Author: Tristan
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On Beijing’s CCTV Headquarters
Beijing is dusty and sprawling and not a city you become nostalgic for. Some sections of it are, to the time-poor visitor, plain and free of character; some, particularly those around the historical and controversial Hutongs, even look positively provincial. But during my week in the city I began to gather habits, as if I… Read.
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On Andrew Croome’s Midnight Empire
I’ve got a review of Midnight Empire, the second novel, an addictive and sharp espionage thriller, by Andrew Croome, up at Verity La. All praise is due to Monsieur Featherstone. Read.
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On MONA and getting it but not
While I waited at Hobart Airport for the plane out, the scent of hot fast food reminded me of the acrid, sour, rotten kitchen smell of Cloaca Professional, the eating machine at MONA. I happened to be in its room, trying to understand how it worked while half expecting to be completely repelled by its… Read.
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On tarcutta wake
The kind of writing that makes me want to write, right now, and write better. I finished it with the thought that I want to read one very long piece with the same texture as these short pieces and if Josephine writes a very long piece, and I hope she one day does, I will… Read.
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On Brad Frederiksen
Brad Frederiksen is a poet. Much of his work is experimental and opaque; he waits patiently for readers to make the connections in his writing, not unlike putting messages in bottles and casting them into the ocean. Some years ago, on my old site, I posed the question, “What do you do when your favourite… Read.
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On the way to Surgical 2
When I’m beyond the landscapes I know, I look out the window, trying to pierce the bright reflection of the carriage’s insides, the reflection of my face and the faces of the passengers around me, to get a sense of where I am. Lights flash by. It’s all I see; the rhythm of light in… Read.
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On the sculpted head of Alexandros the Great
The white of marble sculpture. I think it’s the white, like the white of Melville’s whale, that has become fixed in the collective Western consciousness. It seems like it was meant to be, that it was the obvious choice for our artistic ancestors, that marble appeared so it could be hewn from the earth to… Read.
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*Clears throat*
Tristan Foster 