Deanne Cheuk in China

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Maybe it’s because I’m regularly checking in on her profoundly candid blog, or because her work speaks to me in some uncanny way, but I’ve always felt a powerfully calming and comforting relation to the work of illustrator, Penelope Dullaghan. With a complete lack of pretense, Dullaghan creates softly textured images that amazingly, even when commissioned, still manage to feel as if they’re just as much a piece of the artist’s state of mind. She makes you feel as if she’d rather draw nothing more than bubblegum and desk lamps, and darn it if she doesn’t make you feel the same way. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Monet and The Impressionists is on display at Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales until January 26, 2009. Alive with bold brushstrokes and dappled colours, the exhibit features 58 masterpieces by Cezanne, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro and Monet himself, among many others that have never been shown in Australia. It was amazing to view some of the finest quality works that revolutionised modern painting and the way natural light is portrayed on canvas. Go Monetise yourself and see Rough Weather, and all those serial haystack paintings.

WE'RE WEARING

Forget Macy’s, Bloomingdales and all that: Army Surplus is where it’s at. Half my wardrobe is from Army Surplus. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Swapping clothes between friends isn’t a new concept, but being able to swap your designer goods online with another member is. One of the biggest clothes swapping site is Big Wardrobe, with over millions of dollars worth of free clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories to swap. It features everything from designer to High St, American Apparel to Luella.

WE'RE READING

The Occasional Diaries Of Werner Herzog is a spoof online diary for German film director, Werner Herzog. Although they’re all fiction, I enjoy reading them as much as if they were genuine. Read more

Back in the day, when I was a skinny teenager on the great pedestal of life, I had a real obsession for the understated, low-fi, deliciously melodic and somewhat blurry sounds of the New Zealand Flying Nun bands. I would pool my meagre savings and canvas the local record shops, scouring the racks for the latest cassettes from The Bats, The Chills, The Clean, and, later, The Straitjacket Fits. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Setting Sun’s cover of Tom Petty’s You Got Lucky was recently released as part of Buffet Libre DJ’s compilation CD, Rewind 2. Says frontman, Gary Levitt, of their version on the song: ‘We got back from our European tour on Christmas Eve with a December 27th deadline for the track looming. It was finally started on December 26th and then sent off completed the next day. It was a great exercise in having to let some things go. That’s twenty-four hours out the door complete, old school style. That’s how records used to be made. Motown, baby, MOTOWN!’ We have the song for free download in our Music Download section [psst, it's in the third column of the site]