Sydney | Jotup

Vivid Sydney 2023 Kicks Off With Biggest Opening Weekend on Record

Retrieved on:

Friday, June 2, 2023

SYDNEY, AU, June 2, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Vivid Sydney has enjoyed its largest-ever opening weekend, attracting more than 453,000 visitors to experience Australia's largest event in 2023.

Key Points:

SYDNEY, AU, June 2, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Vivid Sydney has enjoyed its largest-ever opening weekend, attracting more than 453,000 visitors to experience Australia's largest event in 2023.
The opening weekend attendance represents a 4 per cent increase from Vivid Sydney's previous highest opening weekend in 2022.
"Vivid Sydney 2023 is off to a flying start but there is still plenty of time to get out and take part in this unique Sydney celebration.
The longest-ever Vivid Sydney Light Walk, festival-first experiences including Lightscape and Dark Spectrum, as well as Vivid Food, were all among the most visited festival offerings on the opening weekend.

I can't imagine anybody would come out of On The Beach and not hold their loved ones just that little bit closer

Retrieved on:

Monday, July 24, 2023

Max Richter, Life, Face, Sydney, Jekyll, Writing, Sydney Theatre Company, Lighting, Death, Beauty, Love, United Kingdom, Delusion, Book, Socialism, Film industry, Entertainment, Review, Beach

When Nevil Shute wrote his 1957 novel On the Beach, the world was emerging from the devastation of the second world war to confront new fears.

Key Points:

When Nevil Shute wrote his 1957 novel On the Beach, the world was emerging from the devastation of the second world war to confront new fears.
Shute imagines a not-too-distant future in which a short nuclear war has destroyed life on much of the planet.
Read more:
'This is the way the world ends': Nevil Shute's On the Beach warned us of nuclear annihilation.

Passion for life

And our connection to the characters in the first half provides a platform for the devastating pathos of the second half.
Shute famously thought of writing as a “pansy occupation”, only deigning to write if the writing had utility.
In this 2023 adaptation, however, the story is invested with a sensual passion for life that moves well beyond Shute’s stern warnings and instead provides a celebration of sex, love, desire and embodied, animal life.

Fragile lives

Lighting from Damien Cooper and set design from Michael Hankin contribute to a cinematic experience that underscores the beauty the production draws out of our fragile lives.
Contessa Treffone gives a stand out performance as Moira, carrying much of the emotional weight of the play.
On The Beach is clear-eyed in its pessimistic outlook for our lives.

'This is the way the world ends': Nevil Shute's On the Beach warned us of nuclear annihilation. It's still a hot-button issue

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Eliot’s The Hollow Men (1925), concludes:

Key Points:

Eliot’s The Hollow Men (1925), concludes:
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Indeed, Nevil Shute’s classic novel of nuclear annihilation, On the Beach, published in June 1957, used Eliot’s famous lines as an epigraph.

‘Australia’s most important novel’

Journalist Gideon Haigh calls On the Beach “arguably Australia’s most important novel – important in the sense of confronting a mass international audience with the defining issue of the age”.
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river.
This comes to the fore in the following passage, which focuses on a dinner party hosted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes of the Royal Australian Navy.
The atmosphere is both claustrophobic and delirious:
For three hours they danced and drank together, sedulously avoiding any serious topic of conversation.
The reason why the guests at Peter’s party are so keen to avoid serious talk is both simple and depressing.
This is the way Shute’s novel of nuclear extinction ends: not with a bang but with a whimper.
Released at the height of the Cold War, On the Beach struck a chord with millions of concerned readers.

Usefully entertaining

A copy had found its way to the desk of John F. Kennedy, the next president of the United States.
Shute famously detested the movie, which received decidedly mixed reviews.
Her husband’s reply is revealing:
‘I don’t know […] Some kinds of silliness you just can’t stop,’ he said.
While the science in the novel was somewhat flawed, Shute’s cautionary tale undoubtedly spoke to the collective zeitgeist.
Read more:
Friday essay: if growing US-China rivalry leads to 'the worst war ever', what should Australia do?

Enduring influence

The influence of Shute’s novel, which was remade in 2000 as a film for Australian television, can be observed in various post-apocalyptic works, including George Miller’s Mad Max franchise and the late Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
It seems increasingly likely the world as we know it is coming to an end – if it hasn’t already.
On The Beach runs at the Sydney Theatre Company 24 July to 12 August 2023, with previews 18–21 July.

Why do I find my child's school report so hard to understand?

Retrieved on:

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Long gone are the days when a school report was handwritten page, with wisdom like “tried hard, but needs to try harder”, along with percentages or letter grades.

Key Points:

Long gone are the days when a school report was handwritten page, with wisdom like “tried hard, but needs to try harder”, along with percentages or letter grades.
But despite all the effort schools make to produce these documents, parents can finish a report and have little idea whether their child is doing OK.

How did we get here?

This requires schools to provide a report to “each person responsible” for a student “at least twice a year”.
For students from Years 1 to 10, the report must give “accurate and objective assessment” of the student’s progress and achievement, including an assessment of the student’s achievement:

Read more:
How to talk to your child about their school report

Information gets swamped

We see the well-intentioned desire to provide parents and caregivers with timely and useful information becoming swamped by the rest of the requirements around reports.
Both a 2019 Australian Council of Education Research review and anecdotal reports suggest parents do not find reports particularly clear or helpful.
Or as some described them to The Sydney Morning Herald in 2018, “sterile and technical” and “next to useless”.

How does this fit with other ideas about school?

There is a growing understanding we need to take a more individualised and flexible approach to support all kinds of learners at school.
Read more:
What is the National School Reform Agreement and what does it have to do with school funding?

Some schools do it differently

However, some schools are already doing reports about student learning very differently, albeit with very different philosophies and practices.
Some Australian schools are using personalised curricula and reporting through practical projects such as an album of recorded music to demonstrate a student’s progress.
Others schools focus on “dispositions towards learning” that prioritise entreprenurial skills and innovative thinking that will set them up for post-school life.

Schools and parents can create alternatives

Perhaps it’s better, then, for school communities to create better solutions for themselves.
Each of the examples here show how powerful learning can be when parents and caregivers are meaningful partners with the school, rather than passive recipients of predetermined outputs.

What should the Australian War Memorial do with its heroic portraits of Ben Roberts-Smith?

Retrieved on:

Monday, June 5, 2023

Justice Anthony Besanko ruled the newspapers had established, by the “balance of probabilities” (the standard of evidence in a civil lawsuit), that Roberts-Smith had committed war crimes.

Key Points:

Justice Anthony Besanko ruled the newspapers had established, by the “balance of probabilities” (the standard of evidence in a civil lawsuit), that Roberts-Smith had committed war crimes.
Following the ruling, much public debate has focused on what the Australian War Memorial should do with Robert-Smith’s uniform, helmet and other artefacts of his on display.

The case of the oil paintings

The memorial also has two heroic oil painting portraits of Roberts-Smith by one of Australia’s leading artists, Michael Zavros.
These paintings were commissioned by the memorial in 2014.
Pistol Grip (Ben Roberts-Smith VC) is a larger-than-life-sized depiction of Roberts-Smith, camouflage arms outstretched, mimicking the action of holding a pistol.

Moral and ethical ambiguity

In 1992, the Canadian Airborne Regiment was deployed as peacekeepers to Somalia.
In 1993, 16-year-old Shidane Arone was found hiding in the Canadian base, believed to have been stealing supplies.
Master Corporal Clayton Matchee and his subordinate Private Kyle Brown were charged with his murder and torture.
It addresses an ethical grey area many soldiers face during active service when the hierarchy of command comes into direct conflict with conscience.

The complexity of contemporary art

Brandon’s curatorial decision to display Kearns’s Somalia paintings strike at the heart of what is special and important about contemporary war art in a national museum.
Contemporary art presents ethical and moral complexity, grey zones and a range of perspectives.
The portraits should be displayed in ways that address this complexity, capturing the evolving story of Roberts-Smith in explanatory wall text.
The most compelling contemporary art works – and the most valuable museum displays in our national institutions – are those that consider our complex stories, raise important and self-reflective questions, and challenge simplistic narratives.

Labor maintains large Newspoll lead, but support for Voice slumps

Retrieved on:

Monday, June 5, 2023

A federal Newspoll, conducted May 31 to June 3 from a sample of 1,549, gave Labor a 55-45 lead, unchanged from the last Newspoll, three weeks ago.

Key Points:

A federal Newspoll, conducted May 31 to June 3 from a sample of 1,549, gave Labor a 55-45 lead, unchanged from the last Newspoll, three weeks ago.
Primary votes were 38% Labor (steady), 34% Coalition (steady), 12% Greens (up one), 6% One Nation (down one) and 10% for all Others (steady).
Support for the Indigenous Voice to parliament slumped to a 46-43 lead for “yes” with 11% undecided, from a 53-39 lead in early April.

Essential poll: 52-43 to Labor including undecided

In last week’s Essential poll, conducted May 24-28 from a sample of 1,138, Labor led by 52-43 including undecided (53-42 the previous fortnight).
Primary votes were 34% Labor (down one), 31% Coalition (steady), 15% Greens (up one), 6% One Nation (up one), 2% UAP (up one), 7% for all Others (down one) and 5% undecided (steady).

Freshwater poll only gives Labor a 52-48 lead

The Poll Bludger reported on May 22 that a Freshwater poll for The Financial Review, conducted May 15-17 from a sample of 1,005, gave Labor a 52-48 lead, a two-point gain for the Coalition since December.
Primary votes were 37% Coalition (steady), 34% Labor (down three), 12% Greens (steady) and 17% for all Others (up three).
An April Freshwater poll had given “yes” an overall 56-44 lead.
A Painted Dog WA poll for The West Australian gave Albanese a net +23 approval while Dutton was at net -32.

Opposition to Voice drops in Morgan poll

A Morgan SMS poll, conducted May 26-29 from a sample of 1,833, had support for an Indigenous Voice to parliament at 46% (steady since mid-April), opposition at 36% (down three) and 18% undecided (up three).
Excluding undecided, “yes” led by 56-44, a two-point gain for “yes”.
Morgan’s weekly voting intentions poll gave Labor a 55.5-44.5 lead last week, unchanged on the previous week but a 1.5-point gain for the Coalition since three weeks ago.

WA Premier Mark McGowan resigns

Labor Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan announced his resignation as premier and member for Rockingham last Monday.
At the March 2021 WA state election, McGowan led Labor to the biggest landslide win in Australian state or federal political history.
They won 53 of the 59 lower house seats and 22 of the 36 upper house seats – the first WA Labor upper house majority.

US debt limit deal passes Congress

I covered the passage of the US debt limit deal between President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy through Congress last week for The Poll Bludger.
My tactical analysis of the deal was harsh on McCarthy, saying he was more like a pussycat than a tiger.

Morgan Victorian poll: 61.5-38.5 to Labor

A Victorian SMS Morgan state poll, conducted May 17-22 from a sample of 2,095, gave Labor a 61.5-38.5 lead over the Coalition (55.0-45.0 at the November 2022 election).
Primary votes were 42% Labor, 28.5% Coalition, 12.5% Greens and 17% for all Others.
By 52.5-47.5 voters approved of Labor Premier Daniel Andrews’ performance (57.5-42.5 in a November Morgan poll).
Respondents were asked why they approved or disapproved, with many who disapproved of Pesutto citing his handling of the Moira Deeming affair.

NSW Resolve poll: Labor honeymoon after election win

Two party estimates are not generally provided by Resolve, but Labor is far ahead.
Incumbent Chris Minns led new Liberal leader Mark Speakman as preferred premier by 42-12.

Tasmanian EMRS poll: Liberals slump but Labor doesn’t benefit

A Tasmanian state EMRS poll, conducted May 15-19 from a sample of 1,000, gave the Liberals 36% of the vote (down six since February), Labor 31% (up one), the Greens 15% (up two) and all Others 18% (up three).
Tasmania uses a proportional system for its lower house, so a two party estimate is not applicable.

Climate change first 'went viral' exactly 70 years ago

Retrieved on:

Friday, May 12, 2023

UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher warned of a giant experiment being conducted “with the system of this planet itself”.

Key Points:

UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher warned of a giant experiment being conducted “with the system of this planet itself”.
But it was actually 35 years before that – fully 70 years ago this month – that the danger of carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere first travelled around the world.
In 1938 English steam engineer Guy Callendar suggested to the Royal Society in London that warming was under way.
He looked at how carbon dioxide actually functions in the real world, not just at sea level (without getting too technical.
Every year, as we burn more oil, coal and gas, the concentration climbs and more heat is trapped.
There’s a very good chance we will have gone over the 2°C warming level that used to be regarded as “safe”.

Stack's Bowers Galleries Announces Grand Opening for Boston Gallery

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Harvey G. Stack, Heart, American Numismatic Association, Merchants Row (Boston), Sydney, Faneuil Hall, Merchant, State Street, Gold, Museum, Nightclub

BOSTON, May 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stack's Bowers Galleries is pleased to announce the grand opening of a new gallery in downtown Boston, located at 84 State Street facing Merchant's Row, a stone's throw from Faneuil Hall.

Key Points:

BOSTON, May 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stack's Bowers Galleries is pleased to announce the grand opening of a new gallery in downtown Boston, located at 84 State Street facing Merchant's Row, a stone's throw from Faneuil Hall.
As one of the world's leading rare coin and currency dealers and auctioneers with a 90-year history, the firm enjoys long-standing relationships with museums, galleries, coin shops, dealers and collectors in the Boston area.
From this new location in the heart of New England, Stack's Bowers Galleries will provide world-renowned expertise and enhance their ability to assist the public with their rare coin and currency needs.
Gallery Manager, Stanley Chu, was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and is a life member at the American Numismatic Association, the New England Numismatic Association, the Nashua Coin Club, and the Florida United Numismatists.

While the Voice has a large poll lead now, history of past referendums indicates it may struggle

Retrieved on:

Monday, May 1, 2023

Analyst Kevin Bonham has plotted all the poll results, and the average Voice support is down from 65% in August 2022 to 57% now.

Key Points:

Analyst Kevin Bonham has plotted all the poll results, and the average Voice support is down from 65% in August 2022 to 57% now.
Last week’s Morgan (a “yes” lead of just 54-46) was particularly concerning for Voice supporters, given the history of support for referendum proposals collapsing as the referendum draws near.

History of past referendums

Since then, only one of 25 referendums proposed by Labor governments have succeeded.
Conservative governments have had more success with six of 18 referendums proposed by non-Labor governments succeeding.
But midterm referendums are the focus, and can become like a byelection, at which governments usually do badly.
If the Voice is to defy the history of Labor-initiated referendums that were opposed by the Coalition, particularly at midterm referendums, the Albanese government will need to continue to poll at honeymoon levels until the referendum date.
Labor’s history-making win at the federal Aston byelection gives the Voice some chance of passing, but history suggests it will be a struggle.

UK local elections and the US debt limit

I wrote for The Poll Bludger last Thursday that UK local elections will be held this Thursday.
The US is headed for a crisis over the debt limit later this year.

Victorian Resolve poll: Labor still way ahead

A Victorian state Resolve poll for The Age, conducted with the federal March and April Resolve polls from a sample of 1,600, gave Labor 42% of the primary vote (up one since February), the Coalition 30% (steady), the Greens 10% (down three), independents 12% (down one) and others 5% (up one).
Resolve does not provide two party estimates until close to elections, but Labor is clearly still far ahead.
This poll was taken before the corruption watchdog’s report that criticised the Labor government.

Anthem Blue Cross Introduces Virtual-First Health Plans, Helping California Members Access Convenient, Affordable Care Options

Retrieved on:

Monday, March 27, 2023

Technology, Insurance, Health Technology, Telemedicine, Virtual Medicine, Professional Services, Health Insurance, Health, General Health, Artificial Intelligence, ASO, Artificial intelligence, Sydney, Elevance Health, Health insurance, Nursing

Anthem Blue Cross (Anthem) in California today announced its Virtual-First health plans to eligible members in select commercial health plans.

Key Points:

Anthem Blue Cross (Anthem) in California today announced its Virtual-First health plans to eligible members in select commercial health plans.
Virtual-First plans give individuals affordable access to virtual care options, including access to a symptom checker driven by artificial intelligence, routine wellness care, and chronic condition management, along with behavioral healthcare.
Through Anthem’s digital health platform, Virtual-First health plans can connect care data from various visits and providers throughout the healthcare system.
Members can expect virtual-first plans offered by their employers that provide a variety of cost-share options including no-coinsurance for virtual care, guiding members to more affordable, high-quality digital care.