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Call me a little behind the literary bandwagon if you will (so what if I'm over a century late) but Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre is one of the best I've read in recent weeks. The protagonist (who just happens to be named as that rather creative title suggests) is a reserved, plain-featured and orphaned child born into a life with no future prospects. She yearns to break free of societies smothering class consciousness and become something more than a hollow materialist or unquestioning religious adherent. In short, she's unconventional. The semi-autobiographical journey of the plucky young Jane leads to the final discovery (summed up rather nicely by good old Bronte) that "conventionality is not morality" . Props to a brilliant delve into what would have been some extremely taboo issues; women's marginalization, poverty, mental health, physical abuse inside the domestic sphere and hypocrisy within the Church. Plus there's a KILLER love story.

I've gotta be honest - I didn't commence it with the highest expectations - but this thing makes for some seriously addictive reading. Garnering kudos from literary greats such as Thackeray (et al), Jane Eyre is a classic that deserves to be more than a coffee coaster or the solution to a wobbly table leg - so go grab a copy for next to nothing and read it over and over and over.

Last night I stopped in at a party for Belvedere Vodka. The set-up was one of the most amazing I've seen in a while - the back-alley next the the State theatre was fattened out with ornate antique furniture (think velvet chaise lounges, giant edwardian thrones, crystal vases and ashtrays), pieces of taxidermy and portable fireplaces. I left after a while though because the omnipresent posters of Vincent "rape eyes" Gallo were freaking me out. Gallo is one of the faces of belvedere's "luxury reborn" campaign. Terry Richardson is another, which leads me to the above video. It's by Whirlwind Heat; a Grand Rapids band who I fell in love with a few years ago and still love to this day  -  debut album "Do Rabbits wonder?" is sooo good. The single is called Purple (all the tracks on Do Rabbits is named after a colour - they also released an album of nine, one-minute songs) and the video was directed my Mr Richardson before his face/penis started cropping up everywhere. Please enjoy.

Warm, confronting and deeply human, Beginner at Life is one woman's discovery of her own body. Written by emergent NYC play-write Alana Ruben Free, the autobiographical work begins when Eden, a young mother, walks into a yoga class to find that she is disconnected from her body. Eden then embarks on a body-mind-soul exploration that takes her from yoga to nutritionists to Club Med seeking the cause and solution. The journey has been described by audiences and critics alike as witty and often confronting - with Ruben Free nosediving into the generally touchy themes of sexuality, anorexia, post-partum depression and religion with assuredness and grace. The play is debuting in Australia at the hands of director Bryan Cutts, with the one-woman role being taken on by screen actress, Donna Brooks. Beginner at Life premieres at Darlinghurst's TAP Gallery on October 15 and runs until November first.

Are you living in Sydney and contemplating a night in with some re-heated lasagne and an eppy of Make Me a Supermodel? Well don't because there's, like, a million things to do tonight - most of which involve art so even if you do sink five beers it's still more constructive than an hour with J-Hawk.

Palmer Projects: Surry local Mark Drew aka Marktronix presents his first major solo show, C-90. Mark was one of the original forces behind the infamous China heights Gallery and for C-90 sees him explore the humble cassette through canvas, prints and installation pieces.

Black and Blue: Make Yourself at Home David Withers and Lachlan Anthony is an exhibition of installation, sculpture and photography that interrogates the artefacts which fill domestic and urban fields of contemporary experience. I hear rumblings about mechanical rodents and massacred couches. It certainly looks cool.

Monster Children:
Tracks in the Snow, according to the presser,  is "part of an artisitc journey". Andrew Pommier, Scott Pommier, Dereck Hodgson, Niall McClelland and Seth Scriver are all Canadian (there's lots of snow there!), they're all artists and they've all contributed work for this canuck-y group show.

Get out and feel aliiiiive y'all!

I wear heels everyday - and when I say heels I generally mean some crazy-ass, vertigo-inducing numbers. I don't know when I started wearing heels with such regularity but I do know it's long enough to have shortened my ligaments to the point that flats are now painful to wear. Ooops. I mention my choice of footwear because I think it may be the reason why I am regularly (and mistakenly I should add) solicited for sex. It happened again last night; it's 5.30 at night, the sun is out - children are out. I'm walking home mindin' my binniss when a car sidles up beside me. I look over to see some old perv copping a mad eyeful. Whatevs Pervy McPervyson, keep it moving. But he doesn't (!!) and instead proceeds to follow me up the road; rolling ten meters ahead, stopping and starting back up again when I walk right the f**k past. This happens a couple of times before old pervy tries to call me to his car! Now, I have nothing against prostitution - folks need to make cash/ folks need to get off. What I do have a problem with is young women like myself being wrongly approached in their own neighborhood - you want a hooker? Dude, you're in Surry Hills, I can point you in the direction of at least five brothels in direct radius. This has happened to me a few times now. What am I doing wrong? Do I really look like a curb server? Should I move? Does this happen to anyone else?

When I was in high school, I had a part-time job in the children's wear department of a certain well-known department store that shall remain nameless.

I can remember being truly disgusted one Saturday morning, when I opened up a new box of stock and was faced with mountains of diamonte-studded padded-bra and brief sets for the girls 12-and-under section. Seriously, it was lingerie for preschoolers. I can't say I was surprised by how totally inappropriate this was - we had also recently started stocking those vile Bratz dolls and I had ranted at my manager about that too (why is it that the boys' toys are things like science kits, Meccano and sports equipment while the girls are encouraged to play with tarted-up bimbos who promote inanity, blue eyeshadow and skanky clothes?).

Anyway, I know it's an issue that has been brought up on YEN before, but hey, you know, maintain the rage and all. I think Phillip Adams was the first to call it "corporate paedophilia" - he wrote an interesting article a few years ago which you can find here. There's also the 2006 TAI report "Letting Children Be Children: Stopping the sexualisation of children in Australia" by Emma Rush and Andrea La Nauze. And there's a more recent article here for those of you who are bothered by this sort of thing.

"By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe".

The always outspoken Brigette Bardot on Vice presidential candidate Crazy Palin