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Skepticon

Recital Hall

Sydney, Australia

November 18-19, 2017

Think Inc. is a telling name: Dedicated to nurturing rational discourse, the bright heads behind the organisation organise Q&A sessions, forums and other events with luminaries and subject matter experts from a range of areas to make specialist knowledge accessible for both - those in the know and those on the periphery interested in gaining deeper insight into academic and scientific specialist knowledge.

Summa summarum, an innovative concept aimed at the provision of a  platform to strike a balance between the application of academic rigour and the celebration of science without dumbing the matter in question down. 

Skepticon Australia 2017 is a Think Inc.’s two-day ideas festival meant for anybody who seeks truth and is ready to question the most recent fads with a diverse range of presenters, covering the gamut of skeptical and scientific topics aiming at tackling opportunistic quacks seeking to peddle and profit from their pseudoscientific claims – think the danggers of wireless internet, WiFi 'dangers', fads like the Paleo diet that refuses to return to its beloved paleolithic era, and therapies like cupping et cetera. 

This ideas festival ran over the course of a weekend, consisting of presentations, panel discussions, Questions & Answers sessions and performances, e.g. bands and other Think Inc related artists..

Professor Alan Duffy, renowned luminary in the fields of astrophycisim and science communication, joined forces for the first time with LA Area Emmy Award winning journalist, science communicator, television personality, producer and podcaster, Cara Santa Maria, joined the stage to create Beyond the Eye.

Filmmaker, futurist and self-proclaimed  ‘epiphany addict’ Jason Silva “likes ideas”. He states that tenacity and flexibility as well as their infectious nature is what excites as well their ability to spawn and prepare fertile ground for new ideas. And that is exactly what he did – he descended onto terra australis to share them.

The Scientists

Factory Theatre

Sydney, AU

November 18, 2017

The Scientists became a much more influential post-punk band than their minimal commercial success would indicate, lending their influence to what would ultimately become what became labeled as “grunge”, i.e. artists such Mudhoney and NYC’s indie scene of the early 1990s.

The band has built a more than decent fan base in each city and near  legendary status within the Australian music scene with their concerts were being raucous affairs, and recordings bringing out their darker inclinations.

Entering the stage and with the classic bill of Kim Salmon, Boris Sujdovic, Tony Thewlis and Leanne Chock, they dished out hear classics from their catalogue as they were written in a manner that paid homage to its original context and seamlessly translated in into a menacing contemporary, energetic and brutal onslaught – a ménage a trois between The Beatles, The Stooges and The Cramps.

Swamp Rock with at time pstchdelic tinges at its finest - dark, murky, brooding, often menacing; with deeper cuts from their earlier oeuvre being more in the style of up-tempo power-pop akin perhaps to The Buzzcocks and  Ramones. 

This was no sterile reprisal of the glory days of yore but a testament to the importance of a fantastic Australian band.

Glen Matlock

Landowne Hotel

Sydney, Australia

November 16, 2017

Chances are that if you are on this website, you know who Glen Matlock is, as he is  not only known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up and co-author of the better known ditties of the Sex Pistols, but he has left his mark on the music industry throughout his career with stints at The Rich Kids, Iggy Pop, The Damned, a reformed Faces, The Philistines, et cetera.

Ah, worn out sayings . . .

“It seems that you can take the boy out of the Sex Pistols but you cannot take the Sex Pistols out of the boy” as the tour was meant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sex Pistols’ one and only studio album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, and Matlock’s band will be performing the Pistols’ classic hits as well as plenty of music from his own repertoire.

Legend has that Matlock was sacked by Malcolm Mc Laren and replaced by someone who could not play but looked the part, which in my formative years was at least equally as important – needless to say that the evening was testament to Matlock’s musical prowess and the fact that style does not have to culminate in wearing a padlock around your neck.

The focus of the evening was on classic Sex Pistols era crowd-pleasers with more recent offerings from his extensive oeuvre, slower songs and cover versions of classics sprinkled in along with some blues and some all-out rockers, mixed with banter, anecdotes, storytelling and other forms of interaction that he helped eliminate the barrier between himself and the audience.

Sex Pistols’ classic were presented in Matlock’s own unique style, at times inviting the audience to help revamp the chorus or doing backing vocals and creating renditions which everyone again got involved with.

An enjoyable and relaxed evening, more rock in nature than an exercise in recreating whatever is commonly perceived to be the DNA of 70s-era punk, with one of the original characters of punk rock that ticked quite a few boxes, not only in in terms of being able to bask in the presence of an original Pistols but also in terms of musicality and entertainment conveyed via the spoken word.

5 Ingredients – Quick Easy Food

by Jamie Oliver

Penguin Books

As the title suggest, the premise is by stripping down your shopping list and using merely five ingredients, arranged and put together in a creative manner to cook up a storm of enticing chow – and pronto, whether it's finished and on the table in a matter of minutes, or after a bit more involved preparation and the oven doing the heavy lifting.

In essence: A lot of flavour disproportional to the time spent resulting in affordable, healthy meals that can be created any time.

An ideal companion for busy people.

One hundred and more hurry recipes are illustrated running the gamut from meat dishes to salads and vegetarian fare.

The book is richly illustrated and comes with a detailed guide listing ingredients in a granular manner and backed up by the provision of  nutritional information.

Clear, concise and nicely put together.

Each left hand page shows you the five ingredients down the left side and has the nutritional info underneath.

The right hand page is a full colour photograph of the finished dish.

There is an appendix with nutritional notes as to how to balance your plate with Veg and Fruit - carbs - Proteins - Dairy - fats and Oils.

With fewer ingredients, Jamie is hoping to make people more aware of what is going into their food – something he is keen to do himself as he embarked on a nutrition course three years ago and is now studying for his masters.

Gault & Millau Restaurant Guide Launch

The Cannery, Rosebery

Sydney, Australia

For the uninitiated: Gault et Millau incarnated first in 1965 as a collaboration between restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in in 1965.

Tonight’s launch of the latest Australian edition saw chefs, sommeliers, industry folk and friends convene for the exclusive launch of the Gault & Millau Restaurant Guide 2018 and to celebrate the global influences that make up modern Aussie Cuisine, toast the year that was, and raise a glass to the best restaurants and chefs across Australia – a market Gault & Millau expanded its reach to in 2014.

Following the standards set by the original French guide, the 2018 Restaurant Guide focuses on what really matters: the food. Gault&Millau acknowledges the skill and creativity of chefs and the quality of the food above all other aspects of restaurant dining with its independent judges providing the reliable, unbiased reviewing that remains the cornerstone of the guide.

The universal scoring system allows restaurants in the guide to measure themselves against their peers around the world.

Being the only internationally recognized restaurant guide on terra australis and with over 700 restaurant reviews across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth, the 2018 Restaurant Guide is designed for savvy diners and the ideal compass to navigate Australia’s vibrant restaurant scene.

The launch of the newest incarnation saw the following awards presented:

• Ben Shewry's Attica received Restaurant of the Year following being awarded five hats. 
• The prestigious Chef of the Year was awarded to Shaun Quade of South Melbourne’s Lûmé.
• Chris Lucas' Kisumé secured New Restaurant of the Year.
• French-born pastry chef, Pierrick Boyer (Le Petit Gâteau, Melbourne) received Pastry Chef of the Year.
• John Rivera (Amaru, Melbourne) was named one to watch as Young Talent of the Year.
• Sommelier of the Year went to Carlos Simoes Santos of Vue de Monde (Melbourne).
• Clare Wallace secured Professional of the Year as owner and manager of Brisbane brasserie, Montrache.
• Pepe Saya (NSW) won Producer of the Year for their cultured butter.