G20 Brisbane Australia - Environment and Climate Change

The efforts of the Australian Government not to have climate change included as part of the G20 Brisbane meeting agenda or discussed in any prominent manner were ultimately futile.

The G20 Leaders Communique included at item 19, the following statement -

"We support strong and effective action to address climate change. Consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its agreed outcomes, our actions will support  sustainable development, economic growth, and certainty for business and investment. We will work together to adopt successfully a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the UNFCCC that is applicable to all parties at the 21^st  Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in 2015. We encourage parties that are ready to communicate their intended nationally determined contributions well in advance of COP21 (by the first quarter of 2015 for those parties ready to do so). We reaffirm our support for mobilising finance for adaptation and mitigation,such as the Green Climate Fund".

Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Season - Theatre Review - Switzerland

L to R Eamon Farren and Sarah Peirse - Switzerland

In association with the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, STC have included the premiere of a one act, two actor play 'Switzerland" in their 2014 season. Written by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith as a commissioned work for Geffen, the play explores the fictional last days of the master crime writing novelist, Patricia Highsmith, as she spends her final hours at her home in Switzerland confronted by a mysterious protagonist claiming to be an agent for her publisher. Highsmith had enjoyed considerable success with her books, short stories and cinematic adaptations including the series with the character Tom Ripley (the best known title being The Talented Mr Ripley) but she was renowned for her macabre sense of humour, a fascination for psychological disorders and being in some respects just plain mean.

Murray-Smith has provided a superb script, building an original thriller with a disarming simplicity in the first few scenes but escalating the action with calculated contests of words and wits between the two protagonists to a final conclusion - worthy of the intellect and reputation of Highsmith herself. Sarah Peirse expertly portrays Patricia Highsmith in form and character while Eamon Farren deftly moves from being the mysterious visitor to later revealing he is actually her principal fictional character. Although American, Highsmith spent most of her life in Europe and considered Switzerland as her home, dying from cancer in 1995. Her literary archives are held in Bern.
 

Measuring the Impact of Climate Change - Australia's coastal communities

Academics and researchers from the University of Tasmania have provided a valuable online tool and resource for measuring the potential impact of climate change on coastal communities in Australia. The Coastal Climate Blueprint website brings together a range of information and factors (ocean temperature, marine hotspots, infrastructure) to provide a score for coastal towns vulnerable to climate change. The website also has a function to create  a tailor-made blueprint for local coastal towns comparing data from the local region with state and national averages.

The website can be reached through the hyperlink below:
Coastal Climate Blueprint

Pop to Popism - Art Gallery of NSW - Exhibition Review

The major Summer exhibition for the Art Gallery of NSW, Pop to Popism opened on the evening of Friday 31 October with the usual fanfare of copious amounts of alcohol, sporadic tray food and extensive crowd watching opportunities. The juxtaposition of Halloween parties occuring across the city and nearby added to the overall atmosphere of being at the Mad Hatters Tea Party  (with just as interesting an odd assortment of guests). Some of the fashion on display would have as readily been in place on the walls as on the floor.

The 73 artists represented in the exhibition are from a variety of different periods of time of the Pop period some very recent and many, not so. Predominantly the exhibition consists of colourful mounted wall works rather than sculptures, objects or other film/video installations which are often part of the 'Pop' genre or the wider Post-Modern period. The focus on consumerism as the central observation and social materialism is nonetheless well encompassed in the works. Past giants of this art form such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter have measureable inclusions in the works selected with Gilbert & George, Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler and Jeff Koons adding a more contemporary influence. The sizeable Australian contingent include the works of Brett Whiteley, Jenny Watson, Imants Tillers, Garry Shead, Martin Sharp, Gareth Sansom, Colin Lanceley and Vivienne Binns. The exhibition is an in-house one staged by the AGNSW rather than a touring collection and to that extent the historical survey of pop art is limited. It is a pleasant experience but not one which will startle the viewer.

Sculpture By the Sea 2014 - Sydney

We're Frying Out Here by Andrew Hankin

Sculpture By the Sea has returned for its' 18th year to the 2 km coastal walk from Tamarama Beach to Bondi with 109 exhibiting artists represented, 33 of whom are international. Since this free exhibition was created in 1997 by David Handley, it has gone from strength to strength drawing significant crowds during the two weeks of viewing. The international contingent this year are drawn from Japan, New Zealand, China, Sweden, South Korea, Argentina, Czech Republic,Denmark, United Kingdom, Finland, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United States. The exhibition has become so successful over the years that it has been expanded to other venues including Cottesloe Beach In Western Australia and Aarhus in Denmark. The selection this year was drawn from 480 submissions from artists both in Australia and around the world. The exhibition remains a unique event set on the picturesque coastline walk with vivid ocean backdrops to complement the many installations made of steel, wood, plastic, cement and other materials. The exhibition runs from 23 October-9 November 2014 and remains one of Sydney's most enjoyable outdoor arts festivals.

Save Our Souls: Cave Urban

Our Memory in Your Place: Byeong Doo Moon 

The website address can be found at this link: Sculpture by the Sea

For the future - what skills do you need ?

Source: Top10OnlineColleges.org

Sugar - sweet but deadly

Sugar cubes

As the year swings through the last quarter and onto the end of year Christmas and New Year festive celebrations (and considerable sweet indulgences), it's worth recalling the health impact of that most addictive crop, sugar. Spreading across the world since AD 500 originating first from New Guinea then moving into Asia and thence to the Middle East in the 15th Century, sugar has become a staple part of people's diets worldwide. As it has taken hold however, increasingly negative effects for overall health and well being have been uncovered. Sucrose or table sugar as it's known has two constituents in roughly equal parts, glucose and fructose with quite differing effects in the human body - where as glucose is metabolized throughout the body, in contrast fructose is processed mainly in the liver which, when there is a heavy intake of sugary products, produces fats termed triglycerides. These fats either remain in the liver and/or are pushed out through the blood stream with the resulting risks of obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The introduction of High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as a food additive has only added to the risks of intake as HFCS is 55% glucose. As the focus on fat levels in food gained momentum, manufacturers replaced fats with sugar simply switching one problem with another.

How much sugar is consumed by the average person ? In the United States, an individual consumes around 77 pounds (or 34.9 Kg) of added sugar annually with a similar measure for the United Kingdom. The solution, like most health related issues, is simple - reduce sugar intake from candies, sweets, cakes, pastries and soft drinks (a typical small soft drink has usually 10 teaspoons of sugar in it). The application of this solution is another story altogether.

Film Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson

(l to r) Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori

Written and directed by Wes Anderson (who also directed The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom), The Grand Budapest Hotel is a bizarre, absurdest comedy set in the fictional European alpine state of the Republic of Zubrowska. The film was shot on location in Germany as a joint British-German co-production but the production was funded by German companies. While there are some CGI effects used, extensive scale models are often the preferred material for sets.

The storyline of the film is essentially a narrative told by the hotel's last owner and centred around the Grand Budapest's devoted concierge, Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). Set in 1932, these are the last glory days of the hotel but the concierge cares little as he attends to the needs of the wealthy clientele, manages his staff and courts various ageing blonde women who flock to the hotel. He imparts his knowledge and experience to a young understudy bellhop (Tony Revolori) who appears continuously goggle-eyed at the exploits of his master.

The stellar cast includes Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Jason Schwartzman, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan to name a few. This is a film for Wes Anderson fans with some wider appeal.

The changing composition of the world's oceans - acidification

The 12th meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity is currently underway at Pyeongchang in South Korea (6-17 October, 2014). One of the research papers presented at the meeting has addressed the issue of ocean acidification. Acidification of the ocean, caused by increased level of absorption of carbon emissions, has often been cited and identified as major threat to the environment and marine life in particular. Increasingly the evidence of this serious threat to marine life has needed quantification which at last appears to have occured. The sea's acidity level has increased by over 26% during the past 200 years with impacts on corals, shellfish and other calcium-making organisms. The effect of acidification is most strongly felt by tropical coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef which is already exposed to warmer water. The impact extends beyond marine organisms and ecosystems but also to over 400 million people who depend on the ocean habitats for survival.

The link is below:

12th Meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Sydney Film Festival 2014 - Film Review - Of Horses and Men

Still from Of Horses and Men

Icelandic law prevents the importation of foreign horses into Iceland hence the special relationship between humans and this particular breed of Icelandic horse is the subject of a very quirky, dark humoured film by screenwriter and director, Benedikt Erlingsson.  This film is a series of vignettes against the background of a romance between two key characters, Solveig and Kolbeinn from a small village in the countryside of Iceland. Like many of the films from that part of the world, there are truly macabre scenes mixed into various parallel storyline throughout the duration of the film. In one sequence a man swims out into a coastal shipping lane on the back of his Icelandic pony to purchase illicit vodka from a large Russian fishing trawler. On his return to shore with his horse, he passes away from alcohol poisoning. In another scene, a farmer gives chase on his tractor to a trespassing neighbour (who is on horseback) but meets his demise after rolling his tractor down a steep hill. Periodically the film returns to the small, dour village chapel for the various funerals of bit part characters. Central to the film is the portrayal of humans and horses as having streaks of behaviour surprisingly similar to each other.

For those who enjoy quirky ironic humour, odd characters and the evocative landscape of Iceland, this film is a must see art-house pleasure. It is a well-paced feature with multiple unusual storylines and quality principal photography. An appreciation of small Icelandic ponies is also a pre-requisite.