If you are familiar with my ramblings here you'll know I have a deep affection for New Zealand designer Alex Kim and his label Jaeha. Well, it seems I'm not the only one; last week Alex found out that he is one of the ten international  talents shortlisted for the prestigious Mango Fashion Award. Never heard of it before? Let me break it down: now in its second year the comp aims to showcase up-and-coming designers  and is supported by Europe's finest fashion schools, including the famed Central Saint Martins. Previous judges of the award include the iconoclastic Vivienne Westwood and Valentino; the inspirational John Galliano and super-slick Hedi Slimane. One of the judges this year is ***OMG***, our lord of the fingerless gloves, Karl Lagerfeld!!!!! Oh, the ten finalists also received a wee 15,000Euro cash injection and the winner will take home a tidy 300,000Euros. But who really cares about that - hello, Alex gets to meet Karl Lagerfeld! Mr Kim is in some pretty esteemed company, with other finalists include Christian Wijnants, Jean Pierre Braganza and Australia's own Josh Goot. Mad congratulations Alex!

My musical obsessions tend to be quite cyclical: at the moment I'm once again all about early 80's hardcore and thus Black Flag, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion etc are back on high rotation. but despite my season/circumstance/mood defined listening patterns, Kids of the Black Hole by The Adolescents will probably ALWAYS be my favourite song - cheers to my old boss Chris for introducing it to me back when I actually was a disillusioned youth.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the runway show of emergent Sydney designer, Sara Phillips. I've been seeing this young lady's name peppering local fashion blogs quite a bit this year - a graduate of the East Sydney Fashion Design Studio, Phillips worked with the likes Jason Brunsdon and Saba before stepping out to do her own thing in late 2007. Her "own thing"  has been described as sharply feminine, well-tailored and very wearable and I think Come fly With Me, the winter 09 collection that I saw, adds magical to that list also. Inspired by all things in flight, Come Fly With Me referenced the wing-span of a dove, structure of a jet plane, the soft movement of a balloon in the sky and, of course, the celestial beauty of a birds feathers. Some of my favourite pieces from the collection were those that used feathers - I mean, how show-stopping is the dress above?? I was also in love with the royal purple feathered headband, shaggy jacket and a velvet skirt reminiscent of a christmas beetle with spreading wings. The range is due in stores around march next year. Head here for more pics and stockist info.

19Karen is an awesome new gallery space that's bringing new life to Queensland's art scene. Opened less than a month ago, the gallery has already gained a strong following amongst those QLD'ers that appreciate emergent and experimental art and 19Karen looks to continue exploring this niche with their upcoming show, Pap Spears. A themed exhibition exploring the relationship between modern day celebrities and the public (one of my favourite subjects no less), Pap spears features work from up-coming artists Sue Dodd, Mari Hirata, Anthony Lister, Alasdair Macintyre, Daniel Mc Kewen, Sebastian Moody, Archie Moore, David Spooner and Jemima Wyman. In light of its subject, the opening night of Pap Spears will be a 'sleb-style one; think "Halloween Hollywood"  and you should be set. Pap Spears opens on Friday, October 30 from 6pm.

You know when you hear a song on the radio and it pretty much blows your mind and you are all like "Oh my god, what is this song, who is this band?!" but then the DJ never says. It's super frustrating hey? That was pretty much my introduction to NZ's Bachelorette AKA Annabel Alpers.
I heard her single I want to be Your Girlfriend when I was back home once and with such relationship-in-bloom lines as "I want to be your girlfriend/ I want to hear about your childhood" I was pretty much hooked and searched for ages to find out who it was by. My search was rewarded by the fact that Alpers is amazing. In making her 2006 debut album the multi-instrumentalist locked herself and a bunch of vintage instruments away in an old hut in the Canterbury plains and, on her own, wrote, recorded and mastered the wondorously fuzzy, whimsy and distinct Isolation Loops. Anyway, I'm giving you the back story because, hot off her tour with Baltimore duo, Beach House, Bachelorette is playing one show only at the Curtin Bandroom in Melbourne on October 24. Support is by The Sun blindness and Teeth & Tongue and if you happen to attend this super special show (which YOU SHOULD!) you should know that I'm jealous.

Are you partial to a long shower? Guilty of leaving the tap on when you brush your teeth? Known to put four pairs of underwear and a t-shirt on a full wash cycle? Are you, my friend, a water pig? If you answered yes to any of the above then perhaps take heed of the fact that October 19-25 is National Water Week. That doesn't mean "use as much water as you like" week but rather, "our waterways cannot sustain the ever-growing population and we need to reign the splishy-splash in" week. In accordance, here are some water-saving tips I have deftly compiled:

- Take shorter showers (duh); set that stop watch and make every-morning a mini-challenge to thy self!

- Instead of drowning your veges in water and boiling the shit out of them, try steaming them in a shallow bed of water, with the saucepan lid on. It makes them cook way quicker, saves water and keep more vitamins in your greens - win win!

- If you live in a Surry Hills/ Fitzroy rat hole then chances are your taps leak. SORT IT OUT. You will invariably have old-school faucets and the washers on these things are a cinch to replace. You can find the instructions over the internet in the time it takes to change your Facebook status.

- Get feral and save that dirty washing. Take a week to cultivate a big pile in the corner of your room then when you really do have nary a stitch to wear, wash it all in one go. Washing with a full load saves about ten litres of water.

So there you go, for further (probably more valuable) info, head here.

Melbourne's Gertrude Art Space presents an aural smorgasboard of one hundred sound works by one hundred artists from the 21st century. Brought to you as part of the a.ma.z.i.n.g Melbourne International Arts Festival, this show employs the work of noise artists like the UK's Neil Campbell; US group Nitsch no Neck Blues Band; the abtruse Sunn O))) and legendary Sonic Youth to illustrate the depth and breadth of contemporary experimental music. I'm pretty bummed that I can't go because the set-up sounds rad; 100 headphones dangling from the ceiling for you to bring to your curious ears. 21:100:100 can be veiwed/ heard  until November 11. To put you in the mood, here's some straight up drone from Sunn O))).