Have you ever found yourself draining the last of your mini champagne bottle, having just danced for 13 hours straight surrounded by sweaty masses of people and thought “Yeah, this is OK, but I wish it was contributing”.  Well it seems your prayers have been answered with a London club opening up with what I can only imagine is the first ever club to take advantage of piezoelectricity.  This natty little diagram explains it all really; energy from dancing moves the floor in such a way that electricity is generated and piped back into the venue.  Powering up to 60% of the building in this case.  The club is also using recycled water for its toilets and if patrons can prove they walked, cycled or caught public transport, their entry fee will be waived.  The whole venture is being backed by an outfit called Club4Climate; who’s other ambitions include a planned self sustained party island by 2010.  Just make sure to bring a change of clothes and some (carbon neutral) water.

“Who the f**k is Lil’ Wayne??”.  That was the question so eloquently posed
to me by my girlfriend on the weekend.  There’s really no simple way to
answer that question.  On the surface he comes across as any other gruff
voiced rapper spitting over beats about chicks, cash and the po-po.  Dig a
little deeper and you’ll discover that he is quite simply one of the most
prolific, popular rappers on the planet.  Ever.  His latest album Tha Carter
III is the first album in over 3 years to sell more that 1 million copies in
it’s first week. He has been a constant fixture on the American Billboard
Charts since 1999, has collaborated with pretty much every artist from ‘Ye
to Jay and was named one of GQ Magazines “Men of the Year” in 2007. Amazingly he is still relatively unknown outside of the States with his album currently sitting at #47 on the ARIA charts.  My tip; put your feet
up, grab a bottle of Cristal and prepare to get crunk cause 2008 looks
bright for Lil’ Wayne.

This coming Thursday 19th marks a landmark event for Sydneysiders and Apple Inc aficionados alike with the opening of Australia's very first Apple Store. What's so special about a stupid gadget store I hear you ask? Perhaps that question can best be answered by aspiring New York model, Isobella Jade. Jade, who spent the better part of 18 months err, "just browsing thanks" in one of Apple's flagship stores managed to find the time to not only update her facebook profile using the in-store computers but also write a full length autobiography detailing her struggle to crack the competitive world of modelling. Apparently the staff were all but too happy to help her with any iPod related queries or spell check problems. So, with that in mind I might pop along to the opening this Thursday with my manuscript and notepad in tow hoping to bang out a bestseller by closing time.

I am an Apple fanboy. There. I said it. I’m not ashamed of it and I don’t try and hide it. I get a certain type of glee whenever a new Apple product is announced, my mind immediately thinking of ways to scrimp and save money so that I can be there, front of the queue when the latest and greatest products go on sale. Last night (technically 3am this morning) that
anticipation reached fever pitch with Apple announcing an update to one of their most successful gadgets ever, the iphone. Dubbed iphone 3G, it offers much needed 3G wireless capabilities (for faster internet browsing) and an in-built GPS (think facebook style applications that lets you not only communicate with friends instantaneously but also see where they are!) along with the usual ipod and email functions of the previous iteration. It will be available sometime next month on Optus and Vodafone (Telstra have yet to make an announcement) with Apple predicted to sell approximately 1 trillion phones before the year is out. Now if you will excuse me I’ve got a piggy bank to break open and a queue to join.

Now, I’m not hating on Sydney’s trains at all - but when it comes to public transport, the Japanese certainly know what they’re doing. Take this train from the Japanese port city of Kobe for example. Somewhat modified to celebrate the opening of a local IKEA store, designers looked past regulation vinyls and gun metal interiors instead option for the vibrant fabrics and upholstery typical of IKEA. The train will carry passengers up until May 6th so if you’re in need of any design inspiration head over and check it out for yourself. That’s one cancelled serviced you’d be disappointed to miss!

Guaranteed to delight and thrill almost all members of my family (and many others around the world) Pixar animations are due to launch their latest film Wall-E in the coming months.  Famous for classics such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo (my favourite), Wall-E follows the story of the last robot on earth, who finds love after 700 years of being alone.  Not much else is known about the plot however it is said that in a throwback to silent movies of the past, the first 45 minutes are entirely dialogue free.  With breathtaking visuals and Pixar’s usual story telling flair this is sure to be another classic in the making.

I nearly spilt my cup of tea all over my fish and chips just now when I heard that Ian Brown is set to tour Australia.  “King Monkey” (as his fans affectionately know him) first gained recognition as the lead singer of the Stone Roses; widely considered one of the most seminal rock bands to come out of the UK, their debut self titled album went on to inspire the sounds of struggling start up artists such as oasis, blur and later - thanks to the helping hand of gentrification - Coldplay.  After the Roses split, Brown went on to forge a healthy solo career and bang out several albums - the most recent of which; “The World is Yours”, he will be touring next month.  Brown will play this years East Coast Blues and Roots Festival with a serving of side shows for diehards like me.  So grab your bape hoody and dust of your adidas superstars and get ready to go ape!