Compliant me, defiant me I have a friend who used to call me “Alternative Ann” back when we were in high school. I’m actually not sure why, because I’ve always seen myself as a compliant, wallflower sorta gal. Yet I’ve become aware over the last year or so that I actually possess a (frustrating and often ridiculous) contrary streak. I hate hype, celebrities and the … Continue reading Whatever happened to Alternative Ann?
I know everybody is saying Good riddance! to 2020 but for all the chaos, I like to think last year contained more than mere silver linings. I like to think it helped us become better people, somehow. And so even as I look back, I’m celebrating and sharing five new “coronarhythms” that 2020 gave me. Coronarhythm 1: Mornings with ABC Classic FM The 7am news … Continue reading Coronarhythms
Do what gives you life. That’s what some of my expat friends used to say, with tongue in cheek, when one of us announced we were going for a coffee, or staying in for the night, or some other kind of simple indulgence. I thought it must be one of those kooky lines Americans drop, but it’s a phrase that’s stuck with me. Do what … Continue reading Do what gives you life
One my favourite simple pleasures in life is rediscovering songs from the 90s – and in particular, the one-hit wonders. My most recent nostalgia hit is Pinch Me by the Barenaked Ladies. Remember them? Yeah!
Ten years ago to the day, I posted this brief status update to Facebook (in the third person – I guess that’s how we did it back in the olden days).
Intriguing! So … what was my youth all about again? Continue reading Pinch yourself and hit send
If you’re anything like me, you’ll occasionally stumble into extended conversation with a random. It doesn’t happen quite as often as I’d like, but last week was one such instance. I was checking out a guitar I’d found advertised on Gumtree. The seller and I talked at length about his many guitars. And his guitar collecting habit. So when he asked me about my own guitar history, … Continue reading Reclaiming convenience
Article 72 of the Third Geneva Convention (on the rights of Prisoners of War) specifies that POWs must be allowed musical instruments. The reason? So that they can “pursue their studies or their cultural activities.” Given that law – particularly international law – can be notoriously technical, simultaneously wordy and empty, this little detail reminds me that law can also be beautifully simple and human. Quite aside from its normative and … Continue reading Law, Music and other big nouns
I once went on a date where I was asked to read some poetry aloud. It was one of the most awkward things I’ve ever had to do.
Reading out somebody else’s poetry was intimate in all the wrong ways.
Continue reading First date poetry and other awkwardness
The Eurovision you know and love.
The song was perfect. The dress was perfect. The hype was perfect.
Okay, so in hindsight we were never going to win the thing. But for a long moment there they really made us believe it was possible.
And the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 is … a Korean-born Australian? One who would have celebrated not with champagne but with a glass of lemonade?
It was too good to be true. For all the logic that Eurovision famously doesn’t follow, this perhaps would not have been in the spirit of Europe – not the Europe of the twenty-first century … Continue reading The Eurovision you know and love
Lights. Camera(s). Action. Coloured light sweeps the stage, the drum kicks into gear, the first guitar lick penetrates the already electric atmosphere in the auditorium. I’ve walked into a pop rock concert, right down to the cheering, the mosh, the stage backdrop, and – later – fans taking selfies with singer Taya Smith. It’s a show, a very impressive one, smoothly executed from start to finish. So this is … Continue reading Hillsong: Behind the hype
Yesterday I was reminded that my hometown is a beautiful place. We (I) mock and moan, but when you stand at a place like the summit of Mount Coree, out past the Cotter, complaining about Canberra makes you feel like a spoilt child or even a downright ungrateful one. I got up a little after 6am and though we didn’t start the climb itself until around … Continue reading Highlights from home
