Liz is on a writer’s retreat right now and so it’s mostly Steph scrawling all over everything in glee.
(The picture is a painting Steph commissioned for her housemate’s birthday by the amazing Mia)
Category: links
this week in: what has your government done to you
It’s a week, so probably something.
Labor questions PM Malcolm Turnbull’s commitment to tackling discrimination against women.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s commitment to tackling discrimination against women is being questioned, with the position of Sex Discrimination Commissioner left vacant for four months.
Elizabeth Broderick left the post in early September, but her departure was long expected after Attorney-General George Brandis extended her term by a year in 2014.
Senator Brandis told Parliament in early November, in response to Labor’s questions, that an announcement would be made “very soon”.
Other things No Award questions about Turnbull: his judgement; his friends (cf Dutton).
Continue reading “this week in: what has your government done to you”
Six white linkspams! (Snow white linkspams!)
But I was serious about this. You read enough books in which people like you are disposable, or are dirt, or are silent, absent, or worthless, and it makes an impact on you. Because art makes the world, because it matters, because it makes us. Or breaks us.
The Stella Prize – the next, bold iteration – on counting diversity in the Stella Prize.
‘We speak English in this country’: Victim of racist rant tracks woman who defended her (has autoplay)
Nope, Still Not OK: Absolutely Fabulous’ Yellowface Casting
These forgotten female crime writers had no time for femme fatales or dowdy housewives
This article assumes, annoyingly, that its readers don’t speak or read Chinese, but this is super interesting regardless: The long, incredibly tortuous, and fascinating process of creating a Chinese font. (So ridiculously over dramatic, come on quokkas)
On home workers: A huge underclass of ghost workers are making your shirts in their homes
CAH has a third party factory in China, usual shitty conditions, so I was surprised to read this: Cards Against Humanity gives its entire Chinese workforce a holiday
While our factory provides excellent wages and working conditions, Chinese working conditions are generally more strict. This year, we used the money from one day of our holiday promotion to give our workers something very uncommon in China: a paid vacation.
The printer didn’t have any formal procedures for paid vacations, so we bought 100% of the factory’s capacity and paid them to produce nothing for a week, giving the people who make Cards Against Humanity an unexpected chance to visit family or do whatever they pleased.
How to Not Ruin the Holidays for your Fat Friends and Family
The cast of next year’s J K Rowling-penned Harry Potter play has been announced … and Noma Dumezweni is playing Hermione. Spoilers: she is not white.
We at No Award think it’s pretty cool that JKR has gone from reading and faving articles about racebending and PoC headcanons in HP to actually casting a woman of colour. And Dumezweni has been quite amazing in the few things Liz has seen her in.
(Doctor Who. I’ve seen her in Doctor Who.)
Melbourne MP includes a black baby Jesus in her nativity display, people respond with racism. Wait ’til you see their faces when they realise Jesus was a Middle Eastern refugee, eh?
An Unbelievable Story of Rape. A compelling long read about a serial rapist, and the particular case of one of his victims, a girl who had just left foster care, who was treated remarkably differently to the middle class women who were also attacked.
The Skies Belong To Us: How Hijackers Created An Airline Crisis In the 1970s. Remember that episode of Daria where Jane jokes about hijacking a plane? Talk about things that wouldn’t fly (ahahahaha) in a post 9/11 world.
Christmas in Australia means one thing: Cricket.
Submit to Stuff
For its second number in 2016, Southerly will be producing an issue, co-edited by David Brooks and Andy Jackson, on Writing and Disability, and we are seeking contributions in all our usual fields – poetry, short fiction, essay, review, memoir, etc. Both physical and psychological disability will be considered – visible and invisible – and disability will be interpreted widely within these areas. The co-editors do not wish to limit contributions in any way. They do note, however, that the area of writing and disability is significantly under-theorised, especially in the Australian context, and hope that this publication might make some contribution in this area.
Deadline: June 30th 2016
The Bit About Star Wars
John Boyega’s Response to White Tears is the Blackest Thing I’ve Ever Heard This Week
Emo Kylo Ren feels like a throwback to fandom c2002 in the best way possible.
Spotify has some truly outstanding official Star Wars playlists.
Seriously thinking about Gross White People Business as a new tag here at No Award
Meet the Kleptogastromaniacs, Customers Hooked on High-End-Food Theft
Of course, there can be a certain pleasure in getting something for nothing — and achieving that emotional state can be a goal that takes over the lives of some people (even very well-heeled ones). Take the case of a successful white-collar professional who began stealing wine from stores at the age of 50 after several deaths in his family. Like many wine connoisseurs, he was guided by Robert Parker’s wine reviews and aimed for bottles with a rating of at least 95. Then he set a goal of boosting $1,000-worth of wine in a week, and succeeded. Along the way, though, he was arrested several times and spent heavily for lawyers to avoid a felony conviction that might have cost him his professional license.
Bendigo mosque appeal thrown out of court
Ms Hoskin, who refused to comment to the media after the Court of Appeal judgment was handed down, tumbled down the steps outside court after the verdict, and had to be given first aid treatment for a suspected broken ankle.
She was helped into a taxi by members of the media, after refusing an ambulance.
On Wednesday morning, the court rejected the residents’ claims that the mosque would bring negative social effects to Bendigo. The judges said Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights protected freedom of religion, and said the mere practice of religious worship could not be considered to be an adverse “social effect”.
KARMA
From there, Liz fell into a chocolate fraud spiral (totes a thing), and discovered the same blogger’s 2006 expose of the world’s most expensive chocolate as, well, a badly tempered, repackaged wholesale product.
(If reading that has left you curious about the world of bean to bar chocolate, and you’re in Melbourne, turns out Haigh’s has been doing bean to bar since before these whippersnappers came along.)
(Chocolate fraud is also a great topic if you love reading investigative journalism, but aren’t in the mood for crime or, you know, anything where people are seriously hurt.)
are you from linkspam or Mars?
We’ve been sitting on this post for a few weeks, so some of these links are, uhhh, vintage!
I’ll talk about this in more detail in the near future, but if you’re already convinced, voting costs $5 and you can do so at this link.
Stephanie adores Clueless, and just watched it last weekend, and loved this: ‘Clueless’ style: a fashion analysis of the best teen movie of all time
Steph cried with laughter at this: 46 Things That Would Be Different If “Love Actually” Were Set In Australia
When there’s no room at the inn for victims of domestic violence (Don’t read the comments – sadly the ‘most liked’ comments are on the right-hand sidebar, putting them directly in view.)
Does YA fiction need to check its privilege? On class, and the lack of working class YA protagonists who aren’t leading a revolution. (Liz agrees strongly with this article, and sadly notes that some of the worst depictions of class are from OzYA.)
An Open Letter to JJ Abrams – Did you know that girls can be Star Wars fans? Apparently JJ didn’t. But what made this blog post particularly enjoyable was the author’s account of becoming a science fiction fan in Hong Kong.
Great piece at Overland on the shit going on against the CFMEU and Australia’s Unions: Black bans and blackmail, and why it’s important.
That’s why having workers’ representatives monitoring safety matters. Last month, when a concrete slab crushed two men to death on an East Perth worksite, it transpired that the CFMEU had been refused entry to the site sixteen times.
No Award reminds everyone that the voices of women (and genderqueer people) are frequently silenced by the medical fraternity and endometriosis is a real thing suffered by Friends of No Award: My Doctors Said My Crippling Menstrual Pain Was “Fine”.
Melbourne history business: The little blue building
Here’s What It’s Like To Go Through Gay Conversion Therapy In Australia
Writing Business
Great point at The Wheeler Centre’s notes: It’s Not Easy Being Green: when young writers meet opportunistic editors.
As Parkhill noted in a response to Kilbride’s piece on Facebook, the core issue was not simply that the piece was ‘garbage’, but that it passed the editorial process at all. ‘Perhaps worse than the article’s content is the fact that [New Matilda] have exposed a very young and inexperienced writer’s ill-formed thoughts to a large audience,’ Parkhill said. ‘This article was by no means ready to go live, and I’m sure in the fullness of time its author won’t thank [New Matilda] for the opportunity or “exposure” but will regret the fact that [they] were willing to publish such asinine crap to which his name will be forever attached.’
Right Place, Right Time: How the Melbourne Voice shuts writers out (as in being in Melbourne, not some publication called Melbourne Voice, as Steph first was confused by)
Steph nearly called this section Gross White People Business
NOPE: No criminal charges over pig head dumping at University of WA Muslim prayer room. GET IN THE BIN.
Seven News reported on Wednesday that police know the man, believed to be a former university student, responsible and found a second pig’s head in his home.
But he reportedly won’t be charged because technically no laws had been broken.
IT’S CALLED RACIAL VILIFICATION GET IT TOGETHER WA COPPERS COME ON.
Inadequate white man gets appointed to important political role; admits he loves revenge: Joe Hockey gets job as ambassador to US, admits staying in parliament would have been about payback. Fucking get it together, come on.
Australians head to Colombian village for cocaine ‘special tour’. ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME RIGHT NOW.
“When I came on this trip, there were a lot of things I hadn’t done at home,” said Rose, 32, from Western Australia.
“There was a bucket list and I always said that if I came to Colombia I would try cocaine.
“In Australia, it is a rich man’s drug and sells for about $300 a gram. Here we have had it for as cheap as $US5. People give it away because it is so accessible.”
GET IN THE BIN
if you want my linkspam
This week you have the delight of a Stephanie-only linkspam HAHAHA there’s not much because Liz has been working and Stephanie has been watching The Musketeers. Feel free to tell her how much you love Luke Pasqualino and/or Tamal from GBBO.
Down Under Feminists’ Carnival hashtag 90
Hello and welcome to edition 90 of the Down Under Feminists’ Carnival! In grand tradition, here we are in November and No Award is hosting once again.
Thank you so much to everyone who submitted links. In Steph’s obsessive need to tidy her inbox immediately, we’re not sure who those excellent people were, but thank you heaps and heaps.
Edition 91 will be hosted by MJ at Project Sprog. Submit at projectsprogblog [at] gmail [dot] com
Continue reading “Down Under Feminists’ Carnival hashtag 90”
I’m just crazy ’bout the way we move, doin’ the linkspam rock.
A whole lot of feelings about changing names upon marriage: Name Calling: Coverture in a Feminist Age.
Young and free? Why I declined to sing the national anthem at the 2015 AFL Grand Final and by Stan Grant How can I feel Australian when this country has told me I don’t belong?
Australian cinema’s lost wave: the renaissance nobody’s noticed. “Nobody”
Canberra’s bushfire-prone regions mapped ahead of ‘Godzilla El Nino’ season MAPS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE maybe I need a NA tag for that
Mango shortage in Western Australia’s far north forces fundraiser cancellation
But the fundraiser was cancelled due to a lack of available mangoes.
WA Department of Agriculture and Food industry officer Peter Johnson said it was a “strange” year for mango production.
“We’ve pretty much had two crops this year – there was an early one back in September, early October, and then there’s going to be a bit of late fruit coming in mid-November – and not a lot in between,” he said.
He said the cause was climatic.
“We had a little bit of an above average dry season temperature wise,” Mr Johnson said.
SPOILERS IT IS CLIMATE CHANGE.
An interview with a(n American) former prison librarian.
The Fashion Archives: An online publication looking at fashion and fashion history in Queensland. Rich with delicious primary sources.
(Bonus trivia – important facts about “Eagle Rock”, this week’s linkspam title lyric source:
Since the mid-1980s, when the song is played in a public bar, it is common for Australian students (largely male) to unstrap their belts and hobble around with their pants around their ankles. Ross Wilson of Daddy Cool, although perplexed about the origin of the practice has observed,’… I suppose it’s got the silliness that was part of the charm of Daddy Cool.’
The policy of the University of Queensland’s Student Union states no individual can be removed from the University pub, the Red Room, for dropping their pants whilst Eagle Rock is being played.
(Source: Wikipedia. Liz cannot verify any of this, as she did not know any mining engineering students at uni, and the Red Room only came into existence in her final year because she is a million years old.)
linkspam tonight (feel the spice of life)
This is a very long linkspam, so it is under a cut.
Continue reading “linkspam tonight (feel the spice of life)”
and i’m here to linkspam you
Okay so first of all, linkspam is moving to Fridays. Had you noticed we were weekly on Mondays? I don’t know. It’s all good. LINKSPAM FRIDAYS.
Anyway, if you’re not reading all of Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin’s text in Steph’s voice, you are missing out. Sometimes, when she reads comics with Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin, she just assumes that someone in her life is feeding First Dog her thoughts, because it is pretty much Steph.
Brenda in: The TPP is a huge problem and our government is the blurst: The Trans-Pacific partnership will shut down all your kitten hospitals
By the ever great Rebecca Shaw: Comment: Alanis was the perfect ‘Pill’ for young women – and still is
Kirstyn McDermott and Tessa Kum are the authors in the current edition of the Review of Australian Fiction! $2.99 for two excellent long short-stories by two excellent Australian women. Download it. Download it now.
There’s water on Mars, so Australia should definitely check for illegal boats.
Terry Pratchett bequeaths $1m to the University of South Australia
Two of 20 immunised Tasmanian devils released into wild killed on road days after release
Residents of a Queensland town face living with potential health time bombs after chemicals used for decades at an army aviation base were found to have leached into the ground and contaminated part of the ground water supply.
Remember when Steph lived in Beijing?
STEPH IS LITERALLY SOMEWHERE UNDER THAT CLOUD OF POLLUTION.
Anyway if you have two hours to learn about pollution, earlier this year there was a Chinese documentary on the long term effects of pollution in China. It’s so good. Steph only this week realised there’s an English translation of it, and also a comprehensive summary if you don’t have two hours, so now she can RECOMMEND IT TO YOU. IT IS A VERY GOOD DOCUMENTARY. Under the Dome. Watch it. Cry.
Important Harold Holt social media appearance:
https://twitter.com/lanesainty/status/651630329581699072
Liz says: Quokkas, let me tell you, ever since I moved to the Inner West, I’ve become a big proponent of footpath cycling, provided it’s done in a safe way that doesn’t involve running over pedestrians. My commute these days involves a whole lot of right-hand-turns across heavy, cyclist-unfriendly traffic, and there are points where it’s just safer to do a few metres on the footpath than risk the trucks.
Ellie Marney talks #LoveOzYA, Sherlock Holmes and censorship.
To the surprise of exactly no one, Australian authors are (a) mostly women and (b) shockingly underpaid. (Liz says: I joke a lot about wanting to sell a book and give up my day job, but my actual dream is to sell a book and earn enough to work part-time.)
No Award notes with interest that 90% of children’s authors (including, we assume, YA) are women.
If you’ve ever put down the Narnia books and thought, “Yes, but what I really need is a lamppost of my very own, but preferably smaller and also solar powered,” Bunnings is here for you.
If any tall friends of No Award want to dress up as Jadis c. The Magician’s Nephew and brandish a lamppost with bare arms while hijacking a hansom cab, totes call us.
no-award.net 