Hailing from The Netherlands, Chris Berens works predominantly with ink, varnish and acrylic. Although, by his own admission, his paintings are not made with a particular message in mind, he works from recollection to create his very personal and intimate images. ‘I treat every painting as I would a diary’, he says, ‘in which I paint my thoughts and feelings’.

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Are you into wide angles? Then you might want to check out the new Paul Smith limited edition Fisheye No2 camera. Paul Smith collaborated with Lomography cameras to make this special item, which has a 180 degree wide-angle view and amazing fish-eye barrel distortion. Included is a bulb setting for long exposures and a switch for multiple exposures on the same frame. You also have the ability to use hotshoe flash or the built in flash. The body of the camera is attractive in a fashion sense with its metal accents and the Paul Smith signature multi-colored stripes.

Here’s one for all you tech savvy fashionistas. Outfit your iPhone 3G in form-fit style with a case from Speck. The lightweight, snap-together design lets you instantly make your iPhone 3G a fashion statement, while the soft fabric provides added comfort and extra grip in hand. Personally, I’m digging the plaid. But maybe that’s just because it’s getting chilly outside.

The Fun Camera by designer Jian Guan features a 16mm mirrored lens, which can also be replaced with standard lenses. Guan took his inspiration for the design from a magnifying glass. It’s a great concept and  would be a lot of fun to use.

Arriving two years after their debut, Settle Down City, Old Wounds completes Young Widows’ transformation into a top-shelf rock band firing on all cylinders. Forging the best parts of Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Fugazi and The Melvins, Old Wounds is a series of dynamic, thoughtful tunes anchored by cavernous grooves that will certainly push most speakers to their breaking point. For the unique production, the band reunited with uber-producer friend Kurt Ballou, who had been eager to experiment with recording the band in multiple environments, with the intent of capturing the definitive take of each song for the final cut of the album. Feeling most at home when they’re not at home, they brought Ballou along on tour to record all of their live shows. After tediously combing through a dozen hours of recordings, they compiled and mixed the album. The result is a bonafide classic, overflowing with the sweaty euphoria of a great live show, and the high replay value of a perfectly sequenced, well-produced rock record. Listen to the Young Widows track, Old Skin.

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AirCurve is a cleverly-designed acoustic amplifier that turns your iPhone into a no-power-drain alarm clock on your nightstand, or a mini sound system that never needs batteries or adapters. AirCurve looks like a simple, elegantly minimal stand for your iPhone. But inside is a cleverly designed coiled waveguide that collects the sound from the built-in speaker of your iPhone, amplifies it, and projects it into the room.

It’s only fitting a band of Canadian rootsters like this would tap a mythical figure of folklore for their namesake. Indeed, Ottawa’s The John Henrys understand the power of the familiar. But while the mighty Henry keeled over after his big challenge, vocalist-guitarist Rey Sabatin Jr. and company are going strong after theirs, a rollicking alt country salvo called Sweet As The Grain. Released on their own label 9LB Records, distributed through Universal Music in Canada and True North Records in the US, Grain is a record that carves its own path while casting reverent glances toward The Flying Burrito Brothers, Uncle Tupelo, The Band, and a host of others.

The revolutionary Gibson Robot Les Paul Studio Limited Electric Guitar has some groundbreaking controls at your disposal. At first glance, the four control knobs seem to be indistinguishable from those on other Les Paul guitars. But look again. While the knobs do provide the standard tone and volume controls for each of the two pickups, the Multi-Control Knob (MCK) — the one with the illuminated top — serves as the master control for all aspects of the Robot Les Paul Studio Limited’s amazing self-tuning system. Which is kinda fun when you think about it.

Artsprojekt is a fun curated platform that empowers emerging and established artists and brands to connect, collaborate, and showcase original art, designs and ideas with consumers.

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Released in 2008, Why Are We Not Perfect? presents three Jesu tracks originally issued on a split EP with the ambient act Eluvium during the previous year. As with the Silver and Lifeline EPs, Why Are We Not Perfect? finds Jesu mastermind Justin Broadrick pushing his heavy aesthetic further into more melodic territory with their track Farewell, in particular, marked by epic synth washes and the title song carried largely by soft vocals and a lopping drum track. The aforementioned tunes are also featured in previously unissued alternate versions, making the EP essential for Jesu completists. The remaining track, Blind and Faithless, creates a nearly symphonic sound, rounding out Why Are We Not Perfect?, and providing yet another example of Broadrick’s impressive indie-rock reinvention.

Slovenian domestic appliance brand Gorenje has developed a fridge-freezer with a built-in iPod docking station and speakers. Launched at the IFA 2008 consumer electronics fair in Berlin, the fridge allows users to listen to music while cooking, browsing online recipes, or watching cookery videos.

Songsterr solves problems by creating tabs you can play back and along with in real time. As the song progresses, Songsterr indicates where you should be in the tab. Just what us guitar hacks needed. Now, where the hell is my Guitar Hero axe?

Scott Prendergast wrote, directed, and starred in the movie Kabluey, which he referred to as a ‘melancomedy’ about Salman, an awkward but well-intentioned man, and his sister-in-law, Leslie (played by Lisa Kudrow), who are thrown together amidst an array of personal difficulties. While Leslie’s husband is away at war, Salman steps in to serve as a live-in nanny to his two young nephews, who are struggling with anger issues of their own.

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Cappuccino is an open source application framework for developing applications that look and feel like the desktop software users are familiar with. It is built on top of standard web technologies like JavaScript, and it implements most of the familiar APIs from GNUstep and Apple’s Cocoa frameworks. When you program in Cappuccino, you don’t need to concern yourself with the complexities of traditional web technologies like HTML, CSS, or even the DOM. The unpleasantries of building complex cross browser applications are abstracted away for you.

PleaseDressMe is a classic example of scratching ones own itch. AJ, Gary, and Joe love finding great new tees, but finding the tees wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. Rather than sifting through multiple websites, they figured why not just go to one website that makes searching for t-shirts easy? Once they came to that conclusion, Joe went to coding and after a few calculated keystrokes he brought in Chris to make it pretty. And it is. PleaseDressMe indeed.

Dianogah’s core instrumentation is as a trio of two bass guitarists and one drummer. They have toured the US extensively, traveled throughout Europe and played in South America, amongst other places, with acts such as Man or Astro Man?, Blonde Redhead, Shellac, Silkworm, June of 44 and Don Caballero.

The Puyo is an environmentally friendly concept car designed by Honda. The vehicle is ultra-efficient, powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology, and has a unique aesthetic to boot. Literally. The sensual nature of this hydrogen fuel cell car also comes with a sense of transparency from its panoramic windows and intuitive operation. One of the coolest features of the Honda Puyo, however, is that the cabin rotates 360-degrees, so the car doesn’t have to go in reverse.

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The LaCie FireWire Speakers combine Neil Poulton’s stunning industrial design with superb digital audio technology. With a frequency response of 90Hz-20kHz, they deliver powerful, vibrant sound for your music, movies and games. Easily connect them to your computer or MP3 player, it comes with built-in FireWire cable — so there’s no need for batteries or an AC adapter.

Since vanity albums seem to be back in style, Leisha Hailey’s Uh Huh Her released their Common Reaction debut on August 19 through Nettwerk. Uh Huh Her is a collaboration between former Mellowdrone bassist and keyboardist Camila Grey and Hailey, who’s better known as Alice Pieszecki on the Showtime television series, The L Word. Their eleven-track disc was produced by Al Clay (Blur, Pink). The band recently shot a video for their single Not A Love Song, which you can preview along with Explode [audio below] and a remix of Say So on Uh Huh Her’s MySpace page.

The Sound of Animals Fighting again unleash their experimental blend of progressive electronic hardcore rock. Known only by their animal names — Nightingale, Walrus, Lynx, and Skunk — and wearing masks for their rare live appearances, TSOAF have released two albums. Their latest, The Ocean and The Sun, offers an intense mix of genres, as delicate Brazilian-inflected melodies careen into shattering guitar workouts.