Leviathan's Underbelly: TV

I've mentioned John Birmingham's book Leviathan* (Assorted links) before (5 June, 2005). Here's one of the chapters, expanded and filmed. Also see the works of Rupert Kathner

Underbelly: Back where it all began - SMH TV & Radio - Entertainment:
"Sydney had been corrupt since the Rum Corps, but in the 1970s it exploded. A cell of bent detectives effectively franchised crime using 'pet' criminals. People such as Lennie McPherson, a safebreaker but no mastermind, became a Mr Big after police gave him the 'green light'. Arthur 'Neddy' Smith, a violent thug, became a protected mob leader. The smooth George Freeman made millions — so brazenly he was once photographed at Randwick races with the chief magistrate.

But there were a few honest police — and they had to break the law to prove it..."

* Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney A RIVETING HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY OF A REMARKABLE AUSTRALIAN CITY “Combining intensive research with the pace of a techno-thriller, John Birmingham creates a rich portrait of a city too dazzled by its own gorgeous reflection to care much for what lies at its dark, corrupted heart. … Birmingham drills beneath the cover story of a successful multicultural metropolis and melts the boundaries between past and present … Beneath the shining harbour, amid the towers of global greed and deep inside the bad-drugs madness of the suburban wastelands, lies Sydney's shadow history. … Illuminated by wild flashes of black humour, violent, ghoulish and utterly compelling, Leviathan is history for the Tarantino generation.” ISBN: 0091842034; ISBN: 9780091842031; ISBN: 0091832616

Bogong Moth season in Sydney 2007

Bogongs – first the recipe, now the film!
10 Oct 2007. ABC Sydney. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

It's not just the young and foolish attracted to the bright lights of the big city. Swarms of Bogong moths have descended on Sydney during their annual seasonal migration from southern Queensland and northern New South Wales to the alpine region as they migrate to escape the summer heat.

The Herbison-Evans/Crossley story on Agrotis infusa: http://linus.it.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/noct/infusa.html

Short report with nice pictures from TV news


Long rambling description from a recent resident. Very "actuality"-style camerawork. She seems rather freaked out by the poor little harmless, helpless Agrotis infusa (CSIRO).

Saturday Night Fireworks; Sydney, Autumn, 2007

Don't know why they're doing it, but these last two Saturday nights, around 10pm, there's been a fairly big burst of fireworks, it looks like between the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
Tonight, as soon as I heard them I threw on outdoor clothing, grabbed my trusty Canon A80 and headed for the closest vantage. This is the result, run through iMovie to join two parts, and with title added. I'm interested to see if there's any noticeable difference in quality from the raw footage, also uploaded.

No idea why they're doing this, but it's nice to watch from my nearby salient.

Happy New Year!

2007 - The year with a licence to kill!
In Sydney, perhaps we were referring to "Diamonds Are Forever"?

(Photo by James Bridgewood)

New Years Eve Photo galleries at SMH
World celebrations; Sydney midnight; Sydney early fireworks

Gashlycrumbs & Ghastly Ghosts of True (Sydney) History

The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey ( www.wishville.co.uk/gorey) An Alphabet Book of Twisted Tales, by an author with an apposite appellation.

Leviathan: the Unauthorised Biography of Sydney
by John Birmingham
www.abc.net.au/arts/books/stories/s424252.htm
[Recorded at the 2000 Brisbane Writers Festival and broadcast on Radio National's Books and Writing program, 2001. Also used at
www.abc.net.au/arts/headspace/rn/booksw/leviathan/default.htm]

ISBN: 0091842034
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 563
[An] epic tale of a city with a cold vacuum for a moral core. John Birmingham drills beneath the cover story ... Combining intensive research with the pace of a techno-thriller, [he] creates a rich portrait of a city too dazzled by its own gorgeous reflection to care much for what lies at its dark, corrupted heart ... Leviathan is history for the Tarantino generation.

At Seekbooks.com.au.

At Dymock's Bookshops;
At The Well Bookshop