Brett Debritz’s archive

Actor Karen Crone was won the 2005 Brisbane Glugs of Gosh award for excellence in theatre. Crone, who starred in Creche and Burn at La Boite’s Roundhouse theatre earlier this year and has a long series of stage credits over the past two decades, received her prize at the Glugs’ Christmas luncheon yesterday. The event, hosted by Chief Glug Muriel Watson and Mayor of Gosh Eric Hauff, attracted more than 60 guests. There’s a photo of Karen and Muriel above, and there’s more pictures from the function here.

Brokeback Mountain, about a longstanding gay relationship between two cowboys, has scored a swag of nominations for the Golden Globes. Actors Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams and director Ang Lee have been nominated in their fields, and the film itself will be competing against George Clooney’s Good Night, And Good Luck, Woody Allen’s Match Point, Fernando Meirelles’ The Constant Gardener and David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence in the best film drama category. Significantly, many of the nominees are low-budget independent efforts.

I had some feedback about links that don’t work for some readers – although they work perfectly well from this end. Please let me know by email if you’re having trouble with the Brisbane Theatre Calendar link. The calendar, which is still being developed (and is farily bare for this time of the year), can also be found at www.brisbanetheatre.com.

ABC Radio’s Conversations is going south. From early next year, Richard Fidler will host the 11am program both on 612ABC Brisbane and 702ABC Sydney. However, it’s not clear from the announcement whether it will be the same program. Because of the time difference between the states, it will be theoretically possible for Fidler to do unique shows back-to-back for the different markets. If it’s the same show, then the Queensland audience will get their “live and local” radio on a one-hour delay during summer. If the Sydney experiment gets extended beyond its initial 13-week trial, the show will have to have a more “national” approach when the time zones fall back into alignment. It’d be a shame if that meant guests were chosen for their appeal to the larger NSW market rather than their ability to connect with Queensland audiences. Whatever happens, it’s clear – as I’ve been saying for some time – that Fidler, who is also slated to host the 1pm to 3pm slot on 612 next year, is being groomed for bigger things on the ABC. Perhaps the big-wigs in Sydney regard his time in Brisbane as an “out-of-town tryout”.

Life without sin is not boring, according to Pope Benedict. I guess it all depends on what you class as sin – and I have more than a sneaking suspicion that the pope’s definition is way more conservative than mine.

“There are many different kinds of comedians – the observational humorist, the impressionist, the character creator, the physical comedian, the self-deprecator, and the dirty-joke teller. What made Richard Pryor so brilliant is he was able to incorporate all these styles at once.” So said Damon Wayons in tribute to Richard Pryor. Bill Cosby said: “I wish that every new and young comedian would understand what Richard was about and not confuse his genius with his language usage.”

Comedian and actor Richard Pryor has died at age 65 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. CNN reports that Pryor, the star of 40 films and one of America’s favourite standup comics, died on Saturday of a heart attack. For more recent celebrity deaths, see the Celebrity Deaths Archive.

“I didn’t expect to end up with the sort of finances I ended up with. I was just running a business.” So said hitherto little-known Australian businessman Greg Poche after donating $30 million to research into melanoma. Bravo to him.

Closes tonight: A Christmas Carol, Cremorne Theatre, QPAC.
Today and tonight: The Spirit of Christmas, Concert Hall, QPAC, 2pm and 7pm.
Until December 17: He Died with a Felafel in his Hand, Roundhouse Theatre.
Book now: An Inspector Calls, March 16-26, Lyric Theatre, QPAC.
All bookings: QTix
See also: Brisbanetheatre.com

The director of the film Memoirs of a Geisha, Rob Marshall, has defended his decision to cast Chinese actors as Japanese characters. He says Ziyi Zhang and Gong Li were chosen for their acting abilities, not their race. In that case, why didn’t he cast Meryl Streep?