Whatever you think of his outlandish parenting antics there's no denying that Michael Jackson has been the musical talking point of our generation. There is just nobody else out there writing gems like Thriller while simultaneously holding their babies out hotel windows. So prolific, so many killer songs, so goddamn out there! I hope he enjoys his big theme park in the sky. Ow!

  Palestinian protesters take cover behind an olive tree. World Press Photo General News: 3rd Prize singles. Kevin Frayer/AP

Today I visited the World Press Photo 09 traveling exhibition at the Brisbane Powerhouse. It is a compelling celebration of quality international photojournalism, but also a powerful reminder of recent events. Conflicts, scandals and tragedies burst into our reality, but fade just as quickly. Right now I'm closely following Iranian elections, North Korea's itchy finger and psuedo-gangs in Melbourne, but for how long? Another week? How quickly I have forgotten a mini-war in South Ossetia, escalating violence in Gaza and Olympics-mania. Are we so fickle that we eat up world events as rabidly as celebrity gossip? I'd prefer to think not. Let's just blame our ever-connected, 24hour news lives and promise to do better. Lest we forget? The exhibition runs until this Sunday (and it's free!). Or check out the gallery of winners online.

Flight of the Conchords? Yep. But it's not Bret nor Jemaine (cute as they are in animal jumpers and big specs). It's Rhys Darby, the dude behind the hilariously awkward Murray, the bumbling manager of the band. On the HBO gem, Murray may play second fiddle to the quirky melodic observations of Bret and Jemaine ... but on stage he an absolute master of physical comedy.

Shifting flawlessly from playing the dorky teenager sans walkman to a holidayer having sex with a mythical mermaid, Darby's realisations on stage are enough to make you leave the theatre clutching those abs. He'll be taking his show "It's Rhys Darby Night" to the Edinburgh Fringe this year... so expect him to start making regular appearances on your comic radar soon.

Has anybody else noticed the sudden influx of foolish women popping up in the media lately? First we had beer mat mum, the epitome of everything that embarrasses me about some Australian travelers abroad? Then it was Clare "Miss White Australia 2009" Werbeloff doing her bit to promote inter-racial tolerance and uphold journalistic integrity. Now, to put the sugar-substitute cherry on top, 23-year-old Brooke Robertson of Auckland, New Zealand has recently lost a bucket-load of weight because she drank nothing but Red Bull for eight months... oh I forgot... sometimes consumed with a handful of Honey Puffs in case she was feeling a bit peckish. And despite having a minor heart attack, in her words "I don't regret it because I got to a weight I was happy with." WTF!!! Who are these women? Why do they get so much attention for being so blatantly moronic. They're letting the team down.

I've had cats that are more worldly.

When do you finally become an adult? Is it when you commit to using a handbag instead of a backpack? Or when you host dinner parties with multiple courses, serving a nice red instead of passion pop? Maybe it´s the first purchase of something nice to hang on your wall.
For those of you keen to get out of Never Never Land, by picking up a piece of art, head on down to the Blue Hotel in Woolloomooloo this Thursday 16th April for the first FLAC event. These fashion-art-lifestyle-culture extravaganzas duly support young emerging artists as well as fostering creative talent in our city´s less privileged. Some of the money raised from the evening will go towards the Mathew Talbot Homeless Services, creative arts program.
With limited capacity of 300 for the first event, get down there at 6:30pm on the dot. Tickets for the auction are $25 and include drinks, food, product samples (yay!) and the opportunity to pick up a future Damien Hirst. Or at the least, a talking point for your next dinner party.

I am so inseparable from my laptop that she may well be my best friend.
She's seen my most embarrassing photos, she has great taste in music, if she didn't always try to distract me with Facebook and Youtube, she'd make the most intelligent contributions to study. Even so, and call me superficial, she has no dress sense. At all.
Whenever we go for coffee, she always wears this black, boxy canvas number. It is SO daggy. (And don't get me started on her foray into tight black leather).
Thankfully, my unputdownable best friend is now styled by megafauna & me, a small, eco-minded design company from the Blue Mountains. My laptop now wears her very own cosy, quilted vintage-fabric sleeve to the cafe each day (she keeps her fabulous hand printed sleeve for going out dancing).
Meeri Quinn, design-guru at megafauna & me creates each piece with our impact on the environment in mind. All products are hand-made, from recycled materials, sourced from second hand emporiums far and wide.
As well as laptop sleeves, you can funk-ify your camera with a vintage-fabric cushy pouch or be the coolest customer in Coles with retro teatowel shopping bags.
Keep checking the megafauna & me website - their online shop will be up and running soon. In the meantime, check out what's available on their Etsy shop.
Your laptop will never be poorly dressed again!




      

My current travels have brought me to Chile. The long, skinny country of breathtaking scenery, friendly inhabitants, lots of dogs (!!??) and a sometimes suffocating amount of American college students on vacation. As is necessary on the road, to keep the budget satisfied, I've made many trips to the local supermarket and each time have had totally comic exchanges once at the cash register. Being the Bourgeois Greenie that I am, I try to take my own bags, but stumble into the problem that I can NEVER remember the word for bag! (With the assistance of my current connection to babel fish, I can tell you that Spanish for bag is 'bolso' but I'll be damned if I can ever find that word in the chaos that is my brain's Spanish department). Instead of being able to express "No thanks, I have my own bag" I have to mumble phrases like "I have one" ... "you have one what?" or "It's not necessary" ... "What's not necessary? The food you are buying? Then get out of our store and stop tormenting us you foolish Gringo". The girl on the till or the guy packing the bags look at me like I'm some raving, hand-waving lunatic. And though it makes for traveling comedy, it's all quite awkward and difficult and it makes me think:

If nobody in Chile has received the memo that it's a good idea to reuse your own bags, then 1. who else doesn't know yet and 2. HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THIS FREAKIN' PLANET???

And then I think, who am I to begrudge the Chileans a few plastic bags? Chile gains almost 80% of its electricity from renewables like hydroelectricity, commendable indeed, while we in Australia are about to compromise big time on environmental friendliness with the sham that is the Garnaut White paper (forgive my tardiness on commenting on this subject... less connectivity in the southern continent).

Finally, to bring some positivity back to the subject, let us listen to the rational, level headed gospel of the fabulous Tim Minchin. Until next rant... I mean post, keep on taking your canvas bags...