Some rare operas stand the test of time, such as Joe Verdi’s Rigoletto which first saw the light of day in 1851. Playing at the Opera Theatre in Sydney, the show is a rousing production that boasts a set virtually unrivaled on any Australian stage, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
September, 2010
The do’s and don’ts of web logo design
There are countless trends in the evolution of web logo design such as app-like icons, speech bubble effects and images inspired by plants and animals. Mashable compiles a list of what to admire and what to avoid.
Want to start a business? Pick the best industry
If you’re looking to start up a business in 2011, the biggest growth industries include fast food retailing and accounting. Avoid the printing or computer repair industries, growth options are far more limited.
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Drones in Pakistan halt terror attack on Europe
Remember how the Eiffel Tower was evacuated recently? Plans for a Mumbai-style terror attack on Britain, France, and Germany were intercepted by international intelligence organisations and then foiled by missile drones on Pakistan militants last week.
Killing civilians then keeping their fingers as momentos
Chilling new video of a US solider being interviewed, talking about Afghanistan civilians being killed for sport and then dismembering their corpses, emerged in the US this week. What will happen now to the war in Afghanistan?
The Mexican mud slide burying hundreds
The rainy season continues to torment Central America, with up to 1,000 people and 100-200 houses from a village trapped under a massive mud slide in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Obama waxes religious: “I’m a Christian by choice”
Barack Obama rarely discusses his religious beliefs, but went into considerable detail yesterday in Albuquerque after he was asked why he is a Christian. Obama spoke of achieving “salvation through the grace of God” and described his Presidency as part of an effort to “express my Christian faith.”
Kelly: The unethical and dangerous problem of euthanasia
Will the Gillard government become the first government in Australia to authorise legalised killing? They shouldn’t be pummelled into doing something by the Greens that much of the Western world disagrees with, writes Paul Kelly.
A Slippery start to parliament
Crikey Media Wrap: School’s back, returning in a largely ceremonial capacity, with ministers awkwardly walking through smoking ceremonies and newly-elected speaker Harry Jenkins pretending to be dragged unwillingly back to the speaker’s chair. But ‘Slippery Pete’ stole the show.
Not a model way to announce a winner
It’s excruciating to watch: host of Australia’ Next Top Model Sarah Murdoch announces the wrong winner live on TV after being fed the wrong name through her ear piece. Ah, the joys of live TV!
Heritage media gibbons throwing poo
The outing of Grog’s Gamut and the petty, vindictive thuggery and implied threats behind it, speak much more about the character of the paper and the journalist involved than it does about any vacuous nonsense over imagined rights of anonymity online, says Possum Comitatus.
Women of the 2010 World Road Cycling Championships
Most of the images and words we see of cycling are of the men, struggling heroically up a mountainside in France or Italy, sweat dripping from furrowed brows etc. Bob Gosford takes a look at the ladies of the cycling world.
Wanna buy a blog?
A whole new world of internet advertising is developing in the Forbes blogs stable, far more involved than the old sponsored post. Instead advertisers can pay to run an entire blog alongside the normal blogs run by Forbes journos.
USA: now at war with Pakistan?
Officially the US and its international troops in Afghanistan are not fighting a war in Pakistan. But with air strikes launching into Pakistan last week, Pakistan is angry with the cross-border invasion. The Atlantic Wire wraps the latest.
Simons: it wasn’t unethical to name Grog’s Gamut
As for Grog’s Gamut, I don’t think the Oz has done anything unethical. Just mean. But there are other questions to be answered.
The real Delhi: not as dirty, scary and chaotic as the media thinks
Over the past few weeks, we’ve read Western sporting officials declare that Delhi’s Commonwealth Games won’t work because the city (and in particular the athletes’ village) is “filthy”, “uninhabitable” and “seriously compromised”. It’s only half the story.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: Venezuelan election coverage shows world doesn’t give a stuff about global poor
In watching more than a decade of Venezuela reporting I have time and again marvelled at the capacity of a fixed mindset to reproduce itself endlessly.
High-speed rail thinking crosses all party lines
If Melbourne and Sydney had similar-sized populations and city-linked economies as Paris and London, there would not be a debate in Australia about building a high-speed rail link between them.
Kohler: and the survey shows … Labor’s growing labour crisis
There’s been a dramatic shift in sentiment among Australia’s chief executives that puts what’s going on in Canberra today into sharp relief. Skills shortages have come back into sharp focus.
Shouldna teed off the Tea Party
The Democrats and the mainstream media are laughing so hard at Tea Party darling Christine O’Donnell, they can’t hear America shouting, writes Jack J. Irvine, an American writer who lived in Australia for many years.
Ask the economists: a brief boom, and then what?
In its latest Budget Monitor, Access says that while commodity revenues will benefit the bottom line in the short term by a total of $6 billion, outstripping Treasury’s predictions, things could turn sour as prices inevitably tail off towards the middle of the decade. Crikey asked for a consensus.
Climate committee is better without the Coalition
The Climate Committee announced by the Government yesterday will benefit from the absence of a disruptive and untrustworthy Opposition.
Access’ prophet and loss record belongs in the budget bin
Access Economics was up to its old tricks overnight, forecasting doom and gloom for the federal budget and in the process scoring easy publicity.
Will there be a staff-elected director on the ABC board?
Will Labor reintroduce a Bill to reinstate a staff elected director on the ABC Board? It will come down to the cross-benches — and there are arguments for and against, says Margaret Simons.
Daily Proposition: Hang out on the Fringe with Backbone Joe
With The Ballad of Backbone Joe — part-cabaret, part-concert, part-play and part-sketch comedy — The Suitcase Royale define, or defy, what constitutes theatre, writes Lloyd Bradford Syke.
