Rising Star: Alison Breitman

by Ari Bendersky

Alison Breitman, an adorable pixie of a New Yorker, has a voice that blows away most female singers I’ve heard in a long time. Combine the intelligence of Aimee Mann with the sultriness of Fiona Apple and the friskiness of Annie and you have a fantastic night of live music.

Alison’s appearance doesn’t do her voice justice. It’s amazing that so much power is packed in such a tiny person.

Her album, The Game, is available at CD Baby. I particularly like the party vibe of Get in the Game and the breathiness of This Ride.

I met Alison last night at a Changes show at Rothko in NYC. She told me that she’s spending her summer in Chicago, trying to hook up gigs and expand her ever-growing fan base.

And hey, all you A&R peeps out there – get off your asses and get in touch with Alison. Seriously, this girl deserves a record deal.

Fish sticks are back...

by Evan Orensten

Seeing this fish stick pan at ICFF brought me back to second grade, when pretty much the only food I would eat was fish sticks (fortunately I've grown out of that phase). The clever designers at Triebwerk Design in Munich were playing around and came up with this clever pan. While intended more as an object to provoke dialogue—do we really need all of those single-use tools in the kitchen?—it is fully functional and not surprisingly an incredibly efficient way of cooking your fish sticks to obtain that slighty crunchy texture.

Xpand Dining Table

by Josh Rubin

Taking my prize for most simple, yet effective innovation at this year's ICFF was this space saving table from Austrian Xpand System. Available in 7 different types of wood and three different sizes, each table features an accordion structure in the center that is invisible when the table is closed and sturdy when expanded. So long as you don't get crumbs in the crevIces, this seems like an ideal solution for a small apartment.

More pictures after the jump.