The Courtesan's Playlist: Rasputina

Calling themselves a chamber-rock band, the haunting sounds of their voices and cello have made their way onto the soundtrack of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Rasputina has toured with Porno for Pyros and Marilyn Manson. They pay their respects to history with references to Howard Hughes and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in their music as well as with fashion, wearing vintage corsets and garb in their shows. More recently, they had a song, "Coraline" on a Neil Gaiman tribute album.

Eat Me Drink Me... Marilyn's Mansinthe

Ok, it doesn't exactly shock you that edgy Goth Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson has produced and marketed an absinthe liquor inspired by, well, himself. It seems to be the perfect gimmicky product for this artist to sell a libation that is supposed to induce hallucinations. What IS surprising, is the fact that this Switzerland-produced drink has impressed critics and won the gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The official site promises this is the real thing, not the tourists "sans wormwood" version. The label featues his ethereal nightmarish artwork (a painting imagining himself as an old man). You can't exactly pick up a bottle at your local store too easily yet, as it isn't quite legal in the U.S. but it IS available online.

Gothic Video Diva: Floria Sigismondi

How often in the overly commercial world of MTV are you awestruck by a piece of museum-quality video art?
Over the past few years, I have found that the most disturbing and stylish music clips I have watched all seem to be by the same director. Fabulously dark and Gothic, this amazing female director has created some of the best imagery that artists like Marilyn Manson (Tourniquet, The Beautiful People), The White Stripes (Blue Orchid), The Raconteurs (Broken Boy Soldier), David Bowie (Little Wonder) and Bjork could ever hope for.
A photographer and film artist, Floria Sigismondi's vision focuses on "hyper-surrealism" according to her biography, mixing photography with painterly aesthetics. She seems inspired by hallucinatory dream-states, the poetic and the macabre.