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A couple of years ago Auckland band The Checks came outta nowhere (highschool?) to become one of the most exciting bands in NZ. I was probably their biggest fan - If by "fan" you mean "stalker". Anyway, my adolescent obsessions may have come to pass but thankfully these guys are still awesome. Case in point is their latest single There is a Field. It's sexy as hell. Please enjoy.

We live in a visually saturated world that continues to bombard us with hundreds of advertising messages every day. From bicycles to blimps, we face the reality of becoming a suffocated society that's moving into atrophy. As a result brands such as the European jeans label Diesel (inspired by the Absolut campaign: An Absolute World, perhaps?), decided it was time to “salvage what precious public space is left,” handing over giant urban canvases to its inhabitants and in turn creating the 'worlds largest outdoor gallery'.
Around 5 months ago The Diesel Wall project set out on its journey in search of 4 artists from around the globe, providing them with the possibility of stamping their mark on 4 key cultural wall spaces within 4 major cities. The premise: “take your art, your powers of dissuasion; your ability to disrupt; incite; excite; inspire and intrigue; to make comment; to make beautiful; to make real; to make people think again”.

After much public deliberation most of the results are in. Check em out:

New York - Jonathan Sandridge

Manchester - Tim Hensel

Zurich - Andreas Marti

Barcelona - Still to be announced

Ah, roller skating. Anyone who knows me well knows I take any chance I can get to take a trip down memory lane. So when I think of roller skating, I think of A Night at the Roxbury soundtrack, change direction and extra large slurpies. Anyone who spent many a Thursday afternoon at the now deceased Skate Plus, Taren Point knows what I'm talking about. But Skate Plus got torn down years ago. The death of fun it seemed. But get ready to make like Olivia in Xanadu and rescue those old skates of yours from the downstairs cupboard, because PACT theatre at Erskineville is holding the greatest roller disco party since the 1990s!
Operating under the psuedonym The Rollergrooves, Melbourne performance artists Thai Snaith and Nerinda Reeders have taken up a residency at the PACT theatre. But they're not only reviving the world's greatest hobby of roller skating. Since trying to establish an international name for themselves for the past 5 years with performances in Mexico, San Fransisco, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Snaith and Reeders take inspiration from the long forgotten 19th Centry French concept of Tableau Vivant (living picture). Donned in matching red and white costumes, their performative installations often take place at public gatherings such as exhibitions, political protests and other festivals and rallies. Their work references themes of consumerism, feminism, symtery and and death through the situations they get themselves into.
Some might say that's plain absurb, but hey, who's ever been to a roller disco party at an art gallery before? I know where I want to tell people I spent my Saturday night.
Get your skate on kids this Saturday June 28th. For more info see http://www.pact.net.au/

Do fixed gear bikes and neoteric architecture often leave you feeling cold? Is there a place in your heart that cannot be filled by Wes Anderson and leather biker jackets alone but rather, longs for a fan-filmed sci-fi video and a homemade sequined sweater every now and again? Well then The Uncool-Hunter is the website for you. Launched in 2005, the Uncool Hunter aims uncover "the kitsch, the bizarre, the freakish, the surreal, the hyper real, the sub-professional, or everything that does not fit in the cool or elite culture". Have you ever seen those glamour shot wrestling photos that are always at Surry Hills markets? Well, imagine an entire website of that. Bliss.

The story of Malachi Ritscher's suicide is confronting but reinforces the idea that true journalism could be coming to an end. Death is always newsworthy, anti-war protests are also arguably newsworthy, but why was the death of Ritscher not reported within mainstream news outlets for so long? Malachi Ritscher died on November 3, 2006 near a Chicago (U.S.A.) expressway during the morning peak hour period. He doused himself with gasoline and became a walking torch after lighting himself on fire as a protest against the Iraq war.  Irrecogniseable and charred remains were found hours later next to a sign reading: "Thou shalt not kill." It was Ritscher. The man who wrote his own obituary and mission statement before committing an act of self-immolation.
You may be thinking, "what a douchebag," but you could also think "why didn't I hear about it? Why do I hear when there's a naming contest to name a new baby panda at Taronga Zoo, but not hear about a member of the human race becoming a blaze at rush hour, in the United States, to make an anti-war statement?" So, I'm at odds when deciding what the bigger story is... (a) the fact that a man set himself on fire and burned alive to a crisp or, (b) the fact that the media almost completely ignored the incident.
You decide.
Photo by Joeff Davis

Gumby is the kind of childhood obsession that makes you feel sorry for the kids of today and all their Dora the Explorer dolls, Hannah Montana concerts and GHB-laced Bindeez. That’s why these school holidays you should take it upon yourself to drag as many kids as you can away from their Yu-Gi-Oh cards and Pixel Chix down to ACMI where “Gumby: The Movie” is showing. “But my kids won’t watch anything that isn’t made using CGI graphics let alone claymation…” I hear you say in disgust. WRONG. Gumby is timeless. And your kids WILL like it. I mean he is in a band called The Clayboys, has two groupies called Tara and Ginger and can mould into any shape that he wants to! Awesome. Dora is no green, clay, cosmic display that’s for sure.

Ian Usher is. The 44 year old's five year marriage ended last year and - rather than getting a new wardrobe or at least a fringe - ol' Ian is getting a new life. And you can have his old one! Yes, Ian can soon be found on eBay; offering up his not-too-shabby three-bedroom house in the Perth with all it's contents, his car (a 1989 Mazda 929 in gunmetal grey, incase you were wondering) his job at the local rug shop, his legal bills from the divorce.........okay,maybe not that last one. As he explains; "My aim is to walk away at the end of the eBay auction with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, go to the airport and just jump on the first available plane to anywhere." The auction doesn't go live until June but if you can already picture yourself wrapped up in Usher's robe; on the couch watching So You Think You Can Dance, or just grabbing a beer with "Dazz" (yes, friends are included) then head to his website for more info.