Lesley Truffle - Writer

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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

The Bees Knees

July 15, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  If you’ve ever been stung by a bee you probably got the impression that bees are quite hardy creatures.  I accidentally trod on an unsuspecting bee, in bare feet, when I was a kid and his sting was excruciatingly painful. The adults in charge couldn’t seem to decide how best to handle the situation. … [Read more…]

Posted in: Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown Tagged: bees, Bonaparte, cocktails, golden bees, honey, Lesley Truffle, Mayfair Hotel, Napoleon Bonaparte, The Urban Beehive, VIcky Brown

The Mad Boy

April 20, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  Lord Gerald Berners was a talented musician and painter. He also wrote for the stage and his impressionistic paintings continue to sell well today (that’s Gerald in the photograph above). He converted Faringdon House, in Oxfordshire England, into a luxurious country mansion that soon had England’s fashion set vying for a weekend invitation. Exquisite … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, art/theatre event, books, Mavericks & Renegades Tagged: Cecil Beaton, Gerald Berners, Lesley Truffle, Lord Berners, Robert Heber Percy, Sofka Zinovieff

The Dangers of Fancy Cooking

February 22, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  When I was a child I couldn’t understand why a large part of the world lacked essential food and clean water – and were frequently starving – while the rest of the world were either dieting like fiends or noshing on exotic food stuffs in fancy expensive restaurants. Not much has changed. I find … [Read more…]

Posted in: cakes and cooking, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: AA Gill, Anthony Bourdain, Celebrity Chefs, Cuisine, Food, Lesley Truffle, Richard Cornish

The Perils of Television

February 9, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  I no longer own a television. I only ever used my TV to watch DVD movies and most of the time I preferred watching movies at the cinema. I love the occasion of going out to the cinema with friends and being part of an audience. I sold my television some time back when … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: David Attenborough, Farenheit 451, Lesley Truffle, Ray Bradbury, reality television, Television, TV

Murder on the Orient Express

November 16, 2017 by Lesley Truffle

  I made a discovery the other day – new born babies don’t enjoy going to the movies. I’d dropped by my local cinema to catch Kenneth Branagh’s, Murder on the Orient Express and didn’t realize that I was attending a ‘Babes in Arms’ movie session. It finally dawned on me – when I stumbled … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Observations, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot, Kenneth Branagh, Lesley Truffle, Murder on the Orient Express, Poirot

Loving Vincent

November 8, 2017 by Lesley Truffle

  When Vincent van Gogh committed suicide in July 1890, aged 37, he’d only been painting for about a decade. He was immensely productive, despite suffering acute nervous attacks and paralysing depression. Vincent willingly spent money on art materials but he ate poorly and had lost most of his teeth by the time he was … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Observations, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: animated film, Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Lesley Truffle, Loving Vincent, painted film, Starry Night, Van Gogh, Vincent Van Gogh

Urban Cowboys

September 15, 2017 by Lesley Truffle

  Melbourne’s Deakin Edge is a strange venue. The whole construction slopes precariously down to the hardwood stage area. Vertigo was apparent on the faces of those pioneering their way down to the front rows during the 2017 Melbourne Writers Festival. Rock icon, Tex Perkins (born Gregory Stephen Perkins), was onstage being interviewed by radio … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown, writers & creatives, Writers & Readers Events Tagged: Elizabeth McCarthy, Gin-ger Sea cocktail, Gregory Stephen Perkins, JimB's studio, Lava Lounge, lesleytruffle, Melbourne, Sergio Leone, TEX, Tex Perkins, The Deakin Edge, Thoreau, Urban Cowboys
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