Sam Sparro

Is there anything more intriguing than Japanese pop culture? We can't get enough. In a country of Japanophiles most of us would gladly trade our island...

Cutting your own hair at 12.40am after six or eight beers is a lonely, unnerving business. But wetting my hair in the bathroom mirror, I'm definitely...

Bruce “My Parents Are Dead!” Wayne has great toys and fashion sense, but crippling angst. The first act of Iron Man, though, is packed with...

Lou Reed sang that Andy Warhol's diaries "were not a worthy epitaph" for his life's work. Warhol was constantly claiming his own blank simplicity...

'Creativity'. It's rare as hen’s teeth and yet was winner of the 'Most Over-used Word Award 2005/06'. It's the sort of stuff that makes money out...

The Festival Lounges at MIFF are not just comfortable waterholes for movie-talk. They're like life-saving cordial stations for marathon runners - because...

In the opening article of Another Man, biographer Charlotte Chandler recalls talking to Pavarotti on the occasion of his 20th farewell performance...

Once upon a time mad, cynical geniuses like Kurt Vonnegut and Phillip K. Dick made a living hacking out stories for pulp magazines, trashy bits of entertainment...

From the time of Tom Baker and even before that, scarves have always been the key to an outfit.

Teamed with the bleakest of ensembles, a jaunty...

Cleanse and tone your inner geek with Freakonomics, the perfect nerd enema.

Using the minds of Steven D. Levitt (Ph.D. in economics, and part of...

One of the many confusing aspects of the current hype around the movie 300is its rating: "CONTAINS COMPUTER-GENERATED VIOLENCE”. Hasclassification...

Travelling the MIFF screens is like boarding The Magical School Bus for a history lesson on butt-comfort through the ages.

The Forum's gargoyle-guarded...

In the tough world of independent publishing print titles can drop off faster than a dinger off a limp dick - and you know that you truly like a magazine...

Yes, we've bitched about biopics here before - but when the subject is Ian Curtis of Joy Division who sound as good now as they ever did? When it's...

Mum gave me a Scrabble set for Christmas this year, no it's not like that; I really wanted one. Despite this, the holidays were a difficult time, my worst...

There’s a brand-spanking new hub for Melbourne’s art community, it’s open 24/7, has no walls and is guarded by a mixed-mutt super dog.

Brainchild...

Okay, this is the big one. Bret Easton Ellis calls it 'the doorstop'. When my friend Dan was reading it on the tram, he called it 'the chick magnet'...

Tiny bears have menaced many civilisations throughout history. More than a few have known the terror of tiny claws; the squeeze of tiny jaws; the more...

Section 8 was like a ship in the night as it lay dormant for a couple of months, just a mysterious fenced-in nautical-sized box in the dumpling/curry...

Hey, did you notice? Melbourne's art scene has been exploding and expanding. New galleries, artists, styles. Fresh meat and fresh grills on which to cook...