The Big Issue Australia #652 – Hello 2022!

Ed.

652

HELLO 2022!

DIVE INTO OUR SUMMER SPECIAL

26 DEC DD MMM 2021

xx.

THE BIG QUIZ CARRIE-ANNE MOSS NAT’S WHAT I RECKON

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Editor Amy Hetherington

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Contents

EDITION

652

12 The Big Quiz Fifty big questions from Big Issue back editions to make you lol, lmao, lmfao...

Grab some mates and test how well you’ve been paying attention!

30 FILM

Up to Her Old Matrix In time for The Matrix Resurrections, Carrie‑Anne Moss talks Trinity, the “metaverse” – and why you won’t find her on socials.

32 MR LORDI, OF FINNISH METAL OUTFIT LORDI, IN THE YEAR OF THE JAB

16.

21 Winners & Grinners of 2021

by Amy Hetherington

Look, this year didn’t exactly go as planned. And yet a few good things did happen – we swear! We dig deep to bring you 21 feelgood stories from 2021. Bring on 2022! cover illustration by Lynn Bremner @_lynnbremner contents photo by Jouni Porsanger/Lehtikuva/AAP

THE REGULARS

04 Ed’s Letter, Your Say 05 Meet Your Vendor 06 Streetsheet 08 Hearsay & 20 Questions 11 My Word

22 The Big Picture 44 Puzzles 26 Letter to My Younger Self 45 Crossword 28 Ricky 46 Click 29 Fiona 41 Public Service Announcement

CONTENT WARNING

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this magazine contains a reference to someone who has died (p32-33).

Big Arts We sort your summer with our arts editors’ top 10 picks of 2021. The best films, books, music and binges to help you unwind.

42 TASTES LIKE HOME

Wake and Don’t Bake Orange and Lemon Cheesecake “You can’t argue with how much it reminds you of a good time,” says Nat’s What I Reckon of his delish dessert. We reckon so, too!

Ed’s Letter

by Amy Hetherington Editor @amyhetherington

Better and Brighter

T

LETTER OF THE FORTNIGHT

his year has been, well, I’ll let you insert your own adjective here. Some may be unpublishable.

Understood. It’s been that kind of year.

For our organisation, for our people, 2021 was even tougher than the year that came before it. COVID meant that vendors missed months of sales, of income, of connection, of community.

They missed each other, they missed you. I know I certainly missed them, and our face-to-face catch-ups kerbside or over coffee at our launch breakfasts. And we miss those vendors and former staff members who died in this terrible year.

They are not forgotten.

The Big Issue means a lot to a lot of people. And as we celebrated our 25th birthday in June, between and through rolling lockdowns around the country, the importance and impact of our magazine was never more apparent.

You came out in droves to support vendors and the Women’s Subscription

Enterprise. You subscribed, signed up to our newsletter, bought mags and calendars, donated, and embraced our postcard campaign – sending in hundreds of messages of friendship and acknowledging people for their hard work. It meant a lot. You showed that you care. That to be part of The Big Issue is to be part of something truly special. That a simple connection can be life‑changing, as exemplified by Jade and Hilary’s story on p21 in this edition.

An edition that looks back on the best of 2021: the music, films, books and binges that will sustain you over summer.

Now, as we head into 2022, we remain steadfast. We know that you will continue to help us make a difference.

We’ll be launching new initiatives in the new year, and we’ll be calling on you, The Big Issue community, once again. And we know that you’ll be there, alongside us, providing a hand up, a smile, a kind word. And because of that, we know that 2022 is going to be that much better, brighter for us all.

04

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

The Big Issue Story The Big Issue is an independent, not-for-profit magazine sold on the streets around Australia. It was created as a social enterprise 25 years ago to provide both a voice and a work opportunity for people experiencing homelessness and disadvantage. Your purchase of this magazine has directly benefited the person who sold it to you. Big Issue vendors buy each copy for $4.50 and sell it to you for $9, keeping the profits. But The Big Issue is more than a magazine.

Your Say

Just want to say what a wonderful, engaging magazine you guys produce every fortnight! Have just purchased the Christmas edition (#650) in Adelaide – such a rich variety of quality articles and stories that touch your heart! Fantastic! Have a relaxing Christmas and keep up your tremendously important work!

GAY DAWSON ADELAIDE I SA

I loved reading Meet Your Vendor in Ed#644. John describing his mother’s homemade vanilla slices – it’s just like my mother. So many memories of Mum making dessert every night, except Sunday. Another time!

CHRISTOPHER RYAN WATSON I ACT

My next-door neighbour and I have had a pact for many years, since we retired. Whoever is first to meet up with a local Big Issue vendor buys two copies of the magazine, delivers it to the other and about a week later we chat about the content, the films, the books, the stories. Thanks to all involved for keeping us informed and up to date with so many local and global issues.

NEIL PURVIS PASCOE VALE I VIC

• Our Women’s Subscription Enterprise provides employment and training for women through the sale of magazine subscriptions as well as social procurement work.

• The Community Street Soccer Program promotes social inclusion and good health at weekly soccer games at 23 locations around the country.

• The Vendor Support Fund will offset the cost price of products for vendors, allowing them to earn a larger margin on their own street sales.

• The Big Issue Education workshops provide school, tertiary and corporate groups with insights into homelessness and disadvantage, and provide work opportunities for people experiencing marginalisation.

CHECK OUT ALL THE DETAILS AT THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

Gay wins a copy of Nat’s What I Reckon’s new cookbook Death to Jar Sauce. You can check out his scrumptious cheesecake recipe on p42.

We’d also love to hear your thoughts, feedback and suggestions: SUBMISSIONS@BIGISSUE.ORG.AU

YOUR SAY SUBMISSIONS MAY BE EDITED FOR CLARITY AND SPACE.

Meet Your Vendor I was born in Subiaco and spent my early years growing up in Perth.

When my dad got a job as a labourer we started to move around a lot.

I reckon I must have been to about a hundred different schools. Me and school were not the best fit and I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

I dropped out of school when I was 13 and went and worked on a market garden. I did that for six years; I really enjoyed the job and liked my workmates. My next job was bloody hard – I worked at an abattoir.

After a few years I decided to hit the road; I just stuck my thumb out and hitchhiked around the country.

After spending some time in Victoria, I moved around the east coast living a bit of a hippie life. For a while I lived in Kuranda in Queensland; they were good times. One day up in Cairns I was looking for work and ended up joining the sideshow, working the dodgem cars. I travelled with the show for almost 10 years.

Working with the carnival was a good lifestyle. I loved meeting all the people in different towns and seeing the country. When the carnival went to Camperdown, in Victoria, I met my wife. I decided it was time to stop moving around and we settled in Victoria. I stayed there for eight years, and we had two kids, a boy and a girl.

My mum became very ill and I decided it was time to come back to WA and spend some time with Mum and help take care of her.

I also have four sisters, but sadly three of them have passed away.

I always worked hard, and I’ve had a pretty adventurous life, but after I retired things got a bit tough. I ended up doing a lot of begging, but I was getting so much hassle that one day I said to myself there’s got to be something better than this.

I saw a vendor selling The Big Issue and went over and asked her “How do I get in on this?” And as they say, the rest is history. That was three years ago, and I still love being involved with The Big Issue.

Selling the magazine gets me out of the house, it offers me independence and freedom. The best thing about it is that I get to meet all sorts of people. People always stop and have a chat.

I love to listen to music from the 60s while I’m on my pitch, and that often catches people’s ear and gets them talking. I sell out the front of a store called Joynt Venture, and the staff always look out for me. They love music as much as I do.

In 2021, I was really looking forward to a visit from my ex-wife and daughter, but COVID put a stop to that. I’m hoping that everyone stays healthy, but I’m really looking forward to the borders opening up, and I don’t want any more lockdowns.

I’m 74 now and I’m looking forward to a few more good years selling The Big Issue. I just really like doing it.

SELLS THE BIG ISSUE AT NORTHBRIDGE, PERTH

PROUD UNIFORM PARTNER OF THE BIG ISSUE VENDORS.

05

26 DEC 2021

interview by Chad Hedley photo by Ross Swanborough

David

Streetsheet

Stories, poems and pictures by Big Issue vendors and friends

CANOEING, SIGHTSEEING AND LOTS AND LOTS OF STEPS – DAVID TAKES YOU ON A TOUR OF THE SOUTHWEST

My Four-Day Getaway

06

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

T

he Southwest is remarkably the best countryside in Western Australia. Why? Because the beaches are magnificent, the food and drink are world-class, and you’ll be surprisingly amazed at how green it is, with the tall karri trees and many orchards.

Let me begin! I booked four nights at the Donnelly Lakes Chalets approximately 40km outside of Pemberton, Nannup, Manjimup...so bang in the middle of nowhere. I stayed in a wooden chalet that was self-catering. Yes, I did cook – I even fired up the barbecue one night. The chalet was quite comfortable, and I slept well, but the property on a whole needs some maintenance.

Moving on…I did some canoeing on the lake which I did enjoy, and a bit of fishing (no, I didn’t catch anything this time).

What else did I do in the four days? Monday, I went for a big walk around the lake, got lost, ended up back on the main highway. I’d walked a fair few k’s and I was buggered, so I waved down a car and asked for a lift back down the road (she was the cleaner who works there). Later that day, I went to Manjimup to have lunch.

Tuesday: went to a national park where there was a waterfall with a swinging bridge. You can also see the Karri Valley Resort from this lookout.

Wednesday: went to Hamlin Bay that is approximately 30km from Augusta. It’s so beautiful: clear blue waters, glistening white sand, a few big rays along the foreshore. I checked out the sculpture park (that was a waste of time, there was nothing to see). Next stop, Jewel Cave. I did a mind‑blowing tour there; the tour guide was exceptionally brilliant. But be warned, there are many steep steps to climb. Afterwards, I headed to Augusta lighthouse. At the end of the lighthouse, you see where two oceans meet (I will let you guess which ones they are). There are more steps to climb – the lighthouse has 176 steps – and, boy, was I buggered at the end.

Thursday: back on the road to head home.

Quick note: the Southwest can be a bit cooler so make sure you take a jacket.

Western Australia has some amazing places, and it’s great to take the opportunity to explore and experience it.

DAVID L MYER BRIDGE I PERTH

Dream Job One of my biggest achievements is writing a book. It’s called Living Without a Disability. I love selling The Big Issue. The best part is meeting my customers and chatting with different people. I haven’t done any other sort of work, but I would say this is my “dream job”.

MICHAEL L THE BODY SHOP, ADELAIDE ARCADE, JAMES PLACE & HILTON I ADELAIDE

Mr Saturday 11am One of my favourite customers is Irwin. You could call him Mr Saturday 11am because he arrives at the exact time and day to buy every single edition of The Big Issue from me. He’s been doing this for three years now. His caring heart pours over other vendors as well, and he enquires about their wellbeing. And if I tell him I will have a holiday, he will buy the mag from another vendor, and come back to me again

after I come back to work. Good job Irwin, keep up the good work.

PAT HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE I PERTH

Card Relief Blue days followed card reader update, Error mysterious, cash my fate.

Teya the brave did pair the device, And now it is working, oh so nice!

Cards accepted. Mentally prepared.

Boss shows stripes, in tech flair.

ANDREW S I NEWCASTLE

Scuba Doo I used to work in a resort in the Whitsundays as a gardener and jack-of-all-trades about 35 years ago (a long time ago!). I became friends with one of the scuba instructors – that was how I was lucky enough to be able to do the three-day scuba course! The scuba diving lessons happened in a swimming pool. On the first day they taught us how to

breathe with the tanks. Then on the second day we had to swim around using a flotation device to practise.

I was able to stay under for a full two hours. On the third day we did the most fun part of the course: we had to sit on the bottom of the pool, then the instructors would throw coins into different parts of the pool, and we would have to swim around and collect all the coins (unfortunately we had to give the money back). It was something totally different. Learning to scuba dive was also scary, but when you got used to it, it was fun.

BRIAN PALACE NOVA CINEMAS, EAST END & GLENELG I ADELAIDE

Glenn’s funnies Knock knock Who’s there?

Ken Can who?

Ken I come in.

GLENN GPO QUEEN ST I BRISBANE

ALL VENDOR CONTRIBUTORS TO STREETSHEET ARE PAID FOR THEIR WORK.

That’s the Spirit!

For the last two-and-a-half years I have also been working at SecondBite. We rescue food and then give it to people who need it. Recently, I was nominated for a Community Spirit Award at the Belmont and Western Australia Small Business Awards.

While I didn’t win, I received a Certificate of Recognition alongside my colleagues at SecondBite! The awards evening was really nice and fun. I enjoyed dressing up, getting my hair cut and being out with my friends from work.

S

SPONSORED BY LORD MAYOR’S CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER MELBOURNE.

07

N TULATIO CONGRAROB!

26 DEC 2021

ROB CNR HAY & WILLIAM STS I PERTH

Hearsay

Andrew Weldon Cartoonist

Jonah is so comfortable with me, he’s been calling me a goat all week!

so I’d like to go and do other things.

Genuinely, I’m sort of…having a midlife crisis – at 25, I’m having like a pre-midlife crisis.”

Tom Holland considers life after Spider-Man, saying he might give up acting and return to his dancing roots – or web design.

SKY NEWS I UK

“Begging is one of my plans, which I have done, and it’s helped. If anybody’s got it, let them call me.”

Scott Goldshine, the general manager at Zabar’s cafe, on New York’s cream cheese shortage threatening to shut down the city’s famous bagel shops.

THE NEW YORK TIMES I US

Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep on thinking her Don’t Look Up co-star Jonah Hill was name-calling her an old goat, not realising he meant G.O.A.T or “greatest of all time”.

08

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

VULTURE I US

“I was by myself and all of a sudden grief knocked on my door, my grief that I thought I processed but I had not.”

70s supermodel Iman on losing husband David Bowie six years ago this January.

Patrick H Flynn, a farmer and town supervisor of Torrey, NY, on why the town approved plans to expand a cryptocurrency mining plant despite concerns about its environmental impact. Old MacDonald had a computer farm… E-I-E-I-O-1100100.

ELLE I UK

THE NEW YORK TIMES I US

“This is likely to be a combination of blood, metabolic by-products and bacteria on the surface of the skin.

For instance, there are certain species of mosquitoes that love the smell of the bacteria in stinky socks!”

CSIRO scientist Brendan Trewin on why mosquitoes find the smell of some skin more attractive than others. La Niña is expected to bring a surge of mosquitoes this summer.

“I always think that polio was a rehearsal for the rest of my life.

I’ve had to come back several times from things. And this last one was a real whopper. But, you know, I’m hobbling along but I’m doing alright!”

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell on surviving polio at nine, and a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her temporarily unable to walk or talk.

ABC I AU

THE GUARDIAN I UK

“Whether they’re making Bitcoin, it’s no different than raising cattle or pigs or chickens.”

“I don’t even know if I want to be an actor. I started acting when I was 11 and I haven’t done anything else,

“I have almost only found, besides a few hiccups, that I’ve been enjoying just having a little adulthood. Doing things for the first time like getting gas and doing laundry and calling your doctor on your own. Normal shit! Not necessarily fun, but it’s exciting, isn’t it, just being a human.”

Billie Eilish on adulting. Wait until she has to clean the oven.

THE GUARDIAN I UK

“Mr Big lived what many would call an extravagant lifestyle – including cocktails, cigars and big steaks – and was at serious risk as he had a previous cardiac event in Season 6.”

Dr Suzanne Steinbaum, cardiologist and spokesperson for Peloton, wants you to know that a stationary bike wasn’t responsible for a fictional character’s death. Peloton’s shares fell by 10 per cent in the wake of the Sex and the City reboot.

US WEEKLY I US

“It generally takes seven or eight years for someone to change their mind about a tattoo. There was a boom in tattoo applications seven years ago, so we’re about to see a peak in tattoo removals.”

20 Questions

by Rachael Wallace

01 What honour do the nations of

Tonga, Kiribati and Samoa hold?

02 What colour is the Trafalgar Square

property in Monopoly?

03 Which country is the largest

producer of carrots in the world?

04 How many Wimbledon singles titles

did Australian tennis great Ken Rosewall win?

05 What type of food is queso blanco?

06 What year was Yothu Yindi inducted

into the ARIA Hall of Fame?

07 In 2015, which Australian politician

said: “It’s time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States.”

08 Which famous actress was born

Lucille Fay LeSueur?

Overheard by Tuan in his Melbourne home.

THE AGE I AU

“It’s obvious that wealth doesn’t make a rich man richer: it just makes him busier. The more wealth you’ve got, the more problems you’ve got. Therefore, it’s no rest for the wicked.”

Director Ridley Scott (House of Gucci) on what he perceives as the downsides of power and money.

“Social scientists have shown that, when even knowing what is the truth and what is a lie, 75 per cent of people will consider the lie as truth as they like the lie better. This is happening already. We are at the very bottom of the manipulation of the human mind.”

Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Dmitry Muratov warns that we’re in the “middle of a post-truth period”.

09 In which US state is Mount

AL JAZEERA I CD

13 What colour Teletubby is Dipsy?

“You can say I carried on because I probably did.”

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc on taking a wicket with the first ball of the Ashes.

SEVEN I AU

“I think I have a screw loose where I am not able to go, ‘yikes, be careful’.”

Actor Nicole Kidman on having “teenage decision making” when it comes to the roles she chooses.

“There’s nothing better than, on a Monday morning, when you’re a bit bleary-eyed after the weekend and trying to get yourself back into the grind of the week, listening to AC/DC, ‘Thunderstruck’.”

Prince William reveals that a blast of Acca-dacca makes him feel like he “can take on anything and anyone”.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH I AU

VANITY FAIR I US

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD I AU

FREQUENTLY OVERHEAR TANTALISING TIDBITS? DON’T WASTE THEM ON YOUR FRIENDS SHARE THEM WITH THE WORLD AT SUBMISSIONS@BIGISSUE.ORG.AU

Rushmore?

10 Which author, who died in

December, wrote Interview With the Vampire?

11 How many children does James

Packer have?

12 What sport did controversial

Melbourne businessman Mick Gatto compete in during the 1980s and 1990s?

14 What is a young female pig who has

not given birth called?

15 Which two members of the Bali

Nine were executed in Indonesia in 2015?

16 How long was the longest noodle

in the world: a) 3.084km b) 1.222km c) 995m or d) 867m?

17 How many 750ml wine bottles does

a jeroboam hold?

18 Who were the four coaches in the

2021 season of The Voice?

19 True or false? The oldest Chinatown

in Australia is in Sydney.

20 Who were the two male stars of the

1981 film Gallipoli?

ANSWERS ON PAGE 44

26 DEC 2021

Maddy: “Dad, why is it called my-ninja-cockle (meningococcal)?

Do the ninjas turn into chickens?”

Mike Anderson of Think Again Laser Clinics in NSW, on the rise of tattoo removal.

One in five Aussies are inked – and 31 per cent of them regret it.

09

EAR2GROUND

My Word

by Linda Brucesmith @linda.brucesmith.brisbane

A Couple of Fish in the Sea Blue skies, shimmering water, waves lapping the sand: Linda Brucesmith and her sister spent their summers beyond the breakers.

W

e were fish. Two-legged, suntanned little fish who lived in our togs and watched summer’s skies for signs that the surf across the road, over the dunes and beyond the beach was perfect for swimming. When the sky was blue and the wind was somewhere else we were like horses before a storm: my sister and I running restlessly around the house until our mother got herself together. Ready to take us.

To the beach.

Back then, 55 years ago, the ocean was like a book.

Everything we needed to know about our swim was in the emerald green of the water beyond the break; the way the waves, delicate with foam, lapped the sand; and the way the sand at the bottom of shimmering saltwater pools was scalloped by the currents. We knew to look for the frothy trails the waves made when they washed together and swept out to sea, pulling the swimmers who couldn’t read the water out with them.

“There’s a rip, there,” one of us would say.

“Yep,” the other would nod.

Mostly, the Pacific Ocean was kind. It gave us waves smooth as rolling pins and we knew to turn our backs as they approached. How to throw ourselves at them. How to splash through, up and over. On the rare occasions we were caught out, when the top of an oncoming wave was higher than our heads and the curl looked set to fall on us, we knew to dive deep. To let it pass overhead. How to come up on the other side and congratulate ourselves on missing a dumping.

“Dumper!” we would shout when one threatened.

“Under!” we would say.

Sometimes, when we didn’t dive deep enough or soon enough, a dumper would pick us up and tumble us end-over-end, all arms and legs, as it rolled to the beach. I can still hear the thump and bubble of water over my head now. The sensation of sand grit in my hair – of sand pouched in my swimsuit – is something I’ll never forget.

Out past the break was the best place to be. In the watery silence we would look from the horizon to the distant beach with its occasional striped umbrella. We floated on our backs and looked to the sky. Once, we saw the fin of a dolphin. Swells rose and fell, separated us and it, blocking then revealing. We swam after it.

Desperate to make friends.

I don’t recall anyone teaching us to bodysurf.

Perhaps we just put two and two together. So you can lie flat on a blow-up surf mat and ride a wave? Let’s ditch that surf mat! Decision made, we pushed off from the sand as waves slapped our backs, stretched our arms out in front, put our faces into the water – made planks of our bodies and barrelled towards the beach. Realised we didn’t like the water-up-your-nose aspect of surfing face down. And so we pulled our arms and shoulders back, held our arms to our sides, our heads up, made surfboats of our bodies, and enjoyed the view as we bounced to shore.

There were days when the wind blew the wrong way and the waterline was dotted with bluebottles. Their tentacles, laced with stinging venom, trailed across the sand. On days like that we stayed out of the water and my sister expressed her disappointment by standing on tiptoe beside each beached bluebottle, hovering her heel above their air-filled bladders then bringing it down smartly. Popping them one by one.

She was never stung, though I was to discover that the touch of jellyfish tentacles on the skin of my calf felt like the scrape of barnacle-covered rocks. By the time I stepped from the water my reddening skin was covered with bright, white lesions. I wore the developing blisters like a badge of honour.

Years later, an English friend mentioned, in passing, that he couldn’t swim. It was a concept I couldn’t understand. I was just as perplexed to discover some people are frightened of water.

Who taught us to swim? No-one.

We just knew.

We were fish.

11

Linda Brucesmith is a writer and public relations consultant based in Brisbane, Queensland. Her short fiction has been published in Australia and the United Kingdom.

26 DEC 2021

A Couple of Fish in the Sea

illustrations by Lauren Rebbeck

12

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

The Big

z i u Q

Gee whiz, it’s time for the annual Big Issue Quiz.

As we say see ya later to 2021, we hit you with these brain-teasers. Questions are drawn from all 25 editions, unapologetically giving avid readers an advantage! So grab your mates and see how many answers you can get right.

a. Because she didn’t rate his voice b. Because she wouldn’t sign over the

publishing rights c. Because he wouldn’t share his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches d. Because he wouldn’t record it as a duet

02 What song do Mr Whippy icecream vans play in France?

a. b. c. d.

‘Greensleeves’ ‘Whip It’ ‘Frère Jacques’ ‘Ice Ice Baby’

03 In the face of the increasing

uncertainty brought on by the pandemic and climate change, what exactly are people taking up in droves?

a. b. c. d.

Cycling Witchcraft Soap carving Train surfing

04 Before she met and married

Paul McCartney, who was photographer Linda McCartney’s favourite Beatle?

a. b. c. d.

John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison VW

05 According to a survey, which music fans are happiest?

a. b. c. d.

Classical and emo fans Jazz and metal fans The Wiggles fans R&B and EDM fans

06 What do folks ride at Lake

Huron in Ontario, Canada, when the temperatures drop to minus 20°C?

a. b. c. d.

Miniature donkeys Surfboards Slippery dips The carousel

07 Back in the day, Guy Pearce

comprised 50 per cent of which iconic Aussie TV couple?

a. Dylan and Brenda b. Scott and Charlene

c. Shane and Angel d. Mike and Jane

08 Why does James Bond

demand his martini shaken not stirred?

a. b. c. d.

Bond is a fusspot He loved milkshakes as a kid Bond is never in a stir Shaking makes the cocktail colder

09 Which of these things is

NOT on writer Nakkiah Lui’s survival guide to the end of the world?

a. b. c. d.

Tinned water A motorcycle Spirulina Bubble wrap

c. The infinite universe d. Loofahs

15 When he was a baby, what was

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s nickname?

a. b. c. d.

16 Where was The Big Issue

launched, on 16 June 1996?

a. b. c. d.

a. b. c. d.

Tassie and Devil Hobart and Launnie Franklin and Stanley Jacqui and Lambie

11 The Gibb brothers were a

furniture king who became a household name in Melbourne during the 70s thanks to his signature TV ads?

a. b. c. d.

AC/DC Bee Gees Split Enz INXS

12 If actor Deborah Mailman ran into her younger self, where would she take her?

a. b. c. d.

The movies The hairdresser The principal’s office Bali

13 What did Nagoya mayor

Takashi Kawamura do when he saw the Olympic gold medal of a Japanese softballer?

a. b. c. d.

He congratulated her He got it framed He put it around his own neck He bit it

14 What did actor Jake

Gyllenhaal say baffled him?

a. Taylor Swift b. Scarves

Frank Sinatra The Franco Brothers Franco Cozzo Franco Pepe

18 Australian director Cate

Shortland recently released which Hollywood blockbuster movie?

member of which Australian supergroup?

a. b. c. d.

On the 96 tram On the steps of Flinders Street Station In the middle of the MCG At the State Library of Victoria

17 What is the name of the

10 Sydney vendor Marcus won a

competition to name two baby Tasmanian devils. What did he call them?

Pebbles Bamm-Bamm Dewey Mineral iron-ore

a. b. c. d.

No Time to Die Black Widow Dune Jungle Cruise

19 What is gardener

extraordinaire and ABC TV host Costa Georgiadis most precious about?

a. b. c. d.

His beard His chickens His grandad’s secateurs His cactus collection

20 When Bon Scott was on the road with AC/DC, he liked spending time doing what?

a. b. c. d.

Playing cards Writing letters to family and friends Shopping for skin-tight jeans Learning how to ballroom dance

21 According to Dr Karl

Kruszelnicki, what is the best way to lower your greenhouse emissions?

26 DEC 2020

Elvis Presley record her hit ‘I Will Always Love You’?

13

01 Why wouldn’t Dolly Parton let

a. Turn your home into a wildlife rescue

a. She was living off-grid, with no

centre b. Having one fewer child in the family c. Walk around in your bare feet d. Stop bathing and let the sun’s rays cleanse you of dirt

electricity for her amp b. She didn’t want to disturb her neighbours c. She had a long headache d. She wanted to record an album of lullabies

22 What does NFT stand for? a. b. c. d.

Non-Fungible Token No Farting Today No Flowery Twits Nice Fairy Tales

23 Claudia Karvan is best known for starring in which muchloved Australian TV series?

a. b. c. d.

Offspring McLeod’s Daughters Blue Heelers The Secret Life of Us

24 There are five “Blue Zones”

in the world: Sardinia in Italy, Loma Linda in the US, Okinawa in Japan, Ikaria Island in Greece and Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. What are they famous for?

a. Having the highest levels of rainfall in

the world b. Having the highest concentration of depression in the world c. Having the highest concentration of centenarians in the world d. Having the highest concentration of turquoise in the world

25 Why did Courtney Barnett

refrain from going full throttle on new album Things Take Time, Take Time?

26 Which humble spread has umami in spades?

a. b. c. d.

Peanut butter Vegemite Marmalade Honey

27 “I’m 70 years old and I’ve

brought all my life’s history to this record” was said by which musician of their March 2021 release?

a. b. c. d.

Suzi Quatro Patti Smith Joan Armatrading Joni Mitchell

28 What’s the name of the latest record by Amyl and the Sniffers?

a. b. c. d.

Cold Comfort Comfort to Me Sniff This The Smell of Success

30 Which royal wedding had the

first ever trifle on the menu?

a. b. c. d.

31 In Malaysian cooking asam is which ingredient?

a. b. c. d.

a. b. c. d.

Friends The Original Wiggles, club tour ABBA James Bond

Tamarind Lemongrass Shrimp paste Torch ginger

32 Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi

won which award at the Berlin International Film Festival?

a. b. c. d.

The Gold Logie The Silver Bear The Bronze Beaver The Golden Duck

33 Which famous drummer said he would love to play with ABBA?

a. b. c. d.

Keith Moon Dave Grohl Tommy Lee Lars Ulrich

34 What was busker Shep Huntly juggling on the cover of the very first edition of The Big Issue?

29 “We wanted to do it before

we were dead” is the reason given for the iconic 2021 return of:

Henry VIII and Elizabeth of York Queen Mary and Philip of Spain Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

a. b. c. d.

Knives Ice-cream cones Domestic duties Chainsaws

35 What are zombies afraid of? a. b. c. d.

Sunlight Fire Sinead O’Connor Losing their pants

36 Where was Olivia Newton-

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John born?

a. b. c. d.

Cambridge, United Kingdom Melbourne, Australia Santa Barbara, USA Brisbane, Australia

37 Which Broadway musical did Lin-Manuel Miranda star in?

a. b. c. d.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Jesus Christ Superstar Hamilton Human Centipede: The Musical

a. b. c. d.

Monday Friday Any day she wants She doesn’t strike anymore

39 What do dugongs use to breathe?

a. b. c. d.

Blowhole Butthole Nostrils Gills

c. A bird d. A round graphic chart

45 Filmmaker Todd Haynes made a biopic of the Carpenters in which all the actors were what?

a. b. c. d.

46 Comedian Judith Lucy advised Big Issue readers “for the love of God get yourself a decent” what?

40 Which Hollywood actor was

the star of Rosemary’s Baby and also stepmother to Nancy Sinatra?

a. b. c. d.

Joan Crawford Mia Farrow Sissy Spacek Ava Gardner

a. b. c. d.

Nevermind by Nirvana and Metallica’s black album all celebrated a milestone birthday this year. How old did they turn?

Leave him Go skydiving Learn Swahili Take up smoking and drinking and become a grey nomad

42 How has London’s Street Cat Bob has been memorialised?

a. b. c. d.

By a commemorative chocolate bar By a commemorative tin of cat food By a bronze statue By a commemorative coin

43 William Shatner, better known as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, spent five days being turned into what?

a. b. c. d.

A cyborg A hologram A stuntman A tree

44 “Murdering-pie” was originally a name for a what?

a. Christmas dessert b. Wedding cake

Answers

a. b. c. d.

18 21 30 40

48 Whose name is tattooed on

actor Orlando Bloom’s chest?

a. b. c. d.

Fiancée Katy Perry Ex-wife Miranda Kerr Legolas Mighty, his late dog

49 An Australorp is a type of what?

a. b. c. d.

Chicken Submarine torpedo Underwear Satellite

50 When Zoë Foster Blake’s

husband and son were “farting their butts off” what did it inspire her to do?

a. b. c. d.

Move interstate Write a bestselling kids book Launch a whoopie cushion range Stockpile toilet paper

1 B 2 C 3 A 4 A 5 B 6 B 7 D 8 D 9 D 10 C 11 B 12 B 13 D 14 D 15 C 16 B 17 C 18 B 19 C 20 B 21 B 22 A 23 D 24 C 25 B 26 B 27 A 28 B 29 C 30 B 31 A 32 B 33 B 34 A 35 B 36 A 37 C 38 B 39 C 40 B 41 D 42 C 43 B 44 C 45 A 46 C 47 C 48 D 49 A 50 B

a. b. c. d.

Hairdresser Personal computer Vibrator Coffee maker

47 Out of Time by REM,

41 Actress Frances McDormand

(Nomadland, Fargo) once told her husband that at age 65 she would what?

Barbie dolls Animated Computer generated Wooden

26 DEC 2020

activist Greta Thunberg go on strike?

15

38 On which day of the week does

21 2021

NNERS OF I R G & WINNERS

Bring on 2021, we said. It will be better, we said. Ha! But for reals, it wasn’t all bad. We give you 21 feelgood stories from 2021 – for a year that didn’t exactly live up to its potential, it did have a few redeeming moments, we swear.

Seriously though, bring on 2022.

by Amy Hetherington Editor

01 H OW TO B E K I N D In a win for kindness, Google searches this year show a world of people wanting to help one another. The annual Year in Search list saw an increase in phrases like “how to help a friend” and “volunteer opportunity”. And when Afghanistan and Haiti were in the throes of humanitarian crises, the world was googling how they could help. Search: “Way to go, humanity!”

02 GOOD REEF! What sound does a happy coral reef make? “Whooping, croaking and growling,” say scientists who’ve been eavesdropping on an Indonesian reef, damaged by decades of dynamite fishing, that is coming back to life. Meanwhile, in the Bahamas, Coral Vita is transplanting 24 types of land-grown coral into damaged reefs and accelerating growth rates of some corals by up to 50 times. And “coral IVF”, a process pioneered in Queensland, is hoping to restore parts of the Great Barrier Reef.

03 VA X A L L FO L KS !

There was another vax saving lives this year: the world’s first mass vaccination program against malaria was rolled out in October. It’s set to prevent millions of people catching the mosquito‑borne disease – and save thousands dying from it each year, mostly children under five in sub-Saharan Africa. Oh, and a new singleshot chlamydia vax is set to help save our koala population, after reversing the disease in six out of seven koalas in a clinical trial, and thus preventing infertility and even extinction.

04 F R E E G R A N D PA R E N TS There is nothing like being spoilt rotten by your grandparents – so much so, one small US town is using the promise of free grandparents to lure more workers.

Hoping to bolster their population of 12,000, officials in Greensburg, Indiana, are offering new residents $5000 cash, $2000 worth of vouchers, and surrogate grandparents who’ll babysit and act as stand‑ins at school Grandparents’ Day. “Our community is just really warm and welcoming to people and I just want people to come here and feel good about the choice that they made,” says Tami Wenning, already grandma to five new families in the area.

05 C H E E KY C H ATS It’s been said that long-term loneliness is as damaging to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. So, in the Netherlands, a supermarket chain is rolling out kletskassa or “chat checkouts” across 200 stores to help reduce loneliness, especially among elderly shoppers. While in Poland, gadulawka or “happy to chat benches”, which invite strangers to sit and talk, have launched in Kraków – you’ll also find the seats built for two in Wales, Canada, USA, Switzerland, Ukraine and here in Albany, WA.

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06 TO S S T H E B O S S Work-life balance became even more balanced in Portugal in November, with employers banned from contacting workers during “life” hours.

Businesses in Portugal now face fines if they text, call or email workers when they’re off the clock, to help regulate the new realities of WFH. The “right to disconnect” is also enjoyed by citizens of France, Spain, Belgium, Argentina, India, the Philippines and more. Felicidade!

11 M E AT L E S S M E AT

08 E L ECT R I C B O O G A LO O Hot, hot, hot! A Scottish nightclub is trialling tech with techno, using heat from dancers to generate renewable energy. Hot air from the dancefloor is captured, piped to boreholes where it is stored like a battery, and used later for heating, saving 70 tonnes of CO2 per year. While in Sierra Leone, 20-year-old Jeremiah Thoronka is also harnessing the power of kinetic energy – from traffic. The sustainable solution is bringing light to communities where just 26 per cent of the population have access to electricity. Lockdown in Australia saw a boom in solar panel installations, with one in four homes now fitted with the renewable resource.

PHOTOS BY GETTY, USC/IFAW

09 OFF THE PLANET Phew! In news from NASA, Earth is safe from Asteroid Apophis for at least another 100 years. After its discovery in 2004, it was thought Apophis might be on track to impact our planet in 2068, but in March astronomers reported the risk is “not in the realm of possibility anymore”.

Even so, in November, NASA channelled Bruce Willis in Armageddon, sending a refrigerator-sized rocket on a collision course with another asteroid (the size of the Great Pyramid) to test if it can be redirected, and prevent a would-be natural disaster.

10 G R E Y A N ATO M Y If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that hairdressers ought to be canonised. But amid the rush for cuts, trims, colours and shaves between lockdowns comes news that going grey isn’t necessarily permanent – and may actually be reversible. A Columbia University study found a link between stress and going grey. And who hasn’t been stressed this year? Time to take up meditation, or have a holiday – your hair will thank you for it.

What’s the second biggest contributor to climate change?

Cow farts. But, this year, sustainable ag is moo-ving ahead, potentially removing the need for the planet’s one billion cows. Not only are plant-based alternatives popping up at burger joints, but lab-grown meats are a WIP. Israel’s Aleph Farms cultivated their first slaughter-free rib-eye this year – in three to four weeks. While scientists in Japan have 3D printed wagyu beef, with marbling. And Israeli start-up Imagindairy has produced whey and casein, meaning you’ll soon be able to enjoy methane-free milk, cheese and ice-cream.

13 GETTING MUSHY The humble ’shroom has had quite the year. Researchers in Wollongong are “training” oyster mushrooms to digest cigarette butts – with 4.5 trillion butts tossed away every year – turning them into a reusable material that can be turned into products, such as boxes. Meanwhile, Dutch inventor Bob Hendrikx created a “living coffin” made of fungi, which will help dispatch the occupant quicker. And the first legal collection of native magic mushrooms is being studied in Brisbane to determine their psychoactive properties and therapeutic benefits when it comes to treating mental illness.

13 R E D L E T T E R DAY Eight-year-old Sianna lost her dad just after she was born.

This Father’s Day she penned him a letter: “I love you and miss you and I will see you again one day. I’m a good girl for Mum.” Addressed to “Dad, Heaven, Cloud Nine, PO Box 29”, it was discovered by a kind-hearted postie who’d recently lost his own dad. So, with the help of Facebook, he tracked down Sianna’s mum, who agreed her daughter would be thrilled if he sent her a note back. So he posted her a card that read: “Sianna, you truly are a very brave little girl and your dad would be so proud of you. Keep smiling and you’ll make the world a much better place.

From Simon, the postman.” Sianna was “all smiles and very happy and very grateful,” reports her teary mum.

14 W H AT R U B B I S H !

It’s waste not, want stop for Melbourne’s iconic trams, which may soon be picking up passengers from tram stops made from roadside rubbish. The stops, which are currently in the R&D phase, will be accessible for people with disabilities. While in March, South Australia became the first state to ban plastic straws, stirrers and cutlery.

The ACT followed in July, Queensland in September.

26 DEC 2020

Very good boy Bear (yes, he’s a dog) has been honoured at the international Animal Action Awards for his lifesaving exploits. Trained to sniff out koalas, the six-year-old rescue dog turned rescuer helped to relocate more than 100 koalas trapped during the 2019-20 bushfires.

“We’ll give Bear extra pats and extra play for his award,” said Dr Romane Cristescu of the University of the Sunshine Coast.

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07 KOA L A , B E A R

21

Twenty years after the Netherlands became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in April 2001, some 20,000 same-sex Dutch couples have wed, and the rights were extended to the nation’s monarch this year.

Around the world 31 nations have followed suit, with Switzerland and Chile passing marriage equality laws in 2021. “I think we should deepen the value of freedom, including the freedom to love and to form a family with a loved one,” said Chile’s conservative President Sebastián Piñera. “Also the value of the dignity of all relationships of love and affection between two people.”

16 D O I N G I T FO R T H E K I D S Spoonvilles, teddy bear walks and rainbow trails were so 2020, but the community spirit of bringing the neighbourhood alive for kids of all ages during lockdown endured during 2021. In Melbourne’s Thornbury, the residents of Rossmoyne Street continued their annual tradition of displaying handmade scarecrows in their yard – this year, it expanded far and wide, and included lookalikes of Costa Georgiadis and Gladys Berejiklian. While in St Kilda, a kindly soul in a cat costume created a scavenger hunt for local kids, posting laminated clues to electricity poles around the suburb. Garden gnome swaps, street libraries, nature-strip herb gardens and roadside foodbanks also flourished.

Pop on the kettle because a cuppa may be linked with lower risk of stroke and dementia, according to the largest study of its kind. In November, UK researchers reported that people who drank two to three cups of coffee or three to five cups of tea, or a combo of both, had the most benefit from a brew. While it appears trees also like a latte: in March, scientists discovered that the caffeine in coffee pulp – when laid over cleared land – help jolt a Costa Rican rainforest back to life four times faster.

18 H AV E YO U H E R D ?

Indigenous rangers in the NT are utilising space technology to protect sacred ceremonial sites, rock art and culturally significant wetlands from feral herds of cattle and buffalo, with more than 120,000 animals trampling the Top End. The new SpaceCows program – a joint project between Aboriginal land management groups, CSIRO, unis and tech companies – uses AI and satellite tracking to predict the movement of tagged animals, allowing rangers to intervene and determine the best time and place to ethically muster.

20 PAC K YO U R T R U N KS In a world first, a herd of 13 elephants born and raised in a British zoo took a plane trip to Kenya in July, where they were reintroduced to the wild, and monitored by vets. While in Gabon, an elephant census has found that 95,000 African elephants are roaming the nation’s forests, a much higher number than previous estimates, thanks to conservation efforts – but they remain critically endangered.

France meanwhile has opened its first retirement home for elephants, welcoming 52-year-old Gandhi as its first resident, with 100 more pachyderms expected to arrive due to a ban on using animals in circuses through most of Europe.

21 G O TO TOW N There’s something a little futuristic about the new village of Nacajuca, Mexico – the community has been built by a 3.3 metre tall 3D printer. Around 500 two-bedroom homes, with indoor plumbing, are being constructed, to offer better living conditions for families living in poverty. Controlled by a smartphone, the homes take less than 24 hours to make, and don’t require a construction team. Sturdy and strong and in a seismic zone, they even survived a 7.4 magnitude earthquake.

Next up in the world’s first 3D printed community: plans to print a library and a school.

26 DEC 2020

When a Queensland craft group discovered one of their own had undergone a double mastectomy, they decided to knit her “some knitted knockers”. It’s a “falsey you knit and then you fill it,” Sue explained to the ABC. This year, Charleville’s Sunday Sisters knocked-up their 500th bra inserts for the Mater Hospital in Brisbane – giving women who’ve battled breast cancer a “nice soft prosthesis” that is comfortable and lightweight in the Queensland heat, as well as a giggle.

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15 B R A-VO

17 A W H O L E L AT T E LOV E

19 I D O, I D O, I D O

A Big Friendship

I first met Jade several years ago. Jade has a regular spot selling the mag near my city high-rise office building, and I would occasionally buy the magazine. I was drawn to Jade as an unfailingly polite and gracious person, but also funny, loquacious and very smart. A bit of a raconteur with considered views on social inequality, government policy and the state of the world in general.

Jade speaks three languages and has an intellectual sophistication I didn’t expect. I’m a middle-class woman with a PhD and Jade confounded many of my ill‑informed assumptions about Big Issue vendors. Jade says it* is my “compassion project”, which I guess is sort of true on one level, but our relationship is based on mutual respect and understanding, not charity.

After a while I started seeking Jade out for a chat.

Jade offered me an oasis of sanity, an escape from the bourgeois inanities of the corporate world. I liked Jade and it made me laugh. I was hesitant about forcing myself upon Jade – maybe Jade just wanted to be left alone? – but not long before COVID struck I made Jade take my phone number in case it ever needed anything.

I didn’t know much about Jade’s circumstances, except that if it was selling The Big Issue, its life had probably not been that easy. Some weeks into the first lockdown, when I was working from home, Jade called me, anxious about the virus and missing working at The Big Issue. We began meeting regularly. Jade invited me to its bedsit and told me stories about its amazing life, which has been rich and varied but also traumatic and challenging. The bedsit was not a peaceful place for Jade to be itself. I own a small flat I bought a few years ago with an inheritance, and I suggested Jade move in when the tenant’s lease expired. Jade’s been there several months now, and seems to like the place. Even though I’m 15 years older than Jade, we share a sense of humour and a love of 80s music (Jade’s impressed by my misspent youth at the Crystal Ballroom in St Kilda). Jade has become one of my closest friends. Jade’s a darling – courageous, wise and talented, with heaps of integrity. Jade’s taught me a lot and I’m grateful to The Big Issue for bringing us together.

And Jade’s promised to give me Italian lessons.

On the surface, all we had in common was our love for great Aussie rock’n’roll from the late 70s and 80s, a shared appreciation for the Birthday Party, the Divinyls, and any decent band plying their trade back in the day on the live circuit. Our friendship has grown from strength to strength, and we’ve found other common interests and experiences that keep our caffeine or very mild alcohol-inspired conversations interesting. At first, I thought, Shit!

I must remind her of a dead friend or relative who OD’d after a Hunters & Collectors gig in the 80s, but after learning more about Hilary, I realised she’s just got a big heart, empathy in the soul, and lives in a balanced, sane headspace – she obviously doesn’t blacken herself by casting others in a shit light. If I had one word to sum her up, it would be diamond, or gem.

After knowing her a while, I began to open up about who I am, my traumatic experiences, basically the epigenetic traits that are now fully formed in my adult personality and behaviour.

Anyway, my future friend became a regular customer. She’d buy the magazine, and every now and again would fling me a pineapple, which would help enormously, especially in relation to my daily bread needs and forays into Footscray and/or Richmond. So this hello/thank you kind lady relationship went on till winter, when she rocks up with some warm winter undergarments for me. I mean, who does that shit?

My core body temperature was grateful indeed. One day she rocks up with a copy of Boy on Fire, the story of young Nick Cave. You can imagine how I felt: I got that gulp thing of sad joy or joyful sadness when one’s presented with a random act of kindness.

So, all of a sudden we have this new reality: a mysterious new disease, kinda like a cover band with a shit name. Hilary, my COVID benefactress and sincerest of friends, one day lets me know she has a flat in a nice leafy part of town, and offers to rent it to me. I upgrade my life to a warm secure place to live, a steady diet and for future reference some regular exercise. Thanks for providing the one-bedroom flat at half the market value. To draw a poz from a neg: a more sane environment to finally get my shit together. Sorry for chewing your ear off during Big Lockdown 2 but you said you enjoyed being my bubble buddy. THANK YOU, KIND LADY. * Jade prefers the pronouns it/its.

26 DEC 2021

Hilary’s Story

Jade’s Story

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From a casual chat about good old rock’n’roll to COVID-19 bubble buddies, Big Issue vendor Jade and customer Hilary are dear friends.

XXXX series by Gabriele Galimberti

From a rooftop garden in São Paulo to the ancient ruins of the Temple of Poseidon, Gabriele Galimberti photographs folk in their happy place.

by Alan Attwood

Alan Attwood is a former editor of The Big Issue.

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THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

The Big Picture The Big Picture

The Pursuit of Happiness

“At last I realised the ultimate happiness was to cherish what I have here and now,” says Sun in Shanghai, China.

T

he pursuit of happiness is enshrined as an “unalienable right” in the US Declaration of Independence. But we all find happiness in different ways. Janis Joplin’s personal creed was “get stoned, stay happy”; Beatle John Lennon wrote the song ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’, a slogan he stumbled upon in a gun magazine (“I thought, what a fantastic, insane thing to say”). To English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, “The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.”

Happiness is an emotion. Intangible. But that didn’t stop peripatetic Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti from creating a series that represents his own pursuit of “happy people and happy stories”. He explains: “Ever since I was little I’ve been curious about what makes people happy. I’m always asking people that. So a few years ago I decided to make it a project, re-enacting people’s stories of happiness.”

He regards himself as a visual storyteller: he wants people looking at his pictures to “understand something about the story of the subject”. It is an approach evident in all of his work, whether his subject is children and their toys, grandmothers and food or, more recently, The Ameriguns, an exploration of the US gun culture that won him first prize in the Portrait Story category at the 2021 World Press Photo competition.

Galimberti found his subjects for Happiness is... in over a dozen countries, and what is most striking is the different ways in which his subjects define or find happiness. As Sun, in Shanghai, puts it: “Depending on your time of life, happiness might mean very different things.” To Beatriz in Brazil it’s about nurturing a vegie garden on a rooftop in her apartment, handling soil and seeds in the middle of a big city. Another Beatriz, in Colombia, says: “A moment of happiness is a feeling of something incomparable; it is like tasting freedom.”

Buckley, in the US, was more philosophical: “Happiness for me has been found down diverted roads and in places that I least expected.” New York-based DJ and musician Jillionaire gets a buzz from his audiences: “As long as they’re happy, I’m happy.” Galimberti photographed Greek woman Danai at the ancient Temple of Poseidon, Sounion, famous – among other things – for having Lord Byron’s etched signature on one of its pillars. Danai says of her portrait: “The breeze is lifting the memories from the ancient times and mixing them with the present, becoming one to give me the strength to continue my journey.”

As for Galimberti himself, “I am extremely happy when I drive my motorbike and travel somewhere new.

I am also super happy when I invite friends home for dinner and I cook for them.”

FOR MORE, VISIT GABRIELEGALIMBERTI.COM.

“I use my herbs, several types of salad leaf, tomatoes and spinach to satisfy my hunger and make me feel happy!” says Beatriz on her rooftop in São Paulo, Brazil.

“My happiest revelation was in a cold darkroom, glowing eerily with red light,” reveals Gloria Lee in Praha, Czech Republic.

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New Yorker Jillionaire explains, “It is such a gratifying feeling to share in other people’s happiness, to know that you touched their lives and were able to make them smile, feel good, and have a great time – it’s indescribable.”

“I love the cello, and that love makes me happy,” says Beatriz Eugenia in Bogota, Colombia.

“I am waiting to see the ship with the white sails carrying Theseus. I am waiting for the happiness that will make me smile,” says Danai at the Temple XXXof Poseidon in Greece.

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“I will survive, I will move on, and goddammit I will be HAPPY!” says Buckley Barratt of American Fork, USA.

Letter to My Younger Self

Writing a Novel Is a Spiritual Endurance Bestselling author Tom Keneally talks the great mystery of love, Steven Spielberg, and the fact that everyone, yes everyone, is shitting themselves.

PHOTO BY

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THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

by Michael Epis Contributing Editor

TOM KENEALLY’S CORPORAL HITLER’S PISTOL AND A BLOODY GOOD RANT ARE OUT NOW.

26 DEC 2021

negotiated, so don’t be surprised when you discover this.

Don’t fall out of love when that happens.

A very important thing to know is that politics is a game of divide and rule. So, if ever you are in a situation where politicians say the problem is “those people”… beware! Politicians want to distract you from crises and give you an easy answer to what the problem is, so they pick on a group who looks different. Don’t ever fall for racial hysteria. Look at the group whom you are being provoked to mistrust and become their defender.

I think of Steven Spielberg, who made a movie of a book of mine [Schindler’s List in 1994]. He was a very likeable person... When he was making that movie he had [Holocaust] survivors on set. He kept on talking to them, he was learning all the time. And that is impressive.

One thing I learned from my parents is that you can be despised. People with Irish names who went to Mass were definitely despised – which kept us going to Mass. They were an enduring pair my parents, married at the height of the Depression and World War II intervened in their life. They had a strong sense that Australia was meant to be a lucky country, a place where there was equality of opportunity.

My mother had a big influence on me. She was a woman of the book. She believed that books were the answer to everything. “You’re bored?

You’ve got a book, haven’t you? You can’t be bored if you’ve got a book.” She never bought the conservative proposition that the poor should just bloody try harder.

They were tough, my parents. Writing a novel is a spiritual endurance. It was they who taught me endurance. My father was sent overseas and my mother raised us, my brother and me, for three years on her own as a young woman, in a city occupied by lustful Americans.

I like to think we’ve learned a bit about ourselves out of this COVID crisis, negative and positive. For the last 20 years, Australian governments have done their best to divide people, between lifters and leaners, between us and them, and so on. You wonder, when a crisis hits, have we lost all social cohesion? And I tell you what, we haven’t lost as much as America has.

There’s still a lot of social goodwill in Australia. But the economics of the period is totalitarian shit.

If there was one day I could go back to, it would be August 21, 1965, my wedding day. Because I didn’t know what was happening. I’d like to go back knowing what was happening. And have an even greater time. We’ve stuck together for nearly 60 years. Yes, marriage is a great mystery. And I would have liked to have known that it’s a great mystery.

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PORTRAIT PHOTO BY DAVID MARIUZ, INSET PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOM KENEALLY

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f I saw my 16-year-old self, I would see an innocent, innocent in all sorts of ways, a postcolonial boy in a suit. I wasn’t sure if Australians were supposed to have a cultural life or whether we should make do with sport. Our mythology was that there were things we were great at – we were the best in the world at soldiering, wool breeding and cricket, Don Bradman and all the rest of it. So the first thing I would like to tell myself is that Australians can do anything… We’re just as literary as anyone else, we can sing as well, we can make a film as well, we can undertake research – if we fund ourselves. So I like to say to every kid, like my 16-year-old self, “You’ve got a lot of promise – the whole pallet of human endeavour is available to you”. Because we didn’t quite believe that in those old days, in the 40s, 50s, 60s. We were a colonial people. That is the first thing I’d say: “No sense of inferiority kid. You are equally an inheritor of world culture, popular and elevated, of the dance, of the song, of storytelling, as any other kid is.” Just remember that Australia is an old country.

Yes, it might be a young settler society but Australia is the oldest country. Our human history is extremely ancient. We’re going to have to come to terms with both our ancient history and the fact that we are young – and far from the world.

When I was a kid, I thought you only got a trip overseas if you joined the armed forces and went to war. Otherwise, forget that, you’ll never see the pyramids, you’ll never seen the Louvre. So I would tell myself that we’ll become world travellers and you won’t necessarily die for the privilege of seeing the pyramids.

I would certainly tell myself that everyone’s as scared as you are, everyone is shitting themselves. Even the bullies are as scared, if not more scared, than you. The people who seem most certain are shitting themselves. Never forget that.

The world is not the structure that you think it is. And sometimes, what you think is a structure is in fact just a series of uncertain people trying to deny the truth.

Now Greta Thunberg worked that out before she was 16, but a lot of us never really find out.

I don’t know if I’d give myself any information about marriage yet, but there are important things TOP: THE one should be told about marriage and about sexual POST‑COLONIAL BOY IN A SUIT love. Botticelli’s painting of Venus shows her brought BOTTOM: TOM WITH STEVEN SPIELBERG out of the sea, sitting on a shell. She doesn’t have a strange father-in-law who hangs around the pub, she doesn’t have a history, she is generated out of our imaginations and presented like a thing of glory. When you fall in love, you look upon the beloved as unique – that’s part of the process. But remember, she’s just another human being. She is another human being who has to be

Ricky Remember: what you ignore can’t hurt you.

2022 Horror-Scope

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by Ricky French @frenchricky

he only horoscope you will need for 2022, with a money-back guarantee.

ARIES 2022 is making come‑hither eyes at you, and who can blame it? You’ve always been a looker, no matter what the mirror tries to tell you, and you’ve got the personality to light up any room. Make time to reconnect with old friends but write some conversation-starter cards first.

TAURUS Summer is just what you need.

You’ve been cooped up indoors so much lately; do you even remember what nature looks like? Take long walks, but don’t record your stats on Strava. Avoid Cairns and cut back on coffee.

GEMINI Morrissey wrote in his autobiography, “At last I am someone!” It’s time to ask yourself the deep questions. Who are you? Are you someone yet? You can’t be Morrissey so don’t even try, but there are plenty of somebodies still on the shelf. Pick wisely, or better still, create a new bespoke you.

CANCER You’re a survivor. You made it through Christmas without conceding a goal.

You found love in all the right places. You even found time for a bit of housework. Reward yourself with frivolous online shopping, and try not to think about interest rates.

Remember: what you ignore can’t hurt you.

LEO You spent much of 2021 despairing at humanity. The usual suspects let you down: politicians, sports stars, the media. But some of your friends also revealed their true colours in every shade of WTF. Herman Melville once wrote: “I and my chimney, two grey-haired old smokers, reside in the country.” He might be onto something.

VIRGO Your 2022 in hashtags. #vetbills #roadtrip #timetofindanewhairdresser #money #moneygone #whathappenedtosummer #overthispandemic #wheredotheyearsgo? #iusedtohavesuchnicehair #medievalweapons #iloveyou #instantturf #overseastrip #overseastripcancelled #bloodypandemic

LIBRA Write out a list of all your life’s regrets on scraps of paper. Light a fire in the backyard in a Bunnings firepit. Gather your friends and family round the fire and read aloud your regrets. Go round the circle and ask for feedback on where it all went wrong.

Cook sausages on the fire.

SCORPIO La Niña has really put a dampener on summer, but you’ve always got out of the kitchen at the first sign of heat.

Consider taking up climate activism, or Latin dancing. Good news: you’re off to Queenstown.

Bad news: it’s the one in Tasmania.

SAGITTARIUS You sometimes feel so old.

Are you changing or is the world rushing ahead and leaving you behind? You’re always right, but it never hurts to get a second opinion.

Learn new computer skills and find a trusted young person to guide you through the terrifying future, but please dress your age.

CAPRICORN 2021 was supposed to be an improvement on 2020 and look what happened. 2022 is already showing that it can’t be trusted. “Hope for the best but plan for the worst” has always served you well, but it might be time to put the optimism on hold.

With a bit of luck those plans will be thwarted.

AQUARIUS It’s important to know who you can trust this year. Beware of lying Virgos and don’t buy an investment property with a Leo. A persuasive Taurus will make you an offer you can’t refuse, even though you should, and a Scorpio loves you very much.

Wholesomeness is its own reward.

PISCES You’ve always been a dish best served cold, but this summer will warm you like a microwave. You have a good heart, so look after it. Old age gets bad press but don’t believe everything you read. Eat well and get an early night. You have a big year ahead.

Ricky is a writer, musician and all-seeing astrologer.

by Fiona Scott-Norman @fscottnorman

PHOTOS BY JAMES BRAUND

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’d like to begin the year on an optimistic note. January, after all, is traditionally about hopes, dreams and reinvention. Perky resolutions about 6am yoga classes and learning Mandarin. But of late my brain has rewired to view 31 December as less of an opportunity, more as an ambush.

“Happy New Y-aaaargh!” What’s it going to be, 2022? Fire, flood, pestilence? Coronavirus strains named after herbal teas because they’ve run out of Greek letters? I sleep with one ear cocked, like a Maremma sheepdog with a flock of chickens to protect.

Given I live in Melbourne, all bets are off.

There is nothing so outlandish it wouldn’t belong on my 2022 bingo card. Dan Andrews could be carried off by winged monkeys and I’d raise one eyebrow. In November Claire Woodley, singer and daughter of The Seekers’ Bruce Woodley, performed ‘I Am Australian’ at one of the frequent anti‑lockdown protests – all of which bear a startling resemblance to the cantina scene in Star Wars – and dedicated the song to the “brave victims of satanic ritual abuse”. Two years ago that would have been a cue for an intervention, now it’s a cheer and a singalong with a crowd that includes wellness influencers and actual Nazis.

It’s a level of surreal usually achieved only by first-year drama students. There was the tradies/anti-vaxx rally that culminated in a horde of (mostly) blokes wearing hi-vis cosplay singing Daryl Braithwaite’s ‘The Horses’ on top of the West Gate Bridge. And an anti‑pandemic legislation rally in November, where the heaving #killthebill crowd included a dude dressed as Moses; people waving Eureka flags, Australian flags and pro-Trump flags; UAP leader Craig Kelly denouncing Victoria as fascist; and a swathe of once regular Victorians radicalised and bathed in conspiracies via Facebook algorithms. At one point they were led through a choreographed routine to Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’.

Intriguingly, none of the #dictatordan crew have clocked that if Victoria were, you know, a dictatorship, they’d be in gulags rather than left to carry on like a Costco full of pork chops.

The common ground appears, mostly, to be rock anthems and a hankering to party on. It suggests that what the “my freedoms” crowd are gagging for, at heart, is a big night out at a pub with a beer garden and a half decent Cold Chisel cover band. And, you know what? Fair enough.

We were at home a lot. Maybe too much.

Might explain all that spare time peeps spent delving into the swamp section of the internet, and deciding that Bill Gates is microchipping people with 5G. Fun fact, according to an Essential Media poll, 12 per cent of Australians believe 5G towers were being used to spread coronavirus. TWELVE PER CENT. Meanwhile, in Canberra, and in the mainstream press, there’s been rumblings about “returning to normal”. Certain politicians have been jonesing for it since 10 minutes after the Ruby Princess docked. Media headlines ask when the housing market, the economy and “our lives” will be Back to Normal. I’m patently no economist, but come on Eileen, surely it’s obvious that “back to normal” is off the table?

A 2021 survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 16 per cent of Aussies believe that life will never return to normal. I’m wondering which magic wand the other 84 per cent are expecting to be waved. And what is “normal”? Sure, “yes please” to dinner parties and interstate travel. But “normal” also means entrenched poverty, generations locked out of housing, biodiversity in freefall, escalating extinctions, structural racism and unchecked climate change. “Business as usual” sucks.

So, I raise a toast to 2022. Welcome! And thank you, sincerely, for being an election year.

Fiona is a writer and comedian with a flock of chickens to protect.

26 DEC 2021

Happy New Weird

What’s it going to be, 2022?

Fire, flood, pestilence?

Coronavirus strains named after herbal teas because they’ve run out of Greek letters?

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Fiona

XXX Moss XXX Carrie-Anne Film

Up to Her Old Matrix Two decades after killing it as the kick-ass Trinity in the original Matrix, Carrie-Anne Moss is back.

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@eliza_ janssen

Eliza Janssen is assistant editor at Flicks.com, and shamefully likes to sneak hot food into the cinema.

PHOTOS BY GETTY, MURRAY CLOSE

by Eliza Janssen

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characters played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jessica Henwick. But she will say that, despite the sad absence of original Matrix alums Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving, she still felt totally at home in the physically and mentally demanding world of the film. “It took more time than when I was 30, for sure. But I love that whole process.”

By now an action movie veteran, Moss laughs when remembering her first brutal training sessions. “I was lucky because I got to fight action people, stunt people, which is what you do to make an actor look good. They know how to not hit a person. I didn’t have that skill set at the time; like once they call action, I’m giving it my all. So sometimes I’d be just covered in bruises.”

Worse than the bruises was the broken leg that forced Moss to sit out on filming The Matrix Reloaded for six weeks. Did that painful experience give her pause in returning for whatever Resurrections has in store?

“Oh no. Bring it on! I’m not afraid of injuring myself.

If that happens, it happens. I think about it every once in a while when I get out of bed and my knee hurts a little, but that didn’t affect my feelings.”

The fourth entry in the Matrix franchise arrives amid a cultural maelstrom of its own creation, with fans and critics still finding fresh meaning in the series’ complex symbolism – is it about religion, capitalism, free will? – including most notably, the franchise’s growing appreciation as an allegory of trans liberation, being born of the imaginations of two trans directors, an interpretation confirmed by Lilly Wachowski herself.

Although she claims fan interpretations don’t necessarily impact her own reading of Trinity, Moss is excitedly keeping an open mind.

Meanwhile, audiences all around the world are eagerly following her back down the rabbit hole, into the science-fiction “metaverse” of the Matrix, a world that doesn’t feel quite so fictional lately.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS IS IN CINEMAS NOW.

26 DEC 2021

Legendary Hong Kong martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping created an incredibly difficult move especially for the character of Trinity. It took Moss six months to perfect her signature Scorpion Kick, which is only seen once in The Matrix Reloaded – for two seconds.

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arrie-Anne Moss is not online. After appearing in three Matrix films and the upcoming sequel, The Matrix Resurrections, perhaps the actor is a bit more cautious than most about techno-dystopic social‑media algorithms.

“It’s not for me,” Moss says. “I’ve never been on Facebook, and people that know me really well know that they’re going to have to call me or text.”

In a career of thrilling, twisty roles (Memento, Disturbia) the actor is still best known as Trinity, the consciousness-hacking, motorbike-flipping heroine who first lures Neo (Keanu Reeves) out of his computer‑simulated reality in the Wachowskis’ now‑classic sci-fi.

Although she’s speaking to The Big Issue through an impersonal video screen, Moss is passionate about avoiding the tech takeover prophesied in her 1999 breakout film.

“I have a lot of different feelings about it, but I also have young children. There’s all these studies that prove [social media] causes depression and low self‑esteem, comparing themselves to this perfectly curated online experience. I thought, Why would I give that to my children? I don’t fully understand it, maybe it’s not my generation,” she says.

Looking back at her time filming the first Matrix, Moss has “nothing but the fondest memories. A big part of the amazing experience that I had shooting that movie was being in Sydney,” she enthuses, also singling out Byron Bay as one of her all-time favourite travel destinations.

“I’m Canadian, and there’s a very similar kind of, I don’t know, soul quality, between Australians and Canadians.”

Moss was on set every day, even when her character Trinity wasn’t required, purely because she “was just so interested in seeing everything”. She was nevertheless unprepared for how explosively popular and influential the project would be. “I knew we were making something special, I knew the story was so layered and deep, that the action was just off the charts. When I saw it the first time, still, it was quite a shock.”

Fans are ready for another shock to the system with Resurrections. Lana Wachowski’s game-changing fourth film – her sister Lilly is sitting out this latest iteration of the series – reunites Reeves and Moss two decades after their characters introduced terms like “red pill” and “a glitch in the matrix” into our common lexicon with a paranoid power all their own.

In the new movie’s trailer, the former lovers don’t recognise one another, seemingly meeting for the first time in a coffee shop where we later see Trinity scream and blur into layered repetitions of herself.

More so than other action franchises, the Matrix has the mind‑bending opportunity to reload and restart all over again in apparently alternate realities.

Moss can’t give away too much about Trinity’s metaphysical return, or how it might relate to new

2021 Top 10 Films of 2021 DUNE

IN CINEMAS

There’s a cursed tradition of filmmakers, most notably Alejandro Jodorowsky, who have tried and failed to bring Frank Herbert’s canonical sci-fi novel Dune to life. But happily, Denis Villeneuve’s long-anticipated adaptation is a success. The uncontainable, labyrinthine plot has been nimbly distilled to core themes, and the balletic pageantry of the action – which includes galactic warfare, ferocious desert monsters and supernatural battles of the mind – is giddily gripping. See it big and loud.

ANNETTE VOD

BENEDICTION COMING TO VOD

After last tackling Emily Dickinson in A Quiet Passion (2016), beloved British director Terence Davies continues his look at famed poets with this exquisitely put together, tragic biopic about the World War I soldier and queer poet Siegfried Sassoon (played by a brilliant Jack Lowden, then Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi in his twilight years). Bathed equally in ecstasy and agony, Benediction flies through the years, as Sassoon searches for a solace that remains forever out of reach.

A moody stand-up comic (Adam Driver), the angelic opera singer he loves (Marion Cotillard), and their miracle marionette puppet child – French filmmaker Leos Carax (Holy Motors, 2012) combines these three bizarre elements to deliver hands down 2021’s best, an off-the-planet, loop-the-loop adventure that moves between transcendent highs and the sleaziest gutter-lows – all in the form of an avant-dumb musical, created by the eternally iconoclastic band Sparks.

THE CARD COUNTER IN CINEMAS

Oscar Isaac delivers a career-high performance as an ex-soldier turned professional poker player in veteran writer-director Paul Schrader’s casino-set drama about card sharks and broken hearts, with a luminous Tiffany Haddish lending support. America’s recent military history haunts this timeless tale of revenge, forgiveness and the search for redemption, which circles the drab, anonymous circuits of the country’s casinos and hotels. It’s thrilling to see Schrader back in top form.

MARTIN EDEN STAN

CRY MACHO IN CINEMAS

Clint Eastwood plays himself in Cry Macho. While nowhere near the 91-year-old’s greatest efforts as a director or leading man, the film gently echoes, ripples back, and casts sly glances onto the past – packing a profoundly mournful wallop for those who’ve enjoyed the half-century he has lived on screen. Every shot of horses or desert vistas that populates this sweet, placid and deeply melancholic Mexican road trip is ghosted by Eastwood’s legend.

Italian director Pietro Marcello’s masterpiece – adapting Jack London’s famously semi-autobiographical 1909 novel, transplanted to Naples – is an emotionally heaving, visually sumptuous drama about class, politics, literary aspirations and the deliriums of first love. Luca Marinelli captivates with his full-bodied, visceral take on the titular antihero, while Marcello’s artful editing and collages, mixing archival material with dreamy 16mm footage, enacts a swirling, damning collision of Italy’s past, present and future.

Annabel Brady-Brown Film Editor

UNDINE

NETFLIX

CINEMAS

The intriguing directorial debut from British actress Rebecca Hall (The Night House, Godzilla vs Kong) is an elegant adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 novella, with Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson compelling as the two Black childhood friends who reunite (in Harlem, New York City) after one has spent a life passing as white. Shot in sensual black and white, the period film gives space to the actors’ delicate, phenomenal performances.

Love can destroy a person – especially when your lover is a mythical water nymph cursed to kill any man who dares break her heart. Franz Rogowski, one of my favourite young actors, plays the latest victim under her spell, while Paula Beer (Transit, Bad Banks) thrills as the murderous would-be mermaid, Undine. She doubles as a Berlin historian by day, wrapping director Christian Petzold’s love story inside mesmerising layers of historical amnesia, trauma and questions of fate.

VELVET UNDERGROUND APPLE+

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD CINEMAS

From Fleabag to the novels of Sally Rooney, unlikeable women seem to be all the rage. But Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s millennial rom-com offers the sharpest, warmest, most breathlessly imaginative and luminous take I’ve seen on the trope yet.

Winning Best Actress at Cannes for her magnetic performance, newcomer Renate Reinsve is Julie, the wayward 30-year-old in Oslo who can’t seem to work out just what she wants. The results are surprisingly rich, very funny and exhilaratingly fresh.

From their taboo-embracing lyrics to their audaciously multidisciplinary stage shows, the Velvet Underground famously broke all the rules. It’s a delight then to see Carol (2015) director Todd Haynes’ documentary about the iconic band defy many of the conventions that make music docos often so dull. Haynes artfully conjures the particular time and scene from which the band burst forth, resurrecting the Velvets for a new generation to discover.

HIS NAME IS GULPILIL

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few weeks ago, I was with friends at a packed-out session at IMAX, waiting for Dune to start, when I became aware suddenly of a pre-game frisson of excitement, which was running like an electric current through the aisles. It was a feeling I’d dearly missed through much of the past year.

As cinemas cyclically shuttered and re-opened thanks to lockdowns, I’m sure we all watched too many films on boxy screens at home. Of the films that I’ve highlighted here – 10 of my 2021 favourites that received a commercial release – several are still playing in the actual cinema. If you can, seek them out, I’d add an honourable mention to Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog – one of the many revisionist westerns to hit screens this year – which boasts sweeping Montana plains (by way of New Zealand’s Otago region), whose gut-churning power is all the more affecting on the silver screen. In terms of local releases, I’d tip my hat also to Molly Reynolds’s documentary My Name Is Gulpilil, about the legendary actor David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu, who passed last month.

After four years, this edition will be my last as film editor. It’s been a whirlwind journey and I am grateful to all the incredible people who appear in and behind The Big Issue, as well as our amazing vendors, and of course, loyal readers! Thank you for sharing this time with me, and may there be many more great movies in 2022. ABB

26 DEC 2020

PASSING

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PHOTOS BY CHIABELLA JAMES, FOCUS FEATURES, CLAIRE FOLGER, MOVIESTILLSDB, LISA LAW, ABCG FILM

@annnabelbb

Top 10 Binges of 2021 CITY OF GHOSTS NETFLIX

LOVE ON THE SPECTRUM NETFLIX

BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR

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Look, I had earmarked this spot for The White Lotus, but the siren song of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s powerful culottes was just too strong. Released straight to VOD mid-year, this rainbow popsicle of a film follows the titular Nebraskan BFFs to Florida, where their idyllic seaside holiday is jeopardised by an arch villain and her mosquito army.

A sweet treat for fans of pure friendship, summer trysts that don’t quit, and water spirits named Trish.

JEREMY STRONG IN SUCCESSION

SUCCESSION BINGE

The Roy family’s moreish exploits paid dividends for viewers again this year, as the morally bankrupt media dynasty found itself subject to an investigation by the Department of Justice. With its third season just wrapped, Succession remains a perfectly squeamish experiment in empathy. Its unscrupulous characters are objectively terrible people but, in the hands of this killer ensemble cast, they prove infinitely watchable.

FIREBITE AMC+

HACKS

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STAN

A budding comedy writer (Hannah Einbinder) and mainstay Vegas stand-up (Jean Smart) must set aside their differences and bridge a chasmic generation gap to save their ailing careers. Created by the folks behind Broad City, this brassy series about showbiz treads the boards of cynicism and sincerity with equal pressure. Honourable mention to Girls5Eva (Stan), which courts similar ideas about women who dare to age in the public eye.

There is so much to love about this bighearted, homegrown treasure, which follows neurodivergent young people as they navigate the rocky terrain of dating and relationships. Unlike a lot of factual fare, though, it prioritises empathy and respect for the real people it documents. Commissioned by the ABC, it’s now streaming on Netflix locally and overseas, where international audiences can also bathe in its wholesome glow.

JEAN’S GOT THE SMARTS

Malignant vampires stand in for British colonisers in Warwick Thornton’s (Sweet Country) deepest foray into genre storytelling to date. The action-horror series is packed with rad prosthetics, stunts and slayings, but it’s the subterranean commentary about white invasion and Indigenous sovereignty that turns up the heat.

Think: True Blood via Coober Pedy, with lashings of black humour and an eviscerating truth-to-power purpose.

PHOTO BY CATE CAMERON, MACALL POLAY, JAKE GILES NETTER, IAN ROUTLEDGE, GETTY, CRAIG BLANKENHORN, SHANE BROWN

Los Angeles’ cultural history is probed by prepubescent ghosthunters in this soft, gentle, reflective show. Ostensibly for children, its thoughtful meditation on storytelling, place and gentrification made this a fast favourite and early highlight for me when it appeared without fanfare in March. While it evaporated from watercooler talk far too quickly, Elizabeth Ito’s bite-size musings are soul food for all ages. It’s not too late to tuck in.

Aimee Knight Small Screens Editor @siraimeeknight

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on’t know about you, but this year, more than ever, I craved comedy. My nightly viewing schedule was packed with sitcoms old and new – old, that is, by the standards of most streaming platforms, which seem to deem any show produced pre‑1982 as beyond our interest, with a few notable exceptions.

Over dinner, I chugged through most of Cheers (though, admittedly, lost steam once the infuriatingly brilliant Shelley Long was gone) before pivoting to its spin-off, Frasier. I was pleased to see that both series have aged like fine-ish wines; Frasier’s portrayal of queerness, in particular, was pleasantly progressive for a mid-90s staple. Not surprising, since several key creatives were out and proud, but it’s still a relief not to endure

THE GOOD FIGHT PARAMOUNT+

the punch-down homophobia of Friends or Seinfeld when making new old-TV acquaintances.

One sitcom I’m desperate to see is Designing Women, and I’m shocked (or am I?) that none of the big streamers nabbed it amid this year’s Jean Smart Renaissance. Following her Emmynominated stint in Mare of Easttown – and her Emmy-winning performance in Hacks (more below) – the time seemed ripe to reflect on the role that launched her career. To date, no dice.

As much as I love keeping up to date with the latest shows, I do lament the lack of classic work available on demand (especially at this time of year, which gets me extra wistful). Maybe 2022 will see the streaming tides turn nostalgic, for auld lang syne. AK

2021 CHEERS TO TED DANSON

Two words describe this bonkers law procedural: criminally underseen.

Skewering the zeitgeist year upon year, The Good Fight provides reliably caustic satire around race, class and gender norms, broadening in its fifth season to COVID-19 and so-called “cancel culture”. Guest star Mandy Patinkin stole the show as “Judge” Hal Wackner, a self-appointed arbiter of justice, streaming live from his makeshift courtroom, Judicial Circuit 9¾.

ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING

TED LASSO APPLE TV+

Much has been said about the cowboy soccer coach and his ragtag team of emotionally articulate athletes. Most of it has been earnest praise, to which I add my voice in harmony, though some critics found frustration with the show’s melancholy, introspective second season. But I appreciated the attention to character development, particularly for those in supporting roles, and I’m eager to see how season 3 will unfold.

RESERVATION DOGS BINGE

Co-created by Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo, a member of the Seminole Nation, this coming-of-age dramedy centres on four Indigenous teens whose hearts are set on leaving their rural Oklahoman home town and heading to the promised land of California. If you dig Waititi’s Wellington Paranormal (SBS on Demand), this one’s tinged by a similar tone: the irreverent humour is deeply rooted in place and people, yet it’s also broadly accessible.

26 DEC 2020

Steve Martin and Martin Short in a murder mystery about true crime podcasts? This one sells itself. What’s more, it doesn’t just coast on star power or narrative novelty. Witty scripts and fitting performances – including that from former Disney ingenue Selena Gomez – make this a cosy delight. If that doesn’t tip the scales, there’s also a beautiful bulldog, Tina Fey doing her best Sarah Koenig (Serial) – and Sting.

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Top 10 Albums of 2021 LANA DEL REY BLUE BANISTERS

Her second album of the year (following March’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club), Blue Banisters is Lana Del Rey at her songwriting best, penning languorous ballads that probe America and its enduring, melodramatic images: wildfires, roses, bad girls, SUVs and Hollywood hotels. This time around, however, she’s also chronicling the strange stasis (and romance) of the pandemic. As the track ‘Black Bathing Suit’ opens: “Grenadine quarantine, I like you a lot/ It’s LA, ‘Hey’ on Zoom, Target parking lot/And if this is the end, I want a boyfriend.”

TYLER, THE CREATOR

CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

Call Me feels like a holiday, full of decadence, hedonism and summer flings. And if anyone could capture this glam, listless energy, it’s Tyler, the Creator, one of the US’s most inventive and surprising contemporary rappers.

In this latest mixtape he refuses to stick to a certain sound, mood or perspective, instead embracing conflicted personas that recount lascivious travel, reference Charles Baudelaire and in one 10-minute epic, chronicle tortured romance.

MARCUS WHALE

JAZMINE SULLIVAN HEAUX TALES

An incredible R&B record from one of the genre’s most underrated stars, Heaux Tales is a concept record that explores the murky morality and conflicted emotions of sexual relationships for women. The album includes six monologues about love and sex from Sullivan’s friends and family, which act as a springboard from her expansive songs. On Heaux Tales, nothing is clear cut, with pleasure coming at the cost of personal ethics and insecurity spawning from empowerment.

SARAH MARY CHADWICK ME AND ENNUI ARE FRIENDS, BABY

Across 12 songs, singular and ultra-prolific Melbourne musician Sarah Mary Chadwick dissects some of life’s most harrowing ordeals (death, suicide, sadness, grief and the shadow of a bad mother) with brutal and blunt honesty. With just piano and vocals, Chadwick creates a cloistered and emotional landscape, her vocals crackling and coarse, always on the edge of collapse. It’s not always an easy listen, but then again, what great, daring music is?

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THE HUNGER

Sydney artist Marcus Whale returned in 2021 with his best album yet, a concept album about a vampire’s servant desperate to be bitten and made undead by his master. Using this narrative, as well as the language and iconography of horror and religion, he explores the monstrous, transformative heights of desire. The sound is more sprawling than previous efforts, with Whale placing emphasis on his ethereal vocals to express the crushing experience of devotion and possession.

GENESIS OWUSU SMILING WITH NO TEETH

A wild and roving debut from one of Australia’s most singular talents, Smiling With No Teeth sees the 23-year-old Ghana-born, Canberra-raised artist cobble together Prince‑inspired pop, post-punk and melodic rap to create a searing chronicle of depression and racism. Chaotic and boundless in the best possible way – with outlandish style to boot – the album took out four ARIAs this November, including the prestigious album of the year gong, and rightfully so.

Isabella Trimboli Music Editor @itrimboli

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021 started off as a hopeful time for music. Live music was back, and Melbourne in particular was teeming with great gigs and club nights once more. Everyone seemed relieved and overjoyed to be partying among friends. But the pandemic quashed these celebrations, and we once again found ourselves suffering through months without music and gathering. Thankfully, those times seem to be behind us, and it’s heartening to see the music industry bounce back, even when government support has been lacklustre at best.

It’s unsurprising then that the pandemic’s second year resulted in a wealth of music trading in nostalgia.

Undoubtedly 2021’s biggest breakthrough pop act is Olivia Rodrigo, a former Disney star who makes angst-ridden, petulance

pop in the vein of Paramore. I understand why teenagers love her, but was caught off guard by the number of twenty- and thirty-somethings singing her praises. Yet it makes sense: in a year of uncertainty and gloom, millennials wanted to revert to teenagehood, where the only problems were break-ups and bullies.

Nostalgia has also resulted in a number of pop artists mining early 2000s easy-listening music for their own work.

The new record of Billie Eilish – another teen sensation – was filled with what can only be described as lounge and cafe music, whereas Lorde’s polarising Solar Power was all about going to the beach and dropping out, to the tune of George Michael and sunny ad jingles.

I hope in 2022 more music will be looking towards the future. IT

OLIVIA’S DOING GOOD

ICEAGE

The Danish band known for their gritty punk takes a Primal Scream pivot on Seek Shelter, their fifth album. With the help of the Lisboa Gospel Collective, the band have crafted rousing, romantic songs, which tackle the end times without sliding into platitudes. Frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, once ragged and antagonistic, is now wearied but hopeful, singing of religious benediction and life-affirming desire with newfound vocal range.

PHAROAH SANDERS/FLOATING POINTS/THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROMISES

Pharoah Sanders, the now 81-year-old jazz saxophonist, first rose to prominence as a member of John Coltrane’s band, influencing the star’s spiritual turn during the 60s. He went solo in the 70s, producing ecstatic compositions that still astound. Here he returns with British producer Floating Points and the London Symphony for celestial experimentations that feel like you’re ascending to the astral plane.

2021

A decade on, the Melbourne band have produced the best album of their career, a reflective and wry record about reconciling with the future, and confronting the ghosts of your past. Some of the many topics covered – climate fear, relationship breakdown and twenty-something disappointments – could feel rote or cheesy, but the lyrics are too cutting, too clever, to be cliché. The jocular but sincere closing track ‘Country’ is one of my favourite songs of the year.

CARNAGE

After a series of profound and expansive Bad Seeds albums (Ghosteen, 2019, Skeleton Tree, 2016), Cave and Ellis return with a spare but more harsh sound on Carnage. While Cave’s lyrics have always been shaped by religion and folklore, here he doubles down, spinning imagery and narratives that inch towards the surreal. Grief remains dominant, but fury and aggression bubble close to the surface. The music follows suit, with synths and strings that feel foreboding and menacing.

26 DEC 2020

GOOD MORNING BARNYARD

NICK CAVE AND WARREN ELLIS

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PHOTOS BY LUIS PEREZ, GETTY, BEC PARSONS, MISHAEL PHILLIP, NICK MCKK, JOEL RYAN

SEEK SHELTER

Top 10 Books of 2021 NATASHA BROWN ASSEMBLY

In Natasha Brown’s scorching novella, a Black British woman does all the “right” things – goes to a prestigious university, gets a job, a flat, some art. She’s the face of corporate diversity in her Bluetooth headset and ergonomic office chair, giving presentations and making her male colleagues coffee. As she prepares to attend a party at her oldmonied white boyfriend’s fancy countryside estate, the prose pulses with dread. Our protagonist has cancer. Will she treat it?

OMAR MUSA KILLERNOVA

Hip-hop artist, champion slam poet, Miles Franklin-longlisted novelist, TedX presenter and all-round Queanbeyan overachiever, Omar Musa has released his finest work yet.

Killernova is inspired by his time in Borneo, where he reconnected with his heritage and studied traditional woodcut techniques.

The book’s an open-hearted hybrid work of poetry, memoir and these woodcuts, which poses urgent questions about identity, the environment, colonialism and life in an alien world. Propulsive, energising and beautiful to behold.

20 DIANA REID

TONY BIRCH

LOVE & VIRTUE

DARK AS LAST NIGHT

This Australian campus novel is riveting, electric and haunted by the ghost of Helen Garner’s The First Stone (1995). It centres the competitive friendship between Michaela and Eve – two young women in their first year of uni – to interrogate modern notions of class, consent, power and identity. Diana Reid is a philosophy graduate, and this smashable novel isn’t afraid to ask big ugly questions – and make you sit with them.

Sixteen humane and sharply observed vignettes chronicling pivotal moments and everyday intimacies – a trip to the blood bank, a train ride from Penrith station – from one of this country’s best writers. The thought of reading about the present day knocks the wind out of me, but in Tony Birch’s cheeky, nuanced rendering, life is irrepressible – there’s hope. I’m still cheering for these characters.

ANWEN CRAWFORD

ANDY JACKSON

NO DOCUMENT

HUMAN LOOKING

Anwen Crawford is best known for her music criticism, but this book is something else – a surprising and tender new form that melds poetry, memoir and visual elements to tell the story of a creative friendship cut short way too soon. Fragmentary and beguiling, lilting with grief, it’s an ode to the people, relationships, art and ideas that shape and sustain us. Huge in scope but intimately told, read this one slowly, with a friend.

“There are two ways of saying ‘human looking’; one with a hyphen, the other with a comma,” says Andy Jackson on the title of his fifth collection: “these poems are about how we judge others to be human yet not-quite-human”. The awardwinning Australian poet draws from lived experience, history, mythology, the art world and the everyday to centre – with lyricism and clarity, defiance and elegance – disabled bodies.

JOSEPH PONTHUS

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THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

ON THE LINE

The next time someone suggests you read Charles Bukowski, slap them in the face with On the Line – the bestselling French verse memoir of life as a temp worker in the abattoirs, factories and fish processing plants of Brittany, told by a poet and social worker who can’t find work in his field. Translated by Stephanie Smee, Joseph Ponthus captures the rhythm and cadence of manual labour – the mundanity, the weariness and the heavy grunt of life on the margins – and the human spirit that makes it bearable. This was my favourite book of 2021.

021

Melissa Fulton Deputy Editor @melissajfulton

PATRICIA LOCKWOOD NO - ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS

A GOOD EGG: NIKKI GIOVANNI

ZARAH BUTCHER-MCGUNNIGLE

PHOTOS BY PHILIPPE MATSAS, GETTY, DARREN JAMES

NOSTALGIA HAS RUINED MY LIFE

“There must be more to life than who to blame” posits Nostalgia’s twenty-something antihero.

A novel told in fragments, and hilariously dark and spooky, this weird little book chronicles unemployment, failed romance, chronic illness and depression. Is there anything more 2021 than this cover image of the writer lying in bed next to a spud? A book about boredom, absurdity and waiting for your life to begin.

HELEN GARNER HOW TO END A STORY: DIARIES 1995-1998

The thing about Garner is she writes the best sentences in Australia, and these breathless little passages – so sharply observed, so stylishly rendered – press the bruise in a good way. An example? Her husband’s out with the other woman, Garner’s eating dinner alone in the dark. “Then I go to the corner shop for a Magnum, gnaw the chocolate coating off it, and throw the rest into a bin.” Is there a better way of portraying that deranged sense of knowing? I doubt it.

I

read for lots of reasons, but in 2021 I mostly read to feel, although my fuzzy panicked lizard brain could not always sustain the focused compassion and attention to detail an epic requires. This year was all about poetry and the novella for me. I was also more open to experimental forms – big-hearted ones that reached for something new and exciting – and memoir and autofiction.

Books that brought a bit of levity were worth their weight in gold: playful books, energising books, books that riffed on the diary form, that seemed to cut straight to the heart of things.

I found myself reaching for titles that strived to answer that searching, boundless question: what’s it like for you?

This year was also a huge time for scrolling – let’s face it – and I’d like to give a special shout out to the Instagram account @PoetryIsNotALuxury, which got me through many an addled evening when a whole book was just too hard, and which continues to be the best thing on social media today. If poetry overwhelms you, start here.

Spotlighting everyone from Mary Oliver to Nikki Giovanni (I must’ve read ‘Every Morning’ and ‘I Wrote a Good Omelet’ a hundred times each this year), it will convert you.

I hope the books listed here surprise and delight you, as they did me. I hope you can take some time out on a beautiful beach somewhere this summer, an ice-cold beverage sweating gently by your side, and devour them. Happy New Year. MF

26 DEC 2021

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT PATRICIA LOCKWOOD

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Patricia Lockwood loves internet language – the kind that is hyperbolic and ironic and metasarcastic and barely punctuated, meme-juicy and sometimes all caps. In this hard-to-define love letter to the endless scroll, Lockwood melds social criticism with ecstatic, almost psychedelic storytelling about ephemeral worlds, fluid identities and our fractured little lives. I laughed out loud a lot and also felt completely devasted – how does she do that?

Public Service Announcement

by Lorin Clarke @lorinimus

Sometimes, it’s hard to notice the hopeful things.

Humans have a habit of imposing a narrative onto everything, usually in retrospect, and usually starring ourselves in the lead role. Actually though, perhaps the most elated I have felt recently was when I squatted down in the grass with a small friend of mine and we watched a ladybird swim across the surface towards a leaf and my small friend assisted this ladybird with a blade of grass. Have you ever barracked for a tiny critter? That’s the kind of hope that costs you nothing.

Did you know you can be a pessimist or a realist or riddled with anxiety and still be hopeful? You can!

The thing about hope is that you don’t have to believe something WILL happen. You just gently hold the possibility of it happening somewhere close to your chest. You can, in that quiet way, hope for the impossible.

You never know what the narrative timeline has in store.

Will someone you’ve never even heard of be in the right place at the right time and lift you onto a whole new plain of existence? Will a person you are yet to meet offer you the opportunity of a lifetime? Save your life?

Inspire you? Hold your hand?

Is someone, somewhere, working away at a problem that worries you? Is there a scientist, or a doctor somewhere, right now, thinking through the intricacies of a problem that will make life better in a way you never dared hope? There might be. You don’t know.

Is there going to be a brand new book that completely transforms the way you think about the world? We don’t know! Maybe not. But it’s not impossible. That one day in the future, sitting in a library maybe, or handed a book by a friend, you might lose yourself in its pages and emerge altered, thrilled, delighted.

Is there going to be a TV show better than any other TV show you’ve ever loved? Has it not come out yet, the one you’re going to watch and rewatch and love and quote lines from? Are the people who are going to write it writing it now? Are the characters coming to life, the ones you’re going to enjoy so much? No idea. But it’s possible!

There will be bad times ahead. Our narrative tendencies rarely allow us to think that we might make mistakes again, or that fate might throw another six and leave us reeling. But even then, even in sorrow or despair, there is kindness and love and an idiot friend doing a stupid face at you when you’re trying to have a serious phone conversation with the power company.

If you think of the people you love the most – the friends, the family, the people who said the right thing at the right time – it’s often in the worst times that those connections are strongest. You can be a pessimist or a worrier or a realist or a grump and still trust and hope that you and the people you love will find a way.

The new year is the ultimate metaphor for a fresh start. The idea that we can wipe the slate clean and start again is just us attempting to take control of that narrative, but we forget, when we write the new one, that the old one was once a mystery to us. We didn’t foresee the friends we have now. We didn’t foresee the way things would go. The people who disappointed us, the wrongs that were committed by us and against us – these things weren’t always FACTS. They used to be possibilities.

Public Service Announcement: anything is possible.

Not likely. Possible. We have no control over any of it, so we might as well go with the flow. Watch the ladybirds. Enjoy a world full of potential friends and works in progress and rapidly developing science and a TV show that used to be just a thought someone wrote on the back of an envelope. Happy New Year. You never know what’s coming next.

Lorin Clarke is a Melbourne-based writer. The new series of her radio and podcast series, The Fitzroy Diaries, is on ABC Radio National and the ABC Listen app now.

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W

e keep being told we live in a divided society but ask anybody how they feel about being hopeful that THIS year is going to be different, and you might find common ground. We’re battle‑weary, when it comes to being hopeful. We’ve hoped, collectively, rather a lot over the past couple of years, and look where it’s got us.

Public Service Announcement: there are many reasons to be hopeful.

26 DEC 2021

Mission Possible

FOOD PHOTO BY WARREN MENDES, PORTRAIT BY JULIA GEE

Nat’s What I Reckon

Tastes Like Home edited by Anastasia Safioleas

Tastes Like Home THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

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Wake and Don’t Bake Orange and Lemon Cheesecake Serves 8 Cooking Time: under 30 mins to not even cook. Resting time: 4+ hours Hectometer: 3/10

Ingredients Cheese Singles and Ice Magic (just kidding)

Actual Ingredients 1 orange (half for juice, one for zest) 2 lemons (two for juice, one for zest) 200g Scotch Finger or Digestive bickies 100g butter, plus extra for greasing

500g cream cheese, at room temperature (block form, not spreadable) 140g caster sugar 1 cup thickened cream 1 teaspoon ground Dutch cinnamon, or just normal shit

Gear 20cm-ish round springform cake tin

Method

TAG US WITH YOUR CHEESECAKE! @BIGISSUEAUSTRALIA #TASTESLIKEHOME

I

have vivid memories of being a kid and thinking that eating a cake called a “cheesecake” sounded fucking disgusting, wondering why anyone would put cheese into cake. I must have thought it was gonna taste like someone had bunged cheddar or camembert into it. Of course, I had no idea what I was talking about, or what in fact cheesecake was at the time – I now know that it is not only one of the most unreal things out, but such an easy thing to make.

Things like cheesecake, while they might not be on high rotation at home, do remind me of my partner Jules. Jules loves absolutely anything to do with cheese, including cheese that comes in cake form. It may have been her idea to put a recipe for one in my book. For Jules’ birthday a mate of hers sent her an actual cake tower made out of soft cheeses – let me tell ya, it’s one of the most impressive and also intense amount of calories I’ve ever laid my eyes on.

Whoever invented cream cheese must be one of the bravest and smartest people on Earth. I felt like you couldn’t move for cream cheese in the 90s – Philadelphia on everything. When it comes to adding a little cinnamon and sugar to it, then you have created a whole other level of obsession.

Truly, every cafe that I went to as a child had a revolving display cabinet in it, taunting people with spinning cheesecakes. Let’s be honest, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love to destroy an entire cheesecake on their own. God, can you imagine how crook you’d feel?

I digress, but I think while cheesecake may be seen as a little old school and daggy, you can’t argue with how much it reminds you of a good time. Go hard, Cheesecake, you weird and wonderful tidal wave of caloric density.

ANTI-JAR SAUCE WARRIOR NAT’S WHAT I RECKON HAS A NEW COOKBOOK, DEATH TO JAR SAUCE .

26 DEC 2021

PLAN TO RECREATE THIS DISH AT HOME?

Nat says…

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Doesn’t hurt to get your zest sorted before anything else here.

Zest the orange and one of the lemons into a bowl, and keep just a pinch of them to one side in its own spesh bowl.

There are a few ways we can start this party. We need to bust up the bickies into a breadcrumb consistency somehow.

A food processor pulsing them apart does a champagne job of it, as does bunging them in a clean tea towel and bashing them to breadcrumb-sized bits with a rolling pin. Dad suggested I back over them in the car, which I think he has actually done. I use a food processor, cos flexxxxxxx.

Grab most of the citrus zest if you wouldn’t mind thanks, and add it to the crushed bickies. We need to melt that butter next in a small saucepan over a low heat, but don’t heat the fucken bajeezuz out of it – just melt it, Michael. It needs to be cool enough to mix thoroughly into the biscuit mix as well… do all that now please, ta.

Grease up the cake tin with butter and if you can be fucked, cut a piece of baking paper to fit the base – it can help make serving it a little bit neater, but it’s not a crucial move.

Crucial Move sounds like a movie with Harrison Ford in it from the 1990s that I would have watched eating cheesecake, I reckon. Tip the buttery, zesty, biscuity mixture into the tin.

Now press that biscuit-orange-butter shit flat AF across the base. It can help to use something that has a super flat top on it to help press it down; the back of a spoon might work, or even your fucken hands, eh?

Give it a good press flat and whack it in the fridge for a moment while we make the other shit.

Grab a bowl and an electric mixer if you have one (though a whisk is fine too), and work the cream cheese apart as you add the sugar and kinda make it into a heavy paste. In a second bowl you’re gonna need to whip the cream. This one’s a shit job with a whisk cos it takes longer than trying to mow the fucken grass with a pair of scissors. But if you gotta, ya gotta – I feel ya. Beat/whisk until the cream is getting nice and thick, at which point the cinnamon goes in along with the cream cheese, orange and lemon juices. Give it a good mix together until it’s really bloody thick yet smooth enough to be able to spread across the base.

Grab that cake tin out of the fridge and spoon in the mixture evenly across it with a spatula or a spoon or, I dunno, the back of your Nokia 3210 cos it seems like it was super popular at the same time cheesecake was and they’d get along great.

Sprinkle over the orange and lemon zest you set aside from earlier. Back in the fridge we go and now we wait…for like as long as you can kinda be fucked, tbh. We want it to get super cool and set together nicely. The truth is, overnight is the best, but 4 hours might be enough if you’re in a pinch.

There it is, legends. What a classic.

Puzzles

By Lingo!

by Lee Murray leemurray.id.au EXPLODE

Using all nine letters provided, can you answer these clues?

Every answer must include the central letter.

Plus, which word uses all 9 letters?

by puzzler.com

Sudoku

by websudoku.com

Each column, row and 3 x 3 box must contain all numbers 1 to 9.

CLUES 5 letters Back tooth Cantaloupe fruit Dog’s warning Foreign Righteous

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

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7 letters Facing of facts Walrus‑like creature (2 words) 8 letters Sweet, hot, milky pudding

Solutions CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Pub test 5 Tallinn 9 Pulse 10 Shipshape 11 Press gang 12 Dwell 13 Disc 15 Impetigo 18, 19 Watering hole 22 Doric 24 Palestine 26 Erroneous 27 About 28 Barcode 29 Skydive

6 letters Mariner Serious, dignified Shoe liner Sodium chloride solution Titbit

DOWN 1 Pop-ups 2 Ballerina 3 Ewers 4 Toscanini 5 Thing 6 Last-ditch 7 Irate 8 Needle 14 Crescendo 16 Pugilists 17 Gallipoli 20 Adverb 21 Pestle 23 Rarer 24 Probe 25 Shady

Word Builder

In honour of our New Year’s Eve fireworks, let’s look at explode. During the early Roman Empire, the Latin explodere was something done by theatre audiences: making enough noise that the actor would give up and walk off the stage.

Most of the time, this noise was clapping: exmeaning “out” or “away”, and -plodere “to clap”.

(Plodere still survives in the English applaud.) By the time explode made its way to English in the 1500s, its meaning had broadened to the more metaphorical “reject” or “disapprove”. In the 17th century, English borrowed explode from Latin again, this time with its original meaning. These two separate borrowings give us explode’s current sense, blending a sudden loud noise with a sudden burst of outward movement.

20 QUESTIONS PAGE 9 1 They are the first to celebrate New Year 2 Red 3 China 4 None 5 Cheese 6 2012 7 Barnaby Joyce 8 Joan Crawford 9 South Dakota 10 Anne Rice 11 Three 12 Boxing 13 Green 14 A gilt 15 Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan 16 A) 3.084km 17 Four 18 Keith Urban, Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian and Rita Ora 19 False – it’s in Melbourne 20 Mark Lee and Mel Gibson

Crossword

by Chris Black

THE ANSWERS FOR THE CRYPTIC AND QUICK CLUES ARE THE SAME.

Quick Clues ACROSS

1 Barometer of public opinion (3,4) 5 Estonian capital (7) 9 Beat (5) 10 N eat and tidy (9) 11 P eople who forcibly enlist others (5,4) 12 R eside (5) 13 F lat, circular object (4) 15 S kin condition (8) 18, 19ac Place to drink (8,4) 22 C olumn style (5) 24 M iddle East state (9) 26 I ncorrect (9) 27 R oughly (5) 28 M achine-readable data form (7) 29 J ump from a plane (7) DOWN

1 Unwanted browser windows (3-3) 2 Dancer (9) 3 Jugs (5) 4 Famous conductor (9) 5 Object (5) 6 Eleventh hour (4-5) 7 Cross (5) 8 Bug (6) 14 M usical direction (9) 16 B oxers (9) 17 Turkish peninsula (9) 20 M odifying part of speech (6) 21 Tool used for crushing (6) 23 S carcer (5) 24 I nvestigate (5) 25 D isreputable (5)

Cryptic Clues

Solutions

ACROSS

DOWN

1 Barometer? (3,4) 5 Giant local to Estonian city (7) 9 Moving plus energy produces heartbeat (5) 10 O rderly crafts broken heap (9) 11 T hey enforce terms of service (5,4) 12 F inally streamed Shaft Live (5) 13 4 5 is in Washington? (4) 15 I go after one politician with alien infection (8) 18, 19ac Four Corners features region

1 Browsers annoyed by these dogs after work

Nails‑inspired opener (9)

5 Object to night shift (5) 6 Desperate to endure drop (4-5) 7 Furious buccaneer ignored leader (5) 8 Provoke the French after demand (6) 14 L ast acoustic screen broke, party to get

WORD BUILDER

26 DEC 2021

louder (9)

16 * Gulps* It is unlikely they fight professionally (9) 17 Treat oil spillage off Southeast Peninsula? (9) 20. B raved new modifier (6) 21 I ncomplete steeple fixed with mortar usually? (6) 23 R olls Royce covers are harder to find (5) 24 F eel soft garment (5) 25 S heltered suspect (5)

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of a column? (5) 24 S tate arranges penalties (9) 26 D octor sourer about one full of holes (9) 27 C oncerning a fight (5) 28 L ines for Business Hotel convention? (7) 29 P rincess opening village in Scottish Isle for daredevil activity (7)

hold-up? (3-3)

2 Incorrectly label rain dancer (9) 3 Essential to brewer: stone jugs (5) 4 He conducted opera with Nine Inch

5 Molar Melon Snarl Alien Moral 6 Sailor Solemn Insole Saline Morsel 7 Realism Sea lion 8 Semolina 9 Normalise

transformed with wealth? (8,4)

22 S tarts drafting opening reply in criticism

SUDOKU

Click photo by WG Alma Conjuring Collection/State Library of Victoria words by Michael Epis

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THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

DIGGERS REST, MARCH 1910

Harry Houdini

E

veryone knows the name Houdini, the great escape artist, who could be handcuffed, wrapped in chains, dropped into water – and escape. Fewer know that Harry Houdini was also the first person to fly a plane in Australia.

Houdini, born Ehrich Weisz in Hungary, 1874, was the son of a rabbi, who soon moved to the US. Houdini made his first stage appearance as a trapeze artist, aged 12. For 20 years from the start of the 20th century he was among the world’s highest-paid entertainers, taking his magic show across the US, Europe – and Australia.

In 1909 he bought a French biplane, the Voisin, which he brought to Australia. While in Melbourne, he was chained and jumped off Queen’s Bridge into the Yarra River, which is very dangerous – that water is filthy.

He took his plane to Diggers Rest (coincidentally near today’s Tullamarine airport), determined to be the first to fly here. There were two other claimants, but Fred Custance had no witnesses in South Australia and Colin Defries in Sydney did not fly far enough on his first attempt and crashed on the second, when he tried to grab his hat, which had flown off, which is a lesson for us all.

Houdini gathered witnesses, reporters, photographers and a film cameraman – no pics, it didn’t happen. Hence the photo above, so recognisably Australia, but with strange Magritte-like spectators and a supremely uninterested horse.

Houdini had waited a month for a windless day.

Eventually the gods smiled, and on Friday 18 March 1910 he got aloft. “Harry Houdini’s attempts at aviation have been crowned with success… Houdini made three successful flights at Diggers Rest yesterday morning,” the Argus reported. It continued: “‘Un, deux, trois,’ counted [his French engineer] Brassac as he twisted the 8ft propeller to start the engine. ‘G-r-r-r-r,’ went the propeller as it bit madly through the air. A quick touch by the aviator to the engine-clutch at his side set the machine rolling, and Houdini was off…the great machine leapt into the air as a bird springs into flight.”

On the drive back to Melbourne he told the reporter: “Yes, I’ve done it… As soon as I was up, all my muscles relaxed, and I sat back, feeling a sense of ease. Freedom and exhilaration, that’s what it is. O! She’s great. I know what it is to fly in real earnest. She’s like a swan. She’s a dandy. I can fly now.”

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26 DEC 2021