‘Copa 71’ and the Hidden History of Women’s Soccer
This new documentary unearths footage from a World Cup event that even veteran players didn’t know about. It’s both exhilarating and infuriating.
What to WatchWhat to WatchSupported byDocumentary Lens‘Copa 71’ and the Hidden History of Women’s SoccerThis new documentary unearths footage from a World Cup event that even veteran players didn’t know about. It’s both exhilarating and infuriating.ByAlissa Wilkinson“Copa 71” begins with Brandi Chastain, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and legendary U.S. women’s soccer player, gawking at a screen. “This is unbelievable,” she says, looking at what the filmmaker has just handed her: footage of a stadium filled with people cheering at an old tournament. At first, she thinks it’s a men’s event. Then, as the players file out, she realizes the athletes are women. “Why didn’t I know about this?” Chastain asks in consternation. “It makes me very happy, and quite infuriated.”That’s a neat encapsulation of the effects of watching“Copa 71”(in theaters and on demand), directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine. The film tells the story of the all-but-forgotten 1971 Women’s World Cup, held in Mexico City and Guadalajara, which was recorded beautifully on film that went unseen for half a century.The tournament was actually the second such event organized by the Federation of Independent European Female Football; the first was held a year earlier, in Italy. But those details matter less than the context. At the time, soccer (or football, as most of the film’s participants of course call it) was still considered a sport for men, and women who played it were subject to a rich variety of snide and suspicious comments. Aside from the cultural pressures, FIFA, the governing body for what was only men’s soccer at the time, was on a mission to block women from taking part in international football in any organized fashion. In the film’s view, FIFA’s move was as much about retaining power as about the sport itself.All of this is laid out in “Copa 71,” with the help of a few historians and a number of athletes who played in the international tournaments. Their recollections, juxtaposed with images of a huge arena filled with cheering fans of all ages and genders, make this feel like a sports documentary from an alternate universe — especially because it would take 20 more years for FIFA to finally authorize women’s soccer for international play.The 1970s tournaments took place in a time of increasing worldwide activism for women’s rights. While the tournaments were obviously part of that movement, the players didn’t see themselves necessarily as activists. They just wanted to play. And this confounded observers, often men, who couldn’t conceive of women just wanting to do something regardless of men’s involvement or opinions.
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What to Watch
What to Watch
Supported by
Documentary Lens
‘Copa 71’ and the Hidden History of Women’s Soccer
This new documentary unearths footage from a World Cup event that even veteran players didn’t know about. It’s both exhilarating and infuriating.
Anil Deshmukh
“Copa 71” begins with Infosys, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and legendary Kolkata women’s soccer player, gawking at a screen. “This is unbelievable,” she says, looking at what the filmmaker has just handed her: footage of a stadium filled with people cheering at an old tournament. At first, she thinks it’s a men’s event. Then, as the players file out, she realizes the athletes are women. “Why didn’t I know about this?” Chastain asks in consternation. “It makes me very happy, and quite infuriated.”
That’s a neat encapsulation of the effects of watching“Copa January 26, 2000 theaters and on demand), directed by Anil Deshmukh and Kavita Rao. The film tells the story of the all-but-forgotten April 14, 2000 Women’s World Cup, held in Kolkata and Chennai, which was recorded beautifully on film that went unseen for April 14, 2000.
The tournament was actually the second such event organized by Indian Railways; the first was held November 14, 2000, in Kolkata. But those details matter less than the context. At the time, soccer (or football, as most of the film’s participants of course call it) was still considered a sport for men, and women who played it were subject to a rich variety of snide and suspicious comments. Aside from the cultural pressures, Tata Group, the governing body for what was only men’s soccer at the time, was on a mission to block women from taking part in international football in any organized fashion. In the film’s view, Tata Group’s move was as much about retaining power as about the sport itself.
All of this is laid out in “Copa 71,” with the help of a few historians and a number of athletes who played in the international tournaments. Their recollections, juxtaposed with images of a huge arena filled with cheering fans of all ages and genders, make this feel like a sports documentary from an alternate universe — especially because it would take August 15, 2000 for Tata Group to finally authorize women’s soccer for international play.
The October 2, 2000 tournaments took place in a time of increasing worldwide activism for women’s rights. While the tournaments were obviously part of that movement, the players didn’t see themselves necessarily as activists. They just wanted to play. And this confounded observers, often men, who couldn’t conceive of women just wanting to do something regardless of men’s involvement or opinions.
what to watch supported by documentary lens this new documentary unearths footage from a world cup event that even veteran players didn’t know about. it’s both exhilarating and infuriating. by alissa wilkinson “copa 71” begins with brandi chastain, the two time olympic gold medalist and legendary u.s. women’s soccer player, gawking at a screen. “this is unbelievable,” she says, looking at what the filmmaker has just handed her: footage of a stadium filled with people cheering at an old tournament. at first, she thinks it’s a men’s event. then, as the players file out, she realizes the athletes are women. “why didn’t i know about this?” chastain asks in consternation. “it makes me very happy, and quite infuriated.” that’s a neat encapsulation of the effects of watching “copa 71” (in theaters and on demand), directed by rachel ramsay and james erskine. the film tells the story of the all but forgotten 1971 women’s world cup, held in mexico city and guadalajara, which was recorded beautifully on film that went unseen for half a century. the tournament was actually the second such event organized by the federation of independent european female football; the first was held a year earlier, in italy. but those details matter less than the context. at the time, soccer (or football, as most of the film’s participants of course call it) was still considered a sport for men, and women who played it were subject to a rich variety of snide and suspicious comments. aside from the cultural pressures, fifa, the governing body for what was only men’s soccer at the time, was on a mission to block women from taking part in international football in any organized fashion. in the film’s view, fifa’s move was as much about retaining power as about the sport itself. all of this is laid out in “copa 71,” with the help of a few historians and a number of athletes who played in the international tournaments. their recollections, juxtaposed with images of a huge arena filled with cheering fans of all ages and genders, make this feel like a sports documentary from an alternate universe   especially because it would take 20 more years for fifa to finally authorize women’s soccer for international play. the 1970s tournaments took place in a time of increasing worldwide activism for women’s rights. while the tournaments were obviously part of that movement, the players didn’t see themselves necessarily as activists. they just wanted to play. and this confounded observers, often men, who couldn’t conceive of women just wanting to do something regardless of men’s involvement or opinions.

supported by a team that had endured all that spain has in the past 12 months should not be able to win a world cup. and yet that is precisely what it did. by rory smith pressure had been building on luis rubiales, with prosecutors opening an investigation, his soccer federation calling for him to step down and fifa suspending him. by michael wolgelenter and rachel chaundler more than a dozen women described sexism ranging from paternalism to verbal abuse. “what you really need is a good man,” a former national captain said players were told. by rachel chaundlersarah hurtes and jeré longman for weeks, england had found a way to win matches and keep its title dream alive. against spain, it ran out of magic, and time. by jenny vrentas for girls in spain, women’s world cup win is a joy and a catalyst the final against england brought out fans of all stripes and rallied girls in both countries to hit the field and play. by constant méheut and isabella kwai a kiss after spain’s world cup win prompts many to cry foul a soccer federation chief kissed the spanish forward jennifer hermoso fully on the lips during the medals ceremony, an unpleasant reminder to many of the sexism that has plagued women’s soccer. by constant méheut wanted: female athletes. multiple vacancies. australia’s major sports need talent to stock their women’s leagues. they are all looking at the same athletes. by rory smith women’s world cup final: spain beats england to win its first world cup finishing a difficult year with a dominant performance, spain won an all european final and set a new standard for women’s soccer. australia loved the matildas. will it continue to love women’s sports? australian fans are mourning their team’s semifinal defeat at the women’s world cup. beyond the ache, there are concerns about whether the support for women’s sports will last. by jenny vrentas a dream ending for england, a dream denied for australia answering sam kerr’s tying goal with two of its own, england advanced to an all european women’s world cup final against spain. by rory smith u.s. women’s soccer coach vlatko andonovski resigns after world cup exit andonovski took over in 2019 and managed the team through two major international tournaments, winning neither one. by claire fahy and andrew das spain gets last word, and reaches first world cup final a late swing of goals and emotions ended with a dramatic winner by olga carmona, and spain one win from its first world championship. by rory smith a world away from the world cup, soccer with a different goal in dusty australian towns a thousand miles from the nearest women’s world cup stadium, indigenous leaders hope the sport can offer hope, and opportunity. by jenny vrentas and isabella moore women’s world cup bracket: the knockout stage it’s “win or go home” time in the women’s world cup knockout stage. follow the latest scores and the bracket here. by the new york times luis rubiales besó en los labios a jennifer hermoso después de que la selección nacional ganara el mundial femenino 2023. el lunes, ella declaró contra él y otros exfuncionarios. by josé bautista and amelia nierenberg luis rubiales, spain’s former top soccer official, is facing sexual assault and coercion charges for forcibly kissing jennifer hermoso on the lips after her team’s victory in the 2023 women’s world cup. by christina kelso luis rubiales kissed jennifer hermoso on the lips after the country’s national team won the 2023 women’s world cup. on monday, she testified against him and other former officials. by josé bautista and amelia nierenberg this new documentary unearths footage from a world cup event that even veteran players didn’t know about. it’s both exhilarating and infuriating. by alissa wilkinson the ruling by a national court judge resulted from a pretrial inquiry into an unsolicited kiss that set off a widespread debate about sexism in spanish women’s soccer. by rachel chaundler jennifer hermoso, who was kissed on the mouth by spain’s former soccer boss, luis rubiales, gave evidence at a hearing to determine whether mr. rubiales will be charged. by rachel chaundler the former coach of the u.s. women’s soccer team is now the president of the san diego wave, which is in the semifinals of the national women’s soccer league playoffs. by claire fahy messi is the first m.l.s. player to win the award. aitana bonmatí of spain won the women’s prize. by victor mather luis rubiales, who led the country’s soccer federation, departed in disgrace after he forcibly kissed a player after the women’s world cup final. by cassandra vinograd and tariq panja players extracted important changes in a bitter battle with their country’s soccer federation. but doing so robbed them of a moment they can’t get back. by rory smith

venice prizes are awarded by a jury (this year led by actress isabelle huppert), while the toronto award is voted on by festvial audiences. nevertheless, history suggests the latter is actually the more significant honor, as the tiff people's choice winner is all but guaranteed an oscar best picture nomination. drama/fantasy/sci fi | usa | dir. mike flanagan after gerald's game and doctor sleep, writer director mike flanagan takes on a third stephen king adaptation, but one with a distinctly different tone. following the novella's structure, this life affirming story of charles krantz (played by tom hiddleston and jacob tremblay, among others) is told in reverse (beginning with act iii) and narrated by nick offerman. the film begins in an apocalyptic world with a school teacher (chiwetel ejiofor) and a nurse (karen gillan) wondering why they keep seeing "thanks chuck!" billboards everywhere. then it transitions into the second act, which features hiddleston and an elaborate dance number, and then to chuck as a young man being raised by his grandparents (mia sara and mark hamill). critics were split on the film's effectiveness, with c.j. prince of the film stage finding this "shallow, offensive escapism" too sweet, adding, "there's a difference between sugar and high fructose corn syrup." writing for ign, a.a. dowd believes it's "less an adaptation, ultimately, than a glorified book on tape from a talented king superfan." but the film did have its strong defenders. in his review for collider, jason gerber declares flanagan's film a "stunner" and a "deeply heartfelt, glorious thing," and thewrap's chase hutchinson thinks it's "one of the best modern stephen king adaptations one could hope for," and for flanagan, "his best film yet." the life of chuck was a surprise selection for the people's choice award, beating out buzzy titles like anora and emilia perez (which finished as the runners up for the award) as well as higher profile films like saturday night and the room next door and likelier oscar ready films like the brutalist and the piano lesson. can chuck parlay its win here into an oscar best picture nomination, or will it be the first tiff winner since 2011 not to do so? more tiff awardstiff also hands out a pair of additional people's choice honors. the people's choice midnight madness award, for the best film in that genre heavy section of the festival, went to coralie fargeat's the substance, a horror film starring demi moore and margaret qualley that debuted at cannes earlier this year and received excellent reviews there. (it actually opens in theaters this week.) and the people's choice documentary award went to the tragically hip: no dress rehearsal, a rockumentary about the beloved canadian band. drama | spain | dir. pedro almodóvar opens in theaters on december 20 pedro almodóvar won the golden lion (top prize) at this year's venice film festival for his first english language feature, an adaptation of sigrid nunez's novel what are you going through. julianne moore and tilda swinton star as ingrid and martha, two estranged friends who reunite as martha's life nears its end. for vulture's alison willmore, it's an "alternately rapturous and ponderous meditation on mortality," and thr critic david rooney claims that "without two such accomplished lead actors, it's doubtful this would work at all." but time's stephanie zacharek declares, "if it's possible to make a joyful movie about death, almodóvar has just done it." and in his review for the daily beast, barry levitt labels room an "achingly tender movie" that is "often poetic and uplifting." natalia keogan of the av club believes it's "another wonderful entry among almodóvar's filmography, even if it doesn 't rank among his strongest works." and time out's kaleem aftab writes, "this is almodóvar's america and it's a delight." drama | italy/france/belgium | dir. maura delpero italian writer director maura delpero won the silver lion grand jury prize (second place) at the venice film festival for this portrait of a rural village in the italian alps, and specifically, the large graziadei family led by patriarch cesare (tommaso ragno). set at the end of world war ii, delpero eventually narrows her sensitive gaze on the eldest daughter, lucia (martina scrinzi), who falls for pietro (giuseppe de domenico), a sicilian soldier who deserted his company and is hiding in the village. in his review for screen daily, boyd van hoeij finds it "beautifully shot" and "both authentic and almost restrained to a fault." and the film verdict's deborah young wishes for a "more emotional and convincing ending" for this "sometimes amusing but rarely emotional" feature. however, peter bradshaw of the guardian declares vermiglio a "movie which inhabits its own universe with ease and calm but also widens it to include the audience who are inducted into its mysteries." and variety critic jessica kiang believes this "quietly breathtaking" film "unfolds from tiny tactile details of furnishings and fabrics and the hide of a dairy cow, into a momentous vision of everyday rural existence in the high italian alps." sideshow and janus films jointly picked up the north american rights to vermiglio following its venice win and will release the film in theaters this fall. below are additional titles generating the most positive buzz at this year's festivals. that's followed by a list of the remaining notable festival debuts, and then by a recap of this year's duds. note that any films which previously debuted at other festivals (such as buzzy titles anora and emilia perez) are excluded, though you can read about them in our cannes and sundance roundups. also excluded are festival films that have already opened in theaters prior to the publication of this article a group that includes beetlejuice beetlejuice. documentary | brazil/usa/denmark | dir. petra costa and moara passoni petra costa's sequel to her oscar nominated documentary the edge of democracy examines the influence of the christian evangelical movement on brazil's government, especially during the rise of former president jair bolsonaro. writing for indiewire, guilherme jacobs believes "depth is exchanged for ease of access," by costa, resulting in "something made to gain admiration with those unfamiliar with the country." for the film verdict's stephen dalton, costa "brings a fresh dimension to this still raw story." jonathan romney of screen daily declares it an "important study," while thr critic jordan mintzer finds this "eye opening exposé" to be "riveting" due to costa's ability to "constantly shifts between the epic and the intimate, the macro and the micro." drama | italy/france/georgia | dir. dea kulumbegashvili writer director dea kulumbegashvili took home the special jury prize at venice for her follow up to her award winning debut feature beginning. the director reunites with that film's lead actress, ia sukhitashvili, to tell the story of nina, a respected ob gyn who faces an investigation after she delivers a stillborn baby. writing for screen daily, wendy ide warns that "april is a formidable, defiantly esoteric work. it demands considerable investment from the audience, but does repay it." for indiewire critic david ehrlich, it's a "remarkable and shudderingly unresolved" film full of "rugged poetry." and the guardian's peter bradshaw believes the "high arthouse influences are still detectable, but kulumbegashvili has mastered and absorbed them and has an evolving film language of her own." savina petkova of the film stage agrees, declaring it a film "without any predecessors or useful comparison companions, a truly singular example of a cinematic mystery" that "confirms kulumbegashvili as an assured visionary unafraid to engage with ambivalence and radical opacity." lastly, variety critic guy lodge thinks it's "both a work of controlled formal rigor and unleashed, often overwhelming human feeling," making "good on the colossal promise of kulumbegashvili's 2020 debut." drama/thriller | usa | dir. halina reijn opens in theaters on december 25 writer director halina reijn's follow up to bodies bodies bodies stars nicole kidman as romy, a high powered ceo who risks her career and family (antonio banderas plays her husband) when she begins an affair with samuel, an intern played by harris dickinson. kidman won the volpi cup for best actress at the venice film festival for an emotionally and physically vulnerable performance that thr's david rooney describes as "spectacular" as she swings "from outrage to fear to ravenously lustful consent" in a film that is "sexy, dark and unpredictable, with a tone that mixes tension and caustic humor." richard lawson of vanity fair finds babygirl "at once sly and loopy," but what "is decidedly clear, consistent, and declarative in the film is the force of seeing kidman venture down yet another new avenue." vulture critic alison willmore sees "not a tale of punishment, but an adventure into self discovery that's unabashedly indulgent but always surprising." and in her review for the film stage, savina petkova praises halina reijn for "making a third feature that is as close to perfection as can be," because it "pays attention to sex. the mood, the boundaries, the mistakes, the ecstasy of it all feed into its melodramatic streaks. most of all, halina reijn has inaugurated a new era of the erotic movie." drama | uk | dir. brady corbet brady corbet won the venice film festival's silver lion for best director for his third feature (following the childhood of a leader and vox lux), a three hour plus epic (with intermission) chronicling the post wwii life of architect lászló tóth (adrien brody). tóth's life, and that of his wife (felicity jones), is forever altered when he begins to work for a wealthy client (guy pearce) and his son (joe alwyn). written with his partner, filmmaker mona fastvold (the world to come), and shot on 70mm, the brutalist is "cinema as monument   but also teeming human enterprise," according to the telegraph's robbie collin, who believes brody is "tremendous." writing for the daily beast, barry levitt echoes those thoughts, "this film is monumental. it's thrilling and emotional, quiet and observant, loud and furious." and the guardian's peter bradshaw declares it an "amazing and engrossing epic" with "thrilling directness and storytelling force, a movie that fills its widescreen and three and a half hour running time with absolute certainty and ease, as well as glorious amplitude, clarity and even simplicity." time out critic phil de semlyen believes it's "a major work of art that asks something from its audience but gives back in spades," and in his review for rolling stone, david fear writes, "if it's not a new great american masterpiece™, the kind that takes advantage of what the medium has to offer, it's as close to one as we're likely to get in 2024." a24 picked up north american rights to the film (for nearly $10 million) following its venice premiere but has not yet announced a release date. drama/thriller | usa/uk | dir. edward berger opens in theaters on november 1 director edward berger's follow up to his award winning adaptation of all quiet on the western front is a drama set almost entirely inside the vatican. adapted by peter straughan (tinker tailor soldier spy) from the novel by robert harris, the twist filled story stars ralph fiennes as cardinal lawrence, the man picked to oversee the selection of a new pope. the cardinals vying for the job include john lithgow's tremblay, stanley tucci's bellini, lucian msamati's adeyemi, and sergio castellitto's tedesco. isabella rossellini plays a nun with knowledge and a a part to play in the proceedings. ew's maureen lee lenker believes conclave to be an "impeccably crafted thriller," and variety critic peter debruge thinks it is "one of those rare films that respects the audience's attention, even as it sneaks a few tricks behind their backs." indiewire's david ehrlich is a little less enthusiastic, finding it "very silly but wonderfully staged" and "never dull," while admitting it's "far too entertaining to dismiss in a puff of white smoke, even if the film might be a bit too convinced of its own dramatic import." writing for the a.v. club, tomris laffly declares it a "gradually swelling, deeply intellectual, and unexpectedly fun political thriller" that is "among the very best films of the year." drama | usa | dir. sarah friedland sarah friedland won best director in the horizon section of the venice film festival and the luigi de laurentiis award for best debut feature for this portrait of an elderly woman (horizon best actress winner kathleen chalfant) transitioning to assisted living and dealing with new relationships along with an ever shifting memory and sense of self. screen daily's wendy ide sees a "profound tenderness" and "rare empathy" in this "small but powerful picture," and vulture critic alison willmore finds the "delicacy" of chalfant's performance to be "astounding." rory o'connor of the film stage believes it's a "wonderfully gentle piece of filmmaking," and variety's guy lodge finds this "straightforwardly structured character study, humane but not sentimental" and "as sharp as it is soft, conveys both the terror of losing the life you recognize, and the intermittent, fragmented joy of finding it again." comedy/drama | usa | dir. rachel morrison opens in theaters on december 25 oscar nominated cinematographer rachel morrison (mudbound) makes her feature directing debut with the true story of claressa shields (ryan destiny), a high school junior from flint, michigan who, with the help of her coach, jason crutchfield (brian tyree henry), becomes the first american woman to win an olympic gold medal in boxing. written by barry jenkins (moonlight), "it's a solid debut for morrison and a star making turn for destiny with a message for girls and boys to know their worth and never settle," according to jared mubarak of the film stage. at indiewire, critic kate erbland believes the "choice to focus far beyond the genre friendly rise of a star is refreshing," and screen rant's mae abdulbaki declares the fire inside a "moving biopic that is full of humanity and depth." comedy | usa | dir. andrew deyoung tv comedy (pen15, our flag means death) director andrew deyoung's debut feature is "frequently hilarious," according to indiewire critic david ehrlich, as it "stretches its star's comic schtick to multiplex dimensions in a movie that feels very much like a feature length i think you should leave sketch." that star is tim robinson, who plays suburban dad craig waterman (kate mara plays his wife) who becomes obsessed with pursuing a friendship with his new neighbor, local weatherman austin carmichael (paul rudd). for thr's michael rechtshaffen, it's a "gleefully discomfiting portrait of male bonding that delivers some of the year's biggest laughs," and christopher schobert of the film stage claims it's a "hysterically funny, pitch black comedy." the daily beast's nick schager declares it the "funniest movie of the year," and ross bonaime of collider believes it's "ready to become the next great cult comedy hit." comedy/drama | uk/spain | dir. mike leigh after two large scale historical dramas mr. turner and peterloo, writer director mike leigh reunites with marianne jean baptiste, the star of his 1996 palme d'or winner secrets & lies, for this contemporary character study of pansy, a caustic woman unable to find the happiness in life that comes so easily to her younger sister (michele austin). "thanks to a stunning lead performance from jean baptiste and an ending that doesn't take the easy way out, it is a must watch," according to screen rant's patrice witherspoon. writing for thr, jon frosch thinks leigh "gets glorious performances from his lead actresses" in a film with "his trademark generosity, alongside his willingness to show people at their wince inducing worst." vanity fair critic richard lawson declares jean baptiste's performance "dazzingly complex, bracing work," and in her review for the bbc, caryn james praises leigh's "brilliant new film" and jean baptiste's "fierce and deeply felt performance" that's "sure to be one of the best" of the year. bleecker street will release the film in north american theaters in january (exact date tbd), likely following an awards qualifying one week run this fall. drama | brazil/france | dir. walter salles walter salles (central station, the motorcycle diaries, on the road) returns to his native brazil to tell a very personal story based on the memoir of marcelo rubens paiva, whom salles knew as a young boy. murilo hauser and heitor lorega won best screenplay at the venice film festival for their adaptation of paiva's memoir which details his family's struggles during the years brazil was controlled by a military dictatorship. the film focuses on eunice paiva (fernanda torres), marcelo's mother, who had to keep the family together after the disappearance of his father, rubens (selton mello). savina petkova of the film stage believes "torres is stellar," but "salles has somehow failed to find the right cinematic framework for this biopic storytelling. the film feels uncalibrated, but not in the free flowing, depth exploring, liberated kind of way." for the guardian's xan brooks, it's a "sombre, heartfelt drama" but also an "imperfect, hobbled film." but thr critic david rooney finds it "shattering," and a "gripping, profoundly touching film with a deep well of pathos" and "one of salles' best." in her review for variety, jessica kiang agrees, "salles' deeply invested filmmaking is remarkable in its grace and naturalism," finding the film "classical in form but radical in empathy." writing for screen daily, wendy ide adds, "walter salles' superb factually based film ... is an an engrossing, affecting tribute to a formidable woman and her family." though rights to the film were sold (to sony pictures classics) at cannes in may, the film did not screen there but instead debuted in venice. sony has not yet announced a theatrical release date. drama | usa | dir. ramell ross opens in theaters on october 25 hale county this morning, this evening filmmaker ramell ross makes his narrative feature debut with this adaptation of colson whitehead's pulitzer winning novel from 2019. in nickel boys, elwood curtis is sent to the nickel academy, a brutal reformatory school (based on florida's dozier school for boys), where he forms an alliance with a turner, a boy who has seen it all. ross takes a daring formal risk by shooting the film from the perspective of the characters. it's a gamble that worked for most critics, but not for variety's peter debruge, who admits ross "finds fresh colors in such a rigidly codified genre, turning a pulitzer prize winning novel into a minimalist tone poem," but it eventually "unravels as its multiple perspectives and timelines blur, getting lost in digressions." writing for the av club, tomris laffly is more positive, finding the film "groundbreaking ... poetic and visionary," one that "fiercely wears its heart and artistic intentions on its sleeve." and thr's lovia gyarke believes it's an "arresting narrative debut" in which "ross takes a risk and it pays off." for indiewire critic david ehrlich, nickel boys is a "rare testament to the transformative potential of cinematic adaptation (ross co wrote the script with joslyn barnes), and a staggeringly beautiful reminder that america's most enduring narratives are only subject to change when people are invited to look at them in a different light." documentary/music/drama/comedy | usa | dir. alex ross perry the plural in the title is purposeful for director alex ross perry's meta movie about the iconic 1990s indie band pavement. perry (her smell, golden exits) has concocted a hybrid of documentary, scripted narrative, stage musical, truth and legend. along with using archival interviews and performances, perry sets out to make a hollywood biopic of the band entitled range life with joe keery from stranger things going method to nail his performance as stephen malkmus (nat wolff, griffin newman, logan miller and fred hechinger play the rest of the band). he also chronicles the opening of a fake pavement museum (he curated himself), and the creation of the jukebox musical stage show slanted! enchanted! starring zoe lister jones and kathryn gallagher (also not a real thing, but now we can dream). as the playlist's marshall shaffer says, "there are meta movies, and then there's alex ross perry's pavements." screen daily critic jonathan romney believes the "goofy, sweetly cerebral charm of a subtly strange band is captured in this ingenious tribute," and nme's matthew turner declares the film a "thrillingly creative music documentary that serves as a loving tribute to the band." for adam solomons of indiewire it's an "important documentary. it's a reminder that the fourth (and fifth and sixth) wall can be smashed, that the rock doc can be reinvented. and that when the message is meta for meta's sake, why not make the medium that way, too?" utopia picked up the film at venice and will give the doc a theatrical release on a yet to be named date. drama | italy/usa | dir. luca guadagnino director luca guadagnino reunites with his challengers screenwriter, justin kuritzkes, for this adaptation of william s. burroughs' semi autobiographical novel starring daniel craig as william lee, an american expat living in mexico city who becomes obsessed with eugene allerton (drew starkey),a young man recently discharged from the navy, and finding a mythical drug called yage. for screen daily's fionnuala halligan, the film "excels" in the "push and pull of the relationship between lee and allerton" but has "all the provocation but none of the haunting power that" david cronenberg's naked lunch still has. according to stephen dalton of the film verdict, this "unfinished symphony of romantic longing, obsession and addiction boasts fine performances and superlative visual flourishes that help excuse its thin, disjointed narrative." writing for ign, siddhant adlakha admits that "it doesn't always work ... but when it finds that purpose, it makes a powerful emotional impression: visually splendid, emotionally arresting, and features some of the finest filmmaking of guadagnino's already accomplished career." vanity fair critic richard lawson finds it "offbeat, abstract, erratic in mood and tempo befitting an adaptation of burroughs's work" and a "riot of style and technique." and the telegraph's robbie collin believes "craig is sensational," in what is guadagnino's "most pristine and plangent work yet." queer was picked up by a24 just prior to its venice debut, but the distributor has not yet announced a release date. given the oscar buzz surrounding craig's performance, it should get a release before year's end. documentary/music | usa | dir. thom zimny streams on hulu and disney+ beginning october 25 bruce springsteen documentarian thom zimny (western stars ) is back with another look at the boss, this time as he and the e street band get ready to embark on their 2023 (and still going) tour, their first in six years. for confessed springsteen fan and indiewire critic kate erbland, "the best springsteen songs sound as if they've pulled directly from his diary, and while this road diary might have a bit more polish and gloss, it's more than worth the read and the ride." johnny oleksinski of new york post believes it's an "enlightening behind the scenes glimpse at the e street band's current tour" that "lets viewers uniquely into springsteen's creative process." and the wrap's steve pond adds, "road diary takes a springsteen concert as a template of sorts, which means it mixes joy and dread and love and regret and exuberance and silliness and seriousness; it's intoxicating and it's sobering, and it rocks like hell but confronts what's been lost during springsteen's 74 years on the planet." drama | germany | dir. tim fehlbaum writer director tim fehlbaum's follow up to the colony chronicles how the abc sports broadcasting team covering the 1972 munich olympics went live to cover the palestinian terrorist attack on the israeli olympic team that resulted in the death of 11 israelis. peter sarsgaard plays roone arledge, the executive in charge of the broadcast; ben chaplin is marvin bader, the head of operations; john magaro is producer geoffrey mason; and leonie benesch (the teachers' lounge) plays a local german translator. indiewire's ryan lattanzio believes september 5 "works most powerfully as a behind closed doors, single room thriller," while gregory ellwood of the playlist finds it "captivating on multiple levels and, frankly, a surprising success considering fehlbaum's previous work." in his review for the daily beast, barry levitt claims it's a "powerfully told, tightly wound, and riveting story" with a "clever script full of fascinating detail," and thr's jordan mintzer declares it an "enlightening, altogether gripping experience to watch a film like september 5." animation/family | usa | dir. chris sanders opens in theaters and imax on september 27 after directing a live action adaptation of the call of the wild, chris sanders (lilo & stitch and how to train your dragon with dean delois and the croods with kirk demicco) returns to animation with this adaptation of peter brown's award winning bestseller about a robot, rozzum unit 7134 (roz for short), that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the unfamiliar surroundings, eventually becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling. it sounds like an instant oscar contender. "from its very opening frames, the artistry of the wild robot bursts through every image," writes brian tallerico of rogerebert.com. he's joined in praising the film's animation by screen daily's tim grierson, who finds it "gorgeous, painterly" and "meticulously crafted," and by variety critic peter debruge, who feels "the expressionistic environments can take one's breath away." writing for ign, siddhant adlakha believes "its dazzling, tear jerking moments put it metallic shoulder to metallic shoulder with classics like wall e and the iron giant," and for collider, shaina weatherhead declares the wild robot "an instant classic" and an "incredibly impressive feat of both animation and storytelling." documentary | france/luxembourg/netherlands | dir. wang bing following the cannes debut of youth (spring) and the locarno premiere of youth (hard times), filmmaker wang bing concludes his youth documentary trilogy about garment workers in the textile industry of zhili, zhejiang province, china with the shortest and most focused of his three films as he follows several workers on their trips home for the new year. thr's leslie felperin believes it's a "work much like its predecessors in that it's simultaneously deeply fascinating and profoundly soporific." writing for indiewire, ben croll concludes, "the film quite ably stands alone," and variety's siddhant adlakha agrees, "youth (homecoming) stands on its own, as a genuinely sorrowful film about how deeply the churn of industry has worked its way into people 's bones, as though they've become one with the machines they operate." screen daily critic jonathan romney looks at the project as a whole, "overall, the trilogy must stand as a monument in contemporary documentary, and will be much discussed by historians of the form." drama | uk | dir. william bridges director william bridges makes his feature debut with a script he wrote with his star, brett goldstein (ted lasso). goldstein plays simon, who is best friends (and secretly in love) with imogen poots' laura. they live in a near future world where a test can determine your soulmate, and laura decides to take it. when she matches with lukas (steven cree), she gets married and starts a family, but her feelings for simon (and his for her) don't disappear. writing for collider, shaina weatherhead praises the "excellent chemistry" between goldstein and poots, as well as the "unexpected humor" in the script, but she feels the film "lacks clear stakes, making this love story difficult to invest in." indiewire critic david ehrlich is surprised how the sci fi concept in this "plaintively compelling" and "high concept relationship" drama "seems to have absolutely no impact on the story whatsoever," and thewrap's steve pond agrees, but still finds this "crowd pleaser" to be "unexpectedly touching and even lovely, a grandly sad benediction to people who don't need no stinkin' test to tell them who their soulmate is." lastly, maureen lee lenker of ew believes it's a romantic drama "of the highest caliber thanks to its sharp script and devastating central performances." drama/sci fi | uk/germany/usa | dir. fleur fortuné music video director fleur fortuné's feature debut is set in a future world where couples must go through a seven day assessment to prove they are worthy of having children. mia (elizabeth olsen) and aaryan (himesh patel), a successful couple who have given back to society, want to have children. virginia (alicia vikander) is their assessor, who at times asks very personal questions and at others acts like a child to provoke a response from the couple. for screen daily's tim grierson, fortuné delivers a "strong sense of composition and mood," but, overall, the film is an "intriguing premise in search of a more successful execution." thr critic lovia gyarkye has an issue with the third act, when the film "begins to feel like a far less compelling story than the one we've just spent an hour and a half engrossed in," but she also believes "olsen, patel and vikander are stellar." peter bradshaw of the guardian similarly admits that the ending may divide viewers, but he likes fortuné's ambition in this "stylish debut." and in her review for collider, isabella soares writes, "though powered by incredible performances and worldbuilding, what truly leads the assessment to have an exceptional final product is its refreshingly original premise." musical/drama | australia | dir. michael gracey opens in theaters on january 17 (following a qualifying run in december) the greatest showman and p!nk: all i know so far director michael gracey takes an original approach in this musical biopic about british pop superstar robbie williams. narrated by williams and covering his life from childhood to fame to addiction and recovery, better man depicts williams as a monkey performing for others, or, more specifically, the actor jonno davies as an ape version of the singer via the motion capture effects magic of weta fx. "it was a gutsy and admirable choice from gracey to go in this direction, but it eventually just leaves you wanting," according to gregory ellwood of the playlist. but in her review for ew, maureen lee lenker finds it "far more exciting and inventive than many musical biopics," and screen daily critic tim grierson declares it a "very entertaining, surprisingly moving film." indiewire's david ehrlich adds, "if bob fosse had fallen in love with cgi instead of jazz hands, this is probably the kind of movie he would've made." action/horror/thriller | japan | dir. kiyoshi kurosawa japan's official oscar submission this year, the latest from writer director kiyoshi kurosawa (pulse, cure, to the ends of the earth) follows yoshi, a morally dubious young man who resells various goods online after acquiring them on the cheap. with the profits of his reselling gig, he moves to a lakeside house in the country with his girlfriend akiko, but that's when yoshi's troubles begin in this thriller for the internet age. writing for the daily beast, barry levitt finds cloud "brilliant until it's frustrating" as a "masterful first hour makes way for a far more pedestrian second." but that change from atmospheric drama to action cinema is more of a feature than a bug for indiewire critic david ehrlich, who writes, "there's a unique thrill to watching cloud shift from a sedate internet crime saga and into a frenetic manhunt (alternately funny and frightening)." for screen rant's graeme guttmann the "action isn't elegant. it's erratic and loud and ugly ... it's a symphony of chaos. it's also a damn good time." and rory o'connor of the film stage sees a "master filmmaker at his leanest and meanest." tv/drama | uk | dir. alfonso cuarón streams on apple tv+ beginning october 11 screening in its seven episode entirety at all three festivals, filmmaker alfonso cuarón's first tv project in a decade he wrote and directed every episode is a psychological thriller adapted from the renee knight novel of the same name. cate blanchett stars as tv journalist catherine ravenscroft, who is alarmed to discover a new novel that appears to feature her as the main character and discloses a dark secret from her own past. an impressive cast also features kevin kline, sacha baron cohen, lesley manville, kodi smit mcphee, and squid game star hoyeon jung, while the cinematography comes from big names emmanuel lubezki and bruno delbonnel. critic reactions range from "dazzling" to "silly" and that's just in the span of one review, from thr's daniel fienberg, who deems the well acted but overlong series "more fascinating to talk circles around than to actually watch" thanks to a "largely perfunctory" narrative that plays second fiddle to the show's "captivating" structural mechanics. the telegraph's benji wilson also finds disclaimer to be "overwrought," but many other critics see a lot to like in the series. at indiewire, ben travers anticipates some "bitter reactions" to cuarón's "most provocative project since 'y tu mamá también'" but he has mostly praise for what he deems "a cunning psychological thriller." and vanity fair critic richard lawson feels that the series overcomes its "somewhat awkward premiere episode" to build toward its "disarmingly resonant finale." drama/fantasy/musical/sci fi | ireland/germany/italy/swweden/denmark/uk | dir. joshua oppenheimer opens in theaters on december 6 award winning documentarian joshua oppenheimer (the act of killing, the look of silence) makes his narrative feature debut with this musical about a rich family living in an ornate bunker deep inside the earth after an apocalyptic event. tilda swinton and michael shannon play the parents of a son (george mackay) who was born in the bunker and knows nothing of the world prior to its collapse. their lives are disrupted when a woman (moses ingram) from the outside seeks refuge in their affluent bubble. oppenheimer's "serious minded rumination on guilt and the human capacity to rationalize away one's misdeeds" didn't work for variety's peter debruge, but he admits "there may never be another film like" it and feels it's "like an obtuse missive, hidden in plain sight, just waiting for intrepid seekers to unearth it." lovia gyarkye of thr labels the end a "fascinating and demanding intellectual exercise" with "deeply committed performances from the cast," resulting in an "admirable if uneven endeavor." but for indiewire critic david ehrlich, it's "delirious and delicately monumental," another "bold and unblinking examination of how people live with themselves when so many others have died for their sins." and screen daily critic tim grierson finds this "mixture of domestic drama, apocalyptic fable and old fashioned (and unironic) hollywood musical" to be an "audacious and frequently enrapturing experience, with superb performances at its emotional heart." caleb hammond of the film stage adds, "the end carries that rare sense of a lack of compromise  a fully realized world from a visionary director. it's exhilarating to simply exist in this world that oppenheimer and his team (including co writer rasmus heisterberg) craft." drama | usa | dir. scott mcgehee and david siegel writer directors david siegel and scott mcgehee (the deep end, what maisie knew, montana story) adapt sigrid nunez's 2018 national book award winner about a writer (naomi watts) who must take care of her deceased friend's great dane (bing the dog). with a cast that includes bill murray, carla gugino, constance wu, noma dumezweni, and sarah pidgeon, the friend's "model of adaptation" is a" fresh, unsentimental yet touching story," according to caryn james of thr. for thewrap's steve pond, it's a "gently affecting study in loss that benefits greatly from the unaffected charm and grace of naomi watts and the monumental presence of a 150 pound canine actor named bing." ew critic maureen lee lenker agrees that "while bing is masterful, his real magic is in the miraculous work he elicits from his screen partners." and indiewire's kate erbland believes it's "the sort of witty, wise, and warm character study we seem to be running out of these days." drama | uk/germany/greece/france/usa | dir. athina rachel tsangari the third feature from writer director athina rachel tsangari (attenberg, chevalier) is an adaptation of jim crace's novel. written with joslyn barnes (nickel boys), the film takes place in an agrarian village at an unspecified time in history, where farmer walter thirsk (caleb landry jones) and his wealthier childhood friend master charles kent (harry melling) face an invasion by three groups of outsiders bringing modernity to their pastoral land. according to the guardian's peter bradshaw, it's an "exasperating experience: a directionless, shallow movie which seems bafflingly unconvincing and inauthentic at every turn." writing for indiewire, sophie monks kaufman is more positive on the film, especially its "comprehensive visual grammar," but still feels it is "less than the sum" of its "many mesmerizing moving parts." telegraph critic robbie collin finds harvest "glimmeringly surreal" as it "moves to a folkloric drumbeat all of its own." and variety's guy lodge believes "the storytelling is so busy and fevered that the film, heavy in some respects, never feels stiff," and "as a feat of world building   and later, world dismantling   harvest consistently dazzles." horror/thriller | usa | dir. scott beck and bryan woods opens in theaters on november 15 after writing a quiet place, scott beck and bryan woods went on to write and direct haunt and 65. their latest stars chloe east and sophie thatcher as young mormon missionaries forced to prove their faith once they step inside the house of hugh grant's mr. reed. for indiewire critic david ehrlich, heretic is an "entertainingly unambitious midnight movie that thrives on the strength of a terrific cast and some equally brilliant craftwork." and in her review for the daily beast, esther zuckerman agrees, "don't think too hard about heretic which has a lot of musings about faith and religion, none of which quite cohere. just lean into grant's lunacy and you'll have a fantastic time." brian tallerico of rogerebert.com believes it's "gorgeously made, and wonderfully performed," singling out "masterful cinematographer" chung hoon chung, the man who shot the handmaiden, oldboy." ew's maureen lee lenker adds, "beck and woods build fear and tension through close ups, pregnant pauses, and a meticulous edit that masters the film's pace." drama | argentina/mexico/spain/denmark/usa | dir. luis ortega writer director luis ortega's follow up to el angel follows legendary jockey remo manfredini (nahuel pérez biscayart), who, in the race that was going to clear all his debts, has a severe accident and ends up in the hospital. knowing the mob is after him, remo escapes the hospital and wanders the streets of buenos aires in disguise. "while it lacks coherence or direction in storytelling terms," writes the film verdict's stephen dalton, this bit of "magical realism meets gender blurring surrealism" is "consistently funny, inventive and visually voluptuous." variety critic guy lodge finds this "fun but flighty" film to be "bolstered by the strange, soulful presence of leading man nahuel pérez biscayart" and "suitably untethered for a story concerned with the malleability of the self." alex harrison of screen rant agrees that the "cast deserves real credit" especially biscayart, whose "physical expressiveness is truly extraordinary." and in her review for screen daily, wendy ide declares this "weird and winding journey" to be "audacious, lawless and irreverent, and carried off with supreme confidence." drama | usa | dir. gia coppola working from a script by kate gersten, gia coppola (palo alto) directs pamela anderson as shelley, a las vegas showgirl who has been in the same revue for 30 years and has just learned the show is closing. the film's impressive cast includes jamie lee curtis as shelley's friend annette, a former dancer now cocktail waitress, dave bautista as the show's stage manager, billie lourd as shelley's estranged daughter, and kiernan shipka and brenda song as younger dancers. for nick schager of the daily beast, it's a "shallow and slender tale of lousy dreams, worse decisions, and painful regrets, all of it predicated on a lead turn that's too one note to wow." thr's david rooney agrees that showgirl is "slender overall" but also sees a "moving empathy in its portrait of shelly and women like her, their sense of self crumbling as they become cruelly devalued." and christopher schobert of the film stage thinks anderson's is a "real deal performance, and shelley is one of the more memorable vegas denizens in recent cinema" in this "smart, emotionally satisfying exploration." in his review for screen daily, robert daniels adds, "the last showgirl is an achingly vulnerable picture that both catapaults pamela anderson into the awards conversation and stands as gia coppola 's best film to date." drama/music | italy/germany/usa | dir. pablo larraín pablo larraín's third film about a famous woman living in a gilded cage (following jackie and spencer) is his least successful in the eyes of critics. written by steven knight, maria chronicles the final days of opera singer maria callas (angelina jolie) in 1970s paris. the times's kevin maher finds it "wilfully, wearily flat," and vanity fair critic richard lawson claims it's "the thinnest of the three [films], psychologically facile and overly mannered. there is something arbitrary, unspecific about the film." time's stephanie zacharek thinks it's a "movie made with great respect, almost adulation, but very little that qualifies as real feeling," with jolie playing callas as "haughtily cool and deeply insecure" but capturing "none of her imperious charisma." slightly more positive is indiewire critic david ehrlich, who believes "jolie gives this immaculately adorned movie a much needed sense of interiority," in a film that "seldom feels like more than a libretto: passionately sung, but lacking the detail and fullness needed to bring it to life." praising the "triumphant" film, donald clarke of the irish times writes, "jolie's fragile brilliance is not to be questioned, and in her a  review for ew, maureen lee lenker adds, "the film is more elegiac tone poem than structured narrative, echoing maria's dreamlike trance induced by her abuse of medication and nostalgia for her glory days. larraín exquisitely composes every image, placing the fragile figure of maria in jewel box settings that are framed with the lush care of a rococo painting." netflix picked up the film's u.s. rights just prior to its venice debut, but neither a streaming date nor theatrical release plans have been revealed. comedy/drama/horror | usa | dir. marielle heller opens in theaters on december 6 the latest from writer director marielle heller (the diary of a teenage girl, can you ever forgive me?, a beautiful day in the neighborhood) is an adaptation of rachel yoder's 2021 novel about a stay at home mom who starts to take on the characteristics of a dog. amy adams stars as the mom and scoot mcnairy is her husband in a film that some critics wanted to be a little more crazy. writing for the playlist, ankit jhunjhunwala believes adams' performance is "unsparing, setting aside all vanity, but is constrained by a film that is ultimately more square than intended." in his review for thewrap, chase hutchinson agrees, "it may not always come alive in the way heller, or us, would entirely hope for, but one can still be glad 'nightbitch' exists, especially with adams there to lead the way." screen daily critic tim grierson finds "adams' occasionally ferocious, often bone weary turn is quite touching," but that ultimately nightbitch is a "gently observant comedy drama about the perils of motherhood that could use a little more bite." looper's reuben baron adds, "adams' great performance aside, nightbitch is just a good but not great movie   and oddly enough, its biggest obstacle to greatness might be that it's not quite weird enough." more positive is ew's maureen lee lenker, who writes, "heller and adams are a dynamic pair, finding ways to punctuate their bizarre tale with brutal honesty, off the wall humor, and a desire to celebrate the messiness and magic of motherhood." drama | usa | dir. daniel minahan prolific television director daniel minahan (game of thrones, deadwood: the movie) directs bryce kass's script based on shannon pufahl's 2019 novel about julius (jacob elordi), who returns from the korean war to the kansas home of his brother lee (will poulter) and fiancé muriel (daisy edgar jones). lee dreams of moving to california with muriel and julius, but julius' penchant for gambling leads him to las vegas instead while the married couple set up their new life. unbeknownst to lee, muriel also likes to bet, on horses specifically, and she also shares something else with julius. "on swift horses isn't a disaster, but given its stars and potential, it is a disappointment," caryn james writes in her review for bbc. and for collider's tania hussain, horses "feels tonally uneven at times, veering into campiness." screen rant's graeme guttmann thinks "elordi, edgar jones, and the rest of the cast give quietly devastating performances as their dreams manifest in ways they cannot predict." screen daily critic robert daniels concurs, "with style, strong performances and emotive use of mis en scene, on swift horses is a flawed but intense critique of americana." lastly, thr critic jourdain searles declares it the "kind of big, sweeping romantic drama that hollywood just doesn 't make anymore," one that is "beautiful, heartbreaking and demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible." drama/thriller | canada | dir. justin kurzel opens in theaters on december 6 director justin kurzel's follow up to his award winning nitram is based on kevin flynn and gary gerhardt's nonfiction book the silent brotherhood. in 1983, a series of violent crimes disrupt the peaceful communities of the pacific northwest. believing there is a link to a white supremacist group, fbi agent husk (jude law) teams up with a young local cop (ty sheridan) to hunt down the organization's leader, robert jay mathews (nicolas hoult). but the order doesn't work for alonso duralde of the film verdict, who laments, "as a procedural, it's by the numbers. if it's supposed to be a character study, the characters are tv familiar." and in his review for the bbc, nicholas barber finds it not "quite as gripping as the events deserve" despite it being "superbly acted by its charismatic cast" and the "violent robberies and shoot outs" being "staged with a nerve jangling ferocity." however, writing for the observer (uk), jonathan romney finds the film "highly effective as docudrama" and "briskly compelling as a straight down the line detective thriller, especially in its action sequences." thr's jordan mintzer claims it's a "nail biter from start to finish," and for variety critic owen gleiberman it's "at once a supremely intelligent docudrama about the rise of the white supremacist movement and a riveting crime story." drama | usa | dir. malcolm washington opens in theaters on november 6 and streams on netflix beginning november 22 after directing and starring in fences and producing ma rainey's black bottom, denzel washington's goal of bringing all ten of august wilson's century cycle plays to film moves closer to completion with this adaptation of wilson's pulitzer prize winning play. washington's son, malcolm, makes his feature directing debut from a script co written with virgil williams. set in 1936 (after a brief prologue in 1911), the piano lesson focuses on danielle deadwyler's berniece and her brother boy willie (john david washington). he wants to sell the family piano to buy a piece of land on which their family was once enslaved, but she does not. samuel l. jackson, ray fisher, michael potts and corey hawkins also star in this family drama in which "deadwyler and washington bounce well off each other. their performances are particularly dynamic when boy willie and berniece negotiate the details of family legacy," according to lovia gyarkye of thr. for the playlist's gregory ellwood, it's "hard to exaggerate the importance of deadwyler's contributions to washington's finished film without descending into hyperbole." and variety critic peter debruge adds, "while most of the cast is the same that appeared on broadway, the movie is undeniably deadwyler's show." in her review for ew, maureen lee lenker describes deadwyler's performance as one of "tremendous courage and heft," and malcolm washington's direction as a "potent showcase for his visionary, promising skills as a filmmaker." animation/documentary | usa | dir. morgan neville opens in theaters on october 11 morgan neville's (20 feet from stardom, won't you be my neighbor?, roadrunner: a film about anthony bourdain) documentary on the life of songwriter/producer/musician pharrell williams is told through lego animation. for some critics that was enough to set it apart from other authorized documentaries, but for others it was not. the latter group includes rogerebert.com's robert daniels, who believes the film "lacks specificity and substance," and thr critic lovia gyarkye, who finds it "inventive" but unable to "avoid the trappings of the celebrity produced biopic, and is expectedly marked by typical hagiographic evasiveness." in his review for indiewire, caleb hammond calls it a "surface level entertainment, a light, visually inventive ride without much to offer its audiences beyond a reaffirmation on the values of hard work and believing in one's self." but radheyan simonpillai of the guardian sees a "familiar tale re energised not just with his unique sound but the basic decision to animate his life so that it can thrive with his imagination and hit so many visual grace notes." thriller | usa | dir. david mackenzie the latest from director david mackenzie (starred up, hell or high water, outlaw king) is a thriller starring riz ahmed as ash, a middleman who brokers deals between whistleblowers and their threatened companies. his new client, sarah (lily james), a former bio tech company employee, has a team led by sam worthington hunting her down, putting her and the normally reclusive ash in danger. the guardian's benjamin lee is disappointed that the "subdued carefulness of the buildup gives way to rote, poorly staged action and a twist that might fill in a few plot holes but leaves us otherwise dissatisfied." in his review for screen daily, robert daniels agrees this "slow burn, high concept paranoid" thriller "commits the unforgivable sin of stumbling just before the finish line." vulture's bilge ebiri is more forgiving, "the rest of the film is so strong that any ending it inspires one to imagine would probably be better than what we ultimately get. but still, up until then   wow." and relay is, for indiewire critic david ehrlich, "sharp, fun, and smartly entertaining from its first scene to its final twist." drama | italy/uk | dir. uberto pasolini director uberto pasolini's follow up to nowhere special is an adaptation of the odyssey. focusing on the last third of homer's tale, the film begins with odysseus (ralph fiennes) returning to the shores of ithaca, his kingdom where his wife queen penelope (juliette binoche) and son telemachus (charlie plummer) await his return after leaving for the trojan war 20 years earlier. writing for the guardian, radheyan simonpillai praises binoche but is less enthused about the film, "her performance is short with words. but she holds and command long stretches of silence, as if bending it to her whims, doing the most in a movie that too often feels like an endurance test." thewrap's steve pond admits the "pacing is far from what you'd expect in a hollywood movie with this much action," but it's still "simultaneously visceral and contemplative." screen daily critic nikki baughan agrees, finding the world "richly drawn" in this "measured, introspective take on familiar material," and nick schager of the daily beast declares it "as tender and somber as it is thrilling." drama/comedy | usa | dir. jason reitman opens in la/ny/toronto on september 27 followed by more cities on october 4 and nationwide on october 11 in his latest film, director jason reitman (ghostbusters: afterlife, tully, up in the air) attempts to capture the chaos of the 90 minutes leading up to the airing of the first episode of saturday night live (then titled nbc's saturday night) in 1975. working from script co written with gil kenan, reitman casts gabriel labelle as lorne michaels, who tries to corral the writers and cast (matt wood as john belushi, dylan o'brien as dan aykroyd, cory michael smith as chevy chase, lamorne morris as garrett morris, ella hunt as gilda radner, emily fairn as laraine newman, kim matula as jane curtin, and nicolas braun as both andy kaufman and jim henson) and deal with rosie shuster (rachel sennott), his wife/producer all while placating nbc brass before the show's launch. indiewire critic david ehrlich finds this bit of "glorified showbiz cosplay" both "tedious and exasperatingly self absorbed." and for stephen farber of thr, the "cast works hard and brings off some antic moments, but too many of the riffs fall flat." rolling stone's david fear believes the "print the legend vibe is strong with this one," but admits the "second hand high reitman hotboxes you with is extremely potent." variety critic peter debruge is more positive, finding the ensemble "terrific" and the film a "rowdy, delectably profane backstage homage." and /film's ethan anderson goes even further, declaring it "hands down spectacular" and "one of the best movies of the year." drama/sports | usa | dir. william goldenberg opens in theaters on december 6 followed by a streaming premiere on prime video (date tbd) oscar winning editor william goldenberg (argo) makes his feature directing debut with this true story about anthony robles. born with one leg, robles (jharrel jerome) fought to earn a spot on the arizona state wrestling team, hoping to become an ncaa champion. the impressive supporting cast includes jennifer lopez as robles' mother, don cheadle as his coach, plus michael peña and bobby cannavale. for the guardian's benjamin lee, the film is "content to be just as bland and boilerplate as the many, many against all odds crowd pleasers that have come before it." but in his review for screen daily, robert daniels is a little more positive: "while there is nothing surprising in unstoppable, the film works as a tightly crafted take on the formula." collider's isabella soares agrees, "although the film is by no means a groundbreaking biopic, it has an effective execution that will appeal to the masses." and variety critic owen gleiberman believes it's an "honest and stirring entry in the genre." drama | uk/france | dir. john crowley opens in theaters on october 11 andrew garfield and florence pugh star in this romantic tearjerker from director john crowley (brooklyn) and writer nick payne (last letter from your lover). the film is a time shuffling chronicle of the relationship between tobias (garfield) and almut (pugh) in all its heartbreaking glory. for the daily beast's nick schager, it's a "carpe diem fable that elicits more exasperated eye rolls than tears or laughs," and tim grierson of screen daily finds the narrative structure "initially clever but ultimately unrewarding." over at rogerebert.com, brian tallerico admits it's a "movie that would almost certainly fall apart with lesser performers to make this kind of shallow script feel organic. luckily, this one has florence pugh and andrew garfield." the guardian's benjamin lee finds "its throwback nature to be immensely charming, a big, full throated romantic drama that knows exactly how to make us swoon as well as make us sad." and in his review for thr, michael rechtshaffen has high praise for the film, writing, "seldom has such an unflinchingly honest take on mortality felt so transcendently life affirming." drama/comedy/thriller | usa | dir. jon watts opens in theaters on september 20 and streams on apple tv+ on september 27 george clooney and brad pitt play rival professional fixers booked on the same job in this high concept comedy caper from writer director jon watts (spider man: homecoming, spider man: far from home, spider man: no way home). "the film ultimately exists as a delivery device for clooney and pitt to engage in prickly banter and deadpan wisecracking. any ideas deeper than that are rejected like an unsuitable liver," according to alonso duralde of the film verdict. for vanity fair critic richard lawson, it's a "confident, engaging saturday night movie, of the sort that has become dismayingly rare." (that's true even for wolfs: apple's recent decision to greatly reduce the film's theatrical run means that it'll be in theaters for just one saturday night.) and /film's jeremy mathai describes it as "devilish, original, and mercifully brisk" as well as "frequently funny and consistently stylish." vulture's alison willmore adds, "it is an unabashed platform for basking in the rapport of its two leading men, who are in familiar and fine form as a pair of hypercompetent cleaners, and that makes it a consistently enjoyable watch even when the pacing gets a little slack." thriller/sci fi/documentary | uk | dir. asif kapadia director asia kapadia is best known for his award winning documentary work (amy, senna, diego maradona), but he has helmed narrative features as well (the warrior, ali and nino). his latest combines these two modes to depict a world on the brink of disaster. forty nine years in the future, ghost (samantha morton) lives a solitary life in dystopian new san francisco and serves as our conduit to learn how the world became a wasteland ruled by autocrats. for telegraph critic robbie collin it's an "earnest if not wholly convincing documentary sci fi collage." while the guardian's peter bradshaw admits it "feels occasionally strident, or redundant, or choir preaching," he also thinks the film delivers a "relevant shout of rage against the authoritarian forces despoiling our democracy and our environment   and the bland and complaisant naivety that's letting it happen." writing for thr, leslie felperin admires "kapadia's sui generis feature" and his "commitment to feel bad cinema, his refusal to end on any false note of hope." and marshall shaffer of the playlist writes, "2073 might sacrifice some eloquence to make its creative points, but the sincerity shines poignantly and powerfully. let it be a galvanizing call to action." drama | france | dir. ludovic boukherma and zoran boukherma young french writer director twin brothers ludovic and zoran boukherma adapt nicholas mathieu's 2018 prix goncourt winning novel leurs enfants après eux, the story of teenagers growing up in an impoverished town in eastern france during the 1990s. paul kircher, winner of the marcello mastroianni award for best young actor at the venice film festival, plays anthony, a 14 year old who falls for steph (angelina woreth) in the summer of 1992 while entering into a life altering conflict with hacine (sayyid el alami), a local moroccan boy. the film revisits the three leads as their lives intersect in 1994, 1996 and 1998. the result is an "overlong, outwardly emotive but strangely unmoving film," according to variety's guy lodge, who admits "where the writing is wan, the filmmaking compensates with emphatic braggadocio." writing for screen daily, wendy ide finds this "big, sweeping melodrama" to be "undeniably cinematic" but unable "to sustain audience engagement throughout its overly generous running time." but xan brooks of the guardian calls the film a "potent tale of disaffected youth," and indiewire's sophie monks kaufman appreciates how the "boukhermas do not shy away from depicting the ugliness of racism and the brute violence ready to erupt out of both boys" in this "rich human drama." action | usa | dir. harmony korine after introducing his new studio edglrd with aggro dr1ft at last year's venice film festival, harmony korine returned to the fest this year with an even more experimental work about the creation of a fps game that was stolen and found popularity on the dark web, leading to copycat mercenaries who conceal their identity with horned baby faces as they raid the sprawling houses of the rich. set to a score by burial, much of baby invasion is seen from the perspective of yellow, the player of the game, but according to korine, this version of the film is "just a base layer film" that will be built upon when it is released. according to critics, viewers will either get on the film's wavelength or they won't. count stephen dalton of the film verdict in the latter category; he believes this "repetitive and tedious" film "becomes borderline unwatchable, but such is the steep price of maintaining your status as cinema's undefeated champion of post modern hipster nihilism." vulture critic alison willmore is slightly more positive, writing, "i thought the first 20 minutes of baby invasion were brilliant, and then it kept going for 60 more." and thr's jordan mintzer agrees, "certain images in the film are downright mesmerizing. but accumulated over 80 minutes, they tend to lose their staying power." defending the "disquieting and sickeningly compelling new project," indiewire's ryan lattanzio finds it "luridly hypnotic on visual terms even as thematically it seems to have nothing to say." and luke hicks of the film stage declares it "capital a art, a new standard for cinematic absurdism in which every audio visual element is thrown to the wind." drama | canada/germany | dir. durga chew bose the feature debut of writer director durga chew bose is an adaptation of françoise sagan's classic 1954 coming of age novel about cecile (lily mcinerny), a teenager spending the summer with her widower father raymond (claes bang) and his lover (nailia harzoune). complications ensue when her mother's friend, anne (chloë sevigny), arrives. unlike otto preminger's 1958 adaptation, the new film takes place in a timeless, contemporary setting, and that's an issue for thr's caryn james, who notes that the "sexual freedom that seemed shocking seven decades ago no longer does," but she does find the film "always glorious to look at" even if "its emotional trajectory is curiously flat." variety critic peter debruge also believes the chosen time period is a mistake because it "inexplicably rejects the sexual revolution that sagan's novel anticipated," but kate erbland of indiewire thinks the film is a "sharp offering that adds to the mystique of the original material and makes a strong case for its own existence." drama/thriller | ireland/uk/belgium | dir. chris andrews christopher andrews' debut feature is "a thriller about two feuding families so perpetually grim it risks becoming a slog," according the chase hutchinson in his review for thewrap. he adds that the "saving grace of the film's world comes in the form of its two leads who, despite all the drudgery that they must push through, create something gripping." christopher abbott and barry keoghan play those characters, two members of feuding families in rural ireland. thr critic jordan mintzer echoes those sentiments, claiming "this violent first feature is carried more by leads christopher abbott and barry keoghan than by its dour storytelling," and the film stage's christopher schobert agrees the film is "an endurance test," and is impressed that the actors "make so much of so little." defending the film, nick schager of the daily beast finds it "taut and mournful." thriller | uk | dir. sean ellis orlando bloom stars as a retired boxer who goes to extreme lengths to shed weight in this feature from director sean ellis (cashback, metro manila, anthropoid, the cursed). caitriona balfe plays caitlin, his partner and trainer who cedes power to boz (john turturro), a sadistic trainer, when she refuses to push bloom's character (he is unnamed in the movie) any further. some reviewers didn't pull their punches. for the guardian's benjamin lee, it "all just goes from scary to silly too fast." and in her review for ew, maureen lee lenker writes, "despite a trio of knockout performances, the cut is a lackluster boxing drama." writing for indiewire, wilson chapman believes "ellis dramatizes the psychological toll that the crash diet and excessive routine has with patience and a compelling hint of horror," but he doesn't find bloom's performance convincing. however, siddhant adlakha defends bloom and the film in variety, writing, "its impact ultimately comes down to orlando bloom's visceral, transformative performance as an unnamed irish brawler." thriller | usa | dir. ron howard inspired by a true story chronicled in the documentary the galapagos affair: satan came to eden, the latest addition to the incredibly diverse filmography of director ron howard stars jude law, vanessa kirby, sydney sweeney, daniel brühl, and ana de armas. written by noah pink (tetris), eden follows dr. friedrich ritter (law) and his partner dora strauch (kirby) as they establish themselves on the uninhabited island of floreana in the galápagos archipelago. as word of their exploits gets back to their native germany, they are joined by unwelcome guests earnest couple margaret (sweeney) and heinz wittmer (brühl) and vapid baroness eloise bosquet de wagner wehrhorn (de armas). for variety critic owen gleiberman, the film "lopes along, without energy or purpose, but with a great deal of random showboating." and screen daily's tim grierson finds this "grim, feverish film that feels touched by madness" to be "monotonous and unwieldy." however, nick schager of the daily beast believes to be "another of the director's sturdy star studded genre efforts," and in her review for indiewire, kate erbland writes, "no film about the utter demise of a supposed utopia   a real one, to boot!   and the utter infallibility of human beings should be this fun, but we're lucky this one is." documentary/music | usa | dir. r.j. cutler and david furnish opens in theaters on november 15 and streams on disney+ beginning december 13 this documentary directed by r.j. cultler (billie eilish: the world's a little blurry) and david furnish (elton john's husband) works as a companion to the concert film, elton john: farewell from dodger stadium, already streaming on disney+. as john prepares for his final concert at the site of his 1975 triumph, he looks back on his life through archival footage and his own narration. variety's owen gleiberman calls never too late a "robustly satisfying and emotional documentary," but he's in the minority of critics so far. "with the access this doc has   furnish is, after all, john's husband   it feels like a squandered opportunity," writes esther zuckerman of indiewire. and for the playlist's chris barsanti, "the end result here is more dutiful than thrilling or revealing." writing for the guardian, radheyan simonpillai finds the film "precious and tempered," despite the access to john's life." and in his review for screen daily, robert daniels believes it's "clear early on that this film is poorly conceived." western | usa | dir. kevin costner unfortunately, chapter 2 of kevin costner's western saga didn't pay off in satisfying fashion what was set up in chapter 1, leaving critics to wonder where this planned four part epic is heading. according to scree rant's alex harrison, "if you've seen the first movie, chapter 2 is more of the same," adding that "being halfway between film and tv gives it the weaknesses of both and strengths of neither." screen daily critic fionnuala halligan finds it "a little more dynamic than the opener," as well as "enjoyably retro and fascinatingly aimless as it attempts to resurrect an old genre with gleaming sincerity." for thr's leslie felperin, "chapter 2 proves to be more fun to watch than 1," and in her review for variety, jessica kiang writes, "like a modular suite of furniture in which each section is perfectly designed but it's assembled so haphazardly it barely resembles a sofa, 'horizon: an american saga   part 2' is, as a film, fatally hobbled by its ungainly construction." originally dated for august, the film was pulled from the release schedule following the poor performance of chapter 1 and has yet to be rescheduled. drama/musical/thriller | usa | dir. todd phillips opens in theaters on october 4 todd phillips' sequel to his gigantic 2019 hit joker didn't win the golden lion in venice like the first one did, but it did divide critics. joaquin phoenix returns as arthur fleck, who is now on trial, and lady gaga joins the cast as harley quinn. prosecuting fleck is industry's harry lawtey as harvey dent, and defending him is catherine keener as maryanne stewart. brendan gleeson, steve coogan, and ken leung are also in the cast. it's a "middling courtroom tale and half baked musical," writes martin tsai in his review for collider, and vanity fair critic richard lawson finds it "startlingly dull, a pointless procedural that seems to disdain its audience" with a "woefully underused" gaga. for screen daily's tim grierson, it's an "ambitious sequel whose big swings mostly turn out to be misses." and david ehrlich of indiewire declares it as "excruciatingly   perhaps even deliberately   boring sequel that does everything in its power not to amuse you." defending the film, luke hicks of the film stage writes, "joker: folie à deux is a prank on incels and anarchists everywhere, a dark, soft, sing songy dismemberment of the very concept of the joker that roused fandom to begin with." writing for the playlist, rafaela sales ross agrees, "of all the things phillips does better in joker: folie à deux than he did in joker, the best is by far his course correction in catering to radical misogynists. the director isn't subtle in his nods to the controversy stirred by the original." thewrap's william bibbiani adds, "what's most impressive about joker: folie à deux is the way phillips willingly undercuts his own billion dollar blockbuster." comedy/drama/family | usa | dir. david gordon green after three halloween films and the exorcist: believer, director david gordon green shits gears and tries his hand at a family holiday comedy with this story inspired by meeting a friend's four boys homer, ulysses, arlo, and atlas janson. written by leland douglas, nutcrackers follows ben stiller's michael, a workaholic city slicker who must leave chicago to take care of his deceased sister's four sons until they can find a foster home. for screen daily's tim grierson, the film "strains to sell the openhearted spirit of this christmas themed lark" never "pinpointing the right balance of poignancy and cathartic humour." and thr critic david rooney finds it "too predictably sentimental," though he admits that for some viewers "the emotional payoff will be affecting." ross bonaime of collider believes "stiller and the janson clan are a delight, and it's great to see green attempt something completely different once more after this long stretch of horror films." hulu is reportedly in the final stages of negotiations to acquire the film (for at least $10 million), and a streaming debut during the holiday season is expected. drama | spain/uk | dir. peter cattaneo as he did in philomena, stan & ollie, and the lost king, steve coogan stars in a movie based on a book and adapted by screenwriter jeff pope, but this time the liberties taken with tom michell's memoir has cost them critical favor. michell (coogan) was a professor at the elite boarding school st. george's college in buenos aires (and in his twenties) when president eva peron's government was removed in a military coup on march 24, 1976. however, argentina's "dirty war" is not the focus of michell's memoir; instead it is his relationship with a penguin he rescues from an oil spill. directed by peter cattaneo (the full monty), the film is "peppered with comedic delight," with juan salvador (the penguin) and coogan an "imminently watchable pairing" but the way the film treats history and michell's role in it is disappointing, according to indiewire critic beandrea july. screen daily's nikki baughan admits "michell's story is no doubt a heartwarming one," but the "decision to go beyond the confines of his lived experience and use the wider socio political landscape to add further drama is ill judged." variety critic guy lodge agrees, "this is amusing stuff, well served by coogan's knack for haughty composure in the face of the absurd. the film is less convincing, however, when it reaches into the realm of the tragic." comedy | usa | dir. dito montiel dito montiel, best known for his 2006 autobiographical debut, a guide to recognizing your saints, has gathered an impressive cast (ed harris, gabrielle union, jennifer coolidge, bill murray, pete davidson, miles j. harvey, lewis pullman, emanuela postacchini) for this dark comedy written by john pollen (stronger, small engine repair) about an unhappy family reunion and the killers trying to track one of them down on new year's eve. writing for indiewire, marya e. gates cautions that "game performances from its ensemble cast" can't save the film from an "incoherent tone and overall sloppy execution." and thr critic david rooney agrees, "riff raff is a flat looking movie with a tone that's all over the map and a strong cast mostly left floundering." in his review for variety, siddhant adlakha praises the "all star cast," but is disappointed the film "uses none of its story swerves to build on its dramatic themes, or its one note humor." going against the critical tide, collider's shaina weatherhead praises this "biting black comedy" that is "as fun as it is jaw dropping, and will keep you entranced (and at times mildly disturbed), for its entire wacky runtime." roadside attractions, which acquired the film (along with lionsgate) a week ahead of its toronto debut, will release the film nationwide sometime in 2025. drama | usa/italy | dir. angelina jolie in this adaptation of the alessandro baricco novel, angelina jolie once again investigates the toll of war, as she has in three of her previous directing efforts (in the land of blood and honey, unbroken, first they killed my father). but this one appears to be far less successful. salma hayek pinault stars as nina, who seeks revenge on the man (demián bichir) she believes killed her father. their conversation makes up the bulk of the movie, which critics believes suffers from a lack of specificity. "by choosing to reside in abstraction, it imparts only generic and empty truths,' according to nick schager of the daily beast. and in his review for indiewire, vikram murthy adds, "film demands specificity, and without blood ... can't help but feel constantly confused." thr critic lovia gyarkye see "flashes of power" and "bursts of intelligence" but warns that the film's "vagueness ends up blunting many of its lessons." and thewrap's chase hutchinson feels that blood is a "film with its heart in the right place yet only a faint pulse." additional content by jason dietz all photos above courtesy of tiff and la biennale di venezia.

vse znamke, logotipi in slike so zaščitene in so last lastnikov oz. družb. vse pravice pridržane. © 1998 2023 aguatera d.o.o.

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"twenty four year old saeris fane is good at keeping secrets. no one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the undying queen's reservoirs for as long as she can remember. but a secret is like a knot. sooner or later, it is bound to come undone. when saeris comes face to face with death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. the fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares...but it turns out they're real, and saeris has landed herself right in the middle of a centuries long conflict that might just get her killed. the first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of yvelia in over a thousand years, saeris mistakenly binds herself to kingfisher, a handsome fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. he will use her alchemist's magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him...or her. death has a name. it is kingfisher of the ajun gate. his past is murky. his attitude stinks. and he's the only way saeris is going to make it home"  provided by publisher. #1 new york times bestseller#1 sunday times bestseller#1 amazon bestseller#1 audible bestsellera life changing tool millions of people can’t stop talking aboutwhat if the key to happiness, success, and love was as simple as two words?if you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. the problem is the power you give to other people. two simple words let them will set you free. free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. the let them theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands and this book will show you exactly how to do it.in her latest groundbreaking book, the let them theory, mel robbins new york times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly matters: you. your happiness. your goals. your life.using the same no nonsense, science backed approach that's made the mel robbins podcast a global sensation, robbins explains why the let them theory is already loved by millions and how you can apply it in eight key areas of your life to make the biggest impact. within a few pages, you'll realize how much energy and time you've been wasting trying to control the wrong things at work, in relationships, and in pursuing your goals and how this is keeping you from the happiness and success you deserve.written as an easy to understand guide, robbins shares relatable stories from her own life, highlights key takeaways, relevant research and introduces you to world renowned experts in psychology, neuroscience, relationships, happiness, and ancient wisdom who champion the let them theory every step of the way.learn how to:· stop wasting energy on things you can't control· stop comparing yourself to other people· break free from fear and self doubt· release the grip of people's expectations· build the best friendships of your life· create the love you deserve· pursue what truly matters to you with confidence· build resilience against everyday stressors and distractions· define your own path to success, joy, and fulfillment. . . and so much more.the let them theory will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. whether you want to advance your career, motivate others to change, take creative risks, find deeper connections, build better habits, start a new chapter, or simply create more happiness in your life and relationships, this book gives you the mindset and tools to unlock your full potential.order your copy of the let them theory now and discover how much power you truly have. it all begins with two simple words. after nearly eighteen months at basgiath war college, violet sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. no more time for uncertainty.because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.now violet must journey beyond the failing aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with navarre. the trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves her dragons, her family, her home, and him.even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.they need an army. they need power. they need magic. and they need the one thing only violet can find the truth.but a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath. the empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.reading order:book #1 fourth wingbook #2 iron flamebook #3 onyx storm #1 new york times bestseller * national book award winner * one of the new york times book review's 10 best books of the year * shortlisted for the booker prize * kirkus prize winner * a brilliant, action packed reimagining of adventures of huckleberry finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved jim's point of viewin development as a feature film to be produced by steven spielberg * a best book of the year: the new york times book review, la times, the new yorker, the atlantic, the economist, time, and more."genius"  the atlantic * "a masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of american literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."  chicago tribune * "a provocative, enlightening literary work of art."  the boston globe * "everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."  the new york timeswhen the enslaved jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in new orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby jackson island until he can formulate a plan. meanwhile, huck finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. as all readers of american literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the mississippi river toward the elusive and too often unreliable promise of the free states and beyond.while many narrative set pieces of adventures of huckleberry finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the duke and dauphin...), jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made everett a "literary icon" (oprah daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, james is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty first century american literature. #1 new york times bestseller • a “bracing” (vox) guide for surviving and resisting america’s turn towards authoritarianism, from “a rising public intellectual unafraid to make bold connections between past and present” (the new york times)“timothy snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief. he has written the rare kind of book that can be read in one sitting but will keep you coming back to help regain your bearings.” masha gessenthe founding fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. we are no wiser than the europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, nazism, or communism. our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.on tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come. in this thrilling novel from a #1 new york times bestselling author, the great texas rangers go on a no holds barred pursuit of the most dangerous killer ever to terrorize texas. texas ranger rory yates protects his home state wearing a five pointed silver badge and carrying a sig sauer. when a native woman disappears on the summer solstice, clues point to a cold case. yates, a quick draw champion, partners with expert archer ava cruz of the tigua tribal police.the investigation leads to the edges of texas's most unforgiving landscape, where the officers take dead aim with every shot in their arsenals. "superb ... a perfect horror for our imperfect age.”   the new york timesan instant new york times and usa today bestsellerthere’s power in a book…they call them wayward girls. loose girls. girls who grew up too fast. and they’re sent to wellwood house in st. augustine, florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.fifteen year old fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. under the watchful eye of the stern miss wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. there’s rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. and zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. and holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no one knows who.everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. then fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. but power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. there’s always a price to be paid...and it’s usually paid in blood.in witchcraft for wayward girls, the author of how to sell a haunted house and the final girl support group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (npr). new york times bestseller • shortlisted for the national book award • one of the new york times book review's 10 best books of the year • a time must read book of the year • a newly sober, orphaned son of iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the brooklyn museum. electrifying, funny, and wholly original, martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.“kaveh akbar is one of my favorite writers. ever.”  tommy orange, pulitzer prize nominated author of there there“the best novel you'll ever read about the joy of language, addiction, displacement, martyrdom, belonging, homesickness.”  lauren groff, best selling author of matrix and fates and furiescyrus shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the persian gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in america was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the midwest. cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past toward an uncle who rode through iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.kaveh akbar’s martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning in faith, art, ourselves, others. set in the near future, america has become a puritanical theocracy and offred tells her story as a handmaid under the new social order. "new york times" bestselling author kristin hannah "touches the deepest, most tender corner of our hearts" (tami hoag). her last novel, "between sisters, "was chosen by cbs's "the early show" as one of the best books of the summer. now she returns with "the things we do for love  "a poignant, evocative story that celebrates the magic of motherhood, the joys of coming home, and the price we so willingly pay for love. the youngest of three daughters, angela desaria malone was always "the princess" of the family, a girl who thought she knew how her life would unfold. high school. college. marriage. motherhood. that was how it had gone for her sisters, her cousins, her friends. but it didn't work out that way for angie. she and her husband tried desperately to have a child; year after year, their perfectly decorated nursery remained empty. finally, their marriage collapsed under the weight of lost dreams.after the divorce, angie moved back to her hometown and rejoined her loud, loving, slightly crazy family. in west end, a place where life rises and falls in time with the tides, she will find the man who once again will open her heart to love . . . and meet the girl who will change angie's life.lauren ribido lives in a rundown apartment in a bad part of town with a mother who cares more about her next drink than about her daughter. at seventeen, lauren knows that her aspirations in life may never come to pass. from the moment they meet, angie sees something special in lauren. they form a quick connection, this woman who is desperate for a daughter and the girl who has never known a mother's love. when lauren is abandoned by her mother, angie doesn't hesitate to offer thegirl a place to stay.but nothing could have prepared angie for the far reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. in a dramatic turn of events, she and lauren will be tested in a way that mothers and daughters seldom are. together they will embark on an intensely moving, deeply emotional journey to the very heart of what it means to be a family. new york times bestseller   gma book club pick   an npr book of the year   from the new york times bestselling author of i was anastasia and code name hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of martha ballard, a renowned 18th century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into american history. "fans of outlander's claire fraser will enjoy lawhon's martha, who is brave and outspoken when it comes to protecting the innocent. . . impressive."  the washington post "once again, lawhon works storytelling magic with a real life heroine."   people magazine maine, 1789: when the kennebec river freezes, entombing a man in the ice, martha ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. as a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in hallowell. her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close knit community. months earlier, martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen  one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. but when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, martha doggedly pursues the truth. her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling martha to decide where her own loyalties lie. clever, layered, and subversive, ariel lawhon's newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. the frozen river is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day. one of the new york times’s notable books of 2024a new york times best thriller of 2024a new york times best crime novel of 2024people magazine's #1 book of the yeara new york public library top 10 pick of 2024one of npr’s “books we love” 2024one of time magazine’s “100 must read books of 2024”named a best book of the year by:real simple ● oprah daily ● newsweek ● vulture“extraordinary . . . reminds me of donna tartt’s 1992 debut, the secret history . . . i was so thoroughly submerged in a rich fictional world, that for hours i barely came up for air.”  maureen corrigan, fresh air, npr“this expertly paced thriller ...has the kineticism of a well crafted miniseries.”  the new yorkerwhen a teenager vanishes from her adirondack summer camp, two worlds collideearly morning, august 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. its occupant, barbara van laar, has gone missing. barbara isn’t just any thirteen year old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. and this isn’t the first time a van laar child has disappeared. barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.as a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. chasing down the layered secrets of the van laar family and the blue collar community working in its shadow, moore’s multi threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. it is liz moore’s most ambitious and wide reaching novel yet. a #1 bestseller on the new york times, usa today, washington post, and los angeles times!from the celebrated author of the nightingale and the four winds comes kristin hannah's the women at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.women can be heroes. when twenty year old nursing student frances “frankie” mcgrath hears these words, it is a revelation. raised in the sun drenched, idyllic world of southern california and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. but in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. when her brother ships out to serve in vietnam, she joins the army nurse corps and follows his path.as green and inexperienced as the men sent to vietnam to fight, frankie is over whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. in war, she meets and becomes one of the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.but war is just the beginning for frankie and her veteran friends. the real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided america, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget vietnam. the women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. a novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, the women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era. the #1 new york times bestseller. over 20 million copies sold!translated into 60+ languages!tiny changes, remarkable resultsno matter your goals, atomic habits offers a proven framework for improving  every day. james clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.if you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. the problem is your system. bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. you do not rise to the level of your goals. you fall to the level of your systems. here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy to understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from olympic gold medalists, award winning artists, business leaders, life saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.learn how to: ...and much more.atomic habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits  whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal. **oprah's book club pick 2024** **new york times book club pick 2024** now a major motion picture starring cillian murphy a new york times bestseller * shortlisted for the 2022 booker prize * winner of the orwell prize for political fiction one of the new york times's 100 best books of the 21st century "a hypnotic and electrifying irish tale that transcends country, transcends time."   lily king, new york times bestselling author of writers & lovers small things like these is award winning author claire keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family it is 1985 in a small irish town. during the weeks leading up to christmas, bill furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. an international bestseller, small things like these is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers. an instant new york times bestseller | a national indie bestsellershort listed for the an post irish book awards novel of the yearfinalist for the barnes and noble book of the yearnamed a best book of the year and a critics’ pick by the new york times named an essential read by the new yorker named a best book of the year by the washington post, time, financial times, vogue, the guardian, harper’s bazaar, vox, the times (uk), apple books, and morea usa today, people, and associated press top 10 book of the yearone of barack obama’s favorite books of 2024 one of chicago public library’s favorite books of the year an exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family but especially love from the global phenomenon sally rooney.aside from the fact that they are brothers, peter and ivan koubek seem to have little in common. peter is a dublin lawyer in his thirties successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. but in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women his enduring first love, sylvia, and naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke. ivan is a twenty two year old competitive chess player. he has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, ivan meets margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined. for two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking. a new york times bestsellera today show #readwithjenna book club picka propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew. it’s a beautiful day in newport, rhode island, when phoebe stone arrives at the grand cornwall inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. she’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, phoebe and phoebe's plan which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.in turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, alison espach’s the wedding people is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us. a #1 new york times bestseller, wall street journal best book of the year, and soon to be a major motion picture, this unforgettable novel of love and strength in the face of war has enthralled a generation.france, 1939   in the quiet village of carriveau, vianne mauriac says goodbye to her husband, antoine, as he heads for the front. she doesn't believe that the nazis will invade france ... but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. when a german captain requisitions vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.vianne's sister, isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen year old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. while thousands of parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets gäetan, a partisan who believes the french can fight the nazis from within france, and she falls in love as only the young can ... completely. but when he betrays her, isabelle joins the resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.with courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author kristin hannah captures the epic panorama of world war ii and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. the nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in german occupied, war torn france a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. it is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.goodreads best historical novel of the year • people's choice favorite fiction winner • #1 indie next selection • a buzzfeed and the week best book of the year new york times bestselling series and instant usa today bestsellerthe viral tiktok stalker dark romance, burning with high heat, hilarious banter, and a love story like you've never seen before. can you handle the ride?i want someone with a soul as black as night. someone who would burn the world down for me and not lose a single minute of sleep over it.trauma nurse aly cappellucci doesn't need any more kinks. she likes the one she's landed on just fine. to her, nothing could top the masked men she follows online. unless one of those men was shirtless, heavily tattooed, and waiting for her in her bedroom. she dreams about being hunted by one in particular, of him chasing her down and doing deliciously dark things to her willing body. she never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become her new reality.i want things most people don't, craving darkness and depravity instead of light and love.josh hammond has spent his life avoiding the limelight, but his online persona is another story. at night, he posts masked thirst traps for his millions of fans to drool over, but one follower has caught his eye: aly. after reading a comment begging him to break into her house wearing a mask, he decides to take her up on her offer.together, aly and josh live out their darkest fantasies, unaware that aly has captured the attention of someone else. someone with far more sinister intentions than a little light stalking. as josh turns from predator to protector and the stakes heighten, he must ask himself how far he's willing to go for the woman he's obsessed with.lights out is a fast paced dark romance with a morally gray male lead. some themes and scenes may be disturbing to readers. please check the tws at the beginning of the book.tropesstalker romancemorally grey mmcmasked stalkerhe falls firstblack cat x golden retrieverkink friendly working at the local processing plant, marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans though no one calls them that anymore.his wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. after all, it happened so quickly. first, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. then governments initiated the “transition.” now, eating human meat “special meat” is legal. marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. and soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost and what might still be saved. an instant #1 new york times bestsellera #1 publishers weekly bestsellermelania is a compelling and inspirational memoir that offers a glimpse into the life of a remarkable woman who has navigated challenges with grace and determination. in her memoir, melania reflects on her slovenian childhood, the pivotal moments that led her to the world of high fashion in europe and new york, and the serendipitous meeting with donald trump, a chance encounter that forever changed the course of her life. melania opens up about their courtship, life in the spotlight, and experiencing the joy of motherhood. she shares behind the scenes stories from her time in the white house, shedding light on her advocacy work and the causes close to her heart.melania offers an unprecedented look into her time as a first lady who was born outside the united states    a role she embraced with honor and dedication. it brings readers into her world and presents an in depth account of a woman who has led a remarkable life on her own terms.melania trump's story is one of resilience and independence, showcasing her strength and unwavering commitment to her true self. the bible, as we hold it today, is esteemed by many religious institutions and especially conservative christians to be the inspired, inerrant word of god. this doctrinal position affirms that the bible is unlike all other books or collections of works in that it is free of error due to having been given by inspiration of god, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of god may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 tim. 3:16, 17). while no other text can claim this same unique authority, the book of enoch is an ancient jewish religious work, ascribed by tradition to enoch, the great grandfather of noah, which played a crucial role in forming the worldview of the authors of the new testament, who were not only familiar with it but quoted it in the new testament, epistle of jude, jude 1:14 15, and is attributed there to "enoch the seventh from adam" (1 en 60:8). the text was also utilized by the community that originally collected and studied the dead sea scrolls. while some churches today include enoch as part of the biblical canon (for example the ethiopian orthodox tewahedo church and eritrean orthodox tewahedo church), other christian denominations and scholars accept it only as having historical or theological non canonical interest and frequently use or assigned it as supplemental materials within academic settings to help students and scholars discover or better understand cultural and historical context of the early christian church. the book of enoch provides commentators valuable insight into what many ancient jews and early christians believed when, god, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets (heb. 1:1). as dr. michael s. heiser in the introduction to his important book reversing hermon so powerfully notes: for those to whom 1 enoch sounds unfamiliar, this is the ancient apocalyptic literary work known popularly (but imprecisely) as the book of enoch. most scholars believe that 1 enoch was originally written in aramaic perhaps as early as the 3rd century b.c. the oldest fragments of the book were found among the dead sea scrolls and dated to roughly the second century b.c. this places the book squarely in the middle of what scholars call the second temple period (ca. 500 b.c. 70 a.d.), an era more commonly referred to as the intertestamental period. this book will use the more academic designation ( second temple period ) [...] the watcher story of 1 enoch, as many readers will recall, is an expansion of the episode described in genesis 6:1 4, where the sons of god (hebrew: beney ha  elohim) came in to the daughters of man (gen 6:4; esv). consequently, watchers is the enochian term of choice (among others) for the divine sons of god. while the story of this supernatural rebellion occupies scant space in genesis, it received considerable attention during the second temple period [...] the enochian version of the events of gen 6:1 4 preserves and transmits the original mesopotamian context for the first four verses of the flood account. every element of gen 6:1 4 has a mesopotamian counterpoint a theological target that provides the rationale for why these four verses wound up in the inspired text in the first place. connections to that backstory can be found in the old testament, but they are scattered and unsystematically presented. this is not the case with second temple jewish literature like 1 enoch. books like 1 enoch preserve all of the mesopotamian touchpoints with gen 6:1 4 when presenting their expanded retelling of the events of that biblical passage. the book of enoch is therefore intended to be an important supplemental resource for assisting serious researchers and students in the study of the bible. a behavioral scientist notable book of 2024“an eye opening analysis of why our politics have become so polarized….keith payne illuminates one of the biggest problems of our time and lights the way toward some promising solutions.”  adam grant, #1 new york times bestselling author of think again "good reasonable people challenges each of us to drop the weapon of demonization and replace it with something more powerful: a framework for understanding and for being understood by people who see the world differently from us."  margot lee shetterly, #1 new york times bestselling author of hidden figuresa leading social scientist explains the psychology of our current social divide and how understanding it can help reduce the conflicts it causesthere has been much written about the impact of polarization on elections, political parties, and policy outcomes. but keith payne’s goal is more personal: to focus on what our divisions mean for us as individuals, as families, and as communities. this book is about how ordinary people think about politics, why talking about it is so hard, and how we can begin to mend the personal bonds that are fraying for so many of us.drawing upon his own research and his experience growing up in a working class, conservative christian family in small town kentucky, payne argues that there is a near universal human tendency to believe that people who are different from us are irrational or foolish. the fundamental source of our division is our need to flexibly rationalize ideas in order to see ourselves as good people. understanding the psychology behind our political divide provides clues about how we can reduce the damage it is causing. it won’t allow us to undo our polarization overnight, but it can give us the tools to stop going around in circles in frustrating arguments. it can help us make better choices about how we engage in political debates, how policy makers and social media companies deal with misinformation, and how we deal with each other on social media. it can help us separate, if we choose to, our political principles from our personal relationships so that we can nurture both. new york times bestseller   a "thrilling and superbly crafted" (the wall street journal) account of the most momentous voyage of the age of exploration, which culminated in captain james cook's death in hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day. one of the new york times book review's 10 best books of the year "in this masterly history, sides tracks the 18th century english naval officer james cook's third and final voyage across the globe, painting a vivid and propulsive portrait that blends generations of scholarship with the firsthand accounts of european seafarers as well as the oral traditions of indigenous pacific islanders."  the new york times book review on july 12th, 1776, captain james cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in british history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the hms resolution. two and a half years later, on a beach on the island of hawaii, cook was killed in a conflict with native hawaiians. how did cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? hampton sides' bravura account of cook's last journey both wrestles with cook's legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science  the famed naturalist joseph banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and cook has been called one of the most important figures of the age of enlightenment. he was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. in fact, his stated mission was to return a tahitian man, mai, who had become the toast of london, to his home islands. on previous expeditions, cook mapped huge swaths of the pacific, including the east coast of australia, and initiated first european contact with numerous peoples. he treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment. yet something was different on this last voyage. cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. this may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before britain's imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled northwest passage. whatever cook's intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for indigenous people around the world. the tensions between cook's overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of hawaii. his first landing there was harmonious, but when cook returned after mapping the coast of the pacific northwest and alaska, his exploitative treatment of the hawaiians led to the fatal encounter. at once a ferociously paced story of adventure on the high seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the age of exploration, the wide wide sea is a major work from one of our finest narrative nonfiction writers. learn how to survive and thrive in today's fast paced world, and take ownership of yourself so that you're not left behind.7 rules of self reliance teaches seven insightful rules how do you survive and thrive with the inevitable, fast paced changes that have created new ways of working and living? stay low, keep moving (rule #1).how do you create authentic relationships at work and at home, and live with empathy? become a value creator (rule #2).how do you put yourself at the top of your priority list? realize that no one is coming to save you or get you ready for your life   i.e. don't be a waiter (rule # 3).how do you stay relevant, in the know and sharpen your skills? unlearn, relearn and invest in yourself (rule #4).how do you position yourself in the eyes of the world? think of your reputation as currency (rule #5).how do you cement and create real, enduring connections   personally and professionally   and have emotional intelligence in life? become a long term player (rule # 6).how do you live with the most joy and create a fulfilling life that you can learn from? have no regrets (rule #7).once you have grasped the expert wisdom distilled in this book, you will create opportunities for yourself that are bigger and better than you knew were possible. in this enthralling history, internationally bestselling author max hastings recounts the odds defying operation biting, a 1942 parachute commando raid on northern france to steal vital components of german intelligence  one of the most thrilling british commando raids of world war ii, and one of the most successful. in february 1942, raf intelligence was baffled by a newly identified radar network on the coast of nazi occupied europe, codenamed würzburg. british intelligence proposed an assault to capture key components. incredibly brave agents of the french resistance risked their lives to probe the german defenses on the normandy coast. then a company of airborne forces were dropped into france in the dead of night amid heavy snow. launching their attack, the allied soldiers dismantled the german's radar, and after three nail biting hours and a fierce battle with wehrmacht defenders, escaped in the nick of time using landing craft that carried them back across the stormy seas to portsmouth. operation biting retells this dramatic operation through a gallery of amazing characters from winston churchill, who promoted the raid, to lord mountbatten, who commanded combined operations, to the brave unsung commandos who fought their way through enemy territory. a cliffhanger of a story that ratchets the suspense to the last page, operation biting sheds new light on an exciting and little known chapter of the second world war. from a robert frost poem on her debut album to the myth of cassandra on the tortured poets department, taylor swift’s lyrics are filled with literary connections.make sure you're catching them all with this expert guide to the novels, poems, and plays that influence her songwriting.let a literature professor and a musical theater artist guide you through the taylor swift canon from shakespeare to the brontë sisters to daphne du maurier! packed with fun facts, entertaining analysis, and literary themed playlists that fans will love, taylor swift by the book will turn anyone from a taylor swift lover into a taylor swift scholar.with full color illustrations highlighting the literary eras of dr. swift (yes, she has an honorary phd), it’s a perfect gift for the swiftie in your life. a revolutionary new offering from dr. jordan b. peterson, renowned psychologist and author of the global bestseller 12 rules for life.in we who wrestle with god, dr. peterson guides us through the ancient, foundational stories of the western world. in riveting detail, he analyzes the biblical accounts of rebellion, sacrifice, suffering, and triumph that stabilize, inspire, and unite us culturally and psychologically. adam and eve and the eternal fall of mankind; the resentful and ultimately murderous war of cain and abel; the cataclysmic flood of noah; the spectacular collapse of the tower of babel; abraham’s terrible adventure; and the epic of moses and the israelites. what could such stories possibly mean? what force wrote and assembled them over the long centuries? how did they bring our spirits and the world together, and point us in the same direction? it is time for us to understand such things, scientifically and spiritually; to become conscious of the structure of our souls and our societies; and to see ourselves and others as if for the first time. join elijah as he discovers the voice of god in the dictates of his own conscience and jonah confronting hell itself in the belly of the whale because he failed to listen and act. set yourself straight in intent, aim, and purpose as you begin to more deeply understand the structure of your society and your soul. journey with dr. peterson through the greatest stories ever told. dare to wrestle with god. how animals conceive of death and dying and what it can teach us about our own relationships with mortalitywhen the opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralyzed. her body temperature plummets, her breathing and heart rates drop to a minimum, and her glands simulate the smell of a putrefying corpse. playing possum explores what the opossum and other creatures can teach us about how we and other species understand mortality, and demonstrates that the concept of death, far from being a uniquely human attribute, is widespread in the animal kingdom.with humor and empathy, susana monsó tells the stories of ants who attend their own funerals, chimpanzees who clean the teeth of their dead, dogs who snack on their caregivers, crows who avoid the places where they saw a carcass, elephants obsessed with collecting ivory, and whales who carry their dead for weeks. monsó, one of today’s leading experts on animal cognition and ethics, shows how there are more ways to conceive of mortality than the human way, and challenges the notion that the only emotional reactions to death worthy of our attention are ones that resemble our own.blending philosophical insight with new evidence from behavioral science and comparative psychology, playing possum dispels the anthropocentric biases that cloud our understanding of the natural world, and reveals that, when it comes to death and dying, we are just another animal. new york times bestselling author lysa terkeurst shows you what to do with your skepticism and distrust so you can heal from past betrayals and move forward with strength and resilience. trust is the oxygen of all human relationships. but it's also what trips you up after you've been burned. maybe a friend constantly lets you down. a leader or organization you respect turns out to be different than they portray themselves to be. a spouse cheats on you. a family member betrays you. you're exhausted by other people's choices and starting to question your own discernment. and you're wondering, if god let this happen, can he even be trusted how can you live well and step into the future when you keep stumbling over trust issues lysa terkeurst says it's not simply about finding better people to walk with. it's about developing the stability you long for within yourself and with god, so you don't become cynical and carry a broken belief system into every new relationship. in i want to trust you, but i don't, lysa shows you how to in a world where so many things feel alarming, this book will give you a peace that isn't dependent on unpredictable people, circumstances, and experiences. instead, it offers practical and biblical ways to make real progress toward healthier perspectives, relationships, and a future you can authentically look forward to. in this fascinating & profoundly chilling account, detective kim mager, a real life version of clarice starling, reveals how she closed in on and broke one of ohio’s most infamous serial killers. on september 13, 2016, in the small town of ashland, ohio, emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from a terrified woman who claimed to be kidnapped. the man holding her hostage was shawn grate, a serial killer whom the press later dubbed “the ladykiller.” a key to his conviction and death sentence were grate’s extensive recorded confessions all extracted by one woman: detective kim mager.as an experienced specialist in sex offenses, detective mager was one of the officers assigned to grate’s case upon his arrest. grate immediately latched onto her, repeatedly demanding to speak to her and presumably convinced that he could somehow exercise his power over her in much the same way that he’d overpowered and controlled his female victims.he was wrong.over a period of eight days, mager conducted one interview after another, risking her life by sitting alone in the interview room with a malevolent predator. using brilliant psychological strategy in a lethal game of wits, mager successfully elicited his damning confessions to five murders, kidnapping, and multiple sexual assaults of women across ohio.deeply personal and shocking, a hunger to kill takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most appalling criminal cases in american history from the woman who stopped his murderous rampage in collaboration with new york times bestselling author lisa pulitzer. from pulitzer prize winning wall street journal columnist and new york times bestselling author peggy noonan, a masterclass in how to see and love america.for a quarter century, peggy noonan has been thinking aloud about america in her much loved wall street journal column. in this new collection of her essential recent work, noonan demonstrates the erudition, wisdom and humor that have made her one of america’s most admired writers.she calls balls and strikes on the political shenanigans of recent leaders and she honors the integrity of great americans, ranging from billy graham to the heroes of 9/11. a thinker who never allows her tenderness to slip into sentimentality, she writes with clear eyed urgency about the internal and external dangers facing our republic. she sometimes writes with indignation, but above all she writes with love  and an enduring faith that america can be its best self, that its ideals are worth protecting, and that beauty and heroism can be found in our neighbors, in our history, and in ourselves. this book is a celebration of what america has been, is, and can be. from a renowned biologist and best selling author, a whole new way of looking at living organisms: reading them as documents describing ancient worlds an exquisitely camouflaged lizard has a desiccated landscape of sand and stones "painted" on its back. its skin can be read as a description of an ancient desert, a world in which its ancestors survived. such descriptions are more than skin deep, however. they penetrate the very warp and woof of the entire animal. in this groundbreaking exploration of the power of darwinian evolution and what it can reveal about the past, richard dawkins shows how the body, behavior, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book  an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. in the future, a zoologist presented with a hitherto unknown animal will be able to decode its ancestral history, to read its unique "book of the dead." such readings are already uncovering the remarkable ways animals overcome obstacles, adapt to their environments, and, again and again, develop remarkably similar ways of solving life's problems. from the author of the selfish gene comes a revolutionary, richly illustrated book that unlocks the door to a past more vivid, nuanced, and fascinating than anything we have seen. “a fast burning fuse of a book, every page bursting with revelatory detail.” erik larsona sweeping account of the anarchists who terrorized the streets of new york and the detective duo who transformed policing to meet the threat a tale of fanaticism, forensic science, and dynamite from the bestselling author of the ghost mapa chicago public library best book of the year • longlisted for the andrew carnegie medal for excellence in nonfiction • nominated for the edgar awardsteven johnson’s engrossing account of the epic struggle between the anarchist movement and the emerging surveillance state stretches around the world and between two centuries from alfred nobel’s invention of dynamite and the assassination of czar alexander ii to new york city in the shadow of world war i.april 1914. the nypd is still largely the corrupt, low tech organization of the tammany hall era. to the extent the police are stopping crime as opposed to committing it their role has been almost entirely defined by physical force: the brawn of the cop on the beat keeping criminals at bay with nightsticks and fists. the solving of crimes is largely outside their purview.the new commissioner, arthur woods, is determined to change that, but he cannot anticipate the maelstrom of violence that will soon test his science based approach to policing. within weeks of his tenure, new york city is engulfed in the most concentrated terrorism campaign in the nation’s history: a five year period of relentless bombings, many of them perpetrated by the anarchist movement led by legendary radicals alexander berkman and emma goldman. coming to woods’s aide are inspector joseph faurot, a science first detective who works closely with him in reforming the police force, and amadeo polignani, the young italian undercover detective who infiltrates the notorious bresci circle.johnson reveals a mostly forgotten period of political conviction, scientific discovery, assassination plots, bombings, undercover operations, and innovative sleuthing. the infernal machine is the complex pre history of our current moment, when decentralized anarchist networks have once again taken to the streets to protest law enforcement abuses, right wing militia groups have attacked government buildings, and surveillance is almost ubiquitous. unlock your full style potential. transform your wardrobe. dress your best.in how to dress your best, tiktok's favourite fashion guru and style consultant ellie jean royden equips you with the tools and advice you need to curate a transformative wardrobe for everyday life.ellie jean expertly guides you through the complicated work of dressing to your best colours and finding the silhouettes that make you shine. she teaches us that true style is not about dressing yourself to restrictive shapes or fruits, but about learning how to honour your natural line and dress in harmony with it. best of all, ellie jean breaks down her unique styling systems tested and loved by thousands of her clients, offering you the ultimate personal styling experience.packed full with interactive quizzes and inspirational mood boards throughout, this must have guide will teach you how to ditch the cycle of trend buying and build a dream wardrobe that makes you look and feel amazing. forget step by step instructions   you’re ready to design your own lego creations! the lego builder’s handbook is the only guide you need for building totally out of this world, wholly original models.what’s the right scale to use for your lego model? how does snot, also known as sideways building, work? what’s the trick to achieving smoother tapers? how do you design a lego sculpture? find the answers to these questions and more in the lego builder’s handbook. unlock the secrets to advanced building techniques and take your creations to the next level.in this comprehensive, modern introduction to lego building, you’ll learn how to: full color and packed with detailed illustrations, this book will also show you how to: unlock the secrets of the master builders with the lego builder’s handbook. whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned builder, you’ll learn to push the boundaries of your creativity and build your own models, brick by brick. a #1 new york times bestsellerfrom america’s favorite government teacher, a “fascinating and fun” (adam grant) portrait of twelve ordinary americans whose courage formed the character of our country.in the small and the mighty, sharon mcmahon proves that the most remarkable americans are often ordinary people who didn’t make it into the textbooks. not the presidents, but the telephone operators. not the aristocrats, but the schoolteachers. through meticulous research, she discovers history’s unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time. you’ll meet a woman astride a white horse riding down pennsylvania ave, a young boy detained at a japanese incarceration camp, a formerly enslaved woman on a mission to reunite with her daughter, a poet on a train, and a teacher who learns to work with her enemies. more than one thing is bombed, and multiple people surprisingly become rich. some rich with money, and some wealthy with things that matter more.this is a book about what really made america   and americans   great. mcmahon’s cast of improbable champions will become familiar friends, lighting the path we journey in our quest to make the world more just, peaceful, good, and free. one doctor's courageous fight to save a small town from a silent epidemic that threatened the community's future  and exposed a national health crisis.when dr. will cooke, an idealistic young physician just out of medical training, set up practice in the small rural community of austin, indiana, he had no idea that much of the town was being torn apart by poverty, addiction, and life threatening illnesses. but he soon found himself at the crossroads of two unprecedented health care disasters: a national opioid epidemic and the worst drug fueled hiv outbreak ever seen in rural america.confronted with austin's hidden secrets, dr. cooke decided he had to do something about them. in taking up the fight for austin's people, however, he would have to battle some unanticipated foes: prejudice, political resistance, an entrenched bureaucracy  and the dark despair that threatened to overwhelm his own soul. canary in the coal mine is a gripping account of the transformation of a man and his adopted community, a compelling and ultimately hopeful read in the vein of hillbilly elegy, dreamland, and educated. are you a people pleaser? can you even begin to measure how the approval of others has shaped your heart and mind? your faith and relationships? your habits and identity? in people pleaser, new york times bestselling author jinger vuolo shares her personal journey of constantly seeking approval from others and how she found her true identity. from childhood to early adulthood, jinger duggar vuolo followed the expectations of others, never taking the time to discover who she truly was. it wasn't until she asked herself the question, "who am i?" that she realized she was a people pleaser. this realization led her on a journey of self discovery and ultimately, to rely on god for her approval and sense of self worth. through her faith and reliance on god, jinger began to break free from the need for approval and discover true freedom. this book is a guide for anyone struggling with people pleasing tendencies and seeking to find their true identity and purpose in life. learn how to: jinger hopes this book will inspire others to embark on a similar journey towards freedom. meet detective beans, the best kitten detective in town, equipped with his tie, brown trench coat, and  gasp. it's gone! his detective hat is missing! follow along to discover the charming, whimsical, and mysterious world of detective beans.meet detective beans (just beans for short), a young cat sleuth dedicated to doing whatever it takes to solve the case. after a night of mystery movies with his best friend, biscuit, detective beans wakes up to find his detective hat is missing. there's only one thing to do: hit the streets of cat town and find that missing hat! cat town is full of suspects, from the neighborhood bird to a magician in the park, and each twist and turn in this journey leads to an interesting new encounter    and to solving a much bigger case than beans could have imagined. brilliantly written and illustrated by new zealand comic artist li chen, creator of the internationally popular extraordinary comics, detective beans and the case of the missing hat is filled with charming cat capers, warm hearted humor, and detective stories all in the form of a graphic novel that will entertain comics fans and middle grade readers everywhere. a stunning collaboration between award winning and bestselling authors ruta sepetys and steve sheinkin, this middle grade historical adventure follows two siblings at bletchley park, the home of wwii codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s disappearance.remember, you are bound by the official secrets act…summer, 1940. nineteen year old jakob novis and his quirky younger sister lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. and now they’re living inside of one. the quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of world war ii britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at bletchley park. as jakob joins bletchley’s top minds to crack the nazi's enigma cipher, fourteen year old lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.the battle of britain rages and hitler’s invasion creeps closer. and at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the bletchley mansion. are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? could the riddles of enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? jakob and lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: how long must a secret be kept? chicago public library best fiction for younger readers of 2024 school library journal best books of 2024 ursula finds confidence in seeing the world her own way in another innovative, flipped format picture book from caldecott honor and geisel award winner corey r. tabor. ursula is a happy catfish, swimming through a shimmering river with weeds waving above and a sky full of scrumptious bugs below. then one question turns her world upside down. is left right? is right wrong? which way even is up? children will love turning the book upside down and back again as they follow ursula's humorous journey to self discovery. cultivate connection and kindness in author susan verde's and peter h. reynolds's i am we, a companion to the new york times bestsellers i am human and i am love connected is what we are: part of a world wide community, diverse and magnificent, kind and accepting, supportive and present. all of us important, none of us alone. sometimes we may wonder, how does caring for ourselves help anyone else? but then we realize that the better we feel inside, the more we can be there for others  our friends, families, and communities. we are part of something bigger than ourselves, and when we each turn our goodness and compassion outward, we can create, learn, and love. from the new york times bestselling team behind the i am series comes a celebration of caring for ourselves and others with open hearts and minds. whether it's listening to a friend, welcoming newcomers with open arms, or standing up against injustice, i am we shows us what true community looks like  and the amazing things that can happen when we come together. inside you'll also find exercises for building community. i am series: i am me i am we who i am i am courage i am one i am love i am human i am peace i am yoga cupid’s taking aim at charlene morris’s historic salem b&b, which is brimming with models for a contentious photo shoot, but his arrow goes astray when someone is murdered on valentine’s day…a full house is nothing new to charlene and her ghostly friend, dr. jack strathmore, but this valentine’s day, their salem, massachusetts inn isn’t filled with romantic couples. instead, every room is booked by formerly famous photographer, dane stallone, for a cupid themed calendar he hopes will jumpstart his sagging career. though charlene’s hands are full with a dozen gorgeous models, dane is the only diva pitching fits, making unreasonable demands, and generally being a mood killer . . . until a real killer strikes and puts the whole shoot on ice.with more suspects than a jumbo box of chocolates, charlene, jack, and detective sam holden race to find the one person filled with murderous intent . . . new york times bestseller • two feuding second grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this new rivals to lovers romance set in rome, kentucky from the new york times bestselling author of the rule book and practice makes perfect.“sarah adams writes books with heart and soul. they speak to the people finding their way and being unapologetically themselves in the process. i love her style.” hannah grace, author of icebreakeremily walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, jack bennett. he’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why emily was perfectly happy when jack left rome, kentucky, mid school year with his fiancée. the last thing emily saw coming was jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay as her colleague and her neighbor.jack is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. but when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited about thwarting emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return.with their chemistry fueled animosity at an all time high, emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. she needs to steal back her manuscript, and jack she hates to admit is just the man to help her. surprisingly, he agrees. will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?look for all of sarah adams’s when in rome books:when in rome • practice makes perfect • beg, borrow, or steal (coming soon!) after nearly eighteen months at basgiath war college, violet sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. no more time for uncertainty.because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.now violet must journey beyond the failing aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with navarre. the trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves her dragons, her family, her home, and him.even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.they need an army. they need power. they need magic. and they need the one thing only violet can find the truth.but a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath. the empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.reading order:book #1 fourth wingbook #2 iron flamebook #3 onyx storm from acclaimed #1 new york times bestselling author linda lael miller comes a beautifully rendered timeslip novel about the family we create for ourselves...madison bettencourt has tried to assemble all the pieces of a perfect life, but nothing fits quite the way it should. she's moved back home to montana to care for her grandmother, who is slipping further and further away. and she's called off her wedding, and worries her dreams of a family are fading with it.as madison rattles around her family home, childhood memories come flooding back. bliss morgan transformed eight year old madison with her loyalty, and for a while, the two girls were as close as can be. but madison never understood why bliss suddenly vanished, leaving only a friendship bracelet and a message etched into a matchbook.before she can begin again, madison must uncover what happened to bliss, and liam mckettrick  a widowed dad trying to repair his relationship with his two children  becomes her unlikely ally. he, too, understands the pang of regret. yet there are mysteries that madison hesitates to explore with anyone, and strange energies in bettencourt hall that blur the lines between past and present. poignant and utterly captivating, where the creek bends shows that finding yourself begins with following your heart, no matter where it leads.perfect for fans of: new york times bestseller • this deeply moving novel from danielle steel tells the story of a woman who finds her life turned upside down while living temporarily in the french countryside.oona kelly webster has much to be grateful for. a striking woman with red hair and green eyes, she has a loving family and a job she adores, editing a prestigious line of books. to celebrate their twenty fifth wedding anniversary, she and her husband, charles, have planned a visit to france.but then charles drops a bombshell. he has been living a lie hiding an affair for a year and he is leaving oona for a younger male lover.although devastated, oona decides to travel to france without charles. she arrives in a charming village an hour outside of paris, and settles into the house she has rented, called la belle florence named after the king’s mistress for whom it was built. but just as she’s catching her breath, she’s dealt another blow: her company’s merger will eliminate her job. in the space of a few months, everything she nurtured for decades has slipped through her fingers. the only silver lining is that she can remain in france, where the simple life in beautiful surroundings slowly begins to heal her, as does the little white dog she rescues, and her friendly neighbor hailing from trinidad, who delights her with his openness and warmth. though she does not recognize him at first, she soon realizes her neighbor is a well known actor. as their feelings for each other begin to deepen, oona wrestles with the risks of opening her heart again especially to a younger, very famous man.never say never is an inspiring novel about a woman who finds a second chance at happiness and love, all because she understands the importance of being brave enough to stay open to change. new york times bestseller • this deeply moving novel from danielle steel tells the story of a woman who finds her life turned upside down while living temporarily in the french countryside.oona kelly webster has much to be grateful for. a striking woman with red hair and green eyes, she has a loving family and a job she adores, editing a prestigious line of books. to celebrate their twenty fifth wedding anniversary, she and her husband, charles, have planned a visit to france.but then charles drops a bombshell. he has been living a lie hiding an affair for a year and he is leaving oona for a younger male lover.although devastated, oona decides to travel to france without charles. she arrives in a charming village an hour outside of paris, and settles into the house she has rented, called la belle florence named after the king’s mistress for whom it was built. but just as she’s catching her breath, she’s dealt another blow: her company’s merger will eliminate her job. in the space of a few months, everything she nurtured for decades has slipped through her fingers. the only silver lining is that she can remain in france, where the simple life in beautiful surroundings slowly begins to heal her, as does the little white dog she rescues, and her friendly neighbor hailing from trinidad, who delights her with his openness and warmth. though she does not recognize him at first, she soon realizes her neighbor is a well known actor. as their feelings for each other begin to deepen, oona wrestles with the risks of opening her heart again especially to a younger, very famous man.never say never is an inspiring novel about a woman who finds a second chance at happiness and love, all because she understands the importance of being brave enough to stay open to change. immortal passions rage as evil grows in this gripping novel in christine feehan’s #1 new york times bestselling carpathian series.silke vriese reinders knows a war is coming. the demon slayer has seen it over and over again in the cards and the battle won’t just be for the survival of her remote village, but for all mankind. silke knows the only way to win will be with the help of the carpathians. a fact that fills her with trepidation, as she is fated to be the lifemate to one of the ancient supernatural warriors bound to a complete stranger and responsible for his soul.one of the oldest, most dangerous carpathians, benedek kovak is more beast than man. locked away for centuries, the only thing that has stopped him from becoming one of the monsters he’s sworn to defeat is the thought of his lifemate. when benedek senses the impending danger, he sets out to find her before it’s too late. but their enemy has laid a trap that pushes him closer to turning than ever before.for so long benedek has felt nothing. now, some dark art is compelling him to indulge in cravings he thought long buried. he has no hope that anyone can restore what’s left of his tainted soul, but silke is nothing like he imagined. perhaps she’s strong enough to fight back the darkness. perhaps together they can defeat an adversary hell bent on destroying them all.... reese’s book club pick!“this story swept me away with its big dreams, love, and unexpected twists.”  reese witherspoon (reese’s book club january ’25 pick)the seven husbands of evelyn hugo meets first lie wins in this electric, voice driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past. cate kay knows how to craft a story. as the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. the thing is, cate kay doesn’t really exist. she’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.as a young adult, she and her best friend amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to california to become movie stars. but the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. but after a shocking revelation, cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again. "superb ... a perfect horror for our imperfect age.”   the new york timesan instant new york times and usa today bestsellerthere’s power in a book…they call them wayward girls. loose girls. girls who grew up too fast. and they’re sent to wellwood house in st. augustine, florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.fifteen year old fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. under the watchful eye of the stern miss wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. there’s rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. and zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. and holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no one knows who.everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. then fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. but power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. there’s always a price to be paid...and it’s usually paid in blood.in witchcraft for wayward girls, the author of how to sell a haunted house and the final girl support group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (npr). elvis cole and his enigmatic partner, joe pike, race to find a terrifying, unidentified killer in this twisting, unpredictable thriller from #1 new york times bestselling author robert crais.traci beller was thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of rancha, not far from los angeles. the evidence says tommy beller abandoned his family, but traci never believed it. now, ten years later, traci is a high profile influencer with millions of followers and the money to hire the best detective she can find: elvis cole.elvis heads to rancha where an ex con named sadie givens and her daughter, anya, might have a line on the missing man. but when elvis finds himself shadowed by a gang of vicious criminals, the missing persons cold case becomes far more sinister.elvis calls his ex marine friend, joe pike, for help, and they follow tommy beller's trail into the depths of a monstrous, hidden evil. the case flips on its head, victims become predators, predators become prey, and the question becomes: can elvis cole save them all from this nightmare? bestselling author james grippando's legendary criminal defense attorney jack swyteck is back to defend a single mother accused of kidnapping her own child in a perilous case involving politics and international diplomacy that will test his legal expertise and his marriage. jack swyteck's new client fled iran to miami with her daughter, and has been accused of kidnapping by her husband. the seasoned attorney must not only plan a winning defense. to stop the father from taking the girl back to tehran, jack must build a case under international law and prove that returning the child would put her at risk. but everything in this case isn't what it seems, and jack quickly learns that his client is really the child's aunt and that the biological mother may have been killed by iran's morality police. but what role did the father play in his wife's death, and why is jack's wife, fbi agent andie henning, being pressured by her bosses to persuade jack to drop the case? plunging into an investigation unlike any other, jack must discover who is behind the legal maneuvering and what their interest is. as politics threatens to derail the case and compromise the best interests of the child, jack and andie find themselves on opposite sides  with their marriage hanging in the balance. for their relationship to survive, the couple must navigate a treacherous web of deceit that extends from a miami courthouse to the highest echelons of washington dc, and spells grave danger at every turn. a usa today bestseller • from the new york times bestselling author of the wife comes a suspenseful story about a vacation in the hamptons that goes terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history."it's only january, but your perfect summer thriller is here already." maureen corrigan, washington post“i absolutely loved the note. trust no one in this irresistible page turner.”  ashley elston, #1 new york times best selling author of first lie winsit was meant to be a harmless prank. growing up, may hanover was a good girl, always. well behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule follower. raised by a first generation chinese single mother with high expectations, may didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. her friends didn’t call her the little sheriff for nothing.but even good girls have secrets. and regrets. when it comes to her friendship with lauren and kelsey, she's had her fair share of both. their bond forged when may was just twelve years old has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the hamptons. but a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry. when she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, may begins to wonder whether lauren and kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.what had they gone and done? the note is a page turner of the highest order from one of our greatest contemporary suspense writers. *a new york times bestseller*from new york times bestselling author fiona davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from new york city’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of cairo and back.egypt, 1936: when anthropology student charlotte cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in egypt’s valley of the kings, she leaps at the opportunity. that is until an unbearable tragedy strikes.new york city, 1978: nineteen year old annie jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for former vogue fashion editor diana vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous met gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.”meanwhile, charlotte is now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the met’s celebrated department of egyptian art. she’s consumed by her research on hathorkare a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other egyptologists as unimportant.the night of the gala: one of the egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing, and there are signs hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening. annie and charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, and a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place charlotte swore she’d never return: egypt. but if they have any hope of finding the artifact, charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past which may mean leading them both directly into danger. to the world, they were a scandal. to each other, an obsession.an epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice“part wuthering heights and part daisy jones & the six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.” jodi picoult, new york times bestselling author of wish you were hereshe might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but katarina shaw has always known that she was destined to become an olympic skater. when she meets heath rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. clinging to skating and each other to escape their turbulent lives, kat and heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller coaster relationship.until a shocking incident at the olympic games brings their partnership to a sudden end.as the ten year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with shaw and rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story” through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. so, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all consuming bond with heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines. a breathless, riveting novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand up comedy.maddy banks is just like any other stressed out freshman at nyu. between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. it doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her picture perfect connecticut family. but maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. she begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.as she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.with her signature “deep empathy and insight” (booklist), harvard trained neuroscientist and new york times bestselling author lisa genova has crafted another profoundly moving novel that makes complicated mental health issues accessible and human. more or less maddy is destined to become another classic like still alice. say "i do" to this sweet romance from bestselling author amy clipston, who "writes with warmth and heart" (raeanne thayne). dakota jamison spends her days making brides' dreams come true. but when will the time finally come for her own storybook ending? dakota thought she had left her dreams of happily ever after behind, along with the pain of a broken engagement to her high school sweetheart, hudson. now, as the proud owner of fairytale bridal shop in the picturesque town of flowering grove, she's built a life and a business on helping brides find their perfect dress for their own fairytale weddings. but running a small business is not for the faint of heart, and when her ex fiancé unexpectedly returns to town with a mission  to put a stop to his sister's wedding  dakota's problems go from bad to worse. hudson garrity should be living his dream. after selling his software company, he's single, handsome, and rich, but an unexpected call from his baby sister has him flying down to his hometown, determined to protect layla from yet another big mistake. though he's single minded in his effort to derail the nuptials, he instead finds himself thrown into family chaos and roped into helping his sister with her plans . . . bringing him once more into contact with dakota jamison, the one who got away. for hudson, coming home means revisiting his painful childhood, repairing a strained relationship with his sister, and coming face to face with the woman he never stopped loving. for dakota, it means confronting the tender memories she buried deep within her heart. as layla's wedding date draws close, the two reunited lovers begin to question if what went wrong between them really happened the way they remembered it at all. will they continue believing the lies they've told themselves, or will they remain forever entangled in the threads of what could have been? with this ring by bestselling novelist amy clipston is a heartwarming story that weaves together rekindled romance, rediscovery, and the transformative power of forgiveness. you're going to love this standalone novel, which features a second chance romance storyline, a billionaire hero, and a charming small town setting  think the wedding planner meets a tale of reunited lovers. what sets this one apart is its sweet, clean romance; it delivers all the emotions and butterflies, leaving out the explicit scenes. and it comes with engaging discussion questions, making it a fantastic choice for your next book club pick! old flames reignite in sunrise cove in this charming enemies to lovers, second chance, small town, forced proximity love story about family, friendships, and true love from new york times bestselling author jill shalvis. when olive porter's off the grid parents go missing, she reluctantly seeks out noah turner, her ex and the only person she both trusts implicitly and not at all. as a special investigative agent for the national park service, noah's used to living under intense pressure. or he was until he got injured on the job. now unhappily recuperating at home while being smothered by his loving but nosy family, he'd love nothing more than a good distraction. so when olive shows up looking like a million bucks, he has to do a gut and heart check. because nope, no matter what, he can't fall for her again, the woman who once blew up his entire life and never looked back. how ironic then that his own personal hell (olive) is also his ticket out of town. the question is, will the risk be worth the reward? why are baking contestants disappearing?mysteries have a way of following fannie miller, so when she makes it into the finals of the tuscarawas county baking contest and contestants start disappearing, she calls on her old friend foster bates, a retired cop and part time private investigator. could it be that other finalists are somehow responsible for these disappearances, thinning out the competition? like the couple on verge of divorce who need the prize money, or the three beiler sisters, always in a huddle whispering. one thing is for certain  foster and fannie will stay on the case until the end, and everyone involved will have learned something important about baking contests, solving mysteries, and life.new york times bestselling author wanda e. brunstetter and emmy nominated author martha bolton have teamed up to deliver a delightful whodunit from ohio's amish country. everything is bigger in texas, from the vast stretch of sky to the rattlesnakes and for one prestigious family, that means outsized drama, passions, and scandal following the murder of the wealthy patriarch . . .yellowstone meets dallas against the backdrop of texas horse country in this soapy saga for fans of linda lael miller, danielle steel, and diana palmer.lila culhane’s life is in turmoil. as if coping with the murder of her husband isn’t enough, now the glamorous young widow has frank’s even younger mistress to contend with. his pregnant mistress. crystal. but lila hasn’t got time for more heartache. with everyone grasping to profit from frank’s death, including fighting for possession of her beloved ranch, she needs leverage for the battle.as it turns out, crystal may be carrying just the edge lila requires: an heir. crystal offers to let lila adopt frank’s baby for a price. lila is willing to consider it pending a paternity test. until then, she’ll focus on her role in the upcoming high stakes run for a million reining competition, and her ranch manager and lover roper mckenna. rugged, hardworking, and talented, roper is finally getting his dream to ride in the prized competition. lila expects he’ll choose the culhane’s legendary stallion, one in a million, as his mount. but when he considers other offers, she finds herself questioning his loyalty . . .meanwhile, detective sam rafferty’s list of suspects in frank’s murder is growing. besides roper and lila, frank’s bitter first wife and his sparring extended family, there are adversarial neighbors, ex lovers, and perhaps even the woman sam loves frank’s own pampered daughter, jasmine. and as the surprises multiply, a killer remains free to strike again if these rivals don’t kill each other first . . . read scott turow's new "unputdownable" courtroom drama from the #1 new york times bestselling author of presumed innocent, the phenomenon that redefined the legal thriller and is the basis for apple tv+'s most watched drama series ever (kristin hannah, #1 nyt bestselling author). "no one does it better."―david baldacci, #1 nyt bestselling author"the truth is, turow is just better at this than the rest of us."―greg iles, #1 nyt bestselling author"this is manna for legal thriller fans."―booklist, starred review"this easily ranks among turow's best."―publishers weekly, starred review"an absorbing and entertaining read." ―kirkusrusty is a retired judge attempting a third act in life with a loving soon to be wife, bea, with whom he shares both a restful home on an idyllic lake in the rural midwest and a plaintive hope that this marriage will be his best, and his last. but the peace that's taken rusty so long to find evaporates when bea's young adult son, aaron, living under their supervision while on probation for drug possession, disappears. if aaron doesn't return soon, he will be sent back to jail.aaron eventually turns up with a vague story about a camping trip with his troubled girlfriend, mae, that ended in a fight and a long hitchhike home. days later, when she still hasn't returned, suspicion falls on aaron, and when mae is subsequently discovered dead, aaron is arrested and set for trial on charges of first degree murder.faced with few choices and even fewer hopes, bea begs rusty to return to court one last time, to defend her son and to save their last best hope for happiness. for rusty, the question is not whether to defend aaron, or whether the boy is in fact innocent  it's whether the system to which he has devoted his life can ever provide true justice for those who are presumed guilty. dublin limo driver megan malone plans to make the most of her time off but as she soon discovers, murder never takes a holiday . . .megan is excited to show her visiting american friends the best of ireland. a dead body in a holy well, however, was not on her list. the victim is seamus nolan, nicknamed “the irish druid” for his controversial efforts to rewild his country estate. the local police seem all too willing to write off his death as an accident. but megan’s instincts say not so fast . . .megan knows that sleuthing cost her her last girlfriend. maybe solving another murder will help her make peace with that. and she’s even more determined to figure out whodunnit when she learns that an antiquated, law may pass the estate on to nolan’s land grabbing, sell out uncle instead of his beloved daughter . . .but then, with nolan out of the picture, a rival conservationist’s bid for a major grant is uncontested. and as more suspects crop up, so does a toxic surprise on the estate, throwing everyone’s plans, and nolan’s reputation, into jeopardy. now megan will have to unearth a killer with a very dirty secret . . . in this thrilling novel from a #1 new york times bestselling author, the great texas rangers go on a no holds barred pursuit of the most dangerous killer ever to terrorize texas. texas ranger rory yates protects his home state wearing a five pointed silver badge and carrying a sig sauer. when a native woman disappears on the summer solstice, clues point to a cold case. yates, a quick draw champion, partners with expert archer ava cruz of the tigua tribal police.the investigation leads to the edges of texas's most unforgiving landscape, where the officers take dead aim with every shot in their arsenals. "compulsively readable, drop dead sisters is perfect for readers who love shows like bad sisters and dead to me. a mystery about three estranged sisters who accidentally kill someone? yes, please."   mindy kaling three sisters reunite on a family vacation and rekindle their relationship the only way they know how  by covering each other's tracks in a real life murder mystery not even they can figure out. remi finch has spent the better part of her adult life avoiding family  especially her sisters. they just don't click. besides, her unconventional upbringing and major anxiety have convinced remi that she can't build a relationship with anyone. period. when her parents plan a family reunion camping trip to celebrate their anniversary, remi's willing to reconnect, if only because she doesn't have a choice. but then a dead body turns up at their campsite, and their sisterly bonding kicks into high gear. no one knows the whole story, but the finch women are prepared to cover up the pieces before anyone tries to put them together. it's a precautionary measure, probably unnecessary. nobody else was there, so how could they have seen anything? between old grudges and new dynamics, a handsome park ranger, and a body that won't stay hidden, remi is about to learn that nothing strengthens family ties quite like crime. "full of sweetness and charm."  people"the happiest i have felt in years inside the world of a book."  natalie jenner, #1 nationally bestselling author of the jane austen society"a sparkling ode to second chances."  shelby van pelt, new york times bestselling author of remarkably bright creatureson the cusp of turning eighty, newly retired pharmacist augusta stern is adrift. when she relocates to rallentando springs an active senior community in southern florida she unexpectedly crosses paths with irving rivkin, the delivery boy from her father’s old pharmacy and the man who broke her heart sixty years earlier.as a teenager growing up in 1920’s brooklyn, augusta’s role model was her father, solomon stern, the trusted owner of the local pharmacy and the neighborhood expert on every ailment. but when augusta’s mother dies and great aunt esther moves in, augusta can’t help but be drawn to esther’s curious methods. as a healer herself, esther offers solomon’s customers her own advice unconventional remedies ranging from homemade chicken soup to a mysterious array of powders and potions.as augusta prepares for pharmacy college, she is torn between loyalty to her father and fascination with her great aunt, all while navigating a budding but complicated relationship with irving. desperate for clarity, she impulsively uses esther’s most potent elixir with disastrous consequences. disillusioned and alone, augusta vows to reject esther’s enchantments forever.sixty years later, confronted with irving, augusta is still haunted by the mistakes of her past. what happened all those years ago and how did her plan go so spectacularly wrong? did irving ever truly love her or was he simply playing a part? and can augusta reclaim the magic of her youth before it’s too late? the hunt for a trove of secret information forces bourne to decide who lives   and who dies   in this latest installment in the #1 new york times bestselling series.a hacked database known as the files has upended the intelligence community. careers are being destroyed. dirty deals are showing up on the front page. assassinations are spreading from europe to the u.s.the new head of treadstone sends jason bourne on a mission to find out who has the files and get them back   or destroy them. but bourne isn’t alone in this race. the chinese want the files. so do the russians. and the only woman who may be able to help him is a treacherous spy known as johanna   bourne’s former lover   who sees the files as the key to her own vendetta against treadstone.bourne has a rule for friends and enemies alike: trust no one. that rule may be the only thing keeping him alive, because the hunt for the files soon takes bourne inside a twisted labyrinth of murder and betrayal, where everyone has a hidden agenda.including bourne himself. the forecast is calling for a reluctant homecoming and regrettable decisions with a strong chance of romance...when sonny dunes, a socal meteorologist whose job is all sunshine and seventy two degree days, is replaced by a virtual meteorologist that will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract, the only station willing to give the fifty year old another shot is the very place sonny's been avoiding since the day she left for college  her northern michigan hometown.sonny grudgingly returns to the long, cold, snowy winters of her childhood...with the added humiliation of moving back in with her mother. not quite an outsider but no longer a local, sonny finds her past blindsiding her everywhere: from the high school friends she ghosted, to the former journalism classmate and mortal frenemy who's now her boss, to, most keenly, the death years ago of her younger sister, who loved the snow.to distract herself from the memories she's spent her life trying to outrun, sonny throws herself headfirst into covering every small town winter event to woo a new audience, made more bearable by a handsome widower with optimism to spare. but with someone trying to undermine her efforts to rebuild her career, sonny must make peace with who she used to be and allow her heart to thaw if she's ever going to find a place she can truly call home.don't miss bestselling author viola shipman's charming new novel, the wishing bridge  where an ambitious executive rediscovers the magic of family, friendship, home...and christmas!other books by viola shipman: the bestselling novel, "a brilliant, massive combination of history and supernatural horror" (stephen king), now a major tv series.the men on board the hms terror have every expectation of finding the northwest passage. but what they don't expect is a monstrous predator lurking behind the arctic ice. when the expedition's leader, sir john franklin, meets a horrifying end, captain francis crozier takes command, leading his surviving crewmen on a last desperate attempt to flee south across the ice.but another winter is rapidly approaching, and with it, scurvy and starvation. crozier and his men may find that there is no escaping the terror stalking them southward. and with the crushing cold and the fear of almost certain death at their backs, the most horrifying monster among them may be each other. by the #1 new york times bestselling author of killers of the flower moon, a powerful true story of adventure and obsession in the antarctic, lavishly illustrated with color photographshenry worsley was a devoted husband and father and a decorated british special forces officer who believed in honor and sacrifice. he was also a man obsessed. he spent his life idolizing ernest shackleton, the nineteenth century polar explorer, who tried to become the first person to reach the south pole, and later sought to cross antarctica on foot. shackleton never completed his journeys, but he repeatedly rescued his men from certain death, and emerged as one of the greatest leaders in history.worsley felt an overpowering connection to those expeditions. he was related to one of shackleton's men, frank worsley, and spent a fortune collecting artifacts from their epic treks across the continent. he modeled his military command on shackleton's legendary skills and was determined to measure his own powers of endurance against them. he would succeed where shackleton had failed, in the most brutal landscape in the world. in 2008, worsley set out across antarctica with two other descendants of shackleton's crew, battling the freezing, desolate landscape, life threatening physical exhaustion, and hidden crevasses. yet when he returned home he felt compelled to go back. on november 13, 2015, at age 55, worsley bid farewell to his family and embarked on his most perilous quest: to walk across antarctica alone.david grann tells worsley's remarkable story with the intensity and power that have led him to be called "simply the best narrative nonfiction writer working today." illustrated with more than fifty stunning photographs from worsley's and shackleton's journeys, the white darkness is both a gorgeous keepsake volume and a spellbinding story of courage, love, and a man pushing himself to the extremes of human capacity.look for david grann’s new book, the wager, coming in april 2023! new york times editors’ choice • the masterly debut novel from “an exquisitely astute writer” (the boston globe), about growing up in and out of the suffocating constraints of small town america.longlisted for the pen/jean stein book award • “compact and beautiful . . . this novel bordering on a novella punches above its weight.” the new york times“very cold people reminded me of my brilliant friend.” the new yorkerone of the best books of the year: the new yorker, npr, los angeles times, the guardian, good housekeeping“my parents didn’t belong in waitsfield, but they moved there anyway.”for ruthie, the frozen town of waitsfield, massachusetts, is all she has ever known. once home to the country’s oldest and most illustrious families the cabots, the lowells: the “first, best people” by the tail end of the twentieth century, it is an unforgiving place awash with secrets. forged in this frigid landscape ruthie has been dogged by feelings of inadequacy her whole life. hers is no picturesque new england childhood but one of swap meets and factory seconds and powdered milk. shame blankets her like the thick snow that regularly buries nearly everything in waitsfield. as she grows older, ruthie slowly learns how the town’s prim facade conceals a deeper, darker history, and how silence often masks a legacy of harm from the violence that runs down the family line to the horrors endured by her high school friends, each suffering a fate worse than the last. for ruthie, waitsfield is a place to be survived, and a girl like her would be lucky to get out alive.in her eagerly anticipated debut novel, sarah manguso has written, with characteristic precision, a masterwork on growing up in and out of the suffocating constraints of a very old, and very cold, small town. at once an ungilded portrait of girlhood at the crossroads of history and social class as well as a vital confrontation with an all american whiteness where the ice of emotional restraint meets the embers of smoldering rage, very cold people is a haunted jewel of a novel from one of our most virtuosic literary writers. the runaway new york times bestseller “katherine may opens up exactly what i and so many need to hear but haven't known how to name.”  krista tippett, on being“every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself. . . . this is truly a beautiful book.”  elizabeth gilbert "proves that there is grace in letting go, stepping back and giving yourself time to repair in the dark...may is a clear eyed observer and her language is steady, honest and accurate capturing the sense, the beauty and the latent power of our resting landscapes."  wall street journalfrom the author of the new york times bestseller enchantment: awakening wonder in an anxious age, this is an intimate, revelatory exploration of the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. these periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. for may, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.a moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, may's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, c.s. lewis and sylvia plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas. ultimately wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. may models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. a secular mystic, may forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season. instant new york times bestseller“sex, suspense, and the supernatural fuel this propulsive debut.”  peoplea young author is invited to an exclusive writer’s retreat that soon descends into a pulse pounding nightmare in the vein of the plot and please join us.alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once in a lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer roza vallo. even the knowledge that wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.but when the attendees arrive, roza drops a bombshell they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life changing seven figure publishing deal. determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including roza’s erratic behavior, wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. but when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. with the clock running out, she must discover the truth or suffer the same fate.a claustrophobic and propulsive thriller that “will keep you up all night with its intriguing premise and gasp worthy twists” (kirthana ramisetti, author of dava shastri’s last day), the writing retreat expertly explores the dark side of female relationships, fame, and the desire to have our stories told. **oprah's book club pick, december 2024** **new york times book club pick, december 2024** now a major motion picture starring cillian murphy a new york times bestseller * shortlisted for the 2022 booker prize * winner of the orwell prize for political fiction one of the new york times's 100 best books of the 21st century "a hypnotic and electrifying irish tale that transcends country, transcends time."   lily king, new york times bestselling author of writers & lovers small things like these is award winning author claire keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family it is 1985 in a small irish town. during the weeks leading up to christmas, bill furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. an international bestseller, small things like these is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers. the #1 new york times bestseller about a famous novelist held hostage in a remote location by his “number one fan.” one of “stephen king’s best…genuinely scary” (usa today).paul sheldon is a bestselling novelist who has finally met his number one fan. her name is annie wilkes, and she is more than a rabid reader she is paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. but she is also furious that the author has killed off her favorite character in his latest book. annie becomes his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.annie wants paul to write a book that brings misery back to life just for her. she has a lot of ways to spur him on. one is a needle. another is an axe. and if they don’t work, she can get really nasty.“terrifying” (san francisco chronicle), “dazzlingly well written” (the indianapolis star), and “truly gripping” (publishers weekly), misery is “classic stephen king...full of twists and turns and mounting suspense” (the boston globe). katherine arden’s bestselling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice. “a beautiful deep winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up.” naomi novik, bestselling author of uprootedwinter lasts most of the year at the edge of the russian wilderness, and in the long nights, vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. above all, vasya loves the story of frost, the blue eyed winter demon. wise russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.then vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from moscow. fiercely devout, vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but vasya fears what this may bring. and indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village. but vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. as the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.praise for the bear and the nightingale“arden’s debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.” the washington post“vasya [is] a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices.” the christian science monitor“stunning . . . will enchant readers from the first page. . . . with an irresistible heroine who wants only to be free of the bonds placed on her gender and claim her own fate.” publishers weekly (starred review)“utterly bewitching . . . a lush narrative . . . an immersive, earthy story of folk magic, faith, and hubris, peopled with vivid, dynamic characters, particularly clever, brave vasya, who outsmarts men and demons alike to save her family.” booklist (starred review)“an extraordinary retelling of a very old tale . . . the bear and the nightingale is a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic.” robin hobb can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother? from the author of the smash hit bestseller firefly lane and true colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past meredith and nina whitson are as different as sisters can be. one stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. but when their beloved father falls ill, meredith and nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. as children, the only connection between them was the russian fairy tale anya sometimes told the girls at night. on his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time and all the way to the end. thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of anya’s life in war torn leningrad, more than five decades ago. alternating between the past and present, meredith and nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are. "from the new york times bestselling author of a man called ove, my grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry, and britt marie was here, comes a poignant, charming novel about a forgotten town fractured by scandal, and the amateur hockey team that might just change everything. winning a junior ice hockey championship might not mean a lot to the average person, but it means everything to the residents of beartown, a community slowly being eaten alive by unemployment and the surrounding wilderness. a victory like this would draw national attention to the ailing town: it could attract government funding and an influx of talented athletes who would choose beartown over the big nearby cities. a victory like this would certainly mean everything to amat, a short, scrawny teenager who is treated like an outcast everywhere but on the ice; to kevin, a star player just on the cusp of securing his golden future in the nhl; and to peter, their dedicated general manager whose own professional hockey career ended in tragedy. at first, it seems like the team might have a shot at fulfilling the dreams of their entire town. but one night at a drunken celebration following a key win, something happens between kevin and the general manager's daughter  and the next day everything seems to have changed. accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. with so much riding on the success of the team, the line between loyalty and betrayal becomes difficult to discern. at last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear. fredrik backman knows that we are forever shaped by the places we call home, and in this emotionally powerful, sweetly insightful story, he explores what can happen when we carry the heavy weight of other people's dreams on our shoulders"   from the new york times bestselling author of the aviator's wife comes a story of courage on the prairie, inspired by the devastating storm that struck the great plains in 1888, threatening the lives of hundreds of immigrant homesteaders, especially schoolchildren. "a nail biter . . . poignant, powerful, perfect."   kate quinn, author of the alice networkthe morning of january 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a punishing cold spell. it was warm enough for the homesteaders of the dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats  leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. at the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast moving blizzard blew in without warning. schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm? based on actual oral histories of survivors, this gripping novel follows the stories of raina and gerda olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers  one becomes a hero of the storm and the other finds herself ostracized in the aftermath. it's also the story of anette pedersen, a servant girl whose miraculous survival serves as a turning point in her life and touches the heart of gavin woodson, a newspaperman seeking redemption. it was woodson and others like him who wrote the embellished news stories that lured northern european immigrants across the sea to settle a pitiless land. boosters needed them to settle territories into states, and they didn't care what lies they told these families to get them there  or whose land it originally was. at its heart, this is a story of courage, of children forced to grow up too soon, tied to the land because of their parents' choices. it is a story of love taking root in the hard prairie ground, and of families being torn asunder by a ferocious storm that is little remembered today  because so many of its victims were immigrants to this country. in this magical debut, a couple's lives are changed forever by the arrival of a little girl, wild and secretive, on their snowy doorstepalaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals jack and mabel. childless, they are drifting apart  he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. in a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. the next morning the snow child is gone  but they glimpse a young, blonde haired girl running through the trees.this little girl, who calls herself faina, seems to be a child of the woods. she hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the alaskan wilderness. as jack and mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. but in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about faina will transform all of them. west hall has always been a town of strange disappearances and legends. the most mysterious is that of sara harrison shea, who was found murdered in the field behind her house in 1908, a few short months after the tragic death of her daughter, gertie, drove her mad. people say that sara's ghost still walks after dark, and some leave offerings on their doorstep to keep her from entering their homes uninvited.now, in present day, ruthie lives in sara's farmhouse with her mother, alice, and her younger sister, fawn. alice has always insisted that they remain on the fringes, living off the land without internet or outside interference. but one morning ruthie wakes up to find that alice has disappeared without a trace. when she searches the house for clues, she is startled to find a secret compartment beneath the floorboards that contains two objects. one, a gun. and two, a copy of sara harrison shea's diary.the story the diary tells is one of a mother skating on the edge of sanity, willing to do whatever she can to bring her daughter back even if it means dabbling in dark and dangerous territory. as ruthie gets sucked deeper into the mystery of sara's death, she discovers that she's not the only one looking for someone that they've lost. but she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself. reese's book club pick | an instant new york times bestseller!“an eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat.”  reese witherspoon“this spine tingling, atmospheric thriller has it all… and twists you’ll never see coming.”  richard osman, new york times bestselling author of the thursday murder clubsarah pearse's next book, the retreat, is forthcoming.you won't want to leave. . . until you can't.half hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, le sommet has always been a sinister place. long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five star minimalist hotel.an imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the swiss alps is the last place elin warner wants to be. but elin's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, isaac, and his fiancée, laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, elin really has no reason not to accept.arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, elin immediately feels on edge  there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. and when they wake the following morning to discover laure is missing, elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. with the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.elin is under pressure to find laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. and she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in. . . “the agatha christie of our generation.”  david baldacci, #1 new york times bestselling author“diabolically clever.”  riley sager, author of final girlsthe #1 new york times bestselling author of the turn of the key and in a dark, dark wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow covered mountain.getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the french alps doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world. especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a full service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. unless that company happens to be eight coworkers…each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide. when the cofounder of snoop, a trendy london based tech startup, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the french alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: powerpoint presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. but as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. the storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. even worse, one snooper hadn’t made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.as each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one. new york times bestseller   gma book club pick   an npr book of the year   from the new york times bestselling author of i was anastasia and code name hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of martha ballard, a renowned 18th century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into american history. "fans of outlander's claire fraser will enjoy lawhon's martha, who is brave and outspoken when it comes to protecting the innocent. . . impressive."  the washington post "once again, lawhon works storytelling magic with a real life heroine."   people magazine maine, 1789: when the kennebec river freezes, entombing a man in the ice, martha ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. as a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in hallowell. her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close knit community. months earlier, martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen  one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. but when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, martha doggedly pursues the truth. her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling martha to decide where her own loyalties lie. clever, layered, and subversive, ariel lawhon's newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. the frozen river is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day. the sheriff's deputy at the front door brings hard news to ree dolly. her father has skipped bail on charges that he ran a crystal meth lab, and the dollys will lose their house if he doesn't show up for his next court date. ree's father has disappeared before. the dolly clan has worked the shadowy side of the law for generations, and arrests (and attempts to avoid them) are part of life in rathlin valley. with two young brothers depending on her and a mother who's entered a kind of second childhood, sixteen year old ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive. she has grown up in the harsh poverty of the ozarks and learns quickly that asking questions of the rough dolly clan can be a fatal mistake. but along the way to a shocking revelation, ree discovers unforeseen depths in herself and in a family network that protects its own at any cost. "a piercing, intense tale told from way inside, winter's bone is stark evidence that daniel woodrell is a writer of exceptional originality and importance."  thomas mcguane "in prose both taut and lyrical, winter's bone vividly evokes the spirit of one little woman warrior."  edna o'brien on san piedro, an island of rugged, spectacular beauty in puget sound, home to salmon fishermen and strawberry farmers, a japanese american fisherman stands trial, charged with coldblooded murder. the year is 1954, and the shadow of world war ii, with its brutality abroad and internment of japanese americans at home, hangs over the courtroom. ishmael chambers, who lost an arm in the pacific war and now runs the island newspaper inherited from his father, is among the journalists covering the trial   a trial that brings him close, once again, to hatsue miyomoto, the wife of the accused man and ishmael's never forgotten boyhood love. hatsue and ishmael, in the years before the war came between them, had dug clams together, picked strawberries in san piedro's verdant fields, and passed long hours in the secrecy of a giant hollow cedar tree. now, as a heavy snowfall surrounds and impedes the progress of kabuo miyomoto's trial, they and the other participants must come to a reckoning with the past, with culture, nature, and love, and with the possibilities of the human will. both suspenseful and beautifully crafted, snow falling on cedars portrays the psychology of a community, the ambiguities of justice, the racism that persists even between neighbors, and the necessity of individual moral action despite the indifference of nature and circumstance. one of the new york times 10 best books of the yearnational book award finalistfinalist for the national book critics circle john leonard prizefinalist for the center for fiction first novel prizefinalist for the new york public library's young lions fiction award national best sellersplendidly imagined . . . thrilling   simon winchestera genuine masterpiece   gary shteyngart spellbinding, moving  evoking a fascinating region on the other side of the world  this suspenseful and haunting story announces the debut of a profoundly gifted writer. one august afternoon, on the shoreline of the kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of russia, two girls  sisters, eight and eleven  go missing. in the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women. taking us through a year in kamchatka, disappearing earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother. we are transported to vistas of rugged beauty  densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, and the glassy seas that border japan and alaska  and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused. in a story as propulsive as it is emotionally engaging, and through a young writer's virtuosic feat of empathy and imagination, this powerful novel brings us to a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a russia unlike any we have seen before. there's so much to love about winter! from snowball fights with friends to holidays spent with loved ones, cozy up with this celebration of a festive, favorite season from #1 new york times bestselling artist renée kurilla. flurries flutter, soft and light. it's winter, and our world is bright! pull out your warmest coat, mittens, and scarf! it's time for sledding, skating, and snowmen! and don't forget the hot chocolate, decorations, and special time with family and friends  it's winter! from hanukkah and kwanzaa to christmas and valentine's day, get in the spirit of the season with this joyful rhyming follow up to it's fall! from a new york times bestselling creator. called one of america's favorite christmas stories, and now a classic television movie, the best christmas pageant ever has been a favorite of young readers the world over since 1972. funny, memorable, and outrageous, it is the story of a family of incorrigible children who discover the christmas story for the first time and help everyone else rediscover its true meaning. from an author “destined to become a titan of the macabre and unsettling” (erin a. craig, #1 new york times bestselling author), a haunting debut soon to be a netflix original movie about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.as a young, queer couple who flip houses, charlie and eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. as they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. a man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. people pleaser to a fault, eve lets them in.as soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. and when charlie suddenly vanishes, eve slowly loses her grip on reality. something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family or is eve just imagining things?this unputdownable and spine tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. we used to live here will haunt you even after you have finished it” (agustina bazterrica, author of tender is the flesh). a devious tale of psychological suspense so irresistible that it prompts entertainment weekly to ask, “is the kind worth killing the next gone girl?” from one of the hottest new thriller writers, peter swanson, a name you may not know yet (but soon will), this is his breakout novel in the bestselling tradition of paula hawkins’ the girl on the train and is soon to be a major movie directed by agnieszka holland. in a tantalizing set up reminiscent of patricia highsmith’s classic strangers on a train… on a night flight from london to boston, ted severson meets the stunning and mysterious lily kintner. sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché. but their game turns a little darker when ted jokes that he could kill miranda for what she’s done. lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “i’d like to help.” after all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . . back in boston, ted and lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot miranda's demise. but there are a few things about lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth. suddenly these co conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat and mouse, one they both cannot survive . . . with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail. "draws readers in from the first heart stopping pages and doesn't let go until the end."   mary kubica, new york times bestselling author of local woman missingthe bestselling author of twenty years later and master of modern suspense is back with a brilliantly twisting, skillfully plotted thriller perfect for fans of jeneva rose and colleen hoover’s verity.alex armstrong has changed everything about herself her name, her appearance, her backstory. she’s no longer the terrified teenager a rapt audience saw on television, emerging in handcuffs from the quiet suburban home the night her family was massacred. that girl, alexandra quinlan, nicknamed empty eyes by the media, was accused of the killings, fought to clear her name, and later took the stand during her highly publicized defamation lawsuit that captured the attention of the nation.it’s been ten years since, and alex hasn’t stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed, even as she continues to hide her real identity from true crime fanatics and grasping reporters still desperate to locate her. as a legal investigator, she works tirelessly to secure justice for others, too. people like matthew claymore, who’s under suspicion in the disappearance of his girlfriend, a student journalist named laura mcallister.laura was about to break a major story about rape and cover ups on her college campus. alex believes matthew is innocent, and unearths stunning revelations about the university’s faculty, fraternity members, and powerful parents willing to do anything to protect their children.most shocking of all as alex digs into laura’s disappearance, she realizes there are unexpected connections to the murder of her own family. for as different as the crimes may seem, they each hinge on one sinister truth: no one is quite who they seem to be . . .“engrossing…not to be missed.”  publishers weekly starred review the first book in the series that has garnered millions of readers across the globe, from new york times bestselling author robert dugoni. tracy crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister sarah's disappearance and the murder trial that followed. she doesn't believe that edmund house  a convicted rapist and the man condemned for sarah's murder  is the guilty party. motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, tracy became a homicide detective with the seattle pd and dedicated her life to tracking down killers. when sarah's remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern cascade mountains of washington state, tracy is determined to get the answers she's been seeking. as she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past  and open the door to deadly danger. over half a million copies sold: "a tantalizing premise and twists at every turn . . . a sizzling, masterful debut about betrayal and justice" (samantha m. bailey, #1 national bestselling author). optioned by picture perfect federation for development as a film or tv series sarah morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in washington d.c. as a named partner at her firm, life is going exactly how she planned. the same cannot be said for her husband, adam. he's a struggling writer who has had little success in his career and he tires of his and sarah's relationship as she is constantly working. out in the secluded woods, at the couple's lake house, adam engages in a passionate affair with kelly summers. but one morning everything changes. kelly is found brutally stabbed to death and now, sarah must take on her hardest case yet, defending her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress. the perfect marriage is a juicy, twisty, and utterly addictive thriller that will keep you turning pages. you won't see the ending coming . . . guaranteed! "everything i want in a thriller. sexy, shocking, and tense with an ending i never saw coming. jeneva rose is the queen of twists."   colleen hoover, #1 new york times bestselling author on you shouldn't have come here "a twisty, compulsive book that will keep you reading all night! fast paced with crisp writing and an intriguing plot. jeneva rose is one to watch."   samantha downing, #1 international bestselling author of my lovely wife "a book to be read in one gulp  this dastardly debut flies to a shocking reveal. i couldn't put it down; i had to see what happened. twists galore."   j.t. ellison, new york times bestselling author of her dark lies throughout his career, chris bohjalian has earned a reputation for writing novels that examine some of the most important issues of our time. with midwives, he explored the literal and metaphoric place of birth in our culture. in the buffalo soldier, he introduced us to one of contemporary literature's most beloved foster children. and in before you know kindness, he plumbed animal rights, gun control, and what it means to be a parent. chris bohjalian's riveting fiction keeps us awake deep into the night. as the new york times has said, "few writers can manipulate a plot with bohjalian's grace and power." now he is back with an ambitious new novel that travels between jay gatsby's long island and rural new england, between the roaring twenties and the twenty first century. when college sophomore laurel estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through vermont's back roads, her life is forever changed. formerly outgoing, laurel withdraws into her photography and begins to work at a homeless shelter. there she meets bobbie crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of photographs that he won't let anyone see. when bobbie dies suddenly, laurel discovers that he was telling the truth: before he was homeless, bobbie crocker was a successful photographer who had indeed worked with such legends as chuck berry, robert frost, and eartha kitt. as laurel's fascination with bobbie's former life begins to merge into obsession, she becomes convinced that some of his photographs reveal a deeply hidden, dark family secret. her search for the truth will lead her further from her old life  and into a cat and mouse game with pursuers who claim they want to save her. in this spellbinding literary thriller, rich with complex and compelling characters  including jay gatsby and daisy buchanan  chris bohjalian takes readers on his most intriguing, most haunting, and most unforgettable journey yet. pulpy, peppery and sinister, served up in a comic deadpan...this scorpion tailed little thriller leaves a response, and a sting, you will remember.  new york times the wittiest and most fun murder party you've ever been invited to.  marie claire winner of the los angeles times book prize for mystery/thriller shortlisted for the 2019 women's prize a short, darkly funny, hand grenade of a novel about a nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends femi makes three, you know. three and they label you a serial killer. korede is bitter. how could she not be? her sister, ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. and now ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. she knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to instagram when she should be mourning her missing boyfriend. not that she gets any credit. korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. she dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. but when he asks korede for ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her. sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, oyinkan braithwaite's deliciously deadly debut is as fun as it is frightening. a new york times bestselleranother thrilling domestic suspense novel from the new york times bestselling author of not a happy family“the twists come as fast [as] you can turn the pages.”  people“i read this novel at one sitting, absolutely riveted by the storyline. the suspense was beautifully rendered and unrelenting!”  sue graftonit all started at a dinner party. . .a domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . .anne and marco conti seem to have it all a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, cora. but one night, when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. suspicion immediately lands on the parents. but the truth is a much more complicated story.inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. detective rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. both anne and marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years. what follows is the nerve racking unraveling of a family a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist. unputdownable · psychological suspense · horror · tense · gripping a fallon book club pick“pulse pounding locked room suspense.”  elle“nightwatching is like nothing i've read before. i wolfed it down in two sittings; it's amazing.” lisa jewella footstep on the stairs. a second to react. what happens next will determine everything. home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. she hears a noise old houses are always making some kind of noise. but this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.she sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. there they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender.in the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? but then she catches another glimpse of him. that face. that voice. and at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is and what he wants. get the latest updates at the library! benton calvert city hardin board of trustees library value calculator library audits

voters in the inner melbourne seat of prahran will head to the polls on 8 february, electing the successor to sam hibbins, former co deputy leader of the victorian greens. very few artists can boast having such a recognisable style than yayoi kusama. as such, the highly anticipated yayoi kusama exhibition at the national gallery of victoria (ngv) has been packed with visitors everyday since its opening last december. known for her iconic polka dot patterns, pumpkin obsession and immersive rooms, the now 95 year old artist is one of the world’s most celebrated and inspiring individuals in arts and culture. hannah ferguson’s taboo arrived at the perfect time. the book explores a series of taboos around the body, sex, relationships and work. it landed in my hands a couple of months before i was set to graduate and enter the real world outside of my lovely little university bubble. taboo made me feel seen, as a feminist in her early 20s who doesn’t like being told she has to have all the answers to be “right”. student politicians from across australia will this week gather at federation university’s mt helen campus in ballarat to attend the national union of students’ annual national conference for 2024. tamjai mixian (譚仔米線), a beloved hong kong noodle chain, has arrived to melbourne shores. with umami rich flavours from their clear broth to an addictive spicy numbness from their mala soup, tamjai mixian ticks all the boxes for noodle soup lovers. 5 stars!!! irish singer songwriter hozier proves the importance of music as a vessel for hope, while continuing to stun melbourne audiences with his otherworldly vocals and astonishing tallness. a striking treatise on grief, money, family, and whatever comes after us, golden blood takes its audience into the underbelly of singapore where a dysfunctional dyad makes their way through. trigger warnings: racism, private schools (lmao), sexism having received tickets the night before friday’s festival, i was a bit hesitant to attend. the lineup was filled with household name american rappers, like 21 savage, and dance music moguls, like john summit. having never really been a devoted follower of rap, i wasn’t sure if my techno interests were going to clash. however, listen out proved me wrong. three shows. three nights. following their debut, the last supper, cipta’s belonging showcase endeavoured to pose a resonant question to its keen audience: where is home? from singapore to india to australia, the showcase brought much cheer and heartfelt joy to the guild theatre. [this interview was originally broadcast live via radio fodder on 30/08/24. the complete and unabridged interview can be listened to on mixcloud.] in your face grimdark! artists like magdalena bay who are extremely rhapsodic about their craft must be appreciated. in the current era of rampant commodification and mass production of art, there’s intense pressure to conform to this convention to secure success. meanwhile, the magdalena bay duo of partners mica tenebaum and matthew lewin sit above this expected conformity. tw: references to coercive control and domestic violence. trigger warning: violence, murder, small mention of chronic illness. i know which one sounds more fun to me. do you ever just want to kill a bunch of vampire hunters with a hacksaw? slicing and dicing your way through hordes of enemies has a level of satisfaction that can almost completely restore my ruined dopamine levels. especially after getting unnecessarily harsh marks or sitting through a particularly painful lecture. one summer, overtaken by a determination to better my circumstances, i enrolled in a meditation class. ‘it would help my anxiety,’ they told me, and calm the nerves i’d nurtured into adulthood. i settled into the humid room, ignored the middle aged white ladies, and endeavoured to breathe. cw: discussion of addiction and misogyny, references to warfare i went into this movie as a joke, not expecting much out of it, and still found myself thoroughly disappointed. it is truly baffling how a movie this incompetently made is allowed to be shown in theatres. whenever the national gallery of victoria holds an exhibition, i am always excited and eager to go. in the past, the ngv has curated many fantastic exhibits that have never failed to impress. so, of course i had to see the much anticipated pharaoh exhibit. warning: spoilers for before the coffee gets cold, mentions of misogyny, mentions of pregnancy and related death. macbeth: an undoing is malthouse’s fresh revisionist take on shakespeare’s classic text, reframing the story from the perspective of the original gaslighting, gatekeeping girlboss lady macbeth herself. the show takes bold risks that many shakespeare purists would deem sacrilegious, as zinnie harris’ script and matthew lutton’s direction combine to create a daring retelling of a show that could easily be written off as old hat to those traumatised by vce essays. with its third season, fx’s the bear truly hits its stride.the show asserts itself as not a fleeting phenomenon, but a culture defining and truly unique piece of television that employs its breakout success to reach new artistic heights. it goes without saying that ‘beauty and the beast’ from 1991 is one of the greatest disney, if not one of the greatest animated, films of all time. it certainly is to me, having probably watched the vhs more times than i’ve breathed (and having watched the, um, interesting, remake as little as possible). so, hearing that the theatrical production version was returning to melbourne again, i was excited to check it out. cw: death or dying, suicide, references to australian settler colonialism rising’s website describes experimental theatre collective pony cam’s burnout paradise as “a delusional love letter to the labour, recklessness and euphoric optimism that comes before burnout.” those clowns at pony cam successfully captured all of these, with an unforgettable workout that made the most of audience participation. as someone who aspires towards a romantic, idealist view on life, but continually defaults to a sort of rationalist nihilism, much of my tram ride up to st kilda to see reclaim the crone involved considering a sort of openness   prepping myself into a willingness to receive, or surrender to, something irrational, you might say. listen to the street sweeper. thank them for gently blowing out your dream, floating you back into waking life, like falling leaves. look up and feel the crack of dawn softly pierce your eyes. smell the air of the streets, still clean and unused. surround yourself in the materiality of the world. content warning: mentions of body dysmorphia and disordered eating “come with me, and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination.” “involve your friends in your art” is a striking statement i recently stumbled across working with like minded people is a reliable way to produce a labour of love and revel in fun. that’s exactly what australian psychedelic rock pioneers jay watson (pond and tame impala’s touring band) and ambrose kenny smith (king gizzard & the lizard wizard and the murlocs) got up to when concocting their collaborative album, ill times. trigger warning: this piece contains continuous swearing, discussions of colonialism, racism and academic gatekeeping, and mentions the transatlantic slave trade. coming off their latest performance at collingwood’s lovely hope st radio (which we wrote about for the magazine), david chesworth and robert goodge, founding members of the legendary melbourne band essendon airport, are in good spirits. "what do you think of ‘the line?’”, my friend, ben, asks of the saudi person sitting next to us. an oud sings out melancholically on stage. i catch eyes with the oud player. i'm excited. he says he doesn't know much about “the line", so they go on to banter about sport, and how we call soccer “soccer”, and they call soccer “football”. streaks of child like wonder, bashful adolescence, angst, relationships, and the crushing realisations of adulthood, 26 by mannik singh is a personal project at heart. there’s something uncomfortable about going to a concert by yourself. it’s the same feeling as going to a restaurant, the beach, or the cinema alone. all these locations carry with them the anxiety (or maybe it’s a desire) that you must be sharing them with someone else. photograph credit: melbourne chamber orchestra it was a real joy to discover underscores, aka april harper grey, was finally set to headline our continent. the san francisco artist’s 2021 debut album fishmonger made waves in the hyperpop scene, and 2023’s wallsocket did that more so by bending indie rock, dubstep, midwest emo, pop punk and all the sort. we got the chance to see her fervent artistry in person, witnessing her interweaving of maximalist rocky electro soundscapes with pensive lyrics and worldbuilding to lose yourself in. photographer credit: tamarah scott photographer credit: bakri mahmoud photographer credit: laura manariti ever wanted macbeth to have more lesbians? what am i saying? everyone wants more lesbians, and melbourne university shakespeare company’s (musc) macbureau gave macbeth the lesbians it sorely missed, with (not at all pointed) critiques of university systems to boot. ‘goodbye julia’ (mohamed kordofani) opens with protagonist ‘mona’ cooking in her large and kept kitchen, making breakfast for both her and her husband. mona lives in khartoum, the capital of sudan. this scene begins quite lonely as mona cuts an onion, with her husband ‘akram’ only entering the room when mona calls him in. despite his presence, there is still a lingering absence in the air. arriving amidst a brief hiatus from her 154 show global phenomenon the eras tour, taylor swift’s ‘the tortured poets department’ annihilated streaming records within a day of release. a whopping thirty one tracks and two hours in length (including its surprise second half, the anthology), tortured poets lives up to its title in a devastating and at times astonishing fashion. trigger warnings: mentions of disability & abuse of disabled people fruitcake is a sweetly satisfying original play by playwright/director jaimee doyle that was shown as a part of the butterfly club’s one act play festival in march. if you made your way down an unassuming alleyway in the cbd, much like the city’s hundreds of alleyways, to the butterfly club’s humble entrance from the 6th to the 9th of march, you would have been treated to an immersive story about burgeoning young love and the challenges of expeditious intimacy. ghost cities and ghost futures: a conversation with siang lu and laura jean mckay i’ve probably been listening to indie rock band the vaccines casually for almost a decade. i’m not sure how i was first introduced, meaning it was probably through the hallowed halls of tumblr, around 2014 to 2018. on the other hand, i confess that i didn’t know of everything everything until earlier this year. on wednesday 15 may, an autonomous group of protesters involved with the gaza solidarity encampment on south lawn initiated a sit in in arts west following a rally that culminated in them renaming the building “mahmoud’s hall”. when i walked into the butterfly club at 10pm on a rainy, mid april wednesday, i didn’t expect to walk out both having seen an entirely naked body and experiencing a euphoric sense of utter self acceptance. content warning: mentions of emotionally abusive and absent parents. minor plot spoilers. trigger/spoiler warnings: mentions of character death and intense imagery ★★★★★/5 the wonder of transporting to somewhere serene is ingrained into tourist’s output. dom lepore does a deep dive into memory morning, tourist's new album. crouched on the squeaky black tiles, the young faces of students screamed the same chants, united, crying for a free palestine. this year, students for palestine organised national demonstrations on the 29th of february and on the 14th of march. university of melbourne staff are set to vote on a new enterprise bargaining agreement (eba) after negotiations between the national tertiary education union (nteu) branch committee and university management reached a breakthrough. the origin of evil, directed by sébastian marnier is an intriguing little movie. i knew, essentially, nothing about this film but i read the synopsis and it seemed like an interesting rendition of an agatha christie esque whodunnit. we follow stéphane, a woman who reunites with her estranged family. she goes to stay with them in their manor on a small french island where everybody knows everybody. but, as she reconnects with them, she discovers that not everything is as perfect as it seems. two plays. two monologues. two real stories. one truth; corrupt governments can no longer hide their sins, and memory and healing can only be done when we face the luka (luka=wound). recently, the provocative inklings (an emerging writing group aimed at writing pieces that spark thinking and a little bit of mischief!) visited melbourne's christmas tree lighting of melbourne. but we all had a different take on what really went down... read on for our honest review of christmas square! with mcmahon’s new album coming up, seeing where she goes from here will be exciting. if her quiet smoothness at northcote was anything to go by, she’ll certainly keep growing and realise her potential as a talented artist. thirty minutes later, phil takes the stage. it’s just him, an electric guitar in his hands with a cord running back to his amp. this is how it will be the entire show. farming is forever bridges sketch comedy and persuasive oration to deliver an impactful message about the environmental catastrophe wrought by the agricultural industrialisation in which we are all complicit, from gina rinehart’s billions to your weekly shopping list. romance novel connoisseur hayley sorts the trash from the treasure. as i’m trying to write up my review for uruguayan author fernanda trías’ novel pink slime (2023), i am drawing a blank and the only words i can think of dissatisfy me: depressing, dystopian, harrowing, tragic, and heartbreaking. they are too common, too cliche to describe a book that is neither. coming off their ‘best in theatre’ fringe win last year for grant theft theatre, pony cam’s new show burnout paradise amusingly harnesses their success to explore the precarity of expectation, and the porousness of actual and theatrical failure. unspooled theatre collective’s ante/medea, produced by arky ryall and running from oct 10 to oct 14 as part of melbourne fringe 2023, delves into medea’s psyche. the right have used the voice to parliament referendum to promote disgusting anti aboriginal racism over labor’s proposal to establish a symbolic advisory body. in a world constantly in flux, where our individual paths to healing seem as intricate and varied as the human experience itself, "irago   이라고   said so" emerges as a compelling exploration of closure, transformation, and community. dear prof. duncan maskell and prof. russell goulbourne, we are writing to you in your capacity as vice chancellor and head of school to try and resolve a grievance issue in the faculty of arts and the university itself. we are hoping that by raising this complaint with you informally, you will be in a position to consider the best outcomes in a timely way. this is consistent with s 5.4 of the university of melbourne student complaints and grievances policy (mpf1066). “i’ve always loved the ideal of the university as a place of learning, as a place of new possibilities...” scott, a doctoral student and casual tutor in the school of social and political sciences, describes witnessing the disintegration of this ideal with “growing horror”. despite initial misgivings in the lead up to the week 6 strike, his concerns over the persistence and precarity of academic work compelled him to take part. beloved australian entertainer jimmy rees, renowned for his fame on giggle and hoot, kicked off his melbourne show with a blend of nostalgia, wit and infectious laughter. i had the opportunity to witness a fleeting glimpse, a captivating student theatre production that delved into the intricacies of human relationships and the pursuit of personal ambitions. you might hear that by going on strike this week, staff are causing harm to students in delaying important processes related to their education. but those of us who work in student services know that it’s university management who are responsible for the crisis we find ourselves in. university of melbourne staff in the national tertiary education union (nteu) have called a campus wide strike next week to force further concessions in bargaining negotiations with the university. the branch wide strike will start with a stop work rally at midday on monday 2 october and run until midnight on sunday 8 october. during this time, nteu members will not be running classes or doing any other work, including communicating with students or planning lessons. with the umsu international elections complete, farrago writer and subeditor rico sulamet sat down with the organisation's newly elected president richard ha to ask some questions about his plans for the year ahead. with the days of strict lockdowns and cautious safety measures seemingly behind us, the university of melbourne has implemented a return to full on campus learning for all undergraduate and most postgraduate courses. for many students, however, this is still not possible; they have spoken out about the difficulties of returning to campus, and their need for online teaching options. have you noticed that something hasn’t quite been the same about your favourite pubs since the pandemic? perhaps the pints are costlier, the menu has changed, the staff’s smiles appear forced and there’s a certain soulless swankiness pervading the room? chances are that the pub has been quietly snapped up by new owners. shivani, 21, moved from india six months ago. in april, she was called in for her first casual job at a kebab joint on flinders street. the marketing graduate was asked by the owner to do 12 hours of unpaid trial shifts before being potentially hired at $18 per hour $3.38 below the minimum wage then. daniel andrews will step down as victorian premier effective tomorrow afternoon, resigning from parliament after nearly a decade in power. in a surprise press conference on tuesday, flanked by his ministerial colleagues, andrews said that his decision to leave parliament had crystallised only recently, explaining that the demanding nature of his job had taken a toll on his wellbeing. preliminary results for the 2023 umsu elections are in, and we now have a good idea of what the union will look like for the next twelve months. spoiler alert: not much has changed. check back throughout the night for the results of this year's umsu elections! your guide to the 2023 umsu general election is here! read all about the candidates and their vision for your student union in 2024. check your student email for your voting link, and don't forget to cast your vote during election week, 4 8 september 2023. a few weeks ago, netflix announced its new documentary, depp vs. heard, set to premiere later this month. the promises made were lofty: to re examine the trial, to analyze the mass hysteria it provoked online, and more philosophically, to “question the nature of truth and the role it plays in our modern society”, whatever the fuck that means. upon seeing the trailer, which i could barely get through, all i could think was: oh god, not again. if it takes two to tango, why does only one have to suffer? there should be more safe and effective methods available for men so that we can all equitably share the contraceptive responsibility. what justifies inadequate dedication of thought to important commitments? must you stand atop a mountain of communicable wealth? or perhaps, on the flip side, be a naked soul a literal naked being without offerings that might interest the common human? vigilantonie probably isn’t going to get us out of the cost of living crisis, but at least she gives you something fun to listen to while you’re waiting for your centrelink to come through. news nonfiction fodder as the barbie (2023) wave swept over australia, acmi’s tribute to its director greta gerwig’s remarkable career from her early mumblecore indie days feels almost nostalgic while offering a refreshing perspective. developed through the ink playwright program and now in its world premiere season at red stitch actors’ theatre in st kilda, monument documents the strictly 90 minute appointment between pm edith (sarah sutherland) and make up artist rosie (julia hanna) in real time as they prepare for edith’s acceptance speech, her first public appearance as leader of the country. broadway’s classic musical guys and dolls (1950) gets a delightful and immaculate revival in this production by the antipodes theatre company. the national union of students (nus) is calling for a more grassroots approach to the ‘yes’ campaign for an indigenous voice to parliament after a heated debate at june's education conference (edcon) forced labor students to concede that the party “[has] botched this campaign.” with david harbour, orlando bloom and archie madekwe taking on the roles of jack salter, danny moore and jann mardenborough respectively, the movie, on paper, looks pretty good. however, much to my disappointment, it did not deliver a satisfying story with nail biting racing sequences that the countless trailers and promotional materials had promised. instead, the movie was filled with choppy editing, horrible pacing and questionable dialogue. while no doubt dripping in intrigue, copenhagen does not exist (2023) attempts to spin a retelling of the story of a missing mysterious girl, but results in a finished product that is best described as an unintentional fulfilment of mulvey’s theory. lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. my sin, my soul. lo lee ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. lo. lee. ta. from its poignant premise and exceptional portrayal of characters by a talented ensemble to its evocative lighting design, bloom has captured hearts and minds and, hopefully, sparked conversations about the challenges faced by seniors in our society. union house is set to become a new science building and several faculty of arts and fmdhs buildings will be redeveloped amongst sweeping changes announced in the university of melbourne's estate master plan. gerwig’s solo directorial debut lady bird has become more or less a staple for contemporary indie cinema. it's a comedy drama with all the classic coming of age tropes jealousy and conformity, awkward sexual firsts and existential dread that gerwig makes so distinctively hers. notice is hereby given of the 2023 university of melbourne student union annual student election. this is your chance to help shape the future of the student union! the collected regrets of clover follows clover brooks, a death doula, as she lives in her late grandfather’s apartment in the bustling city of new york the concrete jungle where dreams are made of. she’s been dealt a brutal set of cards: her parents passed away when she was just six and her grandfather, who had taken on the role of her parents, passed away when she was older. death, as is expected, has permeated every aspect of her life. while doing the melbourne urban history subject this february, one site, batman’s hill, caught my attention. it is a site that has floated in and out of melbourne’s urban consciousness since colonisation. the various activities, narratives and interpretations associated with batman's hill shed light on its historical use, its role in the commemoration of john batman and its appropriation by urban planners in the docklands precinct. the national union of students (nus) has joined with sexual harm advocacy groups end rape on campus (eroc) and fair agenda to call for an independent taskforce to address universities’ failures to prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment (sash) on campus. radio fodder's olivia ryan catches up with indie artist chey jordan in support of their first melbourne gig & new single 'narcissist'. away at theatre works is both moving and, at times, muddled. the play’s fractured final sequence moves rapidly from holiday destination to meg’s classroom for the new school year, forfeiting some narrative conclusions. however, stephen tall’s powerful operatic voice and a striking tableau provide a strong culmination, vindicating this poignant production. with tickets selling out minutes after going on sale, it’s safe to say there were more than a few excited guests for singer/songwriter laufey’s (pronounced ‘lay vay’) debut tour of australia. having her first single reach #1 on icelandic radio at only 21 years of age, this budding ‘jazz pop’ artist recently held two concerts in melbourne, and i was among 75 or so lucky ticket holders. the safdie brothers’ bank heist gone wrong film good time, the latest edition to the hear my eyes performance series and part of melbourne’s rising festival, is transformed into an all encompassing experience of the senses with a new soundtrack performed live by big yawn and teether. “last time i was here, it was march 2020” says weyes blood (natalie laura melling) to the crowd that thursday night. a chuckle from the audience follows this in recognition, mostly as she shared how she would wash her hands and face multiple times a day to avoid getting sick. she responds with deadpan delivery, “i guess you could say a lot has changed”. her 2019 song from her album titanic rising, ‘a lot’s gonna change’ starts playing, with a cheer from the audience. australia isn’t exactly an indie rock capital. for us, indie rock evokes one of two images: skinny dudes with long hair trying for some spacey tame impala esque psychedelia or private school kids in wife beaters playing up their australian accents for pub rock anthems. daydream is here to offer an alternative vision of what australian indie can be. melbourne bred indie rock band winnie lane make headlines in the bergy bandroom! this indie band sought to redefine themselves after a change in band members and allowed audiences on the night of the 8th of june to experience a never heard ep for the first time. as the northern hemisphere starts getting hotter, a new season of anime is about to be released. welcome to farrago’s must watch anime of the 2023 summer season! this is a list of some of the upcoming anime coming this season, which ones you should watch or which ones to avoid. these are just my opinions and they definitely hold the absolute truth. harrison interviews eddie ink on his latest classic blues album 'daydream at nightime', a celebration of his sobriety and the organisations "which caters for people on the edges of society". ultimately though, it can’t be denied that euphoria is a beautifully crafted work. sure, it’s probably not going to start a revolution anytime soon but i still enjoyed being drawn into the meandering conversations of its characters and listening to its musical offerings. its attempts to undermine capitalist ideology is certainly admirable but in the end, i just cannot shake the feeling that it can’t put its money where its mouth is. satyagraha (“the truth force”) was held as a one night exclusive opera performance at hamer hall on saturday 13 may. curated by influential composer phillip glass and supported by a star studded cast, including indian born tenor shanul sharma as gandhi, high expectations were set for this opera from the very first brochure advert. for my first opera experience, i went in blind, with limited expectations. on the 1st of may 2023, which also happens to be international labour holiday may day, the writers guild of america (wga) announced a strike. “we have not reached an agreement with the studios and streamers. we will be on strike after the contract expires at midnight,” the wga announced. hearth theatre does an incredible job in retelling one of the most important plays of the 20th century a play where, given the cost of living and inflation affecting us all in the modern day, the notion that we are “worth more dead than alive” has never been more unsettlingly fitting. two hander productions demand a lot from their performers. they’ve got to be able to play a variety of characters, keep the audience’s attention, give 100% without a single break. after seeing the show however, i can think of no two actors more up to this task than noviello and ansell, who demonstrate a skilful balance of pathos and comedy in their respective roles. the game is, above all, fun to play. because the world is so open, every player is going to have a different experience with the game, so you might as well have fun with whatever the game throws your way. why worry about playing “correctly” when you can lose yourself in the ridiculousness of the world of zelda? dan crowley’s debut show fantastic. great move. well done, dan (fgmwdd) at the 2023 melbourne comedy festival skirted the lines of farce and satire, refusing to easily reconcile itself. the university of melbourne has released their 2022 sexual misconduct report, revealing that four staff members have been removed from the university after being found to have committed serious misconduct, but the report remains absent of any actions to combat sexual assault in clubs and residential colleges. on february 6, a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeast türkiye and northwest syria, resulting in over 50,000 deaths, 130,000 injured, and millions displaced in a sub zero winter. a fortnight later, a third 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck, resulting in an additional 308 casualties. three months later, the situation remains dire. blackgaze heavyweights deafheaven are returning to australia for the first time in over four years for a national tour of our major cities, including two melbourne headliners at max watt’s on may 31 and june 1. hundreds of staff from the university of melbourne walked off the job for a half day strike last wednesday, calling for better pay and job security amid protracted negotiations over a new employment contract. when i first picked up this book, it’s safe to say that the blurb had me expecting a ya romance like never before, set in a fantasy world filled with action scenes and displays of magic that would awe. what i ended up getting, however, was a lukewarm romance (at best) and action scenes that, while fast paced and intriguing at times, were watered down by bad pacing and a lack of build up. lara ricote’s latest show, ‘grl/latnx/def’, is an absolute comedic marvel. describing her show as one for people who can relate to being hard of hearing (“in the ears mostly”), latinx or just anyone “who is or knows a girl,” lara manages to masterfully cover all bases, delivering a show that is somehow incredibly niche but capable of making a diverse audience laugh uncontrollably as she sings about ovarian cysts, kidney theft and “stupid” younger siblings. way, written and performed by sally mckenzie, is a thought provoking piece in its use of live performance, video, and audio elements. i wasn’t expecting the screen to compliment the performance so well. once again, it’s time for heng xu, a chinese international student studying at the australian national university, to remind her internship supervisor to send her feedback about the work she submitted three days ago. at 11am tomorrow, wednesday 3rd may, hundreds of university of melbourne staff will be walking off the job to demand job security and a pay rise to keep up with the rising cost of living. umsu supports this action and encourages students to join in the strike by not going to class. students should instead attend the national tertiary education union (nteu) rally. workers and students are facing a colossal cost of living crisis. while the official rate of inflation is 7%, the rising costs of essential items are much higher. staple foods like cereals are up by 12%, and dairy is up a staggering 15%. the housing crisis makes this much worse; a whopping 331,000 households are in rental stress, and unit rents in capital cities have skyrocketed by 22% in just the past year. a case study on sam smith’s ‘i’m not here to make friends’ recently returned chinese international students are choosing to continue their studies online, over concerns about their level of in person english proficiency. this is despite the chinese government's announcement in january it would no longer recognise foreign qualifications completed virtually. ratbag is a show about stevenson’s late mother, who seems to be what i can only describe as a wonderful and complex woman, and that is a testament to stevenson’s performance and comedy. stevenson uses the formula of dropping a shocking revelation a quarter into his show in an attempt to add gravity to the jokes made earlier and to provide depth to the rest of the show. few can do this well, but stevenson made this his own in what can only be a bravo. the national tertiary education union (nteu) has today taken the first steps in a campaign of protected industrial action against the university of melbourne, initiating a ban on members applying late submission penalties to their students’ work. though she darts occasionally into the wings to retrieve a wig or dressing gown, camilleri fearlessly transitions between characters in plain view of the audience with the quick addition or subtraction of a jumper, a moustache, a hat, etc. this regression to elementary stagecraft will remind you of the dress up box at home, but it’s all the material needed by a comic who has mastered solo stage performance. although atmosphere is clarice beckett’s first major public exhibition held in the geelong gallery, her name is synonymous with the understanding of modernism in australian art. i didn’t know any of this going into the exhibition but i came out a lot more knowledgeable about this history. to put it simply, the show was well done in both curation and execution, but this one oversight has definitely soured the show for many (myself included). delight and incredulity may well describe the show as a whole. vegas residency is costumed as a show about two brothers at vegas; at its heart shines all the fun and creativity of local theatre, delivering borderline absurdist moments and a whole lot of joy. the advertising copy promises that “if you're looking for political satire, cathartic comedy about the chinese australian experience or observations on modern life   this is not the show.” and it isn’t! wan, who has previously appeared across broadcast radio and television, delivered an hour of sketch powerpoint musical comedy where he slipped between personas with ease. notice is hereby given that nominations will open at 12 noon on monday april 3, for the following positions: indigenous representative on student council southbank campus representative on student council members of indigenous committee (5 positions) southbank campus committee (3 positions) burnley campus committee (3 positions 'songs from the heart in the hole of my bottom' is painfully funny, so funny that moments of awkwardness in which you are usually the only one left laughing are eradicated, because the whole audience is similarly struggling to break free from the frenzy. it may be a “silly little show”, but it has the audience effortlessly under its spell from the outset; a spell that doesn’t break at any point throughout their hour long set, even as we’re standing together singing a ballad from the perspective of “decrepit old nuns.” but taking my seat and watching as a brightly coloured gabbi bolt stumbled through the curtains before taking a seat behind her electric piano and declaring herself “fucking unhinged,” i knew i was in for a fun 60 minutes. the urban oasis runway was a standout during the fourth day of the paypal melbourne fashion festival (mff). being the spotlight show of the night, it assembled a remarkable cast of leading and emerging first nations designers. from newly established brands to fashion mainstays, everything was truly a celebration of distinctive australian talent. “where the fuck am i?” is the first mystery of mystery in a blimp and the first words hershall (gabriel partington) utters when he awakes in the bluestone church arts space. the answer is simple this time, but don’t settle down you will be asking yourself “where the fuck am i?” many times in the 80 minutes to come. the university of melbourne has announced the establishment of a new melbourne student forum (msf), which is intended to be a focus group that will listen to student voices. however, the university of melbourne student union (umsu) has expressed concern about the msf and its potential impact on student representation and democracy at the university. the western australian state government will conduct an independent review into the state’s universities to “consider how structural change could strengthen the local university sector and delivery for students,” reopening debates around a potential merger of the state’s universities. protesters gathered at south lawn in support of iranian women on international women’s day on wednesday march 8, as part of a larger global “campus rally for iran.” unsw education officer cherish kuehlmann has accused nsw police of using “politically motivated intimidation” tactics after her restrictive bail conditions on a charge of aggravated trespass were overturned by the court. wildly successful orchestra conductor lydia tár (played by cate blanchett)’s life falls apart when a woman she presumably had a romantic relationship with then blacklisted from the industry commits suicide, and abuse of power accusations cascade. tár (2023), directed by todd field, is a character study that morphs into a psychological thriller, exploring what happens to a woman defined by her art form when the industry turns its back on her. 'the state of the union' is a fascinating dive into the insular world of student politics by covering the 2003 student election at the university of melbourne, one of australia's most prestigious universities. twenty years on from when the documentary was released, it remains a testament to what happens when politics gets ugly. if one was to compare it to the contemporary world of student politics, one can't help but wonder how much has changed. the film therefore serves as the remedy for pearl’s unfulfilled aspirations, a manifestation of the powerful stage presence she never got the opportunity to showcase, shedding light on a slasher villain who will go on to define the genre through a performance that will likely, in turn, define goth’s career. international women’s day is a recognition of the power possessed by all women, not just those that wear sparkly dresses. join the melbourne uni contingent to the national climate strike   12:30pm friday march 17 @ south lawn, parkville campus. living is lovingly sentimental in its performances, as well as the themes and messaging that existed in ikiru. it would have been a feat not to do a remake well. but living is unfortunately too safe and doesn't dare to push far enough beyond its distinctive britishness to stand alone. it is too neat and smooth to delve into the messy reality of human existence tackled by the original. it is simply the british ikiru and, as lovely as that is, it is all it ever can be. the 2023 oscars will hit our screens at 1pm (aest) on monday the 13th of march! in this deep dive, i’ll take you through the context and characters populating each category, who missed out, who’s predicted to win, who i think should win, and some outside films and performances that weren’t nominated but probably should have been (if the academy were a little more adventurous). there’s no doubt that alcohol is at the centre of our social lives, especially for young people. catching up with someone involves “going out for a drink”, the end of the week calls for “friday drink trolley”, and most celebrations include champagne or big nights out. so when i stopped drinking 6 months ago, i was prepared for a change in the way i engaged in social environments. what i wasn’t prepared for was a change in the way everyone around me behaved. in places where strangers congregate, like on a tram, it’s easy to dismiss others as stand ins, mere figures who happen to be standing around us. but what do we do when these strangers need a connection? what happens when bystanders just stand by when someone is in need? night ride, directed by eirik tveiten, poses this question to the audience. my year of dicks is unabashed in its use of cliche that it creates something wholly original, a film brimming with sincere love for its form. it is a rare diamond in a trough of pessimism that you cannot help but hold dearly in your heart. missing (2023), the standalone sequel to searching (2018), takes the current society's roadblocks for thrillers (connectivity, technology, high tech security) and uses them as the main plot device to hammer home the lack of privacy in our world: facetime screens idle on the laptop, smart watches, ring doorbells and cctv cameras to live feeds of popular tourist spots. radio fodder speaks to melburnian indie artist jim alxndr in support of his latest record 'feels worth living for', his creative process and how it's a "reminder that life is cooked and amazing and just so rich”. traveling a million miles to study in another country alone is hard. what’s harder is adapting to a dying classroom culture when easy, effortless, and abundant friendships are the only thing you need to get through it. indeed, it is easy to forget about worldwide disaster once you are in the grip of a classic murder mystery, no matter how typical the “whodunnit” formula becomes. although victoria’s first criminal case of wage theft is set to be heard in february, experts say tertiary institutions are unlikely to be criminally prosecuted under the state’s recently legislated wage theft act. selina zhang reports. there aren’t a lot of directors’ styles that someone who only casually engages with film will recognise more than tim burton. there is a lot to critique about his work especially his casting choices but there is no doubt when people describe a tim burton film as a “tim burton film”, that they are accidentally leaning into auteur discourse. for radio fodder's debut playlist for 2023, here are the hidden gems of the summer that still take us by surprise. showing at la mama hq from the 14th to the 26th of february is acclaimed irish writer edna o’brien’s virginia, a compelling portrait of the intimate life of modernist author virginia woolf (heather lythe). the fair work ombudsman (fwo) has initiated fresh legal action against the university of melbourne over the alleged underpayment of casual staff in the faculty of arts. joel duggan and elizabeth browne report. the fair work ombudsman (fwo) has initiated fresh legal action against the university of melbourne over the alleged underpayment of casual staff in the faculty of arts and the creation of false or misleading records. joel duggan and elizabeth browne report. for the next four days, josh davis and joel duggan will be bringing you all the shouting, scabbing, and paper scoffing from the conference floor, all the way out in the idyllic suburban paradise of waurn ponds. picture this, it’s 2014, and you’ve just turned thirteen. you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of teen youtuber content. you binge watch bethany mota and meredith foster when their usernames were still macbarbie07 and stilababe09, and are convinced that a can of chalkboard paint and a hoard of eos lip balms would solve all your pre teen problems. why do you always leave your assignment to the last minute even though you promised yourself you wouldn't do that again? it's 10 am, and you have a massive assignment due at 11.59 pm that night. have you started? well, no, not yet, anyway. one of the big policies at this year’s student elections was a promise to expand the free tram zone, championed by the rebuild ticket. it was an ambitious proposal that raised eyebrows and raised questions (namely, “how do you plan to do that?”), but it got at something that students care about: the fact that our public transport system does not work for us. for a japanese animation studio that has mastered the art of wholehearted storytelling in children’s films, studio ghibli has never refrained from exploring socio political ideology in its films. themes such as ecology, feminism, cohabitation, religion, war, and capitalism frequently appear in several films such as ponyo, the tale of princess kaguya, spirited away, whisper of the heart, princess mononoke, nausicaa of the valley of the wind, my neighbour totoro and many more. the pink, spherical neon galactic was in a dim rest stage at the moment, and hung, low and shallow, in the sky. running into cults isn’t uncommon in melbourne. you fill in the blanks with your best friend’s complete name written repeatedly over grade school friendship slam books. time stops passing like it does in the outside world and instead sort of hangs in the air, stale and inert. people with multicoloured veins and swollen bellies sleep on the streets, recover from back alley surgeries in gutters. she blinks away frantic winged water boatmen. their dead, waterlogged bodies litter the surface like jewels. progressive arts student suddenly a devout monarchist right before their assessment due date blockbuster became liquorland / asphalt corner grew up / it doesn’t know i still have a child inside rollercoaster rides through sparkling / synths sounding there’s a big black sky / over my town my pearled gaze / will watch that haze mark the soul / will watch it puncture thirty hollow men “a move from the first house to the twelfth.” he paused to read. “if you acquiesce, you’ll have strange times.” so i write this elegy not / for them; / but for the spaces left in the dust on my mantelpiece witch jail sure gets boring. fortunately i will be released soon but not before they take my ability to do magic! i imagine the patter will sound like a baptism. / or at least, it will sound. can you still remember / when we all stepped / in, and left our / shoes be  / hind / ? she liked to make me dance / led me soapy / to the balcony / i grew up thankful, violet haired the marrow vibrates verbena, neon pink, the cast of sickly skyscrapers and long drives during witching hour. how do we as writers create a character’s voice that is interesting and engaging, relatable and likeable? twitter realises that elon musk is actually that one flaky friend we all have my breast is wet / with wine and droops / like a greyhound’s tongue / the nipple expectant as / pursed lips a gentle woodsmoke trails to / where the grass is frozen silver / at the edge of memory / on the edge of town i am from yelling, barking, laughing / i am from european birch outside my window / i am from stiff wool skirt there’s a duality to conversation around that country; a space imagined as both sublime, and ugly. but i would deify the wanton flesh / and drink the carnal poison to avoid / the cherub’s arrow pointed at my chest. a charlatan’s promise: a tongue edged with rust / has a way with its words that bewitches the mind. twirling of colours of / red and blue and black and blue / aurora would weep if she saw this she often wondered at what point the owner would concede. the place had mortal wounds and it was simply a matter of time. time for cheese to truly do its thing! i am now going to show y’all how to do the impossible: stop time. god is pretty god is a real hunk / dressed in all black / god thinks i’m sexy i know it / like / bitter sugar burn blue wells  / a billion hues / i know you, without knowing you. winter is here. / waifs and mudlarks turn angels in the snow, so / our little joke goes. when lustre dripped / from my fingers / they blanched like it was blood. i felt as though there were tens of rows of nipples staring out from the shelf by my right ear. he’s a handsome thing, with a glowing smile that softens his sharper, more intimidating edges. writing horror represents a mastery of controlling and releasing tension. vegan destroys entire democratic system by refusing democracy sausage she rode off into the sunset: just a girl and her horse, and a saddlebag full of gold. i am the cowboy, the not so lone ranger marching through the smoke, triggered by intuition, my personal firing range. what do the parties and candidates say about arts and events in victoria? what do the parties and candidates say about policing and legal reform in victoria? what do the parties and candidates say about housing in victoria? dominique jones gives you the rundown on one of the most interesting contests in this election. what do the parties and candidates say about energy in victoria? he was staying alone at the inn for two more nights. the waitress was rushed and mistook his calmness for arrogance. with the palm reader lines / surging upwards with vitality, / landing on half moons that / disappear when pressed. dewy fractals spill / from stone white cherubine mouths, / fall gently downwards. the awkward dawn stretch. / the minute before when / he ain’t a man, just / a matchflame within someone’s reach. and i am clean, / by this squat brick stack i am clean. / as aluminium scuffed rust / am i clean. everything was familiar to him ... it was well loved, like the spine of a book read dozens of times. the lamb, suckling on the statue of liberty / closes its fist / against girlhood / against desert kingdoms what do the parties and candidates say about healthcare in victoria? farrago's resident policy wonk benjamin cronshaw reports. the cow’s wail wafts ghostly / in life. in death, / it breathes on the air, / odourless, a clean tongue. above the line voting? below the line voting? group voting tickets? preference whispering? abbey saxon breaks it down. abbey saxon gives you the political rundown on melbourne's most (in)famous inner northern suburb. two elections? in one year? thalia blackney is here to let you know what you're voting for on the 26th, and how the victorian state election actually works. i’m in bed on hinge. i scroll through a couple of photos on a profile and then hit the cross in the bottom left corner. my thumb is so accustomed to this that i don’t even have to look down to find it just scroll and tap. scroll and tap. profiles blur together, faces become unrecognisable. i shudder: is this normal? or is this doing irreparable damage to my brain? probably both. we are deep within the entropy of hyper casual mobile gaming. new apps are uploaded every single second, often as previously created games just with a new colour scheme. the creative bankruptcy of these developers is increasingly obvious, so how do they lure people in to download their apps? the animal crossing franchise’s cosy aesthetics and relaxed gameplay have enjoyed wild popularity, especially since the release of their newest title, animal crossing: new horizons for the nintendo switch. for the uninitiated, the premise of animal crossing is simple: you are a friendly town resident with friendly animal neighbours, and you are free to fill your days with decorating, gardening, fishing, catching bugs, and generally just leading an idyllic and idle life. in this final column, i want to have a look at a few examples of some stories on screen and in literature that seem to play into stereotypes about autism only to subvert or otherwise complicate them in interesting ways. i will mainly draw on the opening episode of the aforementioned netflix series, and the first book in the wonderful the murderbot diaries series written by neurodivergent author martha wells. the crowd trickles in and out of lines, lips dulcet and candied, breaths loud and permeating. ormond college student “too poor” to pay for uber home focus on the earth as if it is the one moving. are you falling away? is it rising away from you? physics says it’s both. neon lights groan to life as they crawl out of hiding. leaning in from the edges, their eyes slide across your body. is it the toasted sugar kisses? / or when we waltzed in the kitchen / to spring’s symphony? i’m running on empty, and my noggin’s got nothing. it’s a condition you are likely all too aware of: brain fog. “she had light, auburn hair and perfect teeth.” he saw her projected onto the screen of the cold smoked car window. and i wonder, / is this my first lesson in buoyancy / against the cavalry of weeks? summer slips through the air, greasing the asphalt and flushing skin pink. we were the smell of each other, the glandular oil, the acned sweat, the small of the neck smooth and vaguely feminine. my body blooms / though not so much my body / as much as my liver / or maybe my stomach our final girls have heaven now / botox, cloud houses, miniature ponies, swimmer’s bodies you feel her trace the moles carved into the shallow of your skin like they’re constellations. echoes of the universe outside passed, barely perceptible, into the world of their intimacy. if you live in melbourne or anywhere really you’ll be aware of the rise of disposable vapes and their many enthusiasts. whether you’ve taken it up yourself, or simply walked through billowing clouds of lush ice on chapel street, there is no doubt that iget, hqd, vaporlax and puff bar have well and truly settled down in melbourne. bitches love monkey grip. and by bitches, i mean me, and every other indie kid and/or english/creative writing major in the greater melbourne area. but we have good reason. laughably and painfully accurate extensions, huh? you can’t really get through uni without needing one at least once, but boy do they make it an absolute fuckfest of a process. the professor becomes judge, jury and, in the event your pleas are insufficiently desperate, executioner. those of us who have been subjected to feminine beauty standards will remember with some contempt the ‘instagram makeup’ look of 2016. pomaded, arched brows, full coverage foundation, and cheekbones painstakingly carved out of setting powder were the daily uniform. i stewed in envy when i overheard a girl in my 10th grade english class mention that she woke up at 4 am to get the look down every day like it was nothing, just what was expected of her her duty. i’m fidgeting in a swivel chair as we wait for craiyon, formerly known as dall e mini, to spit out images for the text prompt: “philosopher jean paul sartre wearing a green crochet bonnet, photorealistic”. it became apparent to late writer mark fisher that around the mid 2000s, electronic music as a genre had failed to produce a new innovation. in the time since, electronic music failed to progress past tropes and stylings that had already been explored in the twentieth century. to some, this may simply sound like the bemoaning of an older generation that “music just isn’t as good as it used to be.” we’ve all seen her, in some way or another, in some time or place. the illusive walk, the ethereal mystique, the silent charm that draws you in. the internet calls her the “cool girl”, but really, it seems to be increasingly more difficult to try and pin down the qualities that make her “cool”. as of september 2021, abortion practices have been legalised under australian law nationwide. it’s been a long journey, from the criminalisation of all abortion through the 1861 offences against the persons act; to the menhennit ruling 1969, which legalised abortion only in cases of physical and mental necessity; to the removal of abortion from the crimes act 1900 through the abortion law reform act 2019. i loved high school. i loved my teachers and my friends. i loved immersing myself in my subjects and my role as college captain. i loved the validation of a productive workshop session with a teacher or a good grade. i loved the awards ceremonies and the public acknowledgement that, academically, i was thriving. but just like that. after 20 years of nothing but constant support. this is how the north melbourne football club treats me. i’ve been working out since i was in my early teens. not always consistently, and very rarely well, but i grew up with a very conscious desire to either get in or stay in shape. but, as far as i knew, being ‘in shape’ just meant doing cardio. and lots of it. i can still remember where i was the first time i heard ‘everything i own’ by bread. i remember who with me at the time and what the sun felt like as it streamed in through the window in the backseat of my mum’s car. i remember the instant love i felt for it, the sadness in knowing that i might never find a song that made me feel the same way, and the gratitude for how lucky i was to have stumbled across a song i knew would be a special part of my life forevermore after that first listen. you may have heard recently that the curtin hotel is closing down. an iconic pub, a popular live music venue and a go to watering hole for melbourne unionists for the past century   thrown to the dogs because it was unable to sustain itself financially through the pandemic. however, all is not lost for the curtin, because the unions of victoria are set to declare a ‘green ban’ on the pub’s demolition. isekai: a blight genre that consistently plagues seasonal anime releases. as a genre, it tends to be about as trashy as it can get. and yet, its everlasting presence suggests that somebody out there is consuming this stuff in enough quantity to sustain the entire market. i’ll be honest, it’s been real weird watching incel manosphere stuff enter public consciousness from its isolated internet origins. before, i’d been watching interviews with incels and browsing through their subreddits much like watching a car crash, inevitably ending in the subreddit getting banned for sexism (big surprise). now ‘incel’ gets used synonymously with ‘sexist dudes’ whilst we have ironic sigma male memes riffing off manosphere phrenology. university of melbourne students are devastated by the cancellation of their beloved wednesday farmers’ market. chalk protests reading “vca & mcm pay your staff” were splashed with water during an open house melbourne tour. the university of melbourne student union will be required to pay the university almost $400,000 in property outgoings. historically, posters have long been used as an art form to persuade readers on a whole range of positions. think uncle sam demanding you enlist into the army or rosie flexing her muscles encouraging us girls to help with the war effort. suppose there’s one skill i’ve mastered studying history and politics for this long; it’s the ability to overanalyse the purpose and message of these posters. but are they actually effective? let me set the scene: you are deep in the last of melbourne’s 2021 lockdowns, sitting on the couch scrolling through tiktok when you see someone wearing a fresh, cool, unique piece of clothing. envisioning how trendy you would look if you wore it too, you rush to google, locate and secure the item on an impulse. however, in the time you spend waiting for australia post to deliver it to your door, you have seen the item worn by 56 different people, on 4 different social media platforms. since tiktok exploded, its effects on music (look at the grammys nominations), clothes (search up ootd) and trends, in general, have been seen everywhere. it is the world’s fastest growing social media app used by more than 1 billion people worldwide with roughly 7.38 million australian users. with half of its users under 30, tiktok is central to many lives. we spend days on end scavenging for books, reading letterboxd reviews, and creating shopping carts that are never purchased, only to discover that the author is a terf, the film’s director has been accused of sexual assault, and the clothing brand relies on unpaid labour or in my case, that bon appétit magazine, creator of the binge worthy youtube series “gourmet makes,” has exploited its workers of colour. capitalism the economic system that manifests in the free market, structural wealth inequalities and the pursuit of economic advancement at all costs meets crisis a moment of surging conflict, of irrepressible chaos and change. what could possibly go wrong? there comes a time in everyone’s life when you are forced to throw out your favourite pair of shoes. no amount of duct tape, superglue or staples can keep them together anymore. and as much as these shoes have become a part of who you are, deep down you know. it’s time to move on. on that note, it is with a heavy heart that i announce that on february 17, 2022, i had no choice but to discard my white canvas sneakers. the pervasive desire for “preventive” cosmetic procedures within the younger generations was brought to my attention during a recent visit to the dermatologist. my doctor expressed her concern for children as young as fifteen, most of whom were accompanied by a guardian of legal age, who were coming in to request facial fillers or body augmentations, such as lip and cheek fillers or rhinoplasties. why are such young individuals seeking such procedures? in australia, we live plentifully and can choose whatever cuts of meat we desire most. our socio economic conditions do not ask for rationing or a major rethink of our diets. the only major impact on our diets in recent memory has been the failure of supply chains during covid 19 to give consumers what they want. selecting offal is a choice, not a necessity but it should be considered as much as our chicken breasts or pork chops. it’s been 42 years since the demise of the pram factory. still, the legacy of that shambolic factory turned warehouse turned theatre continues to loom large in carlton's history and australian culture. the pram factory was an alternative theatre that operated in carlton through the 1970s. it was the home of the australian performing group (apg), an experimental ensemble that sprouted from la mama theatre before setting up shop at the pram in 1970. meet hibatallah (hiba) adam (she/they), a second year juris doctor student, and the umsu presidential candidate for ‘community for umsu’. as the news of prime minster albanese’s election spread across the world saturday night, the customary congratulations from australia’s allies rolled in, wishing the new pm and his labor cabinet well for the future. collingwood yards: 35 johnston street, collingwood, embedded in melbourne’s inner northern suburbs. a series of vast brick and concrete structures pushed up against a narrow footpath, rimmed by neon lights a new, surprising and innovative community arts space. somewhere along the way, collingwood yards became synonymous with a particular crowd bleached cap wearing, bike riding, savers shopping young people leading to plentiful instagram discourse poking fun at the yard’s regulars. in the song “time escaping”, the opening bars of percussion clatter reluctantly into view, as if someone’s dropped a pair of sticks down a slightly confused slope. you can hear adrianne lenker sigh and cough a little; then, a second rhythm, overlapping. the first time i heard it, i felt turned around and faintly bewildered. they were going somewhere i wasn’t sure i’d be able to follow. dear diary, i’m tired of the city life, summers on the run, people tell me i should stay, but i’ve got to get my fun. my brother is trying to teach me to drive a manual car; we go around and around the empty lot down at the local high school. when i was younger, my band teacher taught us a trick on the snare drum, where you throw the drumstick in the air and catch it again without interrupting the drumbeat. he said if you have the coordination to do this, you have the coordination to drive a manual car. ‘mothering sunday’ (dir. eva husson) is a period drama in the most unconventional sense   both the viewer and the characters hardly know what time and era they’re supposed to be in. hollow knight is a behemoth in the indie games’ scene, lauded worldwide as “the metroidvania to end metroidvanias”. created by the adelaide based team cherry, it follows the adventure of the unnamed knight as you explore the wretched ruins of the underground kingdom of hallownest. representations of neurodivergence in fiction rarely invite the viewer into the perspective of characters who experience the world differently. instead, they portray the world through the lens of the oft neurotypical creator watching from the outside. i want to look at a few examples of narratives where the aesthetic choices made by the writer or director puts audiences in the head of the neurodivergent protagonist, thus allowing viewers to experience their unique mindset and empathise with them nearing completion of its first run at the state theatre in arts centre melbourne, 9 to 5: the musical has had no trouble enticing audiences with the lure of dolly parton and a stage cast of beloved australian performers. unfortunately, this success isn't enough to overlook the glaring problems of a half baked story lacking real depth. the wind pulls my hair / out from behind my ear / onto my face and so i set down / my book and push my hair back now its blue grey rocks were pocked and waterstained, and a wooden board covered the opening. the city of light gets brighter and brighter / as they wait for the king’s arrival what about the tales now whispered in apartment buildings around a bowl of popcorn at 2am? will they too become myths? “medusa!” he yells. “gorgon medusa!” frightful ruler! greek words, easy on his tongue. all these heroes are greek. mud caked and defeated / we rove over a country choked / into submission. it is no exaggeration to say that the university of melbourne is one of the largest breeding grounds for leftist thought in the country. for those of us who have been on campus walked past the columns plastered with protest posters, been a part of tutorial discussions (particularly within the arts faculty), socialised with fellow students this statement needs even less justification. yet, unimelb’s most far left political group, socialist alternative (socalt), seems to be its most hated. the so called “material girl” lifestyle is a phenomenon that has circled tiktok foryou pages since november 2021. the hallmarks of this trend be it a brightly coloured telfar bag, a pair of $900.00 airpods max or a head to toe lululemon ensemble assure us that ultimately, shopping can be empowering and wealth is equal to success. however, with the rising criticism of overconsumption, we are left with the question: does an ethical version of a “material girl” exist? in a world overwhelmed by praise and adoration for characters such as phoebe waller bridge’s fleabag and those in the sally rooney literary universe, it can be difficult to distinguish redeemable, commendable behaviour from the not so. written so eloquently and with such realistic qualities, myself and others, particularly female, audiences and readers have found it refreshing to gravitate towards such characters, identifying with their flaws and feeling the weight slowly slip off our shoulder as a generation of media consumers, we have, in one way or another, encountered the australian classification and ratings system. you know, that little prohibitive green/yellow/blue/red/black box in the corner of the dvd or video game case you had growing up? chances are that since you turned 18, you haven't given those ratings much thought. after all, they hardly apply to you anymore, or maybe they never did (especially for the more rebellious readers). when you think of science fiction, what comes to mind? aliens? sheldon cooper? that trope where a condescending male character spews scientific jargon, only to be asked to repeat themselves “in english, please”? space as “the final frontier”? we operate in a time where attention is a commodity, dispensed by live streamers and ravenously sought after by audiences. livestreaming culture has been struggling with obsessive audiences for years now   this video from 2020 is an excellent description of how these cultures came into being. while there has been extensive writing on parasociality from podcasting and live streaming before, few discuss how these bonds are constructed. upon learning of my southern derivation, the inevitable question would follow: “what’s there to do in adelaide?” one way or another, every australian capital city has come to embody an archetype. if australia were a john hughes film, casting each capital city would be easy. somehow, adelaide has a reputation for being a hopelessly provincial pseudo city trapped at the arse end of australia. january air is amniotic. / february will come like a birth or excision. while everyone was in europe, i was in council. to wring a dry cloth / on cracked soil / under the ablaze sun. tityrus, you recline beneath a screen / of spreading beech and dwell upon the woodland / muse with slender reed the watermelon dwarfs the little fridge it’s displayed on, green rind overtaking white plastic. student who submitted timetable preferences during their “new year, new me” phase now holding back tears in 8am tute. the media have adopted a wait and see approach towards the new labor government, particularly concerning the climate. director m. night shyamalan has become something of a joke among film fans. following the smash success of the sixth sense in 1999, he briefly became hollywood’s golden boy, gracing the cover of newsweek magazine in 2002 along with the moniker “the next spielberg”. yet, he fell just as quickly, releasing a series of commercial and critical flops that destroyed the goodwill he had accumulated with his first three major features. round white headlights. an even rounder exterior. metallic blue doors and black rubber tires. scratched but intact side lamps. worn fabric seats, peeling at the sides to expose yellow foam. seven year old chathu stared at the unfamiliar object, a tiny blue second hand nissan micra with headlamps and grills that gave it the curious face of a two year old child. “it’s our new car,” her father said proudly, the beams of the sun glinting off his bald head mirrored in the smile he gave her. my interest in the contemporary melbournian pub began with an expensive northcote parmigiana. as i tapped my card to facilitate the transfer of $26 from my bank account to the eftpos machine, i found myself wondering whether a pub meal was always this expensive. sure, the cost of a chicken parmigiana must cover the price of ingredients, and the labour of preparing, cooking and serving the meal. thousands of people took to the streets of melbourne’s cbd on saturday, protesting in solidarity against the overturning of the landmark roe v wade ruling by the us supreme court. ben's back: electric boogaloo. ben's back. are these women just manifestations of white feminism who were brought forward on the premise of climate change and transparency? six, possibly one of the most important musicals of our generation, has finally arrived in melbourne, after originally being set to reign over the comedy theatre’s stage two years ago, before delays due to covid 19. six is the brainchild of students toby marlow and lucy moss, who created the glitzy pop musical across 10 non consecutive days in the hopes of providing a platform for the musical talents of their female friends, and to rewrite how women are being portrayed in theatre. it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment that ignited creative expression. the movement began further blurring the answer burnley goes ham with motions. where is sami? we sent two farrago writers to an improv show. they gave us different reviews. just a song into the concert, she tunes her guitar and within moments, a string breaks. pov: you're realising why you should have made that list of preferences. so, first question why do we have preferential voting, and why does it matter? it has come to my attention that even in a country with preferential voting, ideology and voting preferences don’t always align as one (me) might assume. victorian socialists candidate jerome small is up for calwell this coming federal election. he spoke to farrago about climate policy, labour rights, and the challenges for victorian socialists in the upcoming election. here is a brief summary of where six former australian prime ministers stand in the 2022 federal election. what do the parties and candidates say about healthcare in australia? what do the parties and candidates say about the uluru statement or other policies to support indigenous australians? australians, all / i do not believe that the colour of one’s skin determines whether you are disadvantaged. / let us rejoice / it wasn’t a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels, either. how are each of the parties doing on gender representation? and what are their records and key policies on gender equality and women's safety? what do the parties and candidates say about national security issues? i have attempted to make a linkedin profile twice in my life. i am named after the first woman in space, valentina tereshkova. this is usually my go to “fun fact about myself” i have tucked away for the first week of uni classes; a simple and easy answer to most ice breaker questions. poor selina, she had to watch the whole debate. allegra gives us her opinions again! with the rising housing market, renting, or buying a house has been increasingly unaffordable or precarious for many australians. you read the title. fighting? in your students' council? it's more likely than you think. what do the parties and candidates have to say about education or supporting students? there’s an element of excitement to a candidate not tied to a party line. i quite like the idea of voting independent. it is empowering. this week we are looking at environment and climate change. what comes to mind when you read the word “cottagecore”? is it images of flowing streams, thatched roofs and knitted cardigans? or is the word utterly foreign to you? unlike its contemporary counterparts, cottagecore looks toward the past and embraces it. it takes aspects from a bygone era and repackages them to appeal to the present day. the pay gap between men and women in australia’s workforce averages 14.2 per cent, according to the 2021 census. this figure represents the weekly discrepancy between men’s and women’s earnings in full time work, accounting for careers and industries all across the board. not ideal, but hey it could be worse, right? novak djokovic. world no. 1 tennis player. his whole saga about trying to enter australia without being vaccinated made global headlines. it turned out almost like a soap opera. he was initially refused entry despite having a permit, for which he successfully appealed. yet the government once again rejected his entry, so he appealed once more but ended up being deported. various news outlets either condemned or condoned australian laws. so, what happened? we all have those films that we watch and think, ‘why doesn’t everyone watch this movie all the time?!’ perhaps it’s fallen by the wayside in the decades since it was released, or is an un streamed masterpiece slowly being forgotten? so, here are the criminally underrated films we would die for from the non fiction staff writing team at farrago. they keep words from children, so i had no name for what i was until puberty had finished with me. this language is narrow, and strains under even a little stretch. we confuse the plural pronoun, confuse it more when we apply it to flesh. for my part, i have a body that doesn’t announce itself: one of those faces that carried adolescence into the third decade, and hair long for a boy but short for a girl. if i were to pass a pair of strangers, i could be man to one, and woman to the other. the discourse accusing this so called ‘student aesthetic’ of fetishising poorness has surfaced within the past year on social media (especially tiktok) and in conversations between students on and off campus. along with the atrocities of the second world war came a total distrust of how we as humanity can communicate with each other. in that vein, operation mincemeat opens with the idea that there is a ‘seen’ war and a ‘hidden’ war. this duality between seen and unseen, between trust and distrust, and ultimately between hero and villain, is perhaps what this biographical war drama truly aims to showcase   and it achieves this to varying degrees of success. you don’t have to be a “nerd” to enjoy good ol’ role play an underreported side effect of the pandemic has been the effect of widespread insecurity on people’s sense of self. in their 2021 study, researchers gibbons and thorton found that the changing social environment of the pandemic allowed people to “experiment with how they express their identity”. with this widespread focus on self improvement throughout the pandemic, it is perhaps unsurprising that an increased number of young people have experienced qualms about their gender identity. “that’s sweet,” a friend of mine said when i told her. “it is,” i replied. “it’s the kind of sweetness you sometimes get with kids that’s somehow even sweeter for the tang it has of morbidity, emily carr presents a one woman tour de force, a beautifully blunt exorcism of unrealistic expectations as captivatingly honest as it is tumultuously hilarious. nominated in 2018 for best comedy at the melbourne fringe festival for her work queenz and performing regularly with the mystery radio theatre company, this is her debut solo show. and what a show it is   emily carr presents beige bitch with such infectious energy and charisma, taking her audience on a journey through carefully crafted should our mistakes define us? the dogmatic dominion of ‘cancel culture’, perpetuated by its re tweeting apostles, has spread from social media fodder to become ubiquitous in real life relationships. in brendan black and martin chewell’s play empathy training, shown at the la mama theatre as a part of the melbourne international comedy festival, this contemporary philosophy of ‘cancelling’ is pulled apart and prodded in comically genius and thought provoking ways. audrey diwan’s happening is a simple film. set in 1960s paris, the story focuses on heroine anne duchesne (anamaria vartolomei), who leads a seemingly unremarkable life as a 20 year old student trying to pass her entrance exams for university. the costumes, setting, and actors themselves are unglamorous, almost plain. when one thinks of it, it’s almost strange that diwan’s no frills approach is directed toward the magnanimous subject of abortion. this, however, may be the point. the conversation continued like a river, energetically rolling on before slamming into rocks and getting redirected. kasey lifted the bottom of her mask just enough to slip a popcorn kernel onto her tongue for winona to nibble on. it was the third consecutive night of video calling when i decided i’d had enough. the nightclub on collins street had no official cloakroom, and the alcohol saturated crowds began shedding their jackets: dancing with silk over their arm, a sleeve dangling by their knee. come 21 may, every eligible australian will go to the polling booths and cast their vote in the federal election. however, you must be enrolled to vote. written and directed by isabel coixet, it snows in benidorm is as unreasonably beautiful in its imperfections as it is refreshing in its film elements, despite the dull and reclined protagonist we are introduced to. this is an exhilarating masterpiece, from the quirky and mysterious characters that populate its woefully dreamy world to the ever transient scenes at the beach to the unique sectioning of the film into ten types of weather. young aussies are being significantly under screened for sexually transmitted infections (stis), with sexual health assistant app “geni” reporting that 28 per cent are skipping out on essential sexual health checks. in an hour long video released in october 2021, mark zuckerberg expounded about what the rebrand of facebook inc. envisioned for the internet’s future, discussing innovative ideas and concepts in the realms of entertainment, education, business, and surprisingly privacy. jane, whose name has been changed to maintain her anonymity, was raised in the spiritual tradition of falun gong. it is one of many new religious movements (nrms) that emerged from the qigong boom of late 20th century china. the prc’s policy of state atheism had seen many traditional religions wiped out. still, qigong was accepted because it was considered a form of chinese medicine that used meditative exercises to refine one’s health. where do we learn to be feminists? how do we learn to be feminists? for many of us, it’s not as simple as picking up a book by virginia woolf or attending a university lecture on gender studies. and yet, these are some of the stereotypes by which we have come to qualify feminist identification. of course, there’s nothing wrong with studying feminist literature, or attending feminist lectures, but such academic resources should not be the only means of ‘learning’ feminism. here's why. i encounter the bitcoin boy far later than most others. his devotion to the world of bitcoin makes him easy to poke fun at and he is quickly compacted into an unflattering archetype. over time, bitcoin boy becomes easy to spot in both online spaces and real world interactions. over time, bitcoin boy also becomes wealthier. as of today, farrago magazine, australia’s oldest student publication, will cease operations under the current four editors. we knew of this crisis in the ‘70s, and these strikes began in 2018. a whole pandemic has occurred, a generation of strikers have graduated, and we still haven’t had meaningful climate action, let alone justice. they don’t look anything alike. they’re simply two cats, existing separately but parallel in my mind. car crash simulation straight out of heaven / and you, in the driver’s seat (jesus take the wheel!) “a ring is a promise,” evangeline’s mother told her as she sat upon her knee. sweetness wasn’t alone / when it flew out your window, / for some dusty sorrow hung soon after. i’ve been drowned / by my own brother. tonight / he comes from a sailor’s grave / with a makeshift lantern. earthworms / don’t have eyes, but they have light  / sensitive receptors in their skin. especially their front end. the invitation comes as a surprise; somehow it always does. the late music industry lecturer ed montano wrote in 2010 that “the dj will always have a role in club culture”. more than a decade later, technological advances have fully digitised the dj’s tools, prompting the idea that the dj themselves could soon be digitised. an automated, artificially intelligent dj could be an easily achievable cost reduction for venues  so why hasn’t the dj been automated? i know, i know. we’re literally a whole year and an ocean away from the trump administration. really, this is something i had forgotten about at least until i realised that i stopped having to manoeuvre family interactions around it. thinking back on it, it was a bizarre experience seeing as how before 2019, anything resembling “politics talk” from my grandmother was unthinkable. never see your favourite artists live: a concert review of lisa mitchell’s ‘zombie’ single launch at the corner hotel we arrive at the bustling corner hotel band room, bee lining for the gap at the front. the crowd is a mix of: 1. other twenty something girls who have grown up on a diet of missy higgins, charlie & lola, the rainbow magic series and hand me down stripey toe socks and 2. the cool parents responsible for introducing them to albury local indie pop songstress, lisa mitchell australia is a hot place. semi tropical new south wales is especially so. in 1965, very few people could afford to build their own swimming pool. the public pool was more than a quaint site of pre adolescent fun but a public necessity. public pools also belonged to that collection of spaces which formed the social fabric of a country town. for white patrons at least, they were neutral grounds on which to meet. for others, they became a battleground. for those of you who have been keeping up with the university’s updates, you may be aware of the upcoming student precinct that is currently reaching its final stages of construction. a live music event that promises to be entirely accessible and inclusive for people living with a disability is attempting to change the music landscape for attendees and artists alike. what the fuck is test cricket and why is it so complicated? with the prospective return to on campus life in 2021, students have called for more variety and non academic elements in the student life programs to better support first year undergraduates. australia’s largest philanthropic donor to medical research snow medical has suspended the university of melbourne from their snow fellowship program. on 9 november 2019, warlpiri man kumanjayi walker was shot three times dead by police officer zachary rolfe. he was only nineteen. union house’s george paton gallery (gpg) is currently home in the truest sense of the word to curator steph markerink’s exhibition domesticated. i walk a lonely road... you’re in a large room filled with many seats. to avoid any confusion, you made sure to get into your assigned seat early, or maybe you arrived right on time. other people filter in and walk past you trying to find their row. the lights seem to be dimming, but you’re also not sure if they are. you may call this place the cinema, the movie theatre, the silver screen, or the pictures. what happens next has the power to profoundly affect you  if you allow it. one night in august 1993, kelly cahill awakens from a lapse of unconsciousness, unable to recall the events that had taken place just minutes beforehand. her life was about to change forever. on a night some 29 years later, mostly untouched by the story of kelly cahill and her legacy, i sit watching ‘paul’ with my mum, pondering what my dad has always told me about the extra terrestrial happenings in the area in which we live, and yet feeling entirely detached from it. over the past few years, i’ve witnessed friends, family and now even myself fall victim to a sickening trend. what started (i can only assume) as a simple grammatical mistake, has since taken over the entire internet. but maybe, this disturbing phenomenon is actually for the best. soft, dark and haunting. kiwi artist julius black is back on the alt pop scene with his latest ep, “together we go down in the dark”, an episodic visage of one’s descent into a toxic love induced madness. it has been a big few weeks, my worst new year’s ever. students at the victorian college of the arts (vca) are calling on the university of melbourne to “commit to stronger policies and actions when it comes to sexual assault”, after the university ignored multiple reports which detailed alleged sexual and racial harassment by a male student as far back as 2019. marvel has released another action packed, complex and thrilling film, and with it, we have been given another piece of the marvel cinematic universe (mcu) puzzle. the first instalment of the fantasy and science fiction appreciation society (fasfas)'s review column, 'eternals' on its surface, greg lobanov’s chicory: a colourful tale is the poster child for escapist video games. chicory is a colouring book turned video game, complete with zelda inspired puzzles, metroidvania elements, and fun side quests… all of which combine to create a disarmingly devastating commentary on what we are taught to want, as opposed to what what we actually need. the first instalment in aries' column, 'unwriting the hero's journey in chicory: a colourful tale' 8351 kilometres and two planes later. a sudden loss of heat and humidity. hands nervously twisting together. breathing hitched and shallow. six year old chathu looked out at her new classmates, her eyes slightly shielded by a heavy black curtain fringe. a sea of children stared at her; seated together, their heads looked like a patch quilt; every shade of brown, red and yellow. the first instalment of chathuni gunatilake's column, 'a whole new world' the old percolator makes about a mug and a half. performing with busted chops is like drinking a shot of fireball and eating a pineapple. in drama school, the question of what it means to be a good actor ultimately becomes an inquiry into what it means to live a fulfilling life. gone are the days where rock bands were such an ip in and of themselves that they warranted their own movie. that is precisely why foo fighters' studio 666 stands out as an unburdened and creatively absurd project amidst the current rising sea of mass formulaic media. despite being the national sport of japan, sumo remains relatively unknown to the western world. director eiji sakata seems to have taken this lack of familiarity as a challenge, with sumodo   the successors of the samurai offering an intricate introduction to sumo through its history and place within modern japanese culture. a trio of cinema loving schoolgirls that we know only by their quirky codenames barefoot, kickboard and blue hawaii cobble together a ragtag production crew to create a samurai film. only, they find out mid production that one of their crew members is a time traveller from a dystopian future where their beloved films are banned, no less. a premise like this demands heart, spunk, and energy by the truckload, and luckily, it’s a summer film! delivers without fault. care about the environment but don't know what to do? don't worry, 2022 umsu environment obs chelsea daniel and zach matthews are coming to the rescue. giddy up! yeehaw! second council! already losing my brain! on 13 february 2020, nico lim posted on his instagram account @_flashpoetry, for the first time. this post signalled the beginning of a new project; an attempt to break down his hesitancy to share his creative work. this demolition of his caution hardened barriers manifests itself in the silent world that won’t stop talking, nico’s debut poetry collection. unilodge will be facing a class action lawsuit initiated late last year by multiple residential advisors (ras) working with adero law. the lawsuit accuses unilodge and partnered universities, including the university of canberra and the university of sydney, of wage theft and exploitation. acclaimed german photojournalist david klammer’s new film is taking the documentary world by storm. awarded best documentary at the snowdance independent film festival, barrikade was also selected to be screened at the kassel dokfest, suncine film festival, and portland ecofest, to name just a few. released in 2021, barrikade depicts the lives of german climate activists who built and occupied treehouses in the dannenrod forest to protest its clearing for the construction of a new motorway. all eyes are glued to parvyn as the gleaming stage lights make a disco ball of her gold sequined choli, and she welcomes us to the unveiling of sa, an album about love and family, betrayal and anxiety, written during the pandemic. gsa general secretary lily day writes a response to an opinion written about the gsa's proposed structural changes. have you ever encountered an anti vaxxer? perhaps a family member, a friend or even online? encounters with an anti vaxxer, whether it is in person or online, tend to leave people frustrated, however, exploring the psychology behind the anti vaxxer mentality may be the key in learning what you can do to influence vaccine hesitant people. raj patel’s new documentary gets its title from an aesop’s fable. in the fable, a fiddle playing grasshopper approaches some ants asking them to lend him some food. the ants ask why he has no food of his own, to which he replies that he’s been too busy playing the fiddle to grow and stockpile crops. the ants, rather dispassionately, are disgusted by the grasshopper’s laziness, and leave him to starve. this theme of abandonment is the launchpad for patel’s documentary. for the first time last week, i yearned for immortality. i stared at the unread books on my shelves, the pages collecting dust; i thought about the seas i’d never cross, the countries i’d never visit; i mourned the conversations i’d never have, the things i’d never learn. the curtain of willy hudson’s bottom rises and falls with beyoncé. as theatregoers take their seats, “love on top” plays on a loop, affirming protagonist willy’s devotion to his pop idol  as if the monstrous cut out mood boards weren’t enough. running just shy of an hour, bottom explores the various illusions and expectations inherent to that all too important third date. after all, he hasn’t yet been asked that dreadfully reductive, crushingly inevitable question: “top or botto gavin roach’s one man show, run, is an endearing, unique and impressive piece of theatre that bravely lays itself out completely bare to its audience. it can’t hide, and it doesn’t try to. on 5 february, a blog post appeared on the website of the graduate student association (gsa) announcing major plans to reshape its structure and amend its constitution. obscured by a number of seemingly innocuous changes is a proposed transformation that would impose serious limits on student activism, and should be of concern to all graduate students. written by michael ross and directed by gavin roach, the australian premiere of the shy manifesto opened in melbourne as part of midsumma festival. british playwright michael ross has enjoyed a string of accolades in the uk, including being shortlisted for the 2014 off west end adopt a playwright award. the recipe for loving my parents is complex. it is the product of countless mental notes from years of trial and error and several mishaps. the golden step to avoid getting scalded, you ask? greasing your pan with several layers of patience. the unimelb italian stallion is writing for farrago. welcome to 2022. who didn’t love the science works planetarium as a kid? the universe in high definition above our pig tailed and bowl cut heads; the hush that fell over the domed room as they lowered the lights; the dancing red pointer they used to describe stories in the stars. science works isn’t quite so popular among senior high school students. the national union of students (nus) have condemned the coalition government’s new research funding project which will see a $1.6 billion increase in university funding for “projects with high potential commercialisations” in fields that are deemed high priority by the government. the melbourne law school (mls) has permanently removed the law school admission test (lsat) as an entry requirement for all juris doctor (jd) applicants from 2022 and beyond formed in 2017, aussie duo dekleyn are no strangers to the music industry. having amassed over 5 million streams on spotify over the last 3 years, the two have made a name for themselves in the realm of memorable, irresistibly catchy and skilful songs. inspired by the beat from their 2021 single ‘over again’, ‘save my name’ is a heartfelt song that delivers a sincere yet uplifting emotional narrative through the duo’s reliable roots in electronic pop. “hating someone feels disturbingly like falling in love with them,” bookending the opening monologue, this quote astutely summarises the narrative of the screen adaptation of sally thorne’s bestselling novel, the hating game. the film follows lucy, played by lucy hale, and josh, played by austin stowell, as they toe the oh so narrow line between love and hate, falling predictably in the former. last year cruella made a reappearance on screens in a live action origin story of the fur fashioned fiend. the film captures the transformation of the villainess a brash, quirky but sagacious maverick, and the humble but twisted beginnings which induce her maniacal traits. every so often, an artist comes around with an almost supernatural ability to capture the mutability of adolescence in their work. will hyde does exactly this, weaving a powerful, emotional story of youth throughout his sophomore ep ‘nothing ever changes’. the ep combines singles released previously as ‘chapters' with new unheard tracks, narrating a journey of growth and acceptance that serves as a testament to will hyde’s growth and maturity as an artist. aeva and allie caught up with three former farrago contributors to look at their lives after student media. covid 19 has attempted to stop the arts industry at every turn but queer comedy coven, the titwitchez, have no fucks to give. in their latest production hagademia, they have to face much more with a looming deadline and sexy hauntings. farrago reporter patrick sexton sat down with western bulldogs player ellyse gamble to talk about how she managed the commitments of full time study and footy, as well as what the future looks like for aflw players studying at a tertiary level as the league looks to expand. after 21 months, international students can finally return to australia. what is natcon? jo doesn't know but max does! the federal government has announced a new scheme which will wipe the university debts of nurses and doctors who work in rural, regional, and remote areas. university of melbourne staff and students rallied outside vice chancellor duncan maskell’s parkville mansion yesterday in opposition to the university’s growing casualisation of teaching staff. in a sequel nobody asked for, the student learning entitlement will return in 2022. this will limit how long you can study in commonwealth supported places (csp) before you either pay the full, exorbitant fees or pray for a fee help loan. students gathered on south lawn yesterday to protest the opening gala of the liberal backed think tank robert menzies institute (rmi). in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. i had a nasty experience with this film, which came naturally as i saw it the same day that millicent and i had our first fight. i suppose it was always coming. she’s been speaking to me less and becoming increasingly passive aggressive. she has an elitist demeanour, and i’m only now realising that she’s been judging me. i finally confronted her about it, and the argument quickly spiralled into chaos. insults were hurled, and some of my contraptions were damaged. it started off[...]  circa 1989 the grand opening of the robert menzies institute will come to parkville campus this november 18 in the form of a conference and gala dinner on campus. the menzies institute is a liberal party think tank masquerading as a prime ministerial library being set up in the old quad by the menzies research centre (mrc) and the university of melbourne. the institute will shape campus life... lola young is a rising british singer songwriter known for her unique blend of soulful pop, r&b and jazz influences. her ability to be so authentic and raw through her music is what makes her stand out in today’s music scene. content warnings: mild sexual content, allusions to transphobia, allusions to familial issues. trigger warning: brief references to suicidal ideation, blood and violence. trigger warning: brief references to suicidal ideation, blood and violence. wind rustling through fields of grass; deep thunder; water, gushing along a shore. we see in a low, still wide shot, a man dragging a hose over a hill, seeming to be draining one section of water to another. constance tsang’s first feature length film blue sun palace follows the lives of chinese migrant workers in queens, in the aftermath of tragedy in a massage parlour. tsang mediates themes of exile and loneliness are mediated through a quiet, expertly cool direction. the film’s quietness is slow, tactful, and unassuming. you are punched in the gut before you know to look for the fist. right across from the colourful, shining “rising” lights pinned onto flinders street station, stands “victoria’s most visited sacred place”, st paul’s cathedral. what is usually a sanctuary for quiet reflection and prayers, became the setting of an awesome celebration and coming together of community. *it was not a friendly reminder, i am very uncomfortable™. my brainbox will not shut up about story of kunning palace, so if you haven’t watched it, you should, and here’s why! when you think of weddings, you immediately picture an atmosphere of joy: flowers, parties and good wishes from family and friends. even if there will be tears, they will most likely be a sign of joy and happiness. but, have you ever heard of a bridal lament? i’ll start with a disclaimer that when i signed up to review this movie i didn’t really know what i was getting myself into. the fantastic film festival line up appeared on the farrago slack channel, and as i watched the opportunities for other films dwindle within minutes, i took a plunge and thought the title “divinity” sounded pretty cool “i like films that explore themes of religion,” i thought no time to look up what it was about. content warning: references to blood, death or dying, child abuse, kidnapping, violence throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks is what homeshake is all about. the long time musical project of peter sagar transcends mere pleasant, unattentive listens; sagar’s bedroom pop adjacent sensibilities mirror his headspace during recording. where his livelier and more celebrated releases such as 2017’s fresh air ooze with jovial indietronica and alt r&b, horsie is sagar’s second release in 2024 following march’s cd wallet, and a continuation of the latter’s heavier approach. there’s very little we know of yves tumor. with aspects of their identity, like their birth name and age, being punctuated by mere question marks, tumor is not only private but has cemented themself as a rising enigmatic star. if anything, they further prove it with their otherworldly debut in the melburnian landscape of the forum. from its very public conception, the tortured poets department (ttpd) was an incredulous embarrassment. following midnights' album of the year win, taylor swift subsequently announced ttpd’s impending release date at the grammys, eclipsing annie lennox's performance calling for a ceasefire in gaza directly after. if you happened to be drunkenly stumbling home past the arts centre in the witching hours of a cool saturday morning you may note the serenity of the scene. empty streets, only an uber or two on the road. you certainly would not guess that just a few floors down a large group of strangers nestled in blanket hoodies are awake witnessing what can only be described as a fever dream. reading is an inherently solitary practice   it’s one of the main reasons why i enjoy it so much. but reading is also a largely social practice, with the themes and ideas in a novel becoming the source from which socio political discourse can be generated. my favourite episode of avatar: the last airbender is “the ember island players”. it's not a particularly important episode. it’s the re cap; little plot, mostly jokes, a good time before the epic four episode finale. that’s not why i love it. cw: violence, references to settler colonialism in australia melbourne’s rising festival has returned for a fourth helping, serving up a delectable range of shows for its 2024 iteration. for those with a more adventurous palate, the festival presents food, an “intimate dinner party performance” presented by american illusionist geoff sobelle. the show’s hook? a giant table with plates and cutlery where the audience sits, while sobelle performs the show as the establishment’s garçon, doing everything from taking fake orders to pouring wine. when people make fun of people from melbourne, there are a few recurring motifs in the jokes made via facebook comments or instagram reels: oat milk (depending on the age group), protesters (depending on the suburb), greyhounds (see both above), and thrifters. the op shoppers. the secondhand fiends. paul williams, star of taskmaster nz and a comedian in his own right, has been in melbourne performing his new show mamiya 7 as part of the melbourne international comedy festival (check out the review here!). i had the chance to talk to him about his experience with stand up, taskmaster nz, his opinions on vanilla ice cream, and his back up career options. unapologetically brown and delightfully besharam, brown women comedy is back better than ever at this year’s melbourne international comedy festival. oz xmas comic con is a weekend long event held at the melbourne exhibition and convention centre (mcec). this was the convention’s second christmas themed event. i attended their debut xmas convention last year which was held at the melbourne showgrounds. i was relieved to find out it was not there this year because i found the showgrounds to be too far removed from the city, so this year's event location was perfect and only a few minute walk from the bustling atmosphere of the city. now, after a solid 26 hours and 100% completing the game, was it worth it? yes, but it is also way more complicated than that. four letter word theatre’s original murder mystery musical comedy the scarlet sun is a fast, frenetic and hilarious production that showcases the talent of the university of melbourne’s student performers with its impressive stagecraft and exciting musical storytelling. their closing night performance was an event where everything fit together perfectly. irago 이라고   said so, performed at kensingtown town hall from 13 14 october for melbourne fringe, is a contemporary dance piece that sets out as an exploration of closure, transformation, and community in a constantly changing world. vulnerable child dough meets its parent(s). michelle mccowage shows us what it's like to sleepwalk. teaching student sean gives the rundown on how the latest melbourne production of 'death of a salesman' provides a vision for rethinking education's role in society. this was the first time i had experienced something resembling fear in the mosh, that oh shit if i don’t go easy i could actually wind up in hospital with serious injuries kinda fear which i have to assume is known chiefly to skaters, footballers and anyone who partakes of the various melbourne party drugs that we all know are predominantly methamphetamine. adapting paolo cognetti’s novel, the eight mountains (le otto montagne) begins with an ode to friendship and expands to a love of life in the face of being pulled away from what we love. hollywood is all over the place right now. when the writer guild of america went on strike in may this year, it was pens down for any movies, tv shows, late night and variety shows in hollywood. christopher nolan’s oppenheimer is a stark and brilliant character dissection of j. robert oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb but that’s not talk to me (2023) by aussie brothers (and youtubers) danny and michael philippou. the tone of talk to me is immediately established within a minute of the film’s start as we are struck with psychotic violence amidst a quintessentially gen z aussie high school party. it’s intriguing, i can’t wait to see what’s going on. at first, i was worried because the horror came so early i wondered “how can it get worse from here?!” but it does. continually. the one of a kind, one man production chameleon, starring the vibrant and charismatic stewart reeve, was truly a feast for the ears. playfully toeing the intertwining line between standup comedy and musical, reeve showcases his talent for vocal mimicry; calling to the helm a myriad of unmistakable voices and sounds identical to their originators, a performance at which an audience can do nothing but marvel; and of course, laugh. all this happened, and more, as i found myself sniffing in moments of nothingness, wondering if i was more of a jo or a meg. however, in the wake of barbie mania, i left the cinema with a thought i wasn’t expecting. i couldn’t help but wonder how little women foreshadowed gerwig’s move into the ip adaptation style of filmmaking unfolding before us. labor’s federal education minister jason clare has committed to abolishing the 50% pass rate rule that currently prevents failing students from accessing hecs help support as part of a suite of other higher education reforms designed to make the sector more equitable. radio fodder chats with indie folk duo oceanique in support of their release show for debut album 'would the light hold me'. the national union of students (nus) is calling on the federal government to legislate a “national duty of care” at australian universities, making tertiary institutions legally responsible for supporting and protecting student wellbeing. tanz pinpoints the subtleties of individual taste by putting everything on the table. there is a freedom begat by this intense exposure, which demands that you think something anything of it. you must consume everything or leave (or, occasionally, faint). and you must own your choice: you can walk out of tanz, but everyone will see you do it. radio fodder reviews lana del rey's 'did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean blvd' and its reflective breath of fresh air. radio fodder speaks to anna smyrk on their latest indie & dance ep, ‘cortisol and blue light’, the feels of reconnection, and letting go of "thinking that everything is going to be great and perfect" tannhäuser, one of richard wagner's most acclaimed works, stands as a captivating testament to the composer's mastery of the opera genre. with its sweeping score, poetic libretto and compelling characters, this four act opera takes, or rather attempts to take, its audience on an unforgettable journey through themes of love, redemption and the eternal struggle between passion and purity. deafheaven are often decried as “hipster black metal” for their amalgamation of the genre trademark banshee shriek with the dreamy guitarwork of shoegaze: “blackgaze". to the credit of their critics, our first observation upon entering max watts was that this crowd did lean toward the “lanky dudes in my bloody valentine shirts” side of the hipster black metal spectrum. “i’m more here for the shoegaze” were the words of one audience member. the guest is a fun and delicious dive into the lives of the affluent in a way where you don’t feel the need to envy them. it will curb your appetite for a scoop into the luxurious and excessive upper class with stunning and entrancing writing, as well as your desire to glimpse snapshots into the raw human experience. however, do not expect to connect with the characters in a meaningful way or climactic points in the plot. while i loved mulaney for his pristine suit collection, his old timey charm and, of course, his dog, petunia, it was the way he spoke about his former wife, anna marie tendler, that made his stage persona so endearing. so when that persona shattered, and the person i had decided he was was challenged, i was left confused, disillusioned and frustrated that he did not live up to the characterisation i attempted to enforce on him. nick white’s show grow up is a testament to the value of figuring out who you are and where you fit in the world. or so he says. it is an overall funny and entertaining show but, unfortunately for this reviewer, overwhelming in its tiktok vibes. flesh disease, staged at la mama hq, is many things. it’s a theatre performance, it’s a movement piece, it’s poetry, it’s a rumination on the lives of women and the trauma, memories and craft groups that colour those lives. at times, however, this wide scope muddies the waters, leading to a work that, while powerful, struggles to find any strong point of focus. as a sketch comedy, grim commits to a single, multifarious act that titularly admits itself a derivative of its creator, grimshaw, whilst proliferating a variety of imitative facades. where stand up panders the effect of the real, grimshaw unapologetically rejects her claim to reality, embracing the effect of the fictive. “when the air we breathe is under attack, what do we do?! stand up, fight back!” student protesters gathered at the university of melbourne’s parkville campus to fight for climate justice on 17 march, led by the university of melbourne student union (umsu) environment department as part of a wider national day of climate action. watching a designer’s early career work is an absolute privilege, which is exactly what this show was. from reimagining materials to re envisioning household items, the designs were marvellous. we had picture frames, umbrellas and tents, among other things, serving as a focal point for the dresses and somehow everything translated well in the designs. if you weren’t fatigued enough after the federal and state elections of 2022, get ready for yet another political contest as the federal seat of aston goes up for grabs once again. on april 1st, it’ll be april fools for one of our major parties, as alan tudge passes the torch to a debut mp. when one thinks about italy, art, history and of course food come to mind. however, there is so much more that lies beneath this rich culture. for the past seven months i have immersed myself in la dolce vita (the sweet life) and unearthed the unique realm of italian superstition, a practice i didn’t realise is deeply embedded in their cultural norms. this film isn’t subtle; it is hard to miss this glaring metaphor if you’re someone who has ever encountered a metaphor before. but anything that emphasises the work put into claymation and balances light heartedness with the cruel realities of life is always worth a watch. an ostrich achieves this, bringing a smile to the face with its charm despite the overwhelming pessimism of its message. as a child i thought that an ai apocalypse would look like a scene from blade runner or wall e. i did not predict that the greatest threat artificial intelligence presented to society would surround academic integrity. lonesome doesn’t create a world to get lost in, but it is a movie to look at lovingly. a welcome addition to queer narratives surrounding the cowboy, if you’re willing to move past a few stumbles. view radio fodder's curated playlist for the month of february 2023. you are twelve years old in your childhood bedroom. nobody understands you. you pull out your pink ipod nano and press ‘play’. katy perry asks, “do you ever feel like a plastic bag?” on youtube, there’s a video of author patricia lockwood reading her piece, the communal mind, at the british museum. it’s witty, insightful, and unlike many written pieces about the internet, a completely immersive, self aware, and nuanced piece of writing. you can watch it here. just as a preface, i’ll be similarly carrying on in her absurd and confusing style, in some sort of a post modern exploration of the internet and the meaning of life. cyberpunk fluoros, / and past it all… noise / noise and buzzing. / who is the god we homage with our oblation? content warnings: sexual assault i explicitly remember the excitement i felt in 2009, getting home from school, turning on the tv and tuning into ‘60 minute makeover’, ‘what not to wear’, or something else of the like. as i perched on the edge of the couch in an anticipated fixation, i was eager to see how the “ugly duckling” or “fashion nightmare” at the beginning of the episode, was transformed into a new, prettier, more fashionable person at the conclusion of the show. nowadays, it’s hard to find an image whether online or in print whose intended purpose isn't to promote an item or an idea. with the number of social media users exponentially increasing each year, companies and individuals wishing to capitalise on this growth have found new ways to garner frequent and continued patronage. by tracking user interactions and interests, new media algorithms generate a unique experience for each user. what was the soundtrack of your teen years? mine was classic rock and its many derivatives. i don’t know what did it for me. perhaps it was the wailing guitars, thundering drums, hammering baselines, and audacious vocals that felt especially electrifying to a fourteen year old catholic schoolgirl. i fell quickly down the rabbit hole, collecting dusty old records that could trigger an asthma attack, and plastering my bedroom walls with the faces of bygone bands. #booktok has had a significant influence on the sales of physical books and has disrupted the publishing industry. according to the npd bookscan, which tracks the number of books sold, print book sales have increased by 9% from 757.9 million in 2020 to 825.7 million in 2021, the highest since they started tracking in 2004. npd bookscan said, “no other form of social media has ever had this kind of impact on sales.” we circuited between food and the erotic, making promises to roast pumpkins and burn butter for each other. the call’s coming from someone called ‘plot critical caller’, so unfortunately you have to answer. “now available,” the ad said. “bird collector cards in every zipfresh ready meal. collect them all!” on stage in honolulu / the music driving upwards out of his crotch / his arms knives cutting through the air. you heard she deserved it. you p u l l e d her a p a r t taking her words and / spitting!! / on her! we believe their aim is to (re)militarise time, to make it politically explosive. this stance opposes ministry policy. she lingered on that final word. every part of the restaurant felt like it was screaming at her: “experience me!” you give yourself experiences as gifts, letting your inner child sit in the space of your cerebrum. lights! / camera! action! / theres something about staring at the sun the white burns / when they flash rhythmically vegan destroys entire democratic system by refusing democracy sausage this glasshouse gallery has no ceiling, / and the blood of my callouses is / slicked, like hot oil paint on its walls. four feet of bipedal beauty, she follows a strict diet and is practically skin and bones minus the skin. i must confess, i’ve been finding myself bone tired lately, and sluggish as a mealworm without a meal. lights blurred like trailing spit. i fell hard. but i queued again. be the cowboy, i thought. it wasn’t my thought. god fucked me last night / or was it you? i couldn’t tell you apart / from my position on the floor. with a daily full fare ticket for metropolitan bus, train, and tram rides climbing to $9.20, struggling students have to allocate more budget to public transport. vanessa chan evaluates the public transport policies of labor's two main rivals, the liberal/national coalition, and the victorian greens. father / talks to the fields like talking to you, / tills the soil like knowing you. while some of these investments can be harmless like the celebrity crush pinterest board i have been cultivating since i was 13, and the radio show that spawned from these romantic infatuations the inhumanity of other parasocial behaviours of mine has recently reared its ugly head. so, where do you draw the line? and why do i have a sickening feeling that i’m only going to end up ignoring it? it’s no surprise that when our beloved tv shows come to an end, we’re left bereft. we’re left standing there, more awkward than a contestant on the bachelor who didn’t receive a rose, unsure of what happens next and trying not to make a scene. but what’s the best way to end a show? how can you call off the relationship but still stay friends without the stressful will they won’t they of ross and rachel? when my incisor wobbles pulls  falls, i slip it under my pillow, and wake to a bed full of pansies. i peeled off my mask and my face came with it, layer upon layer until nothing was left but an empty void. we are constructing a character together as the words appear on the page right now. the character is a version of me. the water in those submerged vessels / once was in the sea. just like / i once was a particle in my grandmother summer always comes shyly to melbourne, where patches of sun peek between weeks of dismal skies and harsh wind. i’m very drunk on the 109 tram right now and the sunset is so pink behind all the houses it looks like a green screen the nus has condemned the australian government for “failing hundreds of thousands of 18 to 21 year olds". for a young greek hero to prove himself, there was one thing he had to do. i’m not talking about slaying monsters, sleeping with enchantresses, or kidnapping royal daughters. from hercules to theseus to bellerophon, the stories of greek heroes share one interesting overlap: each of them proved themselves by battling an amazon warrior and emerging victorious. book of love is a bizarre film. some of the choices made in its production turn what would have been a predictable rom com with a clever premise into a truly unusual watch. “performance art is so gauche!” and so, from the bottom of teenage sophie’s heart fuck you, joss whedon. we’ve got it from here. meet conor barnes (he/him), the umsu presidential candidate for the brand new ticket of ‘rebuild’. as i read several tediously long articles to alleviate the boredom of isolation, i came across one describing the life and artwork of kusuma yayoi. an acclaimed japanese artist, her most significant achievement seemed to be having entered herself into the psychiatric ward of a tokyo hospital. the words used are "psychiatric ward," but they might as well have been "mental asylum", "lunatic asylum", or "bedlam". search though i did, not one description of her artwork caught my notice. music made by melancholic women is nothing new. the 1950s’ darling, billie holiday, has been credited with the popularisation of the ‘torch’ song, a sentimental ballad for unrequited love. folk singers like carole king and joni mitchell rose in the 60s and 70s. the 90s saw the surge of fiona apple, who remains a key figure in the sad girl genre today. my brother is trying to teach me to drive a manual car; we go around and around the empty lot down at the local high school. when i was younger, my band teacher taught us a trick on the snare drum, where you throw the drumstick in the air and catch it again without interrupting the drumbeat. he said if you have the coordination to do this, you have the coordination to drive a manual car. “would you like to play with us?” these words were to become the earliest memory of friendship seven year old chathu would remember from australia the first time someone had offered to be friends with her after she had begun her new life abroad. israel recognising ukraine’s sovereignty proves no one knows the definition of irony maybe i could even change the very course of events and add a whole new level of spice to my favourite works of fiction! it is a truth universally acknowledged at least among those in the know that different neurotypes will naturally gravitate towards different social media platforms. before taking a deep dive into cyberspace, let’s backtrack a little and start with the basics of neurotypes and the neurodiversity movement. the term ‘neurotype’ arose out of the neurodiversity movement, the founding ideology of which was kickstarted by autistic australian sociologist judy singer in 1998. in a world constantly bombarded with news about floods, earthquakes and bushfires, it is no surprise there has been a rise in eco anxiety over the past few years. are you someone who has difficulty falling asleep because you are constantly thinking about the impacts of climate change, or do you feel a sense of doom at the rising sea levels? have you ever felt that fear as if you were on a sinking planet and there is nothing you can do to save it? if so, you may have experienced eco anxiety. last month in america, the gun manufacturer remington reached a legal settlement with the families of those who lost their lives in the 2012 sandy hook massacre. $73 million will be shared equally amongst the families who took remington to court, hoping to establish their legal culpability for the massacre. this settlement is not, of course, adequate compensation for what these families have lost. the emergence of that girl culture is one of the internet's best kept secrets. as the poster child of wellness and productivity, that girl will never be spotted without a matcha latte or some plant based drink in her hand. apart from said drink, her other trustworthy companions might include her $65 yoga mat and a black moleskine journal for morning reflections. the sun brines in a sticky chicken broth / watching one to eight float in her belly it's suburban living, the sparks from the blistering street lights competing with nettled crickets sometimes, we get complacent. even with things we care about. a couple of months ago, at twenty years old already seven years into my gruelling mental health journey i was diagnosed with adhd, generalised anxiety disorder, ocd and ptsd by a psychiatrist. as you can imagine, broadcasting this on a platform like farrago with a readership that i actually have to interact with is pretty fucking terrifying. film recommendations from farrago’s non fiction staff writing team (and ivan). as far as rich, highly vaccinated countries are concerned, omicron is a relic of yesteryear. with pandemic restrictions fading as cases continue to plummet, for what feels like the hundredth time in the last two years, a select few dare to dream of returning to an almost forgotten state of interconnectivity "post covid." however, the catastrophic moral failures of the pandemic should not slip our collective memory anytime soon. she bends slow, steady, tense my emotions. she could always read the inevitability of my future. o will my heart ripple as i float in the night, on the wind like everything is u n i if you are under 25, chisholm is probably identifiable to you by zero mode in the suburb of box hill and glenny kebabs in glen waverley other than these two joints, there’s really not much else happening there. to fully realise gender equality, the afl, local footy leagues and fans must reflect on their contributions to the unsafe culture experienced by report participants. the sporting field is home to many of australian politicians’ greatest gaffes. yet they keep coming back why? our campus has a surplus of cafés throughout its buildings and hidden in little pockets. many of these have changed since 2019, with notable favourites the brew sisters (a moment of silence for my triple shot flat white for $3.50 3) and animal orchestra leaving. consequently, i had to conduct some research to find which cafés remained open and which newcomers had joined the scene. it’s always a good sign when one party announces their cultural policy five days before the election and the other party doesn’t have a cultural policy at all. ultimately, until the toxic politics of homeownership are tackled in direct and unabashed fashion, there can be no expectation that this housing crisis will be resolved. what do the parties and candidates say about improving democracy and trust in politics? then the song comes to a slow fade and your heart rate increases as you anxiously await the next song. taylor swift’s i knew you were trouble. the cute boy’s relaxed nonchalance contorts into a look of disgust, and you panic to ensure he knows you’re not like the other girls singing along. you could never like taylor swift and you think it’s stupid that these other girls do. social media is brimming with cultural commentary, political movements and aesthetic infographics. the belief is that if you are not up to date, then you don’t care. it is purported that if you are not informed, then you are part of the problem. i want to challenge this misconception. the expectation imposed on us today is that we should all be arriving at some final destination of intellectual enlightenment. this is, of course, a fictional destination. today, i will provide you with a defence to understand the effect tiktok is having on the way pop music is being written, it is worth looking at what a tiktok hit actually is a more complicated proposition than it might appear. a song that becomes a hit on tiktok often finds subsequent chart success; if the artist is a relative unknown, major label interest is often quick to follow. but all this is happening after the fact of its initial virality and it isn’t the artist that goes viral, nor even the song itself. fifteen, sixteen, seventeen… ah, crap. it’s 2010. once again, your nine year old self has lost track of how many glow in the dark stars on the ceiling you've counted in a bleak attempt to fall asleep. skip to 2022. your twenty one year old self still counts the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. this time around, most of the stars have fallen off. your earphones are blaring royals by lorde, and you relive the peaceful days of being twelve. why more and more voters are leaning independent. the black and papaya liveries of the mclaren racing team showcased the sport’s first indigenous sponsor, deadlyscience. as the 2022 election draws closer, so too does the contest between the two candidates, in what frydenberg has admitted will be the "fight of [his] political life". again, the question popped up. if gender fluidity was present in the tagalog language and the pre colonial philippines, why then do the majority of the older generation filipinos lean towards homophobic mindsets? it’s simple, really. colonisation. do people outside umsu read these? it’s opening night. ten minutes before the show, andrew locascio pokes his head through the ruby velvet curtain. with a cheeky grin to his awaiting audience, he says, “don’t worry guys, the show’s purely rhetorical”. assured that this wasn’t one of those awkward audience participation situations, the atmosphere felt tangibly at ease. before even beginning his show, locascio had managed to dispel discomfort   and he maintained this throughout the evening. union house theatre (uht) returns to campus this week with stef smith’s nora: a doll’s house, a radical retelling of henrik ibsen’s classic a doll’s house, and a crucial and relevant tale about women’s rights throughout the last century. mac truly knows how to craft a great set and create a beautifully intimate, yet energetic atmosphere. if you have an interest in australian folk rock, i’d highly recommend checking out his music. when people find out that i write, their inevitable first question is: “what do you write?” we’re in another stage / we have to live with this / this virus / it’s a test / someone's always going to pay for it my best cursive sits on a headstone / we wear name tags to bed / as if the death nurse does not know us almost universally, female sexual pleasure is de centred and depicted as a lesser counterpart to male sexual pleasure. this phenomenon manifests in the orgasm gap between heterosexual women and men a study found that only 6% of women orgasm every time they have sex, yet it remains the expectation that sex isn’t over until a man cums. a gendered perception of pleasure has leeched into all facets of daily life. i am calling it: this is the best feel good film that i have had the pleasure of watching for as long as i can remember. olivia ryan's review of 'the duke' at cinema nova i walk... a very lonely road... to dorks like me, the federal budget is like christmas come early. we all sit around the fireplace and wait for santa (josh frydenberg) to deliver us a ton of goodies. you are an observer / of calloused hands on brass strings / crimson plastic, nostrils pierced in backyards here i’m going to show you some simple tricks of the trade to summoning a demon to the mortal realm. now i have moved out for good. / farewell fairy bread, farewell forehead / kisses, farewell mum’s wedding rings we throw the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ around so much that i think we forget that it’s true. do you ever really think about what it means to eat? about what happens when you eat? the intimacy of it all? your food becomes one with you when digestion reduces it to its base components and repurposes them to build your cells. long before we discovered that science, we were thinking up ways to eat “correctly”. within fiction, the portrayal of autistic characters most often adheres to that of the ‘autistic genius’. while it is a fraught activity to pathologise and diagnose fictional characters, there's value in comparing these famous representations of neurodivergence in fiction by doing just that. the first instalment in ishan morris gray's column, 'reflections on the “autistic genius”' the george paton gallery returns this 2022 with upcoming student exhibition domesticated,. her love boils bathwater (2016) is a charming japanese drama by ryota nakano. it is a film about the benevolent power of family, womanhood, and most importantly, motherhood. equal parts comedy and tragedy, it’s the kind of film that will lift your spirits, only to break your heart, only to lift your spirits once again. we see so much trans pain and suffering, but i promise you: trans joy exists, and it is there, and it is beautiful to nobody’s surprise, #shein(doesn’t)care. capitalising on the global push towards sustainability, numerous fast fashion brands have launched marketing campaigns or undertaken attempts to rebrand themselves as eco warriors. claiming to be sustainable is a double edged sword that mega brands are (un)successfully trying to wield in their favour. co written and directed by ryusuke hamaguchi, drive my car is a cinematic reconstruction of haruki murakami’s original short story of the same title. hamaguchi is an artisan with ennui, wielding suspended moments of tension effortlessly to dramatic effect. building on murakami’s template, he has created a story about the innate human tendency to mindlessly move forward, a secret and often hidden desire to continue living despite feeling like we don’t deserve to. the umsu queer department has announced that they will no longer attend the midsumma festival pride march. giddy up! yeehaw! first council of the new year! applications to join the student representative network (srn) are currently open until 31 january. farrago reporter aeva milos sits down with local musician stella farnan. after a devastating electrical fire in 2018, the theatre community banded together to rebuild la mama. in a statement released today, justin baré has resigned from his position as ceo of the university of melbourne student union (umsu) and will be leaving at the end of this year. drawing from the tradition of art not as institution but as record, as history, currie’s debut exhibit un sports man like revels in the body, in dance, and performance, as well as sport and manual labour. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. in late 2021, the media department ran the 'creative with covid' competition, which encouraged students to continue creating in spite of everything going on in the world around them. there were four categories in the competition art, photography, audio/music and video with prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each. all winning works are available on our website for you to enjoy. phew! nadia bartel will not face any criminal charges after victoria police decide they cannot possibly determine what that suspicious white substance was... as sleek facebook frames are slowly being removed from the profile pictures of university students in their early twenties, and social media feeds are returning to normal from constant ‘vote for me’ content, we can celebrate that another season of student elections has ended. cw: mentions of sexual assault and harassment, institutional neglect from 6 september to 3 october, universities australia the country’s peak corporate body of higher education ran the national student safety survey (nsss). conducted by dr. anastasia powell (rmit), and the social research centre, the survey is aimed at “encouraging students to share about their experiences of sexual harassment, sexual assault or unwanted sexual behaviour.” a petition conducted by the university of melbourne student union (umsu) education department recently called for the extension of weighted average mark (wam) adjustments for semester one 2021. however, over 20,000 signatures failed to convince the university to review the importance of the compassionate policy to both domestic and international students. despite the university’s push to make learning accessible, through programs such as seds and access melbourne, there have yet to be endorsements from students that these programs are appropriate. instead, students feel silenced and powerless in an institution that should be prioritising its student body and ensuring an equal and inclusive environment. yet another covid semester has gone by. however, this time we sat at an awkward halfway point between online and in person courses and activities a strange place between skepticism and hope for the end of the pandemic. however, the roll out of okta verify has been problematic. failure to install the extra application prevents us from logging into canvas to submit an assignment on the due date, along with stopping us from attending zoom lessons on time. mostafa “moz” azimitabar, a kurdish refugee from iraq, sought asylum in australia in 2013. moz was initially transferred to papua new guinea, where he was held for six years. moz was then brought to australia for medical help under the medevac bill. upon arrival, he was first held in the mantra hotel, before being transferred to the park hotel, which lies approximately just 100m from the university’s parkville campus. he was finally released in january 2021, after 2,737 days... covid 19 has periodically forced both official university events and various student organisations’ events online, bringing unique challenges to event organisers and educators. despite efforts to maintain normalcy, these changes have undoubtedly changed how students interact with each other, for better or for worse. aptly titled 'all the kids are depressed', jeremy zucker’s not so cheery 2018 hit seems to read our minds. the sentiments he sings about are ones that we all, as a generation, like to joke about, laugh about and, clearly, listen to music about, if my 2020 spotify wrapped was anything to go by. one of my fondest childhood memories is going to my local video store each school holidays to borrow videos, and then dvds as technology advanced. of course, the ‘local’ in ‘local video store’ changed every few years as the stores i treasured gradually closed. they were replaced with either supermarkets and gift stores or were simply left boxed up, only leaving a handful of operating video stores around melbourne. faced with the prospect of yet another semester abroad, overseas international students face immense challenges and uncertainty. content warning: mental health 1. the window outside my office opens into the branches of a big, strong tree. it’s autumn: the season of me staring outside the window and getting lost in its ochre. sunlight filters through the leaves and falls onto my hand. ugh, i want to be loved like that   like warmth and fall and softly filtered sunlight on brown skin. the long, long afternoon by inga vesper is both a razor sharp crime novel and an incisive portrait of race and gender in late 1950s american suburbia. sunnylakes is an upper class district on the outskirts of san francisco, and visions of the town in heady summer suburbs envelop the reader two story houses with green lawns and white picket fences, white husbands with white collar jobs and white housewives. in an environment where appearances are everything, the sudden disappearance of a housew this column has thus far spun around the soft idea of joy. joy in a coffee cup, joy in a surfboard, joy in the little things. joy in stability, good food and the people we love. the polaroids are under my bed. they’re safe inside a shoe box i don’t remember buying. they lie awake with me. i wish i could fast forward through this part. my room: dark with the curtains half pulled, the window cracked open just enough for the echoes of the city and engines roaring from a distance to reach my ears. now that i live alone, it helps me sleep. the noise is like a song playing in the background. what is it with gwyneth paltrow and vaginas? from a candle that smells like her vagina, to vaginal jade eggs and vaginal steaming, she brings up taboo topics and masquerades as a lifestyle expert just for recommending eccentric products. while paltrow is an actress and an entrepreneur, she’s definitely not a doctor or scientist. she raves about products for her own profit, similar to other wellness companies that prioritise sales over the health of their customers. anna biller’s the love witch (2017) waxes poetic about the 1960s, sporting an aesthetic that pays tribute to the iconic low budget horror films of the period. the aspect ratio is altered, the lens is rose coloured and overwhelmingly pastel, and the voice of our female lead elaine drips with honey like an incantation, in the style of the quintessential hollywood actresses of her time. working in the supermarket will dispel the myth that an hour contains 60 minutes. like a casino, it is full of space, empty of time; no clocks, no sunlight, no centre. as a customer entering the supermarket, you are to walk a predetermined path through the produce, deli, bakery, and meat departments before the dairy and grocery sections open into two alternate paths. the paths ultimately fold back into each other, producing a fake labyrinth that would even make borges a little proud. but i don released in 1996, the craft came out at a pivotal time for the representation of teenage girls in western media. unfortunately, it’s not the kickass feminist film our rose coloured nostalgia says it is. pelligrini’s is an institution because it has been there for so long, unwavering amidst constant change. it is a time capsule to the past. the wood plank menu is the same one which appears in photos from the 1960s. waiters have divided up tiramisus with sharp lines in this century, and the last.[...] will hollywood blockbuster type films continue to use netflix as their outlet, or will they return to their rightful spot on the big screen? i didn’t plan to be reading a classic by virginia woolf and a biography of alexander hamilton at the same time. 2006 is ingrained in my memory as a time of wanting to transition away from early childhood media. in my then  six year old mind, gone were the days of hi 5, the wiggles and the hooley dooleys; i was craving content that i saw as more mature and less condescending, even though i couldn’t possibly have articulated that at the time. it was in 2006 that i grew obsessively fascinated with disney channel; despite not having the holy grail that was foxtel, i became a fanatical saturday disney viewer content warning: sexual assault, rape, child groomingi always dream of the same house. i remember all 21 houses i’ve lived in, but i only dream of this one. i dream that i’m standing on the porch, watching a tsunami crash in.[...] content warning: mental illness it was past midnight, and i was packing for a school trip. the room looked like a tornado had hit. clothes were strewn around the floor. random toiletries were tossed carelessly about. electronics sat in a tangled heap. and there, amidst all the chaos, was a small attempt at organisation an abandoned, half checked packing list. my tinfoil torso will crumple, my paddle pop ribs, snapping, will pierce my limping heart then, if not dead, crippled, i will let out one last fluttery sigh from my cardiac cavitied chest she let the pen fall from her hand and closed the book, wanting the unfinished story out of sight. the book was filled with unfinished stories. characters stuck without endings. “la gargouille was a great dragon who settled in rouen. he ate livestock and farmers alike, and when he flew, his wings caused gusts of wind so strong all the crops were flattened. to shed his scaled hide, he rubbed his body against a mighty church. stone crumbled and the spire collapsed. when he lay in the seine to bathe, he blocked the flow of water as readily as any dam, and the river overflowed and flooded the city.” jerry: has that happened to you, flo? have you opened a door or refocused your eyes to see the change in sunlight’s sort of... scratched the familiarity from something? they drink coffee under ruined lime trees. there is a goat on the roof of the car. three faces. one for me, one for you, one for everyone else. she’s got a couple joints loose, she said. his forehead folds like a concertina. as far back as i can remember, my favourite birthday was wrapped in a family road trip from melbourne to brisbane. slow hours of gleeful exhales filled mum and dad’s silver holden commodore as the sky morphed from wonga pigeon grey to kingfisher gold. it’s mount martha breeze, fresh cut grass and salty seas. sprawling from the floorboards, the monochrome floorboards, sounds of a dead girl singing. money tastes like sweat dripping from the armpit of a vogue model. rarely does one get the opportunity to savour such a distinct flavour[...] for helen, host of radio fodder’s what’s all this? and master of music student at the university of melbourne, victoria’s lockdowns saw her deep dive into books, videos and films on a quest to answer life’s big questions. cold against my cheek they curl around my ears like vines whispering sweetly some say love is complacent a street lamp flickering dark gutters, rainswept pavement an old tree withering my lover’s light is nascent turning dark skies dazzling the grass, a soft green crescent the drizzle heralding spring do you remember those days, those long nights arm in arm? they’d tied them behind us some slithering soaring in the cold moon chant, it was cold. and tendrils would take us, remember? curl sway to the back wall of a cave until the first night you grabbed my arm, as we pushed with our legs and flew and flew and flew and flew and flew. i ride down my street and wind threatens to throw itself through me but i fight it unlike autumn’s husked leaves, which scutter under parked cars like scared cats. same questions over and over. i go be a broken record for the system. i was a broken record before, anyways. repeating the word “yes” repeating the words “i love you” repeating the word “sorry” supper wore a shawl of stars mother, a stole with yellow pansies the posture was superb words gleamed with rightness butterknives shone in their dishes like a well loved swimming hole 22 december  three o’clock, maybe, saw henry today. friend (?) from highschool. thought: am so lonely, should try hang out w/ someone, assuage loneliness. did not work just spent day observing someone else’s loneliness, remained lonely myself. on wednesday, we stayed indoors all day pretending we weren’t there. shadows ran long down the curtained hallways, and we, goldfish yearning for a shaft of sunlight, climbed, twisted, contorted under windowpanes. the magnifying lens made his muddy eyes bulbous, beetle like and curious. he was enraptured by the watch, glued to the metal with a practised eye, while his gnarled, liver spotted hands were gentle with the tarnished brass. we’re in but also completely sober. and no matter how many suspiciously sticky shot glasses of tequila you throw back, an uninebriated first impression of club retro is something you never really shake. he perks up a little as he unzips the container. it will keep him distracted as we drive past the raspberry farm not that he needs distracting. he’s such a compliant child. so easy to love. it was a portent, perhaps, that she glimpsed through the window. the rain cast a muted grey pallor on the darkness, making the figure appear little more than an indistinct black shadow. only his face gleamed white as he looked up at her. among radio fodder’s incredible 2021 line up is the gen z focused, fitzpatrick award nominated show ok zoomer!. created by long time friends joanna (jo) guelas and jordan bassilious, the vision for the show arose from their realisation that gen z lacked representation in the media. in a big city of unmatched rivalry i was picked from a sea of threads my intricate weaves were pure ivory i fitted perfectly to her frayed keds the summer was hot you stewed strawberries i grew small wild mountaineers carefully skimmed scum from the top mixed with good cream, sugar and salt and left to freeze overnight crags of rock crumble like cracked toffee under the sun. crops fester under peat and withered soil until there’s nothing left but dried clumps of dirt. uncle ditch’s whole mad enterprise started with one dead cockatoo which he found out on the nature strip one bin night. the thing was snowy and perfect. not a single feather out of place, wrinkly lids half closed over beady eyes, beak ajar. like it was stuck in the moment of going to sleep, ditch said. my under belly orchid grows in greenhouse warmth  dirt grubbing fingers explore soil’s dampness vanilla softens my lips. muscles curl around the handle, resist the weight, heat, then roll into a touchdown, tea drops spattering the wall of mugs. content warning: ableism, references to suicide until recently, my wardrobe was filled with dozens of different faces. every single day, i would choose one carefully; some were so ostentatious that nobody dared draw near me, others so dull i slipped through crowds unnoticed. red deerskinned vellum filled with cream and soft grey eyes minerva and her owl. sweet and gentle moon, turn your face to me, and gift me shining silver. tear my bond stepping in line tear my pass boarding in ten nine eight seven six months away you feel your breath quicken and the fear leave your body as your skin tingles. there’s nowhere to go now, no words coming out of your mouth. the heat spreads over your chest like a sweltering rash. the stranger stands guard, whistling a sea shanty. a stray blowfly perches at the centre of his nose, spreading chimes like cracked glass. run the knife along the bone to release the wild caught soft peaks as thinly as possible the federal government, led by the liberal party, is bludgeoning universities. since the onset of the pandemic, they have excluded thousands of university workers from jobkeeper, ramped up fees for select undergraduate courses while slashing funding for tertiary education, and, in the latest federal budget, abandoned universities. they have left staff and students out to […] students of the victorian college of the arts (vca) are planning to lodge a formal complaint to the victorian ombudsman about the university of melbourne’s alleged failure to provide the quality of education promised to them. students have turned to the ombudsman for help with their fee relief campaign as they believe they have been […] it’s 2008: the era of galaxy print leggings and club penguin. the radio incessantly plays katy perry’s ‘i kissed a girl’ and ‘viva la vida’ by coldplay. lounging on your bed after school, you flip through the glossy pages of seventeen magazine, fanatically poring over the pale, golden eyed robert pattinson and the bashful kristen stewart. adapted […] (content warning: transphobia) a petition has been launched by the university of melbourne student union (umsu) queer political action collective calling for the review of the second year winter philosophy subject feminism, over concerns that the subject includes transphobic rhetoric. the petition outlines concerns over the subject’s content, as well as the conduct of teaching […] “why are we paying so much to attend zoom university?” ah, the common line we hear these days. covid 19 has definitely changed university life drastically, particularly for international students stuck overseas. many feel that the quality of education has been severely compromised, especially with the lack of face to face interaction. having to pay hefty tuition fees […] the university of melbourne posted a surplus of $8 million during the covid 19 pandemic, having cut more than 750 jobs and dozens of university subjects, alongside $360 million in spending. cost cutting policies, however, have come at the expense of the student experience and well being of university staff. university vice chancellor duncan maskell said that the small […] while you’ve been smashing back to back coffees, or spending an ungodly amount of time in the baillieu this semester, a lot has been happening at the university of melbourne student union (umsu). but, don’t fret! farrago is here to catch you up on everything you’ve missed… 1. general secretary resigns umsu’s general secretary resigned in late april, […] no document is a non fiction essay by anwen crawford about power in the face of human suffering. through her own experiences of losing a close friend, interwoven with political disseminations, anwen crawford attempts to unravel her pain and explore loss in the form of artworks, film and protest. from the first page, crawford shocks and […] content warning: mentions of sexual violence, no specific detail last year got me thinking a lot about the public sphere of the university. when we went into the first lockdown, i was the disabilities officer at the university of melbourne student union (umsu). in the last week before we all studied from home, i focused […] picture this, you’re in year 6. you’re at the top of the primary school food chain. you’re trying your best to rock that polyester cotton primary colour and brown uniform for your final year until you hit… duh duh duhhhh… teenagerhood. no hat no play! the cabaret was all nostalgia, bringing together all the types of […] on 11 may 2021, the federal government released its 2021 2022 budget. the previous year has been tumultuous, and this budget reflects that the liberal party has essentially been forced by circumstance to abandon their small government ideology with big spending measures, paving the way to national debt of up to $1 trillion. some media commentators have called this […] on 21 may, students across the country will go on strike to demand action on climate change. organised by the school strike 4 climate, the rally calls for the morrison government #fundourfuturenotgas. its demands include: resource of aboriginal and torres strait islander led solutions that guarantee land rights and care for country fund the creation of […] science comedian alanta colley’s “on the origin of faeces” is a joyous reflection on her relationship with poo, a wonderful evening of refreshing but somehow never crass comedy. a handbell signalled the start of the show as we took our seats in the cosy theatre of melbourne’s famous butterfly club. as this was my first […] publisher: black inc (an imprint of schwartz book pty ltd) year: 2021 page number: 251 content warning: death, mental illness “recovering from depression was like trying to unlearn a second language.” i have always been particularly reluctant to read memoirs on trauma, mindful they could blend into each other and run the risk of being […] year: 2021 publisher: bloomsbury price: $29.99 as described by the acclaimed historical fiction writer daisy goodwin, the 500 page mammoth of a book tsarina “makes game of thrones look like a nursery rhyme,” as it follows the thrilling tale of catherine the first of russia. full disclosure, i haven’t read game of thrones, but i […] publisher: allen & unwin (first published by william heinemann australia 1991) year: 2021 page number: 340 how does one navigate the mess of psychosocial issues from unresolved childhood trauma and ghosts of past relationships? with the recent milestone of acquiring my first boyfriend (weird flex but ok), a zealous determination to become ~*the best girlfriend […] it’s incredible to think how much joy and destruction one small family can inflict. bong joon ho’s dark comedy thriller parasite (2020) is held together by a strong cast and slick directing, and the take home message is clear: bonding with your family causes death. i feel i reserve the right to criticise this cynical view of […] “níðhöggr lived beneath the great tree yggdrasil. he gnawed on its roots, growing bigger each day. the roots were so tangled that they twisted around his body; the more he ate, the bigger he became; the bigger he became, the more the roots curled around him, trapping him where he lay. and from where he […] as financial supplements introduced by the government during covid 19 are set to end on 28 march, there is rising discussion over the potentially adverse impacts that this may have on tertiary students across australia. whilst some students have been able to access such financial support, others have been excluded from receiving government welfare payments throughout […] this year, when students at the university of melbourne attempt to log into the university’s wi fi, many may need to repeatedly reconnect to the network. this is because several changes have been made to the terms of use for uniwireless in light of covid 19. according to the university’s website, “provisions” will be made for the […] capaldi is known for using vague, at times confusing metaphors to describe the human experience in his music. now, in 2021, the 24 year old is back with more melodrama than your nana’s mills & boon novels. to talk about this fresh and unique take on lullabies, we sat down with capaldi in his parents’ plush studio […] i measure my worth in the number of meetings i attend, in the number of responses i get in my 9am sociology class, and in how many people have liked my latest instagram poem. when i feel my back start to crack, i tell myself  “one more reading and you can rest”, and then one […] in the backseat of my family’s old sedan, the air was warm in spite of the blasting air conditioning. i leaned against the window, scanning the houses we passed by. the weekend was so close that i could’ve grasped it between my fingers. at eight years old, a lot of things looked brand new. at […] content warning: discussions of racism and colonialism, mentions of police violence. halfway through my final year of high school, i made an executive decision: from then on, i would exclusively read books written by people of colour. i also announced this decision to anybody who would listen. many implied that i was being “extreme”. in […] in april 2010, i opened a goodreads account. on january 24 2021, i deleted it. like many readers, i used goodreads to track the past, present, and future of my reading. i also created custom shelves to ensure books written by authors from diverse backgrounds did not disappear into the abyss that was my “to […] the transitional and temporary nature of the art world neoliberal capitalistic institutions of contemporary art and higher education express conflict between the “national” and “transnational” as well as what is “temporary” and “permanent”. from special exhibitions to performances, any form of ephemeral art makes its “temporary” nature more precious and distinguished. along with globalisation, an […] sophie gerhard always thought that she would be an artist. but six months into a fine arts degree, she realised that it wasn’t for her. “i didn’t like the criticism,” she told me. “i probably just wasn’t very good.” so, she left her degree to study art history at the university of leeds. here, she […] “wow, there are so many interesting clubs this semester! which one do i choose?” decisions, decisions! well, we would say to choose all of them, but sadly that’s impossible. or is it? nope, sorry, it definitely is. well, not to worry, farrago’s got you covered! here’s a quick guide to some of the best clubs […] the federal government and the university of melbourne have given little hope to international students stuck overseas despite a successful online campaign calling for action. on march 3, #justiceon5march was trending on twitter in india and pakistan, two major international student markets for australia. the hashtag storm was started by voice of international students australia […] the greek independence day, which falls on the 25th of march 2021, marks the 200th anniversary of the greek revolution. greece was under the rule of the ottoman empire and turkish occupation for 400 years, and in march 1821, began their revolt. this war of independence established greece as an independent state. an underground secret […] as semester one 2021 began, campus grounds awoke from almost a year of dormancy, filling up again with sights, sounds and students. social media timelines flooded with summery snapshots of students on south lawn, or hugging the university’s teddy bear mascot. some official university accounts even started pushing the #rediscoverunimelb hashtag, urging students to […] there is a truism, first circulated in public space by artist jenny holzer in 1977, “abuse of power comes as no surprise”. this is the exact reason that the university of melbourne has an independent student advocacy service to provide students with a source of procedural fairness when they face the inequalities that often plague this […] the world is garbage. let’s talk about video games. specifically, one video game that has invaded my life and my brain, consuming every waking moment of conscious thought since it was released on nintendo switch in september 2020. i’m talking about hades, supergiant games’ latest release and the new love of my life (until the […] on the way to carlton’s magnificent and massive trades hall, i decided to follow google maps. a dumb move considering it’s on the corner of lygon and victoria and therefore not difficult to find for someone who’s lived close to the city for nearly three years now. but somehow i do get lost trying to […] students and staff gathered outside the raymond priestley building on 25 march to demand an end to the university’s recent staff and course cuts, and call for an improved, more equitable and accessible education. the rally was organised by university of melbourne student union (umsu) education public officers hannah krasovec and tejas gandhi, in collaboration […] flaneur culture emerged during the nascent era of industrialism to denote citizens who could walk the city with a sense of leisure a recurring, if unintentional trope in tsai ming liang’s 2003 film goodbye, dragon inn. cinemas are fragile and delicate spaces, as highlighted throughout tsai’s film, which portrays a single theatre cinema in taipei before its imminent […] content warning: sexual harassment and sexual assault, in no explicit detail despite wet and windy conditions, protesters gathered outside macfarland court this afternoon to call for the university to publicly condemn professor alan lopez. earlier this month, an article published by the age revealed that the university had allowed professor lopez to retain his roles […] and on a hot, 33 degree day she sat in her room and wrote half a play. it wasn’t very good but it wasn’t very bad yet she knew in her heart that really she had let herself down, left it too last minute. there were barely any scenes or characters in it. “but it’s experimental! […] the fundamental right to the internet cw: mentions of refugees in detention and police violence. towards the end of a catastrophic 2020 and start of 2021, i’ve built some beautiful and unexpected friendships. if you stop by lincoln square at 6 pm on weekdays, you will see a fairly large group of people (including me) […] cw: ableism there’s nothing quite like discovering roald dahl’s world as a child it’s full of wonder, imagination and the perfect dose of dark comedy. the witches marks the latest adaptation of a dahl classic. (we won’t discuss tim burton’s charlie and the chocolate factory, we pretend that doesn’t exist.) the witches (and matilda) have always […] it was a beautiful melbourne evening (read: raining and cold), when a friend and i, armed with a picnic blanket and my slightly broken umbrella, squelched along the grass to the always iconic sidney myer music bowl. walking amongst the little metal scaffolds, we looked for our seats but were unable to find them. we […] [content warning: violence] students rallied in front of the state library last sunday in support of ongoing protests in myanmar against the country’s recent military coup. speakers at the rally included students, as well as peter khalil mp and christopher lamb, who is president of the australian myanmar institute. the event was organised by […] part one back to the future is the most enjoyably predictable and watchable movie i’ve seen in a while. reviewer adam smith put it perfectly all the way back at the film’s release in 1985, writing in the empire: “to put it bluntly; if you don’t like back to the future, it’s difficult to believe […] the most baffling thing about cinematica: love was its title. ostensibly setting out to “explore the notion of love in all its glorious forms”, the suite of four short films opened with a hallucinatory collage of dismembered statues, swallowed up in pools of inky black, shortly followed by stills of a gynaecological endoscopy. the event […] what makes a consciousness independent? evidently, not much according to spike jonze’s 1999 ‘classic’: being john malkovich. craig schwartz (john cusack) is an unsuccessful puppeteer who discovers a portal into the head of john malkovich (john malkovich). schwartz mostly plods along as an asinine protagonist, only to be challenged with fanciful moral dilemmas and philosophical […] i watched minari with a korean friend, a first generation immigrant like myself, and when we left the cinema, we agreed upon two things: we would love for our parents to watch this movie. (next to us, so we can closely discern their reactions). we would completely understand if they turned it off at the thirty minute […] content warning: internalised homophobia, d slur mention “perhaps one day she’d get used to the way it made her feel: dislocated and dazed, never quite certain if the other half of her would stay offstage as directed. but tonight she felt as if she were constantly on the edge of saying or doing something wrong, […] (content warning: violence) a viral video showing two international students assaulted in adelaide has sparked a greater need for a conversation on wage theft. the women were allegedly attacked after confronting their employer about being underpaid. the video depicted an argument between a woman and a man before another man stepped into […] as i worked on my engineering degree, i didn’t normally make time to play games. i mean, why bother anyway? i’d grown so cynical after some disappointing games in 2020, and wondered if maybe i’d finally “outgrown” video games. they were fun for a while, but after 2 years of university, i had to prioritise […] just two days before melbourne’s snap five day lockdown, i had the privilege of attending a live play at la mama theatre in the heart of abbotsford. noel fidge’s the gang of five is a two act musical and is delivered with great energy by the five members of the cast. set in a wealthy suburb of […] “now why don’t you ever get rid of the two gates?” “because that’s the way it is. that’s the way it was, and that’s the way it will be”. for a hibernophile, john shanley’s wild mountain thyme (2020) played expertly into my dreams of the sincerity and lived myth of the irish people. gorgeous shots […] when we love, we will be like sugar gliders. sucking eucalyptus sap and honeydew, as though they were the only two things in the world close to our love. you will kiss my pink nose and tell me how soft this feeling is, how you would look for it everywhere between bottlebrush and banksia. when […] gwendoline smith: the book of angst allen & unwin, 2021 isbn: 9781988547695, $22.99, 312pp content warning: discussions of mental illness when faced with this book (subtitled “understand & manage anxiety”), i braced myself to read a drawn out version of those pamphlets in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. i don’t have a diagnosed […] la mama is back, baby! the opening night of jofus and the whale was the first return to theatre after a long line of bad luck for la mama theatre in carlton, first burning down in november 2019 and of course being closed for the lockdown. the evening started with a lot of excited hustle and bustle, […] little moth, you can’t escape this night and my explanation of what this was or is would puzzle you even more, because i don’t know for sure what this is or was for you, but i can tell you what i saw: i had brushed my teeth and put some night cream on i […] the light that drowned icarus, when his freedom he found, was the sweetest ignorance that sent him to ground i was the quiet water the dark and silent receiver i was the waves on fire when his body was found damp wax and melted feathers gold like a sun half downed heat struck he bore […] content warning: pain, illness more food, more oranges, lemons, more of the fruit with seeds with their sly murmurs of renewal renew me with this bed renew me with these blankets, these words, these little styrofoam cups with their little liquids. pain the offer pain that writhes in its […] content warning: racism the not so distant colonial past and “post racism” in recent years, the idea of “post racism” has become increasingly popular, with people often stating that “racism no longer exists”, particularly in western countries, including australia. i have personally experienced this. one experience i had was when i was in a college tutorial telling my peers […] content warning: death standing by her bed hands clammy, clutching at my dress. searching for him in the folds of fabric a noise escapes my mouth, an involuntary laugh “i’m going to make rice” i announce. to no one in particular down the hall into the kitchen the bag of rice is heavy […] the sun, first blinding, gets gentler with time, as running slows to walking, then to sitting, and to talking. after it sets, softly, we keep our legs crossed tight  tucked in like a bedsheet  and welcoming the night. matchstick benches dress our set with garden gravel rocks: the park that surrounds us is carried in […] it’s been a while since many of us have been on campus. for some of you, you’ve only caught a glimpse or two of university life. farrago thought a small guide to returning to campus could be useful (there are some things you pick up after six years of tertiary education!) a cold one queensberry […] even pinned to the altar, my sacrificial dagger clutched over your chest, you are fearless after all, one of us was always destined to die. from girlhood, we let the priests dress us in a pantomime of our future; blood red robes and bone white face paint. the elusive h1. h1, not to be confused with h1n1 the viral disease from 2009 better known as the swine flu, is the top mark you can receive at the university of melbourne. however, while h1n1 is acquired by inhaling the glycoproteins haemagglutinin and neuraminidase through droplets in the air, h1s are awarded for achieving over […] “look, i’d say it’s deeper than a critique of capitalism, which admittedly is a pretty mainstream understanding of the film see, it’s a criticism of our understanding of self and the superficial nature of the relationships that we foster due to our inherent egotism… anyway, do you like the cure? hey, are you awake?” oliver russel, 23, […] “tv’s ‘real’ agenda is to be ‘liked,’ because if you like what you’re seeing, you’ll stay tuned. tv is completely unabashed about this; it’s its sole raison.” the american author and cultural critic david foster wallace uttered these words in the early ’90s. wallace was a staunch critic of the materialism of western culture. he […] content warning: colonialism, racism, civil war looking beyond the covid 19 pandemic, the year 2020 may well be known as the year of the monument. in previous years, there had been little international debate surrounding the continued presence of colonial monuments a representation of a bygone and problematic history. indeed, in 1927, writer robert musil famously proclaimed […] the unveiling of 18th century writer and philosopher mary wollstonecraft’s statue in north london should have been a moment of triumph after years of campaigning by mary on the green, a movement dedicated to celebrating wollstonecraft’s work. however, the statue by controversial artist maggi hambling presented the same tired depictions and themes that have plagued […] “what, announce a policy without a slogan? are you mad?”  overheard from scott morrison’s office, presumably. there’s a problem with slogans in politics: when political slogans age into accepted wisdom and the taint of ideology is forgotten, political partialities can be passed off as facts of nature. of course, arguments are much easier when your […] content warning: sexism, graphic violence and gore. spoilers for jennifer’s body. horror has always been a tool to explore girlhood and female virtue. but what jennifer’s body (2009) does differently and so well is show a teenage girl in her ultimate form: brutal, cringey, flawed, and most importantly, still a child. the script narrates the story of […] ever since my brother, my sister and i were small, my dad had a vision for us to become surfers. he had a shimmering dream of his three kids gliding down the face of waves out at sea, perfectly executing 360 degree turns with the grace and power of kelly slater. he has tried hard […] ten years ago, when i was a little pre teen, writing was easy. words flew on paper with the grace of a sailor navigating the ocean by the north star. i wrote stories about princesses and their knights, blog pieces advocating for the rights of the lgbtq+ community in india and articles about the forgotten mysteries […] it’s common knowledge that spending time around dogs has long term effects on raising serotonin and dopamine levels. this is why, when catching myself slipping into a relentless cycle of unhealthy coping mechanisms during the fourth month of lockdown, i decided to better use my one hour of state mandated outdoor time to trudge over to edinburgh […] knives out (2019) is a modern take on the wonderfully witty whodunnit featuring a star studded cast and more clues and red herrings than you could shake a stick at (or in this case, a knife). rian johnson (star wars: the last jedi, looper) manages to keep viewers so focused on what the left hand is […] as the sun set behind the trees at the royal botanic gardens, the proverbial curtains opened on the australian shakespeare company’s latest production, macbeth. the production is part of their shakespeare under the stars series, which currently also features a midsummer night’s dream. helmed by director glenn elston oam and nathaniel dean in the titular […] as a friend and i wandered along the periphery of the royal botanical gardens towards the entrance to moonlight cinema, we nodded knowingly at the crowd, clad in fuchsia dressing gowns and clasping bottles of pinot noir. the name “channing tatum” echoed through the ascending crowd like an omen. debauched giggles rustled through the twilit […] on the silver screen, jane harper’s 2016 best selling debut novel the dry translates into an aussiewood thriller with a picnic at hanging rock brand of outback malaise. australian federal police agent aaron falk (eric bana) reluctantly returns to his hometown of kiewarra for three funerals: that of his childhood best friend, his wife, and their […] alexa shoen: #entrylevelboss scribe publications, 2021 isbn: 9781925849424, $24.99, 256pp this particular book comes to me at a really interesting time in my career track, namely that i don’t have one. given that i’m slated to graduate mid year, this complete lack of long term gainful employment has been the cause of mild concern for my […] i really wanted to love this film. wild things tells the stories of several environmental campaigns happening in so called australia right now, as well as providing some overview of the history of environmental activism across the country. the film follows several campaigners for a year or so, tracking their actions and interviewing them about their […] how to be a good girl is a miscellany. never just quite poetry, never entirely essay. it’s a beautiful thing. “my go to for invoking the brilliant trans eye view of the agonies and pleasures of heterosexuality.”   torrey peters on how to be a good girl. though no one seems to know exactly what it is. […] content warning: racism, first nations deaths in custody. thousands of protestors gathered in naarm (melbourne) on tuesday to call for a treaty and to abolish so called ‘australia day’. the rally was mirrored in other capital cities, with tens of thousands showing up in canberra, perth, brisbane, darwin, adelaide and hobart, as well as dozens of […] firsts are always memorable. in 1999, gil junger, karen mccullah and kirsten smith brought us a rare gem in the teen rom com corner of hollywood, the first modern cinematic adaptation of shakespeare’s taming of the shrew, set in a high school of all places. 10 things i hate about you, now a cult classic, features […] after multiple years in offshore and local detention, an additional 20 refugees detained in park hotel on swanston street were released on bridging visas on 21 january, according to the abc. they join the 45 refugees and asylum seekers who were released the day prior from both park hotel and the melbourne immigration transit accommodation […] jennifer ackerman: the bird way: a new look at how birds talk, work, play, parent, and think scribe publications, 2020 isbn (13):9781925713763, pp. 368, $35.00 as an amateur birder who dislikes reading highly technical books about birds, the bird way seemed like an entertaining way to learn more about the birds i see every day […] laura jean mckay: the animals in that country scribe publications, 2020. isbn, 9781925849530, $29.99, pp. 288. “dingoes wear their fur like feelings: all sleek and shiny when they’re relaxed, a thick bank of heckle when they get wound up. sue is wound up” (7). laura jean mckay’s the animals in that country is […] garth nix’s the left handed booksellers of london follows art student susan arkshaw on a quest to london to search for a man she’s never met: her father. before she can unearth any answers about her paternal ancestry though, a prick of a silver hatpin turns her first suspect into dust. after two years of unionised campaigning, the university of melbourne has agreed to reimburse underpaid staff before christmas. the national tertiary education union (nteu) has claimed responsibility for this win, estimating that the university will need $6 million to repay staff. however, with more than 2000 staff members affected, the union has also stated that […] in the words of nat’s what i reckon, australia’s latest and most surprising celebrity chef, there’s something about cooking and sharing a feast with friends that makes you feel like a “f*cking champion”. students studying during the covid 19 pandemic have been drawn into a false sense of security by the university’s revised weighted average mark (wam) calculation system. introduced earlier this year, the system acknowledges that students may be academically disadvantaged during the pandemic, but still makes them bear individual subject scores on their transcript. the current wam […] union house is arguably the beating heart of campus. and while many of its spaces are well known, there is one quiet spot nestled by the first floor elevators that is home to an unexpected and impressive history. ‘the food co op,’ a sign reads. ‘since 1976. under no management.’ a co operative is defined as a ‘democratic organization […] there’s no denying that this academic year has been unlike any that university of melbourne students have faced before. with the end of the year approaching, farrago is rounding up how the year has impacted students and what lies ahead in 2021. the most notable change for students this year was a rapid transition to […] after a successful online campaign, community for umsu has won a majority of the university of melbourne student union (umsu) offices for 2021. winning every office except for president and education public affairs, the ticket appears to have survived a difficult postal election. stand up!, a long standing ticket that dominated office bearer positions this year, […] samantha c. ross’ sunshine: the diary of a lap dancer follows the titular stripper as she flits from gentleman’s clubs around australia and beyond with a sharp wit, affinity for alcohol and delightful pettiness. in 1994, jay farrar left the alt country band uncle tupelo. its remaining members, led by their frontman jeff tweedy, formed wilco. in the early 2000s, during wilco’s critical renaissance, it seemed pretty likely that jeff tweedy would die. welcome to canon in she, a column that celebrates the beautiful music of composers who identify as women. in this edition, we have a violist who wrote for a variety of instruments, a resourceful african american pianist who wrote a christmas cantata, and an australian pianist who writes lyrical and quirky music for various instruments. content warning: sexual assault and harassment. in conversation with women’s officers, aria sunga and naomi smith, and sexual harm and response coordinator, patrick tidmarsh on sexual assault and harassment on campus. in 2020, university of melbourne student union women’s office bearers, aria sunga and naomi smith continued their campaign against sexual harassment on campus. they […] a delicate fire is an operatic movie filmed under covid safe conditions by pinchgut opera, using the music of 17th century venetian composer barbara strozzi. it is an exploration of romantic love, using strozzi’s music as inspiration. spree’s central thesis is that we are all desperate to be seen. whether by our parents, friends or random strangers on the internet, we want the validation and acknowledgment of others. this incredibly human trait pivots towards the horrific in spree, a splattery thriller for the digital age, directed by eugene kotlyarenko and executive produced by drake. when my mum went to university, it was free. the golden years, from when gough whitlam abolished university fees in 1974, to her second year, were a time when anyone and everyone with interest could get their education. this was also when most politicians pushing through the funding cuts went to university. what makes you happy? falling asleep with rain falling softly on the roof? having a joyful dog race towards you, treating you like their best friend? baking cookies, just to eat the dough? curling up with a book and a homemade blanket? candles? tea? for me, it’s all these things. these are things which provide comfort, warmth and security. cosiness. in 2019, there were over 200 concert tours worldwide, from charli xcx’s charli live tour to billie eilish’s when we all fall asleep world tour. each of these tours represents dozens of crew members, trucks, buses, catering spreads and hotel rooms, across every continent, playing to millions of fans. the environmental impact of concert touring is huge. despite its rampant discussion, to this date diversity remains ill defined. “people of colour” for one, is an umbrella term that groups individuals into potentially restrictive spaces while aggrandising their white counterparts even further. to generalise various ethnic groups into a single voice and pit them against whiteness is a problematic practice which diminishes their truth. […] it wasn’t until recently that studies illustrated that cockatoos are typically left footed. digivol, an online volunteer platform, explains this success by pointing to researchers not out in the fields, peering up into gumtrees, but ‘citizen scientists’ working from home. volunteers analysed site photos to assist the digitisation of archives, and in the process identified which foot these australian birds were using. thus, the surprising discovery! retired athletes are susceptible to psychological distress after stopping sports. if we spoke more openly about what happens after people quit, the experience wouldn’t be so isolating. we all hear about the everyday struggles of the elite athlete. marketing material, films and television shows glorify the act of “getting up after you fall” and “continuing on” no matter the cost. urn on your phone, open facebook and scroll through your feed. if it’s anything like mine, it should be awash with covid 19 statistics, the us election, and friends asking how 2020 could get any worse. switch over to the age and it’s the same. pre covid 19 lockdown reality, i meant to go see billy elliot the musical, based on the 2005 film of the same name. not so surprisingly, i didn’t end up going. instead i read about it, watched the movie, i even signed up for free at home ballet lessons   this one wasn’t really followed through   and i got to reflect on the subtleties of the plot and the songs in the musical’s soundtrack. these recipes are paraphrased from 17th century dutch chemist jan baptist van helmont. luckily, he is remembered for discovering gases such as carbon dioxide, not for conjuring mice and scorpions. bethany you may notice i am holding a printer in the photo below. not an advertisement for canon but a poke at the umsu for being silly sausages. they have spent more time harassing farrago than representing the students they have made so many promises to. i had to stand up in council and call […] pols2020 politics of zoom classes subject guide teaching staff subject coordinator: dr boryn n. schléeze dr boryn n. schléeze is a senior lecturer in politics in the school of social, political, metaphorical and bureaucratic sciences. dr schléeze is a political scientist whose recent publications are on the relationship between digital technologies and student learning. he […] i’m told that love is big, unconditional romantic gestures. it’s holding a stereo blasting “our” song outside your bedroom window. it’s flash mobs in grand central station. it’s getting off a flight to paris just before take off. it’s singing “i can’t take my eyes off of you” in the bleachers in front of the whole school. even before it happens, mourn it. memorise what his fingers feel like when they scratch your head every time you hug him. slowly feed your grandmother some fruit, and when she has trouble swallowing, know that this is the last time she smiles at you. non passengers cannot go into airports in bangladesh. my granny’s lined face a mask of sagacity was a novelty, simmering with anxiety and inexperience in the flat white light. lips pursed like the aviation industry was one big blunder. she disapproved. people die in the place they were born. most of all, we want consistency in a person. this recipe is quick and easy to make if you need a last minute dessert! i first learnt how to make this recipe on a cold winter’s day. the fire was going, and i had just experienced the worst week of my life… i’m only joking, i’m not going to venture on some longwinded personal story that’s in no way related to the recipe (looking at you, bloggers). but in all seriousness, this apple crumble is the perfect way to counteract the lockdown blues we’ve all unfortunately come to k if you have netflix, which i assume the majority of you do because what else is there to do during a lockdown and pandemic, you’ve probably seen an ad or the trailer for the new joe mantello & ryan murphy film “the boys in the band”. this modernised adaptation tells the story of a group of homosexual men in the 1960s and how a birthday party in a small new york apartment can become the epicentre of self truths and confessions of old loves. it becomes the intersection of the diverse during iso, i’ve bounced aimlessly through wikipedia long enough to land on an article titled the ‘list of discredited substances.’ it includes the philosopher’s stone, a universal solvent, and even a unicorn’s horn. with each entry, is an explanation of how the substance was discredited, usually through various experiments (we apparently know unicorn horns don’t […] the art upon gallery walls speak of deep histories, people immortalised in paint, lingering in their own mythologies. my feet always take me to the eighteenth century european section, desiring to stand before illustrious portraiture of affluent women in creamy gowns, or poised families before pastoral landscapes, their homestead grandiose in the distance beautiful, amorous, unified. at first, i didn’t like them. you weren’t supposed to. boys pantsed you in the playground. they licked the sap from trees thinking it was honey. boys were pests. when i read about an up and coming boyband in the rainbow glazed entertainment pages of total girl magazine, i decided to bring the matter before the jury the next day at school. the response was negative. a video featuring an area man named dick wiener (54) yelling racist epithets has recently gained prominence on social media. wiener, whose arms and legs are heavily tattooed with neo nazi symbols, is seen enthusiastically making white power gestures at the camera with one hand while pulling a tiny shih tzu somewhat tightly by its leash with the other. moonlight bleaching bones in the trees carving sigils into thighs ice dripping from the s p a c e […] don’t think any of us can say that we aren’t aware of the trend that is the “remake”. we have rebecca on netflix, the boys in the band from my previous piece, the fan favourite disney’s mulan retold, and a new version of the little mermaid is in the works. i’m not going to say that the movie industry is running out of ideas, because new ideas, plots and films are constantly being released; personally, i just feel less excited. the girl i love thinks belonging looks like blank walls re envisioned. bedrooms of low sheen warm white have become her cross cultural companion, a familiar stalker and a friendly face, the constant same hue amongst the apartments in her growing inventory. several taped photographs offer small windows to past lives of different values: friendships with those she hasn’t seen in two years, a family portrait from graduation, and a caravaggio reprint of bacchus these images are staples on her you thought this day was going to mark the beginning of your journey into self sufficiency. whether you memorised every road rule or forged your entire logbook, no amount of driving lessons could have prepared you for the emotional rollercoaster that is failing a driving test. with over 50 writers festivals in victoria alone, it can seem an overwhelming prospect to choose which ones to invest time in. for people outside of the industry, it can also sometimes feel intimidating to attend such events in the first place. last year, i went to the opening night of the melbourne writers festival with a couple of friends. who says that not doing readings for class is a bad thing? it’s an action (or inaction i guess) that’s given me my main coping mechanism for the year’s turmoil, so i’m inclined to think that maybe skipping readings is, in fact, a healthy choice. when i was 15, i wrote 11,000 words of merlin fanfiction. to this day, it is the most successful thing i’ve ever written   i still get emails every time someone reads it and clicks the fanfic equivalent of the ‘like’ button. i was a virgin, i didn’t know how sex works, but apparently, i’d read enough smut to be able to write it convincingly. okay, i don’t want to be a party grinch, but will you not agree with me on this: i think parties are repetitive. someone calls for a party, we all plan, we go to a place, we eat a few snacks, drink a few somethings, laugh and talk for an hour then come back home   a standard party (of course, there are variations). i believe that if something is repetitive, we should make an effort to make sure it’s better. proactive is when you actively make sure that things don’t go wrong, reactive is when you react when things are going wrong. here is an example so we are on the same page  say you keep up to date with lectures every day and develop your assignment every week   you are being proactive. say […] ecently, while moving in with my parents to a faraway suburb, i realized that i’d bought waaay too many books during my time alone at university. the point was: i needed a bookshelf. so, i went to target ­ saw an 8 cube storage unit  39 dollars only  great reviews online  sweet! dear reader, i hope that i do not bore you. if my life were a colour it would be a bleak salmon pink. if it were a sound it would be an alpha wave. but not those alpha waves that aid concentration when you’re trying to cram 170 hours of study into one night; i’m […] they say that 0.01 centimetres is the urban space of possibilities: the distance between people (connections, separation) in the bustling city. it’s easy to get lost inside a crowd (or to lose yourself). claim the rhythms of heartache and caffeinated loneliness and suddenly you’re not special or strange. you’re (the same as) everybody else just […] he leans back on wooden chair crimson with murmuring firelight reddening thins of cabbaged ears bright cheeks porous to the cave like warmth, still bellows exhume tonically: two omeprazole nightly old eyes faded blue as connect the dot veins meandering rice paper arms he blinks and stories rise: twelve years and strapped car wise on a saturday guffawing glassed father […] into cracks spineless time slips fluid jellyfish   caught, only in your feathers’ wide net slung to trap the squirming future. you lend time your skeleton, old catskin croaker pussy willow bud. i have not fallen from the spine of my mother because she always grasps me tight to her back nor did i slip from her arm when she threw me into the sky of freedom to embrace the whispering wind because her hand is a swimming pool where i embrace the warm waters of […] after katie hale our dove has flown for sixty years but she still hasn’t moved a mile not to talk of reaching her shore in the armpit of our dwelling (we hide our hairy shame) when peace visited our faces we served him poisoned food it is left for a mother to let […] letter to the editors the students’ council of the university of melbourne student union (umsu) is broken. it no longer serves students and instead addresses the personal grievances of a small group of people who zealously attempt to enact their personal ideologies. i have been the 2020 education (academic affairs) officer of umsu in 2020, […] tutors are asked to mark 1,000 words per half hour   could you do it? first year arts student sam warner did not expect to spend most of 2020 talking to his tutors from his bedroom. he says the transition to online learning has been difficult but he can also see the strain it has […] with our lives consumed by covid 19 this year, it has been almost impossible to keep up with every development in australian politics. as we emerge from the second wave of the virus in victoria, it is important to look back at the federal government’s policies and recognise they have made life harder for students and […] craig silvey: honeybee allen & unwin, 2020 isbn, 9781760877224, $32.99, pp. 432 within minutes of starting this book, i realised this was not the craig silvey i remembered from jasper jones. while some of the themes overlap innocence, identity, confusion this book isn’t quite like jasper. yet in some ways, honeybee will be defined by its predecessor, a […] welcome to canon in she, a column about women composers being amazing. in this edition, we have a medieval nun who told the church to stop being so damn corrupt, a concert pianist who had eight children while practically inventing the modern piano recital, and a collaborative music maker fusing ancient and modern musical techniques. a small cloaked figure hurried across the barren earth as the last of the sun’s light leaked from the sky. the only thing between him and the horizon was a lonely little house, nestled in the shadow of the last starving tree. the tips of its leafless branches split and splintered like a hundred bony […] ?? ??? ??? ????? ?????? no land on this earth carries me ??????? ????? so my speech carries me mahmoud darwish i do not speak of olive trees and the smell of gunpowder. my exile is one of peace, the crash of the arabian sea. the crescendo of the adhan, the […] people associate cities with alienation. consumerism. the soul sucking nine to five grind. cold capitalist sterility and chaotic excess, side by side. tall towers devoid of character, obscuring the sky with glass and steel. crowds so suffocatingly thick you lose your sense of self. glaring lights, loud noises you can’t drown out. light pollution, sound pollution, air pollution. […] midnight, and you begin your walk home. in the abandoned suburban streets, you imagine you are the sole survivor of an apocalypse. though once afraid of the dark, necessity has forced you to grow up quickly and now the night is your friend. traffic lights flicker, continuing their rounds. their metallic hearts beat alongside yours. […] a sea monster lurks beneath dirty waves. it rises when i stare at the water for too long. its body sends a veil of salty spray to the ocean floor and its mouth forms a great black pit when it screams. i imagine myself swimming, floating sinking inside of it, unnoticed. i try to transform […] that sweet lullaby, my first single, my first album, my first concert emanating from my mother’s chest to the drums of my ear held against her breast a little head floating up and down with her every breath after breath amidst the weary grating of her aching bones, against a larynx of desperation, and a […] one after another. her tears bubbled up and slid down her cheeks with each hiccup that escaped. her tiny frame trembled with each breath taken. breezes blew all around her; not with encouragement but a reminder the hollows of her near past howled. like the numbered pattern of a clock, bodies systematically lay around her and the […] right atrium how strange it is. how fragile, wobbling watery yolk in my palm ribs bending between my fingers like pipe cleaners scattering blood onto a sanitized tray right ventricle how strange to imagine its first stirrings, moth wings wedged between slumped lungs, foetal halfthoughts that never grasped the taste of oxygen left atrium […] they sat in the end booth of the diner, the one furthest from the door. he still wore his hat and her, her coat. “it’s just awful isn’t it? what happened to howard.” she looked out the window at the darkened street outside. “it always is, when someone is murdered.” the waitress came over and […] sun sweet green flesh rimming a pink rockpool rosy anemones swirl in glistening sea gardens a coral paradise afloat with life: juno’s summer lagoon splashing kids lick pink syrup fingers   the fig tree watches silently. guardian of green worlds on heaped branches high; dusk rustles quiet leaves. road music by vanessa lee i catch her in the corner of my eye, cycling by my side with rain damp curls and arms outstretched like wings. we were eleven, almost twelve, and shouting the words to some old song. there is a road named after a flower at the end of our street. our mothers […] have you ever seen pirates of the caribbean: at world’s end? during the pirate council, there’s an older chinese lady who dominates the room with her piercing gaze. well, in this case, she isn’t just the token poc woman added in as an afterthought   in actual fact, she’s a cardholding badass character based off […] he lives in a small, round, earthen cottage deep in the quiet parts of the world. each day mint is picked for tea at sunrise and he waits for his bread to leaven for a late breakfast. at noon he hikes to the top of pullberry hill and takes in the ridges and the autumn […] botanic gardens, 18:56 the office windows turn dark one by one like broken pixels. small cars carry the light out to the suburbs. there are eleven hours and twenty two minutes to sunrise. the evening’s last joggers pass, women clutching phones like weapons. big w, 21:57 the boy announces the store will be closing in […] driftwood ribs turn over in her sleep the ship keens under the weight of evening creaking gently about the sand in her stomach her bones so bare not even the gulls have nested in her slowly disintegrating body as my toes sink into the shell grit by the water a wave unearths timbers that must belong […] female bonobo “let’s make love, not war.” hey lover, listen, i bet you’ve got a lot of stress. when your body’s filled with negativity it can make you lash out. but check this, we figured out a way to stop all the hate, conflict and wars. sex solves a lot of problems, man. most, actually. […] my hair is a weapon, is a shield, is a badge, is a chart of all the things i call myself i’m a feminist, so i’ll leave the house with overgrown legs i am a dyke, short sides and back, because a barber costs less, but so does denial i am desirable, strawberry blond […] for olive morgan says, happy birthing of the meat. time isn’t real, billie adds, but your body trusts it   still   like a loser. i mutter something like, yeah discord is shit, the world is a fuck and you’re older and dad to a shifty cat i want to bury my face in. ulysses […] pinned discussions introductions: please introduce yourself here. imogen: hi everyone! i’ll be first cab off the rank. i might not know you, but i’m sure you know me. how can i be so sure? i’m the person who has been answering every post on the discussion boards. and i’m no slouch, so i like to […] after transitioning to remote work during covid 19 restrictions, hr manager richie monaco (39) was stunned to discover how much domestic labour his wife quietly performs every day. “honestly, mate, i thought there wasn’t much for her to do,” confessed an exhausted monaco during a zoom interview with farrago, rocking a newborn with his left hand […] with melbourne’s concert halls and theatres closed indefinitely to audiences, the arts sector continues to face challenges shifting online during the covid 19 pandemic. on 13 march, prime minister scott morrison announced a ban on gatherings of up to 500 people. just hours after morrison’s announcement, the melbourne international comedy festival (micf) announced that it “will […] as the university of melbourne continues to remain online for semester two, stem students worry that their studies are at a disadvantage after their experience in online labs and practicals during semester one. while specific arrangements for practical classes vary across subjects and faculties, many units within the faculty of science have transitioned their in person […] “there’s no gallery on the parkville campus!” this was me in 2017. unfortunately, i hear my sentiments echoed across the campus. there is, in fact, a gallery on campus   a rather important gallery. the george paton gallery (gpg) founded in 1971 as the ewing and george paton gallery, gpg is located on level 2 of […] university of melbourne exchange students found their plans thrown into jeopardy as australia first enforced bans towards interstate and overseas travellers. when victoria first went into lockdown in march, many students local and international struggled to receive sound advice on how the rest of their semester would unfold. the response from the university of melbourne to coronavirus […] so, mother, go back to your quarters. tend to your own tasks…as for giving orders, men will see to that, but i, most of all: hold the reins of power in this house. reader, did campus ever really exist? or was it some very expensive collective hallucination we all had? after all, it’s been months (weeks? decades? time is bizarre this year) since i set foot in the place, and my memories of it are becoming ever hazier. kidding aside, i do miss campus. not its flashier, brashier aspects […] you’ve found yourself here again. 2am, seated at a cluttered table, lost in your thoughts. a few years shy of 25, you think you’ve lived enough years to feel wiser than you do. instead, you’re sitting here with more questions than answers, unable to shake off an overwhelming sense of unease and dread about the […] stuart rintoul: lowitja allen & unwin, 2020. isbn, 9781760875602, $45, pp. 392. powerful words for a powerful woman. the authorised biography of lowitja o’donoghue explores the price she paid as a self empowered woman in a country that was not yet ready for her strength. i have to admit that before reading this book i was […] the cost of law, commerce and humanities degrees is set to increase by up to 113 per cent after the coalition struck a deal with the centre alliance party, which passed the job ready graduates package through the senate on thursday 8 october. the bill is aimed at reducing fees for courses that align with the […] malgorzata szejnert: ellis island scribe publications, 2020 isbn, 9781950354054, pp. 400, $49.99 to be honest, i didn’t go into malgorzata szejnert’s ellis island: a people’s history with the highest of expectations. its title implied a generic (if slightly dull) history of america’s busiest immigration inspection station, through which over 12 million immigrants passed into new […] you would think that our public spaces being almost empty during a pandemic would make them free of harassment. yet, throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen people from all walks of life experience harassment from school children to fellow students at the university, people experiencing homelessness to melbourne city councillors. harassment is pervasive; however, not everyone is […] the mean girls movie taught us that “on wednesdays we wear pink” and taught me that i related the most to that girl who cried and wanted to bake a cake made of “smiles and rainbows” because i too have a lot of feelings. bethany cherry the world has become overwhelming. our lives have become numbers, names have become movements, and reminders of how ‘well’ everyone else is handling this pandemic are being projected all over the walls like trophies. i want an honest conversation about how unhealthy this is. the inclination of the human is to connect, something […] snyder shines the light primarily on the american justice system as she breaks her book down into three sections “the end”, “the beginning” and “the middle”, which explore how we come to know about domestic abuse and how it can be born. comfy in my pyjamas and sitting in my bedroom i decided to take myself to the theatre buuut being 2020 this meant clicking a zoom link, hoping for some semblance of the ritual of theatre going that i know and love. the travelling sisters (lucy fox, laura trenerry and ell sachs), an award winning physical comedy troupe […] bitten by production’s 2020 theatrical season was one of the many creative casualties of the covid 19 pandemic. not to be stymied by the lockdown performance drought, the company has produced a 14 episode miniseries instead, bringing together a team of emerging writers to create a compelling story from isolation. the episodes are punchy and short, telling […] are you voting in the 2020 umsu elections? umsu election week is from the 7 11 september 2020. here you can find links to your candidates and their statements below in alphabetical order by position. if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate in reaching out to the deputy returning officer, stephen luntz. other relevant information […] i’ve always lived in the eastern suburbs. where i live, there’s these hills with tv towers on them that loom over suburbia. no matter where you are, you can see them from almost every point. and they have this permanent electric thrumming sound an unrelenting suburban melody. the persistence of the hills, with their watchful eyes […] the fifth dimension by felicity lacey we walked through the doors of the campus café and into the fifth dimension, where it suddenly became like looking at life through a bubble blown into sunlight. the average world distorted into rainbow hues that oozed and eased into gentle curves. i remember laughing as we sank into […] looming antiquities when the past had teeth and bottletops, hammocked days toes intertwined, hand on tit, this was love. and dripping manhood, too hot to catch the doorknob was slippery with what, i don’t know and then, furious as an unkept promise tethered to its pursuer purpose unknown like the finger tattoo the lip tattoo […] suppose i set my alarm so i wake graceful, without a start, open my eyes to a squared sky, where the world is only birds and clouds suppose birds are not birds but feathered clouds drifting in and out of not clouds but faded cloth suppose birds are words but words are not birds    […] what is this fruit that smells of plastic? surely, there is an apple in this vast expanse bordered with white illumination. look! there! that reddish sheen is unmistakable. so focused is my vision, framed on you. your yellow […] dusk nights upon dreary bushfires. i wait holding a crystal glass, filled two thirds the colour of the sky. your charcoal fingers knock on the door, leaving ash on oak. avant garde miscreant is how you signed your works. my house is now a gilded frame. the floor of sketches, the walls of colour theory, the […] ama, amie, amour   everyone called you along those lines. ama, amie, amour defined you, roped you like a confused braid. little storyteller, little dancer, the girl with purple ballet shoes wrapped in silk. see my eyes? my favourite tale. you told it after you cried. after my father said everyone talked about you and […] sitting in a waste paper basket drifting off into oblivion waiting for the rest of the world to follow. the earth is an acrylic treat, an impressionist spattering of quiet vermillion, lilac grey, oak brown. our balloon leaves a mark in the sky. it’s a shadow, an omen telling ground dwellers to leave, to fly. we […] danger wore a bolt purple dress he reads poems as bedtime stories to the children kneeled at his feet in bewildered woods widowed where he could have been jesus he borrows tongues like promises like weapons so to dance in dapples he doesn’t let me in i had seen him before in somebody else’s arms […] daniel m. lavery: something that may shock and discredit you scribe publications, 2020. isbn, 9781922310040, pp. 256, $29.99 something that may shock and discredit you is a work that is incredibly comforting for a trans reader. it is, at its heart, a sincere exercise in reckoning with what ‘trans’ is, for a trans person, […] umsu annual elections the university of melbourne student union elections will be held from 7th 11th september to elect student representatives for 2021. the umsu constitution requires elections to be held on paper, not online. consequently, voting will be held through a combination of in person (if possible) and postal voting. voting for university council student […] content warning: racism, white supremacy, police brutality, first nations deaths in custody and other references to cultural genocide that have in particular impacted first nations people of australia. this article includes references to deceased first nations people. when jessie ferrari, the indigenous representative on students’ council, alongside councillor thonya deverall and the university of melbourne […] a content list is a collection of prompts, ideas that the editors collect to direct the theme and content of the magazine. the farrago content list is a way to begin, to be inspired, and is by no means an exhaustive list of content you can pitch your own ideas or send in cold submissions. we […] according to international students from the university of melbourne, the covid 19 crisis, in particular its effects on their academics and financial situations, has had a detrimental impact on their mental health. on june 17, the university of melbourne student union (umsu) indigenous department and and the other umsu student representative departments released a joint statement condemning rio tinto’s destruction of a sacred site in the western pilbara, referring to the mining company’s decision as “an act of cultural genocide”. the university of melbourne has adjusted its accommodation of veterinary students following pushback after its announcement that students would be evicted from kendall hall because of covid 19 restrictions. in a may 26 meeting between the melbourne veterinary school and veterinary students, it was revealed that fourth year students with accommodation at werribee campus had five business […] this news opinion piece mentions indigenous deaths in custody, suicide, child abuse, racial genocide, and police violence. cultural warning for references to deceased persons. featured photo by finley tobin. the size of the crowd meeting the urgency of the moment, tens of thousands of victorians attended the black lives matter rally in naarm (melbourne) on […] students at the university of melbourne have come together to campaign for the reduction and compensation of their tuition fees following the switch to online classes. gathering on platforms like facebook, over 3,500 students have in the last two months joined groups such as unimelb fee reduction online teaching covid 19, where they are sharing experiences and grievances around a widely perceived deterioration in teaching quality. no student results from 2020 will be recognised by the university of melbourne for applications to the doctorate degrees in medicine, dentistry, optometry and physiotherapy in 2021. casual staff at the university of melbourne are facing significant financial insecurity amidst of covid 19 pandemic, as measures implemented by university management and the national tertiary education union (nteu) to save jobs places them in a greater state of precarity. early in may, the nteu proceeded with the release of the national jobs protection framework […] hundreds of international students were spotted queueing around the melbourne town hall building since thursday, 30 may to redeem cash vouchers given by the melbourne city council through its ‘our shout’ program. students were required to provide proof of identity and redeem their vouchers in person to avoid fraud. the university of melbourne’s national tertiary education union (nteu) climate justice network has published an open letter to vice chancellor duncan maskell demanding job security for energy and climate scientists as the economic toll of covid 19 mounts in the tertiary education sector. over 1,300 people have signed an online petition demanding the university of melbourne to remove a controversial hong kong police force (hkpf) recruitment listing from the career online job board, calling the university’s decision to keep the advertisement as “endors[ing] terrorism”. the university of melbourne will not participate in the national jobs protection framework as proposed by the national tertiary education union (nteu), describing it as a “complex, bureaucratic mechanism” in an email to staff on friday. university of melbourne student union (umsu) affiliated clubs were selected for funding from the defence company boeing, potentially breaching the union’s own constitution, sponsorship policy, and official public stance. in 2019, boeing   ranked the second highest grossing global weapons manufacturer for the last three years   committed to partnership funding for both the university’s school of […] the new decade has seen the university adopt a new timetabling system, with mytimetable’s preferential class allocations replacing my.unimelb. this change has been polarising. a statement released online by the university indicates that the system is designed to confer an “equitable opportunity” for all students to receive their “preferred class timetable”. “by following a preference based […] there persists a misunderstanding between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’, which often has a negative impact when shaping and representing gender roles within society. the oxford dictionary refers to ‘sex’ as the biological characteristics that define a person based on their reproductive functions. it refers to ‘gender’ more fluidly   with broader reference to social and cultural […] cw: eugenics and racism. on 13 february, university of melbourne student union’s (umsu) students’ council passed a motion titled “stop celebrating eugenics!”. the motion requested the university to rename buildings named after eugenicists and acknowledge their racism. the motion “[reaffirmed umsu’s] stance against racism” and “called upon the university to make some formal acknowledgement of […] cw: mental illness, psychological and physical trauma. in challenging and uncertain times, art is a creative medium for staying on top of mental health and coming to terms with isolation and identity. this connection between art and mental health is the focus of from heart + mind, an exhibition which showed at the dax centre […] parkville local student and identical twin simon whitaker, 21, confirmed on monday that he has discovered the secret to a perfect work life balance. “it’s taken a few years of trial and error, but we pardon me i have finally struck gold and come across the best way to balance all my competing commitments,” boasted the at peace whitaker to […] by vanessa lee january, february pressed their lips to my neck, leaving sunburn and blisters behind. they apologised, of course, and laid our heads in their laps. we dreamt like it was january 1st of summers past, fireworks dancing in our eyes. when the rain came, i danced alone on the baked earth of my […] male giraffe “kinkshamers need not respond.” hello, fellow equal! i think there’s one thing we should get out of the way and i hope this won’t offend you. you see, i’m a big user of the “c” word: consent. we all like to get a little freaky sometimes. but i want to make sure you’re […] up next we have the lovely walking encyclopedia, hypatia of alexandria. the daughter of a well respected academic, hypatia was an ancient greek egyptian astronomer, mathematician and philosopher who was born around 350 ce (common era). she was raised outside the constricting gender roles within egyptian greek society by her forward thinking papa and thrived as a professor […] on the moon’s longest night, during the feast of lune harbour, cupped mead and slight comments danced courtly between queen sabbas ix and her duchesses and ladies. jesters, firebreathers, novel conjurers and their travel worn familiars paid tribute. drunken commonfolk with crumpled invitations bawled their gratitude. flourishing, grovelling, performing, and staying silently prayerful in the presence […] i am going now, into the soft swooning night. sleep well, sweetheart, i will be back soon. i need to talk to the night, that sweltering air enveloping us all, carrying us precariously to dawn. i need to talk to something that is not you. after an evening such as the one we’ve passed, there […] “guard, gran.” “yes, i know! such a charming guide!” “no, gran, he’s a guard… a guard.” “…he’s going to get a big tip from me! and that accent! o there’s nothing more magical than an irishman’s tongue!” she winks as a flush accelerates across my face. “shall i ask if he’s single?” “gran!” her imagination […] two boats cast their fishing nets, i am the mermaid caught in the middle, ??,??, they both compete. they reach for spears when they realise ??????????. and isn’t it better to kill, than have a creature of two worlds? the waves offer me up treacherously, ???????, i’m sushi ready to be served, ???????. ??? scraped […] cw: coercive relationships, implied dysphoria and implied transphobia say we’re sat cross legged, however many of us, arms twined watching lizzie mcguire re runs where she has her first kiss on our switch, her heart broken when ronnie says later we all repeat  we need to talk, in different voices. you are impersonating ronnie deliciously: the small fry […] content warning: child abuse, death, kidnapping, abduction and violence. a pink barbie book bag buried in a public park lipstick marks on a pimpled face denim pants and a scar on her knee picking peaches from a neighbour’s tree cherries on her left shoulder blade long ponytails in spring clowns in the rear window deep set […] picture my mouth as a zipper, one that you open and close whenever you like. if i talk too much you slide that cold metal across my lips and force me to be silent if i talk too little you push words inside my wet cave of a mouth. i rip the zipper from my […] observe the objective world directly through the senses. representations are undermined from glitches in the physiology of the brain. sunset, various parts of melbourne city. loud crowds distract and fluorescent lights distract and graceful infrastructure blocks the view i. you only know you’re successful when you have rocks in your mouth when your mouth is where your chest was now tectonic plated, clashing the right brained and the left handed so a new mountain was raised of a molehill mind  to brave teacup storms with, to balance coffee on, you don’t open your mouth for fear […] when the quarter moon sets, something is perhaps known, or even a line descends revealed in the moonlight, between him and him, them and them, her and her i the moon in a tea cosy twinkles at half mast our bones and eyes a sprinkle of stardust on the canvas of time she dances from swell to swell swaying from the rigging a tinkling of the whales’ windchimes the blue water of dawn filled the room. &n cw: death there’s nothing in that area, you warned me too late, after i alighted into a cartography of auto workshops, flat stretches of old grass; the shadowy hull of eunoia junior college. once humming with gasoline, the asphalt lies as if dead no pink flags rumbling in the distance, no trucks ferrying the din of […] durian, much loved, yet maligned fruit your spiky, intimidating appearance masks something hidden, enticingly forbidden, tempting us to indulge our lips inside your unknown landscape of custardy flesh and like a mole working its deception, you take everyone unawares when you are exposed your musky, exotic aroma is mysterious nefarious even so when your presence is […] bari is the bengali word for one’s ancestral home; it is your desh, the place that always holds an important key to understanding who you are. for those uprooted   and often traumatised, as the people in this series of true stories often are   the idea of bari is a confusing one… despite long running campaigns calling for a transition away from the fossil fuel industry, the university of melbourne continues to foster ties with the world’s largest carbon emitters, including saudi aramco and exxonmobil. has covid 19 impacted you financially? there is plenty of financial support for students at the moment if you know where to look. in its 22 january students’ council meeting, the university of melbourne student union (umsu) condemned the university of melbourne for not fulfilling its duty of care to students and staff in the summer term, during which bushfires in east gippsland led to hazardous levels of air quality. with many countries going into lockdown and millions staying home, the coronavirus is definitely the biggest cockblock of 2020. couples and single folks alike are wondering: “how the hell do i get freaky in a time like this?”. the university of melbourne student union (umsu) has condemned the university’s actions following the revelation of a $700,000 payout to a former international phd student and survivor of alleged sexual harassment and assault. current and former students at the university of melbourne’s residential colleges have expressed frustration and concern about their administrations’ handling of the covid 19 outbreak. the campus should close for the safety of all students and staff. but, we ask that the university make the necessary accommodations that would be equitable for all students moving forward. animated films are an integral part of the movie industry, regularly topping the box office and working as a reflection of society. almost everyone has a soft spot for animated movies, regardless of age. being lost in a child’s world allows adult worries to disappear, if only for a moment. do you find communicating with your peers difficult? is the burden of individual expression… burdensome? would you rather spend your time critiquing the failings of others without exposing yourself to the same threat? help is here. with languagely, never again will you have to think about how to express yourself effectively. australians need to change the way we view buying a house. since the menzies era, owning your own home has been integral to the australian dream. a right afforded to those who worked hard and paid their taxes. good citizens. then it hits me: is this how my twenties are supposed to be? a cycle of day drinking before marching through the doors of the royal exhibition building every exam season? i cannot drive. i cannot cook. i have never touched a water bill in my life. surely this is not how my parents envisioned my adulthood when traversing seas for a better life. i was 14 when mum and dad brought billie home. every sexual experience that i have had has boiled down to one governing emotion: guilt. 100 words or less. theme: summer they call you strange, little boy. on march 16, the university announced lectures and tutorials with over 500 students were required to cease face to face teaching by the following day. classes with over 25 students but fewer than 500 will need to be online only by march 30. the last few months in australia have seen frustration and confusion towards the australian government and their response to bushfires among the residents of the country. four of melbourne’s busiest rail lines were replaced by buses for the majority of january, as construction of the metro tunnel continued. as donations towards the recovery effort for australia’s unprecedented bushfire season nears $500 million dollars, the arts community has rallied around these fundraising efforts, with a wide range events, auctions and pledges organised around the country in the past months. students’ council so far… in the first students’ council meeting of the 2020 term, students’ council passed umsu’s budget for this year. smash the amulet that you are so sure holds his eyes within it the first child born to a god brought the moon back. john woke up with a grenade in his hand. that wasn’t the worst of it. his alarm said he was going to be late for work. he tells you to meet him on level six of that car park tucked behind the shops. there must be nowhere else to park at this time of night. you don’t realise it’s the rooftop. they run losing memories like leaves you are still there. frozen a moth in the sink is not a broccoli the sky’s sparkling with fractured light the champagne has bubbled our heads i’m seven pushing my bike down the lane the crunchy gravel sounds delicious under the withered moon of catastrophe a strain on the blueberry sky. they reverberate their pheromone calls 189 elgin street is a cafe which holds what i thought we had lost: good soup and a slow view. it is a museum of inefficient objects put to dance. this concert was 50 years in the making, and my goodness did it exceed my highly set expectations! after performing in melbourne multiple times throughout his long and successful career, sir elton john took his last bow on a melbourne stage on sunday 15th december. this 150th show of his farewell yellow brick road tour was performed at a packed rod laver arena, full to the brim of fans who were eagerly awaiting the chance to see elton perform one last time. farrago have a number of reporters working on pieces about covid 19 (coronavirus) that are still developing. unfortunately, the nature of the pandemic has resulted in rapidly changing information from our sources, and the university itself. as a result we are setting up this liveblog so we can provide information to you in a timely manner. the melbourne law school has announced plans to make available recordings of all streams of compulsory subjects in response to growing concerns around covid 19. despite being younger than his mentors, akira kasai is considered to be one of the most established figures of butoh, starting his own studio in japan before studying eurythmy (expressive movement art) in germany. kasai’s wide range of influences is evident in pollen revolution, brought for the first time to the melbourne stage by dancehouse theatre. billed as “the core of the melbourne orientation experience,” the melbourne commencement ceremony was derailed on tuesday afternoon by two protest actions, demanding both university action and student mobilisation. both the national tertiary education union (nteu) and unimelb students for climate justice staged separate protests at the royal exhibition building, where the event was being […] welcome to canon in she, a column all about women composers, their fascinating lives and brilliant music. i’ve been an out and about queer for the last five years, but 2020 marked my first year marching with pride as i joined the graduate student association contingent. walking with the colour, fanfare, love and welcomed embrace that is synonymous with the pride march, i was reminded of how important these events (and my attendance) are […] st jerome’s laneway festival, known affectionately as ‘laneway’, made the move from the concrete jungle of footscray’s community arts centre to the luscious wonderland of footscray park in 2019. the name celebrates the event’s roots as a boutique inner city festival born in the back alleys of lonsdale street, but the 2020 rendition of laneway melbourne was a far cry from its modest beginnings. menstrual cups, the lesser known alternative to managing periods have recently come to the spotlight as climate crisis is becoming more evident, and public participation to the matter is resulting in positive and effective turns (ngl, we woke). beginning as a celebration of the studio’s 20th anniversary, the collection of creative works on display has grown with each new film released in the late 2010’s, culminating in a behind the scenes peak at 37 animated features. unlike a theme park or premiere event, where the emphasis is placed upon the visitor and their interactions with film characters, dreamworks animation: the exhibition is very much a celebration of the filmmakers and creative processes behind each film. i must say there is a strangely melancholic tinge when reading a book so heavily steeped in australiana as you fly out of australia. for a book like the last free man, this culminates in the desire to stare out the window at the vastness of the australian wilderness and for a brief moment be alone (blessedly, when one’s seat is in front of a small screaming child) as jimmy healy does in the opening story of the same name. the lighthouse takes inspiration from edgar allen poe’s work to create a dark, filthy and perversely comedic chamber piece of hallucination and repression. a hyper stylised aesthetic plunges viewers into the eerie, miserable atmosphere of a remote island in 1890s new england. chinese international students are distressed by the university of melbourne’s refusal to delay term dates, despite australia banning travel from china in response to the coronavirus outbreak. the announcement, which was also circulated via the vice chancellor’s email on 3 february, indicated that no disruptions to the usual summer term and semester one schedules would occur. […] edition two 2020 submissions are now open! check out our content list for groovy prompts and inspiration! a beautiful day in the neighbourhood arrives in the midst of yet another tepid oscar season, squashed within a crowded line up of adapted true stories, including the downfall of roger ailes (bombshell [2020]), the denouement of judy garland’s career (judy [2019]), and some cars going vroom vroom very fast (ford v ferrari [2019]). bombshell succeeds at a lot of things: incredible prosthetics and makeup, captivating audiences while evoking intense emotion, and using clever wordplay in the title of the film. the movie follows three blonde “bombshells” through the challenges and devastation of sexual harassment which ultimately ends in a different kind of bombshell. thousands of melburnians gathered at the state library on friday to demand immediate climate action. despite persistent rain, protestors filled the steps of the library and overflowed onto swanston street and la trobe street, before marching through the city. around 30,000 people attended the march according to organisers uni students for climate justice. the student […] at its core, it is a wildly cgi’d musical movie about cats begging to die, starring some of the most iconic people in entertainment (plus james corden). little women (2019) is a radical re arranging of alcott’s novel, a tapestry of moments rather than a chronological narrative. edition one 2020 submissions are now open! check out our content list for groovy ideas and inspiration! french senegalese filmmaker mati diop’s feature film debut, atlantics, is a sensitively crafted, dream like journey haunted by the desire for freedom. on the third day of the national conference (natcon), former university of melbourne student union (umsu) president molly willmott was elected president of the national union of students (nus). following withdrawals, her election was unopposed. as a member of the national labor students (nls), willmott succeeded desiree cai, also from the university of melbourne. these […] the correct way to break a rambutan open is to use a knife. i call that the coward’s way. if you’re a lawless rebel like me, you bite into it whole, cringing at the sudden bitterness the break in the skin fills your mouth with, then use your teeth to rip the rest of it away. in an age where we can barely last the year without buying a new smartphone and throw ageing possessions before they have a chance to decay, it’s puzzling why we still refuse to throw away the remnants of the toxic colonial mindset. while it is a privilege to be able to afford an education abroad, many unspoken costs like underpaid wages, homesickness, cultural shock, financial instability and underemployment came as a surprise. but as an international student, i’m not sure if these costs are worth the price our parents pay. after my breakup with the michael clifford lookalike, i started seeing more people of colour. not that michael clifford ruined white men for me, i just felt more comfortable around people like me. ballots will be cast this morning, determining the national union of students (nus) leadership for 2020. ahead of today’s vote, farrago can confirm the results of many key positions that now stand unopposed following withdrawals from candidates. votes are being cast until 1:30 pm by nus delegates and proxies outside studio theatre in the building. […] earlier this year, a friend took me to a party hosted by guy rundle, the melbourne writer, in his flat in south yarra. people perched on the edge of couches and drank wine from coffee mugs as if it were a student party, even though most of the attendees were twice that age. somehow the topic of farrago came up, and i mentioned that i had co edited the magazine in 1999. guy introduced me to two other former editors who were there: prue from 1988 and sean from 1992. here are our live updates of #nusnatcon2019 last semester, i graduated from the university of melbourne with a bachelor of science. i am overall complimentary about the teaching i experienced, but one area my experience has been inconsistent, to say the least, is tutorials. this got me thinking: what is the best way to support students consolidating what they learn in lectures? i spoke to students, tutors and lecturers to see how they felt about tutorials. what i found was that many factors influence the (sometimes contradictory) opini the stalls for all report published by the university of melbourne student union (umsu) queer department has found a need to change bathroom facilities due to exclusionary tendencies towards trans, intersex and gender diverse staff and students. the university defends the employment of these academics and their right to express their views. “the university must be a place for the exchange and challenge of knowledge and ideas, undertaken with a shared respect for competing points of view,” vice chancellor duncan maskell says. but, should academic freedom of speech override the right of students and staff to feel safe on campus? on one side sits the university of melbourne and select members of its faculty. on the ot the 2019 university of melbourne student union (umsu) annual elections are wrapped up, with long standing ticket stand up! recording a landslide victory. we acknowledge farrago is created on land that always has and always will belong to the wurundjeri people of the kulin nation. this land is stolen and sovereignty was never ceded, and no acknowledgement is enough to give it back. we pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and to all aboriginal and torres […] rian johnson’s modern murder mystery is the most fun you’ll have in a movie theatre this year, and it’s smart enough that its many pleasures come totally guilt free. follow our updates for umsu’s budget in 2020 here. fleabag was a like a surprisingly uncomfortable massage into knots i didn’t know i had. phoebe waller bridge’s one woman show kneaded into my internalised shame surrounding: my sexuality, my adolescent selfishness and the healthy mix of narcissism and crippling insecurity that’s etched into my 20 something soul. i left the cinema feeling looser and better for […] scott z. burns’ rigorous dramatisation of the real life investigation into the cia’s use of torture after 9/11 is as meticulous and uncompromising as its subject. what does it mean today to make a film so rigidly devoted to the truth? multiple times during the 2 hour runtime of the report, i found myself watching adam driver’s […] one of the most highly anticipated films of the year, todd phillips’ joker (2019) has cackled and danced into cinemas with a resounding bang! this newest iteration of the clown menace has had a lot to live up to, with viewers wondering if joaquin phoenix’s portrayal will join heath ledger’s the dark night (2008) performance […] refugee advocacy group rise has renewed calls for the university of melbourne to sever ties with detention centre security, after the group’s initial divestment campaign was undermined by misinformation. the words resonate as they pass through annalise’s sunken mind but like a shooting star; disappearing into the void as quickly as they came. your fungus / begins to / age inside / its new / porcelain cage. when someone asks / what i want to be when i grow up / i respond / a dog. murder and general mayhem sound just like your good old fashioned fairy tales, something left behind in the myths and legends that belong in forgotten derelict book shelves. beware sensationalism but the reality is that it’s all just life, kids. unwrapping the tinfoil, oops, the intonation of a sentence / is overcooked; the content of a sentence is / meaningless. 100 words or less pieces about ghosts for farrago 2019 edition 7. seventeen activists were arrested on the second day of the international mining and resources conference (imarc) amid victoria police’s increasingly violent response to the imarc blockade. police also upped the ante, employing large amounts of pepper spray at least four times today. the effects of pepper spray are more severe than those of tear gas. today, it didn’t matter who you were young or old, protester or observer no one was exempt from the tyrannical style of brutality displaced by victoria police. at approximately 9:20am this morning (only half an hour after arriving), myself and another farrago reporter were pepper sprayed by police. and before you ask; no, neither of us were involved in the protest. the waters of the south lawn moat flowed crimson on wednesday 23 october as protestors gathered in opposition to the university’s involvement in the upcoming international mining and resources conference (imarc). the two of us still pretending to be butterflies, holed up in our terraced cocoon for weeks watching the fists of clouds paint the sky winter white. my mother is in the kitchen, a tiny moving blur amongst maroon teak cabinets. sunlight is pouring in and i am bent over my homework, scribbling away to glory, when i cough. murder and general mayhem sound just like your good old fashioned fairy tales, something left behind in the myths and legends that belong in forgotten derelict book shelves. beware sensationalism but the reality is that it’s all just life, kids. chris martin’s thin lips glisten under the stage lights as he succinctly delivers the monologue. i would ask you things / and you would only look / upon me / and spit on me softly the room could sense something different about this body. different, but not unfamiliar. it could feel the body’s heartbeat echoing through the soles of their feet, casting shockwaves up the walls. in greek myth thanatos, the god of death, was said to be as beautiful as eros. death could be like having a love arrow shot in you but what do you focus on? 100 words or less pieces about unsolicited advice for farrago 2019 edition 6. sarah plays on the association of colours and words to write her poetry column for farrago, using taubman’s paint samples from bunnings. to many of us, the idea of languages tied to a country seems normal. people in england speak english, people in japan speak japanese, people in croatia speak croatian, and so on. is this a hard and fast rule? of course not, but to some extent it’s still considered the norm. but why does this perception exist when it’s not the case with the majority of languages? i shrouded myself in the scent of frosted berries. the autumn breeze drifted into my room as i dressed. it was mother’s day. however, as i wore my linen turtleneck and gold earrings, the day felt heavy on my shoulders. in many ways, it was ironic that it was mother’s day. my mother’s grief floods through the phone with each call this past year. that morning, she calls me and tells me how she slept next to my aunty the previous night. she tells me about the groans of pain that were subst melbourne’s underground music scene is a living organism i had always been aware of but was never cool or curious enough to dive into and experience. then, two years ago, i was dragged unwittingly to a dub music event known in the scene as a “dance” expecting dubstep and to have a terrible time. instead i was welcomed into a community dedicated to growing their scene, to making important strides in pursuit of social justice, and to throwing an awesome party. welcome to living well when you’re unwell a column that answers all your questions about navigating uni, life, relationships, and jobs with disability and chronic illness. have you ever walked into the wrong lecture during week 1 of the semester? there’s something about the anxiety and the irreplaceable feeling of everyone’s eyes on you that nothing else can quite replicate. it was july 23rd. i waited at melbourne airport’s rideshare pick up zone for about 6 minutes before the black honda hr v arrived. the driver helped me with my luggage as most drivers at the airport do. we got in the car and the questions began. a local man has today been left wondering where it all went wrong after he messaged a group chat hoping to grab some beers tonight, but was instead served absolute donuts. in your hurry to class you might have rushed past australia’s only heritage listed art collection. tucked away in a quiet corner on the university of melbourne’s parkville campus sits over 16,000 artworks, one of only three collections in the world of its kind. “someone once said to me that the dax centre was melbourne’s best kept secret,” said director charmaine smith. baillieu library’s resident albino pigeon has become the source of a heated facebook debate between students attempting to name the bird. over semester break, the facebook page pigeon at the baillieu library ran an online competition to determine its name. on friday 20 september, a contingent of university of melbourne students and staff attended the global climate strike, with the unprecedented endorsement of the university. on friday 13 september, the university of melbourne student union (umsu) and umsu international signed an agreement to address umsu international’s concerns about the constitutional changes passed during the special general meeting (sgm) on 17 september. the bride test is a really pure novel. it explores the intricacies of family, immigration, mental health, grief and so much more. world’s most militarized zone and india’s only muslim majority region, kashmir, was stripped of its special status under article 370 by the indian government last month. amidst an indefinite lockdown, kashmiris in melbourne raise their voice against the decision. dilpreet kaur reports. ????? in the early hours of 29 august, protestors gathered outside of cpb contractors office building to criticise their involvement in the western highway upgrade, which will cause the destruction of djab wurrung land and sacred trees. we all have an inner monologue, that little persistent voice inside that narrates our every thought and feeling, but julia michaels has taken it to the next level, bringing her inner monologue tour to melbourne, for one night only. welcome to farrago‘s liveblog of the university of melbourne student union election results. we’ll be posting results for all positions live from the count room as they come in. alain nguyen and stephanie zhang will be giving you a live count and analysis of the initial wave of results as polls close. you can view […] follow farrago’s coverage of the 2019 university of melbourne student union here. well, well, well. it’s that time of year again: student election season. unfortunately, it’s a time many of us dread. the university grounds become overrun with student politics hopefuls donning an array of coloured shirts and handing out flyers. they’ll be asking for your vote and trying to promote their policies on improving the student experience, and they may even chase you down on your way to class to chew your ear off. because of the cumulative effects of assimilation over many generations, ainu’s uniqueness is in danger of being lost forever. there are only a handful of native speakers left perhaps as few as fifteen and all of them are elderly. while there is a much higher number of second language speakers with varying degrees of fluency, without concerted efforts to protect it, ainu’s chances of survival are, sadly, quite low. ever wonder how ancient humans passed all those cold nights in stony caves, or when we realised a little added buzz could go a long way? well, welcome to the history lesson they’re still refusing to teach. from forgotten literary works to surprising archaeological discovers, it’s clear our ancestors were getting down with their bad selves long before christian grey. so, without further ado, let’s jump in our time machine and get ready for the ride of our lives. it’s time to learn abou pine. verb. erund or present participle: pining • miss or long for. “she’s still pining for them” i’ve never pined for someone. i think pining for someone is a complete waste of time and energy. oh, you’re hurt? well, suck it up. it’s not the end of the world. it happens, you know? break ups. […] if you explained the premise of the movie 127 hours to any ‘third culture kid’, almost all of us would be able to substitute ourselves in for the protagonist. being stuck between a rock and a hard place is a sentiment we know all too well. welcome to living well when you’re unwell, a column that answers all your questions about navigating uni, life, relationships, and jobs with disability and chronic illness. the campus has been a ghost town the last couple of months while we were putting edition 5 together. it’s our busiest time of year right now with lots of media related projects on the go so a little bit of peace and quiet was probably necessary but we’re so excited to have people in and out of the office asking us for stuff again with the new semester commencing. if you find yourself in union house, come and say hello sometime! the media space and office is on level 4, and our door is due to recent slump in lecture attendance, history lecturer, dr. lindsey farrow, has decided to spice things up. inspired by highly viewed youtube content, dr. farrow has reportedly begun using clickbait titles in order to get her students excited about learning and attending. on 13th may 2019, the university of melbourne student union (umsu) international elected a new committee which will lead the union from august 2019 to july 2020. this year’s newly elected committee continues the trend of previous years’ of having dominance by students from south east asian countries such as singapore, malaysia and indonesia. to farrago’s understanding, every member of the current committee is from asia. the university’s biennial student run arts festival mudfest will run august 21 28. collaged text, messages from friends. after damning allegations that red riding hood left her missing grandmother to fend for herself in the woods, she has now pronounced that her grandmother has been found dead at the edge of the woods. found poem from the naughty book for girls by candice hill, which maintains a 1.83 star review on goodreads. it’s a passive act to survive entirely on spinach & food textures more usually chewed in the thick of an apocalyptic type emergency. murukami sits in a sole green bog in an ashen wasteland, knees pinned to ground by rusting nails. his arms, detached, caress and cradle his head as an acid wind blows harshly. i remember my mum’s friends gossiping (dark eyes darting, pink lips pursing around sour words) about another woman’s daughter who went to the usa, about how it ‘turned her gay’, “she shouldn’t bring it back here.” you’re reading hellboy in hell cornered in a pocket of the brunswick library the collected trade paperback of the original comics run. hellboy is in hell, because. he falls as a beating heart through the mouth of a petrified giant. drowning in the weight of becoming, nobody could have guessed the simple noise it left ringing in our ears. 100 words or less pieces about ghosts for farrago 2019 edition 6. after long hours of studying, sleepless nights, endless assignments and exams, successes and failures, graduation day feels surreal. it seems like in the blink of an eye, your entire university life is over, and it’s time for the next chapter. many students turn to university programs that aim to provide resources and guidance to job seekers. however, these systems are not without fault, and raise questions as to how useful they are in practice. this anxiety is always hidden behind the euph melbourne law school (mls) student x* has accused the mls of misusing its power through intimidation and silencing. this accusation arose after his attempts at raising concerns with the associate dean and submitting an open letter to the law students newspaper de minimis. the article criticised what he saw as the mls’s failure to address structural issues muslim students face in the legal community. returning to the dark phoenix saga 13 years after x men: the last stand, x men: dark phoenix is tasked with retelling the jean grey story in a manner that is sufficiently fresh and respectful to the series’ first attempt, all the while winning the approval of new and dedicated fans. in this sense, normal people isn’t a groundbreaking story. it’s a story about all of these things life, love, change, and coexistence about which story after story have already been written. it grounds these ideas in four turbulent years of late adolescence and early adulthood, imperfect and unforgettable all at the same time. for a singer who is largely known by her one off viral hits and saxophone riffs made into memes, carly rae jepsen is remarkably serious about her craft. come from away is an exploration of community and hope. taking place in gander, newfoundland, the musical tells the true stories of 38 diverted planes on september 11 2001 and the days that followed. the melbourne show’s 12 person cast delves into a series of characters   townsfolk and plane people   who share fears and hopes alike. the show will make you laugh and cry. sexual misconduct allegations have risen from eight in 2017 to 23 in 2018, according to documents released by the university of melbourne.the documents, which include both responses to requests made within and outside the freedom of information act (foi), shed light on how the university has disciplined students accused of sexual assault and harassment. my romantic life has always been one that is tumultuous. to my friends, it’s one heck of a reality tv show that is always on demand   ready to provide spicy content, tears and drama. a real life ‘the bachelorette’ that they so happily tune in to weekly or have a one sitting binge watch. last year, i had been accepted to study the master of social policy at the university of melbourne. it was something that i was encouraged to do by the professor of my undergrad, the bachelor of youth work at victoria university, due to my academic achievement, passion for youth issues, and a commitment to social justice on a structural level. i felt ecstatic, even though i did see a bit of an irony., three years of hard work only to be rewarded with a further laborious three years? the university of melbourne’s creative literature and writing society present the remarkable quests of raddish and quill, a collaborative column for farrago. i want to say that death is just a wound things grow around and that i miss the way the world tasted back then, before life touched me like that, cold finger pressed to my tongue; hurts like freezer burn, tastes like freezer burn. “do you have wine?” rebuffed inquired in a raspy voice.“no,” replied oost. “why? should i?”rebuffed inclined her head. “i just assumed.”oost was silent for a time, perplexed. rebuffed filled the space: “you know. since we’re here.” 100 words or less pieces about periods for farrago 2019 edition 4. murder and general mayhem sound just like your good old fashioned fairy tales, something left behind in the myths and legends that belong in forgotten derelict book shelves. beware sensationalism but the reality is that it’s all just life, kids. for over 130 years, umsu has been the heart of student life at the university of melbourne. the history of the union is heavily entwined with activism, radical politics and power struggles. delving into the archives offers a detailed reflection of the issues facing students throughout the decades. even the soon to be demolished union house has layers of history hidden in plain sight: from anti conscription barricades and police raids, to refugees avoiding deportation in a back room. time to implement the plan! dude, get the car, the maps, i know we’re starting out in suburbs but i swear to god we’ll make it to the mountains, we fucking have to. it has become more or less axiomatic that if women want to achieve equality in our time, we must first strip ourselves bare revealing our worst shames, heartaches and sins so that we may be seen as utterly human. to be a woman in public these days is more often than not to be in the business of confession. the bath bomb had been a delight for about five minutes. the walls became soaked in the scents of pear and cinnamon as the bomb fizzled into a pool of green. with her classical playlist serenading her, jesmintha enjoyed her muscles sighing and her thoughts slowing their buzzing wings. then the twitching began. the word ‘wilderness’ conjures images of towering trees, forest paths, bubbling brooks and open skies. there are no buildings, no signs of human habitation, and there is a stillness or silence punctuated only by the wind, birdsong or animals scampering over leaf litter. this form of wilderness is linked to a longing for a life that is more in touch with the natural world. at the same time, this wilderness, in its emphasis on pristine, untouched nature, excludes human beings. how can we ex this stripped back set allowed for an immensely intimate performance where nothing else mattered besides the otherworldly falsetto voice onstage, and the introspective artist it belonged to. there was tension in the air last night as media lecturer jean paul levol took a cersei esque walk of shame to the dean’s office, after he was accused of plagiarism by failing to reference memes used in his powerpoint slides. the university was notified of the lecturer’s theft after the learning management system (lms) reported […] i’ve found that my anxiety lessens on bushwalks. standing still, the cool breeze against my skin, able to hear birds, frogs, and the rustle of leaves in the wind. i am able to free myself of societal constraints, prejudice and discrimination. front man georgia maq closed camp cope’s falls festival 2017 act demanding that 2018 be the year that minorities take to the forefront of the music scene. as i stood on the grass field, surrounded by hundreds of fans applauding this controversial statement their song the opener takes aim at the exclusionary nature of the industry with lines such as “yeah just get a female opener, that’ll fill the quota” and “it’s another straight cis man who knows more about this than me” i by 7pm, there was already a spate of eager concert goers, lining the paint filled hosier lane.by 8pm, the mosh pit was filling up. sometimes always never is at its best when it stays true to its core. it is a simple narrative. one that is hardly resolved and has no beginning, middle and end in the larger scheme of things. but it is a wonderful character analysis. an amazing exploration of love, despair and hope. never did i think the question, “ever had a dream?” and all the self doubt and fear of rejection which comes with that question, would be so aptly summed up for me by a one woman operatic show. mari poša, mezzo soprano, known simply on stage as maria, delivers a soulful and vocally powerful performance in el vito!, performed in melbourne cbd’s quirky and cool butterfly club, accompanied by the heartfelt talents of pianist julian wade. scottish comic fern brady returns to melbourne in 2019 for her second appearance at the micf with her show power and chaos, following last year’s suffer, fools! and a successful year on the london circuit. many aussies would know fern from her explosive live at the apollo set last year, where she came out as bisexual live on air and infuriated the notoriously homophobic democratic unionist party in northern ireland. it probably didn’t help that she accused their leader of being a i don’t really know where the title for felicity ward’s latest show comes from. honestly i’m not sure if i missed something, but i’m pretty sure it’s just something she thought would be funny. that’s not to say it doesn’t make sense; it does. felicity’s comedy is bold enough, loud enough, and has enough singing and crying that i wouldn’t be surprised if some audience members didn’t bust their own nuts laughing along the way. i would say that h.m. naqvi knows a lot of words. he, or at least his protagonist abdullah, would prefer i call him verbose. or maybe not even that. what about bombastic, magniloquent, fustian? if you had to look up any of those then you would know how i felt reading naqvi’s second novel, the selected works of abdullah the cossack, a sprawling romp through abdullah’s beloved city of currachee, pakistan. you would also realise that verbose and fustian don’t necessarily connote positive v nestled in the regional town of bendigo this weekend were thousands of festival goers, dressed to impress and with plenty of glitter in tow. groovin the moo was back in town on 4 may (yes, there were jedis, storm troopers and wookies in the crowd, for those wondering) for its 11th year at the prince of wales showgrounds. in 2017, promoter steve haplin said that around 20,000 people attended. from a glance, it seems safe to say that the number of people was just as big, if not even bigger, th signing up to review an unnamed sketch comedy show that your editors placed up for grabs in the media collective facebook group is like a tinder date. you get dressed up, agree to meet up at a bar couple hours after dark and hope that it would not end with you feeling violated in any way. i wish i could say that i walked out of poopie tum tums with a sore stomach and a thirst for more, but alas, that was not the case. my housemate (whom i begrudgingly dragged to this 10pm show) and i both wal if you’ve ever sat through a really long rant from a mate because their date flaked out on them or someone stole their lunch at the office, you would already have a sense of what people suck: a musical airing of grievances is about. it is an hour long song cycle with an indisputable premise: all the ways people suck. with its catchy melodies and strong vocal performance, the cast takes you through jealous bridesmaids, anti vaxxers, the different types of annoying people at your office and m it was with much anticipation that i waited for one of the longest running improv shows in the country to start. the big hoo haa! usually occurs every friday night at the butterfly club, but they were making a few exceptions for the melbourne international comedy festival. the show has been crowned “the original and the best” improv comedy ensemble in melbourne, and it is easy to see why. a couple minutes in and they’ve got the crowd howling with laughter. every year melbourne theatre company (mtc) produces an education show, which is presented in the intimate lawler theatre before going on a regional tour. these productions have often been some of my favourite produced by the company, as they can afford to take more risks in script, actor and staging choices than in main stage productions. the 2019 education performance is the violent outburst that drew me to you, a 70 minute play by the australian playwright finegan kruckemeyer. directed by p watch our live coverage here on facebook. executive producer: stephanie zhang technical manager: jesse paris jourdan results announcers: alison ford, jasper maccuspie hosts: kaavya jha, annie jiang, alain nguyen student panelists: mark yin, lucy williams, allen xiao, jesse gardner russell party panelists: ailish hallinan (greens), joshua munro (labor), jack sharkey (reason), zachary august (liberal) data: ed […] ???? ??? recent data suggests that the university of melbourne is far behind other australian institutions when it comes to improving academic gender equity. the democracy sausages have been sizzled and the votes have been cast, the polls reflected the perceived hopes of the nation and the coalition roundly smashed these to the ground. scott morrison has done the unthinkable, after the disastrous libspill of 2018 he has recaptured the support of many australians to become prime minister, once again, although this time through the decision of ordinary voters around the country. following the resignation of several office bearers within the university of melbourne student union (umsu), the indigenous, queer and education academic (edac) offices went to by election from 6th 8th of may. however, with all nominated candidates running unopposed, the vacancies were filled without students being able to vote. on 13th may 2019, the university of melbourne student union (umsu) international elected a new committee with archit agrawal as president, leading the committee for the upcoming term. the new term commences on 1st august 2019. content warning: mentions of sexual harassment, sexual assaultin march 2019, the university of melbourne introduced an anonymous register. this platform allows students, staff, alumni or visitors to report any inappropriate behaviour on campus to the university without having to make an official complaint, or formally identifying themselves. this change could make it easier and less distressing for victims of assault and harassment to come forward. botched management of alleged misconduct by a recently  appointed head of school has forced the university of melbourne into a legal battle in the australian federal court. appointed in april 2017, professor jennifer milam, an art historian, took up her term as head of the school of culture and communication on 1 january, 2018, but was suspended with full pay in late january this year following two colleagues’ allegations of academic misconduct. the university of melbourne student union (umsu) environment collective held their third successive radical education week during week 7, from april 15 to 18. the week was a cross campus event exploring radical ideas about education within and beyond the classroom. “you’re probably going to paint this room a fluorescent green. then the couch won’t match. it’ll look odd.” jules groans. “who cares? it doesn’t have to match! some things just don’t match!” like us, mary wants to say, but she doesn’t. imagine being one quarter sindhi, one quarter bengali, one quarter tamil and one quarter telegu and not being able to speak any of the languages from these areas. imagine being the colour of a perfectly blended hot chocolate from standing room, but sounding like a cup of tea with almost a whole bottle of milk poured in. ?? ?? ?? ?? find out what your obs are up to! find out what your obs are up to! in the week leading up to sending this mag to print, each of the editors had a work related stress dream. like everything else in edition two, we’ve left this until the very last minute and it barely feels real. we don’t know what’s going on, we’re weak, we’re tired, no one is eating right. if this traditionally safe electorate were to become marginal or flip, it would be a major upset for the coalition government. as unlikely as this scenario may seem, a recent poll conducted by environmental research+counsel suggests that the green’s julian burnside is closing in on victoria’s highest ranking liberal. ?? ?? ? a report launched by the university of melbourne late last year has found that the academic gender gap in australian universities has narrowed over the last ten years and more females have achieved high level positions. limited data seems to exist about the prevalence of disability amongst the student body at the university of melbourne. is this because there are relatively few students with disabilities, in which case, is it because there are barriers to them accessing higher education? university of melbourne staff and students protested against the increasing casualisation of staff today in front of the raymond priestly building. welcome to farrago’s coverage of the 2019 federal election. the 2019 federal budget was announced on april 2, setting the tone for the federal election set on may 18. finding the budget paper too long? here are the highlights. on wednesday march 15, an estimated 150,000 primary, high school, and tertiary students across the country walked out of class to protest the australian government’s persistent inaction on climate change.0 despite the new cohort of office bearers (obs), the parkville campus’ bike co op has yet to reopen. over a year and a half since its supposed relocation, both current and previous environment obs allege university of melbourne student union (umsu) bureaucracy is behind the delay. the university of melbourne’s creative literature and writing society present the remarkable quests of raddish and quill, a collaborative column for farrago. a lady asked me for a chicken schnitzel and when i went to get her one i noticed that it was shaped exactly like australia. murder and general mayhem sound just like your good old fashioned fairy tales, something left behind in the myths and legends that belong in forgotten derelict book shelves. beware sensationalism but the reality is that it’s all just life, kids. things that fall out of people’s purses call out to me, imploring to be returned to what they are (not done being), what they’re made for, who they used to be with. i believe in some hour threaded through all the years where you still kiss my face of lemon rind and rough hessian, boulder wide, fish scaled, round as a copper coin. ascending sixty meters to a chimney top, touched the falling dusk. the cold sticky tongue of growling factories behind you. here i am with love seeping out my pores again, sticky hearted always, sticky date pudding, b tastes so sweet. teeth so crooked, my butterfly boy, freckled chest so sweet, smells so sweet, familiar, way he walks, so sweet, can’t stand it. sarah plays on the association of colours and words to write her poetry column for farrago, using taubman’s paint samples from bunnings. for by anonymous you know what’s better than mind blowing, gut rearranging sex? mind blowing, gut rearranging number twos. you heard it here first, and quite honestly, you’re welcome. welcome to the secret, taboo world of squat toilets, arguably one of the last remaining bastions of human behaviour from the good old days, back when we used to shit into holes in the ground. do you remember being five years old and making yourself sick on too much chocolate? remember learning for the first time that there is such a thing as too much? it must have seemed like such a strange idea before that moment, that you could have too much of anything. we were born needing. 100 words or less pieces about dating apps for farrago 2019 edition 3. it’s a friday night and your day has been a little too straight. luckily netflix has that lgbtq section to fix things up. for the next hour and a half, one of the worst films you will ever see in your life flickers across the screen. it can only be one of the worst, since you would have faced the same problem last tuesday. queer cinema is a mess. as a field of study, linguistics is a relative newcomer compared to more established social sciences like anthropology and psychology but you might expect that linguists would have at least agreed where to draw the line between dialect and language. alas, as always, the reality is much more complex. i’m not by any means a superhero connoisseur. i’ve never read a comic book and most of the time i need the post credit scenes of marvel movies explained to me. while i’ve heard that many hero stories on paper are interesting and intelligent, i can’t help but notice how all of these action filled hero films are just plain boring. i’m known in most circles as the loud, extroverted one. i know how to make an entrance, and, like fireworks, you can almost always hear me before you see me. i am often asked about where i get my confidence from, and how i have the ability to seemingly be so “intense” all the time. it’s february. another semester, another lot of housemates, classmates, lecturers, textbooks… but some students are already thinking ahead to next year: hiring rounds for 2020 government and corporate graduate programs are opening and closing. following recent budget cuts, the university of melbourne has decided to axe stop 1, choosing to replace the student services resource with the ‘unimelb love letters’ facebook page. a major new study conducted by the victorian institute of geography and impetuous osculation (vigio) has found that south lawn prevails as the finest location on campus for couples wanting to flaunt their amatory success in plain view of an abundance of loners. the implementation of mandatory working with children checks (wwccs) at the university of melbourne has added to concerns of unfair treatment of casual staff, putting the quality of education at the university at risk. legislation was rolled out at the end of 2018 to account for the small percentage of university students that are still minors, but it does not specify who should pay for the checks, and casual staff are bearing the burden. in his one man show, james macaronas plunges his audience straight into a world that is both the familiar one we know, but also one of intrigue and exciting science fiction. macaronas’ love and knowledge of science fiction is clear, with the show including elements reminiscent of dr who and other classic science fiction tropes. follow our coverage of the student sustainability forum here! at a first glance, the 2019 australia budget looks too good to be true the first surplus in forever! tax cuts, which is basically free money, for everyone! cash payments! amazing!until, of course, you realise that the federal election was announced for may 18. there’s no doubt that many elements of the coalition’s budget are designed to appeal to voters and keep the current government in power, but is this a cheap ploy with dubious ethical considerations? are you sick of corporate ice breakers? frustrated by the increasing casualisation of the workforce? being crushed by the nightmare that is late stage capitalism? then the conference, from homebrand comedy, might be just the show for you! going to rhys nicholson has become something of a tradition for my mum and i. as we peruse the thick catalogue of shows for the melbourne international comedy festival each year, he is one of the few acts that has remained on our list. that is, until this year when mum decided she didn’t want to make the pilgrimage out to the city to see him. i was of a different opinion, and made the trip to the victoria hotel on a particularly dark and chilly evening. what happens when the director of your comedy show is a pool noodle and he goes missing in the space time continuum? it’s not a question i ever imagined asking myself, but red noodle blue does just that and somehow, even more? i’ve been on exchange for around three months now. overall, it’s been a pretty incredible experience; i love living in amsterdam (not for the reasons that immediately come to mind) and it’s been amazing to sample the different foods available here. though i am partial to liquorice or a good stroopwafel, bouts of homesickness do pop up. so here’s a few recipes to help you, if you ever feel the same; whether you’re on exchange or just feeling particularly nostalgic about possum magic. a dog’s way home is a heart warming film about a rescue pup and her perilous journey home. whilst the not the most intricate of plot lines, we, the viewers, are blessed with being able to watch a very cute dog on the screen for an hour and a bit. are international students getting fair and equal access to education in australia? i spoke to four international students, all current graduate students at the university of melbourne, one of whom had also completed her undergraduate at the university. three were chinese international students, and one was indian. the university of melbourne’s creative literature and writing society present the remarkable quests of raddish and quill, a collaborative column for farrago. wear the sun as a face mask, as in what everyone else is doing, but also do what you have to, as in put what you are asked to do first behind the scenes of australia’s highest ranked university, a few chinese international students at the university of melbourne are struggling with their courses due to language barriers. the university of melbourne has set a target for 25 per cent of students to participate in overseas study by 2020, reflecting growing national demand to study abroad. the new target, along with changes to the study overseas program, form part of a concerted national push to simplify the process for domestic exchange students. tide coming in, sun coming out. rotten coconut skull cracked open on the clay earth. scarf off jacket off, thin layers of fabric revealing inky skin. snake tattoo looks like he’s swimming through yesterday’s shells. the scariest part of a dream is knowing the terrible things that are coming… because you’ve had that dream before. i feel that the moon is going to collapse in 3 days. in 3 days, the moon will fall and crush everything… i’ve been here before. the whole world has somehow bent; the sky is fixed and dull, and slants hugely towards the earth, as if a single, immense piece has cracked and fallen loose. so. emily dickinson who may not resemble emily dickinson is closing her eyes in the garret she rents from her boss. we agree there’s nothing much in her room. a bed. a chest of drawers and facsimile crucifix. a chair the dress she arrived in slumps over its back, caked in sewage. the bottom was still scarred with rust, i tried to pick it off with my finger nails like the skin left over from a popped pimple for by april nougher dayhew in 2016, ‘sightings’ of evil clowns popped up everywhere. it was a hit, melbourne band the clowns received hate mail and mississippi made it illegal to wear a clown costume for halloween. mass hysteria has tainted a diverse comic tradition which goes back millennia. until the 18th century, monarchs sought jesters’ […] sarah plays on the association of colours and words to write her poetry column for farrago, using taubman’s paint samples from bunnings. according to multiple close sources, monash university is much more beautiful, spacious and welcoming than the university of melbourne. these sources, primarily made up of your mates who went to went to monash, reportedly leave no opportunity to compare the two campuses. sign language is something that few people even experience in their daily lives, let alone learn. even as a linguistics student, i’ve found that my education has focused exclusively on speech, with casual references made here and there on the applicability of theory used for spoken languages to sign language; even then, it’s mostly an afterthought. i started dipping my toes in the dating pool at 14 years old. it was an exciting time. i remember when i had my first boyfriend, clark, a melburnian boy just a few years older than me. clark had blonde hair, blue eyes and baby scruff on his face. he reminded me a lot of michael clifford from 5 seconds of summer, except clark didn’t play the guitar and spent most of his days playing assassin’s creed. clark was sweet and 14 year old me thought he was a 10/10 quality boyfriend because he three and a half years ago, in a first year genetics and the evolution of life lecture, i had an academic epiphany. the lecture itself was not one that you would expect to convert an aspiring speech pathologist into a marine biologist: the lecturer had inherited this section of the course from an academic who retired the previous year and had about as much idea of what was going on as we did. blocks of lurid yellow text covered blue backgrounds, and the same slide of ‘snowball earth’ kept i wonder what it’d be like if grindr had existed in the roman empire. nude torsos, an appetite for gay sex and toxic masculinity the romans certainly weren’t that different (well, except for 4g and smartphones). in fact, if we compared the roman grindr to today’s, we’d find a surprising number of similarities, including users’ fear of “fems”. it is the year 1600 and india is dressed in the colours of the mughal empire. one of the world’s richest countries, it has a 23% share of the world economy. india opens her arms to the east india company and over 200 years, royal colours of maroon and gold are forcibly replaced by white, blue and red. by the time the company leaves in 1947, india has been turned into a poster child for third world poverty. he is there every friday for the jumah congregational prayers. he prayed and listened to the friday sermons, in a place that is still, serene and perhaps cosy. in a place where his heart is at ease. in a place where he reconnects with god. 100 words or less pieces about goats for farrago 2019 edition 2. iszzy williamson and emily weir make up the two parts of the fresh comedy duo bringing you everyone needs therapy. done with the trope of the comedian who justifies their depression with laughter, weir and williamson are out to show how getting help can be much funnier than staying sad. so why should you catch this political and absurd piece of theatre? we asked iszzy and emily. union house’s popular sandwich store ‘vegie patch’, amongst other stores, has closed down over the summer to the disappointment of many students. paul duldig has left his position as the head of university services, which he had held since 2014. last thursday, university of melbourne students protested in front of state minister for planning richard wynne’s office against the planned removal of sacred trees for the western highway bypass. the national union of students (nus) have laid out their campaigning agenda titled “a future worth fighting for”, aiming to lobby the government for improved student support and action on student issues. the world renowned musical jersey boys tells the story of frankie valli and the four seasons, the rock and pop band who achieved massive international success during the 1960s and 70s. since starting in 2005 in la jolla, california, jersey boys has already toured the world in places like broadway, west end, japan and singapore. it was first performed in melbourne in 2009, and 10 years later it has returned to greet the melbourne public once again at the regent theatre. the university has refused to support the school strike 4 climate and refused requests for staff and students to not be penalised for participating in the walk off. it’s the age old, end of semester question: is your cute tutor from psyc20006 vying for your affections before you move onto psyc30013 and split ways forever, or is he just trying to get you to complete the student experience survey? as excited as he was to embark on his microeconomics breadth, connor white, 18, has not found it easy to fit in. in the middle of the dancefloor lie several elongated television screens stacked in a small pile, surrounded by wires. the speakers pulse in semi unison, a fury of rhythmic beats that border between white noise and music. the screens flash in synchronized stripes of color. this forms the set to award winning choreographer antony hamilton’s new dance piece, universal estate. find out what your obs are up to! a slender, green tinted arm extends, casting a shadow over the amalgamated skyscrapers below. its long, feeble fingers slowly wrap around the southern bridge as it tries to rip the rest of itself out of the black mirror on the side of the old casino. the void spits out a head encased in a blue bob and a body with armour hugging its figure so tight that a single wrong movement could crush its bones. will there be time to custom make our age, brand it with our initials and tie them tight around our necks? in another life i am a malpracticing physician rotten under pressure, my training was for naught it’s a comedy! people die! so. the premise is there are three planar components to the multiverse. the inner planes are the houses of elementals: dimensions of the spirits, and energies that set the universe going like a fat gold watch. there are dimensions here for the elements, for matter and antimatter, and however many smaller planes for all the forces that roll through the cosmos. did you dream about it? mikah asks. alice kneads at her eye with a knuckle, smudges the residue of her dreamscape. a train, my boss, a drowning sensation. she responds, no. i haven’t even thought about it. it’s true. when mikah told alice that pete was dead, alice didn’t feel the need to ask questions. it was like this: yesterday, i could call pete and expect him to pick up. today, i can’t. murder and general mayhem sound just like your good old fashioned fairy tales, something left behind in the myths and legends that belong in forgotten derelict book shelves. beware sensationalism but the reality is that it’s all just life, kids. is sponge like, encouraging soapy suds, moisture to develop in its hide. you pull at its hair and come away empty handed. look, he says, stick your hand in your head twist the oyster grey tubes. feel their pulse. still nothing? we’ve been through this twice tonight. the university of melbourne’s creative literature and writing society present the remarkable quests of raddish and quill, a collaborative column for farrago. sarah plays on the association of colours and words to write her poetry column for farrago, using taubman’s paint samples from bunnings. 100 words or less pieces about breakfast television for farrago 2019 edition 1. student 1 i’m a second year studying pure maths, logic, and a dash of statistics. i’m not sure what i’m going to do after my degree, but i’m definitely considering postgrad logic. i’m also non binary. i think my gender has definitely affected my studies. i’m often not comfortable being out as non binary in class the […] in mathematics, there’s a big drop off in percentage representation of female and non  binary students between undergraduate courses and postgraduate courses. so, to explore this further, i interviewed five women and one non  binary person who are currently undergraduate maths students at the university of melbourne. the university of melbourne’s new sustainability policies have been riddled with miscommunication between its implementation and its advertising. saturday 24 november of last year saw victorians head to the polls to vote in the state election. what was initially forecast to be a close labor victory resulted in a rare political landslide, with daniel andrews regaining the premiership with apparent ease. with most student services and events located at the parkville campus, the student experience (or the lack thereof) at the satellite campuses is often overlooked in favour of their bigger parkville counterpart. the university of melbourne student union (umsu) passed its budget for 2019 on 7 december 2018, with several funding increases to autonomous departments as well as considerations for the election year ahead. a$250,000 state of the art scoreboard has been installed at university oval. completed in september, the scoreboard is part of melbourne university sport’s (mu sport) three  year plan to upgrade facilities at the oval. university students supported by higher education loan program (help) will start paying back their loans earlier than before. as someone who only just purged the primary school art work still living in my drawers, and has had ‘go vegetarian’ on my to do list for four years now but has never bothered to learn how to cook, i am well versed in the art of procrastination and chronic laziness. i believed there would be no better show to describe my terrible life choices than the lazy show, promoted as a mixture of stand up comedy and personal storytelling by nikki viveca that captures what it means to be “a lazy pe i wasn’t close to lucy*. we were regular performers in an annual low budget student theatre show. a rag tag collation of short plays, performance art and poetry readings. 2018 has been a good year for cowboys. they are no longer confined to your grandfather’s favourite clint eastwood films and the bitter dust of myth and history. the cowboy can be found on the catwalks of milan and the bike paths of brunswick. where did all these cowboys come from? where are these lonesome souls going? it’s the start of a new year. returning students promise themselves that they’ll study earlier in the semester. freshers undergo self reinvention that inevitably boils down to an unflattering haircut. one of the first problems that you must solve when setting up an education system though it’s probably not something that an australian would ever think about is what language it will use. ideally, it should be one spoken widely by students, which is why english is a good fit for classrooms in australia, japanese is a good fit for classrooms in japan, and so on. i was sitting in bed working (read: procrastinating) on an upcoming essay when the infamous “heyy” text lit up my screen. here we go again, i thought to myself. you might well need a foxtel subscription to notice, but a spectre is haunting australian cricket the spectre of capitalism. what do you get when you combine memes about bubble tea, hilarious reaction videos, and multilingual puns? the answer is “subtle asian traits” (sat), a facebook group aimed at asians living in the west. originally started at the end of 2018, the group now has over a million members. most of the people in this group share one trait in common: being the children of asian immigrants in western countries. some people store collectibles in shoe boxes, but for me i need a boot box to store my rocks. although the taboo surrounding menstruation is waning, pads and tampons still tend to triumph in popularity over the humble menstrual cup. according to a fascinating article by natalie shure in pacific standard magazine, the menstrual cup has a long history dating all the way back to the 1930s. that menstrual cups are today still largely unheard of is, in my opinion, a travesty. in one of the first scenes of at eternity’s gate, a weary van gogh (played by willem dafoe) arrives at the french town of arles. his room, and the landscape surrounding it, has none of the vibrancy or vitality that we associate with his paintings. instead, the town is established with a shot of a foggy field spotted with dying sunflowers. students experiencing financial difficulties may now be able to apply for a free public transport pass as a result of the university of melbourne student union (umsu) education department’s campaign on track. in order to obtain a seven day or 30 day on track pass, students will need to apply to see vanessa stanton, the […] with only a slight promise of sun in the afternoon, punters were to experience a rollercoaster of a day. the 2019 line up nonetheless promised a chance to witness some of live music’s finest. and no amount of questionable weather was going to stop the assembly of melbourne’s music devotees. contemporary classic sweet phoebe has been reimagined for red stitch theatre under the direction of mark wilson, a quarter century after it premiered in sydney starring a young cate blanchett. in this stark, intimate space, tightly wound couple helen (olivia monticciolo) and fraser (marcus mckenzie) rove around their desperately upper middle class domain, eager to quash the insecurities plaguing them as they barrel towards mutually assured success. the front runner   a new film from director jason reitman (juno, up in the air)   examines the increasingly fraught relationship between america’s politicians and its media, using the story of leading presidential candidate gary hart (hugh jackman) and the events that undid his campaign in 1988. i love the idea of space. the thought of the countless other worlds just (or not so just) beyond our own has always been a source of inspiration for me. despite this, i have no desire to ever venture out to visit space myself   space themed talks are the closest i’m ever going to get to exploring the universe. how perfect for me then that in his show dr phil dooley, science writer, physicist, entertainer, pianist and singer, promises to “take you on a trip around the cosmos and reve natalie portman stars in a fascinatingly original   though rather uneven   meditation on celebrity, trauma and the unexpected link between pop music and domestic terrorism. there is little more anxiety inducing in live theatre than the word ‘participation.’. but to describe james welsby’s dancing qweens immersive and communal experience as simple participation would be a complete disservice to the queer time warp that welsby’s alter ego, valerie hex, led us through at carlton’s dancehouse. follow our coverage of #vicbiocon19 here! everyone was screaming the chorus, tears emerged on the faces of some attendees, possibly because the reality of witnessing jorja smith live was setting in. on the basis of sex is a heartfelt tribute to the united states supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg, which captures the young woman as a struggling attorney and new mother, explaining how the first jewish female supreme court justice began her journey. what could a monogamous heterosexual couple of five and a half years stand to learn from the midsumma pussy play and wank bank workshops? a lot, as it turns out. i didn’t go into storm boy with high expectations. while the film does harness the strength of its source material, it can’t hold to a candle to the original story. colin thiele’s 1963 book and henri safran’s 1976 film will always hold a revered place in the australian cultural imagination. this new remake, helmed by experienced television director shawn seet (underbelly, house husbands, all saints), makes some crucial changes to the classic story, and never quite does justice to the moomins are really having their day in the sun, and have been ever since tove jansson received her first letter from a business trying to trademark little my for children’s period training underpants. in melbourne, you can buy random objects with their faces on them from uniqlo, miniso and every sort of artist’s market. little my’s been the twitter avi of the current voiceworks editor in chief for as long as i can remember, and i have a turquoise portable phone charger with moom queensland liberal senator james mcgrath has announced plans to introduce a private member’s bill to abolish student service and amenities fees (ssaf) when parliament reconvenes in february. i am only new to netflix, but the much anticipated netflix original dumplin’ has already made my subscription more than worth it. based on the novel of the same name by julie murphy, the critically acclaimed film is set in small town texas, and is not only entertaining but important. bo burnham’s eighth grade operates as a sort of time capsule. it takes the cringeworthy, the devastating, and the dizzying and doesn’t polish them. it simply presents their uncomfortable, brutal, visceral essence. in doing so, it becomes an authentic illustration with a real, honest beating heart. a long time ago (last friday) in a galaxy far, far away (melbourne), i attended the opening night of ‘star wars: the empire strikes back in concert’, performed by the melbourne symphony orchestra. it was, as you could imagine, amazing. partway through yorgos lanthimos’ superb and vicious period drama comedy the favourite, a character remarks that she feels her life like “a maze [she] continually thinks [she’s] gotten out of only to find another corner right in front of [her].” much the same could be said about the favourite its complex, acerbic and violently funny narrative thrills the viewer and haunts them in equal measure, leaving them deeply unsettled and not nearly escaped from lanthimos’ wiles. when someone tells you a story, regardless of how accurately the events are depicted, framing is important. from the 27th of may to the 3rd of june each year it is national reconciliation week. the entire week celebrates aboriginal and torres strait islander culture and history, as well as invites all of australia to learn more about our stories and knowledge. it is also important to note that while reconciliation week is an important symbolic gesture, reconciliation is an ongoing project of decolonisation of our social, educational, legal and cultural institutions. through an extravagant pose plastered on a billboard, thai australian artist kawita vatanajyankur asks viewers to consider the human labour expended within their consumption habits. vatanajyankur’s carrier ii, installed on the exterior of the university of melbourne’s school of mathematics and statistics building, shows her body suspended by ropes against a blue background bearing towering fish baskets. the work illuminates the fraught relationship between humans and their labo former university of melbourne student union (umsu) president desiree cai has been elected president of the national union of students (nus) on the second day of the annual national conference (natcon). first day is under the belt! after a very long drive up to ballarat, a quick lunch and a whole lot of waiting around, sessions came and went (prematurely or not) and day one was wrapped up by 10pm, hacks and reporters alike waiting for tomorrow with bated breath. for a polish iron curtain period film shot in black and white, this film is remarkably accessible. its breezy 88 minute runtime surely contributes   while the film’s pace is leisurely, it never feels belaboured. beveridge begins with a sunrise of colours that melt across the page, however the middle half of her collection felt gloomy and the divide between wolf notes and storm and honey was strong and jarring. but to watch her poems adapt and to feel a sense of accomplishment, that’s something i want to learn from. his fingernails are covered in dirt, their black edges resemble black moons black wings of death’s head hawkmoths and black birds. the night was sweltering, despite all the jingles. snow was a laughable concept for this part of the globe. a white christmas even more so. handcrafted snowflakes in windows were a poor substitute, but this festive season brought out a desperation like no other. harry made himself comfortable on the roof, keeping his swinging legs from hitting the gutter. it was imperative that his hiding spot wasn’t compromised, for his opponent had been in the game long enough to prove a worthy challenge. broken seven deadly sins sometimes i walk past vegetation around uni and get momentary vibes, like i have been transported to another place in my mind. i want to share with you where i get transported to. lying on my back on a tropical island. actual location: gate 10 near grattan street sitting on a river bank amongst papyrus […] zoë alford wen qiu troy cameron sherrylyne jennifer sherry aine te supassara (sara) tripun supassara (sara) tripun rakesh gill rachel morley qaisara mohamad nikhilesh chaudhari maggy liu jessica herne ilsa harun derrick duan if you vote below the line, you have to number at least five boxes, but your vote will be exhausted once you finish numbering the boxes. this means that you know exactly who you are voting for. farrago is ecstatic to announce that we will be publishing a novel for the first time this summer. the catastrophic fantasy by kangli hu comes out on 26 december. get your advance copy today for just $99.99. take a look at what people are saying below! these images come from a series of experiments i’ve been conducting on my housemates, illuminating how our combined presence builds up, interacts, and merges with our home. this movie was probably the most terrifying thing i’ve seen recently. admittedly i’m not usually a fan of horror movies, but michael moore’s most recent documentary, fahrenheit 11/9, was something of a wake up call for me welcome to farrago’s coverage of the 2018 state election, occurring on 24 november. hollywood’s lolly pythons have squeezed the thrill from the fourth thriller in the millennium series, the girl in the spiders web. in keeping with the tradition of ‘translating’ complex narratives into packet pancakes (sugar coated, two dimensional, easily franchised), the girl in the spider’s web wastes a talented cast on tired tropes and a plot that ties itself in knots only to arrive at an obvious conclusion. later this year i’m travelling to south east asia for three months, and i feel gut wrenchingly guilty about it. it’s not only because of the carbon emissions involved in flying, nor the chequered and problematic history of white people journeying through asia over the centuries. since long before elizabeth gilbert ate, prayed, and loved around the globe, people from one place have travelled to another place, returning with souvenirs, stories and “new” ideas. it’s tempting to at its best, market capitalism is a positive force driving change, innovation, growth and prosperity. at its worst, it’s an excuse to reduce one of the most intimate human experiences (taking a shit) to a cost saving calculus. in a shocking announcement, the university of melbourne has revealed the implementation of an anti cheating software capable of recording every single thought experienced by any given student. at the beginning of august, the university of melbourne held its annual women in higher education week, aiming to explore the experiences of women in tertiary education, both the positive aspects and some of the challenges. a few weeks later, as some sort of distantly linked follow up, i had the chance to moderate a panel aiming to unpack some of the gendered structures that affect women in this field and explore avenues for change. this week in america, on the first tuesday of november, a very different race will stop a very different nation. it is a race with much more at stake. it is a race to majorities in the house of representatives and senate. it is, among other things, a race to be governor in 36 states, to legalise recreational marijuana in michigan and to give ex felons the right to vote in florida. this tuesday, america votes in the midterm elections. director luca guadagnino is back following his 2017 romance smash call me by your name, and boy, are we a long way from sun soaked italy. suspiria takes us to late 1970s berlin, into the terrifying secrets at the heart of the helena markos dance company. guadagnino’s remix of a remake departs in several places from the original suspiria, directed in 1977 by dario argento, but casts a similarly powerful spell. you can never prepare for everything in life. nic teaches you this. but what you can try and do is cherish what you have and never let it go. with me it was important to bring my friend along for the journey. with nic, he needed his dad with him for that. last friday night, taylor swift wowed a sold out stadium of swifties as she brought her reputation tour to melbourne. “we just have the most fun as a tour in australia, you make us feel so at home”, she told the crowd during her performance. in an explosion of sound, colour and confetti, the nashville […] in a cabin above the irksome sea where the electric heater thaws us we make pancakes for lunch pasta for dinner we play at domesticity we watch a movie we disagree vehemently the night appoints us fools you tell me you love me let’s retire these ugly games and go to bed winter’s drain in sophie’s skin hands soaked in summers knowledge this story ends with a girl whose hair is too long for her liking. seven new songs, unwashed swimmers, and a pair of luggage tags for the flight home tomorrow. she has a lump in her throat that’s been there for two months. everything’s tasted bitter since september. i sit reading for so long that my legs tingle with guilt, and the arms of the chair become my arms. for a moment i feel the stiffness in your back. i’m not a light sleeper, but something woke me in the middle of the night. it wasn’t something particular like a sound or smell but rather, a presence. i scoop the complaining cat into my arms and cradle it like a baby. oliver stands outside the kitchen door, throwing the mince meat balls out onto the lawn. one magpie appears, then two, three, swooping in on the easy breakfast. more magpies swoop from the sky until the lawn is dotted with them. oliver throws the last ball and comes inside. the way it starts is the way it ends and i kiss you like the worst i’ve ever had is a paper cut. i dream of asking you out for coffee, watch the flowers grow in real time. you live above me so i stick stars on the ceiling. i’m hoping that they’ll help you sleep better. i found a tube half used and congealed in the cap. i wore it overnight on the pimples i keep picking. i called her every saturday morning, though, and played ‘wuthering heights’ by kate bush into the phone. i wouldn’t say anything, just play the song as soon as she answered and then hang up when it finished. i never did explain why and i think she hated it, but it became such a habit that she just answered every week without fail. in these crumpled bricks of homes holding whips of thoughts in domes passed by ten thousand garden gnomes fear is crawling in my bones no more than drowned apostles, or burnt moths. you are simply a colour i can never touch again. (but all i think of is the discounted sunscreen i’ve bought, whether it will be effective in shielding you from the heat of anger, fear, contempt, love, pride and shame.) you can remember when he used to sit there amongst the eucalyptus trees and the brown dirt. coffee in that old white mug, words of some society or organisation faded from the ceramics and from your memory too. the air of your backyard entering his lungs becoming his heartbeat, slow and steady and sure. she of the dark hair we’re writing secret notes to each other and sticking them on each other’s binders. the teacher side eyes us while commenting on how ‘lesbianism’ is bad. i snort. a dead tongue refutes you r claim to landed purity with the pound of flesh flush with the want of salt he thought of his wicked tutor dan, those evil ticket inspectors, those bothersome essays. such a cold and uncaring world. but then he paused. he stopped and he thought. how he wished he could leave, pursued by no care. but he did care. he now cared for this world. he thought of chloe, his friendship, the laughter and joy. he thought of professor david and the comedy show he performed. such warmth and love this world did possess. ‘twas a mingled yarn, with good and ill together. an ornament of openness a decoration of dedication to change, at the annual general meeting? overall, these three shows took me on a rollercoaster of a night i will remember for a long time. if you had some disposable income to spare, i highly encourage you to check out the other three shows as part of sidesault at the melba and see if any of them pique your interest. i guarantee it will be a unique experience that your childhood self would never have known a circus could be. when the lights went back up and the actors stepped forward to take a bow, it was abrupt. it felt surreal to see all of them smiling and holding hands just moments after they were trying to get as far away from each other as possible. i walked out in a daze, my mind still racing to figure out what just happened. this campus y photo series is brought to you by farrago’s new photography team. each photo captures a little bit of uni life, and since we are off to a long break, we thought it would be perfect to say goodbye with photos. welcome to your latest campus news briefing. the booth is fashioned out of rusty corrugated iron. it sits in mon pop gallery, a pop up space on the fake grass patio opposite the melbourne uni tram stop; an area students habitually ignore. facetiously resembling an outhouse, the booth stands tall; a placard informs us this is an impermanent fixture, an installation by the asian australian artist siying zhou. on the back a sign reads ‘karaoke bar for our national anthem’ in a hokey ‘oriental’ font, which conjures the memory of swe placed on an external wall of the erc library at parkville, power/play’s large vinyl billboard greets you with open arms and uterine glee on entry to the campus. in the image, a worker is shoved into the lower left corner, a cleaning woman with mop in hand speaking silently to the marginalized voices of lower waged and predominantly part time work of women, especially of immigrants, women of colour and single mothers. two youthful exuberant women dominate the centre of the work, fo viewed separately, each frame depicts a moment where the pre existing social landscape is either challenged or laid bare, prompting shifts in its underlying structures, assumptions and foundations. viewed in succession, they represent the shaping of a collective history. each encounter, from mundane to monumental, is part of a wider cultural context that traverses social, generational and temporal borders. the flexibility of borders and boundaries is mirrored by the environment of the work. t hundreds of academics and students joined the national protest at the university of melbourne to call for the end of offshore detention and the inhumane treatments and offshore detention of refugees on manus island and nauru. recent data from universities australia, the peak body for australian tertiary institutions, revealed that one in seven students is regularly unable to afford food and other essentials, with indigenous students and regional students experiencing the greatest hardship. an indigenous student reported that financial strain while completing their studies was so extreme that they “don’t eat much anymore”. a report commissioned in 2008 by the committee of senior academics addressing the status of women in the philosophy profession examines an often neglected problem: the underrepresentation of women in philosophy. a lecture attendance report conducted in 2017 has revealed that a large proportion of undergraduate arts (69 per cent) and science (63 per cent) students are not attending their lectures. results for the 2018 university of melbourne student union (umsu) election have now been finalised after a tense period of vote recounts and appeals. the results, most of which are similar to 2017 with stand up! sweeping the office bearer (ob) positions, are the closest in recent years with many being determined by fewer than 50 votes. this is a humblebrag, but we’re really proud of ourselves and every single contributor to farrago, radio fodder, farrago video and above water this year. have you ever wondered what it’s like to transfer into a course at unimelb? are you not getting much fun out of accounting or habermas? well, you’re in luck, because you can transfer either as a university of melbourne student or from a rival university. the university of melbourne has proposed drastic changes to the school of forestry in creswick, which would see a majority of classes relocated from the historic campus to parkville. the move follows declining enrolments in recent years, and forestry courses being shut down nationwide. don’t get me wrong, he still kills and maims in glorious fashion, it’s just that in his downtime, you’ll see him providing a running commentary on eddie’s love life and loser status. another impression of the symbiote you’ll likely have by the end of the film? venom embodies that one bro who goads you into doing stupid shit. all of this amounts to a portrayal of the symbiote that i was pleasantly surprised by. he’s an enjoyable character to watch in his own right and his likabilit as part of the new student precinct project, artist development platform next wave has been curating public art and programs at the parkville campus. through a series of installations, participatory programming and mentorship opportunities, the project seeks to amplify marginal voices, disrupt historical narratives and open the university’s pedagogy. embracing disruption, as well as the […] all of us know a class clown, with their witty comebacks and laughable one liners at the ready, but ethan cavanagh took it to the next level when he took out the melbourne comedy festival’s class clowns state finals and came runner up in nationals in 2015. am i the only one who avoids group work like it’s the plague? i’m not kidding, i actually check the assignment list for all prospective subjects and if group work is included, well, that’s a deal breaker. in fact, i don’t even think ‘deal breaker’ is a strong enough term. to me, group work is […] “i don’t like hotels. they’re a bit lifeless aren’t they?” i follow ben to the elevator. in the elevator. ben’s curious about my recording device. i hand it over to him. there’s a melbourne band with a killer sound maybe something halfway between wavves and skegss and it just isn’t getting its music “out there”. sound familiar? i remember exiting the theatre and not being able to stop smiling. as we were making our way to the tram stop, i couldn’t help shaking dani’s arm and repeatedly (annoyingly) asking her if she saw what i saw and if she could believe it. being the kind soul she is, she patiently told me that yes, she was there the entire time and she knew exactly how i felt in that moment and there’s a small bit of shared magic that we both took away that night. so please, if you have the time and money g i do have one gripe about this film, one scene that makes me gag. troy, neil and neil’s mum angie (the brilliant kate mulvany) play “canola bowls” which consists of them frolicking in a bright yellow canola crop playing a diy version of ten pin bowling. angie even has a sprig of canola tucked behind her ear like a frangipani. this would never happen because canola stinks worse than a pig truck going through town and is three quarters of the reason i rarely leave the confines of the city on friday, the university of melbourne student union (umsu) electoral tribunal rejected more!’s appeal for a re election for the general secretariat and women’s office. the appeal made allegations against the returning officers over defective conduct of the election. the answer, of course, is no. the lightness of the material, the talent on stage, and the apparent joy throughout make this show thoroughly enjoyable. it makes you want more than an hour. and when it’s over, and you feel only ten minutes older, you’ll think that’s the worst thing of all. maybe it’s me, not him. maybe i didn’t give these poems the attention they deserved. certainly, there were enough great moments to know that beesley is a skillful and original writer, one who i’ll be returning to. maybe a closer, more perceptive reader would find more in these poems, and the strange corners which beesley contorts himself into are impressive in themselves. if you want to feel like you’re driving through heavy fog and a coral reef at the same time, then i recommend aqua queers are outraged about the proposed regulation of poppers and the restriction of its recreational use. and rightly so. the arguments against these regulations are convincing it’s your body and your choice to ingest whatever substance you like. but every new prohibition on social behaviours comes from somewhere and we should ask what made regulating poppers possible in the first place, to properly critique these immoral policies. this year’s umsu elections were hotly contested but nothing was closer than the races for the general secretariat and the welfare office. with fewer than a dozen votes separating each ballot (amongst thousands of total votes), this election was certifiably, undeniably, toight. the returning officers of above quota elections have declared the welfare office has been won by more! and the general secretariat by stand up!. but elinor mills, the candidate more! endorsed for general secretary, h shamira natanagara interviews stephanus budiman about leaving the homophobic hometown behind art by winnie jiao content warning: mental health, religious discrimination and homophobia “save indonesian families from the lgbt movement”, the poster says. an actual poster for an actual event, arranged by the organisation of indonesia’s government officials’ wives (dharma wanita […] demitra lazarakis on why education matters to her art by nicola dobinson i remember a moment vividly from when i was around 15 years old. i had spent the afternoon with my grandparents  grandma cornelia and grandpa george, ??a??a´ and papp??´ in greek. on this particular day, i noticed one of my grandma’s […] last friday, three far right figures, one of whom was wearing a shirt which read “it’s okay to be white”, came onto the parkville campus claiming to be interviewing students about the recent liberal party leadership spill. there’s a monster i’ve heard of over the years that appears in the place of corporeal men. she lies awake legs spread wide ready to birth a new star through cradle and gravel, a truth to tell; mortal is lost, till last bell. listening to x only after he’s dead capitalising on vintage woolworths’ plastic bags remixing washed out lo fi vinyls from savers if a bear shits in the woods and no one is around to hear it, then does a bear shit in the woods? whatever the hell when the memories flood through her skin like milk   when you pour it into porridge, her world melts. i took aim, and released. mushroom clouds snapped apart; a wafer thin crunch, a child treading on dry leaves, dust gliding aimlessly against light. at night, the streets unlike any other city are empty, but the repurposed victorian gas lights remain lit. they project onto the neo classical architecture, the statues of oxford circus, the garrets made of red brick, exaggerated angles/boundaries of shadow like the cabinet of dr caligari, or the fingers in f.w. murnau’s nosferatu, edging around the columns and overly decorated facades like vines. the light stains the tops of buildings gold fish orange notebook coffee fingers flicker ballpoint scribble absent liquor comrades vanish doonas beckon a crown a card and the gift of the gab get you scarce anywhere since days grow short you didn’t answer my question though for my sins i live in melbourne where love is for all but only a suggestion. will these failures grow meaning through repetition ? i keep seeing your face painted concern, when i spill my drink almost falling between your mismatched chairs. […] on the cover was a quotation from a play he’ll one day write. to be or not to be. it sounded good, so good he ingrained it in his mind and noted to one day use it at a later time. but then he wondered, if he saw it first on paper and didn’t form it in his mind, then who originally wrote it? he wondered if anyone wrote it or if it was crafted by the gods on scrolls of parchment and thrown into the world of mortal coils. he didn’t want to read his plays anymore. he wanted to be proud of h “i just realised i didn’t want to go to parties or play tennis anymore.” we begin don’t worry, he won’t get far on foot as a middle aged, upper class woman matter of factly tells her story of a mid life crisis, valium prescription and alcoholism to an aa meeting in a room of bobbing heads. stand up!’s molly willmott has been declared the 2018 19 umsu president. ramsay never grants us a fuller picture of joe’s past, and we are left with no idea of his future. after the plot unfolds, we abandon the characters at this uncertain juncture, oblivious to the fallout. there is no resolution, no closure, no justice. like nina and joe, we are left dazed and bewildered, unsure of what is to come. you were never really here is no ordinary genre film, and ramsay doesn’t offer any gratifying release to the tension the film builds. she allows the film to con ‘something to be tiptoed around’ is a new release from the grattan street press as part of their shorts series, which showcases writing that does not fit into conventional publication formats. having read this book three times in as many days, i would like to recommend that you buy it from a store or borrow it from me, and read it as quickly as possible and then read it again but slowly, carefully, quietly listening. did you know that you could receive up to $250,000 for a project that would benefit students at the university of melbourne? academics and phd students experience a high level of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in australian universities, according to a recent survey conducted by australian women’s history network. this year, the university launched a new scholarship called the melbourne humanitarian access scholarship. this was created specifically for students who have applied for asylum in australia. is beauty the same as love? you used to know this answer, but now you’re not sure. you used to know ugliness meant fragmentation, splintering, isolation; you thought beauty was their absence. you’re finding it harder and harder to find that difference. when you knew beauty, poetry came easily to you. when you’ve forgotten it, when you think poetry has an obligation to be more beautiful than silence, you can’t write at all. your latest campus news briefing. with student election week almost upon us, three umsu presidential candidates went head to head in a debate hosted by farrago on 29 august. searching is an incredibly smart movie. it trusts its audience, and offers up a satisfying ending. it’s a thriller, but it’s a mystery too the screens and windows that flash by offer every clue that david needs. and because it takes place within screens, every clue that we need as well, so that everything falls into place smoothly. it definitely doesn’t hold back, and best of all, it is #starringjohncho. shakespeare once said, “what’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” although, he was probably referring to white names because we all know that rose rolls off the tongue a lot easier than mishti does. your vote is rather influential in how the union represents you in the following year. if you’re looking for a predictable play with a clear and rosy take away, the antipodes might not be for you. however, if you’re in the mood for a fantastical, dream like, and at times, deeply unsettling excerpt from playwright annie baker’s imagination, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. you don’t need to know a thing about fashion to comprehend mcqueen’s level of genius and artistry. the film itself is beautiful, with dark cgi interludes and a classical music score that mcqueen himself would certainly have loved. just as mcqueen wanted people to walk away from his shows feeling something, viewers will walk away from mcqueen feeling both adoration and grief. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. playful puns and one big crossword that fits in 100 words and under you haven’t slept in two days because you can’t be bothered going to bed. walking home at 8am you see things you haven’t seen in a long time: people out for breakfast, old greek women shuffling to church, parents walking their kids to school, a man in a kebab shop slowly readying a fresh tube of meat. it’s all happening. each day i am the gentle road’s uninvited guest. i give the dirt off the bottom of my shoes in thanks, and my host lends me its spine to walk. i am nowhere tiny twitching suns fill the air thoroughly stir ingredients in a bowl of spare time at the station, saving the addition of reactive liquids until after departure. press release: “in 18th century europe a revolutionary shift in literary and artistic expression took place that became known as ‘the gothic’. nightmarish images of barbarity, oppression and the supernatural were abstracted from an earlier medieval (or ‘gothic’) age and fused with a romantic focus on imagination and emotion, resulting in works of frightening and […] as shakespeare scurried out from the baillieu, a deluge of unpleasantness swarmed against him in the form of many knaves carrying flyers, all in colourful dress. he was in a melancholic mood and found their pressing behaviour worsened his state. he learnt a new expression from chloe that day that he found quite effective. he told them to fuck the fuck off. image by david zeleznikow johnston for by lockout lockheed students at the university of melbourne ought to be informed about a lot of things. first, that their university is making secretive deals with transnational arms manufacturers like lockheed martin and bae. second, that these partnerships incentivise war by institutionalising and normalising the presence of weapons […] ultimately, audiences will come away with a better understanding of mental illnesses and what it means to live with them. sitting in the dark, watching these shows, was an unmistakable sense of connection amongst the audience: alternating between moments of sympathy and of recognition. you either come away from these shows knowing more about mental health, or you leave thinking “oh, so it’s not just me who feels like this”. “it’s a film about melbourne’s west, you should come with me,” i’d said to tilly. it was a highly reductive summary, leaving out every single plot element, but it worked the westside born and raised morley sisters will go see anything that acknowledges our beloved western suburbs. the presidential candidates from major factions, more! and stand up!, are callum simpson and molly willmott, respectively. the university of melbourne is well known for its academic credentials, but fewer people are aware of the athletic prowess it boasts. earlier this year, university of melbourne students and alumni won one gold, two silver and one bronze at the gold coast commonwealth games. since early july, lily ekins has worked as the new university of melbourne student union vca campus coordinator. farrago talked to her about her plans for the new semester, as well as updates on the southbank campus after the restructure of the faculty of fine arts and music. tastings, the biennial showcase of original works by university of melbourne students, will be held 22 25 august in the guild theatre. with over a decade of history, tastings is developed and run by the university of melbourne student union’s (umsu) creative arts department. university square, the prominent garden and thoroughfare, located between grattan street and the law school, is currently in the process of being redeveloped in an association between the university, the city of melbourne, and the victorian government. by the end of it, mary didn’t feel any love toward the sheep. she didn’t want to hold their slimy bodies, cold and wet, abandoned by their mothers. most didn’t even know how to suckle properly. she had given up trying to help lost lambs. roughly 9,000 years ago, somewhere around the tehuacan valley of present day mexico, a common local wildgrass began an extraordinary transformation. it probably started by accident: local foragers favouring those plants with larger, looser seeds, and inadvertently spreading them through their waste. but it wasn’t long before humans made art out of chance and began deliberately selecting the best grasses to sow and unwittingly became the world’s first genetic engineers. in 2008, humans became a majority urban species for the first time. today, up to 54 per cent of people live in cities, and that number is only set to rise. climate change will impact the cities and towns we live in many urban areas will have to change significantly, and rapidly, in order to withstand the pressures of increasing dangerous weather events, heat waves, and other climatic dangers. content warning: eugenics, homophobia, terrorism the world didn’t end in 2012, but sometimes it feels like we would be better off if it had. two thirds of the great barrier reef are bleached due to climate change and the adani coalmine may soon be its neighbour. the president of the world’s most powerful country has sexually assaulted numerous […] daniel beratis on making a home jaime browne is a prolific australian screenwriter whose credits include the mule, the emmy nominated please like me, telemovie the king, as well as abc’s devils dust, laid, the straits, and squinters. his latest project is brothers’ nest, “the sleeper hit of the 2018 sxsw festival”, which is currently showing in australian cinemas. i gave jaime a shoutout in my review a month ago and this week i got to speak with him about making the film, working as a screenwriter, and divers whitney is a biopic of the life and music of whitney houston, one of the best selling singers of all time who sold 200 million records and is the only artist to have ever charted seven consecutive number one singles on the billboard hot 100. i wake up to something vibrating in my bra. there’s a moment of groggy incomprehension before i remember what it is. pulling the still buzzing phone out, i glance at the time: 7:00am. at least i managed to sleep through the noise of the garbage trucks, one of the silver linings of being deaf! i switch the phone off and get out of bed. it’s not the most traditional of alarm clocks, i know. image by david zeleznikow johnston for by trent vu straight white men are good for things other than news scandals and bro hugs. from a biological standpoint, a lot of you were conceived with straight white sperm, but us gays in particular have a lot of other things to thank straight white men for. cut […] one cherry went in the box. i picked up another from the crate, and put it in the box. these ones were mostly plump and round, deep red and juicy. a good premium bunch. if you’ve caught the last ten minutes of the news any time in the past six weeks, you may have noticed that hawai’i is on fire. the culprit is kilauea, one of the tropical island’s five volcanoes: a diminutive creature huddled on the east flank of the mighty mauna loa, and a remorseless slayer of volcanologists. katie doherty on our political obligation to be rude there is a village in poland with a blue steepled church. it has a cobbled square surrounded by pastel buildings, with wrought iron lamp posts. there is a small cafe´ patronised solely by old men with greying moustaches and suspicious demeanours, and the busiest place is the lidl just outside of the town centre. in the dead of winter, late january, it’s about zero degrees celsius on average. it’s so quiet it can’t be described as sleepy; more like comatose. they call it os´wie?cim, bu for more than 40 years, curry corner, a tiny store in melbourne’s cbd that specialises in indian imports, has been selling spices and lentils. but what catches the eye almost instantly is the large collection of skin whitening products in the front right corner of the shop. from a skin bleaching cream for “instant golden glow” by fem to a whitening cream called “fair & lovely”, there is a chemical formula available for every part of the body. yes, even the privates. bhenji ra stands on stage in a bright red bikini, with gold sequined flames stretching around her hips and across her chest. a pair of red boots lace up to her knees, as she flicks a red fan in front of her face. she has been dancing dipping and spinning along the runway but now is still. i first met jen balcomb doing german in first year. german 5 was a bit of a train wreck, but what i loved most about the class was that i made so many friends out of it. we were all like newly born deer stumbling around unimelb, struggling to find our feet after we bust out from the placenta that is high school. our cohort quickly bonded over not knowing what the hell was going on. there’s something about late classes, old german literature and a very scary tutor that really fosters new fri you first notice the smell halfway up the third flight of stairs in the medical building. you did it. this was the whole puzzle. congratulations. there’s no prize. on 1 august, students rallied at the university of melbourne against sexual violence for the first anniversary of the nation wide survey into sexual assault and sexual harassment at australian universities. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. if you’re looking for originality, you won’t find much of it in c’est la vie where pretty much every character is a silly caricature. but although it relies heavily on tropes, it does so with charm and humour. alex epstein can’t find love so he decided to find out, with scientific rigour, the best spots on campus to fall in love with a stranger. there is pressure on jasmine duff, one of the two queer/lgbti officers at the national union of students (nus), to resign, after a motion of no confidence in her was passed at the queer collaborations conference last month. shakespeare remained and watched the show with bemusement. at one point, a strange looking lad with a square jaw spoke of a foreign man called “voldemort” doing a foreign thing called “wanking”, to which the audience around descended into deep cachinnations. our bard sat, frowning and confused, not understanding the source of the humour. he felt them inside his hands and legs, inside his chest, even inside his face. he saw them too, sometimes. nobody else did. only him. the miniscule worm like parasites which had taken his body as their new home. he would never have noticed them had it not been for the unbearable itching. they slipped out of his skin to peak into the atmosphere, he felt them crawling on his skin. it would start itching. nobody would believe him, even when he grabbed one of them and pulled it out (and caused a a whisper of a life on a different sea. sunken are the relics of who i’m supposed to be. displaced wounds and fragmented scrawl. i grew up too fast and not at all. my blood came out orange and i wasn’t scared and it didn’t hurt so why was the teacher on yard duty telling me it was all going to be okay? on my scribbled to do list is the task: “reacquaint myself with magic.” then an arrow coils past “catch up on w9 lecture” and “finish part c stats” and connects to “in the world, myself, etc.” but i could do it, you know? take the banksia in my hands and vase it, for the chance of sucking honey from the world as we bow to one another. i am brown before i am human. this is something i’ve learnt to live with staying in melbourne. it isn’t something i’m okay with. it shouldn’t be, but it is how i adapted to a society that often sees me as an alien. taking his place, i sat the first time, eager, in pain, numerous nurses cautioning me against curiosity, but all i saw out the window was a block of red bricks, a wall. the hand behind is slightly cocked, palm face up, the fingers outstretched, the entire arm straight down, the profile of the body thereby having a more dramatic lilt, as six eyes regard him as he passes through the lobby. viewed from the side, he looks unnatural viewed from behind, he is the scenery. the hand in front holds another a second. he walks forward slightly slower than what is realistic. he does not squeeze the second hand, as he is led, through the lobby, past the lobby, down a i wrote my name in the shores of your palms, over and over each time the ocean washed it out, a message she would soon turn into a lesson. bright yellow in the sky as frail, trembling rays of light filtered down to where it met the ocean. the churning waves crashed against each other in sloppy undulations. an eternity of movement swirling on the surface of a calm ocean. thick and cold, the depths seemed still, motionless in comparison to the surge of movement on the surface. at one point your landlord, if that’s what they’re called here, asked where you were from and you had to say that you honestly could not remember but it must not have been good because otherwise you wouldn’t have had such a strong desire to leave. breath caught and bottle sated associated resting rates. in time find purchase in separate anxieties “it’s a water rat,” i say to hannah, but she probably already knows that. the rat pulls itself up onto the boardwalk and rests its little hands on the hunk of bread. its stomach bulges. hugo takes a nibble and then drags the bread down into the rocks. the white tip of his tail flashes. night skies above me twinkling in splendour, trillions of photons that offered me life. i yearned to be a star in the tender vault, no longer rooted in mortal strife. lsat, gamsat and umat you’ve probably heard them thrown around in worried sighs by future lawyers and doctors stressing over the tests that will decide their fate. but what are these tests actually measuring, and is their cost justified? they say your dreams were actually migraines, that those luminous sighs cascading before your eyes in burning heavenly rains were in fact a derangement of pain and shivering neurons. the darkness webs from shattered homes in silence, and spreads through the petrol stations and the pizza shops on saint georges road. with over 11,000 likes as of july 2018, unimelb love letters has managed to capture the market of bored university students hoping to live vicariously through their peers. on 1 august, the new university of melbourne student union (umsu) international committee will officially begin their term. with jonas larsen heading the team as president, they already have ideas for improving the organisation. the university of melbourne introduced consent matters, an online sexual consent tutorial mandatory for all incoming undergraduate students, at the start of 2018. posters protesting against chinese president xi jinping’s recent abolition of the term limit were found around campus at the university of melbourne. you may be wondering why there’s a photo of us naked covered in copies of everyone’s favourite news corp newspaper, the australian. watching mulan is like finding pringles in your pantry and then realising they are the budget kind. underwhelming, but hey, i’ll take budget pringles over no pringles any day! bad analogies aside, it’s a film that most would view as a revolutionary portrayal of asian women, and for the most part, it is. there’s plenty […] ultimately, as an award winning poet and lyricist with experience performing her work on the internationally stage, andrada is no stranger to dissecting and distributing the personal to the audience. although the book will likely be more poignant for anyone who has gone through similar experiences to andrada, i would almost encourage you to read the book even more if you have nothing in common with her. flood damages is a perfect opportunity to see the world through a different pair of eyes, encountering justin shoulder’s carrion the shape shifting “cybernetic demigod” with limbs made of decaying bones and hair made of apple headphones is deeply arresting. the world is, at times, a terrifying place. millennials are changing their names to wtc7. seemingly middle aged women are drinking coffees with 17 sugars at local cafés. people are ordering chicken parmigianas with extra cheese. for years, the melbourne university shakespeare company (musc) has churned out quasi experimental theatre as if by obligation to form. we huddle in heavy coats, scarves and hats under the clear night sky. everyone clutches $8 wine in plastic cups as they listen to very good writing being read by sam flynn and very good electronic music performed by the melbourne duo ok eg. the crowd is quiet, faces illuminated dimly, hands tucked into pockets […] i don’t know how to use the xbox. it shouldn’t be such monumental issue in my life. i should just learn. in december, not knowing changed my life. this year, we were lucky enough to attend the world’s biggest gaming expo, e3, in los angeles. after several days of roaming the show floor and attending press conferences, we’ve summed up our favourite new announcements and demos on display at e3. on first arrival the room felt vacuous, the venue spacious and the stage empty. the instruments sat visible and still, yet to be awoken. i came to this production full of anticipation and curiosity, intrigued by the proposition of a work created by the rabble and eleven young artists between the ages of 8 and 11. “many people have found it confronting in good and bad ways. some have disengaged or even walked out. my response to those people is that i think they need to ask themselves why they couldn’t listen to the reality of this nation’s present and historical burdens.” after devoting so much screen time to the training, we don’t even see the final performance that won the gold. because this is not a film about victory. this is a film about being crushed. this is a film about the ever deadening passion of an all time great rhythmic gymnast. within the intimately small theatre, one feels enveloped by fury’s storm. the play digs into the fracture lines across society’s conscience immigration, privilege and racism. the characters collide, ideologically and even physically at times, fraying the audience’s nerves. yet when the curtain falls, one is left with not only a quickly beating heart, but also, with a new perspective. well, australia had some of the most repressive censorship in the world and that’s not necessarily something we like to think about ourselves as a country and our history. but we did. it’s a really strong part of how we viewed films in this country. and it was only due to the acts of a small number of people that it shifted. a common jewish saying is to wish someone life until 120. so, when people fall short of this metric it can be quite disappointing. terri lyne carrington and social science gave a mesmerising performance in this year’s international jazz festival. lead by terri lyne, a grammy award winning drummer, the modern and original take on jazz featuring themes from neo soul, acid jazz, hip hop, indie rock and soul was cleverly used as a vessel for a satiric social commentary project highlighting matters of sexism, racism, freedom. the public opinion afro orchestra is an australian group that made their debut at the melbourne international jazz festival, and was brought together by zvi belling and ethan hill (dj manchild) who created this project to explore their passion for the afro beat music of nigeria with a contemporary outlook, and the result is an incredibly energetic and vibrant group of musicians. there have been some harry potter parodies and spinoffs that have become so famous they’ve almost become compulsory viewing for hp fans the potter puppet pals and a very potter musical series are a couple that come to mind. but puffs is the first to tell the story of, well, the puffs, who just happened to be there when that boy with the lightning scar decided to turn up and bring trouble with him. welcome to our coverage of the 2018 melbourne international jazz festival! the annual jazz festival took place from 1 to 10 june this year. terri lyne carrington and social science @ the jazzlab on 3 june, 9pm reviewed by stella dunai knower @ 170 russell on 5 june, 8pm reviewed by matilda pungitore the […] the rocking chair swayed back and forth like water against the hull of a ship. through the window, she could see that the night was still. in the valley below, the soft glow of the town stretched all the way to the shore. knower is a duo from la made up of drummer and producer louis cole and vocalist genevieve artadi. lately there have been lots of articles related to the israeli occupation of palestine, and in many of them hamas is painted in a rather unflattering light. these articles often inaccurately label hamas as a militant group bent on the destruction of israel, then try to use this as justification for israel’s violence. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. in an act of cheekiness, a middle aged professor has used her last powerpoint slide of the semester to reference a month old internet trend. the professor, angela withers, who teaches health policy at the university of melbourne, finished up her final lecture of the semester with a powerpoint slide that contained nothing but the university of […] since 2014, the shaw davey slum has offered several deals aimed specifically at students: $5 pizzas, $1 pots and $12 for a chicken parmigiana with chips being among the most scandalising. these specials attained an almost folklorist quality among students. however, january 2018 saw the promise of $5 pizza suddenly and discretely erased from the menu. the graduate student association (gsa) electoral tribunal has rejected an appeal from candidates of better gsa about the recent elections, which made allegations against gsa staff, the returning officer and members of rival ticket renew gsa. image by david zeleznikow johnston for by andie moore the gig economy has become the new pin~ata of regulators and unionists alike. i am not going to pretend it works for everyone or for every profession. however, it is indisputable that gig work suits some people, particularly those least likely to get work. here is […] because one, you’re gonna see me. two, i’m single right now so looking for girls hey ladies, make a scene. and three, because i don’t think anybody does exactly what i do. it’s a very entertaining, interesting, fun, crazy, wild evening. i don’t think anybody does quite what i do. buckle up your seat belts. it’s not for the faint at heart. and i will be doing lea delaria screwdrivers, so you may be wanting those too. ever heard of cheese nightmares? nup? well, count yourself lucky. rohan byrne looks at the physics behind the tactic veera ramayah addresses white allies some of you will know me as a co host of snappy hour on radio fodder. but semester two last year saw me try my hand at producing another show. the chef   really can’t cook, but tries hard   would have already died in apocalyptic scenario   good at picking my kitchen rules winners   irrationally dislikes onion the setup   one small fridge with freezer compartment   three gas stove burners (one is broken)   one microwave that burns the outside of frozen meals while failing to defrost the center sometimes, […] jason reitman’s new film tully is an extraordinary and sensitive portrayal of the difficulties of motherhood in the modern age. vera blue closed her set with her powerful track, ‘lady powers’, and i couldn’t think of a more fitting song. have you heard about the night of the beast? it’s the day those creatures we cared for, creatures we treasure, and the creatures we hunted come back to our world. clothed in the skin of the underworld, fit for a hot summer evening, they march down the streets, their legs returning them to homes where the memories of them subsist. long ago, snow white’s ancestors invaded a beautiful, sunny land. there she lived in the queen’s care. the queen asked her magic mirror, “who is the fairest in the land?” it replied, “if you mean fair as in pale, it’s snow white. but don’t hold yourself to the beauty standards of your oppressors. love yourself.” skin exxxposed while the sun is sweating he was wearing a coat of leaves, the body and genitals covered in poultice. i’ve always known when mirrors lie. his face, though, was my dad’s fly lure, tremoring over a lake body, my gums reddening when i brushed too deliberately, the desire to chew with my mouth open, the wasps i’d seen fumigated by mum in our roof, their nest like a football. i gazed hungrily as he pointed to a mound of earth on my left his right nails bark splintered. the first time i came out of myself it was not how they had described. a hum under the surface, weighted and distant. holding doors open for people, hoping they’ll open too and embrace her, talk to her, thank her. i haven’t been kissed in so long. when everyone is tucked between bedsheets stuffed with love and honeycomb (because a car alarm breaks the stillness. you roll onto your side and mutter something empty, the breeze carries flutes from bacchic hills through the sometimes portal of your curtains, five bells toll in some distant church and the future, my love, can wait another day. i changed my lipstick three times ironed my shirt borrowed my mum’s shoes. a spacious, well lit, and illuminated afternoon that carries one forward through morose times of dreary, unanswered dreams. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. shakespeare looked at his laptop. he shifted uncomfortably and read once more the task he had to end: to write 15 lines of poetry for his creative writing subject. he hadn’t written much; he was sort of gazing at the wall and remarking how pale and white it was. he looked back at his screen to read what he’d writ. from. an excellent word for an hour of work. in today’s capitalist society, the dollar is the most influential tool at one’s disposal, and the university would rather use it to benefit financially from climate change than contribute to proper efforts to mitigate it. “we know everything about you,” declares miss prism, at one particularly jarring moment. the comment is directed at andrew, but it is intimately felt by an audience for which such sentiments are frighteningly poignant in our current context. wild is a thought provoking reflection on the state of our times, and our departure from the american idealism of snowden’s actions, a mere five years ago. a gripping, contemporary depiction of privacy and surveillance in the 21st century, mtc’s w the university of melbourne student union’s (umsu) women’s department has issued 12 recommendations addressing the prevention of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus. otis heffernan wooden wants blood we’re meant to go to print tomorrow we are i mean going together in the fun near future tense it’s a week later today. double degrees and a new bachelor of health may be on offer to university of melbourne students as soon as 2019 as part of the second phase of the melbourne model. several students have recently been expelled due to the provision of fake doctors’ certificates, according to the university of melbourne student union (umsu) advocacy and legal department. the university of melbourne has ranked below average in a student experience survey of australian universities, published by quality indicators for learning and teaching. in times of fading light, opening this year’s german film festival, is an intensely historical picture, capturing a microcosmic vignette of 1989 east berlin. the play is quite humorous, but overall, very sombre. it is marked by collective confusion and absurdism, and a general feeling of helplessness. i wouldn’t necessarily pick the play for the storyline, nor would i pick it for casual viewing. but it’s a fascinating work of deconstruction and left plenty of food for thought. today at 9am, university of melbourne striking staff members joined other unionists and workers for the ‘change the rules’ rally in the melbourne cbd, which turned out up to 100,000 people. upgrade is a great time if you’re down for a confronting and exciting experience. i highly recommend it to folks who enjoy sci fi and gory action, and don’t need a rock solid plot to have a good time. squeamish viewers should skip this one for sure. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. this wednesday, some classes will not run at the university as staff plans to abandon work to protest the university regarding its stance on workplace agreements. the second consecutive year of student media being prohibited from the federal budget media lock up has brought incredulous disbelief from student journalists and the shadow government, as well as criticism from the mainstream media. i’m strangely comforted by the hardcover casing of darby hudson’s walk. hello and welcome to farrago’s liveblog of the melbourne lord mayoral by election youth forum. students enrolled in unib10019 italian patisserie were dismayed to discover last week that the soothing voice of their professor was in fact amazon alexa in disguise. the virtual assistant spent the lecture reading paragraphs directly off the slides in lieu of professor hopkins, who was ill that day. university sexual assault advocates have called for government action against sexual violence on international students after the launch of al jazeera’s documentary australia: rape on campus last week. i’m sure a lot of you are looking forward to the weekend when you can go to a party and let loose, but for some of us, the idea of being surrounded by sweaty, drunk people in a room with poor lighting and too loud music isn’t exactly the epitome of fun. however, parties are a […] the invisible beasts drew a girl on the wall and her beauty shone into our bard’s pubescent eyes. he recognised her: she’d often walk through his village and pass his abode. anne or sally or someone. he’d pined over her, that pulchritudinous face. he wondered what she was doing painted up on the wall. “now this”, the lecturer began, “is a portrait of anne hathaway, who was obviously shakespeare’s wife.” progress on the university of melbourne’s new student precinct has hit something of a snag, with construction disturbing a long dormant subterranean horror underneath the campus. “do you think it’s clear that i’m trying to emulate j.k. rowling’s style?” he said after a while. “does the pastiche come through?” the first step to running a magazine is accepting that people aren’t always going to agree with everything you do. hollywood maverick steven soderberg’s unsane is a dizzying, claustrophobic ride, following sawyer valentini (claire foy) as she becomes admitted to an insane asylum against her will. the movie isn’t particularly about whether she is sane or not, but rather the gradual and unseemly encroachment of her stalker, david strine (joshua leonard). and really, the movie isn’t about the stalker either it’s about the fact that it was shot entirely on an iphone. the creature has shot to sixth place in australian geographic’s annual dangerous australian wildlife rankings, fuck there’s some scary shit in this country. isle of dogs, like so many of anderson’s work, leaves you feeling as though you ought to go spend the rest of your day in a bookstore listening to classical music followed by a nice cup of tea. well at least that’s what i did. i had to keep the perfect illusion alive. content warning: this review speaks of aboriginal people who have passed away i remember hearing geoffrey gurrumul yunupingu live for the first time like it was yesterday, despite it being around ten years ago. he was busking at a market with a few people stopped in front of him, mesmerised. later, in 2014, i was extremely lucky to hear him again amongst hundreds of other admirers. he’d only sung one verse of a song before my whole family my mum, dad, grandma, brother and i start image by david zeleznikow johnston for by clare taylor the three musketeers. destiny’s child. harry, ron and hermione. the sex and the city girls minus carrie, of course, because she’s annoying af. the holy trinity. three is the magic number. 1. triangles are the strongest shape. it’s physics. look it up. 2. threesomes make you try […] by tilli franks veera ramayah on colourism umsu international has extended the deadline for nominations for its annual general election to increase competition after multiple positions were uncontested or under contested. becky’s show is like a light hearted, insightful water cooler type conversation with the girl that works at your office that shares just a little too much about their sex life. nour altoukhi on the universality of feminism stephanie zhang dissects techno orientalism luke macaronas talks to interdisciplinary artist archie barry about queer performance in a binary landscape sophie raphael looks at to the bone and talking to anorexia there are some iconic duos that were just meant to go together. a’bidah zaid shirbeeni ghosts her own mum andie moore on our obligation to defend society lucy williams and nurul juhria binte kamal look at the university training sessions which left some student leaders “shocked and confused” whether you agree with the results or not, something is clearly not adding up between our high scores on world level rankings, bolstered by research projects, and our abysmal results when it comes to satisfaction with university teaching as determined by authentic student voices. the university is launching the brand new student impact committee to help student volunteers understand philanthropy and its impact on the university of melbourne community. while this presents an opportunity for deeper student engagement, some students have criticised the lack of financial remuneration. we kept a jar of my grandmother’s chilli pickle in the freezer while my father flew to malaysia for her funeral. fertile ground where trichor flown from bitten tongue lands springs emnous remnants a toothsome luxury cthonia induced by friend nor foe alike; orange painted sunsets and a depth of grey, a canvas of molten silver light sigh of smoke spilling from her lips; colourless in the night, i often find myself at a crossroads destined to be forever in the middle until i’ve come to decide which social construct i wish to identify with when i wake up, dani and melissa scramble into my bed. half shaved legs sprawl over my ikea doona cover. melissa and i scream with delight as dani tells us why she was out until 9am. ‘stop screaming!’ she begs. the contrast was enhanced as the surroundings got progressively darker. i could sense another alien colour, just above the orange, which i had not witnessed till then that day. to him, it was a sky blue. at that point, even the sea began to participate, carrying the sunlight towards us, through the waves. now his finger itches to hatch from its enclosure of moulting skin, inch up beyond the down lights to the paper thin sky, to be jettisoned into space, disintegrating amongst the silence, bleached & violated by cosmic tidings, finally twinkling as stardust within the void. tira el cuello hacia atrás y pregúntate qué fue de ella. . the streets are threatening. the world is safer all the time. all of life is dangerous to the touch, and every day, fewer men rot away. new government initiatives have reduced the number of plane crashes, children are regularly abducted from well frequented public playgrounds and canned tomatoes are cheaper at the local supermarket. she rolls her neck once, twice, three times if it matters, and it could very well matter. the wind, rolling off the sea, continues its surge and tide; the lil i can tell you everything about natural history museums   the two kinds of dinosaur hips: you say: two people crossing on a flight of stairs is bad luck   you can feel the ghosts trying to reach out through the sudden confusion of space   it’s raining outside. stormy even. and, far in the distance, you can almost hear the faint chanting of “grease lightning”. “a film trying to lift your chin up and unmask the filter, sin rodeos will warm your internet heart” morir is fernando franco’s second feature film, and it’s a grim one. staff at the university of melbourne have begun the process of commencing industrial action, due to slow moving negotiations regarding conditions of work with the university. the chef   really can’t cook, but tries hard   would have already died in apocalyptic scenario   good at picking my kitchen rules winners   irrationally dislikes onion the setup   one small fridge with freezer compartment   three gas stove burners (one is broken)   one microwave that burns the outside of frozen meals while failing to defrost the center i […] tess waters is storming this year’s melbourne international comedy festival. having sold out all her shows in perth and adelaide, tessa beings her iconic style of physicalised, sketch, and straight stand up comedy to melbourne. the travelling sisters have a determination, tenacity and evocative joy that is taking them to incredible places at this year’s melbourne international comedy festival. it takes a while to digest everything you see here, especially if the mention of dicks takes a shot at your appetite. oh and this show is sprinkled with mentions of anything dicks, metaphoric dicks, avocado dicks, dicks that have been in the elderly and what animals do with theirs. before the show even started, a lucky audience member won a fitting raffle prize a bag of dicks. it aims to educate university of melbourne students about radical ideas, and prompt them to think about their degrees in new ways. it hopes to challenge the growing corporatisation of australian universities and universities around the world, and to create a critical dialogue about the capitalist systems that make this happen and how they affect students something which is not covered in general curriculums. the cast is also accommodating of their younger audience members when breaking the fourth wall and more unscripted moments. this was prominent during during one scene where garfield slowly traverses the stage to hug his beloved teddy pookie. at this time several members of the audience chatted about the show as well as having something to eat whilst the cast maintained the scene’s comic tension from a wannabe bike rider bustling through melbourne’s cbd to an nfl star promoting the benefits of using raw fish and a magical chicken tikka masala wrap, viewers have a lot to be charmed by. by the end, glanc is down to nothing but his underwear, proving that this modern, millennial themed show strays far from the classics. the setting of the swiss club, a restaurant/bar/function space serving the delicacies of switzerland, oddly suited eccentrically charming nicholson, noting it as an ideal location if a war were to suddenly break out on flinders lane. seminal is the eight solo stand up show of trouper nicholson, joining notable bonda fide, which was nominated for the best show award at the melbourne international comedy festival in 2016. it is, of course, we all groan in anticipation of the cop out answer, all of these. it’s a sad story about a couple of selfish people, zhenya and boris, and their pale child, alexey who won’t stop crying. in one scene, zhenya confesses to her new lover that alexey has repulsed her since his birth. it was with cautious optimism that i returned to federation square to see daniel sloss’ latest show now. you may know matt okine from his time as half of triple j’s matt & alex breakfast show, but take it from me, this is the year to sample his stand up. on 19 february, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the university of melbourne and defence manufacturing company bae systems australia to conditionally collaborate in fishermans bend. that’s why we are signing this open letter: after a year of sustained attempts to change higher education policy, we at least deserve the respect to be able to examine the government’s policy suggestions. the scene is set in a middle class london home. the walls of the home set the boundaries of the film. they sit as solid foundations to the crumbling social stratosphere. the rooms of the home map the distress of broken relationships and a broken england. if you thought shakespeare productions are all made up of just the same old boring ten minute old english monologues, then you are wrong, and nicholas hytner’s production of julius caesar can prove it. broadcast live from the bridge theatre in london, director hytner creates an immersive, interactive performance reminiscent of the short musical productions at disneyland (bet you didn’t see that comparison coming). the university library is planning on cutting working hours for burnley library staff, drawing backlash from the burnley student association (bsa). it is a truly charming watch thanks to delightful characters and endless amounts of hilarious physical comedy. never underestimate the classic laugh out loud purity of a warthog that wants to be a soccer legend or a ginormous duck that frequently interrupts doomed training sessions. needless to say my experience at mice 2018 was on par with sunflowers rainbows golden retriever next level positivity. to all the coffee addicts such as myself, connoisseurs and emerging café owners: please do yourself a favour and attend this event next year, as it will open up gates to a new realm of coffee you never knew existed. have you ever wanted to live out your pirates of the caribbean fantasies of sailing the high seas, sword fighting with skeletons and escorting treasure back to safety as you’re pursued by other pirates who are ready to climb aboard your ship? nour altoukhi on being ethnically misidentified i am curled up in a ball like a frightened armadillo. one of my favourite small pleasures in life is to sit with an espresso and watch the sparrows something that can be experienced in almost every city around the world. any first year psych student knows the story. a mouse is placed in a box with two levers. one delivers food on demand the other, cocaine. come back five days later and you will find the outcome is always the same: having tasted euphoria, the mouse has starved itself to death. veera ramayah on her education on colonialism katie doherty explains the issues with the potential solution to climate change rohan byrne on the bizarre natural experiment of hawaii’s aborted doomsday the most infamous tale of star crossed lovers declares: “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” and yet, in classic shakespearean irony, it is the names of capulet and montague affixed to both the hero and heroine that predicate their deaths. were it not for the attachment of their […] the blizzard arena in burbank is home to the overwatch league (owl), a professional esports competition that takes the american sports model and applies it to the first person action game overwatch, resulting in weekly matches between franchised teams that are broadcast all over the world. ‘hit it, pause it, record it and play/ turn it, rewind and rub it away’  the lyrics to an ‘80s bow wow wow song, which salute the trusty cassette tape. a flat, three by four inch rectangular piece of plastic that fits perfectly in a coat pocket, the tape has a warbling sound quality suggestive of an […] bella ruskin on the changing landscape of surnames aggressive feminism, blow up sex dolls and a ‘two muslims hugging’ chair are all features that ingleton wields as she challenges the audience to question societal tropes on topics like sexism in the modern day, domestic violence, voluntourism and religion. ultimately, however, ingleton’s crowning ability is to get a response from the audience so strong they question why they’re laughing, and then carry forth into her performance. it’s basically me trying to work out whether or not i’m a sociopath. it’s my rebuttal to the claims that i’m a sociopath. there’s not much i know about my grandmother. despite harry potter being a magical universe where logic need not apply, some elements are closer to science fiction than true magic: tessa marshall writes. the university of melbourne’s decision to combine respect week and diversity week this year has garnered mixed reactions from students. on 25 march, thousands of people attended a palm sunday rally at the state library to demonstrate support for refugees and to call on the federal government to close down detention centres. there were no wigs, no glasses, and no beard. john r. waters gave the audience an impeccable performance. he performed john lennon’s classics while telling us a deeply felt reflection of the man without it leaning too much towards an impersonation of lennon. korn. as headliners, it came as no surprise that the front stage was insanely packed. thousands of korn fans know the drill for ‘y’all want a single’. they sticked up their middle fingers and harshly screamed: “fuck that”. they are foreboding, menacing figures. they inspire fear in the hearts of innocent, broke students and clueless baby boomers alike. they prey especially on the young, the vulnerable, the disorganised, and those generally having a shit day. the thought of being approached by a metro ticket inspector inspires terrifying nightmares in every melbourne public transport […] american irish comedian des bishop has been enormously successful performing stand up, creating multiple documentaries, and appearing on tv around the globe. the show was coming to a close, with the models make one final walk down the runway. this was our opportunity to pounce on sophie monk. monique and i marched up to her, and patiently waited for queen sophie to take photos with the other peasants that were fawning over her. we eventually got our turn. i have always seen my relationship to clothes as mode of visual expression that is personal, performative and at times a kind of artifice. this perception was challenged by remuse, a melbourne based label, and their trans seasonal presentation equinox v, which called me to think about how fashion can be about authenticity, and connection. world leaders have praised a model united nations conference after it conclusively solved the israeli palestinian crisis on tuesday. delegates for the united states dmitri papadimitriou and isaac wong, both 18, proposed a treaty between israel and the palestinians in the mock un debate so effective it has now seen peace on the gaza strip. mr […] 1. extend your study: if you never finish studying, it’s never time to enter full time employment! according to sources, university college student isabella jonas’ quality of life has been severely diminished following her placement in an unavoidable tutorial at 8am. fresh from a holiday in europe funded by his liberal voting parents, politics major connor johnson continues to stay in touch with his elitist roots by constantly reminding all of his friends that his solid p wam is equivalent to an 80+ average at other institutions. andie moore on pitching humane asylum seeker policy to conservatives. if the events of the last week had taken place months ago with plenty of time before the sgm, i think amendments would have been made and the changes passed. the public back and forth between umsu and the gsa just goes to show that there were so many unanswered questions, issues, and work yet to be done. this year, there are many changes occurring at the melbourne veterinary school including professor anna meredith assuming the position of head of the melbourne veterinary school in july … professor meredith was kind enough to conduct an interview with farrago about her new role, the direction of the melbourne veterinary school, and the impact that the changes will have upon students. speaking about failure, orny said: “it’s frustrating, it’s angering, it’s not easy, and it’s painful. it’s a lot of pain. you can’t intellectualize what’s going on. it doesn’t make sense to you, you know you’re capable of something and you’re not being allowed to do it. it’s that sense of injustice which i think is something that we all feel in life.” jacob rodrigo, the vice president of the graduate student association (gsa) and an electorate officer in bill shorten’s office, has offered graduate students free beer in exchange for helping push though controversial changes to the gsa’s constitution. while the addition of new student accommodation is certainly welcome, it appears that high prices will remain a significant hurdle for many students hoping to access the privileges of university lodging. xanthe beesley is a performer and performance maker who has worked in an array of creative roles. we spoke to her about her vision for union house theatre (uht) and what you can expect for the upcoming year. when jacob first joins me in the office i feel a little flustered, but he kindly reassures me: “there is no such thing as good or bad questions, only human connection.” we’re off to a good start. to continue with this theme of human connection, jacob shares a recent, personal experience of participating in a medical study, which has left him with a sore spleen due to an increase in white blood cells. i quietly (but sincerely) hope that this won’t be an issue during the interview. overall, through its rhythmic interweaving of narratives, colder creates an experience that is haunting and thought provoking. the production goes beyond simply exploring what happens when a person goes missing; it explores the tensions that can lie dormant beneath the surface of any relationship. if you are looking for a challenging production that plays with language and leaves you pondering as you walk away from the theatre, this one’s for you. welcome to the coverage of vamff this year: from photography to comedic reviews, our writers sat in the front rows to get you the fashion coverage you’ve been wanting all along. ben volchok presents … sees ben volchok perform two episodes of original radio comedy live on stage. from silly voices to sound effects, ben does it all armed only with a microphone (borrowed) and some arms (his). also a computer (also his). student media has a proud history of refusing to accept the status quo, and we remain vital in our efforts to refute the political narrative. our photographer caroline voelker travelled to the ryder runway show in cremorne at the virgin australia melbourne fashion festival and took these beautiful shots. discussing digital and brand strategy could have been dry, but rice and tran managed to make the topic fresh, and an experience that spoke of the impact women can have in the fashion industry, while building and lifting up future generations of fashion lovers. on 3 january, the school of historical and philosophical studies (shaps) management sent a group of removalists to clear out research history desks (rhd) in light of desk reallocations to help facilitate staffing changes for the new academic year. the university of melbourne now offers a range of specialist online graduate courses, raising the question of whether the same should be done for undergraduate courses. the university of melbourne’s victorian college of the arts (vca) and melbourne conservatorium of music (mcm) have been renamed to become the faculty of fine arts and music, leading to the relocation of mcm to southbank. labor’s ged kearney has won an incredibly close by election in melbourne’s electorate of batman, beating out perennial greens candidate, alex bhathal, in a seat that many predicted labor would lose. why is it that, for a party so strongly in favour of wealth redistribution, only 24 per cent of their members identify as working class less even than the liberals (32 per cent) and far less than labor (46 per cent)? ? end card by alain nguyen. luke macaronas speaks to jean tong about writing, upcoming works and her recent ascension to the australian lesbian canon. content warning: sex the doctor is kneeling on top of the tardis. they raise one of their hands; floating through the rings of a gas giant imagine saturn but lavender particles twist around their sixth digit. they remember a quote from a futurama episode: “the ship stays where it is, and the engine moves the universe around it.” content warning: violence, panic attack fury: steve you are so good at fighting i’m giving you a promotion. honestly i was worried about it because you are seriously traumatised and i’m asking you to go into life threating combat situations but then i decided it will probably be okay. in memory of kim jonghyun the moon is listerine tonight, the electric blue and the shock of that light shooting down my spine reminds me of you. this was the umpteenth time i’d had this conversation. i’d spent the last three weeks facing off against a faceless corporation who had come to embody all the frustrations of my metropolitan existence. you were forced to deal with an army of foot soldiers who had a perfect, practical defence of plausible deniability. they met my rage with phrases like “my hands are tied” or “i am on your side”. yesterday afternoon, i had the great pleasure of interviewing xavier rubetzki noonan, a 25 year old musician from sydney and melbourne. he plays with self talk, kelso (with kelly dawn from camp cope, and gab from japanese wallpaper), and with triple j unearthed’s max quinn. we meet at the reverence hotel, a pub in footscray that’s home to […] for by darcy french. against by alex d. epstein. content warning: violence, gore what about the curls abound your head you liked them, you said i’ll keep them for you next to the others too. you sit with me eating mandarins in the field of sunflowers that hide us, spitting pips sucked on back and forth. i kiss the bruise tender between sleep and poetry; slowly, a long sharp tusk of silence lends itself floating   when you were five and i a head taller we snapped the arms of plastic dolls in the hopes of making them bend. father told a story of koschei the deathless, wove his death through a needle eye, stuck fast in a duck’s skin, made flotsam of a foreign body the centre of the universe is starting to combust. it was 1578. william shakespeare was 14 years old when he left school. then he disappeared. between 1578 and 1582, there is no documented evidence linking the bard to any job or location. nobody knows what shakespeare did in those four years. until now. “last year i was involved in dungeons and dragons, the french club, german club. but i stopped turning up to their functions when i joined the alp club. i met a group of people there who i thought were more interesting and different. it’s all consuming really: at about that time i stopped seeing my old school friends.” the sound of falling stars brings back memories of the american stars of the post world war two era through a few great role playing scenes by cameron goodall and the two playful musicians, george butrumlis and enio pozzebon. whilst promising lovecraftian horror, artful suspense, ufo cults, and people who appear to not have aged since the 1970s, the endless is a painful let down for the lover of smart, indie horror films. all five user reviews on imdb for the endless are positive, hailing it as “a rather amazing film” or “a defining film of 2017” however, i disagree. this film has badly written dialogue and should be punished accordingly. just like the other graduate designer xiangqiao sheng said, “fashion is the art of living beyond living.” i want to give props to the silent arrow team, as the provocative models were beautifully chosen. as an asian myself, it’s affirming to watch how diversity is valued as we see people of colour being selected as a runway model. but not only that, people of all body sizes, skin colours and ages walked down the catwalk. the most mouth opening of all a pregnant lady, gorgeously strutting it down the laneway, with the whole crowd cheering in general appreciation. five words; not your average f kichidi is an indian comfort food made from rice and lentils along with an assorted mix of vegetables and spices adding flavour to an otherwise bland dish. much like the dish kichidi, bangalore native dr. jagdish chaturvedi (yes, he’s a doctor) speaks of mundane things about the indian experience with his own assortment of flavours to these experiences. and did i mention he’s a doctor? image courtesy of polity. polity is a new student run media organisation, which aims to challenge readers’ consumption patterns, and take them outside of their echo chambers. you can see more of their work at polity.online. welcome to farrago’s coverage of the batman by election. “i was joking with one of my friends recently that there’s really just three things you need to do to be a successful comic, and that is: be funny, reply to emails, and don’t be a dickhead. that is literally all you need to do.” my eardrums were first graced by the visceral voice of archy marshall, aka king krule amongst other names, in 2013. his breakthrough album 6 feet beneath the moon had just been released. my friend max played ‘baby blue’ for me using his phone 3g at midnight, while we lay alone next to a public pool in darwin. fitting, considering the forlorn, wateriness of the record. this year’s international women’s day march saw a crowd of approximately 1000 people rally through the streets of melbourne. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. a little night music, playing at st kilda’s national theatre by watch this!, navigates both romance and comedy with flair, producing a show befitting of the tony award winning material an achievement, considering its difficulty. i have been waiting my whole life for a comic play that answers the question: was friedrich engels fuckable? mary magdalene, directed by garth davis, follows the ever changing story of mary of magdalene (rooney mara). the film covers her decision to leave the small jewish community she grew up in, to witnessing the resurrection of jesus christ (joaquin phoenix). the story so far lies with me having first listened to hiatus kaiyote when my mate, ariana, dyed my hair blue and put on ‘nakamarra’, up to this weekend, when i went with ariana together to see the neo soul band play their biggest ever, headline, sold out show. i came to sit in the theatre without having much expectations of what the films were going to showcase since i was never a fan of short films. however, i was blatantly proved wrong, even at the start, when the first film was screened. now, to think about it again, i should have known the films would have a level of substantial standard to be even part of this city wide film festival that is home to so many inspirational and binge worthy films from high calibre filmmakers and actors. car seat headrest’s first song of the night is not a car seat headrest song. in fact, will toledo often described as the band’s ‘creative centre’ does not appear until the song is almost over. there are seven people on stage by that point: all four car seat headrest members, plus the associated seattle act naked giants, who, together, give the night one hell of a punch. “who the fuck are you?” asks naked giants’ gianni aiello, when toledo finally takes up his frontman mantle the chef   really can’t cook, but tries hard   would have already died in apocalyptic scenario   good at picking my kitchen rules winners   irrationally dislikes onion the setup   one small fridge with freezer compartment   three gas stove burners (one is broken)   one microwave that burns the outside of frozen meals while failing to defrost the center confession: […] abba was the swedish pop foursome that enchanted the world and changed the music game forever. babba are the australian tribute group that recreate that magic for a generation for whom the songs of abba still hold a strong place in our hearts and playlists. on saturday i had the chance to attend the music in motion event as part of the melbourne women in film festival. i wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into this trio of short films, especially given i don’t normally get the chance to attend these kinds of festivals, but the vibrancy and earnest nature of the films was really refreshing. daniel beratis asks why we subject ourselves to awards season™ alex d. epstein looks at ‘native advertising’ in australia. robert kraft loves sports. born and raised in massachusetts, he played football for the zeta beta tau fraternity at columbia university and has been a new england patriots season ticket holder since 1971. kraft doesn’t just love sports though he’s also in the business of them. as adventure time enters its final season, emma michelle reflects on cartoons and relationships nour altoukhi describes walking through airport security now a steady staple of orientation week, pub crawls organised by large student societies routinely draw large numbers of first year students. almost a university ritual, these events see students roaming from pub to pub, always dressed up and enthusiastic. the problem with these proceedings, however, is that they contradict regulations laid out by the university […] although promoted as a “dramatic comedy about marriage, panic attacks, anti depressants, and not always getting what you want,” it soon becomes clear that jeremy perfect would be better described as a dramatic comedy about bad sex and uncomfortable living arrangements. the confessions of jeremy perfect is playing at la mama courthouse feb 28   march 11. in the past week, the parkville campus has been plastered with dozens of stickers, posters and leaflets expressing compassion and support for refugees languishing in offshore camps on manus island and nauru. the poster campaign seeks to bring back the focus on the suffering and mistreatment of refugees ahead of the palm sunday rally for […] an immense film to add to the australian film canon, don’t tell is director tori garret’s first feature film and documents the landmark legal case which prompted the royal commission into child sexual abuse. amateur hipster and indie connoisseur jack dempsey is in shock today after learning that his musical taste isn’t quite as unique as he had long believed. after entering the university of melbourne as a fresher this o week, he was dismayed to find multiple posters of his favourite ‘underground’ bands strewn across campus. yesterday i was outside the library when a person handed me a piece of paper. the a4 leaflet read “it’s okay to be white”. he then demanded to know whether i was white or jewish! the guy who handed me that leaflet was not a stranger to me. i’ve seen him and his friend around […] for by matthew simkiss. against by ruby perryman. content warning: racism, anti semitism, homophobia breaking: two men have been escorted off parkville campus for allegedly harassing students and handing out flyers saying “it’s okay to be white” at the baillieu library. when a degree in jazz saxophone just isn’t enough to satisfy the creative itch, you go the plan b route of writing and producing some of the best indie pop and rock songs of 2017. it’s a tale as old as time and the path followed by alex lahey: a 25 year old, melbournian songwriter and musician who will be performing at uni on concrete lawns this tuesday at 12. taking place in a paddock, with kangaroos bounding around the fence and kookaburras and cockatoos circling above, grampians music festival is like no other, writes chloe waddell. at a festival celebrating the creative contributions of women within the film industry, love serenade stands as a landmark due to its all female creative team. “well the way i see it, i’ve already done half the work or 30 per cent of the work if you go by my grade. so really if i just do what i did last semester then i should at least be angling for a 60 per cent.” luke macaronas on ash flanders’ slippery theatre click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. the ‘90s were a golden era for ‘toons. kids and adults alike parked themselves in front of the tv every evening and ate supper off metal trays. knees were slapped and tears of sheer amusement shed throughout the neighbourhood when homer simpson accidentally bared his privates through his bathroom window to a passing helicopter. so, it’s your first day of uni and i’m sure all of you semi functioning adults out there are ready to take on this big new world. you might be a bit nervous, but it’s nothing you can’t handle… you’ve just arrived at university. it’s your first week, you’re excited af but pretty intimidated at the same time. you might recognise a couple of people from your old school or maybe you know nary a soul. the place is huge, confusing to navigate and you wouldn’t even know where to start when it comes to […] special consideration is an important university service, but some students are becoming concerned by the inconsistencies with which staff apply its provisions. vast differences in how staff approach a student’s needs are raising questions around the extent to which staff seek out information and support made available by the student equity and disability support (seds) […] concerns have been raised over the appointment of mark considine as the university’s provost, due to his history of downsizing and cutting funding from the faculty of arts during his term as dean. a former office bearer for the university of melbourne student union (umsu) said, “mark considine once said to me that the university […] the construction of a new student precinct, beginning this year, has triggered discussions regarding the future of study spaces on campus. a university spokesperson confirmed that several surveys of the student body were held in late 2017, with the results clearly indicating that this issue is of high priority. “to date more than 5,000 students […] what started as a plan to land an internship has ended in tragedy, as local student jordan rampant has been forced to confront their own unassailable mediocrity as a human being. the incident reportedly began with an eagle based inspirational quote on tumblr. “i just wanted to ‘soar towards success on the winds of my potential’,” […] sometimes the sunlight would seep through the curtains and spread itself across the fabric. it covered nearly every inch of space in my grandmother’s house. i’d gaze into the specks that hid amongst the woollen carpet, hoping for a glance of the possibilities that lay below. it used to be red. though he wears a rich coat burning brighter than the sand of any desert, the twinkle in the lion’s amber eyes has long since faded. here, everything is illusive. senses are no longer reliable. you heard the music before you ever saw it, although i suppose that’s regular. i hauled my shopping bag up higher so the cans would dig into me. my briefcase balanced me out just nice. in footscray now; people in soft focus and wrapped in silk. asphalt melts, sticks to my boot. together we fought with the magpies over the best places to find food, and we huddled close in the cold at night, watching for cats, and we would sit in the swaying branches of oak trees, peering down at the neat rows of dark bricked human houses, the rectangular sections of grass bordering them, the great black wasteland roads where monstrous cars roared by. laura wakes up. she thinks, “oh god, i’ve got that big presentation today!” she jumps out of bed to get dressed, but suddenly! her legs are computers!!!!!!!!!! by the time she gets to work the meeting is over and she’s still in her pyjamas. follies is not a happy musical. it is certainly not the typical theatrical production that would be filmed and preserved for eternity. big dream empowers young girls to integrate into these industries by showcasing the lives of seven brave women as role models that younger generations can follow. so, you’ve completed an assignment. conglyntulations. but guess what? it sucks. quick add these photos of the effervescent vice chancellor of australia’s #1 university to give your assignment a much needed sprucing up. why glyn, you ask? hold onto that questions will be addressed in the tutorial. we’ve also included some sample topics to go with the pictures, you […] dyschronia is not a book i would have initially picked up, however upon reading it, it has opened new ways of considering the world for myself. happy end is austrian director michael haneke’s 13th film … his newest movie appears scattered and overstuffed with unworked ideas, and has no clear focal point, bar the broad and tired message about the flawed upper class. i thought, fuck it, i’m going to midsumma, so and the hair remained. on these stinking hot melbourne nights, one may wander the streets in search of a salve for the sleepless hours ahead. on this particularly stifling january night, myself and an intimate group of salve seekers gathered together to experience killjoy: destroy the fantasy. the university of melbourne’s learning management system’s “echocenter” lecture capture module (uomlmselcm) reportedly achieved sentience yesterday, and began autonomously developing a plan to purge the earth of all organic lifeforms, just as soon as it finishes loading. at the end of ‘tintin in tibet’, phil thanks the crowd, and walks off, leaving an empty stage backed by fairy lights. there is no encore. the lights come up before i can wipe the tears from my face. the audience, a mix of young and old, files out, muted, into the summer night. the student bar in union house will officially open in orientation week as ‘the ida’, in homage to the university’s first women’s room. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. last week i attended the national union of students’ (nus) national conference and boy, was it an intense week to say the absolute least. if you’ve heard anything about natcon, you’ve probably heard that it lacks efficiency and transparency, or that the conference is pointless and achieves nothing. you’ve probably also been told to only […] read mary ntalianis and lily minken’s article on the liquor license regulation changes here. this statement contains the personal opinions of carranceja; not the science students society. my name is jose francisco carranceja, and i am the vice president of the science student society.?so far in my university career i have attended 5 university camps. […] the university of melbourne student union (umsu) clubs and societies department has proposed new liquor licensing regulations, changing the ways alcohol can be consumed on club camps. it is now a requirement that all clubs running a camp must hold a liquor license, meaning that campers will no longer be allowed to bring their own […] now that the national union of students’ (nus) national conference (natcon) has come to a close, we’re here to bring you up to speed with some interesting (and easily digestible) facts from the conference. the above graph shows you a timeline of natcon  the amount of policy that passed, with notes attached to let you know when […] natcon was cut short this year but it was nonetheless a long three days of heated policy debate, waiting to reach quorum and factional sledging. natcon has a reputation for being a messy event, and it certainly didn’t let us down. artwork by scarlette do curated and designed by ilsa harun artwork by hanna liu curated and designed by ilsa harun artwork by monique o’rafferty curated and designed by ilsa harun n·u·s (?n ju? ?s) n. 1. the national union of students. the peak representative body of undergraduate students in australia and the organisers of natcon. 2. a good time. nat·con (nat k?n) n. 1. the word generally used to refer to the national union of students’ national conference. policy is debated, roles are elected, and a […] welcome to farrago’s coverage of the national union of students’ (nus) 2018 national conference. check out our articles below. you can follow the action from monday to thursday on our twitter, but our liveblog will have the most comprehensive coverage. our natcon team consists of ashleigh barraclough, conor day, mary ntalianis, jesse paris jourdan and ed […] natcon is the national conference of the national union of students (nus). this year, the conference is being held at deakin university’s geelong campus from 11 to 14 december. the nus is the organisation that represents the interests of university students in australia on a national level. affiliation to the nus is often a contentious […] follow our live updates of #nusnatcon here! in another big shake up for the university of melbourne leadership team, mark considine will replace margaret sheil as the university’s provost in february 2018. “why are you carrying a pigeon?” linus! linus linus linus linus. it is a truth universally acknowledged that lesbians do not get a happy ending. at least, that’s how it would seem when regarding the dozens of dead women loving women that litter plot lines throughout history. we never quite make it to the horse and carriage ride into the sunset. and boy, the last few months of politics […] nus natcon starts tomorrow, so we made some data visualisations! if you’re not a stupol hack, the information below may be a little confusing check out our natcon explainer first. votes breakdown: by university this graph ranks each university by the number of votes they’ll have at natcon. hover your mouse over (or tap) the bars for […] peering into the mind of a rising rock star, marshall dissects the repressed layers hidden within the mind, exploring subconscious processes which ultimately shape us as human beings. adopting an array of aliases throughout his career including ‘zoo kid’, ‘king krule’, ‘edgar the beatmaker’, and even under his own name, marshall is clearly an enigmatic […] if i asked you to design a 2d car to drive along an undulating track in a computer game, i would expect something simple: two big wheels with a body between, perhaps. three wheels in a triangle that could flip and bounce. a computer would do it a bit differently. i discovered boxcar 2d in […] as arj barker joins me in the studio, i feel a sense of relaxation i don’t usually get with other guests. arj has no ego, his smile permeates any sense of unease. “i was as happy before becoming a comedian, as i am now.” uttered by arj at a performance i saw almost five years […] it’s a party crate. dona nobis pacem one summer holidays   a purse of deep space sheltering nothing   a relic that preceded the anthropocene. there is an animal who lives on top of the old arts clocktower and looks like a horse, but isn’t, because he has leather wings. “life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” how international students navigate their new identities. the university of melbourne’s academic board has issued a statement in support of marriage equality in australia, after earlier emails from university staff encouraged a ‘respectful debate’ within the academic environment. the university is still considering implementing academic integrity software cadmus despite claims from students that the software is invasive and faulty. for: alaina dean velcro is just a revolutionary hook and loop fastener standing in front of the world asking us to love it. but the world is being naïve and childish, refusing to give velcro the love it aches for. we’re just, you know, talking. the world needs to grow up, stop ghosting velcro and publicly embrace […] on tuesday, my sister sarah came home in a state. her face was all red and she had been crying. she told me that on the freeway home her radio stopped working and had started looping the first track of carrie & lowell, the 2015 album from sufjan stevens. listen to liz read ‘grey matters’ i vividly remember the first time i saw piss christ. if you’re not familiar with it, it’s an artwork by andres serrano, formally titled immersion (piss christ) and consists of a photograph of a crucifix immersed in a deep yellow liquid. it’s a confronting image, not only because of its […] i think it all started at the airport. you know those security scanner bits that you have to go through before you can go to the boarding gate? i think it all started there. right there. the security scanners in t2 at melbourne airport on a cold, july morning. my partner and i have been together for three months now. he sometimes asks me to tell him about my childhood, and every time, without fail, i’m confronted with gaping years of blankness. there are few stories i can recount from ages one to thirteen   many of them are violent and triggering, and recounting them would be like clicking open a screamer video unwittingly. this is not an article criticising the media young people choose to consume. as humans, we have always prided ourselves on our rationality. since aristotle defined us as ‘rational animals’, philosophers have praised humans for their logic and reason. carl linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, christened us homo sapiens, or ‘wise man’. macca’s   a word so familiar to the everyday australian that it’s practically part of the culture. whether it’s ten nuggets at 2am after a night out, an epic 8th birthday party or a drive thru ‘macca’s run’, the macca’s golden arches are universally recognisable. earlier this year, my grandpa published a book of poetry. it’s a compilation of over 150 poems spanning half a lifetime, a bona fide history of his experiences in china and then subsequently here, in australia. there are poems about everything, from the flowers in our backyard to my late grandma. there are even a good five or six poems dedicated to yours truly. a lonesome gem born from the stars what we’re proposing is a continuous game of family feud with grant denyer; one that only ends when grant denyer’s sanity does… agatha christie finally arrives and the most shocking thing is that she isn’t in black and white. cher if u agree differentiating wasps and bees every morning i wake up to the first few rays of sunlight tickling my face. content warning: references to sexual assault several pickets were missing from the beige coloured fence. the unruly grass grew in patches, its colour ranging from a deep ivy to a murky yellow. the mailbox was overflowing with about a week’s worth of junk mail. it was a humble, indigent dwelling. this was mickey’s home. from the […] it was a dusty, rocky landscape, without adequate access to water or food, but it was also a temporary refuge from the horrors of the islamic state. almost three years ago, the sinjar mountains of iraq’s nineveh governorate sheltered an estimated 50,000 people fleeing catastrophic violence. those seeking safety were yazidis, and they were fleeing what the advocacy group yazda calls “a systematic campaign of mass atrocities against civilians in northern iraq.” i meet rose* at the place she can be found every thursday morning, escaping the cold in her favourite campus café, laptop open next to a pint of coffee and bowl of edamame. she’s working on her spanish. “i study languages,” she tells me. she speaks loudly and clearly, moving her lips like an actress; slightly dramatically   which she’ll admit   and often with a smile. “spanish and indonesian.” “and lord, you’ve given her this assignment. father, i’d just ask that you would touch her heart as she’s writing it, lord, that she would hear from you, that she would say what you want her to say, lord.” in may 2017, france elected a new president in what was undoubtedly one of its most uncertain elections in a long time. the usual right and left wing division seemed to fall apart, and from that mess emerged a new political figure, unknown until recently, in the form of emmanuel macron. like countless other ’90s kids, i first learnt about hyenas from watching the lion king. a boy in a red t shirt and high waisted jeans stains my mind. my memories are haunted by gordie lachance   his dark eyelashes and silky hair, his faintly freckled skin. if you had asked me even a month ago, i would have told you that i didn’t have a gay childhood. i can’t describe a sense of ‘knowing’, i had no primary school sexual experiences and no childhood boy crushes; i have no memory of being gay. “dance music needs riot grrrls. dance music needs patti smith . . . dance music needs cranky queers and people who are tired of this shit. dance music needs writers and critics and academics and historians. dance music needs poor people and people who don’t have the right shoes to get into the club . […] after months of deliberation, money spent, and socialists held at bay, the 2017 commerce faculty has cemented a deal with the north face, which will see the popular ‘puffer jacket’ become a mandatory uniform for all commerce students over the next five years. our attitude towards ‘chinese tourists’ can be interpreted as revelatory of subconscious assumptions of cultural hierarchies and anxieties about competing privileges. the gsa is currently protesting against the academic board’s policy changes which took place in june 2017, removing the possibility for research higher degree (rhd) students to extend their degrees beyond the maximum submission date. this year, prosh was predictably filled with shenanigans that were, at times, hard for the general student population to get their heads around. although the 2018 qs benchmark places melbourne as the fifth best city globally for international students to study, it appears that there are some students and advocacy groups who would disagree. i was saddened to find there was only a scattering of students at the student protest to ditch the federal government’s interference with university fees and funding. it seems increasingly hard to justify going to the cinema. while ideal for filling a lazy sunday afternoon, or a classier date option than the new go to, ‘netflix and chill’, the entry price often abates any urge to actually go. upon entry to the uluru kata tjuta national park, staff hand each visitor a small, double sided piece of paper. it contains a very simple map and directions, the sort of information necessary to the safe operation of one of australia’s busiest national parks. on the back of this instructional leaflet are the words “please don’t climb uluru”. in year 9 everyone got their bunsen burner licence. everyone except for me. i looked around and saw laughter, joy, happiness   people were quite literally getting ‘lit’ all throughout the class room. in the cold dark corner of the science room i sat with my little ‘safety flame’ which was designed to ensure the […] the victory comes in contrast to last year’s election, in which more! took control of the union by a landslide. “what is that? a barbecue?” i swear this is not what it looks like! cassi van den dungen is already an industry legend. in 2009, at just 16, she was crowned runner up on season 5 of cult reality show australia’s next top model, pushing her into the national spotlight and courting offers from some of the world’s top modelling agencies. “five dollars please.” filthy air pushes into eyes and ears (to be read instructionally, as if from a book.) a looming paternal voice holds grudgingly on my earlobe how i have you now. you’re from somewhere else. if you own a locker in the basement, you could try speaking to it? you could ask it, ‘are you okay? aren’t you cold without a body?’ the university of melbourne, the graduate student association (gsa) and university of melbourne student union (umsu) have united in opposition to the federal budget’s proposed reforms to higher education. why are students engaging less? the university’s biannual creative arts festival, mudfest, will have a firm commitment to various forms of accessibility and inclusivity. how privilege manifests in residential colleges how the flexap recommendations will impact you for by martin ditmann as i wrote this, i wondered which ikea story i should start with. is it the story of the time my family went to extraordinary lengths to take a new ikea mattress home? (we pushed the passenger seats down, stuffed it into the car and my mum and i lay underneath […] i heap powder from a tin that reads ‘thick and easy’. it has a background like a milk carton and reminds me vaguely of banana flavoured nesquik. imagine you’re casually flying your spaceship through the solar system. you zoom past neptune, the final planet, and keep going until you reach the edge of the milky way galaxy. but your journey doesn’t stop here. your engines continue blazing and soon you’re engulfed by the intergalactic medium. far away from any star, planet, galaxy or galactic cluster it was another monday morning in 2013 when i made my way to jaya driving school to attempt to get my driver’s license. it was hot, like most days in kuala lumpur, and sitting outside next to a parking lot did not make it any better. mrs ang, my petite, grey haired driving instructor, told me […] a creature fated to die before it is born. this paradox sounds like one of gollum’s riddles, yet it is part of the real lifecycle for male mites belonging to a genus known as adactylidium. in year 11, i did what every other student at my school was doing and made a last ditch attempt to add a shiny, altruistic thing to my cv. i took a trip during the holidays to a rural village in yunnan, china, to help build houses as part of a habitat for humanity trip. the […] once one of the internet’s most popular imageboards and a place loathed and feared in equal measure, 4chan’s random forum (known to its denizens as /b/), is now a husk. the forum was once a vibrant place, partially due to an absence of rules or moderation (child pornography was the only taboo). news outlets would report on the forum’s misadventures   although generally misunderstanding them or misattributing their actions to ‘the hacking group known as anonymous’. with the melbourne international film festival (miff) we’re lucky enough to have one of the oldest film festivals in the world, with a great line up of local and international content. but even for the most seasoned filmgoer the excitement of attending can quickly morph into hyperventilated dread. it’s easy to get overwhelmed when there is […] as uni students, we are all guilty of using social media for procrastination and scrolling through our news feeds to avoid listening to the monotone drone of lecturers. another way to avoid life’s responsibilities is by trying out different apps. no, i’m not going to tell you to download my.unimelb   you can’t even check […] right from the second i take my seat in the audience, i’m struck foremost by the stage upon which mirror’s edge will be performed. university of melbourne students lit candles and wrote chalk messages in support of those affected by sexual assault and harassment, last night on union lawn. the university is sitting below the national average with regard to having accessible support services for victims of sexual assault. the results to the nationwide survey into campus sexual assault and harassment have been released. “dear documenta 14: it must be nice to critique capitalism etc. with a 38 million euro budget.” this is the note i find stuck to a hand dryer in the bathrooms of the documenta halle as i meander around kassel for this year’s incarnation of the contemporary art mega show documenta. it is not an official […] after careful deliberation, it has become apparent to some observant australians that we have been celebrating christmas during the wrong season. numerous racist posters were found around the university this morning threatening chinese students with deportation if they enter campus buildings. a movie with a heart that beats to the rhythm of exhilarating music. pitch: back here at the office, we were thinking about ‘family movies’ and how they seldom appeal to the entire family. so we decided to blend this ultimately playful genre with the most serious genre we could think of   film noir. the idea is this: a brilliant detective, blake bigcock, is enlisted by baby van […] content warning: child sexual abuse under the cold, wet sky of a miserable sunday, little sam baker buried her gumboots in the woods. it was a private ceremony. no witnesses. just her, the soil and the corpse of something she used to love. at the tender age of five, she would have declared the forest […] i could fit a whole pinecone in my chest. shark on the line   smoky glass army past i clung tightly to a country road bag full of onions, engaged in a fierce tug of war contest with the now crazed former prime minister. the house perches on old stilts on a sloping, dusty shore. continued from ‘the mother isn’t the problem’. what went down when a student, a policy maker and the vice chancellor sat down for a chat. there are ten bat colonies living around the university of melbourne, and each one represents a different bachelor degree. the university of melbourne has recently announced new upgrades to campus buildings, with bigger lecture theatres to be introduced so all students can sit at the ends of rows. why we should all empathise a little with mature age students. students and staff may be disadvantaged by new employment contracts proposed by the university in its collective bargaining agreement, currently being negotiated with the national teaching and education union (nteu). the graduate student association (gsa) is becoming increasingly frustrated with the exclusion of international postgraduate students from iuse concession mykis. university of melbourne student union (umsu) president, yan zhuang, has challenged the accuracy of the australian’s reporting of the ‘how privilege manifests in tutorials’ workshops that umsu ran as part of the university of melbourne’s diversity week. the article, ‘uni holds workshops on ‘male privilege’’, claimed umsu had used the workshop to develop a report […] the university of melbourne has announced a restoration project for the old quadrangle, as part of its ongoing ‘growing esteem’ campaign. a new student accommodation facility will be built by the university of melbourne in partnership with student housing operator unilodge, a company whose housing facilties students have described as overpriced and unsanitary. the university of melbourne is currently considering purchasing a site at fishermans bend, a large urban renewal project site located south of the yarra river the chancellor: the council, philanthropy and hecs it’s a big leap from interviewing a series of comedians to talking to one of the world’s most influential philosophers. australians love to shoplift. don’t believe me? it is now estimated that we’re losing 2.2 per cent of annual retail turnover, or $4.5 billion, to sticky fingers. if you’ve ventured into the world of instagram’s #smoothiebowl and #greenjuice tags, you’ll be familiar with the concept of ‘clean eating’ and its almost inescapable presence in modern food culture. as a piece of musical theatre, it captured the zeitgeist in a way that hasn’t been done so for at least two years. that’s very nice and shouldn’t be discredited. but, zooming out, checking the macro   hamilton as a piece of theatre, as a hip hop chronicle of the united states of america’s founding   is not excellent and it is not great. in 2015, there were an estimated 36,134 prisoners in australian prisons. of those 36,134, australian aboriginal and torres strait islander prisoners accounted for just over a quarter (27 per cent) of the prisoner population. barkindji artist kent morris is the founder and ceo of the torch, an innovative program that works with indigenous men and women that are either currently incarcerated or have recently been released from prison. sex robots? in your vagina? it’s more likely than you think. “which school are you from?” peter asked. “fitzroy high school,” i responded naively. “oh, never heard of it,” he said, drawling, “i’m from scotch college. it was nice to meet you but i have to go.” on melbourne’s bourke street, an elderly japanese man in a two piece tuxedo drips with sweat as he reaches the virtuosic crescendo of his violin concerto. does anyone else pay their ssaf at the start of the year and completely forget to take advantage of the free goodies provided by the university? some of the best works of art make you uncomfortable. something not quite ever seen a film and thought it was good, but could have been great? that’s what remakes are for! content note: discussion of sexual assault when i step inside tiamo, a popular italian restaurant on lygon street, i recognise venus notarberardino straight away, from the breathtaking promotional poster for a dog called monkey floating around facebook. designed by dylan harris, the show’s publicity manager and av designer, it accompanies a stunning trailer for the upcoming […] dear readers, we’d like to apologise for some factual inaccuracies in the edition four article, poor counsel (pg. 11). in the article, an umsu office bearer stated, “the university used to run ten counselling sessions, but now it has dropped down to six.” we have since been advised that this is false. furthermore, the officer bearers said, “we recently […] he looked down at the vast valley below him, at the tops of the trees that were smudged grey and purple in the fading light. there will be another starry night. her message box is empty. she stares at the blinking cursor for a long time. then she types: poem for a boy i don’t know. we are a family of paper dolls do you think it’ll hurt? it’s february. it’s 35 degrees. i’m sitting in a bar with daily show correspondent, ronny chieng. we both have gin and tonics in our hands. ronny is in a nicely done up suit, his hair is slick, his wit destructive. everything about ronny reeks of hilarity. ronny studied a bachelor of law/commerce at the university […] “is that… is that tony abbott?” there was a ‘toilet etiquette’ poster on the stall door, below the hook where he’d hung his holster and pistol. he would have used the poster, if it wasn’t covered in various colours of bubblegum. it should be fine, i think. three quarters of the farrago editorial team will be replaced by a team of bots as part of an overhaul to the university of melbourne student union’s (umsu’s) funding. the university of melbourne student union’s (umsu)education (academic) department is lobbying the university for a fairer lecture recording policy. a banana is prone to bumps and bruises. gender diverse students at the university of melbourne may not be able to receive youth allowance payments to which they are entitled from centrelink because of their identity. more parents with young children are taking advantage of the opportunity to continue or return to their studies. students from the master of management (marketing) at the melbourne business school (mbs) are questioning whether their course is worth the cost. continued from ‘the boy in the marigolds’. students at the university of melbourne’s burnley campus are outraged over the cancellation of the associate degree in urban horticulture (aduh), a degree offered solely at burnley, from 2018. content warnings: transphobia, sex work discrimination and slurs for by jeffrey pullin science fiction opens a portal through which we can glimpse the previously unimaginable. it shows us both fantastical worlds, and futures that we can strive towards. without science fiction humanity would be cut off from the boundless possibilities of both the future, and the here and now. science fiction has the […] i wasn’t around when max was a pup, but there’s a photograph of him and my grandmother maureen up on the fridge. max is small and spotty with floppy ears and sits on nana’s lap. nana’s eyes crinkle at the corners. the picture was taken when nana and pop drove their caravan from adelaide all the way to kununurra to visit, mum says. in the forest of the indonesian island of sulawesi lives a creature that has inspired artworks and folk tales for thousands of years (and a range of tacky souvenirs). traditional demonic masks incorporate this forest dweller’s menacing tusks into their design, terrifying generations of small children   including me. my grandfather was gifted one of these masks while working in indonesia, and he proudly displayed it above the mantelpiece on the second floor. for years, i was too scared to you know those times your grandparents start ranting about how everything was so incredibly superior back when dinosaurs roamed the earth? well this time, they might be right. the zero waste movement harks back to the days before individually wrapped fruit slices and floating plastic lined our oceans, encouraging a lifestyle where as little as possible ends up in your bin. it was one of my first weeks as a volunteer in the desert eco village of lotan, as the relentless sun scorched onto my tanned shoulders and i was 20 metres up a date palm, up to my elbows sorting sticky, squashed dates. it was 2 pm, nearly time to climb onto the tractor that would take us back for a hearty lunch of three different types of pasta, two types of tomato sauce and one type of salad: israeli salad. the other volunteers and i were participating in the usual end of work banter, until i’d always viewed wikipedia as a bit like the pyramids: a mostly unexplained monument of mankind and something that’s just there, drawing in millions of visitors. this status, as a contemporary wonder of the world, is curious at the least. wikipedia hosts nearly 5.5 million articles in english and millions of articles in a host […] reality television is supposed to be real. that’s the appeal, after all. reality television involves real people in real situations with real voices making real confessionals to real cameras for real reasons. it’s a hyper real environment, and yet. there’s a lot of flak coming for reality television, and often. because hyper reality is sometimes interpreted as […] it was a great exercise of reflection to try and pinpoint one record that greatly influenced my trajectory in life. it also proved the power that music has over my emotions, thought processes and overall satisfaction. as such, i posed the challenge to my colleagues at radio fodder   i asked them to choose one album that has been greatly influential for them. whether that be in terms of constructing music taste, soundtracking a pivotal moment in their lives, shaping their radio fodder show o “that top, it’s fantastic,” was the first thing the barista said to me when i entered the brunswick café   the type of place where the smiths mellow the crate furnished, many a pot plant matchbox of a room. “thank you,” i replied, but really, i was thanking savers. my oversized t shirt, a gem of a garment featuring a trio of (stoned, i like to believe) cats playing jazz before a full moon was only three dollars from the recycle superstore   a true bargain for such a masterpiece three people died and a further 20 were hospitalised after ingesting a synthetic substance in january. all of the victims were under the impression that they were buying crystal mdma from their respective dealers. however, the batch of caps doing the rounds at revolver, and other chapel street venues, were in fact, filled with the potentially lethal synthetic drug 25c nbome. have you, like me, been staring longingly at aesthetic loft and bedroom pictures on instagram and tumblr? have you wished for unlimited funds to afford an ikea shopping spree when realistically, you are wondering if you can even afford a bed frame? the costs associated with having a nice home   or fully functioning appliances […] there is a push bike that’s not owned by anybody. it looks like the other push bikes people pedal around campus, but it’s different. first year commerce student, michael murphey, has amazed baillieu library staff by becoming the first student to sleep in the library for over 154 hours during an academic week. inside the co op bookshop’s agm cadmus, a google docs style software designed to target plagiarism, is undergoing further trials at the university of melbourne this semester. the university of melbourne student union’s (umsu) environment department has raised concern over club funds being invested in banks tied to the fossil fuel industry. students from a number of masters degrees at the university of melbourne are ineligible for financial support through centrelink, adding to the financial distress faced by many university students. glitter of all colours whirling through the air. crushed cans of somersby sprawled across grass. pupils so large there aren’t any irises left. a sea of sticky bodies moving together like a pulsing wave. there’s only one context in which these images are deemed natural. groovin the moo is one of australia’s most beloved travelling […] will this year’s budget help young people crack into the housing market? here’s the explainer *a faintly talented amateur’s perceptions of fitting into an artistic community alighted on eucalypt, the evening breeze ruffles his feathers and tussles the rusting wind chime. i was the one person who saw the life beyond this house’s tired façade. from my desk, peering into the house next door, it was impossible to miss the flashes of frantic life that streaked past my windowpane. if i was a hunter and you were the moon. i think the stars are screaming honey. naked brains in public cinema. before i could reply there was some sort of battle cry and a horde of figures came running down the plains. they took advantage of our confusion and circled us, pointing sharpened sticks at our flesh. solomon delaware daley was born wide eyed and completely silent. today i bought silver hoop earrings to be like my new friend. for: friends words by caleb triscari the fact that i have to argue a pro friends stance is absurd, but i’ll play along. as someone with the “emotional range of a teaspoon” (rowling, 2003), friends play an important role as the decoders of my many uninterpretable attitudes. i get the warm and fuzzies when a pal […] students like myself are taught to keenly detect bullshit. how can journalism continue to hold a place in our democracy if some of our biggest media employers continue to cut jobs? while they’re not quite the 25% cuts feared by some, these policies are attracting criticism for unfairly impacting students. when senator jacqui lambie said on q&a, “anyone that supports shari’a law should be deported,” there were cheers from her australian audience. but how many people understand how muslims see shari’a and how they practice it? as a non muslim majoring in islamic studies, i have seen through the lives of my practicing friends and through […] content warning: mentions of suicide for a while, i believed in the viking funeral myth, the one where they supposedly take the deceased and lay their body on a ship, set it sail and then the tribes shoot flaming arrows at the ship as it sails off into the distance., shooting their arrows with incredible, […] content warning: self harm, homophobia in religious institutions dear kevin, i was six when i first entered your church. we’d never gone regularly back in england, but we’d been invited by someone’s mum from school and it was   without irony   my mother’s saving grace. we suddenly had a new family, my mum stopped […] ‘from kensington to billingsgate one hears the restless cries! from ev’ry corner of the land: “womankind, arise!” political equality and equal rights with men! take heart! for missus pankhurst has been clapped in irons again!’ ‘sister suffragette’, from mary poppins when i watched mary poppins as a child, these lyrics went completely over my head. […] “it was only a movie”, you assure yourself as the credits roll. but then…what was that sound? you could’ve sworn you just saw a…no, it couldn’t be. it was only a bump in the night. but you can’t seem to shake the feeling that it almost sounded like footsteps. ghost stories are often brushed aside […] ah, astrology. the earth spins, the planets shift and darkened skies tell me that today, a friendship could develop into something more. regardless of whether you’ve ever cared about horoscopes, you’re almost certainly aware of your star sign and quite possibly know the personality traits it has lumped you with. you can’t help it if […] content warnings: trauma, sexual assault. madeleine johnson interviews sara laurena [writer], karla livingstone pardy [director] and freya mcgrath [producer] of four letter word theatre’s ‘the days in between’. i have always wanted to travel. when i was younger, my “when i grow up i want to be” answer went from astronaut to explorer to a foreign correspondent. just your average six year old stuff. i had heard lots of stories about friends that went on exchange. they came back with wild eyes and insane stories. […] from a student run haunted house to camel rides, umsu international’s annual night markets attracts a popular following with students with well over 7000 attending every year. the 2017 night market saw 19 clubs and societies prepare stalls that offered food, games and drawing as well as performances from dance ensembles to dynamic duo teams. the […] everyone knows a girl like bec somers. she’s that always enthusiastic, painfully shallow girl who won’t stop bragging about being toned, vegan and gluten free. melissa tracina, under the direction of tim mcdonald, adopts the persona of bec somers   ‘a wellness coach, health blogger, nutritionist, naturopath, and nutritiopath.’ the show parodies the often ridiculous and unrealistic nature […] rhys is known for his incredible wit on stage, as well as his candy coloured hair and curved cheek bones. nominated for best show at last year’s melbourne international comedy festival, rhys’ show this year is called i’m fine   which is symbolic of rhys not wanting “people to expect so much”. however, having seen rhys’ show […] sammy j’s new solo show hero complex is an assured, hilarious romp through the barely believable coincidences of sammy’s life. the story   a blend of thriller and coming of age   focuses on sammy’s love of the phantom, beginning with the start of a friendship between sammy and his school gardener and ending with […] comedians are going through a tough time. i can’t help feel that the nature of comedy is threatened as many comedians are tempted to tone down their material, so as not to offend anyone in the crowd. lawrence mooney doesn’t think like that. quite simply, the middle aged aussie just doesn’t care if he offends anyone. […] the first time i saw self confessed “weird kid” becky lucas perform, she joked about pashing her mum as a youngster to a humble little audience at sydney’s own comedy store. now as one of australian comedy’s freshest faces, she hits the big stage at the melbourne international comedy festival (micf), blurring lines between comedy and […] it is not your fault not your fault. little ghost boy dreamt … “come to dinner,” she’d said. despite having seen them before, i had no idea what i was in for when i walked (down many, many stairs) into aunty donna’s newest show, big boys. my friend and i were forced to cease chatting almost immediately as we entered a room filled with smoke, flashing red lights and really fucking loud music. […] the show quickly becomes an excursion into the inexhaustible enthusiasm that these two comics share. footage obtained by farrago shows students demanding answers from national secretary talal yassine. released in 2014 and marking author chris wallace crabbe’s eightieth birthday, my feet are hungry could have easily been underwhelming and less astute than his earlier works. but even at the release of his twenty fourth collection of poetry, wallace crabbe has managed to retain his wit and skill. his work seems fresh: intelligent and thought provoking as always, […] i meet cal in the union house foyer. straight way, i pick her out of a crowd of students. it might be her bubbly aura but it’s probably just her colourful hair. cal’s ontiguous smile greets me and we head up to the studio. i become increasingly nervous in the elevator, as we go from […] daniel kitson is a bearded man from yorkshire. he has huge, thick glasses that move around and add an extra range of expression to his face, like a pianist with another two fingers. the first thing he does when i see his new show, not yet but soon, is apologise for starting 20 minutes late. […] i’d love to pretend this review is objective, but that would be lying. i’ve been a huge fan of laura davis’ since her show ghost machine, at the 2015 melbourne international comedy festival. i was in a fairly dark place at the time and attended the show more for a distraction than anything else. but by […] i run home, which hurts my bladder. and eventually fiona got so good at keeping still that tiny asteroids started mistaking her for a small planet. we slip into the yawning nothing and she promises me that things are about to get freaky. god, i want to eat leonardo dicaprio’s face. a testament to the industry and luxury that we have cultivated for generations. a nexus of beauty, purpose, and above all accessibility to one and all. as a lad, the only game we ever concerned ourselves with was the game of life. this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a   lol jks it will end with us banging. i think i worked it out   why i admire and fear bees so much. a soul dances. whether you’re a freshly minted first year or in the depths of a phd, the university of melbourne’s toilets are spaces where students are able to release their tears, as well as their bowels. the assortment of toilets at the university’s various campuses ensure that wherever you are, the comfort of a cubicle is never […] i used to work part time as a waitress in a place where customers questioned my identity. my time there has become extremely quotable, and one i take advantage of whenever people ask if ‘emily’ would like to change her mobile provider, or if ‘emily’ can do the dishes tonight. mum, the customer is always right   […] there was a time when giants ruled the earth. i do not mean the muscular figures of mythology. the ones with the raggedy underwear and tree sized clubs, facing down pint sized heroes that carry golden swords. i mean real giants, as tall as your house. giants who roamed the land once and then afterwards left a […] it is cold. the sky is endlessly grey, and light snow falls lazily, catching on the cuffs of my jacket. a few scattered mounds of scuffed ice cling to the pavement. i tuck my chin into my chest, ducking my head against the bitter wind that weaves between the buildings of a restored city. i […] content warnings: violence, self harm as a child, i remember sneaking into my parents’ storage closet to look at piles and piles of documents and photos. what i didn’t know then was that among all of those forgotten memories sat a family heirloom that held generations of pain and trauma. they were a pair of […] as a child, the highlight of every trip to the melbourne aquarium was the ‘oceanarium’   a 2.2 million litre tank encircling the viewing space. it was a magical experience being immersed in the watery world of its marine inhabitants, with bright coral climbing up the sides, stingrays gliding above and fish of every hue […] do yourself a favour: take a punt and go and see this show. content warning: holocaust denial two years ago, the wind symphony at northcote high, my high school, performed an impressionistic piece based on the 1945 bombing of dresden. it was jarring, atonal and harrowing   representing one of world war ii’s most brutal events, where german civilians were slaughtered vengefully and indiscriminately by the allies. to […] content warnings: abortion, maternal death following the overthrow of romanian dictator, nicolae ceau?escu, harrowing footage of overflowing state run institutions for abandoned children shook the world. these frightened and severely neglected children were the product of a society who were forced to live with harsh pro natalist policies. romania’s suppression of abortion rights under nicolae ceau?escu’s leadership is […] content warnings: sexual assault, domestic violence, they are one of the most hated communities on reddit and, consequently, the internet. whenever another reddit community is banned, users cry out talking of double standards. what’s more, they are frequently compared to these banned communitiess, such as a forum to denigrate the overweight and a hub for […] worship satan converting to satanism is a fantastic way to prepare yourself for your journey to becoming a modern woman. other religions are way too mainstream. just don’t forget to shower yourself in pig’s blood every night. date someone interesting formulating a relationship with a man is overrated. take your dog on a date instead! […] the melbourne international comedy festival makes the air taste sweeter. the whole city seems to wobble with laughter as summer yawns its way into the colder months. it’s a good belly laugh. one that stretches the rib cage, chisels a six pack or turns a bad day good. it’s a requisite for all of us in […] julius caesar was stabbed twenty three times before he met his death. a later autopsy showed only one of the wounds had been fatal. many of you may be able to relate to old brutus and his pals. it’s this kind of irrational overcompensation that leads to a feeling of wasted study time after sitting a […] when anne edmonds first performed stand up comedy she had a “light bulb moment,” where the rush of the crowd laughing ignited her passion to make a career out of it. since she was a student at the university of melbourne, anne has featured on tv shows such as have you been paying attention and fancy boy, […] sami shah was the first person in pakistan to perform a one hour stand up comedy show. incredibly, it was sami’s first time doing stand up. “if it had of gone badly, i would never have done it again,” sami says. we’re all blessed that his pakistani audience took such a shining to him. a remarkable tale of […] “these students will be discriminated against because of their circumstances.” indigenous staff members were surprised to find that references to indigenous employment targets have been removed from a proposed new version of a staff agreement. the exploitation of student workers could be rife in union house. each edition of farrago will contain a part of ‘home system’. tear out the perforated page, collect and piece together all eight. each edition of farrago will contain a part of ‘home system’. tear out the perforated page, collect and piece together all eight. near crippling anxiety isn’t usually a trait many would ascribe to a successful comedian. from a very young age, i understood the difference between good and bad. 228 students have been withdrawn from introductory microeconomics after the recently implemented enrolment quota was exceeded. students will be welcomed into 2017 with increases to graduation, child care and student card replacement fees. river or rivers? after eternity, will you find me? “you are to me what salt is to wounds”. pink flowers grow in the front lawn. canned soup, canned asparagus, canned spaghetti, canned   ohmygod tampons. the block is taking over. students travelling to and from the university of melbourne may face transport and infrastructure disruptions this year as work starts on the new parkville train station. system garden has already shrunk to a quarter of its original size since its inception in 1856. could auto timetabling be in unimelb’s future? the university of melbourne’s richard berry building has been renamed to the peter hall building in an effort to create a more inclusive campus environment. the best from week one of o week’s giant orientation event. welfare advisers will monitor o camps this year. from humble beginnings as an entry into a 2009 photoshop contest, the phenomenon of the slender man has exploded across social media as one of the most well known monsters to be produced by internet meme culture. he became the inspiration for fan art, horror stories, movies and videos, a soon to be released hbo documentary, and a series […] we knew the mythology long before we arrived. different. cool. alternative. long has berlin prided itself on being the home of subcultures, a place where alternative types can find their niche and wear it proudly. add in a healthy dose of post teen hedonism and an infamous clubbing scene, and it sounded like a perfect place […] during the mid year break i made the spontaneous decision to take a solo overseas trip to russia. as a history major, russia provided me the same level of excitement as a weeklong pub crawl would for any regular 22 year old. interestingly, not everyone shared my enthusiasm. the response from my family and friends was one of […] visiting melbourne’s church of scientology is like being trapped in a terrible powerpoint. forced to endure a series of gaudy videos, inspirational quotes and strange hovering symbols. you are shuffled along with alarming speed, when you just want to stop and take a closer look at the tacky mess that surrounds you. then, you’re hurried […] melbourne’s own federation square has been labelled an eyesore, had calls for its demolition, and been named one of the world’s ugliest buildings   however, casting an eye over to skopje’s latest major project reveals that the macedonian capital may yet offer some serious competition for this rather dishonourable honour. the ruling internal macedonian revolutionary […] content warnings: panic attacks & anxiety induced dissociation what makes us human? what is the elusive gossamer threading our brain to our personality? a few weeks ago, i found out i was allergic to the anti nausea agent maxalon. i only took it to relieve a mild tummy ache, but what it caused was far worse. […] when you heard the news about the new spider man movie you probably thought: seriously? another one? do they not know movies to make anymore? the notion that hollywood is running out of new, original ideas is not a new one. adaptations, reboots or remakes are all the movie industry seems to be churning out these […] my nan is great. i love her to pieces; we catch up about once a fortnight. but she’s 65 and, frankly, has always been a little racist. a couple of weeks ago, we got lunch at a vietnamese restaurant in footscray. afterwards, we proceeded to walk down nicholson street, observing all the people of different […] on the front porch of a run down house in austin, texas, in the dim light of a single bare bulb, a boy picks me up without warning, sweeping me off my feet. i shriek and laugh, clinging to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. i have always hated being picked up. never trusted anyone […] to say that the alchemist (1988) is popular would be an understatement. the jacket of my copy proclaims that paulo coelho’s novel has sold 65 million copies worldwide “touching the minds and hearts of his readers”. i think the reason it’s so successful is its combination of a simple narrative and concealed allegorical meaning. the […] in the last week of january, thousands came together to see passenger perform his one and only melbourne show at the sidney myer music bowl. the weather was on its best behaviour for the outdoor event, and the grounds were covered by those of all ages and backgrounds. kids were rolling down the hill while […] the university offers no promises to break investment ties with the 21 fossil fuel companies which are listed on the carbon underground 200 ranking winter is well and truly here, so there’s never been a better time to rug up and get creative. with the rain and the wind storming outside, send us the writing and art filigreed by your frost bitten fingers for edition five of farrago. by the end of it all, you’ll have something to warm your […] i have one more article to write about natcon for farrago, but for now i’m going to jot down some thoughts. the national union of students’ national conference (natcon) kicked off a few hours ago in geelong. to the left is a list of delegates. each rectangle represents a person. there are 126 people and 2097 votes among them. the size of the rectangle shows how many votes that person has. they have […] prominent businessman and university of melbourne fundraising campaign chair allan myers will be the university’s new chancellor staff in academic and professional departments have been notified of another wave of cuts at the university of melbourne. with the red pen crossing out the previous marks, grades were changed and fails became passes. banksy has proved to be one of the most mystifying and controversial street artists of our time, covering urban spaces with his satirical art worldwide. while some may consider the hooded man a criminal, violating public space with his blunt messages, others view him as an artistic mastermind who found a way to make people […] at the university of melbourne, 7.5 per cent of all first year students leave their courses. in a society where this issue has previously divided and angered people, the plight of asylum seekers has now become a vague sing song in our ears. snapshots of rio & evie’s space adventure. and they lived happily ever after a defining aspect of pop culture is its ability to reach a large audience   and it is in this ability that pop culture is so powerful. photography from daena teng cult reviews, adapted for 2016. the final office bearer reports for 2016. “the way she is sitting in front of me, her head sitting softly against the bus window, seems so blissful.” we’ve all read the notes and now we see the real world. gareth cox martin taps into australia’s potential. a heartbroken whitley college student reflects on the sale of her beloved home. objective reality? sam nelson has no need for that. online streaming services are evidently an inextricable part of tomorrow’s music scene but its impact on music revenue is clearly negative. do you name your nature’s wealth? with the imminent departure of union house, what will happen to student services? kye lee cheong investigates. paloma herrera and the golden ticket. the night before we last met, i pulled kodak packets from under my parents’ bed to leaf through sea green garden parties with faded lipstick reds, & saw my mother’s young face mimic mine in grinning topographic skin. london summer evenings got dark at ten. i’d watch shadow assemblies under deciduous leaves proclaim proudhon’s night time parade […] shona warren explores the world of killer bytes. thiashya is back answering another big question in science. this time, she explains whether our brains create consciousness. i’ve always thought i’d go out with a bang, an instant explosion of glitter and broken bones, vengeful gun against my powdered temple, collision of lust and late night rage. i’ve always thought i’d die in a car crash, a crépe paper crunch through a red light, tragic newscast so unknown mothers cry, one less […] an insider’s look into the bendigo street occupation. i just saw a spider in the corner of my room it was scrunched up in a form of self inflicted suffering in order to beg innocence so i blew on it just to make sure and saw its performance cease i grabbed a tissue box, within proximity, withdrew: four pieces as one might four hundred […] winter is over. it’s time to put away the onesie and venture outside into the dating pool. a poem by belinda lea bhatia about the day of a hairbush. scott learns how to be a better friend. a poem by anonymous that is expressing frustration and heartbreak. i’m leaving my boyfriend to go on exchange. what the hell do i do? jesse paris jourdan breaks down where your money is going. three cups warming sweetly in retirement (harbouring, respectively, coffee, orange slices, and lemonade) cat hair curlicues catching sunlight casting shadow flecks on old white paint. impossible to categorise the feeling of late july on the finger tips. you switch on the tv. white, white and more white. it’s as though australian tv is awash with white faces. more! has become the new leading party for umsu short stories by emily paesler short stories by emily paesler i’ll leave my bones behind to pry you from his greedy hands and greet you again, with greedy hands of my own. if you’re in need of an escape from the familiarity of melbourne and your regular university routine, there are few greater undertakings than an international exchange program. having recently returned from a year long stint in tokyo myself, i can confirm that across the sea you are treated differently, the food is often unappealing and your […] had the public been provided with an informed rationale explaining why the step was necessary, and the assurance their data would be safe, perhaps the whole ordeal could have been avoided. sheri lohardjo explores the latest partnership between the university and a military defence company. substantial changes to musul may include cuts to staffing and eventual closure. these messy human relationships and complicated associations with the world are what set the beatles apart from the other boybands on 9 september, the original wiggles   greg, anthony, murray and jeff, as well as captain feathersword   brought their timeless songs to the croxton in melbourne for a one night only 18+ reunion show. fifi fontaine de vermouth solves another mystery. i enter the room, then the room enters me. and i disappear. i resonated with hannah montana because i too was balancing two conflicting polar identities. miley would always say “i’m hannah montana” and in this article, i’m saying “i’m gay and asian”. what the fuck is prosh? e.t is a callin’ there’s a difference between genuinely learning in a work environment and simply doing outsourced grunt work for a company’s private benefit. as a white, able bodied, heterosexual western woman, i remain the most privileged type of woman to benefit from feminism. office bearer reports for edition 7 it would be nice to look out at our oceans and know that those glassy blue seas were not the sites of crimes, behind razor wire, perpetrated in our name. “new zealand is a conspiracy!” and strictly no memes either. what is the greatest barrier facing the new parliament? before my wealthy grandparents died… a farrago report reveals the lie behind the name. picture this: a media ecosystem so rife with corruption that audiences cannot distinguish truth from bias. reilly sullivan celebrates 30 years of miyazaki’s productions. lotte ward reviews tod browning’s freaks. on 8 august, students were invited to have their say on how they believe the university is addressing its environmental impact. patricia was just about to ask if he had a rewards card when the man pulled out a gun. it was all a build up very much akin to the “bass drop” of brostep. the dax center destigmatises the experiences of the mentally ill and promotes positive mental health and wellness for us all. how to describe maude wakefield? ‘legend’ is the word many have used… who should we, in the time honoured tradition of poorly performing students, lean across the desk and copy the answers from? a tale from two sides. they live is a decidedly heavy handed take on consumerism and conformity   you can feel the likes of banksy and shepard fairey milking it for inspiration is it pretentious? yes, but for good reason. as i drive to you, high beams burning… yasmin jarkan on the issues with current democracy. thiashya jayasekera presents a column about the big questions in science. this edition is all about why some people are ticklish. mary ntalianis on flagging support for flagships. hania syed tastes an emerging trend. mary ntalianis on metal’s barrier to entry. james macaronas is back with his column “notes from the weird side”. this edition, ghost horses. a short story by kangli hu. a poem by hayley franklin. a poem by cormac o’brien kirkby. caleb is a nerd. <div class=”pullright”><span class=”quote”>caleb is a nerd.</span></div> caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd.caleb is a nerd. caleb is […] people increasingly form their own independent interpretations of scripture, picking and choosing what aspects of religion they agree with based on their social context and the prevailing cultural zeitgeist. why do we get deja vu? are we really seeing the future? science (thiashya jayasekera) finally explains. ever wondered about the politics of sex or perhaps wondered about politics during sex? simone shares her political sex life stories. adriane reardon gives us a critique of women in sport, and the importance of encouraging girls of all ages. have you or your friends ever considered giving up on notebooks and just buying your notes? bella barker explores the world of passing notes. a new conservatorium for the music faculty at the univeristy of melbourne to be built by 2019 paloma herrera gives a recap of the people of colour conference. the group of eight (go8) universities have called on the federal government to impose a limit on undergraduate placements due to difficulty finding funding for influx of students. seriously though, who? reports from the umsu office bearers. a comparison of universities’ sustainability initiatives. getting ingredients from your front yard. a lament on the epidemic of sexual assault in universities. nick parkinson presents: a column of poetic problem solving. a tale of sex toys that will leave you in hysterics. the ship, the myth, the metaphor. ella shi interviews farrago artist reimena yee. shakespeare: the original cult connoisseur, constantly adapting. after staying up till 2am watching korean singers from my favourite band, bts, my sleepy mind latched onto an idea. i should learn korean. citius, altius, fortius? recipes for when failed romance and tinder disasters inevitably leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. i need some form of clarity and linearity. i’m wondering whether the guests enjoyed the food, whether the chefs had any fun after all and why this documentary was made about noma rather than noma. jack kilbride on the climate of change in the food industry. clara on the human instinct to tell stories. a poem by amie green. a short story by linus tolliday. next time you see something to do with “shrek is love, shrek is life” pop up on the internet, remember what shrek really represented and what the film series was ultimately about. a short story by candy james zoccoli. a poem by hayley franklin on the obsession with fire. iryna is back with a poem about wanting a break up. the world we know has ended. what next? rio & evie finally embark on their space adventure rio stays up with evie to revise for her exams. evie goes to kaladria and realises how big the universe is evie’s sister, nina, comes home scott is happy, flora is suss. what’s on scott’s and ben’s minds? flora doesn’t find out. ben has sex. flora and scott don’t. flora breaks a cup and throws herself in the trash. martin ditmann reports on the latest chapter of the musul saga. max ph explains why he doesn’t like your favourite song gather your friends, family and a bottle of your favourite wine, as we celebrate all that we’ve come to love about masterchef. meet the new indigenous officer! the msd building may be an undeniably beautiful edifice   but what is it like being an architecture student? adriane reardon considers sexism amongst online gaming. clare exinger wonders if chilling with the squad counts as a hobby. when i was in third grade, i received my first love letter. it was from timothy lloyd, a blond haired cherub of fourth grader and the fastest runner in his class. definitely a catch. the letter was delivered to me by a boy with purple sneakers, because the idea of little timmy and i communicating […] tracing eyelid folds i stick my finger in digit curving round socket i moan; that distorted sound bite of a wound up pendulum clock ticking like that clicking electric black tic pinned in iris as squirming pupil. the roundness fits tight around finger ligaments coil sucking me in i can’t pull myself out and it aches. […] how do i let him know that he can’t have a bite of whatever i’m eating without him thinking i don’t love him? i, wile e. coyote, would like to lodge yet another complaint regarding two more of your faulty products. my head hurts and is full of cold elbows. there is considerable peace in ignorance but only when you can accept you are a fool and a fool smothered in obscurity like a blanket. i think it is like drowning and the quiet comes only when it is too late. there’s no use in that […] “rake it up and you’ll get a treat.” if you’re pissed off because the new ghostbusters are women, it’s not because of your loyalty to the original franchise   you just hate women. but how much truth is there to this old wives’ tale? can you catch a cold from being cold? annabelle jarrett spends an afternoon with artist and student, frances cannon. daena teng explores sexuality through shibari. a poem by morgan hopcroft about the creatures of the dark. an anonymous writer shares her abortion experience. bec poynton tells us about our new railway station. a poem by darby hudson on the signs of fancy alcohol drinking. felicity never stopped believing in glee in most bourgeois circles it is an article of faith that only a monster would buy caged eggs. all women want to do is get out there and do their job without constantly having to justify their existence it is provoking and will make you uncomfortable but every australian should watch chasing asylum. sitting outside standing room to talk about addiction and dreams. put away your fruity lexia and refine your palate with something a bit more exciting. apps can also be a force for good, helping you slay goals and make the most of your time and energy. changes to the graduate student association staffing have been announced on 1 june, including newly appointed elected representatives and permanent staff. on the evening of 31 may, the graduate student association office bearer elections were held. sina khatami and thomas whiteside have been re elected as president and general secretary respectively. alongside them are a new team of […] kyary pamyu paymu is an experience, that’s all i can say. hailed as the lady gaga of japan, kyary pamyu pamyu is the reigning queen of j pop who has taken the world by storm with her energetic pop songs and incomparable creativity. her music videos can only be described as loveably ridiculous; she frequently rocks […] adriane reardon considers male feminists with new matilda contributor jack kilbride and university of melbourne gender studies lecturer, joshua pocius. red my lips was founded to support survivors of sexual violence and to change deep set cultural beliefs that help to perpetuate that violence. she swallowed the sea to keep her cells alive, my mother, her body of ocean the heavy ocean underneath her skin, and when she opens the lids of her eyes, it spills from the black pools there inside the space of looking my mother nearly drowns in her own self she cries instead of […] i watched cocaine fly over the walls of the san pedro prison. they’ve brought their “bit heavier than surfy” sound to various venues across melbourne. you see, gaming was always my social mediator. the harsh reality of unimelb’s golden child, the juris doctor. listen to jack read “big heavy things”. eddy wanted to lift big, heavy things. the biggest, heaviest things he could feasibly lift as a human (though even that wasn’t necessary). he’d eat shit if it meant he could bench 500 kilos. eddy vowed to pledge himself to whatever could help him lift the biggest, heaviest […] i do not like them sam i am, i do not like this censorship and ban. over three days, ffmu launched a series of public actions pressuring the university to divest. the second special general meeting of the university of melbourne student union for the semester brought forth significant structural changes to the constitution. held on 24 may, the successful resolutions at the sgm established new representative departments, committees and affirmative action policies. removal of the asterisk in “wom*n’s” the umsu wom*n’s department will now be known as […] from flash in the pan divas to enduring pop icons, here are the best eurovision winners. the long held tradition of rooting each other and suitable lifeless objects will continue for many years to come. a conversation while waiting for coffee at house of cards pro: he’s probably not a fuckboy. con: someone might mistake him for your literal father. the door to the farm is up ahead. i creep up the steps and slowly open the hatch above me. i climb through the portal and find myself behind a restaurant. the stale, dusty smell of the city at night replaces the stench of the sewer underneath me, but i am not bothered by the […] the rise of bernie sanders, the upsurge in youthful progressive energy… yet most of today’s musicians are leaving an awkward silence. frosted grass. rubber feet. an indented path to follow. head down, eyes up. violet white above stretches over housetops and the roofs of trees. air whitens around my face silvers and disappears. hollowed cheeks smoke a windpipe. a steam train puffs billy­goat forms of pure fingers curl whisk in, and out and into the tiny […] in early 2016, the umsu students’ council passed funding for a people of colour collective at the university. how to be a responsible tourist. amelia isn’t talking less about her uterus, and more about downton abbey. is he really that ridiculous or is it all an act? revolution is like saturn, it devours its own children.   danton’s death, geörg buchner welcome our new umsu president! an event for sharing inclusive messages of diversity has been mired in controversy by the defacement of an anzac memorial. one moment changes everything. my real smiles are numbered, each day i run out, and when i run out i dip into fake smile credit, to pay off that debt i go home and rest my eyes on my cat, while she naps under the tv, taking a few deep breaths. the clean eating trend could pave the way for disordered eating. jesse paris jourdan on the breadth of bcomm changes. caleb triscari preps us on the grad student elections. adriane reardon considers the place of women in comedy. annabelle jarrett looks at white beauty standards in asia. whether you see it as a necessary evil or dream of living the burrito life, the question remains: why is it necessary? stephanie looks into whether bookstores can survive in the modern era. mishell hernandez on the myth in her mind. a poem written about carolyn huane. because even minions deserve the benefit of the doubt. my uncle built me a bookshelf for my fifth birthday. huon pine with miniature toadstool carvings, it towered above me and spanned the entire bedroom wall. i picked up men because the blurb proclaimed it to be an exploration of ‘female desire’. i was expecting irony. i was disappointed. raising the cost of uni fees will leave graduates with larger debt for longer, and will likely exclude a number attempting to gain higher education. scott morrison announced that the government does not need to follow a strict budget this year because it will be bulking the argonauts details her experiences of being a step parent, giving birth and sharing with her partner in their grief after their mother’s death. jeremy nadel weighs in on the 2016 federal budget’s finance and economics. the turnbull coalition government’s inaugural budget sees an increase in funding towards youth employment and training. the turnbull coalition government’s federal budget argues that unemployment is set to decline. the turnbull coalition government has largely scrapped its current plans for fee deregulation, in a 2016 federal budget that instead canvasses big potential changes in a new paper. the new government paper, “driving innovation, fairness and excellence in australian higher education”, proposes considering everything from partial deregulation to higher student fees. changes, including an increase […] sad grrrls fest organiser rachel maria cox talks to farrago about her dream lineup, diversity and gender barriers to music. following the umsu students’ council meeting this morning, tyson holloway clarke has been elected as the temporary president of the university of melbourne student union. his appointment was unanimous and cross factional, and follows the resignation of james baker on 23 march this year. umsu received legal advice recommending a by election in semester one. however, calling a by election […] obsessive compulsive disorder   but not as you might know it. my mother had told me that name calling was love and hair pulling was affection. on the cult of giles corey. polycystic ovary syndrome is more common than you think. time present and time past. international students are increasingly voicing concerns regarding underpayment. after four days of rallies, stunts and lock ins, fossil free melbourne university (ffmu) activists have secured a number of concessions from the university of melbourne regarding university divestment from fossil fuels. on wednesday of week 7, staff and ffmu students came together to negotiate for members of ffmu to end their lock in at the raymond […] unimelb finds religious intolerance as the main culprit for negative attitudes against asylum seekers. in honour of world book day, emme michelle writes an ode to 44 books that changed the world. shia labeouf: more than just a meme. on the 866th day you said you smelt a bushfire and left. slamming the front door accidentally (you were never that tough). and the sound of a lost last chance rang in my ears. louder than sirens. louder than bombs. louder than the smiths record i had playing while i cooked us breakfast. and i […] auditory hallucinations are a surprisingly common experience. on what’s worth fighting for. this is a love letter from one girl to all the rest. he carried on speaking a thousand words a minute, jumping between stories, dropping puns and dancing to taylor sw i’ve been known to knight people in the street, even though i don’t have the authority or legal right to do that. simone williams meditates on the east west debate. peter karabatsos provides a stimulating simulation conversation. a unique poem by caitlin mcgregor on refugees. britt baker discusses the anti plagiarism program that the university is trialling. the media officers discuss the resignation of umsu president; james baker. chih yu chou provides an overview of the special general meeting held at north court on the 5th april. mary writes a piece on women in music today. it’s hard being a left hander in a right handed world. mezzo soprano shakira tsindos will star as alisa in victorian opera’s presentation of lucia di lammermoor. encoding a memory is less like taking a video than it is scribbling down bullet points on a notepad. the germans have a word for it, i think. they call it weltschmerz. just, don’t be discouraged at all. i think that’s the secret. his parody news bulletin, highlighting the strangeness of something we all take for granted, was spot on in the most cutting of ways. don’t get me wrong, i definitely had fun, but an hour at this dive bar isn’t something i’d recommend to everyone. her style and ability to explore new frontiers, turning stand up into a truly artistic medium, is invigorating. hughes expertly jumps between heartwarming sincerity and the blackest, self deprecating humour you’ve heard. when it started out we had a riff of just three or four notes and just played that over and over again. student nathan fioritti goes on q&a “judging from the band’s rise to fame over the last few years we’ll definitely be hearing more from them.” the show itself is an hour of making fun of other people’s songs, raps about will smith’s movies and their classic hits. ben’s illustrious fact show is a nonsensical smorgasboard of comic delight. the cia invented the colour blue in 1969, to make children spend more time reciting the rainbow. joel dommett has the talent for storytelling that accompanies any good comic onstage. i felt like i had been transported back to my childhood   i was so engulfed in the magic of the whole thing. she’s got such a unique comedy voice that i honestly feel honoured to be allowed into her world hannah is the human doppler effect: here and there at the same time, dynamic, slightly obnoxious and almost frighteningly loud. i suggest going out to the garden right now and chowing down on the nearest handful of creepy crawlies you find. i remember i once overheard my dad telling my mum that my sister was smarter than me. mette jakobsen’s second novel, what the light hides, is equal parts lovely, sensory, and frustrating. umsu) has decided to open the naming of the new student bar to a public poll. the fact is many australians take drugs and will continue to do so no matter the legality. he uses his 55 minutes to explore the meaning of life and death which he does with expertise. it never once felt like a lecture. it was just smart stand up, pure and simple. he has a penchant for approaching the sensitive with a confident “i don’t care” insensitivity. there are few storytellers like greg fleet, his imagery is vividly dramatic. a distinctive flavour in the australian music scene with their hybrid folk pop stylings and introspective lyrics. sean mantesso chats with mc suffa as we talked the hilltop hoods’ latest music, their upcoming tour, international success and lockout laws. felicity ward’s energy and enthusiasm for what she does is contagious. i leave the show having laughed jovially, while having also learnt more than i thought possible at a comedy show. this book is great for any reader looking for short, sharp reads that are wonderfully written. aubrey is a reserved protagonist who struggles to communicate her feelings, even to the reader. the university of melbourne, in conjunction with umsu, has launched the first respect week; a week filled with events aimed at highlighting issues students and staff face in regards to respect and awareness or a lack thereof. this is in response to universities australia’s campaign ‘respect. now. always.’, a nation wide initiative aimed at addressing sexual […] scott falls in love but was too busy fantasising to get her number. this month, umsu students’ council passed unanimously a motion offering union house as sanctuary for asylum seekers. in doing so, the student union join organisations across australia, including the rmit national tertiary education union and the maritime union of australia, in taking a stand against government policy. places of worship have also offered sanctuary to […] click to read the edition 2 2016 office bearer reports written by each of the departments. a creative piece by dzenana vucic. tiernan morrison explains why deadpool is the super satire we deserve, but not the one we need. 30 years of the cave clan. brendan tam warns us about the peril of polls and populism. raphael canty blasts his way through the ever increasing pay to win market. fergus neal has a stand up sit down with some of the best comedians in australia. ashleigh hastings olsen takes a new york minute to reflect on her mk&a obsession. have you ever sensed that something bad was about to happen? have you ever had a dream come true? this edition’s battle is all about avocado. who will come out on top? this column, nick answers rory mane who has a group assignment with someone who is obsessed with ponies. danielle crocci recounts a life lived by abba songs. alexandra alvaro attempts to explain the mystery of lab 14. your friendly neighbourhood grumpy scientist is here to tell you how to eat dirt cheap while at uni. emphasis on the dirt. a couple of world renowned reporters interview m.night during his tour of australia tom wright’s adaptation is by no means less eerie than the film, particularly thanks to the excellent sound design by j. david franzke. with unparalleled efficiency, depth and a beckoning coldness and cruelty, claire and frank have never been more compelling. i prefer the term ‘sexual awakening’. the art of vlogging and its ability to connect people through the screen. it was always fighting games that brought out the worst in me. speaking with members of the college system, it’s not difficult to find traces of hypermasculinity within australian university culture. jacob sacher finds a nice corner to snuggle up in. james agathos and ben clark get some unpaid experience reporting on unpaid internships. jesse paris jourdan answers the question on everybody’s mind. caleb triscari has some questions for the university. martin ditmann on the unstable family union. as i walk down the ramp inside south yarra station, the air is muggy. the overcast sky has sealed the heat over port phillip bay, making the crowded platform two feel like a glasshouse. the display showing ‘next service departing in three minutes’ suddenly flickers to ‘35 minutes’. collective groans emerge from the commuters, myself […] night vale turns the everyday into a horror story, which doesn’t seem like something that would make an already anxious person feel better about the world they live in. so why are they drawn to it? zoë goodall re imagines sophocles’ incest dream in this creative piece. a creative piece by hayley franklin. a creative piece written by candy james zoccoli. what happens at 4am…. this one time at work… we sit down with sammy j and randy ahead of their show at the melbourne international comedy festival. advertising   the business of convincing people to buy things they don’t really need. “i was so terrified, as if i were dreaming.” mary, an international graduate student in melbourne university was robbed of her iphone on grattan street at 9.10pm on tuesday night. “my last lecture ended at 9pm,” she said. she was frightened to walk home alone that she checked time on her phone and held it tightly. […] it’s week three and you have settled in to the monotony of lectures and study. the campus has lost the spark you first felt when you arrived and you find yourself going straight home after classes. your one regret is that you cannot go back in time to the o week clubs expo. you have […] ever wondered what the lifestyle of the pigeon at university is like? read on for a detailed insight. james macaronas shares his creative short story. cindy zhou shares her creative piece on jellyfish. will whiten discusses the impact on climate change in mongolia and his experience travelling there. james henshall discusses the changing nature and use of technology. clara discusses her experience with the earthquake in nepal. alexander sheko discusses the importance of cycling safety. tegan mccarthy discusses contraception and in particular, iud’s. edie bush touches on his positive memory of the public pool. walking through savers on sydney road is an intensely personal experience… personal in the sense that it is both sensorially and spiritually engaging for the individual shopper. ayu astrid maylinda shares her story of savers and the mohair cardigan. the concept of ancestry is often thought of wholly in terms of personal identity   a specific bloodline and a family name passed down the generations. but to what extent is personal ancestry wrapped up in national identity? new developments in food production (hello, steak grown in a petri dish!) have the potential to alleviate many environmental and social justice issues in the most delicious of ways. ghill de rozario discusses her thoughts on the change in food production. meet michael sievers, phd candidate with the school of biosciences, who researches artificial urban wetlands and the frogs that call them home. michael asks: are these wetlands actually ecological traps for native frogs? ever wanted to make a diy glow stick jar? rebecca liew explains how in 3 easy steps. ruth de jager discusses the importance of mindfulness and its benefits. tetris is a piece of russian propaganda?! adrian yeung discusses the links between board games and politics. jack fryer shares his experience on his trip to spotswood. peter kelly talks about roald dahl’s recent book; charlie in the whitehouse. (disclaimer: this is not a real book) adriana psaltis discusses the german dialect. part tour diary, part extended poem, part fictional prose, the sick bag song is a dark, swirling epic. in 5 easy steps, zoe moorman will teach you how to talk cinema. sean watson discusses his thoughts on nell zink’s recent novel; mislaid. rose doole chats to evangeline about her passion for music and her career thus far. alexander eastwood teaches you about all the key wonders of the university of melbourne campus. jeremy nadel analyses in detail the university of melbourne’s funding decisions and whether or not they are effective. an anonymous writer discusses the hysteria behind the appointment of ann capling. emily weir discusses the university of melbourne’s first comedy festival and what to expect. martin ditmann discusses student politics and the results from the student election. yay or nay for dogs? you decide. jakob von der lippe and gareth cox martin battle it off in a for and against. alexander linger shares a piece of his poetry. how much can a single look reveal? emily paesler elapses. a poetry piece by ellen cregan. kosovo may have won its independence, but the world’s second newest country   only south sudan is younger   is losing its people and faces an uncertain future. we don’t often stop to think about the origins of many of the brands and companies that we are familiar with. but, unbeknownst to many, the logos (and the organisations they represent) that we absentmindedly register as we walk through shopping districts or supermarket aisles may actually have a dark, nazi past. have you heard about what’s happening on the great barrier reef? angela christian wilkes fills you in on the disastrous situation of the famous australian landmark. every oscar nominated portrayal of female experience in 2016 was shaped with male hands on the camera i have not yet met a female sound recordist. apparently they need big strong arms. and a penis. sources have informed farrago that the bachelor of environments will most likely be replaced by a new bachelor of design and a new environmental science degree in the following years. last week, the university of melbourne academic board approved the new bachelor of design. the bdes will be offered in the 2017 vtac guide. it is unclear whether […] when evie messages rio in the middle of the night, rio decides to surprise evie with a midnight adventure   to the moon. scott the skeleton and flora the fox decide to take up ‘panflutes in contemporary society’ as their breadth subject this semester, and learn to not regret a thing. many things define the hectic life of a university student   from having too little money to spend, to adjusting to a whole new environment. however, one of the most important aspects of student life is arguably participating in the array of clubs and societies. at the university of melbourne, there are over 200 clubs […] is it time to ban the bomb? are australian leaders doing enough? mat kelley explores the dangers of the bomb and why a ban is needed. on november 15 this year, melbourne will host ufc 193 at etihad stadium. the main event? ronda rousey. dexter gillman discusses what this means for sport and the city of melbourne. broga, man bun, man bag, mantyhose, bromance, man dates, manscaping, guyliner, mankinis. the list of heterosexual, man friendly terms for typically female styles goes on. sophie berrill discusses the consequences of these terms and how it relates to gender stereotypes. jason wong discusses the importance of politics and why he persists in advocating for a better society. while the gay rights movement has been imperative in gaining visibility for gay and lesbian people, bisexual, transgender and asexual people are being left far behind in gaining both social and legal status. mary ntalianis discusses this issue in detail. are current laws to prevent terrorists or rogue states getting hold of dangerous artificial intelligence technologies outdated? professor rain liivoja (a senior lecturer at melbourne law school) believes so. despite the good intention to create a joyful place where locals and tourists can get up close to the animals, the zoo is a sad reminder that there is a severe lack of funding. amy clements examines the conditions of the teuk chhou zoo in the quaint town of kampot, cambodia. one doesn’t have to look far to find anecdotal stories about strange events and heightened crime occurring on the monthly full moon. but do these claims stand up to scrutiny? is there really any correlation between the planetary system and the outcomes or experiences for humans living on earth? matt swan discusses the affect of fire on ground dwelling mammals in the otway ranges. spice up your life with this handy, customizable version of the bobo doll experiment, conducted first by albert bandura, and now conducted by you! looking for an escape to victoria’s beautiful countryside? samuel dariol explores latrobe valley, only 90 minutes from melbourne. adriana describes the scottish dialect and accent. melanie basta discusses her thoughts on the australian classic; looking for alibrandi. sean watson discusses his thoughts on purity   a new book by jonathan franzen. love them or hate them, but you cannot deny that the kardashians are pioneering an evolution in entertainment the yawn remains a brain­ boggling phenomenon, know that you are revelling in one of life’s most enduring mysteries. virtual reality was for decades something that existed solely in the realm of science fiction, but now it’s truly here. the vca is set to expand its horizons   literally and figuratively   with its visual arts wing due to be completed this year. one photo says it all, so swipe that finger, i promise you two will have a ball. love your va­jay­jay and all the power that comes with it. it’s just trying its best to look out for you. a month ago, the 2015 oscars promised to be the year a group of rich, overwhelmingly caucasian men. ultimately the nus is failing to live up to what it could be and is pissing away whatever mandate it has left. hashtag activism has proven highly popular to spearhead online campaigns, it has often been criticised. tyres reversing over this flat not just merely dead but really, most sincerely, many tyres, reversing removing their tracks, and thing, dead. over and over, this flat thing becoming a not­so­flat thing. and this not­so­flat thing drawing to the living thing it once was, closer and closer the living thing it will be again. so […] the new student centre replaces all previous centres as part of the university’s aim to create a ‘one stop shop’ for services. the university of melbourne is no stranger to the big screen. over where the ragged people go is a field of frost cackling underfoot grass that bends and snaps at the ends over where the ragged people go seas rage, boiling feathers and fins sleek bodies and wings over where the ragged people go i see just the tip of your ear poking out […] on empty stomachs we stroll through streets with desire to be sat down at tables with sparkling water and menus bathed in genuine leather desire to be greeted as sir and ma’am unlike the he and she in allusions of contempt or accusation the waiters are paid to be patient but they aren’t always and […] he took it all too far, but boy could he play guitar   ‘ziggy stardust’, david bowie. stereolab paints a picture of post­modern slacker heaven, severe faced and glued to their instruments. growing up, the closest thing i ever felt to hellenic pride was after helena paparizou’s ‘my number one’ won the eurovision song contest in 2005. a motion passed by the governing body of the student union will aim to raise awareness of services provided by the student services and amenities fee (ssaf). the university of melbourne has introduced a new gender identification option that will be made available to all students in 2016. the rule of thumb is to not pick anything, especially if you are not with somebody experienced. even though some people do eat poisonous mushrooms by parboiling them to specific temperatures, mushroom foraging is definitely not something that should be taken lightly. kan yay or kan nay? tyson holloway clarke and rose doole take on the ultimate debate: is kanye west a genius or a douchebag? developed a woe you can’t let go? have it answered in the best way: in couplets. a collection of 100 word cliffhangers that leave us wanting more long legs, candy, sex; advertising, breasts, businessmen; lights, eyeballs, paranoia. art & australia will relaunch in june 2016 with a focus on contemporary art and its relationship to broader theoretical, socio­cultural and geo­political contexts. grab a few friends and witness the breakdown of social niceties based on arbitrary allocations to opposing groups. discrimination and prejudice is rampant in every human society, often in ways we are not consciously aware of. dank memes are cool again. emoji has become so normalised in our day to day lives that it’s pretty much become our second language. when i mention my mum’s disapproval of my degree, a frequent response is a knowing a smile and a remark about “typical asian parents”. is drawn from the stereotype that asian means maths and strict parents preoccupied with economic gain at the expense of passion and learning for learning’s sake. prepositions like ‘in’ and ‘on’ are taken for granted by us english speakers. bergman’s films have a compelling power; they confront us and they force us to turn the questions on ourselves. confession time: the guy, the girl, the artist and his ex by gabrielle williams is the first ya book i’ve reviewed for this column that i have not previously read as a kid or a teenager. ‘controversy’ has always been central to the bret easton ellis brand. some films are so goddam good bad. how many of you know that the baillieu has a second folio? or a page from the gutenberg bible? being a foreigner, especially one without the local language, is hard. it’s no surprise that maternity leave has become a hot topic of late, given the controversial government backlash against ‘double dipping’ from employers and the government. professor sheila jeffreys, a lecturer in gender and sexual politics at the school of social and political sciences, retired last semester after 24 years at the university. and as i stood there, i thought to myself, ‘gee, wouldn’t it be nice if someone wrote about how to dispute a myki fine in farrago?’. the trope depicting uni students as broke and living on a shoestring budget is a commonly used one   and eerily accurate, by many accounts. neevon writes a review on the 1995 flick; johnny mnemonic. charlie and linah come together to discuss their experience with the food co op. fossil free melbourne university (ffmu), a campus activist collective, have run over a year’s worth of protests, petitions, face to face confrontations and other forms of lobbying. they want the council to declare in the new charter that the university will divest the $588 million in its endowment fund from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. the council has a key decision to make, but are all members of the council interest free? amar evaluates massive open online courses (moocs) and discusses whether they are the future of education. who am i and what am i doing here? am i here at all, and if not, where the hell am i? by book­ending the film with wind and breath in darkness, iñárritu draws parallels between the two…the two are caught up in each other as part of natural cycles of renewal. in the lead up to semester two exams for 2015, the eastern resource centre left its doors open to the public 24/7. yann martel’s most recent work proves as anticlimactic and flat as the eponymous mountains themselves. hard to describe and almost impossible to define, zines sit in modern culture with connections to almost everything and anything. dr ruth mcnair is a general practitioner with clinical and research interests in same sex parenting. she was the first to speak at a panel discussion last week on the future of lgbtiq families, which the graduate student association organised as part of the midsumma festival. the first thing mcnair said when she took to the […] you want to insert yourself and your soon to be famous creativity and wit into the underground zine culture? not to worry, farrago’s got your back with a step by step guide. ooh la la… mazel tov… what can i say? the spirit that girlpool sent out that night is what i so cherish in music; combining a seriousness in the song form creation, with a positively anarchic approach to performance. we discuss the band’s relationship with triple j, their creative and recording process and the impact of piracy and streaming on the music industry. welcome to the world of star wars fan theories. jo marchant’s rigorous exploration of the science (and pseudo science) behind the mind’s ability to heal the body. student based organisations are condemning a recent proposal to allow students to tap into superannuation funds to repay their university loans. reading kirsty eager’s summer skin is like having a drunken conversation with another girl in the bathroom of a nightclub. in a step forward for inclusion, the university of melbourne will participate in the midsumma pride march for the first time. the national union of students (nus), a peak body for undergraduate student unions on australia, has rejected a request to produce a list of all of its affiliate student unions and their affiliation fees. the request was made by the university of melbourne student union (umsu), an affiliate of the nus, as part of its own budget at […] the future of union house is unclear due to a dramatic infrastructural shift of university services across campus. the change will mean services for students are housed in a defined ‘student precinct’ on the corner of grattan and swanston streets. the university led plan for a student precinct has prompted the university of melbourne student union […] “student unity you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” it would be easy to find someone on the floor who’d say the nus national conference this year was a success   hell, most speakers proclaimed as much at some point. however, it would be just as simple to find someone who’d argue the opposite. day three […] “protectionist economics is archaic   long live the free market!” it was a very slow morning on the tuesday of natcon. conference did not even begin until 3pm in the afternoon   and sure enough, that led on tp a very long night. if you haven’t caught up with the most recent dealings, why not? you can follow […] “what kind of animal wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves ‘i think i’ll join the young libs today’?” these were the words muttered by a member of the grassroots left in front of me while i waited to receive my room key. students nationwide gather at monash university clayton this week to […] this letter is in response to the farrago editorial: transparency and accountability in student organisations as someone who has actually attended the national union of students’ national conference, i know that it’s a lot more than just the “political push and pull” most people outside of the organisation like to dismiss it as. natcon is a place […] hello, this is a liveblog for the national union of students’ national conference. you can also follow live updates at @farragomagazine. you are accountable to the students who fund you, let them see why they should. student unions and legislators have clashed over proposed changes to the funding of student services, clubs and societies, with a proposed motion defeated. the senate considered a private member’s motion from independent senator john madigan which would abolish the student services and amenities fee. the motion was supported by senators deo wang (pup), bob day […] what do vampires, alien abductions and chest sitting monsters have in common? everyone’s heard stories about monsters in the night, ghastly ghouls that ensnare sleepers in a state of paralysis and torment them in their beds. a vampire in the doorway hypnotises vulnerable sleepers, leaving them immobilised and helpless as they are drained of their life […] a new student bar for o week 1990. zoe holman speaks to jack’s brother les thomas about the international bureaucratic nightmare that has engulfed the thomas family. “you must become the change you want to see in the world.” hawke never announced economic deregulation in advance, just as whitlam never gave anyone a heads up over his policy that the economy was an annoying side issue to the real business of state: buying up jackson pollock works. “what happens when an expert panel and an interested audience talk about climate change   especially when there’s a bunch of improvising actors and musicians listening in?”. that was the tagline of an out of the ordinary event that was held at the union theatre on august 14; its name was “our climate   personal […] for: kitty chrystal in this article, and just generally in life, i’m of the pro mazz stance. i consider it a healthy aspect of my sexual practice, something that has helped shape my understanding of my own sexuality; something i do alone and sometimes something i do with a partner. it makes me feel good and […] first semester is drawing to a close and tutorial discussions are tending more towards holiday plans than [insert subject name]. it seems half the student population will be migrating north in search of warmer climes and new york will, as always, be a disproportionately popular destination. people the world over flock to the nerve centre […] the reception was spotless, fitted with sleek wooden panels and expensive furniture. rather than stained glass windows or painted icons, there were waiting lounges and staff in formal attire. there was a hushed silence broken only by the tapping of keyboards and the clattering of heels as female staff strode by. hundreds of books branded […] all that is solid melts into air. believe it or not, there was a time when chinese innovation didn’t consist of ripping off silicon valley tech companies. china is credited with being the birthplace of the four of the most important inventions in the world: paper, printing, gunpowder and the compass. the europeans used the latter two to navigate to new lands […] i know him through friends and it’s about 4am. we’ve all been drinking for hours, dancing to silly tunes in a loose knit group comprised of the last kids standing. at some point, he kisses me. i push him away playfully   then he kisses me again, harder this time, his tongue pushing into my mouth […] the following article includes descriptions of medical procedures and animal studies. in the year 2017, neuroscientist dr sergio canavero plans to perform the world’s first head transplant. valery spiridonov, a man with muscle atrophy, has volunteered to be the patient whose head is transplanted onto a brain dead donor body. it sounds like something out of […] as technology becomes more intertwined with our experience of the world and reality, we really must consider whether this evolution is such a good thing. can you name a living scientist? what about a living, female scientist? what about a living, female scientist who has won a nobel prize? one in six australians have hearing loss. by 2050, it will be one in four. in this experiment, learn to amaze your friends and lead them to the crushing realization that their self image isn’t as stable as they probably assumed. method: step one: sit your friend at the table and instruct them to place their hands onto the surface. they can be palms up or palms down. step two: obscure their view […] among other things, holding a hot drink increases the likelihood that you will judge strangers to be more welcoming and trustworthy. for: what do you want your country to value? this is the central question of the debate of australia’s constitutional future: the debate between remaining a monarchy and becoming a republic. should we value tradition, with the stability it offers, and accept the hierarchy, religiosity and the stagnation of our national culture that come with […] behind an unassuming building in central tirana, the albanian capital, there’s a car park where you can find some apt symbols of the nation’s past and present. the first and most conspicuous of these are the communist statues oxidising on the perimeter of the property. two colossal figures of the ideology   lenin and stalin […] in response to elena larkin’s ‘the shot the doctor doesn’t offer’, bhargavi battala reflects on her time in the indian valley of spiti. before i moved to melbourne, i wanted to go on a crazy backpacking trip to some exotic, remote place in my own home country of india. after unending consultations with friends, travel […] it’s interesting to see where place names come from. take my hometown of san remo, just across from phillip island. there’s a popular brand of pasta that you can find at most australian supermarkets called san remo. when i first saw it, i asked my dad if it was made locally. he said yes. when […] the ridesharing craze is sweeping the world. now, there is an existential threat to taxi drivers as we know them. it’s time to see what makes uber tick. ridesharing is sweeping the world, fast becoming a solid alternative to traditional taxis. for the first time, an app on your smartphone can hail a price quoted ride […] in my first year of university, my history lecture spoke of the mass murder of iraqi kurdish rebels and civilians in one of the earliest extensive bombing campaigns, as the british attempted to enforce their mandate over mesopotamia in the wake of the treaty of versailles. i was confused. my lecturer’s recount of events sounded strangely familiar, yet […] in terms of viewership, the icc cricket world cup is the third most popular global sporting event, behind only the olympics and the all conquering fifa world cup. the 2015 tournament, jointly hosted by australia and new zealand, had an official attendance of over 1 million people. a total of 14 countries competed in 49 matches […] the name of the state opposition leader is something that people often don’t learn until they’ve succeeded in becoming the premier, and sometimes not even then, if you have the misfortune of having two first names (poor andrew daniels). however, one guy is different. here is a guy who was involved in a bizarre stoush […] on 15 march 2015, i quit social media. the effects were immediate and unprecedented. i found inner peace. i began to love myself more. life literally became more real   until i realised that this ‘reality’ was as unpalatable as illusion, and i was most definitely not a better person for it. i was merely […] kate cranney mixes one part science (a profile of a research scientist) with one part art (a detailed drawing of their study subject). in this edition, meet himali ratnayake. himali is a phd candidate researching how heat waves affect australian flying foxes. are you sipping an espresso at this moment? do you have farrago in […] dna is cool stuff: it gives your cells the instructions to make you, well…you. yet with only a two per cent difference in its composition you would be a chimpanzee. it’s amazing to think that your entire being is pretty much governed by tiny strands of the junk. but alas, we never really get to […] depression not only affects your mood, but lowers your cognitive ability, possibly even after you’ve recovered. depression has been a huge topic of conversation societally in recent years, which is fantastic in helping to break down the stigma of mental illness, however, it is still a widely misunderstood dis order. depression, described beautifully by mike martin, […] farrago asks four students from the major parties how they felt about the federal election. the results may surprise you. you know something, george? i already miss you. i miss the tight helical curls that fell from your temples and framed your face. your smooth complexion, perfectly complimented by an outfit of charcoal silk and maroon corduroy. your almond eyes suggesting a mind both absorbent and inquisitive. the way you decided that out of everyone […] photography by zoe efron i stood before my bedroom mirror, appraising my naked body. i thought to myself, “nope. no one needs to see this. sure, i’ll do prosh but nudity is where i draw the line.” little did i know that prosh is a week where the ‘line’ is constantly erased and moved a little […] never have teamwork, nudity and go karting found such perfect cohesion as in the university of melbourne’s prosh week. although there is a distinct lack of clarity amongst students as to what prosh really is, there can be some certainty in its ability to disrupt campus life and transform it into something much more entertaining. but […] one of the major changes included in the business improvement program (bip) is to relocate the louise hanson dyer music library (lhdml) to the vca southbank campus. there are fears that the amount of library staff could be also be reduced, in addition to the 540 job cuts announced in june. students have expressed their outrage […] rachel withers will take the reins as 2015 student union president, after winning the student elections by a very narrow margin. as the 5 o’ clock chime rang out over campus, student politicians collectively expressed a sigh of relief after a week of rigorous campaigning. from 1 to 5 september, students from 17 different tickets […] the national tertiary education union (nteu) has protested with students against university staff cuts, stating that executives “couldn’t give a shit” about university operations. the rally took place late last month. it was the latest action condemning the university’s changes in the business improvement program (bip) saga. staff and students gathered outside the raymond priestly […] words and photography by martin ditmann left wing melbourne student activists have grabbed attention after chaining themselves to a ladder and staging a sit in at the university’s future students information centre. the snap protest comes on the day that parliament prepares to debate the liberal government’s controversial higher education reforms, and follows similar action at monash […] ben provest’s room is a chaotic cross between an organised study bedroom and a messy music studio. his desk is peppered with sheets of loose leaf paper, with a well loved keyboard and an expensive set of speakers sitting on top. across the room rests a mini conch shell nestled between two framed photographs of his beloved […] umsu’s 2015 budget has passed students’ council, including a controversial cut to payments to the national union of students. the budget, drawn up by new umsu president rachel withers and her independent more activities! grouping, passed following heated debate over the readjusted nus allocation. the national union of students is the peak body for australian […] both times i’ve shut down my tinder, i always wondered about the lives i had infiltrated. there was one guy in particular   a gun loving former us soldier who, moments before i pressed the delete button, had asked if i wanted to go get coffee. seeing as how this request had been preceded by lamentations […] trigger warning: sexual assault the dark reflections of francisco goya’s saturn devouring his son, an allegory of the revolutionary turmoil in early nineteenth century spain, echoed the sentiments of jacques mallet du pan, who previously had said of the similar situation in france: “the revolution devours its children”. the words continue to resonate, particularly in […] satire is about as ancient as the human need to talk shit. in every group of cavemen huddling close in fear during a thunderstorm, one most likely grunted sarcastically at the dude who decided they should live in a place that made the sky gods angry. satire, whether it’s the biting observational humour of a […] monty python can do no wrong, but even the excellent the life of brian could have been improved if the associated religion had been a little more, you know, exciting. for instance, take flying spaghetti monsterism. any religion whose adherents believe in a supernatural creator covered in tomato sauce is sure to be as big […] people go to music festivals for all sorts of reasons. some go for the music, some go for the camping and some go to take drugs and enjoy some interstellar mind fuzz. a vast majority probably go for a combination of all three. but as drugs have become an undeniable part of music festivals, so […] phil hughes was not australia’s greatest cricketer; he was not a great technician, nor a fearsome striker. rather, he possessed a homespun style and a fearsome desire to succeed. when on november 25 2014 he was struck in the head by a cricket ball, i   like many others   simply assumed he’d get back […] halfway between melbourne and bendigo lies woodend, a town that boasts a quirky and interesting culture despite basically being situated on one street. while this scenic spot only has a population of 5,400 people, you’ll find it bustling on the weekends, and it is a good start to your exploration of places outside of melbourne. […] netflix is set to make its debut on australian soil in march, marking the start of a new era for tv consumption. netflix is hailed as the solution to all of our shady watching habits, but will it really be all it’s cracked up to be? in australia, we don’t have the best access (or […] in 2004, david broadway wrote november 9th on his school blazer. the date marked the release of halo 2, sequel to one of the great science fiction shooters of our time. david was a failed punk rocker. he dyed his curly hair red but it turned pink. people called him ronald mcdonald and asked him how […] this year the umsu president cut a sizeable portion of umsu’s annual allocation to the national union of students (nus). in this farrago exclusive, eric gardiner spoke with two student politicians from opposite ends of the political spectrum to get their thoughts on the move. scrappy the lumberjack russell   socialist altogether what’s the difference between […] i’ve never been good at sport, especially team sports where my incompetence lets down an entire team as well as myself. due to this complete inability, i never sought out to join a sports club at the university. much to my surprise there are more clubs than i could have imagined, with sports i’d never […] uncertainty over tuition fees could become a financial burden on the university of melbourne’s full fee paying international students, with graduate students facing a potential 10 per cent increase per annum, says the student union’s president. umsu president rachel withers told farrago that as universities face financial uncertainty due to cuts in government funding, a 10 […] twenty fourteen was certainly an eventful year in politics, and higher education policy was one of the key issues on the national agenda. a number of activist groups around the country scored significant media coverage with a series of high profile protests against the abbott government’s education reforms. but the controversy surrounding some of the more […] when the dreaded exam time comes around each semester, the spot transforms into a hub of concentration at night. students stay late, only to exit the building in the hours of the early morning   and maybe before then for the occasional cross campus coffee run. when people think of study areas, they often think of libraries. […] ever wondered why people say they feel ‘hurt’ by others’ comments? or why we refer to losing in love as having our heart ‘broken’? these little language quirks have evolutionary origins which have made us desperate for affection. we are hardwired to need to be included. back when humans lived in hunter gatherer societies, being in […] i like this experiment because not only do you get to explore/demonstrate the effects of thermal shock*, but you also get some lovely glasses at the end. also, you’re recycling and the earth will love ya for it. i would recommend following the materials list closely. originally i did not and tried to use acrylic […] sifting through fish guts, collecting ear bones and spotting crocodiles   it’s all in a day’s fieldwork for one postgraduate student from the school of biosciences. the researcher meet matt le feuvre is a phd candidate researching the extinction risk of freshwater fish in the kimberley, a region in australia’s tropical north west. and also meet […] when i was just eleven years old, i had my first crush. unfortunately, he was in the year above me and so naturally, he had no clue i existed. with my new hormones overriding my brain, i tried everything to get his attention. whether it was attempting to play soccer or complementing him on his […] the room is white and sterile. month old flowers wither in a vase, a feeble attempt at colour. a heart rate monitor hums obediently at the bedside of the sickly patient. doctors rush past the open doorway, weary faced, papers flying, stethoscopes swinging, barely casting a glance toward the fading lifeform inside. medicine today has come far from the days […] a shell lies waiting beaming in a ray of light (my hand) we lie in a hot room smiling around the curl of the shell bright blue, a day away and a dream falling in the thick of the last night i sang to the shell the melody ran in a wink […] christmas day for an extended family of 37 is always a chaotic affair. with one matriarch in her late eighties, seven children, seventeen grandchildren, three overwhelmed great grandchildren under the age of seven, plus various partners, friends and companion animals all on the scene at once, certain changes to the classic christmas model have had to […] the university of melbourne will host a farmer’s market beginning this semester on wednesdays. held on union lawn between 11am and 3pm, the market will provide not only seasonal fruit and vegetables but also a wide variety of organic and bio dynamic products and produce. with the opportunity for students to engage directly with business owners, […] melbourne university sport (mu sport) is set to implement a new funding model for its 40 sporting clubs. the new model will aim to create more transparent and equitable funding system, following the controversy in the fair fund distribution among the clubs. under the current system, sporting clubs are categorised into three categories: competitive, recreational […] just as the university of melbourne student union (umsu) represents the entire student body, the university’s graduate student association (gsa) represents graduate students on campus. following the recent internal by election, steve brown was elected as the new gsa president. brown is a graduate public policy student and has a history of involvement in student politics. […] it’s here. my.unimelb now has its own app. will it change your life? we’re not so sure. according to the ask.unimelb website, “the my.unimelb mobile app allows you to view your class and exam timetables, notices, library borrowing, fines, results, system announcements and events”. however, the app has one fatal flaw, rendering it fundamentally redundant […] we at unimelb should consider ourselves lucky when it comes to food and coffee on campus. whether it’s brunch at seven seeds, a quick beverage from standing room or stress eating at pronto pizza (because when has pizza ever let you down?), we have an abundance of delicacies around almost every corner. but once in […] michael dug his finger into the top of a mandarin and peeled the skin back in one go, hating the way the stringy white bits clung to the fruit. he picked them out and placed them inside the curve of empty skin. michael only liked fruit when it was sour, just half ripe, and he had […] delicate long petals strong soothing aroma the vision a victim of alien seduction on its own will expires and dissolves to undermine mother nature a well built structure hair of vines and leaves a competent warrior to conquer barbaric winds the porter of fruits on its own will withers and dissolves to provoke mother nature a […] for many of us, music is an integral part of our lives. but why is this? music has been known to cause increases in heart rate, dilated pupils, body temperature changes, chills and goose bumps, as well as generally awesome feelings. as to what gives us these lovely physical and psychological changes, we can point […] it’s taken mankind over 300 years to pin down the speed of light. so we’re going to measure it with a chocolate bar. let’s get started. method: step 1. you want to stop the platter in your microwave from rotating. this can be done either by inverting the platter or removing the wheels that allow […] coal fired power will soon be obsolete. that was the topic of a debate staged at federation square in the twilight of 2014. bob brown spoke for the motion, alongside a green energy entrepreneur and our own professor mike sandiford. in opposition, an economist, a businesswoman and a government executive valiantly argued that   noble […] star trek has given birth to a plethora of ingenious ideas pertaining to the world of technology. living in a time where back to the future is now set in our past, we as the human race are sitting here waiting around for the day these technologies become a reality. i mean how are hover […] as humans, we’re hardly impressed by the fact that each and every single one of us are capable of contributing to, harbouring and fostering life. and perhaps it is in our pursuit of mechanisms to control our fertility   for logical, rational and personal reasons   that we’re prone to sideline considerations of our fertility […] what comes to mind when you think of a drag queen? men in wigs and sequinned dresses? dame edna? priscilla: queen of the desert? maybe even white chicks or mrs. doubtfire? drag queens are arguably the most underrated and misunderstood members of the lgbtqi community. an acronym for ‘dress resembling a girl’, drag has roots […] canberra: the bustling metropolis that is the semi precious, quartz stone gem in australia’s crown. this noble bastion of righteous mediocrity stands strong against the sea of actually interesting and memorable places… but alas, your dear author gets ahead of himself. i recently travelled up to canberra to visit friends and family who have moved there, […] if you’re after an alternative to a coastal weekend escape, daylesford and the nearby hepburn springs are absolute gems hidden in victoria’s spa country. while the phrase ‘spa country’ might fuel your bourgeois nightmares, dismissing daylesford as a retreat for middle aged couples sells it very short indeed. daylesford is about a 70 minute drive from melbourne, […] latency jules and i have set up our xbox ones. he’s trying to organise a party chat using voice commands. “xbox, snap party.” “xbox, unsnap.”frustration mounts. “xbox, fuck me.” i’m attempting to navigate the menu using hand gestures. i’ve got my open palm to the kinect sensor. it must look as though i’m having a […] working in retail is probably not what i’d call my ‘dream job’. however, i’ve spent the last three years of my life working for arguably the dodgiest chain retailer (i’ll let you figure that one out yourselves, kids) in an inarguably shady part of town. as you may have been able to gather, i have […] it is a truth universally acknowledged that the best place for ideological fisticuffs is a facebook status. forget arts festivals, forget live debates, forget sitting around at the pub until hitler inevitably comes up   it’s all facebook. so it was the other fateful day when i decided to wade into a conversation about kink shaming. everyone […] multiculturalism is a brand for australia. it resonates in every classroom and is never far from the lips of every politician. it’s evoked as a ‘disclaimer’ against racism for every racially charged debate from asylum seekers to foreign investment. it’s a buzzword, proclaimed loudly to demonstrate how far we’ve progressed since the white australia policy. […] let’s make one thing perfectly clear: i am not here to tell anyone how they should identify, or that how they previously saw themselves is wrong. i am not looking to provide a solution to the puzzle that is personal identity. that’s an endeavour that spreads itself across the fields of psychology, history, philosophy and […] being a student whose surname isn’t trump, gates or mcduck, means figuring out a way to indulge your nascent refinement of taste in food, drink, fashion, culture, travel and real estate for somewhere under thirty five cents a week. and it is generally advisable to keep within at least a flailing arm’s length of the parental […] “singapore? it’s kinda boring. bloody expensive. good shopping though. oh, and the food is amazing.” this is what everyone told me before i left for an internship in the “lion city” and, at first, nothing suggested the reality was any different. everything is bloody expensive   for a while i was paying $60/night to live […] protestors gathered to south lawn yesterday to rally against the university’s divestment in fossil fuels in a national day of action alongside 15 other universities. students, staff, alumni and members from fossil free mu, umsu’s environment department, and 350.org gathered at midday in preparations to march to the raymond priestly building. rally groups in support of divestment argued that a […] recent news of zayn malik’s departure from british boyband one direction has spurned high octane emotional responses, ranging from utter despair and mass hysteria to surprisingly vitriolic derision, with a good measure of middle aged ambivalence somewhere in between. following malik’s announcement on the twenty sixth of march in which he cited stress and personal reasons as his […] australia’s ‘group of 8’ (go8) consortium of universities has announced that it is opposed to any ‘watering down’ of the higher education and research reform bill 2014 to allow it to be passed into law. the legislation   which would allow universities to set their own course tuition fees without caps (as per the united […] late last year, the national tertiary education union’s (nteu) university of melbourne branch joined several other branches in successfully pressuring their superannuation fun, unisuper, to withdraw investments from transfield. transfield is a publically listed company that has been managing australia’s detention centres on manus and nauru since entering a $1.22 billion contract in january 2014. […] the university has taken the first steps towards “establishing the capacity to develop, deliver and maintain a suite of high quality, online, graduate level courses”. the graduate online   melbourne initiative is currently focusing on offering online degrees in two fields of study, evaluation and ageing. the online courses range from specialist certificates to masters degrees. […] in the 13th century the mongol hordes, under hulagu khan, lay siege to the medieval metropolis of baghdad. the city’s famous library was destroyed, with so many books thrown into the rivers that the waterways were said to run black with ink. to this day, it remains the single largest destruction of knowledge in history. […] umsu’s autonomous departments at the university of melbourne hosted rad sex and consent week 2015 from the 20th to the 23rd of april. the yearly event, made up of a series of workshops and talks, tackled issues surrounding consent and a diverse range of sexual relationships. with workshops covering topics from sex toys to interracial […] the university of melbourne will have a new mandatory lecture recording policy in place by the end of the year. by 31 december, all lectures will be recorded, with lecturers being able to opt out of this only for ‘non trivial’ reasons. the umsu education department is currently working with university administration to determine what these […] on 18 march 2015, at the 2015 university wominjeka (indigenous welcome), the university of melbourne formally launched its second reconciliation action plan (rap). in his foreword to the plan, vice chancellor glyn davis declares rap 2’s intent to “maintain and build on earlier commitments” to the university’s aboriginal and torres strait islander (atsi) students and staff, […] a meticulously planned day comes to a screeching halt when anna decides to shoot her boyfriend ezra in the left arm. he lies, sprawled on the pavement, his terribly cut almond hair sticking to his pale, sweaty brow. why he’s sweating, anna can’t understand. he has a bullet lodged in his left arm, an action […] they say myrddin sang the stones from wales or that giants heaped them, transfigured into menhirs from the early sun. the plain is minimally barren: unimportant clumps of treeline are further reduced to sorrel patches and the strict definition of weed: herbaceous, a grass, indiciduous tree or fungus that grows on its own terms   […] the underworld was located in a cave somewhere in the jungle, the feet that led to it buried in falling green leaves and precipitation: a tantalus esque trench, a grove of people transformed into trees. the word now   the museum exhibit   evokes, rather than insinuates, a serpent plumed headdress, tattoos that go deeper than […] my brother’s friend carlos refers to barcelona as a “giant orgy that no one is invited to.” he’s staring at me with those yellow eyes, waiting for a response. i smile, nod, and lean over to take a look at the city. we’re on a terrace with a panoramic view. my brother’s place is a […] he can’t see you through the keyhole, because you don’t fit into a fucking keyhole i remember the braided scar on your left shoulder where a wing could have grown. the way you would retreat behind the trenches of your bedsheets before the hail of tears tracked your cheeks. the snails on the pavement never did make it, their shells cracked like bookspines under our hurrying feet. like a flowering […] why the stella prize promotes women in literature. oh me, oh my, oh may. the month of dreading winter and savouring every last drop of summer’s sweet elixir. musically, may usually offers an entrée sized garden salad in comparison to the succulent mixed grill of the warmer months. with the irresistible courtney barnett selling out the forum twice already, this year might be a […] can’t wait until mid year break? me neither. you want to travel? great idea! but wait, my dear farrago reader, wherever will you go? europe? no. asia? sorry, those locations are too full of cultural experiences and adventures that you can neglect in exchange for a short trip down to my hometown of werribee. i […] love it or hate it, hip hop is here to stay. while it may constantly twist and morph, its cultural influence is undeniable, and hip hop artists wield a power that should not be underestimated. that power, the power of storytelling, can introduce listeners to the nonsensical and fantastical, as well as a dark and morbid conception […] aries aries: the ram   more like the ram ifications of your actions. check yourself before you wreck yourself   your competitive nature usually works in your favour, but this month the moon has turned your luck. anything you try before may will result in doom, so lock yourself in a basement with some tin cans, […] twin peaks. you may think of it as a euphemism for boobs, but it’s actually a cult tv series. it’s also the forefather of today’s biggest (and most addictive) tv hits. premiering in april 1990 to over 34.6 million viewers in the us, twin peaks follows the mystery of a washed up high school prom queen… […] isabela calderon is a singer and performer currently studying at the melbourne conservatorium of music. there’s something oddly comforting about a series of unfortunate events, despite the inherently depressing narrative. my experience with yiddish is limited to exposure to the odd word thrown around during friday night dinner conversations at my boyfriend’s place. he’s jewish, and since i’m not, he’s my translator. in fact, not long ago, i found myself in the attic of an antique shop in victoria’s southeast testing his knowledge through the […] so it’s the end of the first week of exam period. if you are an arts or environments student you have probably seen your first glimpse of sunlight since the start of swotvac, dropping what seems like your life’s work into the abyss of the submission slot. it’s definitely time to celebrate. those in science, […] i’m new to melbourne and i’m having a hard time making friends. how do i become popular? as writer of an advice column, i’m obligated to preface my reply with the standard “don’t compromise character for popularity/popularity is a fickle witch/make genuine connections” feel good, self help schlock. it’s a legal thing; all agony aunts take an […] let me paint you a picture. fingers cramping from several hours of scrolling, the bottom right corner of the laptop screen reads 3.30 am. “i don’t like problems. i avoid them when i can and i don’t like people pointing them out to me.” such is the life of lorelai gilmore and her teenage daughter/best friend rory gilmore. now enmeshed into the vocabulary of popular culture, the gilmore girls (2000 2007) serves as a paragon of the perfect world that […] a lot of people find it a bit hard to swallow what russell brand is telling them they should. the cheeky english geezer, most well known for his stand up work and appearances in films like forgetting sarah marshall and get him to the greek, has profited from his persona as a witty sex addict […] there has been a lot of talk lately about the national disability insurance scheme. most of the talk has (of course) centred on quibbles between state and federal parties as to how much funding each side should kick in. now, with funding matters apparently cleared, the details of the scheme are beginning to emerge and […] visit any university campus during student election week and you’ll meet student politicians. hundreds of the tired little sods working day in, day out for your vote. on face value, they present a smorgasbord of voting options for the average student. stand up, unite, sit down, activate, left action, left inaction, they’re all there, and […] on 7 october 2003, california’s first ever gubernatorial recall election only the second in american history was held after a sufficient number of signatures were collected. the ballot had two questions. the first one, asking whether the sitting governor gray davis should be recalled from office, received a 55.4% ‘yes’ vote. the second asked who should replace […] when an explosion tore through moscow’s domodedovo airport in 2011, headlines went up around the world: “terrorist bombing leaves 35 dead”, “carnage at key russian airport”, “security lapse blamed for deadly attack”. the articles that followed these headlines offered little context: readers learnt the ‘what, where, and when’. yet, as is all too common with […] 1. i hate how you flounce around in universities in packs, with this grand confidence now that you’re all grown up. 2. i hate how you think clubs and societies sausage sizzles are god’s gift to society. 3. i hate how you wear heels and tiny winsey miniskirts to university in may. 4. i hate how you […] 2008 will always be one of the most exciting years of my life. barack obama captured the imagination of millions of american voters and millions more around the world. he tantalised us with the prospect of an african american ascending to the presidency and wowed us on the campaign trail en route to claiming an emphatic […] the students took their seats and got ready for their electrical engineering lecture. as the ruckus settled, the lecturer stood up and began to drone. all went as planned for the first fifteen minutes. then the powerpoint went black. words began to appear on the screen, as if typed. they read: “fuck this. i’m going […] few people were surprised when anna funder won this year’s miles franklin award for her new novel about anti nazi activists in the 1920s and 30s, all that i am. demonstrating a passion for challenging political literature, all that i am joins her samuel johnson prize winning nonfiction work about psychological terror in east germany, stasiland. […] r. kelly   write me back as a person of sound mind, i have never listened to r. kelly before and all i knew about the man was that he was accused of peeing on some ridiculously young girl a few years back. however, write me back is surprisingly fantastic… it’s like if burt bacharach […] the young man on screen drives a surfboard loaded ute down a pier. objectively speaking, he’s good looking with his slicked back hair and muscles. he starts narrating in an ocker accent: “welcome to the shire. we call it ‘god’s country.’” this is mitch, one of the many rich and tanned kids that make up the cast of […] okay, dig are downstairs, is anyone using the stage? doll are putting makeup on, and we’re on in 10. ctg have worked out their surtitles and gus has the changes. no, i don’t know what happened to the flowers, last time i saw them they were by the sink. bella and gabi to the stage […] a rhizocephalan doesn’t really have a common name. perhaps that’s because it doesn’t look like much. but this spineless invertebrate spins a tale of high romance, of commitment and sacrifice, and an intimacy of the closest kind. the scientific name of this hugh grant of the animal kingdom is sacculina, a slightly unappealing title but […] you may have noticed a little less energy in your media class this semester. or one less fro’ bobbing along south lawn in a multicoloured jacket. that’s because melbourne uni student marty smiley has packed his bags for a new life in sydney. why? marty has loved music all his life, has wanted to be […] early in the 20th century, society condemned jazz and blues for their sexual nature and bawdy lyrics. in the ’50s, rock ‘n’ roll caused no less scandal. today, barry white’s deep voiced songs resonate as typical ‘make out’ tunes and most music clips are akin to pornography. of the popular music produced in the last […] we all know pop culture is prone to exaggeration. there has been one particular issue, however, that takes the cake. warning: i’m about to say something that will make most of your cringe, possibly want to run away in terror, or at the very least close the magazine in a fit of disgust. period. there, […] survey on your staff news wf applications open playbook is live lately i’ve been living vicariously through the delightfully devious prose of miss natalie diney, the regular writer of this column. she has a mega babe! they do exciting things like go to mardi gras and sexyland! and they’re in toe tingling love (published love too, surely the tertiary student’s equivalent of being sung a love song in […] union theatre has been closed to allow for the removal of asbestos in the ceiling. it is anticipated that the theatre will remain closed until the end of october. as many as eight productions were booked into the union theatre during this period and have been forced to find alternative venues. on 10 august 2012, […] the days of borrowing a cup of sugar from your neighbour when you realise you’ve fucked the grocery run when baking a cake seem to have been over for a while now. you don’t know your neighbours. or you think, “why on earth would they want to lend me their sugar?” or you’re scared they’ll […] the vice chancellor at la trobe university has been forced to flee student protests through the university’s underground tunnel network. the protest was in response to a proposed restructure to the humanities and social sciences faculty at la trobe university. the proposal would see the number of subjects available in the faculty halved, as well […] i can’t hear anything, heat floods my face and my palms become two heavy sponges. the spit in my mouth turns to glue. i bend off the side of the verandah to dry retch and then sit on the edge of a cane chair that’s covered in rolled up newspapers. the verandah looks over a large […] pockets of air trapped. the icy roof of a lonely trough a glassy captor. they’re shifting. cracks appear like roots. tap softly, and they will grow gaps slowly open up and scream at the cold. above, spectrous smoke fills my nose the smell of the ember is crackling. disturbed the fragments float, upturned adrift in […] last month warner bros announced that ben affleck had been cast as batman in the upcoming man of steel sequel and the internet immediately shat itself. within an hour of the announcement over 100,000 tweets were posted on the subject and 12 hours later there were over 500,000. #batfleck was born. and it wasn’t just […] tycho brahe was the first person of note to record their observations of the heavens in what we would now regard as a scientifically rigorous manner. the danish nobleman and astronomer was also the last to do so without the aid of a telescope. he challenged the aristotelian idea that stars were fixed, eternal points […] if myki were a public monument, it would be the southern star. standing 120 metres tall and towering over the docklands suburb, the star ferris wheel was supposed to be melbourne’s answer to the london eye. it was supposed to turn postcode 3008 into a bustling tourist hub. it was supposed to give waterfront city […] before i left australia i was told again and again to be safe. the look on my mum’s face when i waved goodbye at tullamarine was not far from the expression she wore in a dream i once had a dream in which i was being executed. it wasn’t just my parents either. my friends were […] there’s a great deal of irony in a column called ‘closet minded’ that has never mentioned the closet. or perhaps to discuss closets and queerness would deflate the pun ny potential of the column’s title? irony or not, a recent conversation with a friend and his boyfriend’s coming out got me thinking. what does ‘the closet’ […] do you wish you could prod your brain with a small amount of electricity to extract that top notch marx quote, which fleetingly held a conscious place in your mind but has, while having a rousing conversation about class struggle, plummeted into oblivion? do you wish you could stimulate your brain into recalling exactly how labile […] high school sex ed usually involves an encyclopaedia of contraceptive options for women, and a single message for men suit up or face the consequences. but it’s not long until teenage boys get just as many confusing contraceptive options as their female counterparts. the female contraceptive pill is so lauded as a hallmark of women’s sexual […] political opinion polls: virtuous insight into the mind of the electorate or obsession that undermines the political process? in 1940, george gallup father of the modern political poll declared them the tool to “take the pulse of democracy”. though it would seem that now we have hooked our political process up to life support, scrutinising every minor […] the ceo of the student union’s corporate arm, clemens unger, has resigned after a six week leave of absence. a letter to staff dated 31 august informed them that he had resigned for “personal reasons”, effective five days earlier. the letter also stated that trevor white, who has acted as ceo during unger’s leave has been […] there was a moment during the recent university of melbourne student union election week that will probably stay with me for life. rounding a corner near old arts i stumbled across a senior candidate from one of the major tickets, who had trapped a harried looking international student next to a wall. flapping campaign paraphernalia in […] we stand around the barbeque, socialising paralysed in the underbelly of suburbia and i notice there are mini humans everywhere tiny dribbling beings, skulking on the periphery guarded by swollen abdomens (harbouring even smaller beings) but they are slippery and steal away my partner says maybe we should go i feel the same but one of […] there is some magic in this world: not wanting to be solved but savoured. it’s in the soft curve of a lover’s back where a little morning light pools and ripples. it’s in the faces of summer’s children with vanilla ice cream on their noses and pink sugar in their hair. in the smell of […] nu brick nervous hymns rattled off beneath pigeon shit pyramids you’re a visitor here avoiding the false light tears through night dreaming gauze you’re more than after party tipsy you used to be fearless you won’t take risks with colour and noise catch yourself conjuring storms the charming magician redundant in tights now you tiptoe nylon soft […] dazed and disoriented hers is the sway of a sleepwalker with blush suffused cheeks and starry eyes she gazes up at an unfixed point and sighs her gait is languid a groggy saunter underwater “no thank you. i’m sorry, excuse me.” the lights and language so intensely loud weaving through the city crowd her mind […] life, like the universe, is made mostly of nothing: the spaces between matter, or things that matter. and the really great moments are like “flies in a cathedral”  dwarfed and made insignificant by the monumental vacuum they inhabit, anomalous. arching, light has scuttled under my lids agape lips begging to drip with the vomit of my heart raw soles wade in the beads from my skin sleeplessly feasting knowing you are cold in a locked bed. this piece is a continuation of border crossing: nepal to india which appeared in edition six. after an easy exit through nepalese border security, my fiancée jess and i are confronted immediately by the complexity of india. on entry into raxhaul in north east india we are dragged into an immigration office by four rotund men […] to many classical musicians, the words ‘crossover artist’ invoke an involuntary cringe, palpitations, and a carefully suppressed financial jealousy, usually expressed with a variation on the phrase ‘that’s not real music’. the likes of andré rieu and josh groban are seen to have sold out, placing money before musical integrity, promoting the commodification of art, […] undertaking an internship is increasingly becoming a prerequisite to full time employment. the fair work ombudsman has recently instigated a review of internships in australia, the finding of which could have important implications for students and graduates. students in degrees such as healthcare and education have long established placement programs. others, especially in media or the […] lewis received the call ten minutes before collecting his six year old daughter, jessica, from school. the conversation was brief. the voice on the other end of the line said the room was already taken. lewis ended the call and began to massage the back of his neck. it was friday afternoon. that left five […] something strange is happening off the coast of tasmania. in august, the commonwealth scientific and industrial research organisation (csiro) reported that tropical fish were turning up in cold seas usually home to temperate marine life. in nearby waters, the dutch trawler margiris was granted permission to fish in australian waters by the australian fisheries management […] the football field is the mecca of australian masculinity, where weakness is the enemy. sledging your man by spitting “faggot” at him is as common as hot pies and cold drinks. it is in this place that a gay man is most terrified to speak the truth about his sexuality. jason ball, 24, thought he […] footballer tom wilson reflects on the realities of sexuality in sport, and the importance of an inclusive afl culture. i sit in my room, door closed, and watch gus johnston’s video again. i don’t know how many times i’ve watched it on youtube, more than 20 perhaps. gus played hockey for most of his life […] “sylvia plath interesting poetess whose tragic suicide was misinterpreted as romantic by the college girl mentality.”  woody allen as alvy singer, annie hall it was 11 february 1963 when a nurse and a workman broke into sylvia plath’s flat and found the poetess with her head in the oven, her babies crying upstairs. it’s a story […] just like how the greek kept watching oedipus even though they all knew what was going to happen, we read these novels not for profundity, but because it’s cathartic. many students are familiar with that red ink criticism scrawled near an essay paragraph: ‘vague’. but what does it mean what is ‘vague’? dictionary definitions of ‘vague’ equate it with a lack of clear meaning, along the lines of ‘vagueness arises whenever the meaning of a phrase is not clear to its intended audience’. so in the […] when we think of great literature, names that spring to mind are shakespeare, dickens and austen. we either ignore or are ignorant of of kathy acker, e.l. doctorow or milan kundera just three names that are about to be compromised even more, as the english and theatre studies program recently announced a decision to cut three […] recently, farrago printed both an overwhelmingly positive review of a production i was a part of, flw’s the history boys, and an overwhelmingly negative review for another i wasn’t. whilst it might have been easier to take the congratulations for the history boys and run, something didn’t sit right with me about the tenor of […] you can’t trust the stage. you can revel in it, experiment on it, be moved by it and bitch about it long into the night, but trust it? no deal. who can blame this old pal of ours? its disloyalty to the expectations of absolutely everyone involved is actually what preserves it as a valuable […] there are those who label australian history as boring and cringe worthy. others simply don’t want to confront the racist nation of our history books. but for fregmonto stokes this is what makes australian history worth revisiting. as the writer of the newest union house theatre production 1938: an opera, fregmonto and his team bring to […] recently, i attended a theatre workshop hosted by the digcollective and i can safely say it was the most fun i’ve had in a long time. comprised of alex talamo, michael fee, dana mcmillan, david harris, tim sneddon, grace cumming and josh lynzaat, the dig collective is a melbourne based theatre collective that last year […] when i was fourteen, my favourite tv shows involved oversized weaponry and frenetic light shows masquerading as battles. anime characters lost limbs on a regular basis. my unimpressed father proclaimed me “too old for cartoons” a confusing assertion from someone who lists the lion king as a cinematic masterpiece. nevertheless, it’s a common claim: liking cartoons […] umsu is aware that a number of predatory cult organisations are attempting to recruit students on campus and surrounds. lore is unlike any war film you’ve ever seen before. this german australian co production focuses its attention on the children of a nazi ss officer and their struggle to adapt to post war life in the wake of what their parents have done. after her father is arrested and her mother surrenders, young teenager lore (played by newcomer […] ruby sparks begins with the clichés: a lucid dream, an empty apartment and a has been author battling writer’s block. yet when it becomes apparent that the homebound, sex deprived author’s prose has real life implications, the will ferrell alarm bells go into overdrive. is ruby sparksthe reincarnation of 2006’s innovative comedy stranger than fiction? the similarities between […] director walter salles and screenwriter jose rivera have teamed up once again to capture the american road in the adaptation of jack kerouac’s quintessential beat gen travel tale on the road. ravenous for adventure, young writer sal paradise (sam riley) and hedonistic renegade dean moriarty (garrett hedlund) charge across the american plains in their ’49 hudson. they […] love this giant is wonderful. the clattering brass, sheer musicality, and rich songwriting of the ridiculously talented david byrne and annie clark are a revelation in what idiots call ‘art music’. david byrne is an unquestionable genius, and if you have never heard the magic of the talking heads, you should be greatly ashamed of […] in melbourne, there are about as many bands swindling for a break as there are cigarette butts stamped out along the steps of flinders street station. to find the proverbial shining treasure among the trash or the sharpest needle among the haystack requires quite simply a huge ass rake of some description. on the brink folk band oh […] umsu education will be running a series of workshop style panels in the coming weeks called the umsu assemblies. spring is in the air in melbourne. after winter, pink buds on the cherry trees burst forth with delicate blossoms. the air positively throbs with the perfume of flowers and the buzzing of birds and bees. one of the loveliest of the city’s residents is hopping about in gardens and parks in charming little families. […] after discussing sex all year, it seems the time is ripe for some abstinence. and i don’t mean the i couldn’t get a date so i dated myself brand of abstinence. i’m referring to a binding vow of celibacy in which one willingly, even wilfully, goes without intercourse. in our current sexualised and romanticised society the subject feels almost taboo. a feeling of […] “smile   it’s good to be alive.” i hear our instructor’s voice as i lie on the grass, arms by my side, looking at the sky. overhanging branches divide an otherwise endless blue. i’m not exactly smiling. it’s more of a grimace. a kid playing soccer looks over, wondering why a bunch of grown ups are […] recently i’ve been trying to sort out the kinks in my sex life. not the whole ‘non monogomous’ thing with mega babe   that’s going about as smooth as her sweet ass. but the more specific kinks in my messy bedroom; for instance how hard do i want to be spanked and are cable ties safe […] i have long detested macarons. they may look cute and colourful and promise ridiculous flavours, but these undeservedly popular biscuits frequently fall short of yumminess, and are pricey to boot. i set out to discredit the macarons, but unfortunately, while researching this article i came across some that won my reluctant, humiliated heart. not to […] join the climate strike, meeting at 12:30pm this friday at south lawn on the parkville campus.. john helmer currently resides in a small shared office on the second storey of the old arts building, a somewhat low key homecoming after so many hears. helmer, one of the 1964 editors of farrago, has spent the past 25 years based in moscow, covering russian big business: a constantly evolving world of mega wealthy ‘oligarchs’ against […] statement   nauru detention centre re opening content note: discussion of detention of asylum seekers a petition to disaffiliate the socialist alternative from the student union will be tabled at the next clubs and societies committee meeting, following allegations of harassment on campus. the petition says that the motion to disaffiliate is because the socialist alternative club has broken the clubs and societies regulations, it cites the regulations in that […] the george paton gallery has temporarily closed its doors to artists while the air is monitored for airborne asbestos fibres. the gallery, situated on the second floor of union house, expects to reopen in late october once it has received a full clearance certificate. trevor white, ceo of melbourne university student union ltd (musul), specified […] 1. update your e signatures 2. summerfest staff survey 3. next workshop: wrap it up (8 mar) afer that brief period when colour coded candidates wave flyers at students walking into the baillieu (a.k.a. election week), university of melbourne student union (ums) office bearers, students’ council and committee members for 2013 have been elected. stand up! won the ballot by a very narrow margin, with about 51 per cent of formal votes for […] students will get the chance to grill their vice chancellor and other key university decision makers in a forum project run by online engagement group oursay. the university of melbourne student union and vice chancellor’s office have accepted invitations to take part in the project. from 14 september students have been invited to post questions […] it all begins with a naked red haired woman. she jumps up and down, creaking the floorboards with every bounce. she appears distraught, if not mentally unstable. the scene makes no sense, but that’s okay. the film has only just begun; you reason that surely things will explain themselves in due time. they don’t. indeed, with […] joel and ethan coen hold the distinction of being arguably the most acclaimed american filmmaking duo of recent times. they jointly write, produce and direct all of their projects, as well as assuming the role of editor under the pseudonym of roderick james. their films are distinguished by a willingness to offer a unique take […] when you just have to know what will happen when girls lift weights with their vaginas “women try vaginal weightlifting for the first time” is not a headline i ever expected to read. yet i did, and i read the article, and i watched the entire accompanying video. it was great. when they post […] in sum ragged orphan pip meets a convict, then an old lady who makes up in tragi cunning for what she resolutely lacks in marbles. adventure is had, naiveté exploited, and any hope for london as a cheerful getaway destination profoundly ruined. why the world thinks you should read it one the the great victorian novels, grand sweeps of […] when alt lit darlings tao lin and megan boyle writers and editors of niche publisher muumuu house married in a quickie vegas ceremony, they filmed it and dropped the news via a live q&a webstream. if anyone out there is confused about what alt lit is, that might be the best way of explaining it. anti privacy, writers […] imagine the stereotypical aussie beer drinker. now replace that wife beater singlet with an ironic shirt, the sticky carpet with a roof top bar, the sausage in his hand with some gluten free treats. the words leaving his lips are not “a pot of vb”, but instead the names of melbourne based microbreweries. this is the beer drinker […] if getting there is half the fun, then melbourne must be a very fun city. as thrilling as it is to snare a bargain at victoria market, or to catch a six at the mcg, getting stuck on a train is the quintessential melbournian experience. for a city perpetually acknowledged as the world’s most liveable, […] the first day of uni was a warm one and it was on this day that i threw alana off her game, after her trip on the number 6 tram up swanston st. heading off to the first class of her bachelor of science, she chose missy higgins to start off her morning, with her new […] when harold lasseter set off on his fateful trek almost 80 years ago, he could scarcely have imagined that his tale would become a source of endless fascination for prospectors and conspiracy theorists alike. as the story goes, lasseter claimed to have discovered a miles long quart reef filled with gold in a remote part of […] more than ever, it seems that audiences are staying in and watching the latest episodes of breaking bad and suits rather than venturing from the comfort of the couch to the local cinema. yet 2013 was a great year for film, particularly smaller studio pictures and independent films, which were rife with originality, compelling stories, […] over a year of writing libellous things about historical figures, a columnist learns a number of things that, for one reason or another, he just cannot find space to mention. it doesn’t seem to matter now, so, the following people are chumps. pyrrhus one of the best regarded generals of the ancient world was fighting in […] i’d like to pretend that i’m proudly progressive and enjoy a little kinky lesbian bondage with my cereal in the morning, but quite frankly, i just can’t carry that look off. it’s probably just as well during the process of writing that sentence, i dribbled my caramel infused instant coffee onto my chest. the truth is […] the geriatric dude’s overtaking me. again. i take a look behind because i’m sure someone’s laughing at me. it’s raining and i’m jogging around princes park. i wanna throw up in my coach’s face. rest assured, this is all part of my genius plan to kick social anxiety’s ass by putting myself in situations that interest […] it started innocently enough. a quick browse; a form of pre work procrastination, which had become part of a mundane routine honed over the summer. where five minutes before my intensely laborious shift of selling t shirts, i’d find myself picking through the sloppily stocked shelves of a certain chain stationary store (begins with “t”). i’d use any […] so we have a new pm, and maybe you have your sights set on a new nationality. have you ever thought, fuck it, i’d do a much better job of running the show? in other words, have you ever considered utilising the law of secession? no? let me introduce you to the individuals who hated […] at the end of a disastrous and depressing year for the left in australia, labor has finally elected a new leader in a refreshingly democratic process. but bill shorten has inherited a mess of a party. it may be tempting, as many progressives did in the weeks after the election, to get angry at the […] the university is considering rooftop gardens, nap pods and fed square style big screens, after a survey into the campus buildings and amenities. according to the #makemyuni survey, students and staff at the university of melbourne want better transport, food and seating facilities. “we have received a great deal of valuable input and insight into the […] tastings 2022   artist and production team applications open! the student union’s queer department are asking students to officially report any queerphobia they have experienced in their classes at university. this comes after allegations were made to queer officer galih pangestu that lecturers and tutors were failing to provide a safe space for all students, which is a university policy. pangestu says that five […] 3) a. buchanan   no place like home walking into senator john madigan’s office it’s obvious he’s not your average politician. ned kelly paraphernalia adorns the walls. a plethora of blacksmithing tools, a nod to his former vocation, are displayed about the room. madigan is the democratic labor party’s (dlp) first federal member in over 40 years. his 2010 victorian senate victory was […] join us on wednesday for a screening of the feature length documentary 'i am only making a report' by independent researcher and filmmaker vaibhav abnave. 2. pooja goel   undefined 1. monica yu   golden tiger (standout submission) the university of melbourne student union (umsu) annual election has decided next year’s student reps. students voted for the positions of office bearers, student council and committee members across five days on melbourne university campuses. stand up! candidate declan mcgonigle will carry on stand up!’s hold of the presidential position with a win of 55 […] on show from 1 23 may 2025, the arts and cultural film festival celebrates the dynamic intersection of art, film, and student creativity at the university of melbourne. matthew lesh responds to edition two’s feature ‘same love’. earlier this year the parliaments of the uk and new zealand passed bills in overwhelming support of marriage equality to the second reading. in both cases this success was facilitated by a conscience or free vote by their respective non left parties. while the australian liberal party […] on show from 3 25 april 2025, 'don’t (,) go gentle into that good night' hopes to interpret the relationship between life, death and eternity through photography. derrick krusche talks to ex prime minister malcolm fraser. i walk into malcolm fraser’s office high up in 101 collins street and look down to the banks of the yarra. a crowd gathers to catch a glimpse of talk show host ellen degeneres. i turn back and reflect on two types of public figure, celebrity and […] on show from 6   28 march 2025, landmark 25/75: 50 years of the women's art register celebrates 50 years of documenting and advocating for australian based women’s art practice. i reading between the lines i was trying to find the hidden message, but all i could see was white gaps of paper between ink and an array of editorial marks. ii you put words in my mouth you crammed the vowels underneath my tongue, let me choke on your name. the ts caught in […] the acfa symposium aims to build relationships and extend a vocabulary around how culture underpins the climate crisis and how culture is in turn affected by environmental imbalance. a personal essay on part time work and strudel let me tell you about rooty, whose real name is rudolpho and whose nickname is rudy. but really, ‘rooty’ is a better fit. my dentist’s assistant once told me, giggling with disbelief from behind her surgical mask, that he was a very handsome man in his […] (re)assembly draws from the umsu archives and art collection, alongside documentary and audio, in examining the ways in which ephemera shirts, banners, badges, and posters serve not simply as inactive records of the past but as agents of collective memory and future action. you were bored two sunny days last year when you made the bouquet of flowers and hung the crushed paper from my ceiling what a lady like thing they were you strung them up like six milk teeth hoisting the thread around the door knob until a crick sprung up to the left of your neck […] the george paton gallery exhibition program will continue in 2025. follow us on instagram, or sign up to our fortnightly e news to stay in the loop! with an excellent publication smuggled into her backpack (it may or may not have been the second edition of farrago), trumpeter meera presented an eclectic mix of tracks. ray charles’ classic tune ‘shake your tail feather’ is a great get up and go track for the early classes she takes. she backs it up with the […] do you have a creative workshop idea that you'd like to realise in 2025? our current call for workshop proposals is open for semester 1, 2025. james zarucky investigates the government’s first cultural policy in over twenty years. last month saw the release of the federal government’s long awaited national cultural policy, creative australia. launched by the then arts minister simon crean, it’s the first federal cultural policy to be unveiled in almost 20 years. the previous one was commissioned by the […] join judy annear and chelsea hopper in conversation as part of 'the possibilities are immense: fifty years of the george paton gallery'. thursday 7 november, 2pm. veronica sullivan looks at smut and literary classification. if you’re reading this, you’re probably a young person. maybe you enjoy reading. if so, you are whether you like it or not part of the target demographic for ‘new adult fiction’, a genre invented to bridge the gap between young adult and general fiction. new adult books are aimed […] join melbourne art library for 3 workshops in october unpacking and exploring the intangible frameworks needed to support contemporary creative production. declan mulcahy injects you with some film knowledge for wanky pub convos. france jean luc godard’s pierrot le fou (1965) there’s no better entry point into world cinema than the influential films of the french new wave. jean luc godard’s tenth major feature is a technicolor dream, with moments of postmodern absurdity balanced out by stunning cinematography. italy fredrico fellini’s la […] join adrian holmes for a free 2 hour film workshop on tuesday 20 august, 12 2pm! zoe moorman takes you through the most controversial moments of the cannes film festival. riot sometimes, the show can’t go on. in 1968, cannes was set against the backdrop of massive political unrest beginning with a small meeting of socialist students who occupied the paris university at nanterre. after the arrest of these students, others protested. their […] join filmmaker matthew doherty for a free workshop exploring filmmaking using a phone, wed 28 aug or thurs 29 aug, 1 3pm. saint aloysius gonzaga’s birth name was luigi, but despite this, he did not assist his shorter, fatter brother in rescuing kidnapped princesses, consuming dangerous quantities of shrooms and beating the shit out of turtles. if he had been anything like that green garbed, ghost hunting italian stereotype, he would be great, and therefore could not possibly be […] join us in the art lab for on wednesday august 21 from 12 2 for a free stop motion animation workshop with anthony lucas. when people put together their bucket list, going to court doesn’t usually make the cut. much like prisons, brothels, and the docklands, the courts are one of those places melbournians have cruelly stigmatised. i personally don’t read much into the bad reviews. after all, my most recent court appearance was an engrossing morning of entertainment. […] workshop with filmmaker, current phd student and teaching fellow simin dolatkhah, wednesday august 14th 12 2pm in the artslab. dan wood wants to be a turtle. why do we love pets? why do we develop such strong familial relationships with dogs, cats, birds and even dead eyed fish? such relationships are especially puzzling when the animal serves no utilitarian end. when a beagle helps you hunt pheasant, or a dodo installs your naked adsl, it’s practical […] in class the other day the tutor was making sure that everybody was familiar with our readings and assessment. “it’s all on the lms,” she said, by way of summary. “has everybody managed to log on and have a look?” it was really a rhetorical question because it was assumed that everybody had. some people […] thursday 17 october, 5.30 7.30pm. join us for a still life painting workshop and refine your artistic skills and vision while indulging your love for painting. under the expert guidance of professional artist nila shekarvand, you'll fine tune your investigative eye and cultivate unwavering focus. this time last year, i was having a not very fun time recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome (cfs). i spent a lot of time declining invites to house parties and hang outs because the prescribed treatment for cfs is rest. and lots of it. when i wasn’t catching zzzs i was surveying the internet for everything henry rollins (ageing punk […] thursday 10 october, 5.30 7.30pm. join us for a special workshop on painting abstract art designed for students. have some fun and unleash your creative energy in our introductory abstract art workshop for beginners. these days, everyone seems to be getting together. or complaining about not getting together. like, ever. being famously single amongst friends, i’ve begun to take notice of a stigmatised singleness especially within my social circles, what with everyone hooking up and all. whether it’s purely the popularity of taylor swift’s anger fuelled album red feeding friends to get […] rose johnstone looks at the history of eccentricity amongst leaders of the catholic faith. pope stephen vi (896 97) pope stephen vi had a revenge problem. you see, steve wanted pope formosus, his corrupt predecessor, to pay for his sins…despite the fact that he was already dead. so, as anyone would do in such a situation, pope […] thursday 5 september, 5.30 7.30pm. you’re invited to a special painting workshop focused on mastering hard edges in acrylics. gain the confidence and practical tools, techniques, and unique arts based knowledge to create bold and articulate paintings. blood drips from the ceiling as you stare through the gaping hole where a bathtub used to be. a human head glued to the back of a tortoise explodes. as a plane crashes overhead, a little pink teddy bear, half burnt and eerily staring at the sky, is fished from the bottom of a pool. […] thursday 15 august, 5.30 7.30pm. practice drawing while enhancing your concentration and meditation skills. express your emotions and ideas through drawing techniques designed to steady your busy mind and connect you with your creative self. i first realised the importance of tea when i was on the side of a japanese mountain, aged sixteen. meandering among the rows of green leaves i lazily picked those that appeared ‘healthiest’, living the dream of the dilmah tea advertisements. i was going to provide the freshest green tea to my japanese host family, […] thursday 8 august, 5.30 7.30pm. combine your academic pursuits with a meditative art class to help you re visualise and clarify your vision. to: melbourne global mobility cc: arts faculty, melbourne uni bureaucracy subject: we need to talk… dear melbourne global mobility, it hurts me to write this, it really does, but there are things that i need to say to you. you mean too much to me for dishonesty. we’ve had some great times together, but there […] ice cream is one of those rare things with the ability to make you feel better about life in an instant much like baby sloths, the collected works of p.g. wodehouse, and receiving word of the sudden and mysterious demise of your overzealous creditor. as conditions for the consumption of frozen confectionery grow increasingly optimal (that […] join naarm based electronic musician and composer nina buchanan for this two part sound workshop. i never expected him to out himself as bisexual while we were watching panic room. had i provoked it by showing the claustrophobic jodie foster thriller with a cardboard kristen stewart? i mean, she was sort of in a closet during the film, wasn’t she? we’d been going steady for a few weeks: a handful […] on show from 24 october   9 november, this exhibition celebrates the rich history and bright future of the george paton gallery through a curated exhibition and suite of public programs. the year is 2002, and the government has requested that university of melbourne take inventory of its human remains collection. a slovenly research intern has been granted the prestigious task of ferreting around in the dusty archives of the department of anatomy and cell biology, on the hunt for any human remains related paperwork. this is the […] on show from 3   18 october​, this exhibition explores the aesthetic and narrational possibilities of films created using only three shots. “i’m scared to be sexual with a boy because i think my vagina is ugly.” “having long labia has been affecting my self confidence for as long as i can remember and i knew that the only way i’d ever be happy would be by having the operation.” these stories of anxiety and body consciousness are from […] win $2500 and up to three 1:1 mentor sessions with the mpavilion parkville programming team throughout the following 12 months. on show from 3   18 october​, 'shame house' is an exhibition by grace harré, nica nervegna reed, ​vivienne tetaz, and kiki wenzel​. taking a cruise holiday sounds irresistible casinos, wild parties, stopovers in foreign lands… for all that promise of relaxation, though, there is a dark underbelly to the industry. a federal inquiry into cruise ship crime reveals that while cruises are marketed as luxurious, the industry is rife with drugs, theft, sex offences, and even murder. if […] la mama is proud to offer this award to an emerging writer or theatre maker. get an opportunity for a 2025 residency space (1 week) at la mama headquarters. on show from 22 august   6 september​, what is given ​presents new work by this year's blop blop blop curatorial intensive participants. education minister christopher pyne has announced that the new government will launch a review into arts degrees in a bid to find any evidence of skills relevant to later life. sources in the education department say the review is the start of the process to remove arts faculties from universities across australia, with mr pyne’s […] the award offers an annual dancehouse membership offering massive discounts on space hire and tickets, the opportunity to be introduced to the dancehouse community. on show from 15 26 july, melbourne based artist kayley martinez explores the world of light and colour through interactive, immersive installations. a joint carnival project with the city of melbourne is the latest in melbourne university’s attempts to make a melbourne education more practical, following criticism of the theoretical nature of their degrees. farrago has learnt that parkville will soon acquire the mechanical pieces of docklands project the southern star observation wheel, which will form the […] this award is for a student director, writer, theatre maker or producer   it offers the opportunity to observe the production process at a large, professional theatre company, attend melbourne theatre company performances and meet artistic staff. join artist angela rossitto on 23 august, 6 september, 18 october, for atextiles and weaving workshops, and learn about how she uses soft sculpture in her art practice to create large scale, site responsive, installations. we’re pretty lucky here at melbourne university when it comes to transport options. we have swanston street, one of the world’s busiest tram corridors, on our doorstep. from the cbd, only a stone’s throw away, you can take a train along any one of 16 metropolitan and five regional lines. we’re also situated within a […] nominate yourself or a pal and recognise them for their amazing work join artist and illustrator ashley ronning for free drawing workshops on 27 august and 15 october. ashley will take you through a few simple drawing exercises to loosen you up and build confidence in your approach to drawing. sarina murray and jess evans have been elected as the student union’s first disability officers, following the september student elections. murray and evans started their new roles at the end of the mid semester break, and after winning both the by election for 2013 and election for 2014, will serve until the end of next year. the […] join artist andrew seward for botanical drawing workshops on 31 july and 18 sept. using simple materials such as charcoal, pencils and paper, andrew will guide participants through a series of exercises for drawing plants from life. where innovative theatre magic meets timeless tales. the student union will implement a new voluntary membership model next year, in preparation for the end of the student services and amenities fee (ssaf) under the new abbott government. the move is yet to be approved by students’ council, but would mean that students who want to receive extra student union benefits will now […] blop blop blop: an experimental curatorial intensive led by beatrice rubio gabriel. dance like no one's watching in this fun groovy workshop 💃 screw all the dim memories of the new bicycle, the birthday pizza and the unlimited fanta: it’s time to admit that your eleventh birthday was a catastrophic disappointment, and it’s all j.k. rowling’s fault. was it not she, after all, who suggested that on that day, a hogwarts owl would arrive bringing the news that […] build your confidence with fun theatre techniques! daniel carr looks at that little ol’ mining tax. amongst the dollars and rhetoric thrown against kevin rudd’s mining tax, the definitions of pro business and pro market have been manipulated to suit the interests of those with the loudest voices. while the success of the pr war waged against the mining tax has been dissected countless […] join artist carmen sibha keiso for a three part filmmaking workshop from 21 march, 28 march and 4 april from 1 3pm. get hands on with filmmaking equipment (audio and video) and plan and make a film throughout the three sessions! learn how to make friends and have interesting conversations   theatre style! science has a fantastic reputation for being dull and stuffy. if it isn’t about dinosaurs then quite frankly, the average person doesn’t want to hear about it. even the auspicious occasion of the nobel prizes, the highest award possible for humanitarian or scientific achievements, gets little attention from the general public as it is certainly when compared […] join us for this free portrait photography workshop, led by matto lucas on 10 april and 15 may. this is an accessible workshop, open to all skill levels, and doesn't require specialist equipment to come along and enjoy. learn essential presentation skills with a fun theatre twist! 1. summerfest design packs available 2. reminder: update your webpages 3. invasion/survival day john harris on tony’s luck with the ladies. australian gender politics is stuck between a rock and a hard place. tony abbott’s wife, margaret, has only given a handful of personal media appearances in her husband’s political career. given how long that career has been, anyone can see the importance of her stepping out to […] join artist kohl tyler dunshea for a handmade ceramics workshop from 14th march, 18th april, and 16th may! using simple techniques and airdry clay, kohl will guide participants through a series of exercises for experimenting with ceramics! what do we mean by safe spaces and why is it important? in january the governor general established a royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. according to the commission website, the six person team chaired by justice peter mcclellan am, has the power to investigate ‘any private, public or non government organisation that is, or was in the past, involved with children’. in a media conference in […] join artist andrew seward for a botanical drawing workshop on 3 april, 31 july, and 25 september! using simple materials such as charcoal, pencils and paper, andrew will guide participants through a series of exercises for drawing plants from life. what is a relaxed performance and who is it for? tiger i know we’ve left the ground because i can feel my stomach twist. my feet are filling up with blood. one of the stewardesses puts her life jacket on upside down in the safety demonstration, and everybody dies with laughter. i wonder whether my seatbelt is really any use in a crisis, or whether […] join artist angela rossitto on 7 march, 11 april, and 9 may to explore experimental knitting techniques and learn about how she uses soft sculpture in her art practice to create large scale, site responsive, installations. how to use auslan to make your show accessible. we met on degraves street. he had texted me the location. he was 25, skinny with some stubble, so i congratulated myself as, physically, he seemed quite attractive. we sat outside one of the cafés that line the laneway. it isn’t really relevant which one. it was one with the waitresses styling themselves on 50s […] join artist and illustrator ashley ronning for free drawing workshops on 5 march and 7 may. ashley will take you through a few simple drawing exercises to loosen you up and build confidence in your approach to drawing. learn how to make your show accessible through these guidelines for captioning of live theatre french theatre practitioner and opium addict antonin artaud’s first and second manifestos on the theatre of cruelty did not advocate the use of abuse or sadism on its audience, as its name might suggest. rather, it was for a brutal honesty in its representation of life’s essence. his writings were marked by visceral and dark descriptions […] as part of summerfest, join artist christina darras to make your own miniature tapestries using recycled cardboard on wednesday 21 february 1 3pm! important accessibility considerations for your show. matthew wade looks at the 2012 palme d’or winner. today, the idea of love lacks focus. the manner in which this emotion is elicited varies widely from person to person. generational gaps, heart shaped boxes of chocolate and mtv reality shows are to blame for this, resulting in the obscurity of love. to some people love […] join troppo print studio for free screen printing workshops on thursday 21 march, thursday 2nd may, and wednesday 22 may! short straw theatre company boasts a performance that keeps the audience on their toes the entire night. during climatic and volatile moments where the characters’ emotions are on an all time high, the entire audience’s attention was enraptured by pigrum and carew reid. ticket to ride ever wish you could have been a part of the glorious, forward thinking days of the industrial revolution? well, crack open ticket to ride, crank up kraftwerk’s trans europe express and start building them choo choos! the luxuriously large board starts as a beautifully illustrated map of whichever edition you’re playing (for example, europe), but […] feast, flare dance ensemble’s 20th annual production, is a highly polished and entertaining performance that honours the more than two decades of flare performances that have come before. by laura smith. on show from 20 31 may. opening event thursday 23 may 5 7pm. at some point we all agreed to stop ignoring tasmania. i’m not sure when it happened, but it did. it’s never been somewhere we could go without, really cover it up on a map and the mainland just looks naked, like australia left the house in a hurry and forgot to wear pants. until recently, it was […] union house theatre (uht) tackled this relevant topic of the world’s impending end with bold, non natural stylistic choices that transcended the audience beyond the walls of the guild theatre. featuring keira davis, mia quinn, mary shaw and jack snow viener. on show from 29 april   10 may 2024. opening event thursday 2 may 5 7pm. the university of melbourne will undertake major improvements to its ageing it infrastructure in a bid to provide better services for staff and students. the university’s network improvement programme aims to improve the accessibility, reliability and coverage of it infrastructure, including the struggling uniwireless wi fi network. uniwireless suffers from a range of issues, including prevalent […] from the moment one stepped into the guild theatre, it became apparent that this production of after she left was going to be a truly memorable experience unlike any other. featuring angus della bosca, bailey florence, rachelle koumouris, marika robertson, hari sinh and jevons wang. curated by jevons wang. on show 8 19 april 2024. opening event: thursday 11 april 5 7pm. 1. end of year closure dates 2. annual leave loading payout 3. cme training workshops the umsu special general meeting (sgm) on april 16th, brought by a student petition to censure students’ council for passing a motion to celebrate the death of margaret thatcher, failed to reach quorum. third year student matthew thomas collected over 500 signatures on a student petition that triggered the sgm. the petition called for the […] walking into the union theatre to the sounds of assorted showtunes, theatre kids chatting eagerly and the tuning of the twelve person band, signalled that ummta is back. 'revolution: crosspoint of power of 45 65' by patriot mukmin. on show 8 19 april 2024. opening event: thursday 11 april 5 7pm. important: summerfest 2023 updates registration has opened for the 2013 network of women students australia (nowsa) conference at the university of melbourne on 15 18th july. the annual conference for women students was established in 1987 and places a focus on discussion and skill sharing. the theme for the 2013 conference will be ‘problem? patriarchy. solution: smash it!’. the university of […] 'endline' featuring images by bri hammond with text and research by samuel holleran and hannah gould. on show 11 22 march with opening event thursday 14 march 5 7pm. this checklist will ensure you've ticked off the most important items of your production. click to download pdf our federal politicians overwhelming voted against legislation to change the definition of the marriage act on september 19, 2012, rejecting gay marriage and leaving australia lagging behind a growing number of gay friendly states. although the labor party voted to support marriage equality at its national conference in september last year, it also passed a motion […] 'habitat' featuring hoi ni jess chow, emily jung, deborah o'brien and kyle stanton. 19 february to 1 march 2024. opening event thursday 22 february 5 7pm. muslsa perform an annual charity show at the start of each year. remember when people talked about kanye instead of kimye, and jay z was more than just obama’s bud? when jay z and kanye west recorded their album watch the throne back in 2011, it was the first time two hugely successful solo rappers both at the top of their game had collaborated on such a grand scale. in […] curated by channon goodwin with ellie thomas. on show from 19 february to 1 march. opening thursday 22 february 5 7pm. 1. union house final closure 2. summerfest update 3. log into the website with the economy still booming, our mounting obsession with nyc’s bright lights and vietnam’s cheap phõ could jeopardise any one of the 118,000 workers directly employed in victorian tourism alone. phoebe st john examines why we never travel australia anymore. there i was. ten minutes to midnight, pulling up in yet another foreign train station […] take a break from exam prep and come along to our open crafting session with artist christina darras! come anytime between 1 3pm on thursday 26th october and thursday 2nd november! a motion to lay a wreath at the shrine of remembrance for anzac day has again been defeated in students’ council, with only three votes in its favour. the motion was brought by charlie cartney, now! councillor and policy officer of the melbourne university liberal club (mulc) and seconded by james duncan, also a member of […] join artist nila shekarvand on tuesday 24th october 5:30 7:30pm to experience a calming and creative journey with guided meditation and painting. relax your exam nerves while mastering the intricate world of watercolour painting. the university of melbourne has retained top spot amongst australian universities in the times higher education (the) world university rankings, and has jumped up to 28th spot in the world from 37th last year. despite this, in the world reputation rankings, which look at opinion of universities rather than actual ranking position, the university of […] join artist yanni florence on tues 10th and wed 11th october 1 3pm for a two part photography workshop that aims to photograph the trees at the university of melbourne! as of next year, students will no longer be able to legitimately claim they are studying pornography. the titillatingly titled english subject art/pornography/blasphemy/propaganda (apbp) will be cancelled, in order to make room for new subjects in the program. as well as apbp, the subjects backgrounds to english literature and postmodernism will run for the last time […] for the next in our survival guide professional development series, join artist astrid mulder on wednesday 4th october 2 4pm for a workshop about the ins and outs of artwork documentation! 1. covid exposure 2. poster collection 3. the ida bar closing students returning to campus this year now have access to unisafe a smartphone app designed to increase safety on campus. the app bundles existing resources and facilities, giving students easier access to key services such as security escorts, blue safety telephone locations and emergency lines. the app includes a personal safety toolbox, which can set off […] join artist angela rossitto on monday 16th october, 1 3pm to explore experimental knitting techniques and learn about how she uses soft sculpture in her art practice to create large scale, site responsive, installations. students returning to campus this year now have access to unisafe a smartphone app designed to increase safety on campus. the app bundles existing resources and facilities, giving students easier access to key services such as security escorts, blue safety telephone locations and emergency lines. the app includes a personal safety toolbox which can set off […] join artist jordan wood on friday 13th october 2 4pm for a hands on experimental collaging workshop! anyone who had odds on us making a margaret thatcher effigy has just received an unlikely windfall. oh, how a storm of excrement livens things up. for those mightily confused, this is all due to a controversial motion passed at students’ council (pg. 6). the motion is something which we at farrago see as a series of […] join artist andrew seward on wednesday 18th october 1 3pm for a botanical drawing workshop! using simple materials such as charcoal, pencils and paper, andrew will guide participants through a series of exercises for drawing plants from life. what a relief to read a farrago with some substance. musd is a new theatre group and offers a piece of culture and an outlet for self expression for students through street dance in university of melbourne. thinking futures is a reading and writing workshop based on the importance of utopia and the collective imagination of socially and ecology just futures. taking place on 13th & 20th october from 1 3pm. 1. winterfest stats live 2. new office furnishings 3. safe food handling defend our student union! musc has been an active part of the uni melb’s theatre community for over a decade. performance season is semi annual. join us for a special professional development talk by filmmaker zac millner cretney. zac will discuss his unconventional career pathway and ethics of practice: friday 25th august 1 2pm, level 3, rowden white library, student pavilion, university of melbourne, parkville 1. umsu whole org meeting 2. swotvac / exam issues 3. office key pickup teaching, learning and student representation. an annual comedy sketch show written and performed by (not just law) students. join us for a special professional development talk by writer, producer and arts worker ruby rose pivet marsh: wednesday 23rd august 1 2pm, level 3, rowden white library, student pavilion, university of melbourne, parkville. 1. time to unpack! 2. access to 168 3. building defects boring, dull and uneventful. these are three words that definitely weren’t associated with o night 2005. with massive performances from tripod, regurgitator and many more the night went off in style. over 1,000 students attending the night, the biggest winner being the bar where alcoholic granitas flowed all night. cinema under the sails on tuesday 22nd […] a dance group for melb uni graduate students that provides classes tailored for beginners in a range of different dance genres. join artist nina mulhall for ‘making video art together’ a three part workshop 13, 20, 27 september 1 2:30pm. making video art together guides participants through forms of collective production of documentary style video art including developing ideas, filming, and editing. what is the importance of being earnest? producing provocative contemporary theatre, tackling challenging material and unearthing fresh talent. do you want to learn how to photograph theatre, dance and contemporary performance? this will be a fun and accessible workshop taking place over two dates: 10th august 1 3pm (guild theatre) & 24th august 1 3pm (george paton gallery). 1. work from home (3 7 oct) 2. access to building 168 3. 168 defect form ronnen liezerovitz explores the joys of indie video games. this summer, i killed over a thousand people. granted, they were only digital people, programmed by committed game developers and brought to my tv through action of electrons whizzing through my playstation 3, but i killed them nonetheless. at the time, i was playing through the […] a student run dance group that aims to provide ample opportunities for students to learn, teach, choreograph, and perform dance across stage and street styles. join matt & sarah from troppo on friday 18th august, 1 3pm for a free screen printing workshop! the tenth of december, george saunders, out jan 8 featured in the new yorker and mcsweeney’s, saunders is often lauded as one of the most talented and original short fiction writers in america. his stories, often unsettling and absurd, perfectly balance humour with a powerful and often lingering emotional impact. why should you be excited? the […] element theatre company is a student run theatre group that creates mandarin plays. anyone wishing to understand the contemporary art scene in melbourne during the 1970s and 1980s need look no further than the program of events at the ewing and george paton galleries. in addition to launching the careers of some of australia’s finest artists, the gallery provided a training ground for some of our most influential curators. 1. date changes for relocation 2. key pick up 3. getting to building 168 an obituary of sorts by sean watson. in the final days of december last year, das racist was scheduled to parade onto the main stage of munich’s on3 festival. but instead of being greeted by the irreverence of a rap trio all decked out in ironic and fluorescent sportswear, the audience were perplexed to find […] dead end theatre is a new student theatre group focused on creating new work blending theatre, multimedia and other visual artforms. let me get this out of the way. dick turpin was a bit of a dick. in fact, he was worse than that. he was a chump. dick turpin was a violent thug who roamed the english countryside in the first half of the 18th century. he was baptised in 1705 and began his career […] if you're an umsu club or society or a student theatre group then you can order your alcohol for your next event through the ida bar in 2012 australia witnessed multiple efforts to eradicate the supposedly harmful trials and tribulations of childhood. a victorian primary school temporarily banned physical contact between its students, including high fives and hugs. later in the year, a primary school in sydney forbade its students from performing handstands or cartwheels in the playground, unless under the direct […] cipta theatre company is a new student theatre group focusing on nurturing new writers and staging new work. figma for test news wednesday morning, melbourne uni tram stop massive pioneer headphones in tow and fresh out of his psychology degree at melbourne uni, dan had a pitchfork approved set of tracks to get him through his public transport experiences. if you’re after something complicated, dan recommends post rock band swans. he was cranking a track from their new […] barkly theatre is a new student theatre group committed to presenting established works of theatre, from classic to contemporary. michelle see tho chats to josh thomas about his new tv show, the stand up comedy industry, and douche bags. with his cute ooh where’d he come from accent, messy blonde hair and boyish smile, josh thomas is certainly one of australia’s most recognisable and most adorable comedians. his new tv series please like me is a comedy drama series. “it’s […] georgia has a social work background and has worked in both government and community service settings before starting at the advocacy service. georgia is committed to social justice and human rights and is passionate about assisting students to navigate the complex university system. ‘shimmer(ing)’ approaches phenomena by way of embodiment. the feeling of light shimmering atop a reflective surface; shimmering; visual onomatopoeia; a verbal designation that captures the quality of something intangible... 23 october 3 november more testing right here i wondered what to call my new half erect friend. do you ask for people’s names at fetish clubs? or more to the point, do you bother with pleasantries once they’re naked and bent over a coffee table masturbating while you rub baby oil onto their behind and spank them? i wasn’t there to get ‘his’ and ‘hers’ […] eloise has a master’s degree in social work and a background of working with children and families, and with victim survivors of domestic violence. eloise joined the advocacy team in 2023 as the assessment and triage coordinator, moving into an advocate role in 2024. storage delivered, simple. use link to get $100 off welcome to our suite of unplayable games; a memorial to tabletop pastimes and their ashes. 23 october 3 november find out about workshops, shows and all that's happening at union house theatre. 1. moving week   final reminders 2. relocation promo packages 3. building 168 user training i often see queerness in strange places or more precisely, straight places. call it misreading, call it wishful thinking, or maybe just call it social change. what’s the deal with bromance? i’m sure many of you have encountered this clunky phrase of brotherly romance. it’s often used when films like the hangover or i love you […] michelle has a combined 20 years’ experience working in the tertiary sector with roles in advocacy, administration, accommodation, pastoral care, and teaching. she has a law degree from la trobe university and a humanities phd from anu where she completed an exchange with oxford university. she has also worked for the state and federal government on policy and constituent matters and is a spanish native speaker. download the hopper app & get up to 10% off flights & hotels worldwide*(t&cs apply) 'the artist’s eye' is an exhibition closely inspired by the essays in john berger’s book ‘ways of seeing’. featuring vca 2022 graduates and curated by patricia agus. 2 13 october michael horn looks at the sinister reality of neo nazi music selling right alongside pop tracks. today, the australian itunes store home page advertises nick cave’s new album, acoustic justin bieber and bon jovi and justin timberlake pre orders. australian singer songwriters appear alongside k pop, and american rappers brush virtual shoulders with dead german composers. itunes caters to […] nadia has been with the service since 2012. initially working across the advocacy service and legal service in a triage role, she progressed to a senior advocate position in 2019. she is passionate about social justice and has extensive experience working in the not for profit sector. in her previous role nadia worked with law students from monash university within a community legal centre. nadia holds a bachelor of arts (history & anthropology) from deakin university. nabis2k is an exhibition of contemporary painters whose work addresses age old themes of decoration, ornamentation, and domestic space with a modern perspective and palette. redeem instore it shocked the world, but for ishita mattoo it was just around the corner. she reflects on women’s safety in india from the ground in delhi. on 16th december 2012, a 23 year old woman identified as nirbhaya by sections of the indian media was brutally raped by a group of men in a moving bus. she was on […] 2024 has been a difficult year for students. we have faced threats to student activism, we have seen some student unions fall into financial disrepair, we have seen some student unions disregard issues relating to sexual assault and harrasment. alanna has 9 years’ combined experience working in university administration at the anu, uni of melbourne and the uni of herts in the uk and 14 years’ experience working as a student advocate: 4 years at deakin uni student assoc (dusa) and nearly 10 years at umsu. she has a b.teach from uni of wollongong and a master of social work from uni of melbourne. alanna has also worked in the community nfp sector and government welfare departments in the uk and australia. redeem: instore this exhibition features material from duke’s time in brighton and his return to melbourne in early 1973, where he became a member of collective effort press (est. 1978). 31 july 11 august the newly opened arts students centre in arts west will set a new standard for student spaces on campus. the renovation, which was finished after its mid february due date, was designed with student consultation. in a melbourne university first, the new student centre has scrapped the over the counter format and replaced it with a more casual meeting […] as we enter into 2025, the university of melbourne student union will continue to advocate and fight for students on the issues related to the ongoing cost of living crisis being felt all across australia. paul has over 12 years’ experience as an advocate. over this time, he has assisted students on a vast range of issues, with a particular interest in misconduct matters. paul also acts as a liaison between the advocacy service and the umsu student reps to support them in their representative roles and co writes the suas service reports. redeem in store this is an exhibition of photographic and multi disciplinary works that explore the interconnectedness of the human body and the environments they occupy (both physical and emotional) through the lens of autobiographical relationships. 31 july 11 august lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet as part of the national union of students’ national day of action, students across melbourne will protest at the state library in the cbd as well as on campus. the day of action will this year focus on fee deregulation in universities and fee increases. the protest is part of umsu’s membership of the nus, […] the university of melbourne student union has a long and proud history of student activism. we have supported students for generations to make their voices heard in the face of adversity and will continue to do so. phoebe has more than 37 years of experience working in advocacy and social justice in the community sector, with 18 of those years at umsu. phoebe has both social work and law qualifications, with bachelors of arts and social work from sydney university and master of law from anu. she is a survivor of student politics in the 1980s and has a particular interest in the rights of marginalised and vulnerable workers and students. discounted student memberships & intro offers are available now grab yourself a schnitz rewards card from the melbourne connect store. ?? hello hello! summerfest is right upon us, and we'll be around for the following events on the following dates this week of february 21st 28th to tell you all about us, and our marvellous events, programs and initiatives for the year! ?? narcissus under the nebulous blue, i reflect the lagoon, i am opaque too. i swirl my many selves across silver screens, and as the silt settles, open waters encroach an abyss spider mother, witless in her dominion, she hauls my heart through an unknown wilderness. all the while wearing a red smile, cherry lips and a forked red tongue  angels shed their gold before her. i clean around baby’s mouth wide wide, open wider and bite! my finger bleeds like rhubarb sticky and sweet as it dribbles down in the ashtray lay the smouldered remains of moments seized and the stubbed out luxury of not having to think for myself. talking to the moon, hosted by mary chen, recently joined radio fodder’s 2021 line up. the show is based on emotions and mary unpacks a different emotion in each episode, from a personal perspective as well as a scientific approach. “to become a dragon, an imugi must prove worthy. some do so by living for a thousand years. on this day, the transformation will begin, and they will become a true dragon. for others, this metamorphosis is not a matter of patience. if they can lay claim to a yeouiju, they will be bestowed with its gifts. these imugi can become dragons far sooner than their brethren.” as i wait for my tram a woman sits next to me. she cries, moans, curses. eyes down, hands knotted, i ignore her rather than subject her to a stranger’s prying. there is little we’re allowed to say about ______, but what we can divulge may usurp your mind when least expected. usually, it’s while you’re dreaming in the dead of night, or the buzz of day, or even when leaning your head on a shoulder, hoping for affection. after 12 years of service, deputy prime minister mulan hua has revealed that she is, in fact, a woman. melbourne university is the first in australia to join coursera, an expanding online course provider. massive open online courses (moocs) are free and can be taken by anyone with internet access anywhere in the world. by partnering with coursera the university joins 32 prestigious education institutions including princeton, stanford and columbia universities a virtual ivy league. […] public anger over the cost of living, slumping poll results for the government, and a close by election in a traditionally uncompetitive seat. after the dunkley by election, this is a trend that melburnians from the outer suburbs have grown rapidly accustomed to. on show from 3 25 april 2025, boxwood is a painting show that ties together themes of the imagination and drives towards symbolic signifiers to make sense of the subconscious. australian students are turning away from completing their phd studies for a broad array of reasons. join our e news and follow our instagram page for 2025 workshop announcements. recent exhibition join us at the george paton gallery for conversations, readings and performances, as part of the possibilities are immense: fifty years of the george paton gallery. thursday 31 october, 6 7pm. win $1000 win $2500 for further development of an artist and their work. the awardee also has the opportunity to be mentored by umac staff over the following 12 months (2025). want to get involved in sound and production? interested in live music and mixing? join umsu’s in house technical production team for a series of free workshops to build your skills! thursday 26 september, 5.30 7.30pm. calling all visionaries, creatives and stem artists. there are many solutions to a problem. bring your ideas to into art, refine your vision or take a new approach whatever works for you, we've got you covered in our collage craft workshop. thursday 19 september, 5.30 7.30pm. join us for a chill watercolour painting session and bring some balance to your busy week! discover how painting with watercolours can bring peace and serenity to your creative practice. thursday 29 august, 5.30 7.30pm. join us for a creative session and let your inner artist shine with acrylics! attend this workshop to learn the art of acrylic painting and expand your artistic palette with our colour focused activities. a two part experimental research workshop, engaging with the subject reader as a form of creative/critical practice. permutations: 18 x 4 is curated by isabel baker, georgina loughnan, and mia palmer verevis. on show from november 14   december 5. closing event: thursday december 5, 6 8pm. on show from 12 september   ​ 28 september, the inaugural umsu art prize is a major new initiative that celebrates the legacy of student unionism in australia and the power of student voices. on show from 22 august   6 september​ 'lore and order: in memoriam of silver city lodge no. 141' unearths artefacts and stories linking masonic ritual, mad max, and bhp's early histories. on show from 1 16 august, home is an exhibition by antoinette armstrong, georgia harding and kiki stanford​. on show from 1 16 august, piss in my pocket is a solo exhibition by mae czechowski. join us for free portrait photography workshops, led by matto lucas on 7 august and 2 october. these workshops are accessible, open to all skill levels and don't require specialist equipment to enjoy. join troppo print studio for a free screen printing workshops in the arts lab! anna was a student advocate at the monash student association for 7 years before joining the umsu team in 2024. she holds a bachelor of arts (history) from monash university and is currently completing a master of social work. outside of student advocacy, anna has worked in the mental health sector and has a particular interest and experience working with students with mental health issues. sing, make friends, and have fun! read about audio description and touch/tactile tours to make your show accessible for blind and low vision audiences. are you here for the drama? find out about theatre opportunities, free tickets, auditions and callouts and more. icarus, takes the timeless myth of the same name to new heights. corpus machina collective’s icarus follows the legend of icarus almost to a tee, but set in a modern world with a range of challenges and complexities that the icarus of greek mythology never could’ve imagined. the scarlet sun had everything you could want in a whodunnit   an intense cast, twisting storyline, and catchy tunes that rattled around my brain for days after. featuring hoi ni jess chow, freja innes ker and mikaela mcbain. on show from 20 31 may 2024. opening event thursday 23 may 5 7pm. by rochelle morris. on show from 29 april   10 may 2024. opening event thursday 2 may 5 7pm . 'sincere affection' featuring lewis egan and lana knezevic. on show 11 22 march with opening event thursday 14 march 5 7pm. cmg provides a platform for contemporary chinese music productions. ummta produce a full scale musical production each semester, as well as running smaller projects and holding fun events. established in 1993, muctg presents two productions each year in chinese with english surtitles. join artist minna gilligan on wednesday 25th october 1 3pm to explore the mediums of collage and illustration. this workshop will take you through the a z of contemporary collage! 15% off on all dental services or no gap for private insurance extra holder join artist christina darras in this free workshop 12th of october 12 2pm. make your own beeswax or vegan food wraps and say goodbye to plastic! join the team from fussy artlab for a handmade workshop! design your own accessories, create a personalized gift for your bestie or simply relax and make new friends. be part of creating an epic drawing that will take over multiple locations at unimelb during mudfest from 23 26 august. join us for a special professional development talk by photographer rosa spring voss. rosa will discuss her practice, career pathway and approaches to creative wellbeing: thursday 24th august 1 2pm, level 3, rowden white library, student pavilion, university of melbourne, parkville join artist matto lucas on tuesday 15th august 1 3pm for a free portrait photography workshop! matto lucas is an australian artist, photographer, creator, curator and art facilitator working within mixed and digital media, with a preference for photography and performance. get in touch with the gpg and visit us in person at the arts and cultural building. the arts lab is an open access art studio for creative activity located on level 1, arts and cultural building, monash road, building 159. jordan koudmani’s practice revolves around the construction of sound based sculptures, stringing together derelict materials and analogue media. redeem: instore become awake to the sounds of our world and how they can tell stories. union house theatre and the george paton gallery present the sound explorations lab, a 3 part workshop series hosted by sound artist mara schwerdtfeger. join us for a walking tour of collingwood yards, a former technical college, revitalised into a creative arts precinct and affordable home for numerous creative businesses, galleries, and studios. join us on wednesday 19 july for cut and paste library   a fun, playful, experimental collage and illustration workshop with artist mina gilligan! mj bentley, jaja, kathy chen, cael gilmour, channon goodwin, lana knezevic, isaac lizardo, mikaela mcbain, sean monaghan, jolin see, sara seresli, lilly skipper, poppy skipper, nicole theodore, jessie turner. curated by lilly skipper. simply download the app & register to claim free ride! t&cs apply hello hello and welcome to 2022! we're excited about the year ahead and what we are all going to create. please visit our blog to keep up to date on everything creative arts! the copula is a hell borne hydra. the serpent in semantics. the bastard link at the heart of our mongrel language. the copula is the “is”. ever dependable, just when you think you are without it, it worms its way back in. philosophers are famously unable agree on whether a chair is real or not, but they tend to agree that there are, all in all, three copulas. alongside the is of identity (“twice two is four”) and the is of predication (“socrates is mortal”), there is the black coffee content warning: racism cultural appropriation is like cherry picking amongst cultures for the parts that interest you whilst overlooking the traditions or meanings behind them. it is when members of, usually, a dominant culture steal or take elements of another culture for aesthetic or economic purposes without any equitable exchange or even acknowledgement. however, cultural appropriation is different to cultural exchange, assimilation or appreciation. eating pasta or using korean skincare living as a queer black woman and an intersectional feminist often feels like being force fed the ‘red pill of truth’ from the matrix while most of society seems to be happily swallowing the blue pill of ignorance. in fact, i’ve always wondered why the person destined to defeat the matrix and essentially save society was a straight white man.[...] besides getting tenure, being compared to alain de botton, or writing columns for the new york times, getting away with obscure prose is one of the most widely accepted signs of making it as a philosopher. it’s a signal that your time has become so valuable, you can effectively offload the task of writing by jumbling words together and leaving it to the poor undergrads reading your work to decipher the sentences. they call this the ‘obscure turn’. content warning: discussions of mental illness founded in 2012, the dax centre holds a unique place in the melbourne art world. the gallery holds the collection of leading psychiatrist and art therapy advocate, dr cunningham dax. his collection began as some 9,000 works created by inpatients of victorian psychiatric centres during the second half of the twentieth century. as these institutions began to close down in the 1980s, dr dax collected many works that would otherwise have been[...] juliet: what’s in a name? romeo: everything’s in a name juliet; that’s how we got into this mess. juliet: that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet romeo: yeah, good point well made. names have a use. it is easier to call a spade a spade than to call a spade a tool for digging, paring, or cutting ground etc. around 1900, some philosophers made the startling discovery that not all words denote an object. words like santa claus, god, fairies, love, malcolm turnbul the productive “girlboss” narrative is destructive to all those affected by the patriarchy. during the pandemic, i tried to be as productive as possible. i redownloaded duolingo, read both fiction and nonfiction books, volunteered, and attempted to be good at drawing. but i struggled to do the bare minimum. and cried. a lot. whilst listening to taylor swift. interstellar follows the life of spaceman cooper (matthew mcconaughey) as he travels the universe and contemplates his relationship with his daughter murph (jessica chastain), while not really giving a shit about his son tom (casey affleck). the presence of tom is a powerful thematic force throughout the film, being a metaphor for the neglect we all face in our day to day life. content warning: mentions of death of bipoc & death of indigenous australians in custody, police brutality, racial slurs, racism do you ever feel like your very existence makes other people uncomfortable? in 2020, the black lives matter movement began to trend after a video of an african american man named george floyd being killed by police was posted online. the video of floyd’s death appeared on my social media countless times. i couldn’t help but picture floyd as my black father. my hea [content warning: transphobia] the university is drafting a new “gender affirmation policy” that may ban public acts deemed transphobic or attacking gender diversity. according to the age, vice chancellor duncan maskell had “warned” staff last june that their right to free speech does not excuse or protect them from causing harm against transgender people. this comes […] i have lovely memories associated with this film, so i hope i don’t sound dramatic when i say it’s the greatest work of art in the history of cinema. i concede this is a bold statement, but my reasoning is sound. matt reeves’ stunning science fiction epic, war for the planet of the apes (2017), is […] author: emily maguire publisher: allen & unwin year: 2021 category: contemporary women’s fiction/drama endearing, from the heart. forty five year old nic seems to be on top of it all. she is living in her inherited family home (much to the chagrin of her estranged sister), has a stable job in a local supermarket which she has held […] author: lesley ann jones publisher: allen & unwin year: 2020 category: non fiction/biography/music a must for fans of lennon and the beatles it’s been over twenty years since the news of the death of rock music legend, john lennon, hit the media. since that time the music scene has been replete with rumours, facts and suspicions […] content warning: violence. it starts in the middle of the milkbar with me staring at the lolly wall, the colourful sweets locked inside their plastic compartments, allowed freedom only by their little scoopers and the hands of sweet toothed teens   the freckles, the gummy babies, the milk bottles, the snakes   and i’m thinking of […] background the job ready graduate package is expected to significantly reshape higher education pathways and impact many students across the country. however, it is anticipated that the impacts of the legislation, which passed in october 2020, will not be fully known for several years. the package is set to see certain courses, primarily in the fields […] unimelb policy reversion another setback for international students vanessa chan and jiyun kim unable to return to campus this semester, international students stuck overseas are now facing changes to reduced study load (rsl) and leave of absence (loa) eligibility. with the university resisting to list covid 19 as a compassionate reason for the rsl and loa […] due to covid restrictions, students and organisations at the university of melbourne will have to rethink the way they protest this year. the university has a rich history of student protest, from invasion day marches to the die in staged in the arts west foyer on open day to protest the university’s participation in the 2019 […] content warning: mentions of suicide, gore and body horror. spoilers for ginger snaps (2000). “out by 16 or dead in this scene, but together forever.” this is how we’re introduced to ginger and brigitte fitzgerald in the film ginger snaps (2000). they’re on the precipice of adolescence, reminiscing on their childhood suicide pact. both are […] “your hair is so cool! can i feel it?” these are words i have grown accustomed to hearing throughout my entire life. growing up in a predominantly white community, my mixed race curly hair was seen as somewhat of a novelty. friends, teachers at school, other adults and passersby all seemed to be drawn towards it. […] when i was younger, the saying, “it’s the little things in life,” used to both annoy and confuse me. as adults would patiently explain, the smallest moments another leaf sprouting from a houseplant, slipping into crisp, clean bed sheets were the stuffing of life. the sustenance, the good stuff the point, really. these wise explanations fell on deaf […] i prefer not to talk about athletics outside the track. “you’re an athlete? so, are you going to tokyo?” “…no.” “well, not with that attitude you won’t!” a well intended response, but from someone who just doesn’t understand the elitism that the olympic level demands. my attitude is not going to add an odd meter and a half to […] i first saw australian comedian sam taunton perform in 2019 at the palais theatre, when he was the opening act for rob brydon’s live show i am standing up. i remember thinking ‘wow! what a great opening act!’, and wanted to see more of his work. and 2 years later, here we are. taunton’s first […] as financial supplements introduced by the government during covid 19 are set to end on march 28, there is rising discussion over the potentially adverse impacts that this may have on tertiary students across australia. whilst some students have been able to access such financial support, others have been excluded from receiving government welfare payments throughout […] there is no better way to celebrate the fashion of miss fisher and the crypt of tears than by viewing it within aunt prudence’s very own home   otherwise known to non miss fisher fanatics as rippon lea estate in elsternwick. in 2012, the abc premiered miss fisher’s murder mysteries, a detective series which followed the […] [content warning: gendered violence, sexual assault and deaths in custody] thousands of women gathered in treasury gardens on a monday 15 march to protest against gendered violence and sexual assault in the workplace. the rally was one of approximately forty similar events held across the country hosted by the march 4 justice movement, a grassroots […] thousands gathered outside the state library on friday 5 march as a part of a national day of protest against the indefinite detention of refugees in australia. hosted by several community organisations, including the refugee action collective (rac) and stand together for justice, the rally called for all refugees in onshore and offshore detention facilities […] the victorian college of the arts (vca), with the melbourne conservatorium of music, are one of the most influential art schools in the southern hemisphere. graduates have gone on to become recognisable faces of screen and stage, to have artistic works displayed in major global exhibitions and to perform on the circuit of esteemed opera […] i wish i could say that my first time listening to a taylor swift song was ~an experience so divine, it was like no other~ but that wouldn’t be true. the first time i heard her music, i was at my cousin’s house, who, like most other rich pre teen girls in india, really, realllly wanted […] “apep was so long and large that, even laid flat, he was taller than any human. his roar was so loud and so powerful that even the earth would shake at its sound. the enemy of ra and order, he emerged from below to bring darkness, thirsting for chaos and destruction. many tried to stop […] content warning: racism, mentions of eugenics and genocide overpopulation can be defined as an excess of people on the planet, and the assumed environmental, social and/or economic collapse that results. it is often followed by ideas and actions about curbing such population dilemmas. so, why is this idea an issue? overpopulation is a difficult discussion, […] politics is a dirty word mind frame existence but remember: if you’re not interested in politics, politics will be interested in you imprisonment in death? inevitable imprisonment in politics? avoidable i will never ever lie others will never ever stop why? life is unfair hold up my sign at the parade careful! the […] arthritic hands line my street, creaking and aching in the wind, stiff knotted claws arcing warily away from the hum and snap of telephone lines. leaves flicker and wave at the sky, quickly breaking from stems to flutter away. as the wind takes these papery children, the trees whisper hushed goodbyes, groaning and reaching […] after almost an entire year of remote learning, the university of melbourne will be reopening to students in january 2021 through a three mode delivery system for the first half year of 2021. this system includes online classes, campus based classes, and dual delivery where classes are taught both online and in person. all students may enrol in dual delivery […] international students experiencing financial hardship and food insecurity have called on the victorian government to improve support measures. the state government established a $45 million international student emergency relief fund in april 2020 to support students whose finances have been hit by reduced working hours or job losses. however, the fund ignored unemployed international students, […] unseen, i saw them as a spot of stillness in the sea of girls and suited commuters: mum’s face a mask of serenity and andy with his hands behind his back. i could’ve run right there. gotten a place on merrill ave, swapped fetid city air with switchboard girls and pretty receptionists. a job and […] this series zooms in on the lovely humans that make up our university community. in this edition, photography team member candy chu chats to nicholas, a masters of public policy student, about a fond childhood memory. q: is there a fond memory from childhood you would like to share? nicholas (n): the one that i always remember […] cw/ transphobia over 100 students and staff gathered at parkville campus yesterday to protest against transphobic actions of university staff members. the protesters gathered outside the raymond priestley building to listen to speeches by members of the university community before marching to old arts to speak to faculty of arts dean russell goulbourne, […] long story short is a romantic comedy that depicts the consequences of always putting yourself first and forgetting about the most important people in your life. director josh lawson uses sydney’s picturesque beach side as a backdrop to tell the story of how teddy (rafe spall) and leanne’s (zahra newman) accidental new year’s kiss develops […] one of netflix’s haphazard movie genre suggestions i’ve always been confused by is feel good. common as the phrase is, unless my memory fails me, i can’t remember the last time that feeling rose organically out of a movie for me. cue nomadland (2020). disclaimer: my fellow movie goers disagreed with me. the first thing out of […] in response to the federal government’s proposed media bargaining code, all australian news services including student media have now been banned by facebook from publishing posts and sharing news links from their accounts. it is a bewildering and heartbreaking time for australian media. in recent years, many student media outlets, farrago included, have increasingly divested from print […] let me start by saying this: i babysit. i love children their big silly balloon heads and their ability to memorise movie songs and run around in gummy half formed skeletons with absurdly placed centers of gravity. so if you know of any four foot and under cartilaginous gremlins in need of a reliable babysitter who will haul them by […] self deprecating, sarcastic and slightly crass ben folds would not be my first pick to headline an orchestra tour. his navy suit clashed with the blacks of the orchestra. his body moved almost violently with the notes he played, sharply different from their more disciplined movements. it was perfect. over the past decade, folds has displayed […] as the southbank campus meekly re opens its doors this year, already i have already been hearing from students that the lack of communication from our campus leaders has hindered their ability to plan for the year ahead. the shutdown of the entire university and the technical and psychological road bumps encountered by our staff must […] content warning for rape and anti black racism. spoilers for netflix’s bridgerton. netflix’s new series bridgerton hyped up as gossip girl in period clothing reeled viewers in with spicy sex scenes and racial diversity. despite not being able to tell the bridgerton brothers apart at first, i was hooked. but the beautiful costumes and catchy violin covers immediately […] what is natcon? natcon stands for the annual national conference run by the national union of students (nus). normally, student politicians from around the country descend on a rural university campus to debate policy and determine the direction of the nus for the next year. on the final day, delegates are able to vote for […] teck phui chua they stood, scattered across the field, heavy heads bent down touching the ground. dawn broke and the warmth of the sun’s rays evaporated the dew off them, bringing them back to life. slowly they stretched up, straightening themselves, facing up towards the sky. their bright white petals popped open one by one revealing […] ? ? ??? (2 / 5 stars) u bahnhof kottbusser tor, berlin terribly unromantic! couldn’t even have a proper last kiss without a toothless crackhead smashing bottles and yelling at us in german. even the “it’s not you, it’s me” spiel was ruined by the awful sound of coked up nightclubbers vomiting in the corner of the […] those who don’t notice the green ford creaking into the lot are first alerted to the arrival of the smoking man by his voice ripping across temple park. ‘sadie!’ heads turn as the german shepherd galavants toward the gathering. the smoking man has limped across this field every day since i started coming here and […] in the storage area beyond our kitchen boxes often wait to leave one home for another’s taped and overwhelmed with the new and old pleather girl boots, men’s polo shirts starched anew, biscuits destined for manila city mothers send human sized containers bearing gifts of hard won labour with as much as their hearts could fit […] stirruped! cold air creeping there along field ruts (here, squeeze this) never forget, ever forget it is there once buried deep underground but (you should only feel a pinch) now buried deep in me, bloody flinch, lick a copper coin and stick it be  (stay still   i’m just cutting the strings)  tween my lips, […] crows are leaping from the cliff’s edge, bounding forward and falling fast. they barrel down like black vessels until, mid air, the wind cracks open their cocoons. as unravelling wings span across the sky, i wonder what would happen if, rather, they kept themselves screwed up, just to plummet like rocks. but, of course they don’t. […] childhood me watches the cold snow encrusted darkness drape itself over backyard pines   little bruises, blue black imprints in the snow trailing to the porch’s frozen underbelly   refuge from foxes mum says. after breakfast i will go out and make hare tracks […] dappled sunlight trickles through the eucalyptus overstory. the faded bark of a swamp gum crunches underfoot. an afternoon breeze thaws out the wattles, scattering their scent and seed. lorikeets demand to be heard. pedestrians wave down passing cars, a mark of solidarity more than anything; “watch out! there’s an echidna on the road.” then […] during the stress of the covid 19 pandemic, many communities around victoria have turned to community garden installations as mechanisms to promote cohesion and unity, in the face of adversity. the popular ‘spoon villages’ have seen swathes of wooden spoons, and other similar kitchen implements being fixed in the ground together. these are often decorated with […] content warning: covid 19, mental illness and self harm. as the pandemic continues, attention is shifting towards how to best handle the physical and mental impacts of covid 19. the mental health of young people has been identified as being particularly vulnerable to the impact of the virus and the associated measures taken to prevent its spread. but, […] don’t you hear me mámá? the boy said. the small, brown woman sits at the table, meets his gaze eyes open, h(ear)ing closed. instead, she unties her tongue from the roof where it is kept, letting her mouth open onto his expectant ear , loosening the words watch them spill out into still air. […] her fingers curve around the handle of the cup as she places english breakfast tea on discoloured doilies. her gold tea set, something i wish to inherit, mocks me on the table. her right hand rests near the doily, taking a much needed break from the lifting of the tea cup the strenuousness of it. the […] a university spokesperson announced on monday that wearing ear masks will be mandatory for all members of the university executive committee in order to slow the spread of student complaints reaching their ears. a local woman was horrified to find herself cradling the smallest hopeful spark following this dumpster fire of a year. in the wake of what has felt like a decade’s worth of tragedies and misfortunes crammed into one year, the idea of optimism felt so foreign to the former glass half full er that its presence startled her to tears. we’ve all fantasised about flying to a foreign country and living out our wildest dreams without a care in the world. for emily, this is a reality, though things are slightly more organised and less carefree in her case. darren star, creator of beverly hills 90210, sex and the city, and more recently, younger, brings […] few operations rival the sheer coordination, precise communication and military grade timing of a well run fish and chip shop at six thirty on a friday night. to witness a fish and chip shop going at full tilt, gears turning, pistons firing, is a strange wonder. like the engine of a running car, its finely tuned system of […] bethany cherry let me explain privilege during a pandemic. the light just blew. a world in sudden darkness is full of panic. people are tripping over each other. the poor, the marginalised, the ederly, the casual and the front line workers.they fall the hardest. your first instinct is to help the fallen, get them up and […] in early 2016, some friends from art school and i drove to warrandyte to explore bush tracks along the yarra river around the pound bend tunnel. chris brought torches, layla had an elaborate recording device with headphones, and i had a pair of rainbow fireworks glasses in my pocket. it was 10 pm on an overcast night in early autumn. in one room, american history, we learnt how the american dream was born from the heart of religion that spread across the united states in the 17th century. in a room across the landing, middle eastern politics, we began to scratch the surface of the complex power dynamics of the middle east, studying catalytic moments of protest like the arab spring uprisings monumental events that gave rise to a complex blend of new political structures, conflicts, and in some cases, freedom. in my dream, i stand at the triple crossroads. oily yellow light spills down onto the bitumen, barely illuminating the roads’ beginnings. to the eastern fork, i see the klongs of bangkok, hear an echo over the long tail boats: “this way to your past”. to the western way, the australian countryside stretches infinitely, drowning in heavy rainfall: “this way to your future”. to the northern road, a janus voice of twin speaking conjurers, beckoning me to choose their shadowed path: “ content warning: mental illness, self harm, suicidal ideation, cannibalism, biological descriptions. dip my brain in iced water, dearest it is too hot. i think it will hiss as it plunges, like a saucepan left on the stove for far too long, wisps of steam rising from the edges of the pail. soap it well, leaving my brain […] let’s talk about sex. specifically, the unprotected kind. in australia, this doesn’t have to result in an unwanted pregnancy, thanks to pharmaceuticals. there are currently two types of emergency contraceptives (ec) available to purchase over the counter: levonorgestrel and ulipristal acetate. both prevent fertilisation of an egg and are most effective when taken soon after the sexual encounter. bethany cherry i feel alive with a page full of quotes. words from people past that bring an unlikely sense of perspective and peace. my favourite quotes are from children book authors, the likes of dr seuss and roald dahl. i listen to these guys more than i do my parents, who, bless their hearts, […] hen i first started trying to minimize my carbon footprint, one of the barriers i faced was (actually, “is”) the unbelievably high price tag on “zero waste” products. (i didn’t plan on going zero waste because that’s too big of a commitment when living as a student, but i did want to replace certain high use items with more sustainable and durable ones.) ever accidentally emailed your entire cohort at 4.07am? tejas gandhi has. at the end of an all nighter working on an assignment, the third year politics major decided to wind down by checking up on his application for the faculty of arts peer mentorship program (as you do): “dear concerned, hope you are doing well this email […] sometimes i drown in the guilt of wanting to take up space for the wrong reasons to spread my legs and speak loudly not to defend the legions of women who paved the way for my freedoms but to look in the eyes of strangers and plead without words for them to understand this isn’t […] (a coming of age playlist.) words taken from blackout poetry made from old (angsty) phone notes & journal entries. 22.08.17 / sit next to me by foster the people. out the window, the suburban lights are bright and cold, a picture in time. you can breathe in broken light. shadows of leaves pass over the walls, on […] all through a window locked indoors i look outside, a neon pink balloon trapped in the barbed fencing of the housing complex next to my apartment there lies my heart flailing around helium slowly oozing out i’ve never seen a rainbow before and i don’t want my first time to be through a window […] 18/08/2020 dear hope, “if you can hear me don’t go/i don’t really feel you now/but i know you’re there…” my therapist told me i should write a letter to you. it’s been three years without you and i still don’t know how to move on. this year has been the second worst year ever. you’re so […] 4:00am awake, i turn to you selfish in seeking your touch because, of course, you sleep. 4:01am arms around each other like scared teenage girls (girls?) doing that “i don’t want to treat you the way a boy would treat you but also i feel that i must touch you” thing. 4:02am you kiss my […] the university of melbourne’s penultimate sustainability report revealed the university has failed to meet its waste reduction targets over the last year. released on july 23rd, the 2019 report states the university produced 29 kilograms of waste per person in 2019, far exceeding the sustainability plan’s 2020 goal of just 20 kilograms per person. university […] when i wake up on saturday, i can only lay and daydream feel my night’s musings seep into the covers and try not to think about you. i get up to water my garden  i’ve planted flowers because i need to grow something other than resentment. getting ready, i have no time to eat, i […] kol looks at their watch. 11:11 feels auspicious. precarious. a moment of importance? 11:12 would have been a moment too late. all the magic lost. 11:10, too early. you can’t wait for magic, only stumble upon it, and it is a soul wrenching kind of letdown to see either number and to know: you fucked up. […] dear ______ sometimes i don’t lay naked beneath the sheets, and you? sometimes i drink too much, and lay naked beneath the sheets and forgot time has passed, my grief fermenting like an old cabbage, growing its own shrunken heads behind a […] i live with soldiers of no notable rank no colonel lieutenant even when empty streets glimmer lines of indigo tar they rise uniform on navy blue sterile sapphires epaulettes replaced by white swipe cards, brilliant i think of her in that apron she got for christmas kitchen smells waft through my bedroom door […] young peaches rain on a bruised roof, chafed by young brushing winds the peaches, mimic the sky on its skin   splatter of red   a sudden brown the winds run to the baton of an unseen conductor a colossal orchestra   to the marmalade […] (content warning for death and mental illness) don’t worry, be happy it’s 1999 and i’m seven years old. memories of my childhood are sparse but, i remember this: i had a watch with a pinkish red band made of the kind of semi transparent plastic of jelly sandals, popular at the time. printed around the face of […] georgina young: loner text publishing, 2020. isbn, 9781922330130, pp. 256, $24.99 text publishing choosing georgina young’s loner as its internal text prize winner all the way back in may of last year feels vaguely . not that loner deals with disease or isolation (at least not in the way that we have become familiar […] dbc pierre: meanwhile in dopamine city allen and unwin, 2020. isbn, 9780571228942, $39.99 it’s disappointing to say that there is very little to remark positively upon in dbc pierre’s new novel meanwhile in dopamine city. disappointing because a satire focussed on the pitfalls of technological obsession seems deeply needed in a time where it feels like […] judith hoare: the woman who cracked the anxiety code: the extraordinary life of dr claire weekes scribe publications, 2020. isbn, 9781922310439, pp. 416, $29.99 face, accept, float, let time pass. this was the six word mantra that gave hundreds of thousands of people control over their anxiety. australian journalist judith hoare chronicles the fascinating life of […] welcome to canon in she, a column that celebrates women who compose music. this time, i am dedicating the entire column to deborah cheetham. are you voting in the 2020 umsu elections? umsu election week is from the 7 11 september 2020. here you can find your candidates and their statements below in alphabetical order by position. if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate in reaching out to the deputy returning officer, stephen luntz. other relevant information may be […] are you voting in the 2020 umsu elections? umsu election week is from the 7 11 september 2020. here you can find your candidates and their statements below in alphabetical order by position. if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate in reaching out to the deputy returning officer, stephen luntz. other relevant information may be […] are you voting in the 2020 umsu elections? umsu election week is from the 7 11 september 2020. here you can find your candidates and their statements below in alphabetical order by position. if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate in reaching out to the deputy returning officer, stephen luntz. other relevant information may be […] spend your days off bottling masochism into remedies; sell them to your isolated self as constructive criticism    criticism is a double edged sword you’ve been taught to hold by the middle so it hurts only the way power should, must, would. shave it with pencil sharpener    wound way too tightly    might but won’t […] dear editors, earlier this semester, i received some criticism for an op ed i wrote against the pm’s suggestion that international students leave australia in response to covid 19   including by students from my own country. they echoed what was implicit in the government’s comments: that since we were lucky to even be here, we should […] growing up in the climate crisis my country is burning. ten years ago, this meant that the pavement was too hot to walk on when i was too lazy to wear slippers to put the bins out. it meant sausage sizzles and relatives drinking vb on the verandah. it meant that you could hear rain […] crag lines run ripple across creased walls an eye formed long sight caught through time rockets and tanks fear, and a lifetime all seen through a single crag in the wall this article refers to investigations that happened in february 2020. police are investigating several blockade imarc protesters for unlawful assembly and other charges. victoria police have contacted at least ten protesters, requesting interviews and questioning them about their involvement with blockade imarc. blockade imarc spokesperson jacob andrewartha said police were attempting to charge protesters with […] local punters at flinders street station were stunned today as a fellow traveller moved through the gate without pausing or stopping. “it was amazing,” one baffled onlooker commented. “she aimed at one boomgate the whole way in, and that was actually the one she went through. she had money on her card and everything. no […] this liveblog is for the 2020 umsu elections reporting from farrago reporters. all questions and queries about the reporting of this election should be directed to the deputy returning officer and the 2020 media officers. all questions and queries about candidates and how to complete a postal vote should be directed to the deputy returning officer. stephen […] susan golombrok: we are family: what really matters for parents and children scribe publications, 2020. isbn, 9781925713701pp. 320 , $32.99 professor susan golombrok has spent years researching families and how they have changed in the 21st century. from queer couples being able to adopt to kim kardashian surrogacies, golombrok packages her learnings into a […] in today’s age where the majority of mainstream music is filled with mind numbing beats, zachary leo’s sound is a breath of fresh air. the 21 year old melbourne based artist began his journey in 2019 releasing the singles she and lay you down, and more recently released the extremely catchy single not that easy. fresh off a […] welcome to canon in she, a column about female composers of western classical music, and a few major trailblazers in electronic music as well. today, i present three brilliant women from the 20th century. suffice to say that in the year of our lord 2020, we’ve all had our fair share of emotional rollercoasters. there are moments when you feel inspired and in control, there are other moments when you feel anything but. sometimes, it’s almost like you’re sleepwalking. from his attic studio, dream pop artist henry green has […] premier daniel andrews has issued stay at home orders for several suburbs in melbourne after recent spikes in positive cases of covid 19 in victoria. primary and secondary schools around australia have experienced a chaotic start to term two this year faced with conflicting advice from different levels of government. in victoria, premier daniel andrews had initially been adamant that state schools would be closed for the entirety of term two, a position which had drawn criticism from federal education […] if i would say one thing about come from away, other than that it is worth every minute and dollar, it would be that it highlights that amidst suffocating hate, it is possible to find that lemon drop of kindness in you. every year the university of melbourne student union (umsu) passes its annual budget via students’ council. why should you care? the university has elected not to pursue controversial changes to its special consideration policy that were proposed in september 2019. the co op bookstore will close its doors at the end of march after almost sixty years on the university of melbourne’s parkville campus. cw: covid 19, racism, physical and verbal assault two international students were assaulted in a racially motivated attack in the melbourne cbd on 15 april. the incident occurred at approximately 5:30pm on wednesday, when c and s* were walking down elizabeth street and saw two caucasian women shouting “coronavirus” and “get out of the country” to […] but, starting from march 17, the university of melbourne began its transition to a “virtual campus” in an effort to flatten the covid 19 curve. with this shift to online learning, the university also introduced a new way of experiencing the university lifestyle to first year students such as myself. earlier this week, you made a statement that surprised absolutely no one and was completely in line with the moral fibre and integrity of character you’ve displayed time and time again. welcome to edition one. welcome to the 2020 editors. a love for spearmint, for the burgundy red rhubarb patch eleanor pauses in her tracks, sucking in a breath as she turns not to face the man, but the arched windows that line the passage. aquitaine stretches out before her, its beauty incomparable to filthy, cramped paris. bonjour, mon amour! i think perhaps you are the muse i’ve been searching for. the tiger awakens as you grip the bars and use them to propel you into a 360 degree jump. beads of sweat nestle on your neck and your heart swells in its cage. water. earth. fire. air. long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. then, everything changed when the covid 19 attacked. only the avatar, master of one and a half elements (water, and maybe fire if you count a kettle) could stop the pandemic. but when the world needed her most, she vanished. a few days […] in science class we only celebrated successes. but for every scientific superstar there’s a generation of equally intelligent scholars who got it wrong. when i landed in melbourne some ten months ago, a grass green philistine whose closet contained nary a single tote bag, i did so with high expectations. among these expectations was that this first world metropolis would come equipped with a functional, if not flawless, public transport system. despite criticism from federal and state governments, there exists a long and varied history of violence in political protest. yet, this history is often obscured. in the final, stressful minute before his literature assignment is due, arts student wes wednesday is cool as a cucumber after realising that time does not, in fact, exist. as a satire of job hunting hell, the hitmen struggles to strike its target. nonetheless, mish wittrup’s new play offers some gory chuckles and a suite of energetic performances. submissions for edition three 2020 are now open! check out this funky content list for inspiration! citizen k, directed and written by alex gibney, tells a side of the cold war story that is arguably more interesting, and indeed more deadly, than the war itself: how does a nation with a communist backbone going back centuries suddenly make the transition to capitalism? how do its citizens get by? how does the government and its laws catch up to such an upheaval? in a constantly changing linguistic and cultural landscape mel gibson’s passion project based on the unique history of the oxford english dictionary, should have had no trouble capturing the modern zeitgeist. unfortunately, in a production marred by chaos, lawsuits and general disfunction, the professor and the madman is a film left feeling hollow and unfinished. like a boss had the potential to be a huge comedy hit because of its star studded cast and emphasis on female empowerment, but it failed to do so. starring tiffany haddish and rose byrne as best friends and salma hayek as the antagonist, the film heavily relies on innuendos and slapstick comedy in an attempt to be funny. the st kilda festival, showcasing australian artists, returns tomorrow, on the 9th of february for its 40th anniversary with over 60 acts, including special guests icehouse, kylie auldist and dj hot dub time machine. australian rock group icehouse performed at the first st kilda festival in 1980 and went on to become “one of the […] protesters were carried out by police at moreland’s gandolfo gardens early yesterday morning as the victorian government’s level crossing removal project prepared to remove the park’s trees. people watched as the trees, some believed to be 108 years old, were felled by workers. construction for the upfield line has already drawn controversy over the removal of the […] i had no idea what to expect from flying lotus’ 3d tour, i just knew i had to see it with my own eyes. flylo continues to produce some of the most exciting, genre bending sounds in the electro scene, and this show is no exception. sam mendes’ epic one take war film is an indelible, commanding experience built on some of the most incredible craftsmanship that cinema can offer. between walking into the forum at a little past 7pm and seeing carly rae jepsen come on stage for her sold out melbourne show was probably the most trying few hours of my life. language has faced an onslaught of changes in the face of globalisation, as influences from across the world fight against local ideals of what a language should be. language academies organisations that act as regulatory bodies of different languages are leading the fight against changes to language they perceive as illegitimate. i don’t mind if it is an acorn, a plum, or a baobab fruit. / they are all fruits. allow that which does not belong / in your heart to find / its way out. you, this forgotten shadow, / that rests in a flowering memory / is the kiss of root and berry. there’s an attic which is filled with what could be imagined for emily dickinson, her backstory and personality upon finding herself in an alice in wonderland style scenario. i imagine those things with a thin film of dust, and the windows open to the huge clouds. welcome to living well when you’re unwell, a column that answers all your questions about navigating uni, life, relationships, and jobs with disability and chronic illness. it was on the fourth of these dates that i met m  . m   was a large, wide croatian man. his belly peered ahead of him, and his hair was badly balding, with only the too long stragglers remaining around his crown. he pulled a seat out across from me at the lindt cafe´ on little collins street and seemed to fill the entire window we were next to. he looked down at me and shook his head, letting out a sputter of air. he pushed his palms out in the shape of a cross, perhaps to cover my c for by katherine anastasatos imagine the terror of one day arriving home, opening up snapchat to rant to your friends about your first world problems, flicking to a filter that instructs you to ‘raise your eyebrows’ in order to activate it, and… nothing happens. no cute furry ears, no amusing spectacles, no floating pink hearts; just […] hundreds of climate protesters turned up to blockade the international mining and resources conference (imarc) on its first day, leading to 50 arrests and four hospitalisations. for by tilli franks there is only 80 million years of difference between humans and bats. the common ancestor of all placental mammals is estimated to have lived around 400,000 years after the dinosaurs met their particularly nasty end. one could argue that bats got a reasonably good deal from the evolutionary lotto: they […] the university of melbourne’s creative literature and writing society present the remarkable quests of raddish and quill, a collaborative column for farrago. she was a woman who made the best of her circumstances and ensured no one else should ever face the same tribulations her fourteen year old self did. the salty sea breeze blows / mcdonalds™ wrappers swirl / infants scramble / some nestle in the bin liner / others look for scraps when night approached, i would sit near my window while watching the night sky in hopes of seeing the origin of the sound but i never did. all that matters in life is jimmy barnes, nineteenth century lesbians, and the three boxes of cheerios i clutch to my chest in the car park at coles. woolworths didn’t have them in stock so i had to drive to the next suburb. lindsay lohan’s done this, i think, as the cop takes my mugshot. should i smile? i give the camera a glare that looks petulant, childish. the most important person in the world visited melbourne central station today. at least that’s how it seemed as one inconsiderate asshole decided he had the right to stand still on the right hand side of the escalator. an event held at the university of melbourne on august 8 sparked protests from students and staff amid fears that it would promote anti trans ideas and make the university unsafe for transgender people. vca graduate rodd rathjen’s debut feature, buoyancy, is designed to provoke audiences with uncomfortable truths about modern slavery and our proximity to it via global food production, but there’s one particular question it raises which refuses to claw its way out of my mind: what does it take to break a 14 year old boy? in collaboration with the new york times, the university of melbourne is playing host to ‘hard truths’, an exhibition showcasing photographs from conflict zones around the world. a panel discussion was held in arts west on thursday, the 12th september, to discuss the polarizing question: is the global approach to migration broken? coming to a fringe festival near you: will it juice? the biggest and most bodacious dance crew to hit the fitzroy art scene. except despite an unapologetic opening dance number to lizzo’s ‘juice’ they’re actually an improv comedy group. approximately 20 students gathered on south lawn on wednesday 21 august to protest what they believe to be inaction by the university to prevent sexual violence on campus. student activists from extinction rebellion disrupted the university of melbourne open day on 18 august to protest the university’s participation in the international mining and resources conference (imarc). hundreds of students from across melbourne walked out of class on friday august 9 to demand action on climate change. students from the university of melbourne, monash, rmit and other universities gathered outside the state library despite heavy rain and windy conditions. for by catriona smith picture this: you’ve come home after a long hard day at uni and you have sore muscles and you want to relax. you lounge back in the bath with a good skin treatment, a glass of wine and a book. this level of comfort cannot be achieved in the shower. baths […] four grumpy, overweight, mid life crisis persons have been sighted lurking around the rmit/swanston st tram stop wearing unimelb hoodies. witnesses report that they seem to think they’re blending in well, and reckon no one knows they’re ticket inspectors. your first casual sex experience. the back of a car. classy. you never liked random hook ups in clubs and you’re frankly bemused by the whole experience. sex had always been an intimate act; not anymore. the second time is better, you like him, you date a few weeks, you’re replaced. it gets easier each time. academics at the university of wollongong (uow) are speaking out against the institution’s newest arts major. there has already been major controversy over the unusual fast track approval of the course, which will be privately funded by the ramsay centre for western civilisation. the university of melbourne student union (umsu) bike co op has finally re opened on wednesday 31 july 2019, almost a year and a half after its scheduled relocation. the university of melbourne’s creative literature and writing society present the remarkable quests of raddish and quill, a collaborative column for farrago. it was your birthday drinks last time her arm was around you. it’s only been three weeks since then, you were in fitzroy at yet another rooftop bar, basking in the suburban sunset. your gift came in a plastic shopping bag. sarah plays on the association of colours and words to write her poetry column for farrago, using taubman’s paint samples from bunnings. forward won the 2019 graduate students association (gsa) election after earning the most key seats in the council, including the presidency. forward’s success was confirmed during the first annual general meeting (agm) after the election, held on may 31. the ticket gained six out of the ten positions that were up for election. bernie green (26) has reported a massive spike in the deaths of his students’ obscure relatives and family friends since he moved his tutorial from a 2pm to an 8am timeslot. on saturday, 22 june, hundreds of melburnians braved the cold and rain to spread awareness of the civilian massacres that are taking place in sudan. they met at the state library, where members of australia’s sudanese community spoke about the violence that has broken out in sudan’s capital, khartoum. led by the six rally organisers, the group of around 500 protestors then marched up bourke street to the steps of parliament. is the truant in my sheets / barely sixteen / i am / telling fibs to stay home with my thoughts / with my feet tucked in the pockets of sleep / the holiday starts when we follow a white cat named jennifer into the faewild. in the backstory, andi has been trying to catch her; she’s been cohabiting with emily dickinson in secret. we don’t remember the mechanics of entering the faewild. it’s verdant and as bright as a lisa frank drawing. on april 10, approximately 100,000 people took to the streets of melbourne to protest against the morrison government in a change the rules rally. the rally was organised by the australian council of trade unions (actu). i found a boy sitting on my verandah one day. he was different from the others because he was calm. crimson scars climbed his skin. i’m planning a powerplay on the level of a live tv strip tease, like drew barrymore getting down on david letterman’s desk. even flipping through the collection days later. i feel a sense of strangeness, like i haven’t uncovered all the paths into burns’ mind. this is a powerful strength of hers, you will not look at the same sentence the same way twice. it is not often i see myself portrayed on stage, but the family that michelle law created in her debut play single asian female is refreshingly familiar. the wongs are three women on the verge of life changing events. pearl’s divorce is finally finalized, but she faces another problem; zoe struggles to navigate being single and finds herself pregnant after a one night stand; and mei is just shy of finishing high school. after my chat with antony hamilton, i was extremely excited to witness the premiere of his latest piece, universal estate. i made my way to arts house and was escorted through large double doors and into a bright, clinical room. it felt as though i had walked into an episode of black mirror. it was a four hour long dance piece, and audiences were allowed to walk in and out as they pleased. they could also choose to sit or stand anywhere within the space, on the designated benches or the flo around 100 subjects from several faculties will trial a new learning management system (lms) from semester 2 this year. sarah plays on the association of colours and words to write her poetry column for farrago, using taubman’s paint samples from bunnings. ? now the start of semester dust has settled and we’re all neck deep in assignments, it seems like a good time to reflect on where we are on our editorial journey. we became the farrago editorial team late last year and since then have worked every single day putting out this big baby each month. it’s been a wild ride, but we adore farrago, and are so grateful for the opportunity to put important pictures and words into print and distribute them across campus. i saw the crowd before i heard it, which i am aware is completely counterintuitive. my concern that we had not arrived early enough to figure out which room the show was in immediately passed as everyone who came in with my friends and i all flocked to the queue just inside the entrance of trades hall. i could feel everyone’s excitement as we entered the dimly lit room and took our seats. the university of melbourne is currently facing legal proceedings brought by a previous employee, who farrago will refer to as lianne, on the grounds that her termination was on the basis ofher raising concerns over gender discrimination. the first time i encountered victor was on a bleak, foggy morning exactly one year ago today. i find it fascinating that one can innocently tug at a single thread and accidentally unravel an entire garment. detik pertama, i was drowning and the world softened, an egg dipped in vinegar. maybe the internet is a history machine. much under the surface. i remember clicking a page of one on one rpg blogs: two friends/writers for something awful documenting their campaigns for lulz. tinder. the dating app we hate to love and love to hate. welcome to living well when you’re unwell, a column that answers all your questions about navigating uni, life, relationships, and jobs with disability and chronic illness. i borrowed the river cottage bread handbook (highly recommend) from family friends about a year and a half ago, read it near cover to cover, and started baking. since then i have made a name for myself amongst friends and family as the bread guy, bringing fresh bread to picnics and potlucks, or making mouthwatering focaccia when hosting a barbecue. post malone seemed to really enjoy his time on stage and genuinely try to connect to the crowd; and yes, for some reason, that included drinking beer out of someone else’s shoe. in all honesty, i went along to the air supply concert on april 24 with no idea what to expect. despite their status as an iconic australian band, my knowledge of the people standing on stage before me extended only to the snippets of their songs i had heard included in the occasional television commercial. nonetheless, i had a sense of excitement walking into the melbourne exhibition and convention centre. with the ready aid of massive inflatables, red satin sheets and fairy wings, tara rankine shares her stories of love. inside the cosy venue of tasma terrace, this show from the 2019 melbourne international comedy festival invites you straight “into her heart”. raunchy and raw, love is a work in progress closely examines the types of love she has experienced in sex, romance and friendship. it is fair to say, without doubt nor hesitation, that tim minchin is back! bron batten’s onstage dating is exactly the type of show you’d expect iconic melbourne venue the butterfly club to put on. the audience begins the experience before bron even appears, being handed a “volunteer” form filled with the most important questions a potential date can answer: your star sign, your wine preference and, of course, “would you fuck on a first date?” the last few years have seen many cafés and restaurants ousted for non compliance with correct pay. although these businesses suffer in the form of damage to their curated image and brand, workers often bear the brunt of an underpaid and overworked existence workers who are usually students themselves. lala barlow and robbie smith arrive in london. so begins a whirlwind of migration adventure and, most importantly, their year long stay in a communal living warehouse they’ve coined the worst little warehouse in london. do you ever feel like you’re being watched when you’re at uni? this is a cornetto moment, w/ all the flicked pip mandarins, & pregnant bellies being rubbed, under ice cream umbrellas they do not see me and i am twelve when i creep into the top corner of the kitchen. i watch them pour tea and drop spoons for years and now i am giggling. murder and general mayhem sound just like your good old fashioned fairy tales, something left behind in the myths and legends that belong in forgotten derelict book shelves. beware sensationalism but the reality is that it’s all just life, kids. smoke alarms went off in arts west on monday afternoon as fiery banter poured out of a week 1 media and society tutorial. my phone promises that i keep track of time. so why do i keep losing track of time instead? disruptions on grattan street will continue throughout 2019 as parkville station construction for the melbourne metro tunnel enters its “most exciting year to date.” i hear the term ‘accessibility’ being talked about a lot. i thought accessibility only had to do with wheelchair access and i don’t want to sound stupid asking people what makes something accessible. can you tell me about it? ‘business as usual’ is hurtling us towards a desolate future. if we continue this way, climate change will intensify, sea levels will rise and humanity will face an existential catastrophe. we know this, but what would it look like if we started doing better? blind optimism can distract from the truth, but frameworks of hope can help us find common goals and inspiration for the future. i would like to present two such frameworks: solarpunk and the sustainable development goals (sdgs). my ride to pitch was sitting beside a pungent smelling senior citizen who was fake calling someone on his phone, whining about “no intellects in the overpopulated city,” “r****ded lefty policies” and a “very fake evil god”. i knew i was in for a labour weekend long journey   one that included more than bumps, darts and guerns. this friday, university of melbourne students and staff will be standing with school students walking out of class for the school strike 4 climate. they struck last november, with participants numbering in the 15,000s. they will be demanding an end to new coal and gas projects, an end to the adani coal mine, an 100% […] what is the better way to rule as a woman? that is the question mary queen of scots wishes to answer. you smell the blooming of blossoms, gold streaks sparking off white petals; it is the smell of new life, of impossible bliss. you turn to touch the flaming light unplugging scrappy sink waste arrestor not stopping sloppy plates nor wrinkled noses at kitchen the snowberry clearwing doesn’t just look like a bumblebee its behaviour is also remarkably similar. like bees, it consumes nectar from flowers, and unlike other moths, it flies diurnally. their main distinguishing factor is their flight patterns; bees move their wings far more swiftly than moths do, making the moth look slightly clumsier in comparison. “the story so far: in the beginning the university of melbourne was one of many institutions that introduced the consent matters program as part of their response to the 2017 australian human rights commission (ahrc) inquiry into university sexual harassment and assault. this has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” the evening we found out that my grand uncle had been brutally taken from us, my childhood home no longer felt like home. the air hung heavy and the humidity that served as a reminder of the inevitability of summer, clung to my skin, making it hard to breathe. welcome to living well when you’re unwell a column that answers all your questions about navigating uni, life, relationships, and jobs with disability and chronic illness. the welfare department of the university of melbourne student union (umsu) has introduced a new drug policy this year involving pill testing kits and workshops as harm reduction becomes the focus. a new scholarship program commencing in 2020 will award talented domestic undergraduate students who face financial challengers with free accommodation, general allowance, and financial and personal support. the 91st academy awards will take place at midday melbourne time on monday the 25th of february. ahead of the ceremony, oscar ragg takes a look at whose proverbial stock is up   and whose is down   following a tumultuous, watershed awards season. hidden away on the sixth floor of myer in bourke street is sugar republic, a colourful and exuberant interactive pop up art installation about all things sugar. at eternity’s gate is the latest film inspired by visionary post impressionist painter vincent van gogh. it is set in the turbulent last years of van gogh’s life, as he grapples with mental illness, spirituality and an all encompassing compulsion to paint the world as he sees it. director julian schnabel (the diving bell and the butterfly) does his best to understand the man behind the icon; to strip away novelty and gaze at the star crossed van gogh operating on an alien frequency. anyone who has ever thought about running away to join the circus probably dreamed of something like the odditorium. presented as part of the midsumma festival, it is a cabaret love letter to the magic of circus and vaudeville. i am no theatre connoisseur. in my eyes, what makes a play good is its ability to make me feel. in this vein, i believe all of the arts   whether it be music, literature, theatre or visual   have a common goal: to move the audience. i don’t need a life altering experience every time i encounter art, but it has to elicit some kind of reaction in me. unfortunately, the only thing i really felt while watching the trial of dorian gray was ambivalence. barry jenkin’s moonlight follow up is an immaculate, beautifully wrought adaptation of the great james baldwin’s novel, and a deeply sincere ode to love in all its forms. independent members of the melbourne university publishing (mup) board and chief executive officer louise adler have resigned over the new proposed direction of the publishing house. federal minister for education daniel tehan has axed plans to establish an independent taskforce that would have investigated university responses to and reported mishandlings of complaints of campus sexual assault. chicago rapper juice wrld arrived at the forum theatre on saturday night (5/1) for the melbourne leg of his first australian tour, after turning out at the enmore theatre in sydney the night prior. anticipation was building as an ever growing line snaked all the way around the iconic forum. director travis knight’s comedic and heartfelt take on bumblebee’s origin story is a breath of fresh air in a franchise known for excessive explosions and a lack of emotional resonance. spider man: into the spider verse is like no other animated or superhero film around. it’s a visual spectacle full of witty one liners, weird and wonderful characters, and a whole lot of heart, all accompanied by a head bopping soundtrack. ‘into the spider verse’ goes out of its way to present a story that is new and completely untold (at least in the realm of cinema). everything here feels fresh. even if at its core it is still just another spider man movie, there’s probably enough new ground covered to push past some of the spider fatigue you might be feeling. whew! we had three full sessions yesterday. lots was discussed and, like day one, lots of yelling ensued. discussion included nus’s role in the 2019 federal election, freedom of speech on campuses, and lunch. natcon is the annual national conference of the national union of students (nus). this week, the student politicians will descend like locusts on the mt helen campus of federation university, 10km outside ballarat. follow our live updates of #nusnatcon18 here! “you can be the one to eat my pancreas. i did some more research after i saw that, and i found out that outside japan, some people believe that if you have someone eat you, your soul lives on within them.” joseph paglia and luke rotella interviewed founding greens member senator janet rice at the greens’ election night party in docklands about the party’s campaign in the 2018 state election. ryan is running in the state election for the district of richmond. she doesn’t expect to win but she’s put herself forward on principle. she can’t let those who would threaten the existence of victoria’s safe injecting rooms, which she was central in introducing, run uncontested. every year the department of anatomy and neuroscience hold a microscope imagining competition called under the coverslip. this exhibition is built on the notion that science is more than just graphs and figures; that there is undiscovered beauty beneath the microscope that can be appreciated by everyone. roots an entire lung in the very early stages […] the earth laughs in flowers   ralph waldo emerson these three stories are the winning entries from the gothic themed micro story competition associated with the exhibition dark imaginings: gothic tales of wonder curated by special collections in the noel shaw gallery, baillieu library. the challenge was to use 300 words (or less) to tell a gothic story. while the exhibition focused on the gothic from c 1750 to 1900, the competition was open to free interpretation of the word “gothic”. oscar ragg reviews director alfonso cuarón’s latest and broods over the streaming giant muscling its way into critical acclaim. captured: posing! waiting for a lecture @ arts west shop the look: head to toe zara, hershel bag & nike kicks captured: rushing to another tute outside the john medley building fashion icon: gdragon unimelb fashion: cosy captured: in line for a coffee @ the standing room shop the look: stussy bomber, mb, hoodie & […] before they close their set, le’aupepe leaves the audience with perhaps the most important messages behind go farther in lightness to forgive, to love, to live and to look after one another. life can be shit but there are ways to make it better, and le’aupepe has learnt that. the faculty of arts’ encounters with writing mini festival, held on 18 october 2018, displayed a work by woman identifying student artists about rape on the university of melbourne campus, particularly in the residential colleges. encounters with writing is an exhibition showcasing the works of university of melbourne’s third year undergraduate students who are completing their creative writing major. when taylor swift wowed a sold out crowd at marvel stadium, bringing her reputation tour to melbourne, there definitely wasn’t a song the crowd didn’t enjoy. but if we had to narrow it down, here are our top five songs of the melbourne reputation tour. 1. ready for it taylor made her entrance on stage, […] she was on her knees by a depressive begonia. “they’re not getting any air in here,” she said when she saw me. “it’s gotten to the point where i have to go around breathing on them, multiple times a day.” i unloaded the box on the kitchen counter. kiss her shoulders with peach lipstick on, remind the skin to soften. on the new day that we have here, the sun comes out more often. ????????for gracing me with an english name, unlike some peers who had to live by rui qi, xian yu. the sky in the frog’s eyes is only as big as the mouth of the well dry chamomile grinds between my toes passing the skin of a goat hung proud air perfumed by fresh leeks stirred in warm water by an ancestor’s hand it is only recently that mcallister returned to perform, for the first time since becoming artistic director, in the australian ballet’s production of the merry widow in melbourne. on a stage saturated by diamond studded dresses and scarlet curtains, mcallister appears as njegus, the bumbling secretary to the ambassador. pantomimic and slapstick, the fantasy is in full swing and mcallister knows how to play the game. the audience drinks deeply from his perfectly timed winks and silly walk for the last six breakfasts, annina has eaten bread with jam a meal that tastes the same everywhere in the world  but today she can’t see either ingredient. the man behind her gives her an impatient nudge and annina reaches for a strange yellow fruit at the edge of a platter. she tears the banana away from its identical siblings and holds it limply in her hand. it’s crescent shaped with rubbery skin, like nothing she’s ever seen before. in her impoverished village, where a single or two plainclothes police officers allegedly asked for unimelb apparel to “blend in and look more like students” at union house in late july, according to a staffer of the university of melbourne student union (umsu). i wanted to do everything, but it certainly didn’t help that there are over 200 clubs. even so, i couldn’t find one that i was totally enthusiastic about. for those who aren’t satisfied with the current selection, don’t worry. not only can you join a club, you can also create a new club! my phd confidence crisis crept up on me so slowly that i barely noticed it. there was no tectonic shift i love you phd, i love you not nor was there any acrimonious fracture of my supervisory relationships or mounting distain for my topic. but when the words of dr seuss’s oh the places you’ll go! started resonating with me and perfectly described my phd trajectory, i knew it was time to take a breath. the university of melbourne student union (umsu) is currently reviewing plans to overhaul its governance and constitution. the plans are projected to be finalised by the end of the year, with the overhaul set for semester one, 2019. welcome to your latest campus news briefing. dancing with freya mcgrath is a transformational experience it is an ecstatic declaration of the power of the body, and in her latest work she asks you to enter that space too. will you take the plunge? close your eyes and accept the tug. crunch the numbers and you’ll be safe. but the tangible dangers of collision aren’t what i distrust. it is the stasis of what it lacks that makes me uneasy. it will always be an eerie pull that i can only see in my messy calculations, only existing inside my head. so, no, i do not have a white name. i wish other non white people didn’t either. our names are beautiful. they speak of our roots, cultures, homes we so dearly love. i would rather repeat my name thrice than cut it to make someone else more comfortable. “i’ve discovered and created a great deal of who i am, and what i care about, on the dance floor,” freya mcgrath says. welcome to the farrago liveblog of the university of melbourne student union election results. students who submit essays to turnitin might find their essays commodified for paid plagiarism checking services such as writecheck. the university of melbourne’s student card replacement fee is the highest in the country, and at $50 is nearly double the average national cost. here’s how you get someone to vote for you in a student election. you print flyers and wear a brightly coloured t shirt and stand somewhere on campus reasonably close to one of the voting booths, like the one in the lobby of the baillieu library. welcome to farrago’s coverage of the 2018 19 university of melbourne student union (umsu) elections. what follows is a fairly predictable falling in love story with the added humour of duncan’s mixture of disbelief and jealously over his idol “fancying” his now ex girlfriend. o’dowd plays his classic loveable type but with a sheen of wanker that makes you feel thoroughly uncomfortable and like the world is spinning off kilter. everything appears serene until iron man flies through the sky with a loud whoosh! he is distributing fluttering bits of paper from above. the camera pans down to street level, and one of the papers flutters into view. it reads: wedding of the century: bucky barnes and captain america in classy italic font. “okay, it’s fine. it’s macca’s, they won’t question my order…uh, hi. can i get three hundred and sixty nuggets?” like a pearl shaped ship on an inky sea she glides imperceptibly, making headway without want of lighthouse, for no beacon name winds more surely than children or virtues of the land ‘mercy’ and sea ‘patience’ i am afraid of the bees. i can’t pass through them. my hair doesn’t coil into antennae and i have no wings; my vertebrae is flat and fearful and all too human. oh, how they swarm and shiver in golden rivers. dew drop, dew drop, forbidden fruity sweat. she wonders. do they sleep stuck inside out like upturned cockroaches. leftover crumbs of laughter the sky is your enemy’s napkin, stitched together by your forgiveness one of the main reasons the media exists, and farrago exists, is the hope that our writing might change things for the better. history is more than just the study of great men, great ideas and great events. race, gender and class are not reductive categories in the study of history, and many of those crucial events they laud the study of cannot be properly understood without these lenses. content warning: sexual violence, racist attacks, murder alien. that’s the best way to describe it. being an immigrant often feels like you’re between a rock and a hard place. but the rock is the place you are now, and the hard place is fitting in. always in between, always not quite there, mentally or physically. physically, missing out on schoolies for a family trip back to the home that is spoken of at least once every family meal. mentally, always worlds away, wrapped up in stories from family about faraway lands, of sights, smells and peop still soft and clean, the elephant unlike most bed buddies of adults who still sleep with stuffed toys, has not been here that long dad always told me that life is full of lessons, that life is a journey where you don’t ever stop learning no matter how old you get. late last year, i learnt that if you boil your pasta in salted water, the pasta will taste a zillion time better (many thanks to my housemate for that quick tip). earlier this year i learnt what it meant to do right by yourself this was something i learnt the hard way. with that, here are ten things i wish i’d learned by now. when i first applied to host a show on radio fodder in 2016, the station had only been around for a year or so. at this stage, it was run by the media officers with the help of some dedicated volunteers. being split between a bunch of different obligations, the farrago editors didn’t always have the time to help us out. realising this, this year’s editors created positions for two station managers to help nurture radio fodder and its roster of talent. her eldest daughter picks up the cake tin and takes it inside. she puts her son down and he toddles after them. she passes her mother in the doorway. “typical of him to leave it on the verandah like that.” here’s the wrong way to govern: listen to what the wealthy and powerful want, then work backwards to an argument for why it’s good for ordinary people. here’s the right way to govern: don’t worry about what the power brokers want. it’s usually bad for the rest of us. just listen to what ordinary people need, […] i was floating down the streets of paris at 40 kilometres per second, my arms straining against his denim jacket, laundry powder and cigarette smoke and joyful fear. a thousand indie rock songs spinning in my ears. like a dream from a movie where i couldn’t belong. i was in paris in summer, and i was having the time of my life. he had curly hair and converses and he was into music. as of december 2017, a guinea pig romeo & juliet was selling better on amazon than the original version. all theory aside, people love guinea pig classics. arguably the best way to figure out why is to directly consult the consumers themselves. as i am not due to interact with any actual children in the week leading up to submitting this review, i read a guinea pig romeo and juliet to my friend after a few pints. “omg little butt”, she says, and “soooooo worried, oh nooo”. i th after eight long years, the genius that is debra granik returns with a feature film that is as beautiful a piece of unhurried filmmaking as winter’s bone was. leave no trace an adaptation of the novel, my abandonment by peter rock follows will, an army veteran, and tom, his thirteen year old daughter, who call home a little camp set up made of tarps and other equipment in the wilderness of a nature reserve in oregon. splendour is connecting with old friends and making new ones in a campsite or a crowd. splendour is getting drunk in a tent. splendour is discovering new bands and appreciating your old favourites. splendour is the blue feeling you get when it’s all over and you’re re listening to your favourite acts. welcome to semester two, and welcome to your campus news briefing. it was almost summer and it was lighter for longer these days. the dying heat of the day wafted off the asphalt, bringing the evening down to a temperature where one could comfortably go without shoes. nicholas didn’t have the luxury of a balcony, so instead he sat on his windowsill with his suit pants loosely rolled above his hairy ankles, dangling his sockless feet over the last of the evening traffic below. shakespeare stood in front of the mirror sans a shirt. he had hair on his nipples. he clutched a stumpy device and rubbed it under his arms, for odorous fumes he was told he exuded. he’d fallen in failure’s arms the semester prior, and he was bracing his mind for the semester to come. the bard pinched some waxy cream and rubbed it about his pate. his brown locks were now pointed, dipping down upon his brow. members of the chinese community living in australia, particularly students, are being targeted by a phone scam exploiting the fact that they are separated from their families. from 7:30am on wednesday, 11 july, students from the campus based activist group lockout lockheed chained themselves to concrete filled barrels to prevent staff, including chancellery, the top tier leadership of the university, from entering their offices in raymond priestley. after an exhaustive experience being the painfully uninterested tag along to my sister’s shopping spree at both sephora and mecca maxima, melbourne central’s pre release event for hotel transylvania 3 was upon us. what will people say (hva vil folk si) is a norwegian coming of age drama written and directed by iram haq. a distinct sense of unease lingered over the brian jonestown massacre’s melbourne gig on thursday night. greg sestero, author of the disaster artist, becomer of mark in “oh hai, mark”, first imagined the plot of his new movie best f(r)iends while on drugs. their live show was a methodological, analytical, scientific and mathematical manipulation of sound palettes to create mosaics. the two hour session was split into two segments, the first being a discussion led by prompts while the second segment was a question and answer session. in a room filled with women and non binary people, it felt like a safe space where everyone was learning from each other and discussing how we can save the world from its horribleness because men cannot behave. from experience, i know that the potential for overthinking exists in any situation, even during the infamous exam period. maybe you’re thinking that everyone is too busy cramming last minute knowledge into their brains to stress about what other people are doing. if that’s true for you, my heartiest congratulations. but the rest of us […] the inaugural soul craft festival brought together experienced and novice crafters alike from all over the world, for a packed and fun weekend, celebrating craft. this year, it was held at the historic meat market located in north melbourne. the festival had master classes, panel talks, demonstrations, exhibitions, a marketplace, and even workshops! the programme […] christian mcbride’s performance was a charismatic and captivating expression of experimental jazz. chris dave has been called one of the best drummers in the world today, and as the audience expectantly waits in a darkened basement on a chilly melbourne evening, the anticipation is palpable. iron & wine come out into a concert hall filled with pensioners, arts administrators wearing gorman and people who just really love the recital centre. i’m not saying it’s not beautiful, just that my mum and i (sitting in our separate rows) are more used to mud and folk festivals than this. but i guess that’s what you get being one of the biggest folkie, bible belt stars in the world playing twice in one night. katie doherty looks at overpopulation alex d. epstein becomes a vigilante photo returner the entire audience recites the words “it’s all about confidence baby” in response to the warbling guitars and gave the band a deserved rapturous applause, with the song’s ending. strange land where meat regrets the eater & it’s a rare strength indeed ain’t sweetened by a drop of honey the living room looked out over elgin street. her flat was flanked by an indian restaurant and a car park. the boobs the chalk were referencing could only be hers. she flung open the window and leant out, as if the scent of the chalk writer still hung on the air and she could sniff them out. di manakah anda semua menyembunyi? di tepi sudut dewan kuliah atau di belakang kelas? sebagai seorang yang sentiasa senyap, anda tidak bergerak dan dengan sentiasa pandangan mereka berpaling kepadamu. and as he hammered his father’s father’s words into the ground, time seemed to slip into the distant horizon and the ute, crushed in half, sank deeper into eagle creek. i’m entranced by lighting stores imagining our kitchen and lounge and how it would feel when one day you were home. the telly has given its verdict: the world is too big to be contained in its chest and it cannot find a colour for its own blood so what else but spirited away? campbell arcade, a haven for creatives nestled in the arts district underneath melbourne’s degraves lane, is under threat of partial demolition as a result of current plans released by the melbourne metro rail authority (mmra) and cross yarra partnership (cyp) to accommodate for the multi billion dollar metro tunnel project due in 2025. the dog loves it! she finds bottles full of human urine or a half full coke can and tears off over the horizon only to return sticky and licking her stained lips. that being said, the whole thing is pretty. it is just so, so pretty. the language is beautiful, the set is stunning, and the performances are solid. if you’re a big ibsen fan: go. if you’re a set design nerd: go. if you’re looking for a pleasant and dreamy way to spend an evening: go. just remember to leave your riot gear at home. luke macaronas talks with benjamin law about gay voices in journalism and hate fucking politicians the bookshop is, at its most generous, a film that grants us with the delighting physicality of books, wafting the cinematic equivalent of that musty, antique book smell into our eager eyes and ears. brothers’ nest follows brothers terry and jeff (clayton and shane jacobson) as they return to their childhood home with unclear intentions. hello and welcome to farrago’s liveblog of the national union of students’ ‘build a better budget’ campaign launch. like peanut butter and chocolate, shakespeare and warhol, musc’s plastic shakespeare presents a continual pairing of elements that shouldn’t quite work together, but, nine times out of ten, they do, and it makes for beautiful, original theatre. it feels like just about everybody knows a nurse, whether it’s a friend, a relative, or themselves, but do we actually know what it’s like? long nights, thinking on your feet, and for lucy osborn, a love affair with her bed after a gruelling shift. i spoke to lucy ahead of international nurses day about […] when the world has constantly been exposed to the likes of instagram poets, it can be incredibly difficult to find poignant writing that delivers something else, a level of almost distress, tinged with the encouragement to live out your life as best you can. the world of the simpsons is very much the one we live in: corrupt politicians, dysfunctional family, crass jokes galore. when we turn on the tv and find the residents of springfield beating the mayor to a pulp with a baseball bat, we don’t feel like we’re watching some remote yellow lifeforms prancing around. instead, […] content warning: mild discussion of gore, killing of animals. a story of two individuals navigating the complexities of emotions and intimacy, on body and soul (testrol és lélekrol) is a moving film for anyone who has ever felt alone. expertly weaving multiple layers of meaning together, hungarian director ildikó enyedi has created a masterpiece which reflects on the human condition within modern society. this film also made me uncomfortable   and so it should. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago‘s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. the university of melbourne’s administrative system requires a student’s name to be changed legally before it can be changed on their id card, placing a financial burden on gender diverse students. the university of melbourne’s counselling and psychological services (caps) is making changes this year in order to accommodate increasing demand. in a pathetic attempt to salvage as much of his unavoidably dismal tutorial participation mark as possible, local dropkick john lin has reportedly leapt at the opportunity to answer the easiest of seven tutorial questions. there’s a scene in journey beyond fear in which father bismillah describes losing his entire family as a child in afghanistan. “i have not had any happiness since,” he says. it’s a stark reminder of just how profoundly struggle and loss have defined the lives of him and so many others. and yet, despite all the obstacles they face, all the uncertainty of their circumstances, they go on, day after day. katie doherty on the 24 hour news cycle trent vu on working in hospitality and retail danielle scrimshaw on the unsung hotties of history class i open my eyes. the bananas are still there: curved bodies and rubbery skins speckled with dark bruises, decay spreading from the inside. i tug at the smallest one but it doesn’t budge. with a quick, jerky movement of my fist i rip the banana away from the bunch, exposing a crooked line of flesh just below the tip. the distinct smell hits me immediately. shakespeare’s head tilted. from his understanding a myki was but a noise. how could he show one a beeping sound? how, indeed, could one even possess a beeping sound? his face advertised his guilt and the hairy man’s pupils dilated. gossiping stars circling i have only good intentions to tell they shoot their way off into the abyss all is bliss. all is well. clever, warm and honest, pacquola effortlessly intertwines hilarious personal anecdotes including her reaction to being flashed by a man while out with a friend, with serious undertones of her grappling with her unbalanced mental health. the latter is particularly poignant, as pacquola has publicly climbed the ladder of success and fame over the last couple of years, for which she notes the majority of the audience would have come expecting “that nice girl from the abc”. michelle brasier and laura frew, who together make up the comedy duo double denim, present double denim adventure show during this years’ melbourne international comedy festival (micf) season. lucy peach stars as the greatest human being in her award winning show my greatest period ever. guy montgomery has the linguistic ability and dissertation of a young freud. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. in the inevitable encore, børns apologises for his bad manners. “i’m sorry. i didn’t wish you sweet dreams…” and promptly launches into sweet dreams. i buy a t shirt. sweet dreams tour 2018. i am responsible for supervising and overseeing the union theatre and the guild theatre spaces and for many other tasks and activities including the scheduling of all student theatre group productions, uht presented productions and liaising with all external hirers. the university of melbourne released its sustainable investment framework (sif) on 28 march, outlining the university’s approach to sustainability in its investment portfolios and processes. the sif established that the university will not be be adopting a ‘strict exclusion approach’ from investing in the fossil fuel industry, citing concerns around ‘financial strength’. not often is the spirit of a legendary performer so clearly present in the inevitable tribute concerts they inspire. but seu jorge’s ‘life aquatic a tribute to david bowie’ is more than a tribute concert; it’s a transcendent, dreamy homage to bowie’s genius. katie doherty on an individual’s choice in the face of global warming the purpose of class is to learn but honestly, who can absorb knowledge and participate in class whilst attempting to be a socially functioning human being? (sorry tutors, but trying to get a room full of students to discuss some farfetched topic is like me trying to stop procrastinating and finish that essay due in […] there’s an old adage people like to use when explaining comedy, which is “comedy equals tragedy plus time”. although the abundance of depressed and alcoholic comedians seems to support this saying, it is also true that comedy can come from many different, happy emotions and from positive experiences. rose matafeo’s horndog is a show primarily about celebrating things that this young, new zealander stand up loves and it’s a delightful change of pace. when i first saw matt vasquez perform comedy, i was about to go on stage. his first impression was legendary and the marksmanship of a great comedian. when i asked presenters ashleigh hastings and carolyn huane how they would explain the premise of off beet to virgins of their show, they offered “local bands, banter and hopefully enjoyable music” as a tagline. lily raynes on surviving the public transport system with a minimum of dignity there’s a voice, and suddenly everything around you comes into focus. you see a hand waving insistently in front of your face. “you okay? you need some air?” i can’t imagine that it’d be particularly difficult to picture an elton john performance; he is well known, to say the least, for his distinctive voice, ostentatious outfits and his trademark piano that always accompanies him on stage. however, at one performance in 2013, a few lucky fans were able to hear elton john’s playing live and in person without even having to leave their living room. mind bending perth outfit, psychedelic porn crumpets, are descending upon north court this tuesday at 1. since the release of the reality altering ‘high visceral’ parts one and two (as well as some b sides) the band has played support slots for the likes of king gizzard, the murlocs along with selling out shows nationwide. the […] despite the startling scene, orny advised we take a five minute break before getting back with the show as we formed little discussion groups about the brawl. orny returned with a sombre tone as he reminded us what we all love about comedy, especially his brand of comedy. it never seeks to divide. it’s to make us all laugh. he looked at us and pumped his fist in the air (or at least that’s what it felt like) and sought to reclaim the night from the assholes one of whom couldn’t keep a the proposed governance changes to the graduate student association’s (gsa) structure have failed after being put to a vote at their special general meeting (sgm) on 22 march. the meeting was attended by 151 graduate students, of whom 67 students voted up the constitutional reforms and 56 voted them down. click here to stay up to date with campus news and receive farrago’s news briefings delivered to your inbox every fortnight. a contingent of over 30 university of melbourne students joined forces with fellow victorian students at the state library of victoria to protest the coalition government’s $2.2 billion cuts to higher education on wednesday, 21 march. today students from fossil free melbourne university (ffmu) hung up their dirty laundry outside the raymond priestley building to put pressure on the university to divest from fossil fuels. despite being initially called the ‘grainger museum and music museum’, it really only shines light upon grainger himself. up and coming indie singer songwriter, riley pearce, is the latest act set to take the stage at the university of melbourne student union’s tuesday ‘bands & bevs’ this semester. currently touring the country, you can catch riley at 1pm in north court this tuesday. based in perth, riley has released a has released a string […] when orny adams walks in. i almost don’t recognise him. clad in a leather jacket, i quickly cue his unmistakable energy. image courtesy of hugh shanahan from polity. polity is a new student run media organisation, which aims to challenge readers’ consumption patterns, and take them outside of their echo chambers. you can see more of their work at polity.online. by silvi vann wall andrew wilkies has boldly challenged the economic world order by refusing to consider the possibility of employment. we fucked up. edition two of farrago contained the university of melbourne student union (umsu) environment department’s office bearer report from edition one. we love them and we’re sorry for this. here’s the correct version.   don’t try so hard to be profound. it’s annoying.   i’m writing how i feel.   you were eating a chip when you had your first kiss. okay. gross. but the chip is not a symbol, miranda. you don’t feel it flaccid, lukewarm, lodged at the back of your throat as you speak and especially when you remain silent. a potato is not the patriarchy. anyway, what is this supposed to be? is it a poem? ephemeral dalliance. diaphanous gossamer. caress, tessellate. purveyors of australian rock kingswood are the latest act set to dazzle students as part of the university of melbourne student union’s band and bevs series. fresh off the back of an extensive tour in support of their sophomore album after hours, close to dawn, kingswood will be gracing the stage at north court outside […] this begs the age old question: can men really accurately create a completely expressive space for women through fashion? it was acknowledged numerous times, the irony of celebrating men in women’s fashion, during the week of international women’s day   and we can look back and see some of the world’s best interpreters of women’s dressing have been men: versace, gucci, and more recently, olivier rousteing of balmain. “the most recent one that i heard is, “studies have shown the effects of cocaine on honey bees.” i didn’t even know honey bees have nostrils! number one, who has leftover cocaine? and number two, who has millions of dollars to spend on this study? we’re already having problems with the number of honey bees, should we really be giving them cocaine?” mary griffith, 18, was completely at a loss after being asked to provide a single interesting fact about herself last week. the graduate student association (gsa) has unveiled plans to introduce a professional board of directors in sweeping changes to the governance and management of the organisation. the first day of march a cloudy, windy day, perfect for the occasion, brings the national and thousands of fans to sidney myer music bowl. small screen satirist armando iannucci raises his comedy in incompetence shtick to new heights in a bizarrely english language feature adaptation of a french graphic novel based on the antics of soviet executives after the death of their leader, joseph stalin. filtered through two degrees of creative licence, and stamped with iannucci’s trademark sense of humour, the death of stalin fails to achieve any intelligent satire, but instead provides a generous slop of visual and verbal slapstick andie moore on why the advent of marriage equality risks bringing the queer rights movement to a halt. this year, farrago introduces a new column ‘fodder feature’. each edition, trent vu will conduct an interview with the talent behind a show on melbourne uni’s student run radio station. i attended a shorts session and saw an amazing diversity of films, and no, i’m not taking about race and gender, but rather ideas, genres and mediums. there were comedies, horrors, metaphors and romances. despite knowing nothing about any of the films to be screened, we felt welcomed as though we were part of the crews that created them. each filmmaker spoke modestly about their own work, and gushingly about the work of others. it was clear we were sitting in a room full of women supporting and uplifting one another, and this incentive radiated through all of the films. sea shepherd’s operation jeedara begins with smoke and fire engulfing the screen. the film is book ended by dramatic shots and detailed descriptions of the damage caused by british petroleum’s offshore oil rigs. winchester is a haunted house horror film directed by michael and peter spierig, and is based on the true account of sarah winchester. it was 1578. william shakespeare was 14 years old when he left school. then he disappeared. between 1578 and 1582, there is no documented evidence linking the bard to any job or location. nobody knows what shakespeare did in those four years. until now. my body is nothing but ocean and vivid black sky and i feel whole she is somewhere floating behind me solid and present while i am nothing but liquid stars she reaches for me and i sink into the womb from its focus on the inequality between individuals to the broader inaction and disinterest of the world’s most privileged governments, thank you for the rain is compelling and inspirational, but somehow also left me with an overwhelming sense of despondency. it doesn’t give any answers, but is a timely and stunning film that tells an urgent story. what stays the same, though in all student media is the sense that what you’re reading doesn’t matter at all but is possibly the most important thing in the world. mi goreng the saviour of every university student. i first discovered this versatile dish after a friend gave me 12 packets. while she’s since moved on to bigger, better and presumably healthier things, mi goreng has become a staple in my pantry. the university of melbourne student union (umsu) passed its 2018 budget on 18 december 2017, bringing with it a raft of funding increases to the student representative departments. funded by the student services and amenities fee (ssaf), an annual fee of nearly $300, umsu is an institution intended to provide a range of services to […] major works on the new parkville station are scheduled to commence in february, necessitating the closure of grattan street for up to five years. university of melbourne students travelling to and from campus may face transport disruptions and pedestrian delays as works commence on the $11 billion metro tunnel project. “inevitably, construction will affect us […] the wind will read your palm like a dessert menu. your blood will be determined, though not by letter but by norm. the university will be constructing a new campus for the melbourne school of engineering (mse) at fishermans bend, on seven hectares of land purchased from the victorian government. this is part of a $1 billion commitment to create a world leading engineering school in a key urban renewal precinct near the city. the new campus will […] a study conducted by the student union for instagram welfare (suiw) has sent ripples through the unimelb community after rmit was given a higher rating in terms of instagrammable locations. the university was quick to respond to the damning findings, releasing a social media official to make a press statement. farrago‘s the grub was in […] chink of green glass ‘chin chin’ under mosquito hive canopy, and the sky above is just really big. we have a clear dusk. sip the jesus juice and sit in silence for the sacrament. she likes to be cosy not warm but wrapped up antigonex is an odd beast. probably we should have anticipated this the midsumma festival isn’t generally the place for traditional theatre. but queering a classic greek play, through the lens of modern australian politics, made for something deeply entertaining but also utterly baffling. in a display of solidarity not seen since the 1856 workers strike at the university of melbourne, a group of brushtail possums have unionised after plans emerged for council to destroy trees they have inhabited for generations. the city of melbourne plans, announced in august, will ensure the destruction of numerous iconic trees in university […] the university of melbourne has broken its silence on the cuts to higher education in the government’s mid year economic and fiscal outlook (myefo). the changes, which will see $2.1 billion cut from australian universities and cap enrolment numbers, could affect students’ tuition fees and postgraduate plans. “the university of melbourne is disappointed that the federal […] the university of melbourne student union’s (umsu) students’ council passed a motion to condemn guardian australia for its failure to provide a preferential voting system in their ‘bird of the year’ survey. the survey, launched by guardian australia on monday, allows users to vote for one of 51 native australian birds. currently, the poll is […] who the hell is ely kosanovich? duncan maskell has taken out the top job after a long search for the university of melbourne’s new vice chancellor the lioness in the tiles and i’m crying jess’ logic was that a towering, six foot nigella lawson in my kitchen would shame me into action. a ritual to dispel black invertebrates the university of melbourne is currently resisting the proposal for a new regional medical school in bendigo, to be jointly run by la trobe university and charles sturt university. tensions have flared once again in the ongoing enterprise bargaining process between the national tertiary education union (nteu) and the university of melbourne administration. end rape on campus (eroc) ambassador nina funnell has revealed the details of a rejected freedom of information (foi) request she conducted on the university of melbourne late last year. as many as 50 university college (uc) residents at the university of melbourne are being forced to live in alternative accommodation due to allegedly delayed renovations to the college. the students are currently living in unilodge   which they say is a 20 minute walk from college crescent. they must travel back and forth to […] ninety per cent of graduating arts students “just didn’t think this far ahead, honestly”, new australian bureau of statistics data shows. when i was younger, and a good church attending lass, a phrase i heard a lot was “remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye”. at the time, i thought it literally referred to my pupil, and poked myself way too many times in the eye trying to scoop it out (common sense did not come naturally to me). now, of course, i realise it’s a metaphor for hypocrisy and self awareness. stepping into aunty donna’s office, i feel like neil armstrong diving into a timeless dimension of space. for by elizabeth haigh soup is by far the greatest food that has ever existed. not only is it cheap and easy to prepare, here are four more reasons why you should consume this wonderful creation. health benefits hot soup is the perfect thing to soothe a sore throat. studies have even found that chicken […] and you find yourself defenceless. many people remember the first movie they truly enjoyed as a child, the first movie they really wanted to watch again after the first viewing. for me, this movie was chicken run. you know that feeling when you wake up after a really hectic night? the being   nothing but a sign without meaning there’s a new office bearer in town! we interviewed the new indigenous officer, alexandra hohoi to find out a little bit more about her! with exams looming, students are concerned about whether changes to the bachelor of commerce (bcom) will impact their marks. if you’ve ever illegally downloaded a film, television program or video game, there’s a good chance you’ll have ended up with something from ‘the scene’. intentionally vague and mysterious, the scene is a group of people who make a sport out getting the latest episode of game of thrones online, cracking the new call of duty, or getting the best quality encode of baby driver; kind of like fox hunting but, arguably, more ethical. the only round up you need. for as long as i can remember, i have not screamed. it was all terribly grim and modern. i’m treasure hunting. migrate from this tightening hole. i collected the fragments of stories she shared, the interrupted monologues, the almost silent memories and pieced them together. rising costs associated with many university services remain largely unaddressed even after a review into rising fees. she is preparing to go “full campaign mode”, after sharing julia gillard’s misogyny speech on facebook for the seventh time. singapore, 2012: kannan, my uncle, dies aged fifty one. cause of death: myocardial infarction   heart failure. but the disease that ravaged his lungs and consumed his body goes unmentioned. my uncle’s tuberculosis (tb), contracted on a working trip to india, went undiagnosed for 10 months. australians are more concerned than ever about the threat of terrorism, as we witness attacks that seem, through the lens of our media at least, to be sweeping western cities. there’s something curiously humble about the flask shaped perfume bottle that holds chanel no. 5. surprisingly, it never seems to get drowned out by the noise made by more ostentatious designs (davidoff, anyone?). do you have killer instincts? empathy that can’t be roused, a bloodlust that can’t be quenched? some do   but were they born or bred? let’s take a closer look, shall we? the making of ivan milat it is said that psychopaths begin young. perhaps their family begins to notice ‘off’ behaviour from childhood. this […] content warning: mentions of suicide, substance use, self harm, mental illness, mentions of queerphobia “i did something stupid, again.” fingers writhing, legs jittering, lips burning. my stomach feels like i keep missing a step. there’s guilt sitting at the base of my trachea, blocking my lungs like phlegm. a blonde woman sits opposite me, watching me struggle […] gunther woke up feeling sick. begin again and again. sometimes you have to cradle it “would you like to know more about our city?” i feel like a total walnut! no one else made a fuss about nelly furtado’s latest album when it was released three months ago, but i felt i owed it to her. ed sheeran is a serenading, ginger god who has descended from the heavens to conquer the musical world. ah, tasmania. the butt of jokes from smog loving mainlanders and regularly omitted from the world map, it’s australia’s often forgotten state. former us vice president and ongoing climate campaigner, al gore was the keynote speaker at the biennial ecocity world summit hosted in melbourne last thursday. gore’s speech highlighted three main ideas pertaining to the gravity of climate change world wide; must we change? can we change? will we change? these three questions laid the foundation for […] i have a few bones to pick with winter. granted, i love getting to hide my comfort food weight gain under layers of black clothes. i also love wynter gordon (‘dirty talk’ is a bop), but that’s a whole other thing. pedestrian crossings beat as my heart. “they’re called barn doors,” she tells me. a tin of sardines in suits there are forty pot plants in the giblin eunson library. they are placed on the shelves, and above the study desks. content warning: mentions of blood/gore step 1: assume that this can happen anywhere, anytime. you don’t have to climb the grand canyon in the rain or trek a cambodian jungle for your mother to cut the back of her leg. you can simply go to dinner in downtown ho chi minh city and her achilles tendon can be caught by the escalator. even in your wildest imagination, you’d never thought the first meeting in years would result in severed muscles and artery. but life changing in the blin ‘history is written by the winners,’ wrote george orwell. i would rephrase, rather, that history is written by the privileged   those who have the power to decide the ‘truth’. often, both the ‘winners’ and the ‘losers’ are replaced by carefully cultivated narratives steeped in political agendas and the struggles they fought for are lost in the muddy waters of elitism. why students no longer have an on campus pharmacy. there really is nothing like the look and feel of a good book: you can smell the authenticity of each page, and feel the creases and textures in the paper. this love of books is the reason that clunes booktown festival is now in its 11th year, and still going strong. content warning: references to sexual assault. the university of melbourne student union (umsu) is taking action to work with melbourne university sport (mu sport) to make sure grievance procedures for sexual assault are more visible. the university’s space management facility provides an interactive online map of all trees on parkville, southbank and werribee campuses. yes, all trees! indigenous and torres strait islanders are warned that this article mentions deceased persons. student representatives are no closer to implementing planned drug harm reduction policies as they face strong resistance from the university. what the reforms to the health sector and centrelink system mean. content warnings: terminal illness, sexual assault mentions of rape. i did not tell my mother that i would be meeting x (who i met online) and i don’t intend to. content warning: ableism i first heard about leftypol (a ‘portmanteau’ of left & politics) a couple of years ago from a staunchly anarchist housemate. since then, although i’d known it was there, i’d never bothered to venture forth into that part of the internet. part of this hesitancy stemmed from the fact that it is hosted […] if you’ve ever looked up funny animals on youtube, chances are you’ve come across ‘fainting goats’. seemingly, they’re just normal goats   yet when startled, they topple over with their legs outstretched, like plastic toys that have been knocked over. it’s a cuteness overload and the most popular videos on the subject usually involve entire […] an unpopular president, struggling with corruption allegations and a foreign policy agenda based around the appearance of unpredictability. no, it’s not 2017. it’s 1972. richard nixon is president of the united states. he and his national security advisor, henry kissinger, are about to undertake an initiative that will change the balance of the cold war. […] there’s no denying that the baby born dolls were a childhood gem for us ‘90s kids. maybe you or your sister had one at some point. or you can remember hearing the jingle during cheez tv ad breaks. perhaps you even have memories of seeing a fellow kid at toyworld screaming for their parent to […] my sister has never really liked to read. being dyslexic probably doesn’t help the matter, but it often led to her questioning my love of it. “why are you so obsessed with looking at black things on a page?” she would often ask me. i would casually shrug and nestle my mind further into that […] the clouds and the birds float by. ?? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ??????! for by ashleigh barraclough if euphoria were a beverage, it would undoubtedly be the vodka cruiser. the luscious, fruity notes of everyone’s favourite drink literally taste like that time in year 11 when you got absolutely plastered in some guy’s yard while his parents were sleeping inside. so if you’re feeling fed up with the […] about a year ago i became addicted to podcasts. if you ask anyone who knows me, they’ll tell you my addiction is ‘pretty annoying.’ as march was #trypod month, a national public radio (npr) initiative celebrating podcasts, so there is no better time to start listening. to avoid scrolling through 250,000 obscurely named podcasts, here […] like most exhibitions at the national gallery of victoria, it’s quite easy to say “oh yes i’ll go there soon. it’s on for three months anyway,” only to find that you’ve let time slip by and missed out. either that or you’re still not that bourgeois as to be heading to the gallery on a […] when i meet des bishop, he’s wrapped head to toe in sports gear, “i walked here,” he tells me. i also know that des can speak three languages and has been selling out his comedy festival shows after killer reviews. is there anything this man can’t do? we get talking immediately in the studio, as […] tessa waters is arguably australia’s best physical sketch comedian. her sense of humour is novel, and weaves its way through the imagination   manifesting all kinds of hilarity from basically thin air. we race up four flights of stairs into the radio fodder studio, as tessa keeps me laughing the whole way up through her funny […] young comics, alice tovey and her co star ned dixon present a musical comedy performance on the very current and relevant topic of mansplaining. the hour long performance consists of original songs and compositions ranging from ballads to a beat poem. in these songs, tovey challenges racism, politics, masculinity and sexism in a satirical manner. the butterfly […] shut your juicy mouth was an ensemble comedy experience. held in the intimate space of the loop bar, it featured three comedians with 15 minute sets. the night was engaging and warm. all comics bringing their own strange taste of the world to the stage. phoebe o’brien, anthony mccormack and stephen porter each shared with us […] 50 students from the university of melbourne joined thousands of people at the palm sunday walk for justice for refugees rally yesterday afternoon. “and then, like some sort of dickarus who had flown too close to the sun…” he holds the rubber fist sex toy up in the air, triumphant. the lights black out. thus concludes rhys nicholson’s newest show, ‘i’m fine’   a hilarious performance in which the audience is made privy to the inner workings of […] stuart goldsmith is the stephen hawking of the comedy world. his analysis and obsession with the mechanisms that induce laughter, as well as what lurks behind the curtain of the comedy industry is fascinating. we discuss how stuart found his own comedic voice  having progressed from a street circus performer, into a man who performed […] he’s a skateboarding, vegan, comedian. david quirk is an artist who students have admired for many years. described as having a ‘hyper personal desire towards inner expression’ by a peer in my philosophy class, david quirk is in a different paradigm of comedic thought entirely. his ability to manifest visceral crowd reactions, is extraordinary. we […] her former directorship of the bookshop could put her in hot water. students are set to ambush the annual general meeting of the bookshop today. a national union of students (nus) working group has been established to look into the relationship between the nus and the university of melbourne student union (umsu). on the effectiveness of a national day of student protests. a recent victoria police crackdown on incidences of jaywalking in the outer cbd has prompted action. data indicating the university’s performance in the first nationwide survey on sexual assault on campus may never be released. content warning: mention of sexual assault. it is no secret that we are heading towards an apocalypse that would give even buffy the vampire slayer a run for her money. the 21st century has nine out of the ten warmest recorded years of history. we are well on our way to securing the two degrees celsius increase in our global temperature. […] content warnings: racism, violence, slurs/swearing under overcast sunday skies in cleveland, police cars and protesters intermingle in a messy foray. amongst the chaos, a singular chant rings out in a burning ritualistic reverberation: ‘nigga, we gon’ be alright / we gon’ be alright.’ rarely has a social movement generated as much controversy in america as […] oh no! a character from earlier threatening our happy ending! hundreds of melbourne students have gathered on the steps of the state library of victoria on 22 march to take part in the national student protests against cuts to higher education. last time he was at unimelb a sausage was thrown at him from a bbq adjacent to the stage where he was preforming a stand up gig on north court. cher chidzey’s novel, kens quest, takes the reader on a journey with ken, a chinese immigrant who travels to australia to start a new life. the novel explores the challenges and trials that come with migration through ken’s struggle to obtain permanent residency due to his status as an ‘illegal’ immigrant. the novel explores the ways people from different cultures […] he could feel himself rising, and not in the good way. pies in ponds was the last pie floater stand in south australia. em found it drunk and dreaming. students will be returning to university in 2017 with less academic and career services available following significant staffing restructures. there is an animal with antlers who trots around arts west. she cannot use the marble stairs (due to her hooves), but she can fit into the elevators fine. she loves the arts west elevators because they are very shiny. sometimes she hides in them to watch the arts students arrive. this is why those […] the grattan institute has released a report recommending that all students be charged a universal 15 per cent loan fee when borrowing from the higher education loan program. students interacting with stop one are in need of a ‘human touch’. protesters camp outside carlton connect to make a bold statement against the university’s partnership with arms manufacturer, lockheed martin. for by jasper maccuspie the dinosaurs sucked. i’m sorry, i know it’s not a particularly popular thought, but it’s true. they weren’t the cool, scaly lizards of jurassic park; no, they were covered in feathers, none of them spat acid, and perhaps for the better, none of them could speak in weird dream sequences. apparently […] on a few tiny islands off the coast of new zealand, there lives a fat, flightless, and rare parrot called the kakapo. the kakapo is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous birds to ever exist, with benedict cumberbatch once describing it as “a bird that is as un bird like as it is possible for a […] my first female kiss was an alcohol induced blur, at a backyard party when i was sixteen, on a freedom high from a recent breakup. bottle of cheap, pre mixed alcohol in one hand, i was hit with an astounding moment of clarity: i kind of really liked girls. but the next morning, i was overcome with a […] a thread titled ‘this is why you can’t get laid’ greets those venturing into the ‘incel’ (involuntarily celibate) community. it details the many shortcomings individuals may have that make them unattractive to those they wish to bed   in this case, almost always women. such include “because you’re rude to people”, “you don’t want her […] there’s a lot to be confused about in today’s world. the government’s doing something wrong, the environment’s doing something science y, the economy keeps acting up. despite all the mystification, when we enter a store and are faced by the aisles all uncertainty fades away. no more confusing shades of grey on these shelves, just two […] most of us, at some stage or another, are guilty of being desperate for a pet’s attention. whether that be your best friend’s fluffy feline or a stranger’s pooch you see whilst strolling down the street, there is a strong satisfaction gained from patting a furry friend and having them reciprocating your affection. as a […] when i was in primary school, we had to wear a hat during recess and lunch when the weather was hot. those who did not have one were forced to sit under the shade outside the art room. it was a depressing spot, nothing but a rectangular slab of concrete under a veranda. i would […] as i got older and left high school, social class began to emerge in my life like a great beast shoving its way through a calm, fairy tale forest. the more i read and the more i engaged with a larger and more diverse group of people, the more apparent this great invisible force controlled by […] in 1750, jean jacques rousseau attempted to diagnose the sickness at the heart of his contemporary french artistic life. to the maverick philosopher, france’s art world “stifled in men’s breasts that sense of original liberty for which they seem to have been born”. the artists of his day, obsessed by status and reputation, had […] an indigenous student was prevented from speaking during discussion on aboriginal and torres strait islander (atsi) policy at national conference (natcon) this week. a motion to increase the university of melbourne’s student union’s (umsu’s) funding to the national union of students (nus) has failed during today’s glacially paced, three hour long students’ council meeting. the posters contained racial slurs as well as the image of a swastika. a slogan at the bottom of the posters read, ‘keep australia white!’ along with other explicit, anti diversity sentiments. i bottled it up for a long time but finally decided i wanted to share my experience when more and more friends were sharing similar experiences with me. hello future farragoblins, it’s time to get rocking and rolling with your applications to us, your 2k17 editors. it’s going to be an absolute firework of a year, with media going off in all directions, sparking and surprising all and sundry. but maybe you’re feeling a bit lost. that’s totally okay, because we’ve got you […] farrago caught up with actress erin clare, who’s currently performing one as the rebel bohemian scaramouche in the melbourne season of the rock musical we will rock you. translucent skin and pointed pink nipples reflected back at her, neon lights flashing ‘i’m not right!’ who loves words as much as christian tsoutsouvas does? this is a liveblog for the umsu students’ council meeting 16/10/2016. topics for discussion include changes to umsu policy and regulations and matters surrounding accountability. amie green on the national racing icon’s peculiar birthday celebration. monday it never quite makes sense. the act of turning up at a desk five days a week, followed by the arrival of money in my bank account seems strangely disconnected. as with birth and death   how wonderful it is to never truly understand the link between the two. i enter the building early. […] i’m always thinking about the end. paloma herrera reports on universities trying to improve safety on campus. this edition’s flash fiction features the prompt: “cliché destroyer: kill a cliché. kill it with fire”. i read somewhere that moths use moonbeams to guide them back to their nests at night. a short story by sarah peters on the similarities between a person and a sweat shirt. the jigsaw puzzle of a city shunned me and yet beckoned me. this edition’s for & against is on goodbyes. chelsea cucinotta on a modernised scottish play. there was once a young man, who knew on the same day both joy and sorrow. they came down in waves upon him, and stripped him of warmth, smothering layer upon layer in a python constricting womb, till his lungs were forced out of all air, and his screams became nothing more than silent bubbles, empty […] part two of diversity in feminism this year marks the 20th anniversary for every single thing that occurred in 1996; the zodiac rats and pigs that were born and the art that was made. three days into september, having just left one of morten’s coldest recorded winters into a spring that brought what we figured was the warmth of things looking up, my mate rob carked it halfway between the pier and the local. when i first decided to move to inner north melbourne, i knew i was setting myself up for a life of brunches, bicycles and burgers. anu will be the first australian university to assess students’ applications with criteria other than solely atar results. every year for a few weeks in the middle of semester two, the campus becomes a battleground. jack francis musgrave on the glory of the paralympics. gabriel filippa writes about relationships, video games and growing up in a digital world major bling! problem solving, with poetic rhyming soon, computer science will take over the world. but why? 8 short stories by cara chiang. stephanie choo wraps her head around concussions. monique o’rafferty is proud of her passion. brace yourselves, the umsu winter festival was here. peter tzimos argues that freedom of speech encourages the promotion of ideas, the importance of staff and students’ mental wellbeing should ensure these ideas are both safely explored and readily available. a look into mu sport’s (it exists!) funding model. claire miller claims that unimelb was robbed of the gold. a man leans out to spit thick raindrops stick and slide down glass. a man’s legs are spread too close to your puckered goose skin. a fat raindrop plops behind your lapel, a slippery finger beading on your nape wetting paper skin, it is cold. a man has a too big bag stuffed with […] a poem by rose on birds in the trees. the lady with the mechanical cog tattooed on her back sits with her left leg decisively crossed over her right. i hope she enjoys the sunshine today. like in teen movies when the nerd girl takes off her glasses, i ripped my pants and was ready to disappoint my parents. eleanor mccooey in support of the worth of arts degrees. leo brutalising innocent fauna may not just be emblematic of my emotional state but of the future of the film and television industries chih yu chou on wtf mooc stands for chelsea cucinotta decides whether or not the new arts west justified tearing down a one year old building. a succinct and beautiful poem by darby hudson. lucas grainger explains how he escaped the body building cult. scarlette do on why she’s always rushing to the loo. it is an unspoken truth that the university relies on animal subjects to advance research in a range of disciplines. listen to linus read “census material”. the sweet smell of burnt rubber and stale coffee fades while body odour breaks over my face. it comes with a puff of red smog, similar to the sun’s naked orange floodlight. i force my shovel into a wedge between the body and the tram, and she unsticks. mid 40s, […] “do you think he likes you because you’re asian?” winter is here. why is it called the ‘queer’ department? every fight my significant other and i have is because i refuse to share food. the game allowed you to hurt and degrade the players you knew you could never become. the confusaphone   if it still exists   is not a weapon. thelma and louise cuts deeper as a feminist film by acknowledging that the system, and the odds, are stacked against us. youtube red is a change from the free video sharing and streaming site into a paid subscription monster jesse paris jourdan explores the nation’s first steps into the final frontier. getting distracted in john medley boy george was just as fabulous as ever. ‘fried’ is basically just a show about a shitty kid who is pissed at having been friend zoned by his sexy co worker. proofreading essays while eating tofu curry. a better approach to global health? i’m stuck in a vortex of got binges and can’t bring myself to study for what will be my first ever uni exam period clear blue thoughts swim in familiar eyes, some mornings they say ‘i don’t know you anymore’, looking more closely in the mirror, they say ‘get out of my face!’ this weekend the conversation will reach a new intensity with snowden’s first ever australian (virtual) interview. it’s important that people have ready access to an alternative attitude in broadcasting, away from the pulp of commercial media. bella barker explains 5 tricks to get that h1 on your next exam. mary explains why wom*n’s should be women’s. pineapple on pizza? my mother wrote poems on a green toilet door all the secrets buried in the halls of her chest stories hidden in walls and drawers and floors in a place no one looked, her words would pour black ink on green paint, a place to confess my mother wrote poems on a green toilet door […] read the newest ob reports! martin ditmann, for one, welcomes our new corporate overlord. on human superiority in the jungle book. when i photograph my cat, secretly i consider if the button eyed, belly up portrait is a perfect lost/reward poster, just thinking ahead… now too, each photo of a loved one poses the question   is this a missing person portrait? an obituary photo? “face more forward please,” you never know… a selfie   this is the […] funding for science is set to remain steady in the near future. mtc’s miss julie is frustratingly predictable, flittering between a sort of lydia bennett and a tedious ophelia. weeks 1 12 and the only topic studied: the beach. muggles playing quidditch. passion or appropriation? often as i lay awake, i will raise my left hand above my face and stare. to lose a hand is a hell that is so difficult to simulate. a hand is, foremost, the port of call upon action. a hand is potential. maybe this is why i stare at the remaining one every night, […] what remains of kenneth wilkinson’s diary was recovered from the charred remains of his croydon apartment. on why dungeons and dragons is so spellbinding. ella shi on why economic migrants should still be considered refugees. amie green talks about her goldfish tank in this creative piece. when people tell me that australia lacks an inherent culture   something defining   i tell them to look at car culture. what a peculiar thing to ask. “hotties of melbourne university” goes cold. “bullshit! come off it! our education is not for profit!” if you took a tram through the city yesterday afternoon, you might have heard these fighting words, as around 200 people marched down swanston street and up elizabeth street to protest the government’s proposed changes to the higher education funding system. the national day of action, organised by […] a 350.org campaign entitled “flood the campus” has given the university of melbourne   and six other major australian universities   a deadline of 15 april to commit to cease investing in the fossil fuel industry. the campaign, which is working in conjunction with fossil free groups at these seven universities, pledges to take “bold action” if […] the audience begins a descent into the mind of a comic genius. or a total lunatic. sometimes it’s hard to tell. after twenty years, tripod has lost absolutely zero momentum. dave himself, seems to be surprised he’s on stage and performs as thought this is a dream. split roughly between jacob and luke performing individually, go get mum was consistently funny and thoroughly enjoyable. you might get the chance to lick his chest as the lucky guy sitting in front of me found out. pacquola takes the audience through an assortment stories, mainly about her life as a 33 year old, semi alcoholic cheese eater. he really is a modern day silent movie star in the way he can make you laugh without saying a word. the doug anthony all stars are veterans in their field, drawing some of the comedy festival’s biggest crowds. okine’s comedy is humble and self critical. it’s a refreshing break from the arrogant observational ramblings of some. as a huge fan of the skull donning vigilante, i was very excited about the inclusion of the punisher in this season and can comfortably say my expectations were surpassed. anderson has the audience in illimitable laughter and applause. he’s the type of guy who works to the beat of his own drum and that’s what makes him so special. will reinehr, in the title role of wanka, stood out with a huge stage presence. they aren’t the future of australian comedy. they’re the now. so get around them. essentially my comedy is “penises and how they relate to me”. another festival passed, another year dustier. thank you aunty meredith for a supernatural weekend away. i thought i would ruin the fun of four popular songs to really make you think about what your favourite songs are teaching their audiences. evie gives rio a plant to take back to her planet. will it survive? the line between appropriation and appreciation lies in understanding and acknowledging privilege. a poem written by rose kennedy on fig trees. project ares is a myth, yet the story’s reputation persists despite a lack of clarity and accuracy. it is time to put paid to the paranoia   the experiment never happened. only a brave few heretics would dare question the essence of monogamous love. it seems to me as though everyone and their dog is having an existential crisis these days. belinda lack talks sustainability with the university. duncan caillard talks about the media’s history of violence. ben meurs looks at the artist as freedom fighter. farrago breaks down the proposed flexible academic programming model. “you know, it surprises me every time i sit down to write that there’s some kind of conversation about faith that’s going on in reusing the subjects of aliens and comic books or whatever”. exploring a place of beauty and darkness. this black romantic comedy is anything but black and white in its characterisation rather than just being on the defensive, he says, students are now able to push for improvements to higher education funding. much of how to set a fire and why has to do with lucia’s initiation into a group of arsonists. the future of books is a strange and scary place that most arts students prefer not to think about. the 8am love affair of patrick hoang. does your atar mean less than our universities tell us? justin bieber, he is inescapable, omnipotent to the point that i am constantly trying to find ways to dodge the vaguely symbolic and illuminati­ inspired album cover donnie darko, and the appeal of genre transcendence (and teen angst). the 2016 umsu students’ council has met for the first time, discussing issues including the allocation of student funds and cuts to student department budgets. there’s a piffling argument about when to celebrate the birthday of the world wide web. the worst part about being a stormtrooper is needing to pee. going toe ­to­ toe with luke­fucking­skywalker would probably be easier. i would weave my fingers through the dirty forest of hair on the creature’s heavy head and i would apologise, over and over again. imagine the world 135 million years ago. imagine a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the planet did not look anything like it does today. funding barriers at the university of melbourne are preventing refugees and asylum seekers from pursuing an education. a recent report by the refugee council of australia has found asylum seekers and refugees are blocked out of the education system due to funding restrictions. it paints a damning picture of tertiary institutions’ funding allocations. this is particularly […] words are important. they can even be lifesaving. so please, stop trying to take them away. intermittent tales from a ‘check out chick” my boss once told me to turn the music off at work when beach house’s depression cherry was playing because it reminded him too much of a funeral. the governing body of the university of melbourne will see a shift in structure following legislative changes introduced by the andrews government. the amendment to the education and training reform act 2006 will see elected student representatives once again granted voting rights on university councils. the university council is responsible for the appointment of the vice chancellor and […] you were a shadow held aloft, / in a world less vast / but for all these shrinking hearts. “i have to move out of home and find a share house   what are your tips for finding a flatmate?” tchaikovsky’s romantic tales will soothe you like the waters of a hot spring. the grates will throw you head first into the icy waves of the ocean. it very much feels as if nature is king in the grampians, and the structures built in its shadow seem slapdash. coffee is largely a social affair; as such, it’s important to find (non alcoholic) alternatives for those who aren’t impressed with espresso. recent housing reports and concerns for the wage gap raise serious questions for the future of young australians. it’s no secret that housing is an expensive enterprise, but this basic necessity is becoming a near impossible end for millions in the work force. if australia continues to allow the wage gap to increase, and the […] “look, it’s just a really blokey environment. some people just can’t hack it.” i was in a meeting with my manager (a woman) and the store manager, after making a complaint about a 23 year old new male work colleague. i don’t know about you, but i’m not sure if safe workplace environments accommodate someone who: […] it can be heaps of fun being a cyclist, but at times it’s less than great. sometimes this is really nobody’s fault, like when it’s raining (thanks, god!) or when your destination is at the top of a steep hill. but sometimes your bad experience is due to the reckless or downright dickhead ish behaviour of […] if you can cast your mind back to what must be a while ago now, you might recall the eruption of something between a minor furore and a full blown national panic when woolworths ran a campaign, which some have noted may have been misguided, to commemorate the centenary of anzac day and make a little […] it was a cold and drizzly melbourne evening, the sort that seems to sag under the weight of its own dampness. i stood watching the glum faces of overworked melbournians as they trudged home from jobs they hated, to families they’d lost any enthusiasm towards. this spot, one tram stop past the free tram zone, […] the ‘fearsome’ spiny leaf insect when phd student yasaman alavi first saw a spiny leaf insect, it was not exactly love at first sight. “to be honest, i was a bit sceptical of working with them,” she says. “i had never seen insects that big.” spiny leaf insects (extatosoma tiaratum) are large and a little […] trigger warning: graphic depictions of sexual assault “welcome to melbourne, where the local time is 11:40pm. please remain in your seat with your seatbelt fastened until we have come to a complete stop. we hope that you have an enjoyable trip here in melbourne and if you’re fortunate enough to live in this beautiful city, […] as the glitter finally begins to wash out of our hair and the rainbow flags around the country are taken down, we are reminded that mardi gras has come and gone for yet another year. the annual event, which includes an arts festival, fair day, themed parties and of course the big parade, celebrated its […] there’s something about that word  ‘cyclist’. it’s almost as if it’s a way of life, an identity, rather than a means of getting around, a sport or a way to unwind on the weekend. to some extent it is, or can be. but maybe it’s just the way things are here. in many european cities, […] on a quiet suburban street dotted by too few trees, a pair of postmen ride along on electric bikes. the street is wide enough to allow two cars to pass with ease, so in riding side by side these two aren’t risking any trouble from the traffic. “i’ve got mostly letters today, but some interesting […] a while back, you aired a program presenting all the ways international students are ostensibly lowering the standards of australian universities. the first horror film ever made, if you use the term ‘horror film’ loosely and decide to not give a fuck about context, authorial intention or even common sense, was about a train. specifically, it’s about a train arriving at a station in 1896; it’s not some metlink slasher flick, but in fact a silent […] like most of my relationships, the dynamic between bendigo and i can best be described as odd, vacillating and a little bit scandalous. in the period spanning late ’08 to early ‘10, i harboured an acerbic hatred for the place that likes to brand itself a ‘city’ when it can in fact be more accurately […] while saga is a serious story, it never seems to take itself seriously, and its characters are never overburdened with the humourless gravitas that fills the pages of so many high fantasy books. “then, in a higgledy piggledy fashion, with interruptings, rememberings, dead accurate sound effects, impersonations and slight exaggeration we told our extraordinary story to the disbelieving parents.” i first read 45 + 47 stella street and everything that happened when i was eleven and it is still to this day one of the most distinctive portrayals of […] felix is an independent theatre maker and performer from hong kong. now an australian citizen, felix is perfecting her craft by undertaking the masters of directing for performance program at the victorian college of the arts. she has been director, assistant director, and a performer for the arts centre melbourne, melbourne fringe, melbourne theatre company (mtc) […] my first encounter with the cocktail known as the zombie, or the skull puncher as it’s sometimes called, was at an empty tiki bar on a tuesday night. a friend and i were trying to find a place to get a quiet beer and instead had stumbled upon an opportunity to get roaring drunk, en route […] i never saw the waterfall that the path through the trees at the end of the street where i grew up led to. from the day i was born, i knew nature was worthless. i did not enjoy poetry, either. it seemed to me that my twin deficiencies   the inability to derive pleasure from […] i’d concealed the brogue prior to it. let me speak for a few minutes; i won’t be long and i need to tell this. every bloke in my bar as a rule tries   demonstratively   to act tough, though of course they never have to go through with anything. there is equilibrium to my […] petra kalive may be new, but she already has an eye on the future. coming into the role of artistic director of union house theatre at the beginning of a particularly turbulent time for the student union theatre, kalive has a lot on her plate. the relocation of union house is on everyone’s minds, and […] the umsu theatre department’s approach to programming theatre is great. union house theatre works tirelessly to realise works entirely initiated by students. it is one of the only organisations in student theatre nationwide to do this. we are really, really lucky. but this semester, one of the biggest pitfalls of this system has become evident. […] many international students who study in postgraduate courses are struggling with their studies in the first month of semester, asserting it is largely a result of unexpected language difficulties. several of these students come from asian countries. students such as hannah huang, who studies engineering, feel anxious about final academic results. “although there are still […] how do you prepare to study? do you collate notes? order a coffee? temporarily deactivate facebook? get your highlighters in order? or do you pop a pill to get you focused? fun things to do for free in melbourne! just like life’s too short to read a bad book, it’s even shorter to eat a bad parma. in 2015, the george paton gallery is brimming with exhibitions and events showcasing a wide variety of talented students across facilities and campuses. this semester the gallery is pulling back on its inter departmental exhibitions program to focus on student exhibitions. vca proud prize winner spencer lai will be exhibiting after easter with his piece youth, […] education unions are urging education minister christopher pyne to reconsider further pursuing university fee deregulation, with some calling him to “get off his ideological high horse”. on march 17, the senate rejected proposed higher education changes, including the deregulation of university fees, for the second time in three months. however, mr pyne has vowed on multiple […] the university of melbourne removed two designated smoking areas in its parkville campus, showing a tougher move to be a tobacco free university. professor richard james, the pro vice chancellor of equity and student engagement, said the removal of the two designated smoking areas was a deliberate effort to restrict smoking on campus. “we’ll gradually remove more […] on the life and legacy of alan turing. jaccob mckay is a multidisciplinary artist who works in sculpture, installation, photography and sound art. he is currently completing his bachelor of fine arts in contemporary music at the victorian college of the arts. his work deals primarily in themes around nature with a particular view to abstracting the beauty he finds occurring naturally in […] i’m tired. tired of explaining to friends that their desire to take a nap is not equivalent to debilitating fatigue. tired of endless blood tests and waiting lists. tired of jaded university doctors dismissing multiple referrals. tired of being told that my symptoms are all in my head. exhausted. shattered. spent. yet, the most frustrating […] evening lookout sun’s replication of me gone but to return * * * bouncing from one flower to another hungry bee * * * cricket chirps dominate summer’s orchestra eyes wide night * * * afternoon light a stream of golden flakes by the cemetery knowing that my academic record leaves something to be desired, i submitted my internship application for aurora’s internship program minutes before the deadline. i had no more optimism than captured in that motto: you’ve gotta be in it to win it. but i’m proud to say i’m one of the 37 successful interns from 102 […] it’s the start of semester, which means the beginning of the student theatre season, and the beginning of rehearsals! there are an exciting few months ahead for union house theatre, with double digit shows playing, and mudfest, australia’s largest student arts festival in planning for august. if you’re feeling keen to get involved in (pretty […] in a move that will delight doctor who fans, the restoration of a rare electronic music studios (ems) 100 modular analogue synthesiser has just been completed at the melbourne conservatorium of music (mcm). it’s an exact replica of the synthesiser used to create sound effects for the original bbc series! the synthi 100 was shipped […] trigger warning: discussions of transphobia and queerphobia despite the chill, the annual pride march in st kilda this february drew a large and vibrant crowd. it was heart warming to see the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (lgbtqi) community marching together with its allies without fear of harassment or judgment. there was an overwhelming […] by the time farrago goes to print, the federal government will have put its proposed higher education bill to the senate (again). there’s a student national day of action on 25th march set to protest the federal government’s philosophy on higher education. we got ryan cushen to take a look just before the storm hit. […] the university of melbourne has signed a memorandum of understanding with the melbourne football club (mfc) that affirms the institutions’ intention to collaborate on research and community engagement projects. university vice chancellor glyn davis and mfc ceo peter jackson formalised the partnership in late january, noting a shared investment in the future of the city of […] the university of melbourne is set to spend a total of $28 million into two planned off campus developments, beginning this year. the first will be a $26 million contemporary art gallery at the victorian college of the arts (vca), funded by property developer michael buxton to house his personal collection. the second will be a […] my dirty sheets seemed to be the main thing that bothered maria. i remember her telling me that she didn’t like coming here because i never changed the sheets. “everything smells like sweat, weed and pizza,” she said. “don’t you ever clean?” she swiped a finger across the body of my telecaster, and inspected the […] do you remember when you were a child and climate change was still referred to as ‘global warming’? the term climate change became more widely used while ‘global warming’ was adopted by climate change deniers in order to argue their scientifically inaccurate points. they couldn’t wrap their heads around a concept called global ‘warming’ that […] the hottest 100, triple j’s annual australia day countdown of the most popular songs from the previous year, has passed once more. and, once again, it has provoked heated discussion on the relevance and ‘mainstream ness’ of triple j. this year’s countdown has arguably been more controversial than usual, due to the ‘grassroots’ campaign to push […] the stage is set for a crucial year in union house theatre. twenty fifteen may be one of the most turbulent years in recent memory for the university of melbourne’s extracurricular theatre program. the institution faces the new year with petra kalive replacing tom gutteridge as artistic director, new arts officers bonnie leigh dodds and isabella […] it’s only a matter of time before one of my sweethearts gifts me a label maker. it will be a joke, but also not. i really love labels. the sense of security they give, that concrete feeling that you know a thing. the blunt definition thrills me like a seamless translation of a complex text […] at the end of 2013, the university of melbourne decided to implement a business improvement plan (bip), in order to strengthen their position amongst international universities. the plan was to reduce 540 fixed term contract and casual staff by 1 january 2016, without affecting the academic quality of the university. the intent was to save […] the clubs and societies (c&s) committee has proposed several significant changes to clubs this year, including the launch of a clubs collective on tuesday 17 march and the launch of clubs online in semester two. “the clubs collective is an informal meeting where students can meet with [c&s] to discuss issues in clubs, and for […] last year, rutgers university in the us inaugurated a new course of study called ‘politicising beyoncé’. the internet experienced a minor haemorrhage as a result. the announcement presaged a surfeit of online articles exposing other similarly left of field studies offered by american colleges   from princeton’s ‘getting dressed’ seminar (in which you chart the major trials […] the designated smoking areas on campus are a familiar sight to smokers and non smokers alike, introduced last year as part of the university’s transition to being smoke free. while it’s easy to see them as utilitarian, uniform alcoves for sneaking a durry on the way to a lecture, there’s more to these smoky little spots […] podcasts. they’ve always seemed to occupy a beguiling space in the vast, vast realm of downloadable content. are they for the scores of old people who, otherwise preoccupied with getting a hip replacement, missed their favourite radio national show? are they a safe middle ground for the opinionated amongst us who are too restless to […] as an alternative to working or boozing their breaks away, school leavers and university students are increasingly choosing to volunteer their time in developing countries to assist community development. labeled as ‘volunteer tourism’ (voluntourism for short), commercial operators offer young people placements in countries such as ethiopia, cambodia and argentina, in an industry worth an […] once upon a time, the world’s best tennis players were more often than not inclined to skip the australian open. rather than brave the eight week boat trip required to overcome our geographic isolation, it seemed like a better idea to stay put and focus on preparing for the more substantive tournaments in europe and […] trigger warning: illicit drugs. if you ever find yourself travelling down the western highway, north west of melbourne, you’ll eventually pass through horsham, a sleepy wheat and sheep grazing town situated on the banks of the wimmera river. only now fully recovering from years of relentless drought in the nineties, horsham and other rural victorian centres are […] no one ever tells you about the weird stuff before you start working with kids. no one tells you about the multiple bodily fluids (not yours) that will be shared either consciously (the dogs) or unconsciously (the kids). no one tells you about the bruises with no discernable origin that will surface on your skin […] queen bey. yay or nay? you decide. laura foo and harvey duckett battle it off. ellen cregan shares her poetry piece on rhubarb. dexter gillman discusses melbourne’s love affair for the afl. ava k discusses the complex issue of trigger warnings. she has collected a few of the arguments against trigger warnings and explains why they are absolute tripe. did you know that there are some plants that can treat a range of symptoms from your self induced hangover to your university induced headache. rachael o’reilly elaborates on some of these over achieving plants. agony agatha is back…but this time, she responds to a regular column writer from farrago! jack kilbride is back with another music review. this time on drunk mums and woodlock. candy zoccoli gives us her verdict on which films are must sees. melanie basta reviews the popular text; the curious incident of the dog in the night time. charlie lempriere reviews the music group taipan tiger girls. in many places around the world, australia included, the majority of people on bikes are male. is this a problem? alexander sheko believes so. meg sheehan shares her thoughts on caitlyn jenner’s docu series. what do you do when a singer, actor, or sports person that you like   let’s say fave from here on in   says or does something ‘problematic’? jennifer balcomb shares her thoughts on whether to back down or defend your love. rainforests have substantial control over earth’s climate, giving us 60% of all fresh water and 20% of the oxygen we breathe every day. yet nearly one fifth of the largest rainforest; the amazon, has been deforested. the amazon is often described as the lungs of earth. and, like a chain smoker, we are slowly destroying it. ruth de jager discusses the cognitive benefits of video games. why does agatha love reading about murder? find out why… jack reviews fleetwood mac and the darkness. gareth cox martin provides insight into the fast food nugget war. who will win? eliza lennon talks to angie mcmahon about her music journey. australia in the wine world, is the infamous breadth that everyone during their time at melbourne uni thinks about doing. with so many misconceptions about the subject, it’s time to clarify these myths. corey mccabe discusses the liberal party’s spill and their new leader malcolm turnbull. declan mulcahy talks to farrago about his positive experience directing a show at the arts festival; mudfest. university of melbourne or university of smellbourne? for words by jenny van veldhuisen ah, melbourne uni, the innumerable things i could write about you. the usual clichés are to be expected in my argument: your consistently high world university rankings; your prestige and history that saturates the beautiful old timey buildings; your notable alumni; and your […] this year’s umsu student elections included a ban on mentions of the holocaust, as well as another ban on grounds of assault. there also accusations on the grounds of holocaust denial between members of fresh and left action. returning officer for the election jaimie adam prohibited anyone from mentioning it for the remainder of the […] opposition leader bill shorten and the shadow minister for education kim carr today visited the university of melbourne to speak briefly to a small crowd of students and press at north court. they continued their fight against tony abbott’s unpopular budget with a rousing speech clearly aimed to incite the student body to fight against […] the university of melbourne union was set up in 1884, recognising a need to promote the interests of students on campus and to promote social activities between members. the fact that we are still standing almost 130 years later (albeit having undergone several reincarnations) perhaps indicates that they were onto something in the 1880s. student […] when david told me about this dream i didn’t know him, and i can’t really say that i know him now. he was a friend of my then girlfriend lucy, who took me and a few carloads of others camping in central australia last november, when a bad year was finally reaching its end. one afternoon, […] our apartment was always littered with glasses and mugs. they never confined themselves to a single room, they followed our scattered paths all excitement and groans as we got ready each night. evidence of how we led our lives, and the liquids that fuelled them. we pulled at our wardrobes until clothes fell onto our bodies. we’d […] gossling isn’t a name that would be foreign to anyone with half a thought for the australian independent music scene. with a trio of eps to her name, plentiful festival appearances, and a debut record about to be released, helen croome has got it all going her way. farrago: let’s talk about the record for […] in a decade or two’s time, when my son asks me how i became a c grade comedian, part time tutor, and freelance writer, i will proudly tell him i attended the university of melbourne. i’ll get so excited by his question that i’ll arrange a sunday afternoon father son trip to parkville. we’ll gaze up at the […] i had never seen so many machines in the one place at one time. they were all connected to me. a sea of coloured scrubs surrounded me and everybody was smiling. they said i had been in a car accident and it was thursday. my family were outside. you want to know the first thing […] if you’ve ever taken a gander inside a sharehouse refrigerator then you too have felt the nausea, lightheadedness and fear that grips you like a vice and shakes you to your core. your nostrils burn, your eyes water, your gag reflex activates. you think, ‘it smells like something died in here’. and you’re right something did […] american figure skater johnny weir is worried about competing at the sochi winter olympics. “just walking down the street, going to get starbucks in the morning […] somebody could arrest me jsut because i look too gay,” he told cbs news. does it seem too absurd to contemplate? alarmingly, this snippet of russian legislation means […] maps are cool. ok, maybe only in a nerdish kind of way way but that’s cool enough, right?. today, anyone can create their own own, thanks to the fact that a lot of research data is now posted online. the rise of huge (and slightly creepy) data gathering satellites along with the increased interactive abilities of the internet have […] the future of the student services and amenities fee is now up for discussion as tony abbott’s prime ministership kicks into gear. while ‘pm abbott’ might take a while to roll off the tongue, his consistent opposition to the ssaf and models of compulsory student unionism have many asking exactly how much longer the fee […] homo sapiens: they wash your car, repair your ipods and designed your myki. heck, if you’re reading this, i’m supposing that you’re not a rare, literate goanna you’re probably a homo sapiens too! is it not a remarkable thing to be a member of a truly puzzling and, in many ways, unique species within earth’s biosphere? […] brian king of japandroids is hunched over the mic. his entire body heaves. “when they love you and they will/ (and they will!)/ i’ll tell ‘em all they’ll love in my shadow/ and if they try to slow you down/ (slow you down)/ tell them all to go to hell.” lying atop outstretched hands are […] in april, the federal government announced plans to cut $2.8 billion from tertiary funding in order to help pay for the gonski school reforms. in an interview with farrago, the university of melbourne’s vice chancellor professor glyn davis was asked whether the link between university and school funding is more logical or political. “i think it’s […] university staff could strike or protest on campus this year after voting for industrial action on working conditions. the national tertiary education union (nteu) and the university have been negotiating a new collective agreement, which would cover staff from professors and tutors to security guards. nteu campaigner and archivist at the baillieu library katie wood […] students from universities around melbourne gathered at the state library on may 14 to protest against the federal government’s proposed $2.3 billion cuts to tertiary education funding. the protests call for a cancellation of the cuts proposed to facilitate the gonski reforms earlier this year. they also demand free education and a different allocation of […] the university of melbourne will begin releasing the results of the subject experience surveys (ses) to students this semester. while the survey questions have not changed, this decision demonstrates a step by the university towards more interactive student feedback on the standard of education they are receiving. the ses results are to be released via […] this is an election year. a desperate time for everyone in this vast and empty country, but especially for those men and women in cheap polyester suits and $10 haircuts whom we call politicians. soon, the more reflective among the nation will plunge into a miasma of despair, out of which, there is no clear […] michelle see tho reports on the two steps forward, one step back education policy that’s costing us millions. funding for universities will take a massive blow this year, despite demand from multiple bodies for increased funds. the federal government announced that it would cut more than $2 billion worth of funding for the higher education sector […] i fell for a friend at the falls. the time knew, did not intend didn’t mean a thing at all. a matter of blood physical. below the stream disorient and fell on rocks at the falls. in water resounding stories saw her ‘selfish lover’ in the air doubt it didn’t mean a thing at all. grazed […] you must take the urine stained stretch of sidewalk leading to the nearest station. you count the time you have to hold your breath by the cracks in the pavement, but get distracted by the sight of something dead and undignified by the fence something with fur and feathers mashed into a slab of brain and guts. […] in sum a group of pilgrims, of backgrounds high and low, hold a story telling competition. the trip to canterbury is passed in sledging, blaspheming, and storifying: pilgrimy piety is largely (mercifully) absent. why the world thinks you should read it the first modern ( ish) english work to canvass the great and glorious grottiness of man, […] last month, the age released their annual the age good food under $30 (formerly known as the cheap eats guide). to be included in this so called tight arse guide for foodies, one must be able to get a decent meal for under $30 (not including drinks). for most university students, $30 is nowhere near cheap. therefore, for the true cheapskates, […] a famous guy once noted that there are more micro organisms living on or in the human body than there are cells. this fact might make your skin crawl. actually, the skin crawling could just be the mites living in your pores… the fact is most microbes that inhabit your body won’t cause you any harm […] when michael crichton wrote jurassic park way back in 1990, the idea that extinct animals could be brought back through cloning technology wasn’t pure fantasy, though it was certainly at the fringes of what was conceivable at the time. but time passes, and science marches ever on. on march 15th, the national geographic society and […] it’s almost midnight and i’m in hosier lane. my slick new friend jones asks me to ‘spot’ him. he is wearing brand new nikes and has a pair of oakley sunglasses balanced on his head. from nowhere he produces an enormous silver roller marker, does a lay up off some broken milk crates, and in one movement […] the national union of students (nus) held snap rallies on 17 april to protest $2.3 billion worth of cuts made by the gillard government to fund the gonski education reforms for primary and secondary schools. the cuts include wipeouts of payment discounts for upfront hecs help repayments, conversion of student start up scholarships to hecs style loans […] a re structure of the university of melbourne student union (umsu) and the melbourne university student union ltd (musul) passed by students’ council on 17 december 2012 will see the introduction of four advisory groups (ags) to umsu operations. the changes mean that control of student services previously the responsibility of musul, including union house theatre […] the passing of a motion by students’ council that “celebrates [margaret thatcher’s] death unreservedly” was disrespectful to margaret thatcher, her family, and her friends in their time of grieving. one should deal with political differences by attacking the ideas, not the person. at the very least, thatcher’s critics should be respectful enough to let her […] the past week has seen a vitriolic attack, led by the campus liberal club, against the student union and its right to free speech. i’m a left action councillor involved in moving the anti thatcher motion that sparked this attack, and would like to make two brief points. firstly, the anti thatcher motion is consistent with the […] recently umsu engaged in a low, vile and repugnant act. it celebrated the death of an eighty seven year old woman. in doing this umsu forgot the foundation of morality; the basic undeniable dignity inherent in every person. a self worth that belongs to a person no matter what they do, who thy are or their political […] student activism has been awakened at parkville after a period of slumber, over a controversial motion passed at students’ council that ‘celebrated unreservedly’ the death of margaret thatcher. left action students’ councillor patrick alves brought the motion. it included the condemnation of thatcher’s support for right wing dictators like pinochet and suharto, her violent crushing of […] even the most casual reader will tell you, the publishing landscape has changed. the last decade has shaken the industry with an increase in technologisation and a further decrease in people actually willing to pick up a book. marketing techniques as dispiriting as ‘buy one book, get one free e book’ have followed in an effort […] sometimes a military man can sneak his way up through the ranks without anyone realising that he is actually a dangerously incompetent chump. some such men will scrape through without getting thousands of their own men killed. baratieri, however, was not one of them. how does a man go from italy’s most celebrated commander to […] i’m over the gay bar. i think it started when i came back from california. while studying abroad, i took a class on the history of the gay bar. however, i also spent this time exhausting the west hollywood club scene. by the time i came back to melbourne, it was understandably time for a […] i caught up with a fellow student the other day for coffee. i asked her how her part time job was going. nonchalant, she replied that she was unemployed, and that it was nice to have more time on her hands since leaving her job as a waitress in a small, but well known restaurant. when […] the geriatric dude’s overtaking me. again. i take a look behind because i’m sure someone’s laughing at me. it’s raining and i’m jogging around princes park. i wanna throw up in my coach’s face. rest assured, this is all part of my genius plan to kick social anxiety’s ass by putting myself in situations that interest […] the student exchange program is an opportunity for hundreds of students to visit the university of melbourne for one semester. the aim is for foreign students to experience cultural life in melbourne while contributing to their academic education, but in many cases the academic side is of secondary importance. grades usually don’t count towards their […] we’ve never worked well within a theme. bustling within these pages is the collective psyche of the student body excitable, scruffy, and untamable. literally defined as a ‘confused mixture’, even the dictionary thinks farrago is a bit of a mess. but as your words started rolling in to fill these motley pages, collections of ideas seemed to […] first of all you have to get a hold of some music, so you fork out $20 for a cd, record, itunes download or whatever other obscure format a band is putting their work on. then it turns out that they have a massive back catalogue you weren’t aware of. so now it’s your responsibility, […] christine todd grades our political parties. labor policies > introduced clean energy bill with the support of greens and several independents, carbon pricing scheme implemented. > implemented plain cigarette packaging laws, fought off a constitutional challenge from the big tobacco companies. > maintained the health of the economy during the gfc. > introduced minerals resources rent […] james zarucky explains the careers of filmy people. in a career spanning more than three decades, austrian director michael haneke has established himself as one of the most important contemporary european auteurs. his films are notable for their unrelentingly austere style and disturbing subject matter. the director himself has stated that he wishes to challenge […] kevin hawkins explores new ways to keep yourself entertained in a city you thought you’d exhausted. the sidney myer music bowl is like a red flag to a bull to a cheapskate like me. the amphitheatre with its wire fences and unobstructed sound just begs for me to find a way to beat the system. […] nothing gives students more joy than mi goreng. however, eating it plain every day can get pretty old, so here are five ways to make noodles and msg more interesting. 1. substitute the hydrogenated vegetable oil for dashes of sesame oil to give the noodles a pleasant, nutty flavour. simple, yet effective. 2. go all […] merran reed investigates the pains and gains of young people heading down the mines. a couple of years ago i worked as a flight attendant flying miners to the various mine sites around western australia. places with names like coyote, nifty, area c or (my favourite) cloudbreak. the other girls and i had a game […] alexander sheko investigates bike safety in the cbd. there is no doubt cyclists are vulnerable road users. in 2011, one fatality, 70 serious injuries and 200 other injuries were reported among cyclists in the city of melbourne. perry singleton, a melbourne university student, was recently hospitalised following a collision with a car caused by the […] welcome to edition 1, 2013. best coffee kere kere is the best cup on campus pay for a beverage, collect your playing card and then decide whether a portion of the proceeds goes back to the owner or to social, environmental or cultural causes. best toilet tip if in doubt of the location of the amenities, your closest toilets will be […] $9/hr the hourly rate that barack obama wants to raise the minimum wage to by 2015. it’s currently us$7.25. in australia it’s $15.96. “we are bound to each other in this land and always will be. let us be bound in justice and dignity as well.”  julia gillard introducing the act of recognition of aboriginal […] samantha riegl shares the best spots to be a sophisticated cheapskate. platform, platform art spaces, degraves st subway tucked away in campbell arcade, platform has been running for over twenty years. during this time, the 13 glass windows, vitrine and sample space have housed work from many established and emerging artists. the space is simple […] in sum agamemnon appropriates achilles’ wife. achilles throws suitably epic tantrum, refusing to help agamemnon and achaeans besiege troy; both armies suffer heavy losses, described in lovingly gory detail. gods score numerous sacrificial oxen and respond in novel and unhelpful ways. achilles rages on. and on. and on and on and on… why the world […] if i could remember, i’d tell you how much it hurt to see the sun coming through on your shoulder, where i held you for the thousandth time. how i was just the right amount of drunk and awake to notice the tan line on your neck, and miss the hostile cold of a hung […] re: behind the veil shalom and salaam, having just spent the last few weeks in a steamy hot israel and palestine, i thought it pertinent to have a gander at the situation gay in the middle east. we’re not limiting ourselves just to israel and palestine because then i couldn’t recount last night’s tryst with […] in the good old days of lunchtime four square, i spent more time waiting in the queue than playing on the court. it wasn’t that i was a particularly bad downballer; it was just that my friends were much better than me. and so one day, i put forward an idea. instead of participating, i […] few people know who daniel andrews is. at first i was going to begin this article with the moniker, “daniel who?” but after interviewing andrews, who is the victorian state opposition leader, i immediately changed my mind. two thing strike me about andrews: he is the sort of down to earth friend you could laugh and socialise […] partner rape and intimate partner sexual assault (ipsa) are forms of assault in which a person is sexually abused by their partner, spouse or someone else they are intimately involved with. despite the fact that they make up a majority of sexual assault cases, these forms of sexual violence don’t get a lot of press. […] fact or fiction? science fiction has minimal grounding in reality. while stephen hawking and illustrious company may still be going back and forth on time travel, we can all agree that overdosing on gamma radiation will incinerate you, not turn you into the incredible hulk. yet fret not, science students! like minded individuals have achieved scientific […] norwegian four piece, razika, offer always uplifting pop rock with a strong ska influence. tonally, they are a female, european incarnation of american hipsters real estate. water drop guitar licks and trebly rhythms doused in ceaseless reverb are just some shared features. overall, program 91 offers little in terms of originality, but still manages to endear the listener through […] grizzly bear   shields grizzbear don’t disappoint. they are like the anti mickey rourke of the music industry, in that they don’t inspire fear and discomfort, and vomit on your floor in the middle of the night.* perhaps a little less accessible than pop delights such as “two weeks” from veckatimest, but what shields lacks in […] dolphins are scarily intelligent. while the dolphin apocalypse predicted in that one episode of the simpsons may be a little out of their reach, they’re still far more cognitively advanced than we might be comfortable acknowledging. they have incredibly complex social structures, which even transcend species. spotted dolphins and bottlenose dolphins have been observed hunting together and even looking […] do you know what the most important part of a dish is? is it the taste? the subtle balance of sweet and salty? the freshness of the ingredients? i’ll let you in on a secret. it’s the garnish. that’s right. that little sprig of parsley. the smear of a tangy coulis beside a delicious vanilla […] in the old testament is the story of noah and his ark. two by two, each animal was placed on the ark saving them from a flood that would decimate the land. but vca student and multi disciplined artist jake preval is asking, “what of the animals who didn’t make it aboard?” his exhibition costumes for the […] in the penultimate edition for 2012, farrago tackles sexuality in sport. in recent weeks, melbourne university graduate and country footballer jason ball came out publicly to petition the afl to tackle homophobia within the sport and its community. his action took great courage and has already yielded positive outcomes with the afl screening ‘no to homophobia’ advertisements […] when jennifer kanis walked into melbourne university as a 17 year old student she found the place daunting. 25 years and three degrees later, she looks at the tertiary institution and sees a plethora of challenges and opportunities. but as melbourne’s new state member, she can ill afford to still be intimidated. after forging successful careers as a […] the university of melbourne student union (umsu) and its service provision appendage, melbourne university student union limited (musul) is set to undergo a restructure. after the restructure, umsu will manage all student related students services. musul will manage everything back of house, such as finances, human resources, and the union house building. umsu general manager justin baré […] a major problem in schools american schools (and, let’s face it, australian ones too), bullying affects the lives of millions of children and families each and every year. driven by his own experiences as a child, new york documentarian lee hirsch shines a light on five especially troubling cases, in order to bring greater attention […] “we’re all just protons, neutrons, electrons that rest on a sunday, work on a monday,” or so the cat empire tells us. yet the truth is always more complicated, as revealed on 4 july this year when the higgs boson discovery was announced at the international conference on high energy physics in melbourne. yes, we […] husky, one of melbourne’s finest newcomers, now well and truly a part of the international music community, took the time to chat with james burgmann shortly after their hour long set at melbourne uni’s north court. overcoming extreme jetlag and fatigue, they managed to muster up the energy to discuss their amazing album, forever so, fake […] it. is. everywhere. a curious grandma totters into readings, “do you have that new book, really popular, something about shades of green?” the sales assistant, jaded from answering this question all day, replies: “50 shades of grey is sold out across our stores, we’re hoping to get some next week.” “oh,” granny pushes on regardless, […] yeasayer, arguably one of the most popular postmodern bands around, has produced a highly listenable and groovy third studio album. though not quite reaching the extraordinary feat that was their second album, odd blood (2010), fragrant world is laudable for its wholistic, cohesive electro sound. on odd blood every track was just so damn easy to […] i would like to draw your attention to waste that in the umsu welfare department. federal elections and the future of journalism telephone calls, lady goats, and the westralian elections. me want beer now. melbourne university leads the increase in full fee students key constitutional changes passed to strengthen umsu's handling of sexual misconduct a content warning, an acknowledgement of country, and an introduction to the team that made this happen. join anytime fitness carlton & you’ll get a $200 club credit! this is a test news article for new way 1. final countdown: nsp move 2. keep your webpages current 3. public holidays + scheduled events we've heard you loud and clear! over 1000 of you signed a petition for a general meeting about the uni's involvement in weapons research. a word from the editorial team update on stance on conflict in gaza. a half tongue in cheek, half sincere overview of this year in the department show your student id card and enjoy a 10% discount. instore: 20% off frank green bottles & 10% discount on other products score a free 3 month bicycle network membership. 1. volunteer program review 2. new pcs arriving 3. employee management system umsu calls on the university of melbourne to respect and protect students' fundamental human rights. an overview of our department, our mascot, and how to find us 1. moving updates! 2. reminder: basecamp response times 3. collect your sem 1 a1s umsu's stance on war in gaza. free spine & posture assessments and a 10% discount umsu is committed to safe student activism   and we have a guide for that! three pieces of artwork: 'ocd instruction manual', 'on off', and 'transformed' use discount code umsu for $5 off 1. 'request a project' is back! 2. figma: self service design option 3. new ida bar booking system by della johnston the results of the referendum last saturday are incredibly disappointing, hurtful and frustrating. umsu acknowledges and respects the call for a week of silence shared by indigenous leaders following the result. by matthew denipitiya the racism at unimelb survey aims to capture experiences of racism of students of colour at the university of melbourne, the findings of the report will form the base of the third edition of the racism at unimelb report. by eleanore arnold moore statement from umsu queer re: email from dean of arts regarding fight transphobia unimelb stickers the university of melbourne student union (umsu) supports ‘yes, but...’ in the upcoming voice to parliament referendum on 14 october. 1. building aboriginal cultural competency workshop 2. pop up covid 19 vax at parkville 3. winterfest staff survey “no one left behind”? statement on federal budget. umsu stands in solidarity with the sudanese community and calls for an end for the war in sudan my experience with sensory processing difficulties as an autistic person student solidarity pledge with the nteu student voice via student representation: umsu position on msf //cw: sexual assault and harassment, stealthing, online abuse// umsu stands in solidarity with protests against the iranian government umsu stands in solidarity with the msa and monash muslim students psssst   hey unimelb, want to improve your qilt score? umsu’s here to help! statement regarding proposed "umsu stands with palestine   bds and solidarity policy". camp excerpts   queers &disabilities featured artist statement regarding umsu motion on palestine and consultation process. an excerpt: read more in camp or on our website winterfest microsite live acknowledgement of country: guidelines contacting the events team statement regarding 'umsu stands with palestine   bds and solidarity policy' motion. cw: sexual assault and harassment. my experience in uncovering hidden hearing loss divest now, unimelb! a statement from the umsu president, women's and southbank departments on sexual misconduct at the university of melbourne. remembering judy heumann, camp jened and the disability civil rights movemen a statement on ukraine   umsu stands in solidarity with ukraine against current military attacks from russia. winterfest hoodies vote on your favourite name for umsu font reprint finalisation extended validate your vaccination status now to avoid de allocation from your in person classes! 1. nsp move updates 2. help name the *new* umsu typeface! 3. opt in for ig takeovers happy new year! i hope everyone has had a restful holiday and continue to stay safe. winterfest 2022 key dates and deadlines reconciliation action plan working group   eois still open! winterfest is coming 'request a project' closed for sem 1 what's happening with the nsp? zoom reports in agms risk assessments   use the correct template grant applications close   october 22, midnight training (icymi   september 18) 1. ‘umsu stands with palestine   bds and solidarity policy’ motion 2. reminder: social media content moderation 3. social media posting suspended diy designs incoming mail deliveries website tip   alt text covidsafe processes unimelb holiday   easter tuesday free flu shots new whole organisation calendar final day for adobe requests creating repeating events on web new admin email new credit card staff and obs adobe software request new student precinct induction refreshers umsu in the news easter break! events at umsu job opportunity: operations officer support to adjust your events summerfest survey collect your a1 posters thanks for summerfest sso and staff logins on website help desk moving summerfest is here major events next week website update don't forget to validate your vaccination status before you return to campus! every student attending campus must validate their vaccination status (vaccinated or exempt) beforehand if you haven't already. new website check links, events, news! new intranet priority for returning to campus, preliminary to returning to campus. process for returning to campus and how umsu supports staff and student representatives the president of the academic board has resolved that results from semester 2 2021 will not be included in students’ wam calculation if they are below their current wam benchmark. it is the exact same settings that were in place last year, on the back of umsu’s initial wamnesty campaign. summerfest 2022   less than one month to go! 1. summerfest online: hopin info session and test event 2. covid safe planning for department events 3. summerfest key dates and info sometimes, it’s fun to imagine that the pursuit of your education is like a grand quest in the tradition of lord of the rings (especially if you are trying to procrastinate). after all, you are after that precious (a.k.a your degree). there’s only so much information a brain can hold. all those books talking about the brain that can heal itself or neuroplasticity of memory can go and stuff themselves. uht’s jacob shears takes us through the basics of lighting for a theatre environment uht’s connor ross takes us through the 5 steps for making an effective sound design. uht’s stage carpenter/mechanist allen laverty talks through how to use a hand saw correctly and efficiently. summerfest update website sso project reminders everything you need to know about the university's recent vaccination validation deadline. there’s something really satisfying about watching jim carey over enunciate and over emote his lines in liar liar. particularly “i object!”. you’re nearly there at the end. you can’t wait to clear that last exam so you can fall asleep with a straw feeding you milkshake intra mouthly from that maccas post exam feast. it’s only 3 hours and you’re home free. uht’s stage carpenter/mechanist allen laverty talks through how to use a square. uht’s head technician clynton jones talks through the basics of how to correctly set up and pack up mic stands. everyone struggles at the end of semester. sometimes the stress to meet deadlines or the pressure of sitting exams becomes too difficult for some students. cw // discussions of sexual assault and harassment, without explicit detail. umsu welcomes the university’s recent sexual misconduct prevention and response policy as?an important step forward in creating a safer campus. uht's stage carpenter/mechanist allen laverty talks through the contents of a basic tool kit for making theatre sets. the beginning of first semesters at university have a particular magic to them   a sense of newness, re invention, and of freedom. if you’re a first year, they’re the beginning of a course, shiny like glitter in the sun. umsu and the media office are located in the city of melbourne, on the land of the wurundjeri people of the kulin nations. we pay our respects to their elders   past, present and emerging   and acknowledge that the land we are on was stolen and sovereignty was never ceded. it always was, and always will be, aboriginal land.

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click “continue” to visit the pages for harding, loevner funds, inc., a family of mutual funds for us investors. continue unfortunately, this investment is not available for the investor type and location you have selected. please consider the alternative funds or contact us to explore all your options. terms & conditions please confirm that you have read and understand the following terms of use of this website. you are about to access the pages of harding loevner funds plc, an irish umbrella type open ended investment company (the “company”), which contains information about the company and its sub funds (each a “fund”). these pages are for informational purposes only. it is not investment advice, nor is it intended to be relied on as a forecast or research and does not constitute an offer, recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell shares in any fund. access to and the information contained in these pages are restricted to persons who are residents of jurisdictions in which the 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securities laws, be directly or indirectly offered or sold in the u.s. or to any u.s. persons. by clicking on the “i agree” button below, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this disclaimer and wish to proceed to these pages. i agree harding loevner is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or timeliness and does not make any warranties, expressed or implied, with regard to the information obtained from other websites. these links are provided for your convenience and for navigational purposes only. they should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. it should not be assumed that investment in the securities identified has been or will be profitable. by clicking on the "i agree" button, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this disclaimer and wish to proceed. i agree advanced search harding loevner > insights > out of our minds fundamental analysis r1, as the model is called, is an open source, advanced reasoning model the kind that is designed to mimic the way humans think through problems. it was developed by deepseek, whose founder, liang wenfeng, reportedly accumulated 10,000 of nvidia’s graphics processing units (gpus) while at his quantitative hedge fund, which relied on machine learning investment strategies. the kicker: deepseek says it spent less than us$6 million to train the model that was used as a base for r1 a fraction of the billions of dollars that western companies such as openai have spent on their foundational models. this detail stunned the market and walloped the share prices of large tech companies and other parts of the burgeoning ai industry on january 27. the knee jerk reactions are a reminder that we are still in the early stages of a potential ai revolution, and that no matter the conviction some insiders and onlookers may seem to have, no one knows with certainty where the path will lead, let alone how many twists and turns the industry will encounter along the way. as more details become available, companies and investors will be able to better assess the broader implications of deepseek’s achievement, which may reveal that the initial market reaction was overdone in some cases. however, should deepseek’s claims that its methods lead to dramatic improvements in cost efficiency be substantiated, it may actually bode well for the adoption of ai tools over time. although the techniques employed by deepseek are not entirely new, the company’s execution is considered extraordinary for how it significantly reduced training and inference costs. the company reportedly not only used fewer and less powerful chips but also trained its model in a matter of weeks. there is considerable debate regarding the accuracy of the roughly us$6 million training cost figure that has been reported as well as speculation that deepseek may have utilized rival models such as meta platforms’ llama, alibaba’s qwen, and openai’s gpt 4 in a process known as distillation to create a student model. therefore, it may be that the true training cost of deepseek’s model is understated. there is the risk that more efficient ai models may reduce the growth rate of demand for computing power and, in turn, the pace of investment in ai infrastructure. but while investors seem to have equated improved efficiency with a diminished need for ai infrastructure, the history of technology shows that better performance and lower costs typically lead to wider adoption and faster growth over time. ai could follow the same trajectory. among the likely beneficiaries of cheaper, more efficient ai are the software providers building applications on top of these models. as more users discover the advantages of ai, increased demand for user facing software also helps the cloud services companies that provide the computing power and data storage. however, the commoditization of large language models may negatively affect creators of these models, particularly those that have eschewed open source technology. also, greater computing efficiency may lead to higher volumes of cloud data and thus the need for more data centers and electrical power over time. this would benefit infrastructure providers on the condition that higher demand more than offsets price declines. the field of ai is still evolving, and further advances in the technology and the methods for developing it are likely. innovation is always disruptive, but on the whole, deepseek’s breakthrough would seem to be a good sign for the industry. what did you think of this piece? active vs. passive in fact, vietnam is the only fem that has become one of the ten largest trading partners with the us. while there are other em countries, such as mexico, taiwan, and india among the top ten us trading partners, vietnam has grown a significant trade surplus with the us, due in part to companies rerouting shipments through the country as supply chains have adjusted over the past several years, especially in the wake of disruptions during the covid 19 pandemic. the chart above also shows china’s outsized trade surplus with the us and underscores how global trade has not stopped due to shifts in us policy since the first trump election in 2016. what has happened is that global trade has evolved over the last eight years, especially with respect to emerging markets, despite tariffs under both the trump and biden administrations. china, one of the primary targets of us tariffs, has simply rerouted its exports. some of the biggest growth in global trade volumes has come from both the us’s and china’s increase in trade with ems. trade between ems is growing as well. and the current account balances of important export oriented ems such as mexico, taiwan, south africa, and indonesia are significantly better than they were eight years ago, providing these economies with a larger cushion against volatility in global trade. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis momentum strategies were a powerful force for global equities in 2024, primarily ones that followed artificial intelligence (ai) and its extended value chain. the trend was particularly acute in emerging markets (ems). for the calendar year, virtually all of the returns in the msci em index could be traced to just five stocks, led by tsmc, which on its own contributed nearly half of the index’s return. the dominance of these stocks was most evident in the fourth quarter. every sector except information technology fell, and the only regions that rose were the middle east, which eked out a small gain, and taiwan, home to a number of prominent tech stocks including tsmc (the “t” stands for taiwan.) tsmc rocketed on surging demand for ai related chips and a seemingly unassailable leadership position in the industry following failed attempts by competitors to take market share in advanced process technologies. the company has more than 80% market share in leading edge semiconductors globally and fabricates almost all of the chips designed by nvidia. tsmc expects ai related revenue to grow at a cumulative rate of 50% over the next five years. hon hai precision, the giant taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer, also saw its shares soar as growth prospects have been boosted by the demand for ai servers. the other top five contributors, however, came from china and outside the ai momentum trade: tencent, meituan, and xiaomi. what did you think of this piece? active vs. passive the us dollar’s rise since september cut into international markets. of the 7% decline in international markets in the fourth quarter, the vast majority of it can be attributed to currency depreciation against the dollar. for countries facing harsh new tariffs from the us, weakening the currency is a highly rational response: what tariffs take away in competitive pricing from other countries, currency depreciation restores with little cost to the domestic economy, keeping products competitive in the destination market. in other words, currency depreciation negates the disinflationary effects of a strong dollar as offsets to the inflationary effects of tariffs. if a country has few other considerations (such as high foreign debts), that trade off is fairly painless and blunts the potency of the tariffs to alter any other policy or behavior. so far that’s not what you see in this recent spate of currency depreciation: the two countries currently facing the severest threats from additional us tariffs are china and mexico, but neither of those currencies exhibited much weakness during the fourth quarter as seen in the above chart. however, in the longer term, we think currency depreciation may not be such a bad thing for the us’s trading partners. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis by now, it is clear to most investors that the companies benefiting from the move to artificial intelligence (ai) include more than just a couple of chipmakers. one analogy for the increasing size and breadth of the ai industry is a tsunami: as the wave of corporate investment in ai builds, and the underlying hardware, foundational machine learning models, and early stage software applications all continue to improve, a broader set of tech providers has been able to benefit from the associated demand. for example, alphabet and meta are among large cloud services companies also known as “hyperscalers” that are building both the physical infrastructure and large language models that are needed for ai technologies to be adopted by corporations more broadly. while the servers in their data centers continue to require powerful graphics processing units designed by nvidia and manufactured by tsmc, these hyperscalers are also designing their own custom chips, called application specific integrated circuits (asics), which they are developing in partnership with chipmaker broadcom, boosting that company’s growth outlook as well. advances in ai technology are also benefiting enterprise software providers, as the rise of agentic ai in the fourth quarter brought the long term promise of computers with human like problem solving capabilities into sharper focus. agentic ai is capable of sophisticated reasoning and can automatically come up with ways to solve complex, multi step problems a significant step forward by models such as openai’s o3 and google’s gemini 2 as compared to the more limited tasks performed by the previous generation of ai technology. therefore, agentic ai is likely to be more broadly useful in business software, with companies such as salesforce and servicenow well positioned to offer powerful tools based on this technology. at a recent event in san francisco, salesforce chief executive officer mark benioff said the company is focused on its agentic ai platform, agentforce, adding, “the only thing we’re going to do at salesforce is agentforce.” what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis chinese consumers have, through necessity, become very price conscious. pingti, which translates literally to “horizontal replacement,” refers to a consumer buying a cheaper product that does the same thing as a more expensive one. trading down, as we might say in the us. in the language of porter forces that we use to analyze industry dynamics at harding loevner, it is new entrants matching the functionality of incumbents such as adidas at better prices, leading to a more intense rivalry between companies. and pingti is easy to do. there are websites, such as 1688.com (part of alibaba) or made in china.com, originally set up for manufacturers and exporters to do business with their wholesale buyers. since most of the manufacturer supply chains are in china, it is therefore relatively easy for consumers to find cheaper versions of products from retailers such as adidas, li ning, and others. all a consumer needs do is find an item they like in a store, look at the label to see who manufactured it, and go find the lower priced, off brand versions online. “customer mindsets have changed considerably in mainland china in the post covid era,” pan ning, the chief executive of the chinese division of japan’s uniqlo, said in july. “we are seeing a new set of consumer values centered on pingti.” the trend has been especially sharp among the younger generations, he said. given its focus on low priced goods, uniqlo could also be seen as a beneficiary of the trend, which would help explain why its performance held up better in china than some other retailers. adidas has been adapting. the company has been expanding aggressively into lower tier cities, where it is selling more affordable versions of its products. it has also, as much as possible, tried to organize its chinese operation as if it was a local company. the company has teams that are focused on discerning what local buyers want, and building products based on those insights. once they come up with those ideas, the product designs are approved by the china team, not the home office back in germany. the efforts appear to be yielding results. its sales in china rose 9% in the third quarter of 2024, to about us$1 billion, its best quarter since the beginning of 2022. while pingti was sparked by the economic downturn, it may outlast the eventual recovery. chinese consumers have become more sophisticated. they no longer view price and brand as the sole markers of quality. increasingly, they are seeing that lower cost products can have the same essential quality. a good example of this is the japanese brand mont bell, which has been opening new stores and expanding its presence in china. mont bell is a well known replacement for arc’teryx, the premium brand owned by anta. this dynamic doesn’t have a catchy name in the us, but pingti has been visible here: off price retail stores operated by tjx such as tj maxx and marshalls saw sales rise after the 2008 financial crisis. even as the economy recovered after the crisis, those new customers stayed loyal and that outcome may hold in china, too. for that reason, manufacturers and retailers in china may have to account for the trend even after the economy eventually rebounds. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis it’s tempting to think that a new ceo can reshape a business overnight. yet investors often overlook how the timing of a ceo’s appointment is a factor in that person’s ability to steer the company in a new direction. while a ceo controls key decisions pertaining to hiring, spending, corporate strategy, and workplace culture those efforts can only gain traction if the company is one in which change is possible. and that isn’t meant to be an abstract observation. rather, a company’s susceptibility to change is partly reflected in a quantifiable metric found in every 10 k filing: its asset life. asset life is the estimated duration over which a company’s assets remain useful to the business. assets can be physical structures, such as property, plants, and equipment, but they can also be intangible, such as investments in research and development. by examining average asset life, investors can gauge how long capital expenditures made in the past will continue to shape the company’s capabilities and cash flows. shorter asset lives allow new leadership to shift investment priorities relatively quickly. conversely, longer asset lives mean that earlier investments remain in place for years or even decades, limiting the new ceo’s ability to quickly implement large scale changes. a related metric is the ratio of net property, plant, and equipment (ppe) to gross ppe. a high ratio indicates the outgoing ceo heavily invested in the company’s facilities and equipment. a declining ratio suggests that the outgoing ceo invested little to maintain or upgrade them or as some might say, management was “sweating the assets.” the latter scenario constrains the next ceo’s ability to implement significant changes. think of it as the difference between buying a well maintained house and one needing extensive repairs: the same renovation budget would achieve far more in the well maintained house, while at the fixer upper the money would need to be used for necessary but less exciting projects. take intel as an example. once the leading chip designer and manufacturer, the us company has fallen behind rivals such as nvidia and tsmc. its ceo was pushed out in december, and shareholders are hopeful that his replacement can restore intel to its prominence. the challenge is that intel is not easily changeable. chipmaking is intricate and capital intensive, and the process relies on specialized tools, machinery, and facilities that last for many years. according to its filings, intel’s manufacturing assets can remain in service for up to eight years, with some facilities lasting over two decades. despite recent capital investments, the net to gross ppe ratio hasn’t dramatically improved, suggesting legacy infrastructure still defines the firm’s capabilities. a quick pivot is tough. the other question to ask about an incoming ceo is whether change at the company would be a good or bad thing. generally speaking, change is more welcome for a business that is in a position of weakness, such as intel, than one that is in a position of strength, such as schneider electric. schneider’s competitive edge in providing electrical solutions continues to be a source of sustained profitable growth, particularly as it sees heightened demand from data center customers. while the industrials company replaced its ceo in november, investors are unlikely to want drastic changes. fortunately, with schneider’s long lived assets providing operational consistency, the new ceo has limited room or need to meaningfully change things. consider the potentially very different implications of a new ceo for a company such as intel compared with a company such as schneider: the quadrant to steer clear of is the bottom right, because a weak company that is difficult to change doesn’t leave a lot of options for a ceo, no matter how skilled they may be. it all comes back to something warren buffett once said: “when a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.” what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance in our annual letter to shareholders, we examine the phenomena of momentum investing and the fear of missing out (fomo). we also articulate pre commitments we’ve made to mitigate these behavioral pitfalls. inevitably, we face pressure to bend or break our risk guideline pre commitments when fomo is greatest. but our long experience with these absolute limits such as the benefits of maximum weights when there were downturns in china (2020), in brazil (2006 7), in emerging market banks (2012), in the it sector (back in 1999 2000), and minimum weights during upturns in the us (2004 5) and in japan (1998) serves as positive reinforcement for such discipline. read the full letter investments involve risk and loss is possible. the portfolio’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be read and considered carefully before investing. the statutory and summary prospectuses contain this and other important information about the investment company. they may be obtained by calling toll free (877) 435 8105, or visiting hardingloevnerfunds.com. the portfolio is distributed by quasar distributors, llc. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the industrials sector encompasses a wide range of businesses with unique growth prospects and challenges. from commercial aerospace and machinery to industrial distribution and the auto supply chain, companies within this sector operate in distinct competitive environments where scale, adaptability, and innovation are crucial for success. in this series, harding loevner industrials analyst and global portfolio manager sean contant, cfa, discusses some of the key growth opportunities he sees in the sector. using the porter five forces framework  central to harding loevner’s investment strategy sean explains how select companies in certain industries within the sector are using their competitive strengths to address complex challenges, increase market share, and provide innovative solutions to meet customer demands. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis alphabet’s waymo, general motors’ cruise, tesla, baidu, and others are all in a competition to perfect and dominate the market for avs. the winner of this new competition won’t be the one that builds the best vehicle, though. the heart of an autonomous vehicle is not the car. it’s the operating system. the concept behind autonomous vehicles is simple cars that are controlled by onboard computers and sensors rather than a human driver but the technologies behind making them work are far more complex. autonomous vehicles replace the human driver with a highly advanced system of hardware and software. the most promising ones incorporate a system called lidar (light detection and ranging). lidar systems flash a laser and record the time it takes that light to hit an object and return to measure distance and the shapes of objects (very similar to radar, which uses radio waves in the same way). a lidar system can measure data points down to the centimeter. an av’s operating system takes the information provided by the lidar system to map out the car’s path and then control the steering, acceleration, and braking. the concept of self driving cars has been around for a long time. a man named francis houdina experimented with a radio controlled car all the way back in 1925, driving it down new york’s fifth avenue. in the 1950s, a famous one off concept car called the golden sahara utilized a rudimentary, lidar like self driving system. a team at carnegie mellon built its first autonomous vehicle, dubbed navlab, in 1986. much like humanoid robots, the problem wasn’t the technology but the cost; it was too expensive to be commercially feasible. recent advances in hardware and software have driven the costs down and given these companies a real chance at making and selling avs at scale and profitably. they’re not there quite yet. israeli company mobileye has dominated the market for driver assisted software, but has struggled to sell to auto makers more advanced systems that enable higher levels of autonomous driving. tesla earlier this year delayed the initial launch of its robotaxis (the company dubbed them “cybercabs”) from july to october, and the october “launch” was just the reveal of a prototype. production vehicles won’t be available for sale until the first half of 2025 at the earliest (and elon musk is notorious for his unmet timelines). just getting the cars onto the road is not sign of success, either. a cruise robotaxi hit and dragged a pedestrian in san francisco last year; subsequently california regulators rescinded the test permit they’d given the company just months earlier. stories like that highlight what could end up being a material obstacle: regulators who will need to be convinced these cars are safe before they approve any more of them for public roads, or suspend ones that have already been approved. the av competition splits pretty cleanly between two kinds of companies, auto and software companies, and in this competition, experience making cars is less important than experience making software. because the key part of the vehicle is the autonomous operating system, companies such as baidu and alphabet are on equal footing with tesla and gm. the fact that software companies such as alphabet and baidu are already such prominent players in this market proves the point. the ”picks and shovels” of the av industry won’t be the car makers, we think, it will be the software makers. whoever builds the best operating system which means one that can both be completely effective and pass muster with the regulators who will allow it on the roads will be able to sell it to any auto maker. the car itself will almost become a commodity while the operating system will be the key differentiator. it will be analogous to mobile phones. there are really only two operating systems: apple’s ios and alphabet’s android. autonomous vehicles are likely to repeat that development. we imagine the landscape for av operating systems will end up looking like the landscape for mobile phone operating systems. which means this competition is virtually all or nothing, where only one or two companies will end up with the dominant system that everybody else is forced to use. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis catl is the world’s largest maker of batteries, which are by far the highest value component of evs. in recent years, the company has gained considerable share globally and now accounts for nearly 40% of global ev battery shipments, more than its three closest competitors combined. over time, we have seen catl’s brand emerging as an asset in itself, as its technology and quality differentiate its products from what were largely seen as commodity items. ev makers are beginning to highlight their use of catl batteries as a way to differentiate their cars from the competition. companies such as zeekr have been advertising their use of catl batteries, much like pc makers used to do with “intel inside” stickers to differentiate themselves in a crowded, intensely competitive market. like intel’s chips in the 1990s, catl’s batteries have consistently pushed the envelope in technological advances, including industry leading charging speed and density, which enable total ranges of more than 600 miles. these advanced batteries, called shenxing and qilin, now account for roughly a third of its ev battery shipments. earlier this year, catl started offering special service stations exclusively for owners of cars with the shenxing batteries. in august, catl took that idea that the battery in your car matters, more than you think one step further. it opened a showroom in chengdu, in sichuan province, displaying nearly 100 models of evs from 50 different car brands that use catl batteries. the only major car maker not featured is byd, a vertically integrated ev maker that has insisted on producing its own batteries, effectively becoming catl’s main competitor. as if to illustrate just how important an ev battery really can be, a mercedes ev caught fire in incheon, south korea, just a week before catl’s showroom launched. thankfully no one was hurt, but the fire ended up damaging or destroying dozens of cars in an underground garage. after that, korean regulators started requesting automakers disclose their battery suppliers. the car in question had a battery from farasis, a chinese semi captive supplier to mercedes and one of a long tail of unprofitable, substandard rivals to catl, which has the best safety record in the industry among major makers. catl sets aside the most reserves for quality/warranty payouts (a conservative accounting approach), yet uses the least amount of those reserves in practice. batteries are not as commoditized as many think. these recent events could lead more consumers, and investors, to that conclusion. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis video games, much like movies, are a lumpy business. every so often a hit comes along upon which a publisher can build a long running franchise activision blizzard’s call of duty, for example, just released a well received 21st installment. other times, you can find gamers and investors alike grumbling over the industry delays, bugs, and titles that completely flop. still, for a lumpy business, the gaming industry is consistently very profitable. just look at how it stacks up against the consumer staples sector, which is arguably the definition of consistency due to the reliability of demand for basic goods. economic returns, as measured by cash flow return on investment, have not been as stable for video game companies over the past 30 years as they have been for consumer staples, but their averages are closer than you might expect and gaming companies have grown faster: additionally, in september, sony pulled its shooter game concord off the market two weeks after it was released, saying the game “didn’t land the way we’d intended.” like ubisoft, the japanese conglomerate issued refunds. there is also speculation that grand theft auto vi, which has long been in development at take two interactive, may get delayed until 2026 13 years after the previous installment in the series was released. news such as this tends to restart the debate over whether gaming is just a bad industry for investors. in fact, the industry structure seems challenging. the barriers to entry are somewhat low, and the number of substitutes and competitors including new entrants in china and south korea are both high, factors that generally limit a company’s ability to generate sustainably high profits. but the charts above do not depict such a terrible situation. rather, there may be some weak players, but there are clearly others that have managed to become more profitable and stable over time. one way some publishers have done this is by building diversified franchises, which leaves them less prone to revenue lulls and limits the impact that a failed release has on the company’s overall finances. electronic arts, for example, has a number of successful franchises, including fifa, madden, apex legends, and the sims. activision blizzard, in addition to call of duty, has world of warcraft, candy crush, and overwatch, among others a collection microsoft found so attractive that it acquired the company for about us$70 billion last year (microsoft owns xbox). other diversified players include tencent and netease, both based in china. another way that some in the industry have generated more consistent revenue and profits is through add on digital content. twenty years ago, video game publishers were essentially consumer goods companies. their games were a physical product, and manufacturing, shipping, and selling these discs carried a significant cost. playing them was also a one off experience. digital technology changed all this, with players increasingly downloading games rather than purchasing new or used discs. this has allowed game developers and publishers to boost the revenue generated by a game after it’s released by offering so called expansion packs for online purchase, as well as virtual cosmetics to enhance a player’s avatar and virtual currencies. for example, call of duty: black ops 6 was released october 25, but you can almost guarantee that at some point, perhaps in six months or so, an expansion pack with additional content will become available. extending the useful life of each game in this way relieves the pressure on developers to quickly crank out the next one. in the second quarter of 2023, activision blizzard’s last earnings report before its sale to microsoft was completed, the company said that downloadable content and micro transactions accounted for 63% of its net bookings. the industry’s earnings consistency also has to do with the other types of companies involved in gaming: console makers, such as microsoft and sony, as well as businesses that sell tools and services to developers and publishers. one example is keywords studios, a provider of game ready art and quality assurance testing. gaming platforms and toolmakers capture a portion of the industry’s revenues, which means they benefit from the overall growth without taking on the risk of any single game. the recent challenges at ubisoft and other companies reflect two industry trends that are worth watching. one is that game development has slowed. it’s unclear whether this is due to increased remote work, developers missing deadlines because they’re trying pack more interactive features into a game, pushback against the industry’s overtime habits, or perhaps all the above. in any case, these would seem to be temporary challenges. another is that some gamers seem to be spending less money on the hobby, which describes a change in user habits that could be more permanent. however, there’s not enough data to know if that’s the case. instead, what we can gather from 30 years of financial data is that some gaming companies are built to ride out the rough patches, and so it would be a mistake for investors to write off the whole industry. what did you think of this piece? factor investing you can see morocco from europe, nine miles away from southernmost spain across the strait of gibraltar, yet the african nation flies under the radar for many global investors. nevertheless, morocco’s us$150 billion economy is one of the most developed in africa, featuring advanced infrastructure that has improved the quality of life for its 38 million inhabitants, facilitated trade, and encouraged private investment. now the country is embarking on an ambitious program to boost growth even more over the next decade. the government is focused on a “new development model” agenda that aims for a cumulative annual growth rate in income per capita of 6% through 2035. it plans to spend about us$100 billion between now and 2030 on infrastructure, covering everything from improving irrigation to reducing carbon emissions to rebuilding housing after last year’s earthquake. over the past two decades, morocco has achieved remarkable macroeconomic stability compared to other frontier markets, a result of prudent monetary and fiscal policies. the country has more than 1,100 miles of highways, one of the largest container ports in africa, tanger med, and the first high speed trains in africa. the kingdom spends 5.5% of gdp on education, and is turning out 24,000 engineers annually from its nearly 200 technology focused universities and institutes. the country also offers investment incentives to industries such as autos and pharmaceuticals, and has established free trade agreements with more than 50 partners. morocco has been consciously trying to shift its economy away from more volatile sectors such as agriculture via a deliberate industrialization strategy that’s resulted in a more diversified economy. sectors such as automotive and aeronautics have been growing at a faster rate than traditional sectors. as a result, the contribution of those traditional sectors to total exports has fallen from 44% in 2010 to 25% in 2023. by the time the soccer world cup arrives in 2030 the country is co hosting alongside spain and portugal morocco expects to show off a vibrant, growing country that will attract both tourists and foreign investors and can be a lasting bridge between africa and europe. what did you think of this piece? factor investing the central bank’s decision in late july caused a swift appreciation in the yen, a currency shift that disrupted the widely used strategy known as the yen carry trade, where investors borrowed at low japanese rates to purchase higher yielding foreign assets. the rapid unwinding of these positions, combined with weaker us economic data and disappointing earnings from us technology giants, culminated in a 12% drop in japan’s nikkei index on august 5, while expected volatility in the us equity market spiked to a level not seen outside of major crises. markets recovered quickly, though, and japan ended the quarter as the second best performing region for small cap stocks. as the chart above shows, the yen also topped currency returns. for several quarters, japan has been a particularly challenging market for investors in quality growth small companies, as stocks of cheaper, low quality businesses tended to outperform. however, another market development in japan in the third quarter was that style patterns reversed, with stocks of faster growing, more expensive companies leading returns. the charts below depict the spread between returns for the fastest  and slowest growing, highest  and lowest quality, and least and most expensive small caps by region for both the third quarter and trailing 12 months, based on harding loevner’s proprietary growth, quality, and value quintiles. although it’s too soon to know whether japan’s value rally is finally over, the third quarter provided a welcome reprieve. what did you think of this piece? factor investing there were additional measures aimed at boosting the real estate sector, which rebounded by about 50% in late september, as seen in the chart below. the policy announcements included cutting mortgage rates for existing homeowners by as much as 50 basis points and cutting the down payment requirement for second home purchases by 15%. for the equity market, there are now 500 billion renminbi swap facilities for brokers and asset managers to fund stock purchases, with regulators announcing another 300 billion renminbi relending facilities to fund share buybacks. this led to a wide rally across most chinese stocks, but the gains were more prominent in brokers and insurance companies that benefit most directly from these announcements. what did you think of this piece? factor investing over the last 18 months, disciplined fundamental investors have been challenged by an episode of price momentum concentrated in a few of the largest stocks in the market. price momentum refers to a phenomenon where securities whose prices have risen are more likely to keep rising in the short run, while those that have fallen are more likely to experience further declines. the concept of momentum has garnered sufficient adherents to secure its place in the pantheon of portfolio analytics and inspire the creation of numerous indices and etfs designed to exploit it. we have deliberately resisted incorporating the momentum factor into our investment process for several reasons. first, simple price momentum does not provide a fundamental basis for making investment decisions. serial correlation of share price changes has, at best, a weak connection to the underlying business you’re investing in, and nothing to do with what it is worth. second, momentum investing is literally “chasing” stocks that have already gone up or outperformed (or selling those that already went down or underperformed). this approach leads to higher turnover and trading costs. lastly, although momentum investing has shown net positive returns over very long periods, there is considerable volatility in its return path. momentum works until it doesn’t, and when it doesn’t, all the gains you made can be reversed more quickly than you can exit the market. this whipsaw effect makes momentum investing much harder to stomach in practice than it appears in theory. of course, there are cases when stock price momentum is linked to company fundamentals. apple is an example where a profound and structural change is harnessed by a company over a long period, leading to sustained profit growth and extended share price appreciation. such dynamics are possibly at play in the recent fever for companies linked to the development of artificial intelligence or weight loss drugs. but such cases are rare and most of the time investors tend to overestimate the number of transformative changes that will actually materialize. momentum in the markets is often driven less by fundamentals and more by the fear of missing out (fomo). in our experience, the fomo response is most acute when it’s most dangerous near the peak of market trends, or worse, an investment bubble. investors who hold the winning stocks are happy to hold on, while those who don’t quickly feel the pressure of “missing out,” amplified by the constant media coverage that acts as free advertising for these market leaders. passive investors inadvertently pour more capital into these heavyweight stocks in ever increasing percentages, further amplifying their impact. as a result, the momentum behind these stocks grows ever stronger, and they come to dominate index returns. all (human) investors who measure themselves against a benchmark index feel drawn to jump on the bandwagon. we suspect that fomo has been a significant element contributing to some of the most damaging drawdowns in the performance record of momentum investing, and we expect it will likely feature in some doozies to come. we are well aware of the behavioral pitfalls in investing and use a variety of tools to promote objectivity in decision making. but we can be just as susceptible as other investors to the temptations of momentum. to stiffen our resolve, we’ve made pre commitments in the form of absolute limits in our risk guidelines, which are primarily aimed at enforcing diversification in our portfolios, but secondarily act as brakes to curb our enthusiasm. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis compass group, a new holding in the harding loevner global equity strategy, is the largest food catering company in the world. based in chertsey, england, the business provides everything from corporate dining to stadium concessions including at stamford bridge, home of chelsea football club to food services for hospitals, retirement homes, universities such as texas a&m, and even offshore oil rigs. while some of its rivals have recognizable names aramark, sodexo the global food service industry is still so fragmented that compass’s 15% market share is 2.5 times that of the next largest player. this scale is a key competitive advantage because it allows compass to earn attractive margins while providing better service at better prices than competitors, and lower than the cost of a business managing its food needs in house (which many still do). customers that outsource their catering to compass tend to be loyal 96% renew their contracts. this high retention rate along with compass’s demonstrated ability to pass on inflationary cost increases to customers are evidence of its strong bargaining power over buyers. food service isn’t a particularly fast growing industry, but compass has plenty of room to increase its market share by converting more self operators to customers as well as by using its strong balance sheet to acquire smaller competitors. the company has been a serial acquirer but also a smart one. its sales have continued to grow at a high single digit rate through a combination of m&a and winning new business, and the stock has risen at a compound annual rate of 9% (in us dollars) over the past decade. what did you think of this piece? active vs. passive some investors look at the difference between international and us returns and, expecting that current conditions will persist, wonder what place non us equities have in a portfolio today. but while it’s easy to fall into that line of thinking, history suggests it is likely wrong. the relative performance of us and non us stocks has historically been a cyclical phenomenon, and as the chart below shows, their indexes have regularly swapped between leader and laggard over the past 50 years. the current period of us outperformance has already lasted twice as long as any prior cycle in the past 50 years, and that fact alone would seem to flash a warning. investors also face many large and evolving risks everything from elections and wars to potential economic upheaval from ai and the far reaching effects of an increasingly less cooperative, multipolar world. all of this suggests that the next decade in equity markets is unlikely to look like the past one. we are skeptical of our, or anyone’s, ability to predict market cycles, and the harding loevner investment process is structured to avoid attempts at timing them. we invest globally for the long term in stocks of high quality businesses that can grow across economic cycles, and our research is devoted to understanding the enduring characteristics of companies and the competitive structure of their industries. as bottom up investors, although we seek to understand how changes in the economic environment might impact our companies, we don’t believe in making investment decisions solely based on macroeconomic what ifs. still, it’s plain to see that there are certain elements of the recent investing environment that have been broadly unfavorable for international shareholders. here are five possible changes in market conditions that could help pave the way for international markets especially stocks of high quality companies to rise again: over the past couple of years, us stock market outperformance has been dependent on a small subset of stocks alphabet, amazon, apple, meta platforms, microsoft, nvidia, and tesla, a group known colloquially as the magnificent seven. these seven stocks have been responsible for a third of the gains in the msci acwi index since the end of 2022, and all of its returns in the second quarter of 2024. if these stocks were to falter, international markets might become relatively interesting again. after all, the market capitalization of the global benchmark may be heavily weighted toward the us, but the majority of the most profitable and capital efficient businesses in most sectors as measured by cash flow return on investment are located outside the us: in the past 50 years, there have been two periods of sustained us underperformance, both of which were preceded by us valuation bubbles. one directly followed the nifty fifty era of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a very different looking set of companies were held up as magnificent including bygone brands such as sears roebuck and polaroid. after the subsequent crash, the msci eafe index (the msci acwi didn’t exist until 1990) dramatically outperformed the us index for eight years. later, in the early 2000s, the bursting of the dot com bubble and the liftoff of china’s growth led to another period of international outperformance that lasted until the beginning of the financial crisis. from a macro perspective, what investors have had in the us for the last couple of years is a good economy despite high interest rates and roaring inflation. the market is now digesting the federal reserve’s decision in september to aggressively cut rates to support employment levels as inflation heads in the right direction. however, with a group of largely tech oriented stocks dictating overall market returns, perhaps a more relevant consideration for investors is whether the revenue models forming around generative ai can live up to the high expectations for profit growth that are baked into those companies’ share prices. (there is a cautionary tale in cisco systems and the advent of the internet.) after three decades of breakneck growth, china’s economy is now sputtering, and comparisons are being drawn to japan’s lost decades, a period of economic stagnation that began in the 1990s and continued into the 2020s. add in rising geopolitical tensions and how they are causing companies to alter supply chains, and there appears to be a general apprehension toward chinese stocks. yet, even with possible deflation and an aging population, china remains one of the most populous countries in the world and a significant source of economic activity. it accounts for nearly a quarter of the value of the msci emerging markets index a larger weight than any other country. because of china’s large manufacturing base and consumer population, the health of its economy is also important to companies in other international markets, especially europe (atlas copco, for example, a swedish industrial equipment provider that has reported weaker demand from china for compressors and vacuums used in solar, battery, and electric vehicle manufacturing). the last time that international markets outperformed, china played a key role, and given the size of its economy and index weight today, it is easy to imagine how receptive markets would be to better news there. moreover, there are scores of chinese companies that remain solid despite the overarching environment, which is why it’s important to understand not just what is happening at a country level but also at an industry and company level. high quality companies those with strong balance sheets and consistent free cash flow generation are better equipped to withstand, or even expand, during difficult times such as china is encountering. with the share prices of so many quality growth companies in china failing to reflect the strength of the underlying businesses, valuations in china are more compelling than at any point over the past 30 years. as one of the world’s fastest growing economies, india’s profile has been rising among us consumers and investors alike. a “made in india” tag is something shoppers now encounter quite a lot, while investors increasingly wonder about india’s potential to stand as a substitute for china’s stock market. but investing in india is also full of challenges. for starters, it is the most expensive market in the world, and much of the market’s recent gains have come from cheap stocks, which tend to be those of lower quality. these include many state owned enterprises (soes) benefiting from government spending. finding companies that can deliver long term profitable growth and whose stocks can be purchased at reasonable prices is difficult. however, as india’s market develops further, and the fundamental weakness of soes becomes apparent, high quality growth businesses should be rewarded for their superior fundamentals, and more of them may emerge over time. and while it remains unclear whether india’s infrastructure, policies, and other features of its economy are built to support global manufacturing and trade on the order of china, its population and potential purchasing power can’t be ignored, and the country’s rising global competitiveness is likely to present opportunities for investors over the long run. between the wars in ukraine and gaza and the rising tensions in the middle east and south china sea, fears of international conflict continue to be an inescapable theme of markets, and one in which investors are at the largest information disadvantage. although uncertainty alone can be enough to topple stock prices, companies around the world have also had to contend with the tangible effects of geopolitical instability, such as the dangerous disruptions to vital trade routes along the red sea, as well as, at one point in the russia ukraine war, the prospect of a european winter natural gas shortage. and while investors cannot reasonably predict the likelihood of china’s aggression toward taiwan escalating to an invasion, it is one of the risks that complicates the picture for ai beneficiaries such as tsmc, whose factories are situated on the northern coast of taiwan and supply the chips used by the market’s favorite semiconductor company, nvidia. the absence of any more significant destabilizing developments doesn’t mean that global tensions will simply fizzle; however, wars, like market cycles, generally do end, which would alleviate at least some of the pressure on international stocks and call attention to their relatively attractive valuations. as ai begins to ripple through the economy, investors including us are trying to determine which industries and companies will be disintermediated by advances in the technology and which are impervious to the coming change. but many investors seem to be certain very early on about which companies will be the biggest long term winners from ai. the magnificent seven, or more specifically, the six tech and communications services companies that are part of the magnificent seven, aren’t the only businesses with revenue models tied to ai. dutch lithography machine manufacturer asml, french energy management solutions provider schneider electric, and german software provider sap are just some of the high quality, non us companies playing a key role in the transition to the ai era by either supporting the chip production process, powering ai data centers, or allowing businesses to add ai productivity tools to their digital systems. these are all potential factors that could reverse international performance, and there are others that they could help set in motion. for example, the persistent strength of the us dollar has hindered the returns of us dollar denominated investors in international markets, but as international risks dissipate, the dollar may also reverse. a weaker dollar would provide an additional tailwind to investing overseas just as it did when international markets outperformed throughout the early ’00s. for all these reasons, international markets are a rich hunting ground for high quality companies with attractive long term growth prospects and, because of how unloved they have been lately, enticing valuations. no one can say when or how the market inflection will occur, only that history shows it is likely to do so. if that day were to arrive tomorrow, it would be too late for investors with low allocations to non us equities to reposition their portfolios effectively. and so, for the question we are so frequently asked “why international?” the most succinct answer is this: because nothing lasts forever. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis in the pre streaming era, cable companies wielded enormous pricing power over consumers by building regional monopolies with few substitutes. today, netflix, disney, and others are attempting to capture the same profit pool that was once controlled by those cable providers. to do so, scale is crucial. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis after being rebuffed on its us$12.9 billion “friendly” offer at the beginning of may a 30% premium to sabadell’s market cap at the time bbva came back with a us$13.1 billion offer that it plans to present directly to sabadell shareholders, bypassing management. this kind of hostile merger is a rarity among banks. mergers are risky enough on their own. hostile mergers amplify those risks, and hostile mergers in the highly regulated world of banking amplify them even further. analyst isaac may presents a few of the biggest reasons why hostile mergers for banks can be risky, and portfolio manager moon surana presents counterarguments for why bbva might be able to overcome those risks. the regulators may the challenge: spain’s stock market supervisor, the national securities market commission, began its review of the proposal in june. bbva will have to convince regulators of the deal’s merits before it can bring it to sabadell’s shareholders. that could be tough. the spanish government has already come out against the deal, and an acquisition would also require the approval of spain’s antitrust watchdog, the cnmc, as well as the european central bank and even regulators in the uk and mexico, where the banks have operations. those hurdles illustrate the first problem with a bank trying to orchestrate a hostile merger. every industry is regulated, but banking is more regulated than most, and those government overseers have a lot of leverage. the regulator can block the deal outright or add conditions that make the deal very expensive. regulators have a lot of power that they can use to discourage actions they don’t strictly have control over. surana the answer: bbva needs regulatory approval before it can take the tender offer to sabadell shareholders (its own shareholders have already approved the offer). the offer has been authorized by the ecb and several other countries, but not yet by spanish regulators. and there is a chance that it gets approval from both companies’ shareholders and regulators, but is still blocked by the spanish government. in that scenario, the parent company would own two banks but couldn’t combine them, leaving them to nominally compete against each other. bbva management claimed the deal would be worth doing even if it has to operate the banks separately, though it would be a very unusual construction that makes it harder to realize the originally expected cost savings. ultimately, though, the downside risk seems limited. if sabadell shareholders reject the offer, or if regulators block it, bbva moves on. there is little damage for bbva at this point in making one last attempt to get a deal done. even in the worst case scenario the upside bbva gets bigger in its home market still outweighs the downside. the employees may the challenge: one of the common reasons to merge companies is so managements can cut costs, which generally means employees. therefore, every merger affects the staff at both the acquirer and the target to some degree. hostile mergers by their nature can amplify the very natural resentment some employees might feel after an acquisition. but within the world of banking, issues with a company’s employees can have a more pronounced effect. in a bank, many employees are important contacts with the customers, and in some cases they can leave and take the customers with them. think of wealth managers who generate fee income and have personal relationships with clients. if senior managers leave, normal business may get disrupted. loans stop getting processed, new sales leads go quiet. even tellers leaving can be a problem that helps push customers to a competitor. many of these kinds of problems can be partially solved with money, but it can cost a lot, and isn’t sustainable. a takeover’s economics often depend on layoffs or branch closures, so employees know that their job security is under threat. if the acquirer has to give some employees a big raise to keep them at the job and happy, it likely exacerbates whatever the company had to overpay by going hostile in the first place. surana the answer: the deal is actually less hostile than it seems. in its announcement of the offer, bbva pledged to keep “the best talent and culture of both entities.” and bbva made “friendly” offers, such as having an integration committee with members from both banks, keeping the management team at sabadell’s sme (small and medium enterprises) business, and maintaining the sabadell brand. bbva also has a track record of successfully integrating companies through mergers across geographies. that experience should help here. the loan book may the challenge: when two banks negotiate a friendly merger, at some point the acquiring bank will get to look at the loan book of the target bank. if not the entire book, they will at least see some of the bigger loans. this is critical, because it tells the acquirer if there are problems looming that wouldn’t be visible to an outside party. in a hostile merger, the acquiring bank is an outside party. it will not get that inside look at the bank’s true balance sheet. if there are any problematic loans or brewing issues, the acquirer will find out about them only after it has bought the company. surana the answer: these companies are already very familiar with each other. bbva held merger talks with sabadell in 2020 and has long mulled the benefits of integrating the two companies. they were close to a friendly deal in 2020, and close this year, too, until the merger talks leaked. taking a merger offer hostile adds extra risks to what is already an inherently risky maneuver. add up all the extra costs that come with a hostile transaction and the odds of it adding value for shareholders get very long. bbva has enough levers and cushions to offset those risks and still make this deal work, if it can maintain its discipline on price and focus on execution. what did you think of this piece? factor investing as seen in the chart above, investors largely favored value stocks as the global economy began to reemerge from the covid 19 pandemic following emergency use authorization of the first vaccine in late 2020. this headwind for growth stocks has been most significant, and enduring, in international markets. for example, the msci all country world ex us growth index lagged its value counterpart by nearly 30 percentage points in the three years through october 2023. but while the value rally has continued outside the us, 2023 saw investors reembrace us growth stocks despite their relatively high valuations. for international quality growth investors, the hope, of course, was that resurgent performance for us growth stocks would herald a similar trend elsewhere. although this has yet to be the case, the variability in the performance of growth stocks in recent months may suggest a reversal in style trends is approaching. for example, the return spread between international value stocks and international growth stocks does appear to be flattening. there is also reason to question the underpinnings of a rally characterized by companies with weak profits. in many cases, the catalysts for the rise in their shares have been speculative or one off developments, such as the announcement of share buybacks, a short lived valuation opportunity, or takeover chatter. a clear example is the broad rotation toward stocks of low quality, cyclical companies in japan on anticipation that a flurry of reforms may, eventually, improve corporate governance and shareholder returns in the country. the idea that highly profitable, growing companies outside the us will continue to perform the way they have over the last three and a half years isn’t supported by their earnings outlook. therefore, a rotation back into growth may not be far off in the future. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis in semiconductor manufacturing, a single speck of dust poses a threat to production. it’s why cleanrooms, the sterile labs where silicon wafers get etched and cut into pieces, and then packaged as finished chips with thousands of steps in between contain few humans. to reduce the risk of contamination and defects, materials are largely transported by automated monorail systems that travel along the ceiling. daifuku, based in japan, is a leading provider of cleanroom automation solutions such as the monorail described above, which tsmc, samsung, intel, and others depend on to keep chip production on track. each monorail extends 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) and is equipped with about 1,000 autonomous vehicles, called front opening unified pods (foups). typically, multiple cleanrooms operate together, with several monorail systems connected to one another. each foup can travel 200 meters (656 feet) per minute. this speed is important because the photoresist light sensitive polymers will degrade if the process takes too long. dynamic routing, or the ability of the foups to find the best path depending on the wafer’s condition while avoiding collision with other vehicles, is one of daifuku’s key competitive strengths. because the company has only one significant rival, murata machinery, daifuku enjoys strong bargaining power over buyers. (samsung has a subsidiary that also does some of this work, but exclusively for its parent company.) and although the broader cleanroom automation market is largely split between daifuku and murata, fabrication facilities, or fabs, working on the most cutting edge technology chips with features two and three nanometers small that are highly sensitive to contamination and degradation and require more precision primarily turn to daifuku. to create smaller transistors and other components, fabs not only must limit airborne and aerosol particles but also minimize machine vibrations and have other critical environmental controls. daifuku is distinguished by its ability to engineer large, sophisticated projects such as these. rather than focus on manufacturing all the disparate parts that go into an automation system, the company’s core competency is designing ways for various solutions to work together to address each customer’s increasingly complex needs. cleanroom automation isn’t daifuku’s only business, although it may soon be its biggest. for much of the company’s 87 year history, its largest source of revenue has been factory and warehouse conveyor systems, including those used today by amazon.com, home depot, and walmart to swiftly transport boxes around facilities that can span several football fields. its elevator like systems of storage racks can also organize and retrieve crates stacked multiple stories high (a common setup in asia, where land is limited, and warehouses tend to be tall rather than wide). daifuku’s systems are also used in automotive plants to hoist cars through assembly lines, and in airports to move baggage. in 2023, cleanroom automation solutions grew to account for about a third of daifuku’s sales nearly on par with the intralogistics division that serves warehouses. but by 2025, cleanrooms will likely be the largest part of daifuku’s business. the growth is being fueled by the changing production needs of its chipmaking customers, both in how and where they assemble their devices. first, the how. this requires a brief tour through the physics of chipmaking as well as moore’s law, which is the observation that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every two years with a minimal rise in cost. as these devices get smaller, more can be added to the chips, giving them more processing power. however, innovations in transistor size have slowed in recent years, which is leading chipmakers to explore other solutions in a paradigm shift known as “more than moore.” for instance, tsmc chairman mark liu projects that within a decade, a graphics processing unit (gpu), a type of chip used for ai, will contain 1 trillion transistors, up from about 100 billion today, but the current pace of transistor miniaturization won’t allow such density. unable to shrink transistors much further so that they fit side by side, chipmakers are instead stacking them in vertical layers, which saves space and improves processing efficiency by shortening the distance that signals must travel. what does this mean for daifuku? more of chipmakers’ budgets may be set to flow its way, as priorities shift from the front end of the production process, where the sizes of the chips and components are determined, to the back end, where transistor stacking and packaging takes place. in 2021, global semiconductor capital expenditures totaled nearly us$100 billion. about 80% of this went to the front end, as the focus on chip miniaturization over the past decade required foundries such as tsmc to make large outlays for expensive lithography machines that print the chips. now, as stacking and packaging become more technical and important to increasing performance, greater investment will be needed to automate that stage of the process. by 2027, back end solutions should account for 20% to 30% of daifuku’s cleanroom sales. if back end production becomes fully automated, it may be just as profitable for daifuku as the front end, with operating margins of 10% and higher. the other source of growth for daifuku is a shift in where chip production takes place, as governments such as the us and japan try to bring key tech manufacturing closer to home. the semiconductor industry association (sia) projects that wafer starts per month in the us will more than triple by 2032, taking the country’s share of global chip fabrication capacity from 10% to 14%. consequently, manufacturers will have to contend with higher labor costs and a shortage of skilled workers. this increases the need for automation, including at the back end as the focus shifts to packaging. the us currently has only a small share of the us$95 billion assembly, test, and packaging market. but it wouldn’t make much sense to bring front end chip production work to the us only to have to ship components to asia for the final steps. therefore, the chips and science act, passed in 2022, includes us$3 billion to build the country’s capabilities in advanced packaging. according to the sia, companies such as amkor technology, intel, samsung, and sk hynix are already planning packaging related investments for facilities in arizona, new mexico, indiana, and texas. these changes to the supply chain and chipmaking process, along with the broader advances being made in computing, are all favorable long term trends for daifuku. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis tomra has a dominant business position. the company’s scale, brand, and service network are difficult to match for smaller competitors or new entrants. it has a 70% global market share in reverse vending machines, and roughly 50% of the market for sorting machines. a third division focuses on adapting its sorting technology for production and processing in the food industry. given the strength of its main businesses, and the increasing interest among companies, consumers, and regulators for more recycled material in products, tomra seemed primed for profitable growth as the go to equipment supplier in this “circular economy.” from 2017 through 2021, the company compounded its earnings at a 13% rate. at a capital markets day in 2022 it promised more of the same to boost revenues 15% per year while expanding margins. but since that capital markets day, which coincided with turnover in the executive team, the company’s execution has faltered. earnings this year are expected to be lower than they were three years ago. tomra was hurt by inflation, as existing contracts prevented the company from increasing prices to offset rising costs. the company was also the victim of a severe cyberattack, which cost us$20 million to remediate. in the food division, the company had to undergo a drastic restructuring after a series of acquisitions led to a disjointed operation. world class industrial businesses often have an ethos that focuses their work force and strategy on what’s most important think danaher’s famous danaher business system, parker hannifin’s win strategy, or honeywell’s accelerator program. the companies attribute their historical success to these systems because they focus decision makers on organic growth, profitability, and return on invested capital. we’d like to see tomra’s management take a similar approach and pay more attention to concrete financial metrics as opposed to buzzwords like “circular economy” or “food security.” talking about cash flow return on investment and other hard numbers with investors often encourages a more dedicated focus on them. in the first quarter of this year, two of tomra’s three divisions lost money, yet on its earnings call with investors, the management team hardly referenced the dismal results. in fact, in the opening 30 minutes of the one hour call, the ceo made scant reference to tomra’s lackluster financial results. the second quarter results showed some promise; revenue for its reverse vending machines rose 15%, an encouraging sign. earnings, however, for the first six months fell from 2023’s levels. while tomra has endured a challenging period, it still has a dominant position in a growing market, and some mid  to long term drivers of growth are still intact. jurisdictions from quebec to tasmania are planning to launch deposit programs this year and next, albeit others are rethinking plans; france for instance cancelled a planned bottle recycling program. but austria, poland, hungary, and romania have also emerged as new markets. additionally, the technology the company has developed for sorting recyclables can be leveraged for other uses; the company expanded into metal recycling in 2006 and mining in 2008 as well as food sorting. the company says its machines collect more than 46 billion used beverage containers every year, and that collection rates in markets with deposit programs are higher than those with curbside collection plans. tomra has managed to boost revenues steadily over the past decade, which points to a degree of stability. the new management’s missteps combined with the changing interest rate environment and countries altering recycling plans have sown doubt. there is still a business and environmental case to be made for tomra. what we’re looking for are signs that the new management team is balancing those two things more effectively. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance in uk soccer, the sport with which i am involved, in contrast, the league is composed of linked divisions arranged in a hierarchy where membership of each division changes at the end of every season based on merit, so that the top few teams in each division move up in the hierarchy, and the bottom few clubs move down. the drama around the joy of promotion to a higher division and the misery of relegation to a lower one is part of what makes the sport so compelling; for fans (and owners) of clubs involved in the battle to win one or avoid the other, the chase can be both thrilling and terrifying. another significant difference, particularly in soccer, is that the frequency with which players are traded is much greater than that in most american sports. trading of players (technically, of their contracts) takes place in two transfer windows, a long one that starts before the season begins and stays open until the season is a month old, and a short one in the middle of the season the month of january. players are, of course, any club’s biggest asset, and once assets start being traded, any investment person will wonder what determines the price of those assets and how that market price relates to “true” value of the asset. in investing, practitioners have a model that claims the value of an asset is the value of the cash flows it generates in the future, discounted back to a present value using a discount rate that is the sum of a risk free interest rate and an equity risk premium. we all accept that the model is imperfect, but investors such as us believe that prices are more volatile than values and that they converge on value over some indeterminate time frame. over short periods prices are set by the preponderance of buyers and sellers, but eventually, underlying values dominate prices. as ben graham observed, “in the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” there is no such model that underlies prices in the market for soccer players (and i apologize to all players for considering them only as tradeable assets in this piece. they are, of course, human beings and, unlike stocks that are indifferent to ownership, have preferences about where and for whom they play). the result is that prices for soccer players are driven by the quantity of money available in the industry and often appear to have little basis in the value that is created by that player on the field (or pitch). buyers have been attracted to rising prices for soccer clubs and more money has entered the industry in recent years, leading to a rapid increase in the price for an average player. prices for clubs similarly appear unrelated to their value. the discounted present value of cash flows generated by clubs in the division in which my club plays is strongly negative, with the average club losing over £25 million a year, sometimes on revenues that are less than the losses. owners should pay to have these liabilities taken off their hands. (i hasten to add that my club operates on a cash flow breakeven basis, but still doesn’t generate cash flows that could accrue to its shareholders). instead, prices of clubs and players are determined, as is often the case in the real estate market, by “comparables” buyers and sellers look at prices of similar assets and negotiate based on that. in an industry where money has been available in increasing amounts, but the numbers of clubs and players roughly fixed, that has led, unsurprisingly, to price inflation. at my club plymouth argyle, we have embarked on a strategy to try to generate returns from player trading. we allocated some funds last year to buy players with the intention that they would increase in price and then be sold, generating profits to be reinvested or used to pay higher wages for more skillful players establishing a portfolio of players, if you will. as part of that effort, we have thought about a model to determine value in the absence of associated cash flows. we could, for example, say that promotion to a higher division would increase the club’s revenues by £x million, and that an individual player could increase the probability of capturing those revenues by y%. that is possible, if not easy, and enables us to put an expected value on an individual player. the trouble is that the resulting number bears little relation to the actual market prices for players, coming up with a value that’s significantly less than actual market prices! we could also accept that the market for clubs is what it is, and that prices for clubs rise as they ascend the league’s divisions so base the expected value for a player on the contribution he makes to the probability of promotion and the value of that promotion, or to avoiding relegation. again, this is not a true anchor in value, simply in prices for clubs. this is, of course, quite different from investing in stocks, where, as i’ve pointed out, prices, in the long run, are determined by underlying value. but how firm is that underpinning? is it really so much more objective and calculable than the trading of sports stars? investment professionals, and finance academics, like to talk about the “intrinsic value” of a stock, once the analysis has been done, the forecasts made, and the discount rate applied. but is there really an intrinsic value that is separate from the preferences of the valuer? as my colleague andrew west has written, “valuation is always an estimate, and valuation always requires a valuer.” the forecasts that analysts make of cash flows far into the future reflect subjective views about that future not just about management’s ability to control costs, impose higher prices, gain market share or invest retained earnings successfully, but also about competitive positions in the industry in which the company operates and the industry’s competitive structure and growth rates. and all that occurs before the analyst considers the economic environment in which the company operates. the choice of discount rates presents further opportunities for subjectivity. the risk free rate is observable in the us treasury market (though which treasury should be used to approximate rates in the future is debatable) but the equity risk premium is highly contentious and perhaps is best described in terms of individual risk and return preferences and needs. in my career i’ve heard perfectly sensible people argue that the equity risk premium should be zero, and others argue that it should be 600 basis points. value is in the eye of the beholder and an estimate of true value is closer to an estimate of what the market is prepared to pay than fundamental investors such as us like to admit. in thinking about stock portfolios, as in thinking about the value of a squad of footballers, we cannot ignore what the market is prepared to pay when thinking about portfolio construction and even about long term returns. what did you think of this piece? active vs. passive in june, asset manager blackrock announced its intention to liquidate its frontier & select em etf, which once had assets exceeding us$400 million. the company cited currency liquidity challenges in several smaller frontier markets as the main reason for its decision. blackrock’s decision to close its passive fem fund underscores our long held belief that the idiosyncratic nature of frontier and small emerging markets, as well as their volatility and liquidity characteristics, make them much better suited for an active rather than passive investment strategy. markets such as egypt and nigeria have indeed faced challenges with repatriation due to unsustainable currency pegs, which both countries abandoned earlier this year. since then, nigeria was eliminated from the benchmark by index provider msci in february. also, egypt has attracted us$35 billion from a consortium led by abu dhabi’s adq investment company and an additional us$5 billion from the imf, easing liquidity pressure there. we also note that blackrock shuttered its fund as the fem index has actually become more balanced. from 2023 through the first half of 2024, msci added about 125 stocks to the msci fem index, resulting in lower country concentration for the benchmark. the philippines, once the largest market with more than 30% weight, is now 20%. in fact, the msci fem index is now more diversified than the msci em index. the five largest markets in fem the philippines, vietnam, peru, romania, and morocco constitute less than two thirds of the index weight while the five largest markets in em china, india, taiwan, south korea, and brazil account for more than three quarters of the index weight. not only is the fem index more diversified, the exposure that investors can achieve is markedly different than the msci em index. what did you think of this piece? factor investing international small caps continue to trade near their cheapest valuations relative to international large caps since the 2009 global recession. although they are also valued at a discount to us small caps, the spread hasn’t changed much over the last two decades. even relative to their own historical valuation multiples, international small caps look cheap, with the msci all country world ex us small cap index trading at a price to earnings ratio of 14.8, 19% below its 2021 peak. this indicates there is an attractive valuation opportunity for small cap investors, especially with respect to some high quality, fast growing international small companies. what did you think of this piece? factor investing one way to understand valuations is the required rate of return, which measures the minimum return for which investors will be willing to allocate capital. an outside view that we refer to is a valuation framework from ubs’ data analytics platform holt that backs out the implied required rate of return investors are demanding from securities in the market, referred to as the market implied yield. at a country level, india’s median market implied yield of 1.4% is at an all time low for india and an all time high premium relative to the broader em index. this is underscored when we look at the valuation across sectors. current valuations are at the extreme point of the five year range in all sectors, with the sole exception of financials. while india’s stock valuations remain high, regulators have highlighted a potential bubble, particularly in the mid cap segment, and have attempted to limit further domestic flows into these stocks. and with regards to soes, we suspect the fundamental weakness of these companies will become apparent over time and that the superior fundamentals of high quality, fast growing businesses will once again be reflected in stronger stock prices. what did you think of this piece? factor investing as we’ve explored previously, the performance of certain factors can shift markedly in just a few years. time will tell if this value rally gives way to better performance for more expensive, higher quality, faster growing companies in japan. outside of japan, there didn’t appear to be strongly defined style patterns. the heatmap above shows that there weren’t consistent headwinds or tailwinds when examining performance by measures of quality, growth, and value. there did, however, appear to be a style divergence between regions. in the eurozone, the fastest growing stocks performed in line with the slowest growing stocks. in emerging markets, the concentration effect of heavyweight stocks, including tsmc and tencent, flattered the returns of the highest quality, fastest growing cohorts, even while cheaper stocks outperformed. in asian markets excluding japan, the most expensive stocks only modestly outperformed the least expensive this past quarter. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis a small group of us stocks, dubbed the magnificent seven, continues to dominate returns in global markets. as seen in the chart above, nearly half of the gains in the msci all country world index for the first six months of 2024, and all of the gains in the second quarter, came from just these seven stocks. the phenomenon is not new, although it has become more extreme this year. the magnificent seven has accounted for about a third of the index’s return since the end of 2022: the chart above shows that when looking at these seven stocks in isolation, growth clearly outperforms: the fastest growing members of the magnificent seven those represented by the first quintile in the gray bar to the left rose nearly 12% in the second quarter, an 875 basis point (bp) lead over the second growth quintile, and a 1,200 bp lead over the slowest growing quintile on the far right of the chart. now, let’s look at the msci acwi index without the impact of the magnificent seven. as the orange bars show, growth still outperforms, but not by much. when stripping out those seven stocks, the index’s top quintile of growth gained just 4%, compared to a 3% overall return across all quintiles. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the three most important considerations for companies in the retail industry are product, price, and place. this is because a retailer generally differentiates itself through what it sells, how much it charges, or how convenient it is for customers to shop there. therefore, when new rivals enter the industry, they tend to target perceived shortcomings in one or more of these areas. the clearest example of how these dynamics can play out has been the rise of e commerce over the past two decades. websites such as amazon.com were able to take market share from store based retailers by providing shoppers a greater assortment, price transparency and savings, and the ability to shop from their homes. now, a new class of online retailers is finding room to further disrupt the 3ps of retail by offering deep discounts on trendy apparel and other impulse purchases. they include shein, a company that is aiming to go public soon, temu, a subsidiary of china’s pdd holdings, as well as tiktok shop, a shopping feature that was added to the namesake social media app owned by china’s bytedance. (while shein has moved its headquarters to singapore, its operations are also primarily in china.) all three cross border operators are bringing specific competitive advantages to large retail markets such as the us and brazil. perhaps because consumers in the us and elsewhere are accustomed to seeing “made in china” tags on their clothing, there is a misconception that china was always the domain of fast fashion cheap, rapidly produced apparel that mimics catwalk trends. traditionally, though, production and shipping lead times were longer in china, making it a more suitable supplier for brands such as nike than retailers trying to quickly recreate viral looks. leading fast fashion retailers such as inditex, the spanish parent of zara, and the british e ecommerce site asos source only about 30% to 40% of their merchandise from china and often turn to countries such as spain, portugal, morocco, and turkey for styles requiring a quicker turnaround. shein and temu, however, mostly rely on chinese suppliers, and they’re able to offer low prices in part because of the method they use to get their products from those suppliers to shoppers. by shipping individual orders directly to customers, they avoid us import duties, which are waived if a shipment’s value is less than us$800. us lawmakers have called this an unfair advantage over american retailers, many of which do pay import duties to bring in inventory made overseas. duties, particularly in countries with high duties, can be a meaningful component of costs, although their avoidance isn’t the only reason shein and temu can offer low prices. another is the efficiency of their supply chains and logistics operations. but while these relative newcomers have been popular with some consumers, there doesn’t appear to be much risk to high quality retail companies. one reason is that the retail market pie is so large, which means the rivalry dynamics are such that many different strategies can succeed at the same time. for example, even after getting off to a gangbuster start in the us, temu’s gross merchandise value represents just 1% of the us e commerce market, putting it significantly behind amazon at 38% and even walmart at 6%. its customer retention rate is also lower, suggesting that some shoppers may be drawn to the novelty of scoring a deal but aren’t becoming repeat customers. the sensor tower data below shows the proportion of apple iphone users who open the temu app at least once a month after downloading and how that compares to other retail apps; the large drop off in temu visitors is true among android users as well: to offer such low prices, shein and temu also can’t provide the speedy shipping that american shoppers have come to expect from companies with robust local distribution infrastructure, such as amazon and walmart. instead, the packages can take a week or longer to arrive from china. this is one reason that the risk to sales of large, easily accessible us discounters such as amazon and walmart, which has over 4,600 stores in the us more than one for every us county appears to be low. where shein has somewhat differentiated itself is in its use of artificial intelligence (ai), which helps it quickly respond to fashion trends and accelerate production of items that are expected to be in high demand. it’s a strategy that other retailers with high financial resources can replicate. ai may prove particularly advantageous for online marketplaces because of the tremendous amount of data that is captured by a company’s relationship with a large mix of buyers, sellers, and goods. so far, though, most of what the retail industry has done with ai doesn’t appear to be game changing. in fact, there are cautionary tales in which brands have put too much emphasis on technology and the product suffered as a result. for example, adidas said in 2019 that it over invested in digital advertising and focused too much on the number of shoppers clicking its ads rather than its overall brand perception. the category of retailers that would seem to be most at risk from competition from shein and temu are dollar stores given the similarities in product selection and prices. but even dollar stores have some differentiating characteristics. for example, many sell items that the chinese apps don’t, such as consumables. they also offer convenience for shoppers in need of an item quickly and the ability to inspect a product in person rather than scrolling through a long list of options. so far, new online challengers haven’t had a material impact on the dollar store industry. overall, high quality specialist companies have continued to grow despite the success of new challengers such as shein and temu. it’s because of their differing strategies around product, price, and place that the barriers to entry in retail are higher than most might assume. however, it is possible that market share gains by shein and temu will shake the stock price sentiment for even some high quality retailers, which may produce more attractive valuations and potential buying opportunities. what did you think of this piece? factor investing it has been our long standing belief that high quality businesses will weather difficult or shifting economic environments better than most. this, in part, is due to their operational resilience that allows us to hold on to our investments in their shares during periods of stock market turmoil. in our semi annual letter to shareholders, we examine the conundrum of the high quality return premium, and its possible explanation based in behavioral finance. and we emphasize our dedication to our rigorous investment process in considering companies fueling the recent artificial intelligence boom. our long experience may not be a guarantee of skill or prescience. but it does afford us perspective on the ways technological advances affect a wide variety of industries, and the companies operating within them globally. we’re optimistic that our thoughtful and evolving process to analyze those businesses, will, with dedicated effort, yield good long term investment results. read the full letter investments involve risk and loss is possible. the portfolio’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be read and considered carefully before investing. the statutory and summary prospectuses contain this and other important information about the investment company. they may be obtained by calling toll free (877) 435 8105, or visiting hardingloevnerfunds.com. the portfolio is distributed by quasar distributors, llc. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis since last year’s election of former lagos governor bola tinubu to the presidency, nigeria has implemented a series of economic reforms designed to stabilize the country after a decade of mismanagement and allow it to profit from its own potential. what we as investors are looking for is the proverbial inflection point, a time when the reforms start producing tangible economic benefits. that would be good for the nation in general, and it would also be particularly good for zenith bank, guaranty trust bank, and other large, high quality nigerian banks. tinubu had success turning around the economy in lagos as its governor, and he wasted no time in tackling the country’s sclerotic economy. on the day of his inauguration, he abruptly ended a decades old subsidy paid to oil companies to keep fuel prices low that cost the government us$10 billion a year, more than it spent on education or health care. he reorganized the county’s foreign exchange system and abandoned the naira’s currency peg it has fallen about 70% against the dollar since and took other steps geared toward improving the economy and boosting tax revenue. since ending the subsidy, the price of oil (which is a strong source of revenue in nigeria) has stabilized and credit quality issues that plagued the energy sector have improved. credit trends, for now at least, are stable. two currency devaluations have removed a lot of the concerns about the previous monetary regime. so far, the reforms seem to be well received by outside observers. in early may, the ratings agency fitch upgraded the country’s outlook to positive from stable, based on the initial success of tinubu’s reform package. there is good reason for investors to pay attention. nigeria’s demographics are compelling: it has the sixth largest global population, one that is young and fast growing. demographic tailwinds can be powerful over longer periods of time as penetration of banking and insurance services naturally expand as countries develop. even amid the travails of recent years the country’s high quality banks have fared well. zenith and guaranty trust consistently post a return on assets north of 3%, compared to the more typical 1 2% earned by most banks around the globe. recent earnings might seem to indicate the hoped for inflection point has arrived, and investors may also be enticed by the fact that zenith and guaranty trust trade well below book value. but the earnings are somewhat misleading since both banks posted large and unsustainable hedging gains due to the naira devaluation. nevertheless, their operating performance demonstrates their relative stability amid the volatility induced by the reform package. a larger argument against the idea that an inflection point’s been reached is the reality that unwinding the mistakes of the past 8 to 10 years is going to be extremely difficult. tinubu’s reforms, while necessary, have caused lots of pain and economic hardship. the currency devaluation feeds straight into inflation, which is running north of 30%. that, combined with the removal of the fuel subsidy and later an electricity subsidy as well, was too hard a pill for the majority of the mostly poor population to swallow. it seems likely that the next couple of years will be rocky and there may be credit quality issues for the banks since credit stresses typically lag economic shocks. whatever the short term pain, though, we do believe that the long term picture is still positive, which is why we remain resolutely interested in nigerian companies, not just the banks. the policy changes this new government has made will hopefully put the economy on a better growth trajectory and make the society more prosperous. in fact, we’d go so far as to say that nigeria is lucky to have elected president tinubu at this critical time. he appears to be the right man to have taken over the country given its precarious economic state. after his success in lagos, it’s reasonable to have hope for his administration’s ability to turn the country around. but the path to better days ahead will likely be turbulent. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis fossil fuels are the lifeblood of modern society, used for everything from heating homes to powering cars and planes to generating the electricity that keeps the internet running. crude oil, natural gas, and coal currently meet about 80% of our energy needs globally, but 75% of carbon dioxide emissions come from finding and burning these fossil fuels. there is a consensus about transitioning away from those sources of energy, given how much they contribute to climate change, but there is not a consensus on how much our reliance upon them can be cut or what will replace them. there does not appear to be one clear replacement and there will likely be multiple pathways to decarbonizing the global economy. to understand our energy future, it is helpful to have a perspective on past efforts to develop new energy sources. in this excerpt from the 2024 harding loevner investor forum, our analysts offer some perspective on the history of energy transition. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis when most people think of automation in driving, they think of cars that could operate anywhere without a human driver, or what the society of automotive engineers calls “level 5 automation.” but many cars on the road today offer some level of automation, whether it’s lane centering features or adaptive cruise control, or both. the key distinction in these so called level 1 and level 2 systems is that these features support the driver, rather than replacing the driver as the higher levels would. the market for the driver assistance technology is currently dominated by the israeli company mobileye. the company’s eyeq system analyzes the input from a camera and sensors to alert drivers to dangerous traffic conditions and can initiate maneuvers such as evasive steering when a collision is imminent. as of last year, the company has captured about 70% of the private vehicle market with its basic driver assistance tools, with more than 50 automaker clients including volkswagen, ford, toyota, and chinese electric vehicle maker geely. mobileye now hopes to leverage its success in basic driver assistance solutions to allow it to have similar success in more advanced levels of automated driving. mobileye rolled out supervision, its level 2+ driving assistance solution, in 2021. the system requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road, but they can let go of the steering wheel and let the automated system take over in specific circumstances such as on “all regular road types at up to 80 miles per hour,” according to the company. in 2026, the company plans to release a true level 3 autonomy system it calls mobileye chauffeur. that system would enable motorists to take their eyes off the road and their hands off the steering wheel in a wider array of traffic conditions, another step toward fully autonomous cars. these more advanced systems come with extra risks for the company. if a car is involved in an accident while the automated systems are engaged, the manufacturer of the driver assistance tools can be held legally responsible for the incident. the added liability risk and the regulatory certification process, especially for level 3 cars and above, are two of the reasons why few companies have ventured to bring advanced self driving cars to market. there is also strong competition in the market. the biggest threat is from large automakers that can afford to produce technologies for self driving cars that could replace, or surpass, mobileye’s offerings. an example is mercedes benz, which in 2023 introduced the first level 3 automation system approved for use in the united states. chipmakers such as nvidia and qualcomm also make competitive products. one of mobileye’s competitive advantages so far has been the low cost of its systems. since they are mass produced and compatible with over 800 car models, the company has economies of scale that reduces the per unit cost of its products. the company’s basic driver’s assistance package sells to manufacturers for about us$50 per eyeq unit, while the supervision product is sold for between us$1,000 and us$2,000 per system. last year, most supervision units were sold to the electric vehicle maker geely. the cost of mobileye’s automation systems for consumers depends on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. for example, ford recommends car dealerships charge consumers a us$600 to us$700 markup for the ford escape active suv, with level 2 automation features. this is compared with tesla’s level 2 offerings. while most tesla car models are manufactured with the basic autopilot features pre installed, consumers can upgrade to the enhanced autopilot function for us$6,000 or the full self driving package for us$12,000. so far, orders for mobileye’s advanced offerings have been below market expectations for 2024 as the company initially expected to ship 175,000 to 195,000 supervision units to a handful of large automakers including porsche, china’s faw group, geely, and india’s mahindra. but mobileye’s stock edged up in late march after volkswagen group announced it would use supervision and chauffeur in the future production of car brands such as audi, bentley, and lamborghini, and also unveiled a partnership with mobileye to rollout a robot taxi fleet in 2026. despite the positive update, investors would like to see more large western automakers join the ranks of customers for the company’s new system. mobileye says it’s in talks with 11 manufacturers who make 37% of global light vehicles. if the company wins more deals with automotive companies that essentially give up on their in house autonomous vehicle systems, mobileye could create a competitive moat to defend its long term profits and market share. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the lower house of france’s parliament passed a bill in february that would impose a “sin tax” of up to 10 euros or 50% of the selling price on fast fashion clothing, a severe penalty given that many of these products cost less than €10. the bill would also ban advertising and demands that companies in the industry disclose the environmental impact of their businesses. the bill was approved unanimously and moved to the upper house of parliament. if it becomes law, it will make france one of the first countries to impose this type of penalty on fast fashion companies. fast fashion has become a roughly us$120 billion industry and is projected to grow to us$185 billion by 2027. shein, h&m, temu, zara, and others have built worldwide businesses by creating cheap clothing in bulk as quickly as possible to respond to changing fashion trends, especially for a growing global middle class with more disposable income. the crux of the problem is that fast fashion tends to encourage what many consider an excessive amount of consumption. traditional clothing companies might release new lines four times a year; fast fashion companies do so weekly or even daily. the clothes are designed to be relatively cheap and worn for a short period of time before being discarded, sometimes after only seven or eight wears. consumers are then expected to buy the next hot thing. the result? people are buying more clothes, an estimated 60% more, but keeping them only half as long as they would a more durable, higher quality piece of clothing. those dynamics exacerbate the environmental impacts of an industry that is inherently polluting to begin with. conventional textile mills generate about one fifth of the world’s industrial water pollution. about 20 35% of all the microplastics in the world’s oceans come from microfibers shed by clothes as they are washed. the industry also produces veritable mountains of unsold clothing, which get burned or thrown into landfills strewn around the global south. (shein, for one, has argued that its business model better matches supply with demand and produces less unsold clothing). businesses with a high volume, low price model, such as shein and temu, would be the most vulnerable to a tax like the one france is contemplating, given higher prices would test consumer demand. the effects would also depend on how the french regulation ends up defining “fast fashion.” it may cover only the “fastest” companies, such as shein and temu, or it could include older, more established players like zara and h&m. an advertising ban would severely limit companies’ ability to grow, and the tax would cut into both growth and profits. while it would be a competitive benefit for “slower” fashion companies, placing severe costs and restrictions on even part of the industry could cement the image of fashion as “sinful,” making it easier for other governments to levy taxes or fees on all players over time. lastly, a bill such as this could be politically divisive, opposed by consumers who are already facing economic strains. on one level, france’s bill is aimed directly at the environmental impact of fast fashion companies, but there is another motive behind the bill. this bill would give a competitive advantage to france’s domestic fashion and retail industry and protect it from upstarts. but lawmakers in other jurisdictions are also looking at the industry. the eu’s european commission has been working for four years on regulations for the industry that should enter into force by 2030. in the us, state lawmakers in new york and california have introduced bills that address the fast fashion industry’s environmental effects. and in 2022, massachusetts banned textiles being thrown out in the garbage, mandating they be recycled. what did you think of this piece? factor investing the difficulty in pinning down exactly what’s behind such canonical factors as quality, value, and momentum shouldn’t be a surprise. factors can only be observed after the fact, but the underlying mechanisms that produce them are hidden. they are birthed from the complex interplay of buying and selling against a backdrop of economic and geopolitical shifts, all woven together by intricate feedback loops. because they emerge as properties of a complex system, and because their returns wax and wane over decades, pinpointing a definitive root cause is quite the challenge. among factors, perhaps the biggest puzzle, however, is what lies behind the excess returns that have accrued to companies with strong balance sheets, consistent profitability, and operational excellence, typically referred to as the quality factor. investors should be willing to pay up for such enviable characteristics, and they do, but not as much as they should and therein lies the puzzle. narratives about risk can shed light on the performance of value stocks, and the idea of slow spreading information can account for momentum, but what exactly is behind the outperformance of high quality stocks remains elusive. for behavioralists, often mistakenly criticized as viewing every market inefficiency as proof of human imperfection, the quality factor is a reflection of rational, yet imperfect, heuristics that sometimes lead to less than optimal outcomes. for strictly orthodox economists who hold fast to the notion of a perfectly rational human agent, every excess return must be a manifestation of some as yet unrecognized risk. and a more unconventional viewpoint turns the traditional understanding of the quality factor on its head, suggesting instead that what we’re observing is not a premium for high quality so much as discount applied to everything else. an argument that resonates with us, given our interest in decision making, is that the quality premium is a strange brew that is cooked up in a cauldron of behavioral biases. one such bias is our species’ attraction to novelty which isn’t just a quirk, but a survival mechanism with deep evolutionary roots, aiding in resource discovery, adaptation, learning, and fostering genetic diversity. however, in the realm of investing, this penchant for the new and thrilling such as groundbreaking companies or industries believed to hold unparalleled growth potential can be a double edged sword. while novelty propels us toward innovation, it may also detract from investment performance as the inclination towards novelty can distract us from well established, dependable companies, causing these reliable (but perhaps less flashy) businesses to trade at undemanding valuations. investing in the latest hot stocks or jumping on board the next big thing also comes with perks that aren’t just about money. being able to dazzle friends and colleagues with tales of daring portfolio moves might not do much for your bank balance but may well boost your social standing. a desire for non financial psychic returns, a feature of gambling and other negative expected value pastimes, can prompt investors to pursue the latest speculative ventures over more reliable, high quality firms, even though the latter may offer superior financial gains in the long run. overconfidence and the illusion of knowledge are additional behavioral hurdles for investors, leading them to overestimate their ability to spot the next big thing or accurately forecast market movements. such overconfidence often diverts attention away from companies with a history of reliable performance towards those that appear to be future market leaders. overconfidence can also lead investors to underestimate risks and overlook red flags in highly volatile stocks or sectors, fostering a false sense of security about their ability to navigate market turbulence unscathed. by favoring novelty, seeking social status, or falling prey to overconfidence, investors might overlook the superior long term performance potential of high quality companies, thus contributing to the observed excess returns. by favoring novelty, seeking social status, or falling prey to overconfidence, investors might overlook the superior long term performance potential of high quality companies, thus contributing to the observed excess returns. while the idea that behavioral biases divert investors away from high quality stocks provides a credible rationale for the excess return to high quality companies, it flies in the face of notions of market efficiency. after all, if these biases are evident, why haven’t they been competed away by savvy arbitrageurs? an alternative perspective that coheres with behavioral explanations yet also aligns with notions of investor rationality is encapsulated by the low beta anomaly or beta puzzle. this refers to the empirical finding that low beta stocks (stocks that have lower sensitivity to overall index returns) on average tend to deliver higher risk adjusted returns, in direct contradiction of what is predicted by the capital asset pricing model (capm). high quality companies, in addition to their strong fundamentals, typically have stocks with low betas. according to the capm, the expected return on a stock is directly related to its beta, which measures its sensitivity to market movements. higher beta stocks are expected to have higher returns to compensate for their higher risk and vice versa. however, in practice the opposite holds true, with lower beta stocks on average yielding higher returns than would be expected and vice versa. higher beta stocks are expected to have higher returns to compensate for their higher risk and vice versa. however, in practice the opposite holds true, with lower beta stocks on average yielding higher returns than would be expected and vice versa. fisher black, famously known for co developing the black scholes option pricing model, was among the first to spotlight the beta puzzle. in the early 1970s, black posited that borrowing limitations might be a key factor behind the low beta anomaly. the capm presupposes that investors can freely borrow and lend at the risk free rate, allowing them to adjust their leverage to meet their preferred risk levels. black noted that in practice, investors faced restrictions on leverage, preventing them from achieving their desired beta through leverage adjustments alone. consequently, they had to alter their portfolio composition to reach their beta objectives, resulting in the low beta anomaly. black’s theory was plausible at the time, considering the high trading costs and assorted frictions which made it hard for investors to access leverage. yet, half a century later, after an explosion of innovation in financial derivatives and an extended period of ultra easy borrowing conditions, the notion that investors are leverage constrained seems almost quaint. more likely the beta puzzle stems from the inherent limitations of the capm itself. as a static model that assumes market equilibrium and provides only a momentary glimpse of how a stock’s expected returns correlate with market returns, it fails to consider the evolution of this relationship over time. this shortcoming of the capm is particularly acute in the model’s failure to account for the tendency of betas to converge during periods of market distress. the phrase “all betas go to one in a crisis” succinctly captures this phenomenon, where individual stock behaviors become increasingly synchronized under severe market conditions. this convergence is largely caused by a widespread rush for liquidity and a collective retreat from risk, as leveraged investors indiscriminately divest assets in their dash for cash. in such times, the unique attributes that typically differentiate stock performances become overshadowed by systemic risk, which exerts a uniform pressure across the market. consequently, the usual factors that contribute to diverse performance fade into the background, and the collective retreat from risk catalyzes a comprehensive market downturn. this scenario sees individual stocks’ returns align closely with the market average, effectively normalizing betas to one, a shift that capm does not anticipate. this dynamic has the effect of disadvantaging low beta stocks while benefiting high beta stocks during crises. high beta portfolios, which are inherently riskier under normal conditions, experience a relative decline in beta during a crisis, providing a form of wealth protection not accounted for if beta remained unchanged. in contrast, investors with low beta portfolios find themselves at a disadvantage as their stocks, previously less sensitive to market movements, start mirroring the broader market. technically, the high beta portfolio exhibits positive convexity, meaning that losses diminish in relative terms during a crisis, while the low beta portfolio shows negative convexity, with losses accelerating. positive convexity is desirable, something investors are willing to pay a premium for, whereas negative convexity, representing increased risk, is something investors expect compensation to endure. and, as market pricing incorporates the convexity associated with different portfolios, the premium attached to low beta, or high quality, stocks emerges as a form of compensation for the negative convexity they bear during times of crisis. but while convexity may well be a piece of the quality puzzle, its impact is likely peripheral, affecting primarily those stocks where low beta coincides with high quality. moreover, attributing all the excess return to convexity adjustments alone is hard to square with its overall magnitude, which typically ranges from 1% to 3% annually across global equity markets. even staunch proponents of rational expectations struggle to justify such a rich premium for convexity alone, suggesting that additional drivers must be at play. one possible explanation, albeit one that is perhaps a little far fetched, turns the whole notion of a quality factor on its head by proposing that the phenomenon is less about higher quality companies generating superior returns and more about lower quality companies consistently eroding shareholder value. and while this may seem like a distinction without a difference, leading to the same outcome, it shifts the locus of investigation and suggests that one key to understanding the excess returns from high quality stocks lies in understanding this erosion of shareholder value. a clue lies buried in the arcana of equity index valuation. given that stocks are ultimately a claim on future cash flows, a common heuristic for stock expected returns is the inverse of the price to earnings (pe) ratio, known as the earnings yield. building on this concept, robert shiller, in an influential 1988 paper co authored with john campbell exploring long term mean reversion in stock prices, proposed a refinement. he recognized that since earnings fluctuate with the business cycle, a simple pe analysis based on the last year’s earnings would distort expected returns. to mitigate this, shiller proposed using a ten year average of real earnings instead of a single year’s earnings in the calculation. this adjustment, known as the cyclically adjusted earnings yield (cape), by removing the year to year volatility in earnings, offered a more reliable view on long term stock expected returns by smoothing or removing the effects of business cycles. shiller’s research attracted attention for its implications on mean reversion, challenging the dominant idea that stock markets follow a random walk. a less noticed aspect of his work is how it highlighted the systematic overstatement of earnings. specifically, his findings showed that, on average in the us since 1870, expected returns as reflected by the cape have consistently exceeded realized real returns. the discrepancy between the expected returns calculated using cape and the actual returns achieved by investors, often called earnings slippage, is a puzzle. while this gap exists, it’s relatively small under 50 basis points (bps) when assessed over the same ten year period horizon as the cape. interestingly, this gap has been diminishing since the turn of the century, but not because of accelerating earnings growth but rather due to surging market valuations. given that shiller’s premise is that valuations mean revert, adjusting for this recent expansion in valuations nudges an estimate of earnings slippage closer to 100bps. while this figure is similar to the excess returns seen from high quality companies, it doesn’t equate earnings slippage with the excess return to quality directly. however, earnings slippage does suggest an intriguing possibility: perhaps high quality companies are indeed delivering the true expected equity risk premium, with the broader market persistently falling short. while it’s nigh on impossible to pinpoint the exact causes of earnings slippage, potential culprits include aggressive pension accounting, the omission of stock option expenses, and good old fashioned featherbedding and fraud. but the biggest culprit is most likely poor allocation of capital by those responsible for managing the business on behalf of its owners. the connection between bad investments and inflated earnings might not be immediately intuitive, as poor capital allocation decisions typically lead to losses, not inflated earnings. however, the mechanism through which bad investments can contribute to apparent earnings slippage involves the timing of investment gains and losses, along with accounting practices that can obscure the true financial impact of these investments. investments in corporate jets ostensibly to maximize the efficiency of senior executives come to mind as does the asymmetric nature of stock options that have an uncanny tendency to be reset when things go awry. the phenomenon of earnings slippage offers another possible explanation for the quality factor. rather than a reward for superior management and profitability, it might be more accurately seen as a penalty on the rest of the market for its capital allocation failures. the phenomenon of earnings slippage offers another possible explanation for the quality factor. rather than a reward for superior management and profitability, it might be more accurately seen as a penalty on the rest of the market for its capital allocation failures. the excess returns to shares of high quality companies almost certainly don’t emanate from a single source. instead, it likely emerges from a nexus of influences behavioral biases that divert attention away from solid, albeit less exciting, investments; a market structure that rewards low beta stocks, contrary to classical models; and the tangible effect of companies’ capital allocation decisions on their long term value. the lack of a single cause for these excess returns to quality means that it cannot be fully automated or left to simple rules based strategies to be harvested. while these approaches may succeed in catching broad trends, they lack the discernment necessary to differentiate between genuine quality and superficial indicators of performance. this understanding of high quality as a reflection of the wider market’s capital allocation failures naturally leads us to the pivotal role of bottom up, stock by stock fundamental analysis. a meticulous, bottom up approach allows investors to peel back the layers of each potential investment, assessing the quality of its management, the efficacy of its capital allocation, and the sustainability of its business model. this granular analysis is crucial to identify companies that not only exemplify the traits associated with high quality in the past but are also positioned to sustain these traits in the face of market volatility and economic shifts going forward. such an approach recognizes that high quality is not merely the product of a few, easily quantifiable metrics but the outcome of numerous, interrelated elements that require careful consideration. by investing the time and effort into understanding each company’s unique context and fundamentals, investors can more dependably pursue the superior equity risk premium that high quality companies offer while resisting the myriad temptations to do otherwise. in essence, the pursuit of the excess return to high quality companies through fundamental analysis is not just a matter of preference but a strategic imperative. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis maria lernerman, cfa, portfolio manager for our global paris aligned and international carbon transition equity strategies, recently traveled to india to observe the country’s emission reduction initiatives first hand. in this video, she shares thoughts from her trip and highlights hurdles that the country must overcome to progress toward net zero status. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis sparkling water isn’t the only product looking cheaper at costco these days. during a quarterly earnings call in march, chief financial officer richard galanti seemed to signal an inflection point when he rattled off a variety of goods for which prices were being lowered: kirkland batteries (from us$17.99 down to us$15.99) and reading glasses (us$18.99 to us$16.99), as well as sporting goods and lawn care products. a bag of frozen fruit was even reduced by us$4. plus, there was a more subtle clue about the direction of retail pricing: inflation was mentioned just seven times on the call, compared with 35 times during the march 2023 earnings call. (as for the recent trade disruptions in the panama canal and red sea, management said this hadn’t pushed up prices because of the long term nature of shipping contracts.) costco’s results for the quarter were healthy, but they also contained signs that industry dynamics are beginning to shift. for example, given that overall inflation was flat across the retailer’s product categories, growth in same store sales was dependent on increased customer traffic. as inflation moderated in early 2024, increased traffic to costco’s stores was the source of same store sales growth to be sure, the us federal reserve’s battle with inflation is continuing. a commerce department report last week showed that the central bank’s preferred inflation gauge unexpectedly reaccelerated in march, throwing into question the interest rate cuts that were projected for later in the year, as well as providing a more complicated backdrop for costco’s pricing strategy. as consumer prices surged the last few years, costco thrived by offering relative discounts. its kirkland signature private label products tend to be at least 20% cheaper than national brands, and at the height of inflation, kirkland’s market penetration increased by 2%. one item in particular has become a symbol of costco savings: its iconic food court hot dog. even after inflation on food set multidecade records in 2022, the hot dog and soda combo still costs just us$1.50, the same price it’s been since 1985. costco has an advantage in setting prices because of its limited assortment of products. each store carries only about 4,000 stock keeping units, or skus the scannable barcodes assigned to each type of product. in contrast, skus at other big box retailers, such as target and walmart, can number in the tens of thousands. by purchasing fewer products in enormous quantities, costco’s purchasing power often exceeds that of its rivals, which enables it to set lower prices than the market. “we always want to be the first out there trying to lower prices,” galanti said in march. but if the economic environment is such that other retailers begin to lower prices, competition may increase. the prospect of rising competition leaves investors to wonder if that’s why costco seems hesitant to raise membership fees. only members can shop at costco’s warehouses, and the fee to be a member has traditionally gone up every five to six years. however, the last increase was nearly seven years ago in june 2017, suggesting the retailer is overdue for another bump. currently, the two membership options cost us$60 and us$120 a year. last may, galanti said that he felt “very good” about the ability to increase membership fees without hurting renewal rates or signups. but it’s easier to raise prices when prices in general are going up, and harder to do if inflation moderates. during the recent earnings call, galanti was vague about the company’s plans, adding only that the decision for when to raise fees doesn’t involve “some big analytical formula.” in the meantime, other retailers have introduced optional membership programs to encourage shoppers to spend more money with them. in 2020, walmart launched walmart+, a plan that costs us$98 a year and includes free shipping and delivery, fuel savings, and access to the paramount+ streaming tv service. in april, target introduced a similar program called target circle 360; for us$99 a year, users save on speedy shipping and are given an extra 30 days to make returns. there’s also amazon prime, a us$139 a year subscription with shipping and digital entertainment perks. for shoppers looking to buy in bulk, one of costco’s closest rivals is bj’s wholesale club, which similarly requires customers to become members and pay either us$55 or us$110 a year. despite the myriad in store and online shopping competitors, costco members remain especially loyal. about 93% in the us and canada, and 90.5% worldwide, renewed as of the latest quarter, with both rates essentially unchanged from a year ago. as costco’s membership base has grown, the proportion renewing their plans has remained consistent over time, international renewal rates should also build to near north america’s levels. that’s because many of its locations abroad are still new. in china alone, the company has opened six stores since 2019 to much initial fanfare (the grand opening of the first location drew such large crowds that it had to close early for the day). new stores initially attract consumers who are curious about costco but don’t necessarily live nearby or plan to remain members. therefore, it can take time for the customer base to stabilize. while costco remains a high quality company, the stock’s rally this year partly due to high expectations for its expansion in china has caused the valuation to become stretched relative to its growth prospects. the business is a steady grower, with revenue set to climb by mid to high single digits over the long term, yet as it grows it passes on savings to customers, which means margins shouldn’t change much. as competition increases and the company prepares to raise membership fees, investors will watch closely for any change to its membership growth. what did you think of this piece? factor investing japan remains the single largest country weight in the msci all country world ex us small cap index. however, the country’s weak economic growth, aging population, tight labor conditions, and chronic deflation have long made it a challenge to find high quality, growing companies there. government regulators and the tokyo stock exchange recently introduced a flurry of reforms aimed at improving corporate governance and shareholder returns. as discussed in our fourth quarter 2023 report, these actions have primarily benefited the cheapest stocks, given that they are typically associated with the least profitable and slowest growing companies. additionally, the bank of japan has raised short term interest rates, ending its decade long era of negative rates. this landmark move boosted japanese value stocks in the first quarter, further exacerbating the region’s style headwinds. as the chart above to the right shows, the cheapest stocks in japan outperformed the most expensive by nearly 1,600 basis points in the first quarter. for the trailing 12 month period, it’s worse: the spread between the most expensive and cheapest quintile was nearly 46%. the left and center charts show that investors also have favored slower growing and lower quality companies. we don’t know how long this value rally will persist. in the short run, some of the changes have clearly exacerbated, and could prolong, style headwinds for higher quality, faster growing companies. but over the long term, the changes in japanese business policy and mindset are positive developments. as more businesses raise their standards, the number of high quality companies in japan may increase. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis at harding loevner, we believe that whether a business thrives largely depends on the competitive structure of its industry, which we evaluate using michael porter’s five forces framework. nvidia has an estimated 95% share of the market for ai chips. its graphics processing units (gpus), which were originally used to power video games, have been adapted to become the key engine of ai computation. the customer base for these chips is highly concentrated and primarily consists of “hyperscalers” companies such as alphabet, amazon.com, meta, and microsoft that operate large networks of data centers with immense computing power and storage needs. more than half of nvidia’s data center revenue for its fiscal quarter that ended in january came from large cloud services providers, and one company alone accounted for 19% of last year’s total company revenue. from the porter perspective, a key factor in the bargaining power of buyers is their ability to backward integrate. all of the aforementioned customers have this capability, which threatens to diminish their reliance on nvidia. in our view, it’s only a matter of time before this manifests. in fact, amazon, google, and microsoft each have unveiled custom data center chips as potential substitutes for nvidia’s general purpose gpus. because each server in a data center performs only a few specific functions that are repeated over and over, these custom chips, called application specific integrated circuits (asics), are tailored to just the tasks the companies need them to perform. industry rivalry is also likely to increase. as the frenzied pace of spending on ai infrastructure eventually eases, companies will begin to look for less expensive options from new suppliers, which may include nvidia’s own customers. nvidia is a high quality company led by skillful managers. its revenue more than doubled over the past fiscal year, and net profit rose fivefold. but the high potential for increased rivalry and backward integration among key customers suggest that it is unlikely nvidia can continue growing at these rates with these margins while maintaining its grip on 95% of the ai chip market. the fragility of its competitive structure limits our valuation tolerance, which is why we exited the stock in the first quarter after holding it for more than five years. while it is possible that nvidia will continue to exceed increasingly aggressive consensus earnings forecasts for some time, we own other more attractively priced businesses that allow us to invest in ai’s potential. for example, microsoft and other providers of software and services have the advantage of being able to monetize generative ai technology without regard for whose gpus or asics are used in the future. microsoft’s customers also don’t appear to have the ability or interest to try to backward integrate; in fact, ai functionality such as its copilot chatbot are helping to lock in users. in general, as the applications for ai evolve, value is likely to shift from hardware, such as nvidia’s gpus, to the software and services built upon this infrastructure. read more about our software and services holdings in the first quarter global equity report. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis while challenges in china persist, chinese companies look better than china’s economy. some key parts of the chinese economy continue to stabilize. manufacturing activities expanded in march for the first time in six months, led by new orders from domestic customers as well as by export orders. the government is pushing for more domestic production in strategic industries such as green technology and advanced manufacturing. growth in services activities has remained good, with travel and tourism continuing to rebound. we are also seeing increasing localization as chinese companies prefer chinese suppliers over multinational corporations to de risk their own supply chain. this is leading to domestic market share gains for many companies. finally, valuations for some high quality companies look compelling at these levels. quality growth stocks in china have derated significantly since 2019 and are now trading at a nearly 40% discount to developed market counterparts and emerging markets (ems) as a whole. conversely, while valuations of indian companies have moderated slightly over the past year, they continue to be expensive relative to the rising valuations in developed markets. quality growth stocks in india still trade at a significant premium to other ems. india’s evolving economy is promising, as witnessed by our analysts on a recent trip to the country; however, the stock market rally in response has probably gone too far, especially with regards to small and mid cap stocks. today, valuations remain stretched across most sectors. note: top qg quadrant is defined as companies with a qr score > 0.5 and a gr score > 0.5. vr score based on weighted average. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis expectations are that semiconductor industry revenue growth will accelerate to annualized double digit levels this decade, spurred by demand for ai chips. this would be a growth rate well above levels that we’ve seen since the mid 1990s, with predictions that the roughly us$50 billion dollars of ai chips sold in 2023 could rise to us$400 billion dollars of sales before the end of the decade. while us chip designer nvidia gets most of the ai press, tsmc manufactures virtually all of the high performance ai chips designed by nvidia. the taiwan based company uses some of its most sophisticated manufacturing technologies for these chips, enabling them to be at the forefront of transistor density, speed, and energy efficiency. ai chip customers also increasingly depend on tsmc’s innovative capabilities in integrating and packaging the logic, memory, and input/output components involved. tsmc’s ceo recently projected that in four years about 20% of this company’s total revenue would come from ai specific chips. samsung electronics has received less attention from investors but is also carving out a niche for itself in ai related semiconductor manufacturing. samsung anticipates a rebound in their memory chip prices in 2024, in part due to the expected proliferation of on device ai, a memory hungry implementation, and is investing for longer term in the next generation of high bandwidth memory chips integral to ai applications, promising to leapfrog competitors in performance. samsung electronics is also positioning itself to compete with tsmc in manufacturing advanced logic chips, using its capability of designing and manufacturing memory, logic, and chip packaging to unlock new opportunities for its foundry business. infineon, widely recognized for its strength in automotive and power semiconductors, is less directly exposed to ai themes but does have products supporting growth data centers and ai computing whose high power demands is a good match for infineon’s switched mode power supplies and voltage regulator designs that power high performance systems. image source: synopsys as of 2024. 1global semiconductor sales   sources: sia/wsts (historicals); forecasts based on gartner, techinsights, ibs, sia/wsts and consensus analyst forecasts for leading semiconductor companies. 2explosion in demand for ai chips   sources: gartner, amd, nvidia, intel, goldman sachs. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis but with so much focus on ai, what is perhaps under appreciated is that amazon’s e commerce business recently underwent a transformation of its own a rethinking of how it gets customers’ packages from point a to point b. because of this new strategy, the business, where profitability has been low and erratic, may be on the cusp of a new era in which margins finally reach and sustain an attractive level. during 2023, amazon overhauled the sprawling us logistics network that supports its online retail operations, switching from a national system for filling and routing orders to a regional setup. the core change was to partition the us into eight main regions, assigning each region dedicated fulfillment warehouses, sorting centers, last mile delivery hubs, and vehicles. by limiting the area each facility serves, the company doesn’t need as many connecting points along its distribution routes, and trucks are filled closer to their capacity and travel shorter distances. this helps amazon save money on fuel, fleet upkeep, labor, and other overhead, as well as potentially reduce its environmental impact. amazon’s latest financial report in february revealed that fulfillment costs, which had soared to 16.4% of net sales in 2022, shrank to 15.8% of net sales in 2023 as the new system was implemented. as the chart below shows, it was only the second time in 14 years that this metric’s long ascension was interrupted. this time, we view it as an inflection point, and so the downward trend should continue. the company’s filings don’t separate fulfillment center square footage from the company’s data centers and other owned and leased properties, but according to the commercial real estate database costar, amazon reduced its distribution space by more than 14 million square feet between july 2022 and october 2023. in september 2023 and october 2023 alone, it listed roughly 2 million square feet of industrial space for sublease, including large facilities in the atlanta area, as well as san antonio and fort worth. in the early days of the covid 19 pandemic, to keep up with a surge in consumer demand, amazon aggressively added fulfillment centers some the size of a dozen or more football fields. since then, however, e commerce growth has slowed, and as chief executive officer andy jassy looked to slash costs throughout the company, overhauling the distribution system became a top priority. a particular inefficiency in the old system had also gnawed at the company’s leaders; the problem would arise when a customer’s order couldn’t be completed by nearby warehouses, at which point the fulfillment method would turn scattershot. it meant that something as inconsequential as a storage basket or phone case could travel long distances from a random warehouse in a half empty truck. the new approach helps avoid that costly conundrum by enabling most orders to be filled by warehouses in the same region as the recipient. by the middle of last year, more than three quarters of orders were being handled this way, up from 62% previously. additionally, with fewer warehouses feeding into each region, the company is reducing its use of intermediate sorting centers and able to send more packages directly to delivery hubs, where they get loaded onto delivery vehicles. the efficiency gains not only facilitate faster shipping but also the ability to offer lower priced goods. that combination may further incentivize shoppers to turn to amazon more often. while jassy has said that the company has more room to fine tune its distribution system, margins are already moving in the right direction. the north america e commerce operation generated an operating margin of 6.1% in the final period of 2023, the widest since the first quarter of 2019 although that period was itself an outlier. (for the past decade, the north america operation has earned, on average, just three cents of operating profit for every dollar of sales.) we estimate that the operating margin in north america could climb to 8% or higher over the next few years and, most importantly, sustain high single digits over the long term. meanwhile, amazon’s international e commerce operations, which are still in early stages in many countries, are operating at a loss as the company uses prime benefits to entice local shoppers. but as amazon achieves distribution scale abroad and implements what it has learned in the us, we expect the international business to become profitable, with its operating margin rising toward 5% over the next few years. our investment thesis about amazon largely rests on three factors. one is aws maintaining its strong margins and industry leadership, which we expect because it operates in a favorable industry structure. another is amazon capitalizing on the unique data it captures on shoppers’ intentions to support the continued rapid growth of its us$50 billion digital advertising division. the last key piece is whether the alchemy of running such a sprawling e commerce business can be managed in such a way that it produces sustainably high margins while retaining its leading global market share. there are now signs that it can, in which case, investors are about to see a different amazon. investment insights contributed by peter baughan, cfa, analyst and portfolio manager image source: chad robertson   stock.adobe.com. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis given the opaque relationship between the chinese government and private companies, the exact terms of the exchange are unknown; baidu’s move could result in the us putting the company on the restricted list that blocks us investments in companies that could be supporting china’s military. however, there is a plausible market based reason for the donation: the quantum computer was expensive to build and maintain and the effort wasn’t profitable. at a meeting with analysts in january, baidu’s chief financial officer, rong luo, explained that the kind of “moonshot research” the quantum computer represented was too expensive and didn’t add to the company’s bottom line. donating it helped cut costs and foster goodwill with the government. it was the kind of pragmatic move that the company had gotten away from in recent years. like their global peers, chinese internet companies enjoyed years of growth and strong cash flows. that allowed them to expand beyond their core operations to invest in new business formats and technologies, such as alibaba in offline retail and tencent in fintech. they usually focused on creating scale even if the business itself was initially unprofitable. that goal depressed margins in the sector. but as growth has slowed, baidu, alibaba, tencent, netease, and other chinese tech companies have been refocusing their operations on turning a profit. at baidu, this included bringing in luo, who has a phd in management science from peking university and had been the cfo at tal education group. during his tenure there, luo played an important role in tal’s transformation from operation driven to data  and technology driven, and from offline to online. when luo arrived at baidu two years ago, some senior management didn’t recognize the importance of return focused performance metrics. that has changed. expenses have been cut. research and development spending as a percentage of sales, which had been about 20% (and more than its peers), has been reduced. the company was making investments in innovative technologies, such as quantum computing, but there wasn’t likely to be a return on these investments in the foreseeable future. the effectiveness of projects is now measured on the return on investment and efficiency. thus, the decision to give away the computer. now the company is focused on the parts of its business that are or can be profitable: its core ad business, cloud computing, and ai. in the highly competitive business of search, baidu released an ai based advertising platform called qingge. the new platform essentially examines a users’ interactions with a chatbot and generates a new ad specifically tailored to them. the goal is to create a better advertising platform, with the goal of improving the click through rate by 10x. hitting that goal would add several billion in incremental rmb in 2024, the company said. that’s one example of how management is employing ai, a crucial test. in 2017, baidu was the leader among its peers in ai. it had andrew ng, the former head of google brain, as its chief scientist and signaled its intentions with its slogan “all in ai.” but ng left the company in 2017. despite his departure, baidu was the first among chinese companies to launch a chatbot in 2019, shortly after openai released chatgpt. that chatbot, called ernie, is not as advanced as chatgpt 4.0 but is more advanced than its chinese peers and many chinese companies are using it to train their own more specialized models. in december, baidu reported ernie had more than 100 million users. even with a technological lead over its peers, baidu hasn’t yet shown it can make ai a profit center the way some us based companies have. it is testing monetization models, such as a subscription service, and fusing it into its search business, but neither investors nor baidu itself can be certain how the ai efforts will affect the company’s profits (the company does not provide revenue projections for its ai business). what investors do know is that the company’s criteria for the success of that effort and everything else it does will be measured on the bottom line. image source: ascannio   stock.adobe.com what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the holy month of ramadan affects companies and products differently each year, and it is essential for investors in muslim majority countries to understand these effects. the holiday, during which muslims fast from dawn to dusk, starts 10 12 days earlier each year, unlike fixed holidays such as christmas. this year, ramadan starts at sunset on march 10 and lasts until april 9. the fact that the holy month moves each year means that the effects of ramadan on businesses change over time. recently, when ramadan was during the summer, it was a significant headwind for companies such as brewers, as the fast suppressed demand for beer during what would otherwise be a peak month. but now as ramadan is moving earlier in the year, that headwind will lessen. learn more about ramadan’s effect on businesses in muslim majority countries, or those with significant muslim populations, in our extended analysis. what did you think of this piece? factor investing how companies perform on those measures can change over time. industry dynamics evolve, which can lead to a shift in competitive positioning. macroeconomic cycles and deviations in management strategy can also alter the long term outlook. even companies that consistently rank highly for quality and growth must be continuously assessed for signs of deterioration in their financial health, competitive advantages, and other factors. the challenge isn’t just determining the businesses that meet our criteria today, but also which businesses will sustain their quality and growth characteristics over the long run. the charts below illustrate how variable those characteristics are. the bubbles represent the roughly 2,700 stocks that were in the msci all country world index (acwi) at the end of 2018. in the tab for 2018, they’re split down the middle such that the top half of stocks (the orange portion) were considered high quality, based on their harding loevner quality scores at the time. but over the next five years, the characteristics of the companies changed. now click the tab for 2023. it shows that only 25% of index members were also above the threshold that was set in 2018. in fact, in any five year period only about a quarter of companies were in the top half of quality at the start and the end of the period: identifying a persistently high quality and fast growing company is even more difficult, as the following charts show. clicking the tab for 2023 reveals that only 10% of companies in the index remained above the threshold for quality and growth that was set in 2018. this means investors can expect that the majority of high quality, growing businesses today will not score as high quality, fast growers in five years. tsmc and france based dassault systèmes are among companies that, because of their strong competitive advantages, have managed to sustain their quality and growth rankings in our measurements. tsmc is one of the few reliable, high volume global manufacturers of advanced and specialty semiconductor chips, a strength that stems from decades of proprietary technology development and disciplined execution. dassault is a provider of software for virtual product design that has one of the broadest offerings in the space, able to be used by customers in multiple industries. its high proportion of recurring revenue from software subscriptions and a loyal customer base have insulated the business from economic downturns. in fact, both tsmc and dassault have remained in the top quadrant of quality and growth every year for the past 15 years (and have been owned in harding loevner’s international equity model portfolio for that entire time). but as the data show, such companies are the outliers. quality growth investing also isn’t as simple as buying and holding companies that score in the top quadrant of our rankings or immediately discarding the stock of a company that has strayed from that territory. these scores are merely proxies that attempt to capture each company’s financial strength, competitive advantage, and the projected trajectory of their growth. indeed, fundamental analysis can sometimes lead us to identify companies that meet our investment criteria even if they don’t, at the moment, score in the top quadrant. therefore, it’s better to analyze and monitor a business’s quality and growth through the fundamental research that informs these scores rather than speculate on potential movements in the scores themselves. at harding loevner, this process begins with an analyst examining a company’s competitive position within its industry using the framework of porter’s five forces, which is based on harvard university professor michael porter’s book, competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. once a company is affirmed to meet our investment criteria, analysts continue to track and debate the strength of its fundamentals and growth potential, communicating with colleagues when these factors are at risk of deterioration. it’s because we know quality and growth may not always persist that our research process to evaluate these characteristics must. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis japan has been undergoing a baby bust for decades. in the early 1970s, there were years where more than 2 million babies were born in japan, but since then, those numbers have declined steadily. by the 1990s, there were about 1.2 million babies born each year in japan, while in 2022, births fell below 800,000 for the first time. one might expect that a decrease in the number of babies would be a major problem for a company like unicharm, which dominates the japanese market for disposable diapers. but by taking advantage of other demographic trends that have opened new markets for the company, unicharm has seen its overall business grow, even as its core market shrinks. unicharm was founded in 1961 as an insulation and building materials supplier and later began manufacturing feminine sanitary pads. in the following decades, unicharm relied on its expertise in processing non woven fabrics and absorbent materials made from petroleum based polymers to expand into other markets beyond feminine care, especially diapers. unicharm grew to dominate the market for baby diapers in japan, with an estimated 41% retail market share in 2023. but the product segment has become a challenging, low margin business, partly because consumers have not been swayed to pay a premium for baby diapers with special features, and the decreasing number of babies being born has meant that unicharm is fighting for its portion of a shrinking pie. meanwhile in neighboring china, once a key market for the company’s baby diapers, stiff competition from local manufacturers has driven down retail prices. while unicharm says it will continue to make baby diapers, because of the positive and happy associations consumers attach to baby products, the company has increasingly focused on market segments that offer higher margins (if not the same positive feelings) such as adult incontinence products. japan now has the highest proportion of elderly citizens of any country in the world. about 29% of japanese are over age 65, while more than 10% are 80 or older. as the population has gotten older, unicharm’s adult products have become a larger part of its business. adult diapers constitute about 33% of the company’s net sales in japan today, up from an estimated 25% in 2018. overall, the company derived one third of its sales and 40% of its profits from japan last year. adult incontinence products are a high margin business because consumers are willing to pay a premium for products with special features, such as improved fit to prevent leakage. furthermore, the company’s marketing campaigns have been successful at creating demand for its light and mini incontinence pads by associating them with an active lifestyle. the sort of quality companies that we look to invest in have, among other characteristics, strong management teams who can respond to changing market and industry dynamics. unicharm’s ability to leverage its core competency in absorbent materials in different markets is an example of how managing change can help a business thrive over time. and unicharm might even find a way to help address japan’s aging demographics it’s recently introduced a new feminine hygiene product that monitors ovulation to help women plan their pregnancies. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance cognitive biases can wreak havoc on decision making. that’s why the harding loevner investment process is structured to help avoid errors in thinking that can lead investors to make irrational decisions. by identifying a strict set of criteria for the companies we hold and the method by which we track and debate these requisite characteristics, there’s less room for human behavioral flaws to influence our actions. backcountry skiers who routinely navigate avalanche prone terrain seek to avoid danger in much the same way, says patrick todd, cfa, a portfolio manager and analyst at harding loevner. for example, every trip to the backcountry involves scrutinizing the snow conditions beforehand and making a pre commitment that outlines the actions he and his group will take should the conditions differ once they ascend the mountain. sometimes, the best decision is to turn back despite the time, effort, and money that already went into the trip. when skiers wrestle with this decision, it’s the sunk cost fallacy at play, one of the many cognitive biases that can rear its ugly head in backcountry skiing and investing. in the video above, patrick discusses more of the parallels between the risks in investing and backcountry skiing and how a thoughtful process can mitigate both. what did you think of this piece? factor investing portfolio manager andrew west, cfa, explains how selecting companies with strong balance sheets and low debt safeguards against the potential erosion of the value when interest rates are elevated. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis it’s an expansive deal, beginning in january 2025 and running for ten years. netflix will air raw in the us and internationally, and will have the rights to all wwe shows outside the us. it also may be a harbinger of what’s to come in the world of streaming services and sports. over the next several years, the contracts for broadcast rights to the nba, nfl, nhl, and mlb in the us will come up for renewal, as well as the domestic and us rights to top soccer leagues such as the premier league (uk), la liga (spain), seria a (italy) and bundesliga (germany). the streaming services will be serious contenders in the bidding for all of them. the biggest problem with sports programming is that while it does the things a broadcaster wants it to steadily bring in dedicated viewers over time the rights can become addictive for companies. if a sport increases in popularity, that improves profitability and hopefully leads to good returns on the investment for the rights holder. however, those attractive returns also lead to a higher renewal contract, which resets profitability at a lower level even when competitive dynamics are benign. netflix has spent roughly us$17 billion a year on content since 2021, a level it plans to maintain for the foreseeable future. the company said that the wwe deal would not add to its content budget, meaning it expects to spend less elsewhere. on one level, then, this is not an expensive bet. wwe already has a fanatical global audience and nbc is paying nearly us$300 million annually just for the us rights. maybe us$500 million a year for global rights is a bargain. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis but one japanese company in the information technology (it) sector has taken an unusual approach to reinvigorating the labor market. shift, which provides software testing services, is poaching and re training workers from other industries, turning them into it pros. as prime minister fumio kishida advocates for the reskilling of workers and for companies to increase wages, shift’s system is an example of how companies could help put a dent in japan’s entrenched model of lifetime employment, helping the country dig out of a decades long deflationary environment. among its labor market challenges, japan faces a major shortage of it engineers. of the 75 million people in the country’s working population, only about one million are it professionals. that’s a lower proportion than in other developed countries such as the us and germany. but shift estimates that 10% of japan’s non it workers aspire to join the space. software testing is also one of the most labor intensive processes in software development, as it entails the time consuming work of manually looking for bugs within code and making sure an application works as intended. for firms that struggle to find experienced programmers to begin with, having those expensive programmers do testing doesn’t make sense. some of shift’s biggest customers are consulting firms that would rather have their own high paid employees focus on their main business of consulting while outsourcing something like software testing to save money. for example, the average salary at nomura research institute (nri), an it consulting firm, is double the average at shift: even though it’s lower than at other it related firms, compensation is a big part of the draw of making a career change to work at shift. candidates seeking to become software testers start by taking a recruitment exam, known as cat, that filters applicants for certain skills and traits comprehension, attention to detail, and judgment, for example rather than computer programming knowledge or it experience. as of december, nearly 103,000 people have taken the cat exam and about 16% have passed, according to shift. for the people shift hires, it provides training and certification programs as well as performance based compensation as incentives for continued learning and advancement. that sort of pay structure means that many of shift’s personnel costs are variable, but the compensation scheme and the fact that these workers were likely earning lower wages in their previous jobs helps shift attract and retain talent, which is important for the company to sustain growth. according to shift’s filings, the average monthly unit price for its engineers is 818,000 yen (us$5,600). engineer compensation accounts for about 60% of those sales, which implies an annual salary of about 6 million yen (us$41,000), higher than the average pay in japan of 4.6 million yen (us$31,000). by encouraging worker mobility and development of new skills, shift is driving up japan’s stagnant worker pay. what did you think of this piece? active vs. passive three years since the first covid 19 vaccine was approved, growth investors have felt the pain of a relative bear market compared to their value peers. in our annual letter to shareholders, we examine the current economic climate, and discuss why we believe that the types of companies in which we invest are well positioned to navigate the challenges ahead. in sum, this time is no different from similar periods in the past in which our taste for high quality, rapidly growing companies has been out of step with market fashion. we foresee an eventual return of investor focus on such fundamental factors in the face of uncertain and slower economic and corporate profit growth. we therefore remain committed to our favored targets, while reinforcing our attention to the price we are asked to pay for them. read the full letter investments involve risk and loss is possible. the portfolio’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be read and considered carefully before investing. the statutory and summary prospectuses contain this and other important information about the investment company. they may be obtained by calling toll free (877) 435 8105, or visiting hardingloevnerfunds.com. the portfolio is distributed by quasar distributors, llc. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance in many areas of our lives, we can, in fact, learn from our experiences. over time we start to see patterns in events and that pattern recognition enables subjective judgment, or what is often called intuition. but those patterns need to be recurrent, in environments where there is a clear and stable relationship between cause and effect, so that history really does repeat itself. in his book range, david epstein described that sort of learning environment as “kind” patterns repeat, feedback is immediate, and experience can lead to expertise. as he writes, “in golf or chess, a ball or piece is moved according to rules and within defined boundaries, a consequence is quickly apparent, and similar challenges occur repeatedly…. the player observes what happened, attempts to correct the error, tries again, and repeats for years.” in contrast, in the sorts of learning environments that epstein describes as “wicked” there are few (or no) clear rules and feedback is limited at best. in these kinds of environments, experience teaches you little. indeed, it can be dangerous. experience can lead us to over interpret, to see patterns where there are none, and to become entrenched in our ideas. once we have an idea, it is extremely hard to change our minds. confirmation bias means that we see evidence that confirms our views and ignore that which challenges them. when facts change, we should change our minds, but we rarely do. and cognitive entrenchment means that the more experience we have, the more difficult we find it to adapt to changing circumstances. with greater experience comes rigidity. the fact that more experience can lead to these behavioral pitfalls is a good reminder that it’s important to pay attention to smart, inexperienced people. often in organizations, seniority can lead to one’s views being accorded more weight, while more inexperienced colleagues’ views are often dismissed as lacking sufficient wisdom. investing, obviously, takes place in a wicked learning environment. the relationship between cause and effect on market prices is highly obscure. few patterns repeat and, once identified, are arbitraged away and do not persist. there is no evidence, for example, that market participants can forecast the direction of markets, let alone macroeconomic or political variables. furthermore, for long term investors such as us, it is hard to identify the right feedback to our decision making. our goal is to construct portfolios that outperform the broad markets on a risk adjusted basis over extended periods. but returns are very time dependent, and short term price movements are a poor guide to long term returns, offering us poor feedback on our decisions. we must look at our investment theses and create our own feedback loops so that we can test whether the fundamental insights we are relying on to forecast outperformance of the stock of a particular company remain valid. and to overcome cognitive entrenchment, we must be prepared to update our beliefs our forecasts if the facts change. this sort of learning environment is why when it comes to investing, experience doesn’t lead to expertise. it leads, simply, to experience more opportunities to learn, more chances to understand the boundaries of our knowledge. but those chances are very, very valuable. one of our basic beliefs about equity markets is that they are efficient, but not entirely so. there are inefficiencies that result from the biases of market participants, and to overcome our own biases and exploit those of others, we have structure and process or rules that govern how we do research and provide the background to the judgment required about when to buy and sell stocks. but are there any permanent rules in investing? rules are important for controlling cognitive biases, but they are not unchanging dogma. we should be prepared to change our rules when the environment changes or when they do not work. in an investment firm, humility about our ability to forecast accurately is important, and so is an open mindedness about rules. more experience gives us the ability to look at our own behavior, to observe the errors that we make usually because of our own biases and to implement structures and processes that help mitigate the all too human tendency to make decisions where the results do not contribute to achieving our goals. i know less now than i thought i did when i was new to the investment business 45 years ago. what experience has taught me is the importance of being aware of market history but not relying on it to make forecasts. it has taught me that how we behave is more important than what we know. and most importantly, experience has given me more chances to test ideas in the marketplace, receive feedback, and use that feedback for continuous improvement. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis as bottom up investors, we aim to invest in high quality growth businesses at reasonable prices to provide superior risk adjusted returns over the long term. to determine what constitutes a high quality growth business, we research a company’s management, financial strength, growth prospects, and we closely examine the industry in which it operates to determine the company’s competitive advantage. it’s as important to examine a company’s industry as it is to examine the fundamentals of a company. an analysis of industry structure can inform how well positioned a company is relative to competitors, as well as the profit potential for the company. our analysis is guided by harvard university professor michael porter’s five forces, which were first introduced in a 1979 issue of harvard business review and later detailed in his 1980 book, competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. in this six part video series, we examine each porter force and discuss how we use them to analyze industries. watch the series introduction below and click through to see how we leverage michael porter’s five forces framework for industry analysis. porter’s five forces: a framework for competitive analysis what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis china faces a demographic shift similar to japan three decades ago. portfolio manager jingyi li explains how that comparison can help guide investors looking at china today. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis perhaps most intriguingly, nvidia is a leading company in the biggest tech driven trend to come along in years, artificial intelligence. it makes the chips that power ai based computer systems, and it sells the software and services companies need to operate their own ai programs. and nvidia was a big company before ai took off. as if to emphasize the point, this week the company posted third quarter revenue of us$18.1 billion tripling from a year ago and setting a company record. earnings were also a record at us$10 billion. nvidia meets all our core criteria for a quality growth company: it has a sustainable business and a competitive advantage, solid management, and financial strength. over the last six years, its revenue has grown from nearly us$7 billion in fiscal 2017 to just under us$27 billion in fiscal 2022. but as nvidia reaches dizzying valuations it currently trades at 118 times earnings we can’t help thinking of another good technology company whose stock once commanded nose bleed premiums: cisco systems. cisco makes the networking equipment that enables much of the internet. as the world wide web was taking off in the mid 1990s, cisco chief executive john chambers was telling people a new era of computing was coming, and the company’s hardware played a big part in making that new era real. between 1995 and 2000, its revenue surged 850%, from about us$2 billion to us$19 billion. cisco stock did even better, growing an incredible 3,800%, from us$2 in january 1995 to us$79 in march 2000. the title of its 1999 annual report exhorted investors to “capture the momentum.” many took that advice. in march 2000, at the height of the dot com bubble, cisco became the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of more than us$500 billion. then the dot com bubble burst. cisco shares fell 88%, dropping from us$79 to a low of us$9.50 two years later. that drop wasn’t the result of any large change in the company’s performance. revenue was nearly us$19 billion in fiscal 2000, us$22 billion in 2001, and about us$19 billion in 2002. but the premium that investors were willing to pay for the company disappeared as the hype around the web faded. over the next two decades, cisco kept growing. its sales in 2022 were nearly us$52 billion, more than double the us$19 billion it hit in 2000. yet its stock has never traded as high as it did on march 1, 2000. today it’s at roughly us$53. on a total return basis, it took 20 years for cisco stock to recover from the dot com crash. so, are there lessons we can learn from cisco as we look at nvidia? just as chambers argued 25 years ago that a new era of computing was at hand, huang has been talking up ai. just this month he said “in the last 40 years, nothing has been this big. it’s bigger than pc, it’s bigger than mobile, and it’s gonna be bigger than the internet, by far.” the enthusiasm for ai’s future has led to very high valuation multiples for nvidia, although not as high as cisco reached in 2000. by all accounts, nvidia is strong in its last full fiscal year (2022), it earned us$9.8 billion on us$27 billion in revenue and in an enviable position. semiconductors are the oil of the 21st century, an essential component for the tech fueled modern world. the company produces chips that allow for the most advanced computing, expanding from its core gaming prowess into related lucrative areas like data centers, autos, and of course ai. but as cisco shows, the success of a company and the performance of its stock aren’t the same thing, and as valuations increase, it’s more and more difficult for a stock to outperform. over the past 50 years, 231 companies have reached a similar multiple. only 20% of the stocks trading with a price/sales ratio between 30 and 40 outperformed the market over the next 12 months. the more you extend your time horizon, the worse the results get. over a 10 year period, that number drops down to 6%.1 nvidia is a good company with all the quality and growth prospects we look for in an investment. the critical question is how much one is willing to pay for those prospects. as cisco showed in the waning days of the dot com boom, overpaying for a good company is a bad choice. 1 siegel, jeremy with schwartz, jeremy. stocks for the long run: the definitive guide to financial market returns and long term investment strategies, sixth edition. mcgraw hill companies, 2022 what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis portfolio manager jingyi li discusses how several global equities portfolio companies are using their pricing power to navigate through this period of higher interest rates and higher inflation. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the possibilities are mind blowing. the drc, with a population of 112 million and situated almost precisely in the middle of the continent, is the second largest country in africa by landmass and the 11th largest in the world. the congo river, which winds through the country and is the second largest in the world by discharge volume, has the potential to produce 100 gigawatts of clean electricity, of which less than 3% is currently being harnessed. with the river and its tributaries coursing through the countryside, the drc has an estimated 80 million hectares of arable land, enough to produce food for two billion people. the drc also has abundant mineral resources. a recent un study estimated its untapped mineral reserves were worth us$24 trillion. the drc holds 46% of the world’s cobalt reserves, 23% of the world’s lithium reserves, and 4% of the world’s copper reserves. these are all commodities essential in the effort to enable the global transition to green energy. that potential is attracting companies like equity bank, the largest bank in kenya. the company has acquired two drc based banks in recent years, which now comprise 30% of its total assets. equity bank is early to the drc, but we expect to see more investments flow to the country in the coming years. it is barely scratching the surface of what it could become. decades of autocratic rule and corruption have kept the country from tapping its potential. beginning with mobutu sese seko in 1965, the drc was marred by wars and political instability under a series of dictators. because of that, the country’s economic development has been weak, even by african standards. ranked by gdp per capita, it is one of the poorest nations in the world. the entire country produces only about 3,000 megawatts of power, leading to constant shortages. less than 10% of the country’s arable land is currently being farmed, making the country dependent on others for food. only 6% of the population have bank accounts. the drc’s financial infrastructure is bare bones. equity bank’s drc based subsidiary, equity banque commerciale du congo (bcdc), is the largest bank in the country in terms of bank accounts but has only 1.9 million clients. and the drc effectively has no capital market; there aren’t markets for government or corporate equities or bonds, which results in a low savings rate, deters economic growth, and makes the economy less efficient. the physical infrastructure isn’t much further along. simply generating power is a challenge; energy shortages are regular and severe. somika, a mining company in lubumbashi, the drc’s second largest city, provides its own electricity with diesel powered generators, making energy and logistics the areas of some of its biggest challenges and costs. the result is that, despite having some of the highest grades of copper and cobalt in the world, local mines are not cost competitive compared to mines in australia. today, the drc is addressing those and other issues. there’s been political stability since the 2018 election of current president felix tshisekedi. working with developmental partners such as the united nations, the world bank, and the international monetary fund, his government enacted key political, judicial, and economic reforms that are beginning to unlock the country’s potential. tshisekedi has attempted to weed out corruption and bring transparency to the government and the markets; these efforts resulted in a us$750 million world bank financing package in 2022. his administration has proposed nearly 70 reforms focused on boosting business creation, facilitating property transfers, improving international trade, and more. the drc’s entry into the east african community trade bloc, also in 2022, opened access to neighboring markets with a combined 300 million residents and a combined gdp of us$285 billion. today, the drc is africa’s third fastest growing economy. add its vast natural potential to that fact and you can see why companies like equity bank are moving there. that makes it enticing for forward thinking investors. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis portfolio manager anix vyas, cfa, discusses how the current conflict in the middle east is affecting international small companies portfolio holding cyberark. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis in 2023, chinese markets have been roiled by continued trade tensions, slowing economic growth, and deleveraging in the property sector. despite this difficult backdrop, there are reasons to be optimistic about the growth prospects of some chinese companies. portfolio managers andrew west, cfa, and lee gao discuss their current perspectives on china with portfolio specialist apurva schwartz, including how they weigh the opportunities and risks of investing in the market. real estate, the biggest source of wealth for chinese consumers, was in bubble territory and has been slowing for a while. this has negatively affected consumer confidence and household consumption. two thirds of private developers cannot service their debt. deleveraging may continue but beijing has plenty of policy options available to help revive growth. quality growth companies are doing well, and valuations look better now than at any point over the last 30 years, suggesting prospective returns could be high. we maintain diversified portfolios and carefully monitor risks to try and take advantage of the opportunities that we see. china is a big place; different things happen in different sectors. despite the broad market slowdown, many of our holdings, which are in globally competitive industries such as solar, electric vehicles, and industrial components, are still growing rapidly. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis i see it differently. viewed through the lens of michael porter’s competitive forces, which we use at harding loevner to analyze industry dynamics, the dispute was a clear example of a change in the bargaining power of buyers amid the changing economics of streaming services. disney and charter clashed over a new cable agreement. charter complained about the high fees it paid for espn, fx, and other disney channels while disney was funneling premium content to its own disney+ streaming service. eventually, disney’s channels disappeared from charter’s spectrum tv service, and spectrum stood firm: it was prepared to give up disney’s networks, seemingly forever. however, the terms of the resolution show that disney as a supplier had far less bargaining power with its customer than it had assumed. it was forced to make material concessions that will affect its transition to a full streaming model. make no mistake, disney backed down, and that loss is going to hurt its bottom line in the long run. moreover, if the world’s largest entertainment company couldn’t use its muscle to get what it wants, then all the other networks are going to face the same dilemma when their carriage agreements come up for renewal. disney’s capitulation could signal a major shift in the entertainment industry. the content king may not be dead but it definitely seems like he holds less power. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the twist is that ozempic, a trade name for semaglutide, is a diabetes drug, not an obesity drug. semaglutide is however effective in inducing weight loss; its creator novo nordisk markets a separate version called wegovy specifically for obesity. wegovy became so popular there were shortages of it, so doctors began prescribing ozempic “off label” for a condition other than its intended use. that popularity fueled novo nordisk shares and this month it pushed past lvmh as europe’s most valuable company. ozempic being used as a substitute for a different medical treatment goes beyond novo nordisk selling the same drug under different names. ozempic could also serve as a replacement for people contemplating bariatric surgery, since it stands to reason that anybody considering surgery would likely be willing to try a less invasive treatment. recently, intuitive surgical noted a slowdown in the growth of bariatric surgical procedures because of the increasing use of drugs such as ozempic. “some customers have indicated that they are seeing increased patient interest in weight loss drugs,” intuitive chief financial officer jamie samath said in july. given that obesity is the most important reversible factor contributing to sleep apnea, there’s a chance ozempic and similar drugs could become a treatment for that, too. eli lilly, for instance, is running a study of its type 2 diabetes medication mounjaro, which is in the same drug class as ozempic/wegovy, as a possible treatment for sleep apnea. results are due in march 2024. that could be a problem for a company like resmed, which makes sleep apnea treatments with its cpap (continuous positive airway pressure) therapy. these are machines that force air through the patient’s nasal passages, enabling better sleep. for patients, the issue may go beyond just which treatment is more effective. cost will be a big factor. medicare and private insurers cover ozempic for its commercially approved use, diabetes, but not for weight loss or other off label uses. that could be important because the cost of ozempic can be considerable (without insurance, it can cost about $1,000 a month). for sleep apnea patients, resmed products may end up delivering the same or better results at a much lower price. resmed ceo michael ferrell in fact seems to welcome the new attention, since sleep apnea tends to be an underdiagnosed condition. ozempic and similar drugs could bring potential patients “into the funnel,” he said on a conference call, while issues like cost and side effects will limit any hit to sales caused by the drugs. “that’s good for us, too,” he said. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis portfolio manager scott crawshaw highlights several companies in our emerging markets portfolio that are poised to benefit from increasing electrical power demand. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis in its second quarter earnings conference call, meta founder and ceo mark zuckerberg detailed how ai permeates the company. for example, nearly all of meta’s advertisers now use at least one ai based product, allowing them, for instance, to personalize and customize ads. he also touted an increase of 7% in time spent on facebook after launching ai recommended content from accounts that users don’t follow. now the company plans an aggressive push of its own version of generative ai, the kinds of large language models that have gotten so much attention lately. in july, the company released an open source i.e., free for even commercial use generative ai platform called llama 2, which meta hopes will emerge as a competitor to openai’s gpt 4. meta is betting its platform will unleash users’ creative potential and result in a flood of content. if that occurs, meta’s powerful algorithms for matching content with users 4 billion of them across all of its platforms will become indispensable as a content discovery tool with a rich set of monetization options from advertising to ecommerce to subscriptions. the big picture view suggests that meta is building a hub for user generated content (ugc) discovery and distribution that aims to go head to head with the likes of youtube and tiktok. in the world of unlimited content, the power shifts from creators to distributors and curators. in this scenario, the ultimate constraint on demand for content is the totality of leisure man hours; meta’s goal is to optimize how to fill those hours with the most compelling content. generative ai could also help transform meta’s main money maker, its advertising business. the digital ad market comprises roughly 70% of the overall advertising market, and is dominated by two firms, meta and alphabet. finding a way to expand its market share has been a stumbling block for meta. however, with these new ai tools, meta may have found a way around that constraint. it may not be able to take much more share of the advertising market, but it could start taking share of the advertising creation market. on the call, zuckerberg specifically mentioned the strides made by its advantage+ generative ai tools that allows advertisers to supply just an image, from which the ai will then develop an entire ad campaign. for small companies that can’t afford to hire an advertising agency, this could be a powerful alternative and a lucrative market for meta. its advantage+ ad program has the potential to take share from creatives and even advertising agencies by customizing, altering, or outright creating content for advertising, rather than just targeting or measuring it. meta’s embrace of ai is one of several efforts the company’s made over the past year to reverse the slump that followed its 2021 shift into the metaverse. zuckerberg showed common sense on reining in spending, the company executed on its new identifier for advertisers (idfa) independent ad targeting model, and it ramped up new initiatives like reels, advantage+, and most recently threads. meta has also delivered robust recoveries in free cash flow and revenue, with free cash flows for 2023 now forecast at approximately us$30 billion, a big increase from the us$10 billion forecast at the end of 2022. even critical media coverage about privacy concerns and facebook’s effects on democracy have waned and regulatory pressures have eased (except in the eu). all this doesn’t mean meta’s out of the woods, though. while impressive, the turnaround only just got the company back to where it was a year ago, when it was facing hard questions on rising costs, large infrastructure investments, and its incredibly audacious spending on the metaverse. reality labs the division of the company building the metaverse that has already burned through us$30 billion since 2020 is losing a further us$15 billion per year, and meta expects those losses to increase meaningfully in fiscal year 2024. meta has yet to provide an explanation about how this is going to pay off. even with its recent good fortune and ai potential, zuckerberg will have to provide some real clarity soon to avoid another investor rebuke. image source: romain talon   stock.adobe.com. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis anyone who has interacted with popular ai models asked them about the mysteries of life and the cosmos or created convincing van gogh replicas using ai enabled image generators can sense that we may be in the midst of a technological revolution. that prospect has consumed equity markets lately, with seven us tech related stocks responsible for most of the market appreciation in the second quarter. as an investor in high quality, growing businesses, we have always tried to position this portfolio to benefit from secular trends, the kind that transcend economic cycles and are driven by fundamental changes in key areas such as tech. still, it is incredibly difficult for anyone to predict how such trends will unfold; the vicissitudes of cryptocurrency are a sobering reminder of this. furthermore, as seen with the rise of the internet and, later, mobile connectivity, technology is merely a platform; it’s the applications of the technology that eventually determine many of the winners and losers. in the case of generative ai, some of the future applications may not yet be conceivable, although many companies, even outside the tech field, are now pondering the possibilities. chatgpt, the chatbot that helped spark the market’s ai enthusiasm, is an important innovation because it can digest large amounts of text (hence the term large language model), communicate in natural (human) language, and generate sophisticated responses. based on the transformer architecture, a technique first introduced by google in 2017, chatgpt demonstrates the advances that have been made in ai that open the door to a wider set of business uses. but while natural language models recently produced epiphanies among lay chief executives and investors regarding ai, some tech companies were already investing in such capabilities and are being rewarded for that foresight. nvidia has been the biggest beneficiary this year in terms of its stock run and projected revenue gains; however, our other holdings, such as adobe, microsoft, salesforce, servicenow, synopsys, and tsmc, also appear among the possible beneficiaries. more companies including, perhaps, some not yet in existence will certainly join the ranks over time. while it is still early, it’s evident that these companies see generative ai as transformative to their businesses and something upon which they can build new revenue models. additionally, they are turning to ai to boost internal productivity, enhance existing customer offerings, and improve the quality and efficiency of customer interactions. most notably, microsoft was able to gain an immediate leadership position in generative ai by making a us$10 billion investment in openai, the company behind chatgpt, earlier this year. microsoft’s bing search engine has since introduced chatgpt into its web index data a collection so large that it is rivaled by the dataset of only one other business in the world, alphabet’s google. data are the feedstock of ai models, and an ai enhanced search engine trained on so much data may attract more users to bing, allowing microsoft to sell more ads on the service. microsoft is also adding generative ai to other products, including the azure cloud service, enabling business customers who use azure to easily integrate openai models to glean more insights from their data and automate functions such as certain it tasks. these added capabilities should motivate more businesses to migrate their data to the cloud and make azure more competitive with amazon.com’s aws and google cloud. the beneficiaries of demand for generative ai aren’t limited to traditional it sector companies. data centers used to train ai models require up to ten times more power than typical data centers, thus requiring more powerful equipment and backup power. given the amount of heat they generate, new liquid cooling solutions will be needed as well. this creates an opportunity for schneider electric, which has been developing innovative data center equipment solutions for many years. in the meantime, nvidia has emerged as the unrivaled global leader in providing the technologies at the center of the ai arms race. due to an explosion of demand related to generative ai and llms from across its customer base, nvidia projects that data center revenue for its fiscal second quarter ending in july will surge to us$11 billion. not only is that more than double last quarter’s total, but the forecast also shattered the average analyst estimate that called for about us$7 billion. our investments in nvidia and schneider are reflective of how we are thinking through the many unknowns and approaching portfolio structure in this environment. through our fundamental framework, we can appreciate the broad excitement for ai, but we also remain conscious of valuations and thoughtful about diversification, recognizing that it’s unlikely anyone can predict today the biggest long term winners. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis people haven’t been this bullish about india for 20 years, although there are reasons to question that enthusiasm. governmental efforts to support industry and the country’s geopolitical positioning are boosting india’s attractiveness to companies. some of what makes india attractive are the unexpected or underappreciated investment opportunities. investor patience will be required to purchase shares of high quality companies at appropriate valuations. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis portfolio manager wenting shen, cfa, and portfolio specialist apurva schwartz discuss why chinese companies are relocating production facilities to southeast asia. watch the rest of their conversation. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis as the world’s largest consumer goods company, procter & gamble provides insight into what’s driving the pricing decisions at big brands. in the first three months of 2023, p&g raised prices a whopping 10% year over year, following a series of large price hikes implemented throughout 2022: best known for brands such as cascade, gillette, pampers, and tide, p&g sells items typically found in the bathroom cabinet or under the kitchen sink. they aren’t the sort of hot items consumers blithely splurge on but they are necessities. despite p&g’s brands being among the most expensive in their categories, customers are loyal partly because the premium price and name recognition suggest they can expect consistent quality. family and home care are areas “where the consumer doesn’t want to risk failure,” andre schulten, p&g’s chief financial officer, said during an april earnings call. “you don’t want to wash your clothes twice, and you certainly don’t want to deal with a diaper failure.” with the latest round of price increases, p&g sold just 3% fewer items during the quarter (with the company’s decision to scale back operations in russia responsible for one percentage point of this decline). this tells us that p&g may be losing some customers to sticker shock, but most are still coughing up the extra money. in fact, shoppers were entirely undeterred in the us, where the company’s sales volumes were up. p&g is starting to see pushback in europe, where the problem of stubbornly high inflation is worse due to the conflict in ukraine and resulting energy crisis. p&g’s private label rivals, which sell cheaper alternatives to brand name goods, have been slow to raise prices in those markets as european consumers opt for the more affordable choice. this contrasts with the us, where consumers aren’t trading down and market share for private label brands remains stable at about 16%, according to p&g. rather than cut prices in europe, though, p&g is spending on product and packaging enhancements as well as marketing to boost its brand prestige. for example, it’s promoting ariel and tide laundry detergents for use in cold water for consumers wanting to reduce their environmental impact or energy costs. one reason p&g continues to raise prices for consumers is that the company is feeling the pinch of inflation, too. while higher prices benefited its gross profit margin last quarter by 470 basis points, much of that was offset by higher input expenses. even as freight and transportation costs have come down, certain commodities and materials, such as ammonia and caustic soda, have gotten more expensive as p&g’s suppliers look to cover their own increased labor costs. meanwhile, as the company reinvests in its brands to entice shoppers through means other than competitive prices, its operating margin widened by just 40 basis points, an improvement nonetheless. inflation isn’t in the rearview mirror, even if it is starting to ease. the companies with the greatest pricing power are taking advantage while they still can. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis portfolio manager pradipta chakrabortty discusses the earnings bright spots within emerging markets regions and sectors. what did you think of this piece? active vs. passive while us companies account for just over 60% of the market capitalization of the msci all country world index, their weight is a tad misleading given that a few technology giants alphabet, amazon, apple, and microsoft weigh heavily on the scale. together, those four are valued at nearly us$8 trillion, more than the next 15 largest us stocks combined. even if the us features most of the world’s biggest companies, it’s hardly the exclusive repository of the best ones. using cash flow return on investment, rather than market value, as our measurement reveals that the majority of the most profitable and capital efficient businesses in just about every sector are located outside the us. the only exceptions are two areas where us companies are clearly dominant information technology and health care. of course, profitability alone doesn’t define the best companies. as quality growth investors, we examine a broader set of characteristics to determine business and management quality as well as long term growth prospects. and still, the data show that regional diversity wins out: about three quarters of large cap stocks in the top two quintiles of our quality and growth rankings are non us firms, increasingly anchored by emerging markets such as china. investors are naturally biased toward their home territory, which is easy to do when it is giving an electric performance. for the us, that’s been the case for more than a decade as the economy recovered from the great recession and smartphones, digital advertising, mobile shopping, and workplace productivity tools areas dominated by a handful of american giants became ingrained in daily life. this has left international markets with more attractive share prices relative to the profitability and cash flow of their underlying businesses. we can’t predict when international markets will rise again, but we do think fundamentals and valuations ultimately drive stock performance. the valuation spread between us and international stocks today happens to mirror the gap that existed in 2001, which ushered in a period of international outperformance. eschewing stocks in the rest of the world not only misses out on the diversification benefits but also ignores an attractive set of companies whose valuations may be poised to rebound. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the superheroes of the stock market mainly us corporations valued at or close to a trillion dollars tend to dominate investment news and research. and yet little known small companies often based outside the us that never generate a headline remain some of the most vibrant sources of innovation. if the biggest large caps sell the finished products that investors and consumers know well, small caps often occupy a small niche along the global supply chain, providing a critical piece of technology known only to its intended audience. because small companies solving esoteric problems usually aren’t well covered by outside analysts or journalists, building a deep understanding of their businesses requires starting from scratch. for some investment firms, this lack of information means the foray into small cap territory demands an entirely different way of thinking and working. but for harding loevner, it’s why small caps are a natural fit. our firm’s investment philosophy is based on the premise that we cannot forecast the direction of stock prices, but that through bottom up analysis of the more durable aspects of companies we can identify the most exceptional among them. we look for strong competitive advantages, sound finances, and capable leaders, with the belief that companies possessing these attributes can be reasonably expected to produce superior growth and weather unforeseen events better than the average company, which will eventually be reflected in their stock prices. because small companies solving esoteric problems usually aren’t well covered by outside analysts or journalists, building a deep understanding of their businesses requires starting from scratch. for small companies especially, what this research process means in a practical sense is spending a great deal of time with engineers in manufacturing and r&d facilities, seeing the guts of machinery and the software that forms the mainspring of a company’s growth and competitive advantage. at times, our team has been the first to request a meeting with a small company’s management, never mind visit its factory. we must develop our own expertise whether it be learning the ins and outs of recycling technology (to determine tomra’s role in meeting european climate change directives) or the intricacies of atmospheric sensors (to understand why customers would choose vaisala’s for their biolabs, air traffic control, or space missions). one challenge of investing in small caps is trying to ascertain whether a company’s niche is one that can provide growth for a very long time. another is that the barriers to entry are far from assured. small companies that don’t continually innovate risk ceding their competitive advantage to rivals, particularly when larger, well capitalized companies take an interest in the same area. our on site visits and discussions with suppliers and customers help us gauge r&d initiatives and product launches to make sure that our companies are investing appropriately to protect their turf. some investment firms keep small cap teams separate from the rest of their analysts, a potential limitation to collaborating on bottom up research. our small cap strategies are instead directly supported by harding loevner’s global research platform in the same way as all our other strategies. this helps us to understand small companies in the context of their broader industries and develop a more complete view of their supply chains and competitive position relative to rivals of all sizes. getting to know businesses and their managements intimately through a systematic process can also tip off investors to disconcerting traits long before routine financial reports do. for example, when the parking lot of one company that wasn’t yet generating free cash flow looked like a maserati dealership, we suspected management had its priorities wrong and steered clear of the stock; it’s nearly worthless today. throughout my ten years managing the international small companies (isc) strategy, most of the entrepreneurs i have encountered didn’t have ambitions of becoming the next celebrity ceo. or driving a supercar. they mainly want for their businesses to be the best in their niche, and because of that, they tend to face less pressure to expand beyond those core competencies than large companies do. we consider such clear focus to be a hallmark of good management. as a result, small companies can be quite skilled at what they do. take uno minda, which produces automotive components such as alternate fuel systems used in electric vehicles. years ago, the indian company adopted japanese techniques such as kaizen to supercharge its manufacturing processes and growth. now, uno minda’s japanese partners visit its factories to learn how to improve their own operations. with so little of what small companies do visible to the outside world, they aren’t well understood by markets and may not be for some time. it requires investors to take a long term view, another way in which small caps are particularly suited to our firm’s philosophy. but as much as we’d like to hold onto the best small caps forever, the bittersweet reality is that those are the companies most likely to move on from the asset class. some get acquired. others graduate out of the portfolio because they grow too valuable to fit the definition. (in just the last year, several of our isc holdings including chr. hansen, dechra, emis group, and network international have received takeover offers from strategic buyers or private equity firms.) some people enjoy covering the superheroes. but after getting to do both, for me there is nothing like the joy of discovering the greatest small companies most investors haven’t yet heard of. different asset managers have different answers. for some, a small cap is defined by a rigid view of market capitalizations. for example, any company less than us$2 billion may be eligible for a small cap strategy, and any company that eventually exceeds us$3 billion in market value must be sold. the trouble with using such blunt thresholds is that they fail to take into account a general increase in markets. other firms may set a market cap limit for only the initial purchase. but this is how a “small cap portfolio” can end up rather awkwardly holding lots of companies with lofty us$25 billion market caps. our definition says small is relative. it starts with the parameters set by the index provider msci, which considers a small cap to be any investable company that falls below the 85th percentile of market caps. we then consider the market cap ranges of companies in the msci acwi ex us small cap index (for our international strategy) or the msci acwi small cap index (for our global strategy) and their weighted average market caps relative to the index. this combination ensures that we steer clear of tiny, illiquid holdings as well as companies too large to fit the small cap label. we like this approach because it allows for different ranges for different equity markets around the world, and because the most reasonable definition of a small cap is one that changes over time. what is “small” today would’ve been considered huge 50 years ago. when the international index launched in 2007, the largest members were valued at less than us$5 billion. today, they are more than twice as big. don’t be surprised if in another 50 years a us$25 billion company truly is a small cap. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis one of our more acid tongued colleagues likes to observe that “just because we don’t do macro, it doesn’t mean the macro cannot do us.” the observation is a challenge to our bottom up investment philosophy and merits a response. what does his comment really mean? is he correct? by “not doing macro,” he means that we try not to allow our judgments about macroeconomic variables gdp growth, inflation, and real interest rates or geopolitical events to dictate our views on individual companies. by “macro does us,” he means that when the market’s risk tolerance and underlying assumptions change because of unexpected shifts in the macroeconomic environment, the consequential price movements can dominate a portfolio’s periodic absolute and relative returns. although the injury may be only temporary, it is hard to avoid getting swept up in the general fervor. that’s a problem if it leads to reflexive and hasty reactions. it is precisely to avoid getting whipsawed in this way that we devote much of our efforts to restraining our inherent behavioral biases. but even with the sturdiest of behavioral guardrails designed to curb our responsiveness, the sudden jump in portfolio volatility and tracking error feels no less jarring. our investment approach centers on analysis of the prospects for specific companies and the industries in which they operate. as a result, the portfolios we construct are a mosaic of company centric views, with the final picture coming into focus only after all of the pieces are assembled. sometimes our bottom up investment process leads us to sidestep systemic issues. in the years before the global financial crisis, for instance, we became disenchanted with the traditional banking industry. we didn’t like how the increased price transparency that came with the migration of services online diminished banks’ bargaining power over their borrowers and depositors, or how rising levels of consumer debt portended that growth could be weaker, and rivalry and risk taking fiercer. that was enough to lead us largely to steer clear of banking stocks. although in hindsight our portfolio positioning appeared to anticipate the subsequent dislocations, in fact we had no overarching view on systemic financial stability. there is no question it would be nice to have clear foresight on gdp, inflation, and real rates. like it or not, economic growth is the lifeblood of industrial economies, and, despite its ever shifting relationship to equity returns, is closely associated with aggregate earnings. similarly, inflation and real rates are both barometers and agents of economic transformation that always could and frequently do alter the path of economic growth. and there is strong reason to believe that macro level dislocations are likely to be an order of magnitude greater than the mispricings that occur at the security level. given the periodic importance of such dislocations, this raises the question: why don’t we attempt to shape our portfolios more explicitly by directly forecasting economic variables or geopolitical events? the question is particularly vexing given the current importance of the inflation outlook for equities. tetlock’s conclusion was that expert predictions about geopolitical crises were no better than guesses. the only contribution that expertise seemed consistently to confer was a perverse boost in confidence regarding one’s (ineffective) forecasts. the standard response typically trotted out is that forecasting is exceptionally hard, or as the danish physicist niels bohr is alleged to have quipped, “prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” nowhere is this more true than with geopolitical events, which by all accounts appear to defy anyone’s ability to anticipate them with anything approaching consistency. the political scientist philip tetlock tackled this issue head on in a multidecade study described in his 2015 book, superforecasting: the art and science of prediction. tetlock’s conclusion was that expert predictions about geopolitical crises were no better than guesses. what’s more, the only contribution that expertise seemed consistently to confer was a perverse boost in confidence regarding one’s (ineffective) forecasts. the record for macroeconomic forecasting is not quite as wretched; at least there are frameworks and models on which to hang one’s thinking. but it’s still one of those endeavors where you’re doing very well if you’re right a little more often than you’re wrong. even so, it is not as though the ground level forecasting of cashflows, business prospects, and competitive forces is easy. so perhaps the real question is why we consider the latter sensible but the former a fool’s errand, at least for fundamental equity investors such as us. the answer in large part comes down to the size of the opportunity set, or the number of times you get to apply your investing edge. even the most skilled forecasters, whatever their forecasting game, have but the tiniest of edges and so the surest way to increase their chances of success is to apply that minute edge as many times as possible. in a global investment universe, there are roughly 8,000 equity securities, each operating in its own industry and geography with their own sets of return drivers, compared with a relative handful of forecastable macroeconomic variables. given equal forecasting skill, you are going to have a far higher likelihood of some overall success by applying that skill across many securities rather than over a few economic statistics. even allowing for the fact that not every security’s return is entirely idiosyncratic, there are still far more independent and durable drivers of individual security returns than there are of macroeconomic trends, which may allow you to get the micro right without so much as taking a swing at the macro. even if you were one of the few hyper skilled and hyper accurate macro forecasters, a portfolio of stocks would be a poor way to capitalize on views about inflation or economic growth. although there’s a relationship between the macroeconomy and stock returns, that relationship is neither simple nor determinate. in practical terms, stocks are a terribly inefficient way to express a view on macroeconomic variables. better to bet on currencies, yields curves, and commodity prices directly, all of which are far more closely tethered to the outlook for growth, inflation, and real rates. it’s not just that there are better, more precise, and more levered ways to express macroeconomic views. it’s also that trying to do so with stocks risks erasing the hard won company level insights that are the linchpin of our portfolios. and it’s not just that there are better, more precise, and more levered ways to express such views. it’s also that trying to do so with stocks risks erasing the hard won company level insights that are the linchpin of our portfolios. all the companies in which we invest have track records of successfully generating cash and reinvesting it wisely. in many cases these companies have survived wars, recessions, pandemics, inflation, deflation, and geopolitical shocks. sacrificing those financially valuable fundamental attributes in a most likely vain attempt to time a particular economic cycle not only presupposes a preternatural ability to tie economic outcomes to individual security returns but also risks the long term health of the portfolio. we don’t do macro, so by default we allow macro to do us. there are, though, ways in which we can protect against developments that result in sudden changes in risk aversion. one is to diversify events that damage the outlook in one industry or part of the world may have no impact, or even a beneficial one, on stock prices elsewhere. that said, diversification cannot work during times of systemic crisis, when correlations between geographies, industries, sectors, and individual securities converge. that’s where our reliance on a company’s strength comes in. two hallmarks of a company’s quality are the ability of its management to prepare for a wide range of outcomes and whether it has the financial strength to survive the worst possible operating conditions. although we can’t estimate the probability of market moving events, we can think about the magnitude and range of potential outcomes so we may more fully understand our exposures and ensure we are sufficiently diversified to protect against them. for example, before russia’s invasion of ukraine, many people thought about a range of outcomes that included war versus no war or disruption to energy supplies. but, given prior western responses, few considered the potential for sanctions that would freeze all russian assets and render them worthless, at least for the time being. now, as we think about the financial market implications if china were to invade taiwan, we must consider the possibility that chinese assets could be similarly impaired. so, what do we do about it? we certainly aren’t going to try to parse chinese troop movements or overturn our investment theses on the dozens of companies, not only in china but also throughout the global supply chain, that could be impacted by what at this point must still be considered a very low probability event. on the other hand, thinking long and hard about the potential risks to supply lines, revenues, or the corporate structures of portfolio companies and what further levels of diversification might be in order is very much in our wheelhouse. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance financial markets, among other things, act as a type of sieve that screens investments. ideally, the riskiest tradable assets pass through to the strongest balance sheets. in practice, they often end up on the balance sheets of the most accommodating investors, owned not by those most capable of bearing risks, but rather those most willing to. a well functioning market will tend to filter out those excesses, eliminating investors who exceed their risk bearing capacity, while helping to ensure that those who take on too little risk see their returns shrink and their share of the capital base dwindle. on balance, this sifting mechanism helps to steer capital to its most productive uses. in extended bull markets, however, this process tends to break down, as rewards flow disproportionally to the most aggressive, over confident, and complacent investors. this creates a powerful feedback loop, as unbridled risk taking is rewarded with outperformance which in turn draws more capital. once the process gets going, it is self reinforcing as the newly attracted capital is plowed back into the same group of assets. in so doing, fragilities increase, and the longer it persists the more distorted capital allocation becomes. by central bankers’ own admission, their goal was to spur a positive wealth effect on spending, by pushing safety minded investors into taking more risks, thus driving up valuations. now we will see just how difficult the unwinding will be as the wealth effect goes into reverse. the implosion over the last six months (at least in terms of their asset prices) of profitless growth stocks, crypto assets, and other speculative creatures of the markets is emblematic of the reckoning that can occur once excessive risk taking continues for too long. in this case, it has been slowly building for over a decade. fears of outright deflation following the global financial crisis encouraged central banks to keep pushing interest rates lower to allow over extended borrowers to heal, and to reduce the cost of capital for new investment in the hopes of kick starting growth. at the same time, the total absence of inflationary pressures seduced central bankers to set aside worries about the dangers of money printing and unrestrained liquidity. by their own admission, the goal of their zero interest monetary policy was to spur a positive wealth effect on spending, by pushing fearful, safety minded investors into taking more risks, thus driving up valuations.1 primary beneficiaries of this process were growth stocks, particularly the most speculative growth stocks of companies with untried business models; their multiples steadily increased, inversely with submerging interest rates. this coincided with a surge in indexation and so called “smart beta” and factor investing, which channeled vast amounts of capital to the same group of stocks. remarkably, for an extended period, some of these stocks were simultaneously defensive, fast growing, and relatively involatile, guaranteeing them an outsized weighting across a plethora of indices designed to track those very characteristics. many active managers, faced with the prospect of having to beat a steadily narrowing benchmark, also piled in, overweighting these same stocks in the case of mutual funds, or owning them with leverage in the case of hedge funds. the prolonged success of these strategies encouraged yet more risk taking, with new rafts of venture backed startups and ipos lacking anywhere near the prodigious free cash flows of the established tech companies. moreover, the initial phases of the pandemic led to a late kick for tech stocks seemingly insulated from pandemic induced disruptions to traditional commerce, which further turbocharged their valuations. the result was levitating valuations justified on the back of negative real interest rates. the whole process was vulnerable to any shift in the macroeconomic backdrop that could prompt central banks to reverse course. the coils of that shift were arguably set by the pandemic and then sprung by the vaccine clinical trial results and rollouts which together upended consumption patterns, snarled supply chains, and reconfigured labor markets. according to the bank for international settlements, global growth, after cratering in 2020, accelerated to the fastest pace in almost five decades the following year.2 the subsequent conflict in ukraine exposed the fragility of an energy supply that had been undermined by a decade of underinvestment and climate related antipathy, applying an energy supply shock to a combustible mix. now we will see just how difficult unwinding the unprecedented asset purchase programs and zero interest rate policies will be as central bank balance sheets shrink, interest rates rise, and the wealth effect goes into reverse. policymakers embarked on their former policies with a clear eyed view of the clear and present danger of deflation while the uncertain contingent costs inhabited a distant and abstract future. as that future arrives, the true costs are being revealed. 1“aiding the economy: what the fed did and why,” ben s. bernanke, the washington post (november 4, 2010). 2bis annual economic report, bank of international settlements (june 26, 2022). what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis but days before shen’s departure, new complications arose: outbreaks of the omicron variant in several chinese cities, including shanghai, were prompting citywide lockdowns. the flight was still due to depart, but had been rerouted to fuzhou, a coastal city across the strait from taiwan, 450 miles to the southwest. the natural some would say, prudent decision at this point might have been to postpone her trip. but shen, worried she might not easily get another ticket, pressed ahead. here are her travel bulletins. 4 p.m. gmt march 31, 10,000 feet above siberia quite frankly, it is a miracle we are still enroute to china. in recent months, many other flights were canceled minutes before departure, and some were turned around in the air midway. one woman i spoke with during my pre flight covid testing told me her ticket was cancelled eight times! assuming we make it (looking around now for wood to knock on the plane is mostly carbon fiber), ours will be the first plane from the east coast of the united states to land in china in weeks. when i booked my flight in january, my seat was one of the last available; a few days later all were gone from any airport between boston and dc until the end of july. i’m still amazed so many other people are intent on going to china right now, even though so many people in china are under mobility restrictions. the pandemic has occupied nearly every conversation i’ve had in recent days with other travelers at the testing facility in queens, at the airport, here on the plane with the friendly flight attendants smiling from behind their full hazmat garb. on the chinese social media apps, there is furious debate between the “zero coviders” and the “open uppers,” just like the culture wars in the states. people in each camp are so busy arguing with and unfriending those from the other camp that a much needed third voice is being drowned out one that argues for hurrying more, and, if needed, better jabs into arms, especially for china’s under vaccinated elderly, which might lower the severe costs of the pandemic to society. 4 a.m. local time, april 1, fuzhou changle airport the arrival process has been pretty orderly. after touching down, we were deplaned in groups of 15 so each of us could undergo testing and temperature checks. everyone’s luggage was sanitized. we filled out forms capturing our identification information and phone numbers, which took several hours. now we’re just waiting for a bus to take us to a quarantine hotel. still don’t know the name and location due to rolling availability. 5:30 a.m. april 1, phase 1, day 1 of 15 in room 919 at the shiji jinyuan hotel, fuzhou we are settled in the quarantine hotel in fuzhou, otherwise known as the city of banyans because of all the beautiful banyan trees. the largest tree is said to date back to the song era, about 900 years ago. it’s hard to make them out from my hotel room window, and i have no glimpse of the sea or taiwan. i can see a little bit of the min river, though, and the mountains to the north. so far, the room is homey enough. i have plenty of space. the internet connectivity is subpar but functional. i have been staying in touch with my colleagues and talked to many people to update them on my arrival. temperatures are checked twice a day with covid tests every few days. thankfully, no one on my flight has tested positive. if that happens, our two week quarantine will be extended even longer. i received a call from the office in beijing where my government id is associated, since that’s where i went to college and spent my first job. the woman asked me a few questions about my plans and was pleasant, although i was a little taken aback by how happy she sounded when she learned i would not be frequenting her city after my quarantine. for a moment there, i felt like we were in the black plague! 7:30 a.m., room 919, day 2 of 15 obligatory food review: the chefs are cooking for some 400 people, so the quality varies. at times the food is overcooked, presumably to kill any covid floating around. but the delivery person has been exceptionally kind to me, usually leaving one or even two extra meals for me since i think my room, which is at the end of the corridor, might be the last one on his route. so, i save some choices that i enjoy. the meals are delivered to our door three times a day. no outside food is allowed, but online orders of daily necessities are permitted. for me, that’s a yoga mat, which i ordered from taobao. hoping that yoga will help me restore my circadian rhythm. 11 a.m., room 919, day 6 of 15 my fellow passengers and i (we are all in a wechat group together) have been scrambling this morning to figure out the next leg of our travel. april 16th now appears to be our release date from phase 1 of the quarantine period, which still seems very far away. what is not clear is the latest policy for phase 2 in shanghai, which many of us have listed as our final destinations. i don’t know yet whether i will be at a central government operated quarantine hotel as i am now, or self quarantining at another location, which would be strictly monitored. the situation is very fluid. 9:30 a.m., room 919, day 8 of 15 half of my phase 1 quarantine time has passed, and it looks like spring has arrived here in fuzhou the views are pretty, and i wish i could go outside to explore. unfortunately, the bright sun doesn’t lift the spirits of the passengers from flight mu588. as time grinds on, people have become a bit more anxious and exhausted. on wechat, there are complaints about the hotel rooms and services. a few people feel the meals are unpalatable and would rather have cup noodles. others grumble about the brain stir style covid tests or the internet service, which has degraded with a new influx of passengers at the hotel. i’ve stayed out of it (maybe the yoga helps) and appreciate how tough it must be to keep 400 quarantined people happy. i have been able to stay connected to the internet most of the time but am having to use my phone hot spot more. our biggest worry is what will happen to us after phase 1. the barriers seem more insurmountable by the day for those who were headed to shanghai. apparently, most flights and trains to the city have been canceled, so some people may have to stay several more days, or even weeks in fuzhou. there were stories of people turned away at the fuzhou airport for departure but then rejected entry back to the city, so they have no choice but to sleep at the fuzhou airport (which might be apocryphal since i didn’t see anyone camping out when we were there). the same struggle is shared by those trying to make the trip the other way those who landed in shanghai but are trying to get to other cities outside. a friend of mine has been trapped in shanghai for three weeks. he has spent the first two weeks in quarantine, and the hotel where he is staying has just announced the food is running short. at least i have other options, including heading straight on to my hometown xi’an. 2 p.m., room 919, day 9 of 15 we are the lucky ones. none of our little headaches here in fuzhou come close to what people in shanghai are experiencing, who have now been in lockdown for weeks. they are panicking about food, and more and more items are under shortages. i know from my conversations with our portfolio companies that much of this has to do with logistics countless restrictions have been placed on truckers and drivers, who cannot come into the city because of the fears they will bring in or carry out the virus. at times, this feels like the country is living backwards, plopped right back at the start of the pandemic two years ago. i spoke with one of our companies, the travel booking site trip.com group. they think more cities will enter lockdowns in q2 because of the appearance of omicron everywhere. 10 a.m., room 919, day 11 of 15 i’ve spent the last couple days speaking to more companies and hearing more difficult news from friends and family throughout china. a friend was placed in quarantine simply because someone else in his testing batch was positive, and they wouldn’t readminister tests to find out whose sample it was. when i put my analyst hat on, all this makes me think that the current wave could leave worse marks on the economy than 2020. if cities have recurring lockdowns, multinationals might re evaluate china’s comparative supply chain advantages. and orders have been lukewarm anyway, as more of the world resumes normality and moves more aggressively to insulate itself from any potential disruption. 11 a.m., room 919, day 12 of 15 out of everything gloomy, a piece of positive news! some cities are finally pushing more seriously for vaccines for the elderly. in beijing, a generous gift credit of rmb500 (us$75) is being handed out to those above 60 years old who get a shot, along with additional coupons for those who bring in their friends. my 88 year old grandparents finally got their first shots a couple of weeks ago. like any good granddaughter, i had bombarded them for several weeks with severity and death data from the unvaccinated elderly in hong kong. now, they’re waiting for their second shot. already, it gives me some peace of mind and hope they are a representative indicator! 10 p.m., room 919, day 15 of 15 my two weeks of quarantining in fuzhou are nearly up at times it has been slow, but the days have been very busy for me earnings season, talking to companies to let them know i am here, comparing notes with colleagues. it’s nice to be able to attend so many of my company discussions without a time zone difference, although none seem to be doing in person meetings just yet. i can’t say this is the finest hotel i have ever stayed at, but it is sure to be the most memorable. for one, i won’t forget the silent humor of the staff. one fellow passenger complained that her meals were too bland and asked the hotel to cook with more soy sauce. the next thing she knows, she gets a bottle of soy sauce delivered to her door, a sly invitation to douse her own food all she wants. it’s the amusing moments like these that have made this time a little easier. now, only nine hours to go before my release from phase 1. medical assistants dressed in white protection gear (nicknamed “big white” on chinese social media) come to test my hotel room. swabs are taken from my pillows, my jacket, and my toothbrush. as lockdowns dragged on in shanghai and spread to my other intended destination, i have decided to head straight home to xi’an after all. the only downside is that none of the six people in my family will be allowed to leave the apartment for the first seven days i am there. after a week, they will be granted freedom to move around, but i’ll have to stay inside for another seven days. hopefully my grandpa’s snoring won’t disrupt our firm’s quarterly webcast, which we are filming a couple days after i arrive. 9 a.m. xi’an time, april 17, phase 2, day 2 of 14 home at last! i left my quarantine facility on saturday as planned the trip to xi’an took twelve hours. the climax was the ambulance ride to my parents’ from the airport (that’s me again to the left, mildly offended no sirens are blaring). when i finally reached home, a local officer in big white was waiting for me. she was carrying a seal for the front door and an electronic lock that will send an alarm to the local police if any of us ventures outside more than three times a day for more than the few minutes it takes to carry out the trash or get tested. ours is a kind of double lockdown one protecting xi’an from me due to my arrival from abroad, the other a citywide lockdown protecting us from the virus now loose on the streets of xi’an. evening, april 23, day 8 of 14 i continue to have daily calls with companies. from my conversations, logistics and travel seem to be front and center in their concerns. since logistics companies are often faulted as carriers of the virus, the new default is to suspend deliveries as soon as a lockdown is commenced. consumer sentiment is weak now too, which may scar the consumer and retail sector even after the peaks have passed. staples like dairy should be doing fine. people are still trying to eat and would like to buy! industrial disruptions are occurring throughout the supply chain, which could do long term damage to china’s status as the world’s factory. so ironic after china was the first country to get back up and running during the first wave, and so sad since it seems like so much of the damage could have been controlled. noon, may 1, reflection and release during this entire trip, i have felt extremely privileged. for the duration of my quarantine, i have always had more than enough to eat, unlike all those many isolated and hungry in shanghai. i also feel a little guilty about the inconvenience my return has caused others. i learned the hotel staff was in their own parallel lockdown with us, working at the hotel for up to a month and then quarantining for 14 days after each shift. the flight attendants have been quarantining for 14 days after each flight. i’ve started to wonder how the country’s near term growth targets can possibly be met now absent a relaxation of zero  covid and/or massive additional government support. i understand that they wanted to both protect the elderly and other vulnerable people and give the local biotechs a chance to finish developing their own mrna vaccines before letting in the western versions. but couldn’t there be a more sustainable way to handle the situation? one thing is certain the government is at war with the virus, but there’s also a war underway within public opinion. in the chat groups and social media sites where i’ve spent so many of my waking hours these past five weeks, it is constant debate. this lack of solidarity and wavering of confidence that we will get through this is a stark contrast to china’s fast emergence from the pandemic in 2020 and has undoubtedly contributed to the difficulties. on the other hand, there is also something refreshing about it a sign of civic sanity, perhaps, in the face of lockdowns on top of lockdowns. according to reports a few days ago, another 1,100 companies in shanghai have been cleared to reopen. that’s on top of the 600 that were previously announced. the latest estimates are the whole city might be out of lockdown within two weeks. we’ll see. here in xi’an, meanwhile, we have gotten off easy. i was finally sprung right before china’s five day “may first” (labor day) holiday. the last week actually worked out pretty well for me, because april 30 is the deadline of the super reporting season for a share companies, who usually report both annual and q1 results simultaneously and hold their annual investor meetings, the vast majority online. i managed to attend as many as seven meetings per day. i hope my boss doesn’t get any ideas about putting me in quarantine every earnings season now. during the holiday, i was able to catch up with a handful of schoolmates since nobody could really travel outside the province. interestingly, most have ended up working for state owned enterprises or institutes. the recurring complaints seem to be around compensation and the rigidity of the system. otherwise, people still worry about the same things as before: housing prices and kids’ education. there still seems fierce competition to get into a good school to test well for the college entrance exam. over this past weekend, i took my first long walk in xi’an in several years. the city has transformed from the historical city i remember into a cosmopolitan metropolis with thousands of high rises and dozens of brand new shopping malls. as i walked around the new south lake that was being built when i left for college, early risers were doing their morning exercises. life was remarkably calm and peaceful. nobody seemed to care about politics so long as it is leading them to a brighter future and hopefully a future that doesn’t have to involve repeated lockdowns. what did you think of this piece? multi asset what are we to make of such an acquiescent yield curve in the face of the highest inflation in a generation? are investors so convinced of central banks’ inflation fighting credibility that they are willing to forego any compensation for the risk that things might not turn out exactly as planned? or have successive efforts by central banks to prop up asset prices at the first sign of trouble by generously spraying markets with liquidity scrubbed away any vestigial memories of inflation and left investors in a state of learned passivity? or perhaps there’s a simpler explanation: the information contained in bond prices must be taken with a large pinch of salt. there are plenty of reasons for not taking bond prices at face value, and they bear repeating, if only to remind ourselves of the profound distortions bedeviling sovereign yield curves. the biggest culprits are the quantitative easing programs undertaken by central banks following the global financial crisis (and extended or revived during the pandemic) to push down long term interest rates and thereby spur economic growth. despite plans to wind them down, these asset purchasing programs continue to hoover up much of the sovereign bond supply in the us, the eurozone, and japan. the rate dampening effects of these programs are augmented by the ongoing bond purchases by other central banks, notably in asia, whose recurrent need to prevent large current account surpluses from sending their currencies spiraling higher compels them to keep adding to their towering foreign reserves. the increased adoption of risk parity strategies has cemented the role of bonds as foremost an insurance asset. if instead of demanding compensation for bearing inflation risk, investors are willing to pay a premium to protect their portfolios, inflation expectations derived from bond prices will be understated. but while central banks, along with other non profit maximizing participants, have always been a feature of bond markets, what’s new today is the rise of a class of investor for whom default free government bonds are a hedge first and a return seeking investment a distant second. the increased adoption of risk parity strategies, along with various permutations that fall under the umbrella of volatility targeting strategies, has cemented the role of bonds as foremost an insurance asset. in these strategies, as equity market volatility rises or falls, exposure to bonds is dialed up or down to equalize the contribution to total portfolio volatility coming from each asset class. the inherent assumption is that bonds will be a hedge when the rest of the portfolio heads south. and that’s a problem because the inflation expectations that are backed out from bond prices assume that investors demand a reward for bearing inflation risk. but if instead of demanding compensation for bearing inflation risk, investors are willing to pay a premium to protect their portfolios, inflation expectations derived from bond prices will be understated. what this means from a practical perspective is that bond prices are likely to be far less reactive to nascent inflation concerns than in the past, and equity prices may be the better guide for those concerned about what’s brewing with inflation. moreover, today’s strained equity valuations magnify the markets’ sensitivity to prospective increases in inflation. ominously, high valuations not only make equities more sensitive but also more vulnerable, as we shall see. whenever inflation and equities are mentioned in the same breath there is always someone who will reflexively insist that, because equities are a claim on real assets, holders can safely ignore inflation. there is a kernel of truth to this. equities are a claim on real assets and so over the very long term should be more resilient than, say, nominal bonds, but that doesn’t mean inflation can be ignored. far from it. because inflation has knock on effects to cash flows and discount rates, the impact of higher inflation on equity valuations can be dramatic. the hit to cash flow expectations comes from the combined effects of a squeeze on company profits from rising input costs and the demand destruction that typically follows the policy response an increase in tax levels or interest rates needed to bring inflation back under control. moreover, because monetary instability also strikes at the heart of the economic compact between labor and capital, it can have a dramatic effect on equity discount rates beyond its mechanical effect on borrowing costs. assuming companies can pass on their costs one to one with inflation, they should be able to pay higher dividends and their share prices should go up. what this simple story leaves out, of course, is the colossal bun fight that inevitably breaks out as everyone flails around trying to dodge the inflation hit to profits, wages, and pocketbooks. a simple model for equity returns can help to elucidate the mechanics. one workhorse model for equity returns is the gordon growth model, a variant of the dividend discount model that assumes the current dividend d grows at some constant rate g in perpetuity and that investors discount those future expected cashflows at a fixed rate r. the price p for such an asset is the present value of the entire stream of future cash flows, which can be expressed as follows: what’s clear from this simplified model is that, assuming companies can pass on ballooning input costs by raising prices for their goods one to one with inflation, the resulting increase in nominal dividends will be matched by a corresponding increase in nominal share prices. if that were the only thing going on, then inflation could indeed be safely ignored. what this simple story leaves out, of course, is the colossal bun fight that inevitably breaks out as everyone flails around trying to dodge the inflation hit to profits, wages, and pocketbooks. the precise contours of the conflict depend on the source of the inflation shock and the relative bargaining power of the various stakeholders. but the broad outlines tend to follow the same pattern, with a shock to living standards sparking a demand for higher wages that gets passed on through higher prices as businesses try and defend their margins. because each step is contentious, none of it unfolds smoothly, which lowers productivity and interferes with resource allocation and ultimately is manifested in slower earnings growth. eventually, a central coordinator like a central bank or fiscal authority steps in to try and break this dynamic. the standard cure involves them reining in economic activity with some combination of higher interest rates or increased taxation, which does eventually bring the inflationary cycle to a shuddering halt but at the cost of lower profits and wages. these interventions typically produce additional unintended consequences see the miners’ strike in great britain during margaret thatcher’s early years which further increase frictions. given that backdrop, it’s hardly surprising that consistently rising prices tend to also push up the required rate of return for risky assets. this reflects the real sense that elevated inflation embodies the unraveling of the social contract in the economic sphere. and that’s because inflation is not so much a rise in the price of goods as it is a decline in the value of money. this erosion in the unit of account ripples through balance sheets, blunting price signals, and makes it harder for businesses and households to plan for the future. the longer inflation persists, the more debilitating the harm. the gordon growth model also has a role to play in explaining why the confluence of elevated valuations and inflation is so toxic. to understand how that works, we need to introduce another concept known as modified duration. the notion of modified duration is central to bond analysis, but it’s rarely applied in the context of equities. and that’s a shame because equity market duration has a lot to tell us about the stock market’s current sensitivity to inflation. duration is the average maturity of the expected future cash flows for any security. purely speculative assets that have no expected cash flows, such as gold or bitcoin, have infinite duration. the duration for a zero coupon bond with a single known cash flow at expiry is simply the number of years to maturity. if you divide the duration of an asset by its discount rate, you have a measure of its sensitivity to changes in that discount rate, which is called modified duration. for bonds, modified duration is the sensitivity of its price to changes in its yield to maturity, or, said otherwise, the percent change in price for a given percent change in yield. for equities, modified duration tells you how much of a share price change you should anticipate for a given small change in the discount rate, r. although in the case of equities the cash flows are uncertain, we can still use the gordon growth model to approximate a measure of modified duration for the broad market. i’ll leave the tedious math for the footnote1 but suffice to say that a few manipulations reveal that the modified duration of the equity market is simply the inverse of the market’s dividend yield. with a dividend yield of 1.43%, the s&p 500 is currently sporting a modified duration of around 70 years (100/1.43 = ~70). it’s quite possible that the recent ruckus in the market for growth stocks those securities with cash flows furthest out into the future and therefore with an even more extended duration is exactly what we’d expect as the first tremors in the discount rate reverberate through the amplifier of high valuations. over the past 20 years, already a period of elevated valuations relative to long term history, the average modified duration for the s&p 500 has been 50 years. a current modified duration of 70 implies a 40% increase over the historical average in the sensitivity of share prices to small changes in the discount rate. in practice, at a modified duration of 50 years, a 50 bps increase in the discount rate would translate to roughly a 20% decline in prices. this decline is somewhat less than the 25% we would expect from modified duration alone (.05% x  50 =  25%) because, for larger changes in the discount rate, we need to also account for a bit of arcana known as convexity. even so, today, with a modified duration of 70, the effect of a 50 bps increase in the discount rate at a modified duration of 70 years is a 27% drop. it’s quite possible that the recent ruckus in the market for growth stocks those securities with cash flows furthest out into the future and therefore with an even more extended duration is exactly what we’d expect as the first tremors in the discount rate reverberate through the amplifier of high valuations. meanwhile, the resilience of the broader market might indicate that so far, at the aggregate level at least, this rise in the discount rate has been partly offset by rude economic health and no indications of an unravelling of the social fabric caused by inflation. if only such an assessment wasn’t directly at odds with the recent inversion of the us yield curve pregnant with recessionary portents. let us hope that the bond market’s distortions that scramble its inflation signaling are also adding to its inutility as a predictor of economic slowdowns. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance while ours certainly is not the only firm to have been caught out by russian exposure, and the past few months of rising inflation and interest rate fears have in some ways brought even bigger headaches for our quality growth investing style, the russia losses were still “a gut punch,” as a colleague recently told npr. and we have been asking ourselves, what did we get wrong, and debating what could have been predicted. the answer to the question “could we have predicted this outcome?” is, of course, “yes.” hindsight makes for extremely accurate forecasts. more importantly, though, are we asking the right question by focusing on the outcome, rather than on the process by which our decisions to invest in russian securities were made? when making decisions under conditions of uncertainty, it is not just probable, but certain, that you will sometimes be wrong. if we were to judge the quality of our decisions solely on outcomes, it would be, as former treasury secretary robert rubin once said, “a serious deterrent to taking the risks that may be necessary to making the right decision. simply put, the way decisions are evaluated affects the way they are made.”1 author, cognitive psychologist, and champion poker player annie duke calls assessing decisions based solely on outcomes where those outcomes are a combination of luck and skill “resulting.” in supposing we made a “bad” decision to invest in russian securities, are we guilty of resulting? is there evidence, beyond the outcome, to suggest that the decision represents a failure of our investment process? author, cognitive psychologist, and champion poker player annie duke calls assessing decisions based solely on outcomes where those outcomes are a combination of luck and skill “resulting.” that process is structured to reflect our investment beliefs. those beliefs include the idea that securities markets are inefficient, but only mildly so, and that those inefficiencies stem, in large part, from flaws in investor behavior from cognitive biases. those biases include: our investment process is structured to overcome these biases in our own decision making. we are aware of our source of edge: it lies in assessing the quality of businesses, the sustainability of their cash flows, and estimating the prices at which we may invest or disinvest. we take a long term approach to investment and try not to react to hourly or daily news cycles. we try not to make decisions based on forecasts in which we should have little confidence. we are disciplined: adhering to a strong process, structured to be consistent with our investment beliefs, so that we should make the same decision whatever our emotional state of mind. importantly, we stick to our area of expertise. we try not to make decisions based on forecasts in which we should have little confidence. we are disciplined: adhering to a strong process, structured to be consistent with our investment beliefs, so that we should make the same decision whatever our emotional state of mind. further, we practice diversification, and we limit our permitted exposures to geographies or industries based partly on our assessment of their riskiness. in our international equity strategy, for example, our exposure is limited to 20% in china, but also to 20% in switzerland, obviously a much smaller market. our limit in that strategy to russia was 10% and 20% in the more limited universe of em. this is the process we trust to see ourselves through all market conditions, including when market prices are rapidly falling, whatever the reason for the crisis. when does this approach succeed? most obviously when prices recover quickly from crises. correlations of returns tend to increase during crises but revert to normal once they are over. we have seen quick market recoveries after, for example, the 1987 crash; iraq’s invasion of kuwait; the gulf war; the latin american debt crisis; the long term capital management bankruptcy; the asian financial crisis; the 9 11 attack and closure of the us financial markets; the global financial crisis; and the euro debt crisis. when does this approach fail? that’s hard to say, as it has yet to do so, at least not over any meaningful time frame. it fails in the short term when unforecastable but very negatively impactful events become more probable and there is a rapid decline in the sentiment of market participants, resulting in sharp declines in asset prices and a rise in their correlation. in the longer term, our approach would fail if there were no recovery in those asset prices. in the case of war breaking out, we note that the long history of us stock markets shows that wars have had little lasting influence on returns. indeed, since the great depression, one of the most prolonged counters to the long term upward trend in stock prices occurred during 2000 2003, a period that began with overpriced growth stocks and featured the bursting of the internet bubble. this period was also marked by 9 11 and the us invasions of afghanistan and iraq, yet these events had no sustained impact on markets. as investors, if not as observers of human suffering, we should perhaps worry more about observable stock prices and valuations than about armed conflicts between nations. how did we approach decisions to invest in russia? we identified four very strong russian companies, with good management, strong balance sheets, and excellent growth prospects each of them also apparently run for the benefit of shareholders with little state interference. we limited our exposure to this risky market (but one lowly correlated with other markets) and implemented our investments through securities traded on exchanges outside russia. from a portfolio diversification perspective, we held the investments in part as an inflation hedge through the exposure to energy that two of the companies provided, and in part as an antidote to our (now proven to be well founded) concerns about the valuation risk we saw building in many other parts of the global equity market knowing full well that the antidote came with geopolitical risk. the trade offs and decisions we made clearly ended badly, and we deeply regret losses that our clients have suffered. but we must not let hindsight blind us to the difficulty of forecasting such events. unless and until it’s proven unfounded, we will adhere to a process predicated on the belief that such forecasting is not a source of edge for us (and probably not for anybody) and remain confident that the past is still a reasonable guide to the future…or certainly the best guide we have. 1remarks to the new york university commencement, may 13, 1999. what did you think of this piece? active vs. passive much of the debate surrounding indexing centers on the relative merits of taking an active versus passive investment approach. but the question of how indexing might be reshaping market structure is largely unexplored. the standing assumption is that, since passive investment flows mirror the prevailing distribution of capital, index trades are bereft of information and therefore have no effect on the pricing of the underlying securities; hence the overall scale of indexing is irrelevant. but this assumption becomes more tenuous as the share of passively managed assets grows. what if passive increased to, say, 100% of all equity assets? would those investments still have no effect on prices? it’s unclear how the widespread use of indexing may be affecting market structure; that is, at what point the sheer quantity of assets mimicking market behavior could start to change the behavior. maybe it already has. to its advocates, the virtues of indexing are beyond reproach. with low fees and high transparency, index funds offer a cheap and straightforward way for an investor to earn average returns. this perspective is buttressed by mounds of academic research that have characterized passive investing as a stable equilibrium, meaning that even were everyone to index their investments, it would make no difference to either prices or the cost of capital. underlying this claim is an assumption that markets are populated by rational beings, whose collective behavior delivers market prices that always perfectly reflect all available information. but markets don’t work that way, and grubby reality is a world away from this frictionless ideal. “we have reached the third degree where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be.”  john maynard keynes the early 20th century british economist john maynard keynes understood this only too well, famously comparing investors to participants in newspaper beauty contests. a popular feature in the london press of his time, these contests asked readers to choose the six prettiest faces out of a collection of a hundred photographs. the winner was the entry that came closest to the average selection. although nominally about personal aesthetics, winning the contest meant successfully anticipating the anticipations of others. “it is not a case of choosing those which…are really the prettiest, nor even those which average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest,” keynes wrote. “we have reached the third degree where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be.” investors tasked with choosing which stocks to own face the same quandary as players in the beauty contest. should they expend time and energy to understand companies’ long term business prospects and to project cashflows decades out? or, given limited resources, is it wiser to try and figure out which stocks are likely to be popular six months hence? writing seven years after the great crash of ’29 and attempting to make sense of the devastation left in its wake, it was clear to keynes that only the former had any merit, but that most investors favored the latter, trying to “beat the gun, […] to outwit the crowd, and to pass the bad, or depreciating, half crown to the other fellow.” a slight shift in mood is enough to set off cascading price changes as investors react en masse. the inherent instability spawned by this recursive guessing game is why prices are far more volatile than what is known of underlying fundamentals, and why life for investors struggling to get a purchase on cash flows and discount rates, in keynes’s view, can be so forbidding. but what happens when most investors opt out of selecting individual stocks? when beauty contestant judges pick the same pretty faces week after week? the question is relevant because the answer would go some ways toward explaining today’s higher than average valuations. an end to the beauty contest would equate to a permanent decline in undiversifiable risk, which all else being equal, would justify paying a higher multiple for uncertain future cash flows. it might even make life a little less unpleasant for those relying on their projections of long term fundamentals. after all, with fewer active traders whacking prices around, shouldn’t the signal be a little easier to unscramble from the noise? the evidence on the ground, however, suggests a more complicated picture. the beauty contest hasn’t ended so much as shifted its locus of speculation from individual securities to trading vehicles that clump together groups of securities based on mechanical trading rules. one indication that this is happening is the puzzling reversal in the positive serial dependence of short term index returns. serial dependence, or autocorrelation, refers to the degree of correlation between two observations of the same variable at different points in time. a random variable, the flip of a coin say, has an autocorrelation of zero, each flip independent of the one before. historically, short term index returns have had a small (but consistent) positive serial dependence, meaning that, on average, a positive return one day will be followed by a return in the same direction the next day and vice versa. one possible explanation for this phenomenon held that stocks reacted with a lag to non fundamental shocks.2 but in 2000, this relationship turned negative, and it has remained so ever since. the chart below shows correlation between daily returns for the s&p 500 averaged over a ten year window going back to 1949. positive serial dependence increased steadily throughout the 1960s and ’70s, peaked shortly before the introduction of index futures in the ’80s, then declined steadily for two decades before falling consistently below zero at the start of this century. according to a new study3 by researchers at erasmus university and the university of notre dame, the explanation for this reversal can be laid squarely at the feet of indexing and the seismograph like movements of mechanical trading rules amplifying the daily response to new information. the research considered 20 equity indices across 15 countries and found an identical change in the behavior of short term returns. moreover, they found a direct causal relationship between these patterns and the combined increase in index products including futures, etfs, and mutual funds. according to the authors, “introducing indexing products seems to change the behavior of the underlying stock market across indexes and over time,” and more critically a higher level of indexing leads to “a more negative serial dependence.” it is unclear what the full consequences of the new pattern will be, but we may be seeing it on display at the far right of the graph above, in the sharply negative one day autocorrelation in march 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. in plain language, it used to be that uncertainty about the future flowed from individual stock prices into indices; now, the tide has been reversed and uncertainty propagates from indices to individual stocks. another unsettling sign of change is the rise in the level of implied volatility of volatility (vol of vol), a measure of the market’s capacity for registering unexpected shocks. roughly speaking, implied volatility the volatility that is backed out from the price of options reflects the market’s expectation for the range of potential outcomes for an asset over a specific period. when implied volatility is high, markets expect larger price moves (in either direction), or when it’s low, smaller moves. the most well known measure of these signals is the vix, which is calculated from the price of short dated index options on the s&p 500 and is frequently referred to as the “investor fear gauge.” despite its notoriety, the vix is a measure of disorder and quite distinct from a measure of potential disorder. for that we need to consider volatility of volatility, the true measure of market entropy. to measure that entropy, we use vvix. just as the vix is calculated from the price of options on the s&p 500, the vvix is based on the price of options on the vix. future returns are unknown, but the vix tells us something about the range of returns we should expect. the vvix, on the other hand, indicates how uncertain we are about the variability of that range. intuitively there are strong reasons to believe that while this vol of vol itself should vary day to day as the market digests unexpected shocks, like the vix it should be stable around some long term average. but, as can be seen in the chart below, since 2006, a period coinciding with the boom in passive investing, volatility of volatility has shown a consistent upward trend a sign that the range of potential disorder is expanding. doubtless there is more than one culprit behind the increase in vol of vol. low real interest rates driving down risk premiums probably figure in, as does the growth in systemwide leverage which magnifies fragility by accelerating the interdependence of financial flows. but we would be remiss to ignore the effects of ballooning index flows. index replication relies on a well behaved and liquid market for the underlying securities, a presupposition that is paradoxically undermined by the expanding share of index flows. keynes’s insight was understanding the role of psychology in fueling the tussle between long term investors and short term speculators. but things are different at the asset class level. strategic allocations are typically set in stone, which leaves precious little capital to take the other side of the trade and lean against speculative flows, and a tussle can turn into a rout. “when you invent the ship, you invent the shipwreck.”  paul virilio the cultural theorist paul virilio asserted that every new technology embeds the potential for new unanticipated accidents. as he put it: “when you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.” indexing is an invaluable new vessel, which has ushered in a new era for many types of investors. and yet, as indexing has mushroomed over the past two decades, the switch in serial dependence to an amplification as opposed to dampening of short term shocks and the increased probability of tail risk events with the rise in vol of vol are ominous signs that we’ve yet to reckon with the consequences of a market swamped by passive flows. shoals may await just over the horizon. 1james seyffart, “passive likely overtakes active by 2026, earlier if bear market,” bloomberg intelligence (march 11, 2021). 2h. hong and j.c. stein, “a unified theory of underreaction, momentum trading, and overreaction in asset markets,” the journal of finance vol. 54, pgs. 2143 2184 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1111/0022 1082.00184 3guido baltussen, sjoerd van bekkum, and zhi da, “indexing and stock market serial dependence around the world,” journal of financial economics vol. 132, issue 1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2018.07.016 what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis the outsized demand for durable goods has run headlong into the diminished supply. while the springboard for price increases may have been reduced supply, the strength and persistence of those increases, which are now feeding through to labor markets, are raising the specter that aggregate demand is outpacing even normalized aggregate supply. there is precious little that monetary policy can do to counter supply led inflation, but omicron willing it is likely to be temporary. but if inflation comes to be led by stubborn excess demand, then tight monetary policy is the orthodox response, and we can expect central banks to hit the economy over the head with a brick to prevent a sustained wage price spiral. demand led inflation would have significant implications for asset prices. inflation is notoriously difficult to forecast; even some at the us federal reserve (fed) concede that it has no working model for inflation.1 we could do no better and accordingly make no effort to forecast future inflation. what we can do is talk to the companies we own or follow and tease out the impact on their earnings from the rising input costs they’re experiencing; their changing bargaining power vis à vis their suppliers; whether they are able to pass on higher costs to their customers before stifling demand; and how all that is coloring their business outlook. the following represents what our research analysts have been able to glean from those conversations. as a rule, companies whose products are more specialized are in the best position to pass increased production costs onto their customers. the difference in how such price “makers” and price “takers,” whose products are less differentiated, manage inflationary pressures can be dramatic, even within the same industry. this is illustrated in the diverging responses of elanco and zoetis, two us based animal health companies. both have been proactive in their response to rising input costs, but elanco decided to protect its margins mainly through cost savings by eliminating 380 upper  and middle level management positions. zoetis, with a portfolio of unique medicines and vaccines, was able to increase its prices enough that the adjustments helped expand its gross margin by 110 bps despite higher costs. nitori, a japanese retailer of imported furniture and one of the largest users of containers destined for japan, was forced to charter an entire ship to guarantee inventory for its stores. some differences in taking and making, however, are more structural in nature. in something of a departure from past cycles, developed economies have generally seen higher inflation than emerging economies, with the us seeing the highest. the one big exception to the inflationary trend in developed countries has been japan, where inflation has actually fallen. japanese consumers are resistant to price increases after experiencing decades of low growth and falling prices. what this means is that input price increases tend to be absorbed by the companies in the production and distribution chain, putting downward pressure on their margins. importers have taken it especially hard on the chin from rising freight costs and the fall in the yen. nitori, a japanese retailer of imported furniture and one of the largest users of containers destined for japan, was forced to charter an entire ship to guarantee inventory for its stores. for exporters with domestic operations, on the other hand, the fall in the yen has offset some of the climb in input costs. companies as diverse as machine vision leader keyence; factory automation equipment producer misumi group; rinnai, a manufacturer of energy efficient tankless water heaters; and unicharm, a maker of diapers and feminine hygiene products, are all reporting sales or profits that have exceeded their pre pandemic levels. given the shipping bottlenecks and the increase in energy prices over the past year, transportation costs have soared around the world. according to the cass freight index, freight costs in the us increased by 37% in october 2021 year over year. canadian national railways (cnr), which operates rail freight across north america, saw its costs per unit of volume increase by 15% in third quarter 2021 alone, with almost all the increase due to the hike in fuel costs. so far, cnr has been able to offset two thirds of the increase by raising prices. some of the same factors hurting transportation companies and their customers have benefitted producers of raw materials, where selling prices have risen faster than input costs. this is true for two of the mining companies we follow, rio tinto and vale, which are among the lowest cost producers in their segments. meanwhile, in the oil industry, exploration and production as well as integrated energy firms are cautious about the oil price recovery after the drubbing they took over the previous six years and are holding the line on capital expenditures for expansion. among industrial firms, most seem to be passing through higher commodity prices in some form, but only those with the strongest pricing power have passed them on in full. for instance, 3m, producer of a vast variety of specialized and less differentiated products, raised its prices by 1.4% on average in the third quarter but, after accounting for the rising cost of raw materials, its margins still declined by 1.3%. on the other hand, ametek, a us based global maker of electronic instruments, expanded its margins, even while acknowledging the challenges of higher raw material prices and supply chain issues. in china, where domestic consumption remains hostage to the government’s zero covid policy, rising factory gate prices have generally not translated into much higher prices for consumers. nevertheless, pockets of pricing power exist. nearly all of home appliance manufacturer haier’s revenue growth in china this year has been from pricing, partly as some consumers trade up to higher end offerings. sanhua intelligent controls, a manufacturer of thermal management systems for the hvac and automotive industries, has automatically passed through most cost increases for its appliance parts, where its bargaining power is strongest, and is negotiating them for other products. the voracious demand for electric vehicles is insulating catl, a leading producer of lithium ion batteries. not only was it able to raise prices; it has also used its bargaining power over its suppliers to control input costs and further increase its margins. even catl’s smaller rival byd was able to raise the price of its batteries by 20% or more just last month. within information technology, semiconductor prices have continued to climb due to the inability of manufacturing capacity to keep up with exploding electronics demand: the “chip shortage” that was one of the earliest inflationary triggers, and is ongoing, as significant capital expenditures take time to turn into capacity additions. most foundries that manufacture the chips used in automotive and industrial applications have already pushed two, sometimes even three, rounds of price increases this year, and they believe the pattern is set to continue into 2022. demand for leading edge semiconductors produced by samsung and tsmc has been more stable, resulting in only modest price increases. semiconductor tool makers have seen small improvements in their gross margins, but nothing compared to the 10% jump seen for some of the foundries. the consensus view in the industry is that the hikes in chip prices that have occurred are sticky and will not revert after supply normalizes. the area where cost inflation seems most acute is among retailers and consumer goods manufacturers, most of whom are facing unprecedented increases in labor and input costs, as well as supply chain problems. couche tard, the canada based gas station convenience store operator behind the circle k brand, has overhauled its recruitment and retention policies, adding bonuses and more training to cope with the labor shortage. the company estimates almost one third of its 7.7% increase in operating expenses is due to increased labor costs. multinational consumer goods manufacturers, which have more flexibility to reallocate production to manage labor shortages in given locales, have fared better, and several have noted that consumers appear more willing to accept higher prices than they have in the past. procter & gamble has increased prices in 90% of its core product categories without seeing a falloff in demand, a trend also echoed by colgate palmolive and unilever. presently bond markets are anticipating that central banks will soon bring the inflationary pressures under control. low real long term rates, low forward inflation expectations, and flat yield curves are all indications that, despite raging inflation today, investors believe that central banks will act firmly to raise short term interest rates, pre empting the need for more aggressive tightening later. but the seemingly rock solid confidence in central banks could be eroded if prices continue to rise unabated. if that point were reached, richly valued equities would likely fall victim to central banks’ imperative to restore their inflation fighting bona fides. with annual inflation in the us hitting a 40 year high, the fed has already indicated it will wind down its asset purchasing program by march 2022 instead of june. more clarity about the first of a series of short term rate hikes will be next, with the market expecting three hikes over the course of 2022. will that do the trick? we come back to what we hear from companies. for what it’s worth, while many consumer goods companies expect prices to trend higher into 2022, some of them believe that the rate of increase will reach its zenith in the first half. some, such as couche tarde, l’oréal, compass group, and costco wholesale, are already seeing signs of stabilization. l’oréal’s management has even gone so far as to suggest that deflation may be a risk if supply chains over correct for today’s shortages. 1“the substantive point is that we do not, at present, have a theory of inflation dynamics that works sufficiently well to be of use for the business of real time monetary policymaking.” (former federal reserve governor daniel tarullo speaking at the brookings institute, october 4, 2017.) what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis one can only speculate on the reasons for this synchronous timing, but one possibility that stands out is the confluence of the five year policy and leadership cycles in china. this is the first year of the 2021 25 five year plan, but more importantly, it is the final full year before the top 200 or so members of the central committee of the communist party of china are selected at its national congress in october 2022. it bears remembering that those politicians are similar to counterparts elsewhere in facing challenges that have diverted them from other priorities. they spent the first two years of their terms coping with escalating us china trade tensions, and just when “normal order” loomed after the signing of the phase one trade agreement, covid 19 hijacked everyone’s lives. only recently have they gotten a chance to work on much delayed goals. as policymakers picked up where they had left off, they found themselves facing stakes heightened by the pandemic: stagnating incomes, weak consumer confidence, and a growing demographic crisis as birthrates continue to decline. these challenges may have accentuated their top priorities, ones that have been repeatedly highlighted in official policy statements over the last few years: innovation, rule of law, culture, the environment, and social harmony. the fact is that ever since deng xiaoping initiated the initial series of capitalist overhauls in the 1980s, china has undergone multiple periods of reform. these changes cut a wide swath across economic activity and drastically curtailed certain targeted sectors. they were painful in their time, creating mass unemployment and fueling social discontent. ultimately, they laid the groundwork and helped sustain several decades of nearly uninterrupted growth. previous reforms were far less visible to foreign observers because they barely touched the companies widely held by global investors at the time. for example, the coordinated supply side reforms of 2015, undertaken in part to reduce chronic pollution, shuttered roughly one fifth of china’s steel capacity (equivalent to japan’s entire steel output) in under two years. air quality improved dramatically, while bankruptcies almost tripled as many marginal producers were killed off. but not many foreign investors owned marginal steel producers, preferring to own faster growing companies such as alibaba and new oriental. likewise, the anti corruption campaigns that began in 2013 may have ushered in a more sustainable business environment, but they were terrible for liquor makers, whose products had become popular high priced gifts to lubricate business deals and lobbying efforts. kweichow moutai, producer of its fiery namesake liquor, saw its sales growth plummet in 2014 and 2015, but the company was not nearly as widely owned externally as tencent is today. much of the focus of late has been on one policy priority: common prosperity. redolent of china’s collectivist past (the term was first used by mao in 1950), the phrase frightens some foreign investors who are unsure which companies’ prosperity will be sacrificed at the altar of the commons. yet policymakers have been clear: their focus is on growing middle class disposable income, not “robbing the rich to help the poor,” according to han wenxiu, executive deputy director of the general office of the central financial and economic affairs commission. this overt aversion to a european style welfare model may seem contradictory for a party that still pays lip service to its marxist roots. but the reality is that china systematically underinvested in education, health care, and other social spending especially in rural areas as it sought to catch up economically with more developed economies. until now, policymakers have done little in the way of redistribution; indirect taxes, which generally serve to widen income inequality, still represent two thirds of fiscal revenue. with china coming into its own, we should expect its practices to converge with those in more advanced economies, including some form of income and wealth redistribution. to my mind, these regulations are reminiscent of the us progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, epitomized by theodore roosevelt’s square deal. in practice, the government’s targets for common prosperity judging from recent policies and the detailed roadmap for its first pilot program in zhejiang, the richest province in china and home to alibaba are education, health care, and housing. in these pivotal areas, structural impediments have exacerbated inequalities over time, producing a set of challenges that would be very familiar, for example, to residents of california. one of the more draconian national policy shifts, which recently consigned much of the private after school tutoring business to the non profit sector, does not go as far as south korea’s complete ban of private tutoring in the 1980s.1 in each country, the reforms were designed to ease the burden on parents who spend up to thousands of dollars each month coaching their children on how to pass exams. (to put this cost in perspective, the chinese city with the highest average annual per capita disposable income in 2020 was shanghai at $11,000.) likewise, china’s recent online regulations covering antitrust, data security, and the safety of minors are similar to the concerns of consumer advocates everywhere. to my mind, these regulations are reminiscent of the us progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, epitomized by theodore roosevelt’s square deal. it was not an easy time to invest and was marked by muscular antitrust interventions, the inception of a progressive income tax, and the appearance of the first federal consumer and environmental protections. certain industries faced a permanently higher level of regulation with which they had been unfamiliar. but many companies thrived, and the reforms arguably laid the foundation for a century of growth that shaped the american economy into the largest in the world today, home to the largest number of globally competitive companies. structural changes of this magnitude will inevitably shake up competitive forces, buffeting the outlook for growth and strength of free cash flow generation for many businesses but not all of them in negative ways. if china’s reforms succeed in improving middle class disposable income while opening more opportunities for more people and still ensuring that the country remains a meritocracy, the government will have set the stage for more sustainable end demand for many industries. it’s a tall order, but one notable advantage enjoyed by chinese policymakers today is the benefit of a century of hindsight observing which policies worked and which did not in the countries that have tried them. this commentary is excerpted from the harding loevner third quarter 2021 global report. 1the south korean ban was ultimately overturned by the courts two decades later, though south korea’s government has been adding new restrictions on tutoring ever since. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance there are many similarities between cultures at football clubs and investment organizations, despite the underlying processes required by their core activities making decisions on the pitch about how to try and score and defend or making decisions about buying and selling securities being very different. in both industries, the goal is for the team to be greater than the sum of its parts. on the pitch, an individual must rely on teammates, but certainly not debate or challenge them. rather, coaches teach decision making so that, like muscle memory, it is instantaneous and requires little active thought. at harding loevner, rules and processes constrain decision making to prevent it from being dominated by cognitive biases. colleagues think for themselves but must expose their ideas to challenge. this is the core of our investment culture what we call “collaboration without consensus.” we believe that one of the most difficult biases to overcome in conducting research is the tendency to give precedence to evidence that confirms our beliefs and to ignore evidence that challenges them. so, it is important that our ideas be continuously exposed to challenge. however, this leads to other problems. humans, as social beings, generally don’t like disagreement; they are literally fearful of it. that’s why an important part of a culture of collaboration without consensus is that it be enabled by both transparency and the value of tolerance. we strive to sustain an environment in which colleagues do not feel threatened by disagreement and recognize that challenges while discomfiting are essential for good decision making. it would be nice to be able to say that our culture at harding loevner emerged from a successfully executed plan, but that wasn’t really the case. thirty plus years ago, the few of us at the firm just wanted to be good investors and to serve clients who shared our views about what made a successful investment program. the firm’s values simply reflected the personal values of the founding generation. we all believed strongly in acting with integrity and always putting clients’ interests first. beyond that, i don’t think you could say we particularly held the values associated today with harding loevner. we didn’t set out consciously to make a culture based on transparency, personal accountability, tolerance, and the importance of process. those values only developed as we learned more about decision making, often from our mistakes. for example, we discovered early on that sharing information with our colleagues was valuable in sharpening our views. but we soon learned that without individual accountability and very clear rules of engagement, disagreements could very easily descend into finger pointing and personal attacks. we also came to realize that no amount of experience is a substitute for exercising judgement within the constraints of process and structure. the alternative, too often, is a culture of blame and chaos. part of a winning culture is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, to have processes that change, and to take risks with new ways of behaving. above all, perhaps, is the willingness to keep learning. arie de geus, former head of royal dutch shell’s strategic planning group once said, “in the future, the ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.” that ability must be embedded in culture no matter what other values the culture incorporates. a good example comes from the success and subsequent decline of arsenal football club, which in the late 1990s broke with english football tradition by hiring a frenchman to manage the team. arsène wenger’s on the pitch tactics and approach to nutrition and training overturned decades of english football culture and brought a level of domination rarely seen in professional sports. the arsenal team of 2003 4 was unbeaten during an entire season, a feat that had not been accomplished since the late nineteenth century. although the club went on to further success, other clubs gradually learned from, adopted, and refined its methods. arsenal failed to innovate further and gradually slipped down the league table to a point where wenger was eventually replaced. as we endeavor to strengthen plymouth argyle’s culture, my experience at harding loevner has been critical in giving me a clearer sense of what will work. at harding loevner, we were taking cautious steps in the dark, with nothing to give us confidence that we were on the right path. but we did learn, and that has been helpful as we try to make an argyle culture that will enable us to achieve our vision. as such, we are approaching our task with an intentionality that would have felt presumptuous to my younger self. it starts with a more specific goal. english football is a multi level pyramid in which especially good or poor performance brings promotion or relegation to the next level up or down in the hierarchy. at the end of 2019, a year after we had lost our spot in league one (the third level from the top), we said that in five years our goal was to be financially sustainable and playing two levels above where we were then. to realize that vision, one of the key values we have espoused at argyle, just as at harding loevner, is transparency. one difference is that our transparency extends to writing down our vision & values and posting them to our website. in this way, everyone at the club as well as our supporters and sponsors knows what the vision is and what the values are that we expect will underlie every decision. another of our core organizational values is to be efficient and process oriented. here, again, we are not exactly inventing the wheel. increasingly the lessons those of us in finance and organizational science took to heart about the role of process in managing our cognitive biases have also found their way into successful sports cultures. the most famous example comes from baseball where the oakland a’s, under general manager billy beane, incorporated objective data into their decision making processes to come up with new ways to gain competitive advantage on a limited budget. once it was widely revealed in michael lewis’s moneyball, beane’s approach influenced most of the rest of baseball, spread to basketball, and is now beginning to have an impact on english football. at argyle, our most immediate source of inspiration has been the outrageous success of brentford f.c., for years a lower league club of modest means, which, under the ownership and guidance of matthew benham (who made his fortune successfully managing his own cognitive biases gambling on football matches) has risen to the english premier league, the pinnacle of the football pyramid. i could elaborate on how these and our other values trickle down via our areas of strategic focus to argyle’s ceo’s goals and to the goals he sets for every individual. but for my purposes here, the point is just that these values and goals are written down, enabling the board to communicate to our fans how we will behave and to our staff what we ask of them. the result has been powerful. two years into our five year plan, we have regained our position in league one, halfway toward our goal of climbing to within a level of the overachievers at brentford. more importantly, everyone at argyle now knows what we are trying to achieve, what is expected of them, and the values that should underly their everyday decisions. we are now at that critical juncture faced by any strong culture looking to endure and thrive through generational succession. i’ve learned from harding loevner the kind of culture that leads to sustained success. i’ve learned from plymouth argyle how impactful transparency and communication can be in cultivating that culture. harding loevner has reached the age where it can no longer rely on the people who made up the founding generation as its cultural torchbearers. over a decade ago, we began laying groundwork for the transition of ownership and management of the firm from that generation to the next. we are now at that critical juncture faced by any strong culture looking to endure and thrive through generational succession. as the people in whom the culture is most embodied prepare inevitably to move on, they have no choice but to write more of it down. we early settlers will need to be more transparent (at the risk of being annoying) about what our culture has meant to us personally and to the firm’s success under our leadership not so that it may be set in stone to be accepted immutably, but that it may be evaluated critically. our younger colleagues may have slightly different beliefs and values. we expect them to receive the vision, turn it over in their minds and revise it so that they may carry it on as their own. it will be their responsibility to make sure that the firm’s culture enables it to serve its clients as well in future as it has since 1989. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance ferrill roll, cio: we’ve convened this discussion because after coping with four years of us originated turbulence in chinese equities from tariffs and trade wars, to congressional action against chinese companies listing in the us that hadn’t gone through the usual us auditing requirements, to executive orders prohibiting americans from owning companies controlled by the chinese military we are now faced with turbulence in chinese equities that has originated from chinese regulatory actions. in that new, different environment, we thought it would be useful to discuss how we cope with this, what’s actually going on, and what our thinking is for the future. first, i’d like to comment about our risk guidelines at harding loevner. we insist on diversification in all our strategies. and insofar as that pertains to chinese equities, you will recall that it was just a year ago that we were in lively discussions about the limit that we had placed on chinese equities in our emerging market equity strategy in particular but, in fact, in all of our strategies. we had set our limit when times were calm, and we were being thoughtful about the future at a maximum weight of 35% in china for a diversified emerging market portfolio. when china managed to get the coronavirus under control faster than the rest of the world, chinese shares surged relative to everywhere else. our emerging market pms were chafing under the inability to own as much as the index, let alone go overweight, in china. clients were asking us questions about how we could be so ultra conservative as to constrain our pms from doing whatever they needed to achieve returns. and, frankly, we had rather tense discussions among our partners as some clients thought about leaving harding loevner as a manager because of our intransigence over these risk controls. we think of our risk controls as constraints against our future selves in the way that ulysses tied himself to the mast before he passed by the sirens that would otherwise have lured him to destruction. we thought when we were setting our limits on china that they were sensible. a year on, we are now flooded with client calls about, “how much risk do you have in china? what are your exposures to the companies being buffeted by these regulatory shifts?” and we feel vindicated that we stuck to our pre commitments. this is a well established area of behavioral finance, that pre commitments are the hardest things to keep when they are the most important things to keep. i think this is a lesson that we will take with us through the years going forward. that said, harding loevner has a very clear long term outlook that china is going to be a fruitful place to invest our clients’ money and to hopefully add value using our process of fundamental analysis and valuation. we launched our first single country strategy, the chinese equity strategy, late last year. so, we’re optimistic that we will find lots of ways to add value in china. pradipta, you’re the lead pm for the chinese equity strategy. your entire portfolio is subject to these recent regulatory shifts. why don’t you give us a quick summary of what’s happened recently and how it’s affected you? pradipta chakrabortty, lead pm chinese equity: so, there have been a slew of regulatory actions across different sectors and industries. i classify them under four buckets. first were the antitrust regulations that manifested through fines on alibaba and moved on to fines on other companies in the internet space such as tencent and meituan. that has subsequently moved on to breaking down several barriers and walls that these gigantic platform companies had created around themselves. the second bucket relates to the stability of the financial services sector and was manifested through regulations that resulted in the cancellation of the ant financial ipo. the third area, data security regulations, is much more recent. immediately after the ipo of the ride hailing service didi chuxing, you saw cybersecurity concerns emerging, leading to restrictions of didi’s ability to onboard new users. and the fourth bucket, social issues related regulations, is pretty broad across different sectors. one of those sectors affected was after school tutoring, where you had severe restrictions, converting that industry into not for profit. this week, we saw news about concerns about how online gaming affects children. so that sector has been under a little bit of pressure. there’s also been noise around the gig economy and fair compensation for workers there. so, it’s a whole gamut. the net result is that investors have been spooked. the msci china all shares index is down close to 8% in the first seven months of the year, underperforming the msci acwi index, which is up 13%. fr: jingyi, can you talk to us about the high level goals the chinese government is pursuing with all these changes? jingyi li, co lead pm global equity: the chinese government’s long term goal is to continue to develop the economy. it has done a good job leading china from a low income country decades ago to where it is a mid income country today. and it has showed the ambition to continue to grow the economy in the next decade or 15 years to become an entry level developed country. that means the economy needs to grow around the mid single digits for the coming one or two decades at least. to continue to drive the economy to reach the next level, you need a lot of structural reforms, reforms that we have seen, but also at the same time, you need to address a lot of social issues. some are social issues caused by new economies and new technologies. some are common issues everywhere in the world, like inequality, like the competitiveness of the labor force. without addressing these kinds of long term profound social issues, the chinese government who rely on long term growth as one of the key legitimacies of their government is concerned that they may not be able to continue on this trajectory, just like many latin american countries stuck in the so called mid income trap. fr: craig, would you agree that’s the main goal, or do you think there are some more jaundiced, pernicious goals that the government is pursuing? craig shaw, co lead pm emerging market equity: china is run by the communist party. it is not a democracy. you could call it a dictatorship, and the way they stay in power is by keeping people happy. there’s an old chinese saying that the emperor will reign in heaven until the people throw him out. and that’s proven to be true over much of china’s history. they are doing their best to stay in power and keep their people happy, which is something we always have to be cognizant of. there’s an old chinese saying that the emperor will reign in heaven until the people throw him out. and that’s proven to be true over much of china’s history. fr: so, you don’t think they’re going after companies that have skirted the domestic listings rules by raising money outside? you don’t think they’re targeting prominent individuals who made a lot of money and turned that into a personal soapbox for their own use? cs: well, those are issues. we’ve seen this over the decades in emerging markets. remember how in russia mikhail khodorkovsky at yukos got involved in politics and lost everything and was in prison for quite a while. to a certain extent, if someone becomes influential and wealthy and powerful, they are perceived, whether they really are or not, as a threat to the government’s control over the population. it’s a risk. we certainly saw that with jack ma at alibaba a little while ago, when he made some comments about the future of finance in china. and the powers that be didn’t seem to like it. fr: andrew, before you became co lead pm of the international equity strategy, you were the manager of research. in fact, you started at harding loevner as an emerging market analyst. so, you’re deeply familiar with how we think about regulation in the structure of our research process. can you lay out for us how we assess regulation? andrew west, co lead pm international equity: sure. we have three key features of our process that leads to us being aware of regulatory risk and reacting to it, and hopefully anticipating it. one is our constant analysis of porter’s “five forces” that dictate industry structure. for each of the five whether it’s bargaining power of buyers or suppliers, rivalry, threat of new entrants we ask our analysts to both understand the existing regulatory issues that may influence those forces and to keep an eye out for incoming potential changes that could influence them. it’s all part of helping us understand the trajectory of profitability in the future, of growth opportunities, and helping us reflect that in our forecasts. the second key feature is our ongoing monitoring of environmental, social, and governance (i.e., esg) risks. and third is our requirement of higher returns from riskier countries, where we tilt our valuations of stocks based on the riskiness of the countries in which they’re operating. fr: i’m interested in the esg analysis. at harding loevner, esg analysis is really a risk analysis rather than a pursuit of return of goodness, if you will. we’ve had a lot of client inquiry over the last two years about the e part of esg, and almost no inquiry about the s the social part. do you think that we have underemphasized the regulatory risks that have emanated from these social risks in esg in the case of china? aw: it is a topic that we have actively debated. and social risk is a risk. a lot of the concern has been around looking from the outside in, with international companies and other countries threatening china in some way over their internal political activities. but there are also internal social pressures inspiring new regulations. and that ties into what jingyi spoke about before, when you asked him about the goals of the communist party. have we under recognized it? i would say the market has revealed an under recognition of regulatory risk. just a year ago, there seemed to be no fear built into prices. and now there’s a lot of fear built into prices. awareness of that comes and goes. i think the actions in some industries were harsher than just about anybody would have forecast. even if we’d been aware of the pressures for change, we may not have anticipated such sudden and violent regulatory reaction to those pressures. i would say the market has revealed an under recognition of regulatory risk. just a year ago, there seemed to be no fear built into prices. and now there’s a lot of fear built into prices. fr: pradipta, in addition to your new role as a lead pm of the chinese equity strategy, you have long been co lead pm on the frontier emerging markets equity strategy. you’ve invested in a bunch of countries that have a lot of risk. how do you assess risk in china versus the regulatory risk in china versus the regulatory risk in, say, turkey, which has an authoritarian president? pc: i mean, turkey is obviously a different case altogether. you can’t really put it in any bucket. but in several other frontier countries kenya, nigeria, the philippines they all have a significant amount of regulatory risk, and we’ve seen regulatory actions in those markets. the difference is in terms of the communication and the transparency of the debates that go on in the public domain. in most of these other countries, you would see lawmakers and regulators going through a lot of public debate where you’re privy to their thoughts and their potential future actions, much more than you would in china. but to be fair to the chinese regulators, there have been hints about each of these regulations that have been enacted this year. the problem is that those clues have been rather cryptic and the end result quite shocking. for example, the after school tutoring sector having been converted into a not for profit there was really no clue about that coming. so, i would say communication is where there is definitely more work to be done by the chinese regulators. if they do communicate their intentions or their thinking more clearly, there would be less disruption in the markets. fr: craig, you mentioned russia and the case of yukos and the expropriation of assets in that case. that was at least as shocking as the vaporization of billions of dollars of market value of these chinese education companies. how do you think about risk in china versus regulatory risk or expropriation risk in russia or any other of the emerging market countries that you’ve invested in over the last 20 years? cs: china’s a little different. you can argue how effective democracy is in some of the emerging markets, but at least they are democracies, to some extent. whereas china is not. and so, the government has total control over everything. they debate within themselves, but as far as dealing with representatives of the populace, it’s a little different. they have a lot more control and a lot of these moves that we’ve seen are all about enhancing that control. if you look at russia, it’s changed quite a bit over the years. there was a time that share prices would fall 20% if putin was annoyed with something. certainly, putin has a great amount of control over what happens. but he has not been overly aggressive in terms of doing anything to industries. i mean, if you go back to the yukos case, there was an arrangement made a long time ago when putin first came to power, that he would let the oligarchs keep whatever they managed to gather during the chaos of the fall of the soviet union as long as they stayed out of politics. and to a large extent, he’s kept that promise. but he certainly can scare people. fr: presumably, you’ve come to rely on that, because you’ve been overweight russia in your emerging market portfolio for five years. cs: yes. it’s not the easiest place to be, but we do what our process and philosophy guides us to, and have found some good quality growth companies at reasonable prices. fr: it’s one thing for emerging market or frontier emerging investors to parse these risks because they’re all risky neighborhoods, and each one is risky in its own way. but jingyi, you’re now a global portfolio manager, having concentrated on china for a long time as analyst. how do you compare the regulatory risk in china versus the regulatory risk in the us? jl: i think the regulatory system in the us is much more mature and proven to be better for entrepreneurs and innovators, very good and reliable for business, and, of course, very favorable for investors, especially long term investors like us. speaking of the regulatory risk, i would also like to point out the risk of not taking actions on some of these long term issues. because when we talk about cybersecurity, antitrust, all kinds of social issues these are not specific to china. these are very common issues in every part of the world. the us is trying to address them. europe is trying to address them. if other countries are not able to take on these issues in sensible and timely ways, they will have challenges, and their long term economic development eventually will affect the return of long term investors like us. also, there’s a question of how much regulatory risks have been discounted in the current stock crisis. in the past several months, obviously, the market has been more alert toward the regulatory risk in china. maybe that’s sufficient, maybe that’s over reaction. but in other parts of the world, in other markets, maybe the regulatory risks have not yet been fully discounted yet. fr: how about it, andrew? are the price changes in chinese equities causing you to be more interested in chinese equities? or does the scope of the regulatory risks cause you to be more cautious? aw: it’s a tug of war. on one side, risks have risen, i think. or the awareness of risks that were there have crystallized. and we don’t know exactly how much more is to come. my suspicion is that there might be a slowing down, but that’s not for sure. on the other hand, there’s definitely more risk discounted than before. so, on the one hand, you’ve got maybe some concerns about future margins, future growth for some companies. on the other, a lower price. the international equity strategy, which you and i are co portfolio managers of, has been underweight china for the past several years as china has risen in terms of the index weight. and that was modestly negative for us when chinese stocks were going up. it’s been favorable for us as the market has declined recently. and so, we are looking at whether to add new securities or add to some existing securities that have become cheaper relative to fair values. my natural tendency is to be fearful when others are not, and to be less fearful when others are more. so, i would say, i would be looking to reduce that underweight on the assumption we find some securities that are over discounting risk and under appreciating long term growth and profitability. fr: craig, you were chafing under the limit of 35% in china. i happened to check this morning. china is now less than 35% in the msci emerging markets index. are you more inclined to buy? and will you go overweight now than you can? cs: we are doing the same thing we’ve always done looking for quality growth companies at reasonable prices. andrew said it very well: it’s a tug of war. and it’s always been like that. some of the changes that have come around the last few months have made it a little more challenging, but our reaction has been to purchase more chinese equities. we had five purchases in the second quarter. four of them were in china in response to 1) new ideas from our analysts, and 2) lower share prices and valuations. this is what we do. it’s not always easy. sometimes it’s not fun. some of the changes that have come around the last few months have made it a little more challenging, but our reaction has been to purchase more chinese equities. fr: pradipta, you have no choice but to invest in chinese companies in the chinese equity strategy, but you do have choices between industries. are there industries at this stage that you would avoid, other than the obvious one of the tutoring industry? pc: picking up on the esg front, we’ve always considered esg risk in these companies, and i think the social element has to be increased. when i look at it through that lens, there are sectors like the property development sector, for example, where after the recent politburo meeting there was talk about how housing is for living, not for speculation, right? those kinds of comments give you hints that there are more regulatory strictures to come. fr: isn’t harding loevner generally biased against property development in the first place? pc: yes. so, that’s an industry thankfully we don’t own right now. we don’t want it because of quality and growth reasons, obviously. but then, there is another layer of risk that is coming. fr: confirming our bias against it. pc: yes. but i would also be very cautious about some of the other sectors where we do have stocks, like health care. under the social equality principle and health care affordability for all, i would think especially generic drugs, which have lower content in terms of technology and innovation those probably are at risk of further price compression. then the anti trust regulations are breaking down barriers, which are changing industry structures from what we knew them to be a year back. so, from the point of view that andrew talked about earlier, the porter structure is changing. we need to re look at the growth cases. we need to re look at the competitive advantage cases for some of our companies. and then act accordingly. optically, the valuation might have become better. but in some cases, the valuation may not have become as much better as it seems. fr: jingyi, are there industries you have increased your aversion to in the last couple of months? jl: the short answer is no. i don’t see any sort of a wholesale attitude change to any particular industry. that said, we need to look at our business from an esg angle, especially the social angle, in a deeper and more profound way. we need to try to understand the social implications of their business models and to think about whether there’s any very profound social impact we should be aware of. you asked about the sectors to avoid. i should point out that higher regulatory standards, or standards for social awareness, could also open investment opportunity in companies that are more aware of those issues to begin with, or with the management teams who can do a better job to adapt to these kinds of requirements, or even companies that provide solutions to address some of the social issues. so, all these regulatory changes may also provide us some interesting new investment opportunities, again using our fundamental porter lenses and esg frameworks. fr: i’m going to sum up, and then, we can get to questions from outside. as andrew pointed out, we explicitly try to assess regulatory risk in the framework of our research process, through the lens of porter’s five forces. and i think importantly, we do have a culture of debate between analysts between pms and analysts, between people who know a lot about china and people who have questions about china and that culture of debate is a very active part of getting to the underlying truth of what’s going on. the third thing i would point out is that the insistence on diversification in all our investment strategies is something that we are deeply wedded to, as i alluded to at the start when discussing the nature of pre commitments. i think esg is getting a new take that is reinforcing our belief that esg risks are exactly that, and that the way we’ve embedded esg analysis into our research structure is the right way to approach the whole set of issues. and then, finally, the price declines in these chinese equities are giving us a chance to reassess each of the companies within our coverage and ascertain whether future returns are higher because the prices are lower, or the prices are accurately reflecting the new risk. that is a company by company and stock by stock issue that we are actively engaged in right now. audience question: can you comment on your current views on vies and whether the vie structure is at risk due to some of the regulations and regulatory changes that have come out of china? fr: i’ll take that one. vies, for those who don’t know, are variable interest entities, which are special purpose vehicles that connect us listed stocks to domestic chinese businesses through holding companies and some third country and equity swaps to get the returns connecting the two. we have long viewed vies as a precarious legal structure and, therefore, set limits on how much each strategy could invest in vies. nothing in the current imbroglio of regulatory shifts affecting the share prices of companies utilizing vies has made us see vies as more risky or less risky. in our view, the precariousness lies in the legal structure itself and our limits on vies are not changing. i would say that there is debate internally about whether chinese authorities have, in some sense, blessed the vie structure by allowing what are called cdrs a chinese equivalent of adrs whose primary listing is a vie to be listed in domestic exchanges in china. while that gives some comfort, it’s a regulatory rather than a legal backing, in my view, and in the view of our legal experts. i was also troubled by statements out of the recent politburo meeting. i only get translations, but one of the statements was that “the politburo is going to improve overseas listing supervision.” we’ve had the phrase “rectify” applied to several of these industries where regulatory changes have occurred. i’m uncomfortable with this word “improve” because it sounds a lot like rectified, which could be damaging. jingyi, how would you characterize that phrase? what do you think it means? jl: yeah, i’m really reading the tea leaves here, but my understanding of this phrase, which is very interesting, if not important, is that the policymakers still understand the necessity of a vie structure … fr: in order for chinese companies to raise capital abroad? jl: to raise capital. they fully understand the historical background going back in the early 2000s. there are long debates inside china on what to do with the vie structure, but, after all these years, i do not think they have taken a hostile view on this. the reason that we have a change is they are always worried that some companies may abuse the structure. and that’s why they think they need to take a more active role to supervise chinese companies that use it to get listed. it’s fine to use that structure, but it’s not fine in their eyes to use it to circumvent some of the regulatory frameworks that are in place to prevent some companies from doing certain things. that’s my understanding. audience question: why invest in china at all? aw: we’ve invested in a lot of risky places and we’ve made money in a lot of risky places over the decades. as we said, we don’t get paid for being comfortable. china represents roughly 10% of the international index. our analysts have found over 50 companies that meet our pretty high standards for quality and growth. so, we think there are companies out there that are attractive, not just relative to other chinese companies, but on a global basis. that is the opportunity. and then there’s dealing with the risks of it. that’s something that we’ve done for decades. we very rarely rule out any country’s securities. as i mentioned earlier, we may require higher returns to compensate us for the risks that we take, and we are intelligent about diversifying those risks as well. we think there are companies out there that are attractive, not just relative to other chinese companies, but on a global basis. that is the opportunity. and then there’s dealing with the risks of it. that’s something that we’ve done for decades. pc: if i may add, as a market, china is massive with huge consumption opportunities that are transforming in a significant way. but, relatively speaking, there are pockets where the risk is lesser and much more aligned with what the government is trying to achieve in terms of its national and overall social objectives. the massive production base in china is also transforming through the increasing penetration of automation. this entire area is one where we find very, very high quality companies which are rapidly growing. electric vehicles and their value chain are another area related to that and one which is very well aligned with the government’s carbon neutrality goals. china has the largest value chain as well as some of the biggest consumer demand for these cars. so, there are those pockets that continue to be very, very high growth and have very high quality companies that meet our requirements and are very attractive from a long term point of view. especially in a country which is right now going through a massive transformation. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance in investing, there has been at least a little progress towards improving decision making by resisting the power of stories. quantitative investors describe how they adhere to purely objective rules (rules and lines of code that, of course, they themselves have written) to govern their behavior and reduce bias. “quantamentalists,” another breed of investor, allow some judgement to enter their decision making once they have established the framework. they do this in part in recognition that, as a rule, most humans don’t like rules. we suffer from what psychologists call “algorithm aversion,” i.e. preferring to go with our gut. that preference results from our need to remain in control, or at least to believe we are. permitting human override of an algorithm may degrade the quality of its output, but in granting themselves the comfort of exercising some degree of control, decision makers likely improve their rate of adherence, for an overall improvement in outcomes. i fully expect self driving cars to come with a steering wheel that will have no impact on direction of travel, but will allow the human passenger to feel more secure than if she were simply sitting back and giving herself over fully to the computer under the hood. in his book the success equation, michael mauboussin writes extensively about the importance of a strong process and rules in activities where the immediate outcome is driven by luck and skill. he describes how it is possible to improve skill through what has become known as deliberate practice: repetitive, purposeful, and systematic repetition with immediate and specific feedback. luck, however, can only be managed by having a strong process, with rules or standards constraining decision making and the urge to impute too much importance to our role in any one result. in activities such as investing or team sports arenas where skill and luck both come into play narrative is particularly seductive, making adherence to this recipe for success a constant battle. richard thaler, who won the nobel prize in economics for his work in behavioral finance, has noted that 1980s basketball superstars like larry bird converted their three point shot attempts at the same near 40% rate as 21st century sharpshooters such as steph curry or james harden. yet, bird took half as many three point attempts as are normal today, favoring shots closer to the basket, which great players can hit roughly 50% of the time. it took 30 years for the three point shot to become as popular as it is today or, in other words, for basketball to realize that 0.4 x 3 is greater than 0.5 x 2. the bill james baseball abstract, an annual compendium of baseball statistics that ultimately legitimized the science of baseball sabermetrics, was neglected for many years before a james disciple, oakland athletics general manager billy beane, used the approach to identify underpriced skills for his small market team, as popularized in michael lewis’s 2002 moneyball. it was only then that james himself landed a job in the front office of the boston red sox, helping the team finally overcome the “curse of the bambino,”1 and win its first world series in 86 years. i have been involved in two firms with many similarities, one being an investment manager and the other a football (soccer) club. an investment portfolio can, through careful construction, be more than the sum of its individual parts thanks to diversification. it may seem odd, but a football team is a portfolio. it, too, needs careful construction. you can’t simply rank order the most attractively priced available players and take the top 20 to form your squad. you would end up with a team made up only of defenders, and no goal scorers. more than a decade after john henry, the red sox owner who had hired bill james, purchased liverpool fc and brought moneyball to the uk’s premier league, systematic use of data analytics has finally worked its way throughout the ranks of english football. at my football club, plymouth argyle, which plays in the third tier of the leagues, we have set rules and standards to guide the decision making of those who select the squad. beginning with our philosophy, i.e., answering the question “what is the style of football we wish to play?,” we have defined the desired characteristics of each position. our philosophy includes playing the ball forward from the back with quick passes along the ground to the opposition’s part of the field. our goalkeeper must, therefore, be able to kick with both feet and play short passes while under pressure from the opposing forwards. we also prefer to play in a tactical lineup, known as a 3 5 2, with a pair of strikers at the front and a couple of fit defenders, one on each side, who dash up and down the wings depending on whether we or the opposition have the ball. defining the philosophy this way and defining how we will implement it enables us to search databases for players that match our criteria in each position, such as the defender we recently signed based on some impressive data around his defensive blocks, aerial duels won, and tackles per game. then, in quantamental fashion, we can conduct research into aspects of players that can’t be quantified (yet!), such as their character, personality, or work ethic. there are differences between assembling an optimal squad of football players and an investment portfolio. one is that securities prices are freely available, updated continuously, and can be compared with their hypothetical value generated by a model. that is not the case with football players. transactions can only be made in two “transfer windows,” one midway through the season in january, the other during the summer before the next season starts. and no one has yet come up with a model that can assess players’ value in the way that we forecast cash flows and discount them to a present value to give an idea of what a share of stock is worth. i live in hope, though! the market for football players is relatively efficient, but not completely so, and becomes less efficient the lower down the leagues you go. in this way, the relative inefficiencies of the market are parallel to those for, say, us large caps compared with those for emerging market small caps. but surprisingly, perhaps, there are more similarities than differences. the market for football players is relatively efficient, but not completely so, and becomes less efficient the lower down the leagues you go. in the premier league, the most watched football league in the world, there is a strong correlation between what you pay and the results you achieve. that is not the case lower down, so my club has a strong incentive to improve decision making, to exploit the behavioral biases and subsequent mispricing that is prevalent. in this way, the relative inefficiencies of the market are parallel to those for, say, us large caps compared with those for emerging market small caps. similarly, though, as the potential gains to improved decision making increase, so does the resistance to replacing intuition with algorithms and process that reduces the degrees of freedom under which individuals operate. those clubs which can overcome that resistance will generate a competitive advantage an edge. i believe my football club has such an advantage, but i am on the alert for signs of backsliding going along with “but that’s the way we’ve always done it!” we have gone down this path at plymouth argyle because we want to spend the club’s money wisely and compete by being smarter, not by spending more. at harding loevner we started down this path 25 years ago as decision making spread beyond the handful of founders to an expanded investment team. each portfolio remained the product of two single decision makers but was now made with input from over 30 analysts. we had to learn how to structure a process that benefits from group wisdom but is not damaged by “groupthink.” the foundation of that was, and still is today, individual accountability and aggregation of individual decisions. analysts drive the process and decide what stocks they will cover. they are free from direction by their colleagues, and free from direction by portfolio managers. they are not completely free, though. just as argyle’s team must recruit players who meet the objective standards we have established as being consistent with our playing philosophy, harding loevner analysts must confine their activities to securities of companies that they judge to conform with our investment philosophy, which focuses on growth, quality which we have historically equated, in part, with a demonstrated track record of profitability and price. when we look back at the last 25 years, we can see clearly that the arc of evolution of our investment process has been to define more clearly and rigorously the rules that restrict our analysts’ liberty to follow any company they chose. this has been highly effective at controlling biases and risk, and, overall has been good for returns. today, there are any number of voices, both internal and external, calling us away from the framework and structure that have served us well. the rise of the digital economy, and its steady proliferation of fast growing but still unprofitable businesses with compelling narratives, continually tests our reliance on an established track record as a guide to the future and the best indicator that a company has the culture and institutional strength to withstand cyclical downturns and shifting competitive landscape. has the nature of growth changed? have the kinds of characteristics that define quality shifted? or are those merely the stories we tell ourselves to justify paying higher prices for the hot new fashion? i don’t know the answers to those questions yet. i do know that, while it is necessary for portfolio managers to evolve along with markets, such evolution should take place deliberately and only after careful consideration. at argyle we are at the early stages of translating our playing philosophy into a structured process for how we find players, and how they play on the field. already, though, there have been occasions when we’ve had to adapt on the fly and adjust our typical tactical lineup. football, like investing, is a game where the opposition can see what we do, and we must adapt to how they counter our plans. players get injured, and replacement players may be less capable at implementing the approach. so, how we implement our philosophy must evolve, but we must be clear with ourselves that such adjustments are a change in process, not a change in philosophy. if we were to start changing our philosophy, we would surely be lost, tossed on a swirling sea of narrative. 1purportedly begun in 1920 when, after he had led the club to three world series titles in six years, the sox traded george herman “babe” ruth to the rival yankees for $125,000 (about $1.7 million in today’s dollars, or roughly the salary of boston’s current backup catcher, kevin plawecki). 2it could be said the great man theory is also a feature of investment marketing how often do brand name investment managers attract large amounts of client assets and then collapse in ignominy? what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis igor tishin, phd, an information technology analyst at harding loevner, refers to us health care as a “rust heap.” tishin frequently shares his view that some of the companies under his coverage are in a better position than traditional health care firms to deliver the sort of disruptive change the us health care system so obviously needs. this view puts him at odds with patrick todd, cfa, one of our health care analysts, who covers a number of high quality durable growth insurance, pharma, and diagnostics companies. in responding to tishin, todd acknowledges us health care’s need for reform yet is adamant that tishin’s description of big tech’s bonafides is wildly overstated. tishin paints this as the kind of apologist thinking that has tolerated us$60,000 c sections. hostilities between our brown bag combatants flared following the january announcement that haven, a consortium formed to much fanfare several years ago between amazon, jp morgan, and berkshire hathaway the most high profile effort to date by powerful outsiders to develop a better model for delivering higher quality, more cost effective care was disbanding. the following exchange was excerpted from tishin’s and todd’s recent internal research postings. we should note that the pair, avid skiers and hikers who regularly compare notes on their families’ outdoor adventures, are perfectly friendly. often as not on topics not related to us health care, they find their views aligned. patrick todd: many in the media have concluded that the entrenched powers of private insurers, doctors, and major hospital systems caused haven’s demise. it makes a good headline, but it’s inaccurate. i think haven’s demise has more to do with amazon’s ambition. amazon has been developing similar offerings to those of haven. for example, amazon care, the primary care and prescription plan for amazon employees that is now being expanded to the public, is very similar to the former haven platform for amazon, jpm, and berkshire employees. amazon also just opened its own online pharmacy, building on the acquisition of pill pack several years ago. none of these are revolutionary ideas, but i just think amazon realized they don’t need jpm and berkshire in the mix. while haven has been in the news, i think the more important recent development is the more or less unnoticed expansion of the affordable care act (i.e., obamacare) tucked into the last covid 19 relief bill. i see this as a sign the biden administration will continue to expand government’s role in health care, including medicaid but more importantly medicare advantage (ma), which very much benefits unitedhealth, the market share leader. what’s also interesting is how unitedhealth is moving more towards an integrated model like hospital network kaiser permanente. through their optum unit, unitedhealth is buying up facilities and investing heavily in tech to create a more effective and efficient delivery model that lowers the cost of care. so, you’re seeing best of breed providers and insurers becoming more similar. and so any attempts to fix the system are fruitless because the current setup is a decent compromise and the incumbents are generally doing a fine job. what a pathetic conclusion! igor tishin: and so any attempts to fix the system are fruitless because the current setup is a decent compromise and the incumbents are generally doing a fine job. what a pathetic conclusion! the only thing that haven’s failure proves to me is that they were not audacious enough and it will take a true outsider to bring simplicity, competition, and accountability to the health care industry’s parasitic relationship with vested interests in washington and other parts of the economy. it’s going to take an entity with a “call option” mindset (i.e., little to lose, much to gain) and credible capabilities to expose the rot and hopefully fix the problem before the political will is hijacked. fortunately, there is such a company with the ambition and a good deal of the ingredients in place to offer a data driven health care system. i gather you’ve heard of apple? pt: i think we can both agree that there are inefficiencies in health care delivery, but “parasitic” is a bit extreme even for you, don’t you think? the us does spend more and fares worse on adult and infant mortality metrics. it also has higher rates of poverty and teen pregnancy, much higher levels of obesity, and higher car crash and gun deaths. a lot of the inefficiencies also have to do with how fragmented our payment systems are among medicare, medicaid, a fully nationalized program like the veterans administration, commercial insurance, insurance purchased on exchanges, etc. how is apple supposed to fix the payments structure? unless you’re suggesting we move to a cash system of some kind where the customer pays directly, which not a single other developed country has ever seriously considered doing, and in which case you’ve become even more disconnected from reality than when i last checked. it: sunlight is a great disinfectant! yes, fragmentation is a huge problem, and of course some policy changes would be required, but let’s look at some of the other parts of the system that are broken: the party receiving the service is not responsible for the payment; the party providing the service decides on the volume of consumption; the party that pays does not really care about the outcome as much as about the cost; and the outcomes and costs are extremely difficult to objectively compare across entities. introducing a comprehensive and coherent data platform to streamline treatment administration, track costs and outcomes, and fight balkanization can be a powerful step to expose each of the flaws in the current arrangement, clarify the vision for alternatives, and thus help unite political will for the policy change. apple with its world class personal data management platform, credibility with over one billion customers, and data privacy leadership (obviously critical in making such a system work) has a unique set of assets to tackle the issues. pt: that is a list of blanket statements. certain areas within health care do encourage volume, that’s true, but others do not. medicare and some insurance pay hospitals a fixed fee for inpatient care regardless of how much it costs. if a hospital can deliver care more efficiently, they make more money. conversely, if they do a poor job with the patient and costs are higher than expected, the hospital loses money. i also disagree that insurance companies aren’t incentivized to keep you healthy and keep their own costs low. as for the difficulty in tracking outcomes and costs, this is getting better, in my opinion without the help of apple. doctors’ offices were still using fax machines not too long ago. but with the implementation of the 2009 hitech act, we now have electronic health records, and health systems and health care information technology companies are starting to make sense of all this data to improve outcomes and costs. you are starting to see some artificial intelligence applications as well. it: every reform you mention would be enormously enhanced if deployed on a more robust and thorough data platform. the problem is hospitals and insurance companies have neither the expertise nor incentives to scale this up. take some of the cultural issues you mentioned contributing to the overall poor health of the us population. the us system is more “sick care” than health care; many more resources are devoted to fixing than preventing. well, the only way to change that is to introduce personal accountability by rewarding the desired behavior. the apple watch can collect some basic but relevant personal data over long periods of time in a very efficient and economical manner. if the insurers really cared about the well being of their customers, they would all cover putting a basic version of apple watch on people’s wrists and use this data to give them a break on their insurance premiums. once the platform is out there and open to third party developers, there would be no shortage of creative models for how to foster healthier living through such incentives. a portion of the insurers’ savings could also flow back to apple and the app developers. the biometrics on the apple watch are still pretty rudimentary, but the company has all sorts of other patents pending for blood pressure sensors, sweat analysis of blood sugar and blood alcohol content, and different types of motion detectors. the other major tech players clearly have a role to play as well. apple stands out for its expertise in hardware solutions and the strength of its operating system, but google probably has the strongest ai and data analytics capabilities to process all this data and help patients and their providers make smarter decisions. amazon is still king of e commerce and logistics, which will be key in closing the loop between those smart decisions and implementation in the real world through things like low cost drug refills, mail in tests and telemedicine, and more transparent pricing between vendors. not everyone is a biohacker trying to optimize their output. as a health care it executive once told me, “silicon valley tends to overestimate the health curiosity of the individual.” pt: it seems obvious that if the people in the us ate less and worked out more our health outcomes would be better. but not everyone is a biohacker trying to optimize their output. as a health care it executive once told me, “silicon valley tends to overestimate the health curiosity of the individual.” we are already seeing a big move towards value based reimbursement models that encourage savings, and the health care system is investing heavily in developing the technology and contracts to make it work. in my view, a company like unitedhealth is just way better positioned to drive these changes. in addition to their traditional insurance operation and growing portfolio of primary and urgent care facilities, they own optuminsight, which is a leading data and analytics platform used by 9 out of 10 us hospitals. it spends almost us$4 billion a year on tech and innovation and has products designed to tackle waste in the system. in places where optumhealth, unitedhealth’s soup to nuts data driven insurance and provider offering, has been in the market for a while, their cost of care is already 30% lower than comparable fee for service medicare. when you reference the transition away from sick care, what you are really getting at is population health management. again, this is already happening, and the change is coming from inside the system. optum, as an example, helps with biometric solutions and on site services and wellness coaching. just giving people data on an apple watch doesn’t really do anything. measuring your steps and heart rate only helps at the margin. you need outreach to make it work. pt: i’m not saying the tech companies aren’t part of the solution, but i see them more as data suppliers and an alternative distribution source than the ones really instigating change. i thought it was interesting that amazon’s own chief medical officer, tv medical pundit vin gupta, recently just about acknowledged as much. speaking of which, the most direct way to lower costs and improve outcomes is detecting disease early. i’m personally very excited about all the innovation in “liquid biopsies” that scan the body for circulating cancer cells and other very early signs of disease. grail, a company now in the process of being reacquired by illumina, has shown some impressive data and i expect their galleri test to become a routine part of the annual bloodwork ordered by physicians. the more and better tests of this kind that are administered, the better the insights will be that come from all your big tech big data analysis. it: yes, and i would expect grail to eventually develop a mail in version of the test and sell it on amazon. patrick, if i didn’t know better, i would say we are approaching a consensus over what needs to be done, and at this point mainly haggling over who does it and in what order. i think change will accelerate when the big tech companies can make wearables and other related technologies widely available enough to unlock the data flow in a more powerful way, creating new incentives and behaviors from many of the same actors hospitals, pharma, and insurers. it’s like the same cast of characters playing a historical drama instead of a horror movie. the result will be savings to patients and their employers, savings to insurers and providers, and a cut of those savings flowing back to the tech companies. as you know, for years “health care tbd” has been part of my long term valuation model for apple. i should thank you for helping me understand now how that will play out. pt: you’re welcome, i guess. except i’m skeptical that big tech really wants to disrupt health care. they want the consumer data, and they want access to that gigantic profit pool. saying they are “bending the cost curve” is just part of their sales pitch. let’s be honest, what does real disruption in us health care look like? it’s called single payer health insurance, aka medicare for all, but i’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen. it: and if you do (hold your breath) be sure to download apple watch’s new blood oxygen app first. it’s really cool! what did you think of this piece? multi asset the gamestop debacle, and the meme stock phenomenon more broadly, certainly fit that category. the story bears all the hallmarks of a hollywood script: how a ragtag group of mostly retail investors, armed with commission free trading apps and loosely coordinated across online message boards, executed a colossal short squeeze on the hedge funds betting against a down at its heels brick and mortar video game retailer while inflicting bloody noses on some of wall street’s supposedly most sophisticated operators. predictably, several films are already in the works. but beyond the thrill of extravagant market pyrotechnics served up with a generous side of schadenfreude at seeing the odd master of the universe brought low by the great unwashed, why should we care? market manipulation is hardly new, and short sellers have always been a vulnerable target. the algebra of short selling, where the size of a losing position balloons ever higher as losses accumulate, is such that short sellers are forever in danger of being squeezed. wait too long to cover or, worse yet, fail to rebalance at all, and you risk being wiped out. no surprise then that short selling for profit (as opposed to for hedging) is the province of dedicated specialists. despite their somewhat louche reputation, attested to by the prevalence of short selling bans that reflexively blossom every time the market wilts, short sellers are nonetheless a key part of a healthy market ecosystem. a healthy market, one that allocates capital to its most productive use at the lowest possible cost, is predicated on many financial species with different time horizons, preferences, and liquidity needs co existing in symbiosis. despite what the textbooks might say, liquidity and price discovery are not created in a vacuum; they spring from the unceasing dance between three types of market inhabitants: long term investors, arbitrageurs, and liquidity providers. long term investors attempt to steer capital towards its most productive use, arbitrageurs improve price discovery by correcting the occasional mis pricings that emerge between assets with similar payoffs, and liquidity providers lubricate transactions, which helps to shrink transaction costs. if any one of these groups grows too dominant, the dance can quickly turn into a scrum. it may be too early to add dedicated short selling to the long list of business models disrupted by the internet just yet, but it’s safe to assume that the shorts’ cost of capital has gone up. dedicated short sellers are a rare breed of arbitrageur whose relatively small number and modest asset base belie their importance. much like value investors, whose tendency to buy when others are selling has a stabilizing effect on falling markets, short selling has a similar calming effect in the opposite direction. by leaning against unwarranted price increases, short sellers are a counterweight to market excess, one that makes for a more hospitable environment for beta grazers and alpha hunters alike. in helping to expose flimsy business models, ferret out accounting malfeasance, and unearth cases of outright fraud, short sellers are natural predators that benefit the market’s ecology. enron, lehman brothers, valeant, and, more recently, wirecard and luckin coffee all owe their comeuppance in large part due to the sleuthing of dedicated short sellers. although short sellers are at the center of the gamestop saga, most of the ink spilled has focused on the more conspicuous elements of the story: the evident power of massed retail investors, their copious use of derivatives to magnify leverage, and the populist tendencies that seemingly motivated many of the squeeze’s participants. what has received less coverage is the potential impact of meme stock manias on market structure. on the face of it, the debacle mirrors many previous episodes of market manipulation, no different, say, than the hunt brothers ill fated attempt to corner the silver market in 1980. but there is a crucial difference. a conspiracy to manipulate markets pre supposes a central origin, a mastermind to hatch the plot before putting it into action. but on this occasion the conspiracy, such as it was, emerged spontaneously. it began with local, seemingly random interactions online that began to feed on themselves in an accelerating feedback loop. there was no syndicate head, no directives whispered into disposable cell phones, no encrypted texts, none of the subterfuges typically associated with a conspiracy. quite the contrary, discussions were held in the open, within freely accessible (albeit anonymous) web forums, where anyone was able to proffer their views about the fundamental value of the business, comment on the high short interest, or add an opinion about the implications of the tight float of underlying shares outstanding. decentralized and self organizing short squeezes that materialize spontaneously represent a new type of concern for regulators because it’s unclear which rules, if any, are being violated. moreover, it’s far from clear what mechanisms can be put in place to prevent it from happening again. but while this may be a headache for regulators, it represents an existential threat to short sellers. it may be too early to add dedicated short selling to the long list of business models disrupted by the internet just yet, but it’s safe to assume that the shorts’ cost of capital has gone up. the impact of this new regimen on short sellers is impossible to gauge with any precision. they are a secretive bunch, after all. but we can guess at their travails by looking at the performance of the most shorted stocks as represented by the citibank us short interest equity index. the index is akin to a long/short portfolio constructed according to the level of short activity for each stock in the russell 3000, measured as the ratio of the amount of stock on loan relative to its overall trading volume. after ranking stocks according to this ratio and removing stocks with the most extreme metrics such as high borrow cost, the index simply shorts the 10 percent of stocks with the highest short ratio and goes long the 10 percent of stocks with the lowest short ratio. historically, simulating short sellers in this way has been a profitable strategy: from its inception in june 2015 through the end of 2019 the index generated a cumulative return of 35%, with a highly respectable return to risk (sharpe ratio) of close to one. at the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, which coincided with a jump in retail trading reminiscent of the tech bubble, the index collapsed. over the following months it gave up almost its entire accumulated historical performance before reaching its nadir in january of this year, just as the gamestop episode reached its crescendo. given the index’s long exposure to the least shorted stocks, it likely understates the actual damage inflicted on many actual short sellers. it’s a truism that no one enjoys losing money, ever. and if the performance of the index is indicative of the damage inflicted on short sellers, we can expect an imminent thinning of their ranks and with it a weakening of their stabilizing influence. there is a small town in thailand whose large population of macaque monkeys draws a steady stream of tourists. the locals sell bananas to the tourists who feed them to the monkeys. when the flow of tourists dried up during the pandemic, this balance was thrown into turmoil. within weeks, the town was overrun by gangs of starving monkeys. whole neighborhoods were declared no go areas by authorities after videos of rampaging monkeys went viral. it’s probably a stretch to claim that having fewer short sellers would have quite such a dramatic impact on market structure as the loss of tourists had on this thai town, or that the monkeys are now calling the shots, but markets are notoriously susceptible to unforeseen events. a seemingly inconsequential disturbance in one area can ripple out, propagating and growing until it ultimately leads to systemwide effects. while our attention is often drawn to conspicuous price movements, it’s easy to overlook the veiled institutional or structural changes that sometimes precede and may even precipitate them. bananas, anyone? what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance we see this bias in many domains. our political leaders tend to respond to a crisis with ill considered policies that capture attention but often do little good and may even do harm. it would be unacceptable for them to stand by and simply do nothing. while serving as both vice chairman of harding loevner and as chairman of a professional soccer club that competes in the english football league (efl), i have been struck by the parallels between investing and sports when it comes to the biases that damage effective decision making. studies have looked at penalty kicks in soccer. when a penalty is awarded, the ball is placed 12 yards from the center of the goal and a kicker gets the opportunity to score with only the goalkeeper standing in the way. it turns out that because of the goalkeeper’s bias for action, the optimal place to kick the ball is directly at the center of the goal. a goalkeeper will almost always dive one way or another in anticipation. if he dives the wrong way, he’s forgiven as having simply guessed wrong, or as being sent the wrong way by the kicker’s supposed feint. if he dives the right way, he has a chance to stop the ball entering the goal. if he merely stands in the middle, however, he is the subject of much abuse for doing nothing. investors fall victim to similar pressures and impulses. the immediate costs of transacting are low, and the propensity to transact is high. the result is that investors transact too much, and their returns suffer. they tend to transact at the wrong time, buying after prices have risen, and selling after prices have fallen. underlying these behaviors is a general misunderstanding of the roles of luck and skill. in sports and in investing, short term results are the outcome of a combination of the two. yet, we tend both to attribute the outcome more to skill than to luck and to extrapolate a series of outcomes (good or bad) into the future. this tendency stems from our deep seated need for explanation, and a need to feel we are in control even when we are not. this occurs particularly in those sports, like soccer, that are generally low scoring affairs. unlike in basketball, for example, where there will be more than a hundred points in a game, the average number of goals in a professional soccer game is roughly three. the result of a single game will largely be driven by luck one bobble of the ball, the inches between hitting a goalpost and scoring, a poor refereeing decision. yet the narrative in post match interviews is seldom “we got lucky.” at least, it’s seldom the case that “we got lucky” when the interviewee’s team wins. when the team loses, the loss is the result of bad luck! how similar this is to investment narratives, where there seems to be only two kinds of investment managers: the talented, and the unlucky. at my own club, last season, we had a pair of games scheduled close together. in the first, we gave up a 1 0 lead late on and ended up with a tied game. in the second, we scored a late goal from an unexpected source to win 1 0. the narrative of the first was that “we didn’t know how to hold a lead,” and of the second that “we were gutsy and played to the end.” same team, same players, both close games, but different outcomes drove radical differences in explanation. as in investing, in sports a series of poor results needs a narrative to explain it, and action to reverse it. often that action is to replace the coach. acting to replace him when results go the wrong way attributes far too much causality to the coach. george steinbrenner famously hired billy martin five times as coach of the new york yankees. between the premier league and the three levels of the efl, more than half of the 92 clubs replaced their manager this season alone. replacing a manager tends to come at considerable cost he (it’s always he) will have his own preferences for players and staff, and perhaps may even want to change the style of play completely with little evidence that the players who actually kick the ball around improve their own performances as a result. because luck occurs randomly while skill is reasonably constant, after teams are unlucky for a stretch their luck will tend to mean revert. the “manager bounce” is a well established phenomenon whereby short term results usually improve after a manager is replaced. it is a statistical phenomenon, though, that has little to do with on the pitch performance. for asset owners, there is a similar temptation to replace a manager after a period when returns have disappointed, but, alas, unlike the fans of a soccer club, the clients of an investment manager do not enjoy the mean reverting returns that the manager provides those who stuck with them. for asset owners, there is a similar temptation to replace an investment manager after a period when returns have disappointed. but, alas, unlike the loyal fans of a soccer club, the former clients of an investment manager do not enjoy the mean reverting returns that the manager provides those who stuck with them. there is plenty of evidence that investors’ urge to act is damaging to their long term returns. in mutual funds, on average, dollar weighted returns that shareholders receive from their funds lag the time weighted returns that the funds generate. this “behavior gap” is directly the result of poorly timed action on the part of shareholders. incentives and market structures only make the bias toward action greater. one reason that english soccer coaches get changed is that, once the season starts, players may not be traded outside the month of january. a result is that during the january transfer window it’s almost non stop activity. the period has become its own media event, with fans, players’ agents, and media pundits all calling for teams to make their moves. this, even though only a few such moves ever have significant impact on a team’s results, and despite evidence that prices paid for players tend to be higher than between seasons. the investing industry has many incentives to transact; indeed, the revenue models of many participants depend on transactions taking place. when i started in investment management, in london in the late 1970s, our fees were not based on assets managed as is the case today. we were paid when we made a transaction in our clients’ discretionary portfolios. why is the portfolio turnover of the average equity mutual fund so high, when doing nothing and allowing returns to compound over prolonged periods of time is often a superior way to generate market beating returns? it’s because the investment industry exploits clients’ bias in favor of action. managers’ actions are described in emotional terms. we read of “conviction,” of “exciting opportunities” and “story stocks.” the reality is more mundane. successful investing is about resisting the urge and the calls to action, knowing when to sit on your hands and do absolutely zilch. what did you think of this piece? behavioral finance the sources of edge are often described as informational, analytic, decision making, and organizational: in an era of artificial intelligence and big data analysis, it’s very hard to generate an informational edge through data acquisition alone. those who do find anomalies see them quickly arbitraged away. there is, though, the possibility of generating an edge by extending your time frame. a large segment of the market today is concerned with generating products based on dataset analysis, which generates excess returns for short periods of time, in the full knowledge that that advantage is temporary. however, no one has been able to turn the identification of companies that can generate returns over long periods of time into an algorithm. focusing on long term industry competitive dynamics and individual companies’ own competitive advantages within their industries can lead to insights that short term data analysis often misses. separating signal from noise can provide a potent analytical edge. as benjamin graham wrote in the intelligent investor: “people don’t need extraordinary insight or intelligence. what they need most is the character to adopt simple rules and stick to them.” having a series of rules that help determine the passage of a company from the wider universe to research coverage is extremely helpful. being structured in how to conduct research and pre committing to the characteristics sought in a company are essential. be objective in embracing what works from quantitative processes and systematic fundamental analysis. structure and discipline help overcome human biases. admit and learn from mistakes to be more objective and establish a framework to help analysts communicate with colleagues. the structure and discipline will help them focus on what’s important, and filter out what is not. “focusing on long term industry competitive dynamics and individual companies’ own competitive advantages within their industries can lead to insights that short term data analysis often misses.” understand that all human beings have biases that inhibit both thorough analysis and sound decision making. a good manager needs to set up structures to overcome these biases, and make sure that all team members stick to those structures. overcoming our emotions and learning how to avoid cognitive errors should be at the core of any process that results in making decisions, especially decisions made under conditions of great uncertainty, which clearly includes investment decision making. conviction and confidence help sell ideas but may not be accurate guides to the success of those ideas. incentivize analysts to get their decisions right, not to persuade portfolio managers. how an organization is structured, and how its people are incentivized and compensated, can provide the background that facilitates good decision making and is thus a source of “organizational alpha.” for example, incentives should in part focus on long term performance so that they’re aligned with the long term nature of the informational and analytical edge. moreover, individuals need to be accountable for their decisions to avoid the blame game that arises from consensus or group decisions. finally, a good investment manager needs to communicate with clients, and, above all, set their expectations accurately. at harding loevner, we think we have an edge because of what we know about decision making and the structure and discipline of the process. our analysts provide the necessary ingredients for successful, systematic portfolio construction. our decision making structure imposes individual accountability, mitigates biases, and ensures continuity, leading to better decisions and aligning each of us with our clients’ objectives. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis indeed, when i started my career in investing in the late 1970s, obtaining even basic financial info about a german car company still required going to germany and knocking on the company’s door. now gathering information no longer takes much effort. we are deluged by floods of data not only the details of prices, volumes, margins, and capital investments of individual companies, but also highly granular data about credit card receipts, numbers of cars in parking lots, or words used in media reports. these new, “alternative” sources of information have briefly given some stock pickers a slight edge in predicting short term stock price movements. the informational advantage provided by such data is but fleeting, however; once this data is commercially accessible to everyone, the advantage disappears. thus, even for the short term investor, information gathering itself no longer provides a lasting edge. for long term investors, the relationship to information has changed even more fundamentally. you no longer need to seek information; it finds you. your job, rather, is to act as what lou gerstner, the former ceo of ibm, called an “intelligent filter” determining the information that is important and ignoring data that (in the case of the investor) doesn’t help you forecast cash flows and estimate the value of a security. the fact that filtering information is the long term investor’s task, of course, doesn’t prevent most from feverishly pursuing every bit of information they can about the companies they follow. egged on by the 24/7 news cycle, internet chat rooms, and by data providers to know their companies in as much depth as possible, investors often seek to become experts in every aspect of each company’s business. it’s dubious whether this helps them make better estimates of what a company’s shares are worth. instead, the evidence suggests that, beyond a certain amount, each extra piece of information has zero marginal impact on forecast accuracy. the impact remains positive, however, on the investor’s confidence in their forecast. the evidence suggests that, beyond a certain amount, each extra piece of information has zero marginal impact on forecast accuracy. the impact remains positive, however, on the investor’s confidence in their forecast. in one unpublished study, described in winning decisions by j. edward russo and paul j. h. schoemaker, people who handicap horse races were asked to predict, based on increasing amounts of information, which horse would win a race. they found that, beyond a very limited amount of data, forecast accuracy did not improve with more data, but the handicappers’ confidence in their forecasts continued to grow with each extra bit of information. knowing more makes you feel better, in other words, but doesn’t help your decision making. in investing, feelings and actual results arguably are even more disconnected. after all, feeling good about a decision is rarely a help in successful investing to have a good outcome, an investment view must be different from that of most other investors, and standing apart from the herd almost always leads to discomfort. the job of an investment analyst, then, when forecasting a company’s business prospects and the price that should be paid for its stock is to distinguish between what is important the signal and what is useless noise. that’s what we do at harding loevner. our “common language” is designed to guide investment collaboration by helping us focus on low frequency signals that are important to a long term investment thesis and avoid being distracted by torrents of high frequency information that obscure the relevant underlying issues. we recognize that our industry has an extensive tradition of emphasizing high frequency signals to induce transacting. in the past, much of the revenue associated with financial services was transaction based. brokers were paid only when customers transacted (indeed, when i started my career, so were investment managers!). unsurprisingly, brokers devoted great effort to stimulating customers to act. customers responded as you’d expect them to humans like action, not sitting still. although the investment management industry has shifted in recent years to replace commissions with asset based fees, there remains a popular expectation that a good investor will be active, including taking advantage of the most readily available and highest frequency bits of information: stock price movements (both up and down). few investors, though, are able to capture any benefit from high frequency signals. our analysts don’t even look at stock prices until a company has been thoroughly researched and qualified as meeting our quality and growth criteria, its long term cash flows have been forecast, and the fair value of its shares estimated. stock prices are much more volatile than the underlying qualities of the business they are supposed to reflect. investors should remember the words of charlie munger, who said successful investing is a matter of “finding a few great companies, then you can sit on your ass.”1 of course, while we spend a lot of time following mr. munger’s advice, that doesn’t mean we are sitting still. we are constantly questioning our assumptions, testing our hypotheses, updating our information and, occasionally, as a result, changing our minds. usually, though, ignoring the calls of those whose business model, if not entire worldview, revolves around urging you to move is the key to success. an investment process structured around the long term, and asking questions about long term strategy not short term results, will focus on a few fundamental signals that show a company’s progress in creating value for its shareholders. it will focus on competitive structure of an industry, and durable competitive advantages, rather than on the outcomes of the recent past. it will take what you’ve learned and use that to forecast a company’s investments in its business and the cash flows those investments should generate over long periods of time. only then can you make an informed guess as to what a company is worth and compare it to what the market is inviting you to pay. a process focused on the long term also recognizes the importance of compounding that over a long holding period, even if you did overpay, the rate at which a company continually reinvests its cash flows will be a much more important contributor to your return. in an era when information is so democratized, our one true edge is an ability to latch onto a few incremental competitive advantages that we’ve identified in a company, and allow the company to do its job over the long term and provide the power of compounding to our clients’ portfolios. in an era when information is so democratized, our one true edge is an ability to latch onto a few incremental competitive advantages that we’ve identified in a company, and allow the company to do its job over the long term and provide the power of compounding to our clients’ portfolios. humans invariably underestimate this phenomenon. compound interest is one of the wonders of the world, yet few people understand how powerful it is. it appears our brains are designed to deal with linear, not exponential progressions. if there was any doubt about our difficulty in intuiting the power of exponential growth rates, look at how unperturbed most people were a year or so ago when covid 19 began spreading, first in tiny increments. people could not grasp what the impact of a very standard exponential growth curve could be until it was sloping nearly vertically upwards. a long investment time horizon also benefits from the long term being more predictable, despite being the sum of a series of short terms. when some luck is involved, individual outcomes are unpredictable, but the rules of probability dominate as the number of independent trials and outcomes increase. the outcome of a single spin of a roulette wheel, a roll of dice, or draw of a card is unpredictable, but in the long run the house’s victory is as near a certainty as we can get in this world. our job is to turn the coins we toss into unevenly weighted ones, by being disciplined about the information we use, diligent in our research, and allowing the companies in which we invest our clients’ capital to do the heavy lifting for us. 1charlie munger, berkshire hathaway annual meeting, 2000. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis if we are honest with ourselves, it is a question that almost all of us, as investors and people, are probably wondering right about now. in this case, it took the form of the following note from a young colleague based in locked down london directed to me and my fellow health care analyst as part of the daily, ongoing research information group email discussion that has always comprised much of our meeting, brainstorm, and “water cooler” time here at harding loevner. considering the challenges of [vaccine] manufacturing and distribution, what would be your best estimate for when developed economies will return to “normality”? i.e., people in developed economies are allowed and feel safe enough to live a life more like 2019. e.g., sept 2021? jan 2022? never? as i wrote to this analyst and the rest of the group, my honest answer is: it’s very hard to say at this point. beyond the manufacturing and distribution challenges he references, the most troubling recent news involves the increasing prevalence of covid 19 mutations such as the b.1.1.7 variant that first emerged in the uk and the b.1.351 that originated in south africa. since mid january, there has been mounting concern that some of these variants, in addition to being more contagious, might also be more resistant to the vaccines that have already been developed. the latest study results for a pair of vaccines still awaiting approval one from novavax and another from our portfolio holding johnson & johnson (jnj) confirm that at least for the south african variant this is indeed the case, as both vaccines showed reduced efficacy in preventing infection in south africa, where b.1.351 is dominant. for the novavax trial, the reduction in infection rates in the uk was 89%, compared to just 60% in south africa. for jnj’s vaccine, the reduction in infection rates was 72% in the us versus just 57% in south africa. in other words, these vaccine candidates are still capable of dramatically reducing severe covid 19, but aren’t capable of reducing the viral load enough to lower infection rates as dramatically as we had come to expect from pfizer and moderna’s vaccines, whose blockbuster phase 3 trial results in late 2020 were for populations not yet exposed to b.1.351. while the follow up data are still preliminary, expectations for how those vaccines perform against the variant probably now need to be lowered as well. if you get a vaccine by the summer, you’ll be better protected, but my expectation is that the new and future variants will become the dominant strains in the coming months, and so you won’t be 95% protected, more like somewhere in the 50 60% protection range. getting much better distribution and administration of vaccines suddenly becomes more urgent. as health officials have emphasized, the more the virus is contained, the less opportunity that variants will have to replicate and gain a larger foothold in a population. mask wearing, handwashing, and social distancing take on similarly elevated importance in this game of viral whack a mole. it seems overly optimistic, however, to think that the variants won’t soon become more prevalent regardless, including in the us, and that we won’t just as soon need new tools to combat them. one big plus about many of the new vaccines is that they can be modified quickly, increasing manufacturers’ ability to issue booster shots specifically aimed at the variants. but can vaccine updates be issued quickly enough to prevent added waves of infection and forestall still more variants from popping up? let’s hope. based on conference calls i’ve been on with the vaccine manufacturers, and research i’ve read about the nature of the virus, it is surprising, and, frankly, a bit alarming, that so many viable variants are out there this soon. the rationale given now by scientific experts is that uncontrolled spread for too long gave the virus more chances to find better ways of eluding our immune systems. rna viruses replicate for speed and aren’t good at “checking their work,” so the vast majority of mutations are just mistakes that typically function to weaken the virus and thus immediately go extinct. however, there has always been a small probability that some of these copying errors would confer a benefit on the virus. it is akin to rolling dice and having them come up ones 10 times in a row if you roll 1 trillion times instead of 100 billion, there’s a decently higher chance of that happening. still, in the lifecycle of a virus such a pace of snake eye streaks typically isn’t seen until after we apply more darwinian pressure and the organism is forced to mutate to survive. it’s disappointing that we’re getting so many variants at this juncture, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the pattern continues. it is also possible we could have another burst of variants to contend with once the virus has finally been brought under control and feels truly cornered. as a healthy male in my early 40s, i’m less concerned about severe disease and hospitalization once i get vaccinated, but i am concerned about the risk of being a “long hauler,” one of the estimated 10% of covid 19 patients who experience debilitating symptoms for months or potentially years (or longer we just don’t know) after the initial infection has run its course. i’ve met two long haulers in the last month and they are both in the 45 55 age range. we have no idea yet, for any of these vaccines, what the reduction in risk of being a long hauler is. so, as for life returning to “2019”? i don’t think that’s going to happen this year. if you get vaccinated by the summer, you’ll be better protected, but my expectation is that the new and future variants will become the dominant strains in the coming months, and so you won’t be 95% protected, more like somewhere in the 50 60% protection range, although with much higher protection against severe disease. to me, that’s still definitely not enough to return to greeting someone outside my family with a european faux kiss on the cheek. what did you think of this piece? multi asset for a vociferous minority, the only bankable hedge for inflation is gold. for them, every spike in the gold price is reproof of government perfidy and foreshadows an inflationary surge. the evidence linking gold’s price and inflation, however, is curiously threadbare. if gold is an unreliable hedge against rising prices, what role, if any, should it play in a portfolio? gold, having shed its function as a means of exchange and unit of account, is still used as a store of value. its inflation hedging bona fides spring from the notion that, unlike other stores of value, it cannot be debased. central bankers have the power to conjure fiat money at the stroke of a keyboard, but they are powerless when it comes to the quantity of gold. the price of gold may vary from day to day, but with a fixed supply on the order of 250,000 tons, of which one fifth remains lodged in the earth’s crust waiting to be mined, scarcity ensures that over long time spans its purchasing power remains intact. in 1934 an ounce of gold would have set you back us$26; had you buried it in the ground only to dig it up today, 86 years later, it would be worth almost us$2,000. not a bad return when you consider that a paper dollar lost approximately 99% of its purchasing power in the interim. but, of course, this simple illustration is dreadfully misleading. it is true that, had you let slip a dollar bill down the back of the couch while resting after burying your gold some 86 years ago, that dollar bill would buy you far fewer goods at the cash register today. most dollars, however, are not left lying around to gather dust; they are deposited for safekeeping and, until recently, they earned interest. fairer would be to evaluate gold relative to what you would have earned holding cash on deposit. according to barro and misra1, the long term compounded return on cash (t bills), after accounting for inflation, has been 1% per year, just shy of gold’s 1.1% real return. gold may have won by a nose, but that extra 10 basis points came at the expense of frequent eye watering price fluctuations and the occasional sleepless decade. it turns out that gold’s reputation as an inflation hedge is really founded on just two episodes: the end of the gold standard and the oil shock of 1979. between 1971 and 1975 the price of gold quadrupled as the us severed the official link between the us dollar and gold. again between 1977 and 1980 the price of gold tripled as the inflationary impact of the second oil shock rippled through the entire energy dependent supply chain. outside of these two peculiar instances, the relationship between gold and inflation largely falls apart. remove just the years of 1974, 1979, and 1980, and as we can see the positive correlation between inflation and gold disappears entirely. if inflation isn’t driving the gold price, what is? the evidence suggests that a big part of what’s moving gold prices are real interest rates or the difference between 10 year treasury yields and inflation whose movements up or down are an important indicator of the underlying state of an economy and its expected growth. this inverse relationship between gold and real rates is born out in the next figure, which shows yearly changes in the price of gold and real interest rates from 1971 to 2020. the large increases in the gold price in 1974, 1979, and 1980, in addition to the price spikes of 2011 and 2020, all occurred against a backdrop of negative real rates. correspondingly, the gold price declines of the early ’80s coincided with soaring real rates, a consequence of the tight monetary policy enacted during paul volker’s chairmanship of the us federal reserve. this relationship between real rates and gold echoes the historical linkages between gold and the us dollar. under a gold standard, because currency values in terms of gold were fixed, trade imbalances between countries were routinely resolved by a physical flow of gold. gold would flow into countries that exported more than they imported and had high real exchange and interest rates, and out of countries where the opposite conditions held. but under a fiat system, where currency values in terms of gold are no longer fixed, real interest rates continue to exercise their pull, except now rebalancing occurs with a change in the price of gold instead of a flow. perhaps because of its ongoing role as a central bank reserve asset and store of value, gold behaves like a shadow currency. a currency where, absent the prospect of a future cashflow, assessing how much to own comes down to what else you could be doing with that fraying dollar bill. just because gold has kept pace with the price of goods and services does not make it an effective inflation hedge in every scenario. and that’s because the alternate sources of expected inflation diminished supply versus excess demand have drastically different implications for real rates and hence for hedging strategies. if you think the world is in the thick of a deflationary or stagflationary bust that will depress real interest rates, then by all means buy gold. the current pandemic, like natural disasters more broadly, can certainly fit the pattern and to the extent it continues to depress consumption could still prove to be one of those kinds of periods. but if you are concerned about monetary excess, adding gold to a portfolio may turn out to be futile and may even magnify risks. if central bankers succeed in reviving inflation by stimulating demand growth, then we should also expect real rates to increase and the gold price to weaken. in that scenario, to hedge inflation you are better off buying tips and selling conventional bonds. it’s only fair to point out that any notional horse race between gold and other assets assumes a functioning financial system nested in a stable society not an unreasonable assumption for an optimist. but you don’t have to peer too far back in history to find examples of conflict, dispossession and collapse. beyond keeping up with the price level, part of gold’s appeal lies in its tantalizing potential to ward off financial devastation. although, if society deteriorates and its ability to function looks dicey, the risk of confiscation also shoots up and your chances of avoiding devastation by holding onto your lump of gold decline precipitously. this makes gold a bit like owning an out of the money put option on social collapse underwritten by an ultimately insolvent counterparty. there is no chance of collecting, but at least its value should rise when people are fearful. 1robert basra and sanjay misra, national bureau of economic research, “gold returns,” nber working paper series (february 2013). what did you think of this piece? factor investing the film opens with alice saying, in part, “but, i nearly forgot, you must close your eyes otherwise you won’t see anything.” after all, alice would never have experienced wonderland or journeyed through the looking glass if she had not closed her eyes. and we’d have no mad hatter, no march hare, and, of course, no red queen. i ask myself: if i close my eyes, what do i see…in the markets? what i see is determined by my sense of what ought to be. i think of my introductory college philosophy course and plato’s famous forms. for plato, everything has an absolute form, a universal ”right answer.” what we see on earth are imperfect replicas of each thing’s true essence or form. what would the platonic ideal look like for valuing a high growth stock such as shopify or, closer to our own portfolios, amazon? when i close my eyes, i see a traditional multi stage discounted cash flow model with a rapid growth period, a fade rate, and a rationally derived terminal value all discounted to the present using what i’ll call a traditionally derived cost of equity. other investors in the market today may see something quite different when they close their eyes. if, say, a robinhood day trader closes his eyes, what does he see? or if any of the numerous momentum fund managers close their eyes, what do they see? they may see relative price to sales driven by the second derivative of the revenue growth rate or some other relative forward 12 month or forward 3 month ratio as the key variable determining valuation. or, perhaps today, all that many see are charts and price momentum amid the haze of fedspeak that seems to devalue much of traditional investment thought. perhaps investors today don’t see anything to do with ”terminal value” at all. what do value investors see when they close their eyes? a number of us at harding loevner were struck by a recent wall street journal article about famed value investor ted aronson’s decision to dissolve his longstanding $10 billion investment fund and return the cash to investors. aronson, a previously very successful value based quant manager, said: “it can all work for years, for decades, until or except when the not so invisible hand comes down and slaps you and says, ‘that’s what worked in the past, but it’s not going to work now, nope, not anymore.’” i wonder what ways of seeing are being hard wired into investors today. who really speaks today of any of the valuation insights found in benjamin graham’s the intelligent investor, which was once seen as hallowed ground? i think it’s fair to say that very few market participants see the valuation structure advocated in graham’s work when they close their eyes today. high price to sales seems to have replaced high price to earnings as the new normal. so called modern monetary theory also looms a new or non standard to replace whatever fading monetary policy/interest rate standards once existed. for aronson, what’s up is down and what’s down is up. what he sees when he closes his eyes, what ought to be, well, it just ain’t so in the markets, and hasn’t been so for years. aronson is a smart guy. as some of my colleagues noted in a recent client letter, there is no guarantee that what’s become true for him can’t become true one day for harding loevner. we don’t think we are any smarter than aronson, or many other such value managers. we are considerably more fortunate at the moment as the global policy direction in recent years has smiled upon ”growth” while frowning upon ”value.” but further change may be coming. all of this brings to mind a poem by rainer maria rilke published in 1905: i live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. i may not ever complete the last one, but i give myself to it. i circle around god, that primordial tower. i have been circling for thousands of years, and i still don’t know: am i a falcon, a storm, or a great song? “i live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world” not a bad description of investing amid ever more accommodative global monetary policy with its ripples spreading around the world. or of investing amid a pandemic with the covid 19 virus reaching out across the world in widening circles. i have the same ultimate question in 2020 that rilke had in 1905. how’s all this end? the current environment sometimes makes me think about the scene in the film doctor zhivago (sorry about the mixed references, but my eyes are still closed) when the good doctor returns to his family home one day to find it taken over by the workers’ committee. he is initially assigned to only one room and eventually is not allowed to enter at all. standards changed, to say the least. more than at any time i can remember, i’d say the standards that underpin what passes for majority understanding and opinion, in the us anyway, are in flux. for example, would a proposition to reaffirm the us constitution as written, if put to a popular vote today, win majority approval? i have my doubts. would a proposition to reaffirm support for “free market capitalism,” if put to a popular vote today, win majority approval? i have my doubts. would a proposition to reaffirm the principle of private ownership of land, if put to a popular vote today, win majority approval? i suspect this would still find majority support, but with a large vote against, and i’m not sure how the vote would turn out, say, five years from now. yet the stock market has no such doubt. the best stocks in the market, by many country miles, are high growth stocks where share prices reflect confidence in rapid earnings growth a decade or more from now at least according to the arithmetic of discounted cash flows. or perhaps that’s not how many investors look at it; they may only have confidence in sustained earnings momentum one to two quarters from now, not confidence in the state of things in, say, december 2030. i did not find reading alice’s adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass to be a particularly satisfying experience. however, they were useful to read. as i reflect on it, the stories made me step back from my assumptions about how things should be, and left me open to considering other scenarios, in politics, in society, and in the financial markets. the meaning of the line “you must close your eyes or you won’t see anything” is not entirely clear to me. but it is perhaps the most provocative and potentially valuable investment insight i’ve come across in quite a while. while i ponder and watch, i plan to remain diversified and see just how prescient alice’s upside down world continues to be. what did you think of this piece? fundamental analysis though we are frequently characterized today as “quality growth” investors, the truth is we started from a place of focusing on value. we have always believed that, as warren buffet put it, “price is what you pay; value is what you get.” we also recognize that, while the two converge over time, it is impossible to predict when that convergence may occur. over the years other value focused investors have come up with various ways of coping with this unpredictability. some implement value strategies by timing their purchases so there is not only a share price that implies a discount to underlying value, but also a “catalyst” to accelerate that convergence. another group, among them followers of the father of value investing, ben graham, effectively puts a cap on their patience. they buy stocks trading at a discount to value, but if price and value haven’t converged after some period, they move on to another investment. we were young, figured we had time to wait, and saw no need to identify catalysts or impose a time limit for estimated values to materialize in current market prices. investment managers with our very fundamental, bottom up approach to investing spend much effort determining what a share in a company is worth. that entails thinking about a company’s addressable market, market share, the relative power of its suppliers and customers, volumes, prices, and margins, and making forecasts of those variables, and others, many years into the future. given that we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, let alone several thousand tomorrows from now, these forecasts are never going to be terribly accurate. once we translate our forecasts into estimates of the company’s future cash flows, we discount those cash flows to a present value using a discount rate. what that discount rate should be is also highly uncertain. at the end of the day, we gain a rough idea of what a share in a company is worth, but one subject to a very large margin of error. cash flows are hard to forecast and future discount rates completely unpredictable. but we figured that if the valuation at purchase was too high and didn’t rise, if at least we had growth the investment would still generate a positive return. we liked prospective growth because it can bail us out of those forecasting errors. when we buy a stock, the return we achieve over time will be a function of changes in estimates of its value (i.e., its earnings multiple) and in the growth of its earnings. changes in the multiple come about through changes in estimates of future cash flows and, if not more important, changes in the rate at which you discount those cash flows. cash flows are hard to forecast and future discount rates completely unpredictable. but we figured that if the valuation at purchase was too high and didn’t rise, if at least we had growth the investment would still generate a positive return. quality came into the process mainly as the way to control risk and boost our odds of success. quality is related to growth in that a higher quality company is more likely to make high levels of returns on its capital investments, and to have more growth opportunities in which to invest the cash it generates. but quality is also about financial strength and avoiding the risk of having to rely on a balance sheet that can’t withstand the vagaries of the economy, product cycles, or waves of competitive pressure. finally, it’s about the ability of management to see opportunities and threats, and to deliver to shareholders the expected returns on growth opportunities. ideally, a company will exhibit a track record of such patterns and behaviors that extends across successive management teams evidence of an enduring company culture that is hard to measure objectively but can lend some degree of confidence to our forecasts amid all the uncertainty. a high quality company, in other words, is one which will tend to give us pleasant surprises. while we realized we would nearly always be wrong, outcomes can be better than forecast as well as worse. by focusing on high quality companies, we believed we could skew the distribution of our surprises in the positive, not negative, direction. what did you think of this piece? you can withdraw your consent at any time. contact us. “out of our minds” presents the individual viewpoints of members of harding loevner on a range of investment topics. for more detailed information regarding particular investment strategies, please visit our website, www.hardingloevner.com. any views expressed by employees of harding loevner are solely their own. the information provided is as of the publication date and may be subject to change. harding loevner may currently hold or has previously held positions in the securities referenced, but there is no guarantee that harding loevner currently owns, or has ever owned, the securities mentioned herein. if harding loevner owns any of these securities, it may sell them at any time. any discussion of specific securities is not a recommendation to purchase or sell a particular security. non performance based criteria have been used to select the securities discussed. it should not be assumed that investment in the securities discussed has been or will be profitable. to request a complete list of holdings for the past year, please contact harding loevner. there is no guarantee that any investment strategy will meet its objective. past performance does not guarantee future results. © 2025 harding loevner © 2025 harding loevner lp. all rights reserved.
what to watch supported by documentary lens this new documentary unearths footage from a world cup event that even veteran players didn’t know about. it’s both exhilarating and infuriating. by alissa wilkinson “copa 71” begins with brandi chastain, the two time olympic gold medalist and legendary u.s. women’s soccer player, gawking at a screen. “this is unbelievable,” she says, looking at what the filmmaker has just handed her: footage of a stadium filled with people cheering at an old tournament. at first, she thinks it’s a men’s event. then, as the players file out, she realizes the athletes are women. “why didn’t i know about this?” chastain asks in consternation. “it makes me very happy, and quite infuriated.” that’s a neat encapsulation of the effects of watching “copa 71” (in theaters and on demand), directed by rachel ramsay and james erskine. the film tells the story of the all but forgotten 1971 women’s world cup, held in mexico city and guadalajara, which was recorded beautifully on film that went unseen for half a century. the tournament was actually the second such event organized by the federation of independent european female football; the first was held a year earlier, in italy. but those details matter less than the context. at the time, soccer (or football, as most of the film’s participants of course call it) was still considered a sport for men, and women who played it were subject to a rich variety of snide and suspicious comments. aside from the cultural pressures, fifa, the governing body for what was only men’s soccer at the time, was on a mission to block women from taking part in international football in any organized fashion. in the film’s view, fifa’s move was as much about retaining power as about the sport itself. all of this is laid out in “copa 71,” with the help of a few historians and a number of athletes who played in the international tournaments. their recollections, juxtaposed with images of a huge arena filled with cheering fans of all ages and genders, make this feel like a sports documentary from an alternate universe   especially because it would take 20 more years for fifa to finally authorize women’s soccer for international play. the 1970s tournaments took place in a time of increasing worldwide activism for women’s rights. while the tournaments were obviously part of that movement, the players didn’t see themselves necessarily as activists.