Absinthe Junk - Living Ghosts

Slotted Spoon Records

Attention all ye steampunk aficionados, Absinthe Junk accomplishes what their name implies—they’re a fitting band for your gears, gadgets, corsets, and metal-worked jewelry! Their press album, Living Ghosts presents an adequate sampling of their haunting metal sound.

A time-tested combination of steely guitars and an ethereal lead female voice place the band solidly within a genre recognized by metal, rockers, and goth fans alike. The difference, however, is that Blair, the lead singer, dabbles in more than a soft-to-screaming vocal. She has a well-supported range and doesn’t mimic an Evanescence sound. Listeners should appreciate this unique take on the genre and this original entry into the field.

Though the band claims many exotic textures layered within their sound, it is worth noting that the primary layer is metal guitar. Keyboard echoes are the next most recognizable supporting sound, but few tunes deviate as readily from a more traditional metal sound as the band purports. To their credit, the band has a few riffs and turns of musical phrase that remind a listener of Abney Park—a more recognized sound in the steampunk/goth genre. Building on the successful sound of this band isn’t mimicry as much as a gesture that places Absinthe Junk solidly in this genre.

The most commercial song on the album is “Dragonflies in Hurricanes” and it’s also the most off-genre. Displaying a haunting country sound, the Nashville-based band weaves a tale of the end of life, a love, a relationship—or all of it—with a more complete sound than the other songs. Blair’s lead vocals are eerily reminiscent of Natalie Merchant and the band’s support rounds out the song in a very recognizable way. Notably, the song feels very different than the rest of the album—which is quite good in its own right—but it is quite powerful.

Review by Dr. Julie E. Ferris

When Marina Abramović Dies

By James Westcott
MIT Press

As someone with only one semester of art history under my belt, I find myself both interested and intimidated by the politics and practice of performance art. After reading this exhaustive biography of performing art legend Marina Abramović (who just wrapped up a stunning retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York), my intimidation has been replaced by a strong desire to see Abramović’s work.

When reading about an iconic figure such as Abramović, the private aspects of her otherwise very public life are the most interesting artifacts to glean. Through complete cooperation from Abramović and many of her friends and family members, James Westcott produces a marvelously comprehensive history of the artist's childhood in Yugoslavia and the beginning of the career that would revolutionize the use of the body as an artistic vehicle in the 1970s. The downside of writing about such an icon is that, while there is no shortage of fascinating material, one must organize it in such a way as to not overwhelm the reader. Westcott does just that, dividing Abramović’s life into three distinct parts: her early years, her work with fellow performance artist and former romantic partner Ulay, and her recent foray into solo performances.

For readers familiar with Abramović’s body of work, the book will most likely open your eyes to some of her earliest projects, and will offer interesting insight into her more famous pieces. One such example is her 1975 performance of Rhythm 0, where she laid out seventy-two items for museum patrons to use on her however they wished. These items included a loaded gun, which a man put in her hand and pointed at her neck. The author seamlessly weaves together interviews, archival photo footage, and factual information to make Abramović’s life as vibrant on the page as it is in reality.

Above all, Westcott proves to be an incredibly detailed biographer. Near the end of the book, readers understand where some of this attention to detail stems from; he recently served as a transcriptionist for some of Abramović’s marathon performances, writing hundreds of pages at her insistence to describe her hours of sitting or standing during certain pieces. The result of Westcott’s well-researched writing style and Abramović’s openness and commitment to storytelling and making art, When Marina Abramović Dies becomes an enthralling look at the world of performance art, a strong-willed and endlessly creative woman, and what happens when those two things collide for over forty years.

Review by Alyssa Vincent

Matamata , The Land Where Hobbits Live

Matamata is small rural place in New Zeland. It is known for its unpolluted air and beautiful scenery. I am all for peaceful life, but a few things, changed when a large farm near Matamata was chosen to be the site of Hobbiton, home of hobbits, in the Lord of the rings film! The movie company had a new road made to reach the remote set. They also had 37, ‘hobbit-homes’, built, into grassy hillside. This style of home is environmentally friendly, because the earth-covered walls and grassy roof, reduce amount of heat they lose.

Amazing Imaginary Scenes Concept

Soul Kitchen

Directed by Fatih Akın
Corazón International



Soul Kitchen is a lot like cotton candy—sweet but, ultimately, not very satisfying. Like many festival favorites, the plot of this independent German film revolves around a cast of lovably quirky characters who get themselves eye-deep into trouble.

Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos), a German of Greek descent, has a lot of stuff on his plate. He’s the proprietor of Soul Kitchen, a struggling eatery in a rundown section of Hamburg. The tax people, led by Frau Schuster (Catrin Striebeck), are knocking at his door. His ne’er-do-well brother, Illias (Moritz Bleibtreu), seeks employment at the restaurant wanting “to go through the motions” of working so that he can make parole. Neumann (Wotan Wilke Möhring), a shady real estate agent, is sniffing around in hopes of acquiring the property. An uninsured Zinos makes the mistake of trying to move a heavy dishwasher by himself and gets a herniated disk for his trouble. On top of all this, Zinos is pining away for his girlfriend, Nadine (Pheline Roggan), who has hightailed it to Shanghai.

Attempting to revamp the restaurant’s simple cuisine, he hires the temperamental Shayn (Birol Ünel), a culinary snob who lost his last job for pulling a knife on a paying customer who asked for hot gazpacho. Things start looking up for Zinos when Shayn’s gourmet creations take off with the hip crowd. Eager to reunite with Nadine, Zinos makes plans to move to Shanghai, leaving Illias to manage the place. Illias gambles the restaurant away to Neumann. And poor Zinos discovers that Nadine has been cheating on him and aggravates his back injury on the same day. Zinos burns down his apartment in a fit of painkiller-induced pique. Homeless, loveless, jobless, and broke, Zinos has to figure out a way to get his restaurant back.

The script, co-written by the director and the leading man, is chock full of sly jokes and the dialogue is genuinely inspired. The filmmaker wisely decided not to let the food upstage the story. The problem is that the characters, with the exception of Zinos, are mere stereotypical sketches. Too much of the plot rests on contrivance—the romance between Illias and the surly waitress Lucia (Anna Bederke), for example—and things wrap up a little too neatly at the end. I never could root for the burgeoning relationship between Zinos and Anna (Dorka Gryllus), the physiotherapist who treats his back injury; the two don’t spend enough time onscreen together for me to care.

Full of whimsy, Soul Kitchen is definitely a film I would watch again. I can also see how it won the Special Jury Prize and the Young Cinema Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. It should enjoy a respectable run on the art-house circuit when it’s released in the States later this summer; however, the film is much too flawed to ever make any “best of” list, and it definitely isn’t Fatih Akin’s best work.

Review by Ebony Edwards-Ellis

World's Coolest Bathrooms

Aquarium Bathroom

Like many beach-side bathrooms, the Mumin Papa Café in Akashi, Japan, is decorated with deep-sea creatures. But the live three-wall aquarium envelops the stall one-ups standard wallpaper by a large margin. The underwater restroom costs $270,000 to build and is ladies-only, except for the giant sea turtle swimming around. The surrounding aquarium was designed to mimic the feeling of relieving yourself while swimming in the ocean.

Vertigo Bathroom

Try to avoid this bathroom if you are afraid of heights. Its vertigo looking wallpaper makes you feel trapped among buildings.

One-Way Glass Bathroom

Artist Monica Bonvicini created this minimalist glass cube containing a usable loo to stand opposite the Tate Britain gallery in London.The work, called Don't Miss A Sec, is made out of one-way glass which means you can see out but not in. The public sculpture was exposed at the former Royal Army Medical College in Millbank, and was meant for public use. A spokeswoman for the project said: "It will arouse curiosity because people can just come and use it, although there is a question of whether people will feel comfortable doing so. The toilet was also exhibited at the Messeplatz in Basel, Switzerland, in 2004.

Mountainous Brook (natural bathroom for the city)

‘Mountainous Brook', just as its name implies, is an innovative bathroom suite designed to create natural atmosphere inside urban buildings. The Redo Studio has drawn the inspiration from the nature, and therefore the design features several natural elements like the mountains and the spring. Combining a basin, a shower and the toilet in one single unit, ‘Mountainous Brook' has successfully achieved its goal to save up the limited space of urban departments.

Pure Gold Bathroom

World's priciest toilet is located in Hong Kong. The Swisshorn Gold Palace was built in 2001 by Chinese jewelry mogul Lam Sai-wing. The entire washroom required 380 kg of pure gold and 6,200 gemstones. Even the fixtures were made of gold. It cost HK $38 million. In 2008 all the place was melted down, except for the golden throne.

Tetris Bathroom

Did you always feel the only bad thing about urinals is that you can't read anything because you are standing? Well, in this bathroom installed in a university in Brazil, you won't be able to read but at least you will play one of the coolest games ever.

£9,000 'Swiss Army knife' Bathroom

It looks like an art installation inspired by a hi-tech corkscrew or Swiss army penknife.

But this is no ornament or sculpture. It is, in fact, the world's first fold-up vertical bathroom. Called the Vertebrae, it stacks a toilet, sink, water cistern and two showers into one 8ft-tall steel column. It has a price tag of £9,000 and is aimed at space-conscious householders who struggle to fit a traditional shower, sink and toilet into their bathroom space. The Vertebrae is the brainchild of award-winning designer Paul Hernon, of Huddersfield, who created it with small apartments in mind.

PacMan Bathroom

Just like the Tetris concept, here is another retro game themed bathroom.

Viewing Platform Bathroom

The bathrooms at Columbia Tower are some of the tallest in the world, and each 76th-floor stall has its own view of the Seattle skyline. Aside from the stunning view, each stall has marble floors, marble counters and solid brass fixtures and contains its own sink. Although the bathroom is technically women-only (Columbia Tower likes to think of the restroom as a "tranquil escape for any woman's busy day"), it acquires frequent male visitors eager to check out the view.

Compact Bathroom

Who would ever imagine that a bathroom could be hidden in a cabinet? But the Compact Bathroom presented here has proven that is possible. Just open the cabinet, pull out each module and you'll find a bathtub, a basin and other articles commonly needed in the whole unit. Wow, that's a clever way to save limited space.

Hottest Beach Volley Babes