MELBOURNE BELOW
- Calendar -

Farming and food production have strong connections to us all. Join us on a journey through three film nights as we explore some of the darker sides of our relationship with food. Issues ranging from industrial factory farming and genetically engineering of food to the loss of food sovereignty and threat to food security will be addressed. We’ll have a short discussion of some of the problems raised and pose solutions and actions we can all take.

The short documentary on Melbourne's 'Food not Bombs' (6 min) will be followed by a documentary titled 'We feed the world' (95 min - subtitles) which Desert consists of the spoof Matrix animation titled ‘Meatrix’ (5 min) where Moothius and Leo discover the impacts of factory farming.

WHERE: Loop Bar, 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne CBD near Spring and Bourke Streets.

WHEN: From 6:30PM.

Free Entry.

Drinks and food available from the bar.

Seating is limited and RSVP is preferred.

Dorothy Porter has published thirteen books: six collections of poetry, two novels and five verse novels. Her most recent verse novel is EL DORADO - a noir crime thriller set in Melbourne. Her best-selling crime thriller in verse THE MONKEY'S MASK has been adapted for the stage, radio, and released internationally as a film. Dorothy has read all over the world, from London to Medellin. She was awarded the FAW Christopher Brennan Medal for Poetry in 2002. Dorothy has also written two opera libretti and a double CD, BEFORE TIME COULD CHANGE US. In 2006 Dorothy Porter edited THE BEST AUSTRALIAN POEMS.

Andrea Goldsmith trained intially as a speech pathologist and worked for many years with children with cerebral palsy and severe communication impairments. Her novels include Gracious Living and The Prosperous Thief, (short-listed for the Miles Franklin award.) Andrea's new novel is Reunion. A story of friendship, love, intellectual strivings and untimely death, it will be published by 4th Estate next year. Andrea's essays have been published widely. Andrea has taught creative writing throughout Australia, and mentors new writers.

'ink: celebrating writers' is a partnership between Stonnington Libraries and the Fellowship of Australian Writers.

Entry $5 - includes a drink.

Doors open at 7pm.

Council Chambers,
Prahran Town Hall,
Cnr Chapel and Greville Streets,
Prahran 3181.

Written by Derek Benfield,
Directed by Brian Uniacke.

Two couples, an isolated hotel, a romantic weekend away - what could go wrong? Plenty! Little do they know that each couple is married to the respective partner! Throw in a porter who is running the hotel while his sister is on holiday who finds himself caught up in the lies and deception as these couples find out the other is in the same building. A very funny comedy, not to be missed.

WHERE: Beaumaris Theatre, 82 Wells Rd Beaumaris 3193. (Melway 86 G6.)

WHEN: Ensemble rehearsed performances Friday July 4th, Saturday July 5th at 8pm.

COST: Prices for July 4th and 5th are adults $18, all others $15.

Bookings 9583 6896 or email beaumaristheatre@optusnet.com.au

Food and Quiz Night at the MSFC!

American Food.

We have a great pleasure in serving up hot dogs, french fries & salad, followed by apple pie and ice cream.

Doors open 8.00pm.
Quiz starts 9.00pm.

COSTS:

• Food: $6.50 Members, $7.50 Visitors.
• Trivia: $3.00 Members, $4.00 Visitors.
• Food and Trivia: $8.00 Members, $9.00 Visitors.

Socialising and use of the library: FREE!

DIAMOND VALLEY SINGERS presents "KISMET."

Performances are on Friday July 4th (8 p.m.), Saturday July 5th (2 p.m.), Sunday July 6th (2 p.m.), Wednesday July 9th (8 p.m.), Friday July 11th (8 p.m.) and Saturday July 12th (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.).

Opening night (Friday July 4th) is sold out. Tickets are still available for all other performances.

Ticket prices are $25 adults, $20 concession and $60 family, with a low price of $18 for large groups.

You can obtain tickets by ringing Callum (9444 0537), sending an email or by printing out a booking form and posting it to the address on the form after filling it out.

Opens: Thursday 3 July 2008 (from 6:30pm).
Exhibition Dates: 4 July - 23 July.

Angelique Houtkamp is an internationally renowned artist with her roots in tattoo culture. Her new works evoke a world of sweet-hearts, broken-hearts and wearing your heart on your sleeve.

Love and darkness are always present in an uneasy duality throughout Angelique's new body of work for Outré Gallery; "Till Death Do Us Part". Delicate sorrow, loving looks and painful nostalgia.

This exhibition comes on the tail of the release of her recent monograph "Tattoo Darling" published by Outré Gallery to an international crowd of avid fans.

"The last year I have been spending more time on painting than tattooing, but if I haven't tattooed for a while I really start to miss it. The difference between them is that tattooing comes with so much responsibilities, like putting a mark on somebody for life and it has to be perfect. Opposed to painting, I can just do my own thing and if nobody likes it that's cool too." - Angelique Houtkamp 2007.

Angelique evokes tattoo culture in her art through a shared discursive language. The style of bold line work and strong symbolic combinations. All the while implying elusive stories of time, loss, love, death, beauty and pain. Expect dreamy dollfaces, classic tattoo imagery, twisted iconography and some unexpected magic out of the Angelique bag in the form of some technical sidestepping.

ALTONA CITY THEATRE presents "CATS."

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S. Eliot

By arrangement with ORiGiN Theatrical
on behalf of The Really Useful Group Limited

Cats Logo TM © 1981 The Really Useful Group Limited.

When CATS first hit the theatre world the response was amazing. No human characters, only CATS. No dialogue, only singing. Dancing from start to finish. Integration of lighting into the overture and the music throughout the show. A musical that was not plot driven. A show that used famous poetry as the only lyrics. An indistinct line between audience and cast that allowed a breakthrough of the fourth wall and then, heaven forbid, direct interaction with the audience. Audiences were suspicious because of the dramatic change. But as more and more people shared the experience, CATS took the world by storm. Do not miss this chance to experience the phenomenon that is CATS.

PERFORMANCES:

• Friday, 4th July, 8pm - Gala Opening ($41 adult / $36 conc. / $144 family.)
• Saturday, 5th July, 8pm.
• Sunday, 6th July, 5pm.
• Thursday, 10th July, 8pm.
• Friday, 11th July, 8pm.
• Saturday, 12th July, 2pm.
• Saturday, 12th July, 8pm.
• Sunday, 13th July, 5pm.
• Thursday, 17th July, 8pm.
• Friday, 18th July, 8pm.
• Saturday, 19th July, 8pm.
• Sunday, 20th July, 2pm.
• Thursday, 24th July, 8pm.
• Friday, 25th July, 8pm.
• Saturday, 26th July, 8pm.

Performances are held at the Altona Theatre, 115 Civic Parade, Altona.

Show your tickets at Pier Lounge for dinner before a performance and receive a 10% discount off your meal!

TICKET PRICES:
Adults: $35
Concession: $30
Family (2 adults, 2 conc.): $120
$30 each for groups of 10+
(unless otherwise specified)

Click here to order tickets online or phone 0425 705 550 or download and mail the Booking Form.

Speaker: Dr. Ani Wierenga.
Acclaimed Scholar and Intrepid Explorer

Topic: Social Well-being, The Learning from Bhutan.

The Mission: conduct a study in Bhutan to gauge the effectiveness of current youth programs and to produce a framework for the Government's youth policy.

The Problem: How can Bhutan survive the modernisation process including the impact of television and higher education of the young people without losing the cultural values that have traditionally made it unique?

"I think we can learn a lot through our encounters with another culture. Here is a country which has shunned the notion of Gross National Product in order to focus on Gross National Happiness – a vision which guides Bhutan's modernisation."

Join us to hear the results of this fascinating research.

9am Breakfast.

Booking: Ph 9819 3239 or 9819 3502
Cost: $20 or $12 concession.
Venue: Augustine Centre, 2 Minona Street, Hawthorn.

For those of you who caught part one in 2007, here comes part two of "Collectables and Collecting."

Last year we covered autographs and how to frame autographs, lithographs and posters.

We also briefly covered action figures and their conditions.

Now we cover other topics like:

• Is it collectable just because the packet says so?
• Prop replicas: fan created and authorised replicas.
• Onscreen used props, hero props or just general background "you've seen one you've seen them all" props.
• How to get those rare, hard to get items, as well as how to care for them, display them, and what should be locked up in a safe!

So, what's it all about? In 2005, Universal released a movie called Serenity directed by Joss Whedon. The movie was based on the fan favourite TV show called "Firefly" which was created by Whedon. "Firefly" was cancelled by the Fox Network after screening only 10 episodes in the US. However, the complete series (14 episodes) were released as a DVD box set & sold in such numbers that fans around the world (known as "Browncoats" after the heroes of the show) and Joss were able to convince Universal to make a movie based on the show. In 2006, Browncoats around the world (including myself) came together to organise charity screenings of Serenity as a "Thank You" to Joss and Universal for making the movie and to raise funds and awareness for Joss' chosen charity, Equality Now.

Equality Now was founded in 1992 to work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Working with national human rights organizations and individual activists, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes international action to support their efforts to stop these human rights abuses.

Over the past 2 years, Can't Stop The Serenity has raised over US$160000 for Equality Now. This year, our global target is US$150,000 from screenings in 55 cities around the world.

Farming and food production have strong connections to us all. Join us on a journey through three film nights as we explore some of the darker sides of our relationship with food. Issues ranging from industrial factory farming and genetically engineering of food to the loss of food sovereignty and threat to food security will be addressed. We’ll have a short discussion of some of the problems raised and pose solutions and actions we can all take.

The feature documentary 'Lost in Palm Oil' (63 min) investigates the negative impacts that oil palm plantations have on forests, climate change, water pollution, biodiversity, with a focus on Indigenous communities in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. How does this relate to food? Palm oil shows us that food issues, forests, people, culture and animals are interconnected. Palm Oil is used in 1 in 10 supermarket products, yet there no requirement for it to be labelled. Guest speaker Jessica McKelson from the Melbourne Zoo Orangutan Sanctuary will present an uplifting slide show of her recent trip to Nyaru Menteng Gunung Leseur National Park in Indonesia where she saw the impacts of Palm Oil on the Orangutan population first hand. The wild organutan population is heading towards extinction, but the rescues and release work witnessed by Jess gives us hope that there is a future for them.

WHERE: Loop Bar, 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne CBD near Spring and Bourke Streets.

WHEN: From 6:30PM.

Free Entry.

Drinks and food available from the bar.

Seating is limited and RSVP is preferred.

*Meet us at 7pm in the foyer to buy tickets for the 7.30pm screening.*

MELBOURNE SCIENCE FICTION CLUB meet at St. David's United Church Hall, 74 Melville Road, Brunswick West from 8PM.

Tom Jones is rich, ripe and rowdy. Tom, a man much beset by women and Squire Allworthy's adopted son, falls victim to the charms of one rustic wench after another, until at last the Squire grows tired of the trouble he causes and sends him off to cause it elsewhere. Then Tom becomes entangled with three women at once - one of whom he truly loves.

WHEN:
Friday 11 & 18 July at 8:00PM.
Saturday 12 & 19 July at 8:00PM.
Sunday 13 July at 2:00PM.

WHERE: George Jenkins Theatre, Monash University, McMahons Rd., Frankston. (Melway: 102 F4 Map 476 Building A.)

COST: Adults $26.50, Concession $24.50, Groups of 10+ $24.50. (Bookings: Phone 9905 1111 or ONLINE at http://www.monash.edu/monart/)

Friday & Saturdays 11 - 20 July at 8pm.
Sunday Matinees 13th & 20th July at 2pm.

Adults: $20.
Concession: $16.
Family: $65.

Book now: 9437 1574.
Credit card facilities over the phone now available!
(Not on night at ticketbox)

Labyrinth Masquerade is on again! Bigger, brighter and more exciting!

Held this year in the grand and glorious Regal Ballroom, Labyrinth Masquerade 2008 is swiftly shaping into a swirling splendour of mad merriness and fabulous frivolity, a glittering night realm where baronesses dance with beasties, fairies play with princes and the world is full of the colourful cornucopia of creatures that live in our unlimited imagination.

Saturday, 12 July 2008.
The Regal Ballroom
218 High St Northcote, Melbourne.
7pm - 2am.

Check out the new website for full details:

http://www.guildofthegoldenowl.com/

ART & FASHION

Labyrinth Masquerade 2008 features a Fantasy Fashion Show and Fantasy Art Competition. We're now looking for Artists for the Art Exhibition/Competition, and Fashion Designers, Hair and Make-up Artists, and Models for the Fashion Show.

Fashion entries can include costumes, wigs, hats, body art, tattoos, and anything weird and outlandish, decadent and surreal that fits a fantasy theme. Entry is FREE and all Designers and their models receive complimentary tickets to the event. Check the Fantasy Fashion Show attachment for details.

Art Competition entries can be in any medium, in any fantasy-related theme. This is a chance for your work to be shown and potentially sold to a large and appreciative audience. Entry is FREE and all exhibitors receive complimentary tickets to the event. All artworks are automatically entered in the competition for the Crystal Ball and Sceptre of the Goblin King Awards. Check the Fantasy Art Competition attachment for details.

TICKETS NOW ON SALE!

Regular Tickets - $25.
Door Tickets - $30 (Cash only).

The Early Worm Ticket Special is now on! Grab your tickets now for the special price of $20 each. Hurry, sale ends 30 May!

She has prepared (for a course on the history of nature) a PowerPoint presentation on the history of the naming of Australian plants, using beautiful botanical art to tell the story.

WHERE: Princes Hill Community Centre (rear 270 MacPherson Street, North Carlton) from 7:30PM.

DONATION: $5-$10.

MELBOURNE SCIENCE FICTION CLUB meet at St. David's United Church Hall, 74 Melville Road, Brunswick West from 8PM.

Dates:July 18th - 20th, 2008.
Venue: The County Court of Victoria and other venues around Melbourne

Program available: May 2008!

An annual event where the public, writers, social commentators, judicial luminaries and the legal profession come together to both celebrate and promote contemporary writings in the fields of justice and human rights, and to overlay these discussions with guest writers in the genre of crime fiction.

Festival Patrons:
International Crime Patron: Ian Rankin.
Australian Crime Patron: Kerry Greenwood.
International Social Justice Patron: Brendan Kilty SC.

For more information please contact Reader's Feast Bookstore.
Email: events@readersfeast.com.au
Phone: (03) 9662 4699.
http://www.readersfeast.com.au/

MELBOURNE SCIENCE FICTION CLUB meet at St. David's United Church Hall, 74 Melville Road, Brunswick West from 8PM.

WHEN: Saturday, July 26th & 27th,2008, from 10am.
WHERE: Victorian Trades Hall.
HOW MUCH? $7 per day / $10 weekend

WHAT IS DOUJICON?

Doujicon (pronounced Doh-OO-gee-Con) is a place where local cartoonists and
animators can sell their works without the worries of other Zine Fairs,
Pop-Culture Expos and Comic Conventions.

At Doujicon, it's all about the comics, and the artists that create them! We know how little there is encouraging new artists to spring up and create their own work. We're aware that it's impossible to get people to pay attention to locally made stuff when Yu-Gi-Oh and Spider Man are competing for your audience's attention and money. And we know all too well that there's no way in hell you're going to turn a profit when you've got to pay $100 or more for a table (although, technically, that IS an option if you want to pay that much) as well as the production costs of your comics.

Been there… Done that…

Upon registering, artists and animators will be given a table for no cost other than that of entry ... That's right, you get a table to sell your wares to the public for only $10!

Doujicon is going to be all about the people that made the cartoon & comic industry what it is today: The people that did it, and continue to do it, themselves.

What's more, we're going to show you that you can do it too!

Food and Quiz Night at the MSFC!

Quiz and pancakes (savoury, gluten free, and sweet
pancakes for dessert).

Why pancakes? In June/July we had 3 food events in 5 weeks, and as well as being straightforward everybody likes pancakes!

Doors open 8.00pm.
Quiz starts 9.00pm.

COSTS:

• Food: $6.50 Members, $7.50 Visitors.
• Trivia: $3.00 Members, $4.00 Visitors.
• Food and Trivia: $8.00 Members, $9.00 Visitors.

Socialising and use of the library: FREE!

MANIFEST 2008
Melbourne Anime Festival.
3 days of: Anime Screenings, Panel Discussions, Cosplay, Traders, Video Games, Iron AMVs, Competitions, Art, Karaoke, Japanese Cultural Events, Classes.

WHERE: Melbourne University.

This convention will be held at Storey Hall at RMIT, in Swanston Street, Melbourne.

Registrations are open - prices for the next few months are $120, or $100 if you have a valid concession - but, as a thank-you to your patience, there's an extra $15 discount for the next week (ending after the 14th of July 2008).

A few things to be aware of:

- A Gala Dinner is planned, but has not yet finalised. Once it is, anyone who has registered for the convention will get the first chance to sign up for that, before it's announced publicly.

- Something new for this convention is Unions, which provide the opportunity to work together with other attendees for prizes and glory! Well, something like that. Ben's been working hard on details for this, so keep an eye on the forums, or have a read through the brief details at:
http://ausdwcon.org/pages/unions