Bingo. You’ve reached David Astle dot com, a carnival of words, puzzles and more words. Feel free to play the Storms and teasers and other regular language games in the DA Blog, or just observe and choose your moment to join the conversation. For news and events, browse the DA Ads below, or surf the main menu to see what else is going on. Welcome aboard, and have fun.
Brainstorm Barnstorm
Getting out & about in coming months, with a flying visit to Frankston Library on May 22, and later, on June 6, a DIY crossword session at Monash Library – not to be muddled with the campus outpost. Both powwows are free, though you’ll need to book via the main desks. Bring pencil, paper & pretzel-like mind (or maybe I’ll make it that way!)
Anagrams After Hours
It’s a game show, Jim – but not as we know it. There’s no velvet-toned host, or groovy maths chick, though the dictionary bloke will be on set for Late Night Letters & Numbers this Thursday at the John Curtin pub. The show invites comedy-fest nocturnals to wangle words and blow equations, and score a few laughs before the Conundrum. If you can’t make this week, at 10.45, there’s always next week.
BAD Words
While I do look at MEME, the BAD words I mean are not the four-letter kind. Instead the folks at Books & Arts Daily, on your Radio National dial, have invited me to riff about bookish and arty terms. Already Meme, Playwright and Hysterical Realism have been aired, with several more in the pipeline. Pod them here, or keep your BAD ears tuned.
New Word Order
Food coma or lemon socialism? Stretch goal or photobomb? Which word (or phrase) will be crowned as king of the verbal heap next week? Fracking or burqini? Tweep or totes? Let us know your faves on the Macquarie Dictionary website [missing asset] , or wait for the fuss in early February, when the noble panel (of which I am an ignoble part) will speak its mind. Should be plenty of intellectual kabadi (look it up!)
Carnage & Sabotage
Sounds venal, a literary quarterly called Kill Your Darlings, and my confessional piece called I, Vandal – but I swear no animals were harmed in the sealing of this transaction. The KYD team had me along as a guest blogger to help plug a bookish event this Friday, which is booked out anyway. So if you don’t have tickets for the latter, then scope out the sabotage lying rife in the former.
What's Up, Doco?
Film students from RMIT performed a home invasion in September, pinning me against a bookshelf and grilling me for crossword lore. The upshot is a cute mini-doco called Cryptopia which you can see here. The piece also involves the prime movers behind the DA Trippers, Antonios Sarhanis (AS, or Tony) and Roderick Campbell (RC, or Rodd). Worth a look if only to peek inside the Word Cave.
Media Circus
This Sunday (October 23), you can catch a punchy session about language and the media on Radio National’s Big Ideas. At 5.05pm, the show is a highlights recording of Julian Burnside, Kate Burridge and this black duck debating which medium has the greatest verbal clout. Erudite entertainment for all lingo lovers.
Under the Volcano
For two weeks, from October 5, those in Melbourne have the chance to see two convicts escape. That’s the gist of my short play, Luminous, ‘running’ at the old Carlton Courthouse. Seven plays make the bill of MelBorn, a mixed menu of short stuff entailing a volcano, a birthday candle, a dark alley and a girl who thinks she’s a bird of prey. More here. All local writers and a bunch of fine performers. Come along.
Conversation Slot
Podcasters (or those with a radio handy), tune into Jon Faine’s Conversation Hour this Thursday, which is going nationwide this week out of 774ABC Melbourne. You’ll be able to hear Sonya Hartnett talking about picture books, a MENSA member named Peter Liston unravel the mystery of poker machines – and your own blog host rapping language, spruiking for new L&N contestants.
Murray River and More
Two big events are looming on the calendar. The first is Write Around the Murray, a literary fesitval in Albury from September 7-11. If you check this site you’ll see I’m giving two sessions, a comical keynote and a clue-flavoured lunch. While for Sydney citizens, get your verbal selves to the Style Council symposium on Saturday, Sept 10. Bookings and details here. Great to see you at either throng.