Author: Natalie Salvo

Australians let us all rejoice for we are a nation full of self-deprecating individuals with a great wit and a keen sense of humour. Never has this been more apparent than in the book, The Wisdom of Oz. This should be required reading for every true blue Aussie (forget the citizenship test) because it’s chock…

Dame Judi Dench has played Queen Victoria before in Mrs Brown, which showed the grieving monarch’s relationship with John Brown. In Victoria & Abdul Dench reprises her previous role and plays the Queen when the latter is a tad older and wiser. It also focuses on the monarch’s unlikely friendship with an Indian servant. The…

A leading Australian bibliophile goes on a tour of thousands of libraries. The result isn’t a punchline but in fact a book called The Library by Stuart Kells. This volume is a fascinating text that draws together Kells’ scholarly essays on a range of different topics related to the storage of books, reading in general…

TEDx is a forum that is all about “Ideas worth spreading.” In 2017 TEDxYouth Sydney was launched as its own unique event and showcased the talents of many young people. We put together the top 14 things we learned at TEDxYouth Sydney: 1. Sixteen year old inventor Macinley Butson is an inspirational young woman. She…

In We Need To Talk About Kevin writer Lionel Shriver explored the idea of a mother grappling with her son’s heinous act. In The Dinner, four parents deal with the ramifications of a shocking crime perpetuated by their boys. They have to decide how far they will go in order to protect their teenage sons….

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. The events depicted in Ali’s Wedding, the new Australian film and Muslim rom-com are based on true events. Unfortunately. This comedy is a funny and vibrant look at life in Australia for a family of Middle Eastern immigrants and like Looking For Alibrandi, The Family Law and Acropolis…

In 2016, My Fair Lady celebrated its Diamond Jubilee with a series of stunning shows around Australia, including a run at the Sydney Opera House. An encore season at the Capitol Theatre with most of the same principal cast and crew returns in 2017 and it still dazzles like a rare diamond. It is a reminder…

Fiona Horne is a witch but she could also be considered an “onion.” In her memoir, The Naked Witch she strips away the layers and gives readers a raw and honest account of her life. This enables readers to delve deeper and deeper into different layers and just when you think you have her all…

From little things big things grow. Paul Kelly could have sung this about Australia’s very own, Dame Nellie Melba. This famous soprano grew up with rather modest beginnings before she forged her own fabulous career. She eventually took the world by storm and become a renowned opera diva. The Hayes Theatre are playing host to…

If Forrest Gump where a female, Canadian folk artist you would get Maudie. This film is a biopic about the late artist, Maud Lewis who was born a “little different” and whose story is one that is likely to charm some theatregoers. This movie is ultimately a rather romanticised view of her creative and impoverished…

Trigger Warning: this post describes sexual violence. Siren is a work of fiction. But it’s also a story that feels disturbingly real. This book is by a Melbourne writer and academic named Rachel Matthew. It’s a searing look at a crime involving an underage schoolgirl and the reverberations this act has on the victim and…

Hampstead is a film that is based on a true story. But you get the sense that it’s a glossy, feel-good version of reality. The film is a pleasant rom-com that is a nice way to wile away 102 minutes so long as you don’t expect any surprises or social realism. The film is directed…

Blur may have sung about “girls who are boys who like boys to be girls,” but it was writer, Virginia Woolf who got there first. Her short novel, Orlando is about a young, aristocratic man who wakes up one day and discovers he’s become a woman. It was a novel that was written by Woolf…

In the lead-up to Father’s Day journalist, copywriter and author, Claire Halliday follows up her previous book, Things My Mother Taught Me with one about the dads. Both books are collections of short interviews undertaken by Halliday with well-known Australian identities, where they describe the relationship they have with a parent. These range from warm…

Death is the great unknown. Yet it is something that we will all have to experience one day. Nina Riggs’ The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living & Dying contemplates some of these very things, as well as some other big existential questions. The book is an excellent meditation on life and death, and serves…

It’s fair to say that most people, at some point in their lives, will experience a dark period, a crisis or just an overwhelming desire to know more. The book, You’re Not Alone: A Practical Guide For The Awakening Soul by Rebecca Jackson is designed to help at these very points. There are some readers…

The Time Of Their Lives is a film about two unlikely friends getting a second chance at life. It’s one where you feel like if it had had its own second chance it could have been excellent, but instead will have to settle for being just good. This is ultimately a light, comedy caper and…

You may not be familiar with the name, Dr. Mahinder Watsa but to many people he could be “Dr Love.” This nonagenarian is a former gynaecologist turned sexologist and author of a daily column in the Mumbai Mirror. Ask The Sexpert is an intimate portrait of this charming, progressive and wise old man who will…

You get the feeling that the story of The Church has enough in it to fill up several movies. But the documentary, Something Quite Peculiar doesn’t try to be a definitive guide to the band. Instead, it lays its focus squarely on front man, Steve Kilbey and adapts his 2014 memoir of the same name….

Unrest is a documentary that was difficult to make and a challenging one to watch. The film is the debut feature by journalist, Jennifer Brea who chronicles her life with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or chronic fatigue syndrome. She also speaks to others that have this condition by conducting interviews from her bed via Skype. ME…

Atypical is a new Netflix series which has a charming lead character who is on the autistic spectrum. This family ‘dramedy’ is an engrossing one, which will teach viewers about some of the day-to-day realities for a teenager who has this mental syndrome. We put together the top five things we learned from this show….

In 2015 writer and academic, Mandy Len Catron went viral when an article she wrote was published in The New York Times. It was called, “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This” where she described her recent date with a new acquaintance. They had answered 36 questions together from a research study designed to…

Love At First Child (Ange et Gabrielle) is a film where a baby brings a man and woman together. And we’re not talking about its parents. This film is a light, French rom-com that is a little like eating a sweet soufflé, it’s fluffy and nice at the time but utterly forgettable shortly afterwards. The…

The Trip To Spain follows the same route at the previous instalments. Not literally. This time around Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon traverse Spain in a film that does not hold any real surprises but it does make for one funny and entertaining trip. This film is directed by Michael Winterbottom who also helmed the…

The Actors Benevolent Fund is a non-profit, charitable organisation who has been providing financial and practical assistance to professional performers since 1944. They support individuals who are unable to work due to illness, injury or disability. This charity recently held a fundraising night at Dendy Opera Quays where they screened a recording of the 2015…

Chris Gethard is an American comedian and talk show host. He has written jokes for an NFL player and completed a writing stint on Saturday Night Live. His HBO special, Career Suicide is presented by the one and only, Judd Apatow and it’s a funny and sobering look at depression, addiction and suicide. We put…

Historian Bettany Hughes is presenting a new series on Foxtel’s History channel called Genius of the Modern World. It’s a three-part series about Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. It also follows on from her previous television shows about the Ancient World where she covered Buddha, Confucius and Socrates. We have put together the…

A lot of us aspire to be well. It’s estimated that the wellness industry, which sells everything from day spas, retreats and yoga classes to supplements and detox diets is a multibillion dollar one that’s rising. Guardian journalist, Brigid Delaney is well-acquainted with this alternative church having been a devotee of various health and wellness…

Riding In Cars With Boys is a bittersweet drama/light comedy about one woman’s teenage pregnancy, married life to a drug addict and some other periods when things did not go according to her grand plan. It’s an adaptation of a memoir by Beverly D’Onofrio that was adapted for the screen by Morgan Ward. It’s also…

Placebo have always been a band that proudly sit outside of the mainstream. So it’s not a giant leap for this group of alternative musicians to want to seek out like-minded individuals when they are on tour. Placebo Alt.Russia is partially an arts and political documentary and part travelogue as the band traverse through different…