Pie Report. Chicken With Peas.

There is a small café behind the Catholic church in Newcastle West serving a terrific selection of meals through the week. It's invisible from the street so you'll need to wander onto the grounds to find it. The chicken pie I had was moderately priced, delicious and generously proportioned. I even ate the peas.

Chicken with peas
4.50 Pastry
5.00 Filling
4.50 Tastiness
4.00 Structure
3.50 Value

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED | 4.30 

Roaming. French Couple.

Shootin' Gallery: Couples. Murals. Paris.

Found. Disgruntled.

A simple request to a government department.

Popcorn. Pig Sauna.

There was an ethical pig farmer contestant on If You Are The One whose aim was to woo a potential wife. Relaying what he did for work, a rapt audience heard how he played music to his pigs, gave them a sauna and showed them images of beautiful landscapes just before sending them to slaughter. This loving care ensured their meat was tender and that the pigs arrived happy in heaven. You never know what is going to happen next on If You Are The One, which is I why I love it. It's now on three nights a week on the always surprising SBS 2.

Flipfactor. Art And.

Art & Australia has a new name — Artand — and a bold new look. The square format and awkward Art & Australia masthead is gone, but a broader range of content is in with this elegantly designed magazine. Look out for an improved web presence later in the year.

Roaming. Last One Left.

Shootin' Gallery: Newcastle. Trains. Windows.

Roaming. You Better Work.

Shootin' Gallery: Arrows. Sydney. Waverley. Words.

Roaming. Brings All The Boys To The Yard.

Shootin' Gallery: Appliances. Bondi. Rubbish. Sydney.

Spin. Get Out Of Here.

As summer approaches, I'm craving cool climes where snow falls and the heat inside is toasty warm. Alas, the searing heat is on the doorstep, which means more time inside. Here's what I've been spinning as work continues on a project almost twenty years in the making. More on that soon.

Giant Step — Nina Hagen from Bee Happy
Summertime Cowboy — Husky Rescue from Country Falls
Swastika Eyes (The Chemical Brothers Remix) — Primal Scream
Do You Wanna Funk — Sylvester
Party Killer (terrific video) — David E. Sugar
Breakout — Ash Grunwald
Love in a Foreign Place — Gossip from A Joyful Noise
Somewhere Strange — Mirrors
Man on a Wire — Garbage from the brilliant Not Your Kind Of People
Subculture (John Robie Remix) — New Order
Bring on the Night — The Police
Bumbleebee Unlimited/Lady Bug — Annie
Fairytale — The Pointer Sisters
I Was a Flower — Agnetha Fältskog

Roaming. Wordsmith.

Shootin' Gallery: Bondi. Graffiti. Sydney. Words.

Roaming. Cherry Time.

Shootin' Gallery: Cherries. Murals. Sydney. Waverley.

Glossy. Real Time.

I'm late to report, but I wanted to congratulate my former student Shan Turner-Carroll on his recent success, which not only includes the cover of Realtime above, but also the Doctor Harold Schenberg Prize as part of Hatched at PICA earlier in the year worth a cool $35,000. He's not long back from his first trip to Myanmar, the fruits of which we'll no doubt see in a new body of work soon. One to watch.

Art Martha. Inquietude.

Inquietude must be some kind of record for the longest drawing made in a public gallery. Clementine Barnes is the artist behind the work, and since the show began on 25 September, Clem's been there during opening hours labouring away. There's a peace to the show, which includes a line-up of pencils doomed to death, a growing pile of shavings and a small complete drawing pointing to a potential conclusion. Inquietude is currently on show at First Draft in Surry Hills. Get in before the big rub-off starts at 6pm on October 12.

First 13. Paris Puddle.

Shootin' Gallery: Crossings. Paris. Puddles. Thirteen.