karenvanark

quote of the day // minibar

Karen Van Ark — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:08:59 GMT

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„It's much more pleasant to cut the end of your finger off than it is to make records for a major label.“

(Simon Petty from Minibar on their former experiences with Universal)

Fine band, truly. My favourite is “Things I Left Behind”.
Listen to it on their MySpace site.

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phantastic sculptures and childhood games...

Karen Van Ark — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:10:25 GMT

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One of my favourite sculptural artists: Jessica Joslin, creating phantastic creatures on the basis of animal bones and other found objects like feathers, shells, seedpods etc.

OK, you’ve gotta have a sense (and affinity) for the darker side of beings…

So, for me, having played with barbie dolls in my early childhood for two reasons: a) fashion design (I invented the glued seams!) and b) playing funerals (with After Eight boxes being the ideal coffin, in their muted dark green color and with that coffin-like lid… - you just had to take their legs off, and place them besides, as otherwise they’d been too large for the case ;) …

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Oh!

Karen Van Ark — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:08:27 GMT

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Terrific song from playful Micky Green. Hard to describe her style … funky trash-pop-chanson from Australia, always with the necessary edge to prevent a little blonde attitude ;) from drifting into cheesysweetness:

If you like that, you should give her other stuff a try. E.g. that 'shoulda' video – lovely live acoustic chanson clash, or something like that…

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cutting-edge art objects

Karen Van Ark — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:53:54 GMT

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Ever wondered what they’re doing with those thousands of scissors being confiscated at airports all around the world every day? Well, here’s one solution - Christopher Locke’s scissor spiders:

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nerd humor

Karen Van Ark — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:25:59 GMT

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Already having praised The Big Bang Theory, here’s another hilarious example of science humor, by Brian Malow:

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feed them before midnight...

Karen Van Ark — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:13:48 GMT

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Funny little gadget I found ... a small bunch of friends for all the long lonely night sessions in front of your screen ...

Be kind and feed the hungry fellows with some mouseclicks, please ;)

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This and other neat gadgets you find at Adam Bowman's blogsite

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But wait: I just can't withold you from this virtual cutie, originating from the same source ...

Just like the fishes above, lovely Mr. hamster is also to be fed by click. When not nibbling or running (you can always get him back at the wheel by clicking in the center), he is eagerly following your cursor, drinking some drops or, if being ignored for quite some time, simply hitting the hay:

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2nd largest aquarium & 1 amazing song

Karen Van Ark — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:47:24 GMT

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Have you seen this unofficial (as: unplanned as such) music video to Barcelona’s breathtaking "Please Don't Go"? So intense it’s moving me to tears, due to the incredible beauty of this scenery, and also to some extent out of sorrow, as every animal should have the chance to live freely and unrestrictedly in it’s natural habitat. What the fuck is mankind doing to this planet..?

Well, it's our task to take care and show responsibility.

Btw, the video’s been shot by Canadian filmmaker Jon Rawlinson

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pop palaeontology

Karen Van Ark — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:53:08 GMT

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Ever wondered what Donald Duck would look like after his life as a walking disaster area? Here you go: South Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee has brought famous comic figures to death... err … to skeleton – such as Tick, Trick and Track:

… or Roadrunner …

Amazing, huh?

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to cut or not to cut (or: pointless but funny #1)

Karen Van Ark — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:37:42 GMT

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Being a huge fan of nature, and thus of hiking, I’m owning a couple of outdoor gadgets, and I got to know quite a lot more. Yet this one’s really aiming for the spearhead of trekking equipment:

With 87 tools it’s pretty likely a powerful companion - not too handy, though, given it’s 1,345 kg (!) weight. So if you’ve got a spare 700-800 Euro in your pocket and your own porter when travelling, go ahead...

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the art of covering

Karen Van Ark — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:34:47 GMT

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Musicbiz and charts are crowded with annoyingly uninspired so-called cover versions - most of them, esp. when it comes to songs from the 80s, nothing but a bpm doubled copy with some blond bimbo chicks dancing around the wannabe-cool-boy at the synth.

Once in a while there are some fine exceptions to the rule.
Like that one:

Word Up, originally performed by Cameo, in a great interpretation by country singer Willis from London

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and even more seldom, there is a true pearl:
Placebo – Running Up That Hill

Kate Bush’s fabulous Hymn – Placebo impressively succeeded in preserving it’s haunting magic, yet enriching it by that very distinct brokenness Brian Molko’s so intensely radiating in all his work, and personality.

There’s never been an official video, so see below a great fan video by H. Saygılı. (you can also watch Placebo playing it live at Henry Rollins Show or a very passionate performance at Reading Festival 2006)

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And then there is Johnny Cash:

Covering genius Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” (will add a live version of his own performance sometime later). Being one of my perpetual top5 songs, and at the same time my no.1 music video. Still can’t keep my eyes dry while those four minutes

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valentine's day...

Karen Van Ark — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:14:30 GMT

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friendship algorithms and other scientific solutions…

Karen Van Ark — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:48:19 GMT

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Have you seen The Big Bang Theory? If not: DO! Hilarious sitcom! There’s few comedy really triggering my humoreceptors, but this one’s permanently making me burst out laughing. You don’t have to be a friend of physical science and/or equipped with some liability to nerdism (it doubtlessly helps, though) - if you’re prone to absurd humor and highly self-willed characters, you will love TBBT just like me, I’m sure:

and right away another one, for all you gamblers out there:

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give me full communication...

Karen Van Ark — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:45:06 GMT

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Syntax – Pride

came to know this song a couple of years ago.
instantaneously got hooked on it.
I love it.

(freezed image only. as, strange enough, this song never made it to an official video release…)

Short add-on: There’s another 'Pride' video adaptation on youtube entirely made of ‘Bones’ tv series’ scenes. Actually quite nice (apart from the wrong aspect ratio settings), as pretty well reflecting Bones' & Booth's main issues. Well, obviously, if you don’t like the series, you won’t get bowled over by that. As for me, being the riddle-driven kind, in all ways, I like watching it - notwithstanding the totally distorted depiction of a forensic scientist’s work, of course.

And yep - you can call it cheesy, guys. But despite being fluent in over six million forms of sarcasm, I’ve seen way too much anguish to not know that there’re also moments to skip cynicism.

So apparently, most of the time I’m still a hopeless romantic.
And in the other moments, I try to remind me of that.

Hey, sue me…

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sand drifts...

Karen Van Ark — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:59:14 GMT

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Kseniya Simonova, sand animation artist, winner of “Ukraine Got Talent”:

So, for all of you with a sandpit in your backyard… you know what to do next sunday, right?

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miraculous music

Karen Van Ark — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:34:18 GMT

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my musical discovery in 2009: Fever Ray. Now this Swedish lady is definitely something! Apart from seemingly roaming around in my nocturnal dreams (as - Lynch & Burton aside, of course - I’ve rarely seen a better depiction of them in shape and sound), Karin Andersson’s just a league of her own:

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Garden State

Karen Van Ark — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:32:57 GMT

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one of my top 10 movies, Garden State - and a brilliant song from a great artist, Imogen Heap (here aka Frou Frou): "Let Go"

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books, so many books...

Karen Van Ark — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:58:16 GMT

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just found this installation
"Good As Gold" by Donald Lipski

maybe i should try something like that at home, not knowing what to do with all my books anymore...

btw, there is this blog, dealing with nothing but really really cool bookshelves. arrrgh. if i only had more space ... much much *much* more space. my apartment's already bursting at the seams, due to those masses of books & cds. all my art projects not really helping, either... maybe i should switch to something more space-saving like calligraphy or so ... instead of music, paintings, object art, jewelry, sewing and such...

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