Fuse "Blade Runner" with a Playboy cartoon and the result points in the direction of Masamune Shirow's animation. Imagine a dystopian sci-fi world, in which a strong female character both kicks ass and busts juicily out of her hi-tech body suit. Muscled sexuality flies everywhere as she defeats all t

Catastrophe, Dystopic, Sexy, Spiritual, Technology, Urban, Voluminous

Multi-instrumentalist Brendan Perry and classically trained singer Lisa Gerrard are both of Anglo-Irish heritage. They first met halfway around the world, however, in Melbourne, Australia, in 1981. There, they made their first recording and established their signature ethereal style. Soon after, they

Ethereal, Goth music, Hypnotic, Intimate, Lyrical, Moody, Pathos, Spiritual

In the new wave of Japanese contemporary music, Akira Nishimura is the front-runner for the "heterophonic concept." Using droning melodic variations, Nishimura creates a spacious kind of zen spikiness that can either calm the soul or mystify the mind. Nishimura exhibits a particular concern with t

20th-century music, Contemplative, Eclectic, Ethereal, Hypnotic, Layered, Silence, Spiritual

Asia is one of architecture's most fecund frontiers. The vast number of cultures, the rapid growth of its cities, and the global information network carrying in influences from all over the world -- all are sending Asian architects in radically new directions. Hamzah and Yeang are on the forefront of

Clever, Environmental architecture, Functional, Hi-tech, Modernist architecture, Political, Serene, Spiritual