A lick of paint and a splash of color can do even the dingiest, direst corners a world of good, and that’s whether we’re talking a small, private space or a big, public one. I recently read about a drive that’s transforming Rio de Janeiro’s slums through community-driven art. Called the Favela Painting project, it’s all been cooked up by Dutch artist duo Haas&Hahn, and they’ve already done and dusted two campaigns in Vila Cruzeiro (Rio’s most notorious slum). Now efforts are focussed on O Morro, where the plan is to prettify an entire hillside slum: already 34 houses and some 7,000 square meters have had a brush with beauty.

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Shameful to admit, but there was definitely the odd occasion on our honeymoon (sat in the back of a safari truck, or on a beach seeing the sun set), when my mind trespassed momentarily into treacherous thank-you note territory. A mistake, I grant you, to start totting up the numbers of need-to-writes, as Husband looked on and lounged in ignorant bliss, but wedding guides are eerily emphatic about the right way in which to write to your guests after the event. In the end, it took two weeks, four pens, a stack of stamps and one throbbing index finger to get the lot labelled and shoveled into our mailbox in time.

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At the cinema last week, the trailer for a new film Countdown to Zero blasted into the auditorium. See what we saw here:

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It’s Monday morning, which means it’s back to work for many men and women everywhere. But, for a new wave of feminist housewives (a generation of female graduates who are choosing full-time motherhood over high-flying careers), this morning could comprise cookie-baking, crayon coloring and duck-feeding at the park.

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Warning! If you’re likely to be offended by the loucher and more licentious links that Art 2010 occasionally makes between art and the art of living, then look away now. Because today we’re discussing Speedos, and Lord knows it’s going to get messy. It’s summer, so swimwear has been preying on my mind (and parading before my eyes). Fact is I’ve got shocking news to report: Speedos (those clingiest, briefest of briefs) have had a huge surge in sales this year. So if you’re planning to be on the beach or by the pool at some point soon, don’t say I didn’t tell you.

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Straight up, the best thing about being on holiday (aside from the good food, booze, friends, family and sun/sea/sandals special) is the reading room it gives you. Out in Italy (poolside as I type), here are some of the things I am enjoying NOT reading right now:

1. Emails (the boring ones)

2. Bills and bank statements

3. Letters from our building berating us for bringing food and beverage into the pool area

4. The manual for our new TV remote

5. The shopping list

6. The back-to-the-shopping list, with the things on I forgot the first time

And here are the things I AM enjoying reading:

1. Trashy magazines (purely to keep my finger on the pulse, you understand)

2. Recipes for what we’ll cook tonight

3. Protection details on the side of a sunscreen bottle

4. Books, books and more books

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Madness or genius? Doesn’t matter now, because I did it anyway! A photograph of every single work in the East and West Buildings of the National Gallery of Art (except some small galleries on the main ground floor that are less interesting).

For the first time, I felt the full force of the collections (and the breadth of the challenge of Art 2010). And I hope it’s a good chance for all of you (especially those living further afield) to explore the Gallery, top to bottom!

So here it is, around my world of art in under 7 minutes.

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