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Exhibition Expeditions
A slew of hotels are making some artistically attractive offers that you won’t want to miss. -- Becca Hensley
 Hotels
SEE Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver
STAY The Oxford Hotel
THE DEAL The Art Package for two includes overnight accommodations, two tickets to the museum, transportation to downtown shopping and nightlife, overnight valet parking, morning coffee, and a newspaper. $240, through April 2009. www.theoxfordhotel.com, www.mcartdenver.org
SEE Madrid’s Thyssen Museum, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and the Prado Museum
STAY The Hotel Ritz Madrid
THE DEAL The Cultural Experience Package for two includes two nights’ accommodations, a three-course dinner, daily breakfast, a bottle of cava on ice in your room, entrance to all three museums, a guide to the Prado, welcome amenities, and roundtrip airport transfers in a private car with a chauffeur. From $1,400, through December. www.ritzmadrid.com, museoprado.mcu.es, www.museothyssen.org, www.museoreinasofia.es
SEE “Baseball as America” exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science
STAY The Liberty Hotel
THE DEAL The Swing Batter, Batter Package for two includes rooms with a view of the famous Citgo sign and the lights of Fenway Park, a Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series Collector’s Edition DVD set, a Wiffle Ball set (so you can warm up on the Esplanade), and two tickets to the Museum of Science’s “Baseball as America” exhibit. (Red Sox tickets are available from the concierge for an additional fee.) $425, through September 1. www.libertyhotel.com, www.mos.org
SEE Vienna’s Museum Quarter and the Albertina Museum
STAY The Hotel Sacher
THE DEAL The Arts and Culture Package for two includes luxury accommodations, the famous Sacher-Torte, a breakfast buffet, admission to the Albertina Museum and the Museum Quarter’s museums, choice of Sacher Jazz or Classic CD recordings, and entrance to the spa (including use of sauna, steam room, and aromatherapy steam room). $1,200, through December. www.sacher.com, www.albertina.at, www.mqw.at
SEE The Field Museum, Chicago (home of Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex)
STAY The Fairmont Chicago
THE DEAL The Journey to the Field Museum for two includes overnight accommodations, two tickets to the Field Museum, a Tyrannosaurus Sue book, a Field Museum scavenger-hunt map, and late (five p.m.) checkout. Guests can also receive a copy of Giants, Monsters and Dragons, a comprehensive encyclopedia of creatures from the world of folklore, while supplies last. $272, through December. www.fairmont.com, www.fieldmuseum.org
SEE The Marie Antoinette Exhibit at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris
STAY Any of Concorde’s six Parisian hotels, including the Hotel du Louvre and Hotel Lutetia
THE DEAL The Marie Antoinette Exhibition Package for two includes daily breakfast, luxury accommodations, admission to the exhibit, and a limited-edition tea box from Maison Ladurée. Rates start at $300 per night/per room, through June 30. www.concorde-hotels.com, www.grandpalais.fr
SEE The Freedom Center, Cincinnati
STAY The Millennium Hotel Cincinnati
THE DEAL The Freedom Package includes accommodations for two, tickets to the Freedom Center, and overnight valet parking. $139, through December. www.millenniumhotels.com, www.freedomcenter.org
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Art
Genetically Gifted
The DNA that makes you tick could look great on your living-room wall. -- Tracy Staton
 Collectors
love to hunt down paintings that reflect something important about the
artist. At DNA 11, it’s buyers who put themselves into the art.
It
all started when Adrian Salamunovic and his buddy Nazim Ahmed, who’ve
been friends since their pre-kindergarten years, were sitting in their
apartment drinking wine. Salamunovic spotted brochures that Ahmed had
brought home from work, where he sold DNA-imaging technology to labs.
Some grainy DNA photos grabbed Salamunovic’s attention. There was
something oddly artistic about them. “It looked like a Mark Rothko
painting to me,” says Salamunovic, a design consultant.
A few
more glasses of wine, a little conversation, and the two Canadians
decided they were on to something unique. The DNA image might have
looked like a Rothko, but it was also more than a Rothko. “A lot of
people buy Rothko prints, and they don’t understand what the artist was
thinking,” says Salamunovic. The DNA art was “modern art with meaning
behind it.”
What It Is
Your
chemical signature appears to be just another intriguing abstract. Bars
of light scale up and down strands of symmetrical code, looking like
neat, geometrical skyscrapers in a view of downtown at midnight. But
these lights explain hair and eye color, athletic ability, life span.
And though DNA might once have seemed esoteric, best confined to a
science lab, the sleuthing on CSI and the Discovery Channel has made it into something that millions of people can relate to.
How It’s Done
The
two men started DNA 11 in 2005 with just $2,000. Thanks to increasingly
accessible gene testing, they can take a small DNA sample and get it
analyzed in about four to six weeks. It’s then imaged onto an agarose
gel and photographed with a special camera for transfer to canvas. To
make sure each image is personalized, the men focus on the tiny slice
of DNA that determines unique characteristics, ignoring the 99 percent
of genetic small print we all share. They’ll do one to four people’s
DNA, and prices range from $390 to $1,200. Want to match the couch?
Pick one of 25 color options or request a custom color.
Whom It Captures
People
are the most likely candidates for DNA art, but DNA 11’s clients have
also memorialized dogs, cats, horses, and even an iguana. Others have
portrayed their deceased relatives in bright colors (obtaining the DNA
from strands of hair). Coming soon: DNA swatches dubbed “the GenePak,”
which highlight each subject’s passion, intelligence, strength, and
gender. If you’re really into seeing more of yourself or a loved one on
the wall, DNA 11 can make supersized fingerprints ($190 to $490) and
lip prints ($290 to $490) to add to your home collection. Picture it:
Guests compliment the compelling canvas on your living-room wall, and
when they ask you what it means, you’ll know exactly what to say.
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Food
Deconstructing the Smorgasbord
-- B.H.
What is it, anyway?
A
300-year-old tradition, the smorgasbord is the Swedish national meal.
An immense feast, indulged in for celebration and sustenance, no
smorgasbord can ever be too big or too varied. Translated, the word
literally means “sandwich table,” but this bountiful buffet is so much
more -- it’s a work of art, lovingly composed and consumed.
 No. 1 no-no
Don’t
rush to the table and randomly fill (or, worse, overload) your plate.
Swedes can spot non-Swedes by the way they pile everything onto a
single plate.
No. 1 thing to know
The
smorgasbord is a four- to six-course meal. Etiquette insists that
courses be eaten in a certain order, always using a fresh plate to
maintain the ideal melding of taste and texture.
Best way to fit in?
Join in the “snaps or aquavit” drinking songs, and learn to toast like a Swede: Skal!
Best place for smorgasbord neophytes?
The
Grand Hôtel Stockholm’s Veranda restaurant, where all 70 to 100
smorgasbord items are made in-house. The view from the restaurant looks
out over the sea and the Royal Castle. www.grandhotel.se
Ready? Set? eat.
COURSE ONE
Begin
with herring. So many types, so little time. Try it pickled with onion,
mustard, or dill. Experiment with fancier versions like
carrot-and-cumin, beetroot Baltic, or Matjesill herring served with
sour cream. Slather on the de rigueur accompaniments for this course,
such as hot boiled potatoes, sharp Swedish cheese, and crisp brown
bread.
DRINK
Wash
down the herring with Sweden’s favorite libation: aquavit. Follow your
shot of this schnapps-like liqueur (flavored with herbs such as
caraway, cumin, and fennel) with sips of frosty Scandinavian beer.
COURSE TWO
Seafood.
Take some gravlax (marinated salmon) with mustard sauce and dill,
smoked salmon with a squeeze of lemon, smoked eel, and black roe with
sour cream and onion, anchovies, char, and shrimp.
COURSE THREE
Vegetable salads, pâté, cold cuts (including beef, chicken, pork, and veal), egg dishes, ham, and smoked reindeer.
■ Pause to order another aquavit and/or beer.
COURSE FOUR
Warm
meats and main dishes of all sorts are in this section of the
smorgasbord, but the highlights include Swedish meatballs with
lingonberries, spareribs, warm ham, and Jansson’s Temptation -- a
casserole with potatoes, onions, and anchovies.
COURSE FIVE
Swedish cheeses, including brie, Västerbotten, and spiced.
COURSE SIX
Various desserts, from ice cream to strawberries with cake.
■ End with a strong black coffee and a chilled, Swedish digestif called punsch.
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Gadgets
All for One…
and one Swiss Army knife–like gadget for all. -- Scott Steinberg
Archos 405
This
30 GB portable media player is capable of housing thousands of flicks,
tunes, and photos, plus capturing video and outputting it to the TV
(with optional add-ons). All are enjoyable via a 16- million color,
3.5-inch screen and an integrated speaker. $299. www.archos.com
 Sony Ericsson W760
No
disrespect to Harlem’s finest, but this stunning slider phone is our
idea of the ultimate globe-trotter. Capable of crystal clear calls and
broadband-speed downloads worldwide, it also features Walkman
digital-music capabilities, a built-in GPS and Google Maps
functionality, and widescreen gaming support. Plus, the integrated,
3.2-megapixel camera screams awesome in any language. $349. www.sonyericsson.com
Starry Night Bed
Sure,
Leggett and Platt’s one-of-a-kind nighttime set boasts clever
mattress-preheating options and snore-prevention support via
sensor-assisted auto-positioning. But who needs sleep when you’ve got a
bedroom suite that packs a 1080p LCD headboard projector, DVR
capability, Internet connectivity, four 8-inch subwoofers, 1.5
terabytes of song/video storage, and an iPod dock? $20,000 to $50,000. starrynightbed.com
Personal Safety Device: PSDTools
In
case of fire, blackout, hurricane, or other catastrophe, just crank
this all-purpose gizmo for one minute to receive an hour of
cornea-searing flashlight power, juice to recharge your cell phone, and
access to an emergency AM/FM radio. It even includes a six-in-one tool
set, a signal flasher, and a screeching siren. $37. www.lifegearcompany.com
Mustek PF-i700 Digital Photo Frame
Call
the police; you’ve been framed! Or skip bad puns entirely and simply
admire this seven-inch digital display that showcases photos, plays MP3
tunes, and screens eye-catching videos via the onboard iPod dock and
multiformat card reader. There’s no better way to view downloaded
shorts or admire friends’ mug shots. $130. www.mustek.com
Sony Mylo Personal Communicator COM-2
Unleash
your inner teen with Sony’s WiFi-ready, QWERTY-keyboard-equipped,
touchscreen-sporting device. Owners can surf the Web, browse videos on
YouTube, listen to music, exchange instant messages, update their
Facebook profiles, play flash-based games, and make free Skype-to-Skype
calls. From $299. www.sony.com
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Workplace
Humor at Work: Serious Business
REMEMBER THAT CUBICLE
clown who pumped out one-liners like a corporate Chris Rock? You
winced, but a new book argues that employees who generate chuckles are
more likely to get promoted than their grim-faced colleagues.
 That’s just one payoff that Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher claim in The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up.
Citing data on more than a million employees, the authors say that a
lighthearted, playful spirit does wonders for the workplace, pumping up
morale, lowering turnover, and, no joke, boosting the bottom line. We
sat down with Christopher to talk about how levity-loving companies
blend humor with the serious business of making a living. -- Chris Tucker
Sure, it’s great to work in a fun-loving place, but does levity really help a company succeed?
Absolutely.
People are at their best when they’re relaxed and loosened up. More
blood gets to the brain. Creativity happens. If you look at Fortune’s annual “Best Places to Work” list, 82 percent of the best companies’ employees say they have fun at work. Of the companies that didn’t quite make the list, the percentage of workers having fun at work fell into the low 60s.
You say true levity is about more than just slinging the jokes. How
so?
By
levity, we really mean a lightness of being. It’s as much about being
fun as it is about being funny. CEOs tell us they just weren’t born
with a sense of humor, but we tell them to just unfurrow their brows
and let people know they can have fun without the boss freaking out
over it.
When you say real levity must be organic to the company, what do you mean?
If
you’ve built relationships of trust among your people, the fun will
grow from that. You’ve got to get to know your people and choose the
right approach. Oh, and if your people don’t know each other, levity
can help there. One company we liked starts their meetings by asking
each person to tell two truths and one lie about himself or herself.
The group gets to guess which one is the lie. People love it.
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR GOING LIGHT
STIMULATE ORGANIC FUN
■ Create holiday laughs by encouraging everyone to dress up for Halloween or giving a prize for the best April Fools’ Day prank.
■ Hire a local comedian or actor to emcee your next company event.
■ Have the CEO switch places with an employee for a day and film the results for all to see.
■ Get over Hump Day (Wednesday) by showing an episode of The Office. (Dunder Mifflin T-shirts not required.)
OVERCOME “BROW KNITTER” OBJECTIONS
■
Screen out undertaker mentalities in the hiring process, and let new
hires know on day one -- or sooner -- that a fun-loving spirit is
welcome in your shop.
■ Assure shy types that they don’t have to double as stand-up comics; it’s okay to enjoy the fun, whether or not you’re the next Jon Stewart.
■ Remember, laughter must be built on respect and trust. In the absence of those qualities, nobody feels like laughing.
SUCCESS STORIES> Not sure if the levity effect is for you? then just
take a look at these three big-name companies and the things they do to
lighten up. You just might change your mind.
■ Believing that
levity equals creativity, Nike has sent its employees to hang out on
movie sets, surf at Redondo Beach, and watch tapings of Oprah. The
company also sponsors a politically incorrect radio talk show called
KAOS.
■ Google holds roller-hockey games in the parking lot
twice a week and keeps a baby grand piano in the break room, where
employees often gather for impromptu songfests.
■ Music and
mirth can go hand in hand. At one Microsoft location, employees sign up
for the privilege of blasting out a favorite song at three p.m. Dancing
and singing along are encouraged.
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