Happiness, unlike money, can’t be banked, so if you want to live a more pleasurable life stop over-playing the deferred happiness card. And there’s no better time to start than in the new year. Ten or 20 cashed-up years at the end of your life won’t even start to compensate you for a 30 to 40-year slog setting yourself up for retirement. So it’s time you started to live a little – now.

Australians are becoming increasingly obsessed with the mantra that we should work hard and be prudent today in order that we can lead a richer life tomorrow. We are forced by government regulation to lock away at least 9 per cent of our salary until we are 60 years old; we feel guilty if we don’t put enough money away to send our kids to a posh private school; and are constantly told to cut down (or cut out) the fun things, such as booze and yummy food.

More than ever we are heeding this message. The amount of time we spend at work has been creeping up over the past 20 years to a point where we have the second longest working hours in the OECD. Our life expectancy is among the highest in the world. Yet, we are becoming more anxious and unhappy by the day, with depression rates at record highs. And our lifestyle remains the envy of pretty much no other country in the world.

Ever wondered what Europeans who come to Australia really mean when they say we have no culture and are boring? In a nutshell, they’re correctly noting that we have become slaves to the notion of deferred happiness. Rather than spending our nights hanging out at the coffee shop or at the local club mingling with others, we are increasingly prone to coming home late from work and getting to bed early to prepare for the next uninspiring work day.

Read more here

The Lifestyle Food Channel recently launched a search to find Australia’s favourite places to eat out.  Restaurants around Australia were contacted to encourage their guests to vote in the awards to create a eating out guide for the channels website. www.lifestylefood.com.au.

Category winners were announced on Monday 10th Dec on the lifestyle food channel and Grafton’s Georgie’s café restaurant (www.georgiescafe.com.au) received the following three awards: NSW Favourite Place to Eat; Australia’s Favourite Modern Australian; and Australia’s Favourite Place to eat.

The first Sydney Festival took place in 1977. It has since grown to become one of Australia’s largest annual cultural celebrations with an international reputation for modern, popular and intelligent programming. Sydney Festival attracts a total audience of approximately 1 million across all of its events each year making it the most attended cultural event in Australia.

The Festival was originally conceived by the Sydney Committee, the NSW State Government and the City of Sydney with a view to attracting people into the city centre during the holiday month of January. While in many ways still probably best understood as a celebration of this city, it has become synonymous with energy, style, spectacle, sophistication, diversity and accessibility – values that aptly reflect the confidence and vigour of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

Each year the Festival offers a rich and diverse program spanning all art forms including dance, theatre, music, visual arts, film, forums and large scale free outdoor events. For three weeks in January the Festival hosts around 80 events involving upwards of 500 artists from Australia and abroad. In any given year, it makes use of most of the main theatres across the breadth of the city and also has a commitment to the presentation of quality, large-scale outdoor events such as the iconic Domain Series.

The 14th Thredbo Blues Festival, 11-13 January 2008, a 3-day celebration of blues & roots music that is held in bars and restaurants throughout spectacular Thredbo Village in the Snowy Mountains. The Blues Festival is organised by community organisation Tourism Thredbo which is part of the Thredbo Chamber of Commerce.

It is known by blues lovers as the ’boutique festival’ because the bands play in a variety of small venues and restaurants, all within walking distance, allowing guests an up-close and personal musical experience.

Some 20 bands play throughout this unique alpine environment, each playing three to four times over the weekend from the Friday afternoon through to the late Sunday night jam session in the Keller Bar.

The mix of bands and musicians at the festival is quite eclectic showcasing a combination of old and new music. Some favourites return each year and other newer bands are given a go.

We at Two Flat Whites just wanted to say a big thank you for all your support in 2010. We wish you & your families a Merry Christmas & fantastic New Year!

We have bigger interviews, more competitions, more of a focus on music, food, film, literature, the arts & plenty of surprises in 2011. So stay tuned & enjoy your holidays!

Two Flat Whites Team

Last Chance to catch ‘Hip Pop’. It’s an annual show exhibiting the best of young fresh exciting Australian talent. In conjunction with Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets the exhibition aims to showcase both ‘Hip’ and ‘Pop’ art from 8 artists. A donation will be made from the sale of each artwork to the Father Chris Riley charity.

United Galleries Sydney
179-181 Palmer St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010.
Exhibition closes tomorrow night – 22nd December 2007.

The Design Federation was established almost a year ago to encourage and promote the Australian design and new media sector. Our good friends have been busy interviewing some of the most influential people in Australian design today. They have been supporting a number of local events & continue to promote young talented artists & designers.

Design Federation hopes to be a resource where all contributors are valued and nurtured. What ever your chosen interest in design, there is something for you! In addition to the display of design news, the hub of the community is the Design Federation comments section. Go & support Design Federation & add a comment or two. Registration is quick and easy, so sign up now!

Granada Productions is making the fourth series of “Australia’s Next Top Model” and are currently seeking abstract artworks to be displayed throughout the set. The work will need to be mounted canvas / or framed and available for the duration of the show.

The paintings will be hung in the house where the girls will be living during the making of the programme. We would need to loan your work from mid January to late April 2008. The production is based in Sydney. If you are interested in getting some exposure for your artwork please email images of your work to the address below:

linda.geddes {at} granadaproductions.com(.)au.

It was only the other day when american corporations declared war on individuals. Now it seems australia wants to copy our sister america, and throw people in the big house for downloading music (article here). “We would hope that the ISPs and the record companies could come up with an alternative solution,” said MIPI general manager Sabiene Heindl.  Well if Radiohead can come up with a decent solution, how come people earning hundreds of zillions of dollars cant?

Look, lets be honest, artists who work hard deserve to be paid out the frame like donahue (ice-t), but we all know half these executives dont have a creative bone in their bodies so why should they be getting paid all the big money? Michael Franti encourages people to go to his shows/concerts and record them and share them, and he seems to do ok.

People will always pay for good music, its just how much do these big companies want that is the problem. 

Two young and very talented fashion designers Elizabeth Chang and Lucinda Taffs have been awarded the NSW Business Chamber Fashion and Textile Award for 2007.

These awards are now in their fifth year and are sponsored with the Facility of Design from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) for final year students completing courses in business planning and fashion design.

In a very tight competition, Elizabeth and Lucinda, students from UTS, shared the Award with their innovative business plans for their fashion labels.

“It was a very tough decision to choose a winner from what was a very talented group of designers who entered this year’s competition,” said Phil Butt, Managing Director of Sandler Shoes and member of the judging panel.

“It was impossible to separate the tremendous talent of Elizabeth and Lucinda so the judges decided to award them both equal first places.

“It is wonderful that this industry continues to attract some very talented young professionals with entrepreneurial skills and ability to develop fashion design businesses.

As recipients of the Award, Elizabeth and Lucinda, will both receive $3,000 cash and in-kind support from NSW Business Chamber, including advice on how to establish and run a successful business and export market development assistance on how to get their fashion labels into overseas stores.

Elizabeth and Lucinda’s designs will be on show for industry leaders and fashion buyers during UTS’ Annual Fashion Show in December 2007.