Cleopatra’s Erotic Vagrancy Cleopatra V11 – born around 69 BC – was an object of fascination and gossip even in her own time. She was a child goddess who was married off to her brother and became Egypt’s queen at eighteen. After many poisonings, killings, plot twists and turns, Cleopatra went on to … [Read more…]
Romancing the Mushroom pine mushrooms live a thousand years in one autumn Den Sutejo 1633-1698 (translated by Makoto Ueda) Autumn in Melbourne is a fine time to take a trip to the Prahran Market and visit the wild mushroom man, Damien Pike. For many years he’s been sourcing and selling mushrooms. Much … [Read more…]
My Favourite Horror Child Eloise and I go way back. At about seven I discovered six-year-old Eloise. She was parent-free, running amuck in the Plaza New York with her nanny, a pug and a turtle. I didn’t find it strange that Eloise exercised with champagne bottles, as my sister and I had hidden … [Read more…]
25 Cats named Sam and One Blue Pussy The reason I hate regular underwear – and socks, too – is that if you send twenty pairs of shorts and twenty pairs of socks to the laundromat, you always only get nineteen back. Even when I wash them myself, I get nineteen back. The more I think about … [Read more…]
This Charming Man ‘If people turn to look at you in the street, you are not well dressed, but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable.’ Beau Brummell (George Bryan Brummell 1778-1840) 2020 is a year where fashion was sidelined. As the pandemic seized control of the globe, fashion was … [Read more…]
Book Dreaming I’ve often been asked – what are the books that meant a lot to me growing up. This is a difficult question because there are so many books I love. And I often revisit books, usually classics, I already know are going to transport me. In winter there’s pleasure to be had in … [Read more…]
Freud’s Cigar ‘Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.’ Dr Sigmund Freud 1856 -1939. In my novel The Scandalous Life Of Sasha Torte, Sasha is introduced to the famous Austrian neurologist Dr Sigmund Freud, at The Sperl Café in Vienna. Sasha Torte – world famous Tasmanian pastry chef – is very taken with … [Read more…]
The Problem With Henry ‘I swear again, I would not be a queen For all the world.’ Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Eighth. King Henry VIII has been receiving bad press for centuries. Shakespeare, along with later writers and playwrights, got in … [Read more…]
Dorian Gray’s Devilish Desires ‘The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.’ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde In Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray the characters throw themselves around dramatically and rarely ever sit quietly. They fling themselves at the furniture with … [Read more…]
I Want That Cake ‘Let there be no shame on me tonight!’ Prince Wenzel von Metternich 1832 The narrator of my novel, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, was named in honour of a famous cake. Sasha Torte is a world-class Tasmanian pastry chef and she establishes her magnificent cake emporium in Wolfftown, a fictional … [Read more…]
To Proust or not to Proust ‘One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory’. Rita Mae Brown Memories get a bad wrap from quite a lot of folk, including Rita Mae Brown. Yet so many song lyrics dwell on memories. Love songs frequently combine memories with intense regret, and in turn … [Read more…]
To Nap or Not to Nap Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast.’ William Shakespeare Shakespeare knew a lot about sleep, especially insomnia. I suspect he was … [Read more…]
She Purred Like a Tiger In 1903 Mrs Elinor Glyn published, Three Weeks. These days the novel is considered a bizarre but fairly tame read, but back then it was the Edwardians version of Fifty Shades of Grey and sold about 2 million copies. In the opening pages of my novel, The Scandalous Life of … [Read more…]
Wicked Women Famous historical figures are frequently sensationalized to provide fodder for films, plays, operas and books. Facts are wilfully ignored because wickedness, orgies, incest, violence, psychological abuse and criminal activity will always find an audience. Cleopatra was frequently represented as an objectified woman. Everyone from Cicero to Shakespeare used her to their own … [Read more…]
THE LEOPARD One of the most astonishing things about the novel, The Leopard is that it was initially rejected by major publishing houses. Yet when it was finally published in 1958, it was acknowledged to be a masterpiece. Unfortunately by this time the author, Giuseppe di Lampedusa had died at the age of sixty … [Read more…]
The Elixir of Youth ‘Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve’. French fashion designer Coco Chanel Many of us believe that in today’s era of Botox and extreme cosmetic surgery, Chanel’s statement no longer applies. A scan of Hollywood’s red carpet affairs, … [Read more…]
Ma Kelly’s Boy ‘Don’t be frightened. Nothing will happen to you. I have a mother of my own.’ Ned Kelly to Anne Calvert while robbing the National Bank at Euroa. On November 11 1880, Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly was hanged for murder at Melbourne Goal. A reporter at the time claimed that Mrs … [Read more…]
The Man in the Moon Half a century ago Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin walked on the moon. On July 20 2019 their moon landing of July 1969 will be celebrated worldwide. Given that there’s no atmosphere on the moon, it’s possible that Armstrong and Aldrin’s footsteps may still visible on the moon’s … [Read more…]
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ‘Kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond bracelet lasts forever.’ Lorelei Lee from Anita Loos novella, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. One of my favourite books is a hardcover 1926 tenth edition of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. So popular was Anita Loos’ novella that it ran to … [Read more…]
Easy Rider ‘You watch the white line and try to lean with it . . . howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds … [Read more…]
Peel Me a Grape Hollywood legend Mae West liked her men distinctly masculine. Her taste veered towards wrestlers, boxers, prize fighters, gangsters and musclemen. At 61 she took up with Mr California, Paul Novak, who was thirty years younger. He was one of the musclemen in her stage show at the time and he remained … [Read more…]
On Being Fabulous Two nights ago I attended Madison Moore’s performative presentation at the National Art Gallery, Melbourne. Madison began his lecture dressed casually in gym gear but while talking about his influences growing up and how it felt to be marginalised, he slowly began a transformation. Madison began by cutting and … [Read more…]
Vive la France! I’m thinking of taking a trip to Europe next year and Paris is already on the itinerary. I’ve been there a few times but too much Paris is never enough. Cole Porter wrote the lyrics to I Love Paris and just about everyone recorded it. Frank Sinatra sang it for decades, … [Read more…]
Screaming Quietly The place is very well and quiet and the children only scream in a low voice. Lord Byron 1813 The poet Lord George Byron was a rake and a hellraiser who also happened to enjoy his own company and the solace of silence. Apparently he wrote much … [Read more…]
Mirka Mora 1928-2018 ‘Every time you show your work, you really show your soul.’ Mirka I never met Mirka Mora, but she became one of my most favourite people. I only know Mirka through her paintings and her wonderful autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous; My Life. Whenever I stop to look at Mirka’s murals – they … [Read more…]