Arts
Future is not what it used to be
AS A baby boomer, I must say I'm terribly disappointed with modern science and technology. I mean, where's my robot? Apparently Leonardo da Vinci invented the first robot in 1495.
Spare me harsh realities, slay that dragon and let the movies cast a spell
Clem Bastow When economic times are tough, fantasy and cinema come to the rescue, again.
Roddy Meagher, the man who dared to be different
Paul Sheehan In this age of individualism, when everyone can turn their personalities into public personas via the internet, we are discovering that genuine eccentricity is rare.
Australia you are not a good friend
Martyn Awayang Namorong I'M on my first visit to Australia right now - and what an introduction to your country. A two-week run of four major cities where I'm meeting politicians, journalists and ordinary Australians.
The need has gone out of the needle arts
Matt Wade Economic change has shifted the wifely arts from a mainstream household practice to a subculture.
Arts cuts will reward only the unthinking
Kate Middleton In 2009, my first book won the West Australian Premier's Award for Poetry. The book, which took shape over the course of eight years, was eligible for an advance of just $500 from my publisher.
Rarely has a renaissance hurt the arts so much
Elizabeth Farrelly If, as they say, we are but the sum of our prejudices, then having them subtracted, or extracted, should be painfully reductive.
As a mirror to our culture, ABC is not sitting on its arts
Mark Scott ABC historian Ken Inglis recalls wartime prime minister John Curtin's opinion of a light entertainment program that imagined listeners were at a party.
ABC's coverage of the arts must keep pace with the times
Mark Scott The end of one TV program should not be misinterpreted.
The arts will guide us through the 21st century with style and flair
Lyndon Terracini Music, dance and theatre will adapt to the changing times to reflect the new patchwork culture.
Absurd game of pass the buck while arts college flounders
Gabriella Coslovich The VCAM has produced some of our finest - it deserves better than this.
Hey Mr Garrett! Time to get off our arts and do nothing
Chris Berg Australia needs a national cultural policy like a fish needs a bicycle.
Music, the most abstract of the arts, is mathematics on the move
David Malouf We live in an age when disembodied music is all around us as if it were a quality of the air itself: in lifts, in supermarkets, coffee shops, shoe shops, restaurants, in snatches as we wait at the...
The arts are far more than just another industry
Cate Blanchett Australia has been enriched, challenged and changed by taking a stronger and more complex place on the world stage, rather than just selling ourselves as a great beach resort populated by smiling...
Everyone a winner with an arts lottery
Andrew Frost When it was announced recently that a young artist named Tom Polo had won the inaugural 2009 B.E.S.T.
The Indian obsession with fairer skin sinks to a new low
Amrit Dhillon A new vagina lightening cream is helping peddle self-hatred to women.
Music not to ears of everyone
BACKGROUND music in cafes, restaurants and clothing stores has been around ever since Major-General George O. Squier patented the idea back in the 1920s.
Policy on drugs endangers youth
Vivienne Moxham-Hall When you get to high school, you are taught that drugs are ''bad''. The teachers show you pictures and tell you the horror stories about drugs, but at that age, you can never really believe that...
New body needed to fill cracks of corruption
George Williams The debate over allegations of misbehaviour by our federal politicians has an important subtext. Does Australia have the right laws and institutions in place to deal with accusations of corruption,...
Indonesia's moral police a threat to democracy
Michael Bachelard When I wrote in March about the Indonesian religious affairs minister wanting to ban mini-skirts because he believed them ''pornographic,'' one comment on the Fairfax website stood out.
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