Their live performance was akin in style to Hot Chip or Basement Jaxx, and mixing live instruments and vocals with computer effects was certainly daring.

BBC: Oxford - Gig Review: Battle of the Bands

Previous years have seen Cirque du Soleil-style acrobats hanging from the rafters of the library's basement, a 12-piece orchestra playing songs popular during Prohibition and five old-school barbers in a pop-up grooming shop to freshen up any scraggly-bearded gentlemen, gratis, on the spot.

BBC: Booze meets black-tie for the Manhattan Cocktail Classic

Atop a bluff and offering nose-bleed views of the major highway for gray whales -- aka the Pacific Ocean -- is this Cape Cod-style seaside estate from 1901, with slatted ceilings, vintage photographs, and piles of firewood near the basement.

CNN: 10 dazzling hideaways by the sea