AND THE BEST OSCAR SPEECH GOES TO ...

Quick extra blog to celebrate the Oscar win for Luke Matheny - not only is his short film fantastic but so was his speech and his hair.

SHOCK DISCOVERY: MOST DANGEROUS BIRD IN THE WORLD LIVES IN AUSTRALIA

The recent floods in Queensland have apparently sent homeless birds wandering into local towns and villages. We're not talking a couple of sparrows, though, but something called a Cassowary. Looking like a cross between a turkey and a dinosaur, this 6 foot, 130 pound flightless bird has three five inch talons on each leg and can be known to disembowel people when threatened. Surprise surprise, the deadliest bird in the world lives in Australia, a continent where I'm sure even earth worms have teeth. 

MARVELLOUS MAPS

If you are someone who finds maps as intriguing as I do, there are two beautiful books out at the moment which should satisfy any cartophile. In Atlas of Remote Islands Judith Schalansky has picked 50 of the most remote islands in the world, places she is certain never to go, and drawn an exquisite map for each one alongside a pocket, poetic, enchanting history. Schalansky makes these islands sound like magical inventions from Jonathan Swift. From Here to There is another gem - a remarkable collection of the rudimentary maps drawn everyday by people trying to remember where the nearest tube is, inventing an imaginary land or drawing something important to them like the inside of their school locker. Kris Harzinski, author of this collection and founder of the Hand Drawn Map Association, has included sketches from Abraham Lincoln to a woman suffering from arthritis who maps where she has been given injections so she can leave her body time to heal.

A PITTSBURGH MUSICAL MASH-UP

Pittsburgh genius Gregg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk,  is an ex-biomedic turned DJ and seems to have perfected the art of the digital mashup with this fab website sampling over 300 songs in 50 minutes. The best part is that you can see what he's mixed while it's playing. More fun since something really fun you did recently.  Did you see the new Justin Beiber film? Did you beat a personal best on the running machine? Hard to believe, I know, but this is better.

DADDY'S LITTLE PITBULL

There seems to be a fashion at the moment for Daddy's girls come bad ass heroines. It's hard to pick between Kick Ass's Hit Girl, Ree Dolly from Winter's Bone or the formidable Mattie Ross from True Grit. All great films with fantastic heroines - who do you think would win in a fight? Are there any I've missed?

DOG DAYS

Whoever suggested that the British are obsessed with their dogs had never been to New York. The Brits are just more affectionate to their dogs than their children, New Yorkers on the other hand have replaced children all together. There are dog parlours, dog spas, even a dog tree in Central Park which memorialises dead local residents. But the undisputed pinnacle of this passion is the dog costume parade which happens every year a week before Halloween. 

MODERN DAY BOB DYLAN?

Here's a song from Dan Bern, a man the New Yorker is comparing with Bob Dylan, accompanied by Common Rotation, a New York Mumford & Sons but less religious. They played a funny, folky set at the Highline Ballroom last night.

TALES OF DOMESTIC DESPAIR

Inspired by Victorian ghost stories and spirit photographs from the late 19th century, Corinne May Botz has travelled the United States photographing eighty haunted houses. Even when you don't know the stories, which you can listen to on her website, aren't they sinister?

AN AMERICAN IN LONDON

Paul Theroux in 1998 in his home in East Sandwich, Mass. (Photo by Ed Quinn for the New York Times)

A cracking piece published in the Guardian this weekend sees Paul Theroux talking about England during the seventies and eighties. A wonderful taster for the Spring issue of Granta Magazine which focuses on the experience of living somewhere else.

LEGO FOR GROWN-UPS

On Tuesday a growing obsession with museum shops reached its zenith with the discovery of grown-up lego. Have you ever looked longingly as a friend's child pulls out the box of lego and whiles away an hour or so building a space ship with wheels, wings and a kitchen? Did you ever think it was unfair that lego was only for boys? Are you looking for a present for the boy who has everything? Look no further! The shop at the Guggenheim has a miniature lego set of the museum and of Frank Lloyd Wright's other architectural celebrity, The Waterfalls. Our only complaint is that there aren't more of them.