Renew Newcastle on Sunday Arts

What becomes of a once-mighty centre of industry when the businesses fail or move away, and the jobs evaporate?

In this era of industrial decline, it is a question being asked of many places around the world. In the former steel town of Newcastle, there were over a hundred vacant shops and offices on the main shopping strip. But, six months ago television presenter and writer, Marcus Westbury set about changing the atmosphere in Newcastle’s city centre by inviting artists and designers to inhabit the empty buildings.

By having artists occupy these spaces he hoped to prevent the city turning into a ghost town and falling prey to crime. The Renew Newcastle project has been an incredible success in a short amount of time: there are already 27 different artist groups occupying the empty spaces in the city. Even Marcus is surprised by how quickly his plan to rejuvenate the city has been taken up, both to assist the business community in the area while and simultaneously give a boost to local artists and designers. Fenella Kernebone went along for a look.

Date:  Sunday, July 5, 2009
Time:   5:00pm – 6:00pm
Location:  ABC1 TV

Producer/Presenter: Fenella Kernebone
Researcher: Emma Watts

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/sundayarts/txt/s2615102.htm

Banksy in Bristol

Graffiti artist Banksy’s biggest exhibition has been unveiled by Bristol City Museum, featuring more than 100 of works which were installed in the council-run museum amid great secrecy this week. The show – which was kept secret from council bosses – includes new works including a burned-out ice cream van. Banksy was previously sought for vandalism by the police and council in his home city. He said: ‘This is the first show I’ve ever done where taxpayers’ money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off.’

More from The Guardian

Also check out the hangup pictures competition as they are giving away a Banksy!

They’re still dying over Dinner.

‘A Dinner to Die For’  has two special upcoming dates, so mark them on your diary!! A hit of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival the troop received some great reviews. Public shows are scheduled for Saturday 13th of June and the Christmas Special on 25 July. You can also get the ‘gang’ to entertain your friends and they’ll host a muder caper in your very own home!

Phil Spector Demands A Yarmulke.

Jews around the world rolled their eyes this morning as RadarOnline reported that convicted murderer and confirmed meshugene, Phil Spector, has demanded a yarmulke, claiming that he is an Orthodox Jew. OY VEY!

Spector‘s wigs had been confiscated and his baldness-covering hat requests had been denied. What came next? A sudden turn to religion. The yarmulke revelation coincidentally came after Spector had reportedly been given a prison rules manual. Meshuge like a fox!

More from RadarOnline

LEGO recreation of the torture technique known as waterboarding

Who’d have thunk lego was so political! LEGO’s recreation of the torture technique known as waterboarding, which has been used by the USA in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and Bagram airbase, as well as in other “black sites” in the name of the War On Terror.

As we now know, the CIA destroyed thousands of images and videos of interrogations using torture, including those showing waterboarding.

LEGO’s Flickr page

U.S. Soldier Who Killed Herself–After Refusing to Take Part in Torture

With each new revelation on U.S. torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gitmo,  Greg Mitchell is reminded of the chilling story of Alyssa Peterson.

“Appalled when ordered to take part in interrogations that, no doubt, involved what we would call torture, she refused, then killed herself a few days later, in September 2003. Of course, we now know from the torture memos and the U.S. Senate committee probe and various new press reports, that the “Gitmo-izing” of Iraq was happening just at the time Alyssa got swept up in it. Alyssa Peterson was one of the first female soldiers killed in Iraq. A cover-up, naturally, followed”.

More from Editor and Publisher

Rick Dunlop – Cases – new Australian crime novel

Rick Dunlop Cases is about the extraordinary and downright weird exploits of a somewhat jaded PI called Rick, who enters the Australian underworld to confront previously unsolved crimes and mysteries, head on.

Fired from the Victorian Police for undisclosed reasons, Rick begins working for a Private Investigation company, Fitzroy Fields. He finds himself constantly “in the firing line” with boss, Jeff, for his unethical crime investigation tactics, his blatant disregard for authority, and his absentee conscience.

Often racist and sexist, Rick doesn’t like to follow the rules, and he certainly isn’t politically correct. Rick is like the evil twin inside us all. He says things most of us all think at one time or another but are not brave or stupid enough to say.

Whether you find Rick’s escapades funny or confronting, one thing’s for sure: R.M. Dunlop will make the detective genre popular again.

About the Author

Rick Dunlop Cases is the first book by young Australian author, R.M. Dunlop. His writing allows us to escape from the political correctness that smothers us all. This book provides a humorous commentary on the power and authority that controls how we think and act, and through a main character who defies the rules and pokes fun at social institutions, we are able to rediscover the rebel in ourselves.

In the wake of G20 some think of Seattle WTO protests

I suspect no one starts the day thinking they’re going to die. But, as a soldier defending those trounced on by the effects of capitalism perhaps its something that needs to be considered more often.

I received a really long article today emailed in the wake of the G20 protestor who was killed. A very thorough and thoughtful analysis of The Seattle WTO Protests, partly as a reflection and partly as a means to consolidate feelings about why people protest and why some are prepared to defend the rights of the defenseless. It probably makes more sense to those who are actively prepared to put their lives on the line: but I chose to use a snippet which kind of sums up how bad it is for others and how good it is for some. !

November 30, 1999

One seventeen-year-old girl grabbed by an aging trucker for “mindlessly” smashing a GAP window subjected him to a thirty second diatribe: “Immigrant Asian women are lured to Saipan to work a seven-day week fenced in with barbed wire, they’re forbidden to even take a piss while they sew these fucking clothes!” she yelled.

“Teenage girls in Honduras work 14-hour shifts for 50 cents an hour and Chinese migrant women in Russia earn less than a quarter of that making this stuff. Chief Executive Millard Dexter earns $24,000 an hour—that’s $47 million a year—and GAP Chairman Donald Fisher is worth $8 billion. This company spends over $500 million a year advertising this shit while its workers starve. Don’t call me fucking mindless!”

He stood in stunned silence as glass rained down around him. “Pick up a brick, asshole!” someone shouted. For a minute he looked like he was considering it.

The People’s Republications of CrimethInc.
P.O. Box 2133
Greensboro NC 27402
www.crimethinc.com

Engagemedia – Feature Filmmaker: Maruli Sihombing

Maruli’s videos are about the social and political injustice that occurs almost everywhere in Indonesia. He mostly works with communities who suffer from violence enacted by the State or other authorities. His motivation is to give these communities an outlet to express their feelings and thoughts.

Videos by Maruli Sihombing 

A Dinner to Die For – interactive evening of murder mystery and mayhem

Lord Quinten Daventry invites you for an interactive evening of murder mystery and mayhem all served up with a delicious 3 course dinner.

We’re not talking molecular gastronomy here, but rather a wickedly funny Murder Mystery Dinner. Bare Elements Productions, based in Melbourne, present their first Australian show.

Become part of the show whilst watching the show – set in 1928 you are invited to be a guest of Lord Quinten Daventry at his birthday bash. The rumour going around social circles is that he will announce his engagement to Miss Fanny Farquar.

It’s Agatha Christie in spirit – all cut glass accents, strings of pearls, flapper dresses, army outfits, dinner jackets and monocles – with lashings of sexual innuendo and double entendres.

When: Saturday 4th, 18th or 25th April 2009
From: 7.30pm
Dinner & Show $80 pp

For further information or to book call The Retreat Hotel on 03 9417 2693 226 Nicholson St,(near corner with Johnston St) Abbotsford, Melbourne

Or go to www.adinnertodiefor.com

Proudly associated with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival: www.comedyfestival.com.au