Distractions

15 June 09

Deputy editor Ed Chamberlin brings you the latest music, books and cool stuff

1 TRAVEL BOOK
The Worst Hotel in the World: The Hans Brinker Budget Hotel Amsterdam - KesselsKramer
While there are certainly plenty of bad hotels out there, very few of them trumpet that fact as a selling point. Introducing the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel, Amsterdam.

After almost 40 years of abusing and neglecting their courageous guests, the notoriously zero-star establishment has brought out a retrospective celebrating its status as the “Worst Hotel in the World”!

Go gaga at the pictures of their “food”, gasp at the “Dust Ball Hall of Fame” and raise an eyebrow in admiration for their concern for the environment: they have an eco-elevator (stairs), eco-showers (the sink) and eco-towels (the curtains). Possibly the only book in the world about a hotel that is more fun to read about than to actually stay in.

1 GERMAN RECORD
Die Mensch-Maschine - Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk almost always released both English and German versions of their records, so for the real Teutonic experience, you need to get the latter. Die Mensch-Maschine (The Man-Machine) was Kraftwerk’s biggest radio hit, also spawning the electro-funk classic Das Model (The Model). And although lyrics were on the minimalist side, they were always cynical and humorous, so what better language to hear them in than auf Deutsch?

1 READING TOOL FOR THE SUPER LAZY
HANLIN EREADER
We’re told that e-books are the way of the future, and it’s inevitable that paper books will eventually be replaced by electronic versions to save materials and generally look all cool and funky. But whether this is true or not, the Hanlin eReader is bringing us a few steps closer. In a nice leather wallet, it feels like holding a book when you read it, and if you can’t even be bothered to do that, you also have the option of listening to audiobooks.

One thing I expected to find when using this was that the screen would eventually tire out my eyes. But the text and screen are very “paper-like”, making it easy to plough through a novel, enter bookmarks where necessary and turn from page to page. It can hold around 1,000 complete books, which you transfer from Mac or PC via a USB cable, and its own light means you can read in the dark, too. €265 www.pixelar.co.uk

1 POLISH FILM
Katyn
Directed by: Andrzej Wajda
Starring: Artur Zmijewski, Maja Ostaszewska and Andrzej Chyra
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2008 Oscars, this internationally acclaimed Polish film will be hitting UK cinemas on 19 June. A harrowing retelling of the Katyn Massacre – the slaughter of 20,000 Polish military men at the hands of the Soviets – it jumps between the lives of those in custody and the women they left behind. A case of mistaken identity spells heartbreak for one family, while confusion as to the perpetrators causes tensions and the collapse of loyalty among friends. Graceful performances in a devastatingly moving film