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Write true. Write on … On a freezing day in Sydney, you can see your emotion from … the land of Forever. Our Homesickness! that long
exposed weariness! It's all the same to me now where I am altogether lonely
Somehow we are not allowed to enter the same cold river twice, and perhaps we can never quite go home. If you insist, all kind of treachery may await you. Yes, we all know that and most of us know better than to try reclaiming what seems lost forever. What has set Australia apart from the rest of the world, what once made it the stuff of fairy-tales for many prospective migrants, is growing harder and harder to find and to hang on to …This makes me feel unaccountably shy, but I've, errr, been lucky to get the Media Dragon millions of click-through traffic thanks to Six Degree of separation inside the solstice ;-) National Necessities: Death and Taxes and Trouble of Cold River

Deron Doulas gives independent publishers a voice and support in an industry dominated by large publishers. He is the right person for the time in creating a global literary vision. Deron Douglas, of DDP Publishing

In Sydney artistic talent emerges in all kinds of places Czech out cellists curated by Nadya Neklioudova who is based at Darling Harbour in Sydney Galleries: Vencent Ko artwork

Rhythm, half-rhyme, cadence, stirring imagery, metaphor Torn between two lovers, in life and art: MD can never have enough creative friends. Can We?
Sydney writes itself off

Cowering in our McMansions, huddled around our fridge magnets
Today, we don't need sticks and shadows. Instead, we have watches 'First we rode on the sheep's back, then we 'industrialised', then we diversified into services (which seemed smart at the time). But does the phrase 'The world's quarry' ring a bell?'

• Slavic Bells; [ The Great American Pitchfest is like speed dating for the Hollywood business crowd. It’s where writers with ideas meet people with resources and an impressive number of love affairs have blossomed. “For many writers, gaining access to industry insiders is very difficult, even if they live right in Los Angeles,” explains Bob Schultz, a Pitchfest organizer. “As the only pitching event created by screenwriters for screenwriters, we take tremendous pride in opening those doors for aspiring writers.” Film Fuss: You have a lot of work ahead of you; Inspirational Owners: June 2007]
• · The San Diego Union Tribune will be the latest newspaper to "adjust the way we're presenting book coverage," according to senior editor, special sections Chris Lavin. Those changes "will both improve and broaden our coverage of books," Lavin insists, though agent Sandy Dijkstra has circulated an e-mail warning that the paper is turning its Sunday book review section into two pages within the entertainment section after June 24 ad will cut reviews by half. Lavin says that information "is not complete or accurate" and indicates the changes will be announced to readers within the paper Another book review section to fold?; MySpace, Sony To Launch Classic TV
• · Adventures in old-time bookselling - If I can prove to a publisher that a 1,000-square-foot bookstore in a suburb of Boston can presell an entire print run before it's released, then maybe American publishers will take a second look Store Pre-Sells Local Author's Novel ; Legendary Writer Retires: Dillard’s Done; How to kill a book, in 3 easy steps
• · · Last week a new book was published about Brian Clough called Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton…this book goes places no other sports book has ever been. It describes a huge personality, a man with god given gifts and a man flawed in every way… Remember Brian Clough; ACTOR and director Richard E.Grant is happy to enunciate what he believes others think of him. His memoir about the fraught production of his directing debut, the very autobiographical Wah-Wah, is not quite literature. Wah Wah
• · · · 77 William used to be nightclub I loved ... The Italians are passionate people. You can feel it in their stare, hear it in their voice and taste it. Founding a dynasty of restaurateurs is enough of a legacy in itself, but Mario Percuoco has a greater claim to fame: he was the man who transformed Sydney's attitude to antipasto. Corado and Salvadore might dispute that claim as it was their father who taught Mario how to make it at 77 William Street. Corado tells me that Leo Schofield , nephew of George Dorman, of SMH review fame made his father’s restaurant Arrivederci popular …. Mr Percuoco knew at least 500 permutations of antipasto, such as eggplant parmigiana, minted zucchini, roast capsicum with anchovies, onion frittata and octopus in lemon juice. In 1973, he introduced a giant antipasto table at Arrivederci in William Street, East Sydney, then at La Zagara in Norton Street, Leichhardt. Pioneer of Italian restaurants always upped the antipasto ; Grab an outdoor stool at Bar Luigi Coluzzi in Darlinghurst as it celebrates 1957-2007 golden anniversary My morning Coffee Buzz
• · · · · Evening Buzz on Library Thing; China buys Google ;-)
• · · · · · Body found at Darling Harbour ING of Mysterious Affair ; Crystallized experience John Prine WAR CHEST: Mountains of cash continue to roll in to managed funds

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Without truth ... Freedom dies! It drowns!

The past few days have seen the legal system serve up yet another vivid illustration of the depressing state of free speech in Australia. On Friday the former public servant Allan Kessing copped a nine-month suspended jail sentence for his crime of leaking reports to a newspaper about the chaotic state of security at Sydney Airport. Yesterday two journalists joined him in the ranks of the criminal class when Chief Judge Michael Rozenes, in Victoria's County Court, ordered convictions be recorded against Melbourne Herald Sun staffers Michael Harvey and Gerard McManus, and fined them $7000 each. They were convicted of contempt of court, but their crime was doing their jobs by telling the public what was really going on, rather than feeding them the spin-doctored version of events the Government had cooked up. Their story, published in the newspaper in 2004, embarrassed the Government, humiliated the then minister for veterans' affairs, Dana Vale, and provided another reason why the Australian media have formed a Right to Know coalition to lobby for changes to the law. If shield laws won't protect journalists such as Harvey and McManus from reporting public service leaks, you have to wonder what value they really have Truth comes at a high price Source:

Media Dragons V Spinners When the Press Fails…
Interview Week at Assignment Zero: Anna Haynes is Questioning SusanG of Daily Kos

PressThink's readers know more than one contributor does. So what follow-up questions do you have for SusanG? Here she speaks of "the fellowship that comes with collaboration in a country where many feel isolated and cut off from the truth. Impossible for any editor of a commercial newspaper to understand the difference between a profit system in collapse, driving the State and everybody in it to bankruptcy, and a system of production for use in process of growth, providing security and plenty for all. I used to say to our audiences: It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it!

• The Trolley Of Truth; [When thousands of us get together to investigate how the campaigns are operating in all of our communities, we can piece together a moving picture of American politics that’s more complete than anything the mainstream news has ever been able to consider. Sounds like the intellectual diversity of a typical newsroom already, doesn’t it? ; The Thinking Professor – Jay Rosen ]
• · Among the greatest challenges facing the American democracy is the struggle to recover the soul of the American press. Legions of critics and off-duty journalists are searching for answers to why it is so difficult to be independent and get stories straight. Why is it so hard to resist the ever-present spin of those in power? One reason I’m in hot water is because my colleagues and I at NOW didn’t play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if, instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news. Spinning the News; Vise D A The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media and Technology of Our Time Macmillan 2006 ISBN: 9780330440059 Price: $24.95 The Google search engine, with its ability to produce hundreds of speedy responses to searches on virtually everything and anything, has woven itself into the fabric of our everyday lives. The Google Story: Inside Media Dragon;
• · · I've found myself more and more wary of doing things that I'd like to do with Google applications simply out of some primal, lizard brain fear of giving too much control of my data to one source. It's not that I don't trust Google, it's not that I don't like the applications, it's that I'm worried they might fall to some ill use, out of the control of the current brand as I've come to understand it today. Big Brother Google: Battelle Fights The Power; R.R. Bowker Acquires Medialab Solutions, Developer of AquaBrowser Library creators of a library search and discovery platform called the AquaBrowser Library, which they say is used by more than 60 million public library patrons. Library Search Platform
• · · · Speaking of libraries, the LAT highlights the University of California Riverside's 110,000-volume Eaton collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror books --"the world's largest and a necessary trek for scholars. In a university not far away, sci-fi heaven; ADD-Asshole driven development … The madness of “methodologies” in IT …
• · · · · The popularity of radio has captured the attention of the online community. John Laws has confirmed his retirement from radio after more than 50 years in front of the microphone on air later this morning. Laws, known as the "Golden Tonsils" of Australian radio, has worked on air since the 1950s, and at one point was the most-listened to broadcaster in Australia. Golden Tonsils ; The First YouTube Election - Los Angeles Times It's easier than ever to spread political propaganda online, but it's also easier than ever to get caught.
• · · · · · Once upon a time, there was no such thing as YouTube--people didn't obsessively watch the net Colour plays an important part in product recognition by bloggers ; Much of next year's US election will be fought on the web. It's the YouTube election

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Our expectations of technology are borne out of Cold War spin.
The community-building projects of the digital world are celebrated for the abundance they make it possible to access and share; but what if the culture of a community only arises from jointly endured constraints?

Ivory Towers
T he internet disorganizes information for you, so you can organize it for yourself — alone or with friends. That is the distilled essence of David Weinberger’s theory about how we create meaning and understanding for ourselves in these times …

From the Journal of Public Deliberation, Alison Kadlec and Will Friedman (Public Agenda): Deliberative Democracy and the Problem of Power; David M. Ryfe (Nevada): Toward a Sociology of Deliberation; Peter Levine (Maryland) Rose Marie Nierras (Sussex): Activists’ Views of Deliberation; Renée A. Daugherty and Sue E. Williams (OSU): Applications of Public Deliberation: Themes Emerging from Twelve Personal Experiences Emanating from National Issues Forums Training

• Wisdom to Governance; [The network society may ultimately lead to information overload, triviality, and loneliness Lost in Space; It's better in the flesh]
• · Law enforcement cannot stop spam with periodic high-profile busts, or with sentences greater than those received by rapists or murderers. Unfortunately, there's no quick fix, and we should search for something other than these symbolic incarcerations. Free the Spam King!; Internet spammers are creative, but so are the people devoted to catching them Scamming the Spammers: ; New Skype package threatens telcos Skype offers cheap-as-chips local calls
• ·Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder. Weinberger was also a co-author of the notorious boom-era best seller, The Cluetrain Manifesto How the Internet Disorganizes Everything; Despite its robust appearance, more than 10 percent of the internet flickers out like a candle every day, according to researchers who unveiled on Wednesday an experimental tool that probes the network's dark places. Researchers Chart Internet's 'Black Holes'
• · · An employee who scrupulously followed the company's own ethics guidelines may find herself out of a job Wal-Mart's Latest Ethics Controversy
• · · · Webbys for lonelygirl15 YouTube Oscars of the Internet ;
• · · · · To speak behind others' back is a ventilation of the heart. The mythical bohemian, liberated both from the workaday world and bourgeois sexual hang-ups, is a seductive myth we have bought into as whole-heartedly as we have that of romantic love Single Life: I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness; It's time to talk about the birds and the bees. It Takes One To Tango

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And I would have to say that the indispensable Wood S Lot does a far better job of curating the internets than anyone one else I know of. Far better than moi! Media Dragon Bergin uses the opening pages of The Great Gatsby to illustrate another secret of a good presentation. 'Gatsby turned out all right in the end,' writes F. Scott Fitzgerald, answering the novel’s central question before we’ve even had a chance to ask it, and not diminishing our interest in the subject one jot. Bergin sometimes really hammers the point home. In his opening remarks, he’ll say: 'And if there’s one thing I want you to remember after you leave, it’s this ... ', a remark that other presenters usually leave to the end. In the May, 2007 Harper’s is an article by Gideon Lewis-Kraus entitled “A World in Three Aisles: Browsing the Post-Digital Library” on a couple of rogue librarians, Rick Prelinger and Megan Shaw Prelinger. They believe that “the conflict between a so-called digital culture and a so-called print culture is fake; they think we should stop celebrating or lamenting the discontinuous story of how the circuits will displace the shelves, and start telling a continuous story about how the two might fit together” (47).
I did like this part, too: There’s a tour of real librarians and one of them asks a dangerous question:
…Megan picked up a bound volume of Display World magazine and told the group … was a particular attraction for the artists and art classes who have come in search of visual materials. One librarian … didn’t quite get it. ‘Well, I can see how it would be interesting to artists,’ he asked, ‘but how do they find it?’”
Megan, whose overwhelming kindness occasionally reveals truculent edges, looked at him as thought his was the stupidest question ever asked at the library. ‘We show them,’ she said, and moved on.”
Hey, it’s her private library, she can be as much of a control freak as she wants. Because, really, isn’t the history of modern librarianship or whatever its called focused on access? Librarians are there to help you find stuff, but moreover, they’re there to teach you the tools to find stuff. The private Prelinger Library is a nice exercise in an inaccessible collection with Rick and Megan, who strike me as the kind of people I would run from at full speed, set up as givers of knowledge. How esoteric. How Gurdjieffian. How nice for them.

Apart, of course, from computers, comfy chairs, and good coffee. Why (and how) I blog
Internet archivist Rick Prelinger sez, "Harper's Magazine's Gideon Lewis-Kraus spent a lot of time with us and wrote a smart (and kind) piece about Prelinger Library and where he thinks it's pointing."
Rick Prelinger and Megan Shaw Prelinger, experimental amateur librarians...think the conflict between a so-called digital culture and a so-called print culture is fake; they think we should stop celebrating, or lamenting, the discontinuous story of how the circuits will displace the shelves, and start telling a continuous story about how the two might fit together.

Aren’t bloggers, for example and after all, little but pajama’d isolates?
The river of the world runs through the actual, by the academy, and even into the virtual. All are on the same bank. They are, in this sense, all one and the same.

• Library as Place-With-Books ; [This is a great piece -- and the Prelinger Archive is amazing. Harper's Magazine on the Prelinger Archive ; Telling tales at work, Janet Holmes, Management (New Zealand), May 2007, pp.36-38. The low down on gossip – though typically overlooked, marginalised and erased from the official record, tales told in the workplace can help build a productive workplace environment. Recent research shows that a story can serve a variety of work related purposes. Stories about domestic events and exciting escapades are often told and retold as part of ongoing social talk within an organisation; they become part of the shared repertoire of work teams. Rick]
• · ; Blogging and libraries
• · This goes with the territory Great Writers are better at saying what’s wrong with our own stories than at telling us how to make their stories right ; Rich Dad Poor Dad 7 Secrets For Making Your Book a New York Times Best Seller
• · · From online personals for 'friends with benefits' to illicit blogs and even an electronic 'poke' ... It started with a click; How did critics' scourge Andrew Frost become the new face of ABC arts? Bad-boy blogger now Aunty's favourite
• · · · It was a week we travelled to Czechoslovakia with Sasha and Bella. A months of floods on Morava River. While in US it must have been June 4 or 5, 1997, because Buckley's body had floated down the Wolf River in Tennessee for a week after he went for his last swim on the evening of May 29. That's one hell of a legacy; Stephen King continues to experiment with serialization, as Esquire announced that their July issue (on newsstands today) carries a 21,000-word novella, THE GINGERBREAD GIRL, in its entirety. New King Thriller to Appear in Esquire
• · · · · Google thrives in part because of its reputation for being the best source of information on the Web. But has it compiled too much information about its users? Stand on the shoulders of giants; Over My Dead Body Now You See it Now You Do Not
• · · · · · PUBLIC servants have suffered one of the highest rejection rates in this year's Queen's Birthday honours list, but there are more public servants among the new officers in the Order of Australia than any other occupation. Of the 22 public servants nominated, 14 missed out. Of the 33 people made officers in the Order of Australia (AO, the second-highest in rank) chosen from 30 occupational groups, seven are male public servants. Among public servants many are called, but few are chosen ; If you're like me (and if you are, you're indirectly funding the college education of the children of the manufacturers of many popular antidepressants), you're spending an awful lot of time shopping online these days. Bookstore Etiquette, "Not in My Write Mind"

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Birthdays are strange things, the more you have the more you try and pretend they don’t matter … and the more people try and tell you they are not so bad.
Adam and Eva Lindsay Gordon love this obelisk and so does my sweet and exotic Mal ;-)
Life is only froth and bubble
Two things stand like cemetery stone in Vrbov
Kindness in another’s trouble.
Courage in your own! I am the voice from the crazy Cold, Cold, River

The Net is Dead: Long Live the Content and Link Happy 5th Birthday to Media Dragon
The new love of Internet is not about my daughters, Alex (sasha) and Gabbie (bella), paying more attention to its origins but about making of 21st century myth. Their old school celebrates 100th anniversary in 2007. Five years of Media Dragon (MD born June 2002) is almost Centenary in the virtual world ;-) But Sister Verinica Powell does not see it that way …Holly Cross was founded in June 1907 the Sisters Dorothy and Sister Leonard first taught only 30 children. Then Myspace was just a figment of imagination as it was in 2002 but today my girls and their friends could not communicate without it!

Like Brendan Cowell I love cemeteries. I grew up on Vrbov cemetery. Graveyard is full of death tales – tragedies, drownings, floods murders, whole families entombed together. There might be stories of sadness but birds still sing in the trees … Cemetery prepares you for a marriage and divorce to Lauren Rossiter, twenty years at legislative corridors and whatever brings the taxing time at projects like tornado or stardowner …

• Kangaroo a.k.a. Klokan: The Kindness of Strangers; [Thanks to enemies and friends who czeched the Media Dragon over the years 33,000 in the last twelve months clustered in the virtual gossip; Happy Birthday Blog! ]

So allow me before I head for some leadership tips at the Hyde Park Room at the Shereton today to quote poet Ralph Waldo Emerson "To laugh often and much; to win respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

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It si Sydney Writers Festival and the site is down all the time the Italian Film Festival is here and the woman we had a first crush on is in Australia. Even our pries Anton Glatz was in love with Sofia Loren ...

One year and a day after Media Dragon was born another mate of ours started to blog. His publishing history in the samizdat sense goes deeper than ours Bloggers patching the universe as best we can - moving here and there ...