The Stew - Issue Three [Grapeshot Magazine]

DISCOVER

Fringe Bar Markets

Who doesn’t love a bargain? Better yet, who doesn’t love a bargain when it comes with live music, a good bite to eat and even a couple of beverages? Fringe Bar Markets are held every Saturday at, coincidentally enough, Fringe Bar on Oxford Street in Paddington, and offer a vast array of fashion treats, all of which come with a tasty price tag. Wander through the eclectically adorned passageways and marvel at endless displays of designer one-offs and vintage collectors items. Even if you want for nothing, you will find something. And once you have, all you have to do is decide, where to from here? The bar or more bargains?

www.thefringe.com.au

WATCH

The Lost Thing

In just 15 minutes, this animated short film captivates your mind and whets your imagination. It also proves that sometimes it’s worth paying attention to more than just the best actor award at the Oscars. Based on the beautifully illustrated picture book by Australia’s very own Shaun Tan, The Lost Thing tells an enchanting tale of a boy who finds a quirky looking creature on the beach and sets out to find where it belongs, if anywhere. Even if animated films are not your thing, I promise this one is refreshingly light-hearted and well worth a squiz. And, if my word is not enough, let me assure you that it has won more awards than you can count on three hands, including an Academy Award, and only takes a quarter of an hour. What have you got to lose?

www.thelostthing.com




DISCOVER
Read A Book, Give A Book


If you have access to the Internet and can read, then you could be minutes away from putting a book into the hands of an underprivileged child living in a disadvantaged community somewhere in the world. All you have to do is go to the website below, select a campaign and then read a children's book online. For every book that you read, another book will be donated to your selected campaign. By selecting the campaign 'Hope for Haiti' for example, you can read a book and another book will be a given to a family in Haiti who are still recovering from the earthquake. It really is as simple as that and the campaigns reach almost every corner of the globe. Without having to open your wallet or leave your desk, you can touch the lives of families and children who may be miles away but are very much in need. So please, read generously.


www.wegivebooks.org

HELP

Hope Month

May is Hope Month so why not create hope at your dinner table and help Sydney’s homeless population? All you have to do is invite a bunch of your friends over for something delicious sometime in May, ask them politely to pay for a seat at your fabulous dinner party and then donate their generous contribution to HopeStreet. HopeStreet is a grass-roots community development organisation that works to help Sydneysiders who confront poverty, destitution and homelessness each and every day to become empowered and take control of their own lives. Homelessness is at crisis point in Australia and this is the perfect opportunity for those lucky enough to live in Sydney to do something about it. So eat, be merry and give generously.

www.hopemonth.com

REMEMBER

Mother’s Day, May 8

Sure, they drive us crazy but, if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t even be here. We also wouldn’t be well fed, have a decent collection of socks and undies or, in my case, a killer recipe for Spaghetti Bolognese. This Mother’s Day, let’s show our mums that we love and appreciate them. And boys, please buy Mum a card and wrap her present. I know it seems like a waste, but she loves that kind of stuff.

Editorial - Issue Three: The Rule of Three [Grapeshot Magazine]

The number three has a certain touch of magic that makes it irresistibly enticing. Its shapely, sexy curves belie its potent coincidences. This pesky little number might even be the secret key to life.

Did you know that we can’t survive more than three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food or three months without hope? Not to mention that fact that life itself has three stages: birth, life and death. We start out fresh-faced and rosy cheeked, then, before too long, life catches up and we’re bearing its burden. Then, all too soon, we’re oldies, yelping at fresh-faced, rosy-cheeked kiddiewinks to, “get off my lawn!”

Even the very bane of our existence – time – has three stages: past, present and future. Stories, fairy tales and memories all come with a beginning, middle and end. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The Three Little Pigs. Even in Harry Potter, Harry, Hermione and Ron make up the ultimate threesome. Things seem to roll off the tongue and lodge in our brains more easily in threes. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Every Tom, Dick and Harry. Slip, slop, slap. Even Superman fights for ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’. In baseball, it’s three strikes and you’re out. The pinnacle of sporting prowess: the hat trick. And who doesn’t love a cheeky game of Scissors, Paper, Rock?

The Christian God is triune. Roman leaders were a triumvirate. The Wiccan Law of Return holds that whatever energy or action you offer the world, whether good or bad, will return to you threefold. Now, that’s one helluva karma if you ask me! They say that good luck comes in threes. But then, if Grey’s Anatomy is to be believed, they say death does too. Back in 1959, the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens died in a place crash, spookily on February 3^rd. In the early 1970s, we lost Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison in a matter of months, all of whom were aged 27 – otherwise known as 3³. In 2009, it was Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Patrick Swayze. Creepy, huh?

I don’t think so. I think we humans find solace in patterns and expectations, and the number three is a perfectly convenient number, low enough for pure coincidence to be read too far into. But what is life without a little conspiracy? Not much fun at all.

So, in the spirit of all things three, we are ranting in triplicate. You can also be thankful that we’re tackling the pressing questions of contemporary society by asking, is three really a crowd? And, just to keep things interesting, we give you the perfect recipe for a grapeshot cocktail with just three ingredients – all of which are alcoholic.

But, I promise, there is oh so much more in our pages to get your mind running away from you. It’s well worth a read, from the beginning, through the middle and to the very end.

Tangent Magazine - High Heels in Demand [Issue Six]: Global Art Feast

Feature by Rosie King

Find the rest of Issue Six - High Heels in Demand of Tangent Magazine at tangentmag.com.