Category: Opinions
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All The Religion I’ll Ever Need
I’m wasting yet another Monday night Instead of doing the housework or nursing the baby, I’m in a baptism class. If I had my choice, I would be in neither place. I’m not that welcome at home. I already know what’s being taught here. I’m the Catholic in the family, I received the religious education. First at…
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Just Grandma and Me: A Reminiscence
Perhaps I should have bought the game and computer too! It began with Nicole Matejic. She was reminiscing about her old Apple personal computer experiences. In passing she mentioned the children’s game Just Grandma and Me (based on a popular children’s book). And the next thing I remember is my daughter perched on a stool…
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Movie Review : Love and Friendship
Midway through watching this movie, I came to two realisations (and then some more). The first was had the purists been present they would have glared me down to stop me from laughing. For Jane Austen isn’t universally acknowledged as the provider of a wholesome laugh. While I do acknowledge there are many sophisticated, clever…
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Hunt for The Wilder People : Movie Review
It’s 6 o’clock Saturday 11th June 2016. I’ve exited the Event Cinemas in George Street Sydney. I’m sitting on a step scribbling furiously as people pass me by, lights and shadows draping me briefly. I’m too immersed in what I’m doing to notice much else. I’ve just seen Hunt For The Wilder People, the New…
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More Than A Kiss From Mr Fitzgerald
As a recent and still temporary resident of Sydney, I wanted to meet other writers. And of course to pick up some writing tips from a real-life author. Naturally, the best place and time to do both is a book launch. So there am I, on a pre-east coast low cold and rainy Wednesday (31st May 2016) at…
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Black Hole Blues (and other songs from outer space)
With a title like that, I thought I was attending a musical event right in the middle of the Sydney Writer’s Festival. Black Hole Blues is music, but not as we know it Jim. I arrived and there was Adam Spencer, interviewing a woman I’d never seen before with an inter galactic background. Janna Levin,…
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The Man Who Knew Infinity
I should have known about Srinivasa_Ramanujan, the subject of the Man Who Knew Infinity. It is the story of an unknown genius who turned mathematics inside out. But even my mere degree (a statistics major) is not required to appreciate this film. It is Ramanujan’s story that is utterly compelling. An unlearned man, he teaches himself mathematics and then…
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The Daughter – Movie Review
The Australian movie The Daughter is like a wedding present, something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Based on Henrik Ibsen’s play, The Wild Duck, it tells a story both familiar and unfamiliar through a cast of well known actors including Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Miranda Otto and Anna Torv followed by Paul Schneider…
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Don’t Blame the Media
I arrived at work last Saturday. In the corridors, I heard the cleaners talking about the Paris attacks. I went into the tea room and the TV was showing a rolling coverage. I stopped and watched but as time was short I left. After I finished my training session, I checked the latest news. I…
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National Insecurity, the Internet and Data Retention
UK and Australia have introduced internet monitoring and data retention laws. Canada too is introducing a similar bill. France as well. The UK has had the High Court throw them out. But the Conservative Government is fighting back. Europe is also throwing out such laws. The USA is trying to postpone its response to the controversy over the…
Andrew James Whalan 