LHO was a POS

Recently stumbled on "Lee Harvey Oswald Was My Friend", an article by Paul Gregory published in "The New York Times Magazine" back in 2013. Fifty years after the event, it achieves the impossible of presenting the assassination of JFK from a fresh POV - and a very relevant and revealing one at that. Of course, it does raise further questions...

http://goo.gl/IwN4lg

Jules Francois, Richard and Sir John

It's Archibald/Wynne/Sulman Prize time again at the Art Gallery of NSW, with I-don't-agree winners and how-could-they? finalists aplenty.

Rather than the judges' nightmarish choice or the packing room's predictable one, my Archie woulda gone to Alicia Mozqueira's rendering of Doug Hall as a kind of living statue.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2015/29629/

Based on the entries on display, 2015 was a weak year for the Wynne. A notable exception being Jun Chen's "Tropical Forest II", its layers of brush strokes demanding exploration.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2015/29649/

Anita Gerega's "Dingoes" shoulda won the Sulman. What an amazing work! A familiar (to Aussies) subject made unfamiliar; made powerfully present and yet Dreamtime mysterious.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2015/29693/

Which pics would you have chosen, readers?

Last five movies watched

Pick of the bunch: Has to be "It Follows". A beautifully creepy cross between a suburban horror fable (you can't outrun your past) and a ponderous art fillum.

Fly parlour

Unfamiliar with the Coogee Diggers club, I was lured inside by a "Pinball HQ" sign. It turned out they had a dedicated area with 13 pinnies. There were posters advertising the new KISS machine, so presumably that's coming soon. I played "The Walking Dead", "Doctor Who" (twice), "Elvis", "Star Trek" (based on the 2009 reboot), "AC/DC" and "Metallica". 'Twas a pocket full of gold coins well spent! I hope the headquarters is still operational when RS and BS next visit.

Last five movies watched

Pick of the bunch: As powerful as "The Man Inside" was, I've gotta go with classic British chiller "The Medusa Touch".

Ancient history alert!

Have I ever mentioned the office accounting course I did through the CES job centre? The class was an interesting mix of people, including a teenage chick who coulda been a catwalk model, an older guy who had been a champion "Space Invaders" player and a trading-card nut with whom I split a box of something to do with Judge Dredd.

There was also a slightly stuffy bloke who got along with me and pretty much no-one else. He dressed like a businessman, but I can't recall how he'd come to be unemployed. People didn't always divulge. I remember there was a woman going it alone and retraining after escaping an abusive relationship. I remember the "Space Invaders" guy joking about injuring himself while sex-ercising. And I remember getting in trouble for laughing at a character in an instructional video.

Returning to the accounting... I felt like I had a knack for the subject - as did one of the gals. We both scored 100% on the final exam. If I'm honest, though, she was the better student. Mayhap she went on to be a bookkeeper. I sure didn't. I landed a role flogging toys and sporting goods at Kmart, and never balanced a ledger again.

Chatting with a champ

The issue's been off newsagency shelves for a week, so it can't hurt our sales to post this interview I did. Rereading it just now, I noticed a word out of place. Sorries.

The owl service

Starring Agnes Obel, Cara Delevingne and Zooey Deschanel.