Falls Creek in Victoria, Australia prides itself
on being a very inclusive resort and this year became the world's first
alpine resort to be benchmarked by Green Globe 21 - the international
accreditation scheme for ecologically and socially sustainable tourism.
An oasis in the heart of the Australian Alps, our award for the coolest
new place to open in the mountains must go to Huski Boutique Apartments and Day Spa.
Huski has stepped away from traditional alpine architecture with a
radical, modern design based on the segments of a snowflake. The
apartments have mountain views to the spectacular Spion Kopje range and
are lavishly decked out with kitchen and dining accoutrements, luxury
linen and video and music systems.
It looks a little like the Michelin Man crossed a
kids jumping castle but the 'Office In A Bucket' means serious
business. Today's business market is all about portability, from hand
held PDA's to wireless networking. The team at Inflate
in the UK have taken it one step further with a portable, inflatable
office that is stored in a a bucket. The Office In A Bucket is a PU
coated nylon structured inflatable work space, that is erected by
simply plugging its storage bucket into the nearest power supply.
Within a few short minutes, the Lightweight office is fully
inflated and ready for use. With a simply entrance which easily pulls
to open, the BIAO provides privacy with a clip fastening closure system
and its PU coated design makes branding the structure easy. By Billy T
Ok picture yourself, its a rainy night, your driving home and you see a broken down car on the side of the road. On closer inspection you realize the car is a Mercedes convertible and Barbara Streisand is on her knees changing a flat. The best bit is her crack is showing. SNAP! you grab a shot with your cell phone cam and a week later your $15,000 richer thanks to scoopt.com
The newly founded U.K based Scoopt a 'civic media press agency' helps members of the public sell photographs and videos of newsworthy events to the press. If you snap up a scoop with your cam or phone, send it on through to the folks at scoopt, and by automatically granting them exclusive world rights, they will market the photo for a period of six months. Professional paparazzi can start looking for other work, as the regular Joes are the new happy snappers on the block.
Mint Royale originally started in 1997 -- now 2005 sees them returning with their third album 'See You In The Morning'. Championed by the likes of Fatboy Slim, Pete Tong, Judge Jules and Seb Fontaine, Mint Royale from the UK are no strangers to the big league. See You In The Morning earns Neil Claxton (aka Mint Royale) and his band even more stripes. Every track hints at something you’ve known before – there’s a splash of Pnau there, a nod to Fatboy Slim here, a bit of Chemical Brothers over this way and something that sounds like some early Infusion halfway through. Make no mistake though – this isn’t a copycat record. It’s rather more like listening to all your favourite songs that you haven’t heard yet. There’s a great mix of slow and lovely, sad ballad-type songs, straight-up pop, instrumental vs vocalized tracks and some written for the dancefloor. One track everyone is destined to hear (and by no means is it the best on the album) is the reworking of Singin’ In the Rain. It’s what a reworking should be – very far from the original with a dancebeat. Singin’ In the Rain sounds slightly familiar but you’re not really sure why. See You in The Morning is a wicked record, and a favourite of mine for the year for sure. ring tone By Shannon
Teodoru Badiu (our featured artist this week) is a creative
media designer based in Vienna, Austria. He has an incredible talent
for the surreal in his digital images and illustrations on www.apocryph.net as well as his work on http://www.theodoru.com
Following the stellar success of Royksopp's debut record, Melody A.M, the world could have been forgiven for holding a sense of trepidation about the follow-up record. Breathe a collective sigh of relief; The Understanding is neither a remake of the debut, nor is it a dissapointing foray into something new. Far from it. the understanding will shelve Royksopp permanently on the crest of innovative electronic producers. One significan change is the move towards tracks with lyrical narratives, featuring an array of vocalists. According to the duo, their objective has always been to do their own thing, and their attention to their own path has paid off.
The Understanding is a sophisticated album, with beautiful depths, soaring peaks and a sublime atmosphere that's constanstly evolving. There are plenty of tracks destined for the dancefloor (Alpha Male, Beautiful Day Without You) and plenty that will no doubt become hits - Only this Moment being the first. The Understanding will be one of the most remorable albums this year, and will most likely win Royksopp a swathe of awards to match their already impressive collection. By Shannon
Greece is the word this summer. Undoubtedly
Europe's finest islands are found in Greece and the sun lovers at
Living International make it easy for you to enjoy the best
accommodation the islands have to offer.
It's gorgeous,
white villas all the way and the exclusive selection of
these magnificent villas are all found in the one place at livinginternational.net.
The classic white wash walls of these villas evoke a sense of calm and
purity, which is exactly the feeling one experiences on these ancient
and exotic islands. Be it Mykonos, Santorini or any number of Greece's
majestic islands, let someone else take care of the gritty details
and secure your carefree arrival in these hip villas.
What ever happened to a time where size really did matter in music, when the word 12-inch meant more than a Subway Sandwich? We are, of course, referring to the 12 inch record remix. When rock and indie were happy with a mere 7 inches of pleasure, funk and pop demanded the whole 12. Radio D.J's play list were dominated by 12 inch remixes as they offered a different version and extended play of an already hit song. From Grace Jones to Simple Minds and The Pet Shop Boys, the 12 inch remix had the 'funk Spunk' factor that the radio edits lacked. 80 /12" is an awesome compilation that pays homage to the 12 inch era worth it's exquisitely selected and wonderfully varied track listing, many of which are appearing for the very first time on CD. The three Cd box set comes in both Volume one and two and covers a vast genre of 12 inch mega hits that will get you dancing faster than you can say ' Samantha Fox rocks '. US readers purchase here UK here Aus/NZ here
Hot on the heels of the latest cinematic revival craze of comic book heroes (Fantastic Four, Sin City, Electra ) comes a visually stunning installation by artist, Simon Birch. “Amazing adventures of the Monkey King” is an astounding 3D installation by Birch at Lane Crawford IFC Atrium. The curator, British-born, Hong Kong-based artist has created a stark, black and white inner world of a graphic novel where audiences can actually walk into the action. The scale allows the shopper to penetrate the comic book environment and literally enter the story itself. The key action centres around a monkey figure who is starring in the controversial graffiti seen around Hong Kong streets during the past year. Inspired by the Chinese Opera legend “Journey to the West”, the Monkey King Graffiti was featured in the Chinese and English press. Finally, it was revealed to be the work of Simon Birch. Now Birch has taken the art work to a new level by incorporating into the retail environment in the form of a visually electric installation
Skiing
in one of the warmest countries in the world? Bring it on.... Indoors
of course! The United Arab Emirates have developed the world's first
largest indoor ski resort ever made and nobody goes over the top like
the developers in this part of the world. Encompassing over 6.5 million
square feet over 3 levels, and including over 420 specialty stores.
This resort, puts all others on ice. Ski Dubai is the first indoor ski
dome that captures mountain spirit through changing terrain, multiple
direction slopes and varying slope gradients with a
constant supply of over 6,000 tons of real snow at any one
time. The entertainment goes beyond the ski fields with the world's
largest indoor theme park, with state of the art rides, plus a 500 seat
theatre and cultural centre, so wether you ski or not, this over
the top resort has got you covered. Opens next month at the Mall of the
Emirates, Dubai
That
is exactly what the unique DVD rental concept stores, Red Room DVD have
done - but in an interactive, entertaining and revolutionary way. The
brainchild of Sydney entrepreneurs Dan Joyce and Nic DiVenuto, the Red
Room is a DVD rental store come interactive library. Rather than
prowling meters of shelves and pacing back and forth along the aisles,
Red Room DVD has created interactive movie stations which are equipped
with touch screens. The stations allows you to browse the entire stores
selection by new release or genre categories, locating your exact
search within seconds. Once located, you can watch the trailer, access
pictures and read critics reviews of your selected movie before you
choose to rent it. The DVD is then ejected from a dispensing podium
into your fingertips!
The best is yet to come, there are no
'due' dates - which means no late fees! And you can rent a movie for as
little as 6 hours. Your Red Room membership card (which can be charged
with credit at the store) is swiped through the dispensing podium and
registers the rental fee when you return the DVD. The dispensing podium
doubles as the cashier!
With interactive stations that let
you browse, rent and return DVDs located outside of the store, you will
never miss closing time again. These 24/7 stations allow you to rent
that insomnia curing movie at 3am, or return a movie at a time that’s
convenient to you. Red Room DVD has totally reinvented the way
Australians hire movies by entertaining them throughout the movie
picking process. The first 3 Red Rooms have just opened in Sydney
(Waterloo, Bondi Junction & World Square) and expanding Australia
wide. visit REDROOM
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