The Thousands

Cheese! Say it. Don't read it. This week we've got a local comic writer's autobiography, an interview with HTRK, Fresher 2011 and sewing classes. Oh, too soft for you? Harden the PUK up and head for a Lust For Life latte then. Or don't.

Cover shot by Sarah Werkmeister. Be ogled at all over the internets like Sarah by sending us your cover shots.

In the current epoch of comics it seems that almost every aspiring writer/artist is making the foray into what has, over the last decade or so, become a major genre within the form:  autobiography. Some of the most arresting autobiographical comics are situational, such as the neo-journalistic work of Joe Sacco or Guy Delisle.

The defining attribute of Eddie Campbell’s Alec is that it is about nothing and everything.  Where peers can often come off as self-important and narcissistic, Campbell delivers with humble poignancy and self-awareness, especially evident in the harrowing introspection of 'Graffiti Kitchen'. Alec experiences the realisation of his own animalism as he slyly moves from a relationship with a girl in her late teens to her mother, his sketchbook style at its finest, illustrating the disorder.

Campbell’s style aside, the sheer length of the period of time that this book covers will provide the reader with joy. One bears witness to his progression as both an artist and as a man; as he moves from early twenties existential anguish to career ambition and the accompanying anxiety, finally landing in Brisbane to raise a family (his son is in Cobwebbs). It is his insistently honest yet poetic portrayal of life and everything in it that is sure to ink Eddie Campbell in as one of the greatest autobiographical comic book artists.

For the first time in five years HTRK return to Australia this week to launch their second album Work, (Work, Work). When Danny caught up with the band he promised himself he wouldn’t talk about Sean Stewart, Rowland S. Howard or narcotics. He failed miserably scoring only 1 out of 3.

Jonnine Standish: I was just telling Nigel before you called that I dreamt about Rowland Howard for the first time in about a year last night. And then I looked at the date and realised it was his birthday. It’s a short dream so I’ll tell you about it…

William Bennet from Whitehouse had an exhibition and it was like you walk through a white sterile office like environment with the cutest girls that you had to shake hands with. Then as soon as you pass the girls and into the corridors there are just puppies and kittens and I was like ‘this is going to get dark, I just know it’.

The next thing I know the girls are killing the puppies and murdering the kittens and as you leave the exhibition completely traumatized there’s Roland standing outside having a cigarette. He just turns to me and says, “that was fantastic!”

Danny Venzin: Nigel, have you had any interesting dreams lately?

Nigel Yang: Yes, as a matter of fact I dreamt that my wife turned into a bud of marijuana. Or was that a nightmare? I was carrying her around in a canister and I’d open it up and realize that I’d shaken it around too much and she’d turned into dust. read more

Inbetweenspaces have hosted Fresher Cunts for the last three years alongside the IMA’s annual Fresh Cut show. Up until now, we always knew where Fresher stood. But with the IMA’s show axed due to funding issues, now it's like: ‘Fresher than what?’ Rather aptly, Fresher is getting a fresh start this year. Rather ironically, it will be their final show.

This new freedom has opened up a lot of possibilities for inbetweenspaces: a venue change, a new moniker, and, of course, a fresher than fresh new batch of artists. This year’s line-up includes Braxton Neate, Annie Boman, Liam O'Brien, Hayley Brandon, Jessica Quinn, Leena Riethmuller and Michael Vosper (plus many more). They are young, they are virile, and their art has quite literally never seen the light of day before.

Like a homegrown root vegetable that matures in the dark and warmth of its nutrient-dense soil only to be plucked rudely from the ground, fresh stuff sometimes has a bit of dirt round the edges. But by jove, give them a rinse and a bit of TLC and they are just so superior. Bake them in a pie or just have a nibble, you know they taste good.

People get tattoos for all sorts of reasons. Lots of them are dumb. A poor choice can sting like a neverending hangover or routinely embarrass like a high school yearbook photo. I think it's best to adopt an approach similar to Marc Jacobs, whose simple explanation for getting SpongeBob permanently etched in his skin was: it makes me happy to look at it, so I want to look at it often.

Tattly make tattoos guaranteed not to cause ongoing grief - they're temporary. Each design comes in a two-pack, so you can wear it out on two separate occasions, or give one to a friend. The idea came about when Tattly's creator swissmiss grew tired of applying "bad clip art" tattoos to her daughter.

Designs are mostly silly, artsy, or kinda cute - from a digital wristwatch whose time display says, 'LATE' to a computer cursor (arrow or hand), to the CMYK color circles and a bastardized Pantone logo. Or for the momentarily mute, the 'yes' hand 'no' hand is a great option.

Tattly = tattoos without the pain; physical or emotional.

Okay, here’s what Eva and Franklin (Tilda Swinton and John C Reilly) need to talk about – how they ended up with a Eurasian kid (Ezra Miller; as a child, Rock Duer and Jasper Newell). Clearly there was a maternity hospital swapsie and they accidentally ended up with a sociopathic, high-school-massacring cuckoo. Where’s Angelina Jolie when you need her?

Eva’s subjectivity complicates the central question of Lionel Shriver’s source novel – whether Kevin is innately evil, or Eva’s ambivalent mothering nurtured his monstrosity. Lynne Ramsay’s film represents Eva’s torturous soul-searching in a lurid, nightmarish way, both in wistful memories of Eva’s life before Kevin and unsettling, retrospectively portentous ones of their battle of wills. As if in further penance, Eva stoically endures the hatred of her leafy community, whose golden children Kevin slew.

Ramsay’s heavy-handed use of ironic visual/soundtrack juxtapositions and allegorical imagery tip the film into melodrama, reminding me of I Am Love, also starring Swinton. Eva flirts with Franklin in the rain, but sprinklers offer a more sinister soaking; she echoes Kevin’s repulsive nail-biting by picking eggshells from mouthfuls of omelette. And both Eva’s tomato-throwing travel memories and her cleaning an anonymous vandal’s red paint from her verandah evoke her Lady Macbeth-style ‘bloody hands’.

Trust a tattoo artist to name their latest incarnation / branching out of work Lust For Life (you know, that whole Iggy Pop fervour thing). Whether you're a thrillseeker (aka. love testing your pain threshold by having a needle poked into your flesh repeatedly), a humble pie eater or just a run of the mill coffee drinker, Lust For Life will entice you to live a little.

Now no 'politics of tattoo' here, but we do know that, by reputation, store-owner Aureole has given some great tattoos, and together with a band of fellow tattooists, is now 'inking' the Valley. The difference though, is that Lust For Life stock books, knick-knacks, local clothing brands and feature different artists on the walls each month, whether they're a tattoo artist or not.

If you're walking past the strip of Asian restaurants with a little hope for a cup of joe, they've got that too. The coffee is roasted locally which means no dire year-old bean for you, humble Black Flag fan (let me tell you, these walls are pretty good to stare at when drinking black coffee). They're soon going to have vegan foodstuffs for all you haters of animal cruelty, and sell basic cafe food (toasted sandwiches and brownies). Keep the coffee away from the guns - we hear it's bad for metal.

Kangaroo Point is a suburb that been long been in need of some curation. Scrolling back through The Thousands’ history makes you realise just how good a job The Story Bridge Hotel’s cockroach races have been doing to keep our interests elsewhere. With Puk Espresso swinging its doors open on 11.11.11, the yawn may be over for this much neglected part of town.

Brisbane no longer excuses mediocre coffee and Puk does a great job of surpassing expectations using the ever-popular Black Star beans. More a hole in the wall espresso stop than a fully fledged café, owner Antonia still does a great job to ensure those hungry lyrca clad cyclists that will no doubt soon fall in love with Puk have plenty of carbohydrates to keep them riding Le de-Tour with a selection of tasty pastries and cakes.

Sipping on your soy latte you’ll probably be wondering why nobody opened something decent in this area years ago. Just take a look at those big shady trees and historical buildings, and feel the river breezes sweep by and you may instantly envision Sydney’s The Rocks. Okay, maybe somebody has overdosed on dream-pop, but with Kangaroo Point now home to a decent espresso pitstop, the ferry may at least become a little more popular.

Garment making never ceases to amaze. Stick two bits of fabric together and wear it around. Sounds simple, but do you know how, where or by whom your clothes are made? The industry is not all sequins and lace, it has a pretty nasty underbelly that I frankly would rather not think about as I’m slipping into something more comfortable.

Okay, so making actual clothes can be pretty hard. But the most minor sewing procedures, like hemming or crocheting, are useful skills. And they can easily be developed further into something that is creative and fun.

If you dig this vision, Piece Together is a great place to start. A studio space in Woolloongabba, it has machines for hire, regular workshops and a great range of sewing supplies (much of which is produced ethically and sustainably). You'll never be short of inspiration here - the walls and mantlepieces are decked with craft and textile products handmade by locals. They encourage a lounge room-type of social interaction, where conversation and trading in tips and tricks prevail. Hone those needle skills and remember, friends that fray together, stay together.

There's nothing like a departure to bring out the shutterbug in all of us - the QCA Photography Grads have clued into this, and they're doing it with class. Three years of learning their art made sure of it. The photographers' practices range in style from photojournalism and art photography to commercial photography, and features the likes of Pip Lobston, Yavuz Erkan, Sarah Story, and many others familiar with NOT having their cameras set to auto. Say hello to these guys saying farewell.

Dick Diver, despite the innuendo of being disparaged ex-psychoanalyst drunkard brawlers are a band who live with abandon and play songs with equal abandon. They're launching their long player New Start Again - the title track of which is a languid account of being on the dole. Also launching their first LP, Royal Headache will have you singing along with the fervour of a teenager high on late-night goon. Joined by Loose Grip, you're not going to leave the show without a song in your head.

There's something secret going down and it's about to not be so secret - at around 1am on Saturday night, a certain local radio station will be streaming somewhat of an experiment where they've got 160 Jobs Cult members out to re-enact Flaming Lips' Boombox Experiment while the band are in the city for Harvest. Tune your radios to 102.1fm at 1am to hear the buzz of 160 iPhones playing their album Zaireeka all at THE SAME TIME, with conductors like PVT and The Holidays. It'll be wyld.

If you weren’t one of the crazy-eyed Harvest fans who bought tickets within the first minute-and-a-half of sales, you’re in luck. Tickets are still available to the Brisbane leg of the most exciting ‘feeling’ (Harvest is not a festival, it’s a feeling) of the year. With Portishead, The National, Bright Eyes, The Flaming Lips and so many more international headliners, this ‘feeling’ will be one to store away in the memory bank.

Remember that episode of Seinfeld where George was a hand model? For a moment you had impure thoughts about him with his perfect cuticles, pearly white phalanges and liver spot free hand. You looked down at your own clappers and cringed.

Listen up flipper hands, you need Salus Body, the creation of Jason Cook (former co-owner and general manager of Aurora Spa Retreat), offering Melbourne-made body, hand and therapeutic products including bath salts, herbal pillows, heat packs and soy candles.

Their new "best of spa" range contains botanics that reduce premature aging, increase hydration and restore your sense of wellbeing. They're also free from harsh chemicals, mineral oils and synthetic fragrances.

Salus Body's Hand Rescue Kit is neatly packaged in a drawstring bag, containing their Lavender and Mandarin Hand and Cuticle Cream and Grapefruit and Jasmine Body Cleanser, which promise to reinvent your handshake with chamomile, aloe leaf, jojoba, plant extracts and vitamin E. Kits are available online at their website.

But listen to this. Thanks to Salus Body, we have a Hand Rescue Kit (valued at $69.90!) to give away. To enter, answer the following question.