WE'RE SUPPORTING

James Rajotte’s photo series on Rochester’s East High School is a revealing insight into the parameters of ’spatial relationships and the connotations of objects’. Of the work, he says: ‘My interest in photographing East came about as I was volunteering in a mentoring program in which students made short video productions with an anti-violent message. When I decided to photograph, I wrote a formal letter to the Superintendent and the Principal. After a bit of humming and hawing they made me East High School’s “official” photographer. They gave me a make-shift laminated pass and I became friendly with the security guards’. For an extended interview with James Rajotte, check out the Feature Shoot photo blog.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

While Flushing is still the place to go for the best Chinese food in New York City, those for whom the hour-long subway ride on the 7 is simply out of the question on most nights can now get their mapo tofu fix right in Manhattan. While the masses queue out the door at Joe’s Shanghai across the street, Famous Sichuan offers real-deal Sichuanese food such as cold sliced beef tendon in chili sauce, braised fish fillet with napa cabbage and roasted chili, and the most delicious cumin lamb this side of the East River. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Made from 100 percent organic cotton, pesticide free, and eco-friendly, this super soft tee featuring a unique, bold design 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 Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Jell-O! Liz Hickok’s latest artworks are based on a colourful, wobbly, mini San Francisco. Read more

WE'RE READING

I really don’t understand cat haters. Most of them claim that our feline companions are aloof and distant, graceful and mysterious to a fault. In my opinion, cats are just as goofy as dogs, which is why any documentation of them acting like spazzes makes me chuckle uncontrollably. 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

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.