BEARD DREAD

What's with all these young Sydney blokes and their Alfred Deakin (pictured) meets ZZ Top meets South Carolina hillbilly meets lost Nimbin soul meets European philosopher beards? Everywhere you look, there's another mountain man who has never trekked to a mountain's summit. There's even a tumblr site celebrating the beards of Sydney. I don't get it - I'm off to have a shave. LJ, Easter Saturday, 2014.

WHAT I'M TURNING UP TO 11...

Chet Faker. The Knife. Chvrches. Foxes. Kate Miller-Heidke. Tycho. Coldplay. LJ, April 19 2014.

POETICA

Mark Tredinnick is the featured poet on this weekend's episode of Poetica on RN. Mark talks with Mike Ladd about birds, landscape, love, life etc. At one stage, they walk a track near Fitzroy Falls in Morton National Park and Mark recalls when he and I were there a few years ago and I was clarifying bird calls for him. My thanks to Mark for his kind words on my birding abilities. I'm keen to read his new volume Bluewren Cantos. LJ, April 10 2014.

PAUL RYAN

I've just finished a catalogue essay (entitled Dandies and Lions) for Paul Ryan's upcoming show at Gallery Ecosse, Exeter. This is the first art essay I've put together and it's come up well. Paul's happy with it, that's the main thing. We've corresponded via email and phone, but I'm yet to meet the Thirroul-based artist. His fresh canvasses (mainly portraits in thick oils) are confronting, bizarre, polarising and absolutely essential. Paul has a lot to say about Australian masculinity - much of this show addresses how men need to find their sensitive sides through nature and dressing up in extravagant clothes from bygone eras. Some of it is also a comment on our dark white-indigenous origins. Make sure you see get to Ecosse in April.

LJ, 26 March 2014.

POEM #31

Parenting, 2014.

To Wii or not to Wii:
that is the question.

LJ, March 13 2014

MEMORY WEAVING

A Tip, a straightforward, yet evocative little poem I penned last October, has just been published in Memory Weaving, an anthology addressing dementia and all it entails. The poem offers up a suggestion on how best to deal with loved ones when they fall victim to their mind's deterioration. My thanks to ed. Carolyn Vimpani.

BLUE JASMINE

Cate Blanchett deserves to win an Oscar for her riveting portrayal of a damaged Manhattan socialite in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. The film has much to say about the effects of men's infidelity, treachery and gluttony. It had a real Tennessee Williams feel. The dark, ambiguous ending was unexpected, refreshing. Perhaps, our Cate's performance will draw some empathy from male viewers and have them think more seriously about how they treat their wives/girlfriends. LJ, 3 March 2014.