Dave Regos

The Wire
Set in gritty Baltimore, this HBO series is one of those shows where the greater the investment, the greater the reward. The complexity of the characters unfolds slowly and the plot is revealed seductively like a striptease. Like the crack addicts it portrays, it leaves you wanting more at the end of every episode.

Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea by the Silver Jews
You know how you get excited when you hear that one of your favourite bands is releasing an album and then the album comes out and you listen to the album and the album is no good or it's just a cheap rehash of their other albums and it's disappointing? Sigh.

But then other times one of your favourite bands releases an album and you listen to it and you think it's pretty good but you need to listen to it again. And then you listen to it again and you remember all the reasons you love that band and then you listen to that new album almost every day henceforth and become a little bit obsessed with that album and want everyone else around you to be obssessed with that album too. Because deep down you know how great the album is and not just because the album has samples of seagulls and foghorns and songs about jails made out of lollies and has a cover version of a song by an obscure Japanese artist you thought hardly anyone has ever heard of, but that it also contains monumental truths and is funny and musically varied and you realised that this is probably going to be the best album of the year.

That's what happened here.

Texas Hold'Em Poker
All in on pocket 7s. Twice that has led to my undoing. On Wednesday it was a heart on the river. She had two overs with my suited Ace and Three in the hole. Flush beat my Ace high. Loss permeated around me as I left the RSL. Still, I wait once more for the day when I go heads up, re-raise before the flop, and on the turn hit my full house boat to take out the tournament. My day in the sun will come. Then we'll see who's the short stack, won't we?! WON'T WE???!!!!

If you have a gambling problem, please call 1800 633 635.

Sharp knives and a Scanpan
I never knew how much a good frying pan could affect one's cooking. From the country that brought us the building blocks of society, Lego, comes the titanium pan that turns frying into a joyful experience. Mushrooms sauteed to perfection. Omelettes golden brown all over. Butter glides across gracefully like an oiled up synchronised swimmer down a bowling alley. This baby distributes the heat evenly across the full nonstick surface. Metal or plastic stirrer. Doesn't matter - it's titanium. Somehow everything looks and tastes way better then it ever did before.

Good knives make cutting the things you put in the pan easier. And they make everything look and taste better too.

Pistachios
A great anytime snack. To open one with a shell that is mostly closed, take a half discarded shell from the shrapnel of the eaten pistachios, wedge it in the small gap of the shell of the stubborn sheltered nut, twist and voila. Behold your green, and hopefully salted, prize.

Dave Regos has many cards up his sleeve - even when his poker habit is shaken. He hosts the reliably awesome radio show, In The Pines, which sits high on my list of must-listen shows on FBI 94.5FM. He's filmed M.I.A. on the road and has made a retro-cute clip for Cloud Control. He also writes, makes a mean breakfast burrito and is working on a magical documentary (literally).

Tom Doig

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John le Carré
This is the first "spy thriller" I have ever read. I am half-way through, and for an English Lit grad and highbrow nerdy book snob, GEE WHIZZ it's a guilty pleasure. (Like pornographic magazines, except nerdier). What on earth's going to happen to my "defected" British agent, being interrogated in an East German hunting lodge? I am learning to love stupid characters, and exceptionally clever plots.

Jogging
Just got back from a week in northern New South Wales, where on three separate occasions I went for runs along the beach. This is also new for me. First it was a token get-warm-enough-to-jump-in-the-ocean trot, then an I'm-imitating-David-Hasselhoff-on-a-romantic-afternoon jog, and finally a proper, watch-the-sun-set-and-the-moon-rise, keep-going-till-I'm-panting run. I now have soft-focus visions of getting up in the pre-dawn light and gliding along the Merri Creek, sucking that cold air into my chest. It hasn't happened yet ... but it might.

North Korea's 'Mass Games'
A video performance artist friend put me onto this - North Korea puts on these INSANE displays of patriotism every year, for "the General". Twelve thousand schoolchildren make "the world's biggest screen", by turning the pages of these huge colour-coded books in perfect synchronicity ... it has to be seen to be believed.

The Guardian
Although this newspaper does make me feel like the world is about to end, any second now, the journalism is so damn good. All the stories are a decent length, and the bias is left- not right-wing. Makes Aussie newspapers seem like the kitty-tray lining they really are.

My house
I love it! Going to sleep last night, I realised how happy I am to be there ... even tho I had to tape plastic bags over my chimney and buy a door snake to reduce the draft, I love my little crowded messy room. And I love my housemates - this morning there was a bowl of rice congee porridge with squid bits waiting just for me. Thanks Liv!

Tom Doig is currently working on a show about David Hasselhoff and Hitler (awesome). I'm not sure if his Baywatch-style jogging is part of the research. Tom has also done a lot of noteworthy things in his time, such as co-direct the National Young Writers Festival, edit Voiceworks magazine and steer part of the This is Not Art ship. He also has a knack for doing unforgettable things - I once saw him strip onstage and rub pet food on himself while singing (I think) a song from Cats, the musical.