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
What’s in the WAFL 2019
Ben Sokol.
We’ve thrown up a few names under the What’s in the WAFL headline over the past few years… Tim Kelly, Marlion Pickett, Nathan Broad, Liam Ryan, Liam Baker, Sydney Stack, Aaron Naughton, Sam Taylor, Shai Bolton, Marcus Adams, Matthew Parker, Bailey Banfield… there are some AFL premiership players there. Continue reading
One Lions’ roar too many
Six days before the AFL grand final thrashing there was another lop-sided decider. The scoreline was similar and the margin greater in the WAFL grand final. Like the vanquished Giants, the WAFL runners-up South Fremantle managed just three goals for the game and were out of the contest before half time. Continue reading
All bets are off
The horses were gathered behind the barrier. The big moment was approaching and they’d soon be on their way in the 2018 Melbourne Cup. I was on the Irish horse The Cliffsofmoher for two reasons – I’d visited the real Cliffs of Moher in 2017 and the horse had run a good race in the Caulfield Cup. Continue reading
An intriguing class-war black comedy by Richard Jones
A look at Parasite (MA 15+)
We’ve seen a few South Korean epics lately and this one from director Bong Joon-Ho rates as one of the very best. Continue reading
The AFL club champions 2019 (with notes)
The scoreboard at Northampton hometown of Carlton club champion Patrick Cripps. Photo by Les Everett
Most 2019 club champions didn’t make the All-Australian team – probably happens every year – this and other fascinating observations in Notes below… (corrections welcome). Continue reading
australianrules.com.au 