Dear Actors. Got that lead in a new flick that requires a Uruguayan inflection? Mayhaps you've landed an antagonistic role playing a Zimbabwean farmer, or a love interest in a Turkish, Ottoman-era epic? Maybe you've an exchange student in town and you're having trouble separating your Swiss from your Swedish....If any of the above make a particularly fitting hat, best you head to The Speech Accent Archive. Canvassing a ridiculous amount of localised voice registers there's hours of fun here comparing and coaching yourself on Humanity's varied takes on some arbitrary English prose. My favourite is the rather gentle NZ one ;)

 So, you remember that young girl that held Jake Gyllenhaal's hand throughout a series of some rather phantasmagoric happenings in Donnie Darko? annnnd, er, she kinda got run over?...ah. Anyway, Jena Malone is that same said actor, and she's just fine now. Trust me.
Since her time sharing the screen with the broken backed one she's done pretty alright for herself. Recently in favour at Sundance 2007, for her turn in the indie flick The Go Getter with Zooey Deschanel (awesomeness), she's also got a couple of top roles nestling nicely in some Hollywood post production suites.
What you mayn't know, however, is that she's also got this cool, off kilter folk group called Jena Malone and Her Bloodstains (amazing name huh?). Inspired by Animal Collective and the buzzing freak-outs of Atlantan flower-punks Deerhunter and Black Lips it's totally kooky stuff. But man it's great. She's even roped in the drummer from Blues Explosion. Dear friends in high places...  Actor/Songstresses Jennifer Lopez and Mandy Moore, eat yer heart out I say.

We all know shoegaze is back in a big way. Bands left, right and centre are layering their tunes with waves of otherworldly pedal effects. And so they should. It sounds amazing!
For all those drone masters out there with their eyes cast eternally downward though, here's a little, um, heads up. If you haven't heard, the band that helped define the movement and gave you raison d' etre have returned. The one and only......let me just catch my breath here... My Bloody Valentine are to reform. Booked for Coachella 2008, wow, they are also set to release a brand 'new' album before the year's out. Touted to be made up of material worked on circa 1995 and a few recent extras, the band claim it'll take up where their seminal Loveless left off. Listen and learn, kids.

Praise be that inimitable, crayon swinging folk-poet Jeff Lewis. The indie web bible Drowned and Sound has just published a host of his illustrated responses to fan's bizarre questions about morphing musical instruments, how to wear an octopus and his favourite colour ice cream. Pure genius.
He's also just put out a new album called 12 Crass Songs. Check it out!

Melbourne artist and bandana purveyor Tim Chapman cordially opened his 'I Like Living Crazy' exhibition last Friday night at Schwipe's Don't Come gallery with a hearty grin and some mighty cold beer.
In a refreshing reprisal of the old 'affordable art' bonanza, his amazing clutch of 50 drawings at $50 a pop lured the most rabid throng of art appreciators I've seen yet. His father even flew over from New Zealand's deep south for the affair. Nice one Dad!
More than eager to part with their 'pineapples', the typically black clad crowd were stepping all over each other to snap up one of Chapman's water coloured sharks, pyramid constructions or pop-culture baiting illustrations.
Chapman's works are up for a couple of weeks yet. This is a must see, get on down people.

Never ones to remain idle, Melbourne’s inimitable fashion mavens Alpha60 have just launched their brand new label The Beta State.
Based on their trademark geometrics and graphic eclecticism the bangin' threads are full of sci-fi and filmic references, kaleidoscopic psychedelics and an undercurrent of tribal nostalgia.
A small but exciting range, The Beta State certainly proves the design duo of Georgie and Alex Cleary are doing justice to the old adage “If you want something done well, ask a busy person to do it”.

If you get on down to a General Pants near you, you’ll see just what I’m talking about.

Whether it's Wacko Jacko, EMI or Sony that own the publishing rights, someone, somewhere is no doubt rubbing their hands in feverish, fiscal glee - possibly while some saintly Livepudlian bodies roll in their graves. The illustrious rap supergroup Wu-Tang Clan you see, have just made music biz history. Snaring clearance to use the first-ever Beatles sample, the hip-hop mainstays will be pulling hooks from George Harrison's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' (would ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ not have been a more apt choice?) on their impending record '8 Diagrams'.
Heaven only knows what this means for the rest of The Beatles’ musical legacy...'Helter Skelter' by Britney Spears, anyone?