As an observer of climate chaos I have a particular penchant for a good apocalyptic scenario. So it was delightful to be invited to host a conversation with some fabulous writers at NIDA on the topic. Guests included Alana Valentine whose AWGIE Award nominated Barbara and the Camp Dogs was rocking the foundations of Belvoir Street …
As project Manager with Solar citizens I had the distinct pleasure of creating events with the beautiful Instagram community. Check out the results here
I really enjoyed sitting down over a cuppa with the very gorgeous Osher Gunsberg the other day to talk about everything from the stoke of surf to sexual fluidity #qmmunity Check it out here. In the podcast Osher shares stories of his “different mind” and how he’s now reluctantly on meds to tame it. His …
Check out these gorgeous geometric formations by Sharnie Shield, derived she explains “from the red native flowers in the Wollongong Botanic Gardens”. I bumped into the lovely Sharnie whilst perambulating around the grounds and chatted with her as she repaired one of the many forms she has on show. They’re made of simple straws and …
Last year on International Women’s Day our campaign Land Water Future released this little film I made about some of the wonderful women around NSW who are fighting to protect our land from coal and gas development. Still as relevant this year as last: https://www.facebook.com/landwaterfuture/videos/442203715934994/
Who doesn’t love the Archibald Prize? Every year it comes around with a fresh set of forty-odd faces to enliven our mid-winter musings. When I was working on the ABC TV’s arts program ‘Review’ in the early ‘90s, we’d always cover it in great detail. And we were all over it as producers for …
I’ve always been fascinated by the waratah, that majestic floral symbol of NSW. Rising from the ashes of bush fires, it provides us with a powerful symbol of hope. I was first seduced by their splendour when I slipped into some taffeta frocks created by my old friend Linda Jackson who has long been obsessed …
Fashion lovers thronged to the Powerhouse last week for a chat between me and four of Australia’s most fabulously creative and inspiring designers – Linda Jackson, Jenny Kee, Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales. Interestingly, this quartet of extreme talent has collaborated in various configurations and incarnations over the past 4 decades – first it was …
Dad and I went to see the exhibition ‘Pop to Popism’ when it was on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in preparation for a public talk we’d been roped in to give about the advertising world in the 60s and how the pop art movement had influenced it. My father had been …
Last Monday, I joined a bunch of farmers out at the Royal Easter Show in Homebush for a special ‘country comes to town’ edition of the much loved ABC TV show Q & A. I was lucky enough to have my question selected and share it with y’all here: Troy stands up for country The …
Back in 2001 I wrote a little book about my experience of being the infamous ‘Debbie’ in ‘Puberty Blues’. It was part of the Australian Screen Classics series published by Currency Press and I have just received the remaining stock. If anyone would like a signed copy I can send it off to you for …
I travelled to the Leard Forest Blockade in between Gunnedah and Narrabri fully intent on getting arrested. 82 people, including a 92 year-old war veteran, had been charged a few weeks previously after they occupied the Maules Creek Coal Mine inside the state forest and hindered the operation. The protectors were defending, among other things, …
How do you make city slickers realise that what happens in the country has a direct impact on them? With a whopping 80% of NSW now covered by mining licences and applications, you’d think they’d be awake to the fact that their food and water supplies are under threat. But they seem to be in …
My old buddy Baz Luhrmann got in touch the other day to ask if I could be MC Big Nelly at the launch of his new vodka, Absolut Oz. The do was at the Bondi Pavilion where Baz and I launched our own theatrical careers back in 1982. We’d both starred in movies the year …
Last night I had the pleasure of being the guest speaker at Woollahra Council’s citizenship ceremony where we were treated with those great Aussie classics, lamingtons and pies. Mayor Toni Zeltzer, who taught me Biology at school, wore her ceremonial chains and gave each new citizen a native plant as a memento of the momentous …
What a fully sick honour it was to be invited to open ‘The Green Cathedral – a celebration of the history and culture of surfing on the South Coast’. And on a very auspicious day too, when the official waiting period began in Hawaii for the Pipeline Masters where the world title will be decided. …
About three and a half hours north west of Sydney you’ll come across a little town called Kandos. Nestled beneath the escarpments of the Great Dividing Range with the spectacular Wollemi National park as its backdrop, this classic country town was created back in 1915 to provide housing for workers at the newly commissioned cement …
When I was a teen babe grommet I used to keep my surfboard in a grotty old basement under a block of flats at the back of Sir Thomas Mitchell Rd in Bondi. I also stashed an old record player there with a small collection of vinyl including the classic psychadelic rock album ‘Cheap Thrills’. …
At 6pm each night, members and visitors of the North Bondi RSL Club are encouraged to stand, face the Eternal Flame and remember those who died in battle. The ‘Rissole’ is a club like any other except for the gala view from its balcony out across the iconic bay and the exceptional trattoria below. Constantly …
Had a blast yesterday catching up with the original gang for a featurette extra on the upcoming Blu-ray edition of ‘Puberty Blues’. Hadn’t seen Geoff Rhoe for decades and didn’t even recognise him at first due to some new front teeth. He said he lost them when a bull ran at him and the new …
Orlando Bloom downs his blacksmithing tools and takes up medieval armoury in a Crusade to create a Kingdom of Conscience in the Holy Land. For a spectacular lesson in the origins of the world’s longest running imperialistic battle, you’ve got to check out Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. This impressive epic is set in between …
From the outer realms of the cosmos to the domestic blisters of daily life, a man grapples with the powerful opposing forces of Grace and Nature The Tree of Life could very well be writer/director Terence Malick’s ultimate masterpiece. It’s a remarkable movie from the man who brought us such classics as Badlands, Days of …
A celebrity chef burns himself out after his partner loses her battle with cancer. One can only imagine how harrowing it must be to discover that your loved one has a terminal illness and then watch her waste away before your very eyes. Writer/director and co-producer Jonathan Teplitzky experienced it first hand about a decade …
For a night of pure camp swathed exclusively in leopard skin print, you can’t go past Little Ones Theatre production of Charles Busch’s ‘Psycho Beach Party’. This crazy theatrical extravaganza takes its cues from the 1959 classic ‘Gidget’ and amplifies them til your head nigh on spins with references to Neitzsche and Luaus and every …
I was delighted to help launch a new book last Wednesday that covers the history of Sydney’s southern beaches from Bondi to Cronulla and beyond. ‘Saltwater People of the Fatal Shore’ is a gorgeous and informative coffee table book that has a predecessor detailing the northern beaches in a similar luxurious manner. Author John Ogden …