It is fascinating how our tastes for the arts can grow as we grow- until about fifteen months ago, I had never been to the ballet before- perhaps Alfred, Lord Tennyson was right in his poem Ulysses when he wrote the verse, 'Yet all experience is an arch wherethro', Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades, Forever and forever when I move.' What I can say is that my introduction to the exquisitely pretty yet delicate world of ballet in December 2024 could not have been any finer than the Queensland Ballet's performance of…

Seldom does an actor have the opportunity to explore the darkest shadows of their own character when they are cast for a role, yet that was the opportunity that fortuitously came my way in August of 1995, when I was cast for the role of Clochet, the flamboyant and vicious Milice interrogator in Jean-Paul Sartre's play, Men Without Shadows. And no, that is not a photograph of me performing on stage.

You realise that you are about to embark upon an absorbing read when the celebrated author, Stephen King, writes a commendation for another author's novel by simply stating, "The guy can't write a bad book." That is the commendation Michael Robotham received for Storm Child, the fourth book in his Cyrus Haven series. I previously published a newsletter about my discussion with Michael Robotham in 2024, not long after I had launched my first novel, …

Thirty years is a very long time to complete any individual piece of artistic work. Yet that is how long Ludwig van Beethoven remained dedicated to writing his revolutionary Symphony No. 9, a composition now generally regarded as one of the greatest works in classical repertoire. And while the climactic choral, known as 'Ode to Joy', is a heartwarming celebration of music and choir, projecting a musical feast that could bring tears to the eyes of a stone visage, the complete composition is a musical journey during which the listener ventures through a universe of emotions.

Thirty years is a very long time to complete any individual piece of artistic work. Yet that is how long Ludwig van Beethoven remained dedicated to writing his revolutionary Symphony No. 9, a composition now generally regarded as one of the greatest works in classical repertoire. And while the climactic choral, known as 'Ode to Joy', is a heartwarming celebration of music and choir, projecting a musical feast that could bring tears to the eyes of a stone visage, the complete composition is a musical journey during which the listener ventures through a universe of emotions.

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Democrat Christian Menefee has won a Texas U.S. House seat in a special election that will narrow Republicans’ already-slim majority.

ALT: a woman in a black dress is smiling and clapping in front of a crowd

During the middle of June 2025, I returned home in two aspects of my life. The primary aspect was travelling to England, remarkably for the first time in my life, for a family reunion in the town of Lavenham, which is located in the English county of Suffolk, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of my maternal family's funding of the completion of the largest wool church in England.

Like me, the book from my library I finished reading at the end of last year is fragile, old and a bit battered. The American Tradition in Literature was one of the books my late mother discovered while studying for her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Queensland during the early 1970s. The third edition of this book was published in 1967, so, regrettably, it does not include some of Maya Angelou's works, who should be recognised as a powerhouse in the history of American literature.

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