Arts, Culture & Entertainment News - April 19

Melbourne musician Gotye has become the first Australian act to top the American Billboard charts in over a decade. "Somebody That I Used to Know", a duet with New Zealand artist Kimbra and written by Wally De Backer, 31, has reached number one in the States as it has in almost 20 other countries. Savage Garden was the last Aussie music act to cut through with "I Knew I Loved You" in 2000. In the UK, "Somebody That I Used to Know" is number one, with Emeli Sande's "Next to Me" in second.

Fellow Melburnian bloke Hamish Blake, 30, took out the Golden Logie egg with his gorgeous fiancee Zoe Foster by his side on Sunday night. Melbourne newspaper The Herald Sun leaked Blake's win to the internet via its iPad app before the official announcement (oops), but the grinning Blake was still genuinely surprised by the win saying he feels like "a bit of an imposter".

Gossling's new EP, Intentional Living, out April 20, is easy-listening for rainy days, and for friends going through break-ups. It's full of melancholy moments juxtaposed with upbeat reflections including "Wild Love" co-written with Dann Hume (Evermore, Lisa Mitchell).

Tupac Shakur rose from the dead to perform with Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg at Coachella music festival with the help of holographic video technology... that is actually quite old! The Wall Street Journal reported that the imaging is based on a 19th century visual effect known as "Pepper’s Ghost". "What's happening in Coachella is virtually the same thing that was happening in 1862," illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer told the WSJ, noting that the effect was first used that year for a London dramatization of Charles Dickens’ novella The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. How about that? Ironic a bit, isn't it?

Dumbo feather editor Patrick Pittman via Instagram.

The new edition of Dumbo feather is off the printing presses and in the hands of editor Patrick Pittman (in stores April 25). Issue 31 is about how to change the world: building peace in the aftermath of way; a new form of capitalism in the shadow of collapse; fixing education when everybody tells you the systems can't be shifted; creating new modes of sustainable production in industries "they" said can't be changed; and sitting down to a meal made with mindfulness and heart. "Amidst all of that, it’s also about pirate supply stores, cardboard boxes, mechanised," say the team.

This cover of Paper Runway magazine is really very creative, isn't it? Issue five is on its way, but in the meantime issue four ($24.95), pictured, can still be scooped up... perhaps at The Paper Trail event to be held in Byron Bay at the end of May.

We told you about the Brooklyn-based Sketchbook Project a little while ago. Well, now entries for the 2013 project are open. Sketch away, creative friends!

"The mark of the classic is that it keeps talking to us even if it says different things to successive generations. We now read Miles Franklin's extraordinary first novel, written in the late 1890s when she was still a teenager, as one of the early works of feminism. A flamboyant story about Sybylla, a young girl of ferocious – sometimes inexplicably ferocious – determination. And self-pity. And self-aggrandisement laced with neediness. And bravery. Our heroine rails against and resists the perceived limits of female capacity." - Jennifer Byrne, introduction to a new edition of My Brilliant Career, published April 26 by Text Classics ($12.95).

Tavi Gevinson, figuring out feminism and herself via TEDTalks

Tavi Gevinson would like Sybylla. The 15-year-old blogger and online magazine editor has given a divisive TEDTalk about the complications of young womanhood (or, rather, being human), and how that transpires in her online world, called "Still Figuring It Out". How quickly we forget what it is like to be a teen, but how very much teens need good, strong role modelling beyond the screen.

I have a book pack to give away that includes two fragrant new titles: The Perfume Lover by Denyse Beaulieu (with perfume sampler) and Helena Rubinstein: The Woman Who Invented Beauty by Michele Fitoussi, which are both published by HarperCollins this month. In her book, Beaulieu "reveals a subculture where intuition, nuance and creativity come up against the brutal commercialism of fashion", while Rubenstein was a true beauty entrepreneur for her time, establishing her first beauty institute on Collins Street, Melbourne, in 1902. Please email hello@girlwithasatchel.com with your mailing details and tell me which scent (by creation or emanating naturally in the world around you) makes you reminisce about a sweet time in your life (this may be published for our enjoyment).  

Stall by The Super Cool

The Finders Keepers markets are to be found at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, starting Friday and Saturday. The market will feature around 120 artist stalls from Melbourne and all around Australia, including the crew from The Super Cool and Light Reading, as well as music by DJ Brasco, Emily Ulman, Wintercoats, Niko Maersk and Indigo and the Bear. Frankie magazine will be there too, with its new issue and old issues, too.

And lastly, this clip of Sidney Poitier in The Lillies of the Field procured by way of Life On the Cuff (who reviewed the book) put a little swing in my step...

Girl With a Satchel