A nickel for Nicholson.

There are so many reasons why Jack Nicholson is awesome.

Take this photo for instance... CIGARETTE SNORKELING!!! (i am not endorsing smoking here kids)

But fuck he's great.

I recently watched The Shining and was completely mesmerized by the fact that Kubrick used 500km of film for this epic movie. Now, if you haven't seen this thriller, you are seriously lacking in what I like to call, film cool. With famous quotes like "HEEEERE'S JOHNNY" and possessed chants of "redrum", this film has influenced hundreds of thriller spoofs and a whole generation too. SO,  GET ONTO IT. 

Essentially, this post is a homage to the brilliance that is Jack Nicholson, and his extremely bizarre attachment to sunnies and a decent 80's leather jacket.

So here's to you Jack!

not ANOTHER MAGAZINE.

cheque savings or credit?

pin or sign?

manual or automatic?

inside or outside?

smoking? non-smoking?

small, medium, or large?

ribbed, studded or extra slim?

HOW MANY FUCKING OPTIONS ARE THERE THESE DAYS!?

This issue is of no exception to the crazy amounts of magazines available to today’s society, and the major question that needs answering is "which one should we choose?"

Well, with nothing else to do after abandoning my career as an academic, I have put my newly appreciated stack of time into researching the best magazines (the cream of the crop) under the most important topics. 

...BUT, as I went into Borders one day to pick up my beloved KINGBROWN magazine, I couldn't help but stare at the people who were spending too much time trying to choose a magazine... and, I decided right then and there to save the planet one step at a time, and alleviate some heavy pressure imposed on us all when faced with the masses of excellent magazines on offer.

ART:

Art World

SOCIETY:

KINGBROWN

FASHION:

Oyster

INDIE:

YEN Magazine

TRAVEL:

Conde Nast Traveller

FOOD:

Gourmet Traveller

MUSIC:

MOJO Magazine

FILM:

Film Comment

CULTURE:

Interview Magazine

TRASH:

Grazia 

ENVIRONMENT:

Green Magazine

ARCHITECTURE:

Curve

INTERIOR DESIGN:

InDesign

ALL ROUNDER:

Time Magazine

NB: There are many other excellent magazines out there which unfortunately could not make the extremely strict cut this list exposes. However, i do encourage you all to do your own research and find the magazine that suits you best.

I feel fine, and so do approx. 11,482,671 others too.

Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar are farmers,

... and their job is to harvest millions of human emotions.

Every 10 minutes, 'a data collection engine automatically scours the internet' and harvests human feelings from a large number of blogs such as LiveJournal, MSN Spaces, MySpace, Blogger, Flickr, Technorati, Feedster, Ice Rocket and Google.

"We Feel Fine scans blog posts for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling"... Once a sentence containing "I feel" or "I am feeling" is found, the system looks backward to the beginning of the sentence, and forward to the end of the sentence, and then saves the full sentence in a database."

... So, if you are feeling a little lonely, head to http://www.wefeelfine.org/index.html to see how many people are feeling lonely at that time too. Its a quick smart way to grab some life affirmation.

I've got a Sixth Sense

When the words ‘sixth sense’ are uttered from anyone’s mouth it immediately evokes a visual of Bruce Willis trying desperately to communicate with his wife, only to learn he is, in fact, dead.

However, the sixth sense that follows is not quite as devastatingly tragic, and has nothing to do with the ability to communicate with ‘the other side’.

Prepare to be confused, concerned and completely bewildered by the genius and sci-fi forward thinking that is exposed in the video provided:

To view more free lectures on a whole range of interesting (and most likely BORING as hell) topics, visit TED Lectures @ http://www.ted.com/

L ! M P

Little Independent Melbourne Publishing (aka L ! M P) is a brand new student project created by the brilliant up and coming literary masterminds of the Creative Writing cohort at RMIT University, Melbourne. 

Headed up by Dr Francesca Rendle-Short, and comprising of 21 students from a wide socio-economic background, L ! M P's main objective is to expose its students array of "literary talents" whilst refusing to "adhere to the belief that good writing is synonymous with intellectual wanker-ness". 

This website is a definite must-read if you are looking for a fresh and truthful take on everything and anything that surrounds us in today, tomorrow and yesterday's society.

Check out the L ! M P website @ http://limpwriters.com/

Banking on Banksy

Melbourne town hosts some of the most impressive graffiti the world has ever seen. From the backs of buildings in Fitzroy, to the renowned Hosier Lane in the CBD, people gather from all over the globe to sneak a peek at the some of the world's most exclusive graffiti works. 

At one stage, Melbourne got so proud of its graffiti, that a rare and tiny piece done by the notorious british graffiti artist known as Banksy, was protected by a heavy, state-government planted, plastic sheet. 

... this, some would say, was a major fuck up.

As i walked down the busy pathway of Flinders Lane, I tossed a sideward glance at the back of the building that housed this now 'celebrated' Banksy piece, and to my surprise, what had replaced it was a dripping coat of freshly spilled silver paint, covering Banksy's work, and protected by the same state-government inflicted plastic cover.  

In response to this act I will post a quote from Banksy himself:

"Any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head"

... So, in essence, this act of 're-arranging' and 're-using' graffiti pieces around the world is the precise ethos of the craft, and the government's act in trying to preserve Banksy's piece, is actually an act of destroying the very nature of graffiti as we recognize it in today's culture. 

"When the time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don't make any fuss"