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Jacqui Taffel Regional artisans find new ways to sell their wares.

Blast from the past

Bernard Zuel Thirty years on, Monty Python's seminal work The Meaning of Life still has the power to shock.

Nirvana In Utero review: Sound of defiance rings true two decades later

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

CRAIG MATHIESON Released in September of 1993, In Utero was Nirvana's last gasp as a band. A corrosive, heartfelt levelling of the debilitating coverage and fervent fandom that surrounded the trio, the album's worth was soon overwhelmed by songwriter and frontman Kurt Cobain's troubled personal circumstances. Within a year, he'd been involved with increasingly chaotic tours, overdosed, fled rehab, and taken his own life in his Seattle home on

Downsized and rockin' it

Katrina Lobley Meet popes and presidents in a mini universe full of big ideas.

Interview: Fiona McFarlane

Marc McEvoy There's a tiger in the house, or possibly something more frightening.

First in line

John McDonald Casual sketches mix with dark classics in an exhibition that highlights the importance of draughtsmanship.

Flights of fantasy and fearlessness

Review By James Bradley Writing half a century ago, the French anthropologist and philosopher Claude Levi-Strauss remarked that birds are "good to think with". Levi-Strauss's point concerned the use of structural categories to comprehend the world, yet still, he hit upon something fundamental. More than any other creature, birds pervade our consciousness, inhabiting our descriptions of each other ("in a flap", "owlish", "chicken"), serving as omen and augury, as mediators of the spirit world and symbols of freedom, longevity, birth, death and rebirth, as messengers of the gods and psychopomps. Some even claim Sumerian cuneiform, one of the oldest forms of that most uniquely human creation, writing, was inspired by the sight of the footprints of birds in the mud of the Euphrates.

High voltage pop'n'soul

George Palathingal Janelle Monae is back - with a supercharged alter ego and a like-minded mentor.

Intrigue and menace accompany Plantagenets' bloody rise

Review By Peter Pierce The young lion of Blanche d'Alpuget's vibrant, playful and ably researched novel becomes, by its end, Henry II of England. The original, fabled lion was his grandfather, Henry I, who notoriously died after eating ''a surfeit of lampreys''. Or was poisoned by them: d'Alpuget happily intervenes in the tales that have come down to us of the foundation of the Plantagenet dynasty.

Azure review: Marilyn Crispell and Gary Peacock make a major statement

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

John Shand Pianist Marilyn Crispell and bassist Gary Peacock have been vital forces in some of jazz's headiest explorations, while also sharing a more lyrical side. The intensity of their rapport was revealed when Peacock was in Crispell's trio a decade ago, and now comes this duo album, containing both composed pieces and improvisations.

Life's mystery addressed in hunt for evil's familiar face

Review By Sue Turnbull There's an other-worldliness about James Lee Burke's crime fiction that takes you to somewhere unfamiliar and strange. This is partly an effect of the orotund prose combined with the larger-than-life characters and the way they talk. In the case of Light of the World, the 20th crime novel to feature former homicide detective Dave Robicheaux and his offsider, Clete Purcell, it's also an effect of the plot.

Making a killing

Andrew Taylor Critics sniff at Agatha Christie but readers can't get enough of her murderous tales.

Mass appeal

Andrew Stephens Music and film combine in a celebration of multitudes in all their forms.

One Direction: This is Us review: Fab five lose sense of direction

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Paul Byrnes The filmmaker who supersized himself takes on the world's biggest boy band.

Return to country

Garry Maddox Filmmaker Ivan Sen sets out on a road trip to find to his roots.

Sins of the past

Ruth Ritchie A trip back in time can make even the best actors turn to ham. Leave it to local Essie Davis to do nostalgia with panache.

Straight outta Naples

Georgia Waters Discover a revamped Italian osteria with authentic imports.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters review: The demi-god squad to the rescue

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Sandra Hall Percy Jackson plumbs new depths in a quest to find the golden fleece.

The secret lives of us

Nick Galvin The present frames the past in Sarah Polley's documentary about her charismatic mother.

Where mutual trust abides

Review By Luke Slattery In the age of online relationships, let's reconsider the ''supreme human bond'' in its many forms from mutual advantage to pure pleasure.

Working with the grain

Frank Camorra Welcome the warm weather with fresh, crisp salads.

When pop went to the movies

Michael Dwyer Music videos were as pleasantly predictable as pyjamas when Natasha Pincus was a girl.

The showman must go on

Michael Dwyer Michael Jackson is now an idea that has outlived his physical body - and with miraculous vitality.

Tears are testament to fine TV

BEN POBJIE Art's greatest achievements are making people laugh, and making people cry.

Plain and simple but packed full of life

ANNABEL ROSS Melbourne Festival will celebrate the off the wall with a montage of music this year.