Costan Rican artist Alejandra Diaz’s latest exhibition of whimsical watercolours, The Lion & the Lamb, envisages a brave new world where video games are about how many people you can kiss. Where money is only used to play monopoly; where there are no zoos or prisons, and a leader can walk the streets unguarded.

Pocket rocket party girl Diaz has called Melbourne home for three years now, and we’re benefitting from her multifarious talents. She has a clutch of internationally recognised art and design prizes in her purse; most recently Adobe’s Online Design Festival prize 2009.

Get thee to St Kilda’s Wabi Sabi Garden – where, a la Diaz - we’ll choose dignity over greed, love over lust, truth over media hype. Where you don't love your neighbour as yourself, because there is no neighbour and there is no self. On from December 10-30 2009.

The Eagle’s Nest Theatre  in Melbourne is an independent theatre group dedicated to producing cutting edge performances and workshop programs, and The Nest has been so well feathered with talent this year that they’ve launched a second season.

Hatchlings include a reworking of Macbeth that will breathe new life into the Bard’s story, and an intriguing stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 called 1984 Up Late by Eagle’s Nest own director James Adler. 1984 Up Late poses the question “Have we become our own big brothers?â€�, exploring how institutionalised power and thought control operate today in parallel with the tyrannies of the 20th Century.

Check out their plumage at The Open Stage theatre in Carlton (corner Swanston and Grattan Streets) until 9th August 2008.

For those of you that missed kiwi sextet The Phoenix Foundation’s recent spate of Australian shows…well, you really did miss out. These boys are a slick act, part ambient, part rock n roll, part comedy, part winsome love song…they cover all corners. America thinks so too – they released their album, Horsepower in the big ole US of A through indy label Young American Recordings in May 2007, and it hasn’t been doing too badly. Sentimentalist Magazine described them as "serene and fluid experimental pop rock that could be the soundtrack to the dream you never want to end." They seem destined for big things, having recently written the original score for Eagle vs Shark, a cinematic romcom (that’s romantic comedy, don’t you know) starring Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords. A bunch of guys that sell souvenir teatowels (yes, really) at their gigs should be taken notice of – not only did the gig sell out, the teatowels didn’t last long either. Get on board and check them out here, and visit here for a freebie download of the song Sister Act from the Horsepower album.

2008 marks the centenary of Women’s Suffrage in Victoria. To celebrate, the Counihan Gallery in Brunswick is hosting an exhibition around the themes of female empowerment and emancipation. Women’s Salon 2008: Persuasive Dissent seeks to explore, through art, current issues of significance to women that impact on their sense of equality and liberty. It’s a diverse exhibition in a great space, with mixed media works in a range of mediums, from painting and woodblock prints to collage and crochet. Pictured here is Agota Molnar’s red-hot don’t f*ck with me high-heel. The emancipated kitchen wench in me especially likes Mish Cahill’s Aboriginal-inspired textile apron-skirt, while my inner magpie loves Ellinor Mazza’s stunning amethyst bejeweled necklace. All works are for sale. The exhibition runs until 20 April, 2008.
Counihan Gallery in Brunswick
233 Sydney Road, BRUNSWICK VIC 3056
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday to Saturday 11 am – 5 pm
Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm

Darling Town is alive and kicking up her sexy French heels in the streets of Melbourne. A beautiful boutique stocking a range fine and fancy Australian made and vintage/retro women's clothing, shoes and accessories, Darling Town opened in Spring 2007, and is fast captivating Melbourne’s Chapel Street style vixens with its heady mix of vintage, contemporary, sultry and punk-chic styles.

I especially love this dress from owner Audra’s own label Red Orchid…rock n roll baby.

Check out Darling Town on myspace or in the flesh at 190 High St, Prahran 3181.

I went to the theatre in Melbourne tonight at the last minute invitation of a friend, to the opening night of a local production by Company 13 called D.E.A.D. - Department of Existence and Death. Six people on stage with minimal props doing what good actors do best – transporting the audience to another time, another place...and another plane, in the case of D.E.A.D. This hour long play visits the office of a gaggle of officious, confused, and nutty bureaucrats responsible for processing people from life to death, where even the post mortem needs a post mortem. It’s clever, funny and very tongue in cheek. On until February 16^th at the Carlton Courthouse.