday! This week's been pretty great. I'm back at the day job, tying up my old role and getting things prepped for my new one as QWC's Digital Content Editor (excited! a little terrified!) I've also been slaying at wordage too, maintaining my blog schedule (an unofficial new year's resolution) and finishing and submitting a short story and non fiction piece. It's been pretty magical. 

How about you? What have you accomplished this week?


- A WICKED MOVIE!!

- Or, more importantly, a Japanese fox village!!!

- An artist recreates seven generations of women in her family.

- Neil Blomkamps Alien sequel concept art is gooooorgeous. 

- Owl cafe!!

- This Harry Potter decorated party too.

- I've always been a huge fan of Phil Noto too, and his variant covers for Marvel are really amazing. I'd love some of them as prints!

- 23 excellent reasons to drink wine (like I need any).

- Also, hey, best ice cream and gelato in Brisbane!


- This article care of The Mary Sue on the Women Army Corp in World War II is pretty wonderful at shedding light on a little talked about piece of history.

- This article on the costuming of Selma and the politicisation of clothes is amazing. My sister is a costume designer, and I always love picking her brain about the implications her work has in crafting a film, and this interview with one of the best in the biz, Ruth Carter, is fascinating.

Oscars 005


I’m not sure if it’s just me, but one thing I’ve really noticed about this era of cinema – the late twenties and early thirties – is that women owned the screens. From Norma Shearer to Gloria Swanson, Janet Gaynor and Clara Bow in previous years, the fifth Oscars really saw a surge in actresses remembered, imitated and emulated today. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Marlene Dietrich all made a big splash this year in diverse and compelling roles, and some now lesser known stars, Marie Dressler, Helen Hayes, were equally strong. It was a golden era for women in cinema, and this year’s films gave them meaty roles to sink their teeth into.

Of course, there were some great men too – the Barrymores, Fredric March, James Cagney to name a couple, but the serious commanding presences like William Powell, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper were either still in small or supporting parts, or still a few years away from stardom.

It makes for an interesting commentary on the era and, even more so, an interesting point of reflection from now, where dark, smouldering women were a runaway favourite for leading roles.

Putting that aside, this is an interesting year for the Oscars for a few reasons. One it was the last and only time that a best picture winner would be nominated for no other award (a crime, to be honest, given the calibre of the winning film, Grand Hotel). It also saw a more determined swing away from historical and war films and towards romantic comedies – something that would be a staple for quite a few years to come. This year three of the eight Best Picture nominees were romantic comedies  and many of the other nominees were domestic or courtroom dramas. This is the first year since the start of the Oscars where not one war film was nominated, not necessarily a strange fact given the timing between world wars, but a remarkable one all the same.

While I won’t be reviewing short films at this time, hey! Short films entered the race this year with three categories – animated short, comedy short and novelty short. Also worth noting that this was the last year that Best Sound Recording went to a studio instead of an individual.

Three Films to Watch
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Maybe it’s my monster heart speaking, but I really do love this film. It’s one of the earlier monster films to be nominated, and has some amazing effects and a stirring, compelling performance from Fredric March in both the titular roles. He goes for it, and the film is nowhere near as camp as the genre and the era would allow for. It was dark and gritty before that was a staple of the form.

Shanghai Express.  Something you might not know about me – I love train movies. They can condense so much tension, so much drama through compartments and carriages in a way other settings struggle to replicate. Snowpiercer, Strangers on a Train, hell, even Unstoppable. Shanghai Express does it better than most, grounded in the remarkable performances of Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. It’s terrific.

Grand Hotel. It certainly hasn’t been every year that the Best Picture winner has made this list, but Grand Hotel was one of the relatively few times that the Academy got it right. From the compelling and interweaving narrative, to the performance to some of the most impressive cinematography I’ve seen from this era of heavy cameras, Grand Hotel pretty much has it all.

Three Films to Miss
Bad Girl. While not a bad film, the sort of narrative of a young woman and man hating each other and then falling in love are really a dime a dozen.

One Hour With You. A fun romantic comedy, but Maurice Chevalier really bothers me as an actor. I find him smug, which sort of ruins the effect of this would-be charmer.


A nous la liberte. Look, it’s blasphemy, but I didn’t warm to this French satire on the nature of capitalism at all. 

Myrtle FW 2014


A lot of lookbooks for new collections can be played pretty straight or photographed in a way to portray the clothes (totally understandably!) over portraying an overall customer and, well, look. Myrtle's Fall Winter collection from 2014 doesn't suffer the former, instead building a story through photographs, using polaroids, or mock polaroids, muted colours and a slick, seventies style to build a character and a narrative. It's pretty great.

You can view the full collection over at the website.

  

   
   





Little Comfort, Little Comfort


January 2015 by Sophie Overett on Grooveshark


My boss always tells us at work that events and projects should be like a duck on water, an easy glide to the eye, but with the quick and hard pace of legs below. Last year, I spent a lot of time paddling, and a lot of time treading water.

This year (even though we’re only a few days into it!), it already feels like I’m starting to move. I made huge progress at my Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre residency at the start of December, and have managed to keep a firm momentum with my writing since. I’ve fallen back in love with short fiction, and have some really exciting new projects on the horizon.

The biggest news – and something that will certainly be looming over me this year – is that I am a recipient of a Queensland Literary Fellowship in 2015. I’m totally thrilled, of course, and it’s super exciting to have both this sort of recognition, but also to have a panel of people put their hat in the ring for me to develop work.

So all in all, I feel good about 2015. I feel good about what’s ahead, and what’s in store. My legs will still be working hard of course, but hopefully I’ll get to glide a little further. 

Sunday Short: 'Eventually, We All Become Members of the Dead Dad Club' by Erika Price

The Club has burdens. You can’t bring it up, if you’re young; people get far too uncomfortable and sad for you. If circumstances force you to tell someone about the death, you must immediately be reassuring about just how fine and over it you are. You must act like the death wasn’t tragic. You must act like your relationship with your father was healthy and conventional. You must not be visibly annoyed when people cry and complain and mourn the loss of their grandparents or great-grandparents or their fucking dogs and cats. You must not speak of the Dead Dad Club to a non-member. You must not bring someone into the Club if they are not ready. You must not let membership to the Club visibly taint your relationships, lest you become a girl with D-word Issues. That is the worst fate of all.
It's wonderful and tragic to kick off the year with a recommendation that rips your heart out, because that's exactly what this memoir by Erika Price does to you. The emotional truth of it, the reality, the unromanticiseation (which is totally not a word, but it should be) comes together beautifully in this short narrative about loss and how, no matter how hard we try otherwise, it so often comes to define us.

You can read 'Eventually, We All Become Members of the Dead Dad Club' by Erika Price over at The Rumpus.

Friday Finds

I didn't write a new year's post to break in 2015. I think that makes this the first year since I started this that I haven't. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, I'm still working on my 24 Before 25 goals that I wrote about back in September, and secondly, I was lucky enough to spend New Year's with some very important people, some of which had traveled here for the occasion. All in all though, I'm pretty excited for this year. My job is changing, my writing practice growing, my future starting to happen before me, which all sounds very cliche, but is also kind of true. How about you though? What do you have planned for the new year?

Also, hey! Enjoy the relaunch / restructured Friday Finds below!

- Which major superhero films pass the Bechdel test?  (spoiler: not a lot).

- This Sailor Moon wedding.

- These award-winning photos of 2014 compiled on BuzzFeed are stunning.

- I love a good horror movie and It Follows is looking particularly amazing. 

New Orphan Black trailer!! Penny Dreadful Season 2!! AND Better Call Saul!!

- Margaret Atwood did a Reddit AMA! The Mary Sue rounded up the best Q&A's over here.

- 23 tips from famous writers for new and emerging authors.

- 13 books  to read by black feminist writers.

- 12 essential essays for writers.

- If famous authors wrote the internet.

- That Girl is Poison: a brief, incomplete history of female poisoners.
I'm super fascinated by poison in general and the psychology behind people who choose to use it, and this round up of four women who history remembers for it is a compelling little read.

- The  Trouble with Carrie: strong female characters and onscreen violence.
The Strong Female Character has been at the heart of a lot of conversations recently, and it's a really important one to have. The way women are represented has certainly become more diverse in some ways, but not in others, and this article sums that up perfectly.