Jeffrey Eugenides knows about love. Dave Eggers, the ‘Bono of lit', knew that Jeffrey knew about love, and asked him to compile a book of love stories. In 25 parts, MY MISTRESS'S SPARROW IS DEAD charts that many-splendoured thing from its first flush to its final denouement, from ‘voyeuristic longing to disenchanted entanglement'. Protagonists smoke and screw and sneak around. They fall in love with people they should and people they shouldn't. They polish the hard nut of their discontent against numberless dusks and tend to the smarting fires of their unrequited lust.

William Trevors' lovers play out their affair in an abandoned hotel bathroom because they have nowhere else to go. Guy de Maupassant's six-tentacled ménage unfolds in a rowboat on the River Seine. Vladimir Nabokov's lovely Nina recurs like an idée fixe in the narrator's life, her body perpetually folded in the shape of a Z, a perpetual cigarette at her lovely mouth. There are tales where love, or the moment of attainment anyway, changes the very fabric of the atmosphere, the elementary particles of the night sky falling into heady new constellations.

The longest stories are like whole lives in reduction; the shortest like precise incisions. This is love in all its lucent, spraddled, finger-sniffing splendour. And it's wonderful.

By Kate Scott

Format: Project

Motivation: Improve your dinner conversation

Keywords: Essays

In its current incarnation (as an institution of the Sydney live music scene) the Annandale has rocked up...er, that is clocked up eight years worth of blood, sweat and beers. During this time, the pub has become as much of an icon as some of the acts who have stomped, screamed and stumbled onto its stage. Here, local rock mythology is born and passed down through the rumour train of die-hard fans and groupies.

It was where Craig Nicholls' threw his I'm-an-artist-so-f##k-you outburst, which resulted in The Vines being dropped from Triple M playlists. It was where Metallica's bassist made a cameo appearance as a glassy. And who knows what other scandals between these sticky walls will be adopted into rock legends?

This week the Annandale hosts another of its now infamous week-long birthday celebrations, with a cache of tunes from across the nation. Catch South Australians, Wolf & Cub tomorrow, local favourites Dappled Cities on Friday. With Brisbane's Butterfingers and Melbourne's Whitley rounding out the festivities on Saturday and Sunday. With Jager to boot, awesome support acts and the ambience of an AC/DC concert, the week-long hangover will be well worth it.

By Jill Greig

Release: Live

To Cure: A quiet weekend

Keywords: live, Rock, Annandale

Hello I'm a Mac. I've just launched in Sydney, thereby determining your city as part of the world's greater cultural agenda. Like my brothers in Fifth Avenue and Ginza I'm sleek, shiny and crafted from a translucent glass cube.

Which MacBook are you? Find out on my first floor. Or perhaps you need an i-something from level two. I also come with a floor full of ‘Geniuses', they live on 3rd at the Genius Bar. Here, those of lesser intelligence can access my creative mainframe. Yes, I'm a show off, but I sure do have a lot to flaunt. On Monday night Dan Whitford and Tim Hoey from Cut Copy DJ'd in my window. And on July 5 Steve Francis from Timelock will demonstrate LogicPro to the masses. Gisele sends her regards. Don't get me wrong, I'm not all celebrity A-List. You can come in and learn too at our One-to-One training hubs. All are welcome, yes, even you PC.

By Nadia Saccardo and Alex Vitlin

Product: Gadgets

Anatomy: Brain

Keywords: City, Store, Apple

With my protective spikes and resourceful storage abilities, I can live and propogate in the most barren conditions. I'm a bit defensive and might prick you from time to time but I'm exceptionally stable and refreshingly low maintenance. You may also like my phallic appeal. Pleased to meet you, I am the humble cactus.

LAST ONE STANDING is Benedict dos Remedios' latest exhibition, showcasing his infatuation with these relentless survivors. Incorporating spraypaint, watercolour and acrylic, these still lives emerge out of blank space on the canvas, with various cacti in different domestic pots.

By Amelia Groom

Medium: Painting

Drink: Anything, as long as you look good holding it

Keywords: Exhibition, Cactus, Darlinghurst

The onslaught of anime in the ‘90s brought us tentacle sex, exploding heads, ninjas drowning in molten gold and psychic children who might be god. There been so much of it since that it's easy to ignore, so Reel Anime 2008 is throwing four new titles up on the big screen to catch your eye.

Like APPLESEED EX MACHINA, the latest instalment of the Masamune Shirow's post-WWIII Appleseed epic. Too boysy? Just listening to the J-Pop theme of THE GIRL WHO LEPT THROUGH TIME will make you feel like a Japanese schoolgirl.

Most nerd-anticipated is BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT. A collaboration between comic writers and anime directors, using the animated form to play with the visually ridiculous elements of Batman's world without compromising the pesky verisimilitude of the live action sequel.

The guiltiest pleasure is definitely VEXILLE. This cyborg boom-flick uses shiny CGI, but keeps thick black outlines for a comic-art feel. The humans don't have much character, but their battlesuits sure do, and the explosions are rendered in such joyful detail that somewhere, Michael Bay just broke out in an envious sweat.

By Martyn Pedler

Format: Festival

Mood: Epic

Keywords: Festival, Anime, Newtown

Emanuel H. Bronner might have been mad as a brush, but he were surely clean. "Enjoy only two cosmetics, enough sleep and Dr Bronner's Magic Soap to clean mind-body-spirit instantly uniting One! Absolute cleanliness is Godliness! For facial packs, scalp and soothing body scrub, add dash on bath towel in sink of hot water." Never have philosophy and bathroom instructions been so poetically blended.

Reading Dr Bronner's over-hyphenated religious tracts on a soap bottle in your shower is a very good way to start the day. Unlike regular faith-addled madmen, Bronner did something other than establish a money-sucking infrastructure with the assistance of a gospel choir. He invented the world's best soap. It is so much better than other soaps that you feel like you're emerging from decades of filth into the light of fizzy freshness.

Just as the Conquistadors brought civilsation to the Americas, American Apparel have brought us Dr Bronner's Magic Soap. Spreading, in the process, their Godly belief that the hottest people reject make-up in favour of pre-pubescent skin and cotton underpants.

By Penny Modra

Product: Accessories

Theft: Theft is inevitable: Buy two

Keywords: Online, America Apparel, New York, Soap

Travellers returning from a Parisian sojourn prattle on about history, architecture, and romance (blecch), but true sophisticates go for one reason: the macarons.

Though we don't have Laduree or a Pierre Herme around the corner, Balmain's Adriano Zumbo gives those Frenchies a run for their eurotrash, oui?

Adriano trained in Paris at the world famous ‘Ecole Lenotre', and he's got mad skills to show. It's difficult to pick a favourite flavour, between pistachio, passionfruit, blueberry, and rice pudding, so why not just buy them all fattie? He has other sweets, and he even serves like, food food, which I'm sure is all terrific. But where else in town can you get macarons this good? Worth the trip for sure.

By Wilfred Brandt

Venue: Eatery

Meal: Snacktastic

Keywords: Cake, Balmain, Macaron, Cupcake

Heather Graham smoked them in BOOGIE NIGHTS, Olivia Newton John hardly took them off in XANADU and who could forget Scott Baio in SKATETOWN USA!? A lot of people it seems.

Roller skates! The vital ingredient of any roller rink are here in Sydney, on the feet of the Rollergrooves (and your feet too if you can find a pair). The Rollergrooves are a performance art duo in red and white skates who put themselves in weird, not necessarily skateable environments (storerooms, stairwells and spas). This Saturday however, it's time to get ringside for a wheeled disco. Short skirts and knee highs welcome.

Note. If you can't find rollerskates, the Rollergrooves will tolerate the inferior incline skate or rollerblade cousins.

By Nadia Saccardo

Ambience: Indoor

Difficulty: Start training like, last month

Keywords: Rollerskates, Party, Erskineville

Chanting. Shoegaze. Soul Train. Bjork. Ecstasy. Gang Gang Dance. If that reads like a list of a few of your favourite things, then prepare to squeal a little. Fader mag assures us that Brooklyn's Telpathe is a heady mix of all of the above. And with their tape loops, banshee wail and hip-hop thump-thump, who's going to argue? Plus, its members have names like Mean Masha, Busy Gangnes and Jessie Gold, which sounds like the kind of gang you'd wanna be a part of. - VH

By Vivian Huynh

Event: Bands

Stimulus: E

Keywords: Brooklyn, Oxford Art Factory, Bands

AC/DC. The Legends of Hard Rock, as most would agree. Most would also agree that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, they're right. Philip Morris is, arguably, Australia's most esteemed music photographer. His exhibition will feature never-before-seen photos of AC/DC, from HIGH VOLTAGE through HIGHWAY TO HELL, and all the way up to Bon Scott's last live performance in 1979. Drawing from one of the most extensive photo archives of Australian rock music, this promises to be an unforgettable event for both rock lovers and photo enthusiasts. - DW

By Digby Woods

Event: Exhibition

Stimulus: A

Keywords: Blender Gallery, Paddington, Photography

There are bands you like for about one minute, before their staccato synth lines or whateverrrr bores its way into your head. Then there are bands like theredsunband, whose slacker, indie-drone records bury you under the covers in a warm fug - thank you, ‘Sleep Forever'. Finally, finally, they're launching their sophomore album, THE SHIRALEE, the follow up to PEAPOD. - VH

By Vivian Huynh

Event: Bands

Stimulus: W

Keywords: Oxford Art Factory, Red Sun Band

‘Yo momma's on the top of my things to do list'. Ah Australian hip hop, holding up their own in the egotistic, sexist lyrics department. These guys however sound like they are saying it with a wry smile, and more than a pinch of wit. They're playing a free show this Friday. Respect to those whose paydays land on a Monday. - KB

By Kylie Boyd

Event: Bands

Stimulus: W

Keywords: Bondi, Beach Road Hotel, Hip Hop

We've raved about them before, and we ain't ever gonna stop until all of Sydney has seen them live. They are playing their poppy blend of indie, jazz and punk and spectrum again this Saturday with the John Steel Singers. Get down there or fists are gonna fly. - HM

By Hayley Morgan

Event: Bands

Stimulus: W

Keywords: Bands, Spectrum