January 2010
17 posts
2 tags
The best of the rest of the blogosphere
My picks from the hundreds of things I’ve seen online this week.
Why does everyone love Apple so much? It’s the ultimate middle-class, Bobo signifier. (L’Hote)
Anna of FWD/Forward on the cult of the ‘busy’. (FWD/Forward)
The Cult of Busy tells us that worthwhile people have full daytimers, with every minute packed. Want to do lunch with friends? I’ll have to...
5 tags
And the winner is...
Big congratulations to Penelope Robinson, winner of last week’s competition for aspiring authors. Penelope will have her book proposal critiqued by UK author and former literary agent staffer Jean Hannah Edelstein.
Winning entry selected blindly and at random by one of my colleagues doing overtime at the office last night. Thanks to everyone who entered, and good luck with your publishing...
2 tags
4 tags
Ask Rachel: What should I charge for my work?
Image: Antique German Continental Typewriter, by Valeriana Solaris
Sara writes: “I was made redundant from my job just before Christmas. I worked for several websites mostly as a copywriter, critic and editor. I am thinking of making a huge life change this year - rather than finding another office job I want to give being a freelance writer a go.
I have had several offers of work as a...
5 tags
Reprint: Reflections on Australia Day
A couple of years ago, The Sunday Age asked me to write some reflections on Australia Day. At the time, I was quite perplexed - nationalism isn’t an issue I dedicate a whole lot of time to thinking about. In any case, the resulting article ended up being quoted by Gerard Henderson (see if you can guess which phrase). Reprinted for public holiday relevance below. Last year on Australia Day,...
3 tags
Hopes/predictions for the 2010s
Image: What Will You Fill Your Heart With in 2010?, by Thomas Ott Or 2010 itself, at least. Fool: Bloated, hyperbolic professional bios/marketing copy. Cool: Letting your accomplishments speak for themselves. Fool: Pretending that 600 Facebook friends means 600 actual friends. Cool: Spending more time with the people you really care about and authentically engaging with your community...
2 tags
The best of the rest of the blogosphere
My picks from the hundreds of articles I’ve read online this week.
- Tim Burton is set to remake Sleeping Beauty (the first Disney film I recall seeing and probably the root of my childhood obsession with being blonde) from the point of view of wicked fairy, Maleficent. (Ain’t It Cool)
- Lisa Dempster on failure and why we should all try to have more of it in our lives. (Unwakeable)
...
1 tag
1 tag
“Login to Twitter. Login to Facebook. What you see is a world that you’ve...”
– More Danah Boyd, this time via somethingchanged and buyhercandy.
If you’re not already subscribing to Boyd’s RSS feed, add her now!
4 tags
“Public-ness has always been a privilege. For a long time, only a few chosen few...”
– Social media researcher Danah Boyd: Facebook’s move ain’t about changes in privacy norms
(via materialworld) (via melissa)
Related: Is ‘being human’ a creative class privilege?
4 tags
Ask Rachel: So you want to get a book deal?
Image: page 61, by D’Arcy Norman.
When I invited you guys to throw me your writing/media related questions last week, I didn’t expect the first one (from blogger Andrew McMillen) to be such a doozy.
While I’ve flitted around the edges of the publishing industry for three or four years now, I have never had a book deal myself - perhaps misguidedly waiting for the right Big...
2 tags
Why you shouldn't feel guilty for staying home on...
At least, not if that’s what you really want to do. Liz Lemon’s quote in last week’s 30 Rock seems fitting for my latest CLEO article:
“Oh we’re going to have fun. We’re going to stay here and make nachos and see who can fall asleep the earliest! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!”
Is staying in the new going out? More and more twentysomethings are ditching...
3 tags
“[Sex and the City] was also radical because, in a very un-PC but admirable...”
– It’s old news now that Naomi Wolf declared one Carrie Bradshaw a, if not the, feminist icon of the last decade. It is even older news that I am highly critical of the romance and consumption obsessed brand of empowerment promoted by Sex and the City. Still, something about Wolf’s...
2 tags
“Cosmo is big on Body Love, but maybe it needs to start celebrating women for...”
– Scarlett Harris reviews the latest issue of Australian Cosmopolitan for Girl With A Satchel.
3 tags
What to expect in 2010: you ask, I answer, and...
Image: 2009 becomes 2010, by Optical Illusion
I’ve been back in Australia a little over 24 hours, but I am bizarrely missing the European weather. Sure, I felt like my feet were going to freeze off a couple of times, but it was nothing central heating and a good hot chocolate can’t fix, and breathing is somehow easier at 0C than it is at 30C. Hair is also easier to style, for that...
4 tags
3 tags
