We had a bit of a blank stretch through October and November but still managed close to our normal annual tally of 30 movies. And there were a few trips to mainstream cinemas during school holiday periods to keep the granddaughters entertained. Not surprisingly, those films such as Ralph Breaks The Internet, Dumbo and Secret Life Of Pets don’t make this Top Ten list. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: December 2019
The 2019 lists by Vin Maskell
Reading
Death Of A Typographer by Nick Gadd
You like fonts? You like murder mysteries? You like 1970s Dutch prog rock? You’ll love Melbourne writer Nick Gadd’s second novel. ‘Clever, witty and very stylish,’ said The Age. Lots of fun. Continue reading
Some observations on 2019 by Nick Gye
When Scott Walker (above) died just over a year after Mark E Smith it seemed as though the stitches that held the universe together in some short of shape had started to fray. I have written about both of them on this website as it happens.
Best of 19’s crime by David Wish-Wilson
This year has been a good one for crime reading, with some favourite new novels out by Adrian McKinty The Chain, Emma Viskic Darkness for Light, Dave Warner River of Salt, Garry Disher Peace and Jock Serong Preservation. For my Christmas reading, I’m looking forward to cracking into Sticking It to the Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950 to 1980, edited by Andrew Nette & Iain McIntyre, following their earlier pulp collaboration – Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950 to 1980. I’ve got a chapter in the new book, but I know I’m going to love the range, research and comment across the whole thing. Continue reading
Looking in the eyes by Song List Rat
Again it’s the end of the year and you wake from the weight of 12 months of heavy slumber and brush the sleep from your eyes. You look in the mirror and what else can you say but I’m “Edrych yn Llygaid Ceffyl Benthyg”. So sung Cate Le Bon on her first EP. Translated from Welsh it means “Looking in the Eyes of a Borrowed Horse”. Continue reading
Inter-league saved: Ballarat v Bendigo next May by Richard Jones
It’s generally acknowledged that the Christmas festive season brings with it dollops of good cheer and for Bendigo’s representative players that’s certainly the case for late 2019. Continue reading
Can inter-league footy be revived? by Richard Jones
Inter-league football has hit a number of speed humps in the past few weeks with AFL Victoria virtually closing the entire road system off. Will the famous Bendigo Blue and Golds still be able to organise a match, say against old rivals Goulburn Valley or Ballarat? At the time of writing it’s still to be figured out although at least the ‘Don’t Enter’ signs haven’t been finally erected just yet. Continue reading