Mark Powell makes amazingly horrific little dioramas that remind me of old Tool videos and certain scenes in Pan’s Labyrinth. The grotesque little creatures in Powell’s world are monstrous versions of ourselves, going about their business eating, defecating, dissecting things, and playing music with their slimy, vein-y appendages, reminding us viewers that we are all just piles of pulsating meat.

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It’s windy, cold, and raining out. On days like this, looking at the intricate work of artists like Kristopher Ho feels like re-reading an old book that you loved as a kid but forgot about in your more cynical adulthood.

“Black ink warlock” Justin Bartlett has done some of my favorite metal album covers of late, such as the one for Bohemian Grove’s Age of Retrogression and Pentemple’s self-titled record. His outsider-ish style reminds me a bit of the work of Rudimentary Peni frontman, Nick Blinko, but he has much more sophisticated sense of design and layout.

After blowing people’s minds at the Capital Hill Block Party, then surprising everyone at Bumbershoot, then hopping down to Portland for Musicfest NW, Black Whales have made quite a name for themselves in the past year. One listen to “Young Blood” from their brand new EP, Origins, should clue you in on how far this young band is set to go. The EP was released last month on Mt. Fuji Records. We checked in with Davey Brozowski from the band and asked him to tell us about the music that inspired it. He started with Modest Mouse’s Whale Song [listen below]: ‘”I knew I was a scout, I should have found my way out” are the only vocal lines in the song and they only take up a minute or so of time. The rest is a musical jam that builds and builds into an epic ending that’s littered with different layers of guitar hooks, noise and percussion. Live, it’s even better. And did I mention the bassline? It’s good, really good’. Read the rest of Black Whales’ Secret Playlist.

This is a great animated short inspired by a StoryCorps recording of Joseph Robertson recounting an incident he experienced during the Battle of the Bulge. The entire thing is done with Photoshop, AfterEffects, and scanned pencil drawings. Not to denigrate his service or the poignancy of his story, but I can’t help but wonder, since Robertson lingers on the fact that the soldier he killed was ‘blond, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned’, if he would have been as haunted by the killing of a Japanese soldier or someone he may not have had thought of as having angelic qualities.

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This cool black unisex t shirt by UK label Client is made in England, printed in Berlin, and beautifully packaged in East Berlin cartonage, especially designed for Client.

These amazing photos of coiled snakes are the work of Parisian photographer Guido Mocafico, whose work has appeared in Numèro, Paris Vogue, Big, The Face, and Wallpaper, amongst other publications.

Oh man, the 80s were fun. Back then it was all beaches and smiles, lightweight soft drinks and squeaky clean advertising. Somewhere along the way, the message was corrupted, and the beach bunny actresses and guitar shredder actors of that golden era of naivety were forever tainted with the pastiche of their weird TV legacies.

The Ithaa restaurant belongs to the Hilton of the Maldives Islands, and it’s not cheap! With a ballast of 85 tonnes of sand, the restaurant is located five meters underwater and caters to those wanting to look through the ceiling and see the crab Sebastian perform the mythical song, Under The Sea. But remember, Sebastian actually is the main course.

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Last week, the Highline Ballroom hosted a sold-out show filled with more teen angst than a vampire movie. Say Anything was headlining, which was clearly who the crowd was there for, as teenage girls ran rampant, trying to scam drinks at the bar and waiting impatiently for the opening acts to finish their sets. I was interested in seeing Miniature Tigers beforehand, so I made sure I got to the Ballroom in time to catch them at 7. The Tigers have a great sound, and they were fun and energetic on stage, although they certainly could’ve been tighter.

This is their first album and tour, however, so they most definitely get a free pass in terms of technicality. Songs like Cannibal Queen and Dino Damage hit the mark, and they debuted a couple of new singles that were pretty interesting and seemingly more complex than those before. This is a band that’s definitely on their way up the indie ladder, and will be sure to be featured on all of our favorite music blogs any day now.

The crowd was growing restless waiting for Say Anything, and at approximately 9:30, they finally took the stage to a mass of applause and hollers.

The band is touring due to their new self-titled album, which recently hit the shelves, but luckily for me (and everyone else who doesn’t really know their new stuff), they played more old songs than new. And regardless of their age, the teenage girls who filled the room knew every word to nearly every song the band played. When singer Max Bemis stepped to the front of the stage, screams raged and arms reached out to touch him like he was a goddamn Backstreet Boy.

Baby Girl, I’m a Blur, Red Cat/Yellow Cat, and Every Man has a Molly Connolly, all evoked huge reactions from the crowd, and of course, much stage diving ensued. It was a great show, with a really tight band which is seasoned well beyond their years. Maybe I’ll finally give the new album a listen. [photos by Marc Evan]

Pratt Manhattan Gallery, in a show guest curated by Francesca Granata (Parsons School for Design Lecturer) and Sarah Scaturro (adjunct instructor for Fashion Institute of Technology), takes a look at American eco-fashion visionaries — such as Alabama Chanin [above], Uluru, Loomstate, and others.

The goal of the showing, which begins on November 20, is to further push the use of fair labor and sustainable practices within the fashion industry. The main point of view revolves around ‘Reduce, Revalue, Rethink,’ all which culminate in a minimalist and sentimental garment that consumers are more apt to buy and wear long term.

Dock Ellis and The LSD No-No is a short animated film by Brooklyn illustrator James Blagden: ‘In June of 1970, Dock Phillip Ellis Jr., a major league pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, threw a no-hitter while high on acid and Benzedrine. Featuring a narration by Dock himself, The LSD No-No is the telling of this legendary tale, straight from the horse’s mouth’.

If you’re a Twitterer, a Tweeter, or a Twit (in the nicest possible way!), then you might like to follow the Lost At E Minor Twitter feed, which is an extension of the things we post about here. We get access to a lot of tips and information that we don’t always post about. But we will Twitter it, ’cause, hey Twitter is so right now. Follow Lost At E Minor on Twitter. [Illustration by Robert Thompson]

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Seriously, is there anywhere in the world more glamorous than the French holiday town of Biarritz? I recently visited Biarritz for the second time, and this visit, was even more wowed by the endless array of buffed, leggy, chain-smoking Europeans — each of them dripping in jewellery, swanning about in their caftans, and sipping champagne like it was water.

Over the years, Biarritz has been a popular holiday destination for European and British royalty, and it became even more renowned when Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napolean III, built a decadent palace on the beachfront in 1854. The town is packed with fabulous bars, boutiques, cafes and restaurants — and if you’re not too intimidated by the locals, you can even paddle out for a wave – as the area is renowned for having one of Europe’s best surf breaks.

The problem I find with most gimmicky kitchen tools that claim to make cooking less of a chore is that they actually perform their tasks poorly, and the convenience gained through the devices is made up for with loss of flavor or texture. Garlic presses, for instance, waste a lot of garlic, and result in less actual garlic flavor going into your food. And really, crushing garlic with the side of a knife is about the most simple thing to do.

Mashed potatoes are deceptively simple, with most people assuming that boiling and mashing them is all that is involved. Chefs, food geeks, and grandmas, however, know that improperly mashed potatoes can be gummy if you break the potato granules and their starch leeches out. This is why people don’t mash potatoes in a blender, and most traditional techniques are gentle – using the back of a fork, for instance. I’ve had decent luck with a plain potato masher, and with minimal effort to boot, so I don’t quite see the utility of something like Joseph Joseph’s pump-action potato smasher, which I would worry would tend to over mash. People who love their gadgets and know enough to use restraint when using something like this may find it worth the relatively low price tag of $16.

I love watching other artists work, just like I love watching people cook. I love comparing my own methods with theirs, and it generally helps enormously with my own practice, giving me ideas I may not have come up on my own or just inspiring new and different paths to take. Every practicing artists should film themselves working like this video of Chris Piascik doing an improvised drawing as a tool for themselves as well as other artists.

Korean artist Yoo Young-Wun makes fantastic sculptures of pop personalities and mythical figures out of scrap paper, old text books, flyers, and magazines, exaggerating and distorting their proportions and features in perhaps a comment on the way media relays information and turns real people into caricatures of themselves.

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Once the stomping ground of Julia Child, Cambridge, Massachusetts just outside of Boston, is replete with gastronomic delights. Innovative, modern cooking served in bank-vaults-turned-restaurants sit beside down-home cafes serving New England comfort food. Hi-Rise Bread Company in North Cambridge falls nicely into the latter category, dishing out absolutely addictive breads, cakes, sweets, and sandwiches. Here, diners sit at long, wooden communal tables — often elbow to elbow — while bakers scurry around the half open kitchen, pulling steaming breads and muffins out massive steel ovens. Whether you go for the hearty oatmeal with cranberries and walnuts or the infamous egg salad sandwiches or vanilla loaf, you’re these scrumptious New England treats are sure to satisfy. [photo via tinyurbankitchen]

I didn’t think there were many cooler buildings in the world than the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain -until I stumbled on another of Frank Gehry’s architectural masterpieces in the unassuming village of Elciego. Deep in the heart of the Rioja wine region, the Marques de Riscal is a luxury hotel, and its contemporary style is certainly at odds with the historic, green surrounds. However, if you’re not prepared to fork out for a meal at the restaurant, or upwards of 600 euro a night to stay there, you can forget getting any closer. Unpaying guests aren’t allowed through the gates, and you’ll feel like a nosey neighbour trying to peer over the towering fence for a glimpse. Even still, it’s definitely worth a try.

Ok, so I’m thinking of leaving the blogosphere and becoming an astronaut. That’s right, a space explorer, going where no sane man has dared to tread, equipped only with a biro pen, a copy of some random Marxist literature, and my space suit. Ah, yes, my space suit. Bulked up and all silvery, I’ll make quite an impression on our alien friends. Damn those things look cool.