interview | Sandpit (1997) – Interview with vocalist/guitarist Brendan Webb

Sandpit hail from the thriving Brunswick Street live circuit of Fitzroy, Victoria, but their coy little lilting tunes are usually the stuff found bouncing between the Merge label in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and New Zealand’s Flying Nun roster. Theirs is the sound of sweet discordance, born of bedrooms and really cheap guitars which go … Continue reading “interview | Sandpit (1997) – Interview with vocalist/guitarist Brendan Webb”

The crowded Pacific: re-considering the sharp edge of broadcasting’s soft power

By Geoff Heriot Long before the ABC abandoned shortwave broadcasting to PNG and the Pacific, its programming for indigenous audiences (as distinct from Australian expatriates) had become risible. For those concerned with Australia’s status as the region’s principal security partner, this should matter.

Vietnam dissident released amid rights concerns

Yesterday Vietnam deported a Vietnamese-American pro-democracy activist after his arrest last month with a group of other dissidents triggered protests from the United States. And last week, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reported that Vietnam’s overall human rights record remained very poor, and has deteriorated in the last year.