Don’t Ask Amanda

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Using found/re-purposed paper to draw on, British artist Olivia Jeffries creates pieces that look as if they have fallen out of the notebook of some latter-day Da Vinci.
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WE'RE LISTENING TO

Only the French can get away with the sort of effete, gothic electropop that Position Parallele make. It’s hard to tell if the duo’s deadpan is supposed to be funny or not, but it’s pretty hard not to pull some angular, jerky dance moves when listening to their New Order-ish tunes.

WE'RE THINKING

John Lennon was right, these are ’strange days indeed’. Mind you, he also claimed to have seen ‘a UFO over New York’ and ‘Nazis in the bathroom, just below the stairs’, so he may not have been the most reliable witness. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

As a child, I took piano exams in over-sized white rooms, on baby grand pianos that felt unfamiliar and echoed strangely as someone across the room observed me in silence. It felt clinical, intimidating and completely devoid of warmth. Last week, I started noticing upright pianos, some painted haphazardly, others respectfully untouched plonked in the most unlikely places throughout Sydney. There was one on the edge of the baby pool at the local swimming pool, with a young girl in a rainbow striped dress tapping out a happy but disjointed melody; another shaded under a tree at the park on the way home. Read more

Ten Masked Men are a British parody band that does death metal covers of famous pop songs by Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, and many others. One of my favorites is their cover of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River’. It’s epic.

WE'RE WEARING

From this artist selection of t-shirts comes this Mydeadpony illustrated t-shirt, silkscreened on a limited edition tee, and distributed in a vinyl sleeve, with a biography of the artist on the back of the sleeve. Every t-shirt is numbered and signed by the artist, and comes in organic cotton.

WE'RE READING

I’ve been reading Julia Wertz’s web comic, The Fart Party, which is simply a first person account of her every day life. The artwork is pretty rudimentary, but that works to the comic’s advantage, making it rather accessible and earnest seeming. Updated every few days, it’s not hard to keep up, and you never have to wait long to get your next fix.