Thinking: Landfill

It's hot in Sydney. Maybe not as hot as Melbourne but still hot. Hot enough to lose sleep at night if you don't have the luxury of air-con, or the poor man's equivalent, a fan. So I bought one for the princely sum of $12.59.

Once I finished interpreting the chinglish assembly instructions, and recovering from a flying nut that flew out when I first turned the thing on, I began to feel guilty. Guilty with the knowledge that, one day, that fan will end up in landfill, along with the hundreds of other fans that were running out the door today at Target.

The environment has been on my mind since watching a recent episode of the brilliant Mad Men. Set in the 1950s, the show often depicts things you just don't see any more, like smoking housewives, black maids, and the like. In this episode, the Draper family are having a picnic. When they decide to leave, they simply shake their rubbish-laden picnic rug onto the lawn, jump into their Oldsmobile, and drive off.

For some reason, this really shocked me, that people from my parents generation used to do this to our planet. My first reaction was that it was unsophisticated, even primitive, but I quickly realised that in almost 60 years, we haven't changed that much. We were trashing our planet in the 50s with debris from our picnics, and we rubbish it today with twelve dollar fans from China.

And what's even worse is that I try to relieve my guilt by blogging about it, like somehow it negates the fact that I am also part of this unstoppable beast.

Designing: When architects become their city

For a select few architects, their work somehow becomes indistinguishable from the city itself. While they may practice in many cities, their work always conveys a particular setting. Think of Norman Foster in London (so very nouveau British), Richard Neutra in Los Angeles (total LA cool), Denton Corker Marshall in Melbourne (all those sticks!).

In Sydney, we have many beautiful and iconic works by leading architects such as Jorn Utzon, BKH, Allen Jack+Cottier and Alex Popov. But there are only two architects that, to me, truly represent this city's character - Harry Seidler and Engelen Moore.

Harry Seidler pioneered the Bauhaus movement in Sydney and, in fact, Australia, with his unapologetically modernist Blues Point Tower (1961), Australia Square (1967) and MLC Centre (1975). In his recent, Horizon (1998) and Cove (1999) apartment buildings, Seidler continued to demonstrate this ethos. Seidler died in 2006 but he has made an indelible mark on this city.

Engelen Moore were founded in 1995 with the partnership of Tina Engelen and Ian Moore. They disbanded just over 10 years later, but their apartment buildings such as Altair, Barcom Avenue, 150 Liverpool Street and The Grid - which are all located within a few blocks of each other - convey the essence of Sydney like no other. Variously described as 'functionalist', 'international' and 'minimalist', their work focuses on light, air and environment, just like Sydney itself. Ross Honeysett's photography beautifully illustrates this concept.

As both Seidler and Engelen Moore are no longer practicing, the question arises: who will take their place? Who will become the next architect to convey what Sydney in the 21st century is all about?

Looking: Darren Wardle

"it's like another perfect day... I love LA" - Randy Newman

Me too. Sure, LA's a sprawling, crime-ridden metropolis with vapid people and insane traffic, but I like it because it is, more than anything else, a microcosm of the world. Everyone you've ever met, every movie you've watched, every joke you've laughed at, and every tragedy that has made you shed a tear, has been put into one huge blender and poured across a concrete valley. There's nowhere else quite like it.

Darren Wardle is a Melbourne artist whose airbrushed, 80s-inspired artworks reference LA and other 'car cities' such as Las Vegas and, to a lesser extent, Melbourne and Sydney. His hypercolour, saturated and overexposed images are meticulously detailed and devoid of any human presence. His work depicts an artificial, almost dream-like world where perfection is both alluring and repelling. Kind of like LA, actually.

Wardle is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, and Nellie Castan Gallery in Melbourne.

Clicking: Uncyclopedia

In primary school, there was a kid who everyone used to tease for spending his lunch times reading encyclopedias in the library. Of course I joined in the teasing, being very careful to not reveal a deep, dark secret to my friends: that after school, in the safety of my own bedroom, I also enjoyed getting lost in the foreign, exotic worlds contained in the pages of these wonderful books.

Lexicon was my preferred brand at the time, as it had colour pictures and a more contemporary, American flavour than the stuffy old Oxfords they had at school. In high school, I swiftly moved into the digital age with Microsoft's Encarta, which had interactive stories and videos which I spent hours exploring.

Since those days I've used the convenient but unreliable Wikipedia as my main source of research. Which is why I was so excited when I discovered Uncyclopedia.

I only discovered the site recently while browsing travel destinations in Canada. I thought I was on Wikipedia and was interested to read that "Oscar Wilde actually had his first homosexual experience in Vancouver, leading to the town's well-beloved nickname 'That place where Oscar Wilde rendez-vouzed with 12 dudes at the same time'". Saucy...

Then I noticed the appeal from Uncyclopedia Mother Codeine's Mum, the site rules (1: Be funny, not just stupid; 2: Don't be a dick), and the potato puzzle logo and I realised that I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

This site is serious fun. With just the right amount of cheek, it really more informative and insightful than Wikipedia. I tested this site by researching some places that I'm familiar with,
and within a few minutes I learnt that "Sydney is loosely translated from the native Aboriginal language as "Atlanta with a harbour"" (so true) and that Melbourne has the lowest crime rate in Australia due to the continued presence of the city's founder, Batman (not to mention that the majority of "suss people" spend 6 months of the year in stadiums watching football). Too funny.

Uncyclopedia makes encyclopedias cool. Had the site been around during my childhood, I think that kid in the library wouldn't have been teased, and I would have been able to come out and announce to the world that I, too, like to read encyclopedias. I mean, it even has swear words! How cool is that?!