Well there goes that one! First week back at work and it seems like the rest of the office (and the city) is taking an extended break. There's nobody here! At first I felt rage, but now I love it. My commute is shorter, my lunch is longer and it gives me more time to focus on finding little gems to share like this one. Cute, yet brilliant, it's made by Serene Teh, a graphic design student from Singapore, who pulled it together in four weeks for an assignment. To those already back at the day job... Enjoy (and be sure to award yourself early marks this week).

This year at Peats Ridge Festival, 2010 was beckoned with new ideas and inspiration. I embraced women's urinals, barefoot mud dancing, hula hooping, but the highlight was a new love. For Kid Sam.

I'd heard snippets of the 2 cousins from Melbourne. Their self-titled debut album was nominated for a J Award earlier in 2009, but it wasn't until I sat mesmerised in a tent in Glenworth Valley, that I was hooked. Live, phew. These guys are something. Absolute fave is the single, we're mostly made of water. It just grabs your psyche the moment the guitar yodels in. By the time the melancholic chords are struck you've already signed up. Then Keiran Ryan's vocals grip you tight and your heartbeat is punctuated by stark cracks of the snare. Sigh. I was in tune-love.

So lustful was their performance, that the first task after the drive home on New Years Day was picking up said album from iTunes! I can't recommend it highly enough. Happy new music year 2010!

Tonic Design: Brisbane PARK(ing) Day 2008

Brisvegas lads and ladies - if you are looking for something random yet happy to do on a sunny Friday, tomorrow, this may just be one of the most wonderful prospects around. Grab your friends and make your mark in a temporary park(ing) spot. All over the city, businesses and organisations are claiming kerbside parking spots as their own in an effort to highlight just how fab and necessary open spaces are for our urban playgrounds. Visit the website for downloadable maps. Still can't find a spot? Drive around the block one more time!

If you take on board only one post that I ever make on this fair website, then let it be now and know this:

The Wire is the Best Show on TV. period.

Says who? Me, Charlie Brooker, white people, some other clever ladies and many, many more. If you need convincing, then lucky you, our own ABC will screen this television gem from TONIGHT! Tuesday! You need one of those fancy boxes because it's on ABC2 but it will be worth it.

Sit yourself down, consume every juicy morsel of this fleshy cop drama and prepare to be hooked (I promise I won't say I told you so). Oh for sure!

My primary school librarian told me never judge a book by its cover... but what about artwork that is essentially a cover?

If we're judging 'Paperback', the first solo exhibition from photomedia artist Sandra Schnellhaus, then words like charged and racy yet totally irreverent come to mind.

'Paperback' is a body of work that recreates sleazy novel covers from the 1960s as photographic stills. Catch Schnellhaus' highly stylised pieces at blank_space gallery in Surry Hills, Sydney from tonight until August 26.

Eleven-year-old Damon Weaver is not afraid of tackling the big issues in his interview with Obama. They candidly discuss bullying, education, the role of parents and school lunches ("can we just have mangoes and french fries everyday?"). The little interviewer is so impressed with the "very tall and nice" President, he names him his new homeboy. Cute. I want to interview Obama.

I consider myself pretty passionate about climate change, but at the moment I am feeling oh-so-uninspired. Why is it, that our politicians have made what is essentially a now or never moment, into a hodge podge of pollie-speak and acronyms. "A strategic opportunitiy. C.P.R.S., E.T.S., S.H.I.T." Way to rally the public Kev!

Thank goodness then, for a group of women (if you want something done...) who have come out with plain inspiring solutions. They plan to recruit one million Australian women and equip them with the tools and know-how to cut one tonne of carbon dioxide each, from their daily lives... THUS reducing the output of Australia by one million tones. Simple huh?

Join up at 1 Million Women to get on board with some mover + shaker women (captured in  flattering B+W by the talented photosmith Julia Schauenburg) doing their bit for the Earth. Without boring us all to death.