WE'RE SUPPORTING

The people over at Amanda Oakleaf Cakes made this sweet, life-sized cake shaped like an imperial stormtrooper for the Arisia sci-fi convention in Boston.

WE'RE THINKING

I awoke the other morning from the sleep of the damned, a fitful spell of tossing and turning courtesy of a mild dose of the flu and the constant rattle of the JMZ trains as they hurtle across the tracks outside my window. Read more

Artist David Shrigley’s animated music video for Blur is so simple, so sweet, so perfect. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it, yet it still makes me cry every time.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

On the roof of Bangkok’s Banyan Tree Hotel is a dining experience like no other. The Vertigo Bar sits sixty one floors up, and serves delicious gourmet meals and cocktails. These are expensive by Thai standards, but cheap enough for shoestring travellers to indulge in now and then (a cocktail costs around AUD$12). I’ve spent hour after hour in the bar, drinking and smoking and taking in the amazing view. Most nights at Vertigo end the same, with fast-moving storm clouds rolling in without fail at about eleven pm. While wait staff scurry to move tables, and drunken diners navigate the steep stairs down to the safety of the hotel, the more hardy can sit and watch the clouds race closer and closer towards the building, soaking in both the atmosphere and the rainwater until the lightning gets too close for comfort.

WE'RE READING

An anonymous public school teacher known as Mrs. Q, following Morgan Spurlock’s lead, decided to eat every school lunch served to her for the duration of 2010. At the risk of her job, she documents her experience on her blog, which features photographs of the atrocious, shrink-wrapped, processed poison that she and her students are forced to choke down every school day.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

The latest project of former punk rock drummer Andreas Asingh from Copenhagen, I literally stumbled across Small through my participation at the By:Larm music conference in Oslo. As one of the many up-and-coming bands in Denmark, their sound is a cross between M83, Remote, and Giorgio Moroder; captivating and adventurous, and full of strong melodies.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

WE'RE WEARING

My band, Bloody Panda, used to perform on stage wearing executioner hoods. We’ve stopped doing that, but I’m going to suggest that we all wear panda hat/scarves.