Bizarre image of Dour 2011

Who could, after five-star concert of Foals in a day, still shining in the firmament-Dour? Many more bands than we thought. Never before was the musical bar so high that alternative Walloon festival, which is also the highest number of visitors in its history and was received so prone area had expanded. Heavy precipitation, the only spoilsport, but Suede singer Brett Anderson show us how it came to Aberdour deal with it: do not talk about it, and yet you make it rain soaked everything. The persistence of Suede (****) was infectious: more and more people troepten together in the mud for The Last Arena, sang loudly along with the glamorous rock 'Trash' and 'So Young' and imagined themselves one hour long "The Beautiful ones.
Suede had yet been recognized in several other (*****), Pulp Britpop sensation in his grand comeback Dour polite. Jarvis Cocker, frontman as a little too out there, took all his old tricks and tics up to the audience to please: sarcastic humor, John Cleese-like locomotion and of course songs about the darkest sides of love. Obvious highlights: 'Disco 2000' and 'Common People', sketches in which sexual euphoria and melancholy shake hands reached.
Bizarre image of Dour 2011: Keith Caputo, Life of Agony (***), singer who is in his mid-conversion operation from male to female. From the audience when he encountered was a cowboy hat, he even cracked a joke: "Am I a cowboy or cowgirl a?" For many metalheads occurred did not matter, the Moshpit boiled as usual.
But you do not need to play metal out of it scorching, Two Gallants proven and This Will Destroy You (***) (***) each in their own way: first with the wild, sense of doom pervaded folk punk, the second instrumental music with loud guitars and screaming that floated on the occasional sampled movie dialogue. Postrock, therefore, another genre that always strike at Dour. (****) Pioneers Mogwai this year even if the main stage, where they provided the perfect soundtrack to the sunrise over the ancient heaps of Borinage.
Even Ice Cube (**) has played against this background, but games with his audience - "Say ho!" - Are persistent and brag about the west coast he confirmed above the clichés that you know about hip-hop. Sin, because in the neighboring tents were many acts that were heard how adventurous genre that still can be. Poet Saul Williams and Ghost (***) (***) placed both the central word, without losing sight of danceability. The militants, dressed in a yellow robe American Williams became a real nigga with attitude while British Poet Ghost with his dubpoëzie rapper showed a more contemplative.
Also in 13 & God (****) got a stream of words over you, from the mouth of Doseone, the nasaalste most rappers. His exuberant stage behavior contrasted beautifully with the thoughtful, but extremely effective indietronica of German brothers Markus and Michael Acher, also the pair behind The Notwist. Highlights of: at the same time fragile and combative "Armoured Scarves.
For the hip-hop versions of Bibio (****) (****) and Flying Lotus were totally unnecessary words. So let Bibio, dressed in a T-Shirt Thin Lizzy, The Ballroom at the clubbers with Barstools meej a slippery guitar and dance beats softly wavering. Flying Lotus put the Magic Tent eivolle then under high with twisted version of "Idioteque" (Radiohead) and "Paint it Black" (Rolling Stones), after turning in a breakneck, free abstract, jazzy set was played. Both acts illustrated in this way the essence of Dour: adventurous, eclectic and highly danceable.

Designer Toys

AS a designer of light fixtures that are sculptural and modern, David Weeks has long been a favorite of interior designers and architects. But when he recently began designing toys, many of his clients weren’t sure what to think.

 “I’ve been very proud of the lighting, but over the years I’ve tried to change the perception of the company and myself,” Mr. Weeks said.

“You can’t really break out,” he added. “Every time I tried to do something humorous, people would say, ‘What is that?’ ”

Still, he persisted, producing a line of playful wooden animals with movable joints for Areaware. His first piece, Hanno the Gorilla, was soon joined by Ursa the Bear, Hattie the Elephant, Simus the Rhino and Hugo the Wild Boar. He also designed the Cubebot, a sort of primitive wooden robot that folds down into a perfect cube.

“The toys come very much from playing with my son and his toys,” said Mr. Weeks, who has a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. As someone who “makes stuff,” he said, “you can’t help but analyze things as you play with them.”

But since the toys were introduced, a peculiar thing has happened: Mr. Weeks has discovered that they are as popular with adults as they are with children.

In search of other designer toys that would appeal to all ages — and look good on the credenza — he began at the Shop at the Cooper-Hewitt. It didn’t take him long to zero in on a set of three walnut spinning tops by KleinReid for Herman Miller. “The scale and girth is nice,” he said. “You could give them to your kids and not worry about them.”

He also liked the Sedici Animali Puzzle, designed by Enzo Mari in 1957 — a set of flat wooden figures that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. “I love that they’re cut out of a single board,” he said.
At the Museum of Modern Art Design Store in Midtown, he found another wooden toy set: Playshapes by Miller Goodman, which has pieces of various shapes and colors that can be used to create compositions. But “you’d have to play with your kid for a while for them to get the idea,” he said, worrying that it might be too complex.

For toys made from a different material, he stopped at My Plastic Heart on the Lower East Side, a shop with glass cases that display art toys and urban vinyl figures. One of his favorites was Gosho, a plump figure that was all white, so an owner could customize it with markers. Mr. Weeks said he “wouldn’t mess with it,” though.