
Close to greatness
I was in Melbourne last week and was struck once again by the striking contrasts between Sydney – where I live – and our southern neighbour. It may be a climatic thing (yes, Melbourne is cold!), but it really is a city geared towards the arts; towards creative expression that operates well outside the parameters of the mainstream. Just pop into the Greville Street Bookstore for proof. Inside is a thriving collection of independent zines, books, postcards, and posters, many of which have been lovingly assembled on a shoestring budget by any number of Melbourne-based collectives. It is a city where a good idea – a clever, quirky, and offbeat project – can quickly find a receptive audience. It’s interesting also that many of Melbourne’s secrets are hidden away down long winding alleyways. It’s here that the most original work is emerging – collaborative projects that tap into the strong sense of community which permeates throughout this invigorating, windswept town. Now if only they followed a decent code of football down there. [illustration by Hiroshi Tanabe]
Also by ZOLTON

Maths explains the origin of superhero characters
I love the colours and simple reasoning in this clever series by Scottish illustrator Matt Cowen, which uses basic maths equations to explain how certain pop culture icons came to be. Read more
Star Wars Uncut: a fully crowdsourced version of Episode IV
The project of creative technologist, Casey Pugh, this full length version of the George Lucas masterpiece was created from multiple 15 second segments recreated from the original movie and submitted by thousands of Star Wars fans, which were then spliced together by editor Aaron Valdez to form the final product. Genius, as both a commentary on contemporary pop culture trends (there are references to LEGO, stop motion, memes and the like) and on the power of tapping your audience for quality material.
Filmmaker creates LEGO stop motion to propose to girlfriend
Now, this is one for the ages: back in 2010, Atlanta film-maker Walter Thompson created a jaw-dropping LEGO stop motion to propose to Nealey Dozier, his girlfriend of four years. The video took 22 hours of shooting and some 2,600 pictures to splice together, a small sacrifice to pay for years of happiness together. Right? Right! Oh, and she said yes. Bonus.
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My friend Spoon makes whacked-out, colorful portraits, paintings, and custom doormats. Check her stuff out. Read more
Australian artist Tessa McOnie does some great portraits. I’m particularly drawn to her paintings of Aboriginal people. Read more
If animated wall drawings of severed heads and insect men ejecting their brains from their craniums is what people produce when they have too much time on their hands, then we should do their laundry for them and cook them dinner so they’ll have even more time on their hands.
There’s something compelling about the energy, the charisma, and the incessant pmmft, pmmft, pmmft of the slippery ghetto tunes blasting (and I mean blasting) out of every hotel, café and bar in South Beach, Miami. Read more
No one disputes that the Bush Administration is no friend to civil liberties, but this little spot on the ACLU website smacks of paranoia. At least it’s entertaining, and some people might actually welcome the ultra-convenient vision of the future this piece of propaganda offers.
I’m totally addicted to a tape I downloaded from Awesome Tapes from Africa by Onipa Nua. The Ghanan street musician has since passed away, but hopefully he’s somewhere smiling knowing that his tunes make me smile as well.
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Once upon a time there was a real connoisseur of jeans, Hidehiko Yamane, as expert and demanding as only certain Japanese ‘otaku’ can be. Read more
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A little infectious lollipop rock anyone? Feel free to embarrass yourself singing along at the stoplight. If the other drivers give you that look, roll down the windows and spread the love.
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Communication prosthesis by Sascha Nordmeyer
This ‘communication prosthesis’ by designer Sascha Nordmeyer is hilarious and awesome. I want to wear one to a job interview.

How ’bout this Jose Manuel Hortelano-Pi guy, huh? Quite the illustrator, yessiree Bob. From Spain, too. Spain is great! Read more

Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more

Honest Food Preparation Instructions
Yes, we’ve all been there: the chinese food from last week that still looks edible amongst the bare surrounds of an empty fridge. But really, we shouldn’t. Just let it be. Or College Humor will expose you! Read more
Created by graphic t shirt label, the-affair, and printed on beautifully soft American Apparel. Limited edition of 200.
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
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