Weekly Cinematique screenings were abandoned as soon as the restriction on large gatherings was put in place in March. But the clever people at ACMI were quick off the mark introducing on the 19th of March the Virtual Cinématèque providing screenings we could access in our homes. They put together a terrific range of films announcing on Twitter … [Read more...] about Virtual Cinémathèque
Archives for 2020
Life In Lockdown
The Start It's three months since lockdown started for me leading to a period that has put my sense of time out of kilter - oddly the 12th of March feels like ages ago but at the same time very recent. By the time we went on our much delayed Canberra trip - originally scheduled for January but put back because of the bushfires - the idea … [Read more...] about Life In Lockdown
Reading, April-May 2020
A Radical Romance: A Memoir of Love, Grief and Consolation, Alison Light This is a beautifully written account of a relationship with lots of wisdom about life and quotable bits on every page. The author is searingly honest about herself and includes much more of her background than I expected. It's about her marriage to a charismatic … [Read more...] about Reading, April-May 2020
Latest Reading – February 2020
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown, Anne Glenconner. The title says it all really - the shadow of the crown is not a great place to live. She was a Maid of Honour at the Queen's coronation which seems to have been the high point in her life. That and her continuing relationship with the Royals. There are pictures to … [Read more...] about Latest Reading – February 2020
The Ambiguous Ethics and Politics of Simone De Beauvoir
Simone De Beauvoir always said she was not a philosopher which seems strange when she was one of the brightest philosophy students in France in her year and wrote lots of philosophy during her life. She said it because in her view a philosopher was one who had developed an entire philosophical theory - Kant, Hegel etc. She always regarded her … [Read more...] about The Ambiguous Ethics and Politics of Simone De Beauvoir
More Culture in Canberra
We went to the Australian National Portrait Gallery while in Canberra in March. There were two two exhibitions on show. The first was of finalists in the inaugural, 2020 Darling Portrait Prize sponsored by the Australian National Portrait Gallery. The prize is named after L. Gordon Darling, the Founding Patron of the Gallery and the winner receives … [Read more...] about More Culture in Canberra