LeftRight

Monthly Archives : December 2011

Simplicity

Culture

Most complex people tend to think that simple people are hidding something. As if there were something misterious, left untold, an unfinished story full of characters. Most times, there is absolutely nothing. Behind simplicity, there is more simplicity. It’s not a praise or a critic, it’s an observation. It’s about accepting that people are different and we don’t have to like all of them. Accept them, in their exhausting complexity or in their boring simplicity. Because complexity is curious, intriguing and full of energy. And simplicity is a safe port. Rarely, one becomes the other.

Text and Photography by Luisa Santos

Blog Club Party FEEL MY BICEP presents THE XMAS LOCKDOWN

CultureEvents

Wanna try something different? The formula of FEEL MY BICEP is very simple. Come down and see – they are not releasing the full line-up, so to find out you gotta get down in that basement.

First: Feel my Bicep is an electronic music blog. “Andy Ferguson and Matthew McBriar launched it in 2009 and its influence now extends far beyond the blogging sphere. Ferguson and McBriar have built a mini empire and as well as DJing they have a T-shirt range and have made remixes for record labels including Throne of Blood and Wolf Music – so it seemed like a natural progression to throw their own regular party too.  With successful FMB shindigs at both The Camp in Old Street and the Dalston Superstore, the Bicep boys earned a monthly residency at Plastic People, the first of which is a resounding success. ‘I think it helps that the crowd is really open minded,’ says Ferguson. ‘They’ve come down to listen to something different from what you might expect at your average club night.’ The school-night slot sorts the real heads from the club tourists, leaving a writhing mass of seasoned discoites, label bosses and DJs, all eager to hear the freshest club sounds and classic gems when they’re not networking at the bar.

In contrast with the hyper-futuristic world that blogs exist in, however, FMB’s night harks back to the days before the internet was an everyday necessity. ‘What we are trying to do is steeped in the tradition of the US club scene back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. It’s an extension of our love and respect for an era that we missed out on,’ he continues. ‘It’s very much a rough and ready, anything goes vibe.’ The club flyers are little more than a photocopied black-and-white sheet of paper (remember those?) with the website and date that you can pull off at the bottom to keep.”

Read the rest here: article on Timeout London

The night takes place on Wednesday December 7th. The door will be free before 10pm and five english pounds after.

Event Info:
What: Feel My Bicep presents The Xmas Lockdown
Where: Plastic People, 147-149 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, London, EC2
When: December 7th (every first Wednesday of the month)
Who: Bicep, The Unabombers and very special secret guests
How much: Free before 10pm / £5 after

event on facebook

www.feelmybicep.com

text credits: www.timeout.com

Club Pompadour with Miguel Campbell 09.12.2011

Events

Am Freitag geht es trotz kalter Aussentemperaturen in der Pratersauna wieder heiss her. Diesmal mit groovigem House by Miguel Campbell. Miguel wurde von der House-Szene bereits seit den frühen 90-er angezogen und begann u.a. als einer der”Hälfte” des Undergrounds -Duo HCB zu producen. Im Jahr 2006 gründete er sein eigenes Label: Outcross Records ™.

Miguel has been galvanised by the house music scene since the early 90′s and has also been a DJ since that time. Miguel began producing his own music as one ‘half’ of the underground duo HCB. In 2006 he founded his own label: Outcross Records™. In 2010 he became the newest addition to the Hot Creations™ team.

Wir verlosen 1×2 Tickets für dieses Events. Bitte einfach ein Mail an contact@c-heads.com  (Gewinner wird am 08.12. verlost und schriftlich benachrichtigt)

Mainfloor:

MIGUEL CAMPBELL (hot creations – leeds)
ILYAS HECKMANN b2b VERONIKA AMIE (club pomapdour)
PHILIPP BLECHA b2b THOMAS GRÜN (club pomapdour)

Glashaus – hosted by ELEKTRO JAUSN

Mick Thammer (freaksound – sbg)
Robin Ma’ar (sub)

Info:
- Entry: € 10 vor 24:00 danach € 12,-
- Start: 23:00

Location:
Pratersauna
Waldsteingartenstrasse 135
1020 Wien

Miguel Campbell – Can’t Get Enough – Outcross Records by Gouranga

Entrances and Exits

Culture

There is a portuguese expression (maybe it’s not portuguese but that’s in the language I heard it) that goes something like for each closed door, there is an open window. I’m not sure if that’s true. I grew up with Alice in Wonderland’s stories. You see, when you walk in a corridor, it’s very unlikely that you’ll find one door only. Each door leads you either to an entrance or to an exit. Sometimes, to both. Sometimes, you open a door thinking you’ll be exiting somewhere and, then, you’re actually entering elsewhere. In the end, there are never exits but entrances to different places.

Text and photography by Luisa Santos

“Pics of doors from Treviso (Italy), London (Uk), Alentejo (Portugal), Setúbal (Portugal), Linz (Austria)”

all images © Luisa Santos

AWESOME LUNCHBOXES

Culture

Sigh, I hated the daily lunchbox as a child. Around noon, the contents of it were already slightly warm and falling apart and somehow not that deliciously looking anymore. Why am I thinking about that now? Well,  I stumbled over the LunchboxAwesome Tumblr page. How cool is that! Not only that I am addicted to healthy and with love prepared food – I’m also in love with this sweet idea now. “Animated”  lunch boxes -  oh yeah- this is how life can be. Hmmm, … ♥

Seufz, wie habe ich die tägliche Lunchbox als Kind doch gehasst. Um die Mittagszeit war der Inhalt der Dose schon leicht erwärmt, tendenziell verfallen und irgendwie nicht mehr appetilich anzusehen. Wie ich darauf komme? Ja da stolpere ich doch glatt über die LunchboxAwesome Tumblr Seite. Wie genial! Nicht nur dass ich mittlerweile sowieso dem gesunden und optisch mit viel Liebe zubereiteten Essen total verfallen bin – bin ich jetzt auch noch verliebt in diese süsse Idee. Mit Leben eingehauchten Lunchboxes – ja damit lässt es sich gut leben können. Mhhh…♥

all images © lunchboxawesome.tumblr.com
Text by Christine Guggenberger

Sandra Åberg

Exclusive

 

Photographer: Sandra Åberg www.sandraaberg.com
Models: Amalie & Missé – Unique model management.
Makeup & styling: Maria Gonzalez
Assistant: Perry Johnson
Designs by: Jannie Batzer, Marlene Birger, Lasse Spangenberg, Ivan Grundahl, Ilse Jacobsen

all images © Sandra Åberg

TOP 5: WOODY ALLEN MOVIES

Culture

 

Slowly winter is coming. Dark and grey fog is crawling up the window and coldness wraps up the landscape. What better time to lie on the sofa, snuggle yourself into a big warm blanket and watch a great movie. Oh yeah! Ideally suited for this: Woody Allen movies. And the best thing is to watch ALL of his movies. Sad and funny philosophical dialogues about life, seasoned with humour and a bit of sarcasm. Yet his movies mostly leave you with something beautiful, enchanting and inspiring. Beautiful soundtrack inclusive. Reasons enough for us to list our top 5 – by the way, all of them in random order.

Es wird langsam Winter. Dunkle graue Schleier klatschen an die Fenster, und Kälte umhüllt die Landschaft. Was gibts dann Schöneres als mal richtig auf der Couch zu knotzen, in die Decke zu kuscheln und grossartige Filme zu gucken. Ohja! Bestens dafür geeignet: Woody Allen. Und am besten ALLE seine Filme. Traurige und heitere philosophische Dialoge über das Leben, gewürzt mit Humor und etwas Sarkasmus. Und trotzdem hinterlassen seine Filme meistens etwas wunderschön bezauberndes und inspirierendes. Schöner Soundtrack inklusive. Grund genug unsere persönlichen Top 5 zu listen – alle übrigens in zufälliger Reihenfolge.

 

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Paris. The city of love. And the story of Gil Pender, a famous Hollywood screenwriter, that goes on a trip to Paris with his fiancée and her parents. He is trying to write his first serious novel, loves the era of the Twenties, and like many people he thinks that “everything was better in the past”. And suddenly he finds himself back in that time, talking to Picasso, Hemmingway and Salvador Dali…
A feel good movie, with the well-known Woody Allen humour and romance, the big philosophical questions of life and the great scenery of Paris.

 

Match Point (2005)

I remember when I watched this movie I first thought.. mhhh ok… and the more it continued the more I got into it. And at the end it turned out to be one of the best movies I have seen. The movie starts with a slow motion of a tennis ball that hits the net and then the pic is stopped so you cannot see on which part of the field the ball will go. It is like in life where each moment decides how things will continue and each moment changes the future into a certain way..

Woody Allen: „It is a movie about happiness. About the contradiction of ambition and passion. And about impunity.”

 

Whatever works  (2009)

An eccentric, suicidal and former physics professor Boris Yellnikoff. And a young and naïve woman, Melody, who ran away from her conservative- Christian home. Even though they couldn’t be more different they fall in love and get married. Surely this one has to be one of our favourites, with the funny- serious, realistic- pessimistic conversations about life– especially when Boris is talking to the viewer directly…

 

Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008)

Vicky and Christina – two very good friends and similar in many things but with a very different view about: Love. Vicky is well-settled with her finance Doug and Christina loves passion and adventure. But the summer trip to Barcelona challenges both of their views…

Well we all know that love is never an easy topic…

 

Alice (1990)

I still remember the funny scenes with that great Chinese doctor! Well I have to say I am trying to find a doctor like that ever since – if you watch it you will know what I meanJ A fantasy film comedy about a woman called Alice Tate who is married and has two kids, and falls in love with the musician Joe. With the help of the Chinese doctor she changes her view towards marriage and life…

Text by Sigrun and Christine Guggenberger

ELFENKLEID

Fashion

Enchanting! This time we have asked 5 questions to the Austrian label Elfenkleid. The two designers Sandra Thaler and Annette Prechtl are behind all this – with their soft, feminine dresses with flowing fabrics together with a contemporary interpretation of evening and wedding dresses. The “black & white edition” was staged by the awesome photographer Michael Dürr!

Zauberhaft! Diesmal haben wir 5 Fragen an die Designer des österreichischen Labels Elfenkleid gestellt. Hinter Elfenkleid stecken die beiden Designerinnen Sandra Thaler und Annette Prechtl mit ihren zarten, femininen und weich fliessenden Kleidern sowie zeitgemässer Interpretation von Abend und Hochzeitskleidern. Die ‚black & white edition’ wurde von dem grossartigen Photographen Michael Dürr in Szene gesetzt!

“Elfenkleid” founded in 2001, so it is 10 years now! Can you remember your very first design?
Yes, we do remember very well that time and the designs we did.What does fashion mean to you?
We emphasize on a simple, straight lined design, a high wearing comfort and trend independence. For our couture collection “black & white edition” we always bear in mind a modern interpretation of wedding and evening dresses. Our aim is to bridge a divide between modernism and tradition and to unite this with our designs.
Who would you love to see in your evening dress?
We are holding it near and dear to address woman who want to emphasize their character, people who think it is important that their own personality is emphasized by the clothes and don´t want to just dress themselves up. The person is always in the foreground.“Elfenkleid” gibt es seit 2001, also 10 Jahre! Könnt ihr euch noch an euer erstes Design erinnern?
Ja, wir können uns noch sehr gut an diese Zeit und die Entwürfe erinnern.
Was bedeutet Mode für euch?
Wir legen viel Wert auf ein schlichtes, geradliniges Design, hohen Tragekomfort und Trendunabhängigkeit. Bei unserer Couture-Kollektion “black & white edition¹ haben wir immer eine moderne Interpretation von Braut- und Abendkleidern vor Augen. Unser Ziel ist es die Kluft zwischen Moderne und Tradition zu überwinden und in den Entwürfen zu einer neuen Einheit zu verbinden.

Wem würdet ihr gerne einmal in euer Abendrobe sehen?
Es liegt uns am Herzen Frauen anzusprechen die ihren Charakter unterstreichen wollen, denen es wichtig ist, dass ihre eigene Persönlichkeit durch die Kleidung unterstrichen wird und  sich nicht verkleiden. Die Person bleibt bei uns immer im Vordergrund.

 imagekampagne black&white 11_12 © Michael Dürr for elfenkleid
assistant: Anna Mautner Markhof
 model: Stefanie Wilfling / Stella Models
 Make Up & Hair: Nicole Kainz

elfenkleid Sandra Thaler & Annette Prechtl © Michael Dürr

What inspires you? And what has influenced you in your current collection?
That varies – it can be movies, countries and people… our focus by now is on dresses. The exciting thing about dresses is that you have a complete outfit already that can be varied and changed with the help of different accessories – such as belts or sashes.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Our aim is to continue to grow.

Was inspiriert euch? Und was hat euch in der aktuellsten Kollektion beeinflusst?
Das ist sehr unterschiedlich, das können Filme, Länder und Menschen sein… unser Hauptaugenmerk liegt mittlerweile auf Kleidern. Das Spannende an Kleidern ist, dass man sofort ein komplettes Outfit hat, dieses aber je nach Wunsch immer wieder durch Accessoires – beispielsweise Gürtel und Schärpen – sehr leicht veränderbar ist.

In 5 Jahren seht ihr euch wo?
Unser Ziel ist es weiterhin kontinuierlich zu wachsen

Many thanks for your time! - Interview by Christine Guggenberger

web: www.elfenkleid.com

From passion to love and back

Culture

Some people fall in love really easily. Or not really. I believe most people have the ability of feeling strongly passionate by something or someone (usually, one ability pairs with the other). The thing is, passion doesn’t always lead to love. Love needs courage and time, it evolves and changes, and feelings don’t stay the same. Love is not for weak people. Everybody can feel passion. Love is something else and it is not supposed to be abandoned as passion might. Love requires much more of the human being. To go from passion to love is usually felt as a downgrade. Maybe this is because it requires the guts to commit. Love makes this odd thing to people; it leaves you completely naked and unprotected. Love is not for weak people.

Text and photography by Luisa Santos

Prague party tip : Soul Signal with MIKE HUCKABY (US) & K SOUL (IT)

Events

After the premiere edition of Soul Signal party with Move D here comes another big legend to please our ears  – big icon of Detroit scene – Mike Huckaby. A man who is highly respected as a producer, DJ as well a teacher of young Detroit talents. He will be supported by another interesting deep house DJ and label owner of Kinda Soul recordings – K-Soul.

DJs:

Mike Huckaby (Deep Transportation, SYNTH)
K Soul (Kinda Soul, Sistrum)
Rafo (Popular)
Lukas Micka (Visky Recordings)

MIKE HUCKABY (Detroit, US)

Mike Huckaby is a dance music purist extraordinaire. Being an integral part of the Detroit dance scene, he was the man behind the legendary Record Time store and as such gathered an encyclopedic knowledge of music. Mike is one of those rare guys who know all the roots and culture of electronic dance music, see beyond the hype and divisions in the scene and know exactly what this music is. He is the kind of purist whose love for music has literally had him flown around the globe. Huckaby also produced for labels like Rick Wade’s renowned Harmonie Park outfit, London’s Cross Section or his own ventures Deep Transportation and SYNTH. Apart from his activities as a DJ and producer, he also works as a sound designer and a tutor for the software company Native Instruments, and Ableton teaching Reaktor and Live around the world, as well as for a special Detroit youth foundation project called “YouthVille”.

K SOUL (IT)

At the time House music was definitely an underground movement and the Italian scene was just starting to develop. Record collector since 1988, being involved in his hometown music scene, he began spinning records in the 1992 in a few clubs and rave parties. Having the chance to work for a record shop, he moved to London in 1997 to follow his vocation and increase his musical experience. After a first phase, working mostly in the music business as a record seller and promoter for a well known venue in Italy, he starts DJing in clubs like Fridge bar, Dogstar to name a few and in his own house music radio show at Pyrotechnic Radio. Moving back to Italy after a short experience in Paris, he released, thanks to the Ksoul & Ra.h project, his first records for Sistrum recordings (Detroit) and Morphine records, getting extremely positive approvals by the main records shops and DJs around.

In the last 5 years he had the chance to play in several well established clubs all over Europe and Italy alongside DJs such as Theo Parrish, Rick Wade, Patrice Scott, Giles Smith, Cassy – to name just a few. Having collected a countless quantity of records and consequently raised a step beyond music knowledge, his DJ set is a blowing up mixture of Detroit tech-soul, deep house and techno, keeping an eye above all on the cohesion between old and new school, to pay tribute to the seminal Chicago house music scene of the eighties and the following fusion with the nowadays legendary sound of Detroit. He is the owner of label called KINDA SOUL RECORDINGS.

For more understand to the whole Detroit thing we highly recommend to watch this documentary made by Resident Advisor:

Venue: Yes club (Skretova 1, Prague; metro station I.P. Pavlova)

Date & time: 9th December 2011, 10pm – 6am

Entry: 200 CZk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/soulsignal

ROSSELLA VANON

Photography

We are delighted to interview the London based Rossella Vanon, who recently photographed the beautiful “Bird” editorial for our current C-Heads Wonderland Issue. Her fashion and beauty work is enchanting, playful and shows her passion for intense colours.

Describe yourself in 5 words:
passionate, imaginative, reserved, loyal and determined.

What does photography mean to you?
Photography is my way of expressing what I fear, what I crave for, what I respect and what I dream of. My work always originates from a concept that I feel very ‘mine’, so these emotions are always involuntarily conveyed. Although not necessarily visible to others. I couldn’t stop it if I wanted to. It makes me feel very close to every project I work on. It’s draining and so fulfilling at the very same time. And it’s such a good therapy!

Do you think there is a difference between female and male photographers?
I don’t think there’s a difference between female and male photographers. I see astonishingly beautiful images equally projected out of men’s and women’s minds. Tim Walker and Annie Leibovitz. Paolo Roversi and the younger Emma Tempest.
But I do think there is a difference between the kind of art that different personalities can produce, whether male or female. Photography can be so personal in every single step, from the initial concept to the creation, the choice of the final shots and the post processing. I think that at a close look a portfolio is just a big mirror pointing right back at ourselves. It reflects who we are in a (frighteningly) very truthful way.

What is one of the most important things you are teaching your fashion photography classes?
Through my fashion photography workshops I meet a lot of photographers that ask for ‘the rule’: that one thing that they can learn by heart and repeat until success comes. The truth is the work of a photographer is much less technical than people probably imagine. There is no real rule in creating a fashion story, no rule in composition, no rule in post processing and even very little rule in camera settings. Having the knowledge is very important, but it’s as indispensable as experimenting with it. Every photographer should have his own personal way of developing a story, of creating an image. It’s about observing and daring. And it’s always so personal and intimate.
70% of my work consists of imagining, creating and playing. You start from a technicality and you turn it around and you twist it and deform it, even, until you make it something unique. Until you make it yours.

Nothing inspires me more than?
Details. The little things are the best ones. The little flaws, the things we do or say or think unconsciously. The combination of two colours, a still in a movie, a paragraph in a book. When you’re in a creative state of mind, everything can turn into a muse.

In 10 years I see myself?
travelling around the world shooting fashion editorials and campaigns. Making music again and volunteering for animals in my spare time.

5 things you can´t live without:
family, sunshine, music, camera, and well.. chocolate.

www.rvanonphotography.com

all images © Rossella Vanon
Interview by Christine Guggenberger

Alessandra Ambrosio for MUSE Magazine

FashionPhotography

Surprise! Surprise! Someone is almost not recognizable anymore. Even after looking again and again. Alessandra Ambrosio is on the cover of the current Muse Magazine for winter 2011 – put in scene by photographer Chad Pitman. With a short bob and heavy eyebrowes you don´t really recognize anything familiar about the long-legged Victoria´s Secret Angel model. But rather exciting to discover a completely different site of Alessandra.

Surprise! Surprise! Da ist ja jemand kaum wiederzuerkennen. Und das auch nach mehrmaligen Hingucken. Alessandra Ambrosio ist das Cover des aktuellen Muse Magazines für Winter 11 – in Szene gesetzt von Photographer Chad Pitman. Mit äusserst kurzem Bob und strengen breiten Augenbrauen findet man so gar nichts mehr bekannt gewohntes von dem langbeinigen Victoria´s Secret Engel. Aber eigentlich auch mal schön spannend eine etwas andere Seite Alessandra´s zu entdecken.

Muse Magazine, Winter 2011

Model: Alessandra Ambrosio
Photographer: Chad Pitman
Styled by Melissa Rubini

THE HUMAN AND THE CAPITALISM

Culture

 

Just read a really good article about the human in the capitalism by Lucien Séve.  Great article – where one of the main questions to me is: “What sort of humanity do we want to be?”  I know that everyone knows about this topic and maybe some are even already fed up to hear about it. But I still don’t think that society has moved into the right direction and that we all actually still have to realize what capitalism to this extend is doing to ourselves.

As an individual I feel trapped in this race where at the end of the day most of the things lead to the same: Everything is about making money –  and everything is made into being about making money. Whether it is about health, social things, art, jobs, sport, information, culture, communication and even free time. When the main purpose of those things are changed into making money, then the real purpose becomes less important and is done less well and it causes pressure, dishonesty, stress and manipulation.  As quoted by Lucien Séve: “To value everything with money, leads to a general devaluation. The need for truth, justice and dignity is turned into ridicule.”

Should a hospital really be about making money? And the main purpose of a music group is money too? And even our free time is being captured by capitalism?  Just think about the consequences to all that…

So this creates a society where values won´t lead you anywhere anymore.  Where at the end the human is just a resource. Well, there is a reason why the nice seeming lady at your last job interview is called human resource manager. That the human falls by the wayside is still being accepted by plenty of people, even if they are not entirely happy- they just take part in it and function because they think they have no other choice. But honestly- I can´t do that.

With a quote of Lucien I want to end my thoughts and I wish that hopefully sooner than later society can finally change direction… “The commercialization of humanity, the devaluation of values… the marketing of all human is a maldevelopment of civilization!”

 

Gerade hab ich einen echt tollen Artikel gelesen: Der Mensch im Kapitalismus von Lucien Séve. Eine der wichtigsten Fragen darin für mich ist: „Was für eine Menschheit wollen wir sein?“ Ich weiss, dass jeder dieses Thema schon zigmal gehört hat und viele es vielleicht auch gar nicht mehr hören wollen, aber ich denke nicht, dass die Gesellschaft sich schon in die richtige Richtung bewegt hat und das wir alle noch wirklich realisieren müssen was der Kapitalismus in diesem Ausmaß mit uns macht.

Ich fühle mich gefangen in diesem Rennen wo es letzten Endes immer um eines geht: Um Geld – und alles wird dazu gemacht das es darum geht Geld zu machen. Ob es um Gesundheit geht, um soziale Angelegenheiten, Job, Kunst, Sport, Information, Kultur, Kommunikation und auch die Freizeit. Wenn der Hauptzweck aller Dinge Geld zu machen wird, dann tritt der wahre Zweck in den Hintergrund und auch die Bemühungen darin werden weniger und es verursacht Druck, Unehrlichkeit, Stress und Manipulation. Zitiert von Lucien Séve: „ Alles mit Geld zu bewerten führt zu einer generellen Entwertung. Das Verlangen nach Wahrheit, Gerechtigkeit und Würde wird ins Lächerliche gezogen.“

Sollte ein Krankenhaus als Hauptzweck wirklich Profitmachen haben? Und eine Musikband zuallererst ans Geld denken? Und unsere Freizeit auch nur noch ein Instrument des Kapitalismus sein? Denk mal über die daraus resultierenden Konsequenzen nach…

Es kreiert eine Gesellschaft wo Werte dich nirgendwo mehr hinbringen. Wo am Ende der Mensch nur noch eine Ressource ist. Nicht umsonst heisst die so nett wirkende Dame bei deinem letzten Vorstellungsgespräch Human Resource Manager. Das dabei der Mensch immer mehr auf der Strecke bleibt, scheinen noch mehr als genug Leute zu akzeptieren, auch wenn sie nicht glücklich dabei sind -sie machen einfach mit und funktionieren weil sie denken sie haben keine andere Wahl. Aber ganz ehrlich – das kann ich nicht.

Mit einem Zitat von Lucien möchte ich meine Gedanken beenden und hoffe, dass besser früher als später eine Richtungsänderung in der Gesellschaft eintritt. „ Die Kommerzialisierung des Menschlichen, die Entwertung der Werte… die Vermarktung alles Menschlichen ist eine Fehlentwicklung der Zivilisation!“

Text by Sigrun Guggenberger
Photography by Stephan Elsler www.stephanelsler.com