Think back – it might’ve been pessimism, or melodrama, or just those leftover shards of Sunday School that can never be extracted from the human brain, but weren’t you secretly a little disappointed when the world didn’t end on New Year’s Eve 1999? Editor Justin Taylor has transformed his obsession with doomsday into the pre-scuffed and cherry-red Apocalypse Reader, collecting 34 short stories that show how the world might come to an end. Writers range from hipster-favourites like Rick Moody and Kelly Link to the oldest of old-school horror with Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft – whose contribution “Nyarlathotep” has a title that’s fun both to type and to say.

Some books, though, just seem to tempt fate. The publisher of The Apocalypse Reader stumbled into its own doomsday and promptly went out of business immediately after printing, meaning there will be no advertising, no promotion – and no reason not to order a copy before the seas inevitably turn to blood.

By Martyn Pedler

Here’s a hit of sunshine to spark up your day like a doobie. Mood Patterns is the debut full length from Belles Will Ring, the Blue Mountains’ answer to The Byrds. The five-piece recorded the album at lead singer Liam Judson’s parents mountain-home-come-studio, and it’s packed with enough soaring ‘60s harmonies and chiming guitars to float on for weeks.

Formed in 2005, BWR are part of Sydney’s psychedelic resurgence, playing alongside revivalists like The Dolly Rocker Movement, The Astral Kaleidoscope, and The Lovetones. What makes them unique is a penchant for amazing vocal harmonies, a folksy twang, and razor tight lives shows. The songwriting on Mood Patterns has traces of Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Beach Boys, and Jefferson Airplane, and Simon and Garfunkel-style vocal harmonies hovering over the rich, lush, wall of guitars. Liam’s vocals are dynamic, and his wail even evokes ol’ Jim Morrison at times. If you’re looking to get high and dry amidst this winter mire, get yourself stuck into Mood Patterns. Trip out, bro.

By Wilfred Brandt

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 scarf is a happening way of saying “Hey folks, I’m colourful, I’m madcap. Anything could happen here, (etc)”. Craft Victoria is, of course, the hand-made hub and this annual festival is dedicated entirely to the hand-making of scarves.

Starting tomorrow, there will be workshops, forums, exhibitions and knitting circles. But the main event is the Scarf Market Exhibition, where you can check out all the entries in the Scarf Awards, try the scarves on and buy them too. (Mental note: keep an eye out for the entry entitled ‘Spin Masta’ ­– what it lacks in warmth, it makes up for in bling).

Pop into Craft Victoria or email scarf2007@craftvic.asn.au for program details.

By Penny Modra

It was hard to find, easy to buy. Now you could say it’s hard to find, heaps easier to buy. Actually, being that the sale is online too, it’s easy to find, easy to buy.

Basically, whether you’re working your thighs out on the stairs to Don’t Come or working your plastic out online at Schwipe, this 3-day sale starts tomorrow. On the internets, it’s 20% off everything, including Crackd zip hoodies, and all Class, Grass & Ass. In the real-life shop there’s older stock reduced from 50-80%. As for all good things in life, expect to pay cash only.

By Penny Modra

What:
Schwipe sale

When:
Thurs June 28 – Sat June 30

Where:
Don’t Come, Lvl 2, Royal Arcade, 314 Little Collins St, Melbourne

Contact:
9639 2227

Biopics are perhaps the suckiest genre in all of cinema. Interesting lives almost never translate to interesting cinema, and their main appeal is showing one famous person pretend to be another famous person, like a celebrity drag-show. So why is the hallucinatory biopic of cult author William Burroughs, Naked Lunch, so good?

Director David Cronenberg takes Burroughs’ life and runs it through the filter of Burroughs’ fiction. His alter-ego, Bill Lee, is an exterminator whose wife introduces him to the “Kafka high” of injecting his own bug-powder. After an accident – mirroring Burroughs’ own infamous William Tell tragedy – Bill retreats to a legally and sexually foreign no man's land called 'Interzone'… and that's when this plot synopsis becomes pointless.

It’s a special look you need if you want to star in a David Cronenberg movie, and here Peter Weller masters it: a kind of middle-distance stare that suggests you’re looking at something truly horrific, and it bores you. (Or arouses you, if you’re James Spader in Crash.) Naked Lunch has just appeared on DVD so buy it, watch it, and practice your Cronenberg-stare at its giant bugs, talking typewriters, and bodily fluids.

By Martyn Pedler

Once upon a time in the Northern Territory, a curly-haired boy and a leggy lady linked arms and creative endeavour. Together they trekked south easterly – dropping by Brisbane for an education before landing in Melbourne town. Today they feed Melbourne’s creative industry with the fashionable flair that is Limedrop.

There’s something about Limedrop’s winter range, Hidden Treasures and Unearthed Secrets, that shrewdly provides a distraction to the bitter wind.

You’re so cold you can’t feel feelings any longer – but you whiff a Limedrop burnt wood pendant and you’re taken far away to a log cabin where people are sipping hot-totties. It’s time to tell your Mum you’re deferring next semester to save turtles in Cuba. And, surprisingly, she’s nodding and saying “That’s nice, dear. Now, I’m glad you’re wearing something practical” as she eyes the raw denim jeans, which you only bought because they made your bum look hot. You can feel muddy water seeping through your socks and you’re actually cracking a giggle. It’s because you’re wearing a Limedrop leotard under your coat and feel like you’ve just pirouetted your way out of Flashdance.

Winter might be bearable after all.

By Isabel Dunstan

For the knowledgeable urban dweller the art of being lost has all but disappeared. Like cultural assassins, we know exactly what is around every corner and, before entering, our escape has already been planned. Efficiency has become key, but the fun more difficult to find.

About an hour and a half out of Melbourne the Ashcombe Hedge Maze is a place for those who are prepared to look stupid, look at their friends looking stupid and generally admit that they actually have no idea which way to go.

Einstein once said that the happiest thought of his life was the realisation that ‘if a person falls freely they will not feel their own weight’ and it could well be the case that if a person loses themselves freely they will not feel how lost they actually are. Think about it. Actually, don’t.

By Chris Barton

The end of an era is nigh. Smokers – be you heavy, social, dietary, one-a-day-by-yourself-on-the-balcony or only-while-drinking – be aware: Victoria’s new smoking ban comes in on July 1.

In light of this you may wish to frequent your favourite watering hole this weekend and spark up (Ed: Lily Blacks anyone?). A cigarette, perhaps even a Cuban, (Ed: Spark em all up! As many as you can! Smoke. It. Right. Up. Let’s go out in flaming style people!) because as of Sunday, smoking in bars will be as taboo as that first drag you took behind the shelter sheds. Just as we find it hard to believe our parents were allowed to smoke in the office, our children will be amazed that we used to be able to smoke on the dancefloor.

All this is probably unfolding to the delight of non-smokers. No longer will their clothes need to be aired out to remove the smells of the night before. News from Finland and Ireland however has revealed that banishing smoke from clubs has allowed punters to smell something equally gross – themselves. (Ed: we always knew those non-smokers were hiding something.)

Smokers, if you don’t like it buy a T-shirt or stay at home, because a 3am glass of cognac at the Supper Club will never be the same again… or will it? (Ed: No. No it won’t.)

By Matt Hurst

We’re down on our knees but don’t get your hopes up because we’re actually writing to ask a favour, not to give one. Essentially, we're appealing to your humanity because NowNow has been featured by Dazed and Confused International as one of the 'Digital 50' and we're really nervous.

In short the 'Digital 50' is made up of the top 50 websites from around the world nominated and voted in by the Dazed and Confused contributor network. We don't stand to win anything but we do stand to lose our pride and we are up against some amazing websites which makes rigging this our only viable option.

So please, have a heart, click here and give us five stars.

Pathetically yours,
NowNow