Lost AT E Minor

Frommers’ 500 places to see before they die

In a twist on the top places to see before you die, guidebook giants Frommers have released the more ominous publication, 500 Places To See Before They Disappear. The point they are trying to drill home is that, such is the rapid pace of change in the world — whether environmental or due to urban growth — that there are established and recognised places that may well die before you do. What’s interesting is that, with climate change dominating headline news on an almost daily basis, a new market has opened up for eco-friendly or environmentally sympathetic products such as this which play on people’s concerns and their need to ‘do something’. It’s being seen on many fronts, from architecture to tourism, to domestic products.

C’est Bon Anthology

Whether you’re a sequential artist, fine artist, illustrator, or a fan, the Swedish anthology C’est Bon will definitely light a fire in any creative spirit in need of some inspiration. The latest issue, Vol. 5, exhibits amazing talents from around the world, talents that I am humbly honored to be rubbing elbows with. They include Andrea Bruno, Emeilie Ostergren, and Marko Turunen, to name a few.

George W. Bush coloring book

With President Bush’s exit from the White House just months away, commemorate our 43 head of state’s illustrious eight years in office with the George W. Bush coloring book! Yes. These books have memorable illustrations with quotes to remind you of all the notable remarks he made regarding race, international affairs, economics, religion, and more. No need to color in the lines, this is a great way to show your respect to the leader whose tenure produced the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. Illustrator Karen Ocker took pains to capture the look of courage under fire and sought out quotations to exemplify Bush’s legacy.

Sam Weber

There’s some awesome new work up on New York-based illustrator, Sam Weber’s website, including this one above which is did for the Soulpepper Theatre. We asked him a little while back about what his studio workspace was like: ‘I am fairly particular about where I like to work, and what sort of stuff I like to have around me. There are things that I look at often — a book of Max Ernst collages, one on Yoshitaka Amano, and a big stack of clippings from magazines and the Internet that I will periodically leaf through to get inspired’. Read more

Famous Blue Raincoat

Many years ago, when my hair was longer and my clothes were shabbier, I played guitar in a Sydney-based rock band. We never come to anything more than a few years worth of gigs and a deeply closeted aspiration to take the radio charts by storm. We never did. A lack of talent intervened, but it was damn fun while it lasted. Anyway, at one point during this debauched period of my life, I had a friend who was the frontman for the exotically named, Blue Apples of The Moon. He had an unusually resonant baritone and a penchant for writing epic music. One day he handed me a demo cassette with a batch of his new songs on it. I took it to work with me the next day, whacked it into my Sony Walkman, and immediately swooned amongst the lulling tones and fretfully beautiful lyrics of this Leonard Cohen classic. I was gobsmacked. Totally mesmerised. And having never heard it before, I presumed that my friend — this humble frontman of a bizarrely named rock band — had just penned the greatest song of our generation. For about eight minutes and seventeen seconds, I was convinced he was genius. That was until one of my workmates pointed out that it was actually a Leonard Cohen masterpiece, one of many. It turns out that my friend’s demos were on the other side of the cassette. And they were pretty average. But hell, anything would be after this unholy precedent.

On the road with The Basics

A little while back, we ran a week long diary from Australian pop band, The Grates. It was kinda to get a window into the world. Hell, voyeurism is the new black. So we asked Melbourne-based rock band, The Basics, to do the same thing as they bring their music to the deepest reaches of Australia’s Northern Territory. These are the words of bassist and vocalist, Kris Schroeder: ‘Friday November 7. Darwin. It’s a weird old joint this one — I can probably compare it closest to Queensland’s Cairns, with the backpacker industry making up the life and character of the Central Business District. This makes it particularly good for bands, as you’ve got a ready audience staying only metres away from the music venues. Today was our first Darwin gig (at Monsoons), and it was a ripper. I’d organised with my mate Nathan to bring up the Sunshine Reggae Band from Ikuntji in the Western Desert, and they were going to be the first Indigenous band to play in the main street of Darwin, which is apparently quite a cultural breakthrough. The best bit was how well received they were, someone saying “This is great, because it’s what you should expect to see in Darwin, not just bloody cover bands all the time.” Quite chuffed. By the time we played it was packed out, and everyone was loving it. Job done’. Read more