Archive for October, 2008
When a bus is a character
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – that fabulous movie about Drag-ing it across the Australian outback to Alice Springs– is also a musical! 14 years after the movie was released, the performances are still a treat to watch, the costumes outrageous, the songs a veritable jukebox of 80s hits and the non-stop take no prisoners slag-fest takes me back to when Sydney was camp as all get out and bitching was a battle of wits.
Last evening, we watched the musical upon it’s second run in Sydney. Plenty of one-liners filled with aussie centric references that I hope London (the next stop) will understand.
There was a real bus onstage most of the time. Priscilla, as it is named, is not just a changing room on wheels but also a supporting cast member, as are the costumes. If you like period settings, you’ll know what I mean. Oh, and the delights of a live band. Love it.
Best moment for me was when they had the Harbour Bridge in lights. Dunno why but it gets me everytime. I must be anticipating the New Year countdown.
Grab a copy of the movie if you haven’t seen it, and indulge your retro side.
Wigging out
A piece of costumery with a long and noble, if itchy, association.
Judges in the Civil Courts in the UK are now wigless. After three hundred years of covering up with horsehair, apparently the judiciary no longer need to hide. The former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, gave the order which came into effect on 1 October.
Lord Phillips also modeled the new judges’ gown. There’s been reference to Trekkie inspiration.
To top it all, the new Lord Chief Justice is…Lord Judge.
Short and very sweet
The Supreme Court of Connecticut (USA) ruled on Friday, 10/10/08, by a 4-3 majority, that same-sex couples have the right to marry under the state’s constitution. The ruling is binding and not appealable.
Connecticut is now only the third state in the US that recognises and allows same-sex marriages, following Massachusetts and California. Moreover, it is:
“… the first state high court ruling to hold that civil union statutes specifically violated the equal protection clause of a state constitution.”
To understand what this means to the proponents of the case, think about the nomenclature used NOT to allow same-sex marriage by allowing instead same-sex civil unions and recognising same-sex domestic partnerships. Just not Marriage.
“Although marriage and civil unions do embody the same legal rights under our law, they are by no means equal,” Justice Palmer wrote in the majority opinion, joined by Justices Flemming L. Norcott Jr., Joette Katz and Lubbie Harper. “The former is an institution of transcendent historical, cultural and social significance, whereas the latter is not.”
Read the article here and the judgement here.
Personally, I’m in the other camp. To me, marriage is merely a civil union, a state-sanctioned contract that carries social, moral and legal responsibilities. I don’t need the state to meddle in my personal commitments, to tell me that I have to marry to benefit from infrastructure that my taxes pay for. I think we should call marriages civil unions, and recognise all de facto relationships, rather than the other way round.
Short story comp
Writer’s Digest is running it’s annual short story competition for popular fiction in 5 genre categories:
- Romance
- Mystery/Crime Fiction
- Science Fiction/Fantasy
- Thriller/Suspense
- Horror
Pay to enter – USD12.50. Submissions must be <4000 words. Deadline, November 3.
Grand prize of USD2500 and USD100 worth of books. First-place winner in each category wins USD500 and books. Competition is also open to non-US residents.
Details at http://www.writersdigest.com/popularfictionawards.
Droolworthy
The most amazing private collection you will see this year. Jay Walker’s library (courtesy of Wired magazine). Check out the design of the room.
What I like about it is – well I like everything about it actually – the theme of the collection that tells about the man, “What gets him excited are things that changed the way people think…”. Jay Walker collects steps in human understanding expressed in beautiful representations.
Between art, science and faith, humans are always seeking a higher reason, but the answer comes back to the question, and the questioner.
What is your collection about? Do you have one? What does it say about you?
what’s up this week
It’s been a few days, hasn’t it? Incredible the number of engagements that can completely take away my computer time. C would call it real life, I call it creating a backlog.
How are you, dear reader? Is Autumn/Spring/exam time being good to you? I’ve a few deadlines to take care off then I’ll be back to bore your pants off. Hmm, if that happens it certainly won’t be boring anymore!
Go watch a movie, but not the limp Journey to the Centre of the Earth (much as I like Brendan Fraser) nor the formulaic The Mummy 3 (much as I adore Michelle Yeoh) unless you collect cool 3D glasses. They are better looking these days.
So is Michelle Yeoh. She’s bloody gorgeous. I prefer her as she is today, don’t you think? But then I’ve always preferred women older than me 
or if you like ‘em like this
Grants and Awards (Pt 3)
The Lambda Literary Foundation (LLF) has released its nomination guidelines for its 2008 awards. Heading the new changes are that reprints and second or later editions are not eligible for consideration, then some vague breakdown of categories for bisexual and transgender books, then more confused, discretionary breakdown along sexual orientation or gender for warranted categories.
I’ve written before about my great disappointment in LLF’s limited view of what constitutes LGBT literature. It seems nothing has changed.
Basically, only first-print dead tree books published and available in bookstores in the US are eligible.
E-books are unequivocally excluded from the awards. Again. Can someone explain why? Are ebooks not literary enough? Isn’t literary merit a matter for the judges to decide per submission rather than wholesale format exclusions? Would they include poetry if there was nothing overtly homosexual in it except the sexual orientation of the writer and the publisher’s claim on their website? Is LLF being lobbied by publishers who don’t want epublishers to horn in on their territory? Is Amazon or any eretailer considered a bookstore for these purposes? If a supermarket has a book section, is it a bookstore?
These and other questions perplex me. I’m sure bisexual and transgender lit fans have plenty to say on the discretionary-but-not-accountable proviso given to the judging committee.
Sadly sadly sadly, the Award Guidelines Committee has again failed to take the opportunity to grasp the emerging impact of ebooks on LGBT literature. Instead of being progressive, of understanding that many brick-and-mortar bookstores don’t even stock LGBT books, of ignoring the impact that the internet has on LGBT life, of not accepting the diversity of media that LGBTs have always excelled at, LLF prefer to expand on genre (21 categories!) so that a book can be nominated in more than one category.
The complete market exclusion of LGBT books published outside the US is stunning in its arrogance. In this day and age, that such an restrictive, protectionist stance is still advocated AND acceptable from a major literary body that professes to “celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians – the whole literary community.” is frankly, ironic.
I’m livid with disappointment.
Evecho is the publisher and Editor-in-Chief of ReadTheseLips.com, a free lesbian ebooks producer.
Transitions
Spring can be hell. Sure we’re looking forward to the warmth and sunshine and oysters and mangoes… but geez, in the first half of spring, we’ve had temperature extremes (35 degrees C followed by 21 C!), lots of rain and barometric inflation that’s doing my sinus in.
There’s a price to pay for waking up. Transitions are rarely easy or painless. In my case, hayfever seriously whacks me out, at a time when I seem to be getting a serious workload. hmm
A disappointing post coming up. I mean, a post about disappointment. Mine, not a general whinge. Personal peeve. You know.
ebook sale till Oct 5th
Fictionwise, an ebook retailer, is having a sale on independent publishers’ books till October 5th.
All you can eat
Food, like the weather, is a really popular subject in Australia. Not unsurprising when you think about it because this is a small country in population but we’re major agriculturalists and we depend on the land heavily. Weather affects the land which affects the crops which affects harvest which affects our food prices. Australia is one of the driest countries in the world. As a result, we’ve invented and embraced marvelous water saving technologies and other clever environment-light devices, to bring exceptional affordable produce to the table.
Anyway, October is Good Food Month in Sydney. What better time than mid-spring when people are hungry for entertaining diversions after slow-winter and before summer celebrations. It helps that Sydneysiders are mad about food and we jostle for table supremacy against Melbourne (Melbourne wins, I think). Interestingly, food was probably the only safe public topic in my native country and yeah, we went for it. Add to that the fact that my partner is a Chef – she dots on me 
- means I get to indulge to my heart’s unmitigated content. Like I need another excuse to dive into the topic.
So here’s a photoplay of Sydney’s love/hate relationship with our chefs to kick off October.
Oh boy.
ETA: Wonderfully, C gave me a beautiful bar of bittersweet choc filled with hazelnuts that I’m going to crack into tonight.
