WE'RE SUPPORTING

The French photographer and street artist, JR, has stepped up his game in an impressive way in recent times. He does huge xerox blow-ups of his own photographs and has done stuff in New York, Paris, and London. He did some huge work on the side of London’s Tate Modern, for instance. When I met the guy in Paris in 2003, he was doing 18×24 paste ups, and now he’s doing work that’s multiple stories high. It probably helps that he’s backed by Steve Lazarides, who was Banksy’s agent for a while. He’s got a big crew and some serious financial resources now. There are two components to effective street art: accessibility and the spectacle. Does it give me pause from the monotony of my usual day? JR may not be so much about the DIY anymore, but he’s definitely all about the spectacle. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Melbournes laneways are cluttered with themed, designer bars. The challenge seems to be which is the most hip, funky and individual bar. Step in Section 8, an old inner city carpark furbished with warehouse pallets, patio heaters and a couple of freight containers, converted to serve you drinks. The vibe is fittingly low-key, with background music played at a reasonable level, frequently changing decor, and a variety of options to quench your thirst. It’s casual, fun and simple. Oh, and to keep it that way, there’s even a no suit policy! [photo via TravelMuse]

WE'RE WEARING

AJ Dimarucot is a Manila-based designer specializing in t-shirt graphics. His work is electric, bursting with colour and momentum, like something you’d see in the Big Bang section at the Museum of Natural History. Or something like that. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

The limited and ripe deluxe booklet — The Bearded Lady — is the latest fruits of a collaboration between artists Sune Ehlers (Duudle to his friends and family) and Henrik Drescher.

WE'RE READING

Google recently demonstrated their ability to predict flu outbreaks across America weeks in advance of the outbreaks themselves. It would seem that they are more than just a pretty search engine. And as if that wasn’t enough, they’ve now teamed up with Life Magazine, what was the cornerstone of photojournalism for the Twentieth Century, to digitize 95 per cent of their image bank that never saw the light of day. Now millions of photos stretching from the 1750s to the present day are available on Google Images at the click of a button. Read more

Animator Mathieu Labaye created this short film in tribute to his late father, who had been in a wheelchair for the last 15 years of his life. 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]