Melbourne is a wonderful city with an extensive public transport network and traffic infrastructure.
Which means there are plenty of opportunities for things to go hilariously wrong. (“Hilarious” in the sense of there being no serious injuries, we’re not complete monsters.) Here’s a round-up of recent events:
Once again, I’m attempting to read as many Hugo nominated works as I can stomach, review them here, and vote according to merit. Luckily, I have a really good library.
When I was twelve or thirteen, I read 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I didn’t like it. The first two thirds were okay, but then we hit the hallucinatory journey through the monolith, and although I lacked the appropriate vocabulary at the time, I thought it was a load of wank. My reading that year was equal parts Asimov and McCaffrey, and I didn’t have the patience for hallucinogenic metaphysical trips. (Spoilers: I still don’t.)
On the other hand, I adored 2010: Odyssey Two and 2067: Odyssey Three. I read my dad’s copies until they fell apart — there was something reassuring about them, with their spaceships full of multicultural, variously-degrees-of-stereotyped civilians and military officers. They were just simple enough for a young teen to understand, with occasional flashes of complexity that made me feel like I was reading proper literature. I even rented the 2010 film adaptation on VHS (it was my introduction to Helen Mirren, who played the commander of a Soviet space ship).
Which brings us to Seveneves.
(Spooooooilers ahead!)
Week one of eight in this election cycle, and it’s already terrible.
Last night, whilst we were sleeping, a post written by Steph and Birb Friend Hayley went up at The Toast! It’s 3000 words about Keanu Reeves.
Underappreciated Actors Reappraised: Keanu Reeves
HOW EXCITE. We love Keanu so much, quokkas. SO MUCH. So much so that below the cut is another 1500 words of APPENDIX (We had to cut over 500 from the post hahah) including a review of his book SHADOWS, Hayley’s notes on ode to friendship Man of Tai Chi, and many photos of Keanu being gazed at adoringly by either Winona Ryder or River Phoenix.
Last night on the nation’s nightmare, Q and A, Kelly O’Dwyer mentioned helping a small business buy a $6000 toaster. Which is just perfect, after Malcolm Turnbull suggesting parents loan their kids money to buy their first home (???!!) which is, obviously, very possible.
Anyway, here are some things No Award could buy with $6000 from the government:
Continue reading “things kelly o’dwyer could help us buy for $6000”
Australian schools are suffering from white flight fed by some racist shit, and it is awful and holding us all back, and also I’m probably a genius based on a Buzzfeed article.
Continue reading “white flight, australian schools, everything is terrible”
In our defence, we’ve been busy! Feel free to chuck links of your own in the comments.
Male speakers boycott all-male panels to protest lack of female representation
This is cool, keep it up, where ‘it’ is compassion and usefulness: Lilydale Football Club lets homeless people use the showers at its Main St ground
Why Is Hollywood Still Casting White Actors in Asian Roles?
How to Help Your Friend Who Recently Discovered The Americans (Stephanie emailed this to Liz, who suspects it may contain some kind of coded message.)
Six weeks ago yesterday, I broke my foot. Suffice to say, it was a learning experience, and the main lesson was, breaking your foot is terrible, don’t do it.
Here are some other things I’ve learned.
(Note: post contains X-rays of feet — I don’t know if anyone else out there has lifelong Issues with foot bones, but we thought we should give a heads-up just in case.)
Continue reading “Things I have learned since breaking my foot”
Our hearts are heavy with grief and guilt for two people. Hodan, a Somali refugee, set herself alight on Nauru. She is 21. Omid, who self-immolated last week and later died, was 23. His family is being billed $17000 to fly his body to Iran.
Our Immigration Minister said this was the fault of activists and advocates encouraging refugees to self-harm, demonstrating a lack of self-awareness and empathy. The environments of despair created by Australia’s policies are, instead, the impetus for self-harm.
Don’t just sit there, mired in the knowledge that our country is deplorable and unforgiveable. If you can, come do some things.
Continue reading “things australians can do to support asylum seekers”
I’ve been trying to consciously uncouple from the Marvel universe for a few months now, so I was probably the wrong person to see Civil War. Especially because the main reason I’m breaking up with Marvel is that I found myself seeing a movie once, strongly disliking it for its lack of concern for female characters, then seeing it again with my expectations lowered accordingly. I was not only rewarding bad behaviour, but I was paying good money to do so.
(The other reason was the announcement that, while the Australian taxpayer would be funding Thor 3, at the same time, funding for Screen Australia and local stories was being cut.)
All this is to say that I agreed to see Civil War with very low expectations, and then I got spoiled for the plot and lowered them further, and I was still disappointed.
Continue reading “No Award goes to the movies: Captain America: Civil War”
no-award.net 