From sax-happy jiggabooing to circumscribing a heart of darkness, cinema – now drawing on post-centennial breath – has pretty much run the racial gauntlet. Which means those colonised by the camerastare can sigh happy for the time being (just as long as all that King Kong reverb doesn’t kill whitie). But the price of peace comes strung up between a rock and a hard place, spinning political strife into Bunuelian hubris: artists fallen to the wayside continue to either shitgrin and bear it, or bite the hand that feeds them – not that anyone on the market end could give a fuck either way.

Final Big Day Out programme for all live acts + times/stages now available. Download the timetable (PDF, 956k)....[here]

Live from the Cultural Futures international arts symposium, IMOGEN NEALE compares notes with visiting Philippines-born artist Fátima Lasay. Up for discussion: postmodenism, terrorism, cultural imperialism, and other -isms.

Prior to next week's Big Day Out – where we will have an intrepid reporter in the mix – all is not quiet on the musical front. Dance act MYLO has been forced to cancel due to illness; NZ drum 'n bass giants CONCORD DAWN will fill their shoes. Meantime, rumours afloat that THE WHITE STRIPES have cancelled are certainly not true, although front-man Jack White will be "resting his vocal chords" in lieu of their scheduled Japanese tour. Aside from live acts, Big Day Out-ers will encounter a slew of side attractions: the FRUJU VIBE SLIDE, requiring shorts of swimming togs; the SILENT DISCO, a Glastonbury import equipping groovers with wireless headphones transmitting a phat mix; and the LILYWORLD, an R18 licenced area, a world within a world, an alternative desert island hideaway with performance areas, sound systems, pageantry, sculptures, art installations, sideshows and air-conditioning! All side attractions are free.