Two posts this week on a documentary series on the history of Australian theatre and on the power of stories through two powerful works: Rebecca Solnit’s book, “The Faraway Nearby” and Carol Morley’s doco “Dreams of a Life”

Second, looking at the amazing doco feature “Dreams of a Life”, which reconstructs the life and tragic death of Joyce Vincent, who died in 2003. Her decomposed corpse was found in her apartment 3 years later, with the TV and heater still on and surrounded by half wrapped Xmas presents. A brilliant and thought-provoking work.

james rose for may 14- to air

The twitter handle for the blog is @truthtotellblog and the facebook is facebook.com/truthtotellblog

Our Flirt with Dirt

Mining and Australian history are inter-twined but are those ties comfortable or choking? An issue-mash on two new documentaries and a new book on mining in Australia.

Firing Blanks

Intimate moments in the lives of the noted and notorious. Some audio shorts of celebrities unguarded.

Model Citizens

What do ex-super models have to say about modelling, the industry, and us? A look at the documentary feature “About Face”

The Internet Sucks

Two new books explore the notion that the internet isn’t the commercial or democratic force it’s touted to be

Bombed Opportunity

A TV doco tracks the descent of one young man into terrorism, but packages it a little too neatly

Queen of the Pax

Two documentary series dutifully polish up the politics and panache of the current Queen of England.

“By way of basic introduction to Evgeny Morozov it is useful to link him to Marshall McLuhan. It was McLuhan who famously argued that the first wave of mass communication was marked by the omnipotence of the medium itself, not its content: the medium is the message (or the massage as he later put it).

For Mr. Morozov, a similar problem exists in the nature of Internet technology, which, he says, encourages “click here” solutionism and an obsession with Googlesque algorithms and measurable inputs and outcomes…” (more)

Also this week a look at some doco shorts on Afghanistan. There are so many war docos, but so few allow us to better understand the Afghan people who are forced to endure it all.

Truth to Tell, April 23, 2013

I thought the story of Len Waters is a poignant one – and likely oft repeated – and worth recalling amid the Anzac Day hubris we are likely to see this week.

“There is a man who has his image on an Australian stamp, and has at least one street and two parks named after him. He even has a label of vintage port in his honour. Yet most people won’t have heard of him.

Len Waters was a World War II fighter pilot – flying a Kittyhawk named ”Black Magic” – a defender of the south-west Pacific from Japanese invasion. He was also an Aborigine born in NSW, who grew up in Queensland…”

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/battles-did-not-end-at-war-for-hero-20130420-2i6w2.html#ixzz2R922I5M3

For more info on Len Waters, on a blog maintained by his son, see also, http://leonardwatersaboriginalfighterpilot.blogspot.com.au/2008_10_01_archive.html

Just click the link below to bring up the sound file.

To Air April16.2013

“It betrays my less than classical upbringing when I admit that when the tense, rather fraught strains of Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella overture launched, I was thinking it sounded like a movie soundtrack; a romantic melodrama perhaps. By the time the first scene scurried into life, where the ugly sisters taunt Cinderella and vie for their step-father’s attention, accompanied by whining strings to capture the sisters’ annoying screeches and complaints, such idle thoughts were gone. I was in…”(more)

Li Cunxin does of course have a significant connection to Houston as this is where he defected in 1981, which is when the photo above was taken.

I didn’t take to the book much, not just because missed some important points, but because I thought its approach was populist and sensationalised.

I like Peter’s columns in the sports section of the Fairfax press. I reckon he should stick to that.

I expect my take on the stockaders – that they were perhaps closer to Gina Reinhardt than the Communist Party (say of the late 1940′s coal strikes era) – and that democracy was an after-thought, will disgruntle a few.

Note the link below is for the galleys of the pages, which I receive to sign-off on, so other reviews here may have changed in their final version.

I understand to access the pages, you have to subscribe. Be nice if that was offered to TLS contributors as they pay near nothing for these brief reviews.

TLS Briefs April 12, 2013