Archive for category Art & Collectibles
Decades of Obscurity in St. Petersburg? Why not try a Russian Easter?
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles on March 6, 2008
Easter has returned from decades of obscurity in St. Petersburg, and now hosts a variety of processions, church services and festivals. Take advantage of the ‘Easter Dreams for Art Lovers’ package from The Rocco Forte COllection’s Hotel Astoria between 20th and 25th March 2008 and you too could sample the celebratory atmosphere. Prices start at 64,050 rubles (approximately 1,830 euros) and includes 3 nights accommodation, Champagne, private tours of the Hermitage Museum and the Imperial Palaces, a Russian classical massage and a Russian Table buffet at Davidov restaurant.
Cyclone Vertical Fireplace Touts Spinning Tower of Fire
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles, Home Design on February 15, 2007

Although they aren’t mandatory, fireplaces have a unique way of turning a house into home. They are cozy and romantic. The new Cyclone is a whirling pillar of fire enclosed within two towering upright glass enclosures. It’s very much like grabbing hold of lightening in a bottle. But, at 15,000 BTUs, it’s not such an impressive heat source. The free standing glass cylinder lets you enjoy the full 360-degrees view of the fire. The whole setup doesn’t come cheap as the price tag attached to it reads $3,799 but I think that goes well with the flamboyant looks of the Cyclone.
[Via Gizmodo]
Fine Living Top 10: Musicians For Hire… Who Would You Hire?
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles, Miscellaneous on February 7, 2007

Ever fantasize about having your favorite rockers play a marathon set just for you and your friends? Well, thanks to a considerably more corporate-friendly environment in the music industry, it's now a distinct possibility. From has-beens like KC and the Sunshine Band to superstars like The Rolling Stones, many musicians are willing to play at weddings, corporate events and even bar mitzvahs for amounts ranging from five figures into the millions.
Mirror Op-Art… We want your thoughts?
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles, Home Design on January 23, 2007

Whats is it?
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Mirror Op-Art is an intimidating construction of circular mirrors that can be arranged in limitless patterns. Each mirror is connected to the wall mount by its own wire, which means you can arrange the mirrors to all focus on you or you could share the wealth and capture different aspects of the room.
DV Guru interviews director Sujewa Ekanayake
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles on January 11, 2007

With Google promising to open its video platform to indie filmmakers, and the acquisition of YouTube, it would seem self-distribution of movies is on the rise. Digital distribution makes sense, and it is potentially a powerful tool for those without a huge budget to get their films to audiences. With this in mind, Brian Liolia of DV Guru recently interviewed Sujewa Ekanayake. His film, Date Number One, was made on a shoestring, and Ekanayake is a master of DIY filmmaking. Now, with digital tools at his disposal, he has entered the world of DIY distribution as well.
[Via DVGuru]
Children of Men, word of mouth WORKING!
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles on January 8, 2007

Opening weekend the movie only pulled in $179k on a limited number of screens and tremendous word of mouth (due in part to Digg) it has climbed this week to third place in box office with 10 million dollars! Lets keep the ball rolling on this fantastic movie.
[Via Boxofficemojo]
Tag Heuer to partner with ModeLabs on luxury handset?
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles on January 3, 2007

The watch maker Tag Heuer (owned by LVMH) is preparing to release a cell phone within the coming months. Tag Heuer is having a completely new phone designed for them by the French phone maker ModeLabs who make custom cell phones for various companies including MTV and Virgin Mobile. ModeLabs also makes the Elite Model Look cell phone mentioned last year. The phone is expected to be made of stainless steel and have many similarities to Tag Heuer watches. This is another attempt at the luxury phone market created and dominated by Vertu, in recent months other companies such as GoldVish and Gresso have also enter the market but have yet to make an impression.
[Via Sybarites.org]
THE RETURN OF THE YUPPIE
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles, Fashion on December 22, 2006

"The other night in Los Angeles, I caught up with my old friend Jeremy, who’d just landed a big sales job with a wireless company. We’d decided to check out Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at the Henry Fonda Theater. As you get older, and adult responsibilities cake up your life like shower mold, preparing for the time-honored male-bonding ritual of seeing an indie band becomes a Byzantine task, so we were psyched. Before I flew out from New York, I’d figured that since I’d always lent Jeremy a couch to crash on in the past, when he was a struggling singer-songwriter, maybe I could save a few bucks and stay with him and his wife and kids near Laurel Canyon, and . . . well, wait. No, that wouldn’t do.
NBC’s The Office: Coworkers of the year
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles on December 21, 2006

Boss Steve Carell may hog The Office’s spotlight, but it’s his watercooler underlings who do all the heavy lifting in TV’s best comedy. If only B.J. Novak, Rainn Wilson, and John Krasinski dressed like this more often—they’d probably get promoted
It is said, usually during PowerPoint presentations, that there’s no I in team. But as anyone who’s worked in an of?ce knows, every team is actually full of I’s— bored, frightened, insecure I’s. We bring our anxieties, our prejudices, and our deepest yearnings to work every day like a brown-bag lunch, and no TV show has captured this more eloquently than The Of?ce. Of?cially, these characters push paper for a living. But as David St. Hubbins, from This Is Spinal Tap—a major Of?ce precursor—would put it, they’re really full-time dreamers. The black-hole neediness of boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell) may be the show’s center of gravity. But Carell’s castmates are television’s ?nest human resource.
DNA Gloframe: The Ultimate in pretentious gifts!
Posted by Ken in Art & Collectibles, Home Design on December 21, 2006

Give someone special this holiday season an exact replica of your DNA.
Monograms are so bourgeois, and bolting faux-gold nameplates to one's holdings is a practice best left to the comb-over king of New York real estate. But now you can be more subtly self-aggrandizing–and indulge your artsy and geeky urges as well–by getting abstract art generated from your DNA. The backlit Gloframe looks rather like a plasma TV, less than an inch thick and either 18 by 24 inches ($900) or 24 by 36 inches ($1,300). Choose from seven color schemes to make sure your chromosomes match the carpet.
[Via Cnet, Julie Wildhaber]