I've had another dive into researching a part of the world I know nothing about - China and Australia. All I know about the one is the stereotype of billions of skyscrapers being built every year and the onrush of a scary form of urbanism while peasants in villages still live in hovels. All I knew about the other, until a few hours ago, was Glenn Murcutt and his disciples. Now I've trawled through virtually the whole archive of the journal Architecture Australia I know something more - at least, some sense of orientation in the world of Australian architecture, its concerns, priorities and strengths.

There was some surprisingly good writing in the journal, especially compared to the sycophantic British rags - a sense of genuine debate and questioning about the direction or architecture and urban design, some actual criticism (god forbid) of the buildings and schemes featured, and some more polemic essays on a variety of themes from how to design for/with Aboriginal communities to a fairly serious critique of the masterplanning of the major cities.

I found some potentially good projects and some practices to follow up on, but still I need more leads...anyone out there with any suggestions for Chinese or Australian projects, email me now!

Meanwhile, from the serious to the ridiculous. Check out the cybernetic parrot sausage, but not if you are feeling easily grossed out. (Thanks to Boing Boing, who else, for bringing this to the world's attention...)