Another talented young graphic designer. Normally I’m annoyed by people emailing me with nothing but their website urls, but I’m making an exception for Jack Crossing as I like his posters.

For future reference, if anyone fancies sending me emails about stuff, at least say hello. I get all kinds of emails from weirdos and losers, so ones that are from normal people that say hello are like gold. Also, to anyone who’s sent me an email recently that I haven’t responded too, don’t think that I hate you, it’s just that I’ve got tons to get through, and quite frankly, I’m pretty lazy.

See work by Jack Crossing.

A modern graphic reworking of Klimt’s work. London based graphic designer, Angus Alexander, has created a beautiful screenprinted re-working of the Gustav Klimt sketch ‘The Blood of Fish’. Alexander’s re-working entitled ‘Flood of Nuda’ is a 2 colour screen print available in a limited edition of 250, and is available via his website.

See more work by Angus Alexander.

Gods get mail too! The wonderfully named design company Greece Is For Lovers, have made the mundane act of opening your daily mail into an event that’ll make you feel like a greek god. With your Zeus lightening bolt letter opener, you’ll be able to “rip through hatemail with the stealth and fury of Zeus! ”

See more work by Greece Is For Lovers.

Cars, tax & Art. The Art Car Boot Fair have developed a range of car tax disc holders created by leading artists and designers. The Pretty Taxing tax disc holder and certificate is both a collectible and a usable artwork. With the limited edition pieces both the circular tax disc artwork and the certificate are hand numbered with the edition number.

Pretty Taxing will launch new editions of tax disc holders by leading artists and designers on a regular basis so customers can build their own in-car art collection, and promise to occasionally produce other special signed and editioned pieces.

Available from the Art Car Boot Fair Shop.

Upgrade those nasty plastic bags of yours! Curated by Process Packaging, the Re-Bag Exhibition is a collection of limited edition reusable canvas bags designed by 15 of the UK’s leading design talents.

Designers were asked to create a design centered on the theme of sustainability and reusability. The resulting bags are produced in limited edition batches of 250, and are available to buy. So dump those environmentally damaging plastic carrier bags and pick yourself up a stylish eco-friendly alternative.

Find out more at Re-Bag.

Santa’s Ghetto goes to Bethlehem. This event will probably get picked up by the press as simply another story about the artist Banksy painting on Israel’s controversial West Bank barrier again, but Santa’s Ghetto has been going for a few year now. I’ll let them explain it:

Santa’s Ghetto is probably the world’s most low-concept art event.

Every year we assemble a loose collection of the great unwashed to hawk their artistic wares on the high street amongst the mindless sham and drudgery of the christmas season. This year we’ve moved out of Oxford Street into a former chicken shop on Manger Square in Bethlehem opposite the Church of the Nativity (where Santa Claus was actually born).

This puts us one mile behind the security wall in a part of the world ravaged by conflict, poverty and dust. Just the place, you’d think, that’s desperate to check out the latest five-colour deckled edge screen prints coming out of East London.

You can watch the whole sorry thing unravel on-line but you’re particularly welcome to come out and visit in person (you’re probably far less likely to get randomly stabbed on the way home than you were last year).

Basically, the cream of the urban/street art genre such as Sam 3, Paul Insect and, of course, Banksy have moved the annual Santa’s Ghetto event to Bethlehem in order to draw attention to the issues going on over there with the Jewish/Arab conflict. And what better way to do it than a painting of a soldier feeding a donkey?

Find out more at Santa’s Ghetto.

If Banksy breaks the bank, read on. To any long term readers of the blog, they’ve probably picked up on the fact that I’m a big fan of street art, especially artists like Invader. But I’d thought I’d highlight one of my favorite lesser known artists among the slew of urban/street/graffiti artists that are starting to make big names from themselves in the art world. He’s possibly already known amongst the New Yorkers reading, or at least they’ve probably passed his work on the street at some point, but New York artist Bast doesn’t currently seem to get the same credit as some of his contemporaries working in a similar field.

With Banksy pieces being bought by the likes of Brad Bitt, and established mega-star artists like Damien Hirst buying up the entire show by Paul Insect before the show even opened, the urban/street art genre is now commanding high prices and establishing ground as a credible artistic movement. So I thought I’d tell you guys about Bast, as you can still pick up fantastic screenprints by the artist from Pictures On Walls for as little as £20. But, be quick about it - Bast, is an early pioneer of the movement, and in my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before he’s given the same respect he deserves, and his work gets out of your price-league.

See more work by Bast.

Ahoy there, matey! I went to a great gig last night on a boat. I drove to Bristol to watch Sia play live at Thekla. The Thekla venue is an old Baltic coaster ship which was bought by an eccentric musician and converted into a fantastically intimate music venue.

Sia, who is probably better know for her vocal work with Zero 7, has an effortlessly soulful voice on record, and in a live setting she doesn’t disappoint either. The intimate setting onboard the Thekla was the perfect place for Sia to perform, and created one of the most emotive atmospheres I’ve experienced at a live music event. If you ever get the chance to catch her live, make sure you do.

You can find more Sia tour dates on her MySpace page.