Chances are that you’ve heard of movies like The Ring and The Grudge, but have you seen their original Asian counterparts that are much scarier than the Hollywood adaptions? If you’re a fan of East Asian Cinema or Horror films in general, here are 5 Must Watch Japanese and Korean Horror Films that I guarantee will keep you up at night. Ringu (1998) Before the American remake Japanese filmmakers released the original Ringu in the late nineties, giving a rise in the popularity of Japanese Read More…

THE WRITER Haruki Murakami is a writer heavily influenced by the West. He grew up reading Western literature – Raymond Carver, Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, amongst others. The west shaped his musical inclinations, as he and his wife Yoko opened up the Jazz store Peter Cat in 1974, before closing it in 1981, presumably to focus full time on his writing career. Murakami is a divisive figure amongst the Japanese literary community. The Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe was dismissive Read More…

Believe in Bendigo community picnic. Friday October 2 The We Believe in Bendigo community picnic held at the Civic Gardens on the new Grand Final Eve public holiday was an excellent representation of our community with it’s ethos of ‘everybody is welcome here’ firmly on show as people from all walks of life gathered to have a chat, a bite to eat, listen to some great music and don some yellow. As far as the eye could see hundreds upon hundreds of people gathered Read More…

Peeling paint, broken windows and doors, and some odd noises during the night added to the ambiance of a creative writers retreat held at Beechworth Asylum Centre on the weekend of 24-26th April. The retreat run by Geoff Brown brought together writers and students of writing for two days of workshops, networking and socialising. Asylum Creative Retreats are run by Geoff Brown. http://asylumretreats.com The workshops covered Publishing in the New Millennium, Social Media and the Writer and Plot and Pacing. Read More…

Starring Jason Mitchell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Paul Giamatti, Corey Hawkins, Aldis Hodge, Neil Brown Jr. Rarely does a musician tell it like a rapper. The spoken-word gangster poet is the most honest teller of truth found in any medium, and none told the truth like NWA. N****z Wit Attitudes held the world to task for the unfair treatment of the average African-American person in places like Compton, but brutal honesty naturally clashes with brutal honest, and it was their inability to Read More…

Bendigo, Saturday August 8, 2015 Renew Newcastle was created when Arts writer Marcus Westbury, a native of the town, noticed the huge amount of derelict and decaying buildings in the CBD. After extensive negotiations with building owners the Renew Newcastle organisation set about matching local small traders and artists with the abundant real estate on offer. In a Bendigo Writers Festival program entitled Brave in the New World, Westbury, was interviewed by Rob Stephenson from La Trobe University Bendigo Campus. Read More…

Kuan Pung and his wife Kien arrived in Australia having survived the Killing Fields of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime. His daughter Alice Pung is a Melbourne lawyer and author of books such as Unpolished Gem, Growing Up Asian in Australia, Her Father’s Daughter and her latest release, Laurinda. She talked with Fiona Parker about her own experience of growing up in Melbourne.

BENDIGO, Saturday 8 August 2015 t twenty past nine I was sitting in the front row of the Bendigo Bank Theatre at the Capital, my note book and camera phone at the ready, waiting for the first session of the Bendigo Writers Festival 2015. The session, Together Apart, promised a discussion by one of my favourite writers, Graeme Simsion and his wife Anne Buist, talking about what it’s like having two writers under one roof. The stage had a rustic feel Read More…

YARRA VALLEY, Saturday 1 August 2015: “I call this the roller-coaster road” our cheerful bus-driving wine-tour guide told us as our ‘thirty-seater’ leapt into the air for the tenth time in half as many minutes.