page#1, Scene#1 … the end and other stories

Michael Alen, a student in Creative Writing, is putting on a production at the Little Theatre in the Cloisters this weekend. I think that I’ll probably be doing Creative Writing next year; it would be interesting to have a look at this performance. It is called page#1, Scene#1 … the end and other stories – here are some details from the promotional flyer:

page#1, Scene#1
… the end and other stories

in collaboration with the Creative Writing program,
directed by Michael Allen

LITTLE THEATRE
(The Cloisters, University of Adelaide, off Victoria Drive).
April 10, 11, and 12 at 7.30 pm. All tickets $15.
Book on 8303 5999, or www.adelaide.edu.au/theatreguild.

A playlet with a twist, bananas galore, some very odd sales monologues, a disappearance in a cupboard, a train trip to eternity, a seriously black car journey, Eve’s second sin and who the hell is Estelle?
Ride an imaginative roller-coaster in this short, sharp, dynamic evening of creative juice-making.

This promises to be an interesting drama, full of grist for the mill for us media students, writers, actors, theorists and commentators. Perhaps I’ll see you there.

 

The Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL)

I caught the tail end of this story on the news last night. Two guys are on a typographic journey across America, correcting spelling, grammar and punctuation errors where ever they see them. This is sort of like Easy Rider, but they are travelling with pens and correction fluid, not riding motor bikes. This is a really great read; not to mention a typographic insight into American culture.

Here is a link to their blog http://www.jeffdeck.com/teal/blog/ and a fascinating account of their journery.

 

Dan Baltussen’s Classic blogs

I enjoyed Dan Baltussen’s talk at our Digital Revolutions lecture this week. I studied history a few years ago so his subject matter was of special interest to me. However, many years before this, at school, I was taught Latin.

Although I certainly did not appreciate the beauty of the language at the time – over the years I have been able to apply Latin practically in many, many contemporary situations. I strongly believe that Latin is a strong foundation for learning English, and that an education taught without teaching Latin would make it harder to teach English. How could someone possibly understand English if they didn’t know Latin? The same could be said for French too, not to mention Greek and all of the other languages that have made their way into our mother tongue.

I have an internet site somewhere that offers a Latin translation service. It’s broken, some of the links don’t work and I think I lost some pages. But I think I will try to ressurect it. I love Latin – agricolae ducturus hastae sunt – the peasants will learn how to shake their spears. Ebullient farmers. Long live Latin!

Here is the link for the rogueclassicism blog that Dan referred to:
http://www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism/

 

History of the Image – How Art Made the World

Norman Spivy’s presentation of How Art Made the World is a very appropriate example of the work being done in classical archeology and art, showing the origins and evolution of today’s media production techniques and effects. This was shown in the last episode, with the development of portraits by Darius the Archer and of icons by Alexander the Great. Tonight’s episode traces the history of story telling: through narrative images from ancient Mesopotamia to a Greek oddessy; and ritual, musical stories of the dreamtime in Australia, culminating with the first moving picture (Ned Kelly) made in Australia in 1894.

 

The ABC of Dance 4 Film – Dance, choreography and film

Did you catch the series of short five-minute dance films that screened on Channel Two just after How Art Made the World? It is called the ABC of Dance 4 Film and is stimulating television. Cameras dancing around performers in superb story telling and dance: Ten Exhalations, The Rain, Lick Your Pavement, Tea Time (exquisite), Dis-Oriental - excellent examples of dance and film making. The series is on next week too.

adios
Chris Loft