HoboHookah
Professional socialites aside, anyone who has traveled solo or rolled up to a party alone knows how daunting it can be to strike up a real conversation. Enter the HoboHookah, a pipe that turns liquor — and other types of bottles — into hookahs. Its inventors, two guys from America, both spent time living in the Middle East and picked up on the considerable hookah culture there. Upon returning to the US they decided to design a hookah to fit in with their western culture. And out popped the first hookah built to ‘travel far and party hard’. While other hookahs are generally pretty breakable or quite cumbersome, this hookah is compact (about 30cm long), light (about 1kg), and fits a variety of bottles. I rocked one atop a 1L Absolut Razz bottle (filled with water, not the precious vodka of course) and it tasted just as delicious and pulled even easier than the traditional hookahs at my favorite lounge. I’m told they’ve also been smoked on bases ranging from a 38L wine casket to a water bottle 4000 meters up a mountain, both of which sound pretty glorious.
Also by KENNETH YU
Dating or married musician duos are always interesting beasts. Their intertwining affections and chemical reactions make for a potent alchemy of musical magic. Along the same vein of O-era Damien Rice and Lisa Hennigan, Glen Hansard (frontman of The Frames) and Marketa Irglova are the latest lovey-dovey couple with longings expressed in fingerpicked guitars and mourning cellos. Read more
Shawn Kuruneru has a hair fetish. The Canadian-born artist’s illustrations of long, flowing, shampoo TVC-worthy, liquid-looking locks wrap around various portraits and situations, forming an intriguing mix of medieval folklore, nature and elements of the human form. Featured in publications like Tokion and Arkitip, this is the world’s first enactment of Rapunzel’s Freudian dreams.
Epiphanies are wondrous things. Those little orgasmic sparks that ignite flames in the deepest recesses of one’s soul, etching burn marks that ensure one’s life is never quite the same again. The National is a living, breathing epiphany, playing a brand of guitar poetry of such heart-stopping beauty that the only way to react to it is to submit to its molding. That is why 2005’s Alligator coloured my lenses with delicious despair and melodious melancholy. That is why 2007’s Boxer will do the same thing. That is why spiritual arson will be the theme of my year thus far. Boxer will be released on 22 May. [see also The Paper Scissors]
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I wish I could remember where I first stumbled across the work of Oregon artist and illustrator Evan B Harris, but I’m glad I did. There’s an innate sweetness, a comforting whimsical quality in Harris’ work that, coupled with his rich narratives, makes me want to hunt for that old teddy bear I used to curl up with and wash down the nostalgia with strong mug of steaming hot chocolate.
I had the pleasure of seeing Duran Duran play a few weeks back in the balmy drizzle of New York’s Central Park. I always thought the guys had more cheek than they were ever given credit for. But don’t be fooled! For a band so rooted in the immediacy of disposable pop, they wrote some timeless songs, none more so than The Chauffeur.
There’s something quite compelling about the intensity and intimacy in this portrait by Juliana Beasley. The kids seem coiled and ready to spring to action in an environment which is eerily stark and devoid of discernible character.
From the cutting rooms of Dior through to the backstages of the Babyshambles, and even These New Puritans, it seems former Dior designer Hedi Slimane has seen it all. But his newly published photography concept book — Rock Diary — leaves me asking many questions about the symbiosis of fashion and music, especially the glorification of renowned drug addict Pete Doherty. Read more
Films involving characters faced with an impossible choice never make easy viewing, an example being the Nick Cave Australian gem, The Proposition. A nightclub manager, played with understated power by Joaquin Phoenix, is the victim here, and you actually feel truly uncomfortable as his predicament unfolds. Set in the 1980s, We Own The Night shows a real nostalgia for that period — particularly in the costumes. Read more
With her collection of Skinover gloves, Rotterdam-based artist and sculptor Silvia B has taken a somewhat natural approach to the task of keeping hands warm — warts and all.
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Saira McLaren’s interpretation of the spiritual world
Saira McLaren is a Canadian born, Brooklyn-based artist whose blurred paintings of the natural and spiritual world are disturbing for what they reference as well as what they deny. McLaren has shown at Heskin Contemporary, New York, NY, Acuna-Hansen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, and Mississippi State University. Read more
Japanese designers Keiichi Muramatsu and Noriko Seki founded the Tokyo-based fashion label, Everlasting Sprout, in 2005, based on their mutual interest in knit design. Each intricate creation in their Spring/Summer 2009 range took up to a week for them to construct. Read more
We asked Arizona-based artist Joe Sorren what we would have been if he hadn’t been handed the most ridiculously generous serving of artistic talent: ‘Art historian and conservationalist. Or a botanist. Or I’d work with horses. It would be interesting to be behind the scenes in politics, at least for a while. Or maybe a studio musician, or invent games, or a … I would rather paint’. Ah, we agree.
I’m a sucker for just about anything to do with printmaking. UK illustrator Jonny Hannah makes a very strong case. Busy, colorful, spontaneous and brimming with inspiration, THIS is the stuff amazing is made of. Read more
The work of Chicago artist Nigel Evan Dennis is emphatically modern and sparse, with textures and clean geometric shapes dominating the frame. I get the feeling I could really relax and breathe deeply with one of these beautiful images hanging on the wall. Read more
We have a Major Lazer prize pack to give away to a randomly selected LAEM subscriber featuring a Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do t-shirt, vinyl and CD. To be in the running, simply be a subscriber and tell us why you want it. Read more
New York-based designer Ryan Sullivan’s shirts are printed in his studio in low runs. His latest batch works with geometric space on silky cotton poly blend shirts. Read more
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Aaron said | 23 December, 2007
Pretty cool idea. And you get to drink the alcohol first.