"The clothing's custom," says Lt. James Gordon after apprehending The Joker. "Nothing in the pockets but knives and lint." Let gearheads debate the weaponry: The real question is, hey, Crazy, where'd you get that suit?

As an ad in today's New York Times trumpets, Bruce Wayne's bespoke duds come courtesy of Giorgio Armani. (Less attention has been paid to Harvey Dent's natty wardrobe, but for the record, it's Ermenegildo Zegna.) But The Dark Knight really belongs to The Joker, and his look was apparently too important to leave to a regular old fashion label. It's the creation of Academy Award-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming—no stranger to debonair gents, having costumed the last four Bond flicks—who drew inspiration from some of London's most fashionable eccentrics: Vivienne Westwood, Johnny Rotten, Pete Doherty, and Alexander McQueen. The result? Call it Savile Row by way of Carnaby Street and Malcolm McLaren's SEX. The shoes, meanwhile, are made in Milan (sadly, our friends at Warner Bros. weren't able to find out by whom exactly), while the tie comes from Turnbull & Asser. Apparently, the venerable tailors custom-made the neckpiece in consultation with Hemming and Heath Ledger, who preferred a thinner style. Good call—he's The Joker, not Bozo the Clown.

Last weekend, I attended the Glenlivet Gathering, an annual shindig where the Speyside whiskymaker allows a few select fans to commandeer its distillery for a couple of days. Glenlivet's not the only brand to throw open its stills to outsiders, but I've always loved its pineapple-y distillations, and the brand's remote Highland setting is charming enough to win over even haggis-haters.

The centerpiece of the weekend was an old-fashioned ceilidh—think a Scottish brogue-twanged tweak on line dancing, with kilts—but the most rewarding (or at least enjoyable) part was a session with whisky czar Jim Cryle, the mastermind who helmed Glenlivet for decades until going into semiretirement earlier this year. We convened in a secret suite called the Library—anywhere there's liquor, there's bound to be a VIP room—accessed by pushing a hidden panel in one wall of the nondescript distillery lobby. Tucked upstairs and furnished with just a few leather chairs and a huge antique wooden table, it's where the most precious limited editions are kept.

The concert film's long been a directorial rite of passage (see Scorsese's The Last Waltz or Demme's Stop Making Sense—immediately, if possible). Now eighties art star and confirmed pajama fan Julian Schnabel is taking his turn with Lou Reed's Berlin, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The flick, out today in New York and L.A., chronicles Reed's 2006 performance of his 1973 album—which he had never played live before—over a few dates at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn. Bonus: Reed's in top form, and Velvets fans should take note—the encore includes renditions of "Candy Says" (with backing vocals from Antony Hegarty) and "Sweet Jane."

French favorites: the fry (don't call it "freedom"); the kiss; the Nike Air Max? Étrange but true: According to Tinker Hatfield, Nike's VP of design and special projects, the original inspiration for the shoe came from Paris's Centre Pompidou. Check out the full video, below.

[Plataforma Arquitectura]

London's Southbank is set to become a lot more luminous, courtesy of Sheppard Robson. The architectural firm has designed this structure, still in the planning stages, to be an iridescent office building (complete with a 10,000-square-foot roof deck overlooking the Houses of Parliament—guess they're kinda optimistic about that fickle British weather). Ought to make showing up to work fun, supposing that you like your work to be glittery and purple.

[The Design Blog]

Well, if the Japanese can write comic books about the Nissan GT-R, then the Germans can write symphonies about the R8. And it turns out they have—the brand asked an orchestra and three DJs from the group Bauhouse (not a typo) to create music for what is essentially a live symphonic ad timed to the car's Brazilian debut. You guessed it: Sounds like Kraftwerk. Check out the video below:

[German Car Blog via Autoblog]

NYC's Chinatown Soccer Club is composed of artists, photographers, designers, and the like, so it's hardly surprising that their "clubhouse" in, uh, Vienna (an event sponsored by Adidas in honor of the 2008 Euro Cup) was decorated in excellent taste. In keeping with the spirit of their home turf, CSC member Dan Funderburgh created a custom NYC toile wallpaper for the Austrian affair, featuring the sights of home: grafitti-covered delivery trucks, people asleep on park benches, their own team flag. Available in limited edition from Flavor Paper, it's as good a taste of the 'hood as you can get without chopsticks.
$150/roll, available at flavorleague.com

[12oz. Prophet via SlamxHype]

For no apparent reason, the gadget geeks at Crave ran a post today about a runner-up in a Timex watch-design competition's "conceptual" category. The catch? That contest was in 2004, in honor of Timex's 150th anniversary. Of course, we didn't have a blog in 2004, so we didn't have the chance to tell you about the winner: Energistime (pictured), which wraps around your arm and monitors your carbon footprint's effect on your free time. A cool idea, if a tad confusing—perhaps that explains why four years later, you still can't buy one. (Catch up with the other winners, runners-up, and notable entries here.)

Lucky Strike, offering unlikely support for the green movement, has just unveiled the winner of its Junior Designer Award (which, apparently, exists): Roland Cernat, the guy behind this eco-friendly glider concept. (Finally, right?) Dubbed Orlens, it's solar-powered, made from recycled materials, and has a flax-based, carbon-neutral body that is itself recyclable. (Presumably for when your glider crashes on a suddenly cloudy day.) All kidding aside, it's a cool-looking plane. And maybe you'll get to fly one someday—the prize includes €12,000 to turn the concept into a reality.

[Inhabitat via Gizmodo]

It's been a while since we've checked in on designer Jaime Hayon. (Last time, he was a doll.) Turns out he's been hard at work on a new series for Barcelona lighting specialists Metalarte. Of the several mini-collections, our favorite is Las Santas (pictured), the only one that's in color. The blue and white lamps boast saintly names (like Maria or Theresa), but leave it to the witty Spaniard to name the littlest one after Nabokov's infamous nymphet.

[Designboom]

Makeshift prison implements are nothing new (and neither, we admit, is the media's fascination with them), but Marc Steinmetz's photos of contraband found in German prisons are undeniably intriguing. While some contraptions are more clever than impressive—a hash pipe made of a horseradish tube, say—it's hard not to marvel at a homemade handgun (pictured). The bullets? Pieces of steel and match heads. Now that's ingenuity.

[Boing Boing Gadgets via Wired]

Buzz has been building about Anaheim's Willowz for as long as we can remember, but the support of one fan may give them a boost: Paul Gondry, the teenage son of director Michel.Gondry, whose drawings were used in The Science of Sleep, directed the video for their single "Take a Look," and has now collaborated with Parisian design house April 77 to create a shirt with his illustration of the band. (They've done their part by recording an exclusive 7" single for the April 77's record label.) Of course, lending their talents to rockers is nothing new for the Gondry clan: Michel created iconic videos for the likes of Björk, Beck, and the White Stripes.
For more information, visit april77records.com

Five things worth knowing today

- The Pitchfork Music Festival begins in Chicago. (Likely rating: 6.7.)
- The Pacific Northwest's best beer town brings the world's suds together for the Portland International Beerfest. - The U.S. Grand Prix of motocross returns to Salinas, CA.
- According to Tacitus, the Great Fire of Rome began today in 64 A.D.—that is, the one Nero is said to have fiddled through.
- And today in 1988, Warhol muse and Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico died. Below, Nico performing "All Tomorrow's Parties":

In Scotland, a sitooterie is basically a gazebo—a little building for sitting around outside. We suspect not many look like this one, produced by London's Heatherwick Studio and on view in Essex. Dubbed Sitooterie II, it consists of 5,000 glazed acrylic tubes, each of which is illuminated. (And true to the project's name, you can even sit inside some of the tubes.) A cool project, for sure—think of it as the new cubism.

[Design Boom]

What do you do after you house Denmark's elephants? If you're Norman Foster, you get to work on Fellini's hometown, apparently. Foster + Partners recently unveiled its proposal for a revitalized seafront in Rimini, Italy, complete with the sort of rounded tower that seems to be in vogue these days. More compellingly, the proposal includes space for a museum dedicated to the great director's life and work. It's a fitting tribute to the legendary auteur, though we can't help but think that the carnivalesque filmmaker would have been just as tickled by an elephant house of his own.

[Inhabitat]

Brooklyn's latest artistic venture? The Nu Hotel, the borough's first boutique lodgings. Just opened by Hersha Hospitality (who recently introduced the Duane Street Hotel in Tribeca), Nu's 93 modern-designed rooms are big on minimalism with a nod to eco-awareness (including cork floors, lead-free paint, organic sheets, and a recycling program). The hotel also embraces the Brooklyn lifestyle—think bike racks and "loft-inspired" rooms—so guests feel at home in the residential community. Well, provided they bring their own PBR: As yet, the hotel doesn't have a liquor license.

85 Smith St., Brooklyn, (718) 852-8585, nuhotelbrooklyn.com

Judging from the new titles at E3, the annual expo that wraps up today in the City of Angels, the gaming industry has a Hollywood-level infatuation with sequels (Resident Evil 5, Resistance 2) and adaptations (Quantum of Solace). The four-day event was light on, er, game-changing announcements, though the tech side got a few welcome shots in the arm (Netflix on 360, the Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus controller add-on) We did, however, find four new offerings worth getting excited about—including Ghostbusters, out September 26, which brings together all of the original actors except Rick Moranis. (Apparently, he's too busy.) Check out the trailer below, then click here for the rest of the best.

The experts at McIntosh have just introduced their first-ever power controller. What it does: helps you monitor and manage the energy levels of up to 12 home theater components—good for keeping, say, AC power noise from making your speakers buzz. The MPC1500 also includes a top-of-the-line surge protector—and it better, considering it costs 4,500 bucks. Then again, it uses much of the same technology that keeps hospitals' lifesaving systems in tune; and after all, cranking Appetite for Destruction up to 11 is almost as important.
mcintoshlabs.com

Pierre Hardy has had his technicolor moments, but in his forthcoming footwear collaboration with the Gap, simplicity reigns: The mini-collection will include only a black leather combat boot and a taupe desert boot. (We warned you back in February.) They're minimal classics from a master of hyperbole—and luckily enough, at decidedly minimal prices. Of course, maximalists needn't worry: Pierre is there for you, too. His pricey collaboration with Kitsuné is now available exclusively at Colette.
Combat boot, $298, and desert boot, $178, available September 15th at select Gap stores

Aside from one or two over-hyped megabrand extensions—think Johnnie Walker Blue—high-end blended Scotch has never really caught on in this country. It's a different story, of course, in Scotland, where there are plenty of blends still brimming with peat. None of those weren't available stateside, until Mitchell's, part of the famed Springbank dynasty, began exporting their Glengyle blend of Campbeltown whiskies. The stuff includes a dose of Longrow, makers of the Gaja Barolo bottling we told you about earlier, for a touch of smooth smoke (which goes down well when poured over ice).
About $49, available at The Party Source, 95 Riveria Dr., Bellevue, KY, (859) 291-4007, thepartysource.com

Photographer Tod Seelie has shot for such up-and-coming publications as The New York Times and New York—not to mention for Rogan and Loomstate—but he's never had a solo gallery show in the five boroughs. That changes tonight: Slowdancing to Slayerfeatures images from Seelie's various journeys—rafting down the Mississippi with art collective The Miss Rockaway Armada, touring with the hipster-heavy F*ck Yeah Fest, and stopping off everywhere from New Orleans to L.A. in between. Perhaps the exhibit will even answer that immortal question: How exactly does one slow dance to Slayer, anyway?
Through August 9 at Cinders Gallery, 103 Havemeyer St., Brooklyn, NY, (718) 388-2311, cindersgallery.com

Here's a reason to watch VH1 that doesn't involve Flavor Flav: Tonight's Rock Honors fandango, which honors The Who (or its two surviving members, anyway) and features performances by Pearl Jam, the Foo Fighters, and the Flaming Lips (pictured), among others. (We'll be cooking dinner during Incubus's set.)
9 p.m. on VH1

Given the V-22 Osprey's troubled history—the military aircraft's development famously included soaring budgets and numerous fatal crashes—you wouldn't think people would be eager for a commercial version. And yet, here one is: The Bell 609, a hybrid that flies like a plane and lands like a chopper. The exact price remains top-secret, but expect to pay around 20 mil. Chump change to guys like Greg Norman and Ross Perot, who have already bought models (seriously). We wouldn't be surprised if Travolta's already reserved two.

[Gizmodo via The Register]

Samsung just announced its fall point-and-shoot lineup, led by the TL34HD, above. (Catchy name, we know.) The camera has some interesting features—it shoots in 720p HD (through a Schneider lens), and sports a sizable 3-inch touch screen. But it also comes with a whopping 14.7 megapixels, which seems like overkill, given the underwhelming sensor and modest 3.6x optical zoom. Hey, the case looks sharp, though.

More intriguing is the design flourish Samsung has given its lower-tier TL9: Analog gauges atop the camera. (One's for battery life, and one's for memory capacity—see below.) Too cute by half? Sure, but frankly an on-screen battery-life meter has never made much sense. Both cameras are available in September; the TL34HD for $330, the TL9 for $280.

For shooters you can buy right now, check out our newly updated compact digicams Hotlist.

Although MoMA's Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling exhibit doesn't open until Sunday, the museum has previewed the work for months now. As curator Barry Bergdoll explains, the show's "also about the process of making an architecture exhibition," which means he's welcomed public viewings of the show's five full-scale prefab buildings since May. (Time-lapse construction video? Check.) Those more interested in the final product can see the completed works this weekend, including Instant House (pictured), architect Larry Sass' solution for New Orleans—a cozy 196-square-foot home that costs around $40,000 to produce. More traditional displays include films, blueprints, and partial reconstructions of work by starchitects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean Prouvé, and Buckminster Fuller. Worth noting: Not since a 1948 Marcel Breuer series has MoMA built 1:1 scale prefabs.
July 20-October 20, for more information visit momahomedelivery.org

Five things worth knowing today

- Spain's Festival International de Benicàssim begins, with Morrissey, Leonard Cohen, and the Raconteurs all lined up to play. Hedi Slimane's been known to photograph the crowd, so look your best.
- Fashion Week Miami starts: four days of swimsuits, gawking encouraged.
- The British Open begins at Royal Birkdale.
- Today in 1997, Woolworth's closed its last American stores after 117 years in business.
- And today in 1952, the Hoff was born. Seriously, how can you not love this guy?

It's a no-brainer: Give a huge budget to three avowedly style-conscious gentlemen (Kanye, André 3000, and sartorial consultant Fonzworth Bentley), and you're gonna get a great music video. So it is with "Everybody," the first video from Bentley's long-awaited debut album C.O.L.O.U.R.S., which, by the way, still has no release date. (It does, however, have its priorities clear: As the trio bellows in the single, the name stands for "Cool Outrageous Lovers of Uniquely Raw Style.") The video's styling and dance moves are both top-notch, as is our favorite new pick-up line, delivered by the ever-suave Mr. Benjamin: "What's your favorite Gatorade, lady?" Check it out, below:

[Kanye Universecity via The Fader]

Assouline just opened its first-ever U.S. store inside the Plaza Hotel. Not a bad choice: The shop overlooks the storied building's lobby—full of foreign tourists enjoying the weak dollar, of course—and is conveniently across from the Rose Bar, which will deliver Champagne as you browse. Knock back a few while checking out everything from the brand's Humidor Library to a one-off Goyard suitcase that comes stocked with pre-selected tomes, not to mention (of course) the brand's signature art titles. But the highlight is a vintage library curated by founder Prosper Assouline—with every title, from Barbie's Fashion Success to Babar Comes to America, for sale. In fact, only one thing inside the 1,000-square-foot location isn't available for purchase: that hippo skull in the picture.
768 Fifth Avenue, (212) 593-7236, NYC, assouline.com

Ferrari has teamed with Fiat to produce 200 limited-edition 500s, complete with leather interiors and, of course, a paint job in the former's trademark red. Want to drive one? Good luck. They're only available to Ferrari owners whose cars are in the shop. That's right: You're looking at the world's coolest courtesy car. As if driving a Ferrari wasn't privilege enough.

[Carscoop]

The new Nekura Tumbler watch from Japan's TokyoFlash is, well, pretty much what you'd expect from a design-driven Japanese company: eye-catching, thanks to a curving band and scale-style display. Of course, it's also more or less unwearable for those same reasons. Then again, what's wrong with a watch that looks just as good on your shelf as on your wrist?
$84, tokyoflash.com

PLUS: For more work-appropriate options, check out our dress watch Hotlist.

[Dvice]

We've long considered Rockports to be little more than dad shoes—sort of the Dockers of the feet. Don't tell Pops, but the brand is bringing out a line more attuned to your sensibilities than his, and the sneakers aren't bad looking, to boot. The buffalo-plaid Mandelas have an appealing Dunk-inspired shape and just a hint of that ubiquitous print to keep your interest. Best of all, when they arrive next month, they'll go for a wallet-friendly $100. Even Pops wouldn't object to that.
Available next month at Commonwealth, Bodega, and Undefeated

[Complex]

Designers, start your engines: Uniqlo has announced a global call for submissions for its T-shirt Grand Prix. The winner will receive ¥3,000,000 (a slightly less eye-popping $30,000 or so U.S.) and have their shirt sold at Uniqlo stores worldwide. Come to think of it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to send the winning one over to those other, automotive Grand Prix types: A McDonald's-and-Penzoil-logo-printed jumpsuit is fine on the track, but off of it…
Submission period runs until September 21; for more information, visit ut.uniqlo.com

[DesignBoom]

As you might have read elsewhere, Parisian expat Rick Owens opened his first Manhattan store yesterday, which features the designer's men's and womenswear, and, naturally, a certain moneyed-goth aesthetic. The design is minimal, but the space does have marble displays and a tank with fog circulating inside it. As Owens told Style.com: "Fog's nice. It's mysterious. It reminds us all of, you know, having blurry vision at a disco at four in the morning." (Also: unsafe driving conditions, but we digress.) The designer gave our sister site a preview of the space earlier this summer—see the video below.
Rick Owens, 250 Hudson St., New York, (212) 627-7222, owenscorp.com

Unlike the last Lotus we showed you, the British automaker's newest coupe is not made partially from hemp. But on the plus side, the new Eagle (pictured) is definitely going into production. The 276-hp vehicle gets its official premiere at next week's London auto show, though the brand has (of course) already leaked pictures to Autoblog. Looks good, and unlike the Lotus Elise, it even comes with cup holders. Look for it next spring, when it will retail for about 90 grand.

That's small change compared to the likely cost of the Shelby Ultimate Aero TT, an independently produced electric supercar. The company claims it's the world's fastest in that genre, and that it will run a whopping six years on a single charge. No confirmation on whether it is, in fact, powered by unicorn tears.

[Autoblog]

For his project The World Stage, Brooklyn artist Kehinde Wiley traveled across three continents in search of his muse. "It began in China and it followed from there to India, Brazil, parts of West Africa, and so on," he says. "The idea is to sort of use the experience of black American popular culture that has been beamed out into the world and collect it and trace it and track it." Toward that end, he abandoned his usual approach—painting African-American men in rococo settings—for pitting them against the cultural graphic backdrops of their respective countries. "I've been using the decorative elements of all of these cultures," he says. "In China, we'd use the decorative patterns on silk and pottery. In Brazil, we'd go to marketplaces and collect fabrics." Tomorrow, ten of his latest World Stage works (painted in Senegal and Nigeria) go on display at the Studio Museum in Harlem. It's Wiley's first solo show at the place where he got his start—he was an artist-in-residence there after graduating from Yale.

He's also planning a limited-edition series of bomber jackets, to be sold in a pop-up store. "It will be a discreet space in Manhattan and exist for a certain amount of months and then it will decay and peter out," he says. For Wiley, the concept is more about art than fashion: "I've been approached by a number of major labels that we all know. And I decided to do something decidedly homespun, where all of the control is in my hands." Stay tuned: The outerwear will be available this October.
The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar, tomorrow through October 26, The Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 W. 125 St., New York, (212) 864-4500, studiomuseum.org

Abstract Expressionist Cy Twombly has been taking photographs since his Black Mountain College days in the early fifties, though they've understandably been eclipsed by his painting and sculpture. Cy Twombly: Photographs 1951-2007 attempts to remedy this, even if many of the photos in the book (like the beach scene pictured here), are out of focus. Nonetheless, the ethereal glimpses of his studios and snatches of works in progress are a must-see for any enthusiast, and provide a glimpse at Twombly's artistic process. A master of abstract photography? Definitely.
$84, available July 30 at amazon.com

The next victims of the international credit crunch? European soccer players. At least according to Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood, who tells the team's Web site that footballers "need to be waking up to the realities of the world... The days of easy money have come to a pretty sudden end." Economic prognostication or negotiating ploy? Well, let's just say the English Premier League just negotiated a record $3.4-billion dollar TV contract.

[GQ UK]

Record sales being what they are, it was perhaps inevitable that Sony BMG would find an innovative way to earn some income: Selling off archival prints through NYC's Morrison Hotel Gallery. We're not complaining: The stunning black-and-white images were taken by Don Hunstein, who, as Columbia Records' house photographer, captured recording artists like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Glenn Gould, Charles Mingus, and (naturally) Muhammad Ali. (The Champ recorded a spoken-world album back in the sixties. Heady times.) But even those unwilling to drop some serious cash on Cash—or, say, $1,500 on this Miles Davis photo—should nonetheless find a stroll through the gallery (online or otherwise) worthwhile.
"In Session at the Columbia Records 30th Street Studio" opens Friday at the Morrison Hotel Gallery, 124 Prince St., New York, (212) 941-8770, morrisonhotelgallery.com

Five things worth knowing today

- The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics begins in Fairbanks, Alaska. Take that, Beijing.
- Van Morrison and Mary J. Blige go Nordic at the Stockholm Jazz Festival.
- Liam Neeson brings fellow Irishman Samuel Beckett's Eh Joe to New York's Gerald W. Lynch Theater. (And it's only a half-hour long!)
- Today in 1955, the original Disneyland opened in Anaheim, CA.
- And today in 1967, comedian Will Ferrell was born. Word to the wise: Keep him off your porch (see below).

Bono might get all the attention, but let's face it: The Edge does the hard work and everyone knows it. The latest example? Even as U2 records their follow-up to 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the guitarist has remixed and remastered the band's first three albums, including a wealth of previously unreleased bonus material, which will be available for sale next Tuesday. Rabid fans, however, can stream the tracks now at imeem. Not all of the songs are show-stoppers—U2 b-sides are usually b-sides for a reason (see "Saturday Night" or "Angels Too Tied to the Ground")—but this ought to sate demand until the new record comes out later this year.

Those more interested in new new music would do well to check out the Hold Steady's fourth album, Stay Positive, which features the band's usual mash of hard-luck lyrics and greasy-fisted rock 'n' roll. On it, they praise working-class heroes like Joe Strummer. The Edge would approve.

The finalists for this year's $200,000 prize were just announced, and among the ten are several who make menswear: Richard Chai; Alejandro Ingelmo; John Patrick of Organic; and Swaim and Christina Hutson of Obedient Sons (pictured). Best of luck to all—and hey, even the two runners-up get 50 grand apiece. (And judging by his Target collaboration, new store, and, hell, even a lunchbox, things seem to have gone well for last year's winner, Rogan Gregory.)

Apparently Microsoft's Wireless Arc Mouse was supposed to be a secret, but an overeager blogger at Maximum PC posted a photo and some vague specs, and then it was off and running. We can see why: The device folds up for travel and looks like an appealing variant on a Bluetooth headset. More than that, you'll have to guess for yourself, or wait until the Arc is released this winter for a wallet-friendly $59.95.

[Dvice]

Leave it to the French to combine America's second and 21st amendments: Afasia 1 (pictured) is a nitrogen-powered machine that blasts (presumably) empty beer bottles at nearly 375 miles an hour. (Weirder yet, it does this at random intervals.) The piece is an art installation, part of a show called Superdome, in reference to the New Orleans stadium that has hosted both the NFL's Saints franchise and Katrina refugees. The exhibit also includes a taxidermy elephant standing on her trunk, and a series Darth Vader helmets on sticks. In other words, the show's got je ne sais quoi to spare.

MORE: Check out a Flickr gallery from the show here.

[We Make Money Not Art via Gizmodo]

The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia, which means that it's best traversed with plenty of amenities. The MS Yangzi Explorer, which makes its inaugural voyage later this month, offers the sort of luxury required for such a trip: private balconies in every state room, a spa and fitness center, and, best of all, room for only 124 passengers. Given that, it's no surprise that prices range from the mid to high five-figures for three- to four-night cruises. The highlight? An unparalleled view of the country's controversial Three Gorges Dam—an unlikely sight for foreigners, even those visiting the country for this summer's other big public works project.
Cruises start July 24, for more information visit abercrombiekent.com

[Luxury Insider]

We recently gave you the heads-up about Mazda's compact SUV, targeted for the Russian market, which now has both a name—Kazamai, Japanese for "swirling crosswinds"—and official images, released in advance of its debut in August at the Moscow International Auto Salon. The company boasts about the vehicle's "frugal fuel consumption" and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions, part of what Mazda calls "Sustainable Zoom-Zoom" (to which we say, please don't). Full details will be released on August 26 at the show, but until then, you can start dropping hints to your favorite Gazpromnik.

[Autoblog]

The Gehry House probably isn't going on the block any time soon, but rough consolation is available in the form of the architect's door handles for Italian brand Valli & Valli. (The company also sells models by Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel, and the ubiquitous Zaha Hadid.) Gehry's recently given his stainless-steel Arrowheads and Fog Collection an update (pictured); the price is TBA, but we suspect it'll cost more than what you'd usually spend at Home Depot.

[Dezeen]