The Manly area will be turned into a temporary art gallery as 30 creatively designed and decorated Artboards are displayed for the entire world to see as part of Manly’s National Festival of Surfing from the 5th to 8th November 2009.

Not only will the Artboards create a great cultural and artistic spectacle right in the heart of Australia’s home of surfing – Manly Beach, but all the boards are also going to be auctioned with all proceeds being given to the Disabled Surfers Association & Surf Aid.

Surfing and Surf Culture is an integral part of this beach-side suburb and this Festival is one way of celebrating and sharing the lifestyle with those of you who surf and those who don’t.

The Manly Festival of Surfing encompasses entertaining events both on and off beach, for every skill level from beginners to pros, men and women, boys and girls, young and old. Manly with its beautiful beaches is a great spot to not only participate but admire this pastime and sport. It is all about pure enjoyment!

The bidding has started and you have until the 30th November 2009.

Sydney’s most loved collaborative design market; The Finders Keepers will be making its debut in Brisbane from the 31st October to 1st November 2009 at the Old Museum in Fortitude Valley. It will showcase around 55 of Brisbane’s best emerging and innovative designers of fashion, jewellery, accessories, homewares, children’s wear, art, object design and more.

Two Flat Whites in conjunction with our friends at Jameson PR are giving ten (10) lucky people the chance to win one of 10 double passes to the new Australian film Coffin Rock which is in cinemas now.

COFFIN ROCK is an intense Australian thriller from the producer of “Wolf Creek”.

Heading the cast are one of Australia’s favourite female actors, multi-award-winning Lisa Chappell (McLeod’s Daughters) and Robert Taylor, a stalwart of Australian and international cinema (The Matrix, Vertical Limit, Ballykiss Angel) The film also features rising star Sam Parsonson (The Pacific, Love My Way). The ensemble cast also includes Terry Camilleri (Knowing, The Truman Show, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures) and Geoff Morrell (Ned Kelly, Oscar & Lucinda, Marking Time).

Drawing inspiration from nail biters such as Fatal Attraction and Cape Fear, COFFIN ROCK is the feature debut of writer/director Rupert Glasson, whose short film Teratoma screened at many international festivals, including Sundance 2004.

Please email your name, postal address and where you heard about the competition to info {at} twoflatwhites(.)com for your chance to win!

Competition closes Sunday, 1st November 2009.

Riverbeats ’09 is a fantastic cultural party with an environmental flavour taking place in Parramatta from the 31st October to the 14th November 2009.

Now in its fourth year, Riverbeats ‘09 is delighted to welcome one of Australia’s most significant musicians, Dale Barlow, as Music Director of the 2009 program. Using his extensive industry experience, Barlow has selected the highest calibre of local and international artists to present a unique and innovative musical program.  The mix includes AFI-award winning Decoder Ring, Synergy Percussion’s new band Moth, The Translators’ and the Blenders.

Riverbeats ’09 has something for everyone with four key streams. The showcase event will be Riverbeats Live on Saturday 31 October: one spectacular night of free entertainment and music along the Parramatta Riverbank. Also on the Riverbeats calendar will be Loy Krathong on Saturday 7 November – which includes performances and a traditional Thai water festival.

For those interested in the science & the environment, there is the Water Project Symposium on Friday 13 November with discussions led by Australia’s favourite scientists, the Sleek Geeks, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Adam Spencer.  Finally, Riverbeats ‘09 will conclude with the annual family day Carp Fish Out on Saturday 14 November when fisherman of all ages can help rid the River of unwanted carp. See you there!

Two Flat Whites in conjunction with our friends at Pop Culture are giving ten (10) lucky people the chance to win one of 10 double passes to the new Australian film Prime Mover in cinemas from the 12th November 2009.

From Australian writer/director David Caesar (Mullet, Dirty Deeds) comes PRIME MOVER, a diesel charged romance about ambition, pressure, responsibility and the love shared by a man, a woman and his truck.

Starring rising talents Michael Dorman (Suburban Mayhem, Daybreakers, Acolytes) and Award winning actress Emily Barclay (In My Fathers Den, Suburban Mayhem), Prime Mover is a bitter sweet love story with action, some singing and a little bit of dance.

Featuring an impressive ensemble cast including Ben Mendelsohn, William McInnes, Anthony Hayes, Andrew S. Gilbert, Gyton Grantley, Lynette Curran and Ani Finsterer.

Please email your name, postal address and where you heard about the competition to info {at} twoflatwhites(.)com for your chance to win!

Competition closes Sunday, 8th November 2009.

The Danks Street Festival 2009 will be bigger and better than ever with a brand new Live Green Kitchen featuring sustainable cooking demonstrations from leading chefs.

Hosted by gastronomic guru Lyndey Milan, the Live Green Kitchen will feature 45-minute lessons on how to reduce your environmental footprint through the food you buy, cook and eat, by 2009 Festival Ambassador Jared Ingersoll (Waterloo’s own Danks Street Depot), Kylie Kwong (Billy Kwong), Alex Herbert (Bird Cow Fish), Dave Campbell (The Book Kitchen) and Ashley Hughes (Alio Restaurant).

The Danks Street Festival 2009 will also feature the new “Handmade” market, selling handcrafts, sweet treats and more to support local artists and charities; a children’s “Arty Pants” craft workshop area, and a festival bar. Fresh food will once again be offered, with the return of the Hawkesbury Harvest fresh produce market and a variety of local and organic gourmet food vendors. The popular PYD Designers Market on the corner of Young and Phillip Streets will showcase furniture, accessories and homewares from up and coming designers.

The Danks Street Festival is part of Art & About, Sydney’s biggest public art festival. Free community buses will run from Redfern train station every 15 minutes.

What: Danks Street Festival 2009
When: Sunday 25th October 2009
Time: 11.00am to 4.00pm
Where: Danks and Young Streets, Waterloo

Chalk Urban Art Festival is the largest Urban Art Festival in the Southern Hemisphere. Art is moving away from being showcased on the walls of the average white-cubed gallery, and is being reclaimed by the streets. In particular, by the footpaths.

Urban Art has been slowly separating itself from the street graffiti we find spray-painted or scribbled on public transport or empty alleyway walls. Instead, nowadays, it’s becoming accepted as a form of communication and even high art.

This colourful event has drawn crowds of more than 120,000 people in the past three years and is expected to draw a lot more this year. The individual artworks will become a part of a search for the Champion Pavement Artist for 2008, who will be awarded $5000 in prize money.

Passers by will also be given the opportunity to vote for the People’s Choice Award, so get down there and browse through some of the creative artwork that some of the artists have spent hours producing. For more information and to meet the artists click here.

When: 29th October to 1st November 2009
Where: Church Street, Parramatta
Theme: Climate Change
Cost: Free

Speak, scream, howl, whisper or sing your original poem at the Australian Poetry Slam 09 – NSW heats – an electric live event where the audience is the judge!

Slam heats are currently being held in city and regional venues across Australia until November 2009. This year there are 10 regional and metro heats in NSW. Two finalists from each slam heat in NSW will compete in the state final at the State Library of NSW on 13 November.

On 3 December, NSW’s top two performers will battle against state and territory winners for the coveted national title at the Sydney Opera House and some amazing prizes.

Now in its third year, the Australian Poetry Slam has unearthed some amazing talent and enhanced the career opportunities of two previous winners. 2008 winner Omar Musa recently released his first music video, Hemingway. Watch Omar Musa’s video Hemingway. Read about Omar’s winning performance on the ABC website. 2007 winner Marc Testart became the first Australian to compete in the Individual World Poetry Championships in America last December.

Now, like a lot of senior designers I have been in the industry for many moons and seen fads come and go, but one thing that has puzzled me over the years is the amount of people in our industry with an enormously bloated sense of self. Well you may be saying, David, how would we know you aren’t exactly one of these people. Well you don’t, and wont, but it’s my article so let me finish it, thanks.

Anyhow, I’m sure you have all been to parties where all the cool, trendy people turn out to be designers, which is fine, we are a pretty trendy lot, but when said people start opening their mouths they seem to come across as someone who is performing life saving surgery every day, or someone who works for St Vincent’s helping the poor and underprivileged. There is nothing at all wrong with being proud of your work, that’s what should drive us, but let’s put this into perspective. The majority of us work (making ads, websites, commercials or movies etc) that have one aim, and that is to sell a product to people who generally wouldn’t want to buy it, have no need for it, and shouldn’t be spending money on it because they have a credit card that is maxed.

So I have always wondered what causes many of us to behave like prince poncy? Is it a societal thing were we are generally becoming ruder and more arrogant? Or has this always been the case, where, like most architects we are generally social wankers? (Hey, it’s not us wearing the square framed black glasses and polo necks)!

Whatever the reason be, I have a vip gallery opening to attend to later, so I must get out my craziest t-shirt and mess my hair up. Tootles.

Thanks to David Goldberg & Design Federation for the article.