Today’s iCandy Margaret Denise Quigley, better known as Maggie Q is a Hawaii-born, American actress and former fashion model.  Besides Maggie’s killer looks, She is a strong supporter of PETA Asia-Pacific.  You can catch Maggie starting in the new CW spy series NIKITA starting on September 9, 2010.

Exclusive behind the scenes video of Japanese artist/mastermind Takashi Murakami before his display at Versailles.

INSPIRED BY THE STORY OF GOMMI ARCADE WRITTEN BY ZAK HOKE

City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya is the new project from the creative mind of Nicolay, better known as one half of The Foreign Exchange.

The group (which includes rapper/singer Phonte) and their sophomore album Leave It All Behind (TFE/Hard Boiled; Oct. 2008), continues to gain momentum as the duo and their extended family of singers and musicians are currently touring the United States and Canada. Nicolay and Phonte’s countless performances together have added a new level of sophistication to their musical output, resulting in what they consider to be one of their most ambitious projects yet.

The idea for Shibuya, the second installment in Nicolay’s City Lights series, was conceived after Nicolay’s first visit to Tokyo in November 2006. The experience proved to be life changing for Nicolay, who has studied Japanese culture for most of his adult life. “This amazing place and all of its sounds and colors immediately filled up my senses,” he says. “I felt reinvigorated.”

Once back home, he started to write and record music with a new-found sense of freedom, laying the groundwork for the albums Time:Line and Leave It All Behind as well a third album; a deeply personal homage to the Tokyo district of Shibuya that illustrates both the grandeur of Japan’s age-old heritage (“Meiji Shrine, “Rain In Ueno Park”, “The Inner Garden”) as well as the hectic city life of one of the world’s busiest metropolitan areas (“Crossing”, “Satellite”, “Bullet Train”). Where City Lights Volume 1 was primarily instrumental, on Shibuya the instrumental pieces are book-ended by several vocal songs written by Phonte and performed by Durham, North Carolina vocalist CARLITTA DURAND, who previously collaborated with Phonte on LITTLE BROTHER’s Getback album (ABB 2007). Also appearing is Foreign Exchange liveband-mate ZO!, who adds his virtuoso keyboard solos to two songs.

“It truly is like stepping into a different world”, says Nicolay about his trip to the city. “What fascinated me most about Shibuya was the co-existence of ‘old’ and ‘new’ in seemingly perfect harmony. The most advanced technologies and innovations exist next to traditions that are rooted in thousands of years of civilization.” The album’s musical foundation mirrors this hybrid of different ages, combining influences from ’70s jazz, rock and fusion with broken beat, downtempo and electronica to form the lush, genre-bending sound that has become Nicolay’s trademark.

Tracklisting

01. Lose Your Way feat. Carlitta Durand
02. Shibuya Station
03. Crossing
04. Rain In Ueno Park
05. Satellite
06. Saturday Night feat. Carlitta Durand
07. A Ride Under The Neon
08. Omotesando
09. Meiji Shrine
10. Shadow Dancing
11. The Inner Garden
12. Bullet Train
13. Wake Up In Another Life feat. Carlitta Durand
14. Departure
15. Shibuya Epilogue feat. Carlitta Durand
16. Lose Your Way [Instrumental] *CD only
17. Saturday Night [Instrumental] *CD only
18. Wake Up In Another Life [Instrumental] *CD only

Listen to this release now!

Today’s iCandy needs no introduction, but for those of you who don’t know Zoe Saldana I’m going to pray for you.  Zoe been featured a few times in our iCandy section because she’s HOT!! hands down!

Saldana has an interest in fashion and has her own fashion line, called Arasmaci. She is also a global ambassador for Avon, and serves as the face of its color cosmetics line and the inspiration for the fragrance Eternal Magic. In August 2010, Saldana’s television ad for Calvin Klein’s Nothing to Hide line debuted.

American designer Kyle Buckner has made a lounge chair from 152 layers of pine wood, which has been carved and finished with a red mahogany stain and cushioned leather upholstery pads.

The Monk & The Monkey

An impressive work of animation by Brendan Carroll and Francesco Giroldini, both resulting from Ringling College off Art + Design. This short-measuring entitled “The Monk & The Monkey” is the history of Ragu, a boy determined to become monk who faces an unexpected challenge.

[ASIA SOCIETY MUSEUM EXHIBITION]

Yoshitomo Nara is one of the leading artists of Japan’s influential Neo Pop art since the 1990s. Asia Society presents his first major New York exhibition Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool (September 9, 2010-January 2, 2011) featuring more than one hundred works.

Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool is the first major New York exhibition of the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara (born 1959), and features more than one hundred works ranging from his early career in the 1980s to his most recent paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, and large-scale installations. As one of the leading artists of Japan’s influential Neo Pop art since the 1990s, Nara is well known for his depictions of children and animals. Nara’s cute, though often menacing, children and animals are so readily associated with popular culture, particularly manga comics and animation, that viewers may neglect to contemplate his evocative imagery in depth. His popular appeal masks the serious social and personal dimensions of his work—feelings of helplessness and rage, and a sense of isolation in a hyper-networked society.

Despite an apparent connection to manga and animation, Nara cites music, particularly rock and punk, as his greatest source of inspiration. Moods of loneliness and rebellion in his art are often enhanced by hinting at particular musicians and songs. These clues leading to music are explored in this exhibition and help us understand Nara’s internal world. Music is a crucial factor in the development of his signature style and iconographic motifs, and in the emotional significance of his art. The title Nobody’s Fool, chosen by the artist himself, refers to a song by the American singer and songwriter Dan Penn.

Melissa Chiu
Miwako Tezuka
Curators

Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212-288-6400

Developed exclusively for the World Rally Championship, Edox’s Chronorally will definitely capture the attention of car-watch fans with its speedo-inspired dial and racing tire strap. Aside from the chronograph functions the watch also features accumulated stage time, countdown, and recount/replay functions. The watch also features an oversized red pusher designed to be easily pressed by drivers’ gloved hands

Following her 2009 video ‘the ear’ which starred Pharrell Williams, chinese contemporary artist Yi Zhou
is teaming up once again with the recording artist for an upcoming project entitled ‘the greatness’.

Zhou’s latest 3D animation ‘the greatness’ transforms Pharrell Williams into a vase. The film is based on
layers of a video game program and advanced 3D programming research and begins with a surreal,
striking and unexpected explosion of the Pharrell Williams vase. as the vessel disintegrates, williams’ face
breaks into a cubist-influenced composition. Its disappearance leads the spectator on a journey through a
frightening labyrinth underworld.

As with most film noir / fiction, the lead often exits the scene through death. zhou says, ‘the actual vase
was made from a 3D scan of pharrell’s body, then I modelled it in 3D to turn it into a greek-style urn
vase resembling a surreal mask. I like to take virtual characters out of my movies and turn them into tangible
sculptural pieces. Pharrell is a modern icon, so by imagining his face breaking up, it emphasizes the emotional
side to how he’s regarded as an icon, and the idea of mortality that we all have to face, which puts us all on a
level-footing as human beings.’

‘The Greatness’ continues with Zhou’s exploration of film with sculpture. based on a clay model made in her
shanghai studio, the vase represents a transition from a simulacrum into the real world, as a reality simulacrum.

The Greatness’ will debut thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 20 Hoxton Square Projects in collaboration with
Testori UK as part of zhou’s first solo show in london. Curated by Rachael Barratt and Adam Waymouth, the exhibition
is entitled ‘I am your simulacrum’ and will showcase the artist’s work from 2006 to present. Both ‘the greatness’
and ‘the ear’ will be featured as part OPEN 13 at the international exhibition of sculpture and installations in
venice, italy from september 1st to october 3rd, 2010. the acheronte traveller, a sculpture that is featured in
‘the greatness’, will form the centrepiece to zhou’s installation there.

Yi Zhou was brought up in Rome and now lives and works between Paris and Shanghai.
her ambitious artistic expression blends: mythology, philosophy, literature, imagination and technology,
which are deeply rooted in the eastern and western cultures she spent her childhood traversing between.
Her work exists in multiple layers as real and unreal, ancient and present colliding through a process
of construction, deconstruction, recreation and transformation. The composition of her work is also multi-faceted,
as she draws upon the varied disciplines of: film, digital animation, photography, sculpture, drawing, painting
and musical composition in her large multi-media installations.

‘The Greatness was produced by contrasts gallery in partnership with MK2. the soundtrack was recorded at
morricone’s studio in rome in early 2010.