Utopia is veteran and respected journalist John Pilger’s attempt to tell an extraordinary story, one hidden from the eyes of everyday Australians, of Australia’s first people. Pilger uses words like apartheid and hidden genocide to describe it. And the evidence he presents in this documentary is overwhelmingly convincing. It’s difficult to do justice to thisContinue reading “Film Review – Utopia directed by John Pilger”
Tag Archives: History
Franz Kafka on reading books
A book must be the axe to crack open the frozen sea within us. We need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves. We need books like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide.
Travel: Himeji Castle, Japan
Himeji Castle was the first place in Japan to become a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993, after this there were dozens of others named. It’s actually the largest and arguably most impressive castle in in Japan and has 83 buildings. It takes hours to walk around inside of it, like a medieval Disneyland, it’sContinue reading “Travel: Himeji Castle, Japan”
Ambient album review: The Fifty Eleven Project by Kasper Bjørke Quartet
Just a few weeks shy of his 35th birthday, Kasper Bjørke, a Danish ambient producer, discovered a tumor. The next five years of his life were spent in the clinical surrounds of hospitals and clinics. So he decided to document his feelings into his newest release, The Fifty Eleven Project. It’s deeply moving, fragile ambientContinue reading “Ambient album review: The Fifty Eleven Project by Kasper Bjørke Quartet”
Travel: Tenryu-ji temple and gardens Arashiyama Kyoto
Tenryū-ji is a temple and gardens founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1339. It’s purpose at the time was to venerate Gautama Buddha. It’s considered as one of Kyoto’s so-called Five Mountains. In 1994, it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tenryuji dates from the Muromachi period in Japan’s 14th-16th century. Among its manyContinue reading “Travel: Tenryu-ji temple and gardens Arashiyama Kyoto”
Why I write my blog…why do you write yours?
I’ve been doing this for over five years or longer. Every single week, three times per week, for more than five years. Holy shit it’s a long time. It makes me think, why has there been this longevity? What has kept me doing this all of this time? It’s got to do with me justContinue reading “Why I write my blog…why do you write yours?”
An indepth exploration of the aesthetics of cosiness
There’s a lovely subreddit I recently found called Cosy Places, which calls for people to submit their log cabins, hideaways and cosy loungerooms. This is a veritable treasure trove of different ideas for cosiness. Someone even parsed the photo content in the subreddit and came up with the recipe and criteria that make up aContinue reading “An indepth exploration of the aesthetics of cosiness”
So long, Marianne: Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen
In November 2016, the singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, renowned for his melancholic and romantic ballads, died a few months after the woman who inspired many of his famous songs – his Norwegian lover and muse, Marianne Ihlen. On the summery idyll of Hydra, Greece in 1960, there was a bohemian community of artists and musicians livingContinue reading “So long, Marianne: Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen”
The connection between curiosity and happiness
A lovely blogger friend on here Jonelle recently did an article on where to see the lotus blossoms in Tokyo. She had witnessed a little kid blowing soap bubbles through the stem of a gigantic lotus blossom and decided to do it herself. This is something I would love to do too. Many adults wouldntContinue reading “The connection between curiosity and happiness”
Ambient Album Review #2: ‘The Disintegration Loops’ by William Basinski
American avante-garde composer William Basinski created The Disintegration Loops by a serendipitous and heart-wrenching series of events in his life and in the history of the world. This led to one of the great classics of the ambient and avante-garde genre – a four album opus called The Disintegration Loops. Basinski recorded some loops fromContinue reading “Ambient Album Review #2: ‘The Disintegration Loops’ by William Basinski”
Content Catnip 