Swinging News
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…about Strawberries with Everything
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Strawberries with Everything was launched last October in the Trades Hall, Melbourne. Peter Love was MC and Rod Quantock did the formal bit. Guests were fed on strawberries and cream and Polish doughnuts. The whole thing was recorded on video. Profound apologies for the quality of the sound, which is not quite a hundred percent. To view the launch, press the start button in the player below. For non-Australian visitors, translations from the Oz can be had by dropping us an email. You can also view the videos on YouTube.
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…about Bali Sugar
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Jo Maree Coghlan, University of Wollongong, NSW (email)
I am a lecturer and postgrad at the University of Wollongong. I am currently finishing a PhD on Megawati and was interested in your book. It seems to have been written with a lot of first hand knowledge and I was wondering how you would feel about a) a formal interview for my research that might include publication in either the thesis or any book I can get out of it, of b) a chat with a Bali/Indo addict.
I am particularaly interested in the way that you/we see/saw Megawati as a social democrat, how she was represented in the western media and how Indonesians understood her, whether as a Sukarno or as a nationalist? Much of my work has been about understanding Mega in relation to her father...In relation to the western media, I have done a two year study of the Australian, British and American press to argue that they legitimised Mega as a pro-capital democrat and accepted her nationalism as an anti-balkanisation position that was good for foreign (US) capital.
...Should you feel this all a bit much, thanks for the book, it made me laugh out loud, and nothing since Douglas Adams has made me do that.
8 August 2005
...about McQuail
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June Factor, author Cinderella Dressed in Yella (email)
...finally got round to reading "McQuail". Not sure what Phillip [Adams] meant by the comparison with Vonnegut (your book isn't full of blood and guts!), but I enjoyed it, especially the authorial comments, the chapter headings, the lively and convincing depiction of boyhood and the affectionate but unblinking observation of your only faintly imaginary Trots group. Not bad for a first novel! Look forward to the next!
23 October 2003
John Scheffer MP, Monash Province, Vic. (email)
I read "McQuail" and want you to know I really did enjoy myself - chuckling away in bed, reading bits out loud to Angela. You said to feel free to write up a review. Easily said, but no time I'm afraid.
... Episodes take entirely unexpected directions into impossible, absurd worlds. Reminiscent of Rushdie? The writing is very Australian - economical and funny. Understated - matter of fact. Characterisation is great. I got to care about McQuail - high praise. He's amoral and yet moral, sexist with a great sense of equality and humanity, prepared to go for the personal advantage but not an exploiter. The women characters are strong and well individualised.
Also, "McQuail" in its 'rollicking ramble' takes on the contemporary politico-social world. And what is more unpredictable and audacious than contemporary world events? Reality outstrips fiction. Who would have thought, when we were in our 20s and 30s, that religion would have disregarded the Marxist injuction to wither away along with the state? Quinarianism is hilarious - as hilarious as so called real religions...The Jewish theme is a very cheeky lampoon.
And who would have thought that the socialist secularists such as me would end up defending the right of women to wear the hijab? Crazy world. And it's all in "McQuail", including the great nexus of sport and religion. I also enjoyed the parody of Blue Collar International and so much more.
Congratulations Steve - a good read.
30 September 2003
- GENTLE ACTIVIST STOOD FOR PRINCIPLES -