Literature
Friday essay: the wonder of Joyce’s Ulysses
Around the world today, fans of James Joyce's Ulysses will celebrate Bloomsday. This experimental novel can be bewildering to read, but for those who persist, it is a 'feast' of a book.
Broadcasting
With the rise of subscription and online TV, we need to rethink local content rules
New ABS figures on film, TV and digital gaming show that subscription broadcasters and online content creators are booming. Yet local content quotas only apply to free-to-air broadcasters.
The classics
Guide to the classics: Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War
As populism reemerges, Thucydides’s insights into the power of words to influence public sentiments remain acutely up-to-date.
Cinema
Will the superhero films ever end? The business of blockbuster movie franchises
The new mummy film is the latest foray into 'shared universes', the seemingly critic-proof movie juggernauts that have come to dominate our cinemas.
Power dressing
Not merely costume: the power and seduction of the Queen’s hats
The hat is an example par excellence of aristocratic excess, the equivalent of a peacock's tail in seducing the Queen's subjects.
Literature
Armpits and melons: an olfactory reading of James Joyce
Smell is the Cinderella of the senses in Anglophone literature, but James Joyce wrote an olfactory revolution. His treatment of the science of smell was astonishingly prescient.
Gender roles
As a peace loving warrior, might Wonder Woman unite feminists?
In a world where public avenues for violence are increasingly open to women, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman presents us with an ethical and feminist model of fighting femininity.
Friday essay
Friday essay: the 90s – why you had to be there
The 1990s was once the forgotten decade of the 20th century but no longer.
Art of the speech
Bob Dylan’s Nobel speech: a splendidly eccentric performance
This extraordinarily odd speech might well be the singer’s most Dylanesque performance.
Pop culture
From man-eaters to Pokémon: the weird world of cactus culture
Killers, cartoons, and even romantic objects, the cactus's ongoing popularity has led it down some strange paths.
Film
Where are the epic women’s coming of age screen stories?
The success of Wonder Woman has demonstrated an appetite for female leads in Hollywood films. So where are the movies that tell truth about young women's lives?
Cultural heritage
Erasing history: why Islamic State is blowing up ancient artefacts
Islamic State has destroyed globally-significant sites in Iraq and Syria, but not as wanton acts of destruction. Instead, they are calculated political and religious attacks.
Archaeology
When it comes to disappearing ocean history, HMAS Perth is the tip of the iceberg
Archaeologists this week found that more than half of of HMAS Perth, a WWII wreck in Indonesia, has disappeared. It's now a race to protect the millions of other wrecks and sunken cities lying under the oceans.
Music
Manchester, ritual emotion and the healing power of song
Mechanisms such as rhythm, shared emotions and the memory of specific events make music a powerful tool for connecting with other people.
Tattoos
Friday essay: power, perils and rites of passage – the history of the female tattoo
For thousands of years, tattoos have been indicative of the passage from girlhood to womanhood, of female power and female beauty.
Grammar
In defence of grammar pedantry
Grammar pedantry recently contributed to the downfall of World Bank chief economist Paul Romer. But 'grammonds' are people to be celebrated not vilified.
History
The truth about the Amazons – the real Wonder Women
Since the epics of the Homeric poets, there have been tales of the mysterious, war-like Amazon women. The myth is likely based on the 'strong, free' women of the nomadic Scythian tribe.
Writing
The best way to support writers is to feed them new ideas
Writers like Frank Moorhouse and Ben Eltham have proposed new long-term fellowships to support writing. But a better way may be more smaller grants, offering opportunities for travel.
Games
Australia’s videogames are inventive, acclaimed and world-class, so where’s the government support?
Australia's videogame industry has called for an end to the government's silence around funding. And with local games competing on the world stage, it's time for the cultural medium to be recognised alongside TV and film.
Peak revival?
It’s happening again … our love affair with TV reboots
Twin Peaks has just hit our streaming services, again, alongside reboots of the X-Files, Gilmore Girls, and more. But, despite our nostalgia, they'll never revive the specific time they were born in.
