
The House of Frette
March 3, 2010This Italian linen house, founded in the 1850s, has opened a boutique on Oak Street, Chicago’s haven for designer labels. It offers the company’s signature linens as well as its collection of fragrances for the home, scented candles, sachets and a recently introduced line of luxury at-home clothing. Suppliers to the Italian royal family, Frette is best known for ‘jacquard’ print bedding of 300-600 thread count Egyptian cotton and linen. Originally, the House of Frette introduced ‘jacquard’ looms as an efficient means of producing detailed luxury products.
Vik Muniz
January 17, 2010The Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz records his work as an artist. His unusual images capture him sketching the Mona Lisa in strawberry jam, depicting street children with sugar, painting Marilyn Monroe in chocolate or using such materials as garbage, barb-wire and spices to re-enact a famous work from art history. After getting messy, he documents his work for posterity with a photo. The resulting work becomes an engaging exercise in recognition for the viewer.
Coldplay
January 8, 2010An appearance on Top Of The Pops for their hit single ‘Yellow’, and being in the running for the Mercury Music Award has established Coldplay.
What Lies Beneath
September 10, 2009Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford play husband and wife in this spooky thriller which draws heavily on Hitchcock and guarantees shocks and suspense in equal measures.
Corneille
February 17, 2009As a founder of COBRA, the late-1940s movement involving artists based in Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, Liège-born Corneille (real name: Guillaume van Beverloo) became identified with bold experimentalism. Featuring 35 of his works in several media, this exhibition shows him using garish colours to engage in a bizarre exploration of the links between sex and nature. Most of the paintings here date from the 1990s, proving that the 77-year-old has a creative vigour that many younger artists would envy.
Jamiroquai
October 10, 2008Britain’s big-hatted, fast-car-loving mini-master of funk is phenomenally popular in Japan, and a Jamiroquai November gig is almost an annual event here. Tickets for these shows at the giant Tokyo Dome baseball stadium were sold out weeks ago, so if you’re really desperate you’ll have to try to get a ticket from a tout. If not, you’d be well advised to stay at home with a hot cup of cocoa and a Stevie Wonder album instead.
Lola Rennt
September 12, 2008Lola (Franka Potente) has 20 minutes to find 100,000 marks before her boyfriend gets killed. Since her dad’s a banker, things ought to be simple – but her attempts to take control of the situation are hampered by unforeseen events. A banging techno soundtrack, bleak Berlin locations and stylised ultra-violence characterise this pleasantly surprising German film. Subtler and more serious than its first 25 minutes would suggest, it queries the determining role of chance in life, love and death. Energetic and great fun. (In German with French subtitles.)
Posted by hurricon 
