Unfortunately, with Smoke in the Room, Maguire falls short of her aim. This novel had the potential to be an interesting commentary on mental health and sexuality, but instead it reads like a Mills and Boon; on page 181, she writes “Adam had an erection the size of the Centrepoint Tower”.

The novel is based in Sydney, yet despite the familiarity of the settings, Maguire has made a considerable effort to do the city justice with her succinct descriptions. The saving grace of Smoke in the Room is that, despite its juvenile sexuality, Maguire has crafted interesting characters whose emotional interactions make for a rapid read.Smoke in the Room is just shy of a guilty pleasure.

Photography by Magnus Agren (you can see some of his other works here: http://magnusagren.redbubble.com/works)

Health’s second effort, Get Color, picks up where their debut album left off, but at the same time it showcases what this band has learned over the past two years. In line with their debut, the pummelling, Lightning Bolt-esque drums and the harsh metallic clash of synths and guitars remain. But with Get Colour, there is a greater focus on melody and the crafting of real ‘songs’.

‘Die Slow’, the album’s lead single, shows off the band’s more finely-tuned electronic sensibilities since //DISCO. It places a simple, effective beat and stop-start synths alongside more rhythmic guitars and hazy, Loveless-style vocals (whoa, lazy Loveless comparison!). However, that is probably as far as ‘soft’ melodies go on this record.

The three-song suite of ‘Severin’, ‘Eat Flesh’, and ‘We Are Water’ is probably the most exhausting and downright scary thing to have popped up this year; the final track, with its looming riff and foreboding sense of urgency stands out, along with ‘Die Slow’, as the album’s standout.

Get Color’s 33 minutes closes with its slowest and most ‘human’, track in ‘In Violet’. As the longest and only drum-less track on the album, it represents not an attempt at redemption, but almost an accomplished look back at the havoc that has been wreaked, before facing what could lie ahead for album number three.

David Hare is not shy about expressing his discontent with modern politics in the most emphatic manner. Stuff Happens was a blistering attack on the Iraq war and Gethsemane comes from a similar place. While it is somewhat less potent, Gethsemane will perhaps last longer than Stuff Happens because it asks broader questions about loyalty, powerbroking and manipulation. While the subject of Hare’s scorn is clearly the current British Government, the actions he despises are present in most democratic systems.

The action is split between two separate but linked stories. The first focuses on Otto Fallon, a pop-music producer turned Party fund raiser who’s techniques are morally questionable. The second focuses on Suzette, the daughter of the Home Secretary whose sexual and drug related deviance threatens her mother’s career and the government as a whole. Through this dual construction we are shown the intricate, filthy, backroom dealings that constitute Hare’s vision of the British government.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in the play is that a number of the characters seemed to be merely mouthpieces for Hare’s feelings, rather than fully realised people. In particular the trio of Suzette, her former teacher Lori Drysdale and Lori’s husband Mike symbolise varying shades of anger, frustration and confusion and they suffer for it. The best characters are Otto Fallon and his assistant Frank. Portrayed with relish by Hugh Keyes-Byrne and Charlie Garber respectively, the pair bring energy, humour and guile to the stage. The pair are well versed in manipulation and they are not ashamed or shy about it. Sarah Pierse is the other stand-out performer as the highly strung Home Secretary.

Neil Armfield’s production is clean, clear and unflashy. The set, by Brian Thomson, evokes the soullessness of the Party with a concrete space that is versatile but sterile. The direction and design leave the focus on the actors, and with a stellar cast that includes Paula Arundell, Rhys Muldoon and Dan Wyllie, that’s not such a bad thing.

Gethsemane is a play about the state of politics now but it also manages to be a play about power in any time. More than anything though, it is a play about people wrestling with their morality, their ethics and their relationships. These are the ingredients for good theatre.

Ever wanted to be given the BEST JOB EVER?!?!?!?!?!??!

No?

…wtf is wrong with you?

My World Tour, brought to you by Universal Music Australia, is offering two extraordinarily lucky people the chance to win just that.
The search is on for two talented music reporters to travel over 4 continents for free, documenting their experiences at the crème de la crème of music festivals.

The day-to-day tasks of this arduous job will include:

•    VIP access to the hottest festivals, gigs & artists around the globe throughout 2010
•    Meeting + interviewing artists and recording their experiences as they happen
•    Becoming the face of My World Tour 2010
•    Becoming a reporter for Getmusic.com.au
•    Festival and travel expenses will be paid for
•    They will be equipped with a laptop, a still & video camera, mobile phone and also receive some spending money.

Well at least they get some spending money, because before they mentioned that I just wasn’t sold at all…
The festivals they will be “required’ to visit are:

My World tour is looking for 1 boy and 1 girl between the ages of 20-30, who consider themselves to be:

•        Music-obsessed
•        Festival goers
•        Bright, energetic, adventurous, passionate
•        Personality plus
•        Multimedia/technologically competent
•        Excellent communication skills- written & verbal
•        Active social networkers

The hunt begins September 14th, so keep watching myworldtour.com.au for details on how to get your applications in. I’m predicting the same kind of frenzied hunger for the prize that an $80 million lotto jackpot pulls, so be prepared to put your pride aside because you may have to ride a few disco sticks to win this one. It’ll all be worth it when you’re sipping Moet with Daft Punk though… masks off.

In the past few years, Op Shopping has risen to popularity like an underrated ugly girl who blossoms late and wins our hearts. These days, it’s almost impossible to ask the trend-bots where they got their latest amazing outfit from without receiving a smug reply of “oh, just this op-shop I know…”

Self-satisfied show ponies.

And now the recession proof shopping method has undergone a bit of a makeover in the form of Sydney’s first ever customised Op-Shop: ‘One Noffs’.

The store will stock one off pieces, made entirely from vintage, recycled and unwanted clothes which have been remastered into fashionable gems by Sydney’s finest aspiring designers. The brilliant concept for the store was devised by The Ted Noffs Foundation, which has been empowering young people for over 40 years through various community initiatives.

How it works:
Quite simple really, if you’re studying design, love to design or have just been hiding the fact that you actually are Karl Lagerfeld, drop in to the One Noffs store and collect your garbage bag full of goodies – hand selected donated clothes.

Then, take these goodies home, get your sewing face on and get snippy. Or, when you realise you don’t actually have a sewing machine, make an appointment to go into the store and use one of theirs. Handy, right?

Designers receive a 20% cut of the sale price as well as having their bio displayed on the swing tag of any of their items. So you get free promo, you’re helping charity, and you get paid for it. Win win win.

One Noffs Store: 206A Alison Road, the corner of Avoca Street and Alison Road, Randwick NSW.

Sewing Equipment Bookings: onenoffs@noffs.org.au

Staff Contacts: Leah Greengarten greengartenl@noffs.org.au or Rupert Noffs noffsr@noffs.org.au

Luke Rogers’ direction is precise and understated. He has set the show on a raised playing space in the middle of the New Theatre stage, which highlights the performative aspect of Marber’s social message. Behind the raised platform are two sliding frames which are used as borders and projection surfaces. My only criticism is that scene changes take place in almost complete darkness, which means that the energy and flow of the piece drops between some scenes. Fortunately the performances are so energetic and the direction so clear that it takes very little time for the show to recover its pace.

The two lead actors, Blair Cutting as DJ and Matt Hyde as his accomplice Stan, are fabulous. Cutting has a somewhat bizarre, flouncing physicality which at first grated with me. When he first entered, I was apprehensive that his performance was going to be painfully overstated but he inhabited the delightfully wicked DJ wonderfully. He found the boyishness, the evil and the glee that make DJ so irresistible and objectionable at the same time. Stan is our narrator and guide through the play and Hyde does a great job with his character. Like the audience, he is torn between disgust, delight and despair at DJ’s antics. Hyde has an infectious energy and a very good sense of comic timing. That said, credit must be paid to the whole cast for the quality of their performances.

A slick and thoroughly amusing show, Don Juan on Soho isn’t for the lighthearted but it will definitely leave a smile on your face. It may be set in London but it’s definitely a show about here and now.

Muse have fused different elements from acts they admire – equally influenced by great operatic/orchestral works, as they are by fellow contemporaries. The Resistance is ambitious, indulgent, and ultimately sees the trio as comfortable as ever in epic soundscapes of their over-the-top grandeur.

On first listen it’s hard not to think Muse are suffering from an identity crisis: it is the band’s overabundance of ideas. It’s somewhat jarring, trying to comprehend all the different tangents the group finds themself on. Yet the more you hear front-man extraordinaire Matthew Bellamy howling in his recognisable falsetto on each passing track, the more you believe him (even if he is singing about those ridiculous internet conspiracy theories he’s so schooled up on).

‘Uprising’ crunches along as the brilliant album opener, in a similar vein to ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and ‘Map of the Problematique’. The Goldfrapp-Battles-Dr.Who-Blondie vibe is impossible to miss, but it’s not a bad thing. ‘Uprising’ sets the expected apocalyptic and anti-establishment tone in true Muse form, as Matt sings “They will not control us, we will be victorious.”

Muse examines beauty in chaos, in the euphoric ‘United States of Eurasia’. The Queen comparisons are inevitable – Freddie Mercury must have risen from his grave to pen this one. Layer by layer, it builds to a spectacular chorus. An Arabian sounding string/piano melody heightens the cultural cacophony this piece represents.

The outtro, known as ‘Collateral Damage’ is Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2. Whilst the rendition of the Nocturne is what you’d expect of a competent pianist, the concept is ingenious in hauntingly representing collateral damage: by having it perfectly layered upon atmospheric noises of children, it creates a vision of an idyllic peace, of innocence shattered by war.

Few songs don’t realise their full potential. ‘Guiding Light’ is a bit of a miss with its cheesy optimism. ‘Resistance’ starts promisingly, but is mediocre at best due to the abrupt transition from a minor to major key in the chorus. The guitar-less ‘Undisclosed Desires’ is sure to rub some fans the wrong way with its pop beat and plucked strings, but once the initial shock wears off, it’s clear it contains a catchy melody. The introduction for ‘MK Ultra’ similarly sounds off with a grating string section in the pre-chorus, but the drum beat and solid chorus will translate well live.

‘Unnatural Selection’ is undoubtedly one of the strongest tracks on the record, ripping through a thunderous riff with the frenetic energy that is highly reminiscent of OOS days. The rough vocals are so fitting amongst the driving rhythm that Dominic Howard is expounding on the drums, and the powerfully executed bass-line of Chris Wolstenholme.

What really nails it home, is the time change in the middle portion of the song. The earlier energy from the track is equally present, just concentrated into what becomes this devastatingly beautiful shuffling beat, pattering along like a jazzy waltz with distinctly rock overtones. Matt’s guitar solo is simple, yet achingly emotive and sorrowful – it has room to breathe amongst the slow but focused bass – and Dom’s dotted beat gives it this exquisite swagger. Muse wheel back to the pounding beat of the start to close off a sure crowd pleaser. There’s no doubt this song will be a staple in the live set.

Another show-stopper is ‘I Belong To You’ that screams of Showbiz. The sexy way the jazz beat is introduced will sate the appetite of fans that miss early-era Muse songs. As the bass bounces along with the choppy, staccato piano, Matt asks “How much love would make you whole?” It then spirals down into the gorgeous popular operatic aria from Samson and Delilah, ‘Mon Cœur S’Ouvre À Ta Voix’, which explodes as the aria is given swirling accompanying strings and percussion. The melody wonderfully drops back in with a reedy bass clarinet solo that fits flawlessly.

‘Exogenesis’, the three part symphonic grand finale is stirring, emotive and magnificent. ‘Part I: Overture’ is driven by arpeggios, a series of broken chords. The slow guitar solo and the quivering strings are vulnerable, and reminiscent of OOS. ‘Part II: Cross Pollination’ features stunning chromatics that flow into an exhilarating riff, while ‘Part III: Redemption’ is an uplifting conclusion to the album, graciously building into a softly climatic, but warmly human moment.

Muse have delivered an absolute knock-out in their most emotive, ambitious album. Whether it’s the perfectionism or the constant desire to challenge themselves, the trio have ultimately crafted a daring, inspired masterpiece.

BLESSED

Release: September 10, 2009
From the acclaimed director of ‘Head On’
Premiere screening at the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival

During the course of one day and night, seven children wander the streets in an urban odyssey.  But not all of them will find their way home. Dawn breaks, and it’s the same day but now we experience the viewpoint of the five mothers. Over the course of their respective journeys we understand that they are as lost and defenceless as the children they care for. BLESSED is a film about mothers and children, about love and beauty, about being lost and finding your way home.

http://www.iconmovies.com.au/blessed

To win a double pass, all you have to do is send your name, valid UTS student ID number, and contact telephone number in an email to:

and answer the following question:

WHO IS THE DIRECTOR OF BLESSED?

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