One might think differences between men and woman, anatomy aside, would be dissolving. Not so. Statistically, men smoke, drink and earn more than women. According to the Mayo Clinic, the leading health issues for men and women are heart disease and lung cancer. However, for men these are swiftly followed by car crashes, and falling over (yes, really). In the West, men spend about five months of their life shaving, two years getting dressed, and twenty-three years sleeping. On the up-side, men literally do have thicker skin than women (4:3 in a Duke University study), and while women speak about 20,000 words a day, men offer 7000, and we all know silence is golden. In the animal kingdom, males spread joy through entertaining shows of dominance and by being better looking. An example? San Diego zookeepers report male pandas, on average, do eight exuberant handstands per day. For impressive feats by hominids of both genders, read on.   

DRINK
Syrahmi Maelstrom Heathcote Shiraz. Not only is award-winning Melbourne winemaker and sommelier Adam Foster creating some extremely exciting Victorian reds, he's also turned his hand to the manufacture of smallgoods, all of which carry a generous slug of his latest vintage. While we've yet to sample the Syrahmi salami, Foster’s Shiraz is something we've been enthusiastically securing to see us through the long southern hemisphere winter.

SUPPORT
The Historic Houses Trust which has, since 1980, managed and conserved significant sites across New South Wales including homes, gardens, urban spaces and a farm, opening them to the public for tours, exhibitions and events. Families might enjoy the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at Elizabeth Farm on 22 August which will include a book reading and games. Otherwise, celebrate the music and fashion of the 1950s at the Fifties Fair held in the grounds of Rose Seidler House on 29 August.

EAT
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.

LISTEN
To NPR podcasts, including, in Arts and Life, Garrison Keillor’s classic live show A Prairie Home Companion, which first went to air in 1974, and Culturetopia’s coverage of the latest books, films, and music. In the Music section, listen to the Fifty Great Voices podcast. Many of NPR’s programs are regional and tailored to very specific audiences – 900 stations across the United States broadcast NPR programs – but numerous programs speak to wide interests and all are of exceptionally high quality.

ENJOY
Moroccan Neroli Post-Shave Lotion, Aesop’s lightweight daily moisturiser formulated especially for sensitive skin, or skin aggravated or inflammed by shaving. Suitable for use by men and women, this lotion contains a blend of calming and hydrating ingredients in a base of Olive Oil and Shea Butter to leave skin soft and soothed. The ideal partner to Moroccan Neroli Shaving Serum, this lotion comes in a portable flip-top aluminium tube. 

DISCOVER
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 geodesic 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.’

WATCH
Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). The film offers a dark, masterly vision of a wealthy American family at the beginning of the automobile age, with its only failing being a fractured narrative due to savage studio cuts. Welles was twenty-seven at the time he directed this film and had already worked extensively as an actor, theatre director and radio producer. His substantial achievements are more impressive given the early loss of both parents and repeated career setbacks. Also revisit Citizen Kane, released one year before Ambersons.

ATTEND
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 toSejima’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.

HEAR
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 life and make them soar.

‘Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most times he will pick himself up and carry on.’ Winston Churchill