Elements of Style – the opera

Now I have to admit to not being a big fan of opera. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it and would have no trouble sitting through one but it’s just not something that features on my radar at the moment. But then I heard about Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, an operatic song [...]

Shout out

Just a shout out for one of my comrades from the Psephite days: comicstriphero has FINALLY got her own blog. And she rocks. Whoops, I just exposed her gender.

Killing wonder

This wonderful post sums up exactly why I quit my honours year (well, that’s what I tell everyone anyway).
I was schooled in wonder when I began reading as a little boy. The first book I ever read on my own was the second half of Charlotte’s Web, because my father wanted to take a break [...]

Of COURSE I’ve read it

Via Bookslut, apparently in the UK they’re buying books according to what will make them look smart. (A quick glance at the SMH top 10 as listed in last Saturday’s paper reveals that this doesn’t seem to be the case in Australia – Guiness Book of Records 2006 anyone?)
Of course, I would NEVER do anything [...]

Unintelligent design

I don’t know where to start with this one:
In the battles over evolution, it’s usually the critics of evolution who are accused of crossing church/state lines.
But last week, some of those critics filed suit in federal court against the University of California at Berkeley, charging that its views on evolution are leading it to violate [...]

Stanhope scoop

So this is not a book post but let’s face it, I’m a frustrated politico blogger: Little Johnny is absolutely furious that the ACT Chief Minister has seen fit to publish the draft anti-terrorism laws on his website.
There are a number of things that excite me about this:

For once an Australian politician has taken the [...]

Banville wins Booker

I’m at work so I have to make this short, John Banville has won the Booker for The Sea. And this time he wasn’t drunk.

God knows it’s all relative

The hottest news for me this week has not been the fact that Tom Cruise can apparently breed, but the news that the Catholic Church has come over all po-mo. The Times reports that the Church cautions against taking the bible literally and even admits that some parts of it are not actually true. Apparently
the [...]