Nordaq Fresh Water Filtration System

by Evan Orensten

Nordaq Fresh is a new Swedish water filtration system that may change the way restaurants think about drinking water. We hit Napa this weekend and one of the many pleasures was an afternoon at The French Laundry (thanks for the hook up, José).

When our waiter explained our water options—locally filtered flat or sparking, on the house) we were pleasantly surprised. He went on to explain the benefits of purifying water on site at the restaurant—no need to ship, move and store heavy bottles, and more importantly the environmental impact. The restaurant recently installed a Nordaq Fresh water filtration system (one of the first in the States).

The system provides cold, freshly circulated flat or sparkling water on tap. The novelty of the system is its ability to filter out all of the things you don't want (discoloration, funky tastes, VOCs, PAH, particles and bacteria) while retaining all of the things you do want (salts and minerals). In other words, it provides the benefits of many mineral waters without the expense and hassle of shipping them half way around the world, with the additional benefit of always being fresh.

The system was created and is manufactured in Sweden, and was founded in 2003 by the owners of Acquapal. The Nordaq Fresh site is currently only in Swedish (thanks Mira for translating!) but you can request more information by clicking on the "Kontakta oss" link on the home page.

Pop Chips

by Evan Orensten

On a recent road trip we tried some Pop Chips and were very pleased with their light and crisp taste. Even better, they are not fried (fat and oil) or baked (dry and tasteless). Instead, Pop Chips use a combination of heat and pressure to create a healthy but delicious snack.

We enjoyed the Parmesean Garlic Potato Chips a bit more than the Wasabi Rice Chips but there are seven other flavors to choose from including corn varieties. Using only all-natural ingredients and seasonings with no added preservatives, Pop Chips offer the crunch and texture you want from a chip without the greasy residue or extra calories. Keep a look out for a bag on your next snack attack or plan ahead and order some at Pop Chips.

Sze Tsung Leong: Horizons

by Jonah Samson

Over the past seven years, Sze Tsung Leong has produced a series of photographs called "Horizons," which provide an expansive view of different environments from across the globe. On view at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York through 17 May 2008, "Horizons" consists of over sixty works each measuring 14x 24 inches.

Born in Mexico City in 1970, Sze Tsung Leong spent his childhood between Mexico, Britain, and the United States and this conglomerate of cultures is evident in his photographs. Regardless of their geography (including Mexico City, Cairo, Tokyo, or Inner Mongolia), Leong manages to connect rivers, cityscapes and industrial zones into a consistently beautiful accumulation of textures and colors.

Like Bernt and Hilla Becher’s famous photographs of water towers, Sze Tsung Leong unites his photographs by maintaining the same position of the horizon from one image to the next. Viewed in a continuous line, the images suggest an unfurled panoramic of the globe, connecting seemingly unrelated worlds. Images can be rearranged to form different landscapes and visual sequences meant to reflect the perpetually transforming relationships between regions, cultures and nations. More images after the jump.

"Horizons" - 3 April through 17 May 2008
Yossi Milo Gallery
525 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001 map
tel. +1 212 414 0370

Tallulah Rendall

by Leonora Oppenheim

Currently making quite a murmur on the London music scene is Tallulah Rendall. This singer-songwriter has been quietly honing her craft over the past few years, playing the odd festival here and there, but it wasn't until she was invited by the legendary Shirley Bassey to sing at her 70th birthday party last year that things really started to take off. Last week Tallulah wowed a crowd at the Soho Revue Bar with a showcase gig that pre-empts the release of her self-penned debut album. Entitled Libellus, the album was produced by Marius de Vries, whose previous collaborators include Madonna, Bjork and Massive Attack.

Tallulah finds herself in fine company, but it has taken some grit and determination to get here. Not wanting to be pigeonholed by a record company as one of the new Brit pop starlets she found the funding to set up her own record label, Transducer Records, to maintain creative control over the recording of her album. This independent spirit is clearly audible in her music which flows between her soft clear voice and some properly down and dirty guitar riffs. More towards PJ Harvey's emotive tales than Lily Allen's witty pop jibes, look out for Tallulah's soon to be released album Libellus. In the meantime have a taste with the Libellus EP available on her MySpace page.