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- Dall’Agocchie’s Essential Actions
- My Blog’s Year-in-Review
- Separation of Church and State in Australia
- Swordplay: Context is Everything
- City in the Dust: A Story Setting?
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Arts Reviews Archive
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![<p>My fascination with the Italian Renaissance, its history and in particular its literature, continues to grow. To feed it, I’m embarking on a small reading project which covers the greats of the period. Here’s the list of those authors who made the grade (notice that they’re all either Florentine or intimately associated with Florence). Let me know of any others I should add to the list.</p>
<p>All of these authors I’ve read before but either in excerpt or a long, long time ago in a university far, far away. Now, I can give them the time and appreciation they deserve. […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/category-arts3-115x115.jpg "Italian Renaissance Reading List")
Italian Renaissance Reading List
Posted on 8 April, 2011 | No CommentsMy fascination with the Italian Renaissance, its history and in particular its literature, continues to grow. To feed it, I’m embarking on a small reading project which covers the greats of the period. Here’s the list of those authors who made the grade (notice that they’re all either Florentine or intimately associated with Florence). Let me know of any others I should add to the list.
All of these authors I’ve read before but either in excerpt or a long, long time ago in a university far, far away. Now, I can give them the time and appreciation they deserve. […]
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![<p>This is a follow on from the facebook meme which has been doing the rounds of late. Below are a list of four writers whose work has changed the way I look at the world, at people or at fiction. Surprisingly, there’s no literary figures here. All of them are commercial writers. I figured that the likes of William Shakespeare, Italo Calvino or Geoffery Chaucer would figure in the shorter list but they don’t. Great literature may elucidate the human condition but, when the chips are down, we turn to that which speaks to us loudly and clearly rather than […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/category-arts-115x115.jpg "Writers Who Have Influenced Me")
Writers Who Have Influenced Me
Posted on 3 December, 2010 | No CommentsThis is a follow on from the facebook meme which has been doing the rounds of late. Below are a list of four writers whose work has changed the way I look at the world, at people or at fiction. Surprisingly, there’s no literary figures here. All of them are commercial writers. I figured that the likes of William Shakespeare, Italo Calvino or Geoffery Chaucer would figure in the shorter list but they don’t. Great literature may elucidate the human condition but, when the chips are down, we turn to that which speaks to us loudly and clearly rather than […]
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![<p><strong>Title</strong>: The Trial of the Templars<br />
<strong>Author</strong>: Malcolm Barber<br />
<strong>Paperback</strong>: 408 pages<br />
<strong>Publisher</strong>: Cambridge University Press, 1978 (Second edition 2006)<br />
<strong>Language</strong>: English</p>
<p>Although the Trial of the Templars is now more than thirty years old, it is still the best study of the period written in English. This is a period, a long with the Crusade against the Cathars, which is well known and studied in French but for which very little English material of any quality exists.</p>
<p>In this book, Barber has presented documentary and other first hand evidence of the arrest, trial and […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/19709-115x115.jpg "Review: The Trial of the Templars")
Review: The Trial of the Templars
Posted on 25 November, 2010 | No CommentsTitle: The Trial of the Templars
Author: Malcolm Barber
Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1978 (Second edition 2006)
Language: EnglishAlthough the Trial of the Templars is now more than thirty years old, it is still the best study of the period written in English. This is a period, a long with the Crusade against the Cathars, which is well known and studied in French but for which very little English material of any quality exists.
In this book, Barber has presented documentary and other first hand evidence of the arrest, trial and […]
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Books I Should Know Better
Posted on 5 November, 2010 | No CommentsI fancy myself as a rather literary kind of guy. I read quite a bit and not only books with pictures in them; some of them are just words. There’s a whole list of books which are form the core of western civilisation which I should know better. While a don’t want to get into arguments for and against the idea of “The Canon,” the follow are a list of books and authors whose works are continually appearing in one form or another or are being alluded to in pretty much every story being told today. -
![<p><strong>Title</strong>: The Aegean Bronze Age<br />
<strong>Author</strong>: Oliver Dickinson<br />
<strong>Paperback</strong>: 364 pages<br />
<strong>Publisher</strong>: Cambridge University Press (1994)<br />
<strong>Language</strong>: English</p>
<p>This is a much-needed summary of current evidence and scholarship on an amazing period of eastern Mediterranean history from around 3000 – 1000 BC. Although it is now fifteen years old, it outlines the recent revolution in ideas about the period and show how the (still depressingly scant) archaeological evidence has put nail after nail in the coffin of Arthur Evans and the historians of his age. Dickinson brings to life a vibrant civilisation which traded widely […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/aegean_bronze_age-115x115.jpg "Review: The Aegean Bronze Age")
Review: The Aegean Bronze Age
Posted on 22 October, 2010 | 2 CommentsTitle: The Aegean Bronze Age
Author: Oliver Dickinson
Paperback: 364 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (1994)
Language: EnglishThis is a much-needed summary of current evidence and scholarship on an amazing period of eastern Mediterranean history from around 3000 – 1000 BC. Although it is now fifteen years old, it outlines the recent revolution in ideas about the period and show how the (still depressingly scant) archaeological evidence has put nail after nail in the coffin of Arthur Evans and the historians of his age. Dickinson brings to life a vibrant civilisation which traded widely […]
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Hollywood Sucks Ass
Posted on 24 September, 2010 | 3 CommentsWhy is Tora Tora Tora such a good film and Pearl Harbour a steaming pile of turd? Surely Michael Bay is merely a symptom and not a cause.
I recently watched both movies again … well, watched one and raged at the other for 40 minutes before turning it off. It’s not so much the two film’s difference in treatment of the same event (and, in fact, many of the same characters and incidents) as the difference in tone and approach to story telling which intrigues me.
A friend of mine lays the blame for the difference between the two films […]
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![<p><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Title</strong>: The Hound of the Baskervilles<br />
<strong>Author</strong>: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle<br />
<strong>Hardcover</strong>: 240 pages<br />
<strong>Publisher</strong>: Penguin Classics (2010)<br />
<strong>Language</strong>: The finest English</p>
<p>A great novel or the Greatest Novel?</p>
<p>So far this year, I’ve read the book again, listened to an audio dramatisation and watched a couple of versions on video. This book hits all my buttons. It’s got a murder, hints of the supernatural, the relentless march of scientific logic and is possibly the best Scooby Doo mystery ever.</p>
<p>Here is a quick list of the aspects of it which tickle my fancy. Below […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/houn-53-115x115.jpg "The Hound of the Baskervilles")
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Posted on 20 August, 2010 | No CommentsTitle: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics (2010)
Language: The finest EnglishA great novel or the Greatest Novel?
So far this year, I’ve read the book again, listened to an audio dramatisation and watched a couple of versions on video. This book hits all my buttons. It’s got a murder, hints of the supernatural, the relentless march of scientific logic and is possibly the best Scooby Doo mystery ever.
Here is a quick list of the aspects of it which tickle my fancy. Below […]
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The Abbey Festival 2010
Posted on 16 July, 2010 | No CommentsThe Abbey Festival (10-11 July 2010) was huge! Rumour has it that 18,000 people went through the gates before 3pm on Saturday. The spectacles and demonstrations that I saw were fabulous. There was falconry, archery, jousting, seminar talks, a couple of very interesting weapons demonstrations, stalls (selling medieval hot dogs? hmmm…) and lots of practical hands-on activities in the encampments. All of this was brilliant fun. -
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Each year, History Alive (June 12-13, 2010) gathers re-enactor groups from around Brisbane to one place at one time to show off. The groups involved span pretty close to the entire timeline of human history from the Near East of about 2000 BC to the very recent past. As well as being loud, colourful and a great day out, it gives a very clear snapshot of the state of living history groups in Queensland.</p>
<p>The first people I encountered on the day was Contact Front, the Vietnam re-enactment group, walking through around the site in skirmish line in silence and […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/p6120106-115x115.jpg "History Alive 2010")
History Alive 2010
Posted on 18 June, 2010 | 7 Comments
Each year, History Alive (June 12-13, 2010) gathers re-enactor groups from around Brisbane to one place at one time to show off. The groups involved span pretty close to the entire timeline of human history from the Near East of about 2000 BC to the very recent past. As well as being loud, colourful and a great day out, it gives a very clear snapshot of the state of living history groups in Queensland.The first people I encountered on the day was Contact Front, the Vietnam re-enactment group, walking through around the site in skirmish line in silence and […]
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![<p><strong>Title: </strong>Zombie Myths of Australian Military History<br />
<strong>Author</strong>: Craig Stockings (editor)<br />
<strong>Paperback</strong>: 288 pages<br />
<strong>Publisher</strong>: University of New South Wales Press (2010)<br />
<strong>Language</strong>: English</p>
<p>A fascinating look at the difference between received ideas and facts. It covers ten major historical myths across 200 years from the original settlement of the country by Europeans to our recent involvements in Southeast Asia and East Timor. It strives to show the reasons or circumstances which created and have sustained each zombie myth until it gained a life of it own and needs no more prompting. In many cases, the […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/zombie_myths-115x115.jpg "Review: Australian Zombie Myths")
Review: Australian Zombie Myths
Posted on 11 June, 2010 | 3 CommentsTitle: Zombie Myths of Australian Military History
Author: Craig Stockings (editor)
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: University of New South Wales Press (2010)
Language: EnglishA fascinating look at the difference between received ideas and facts. It covers ten major historical myths across 200 years from the original settlement of the country by Europeans to our recent involvements in Southeast Asia and East Timor. It strives to show the reasons or circumstances which created and have sustained each zombie myth until it gained a life of it own and needs no more prompting. In many cases, the […]