Lesley Truffle - Writer

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Sorrentino – The Pope Maker

February 13, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Paolo Sorrentino – The Pope Maker   ‘Face it, I didn’t become famous until I took my clothes off.’ ‘I always wanted to be an actor and not a beauty pageant winner.’                                                                                  Jude Law  Jude Law plays Lenny Belardo, Pope Pious XIII in The Young Pope & The New Pope.   Paolo … [Read more…]

Posted in: Film, Observations, Television series, writers & creatives Tagged: Catholic, Catholicism, Fellini, film, Frederico Fellini, HBO, John Malkovich, Jude Law, La Grande Bellezza, Loro, Malkovich, Paolo Sorrentino, Pope Pious X111, Roma, Roman Catholicism, Romans, Rome, Sorrentino, The Great Beauty, The New Pope, The Vatican, The Young Pope

My Friend Nigel

January 25, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

My Friend Nigel   Nigel was a street cat. I first met him in a French cafe in inner city Melbourne when he strolled out of the kitchen and slipped up onto my lap. He made me laugh. To hell with health regulations, he’d settled in for the evening. Nigel had no interest in the … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Melbourne, Observations Tagged: Cat, Cats, fitzroy melbourne, friends, friendship, fur friends, Melbourne, Nigel, rescue cat

To Nap or Not to Nap

January 9, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  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…]

Posted in: current news, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Charles Dickens, Elon Musk, insomnia, insomnia cures, Kips, Lesley Truffle, Napping, Shakespeare, Sleep, sleep problems, the Bard, William Shakespeare

The Amorous Goldfish

December 19, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  The Amorous Goldfish The first theatre play that I wrote, involved a character named Alphonse. I’d been fortunate in that I’d been offered a mentorship with a professional director. The Australia Council for the Arts also offered me a rehearsed reading in a city theatre with the director, professional actors and an audience. It was … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Melbourne, Psychology, writers & creatives Tagged: Alphonse, Australia Council of the Arts, goldfish, Lesley Truffle, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, Theater event

Everything is F*cked

December 12, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Everything is Fucked   ‘Look, it may be that you came to this book looking for some sort of hope … I am sorry. I don’t have that kind of answer for you. Nobody does.’                                             Mark Manson, Everything is F*cked A Book About Hope   Mark Manson’s first self-published book in 2011 was … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, current news, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Abraham Maslow, America, Elon Musk, Everything is f*cked, Everything is F*cked A Book About Hope, Everything is fucked, Everything is Fucked A Book About Hope, Mark Manson, Maslow, Maslow's Hierachy of Needs, Models Attract Women Through Honesty, Self-help books, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, The subtle art of not giving a fuck, USA

Jack’s Story

November 21, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Jack’s Story Jack Charles – Aboriginal Elder, film and stage actor, potter, indigenous activist and former cat burglar – is a brilliant storyteller. His gift of writing from the heart, provided him with cachet and respect when imprisoned. He would sit down with illiterate inmates, discuss what was required and then pen deeply felt … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Film, Observations, Social Comment, Writers & Readers Events Tagged: Aboriginal Elder, actor, Australia, Australian, biography, First Nations Family, human rights issues, Indigenous activist, Indigenous children, Jack Charles, Jack Charles vs The Crown, Melbourne, screen actor, stage actor, Stolen Children, Stolen Generations

She Purred Like a Tiger

November 7, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

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…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Edwardian Literature, Edwardians, Elinor Glyn, historical, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, Three Weeks, Three Weeks a novel, Tiger skins

Rites of Spring

October 9, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Rites of Spring The advent of spring initiates a whole new wave of city madness. At the very first glimmer of sunshine Melbourne folk tear off their puffa jackets, scarves and beanies and recklessly bare their skin. Melbourne’s denizens believe that first of September tells us that spring has arrived. And that the last few … [Read more…]

Posted in: Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown Tagged: Botticelli, La Primavera, Melbourne, Melbourne Trams, Sandro Botticelli, Spring, trams

Wuthering Heights

September 19, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

   ‘He is more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’ Catherine defining her obsession with Heathcliff. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.   I’ve been sneaking back to the classics on those chilly nights when all you want to do after dinner is curl up with … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Film, Psychology, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Branwell Bronte, Catherine Earnshaw, Cathy and Heathcliff, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Brontë, Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights

Devils of Tasmania

September 12, 2019 by Lesley Truffle
"Taz!"by Justy.C is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Devils of Tasmania The Tasmanian Devil knows how to rub its enemies up the wrong way. When confronted by transgressors, devils have been observed to yawn. A big wide yawn exposing all its sharp teeth and strong muscular jaws. They’re strictly carnivorous and go for snakes, birds, fish, insects and carrion. Tasmania is the only … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Historical, Wilderness Areas Tagged: Australia World Heritage, Australian animals, Carnivorous marsupials, Devil Facial Tumour, Devils, Endangered species, Marsupials, nose to tail eating, Tasmania, Tasmanian animals, Tasmanian Devils, World Heritage

Wicked Women

August 16, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

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…]

Posted in: Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, Cesare Borgia, Cleopatra, femme fatale, Italian History, Italy, Lucrece Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, Pope Alexander V1, The Borgias, Victor Hugo

The Leopard

August 8, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  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…]

Posted in: books, Film, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Alain Delon, Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, films, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Ill Gattopardo, Italian Literature, Italy, Lampedusa, Luchino Visconti, mid twentieth century literature, movies, Sicily, The Leopard, Viconte

Is Big Better

July 20, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Is Big Better? Recently I visited the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to loiter in the 19th Century European collection. There are many luscious paintings – including some massive heroic oil paintings – and a few sculptures of the era. Sitting plum in the middle of these works was a massive, glittering, stainless steel … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: 19th Century art, Art, art gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Balloon Dog, Big Is Better, Captain James Cook, Cook, Ilona Staller, James Cook, Jeff Koons, La Cicciolina, Michael Parekowhai, New Zealand artist, Parekowhai

The Elixir of Youth

July 14, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

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…]

Posted in: Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Beauty, Beauty Myth, Casanova, Chanel, Coco Chanel, elixir of youth, Giacomo Casanova, Good Queen Bess, Iris Apfel, plastic surgery, Queen Elizabeth 1, Virgin Queen

Ma Kelly’s Boy

June 15, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

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…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, writers & creatives Tagged: Charles Nettleton, Edward 'Ned' Kelly, Ellen Quinn, Grantlee Kieza, Ireland, Irish Catholics, Kelly, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, Melbourne Goal, Mrs Ellen Kelly, Mrs Kelly, Ned Kelly, outlaw

The Man in the Moon

June 12, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  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…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, books, Film, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: A Trip to the Moon, American astronaut, astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, Coleridge, Edwin Aldrin, film, French film, French filmaker, Georges Méliès, Le Voyage Dans La Lune, Lesley Truffle, Méliès, moon landing, movies, NASA, Neil Armstrong, The First Men on the Moon., The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Peel Me a Grape

March 24, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

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…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Fashion, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Golden Era Movies, Hollywood, Lesley Truffle, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Mary Jane West, Peel Me a Grape, Salvador Dali

On Being Fabulous

February 20, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

    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…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, books, Fashion, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, Writers & Readers Events Tagged: Dr Madison Moore, Fabulous The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric, Fabulousness, Madison Moore, Prince

We all dress for Bill

January 24, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

We all dress for Bill   I never met the New York Times photographer William J. Cunningham but he was definitely one of my most favourite people. Wearing his trademark blue French workman’s jacket, Bill Cunningham peddled around New York on his bicycle, taking photographs of street fashion for his On the Street column. Bill’s … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Fashion, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown, writers & creatives Tagged: Bill Cunningham, Evening Hours, Fashion Climbing, hat designer, mid-century, New York, New York Life, New York Times, On the Street, photography, street fashion, street photography, William J

Vive la France

November 24, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  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…]

Posted in: Film, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations Tagged: Audrey Hepburn, Billy Wilder, Cinema du look, Diva, France, Frank Sinatra, French film, French films, Humphrey Bogart, I love Paris, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Lesley Truffle, Paris, Sabrina

Screaming Quietly

November 23, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

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…]

Posted in: Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Byron, high density living, Lord Byron, Lord George Byron, neighbours, noise

We are amused

October 13, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  We Are Amused   What is it that strikes a spark of humor from a man? It is the effort to throw off, to fight back the burden of grief that is laid on each one of us.                                                                                                                                                      … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Gustave H, Humor, Humour, Jim Carrey, Kidding, Lesley Truffle, Mark Twain, Monsieur Gustave H, Psychology, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson

Mirka’s Story

September 28, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  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…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, books, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Auschwitz, Carrillo Gantner, Georges Mora, Lesley Truffle, Marcel Marceau, Melbourne, Mirka Mora, Monsieur Mayonnaise, Nazis, Philippe Mora, Wicked but Virtuous

Home Sweet Home

September 10, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  Home Sweet Home   One of the questions I’ve often been asked is – how autobiographical is The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte? Given that Sasha Torte is sabotaged by abusive and neglectful parenting, escalating depression and a later addiction to opium, laudanum, champagne, piratical men and hard liquor, the question becomes loaded and … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, Television series, writers & creatives Tagged: At Last, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dr Drew Pinsky, Drew Pinskey, Edward St Aubyn, Lesley Truffle, Patrick Melrose, The Melrose Family, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte

A Room of One’s Own and other Catastrophes

August 26, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  In a recent interview journalist and former editor, Michael Gawenda, said of his son Husky Gawenda, ‘He can spend a lot of time by himself in his room. If you’re going to be a writer you have to be lonely in some way.’ (from ‘The Two of Us’. The AGE Good Weekend, 11August  2018). … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Psychology, writers & creatives Tagged: Emily Brontë, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Meyers, Lesley Truffle, Michael Gawenda, Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf, Wuthering Heights
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