HOT Chat: Dave Carswell of Melbourne By Foot

Today’s HOT Chat is with Dave Carswell, the brains and legs behind Melbourne By Foot. I think that Melbourne is particularly conducive to exploration by foot but all those dark and smelly alleyways can be a bit daunting for a newbie. Melbourne By Foot takes you by the hand (foot?) to help you discover the [...]

HOT: Baker D Chirico Pop Up store, 24 Crossley St, Melbourne

Stop Press: Baker D Chirico is re-opening Tuesday 9 February Wednesday 10 February until Thursday 1 April (before Good Friday). Tuesday to Fridays, 8am-6pm. Hurrah!
A baked goods bomb has just exploded in Crossley Street.
That was my first impression when I stepped inside Baker D Chirico’s Alice in Wonderland inspired pop up store, the walls zinging [...]

HOT Alert: Week of 23 November 2009

This coming week is filled with travel, rock, films, shopping, food and parties!

Tony Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet, is speaking at The Hive at The Order of Melbourne on Tuesday 24 November. Read my review of a previous The Hive event here;
The Rockwiz Christmas special is coming to The Palais, St Kilda, on Wednesday 25 [...]

HOT Chat: Gretha Oost of 321 Water

As many of you know, I have a real penchant for water bottles and a real beef against bottled water. Now there’s a stylish Melbourne-designed bottle which is aiming to encouraging us to drink tap water and preserve a precious resource. Did you know that it takes three litres of water to manufacture one litre [...]

HOT: Australia’s Top 100: Competition Session 3, St Kilda Film Festival, Palace George Cinemas, 135 Fitzroy St, St Kilda

Another diverse collection of drama, action, animation and documentary short films. All interesting but overall not as strong as some of the films in Session 2.
Of note was the cute plasticised animated style used in Mutt, a story about a farmer, his cow and his dog who just wants to play fetch, and the [...]

HOT: Australia’s Top 100: Competition Session 2, St Kilda Film Festival, Palace George Cinemas, 135 Fitzroy St, St Kilda

My pick from the five films on show in competition session 2 was the elegiac Trampoline. The story was about a little girl, a silent social outcast who harbours a dream to fly. Through her tentative friendship with the new kid at school, who also doesn’t quite fit in, she discovers that she really can [...]

HOT: Cacao Fine Chocolates and Patisserie, 52 Fitzroy St, St Kilda

St Kilda’s favourite artisan chocolate shop Cacao has sprouted more branches since I was last in town, which is a happy indicator of Melbourne’s ever-expanding appetite for beautiful handmade chocolate treats – even at $1.95 a mouthful.
Cacao’s chocolates are made with the finest Belgium couverture (naturelement) and I like their brightly decorated avant-garde designs. The [...]

HOT: Baker D Chirico, 149 Fitzroy St, St Kilda

Daniel Chirico’s small brightly-lit bakery/cafe has been producing quality sourdough for Melbournians for many years, but today was my first visit. The apron-clad staff looked happy, healthy and like they were in love with bread. After a bit of discussion, I decided on the $6 raisin loaf (light, white, organic sourdough packed with juicy fruit) [...]

HOT: Armed & Dangerous, St Kilda Film Festival, Palace George Cinemas, 135 Fitzroy St, St Kilda

Thanks to my MIFF membership, I won a mid-week pass to the St Kilda Film Festival, which allowed me to delve into a veritable smorgasbord of short films over two days.
Unbeknownst to me initially, the first session I chose to attended was a schools session of twelve short films made by various secondary schools and [...]