Breakfast Bar: Arts & Culture Bits

Diane Keaton’s memoir, Then Again, comes out today, so we can add it to Joanna Lumley’s Absolutely and Patricia Bosworth’s Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman… all going into mum’s Santa stash of women’s biographies. You can watch an extended trailer for the book’s release here. Did you know she got her liking for men’s clothing via the Salvation Army? What a thrifty gal!

Speaking of books, Emily Rhodes of the book blog Emily Books has her (hard) back up about undervaluing the female-authored novel. “How can publishers tell a woman that her choice of book is only worth £12.99, but a man’s is worth £18.99? And, worse still, how can they deny a woman’s book all the trimmings – hard covers, dust jackets, a decent RRP – that belie confidence in its publication?” So she writes in ‘Death of the Woman’s Hardback’ for Spectator UK.

The ABC’s online political commentator Annabel Crabb is to many female journalists what Annie Hall is to Woody Allen enthusiasts. Watch her present her thoughts on media and politics, and the ongoing story of democracy, to The Sydney Institute here, at your ABC. Viewing will increase your IQ by at least 5 points!

The world of cosmetics is mourning the loss of Evelyn H Lauder, 75, senior corporate vice president and head of fragrance development worldwide of Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. and co-creator of the Pink Ribbon Campaign, which has raised more than $350 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. An avid photographer as well as philanthropist, Mrs. Lauder died from “non-genetic ovarian cancer” and is survived by her husband, Leonard A. Lauder, two sons and five grandchildren.

Ginger Meggs, the comic strip based on the mischievous antics of a red-haired 12-year-old, has celebrated its 90th birthday. The strip first appeared in the Sydney Sunday Sun in 1921 and has been drawn by four cartoonists since. “Ginger has captured the Aussie spirit over nine decades and has inadvertently become a bit of a time capsule of the Zeitgeist of those years,” Jason Chatfield, the comic’s current cartoonist, in The Sun-Herald.

Scientists have made yet another discovery that’s really quite obvious: doing something selfless for a loved one makes you feel good. Researchers have found that when women provided moral support to their partners as they were undergoing electric shocks, the women’s brains released the feel-good chemical dopamine, which is associated with chocolate and sex. “Giving support to those we are close to may increase their likelihood of survival,” said the report’s co-author Naomi Eisenberger and assistant professor of psychology at the University of California.

What every woman needs now is a rucksack… at least that’s what we’re feeling looking at Sara D’Souza, travel editorial assistant at UK ELLE magazine, whose Forever 21 sack looks extremely practical. An update on last season’s smaller backpack, we wonder if Santa’s elves will be carrying rucksacks this season, too?

It’s an occupalypse! While mega music mogul Jay-Z has attracted criticism for capitalising on the Occupy Movement “brand” with a slogan tee, somewhat contradicting the movement’s anti-Capitalism purpose, the movement has now set its sights on the poetry scene, aiming to liberate artistic authenticity from the trappings of commerciality and the clenches of benevolence from the wealthy, reports Salon. Next stop: the bling bling American music monopoly?

Perhaps the Occupy movement could take a cue from poetry itself. Research by Janina Marguc of the University of Amsterdam published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that the strictures of typical poetic structures open up writers to “broader perceptions” and links to “seemingly unrelated concepts”. Or, as Wired‘s Jonah Lehrer puts it, “because poets need to find a rhyming word with exactly three syllables, or an adjective that fits the iambic scheme, they end up uncovering all sorts of unexpected associations. We break out of the box by stepping into shackles.”

New Idea magazine’s test kitchen will be turning its expertise to Christmas cookery starting this Sunday November 20 at 6:30PM on 7TWO. A six-week series, the show will show us how to make delights such as fruit cake, roast turkey, spiced apricot-glazed ham and cranberry and pistachio biscotti, and will be frequented by celebrity guests. It will be hosted by Damien Leith, the amateur chef and one-time Australian Idol winner who knows how to crack out a carol.

You can catch up with other Satchel happenings at Erica’s blog.