WE'RE SUPPORTING

Phwoar! Can you believe Korean-born sculptor Yong Ho Ji creates incredibly detailed human, monster and animal figures using layers of purely recycled vehicle tyres? The detail perplexes me. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Here’s a nice piece by cartographer Victoria Johnson, inspired by an outdated globe she got on eBay. She lists a bunch of outdated place names and what they’ve become, highlighting certain historical events. Very informative.

Set in a remote Chinese village in the 1920s during a cholera outbreak and with a revolution bubbling in the background, The Painted Veil is a wonderfully tortured love story which excels on all levels. Based on the W Somerset Maugham novel, it was a labour of love for stars Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, who also produced the film. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

As a non-coffee drinker, I’m not going to rant about the coffee. I’ve heard, though, that the coffee is damn good. But I am going to talk about something else: food. Oh. My. God. Sydney’s Single Origin cafe have this awesome meatloaf sandwich and a raft of sourdoughs and prosciutto and roast lamb and chevre and chunky steak pies and yogurt with compote and four-cheese toasties and baked beans and … oh! Don’t forget Karlie’s special homemade lemonade! Karlie is always in the house so you know that it doesn’t come from a can and arrives at your table with that sour tang that reminds you of the annual Royal Easter Show. Everything they serve is created ethically and organically. Add the constant grinding aroma of coffee beans wafting through the air and, well, is there any other place to be? [photo by Daniel Boud]

WE'RE READING

The sky is falling. The world is ending. How do we deal with it? Since we can’t nail the CEOs and bankers that got us into this mess (instead, we’re bailing them out), let’s make light of the misery of people who make a living abetting the broken system.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

After getting lost in the quagmire that is the internet, M83’s Digital Shades, first released digitally in 2007, has just been given a space on the shelf in your nearest music shop. Before shooting to acclaim with Saturday=Youth, Anthony Gonzalez looked closer to Krautrock and Eno and produced this ambient sometimes beautiful record. There’s much less of a disco feel than both Saturdays and his first album, Before the Dawn Heals Us. Some might say it’s a bit self-indulgent, not easily accessible, and more of a soundscape than a pop attempt. Yet, like Eno, Gonzalez is slowly becoming a master of the perfect chord sequence, and the result is an interesting, often heart-wrenching, set of compositions. Read about M83′s favourite songs right now.

WE'RE WEARING

Made from 100 percent organic cotton and eco-friendly, this super soft tee celebrates a sinister world of kaleidoscopic colours and ripples of psychedelia, of serenading Queens, of dancing flamingos, of unimaginable euphoria. It’s all the work of Sydney label, Das Monk and it’s available through the Lost At E Minor online store for just US$40. Now, there’s one hell of a Christmas present, even if we do say so ourselves!