Thought For The Day
Orb To Ornament
The British Royal Family may be the only aristocrats who manage to hold on long enough to witness -- and collude in -- their transition from power to kitsch. Innately conservative, the British spared them the revolutions and beheadings they so richly deserved. Before I went to Japan, I thought that was regrettable. I wanted a modern constitution for Britain, just as I wanted a city as modern-looking as Tokyo instead of London's half-hearted mish mash. But now I see Britain's jumbled architecture and constitutional clutter through the eyes of a Japanese tourist or the New York painter Elizabeth Peyton. Now it seems more like a Jules Verne time machine, or a chunk of Siberian ice which may still contain the DNA of mammoths.

Person Of The Month
Liane Balaban
A conceptual artist, Liane Balaban has created her latest masterpiece. It's called 'A Table'. She explains: 'A Table features a seemingly hip, steely-grey, metallic utilitarian-type dinner setting, but upon closer inspection the perversions reveal themselves. All the dinner ware and utensils are subtly genitalia-inspired. Phallus tipped chopsticks, anus-esque salt and pepper shakers, vagina-like napkin holders. It's very avant-garde.'

Actually, Liane just made that up. The reality is a lot more glamourous. Aged 18, she has just played the lead in a film directed by Allan Moyle (best-known for 'Pump Up The Volume'). This new film, shot on Cape Breton, will be premiered at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. Liane is sure to become the 21st century's answer to Audrey Hepburn and Winona Ryder. I'm a bit reluctant to share her with you, actually, but here she is. Because, as Devoto once put it, 'I desire you for ever... and everyone'.

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