House of Gucci, a film by Ridley Scott
1 November 2021
Ridley Scott has put together a star studded cast including Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, and Jeremy Irons, for his adaptation of House of Gucci (trailer), based on the 2002 book by Sara Gay Forden. Not that a star studded cast really makes much difference to whether I see a film or not.
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It’s November 2021, that means it’s NaNoWriMo 2021
1 November 2021
It’s November and that means NaNoWriMo is upon us. NaNoWriMo? It’s an acronym for National Novel Writing Month, an annual writing event established by Chris Baty, a freelance writer, in 1999. And if you think you can knock out a mere fifty thousand (50,000) words by the end of the month, you too can take part. As of 2020, over half a million people worldwide were participating in various NaNoWriMo projects.
Originally held in July of 1999, the event later switched to November, a move intended to take people’s minds off the approaching winter, tricky for people south of the equator though gearing up for summer. But heck, summer arrives in December down-under, so why worry? An impressive collection of NaNoWriMo works have gone on to be published, so it’s something worth checking out if you’re an aspiring author.
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A very SETI Halloween
30 October 2021
Happy Halloween for tomorrow. Do you enjoy the prospect of an Alien invasion? Better look the other way at A No-body Problem from SETI then. I’m not sure which is scarier… what happens here, or the chance SETI may find extraterrestrial life. Because, you know, has no one been watching Invasion?
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Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black enhanced by Spotify
30 October 2021
It’s been fifteen years since the release of late English singer Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black album. Holy moly, fifteen years. To mark the occasion Spotify have accorded the defining release the enhanced treatment:
Spotify worked with Winehouse’s label and estate to create a bunch of content for the playlist: video clips but also new ‘canvas’ looping videos, ‘storylines’ lyrics analysis snippets, and video of other artists talking about how they’ve been influenced by Winehouse and the album.
Check it out here on Spotify.
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Passing, a film by Rebecca Hall
29 October 2021
We’re all passing for something, aren’t we? Passing (trailer) is the directorial debut of British actor and filmmaker Rebecca Hall, and is based on the 1929 book of the same name, written by late American author Nella Larsen. Clare (Ruth Negga) and Irene (Tessa Thompson), are old school friends who meet again by chance years after leaving school. While both women are mixed-race, Irene identifies as being African-American, while Clare’s light complexion allows her to “pass” as being white. But their obsessive interest in each other threatens to unravel both their lives.
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Book of the Year Award 2021 shortlist announced
29 October 2021
The shortlist for the Small Press Network 2021 Book of the Year Award (BOTY) was unveiled on Monday, 25 October, 2021. Previously the award was known as the Most Underrated Book of the Year Award, but the name was changed in 2020. The Small Press Network represents small and independent publishers in Australia, and the winner of the 2021 BOTY will be announced in late November. Do check out the work of the shortlisted authors, these are titles I seldom see on Bookstagram.
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Australian writing, literature
Boundless writers festival 2021
29 October 2021
Boundless, a Sydney based festival of Indigenous and culturally diverse writers, is on from today, Friday 29 October until Sunday 31 October. A number of panels and workshops will be presented online, including Should I? Ethical Questions for Screen Storytellers, which touches on the topic of who can tell, and profit, from publishing certain stories. Writers of fiction might also find themselves asking similar questions, in regards to how much they can draw on the lives and experiences of people they know, in their work.
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Loner, by Georgina Young
29 October 2021
It’s a difficult path to walk, the journey to becoming the person we want to be. There’s the frequent self-doubt, and the sometimes futile attempts to appease those around us, who expect our lives to take a direction more in suiting with their preferences. How many of us have been in, or are in, such a place? At least Lona, the twenty year old protagonist of Loner (published by Text Publishing, August 2020), written by Melbourne based Australian author Georgina Young, knows what she doesn’t want.
But then the arts student decides one day a life in the arts isn’t for her. Nor the dead-end jobs she calls work. Lona goes from having some direction, to having almost none. All that seems to fulfil her are books, a part-time gig as a DJ, and photography, an interest that requires her to sneak into her old art school to access the dark room to develop her pictures.
Loner is one of the titles shortlisted in this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, and in addition to her other woes, it seems to me Lona also has to grapple with being an introvert. Choosing to be in her own company, or perish forbid, enjoying being in her own company, is another source of self-doubt for Lona, since some of the people around her probably feel she is lacking as a result. It’s kind of difficult then. Trying to find out who you are, while others are expressing disapproval at what you are.
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The Younger Wife, by Sally Hepworth
28 October 2021
The Younger Wife (published by Pan Macmillan Australia, October 2021) by Melbourne based Australian author Sally Hepworth, has been popping up a lot recently on the Oblong Obsession Instagram feed, and yesterday I finally decided to take a closer look. The title screamed the suggestion older person marries younger person, leading me to think I might be reading about an older person perhaps making a new start in life following a divorce, or the death of their last spouse.
Not quite. And nor could the mid-life crisis label be applied either, despite appearances. Stephen announces his engagement to his adult daughters, Tully and Rachel. But the two women have little regard for his wife to be, Heather. For one thing, she’s practically their age, to say nothing of their suspicion that Heather is a gold digger. But the main point of contention is Pam, their mother, who is neither dead, nor divorced from Stephen.
But Stephen has an answer to that. Pam is afflicted with dementia, and resides in a care facility, and he figures she’ll offer little resistance to a divorce. The idea enrages his daughters, and I’m hazarding a guess things will not end well. But in learning more about Heather, Tully and Rachel discover she indeed has secrets. As does their father. But that is only the beginning. Tully and Rachel, it seems, have a few things to hide themselves. I get the feeling this will not end well for all involved…
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fiction, Sally Hepworth, TBR list, writing
I Am Belmaya, the story of Belmaya Nepali
27 October 2021
Growing up in Nepal, Belmaya Nepali found little support – to put it mildly – for her ambition to become a filmmaker. Her inspiring story of overcoming all manner of obstacles and setbacks, is told in I Am Belmaya (trailer), a feature she co-directed with London based documentary maker Sue Carpenter.
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