Issue# 35.02 June 24–30, 2020 Editor: Mandy Nolan Editorial/gigs: gigs@echo.net.au Copy deadline: 5pm each Friday Advertising: adcopy@echo.net.au P: 02 6684 1777 W: echo.net.au/entertainment
ENTERTAINMENT
STARS BY LILITH
Retrograde Neptune, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto – planets of imagination, communication, organisation, escalation and transformation – offer their specific energies to this week’s ongoing conundrums… ARIES: Patience and introspection may not be your forte, but this week highly recommends processing any unresolved or lingering issues before tearaway Mars, your primo planet, blazes into Aries after two years away on the astral circuit, to reboot your signature audacity and confidence for the rest of 2020.
LIBRA: This week’s tricky and unsettling transits could turn dialogues into diatribes, make people thin-skinned, over-emo and prone to fly off the handle unexpectedly. On the plus side, retrogrades can attract some beautiful reunions, so let charming, entertaining Venus smooth out moody moments and bring back that loving feeling.
TAURUS: Save time, energy and angst this week by limiting exposure to difficult, high maintenance types. Avoid divas, declare yourself a drama-free zone. Treat promises with a healthy skepticism. The saving grace, and it’s significant, is that Venus is on the move again – because she likes a good time, no matter what.
SCORPIO: With outer planetary heavyweights Jupiter and Pluto already restructuring your communication style, this week offers a review period (before Saturn and next week’s full moon eclipse) – to take inventory of how effectively you express yourself by watching other peoples’ reactions. Or, if you can handle it, asking trusted friends for feedback.
GEMINI: With current retrogrades inviting selfreflection and personal insights, Neptune’s five-month iso could pose questions like: Am I serving my life purpose? How to keep light and bright, despite the state of the nation and retrograde season? Communal Venus in your socialising sign provides this week’s much-needed fun factor. CANCER: This week’s astral forces support relationship renovations. Considering, for instance, how might personal partnerships be less stressful, more productive and loving? Social interactions more joyful? And in what practical ways could you change your work in the world to be of greater service to the planet in these times? LEO: As if Mercury retro wasn’t enough, now Neptune’s doing a reverse commute in the sign of over-blown emotions. Your ability to think things through and calculate consequences could be missing in action, but this week still sounds a wakeup call to a deep-diving, brutally honest audit of your life direction, living situation, partnerships and finances. VIRGO: Step back from the universal denial and uncertainty, look past this week’s surface turmoil to the nitty gritty of what’s going on. If something’s not working, forget blaming yourself or anything else. Results are always your most reliable guru, and turbulent times require radical solutions – is it time to try something different?
SAGITTARIUS: When the second of three Jupiter/ Pluto meetups during 2020 happens this week, don’t jump to conclusions with knee-jerk reactions during this pivotal period. Counter pessimism and depressive swoops with a gratitude discipline. Do as much as you can to give your world-weary heart a playful break from the doomosphere. CAPRICORN: This week sends you on a mission to ensure what you say, and what you do, are in alignment – in other words, that you’re walking your talk. Expansive Jupiter and potent Pluto, aligned in your sign, mean the force is with you for revision, rejigging, and making any necessary course corrections. AQUARIUS: Neptune retro in your finance sector suggests being very careful with your money, honey. As in, avoiding questionable investments, checking receipts, charges and statements. Remembering Mercury retro’s crossed wires can lead to unwise buys, post-purchase dissonance and costly mistakes. Ditto multitasking, which could also cause expensive errors. Slow down and enjoy your week. PISCES: Your planetary ruler Neptune retrograde in Pisces till late November gives you ample time to reconcile the idealistic with what’s realistic in day to day movement. To really understand the difference between intuition and wishful thinking – if something doesn’t work, to find out why, take it back to the drawing board.
18 The Byron Shire Echo `Ɩŕĕ ǩǫǽ ǩǧǩǧ
ABOVE: Still from How to Be A Good Wife – one of the films screening at The Palace Cinemas in Byron as part of the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, 14 July–4 August. RIGHT: Half Caste, Noun Offensive – one of the works on show at Ninbella Art Gallery in Bangalow from Friday.
FRENCH COME BACK! So many wonderful things got cancelled during the COVID-19 health crisis – and bit-by-bit things are starting to come back from the online world. The Alliance Française French Film Festival will be resuming its 31st season on Bastille Day; from 14 July to 4 August, at Palace Cinemas Byron Bay. This beloved cultural event has confirmed a standout selection of 28 features from the original March line-up. Two outstanding films, which embody the spirit of optimism and reinvention, have been selected to bookend the July re-launch. For this incarnation of the Festival, first night audiences will be treated to the much fêted La Belle Époque, starring acting-great, Daniel Auteuil as Victor, a disillusioned man who is given the opportunity to recreate the great love-affair of his youth, in the hope that it can restore his future. The Bare Necessity (Perdrix), a whimsical tale of a family forced to re-evaluate their stagnant ways and finally live life to the fullest, will bid adieu to the 2020 season. All films screening at The Palace Cinema in Byron will be in adherence with government social distancing protocols. To find out more about screenings go to palacecinemas.com.au/cinemas/palace-byron-bay.
CASTE COLLECTION The Caste Collection is a series of works that take aim at the vitriolic treatments of Aboriginal people of mixed heritage in an effort to diminish their persuasiveness in debate about racial issues in Australia. Each canvas is brutally divided into fractions, or portions of white(ness) and black(ness). 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/8 and so on. Kate Konstantine, the exhibiting artist says ‘This is my personal response, as an Aboriginal woman, a Koori, a proud Gadigal mother and advocate for constitutional change. It is meant to reflect the stupidity, bigotry and racism that tries to diminish Aboriginal culture in Australia by this notion of diluting the amount of black or ‘Blackness’ in we humans. The collection is hugely inspired by Andrew Bolt and his insatiable need to try and call out Bruce Pascoe (amongst many others), a widely successful black Australian of scholarly merit and award, as less than Aboriginal because of his “diluted” heritage. Unfortunately for Bolt, and people of his ilk, the attention brought about by the discussion only reinforces the resolve of those in question, and their Aboriginal brothers and sisters. No dilution of ‘Blackness’ is possible.’ There are fourteen works on show in this very important and timely exhibition. Ninbella Gallery in Bangalow, from Friday 26 June, and running until Thursday 23 July.
How good are walls? The Berlin wall,
Trump's Mexico wall, China's great Firewall, News Corp's paywall...
...seems like we need more bridges
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