Sky Kirkham

Neutral grey Pantone swatch with the caption, “Pantone's 2026 color of the year is historic and, technically, not a color at all - meet Cloud Dancer, the first-ever white shade to receive the designation from the world's color authority.”

they should have a separate color of the year for people who haven’t lost the will to live

Kendrick Lamar is as good live as you'd imagine. Stadium crowds are a younger man's game though.

Cheers! Really appreciate everyone (like yourself) who shared their time and thoughts. Fingers crossed there's a higher percentage of positive news next year :)

Sometimes Come The Wolf, by Oldest Sea ft. Kathryn Mohr track by Oldest Sea ft. Kathryn Mohr

Staying in a similar vein (minimalist music, haunting vocals, wolf theme), this track from Oldest Sea and Kathryn Mohr is a delight oldestsea1.bandcamp.com/track/someti...

Small bird pops its head out from behind a tree at The You Yangs. The robin has a bright red chest, black head and a white spot above its beak.

Scarlet Robin

Sarah Hanson-Young on local content quotas and ABC funding plus proposed changes at the State Library of Victoria - ABC listen Last week, the federal government passed legislation that will require video streaming services with more than 1 million Australian subscribers to invest 10 percent of their Australian expenditure or ...

For the final Arts in 30 (news version) we spoke to Sarah Hanson-Young about the local content quotas passing the parliament and arts priorities for next year. And Gideon Haigh takes aim at proposed changes at the State Library of Victoria.

[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.] JANET: Ugh... LIZ: What's up? JANET: I am so bored of cooking peas! LIZ: Have you tried... AI peas? JANET: AI peas? LIZ: They're peas with AI! [Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI]. LIZ: Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas JANET: What LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines] Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas? [Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it] LIZ: Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine [Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas] LIZ: With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas! JANET: What LIZ: Shut up LIZ: Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow From opening the bag of peas to boiling the peas to eating the peas To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means. JANET: Is it really necessary to- LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]: THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET [Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan: AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas. [Ends]

Every ad now

ROADKILL., by kathryn joseph from the album WE WERE MADE PREY.

One of my favourite albums this year - just perfectly realised mood from start to finish kathrynjoseph.bandcamp.com/track/roadkill

Elegant looking mid-sized bird is sitting on long horizontal root and looking over its shoulder at the camera. The bird has a brown back and long tail, black and white striped wings and a green head, with hints of yellow and orange visible on the small amount of throat and belly that can be seen.

Orange-breasted Trogon

Microsoft's head of AI doesn't understand why people don't like AI, and I don't understand why he doesn't understand because it's pretty obvious Is it really "mindblowing" that people are skeptical of software that consistently doesn't do the things we're told it can do?

And there's a whole article you can read after the headline, too! Here it is.

Sharing links to writing you appreciate really does make a huge difference even for publications of our size.

A very curious medium-sized ground bird has stick its head entirely into the side-opening of a grey camera bag and is stepping forward as if to jump inside and take a nap (once I stopped laughing, I had to gently shoo it away - at which point it went back to trying to tear open a nearby family's packet of chips)

Weka exploring my camera bag

Everything Must Change, by Bleak Squad from the album Strange Love

Bunch of Aus music legends teaming up for a really great project

Puffball of a bird with a vivid pink front and black head and back standing on a mossy fence post in the rain

Pink Robin

Salome, by The Ophelias from the album Spring Grove

A fun track from one of the better indie-rock groups around at the moment. Feels somehow nostalgic towards the 90s, but still very contemporary and always uniquely themselves.

Black-necked Stork

YouTube video by Abel Selaocoe - Topic Tshepo - II (Rapela)

Abel Selaocoe toured with the ACO earlier this and put on a staggeringly impressive live set. This is my pick from the album. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaRh...

Small gold and brown streaked bird is turning to look over its shoulder at the camera while perching across two extremely thin branches, against a hazy brown background. Taken at the WTP in Weribee

Golden-headed Cisticola

Weekender: Breaking consensus on Pluribus and Wicked For Good manages to land the broomstick - ABC listen Everyone in the world has come together in a single voice: shared perspective, shared understanding, shared goals - harmony.  That's both the plot of Pluribus and a rough summary of how critics have ...

On this week's Weekender, we take on Pluribus and Wicked: For Good. Plus Sharon Van Etten's Australian tour is a good excuse to revisit the latest album, and Last Samurai Standing is a fun version of the Battle Royale template.

Not sure who made this, but probably the most accurate representation of the current state of tech to date

Catherine, by Rival Consoles from the album Landscape from Memory

Another nice idm/minimalist electronica release from this year - plus touring Aus in 2026. rivalconsoles.bandcamp.com/track/cather...

Green parrot with a mottled yellow and green chest is hugging up to the nearly vertical branch that its standing on

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

YouTube video by Backxwash - Topic History Of Violence

From what is probably my favourite rap album this year

Giant, proud looking bird with an extremely large yellow cap on top of a big yellow and white beak. Sitting in the leafy branches of a tree high atop the jungles of Kaeng Krachan

Great Hornbill

YouTube video by FKA twigs FKA twigs - Eusexua

A great FKA Twigs album from earlier this year (with an equally great film clip). Follow up/sequel just dropped as well.

A small bird sitting on a bare branch just above a small creek. The bird is peering down into the creek looking for bugs and is probably relatively young, from its coloring.

White-naped Honeyeater

YouTube video by LEITER ganavya - Song for Sad Times (Official Audio)

Ganavya opened for Nils Frahm at Hamer Hall earlier this year and I could have left extremely happy even if that was all I saw that night - a remarkable talent.

Two fluffy grey baby black swans are swimming in the water with drops of water falling from their beaks

Black Swan cygnets

Very close female King-Parrot is turning towards the camera with a slightly curious expression on her face. Behind her is a male King-Parrot facing to the side

Australian King-Parrot

Two parrots hanging out on a bare tree against a blue sky near sunset

Bluebonnets

Weekender: Running Man and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You take on the perils of parenthood and Rosalia makes a play for album of the year - ABC listen Rose Byrne puts in an award-winning performance as a woman under pressure in the excellent If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. Glen Powell takes on an all-powerful media company in a dystopian future for the ...

On the Arts in 30 Weekender, we're joined by Jason di Rosso from RN's Screen Show to take a look at the week in cinema, with If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Two Prosecutors and Running Man. And new music releases from Rosalia and Mountain Goats