Extreme Ironing started in 1997 when a group of friends decided to iron in some rocks near their houses in the city of Leicester, Great Britain. The activity was risky because they were in danger of falling, which is why they thought to turn it into an extreme sport.

This anecdote gave birth to the activity of Extreme Ironing. Its official website recommends that the clothes to be ironed must not be the best garment you have in your closet because a calculation mistake can cause the loosening of the garment itself. World and regional tournaments are organized and often Extreme Ironing is combined with other extreme sports so that the followers can practice both sports for the price of one.

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Showcasing works by leading Australasian artists, the Super Human exhibition re-frames the Cartesian body within contemporary culture. Focusing on Cognition and Neurology (Mind), Augmentation and Biological Manipulation (Body) and Nanoscale Interventions (the Soul, the ‘not visible’), the exhibition exposes aspirations and fears about our bodies and their extraordinary functions. The exhibition runs at the RMIT Gallery until December 5.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has plenty of music, art, gentrification, and hipsters, but it was missing one thing: a sex shop! I can’t wait to swing by the opening of Shag on November 20, for live music, art, and, yes, body painting! You just can’t beat sex in the city.

Last week, the Highline Ballroom hosted a sold-out show filled with more teen angst than a vampire movie. Say Anything was headlining, which was clearly who the crowd was there for, as teenage girls ran rampant, trying to scam drinks at the bar and waiting impatiently for the opening acts to finish their sets. I was interested in seeing Miniature Tigers beforehand, so I made sure I got to the Ballroom in time to catch them at 7. The Tigers have a great sound, and they were fun and energetic on stage, although they certainly could’ve been tighter.

This is their first album and tour, however, so they most definitely get a free pass in terms of technicality. Songs like Cannibal Queen and Dino Damage hit the mark, and they debuted a couple of new singles that were pretty interesting and seemingly more complex than those before. This is a band that’s definitely on their way up the indie ladder, and will be sure to be featured on all of our favorite music blogs any day now.

The crowd was growing restless waiting for Say Anything, and at approximately 9:30, they finally took the stage to a mass of applause and hollers.

The band is touring due to their new self-titled album, which recently hit the shelves, but luckily for me (and everyone else who doesn’t really know their new stuff), they played more old songs than new. And regardless of their age, the teenage girls who filled the room knew every word to nearly every song the band played. When singer Max Bemis stepped to the front of the stage, screams raged and arms reached out to touch him like he was a goddamn Backstreet Boy.

Baby Girl, I’m a Blur, Red Cat/Yellow Cat, and Every Man has a Molly Connolly, all evoked huge reactions from the crowd, and of course, much stage diving ensued. It was a great show, with a really tight band which is seasoned well beyond their years. Maybe I’ll finally give the new album a listen. [photos by Marc Evan]

Herb Lubalin’s influence as a graphic designer is undeniable, and now his name graces the side of the new building at Cooper Union. The inaugural exhibit of the Lubalin Center just opened with the beautiful Mike Essl-curated show, Lubalin Now. I’ve been noticing recently that design exhibitions have been blowing away more traditional fine art shows and this one is no exception. It’s quite exciting to see the influence this man has had on many of today’s young top designers. Standouts for me were the pieces by Deanne Cheuk, Alex Trochut, Justin Thomas Kay and Rick Valicenti. The show continues until Dec 8.

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Featuring a selection of awesome graffiti from the black books of super-powered artists, the recently released Piecebook Reloaded: Rare Graffiti Drawings 1985–2005 — compiled by Sacha Jenkins and David Villorente — shows the work of more than fifty graffiti icons and is an eye-popping throwback to the days before everything offline was online and art was a statement rather than a dollar grabbing business.

Hanoch Piven, multiple award-winning illustrator, will lead a hands-on collage workshop for professional illustrators who want to free their inner child. Piven’s workshop will focus on the idea of playing intuitively with objects, maximizing trial-and-error and taking advantage of serendipity, which are all very useful tools to explore any creative medium. Piven is known for using ordinary objects to create striking celebrity portraits for such clients as Time, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The New York Times and Random House. The workshop takes place on Tuesday, November 10, between 6:30 – 8:30pm, and will be produced by Fernanda Cohen.

My fellow Germans — or anyone willing to fly to Berlin — should go check out the solo exhibition Supreme Beings by emerging Aussie artist Kill Pixie (aka Mark Whalen). His latest series of geometric paintings are on display at Berlin’s Merry Karnowsky Gallery until December 19. I’m particularly intrigued by Kill Pixie’s use of candy colours coupled with his depiction of masked puppet-like characters set in celestial and futuristic scenes. Supreme Beings meticulously ‘questions the games people are forced to play, reinterprets the universal human struggle and what will be necessary for survival in the future of our world’.

November is shaping up to be Typographic month in New York. On November 5 there’s the official opening of Lubalin Now — the inaugural exhibition at the newly re-located Herb Lubalin Study Center at the Cooper Art Union, featuring beautiful typography from the likes of Alex Trochut, Huntergatherer and Non-Format [featured above].

November 9 is the AIGA/NY’s game show night, The Type Is Right. See legendary designers and typographic aficionados Paula Scher, Louise Fili, Chester Jenkins, Roger Black, Allan Haley, Jonathan Hoefler, Andy Clymer, Sara Soskolne, Charlie Nix, Patrick Seymour and Paul Carlos competing live on stage for the first time head-to-head, with a special cameo appearance by Paul Shaw, The Type is Right’s own special judge and final word on font-related discrepancies.

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Fellow alumni William Powhida has a fantastic new exhibit up at Los Angeles’ Charlie James Gallery, No One Here Gets Out Alive. In this new Series Powhida’s aptly named fictional character, Powhida, flees the New York Art World for a stab at destroying LA, indulging in all of our favorite vices, booze, coke, sex and sometimes art. We read about this debauchery in Powhida’s trompe l’oeil notebook pages, newspaper articles and obsessive lists. I even found myself enjoying an issue of 944. Incredible! The show remains open until December 5.

How much better can it get than little dollops of contemporary art interspersed throughout the breathtaking setting of Champagne Pommery’s Domaine in Reims, France. The most interesting part here is that this is an ongoing tradition at Champagne Pommery, going all the way back to the 19th century ‘when Madame Pommery commissioned sculptor Gustav Navlet to carve four bas reliefs for the estate and later had the famous cabinet maker and glass artist Emile Gallé create a solid oak Pommery barrel that holds up to 19,816 gallons (100,000 bottles). This barrel was displayed at the 1904 Worlds’ Fair in St. Louis’. The upcoming Sixth Pommery Exhibition, Sons & Lumieres, will be curated by French artist Bertrand Lavier and will include ‘everyday objects often set in difficult spaces’.

Whoop Dee Doo is a performance art group based out of Kansas City, Missouri, and hosted by Jaimie Warren and Matt Roche, alongside fifteen or so other cast and crew members. They travel internationally to put on random shows that, visually at least, remind me of a G-Rated John Waters movie. The idea of Whoop Dee Doo shows is based upon kid-friendly faux public access TV programs (they are filmed but don’t actually air) that appear highly entertaining for adults as well. Last year, they performed at Deitch Projects’ holiday party, amongst other places.

Every show is totally original and the props and the set designs are made on location, sometimes the night before a show. Once the cast and crew land in a city, they scout weird and interesting local talent to weave into their act, along with contests such as the ‘Janet Jackson Nasty Boys Dirty Sock Contest’, game shows, and dance intermissions that require, guess what … yes, audience participation! If you’re in Kansas City this Halloween, be sure to check out their Halloween Spooktacular! Needless to say, come in full costume.

Says curator and gallery owner Iain Dawson of Australian artist Robin Sweaney’s work: ‘I first saw Robyn Sweaney’s exquisite paintings when I was invited to a curatorial panel event by the Visual Arts Network and Arts Northern Rivers in 2006. What immediately enthralled me was Robyn’s attention to detail and obsessive capturing of the scene’s she surrounds herself with. The stillness of the works and the contemplation on these uniquely Australian dwellings work strongly on many levels. Firstly the paintings and drawings are aesthetically beautiful and incredibly evocative. Secondly, I’m increasingly fascinated by the subjects of these works, these wonderful houses, soon to be lost to the collective consciousness, superseded by the McMansions of the new millenia. Robyn’s works are a link to our heritage, our collective nostalgia for a simpler, less flashy world’. Her latest series, Home Beautiful, is showing at the Iain Dawson Gallery between 10-21 November.

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Australian company Dosh wallets turn the necessity of carrying money into a daily fashion parade thanks to their sleek extra thin designs. Even more intriguing is Dosh’s recent Wallets As Art project. Some of the world’s finest contemporary artists have teamed up with Dosh to splash their creative vision across blank wallets, which are now available exclusively to the public via auction. Bidding for individual wallets ends on the evening of November 2, so get in quick if you want a memorable chunk of Kill Pixie, French, Stefan Marx or Jonathan Zawanda adorning your Dosh wallet.

If you haven’t yet witnessed the genius that is The Mimi & Flo Show, catch them Thursday, November 10 at Comix Comedy Club. Joining them will be The Hazzards (New York’s most best ever ukulele band), as well as guest stars Becky Yamamoto and Michael Cyril Creighton.

Do you live in the New York area and wonder what you’ll be doing Thursday, October 29th? How about you get your Halloween-prepped-dancing-ass to the Bell House for the Krewe de Soul Masquerade Ball to check out musical acts such as The High and Mighty Brass Band, Mighty Fine, and Tunde Adebimpe, from TV on the Radio [picture above]. Seven bands and three DJs are lined up to make you move your rump, which will be necessary to work off all of the free food you’ve consumed (get there early for the gastronomical delights). Oh, and feel good, too, knowing that proceeds from the event will benefit the Abeola House of New Orleans; a non-profit formed by parents whose children attended one of 200 schools and daycare centers that didn’t reopen after Hurricane Katrina.

Question: what’s the definition of torture? Answer: Being on a self-inflicted raw food diet during the New York Food and Wine Festival. Yup, this was hard. Walking through the cavernous surrounds of the Grand Tasting room, eying off the special offerings from some of New York’s finest chefs, and not being able to taste a morsel of it. Well, maybe a morsel. We did, afterall, come upon a tasty Tomato and Watermelon Salad with Goat Cheese, Arugula and Juniper by chef Todd Mark Miller. But the rest? Well, you can look but you can’t gobble down. And this was a food lovers’ hedonism: table after table of delicious treats, washed down by an endless selection of wines and spirits. There were cupcakes from Kyotofu, steaks from The River Cafe, and an Iron Chef station featuring a real time challenge. Still, the diet won. No treats for me that day, but instead a glimpse at how the other half live. Even if it was for just a few hours. [photos by Alison Zavos]

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Finger sandwiches, tea and a burlesque dancer in pasties dancing with a two foot tea cup and tea bag. What more could anyone possibly want on a Sunday afternoon? I had the pleasure of attending the Food & Wine Festival’s event, Tea Seduction with Tracy Stern, recently and it was definitely a treat. Being seated, we were immediately presented with ginger scones served with the most incredible made-that-morning raspberry jam, orange marmalade and clotted cream. I can’t say I wasn’t in love with a single thing placed before me for the duration of the event. Earl Grey Tea with Sherry, delicious salmon and creme Fraiche finger sandwiches, cut out with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and some of the most amazing Chai tea — Tracy Stern’s own Salontea Chocolate Chai Tea. Nothing beats a Sunday afternoon spent being entertained by a burlesque dancer and sipping on endless cups tea.

Between October 21-24, the Australian International Animation Festival is heading to Newcastle, just out of Sydney, where 110 films from 26 countries will amaze, delight, amuse and confuse — perhaps all at the same time. There will be ‘two international programs, a showcase of Australian animation, highlights of SIGGRAPH Asia, a digital program for for the brave, a late-night hour of oddness in Late Night Bizarro, and for those under 18, there’s a special kids program of international animated treats’. Tickets are $5 per session or $30 for festival pass to see all eight programs. No pre-sale — at the door and cash only. If you’re in the area, be sure to check it out.

With the price of gold hitting an all time high, it was only a matter of time before designers took a hard look at what this metal represents. But just because gold has never been more unattainable, doesn’t mean our jewellery box has to suffer. That’s where Sydney design group Ten More Girls come in. Standing true to this philosophy, their latest exhibition Girls Against Gold kicks off this Saturday at the Blank Space Gallery in Sydney’s Surry Hills. They believe that preciousness lies not in the materials used, but in the piece’s emotional value. Crafting silver, brass, wood and bone, they’ll have you lusting after a whole new array of materials.