EATERY

Stilton, Roquefort and Gorgonzola at Adelaide’s Smelly Cheese Shop, as well as hard cheeses such as Mimolette and Grana Padano, Kalamata olives and Lavosh crackers. Order a platter for your next picnic or sample a monthly selection of the best local cheeses through the Smelly Cheese Club. We admire this establishment for being scrupulously clean, honest and well-informed.

ART-ATTACK

The Venice Biennale of Architecture which opens on 29 August and takes place at the Giardini, Arsenale, and other venues in Venice. This year the event is headed by an architect, Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to direct the Biennale and the recent recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2010, with Ryue Nishizawa. We look forward to Sejima’s inevitably wise curation of the event and to Architecture Saturdays, the weekly public conversations with architects which run until the Biennale’s end on 21 November.

BEAUTUFUL NOISE

Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Leave aside Mahler’s (160-1911) lifetime of tragedy – the usual sad lot of the latterly appreciated creative genius – and enjoy his Fifth Symphony. Although it is said to be challenging to conduct, scholar Tony Duggan says this symphony is fascinating for its dualism, offering ‘the musical equivalent of a split personality. Musical polar opposites are presented side by side - tragedy and joy, depression and mania, pain and pleasure, despair and hope’. Surely only an exceptional man could string together the contradictory notes of li fe and make them soar.

HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE...

Being expelled from Harvard and bankrupt by the time he reached his thirties proved no impediment to a successful career for architect, engineer and inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983). In addition to being awarded 47 honorary degrees, Fuller was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and received critical praise for his Dymaxion creations – a house, car and map – and g eodesic dome. Though accolades were deserved, Fuller said his life was ‘an experiment to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity.

HIDEAWAY

Illuka Day Spa and Hydrotherapy Step out of the hustle of every day life and step through the doors at Illuka and your sense of calm is immediate. The Physical, the mental and spiritual are equally cared for …. We create an environment to renew your strength and sense of self. At Illuka Day Spa it’s all about you. Professionally trained therapists approach their work with you as artists seeking to reveal your inner self.