James Gulliver Hancock and Pepe Heykoop chair

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Design company BrandImage has just come out with their line of paper water bottles made out of renewable resources. The bottles themselves are recyclable, and while not as reusable as a plastic bottle, can still be reused a few times. These are cool designs, even if they still pander to our on-the-go, single-serving, throw-away culture. Their environmental friendliness is also dubious, considering most people will still choose to throw these things in the trash rather than taking the time to find a recycling bin.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Schmidt, Hammer and Lassen’s design for the Copenhagen national library is a celebrated structure in the already glittering design portfolio of northern Europe. The marble and glass façade of The Black Diamond (yes, that is what their national library is called) is an example of architectural brilliance, with even the angled walls designed to best mirror the city’s beautiful canals.

WE'RE WEARING

Seriously, all jokes aside, we really need to tear ourselves away from our computers every once in a while. These shirts, on sale at Threadless, may be intended as a light-hearted jab at modern culture, but who will be laughing when our hands become gnarled claws from decades of ceaseless typing and our spinal columns have fused solid from lack of movement? Evil monkeys, that’s who.

WE'RE THINKING

Hello, my name is Zolton and I’m a non-dancer. That’s right, a non-dancer. I choose not to dance for the mental welfare of others, though my inability to shake and roll with the best of them can probably be traced back to the Id, the Ego; that darn voice that sits somewhere at the back of my head and reminds me that any inclination to hurl myself about the dancefloor will not go down well in public. So I choose not to. Heck … it’s my party and I’ll sit quietly and observe if I want to. Read more

WE'RE READING

Our favourite fiction quarterly — the Australian produced Torpedo — is soon to release its second issue, which is jam packed with well-written, independent fiction. Read more

You heard it here first. Singer-songwriter Julian Perretta might just become the most exciting new artist of 2008. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

There’s a world-weariness about Two Gallants frontman Adam Stephens. It reveals itself in the Tom Waits-like raspiness that permeates his gin house drawl and in the talkin’ blues narratives that he weaves around his simple acoustic fingerpicking. They are the new superstars of the West Coast scene, majestic showmen in homespun rags.

Listen to the Two Gallants track, The hand that held you down.