Steph was sort of raised in a multilingual household. Kind of. Sort of. Anyway it’s very complicated, and she has feelings about this beautifully written but very misleading post at The Toast: Exposure: On Raising a Bilingual Child.
Author: Stephanie
Shooter of arrows, constant opinionator. Never over it. @yiduiqie
museum shops of the world: heide museum of modern art
Liz and Ste
ph, accompanied by Friends of No Award Ashleigh and Dr Freya, visited the Heide Museum of Art on Saturday! It was VERY EXCELLENT. Also it turns out a Housemate of No Award is RELATED TO THE HEIDE CREW and this has made the world a better place.
Continue reading “museum shops of the world: heide museum of modern art”
i’m jealous of your linkspam
A hometown story of prejudice and ablism from Liz’s hometown: Down syndrome man refused entry to Brisbane JB Hi-Fi.
The way we treat immigration in Australia has directly resulted in this completely preventable death: Illegal worker dumped in toilet block near Mildura died from treatable condition, police say.
On a related note: the incompetence of Border Force is breathtaking to behold.
Stonewall is very USA, and as Australians we can be forgiven for not knowing specifics, but the new movie is very clearly wrong about the specifics on queer things and racial things, as this great review at Vanity Fair specifies. This Gawker review is also excellent.
Stonewall teaches you about as much about being gay as the Aristocats taught you about being an aristocrat.
Teddy gets left behind at a Canberra hotel; goes on a tourist trip of Canberra before returning to Sydney. Steph loves photos of stuffed toys having adventures, always feel free to tweet them to her.
Gay people in National electorates have a pretty rough time of it. (Trigger warnings for suicide and homophobia.)
Rebecca “@brocklesnitch” Shaw writes on a subject very dear to Liz’s heart: girl gangs, female friendship, and the portrayal of such in middle-grade and primary-aged fiction.
Hugo Award nominations broken down by country. Liz will say something about this as soon as she gets her spoons together.
Vonda N. McIntyre recalls her career as an author of Star Trek tie-ins.
Anti-gentrification protesters target cereal cafe and estate agent in Shoreditch. Look, Stephanie acknowledges that, living in Melbourne’s inner north, she is a part of Melbourne’s gentrification problem. (She also volunteers at a kitchen that has a low income meals program, and has strong feelings about community vegie gardens, but still). HOWEVER this article is still excellent and strangely comforting. Not that riots are a great option, OBVIOUSLY, but also: “Cereal cafe. £5 for cereal when people are starving. F*** gentrification.” DAMN RIGHT.
The Future of Language. Language predictions based on MATHS and also I have some unfinalised questions about the bias of requiring apps to be produced in English thus leading to the need to learn stuff in English and the continuing bias of studies on that. Go away and read the article then come discuss in the comments.
Have you read about Kesha? You should read about Kesha. People are demanding #FreedomForKesha: Here’s what accusing a powerful producer of rape has cost her.
Reasons to adapt Tomorrow again
Steph is probably going to commit some sort of thought crime, right now:
The series producer, Michael Boughen, who also worked on the film adaptation discussed the powerful connection audiences feel to the well-loved story.
“Tomorrow When the War Began has connected to so many Australians since the book was first published in 1993,” he said.
We couldn’t agree more!
Tomorrow, When the War Began, one of Stephanie’s LEAST FAVOURITE EVER Australian YA books, is apparently going to become a tv series!
(It is not Liz’s least favourite anything because she got a few chapters into the first book when she was 13, then stopped reading because it was awful. But ask her about that time she had to read So Much To Tell You in year 9 and it was incredibly triggery!)
There was a movie adaptation as recently as 2010! But this is not your usual ‘nerdy existential you’ll ruin it’ despair. OH NO. This is ‘this book series was written to capitulate on the fear of the Yellow Peril and to turn it into a tv series is to make a tv series based on the premise that Australia is at risk of the invading Asian hordes to the North, why, why must you do this to me’ kind of despair.
you’re the link try and understand it
Who knew that hot jam doughnuts are a specifically Melbourne thing?
Steph is so into this article: An exile from Iran on the beaches of Australia
Do you believe in alternate universes? Here’s one from the reality where Malcolm Turnbull is a dangerous leftist. But what really made us sit up and pay attention is the discovery that Turnbull’s mother, Coral Lansbury, was amazing. Through her, Turnbull is also distantly related to Angela Lansbury of Murder She Wrote fame. GUYS.
This interview with the director of Hackers on its 20th anniversary is so great.
Our Own Two Wheels, on using sex from ladies to sell, especially in a community filled with ladies.
Can You Match the Pigeons to the Way They’re Ruining My Whole Life? The anti-birb agenda spreads!
Photos of many adorable sharks.
Obviously the title of this article is now post its prime but the article still stands: Nick Cave implores Malcolm Turnbull to remove Arts Minister George Brandis; with a special note to Sam Twyford-Moore (former EWF director and twitter about town) who put it all together.
How embarrassment: Learning to speak Australian at Peril re: noted boofhead Senator Ian MacDonald.
On the ‘stepping down’ process at Metro Trains.
Because of this racist fucked up country: Adam Goodes to farewell Sydney Swans fans next season after quietly announcing AFL retirement. The man is a role model for Australians and there are a whole lot of AFL supporters who Steph would kick in the groin area if she could.
Rebecca Shaw (aka @brocklesnitch) provides a women’s sport round-up. Liz found out just last week that women’s AFL is a thing that exists!
Every non-white person outside the United States is not a “person of color.” An interesting and critical examination of US responses to Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend. (Spoilers, Steph, as a mixed-race SEAzn, hates these books for exactly these reasons.)
Shaun Tan has done some stuff with fairy tales and it is excellent. The Singing Bones.
new pm who dis
Blah blah no Tony blah blah.
In all practical terms, this isn’t much of a change. Turnbull may believe in climate change and marriage equality, but there’s no sign he’s actually going to pursue any changes to Liberal policies there. In his first press conference this morning, he declared his commitment to mandatory detention for asylum seekers, so the change of prime minister just puts a new face on the same old human rights violations.
LUCKILY, Australians are good at finding the lighter side of a political backstabbing, and many memes and lols were had. No Award brings you some bits they most enjoyed/most noted. Mostly memes and hilarious rants.
Friend of No Award Ashleigh would like it noted:
Please document my very strong feelings about not giving a fuck about how this might make it harder for labor to win because stacking the deck for the future isn’t a valid argument to let someone fuck everything up for another year
No Award in fact had already adopted this exact sentiment as official No Award policy.
let me linkspam over
I hope we’ve all come to terms with the fact that our government is full of people who would leave us all to rot, individually and collectively: New York Times: It Would Be ‘Unconscionable’ For Europe To Follow Abbott’s ‘Inhumane’ Refugee Policies; at the SMH, where it’s all just gross; Dutton thinks climate change in the Pacific is hilarious (more on that tomorrow); Secret freeze on refugee citizenship processes.
Don’t make friends with salad. Or, for that matter, any other food – on food and morality. (Disclaimer: Official Potato Moya strongly feels that people should be friends with food if that’s what they want, some of our best friends are food, etc.)
This one goes out to Official Potato and Occasional Official Calligrapher Moya: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive.
Refugees, the most enterprising migrants in Australia
Unions slam proposal for one-hour shifts ONE HOUR SHIFTS ARE TERRIBLE JUST SAY NO
Training quolls to not eat cane toads by…throwing them sausages laced with cane toads. #straya
Things and Their Makers: From “European Labour Only” to “Ethical Consumerism” – a great piece at Right Now by Lia Incognita with a very Melbourne focus
On the Other Hand – a rare profile of the Muppeteer who took over the role of Kermit after Jim Henson’s death
An Edwardian admonition against manspreading
Liz is really into this 1955 BBC short doco about cycle touring:
hello and welcome to spring (not spring)
Here we are, solidly a “week” into “Spring.” In Melbourne, this means there’s nothing different to last month; it’s max 13C, there’s winds and rain, and this afternoon the possibility of hail.
So now seems like a good reminder: Spring is an artificial concept imported and imposed upon the Australian landscape when those invaders should have been chatting to the Traditional Owners about the six (or seven, or two) seasons. (It goes without saying that it’s all about imperialism and racism that we don’t talk about this stuff even now, but comment if you wanna chat about it)
Being from Perth, Steph is about to focus on the six seasons of the Nyoongar people, with brief diversions into Wirrudjeri (Eastern) seasons.
We’ll start with a reminder that seasonal calendars don’t match up with the Gregorian calendar, because the Gregorian calendar is an artificial concept imported and imposed upon the Australian landscape, along with the completely illogical European seasons. And of course there are different seasons across the whole continent, but Steph is only talking to the ones she knows. Okay, good. Now:
Perth. The South-West, a huge chunk of the continent. The Nyoongar seasonal calendar is six seasons long, yes, perfect. They don’t match up with the Gregorian calendar, but approximately:
museum shops of the world: NGV
Stephanie attended NGVI and NGVA on the weekend, in the company of Friend of No Award Zoe, Official Potato Moya and Friend of No Award Ashleigh.
Exhibits a
ttended: Bunyips and Dragons (Australian Children’s Picture Books, NGVA, do it, so good. So worth it); something with mobiles that are cymbals; Transmission (NGVI, a trap); Gods, Heroes and Clowns, Monsters of SEAz (DO IT, OMG).
The NGV bookshop receives many points (added potatoes) for the excellent array of children’s books at both NGVI and NGVA, with many Australian (including Indigenous Australian) books at NGVA and many books about introducing kiddies to ~art~ of many styles.
come and see the real links
Russian Witch Baba Yaga’s Guide To Feminism
6. Promote healthy consent by asking visitors to your hut if they came of their own free will. (Or were sent by someone else.) It’s important for your students/admirers/victims to understand that they have bodily autonomy and don’t have to wander around the woods looking for weird witchy huts if they don’t want to. Have some diagrams and source materials ready, just in case you need to get more in-depth on the topic of enthusiastic consent.
Q. and A.: Ken Liu on Science Fiction and Chinese History
A Social History of Jell-O Salad
The [Americans with Disabilities Act] at 25: How One Law Helped Usher in An Age of Accessible Design
I strongly suspect this article is a bit too optimistic about the so-called Age of Accessible Design, but it’s a great read nonetheless.
Qantas staff ‘cursed’ after removing ceremonial boomerangs from flight, says Doomadgee
MWF stuff: Excellent post on Mark Latham’s MWF panel: “If You Don’t Like It, You Can Fuck Off”: A Reluctant Recap Of Mark Latham’s Melbourne Writers Festival Talk; fun little MWF ‘reviewer for a day’ review How to Review Voicing Race at Melbourne Writers Festival 2015: A Guide in Three Parts.
Eleanor Robertson went to a panel on “grievance feminism” so we didn’t have to.
…anyone who’s actually thought about this beyond Baby’s First John Stuart Mill pop-up book realises that the issue is far more complex than three-word slogans can handle.
Twitter blocks access to some accounts that archive political tweets (specifically political tweets that then get deleted). Our dystopia is here~
A wombat joins Tinder. Wombats are the best. Even this total “why do lady wombats always say they want nice guys and then hook up with jerk wombats?” fedora-sporting nice guy.
Is It Legal To Release Balloons Into The Air? Not in NSW. But MORALLY and ETHICALLY, just don’t do it. I know it’s beautiful, it’s meaningful, it’s a memorial. But it’s terrible pollution, in Australia it’s literally like throwing three dozen condoms straight into the water. Just like that. Don’t do it.
Unsourced ‘cos we found it in the comments to an article about cyclists: Cycling-in-the-News Bingo.
Having feelings about this article on why Al Jazeera stopped using the word migrant. I love it so much.
No Award refuses to be drawn into a conversation about gun control, but this quote about how a temporary ban on the Adler shotgun has been lifted in exchange for a vote from Leyonhjelm is interesting:
Senator Wright said the Government had traded gun safety for Senator Leyonhjelm’s key crossbench vote.
“He’s traded off a vote in relation to migration law to push forward a weakening on gun laws and it highlights the risk he will push the Coalition further to water down their gun laws,” she said.
Obviously, by ‘interesting’, No Award means are you shitting me, a deal on migration and guns? Like that’s not a loaded statement. But, I mean, whatever makes old white men happy, I guess.
This video game is quite offensive and highly problematic, if you are Liz.
A very important work of credible non-fiction: John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular: How SJWs Always Lie About Our Comparative Popularity Levels by Theophilous Pratt.
Most helpful review:
Brilliant and, in all modesty, possibly one of the great works of the 21st century. I especially liked the Chapter layout and how they were sequentialized. This groundbreaking tome once and for all settles the matter of the perfidious John Scalzi’s popularity! This book actually has THREE bonus Chapter Fives, unlike some other lesser works which give you barely two. This NEEDS to be nominated for a Best Editor award next year!
Awesome Australian film Gayby Baby was banned by the NSW Premier from being screened in schools as inappropriate during school time. A good school is one that teaches pupils to think for themselves; Labor MP Penny Sharpe Perfectly Sums Up The ‘Gayby Baby’ Furore In This Passionate Speech; The NSW Government’s In Seriously Hot Water For Caving To The Daily Telegraph Over ‘Gayby Baby’.
It’s been a busy day for progressive Australians on Twitter, forcing Australian Border Force to go from promising neo-fascist visa checks on the streets of Melbourne over the weekend to cancelling the whole thing. Three cheers for successful social media outrage coupled with a successful protest (organised in less than an hour, mind, and held on a work day).
Buzzfeed has the breakdown:
A Timeline Of The Border Force’s Very Bad, No Good, Terrible Day
The Guardian’s rolling coverage has a bit more detail, and, with no disrespect to Buzzfeed, gravitas.
Useful source for the next time this happens: what to do if the immigration department demands to see your papers.
Remember, if you see a person being subjected to harassment, and you feel safe doing so, grab your smartphone and start recording. (Friend of No Award Amanda almost got punched in the face in a Hungry Jacks once after she confronted a guy being rude to a Singaporean employee, so use your best judgement. No Award takes no responsibility for any assaults you may suffer while doing the right thing.)
no-award.net 
