Mr. G's musings

New TALLEST BUILDING in the world Announced

2011-04-13T13:23:00.001-07:00

The Saudi royal family announced yesterday its plans to build the world's tallest building which will be over a mile high (5,280 feet). It will be located outside of the port city of Jeddah and will create a new city of 80,000 residents.

Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia will be 275-stories tall when it is completed and consist of hotels, offices, luxury apartments and a shopping center. The structure will be twice the height of the world's current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (which tops out at 2,717 ft). The Kingdom Tower project is so large that it'll cost $30 billion to construct. To get to the top from the ground floor, an elevator ride would take an estimated 12 minutes to ascend.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375790/Saudi-Royal-family-plans-mile-high-building.html#ixzz1JR9XICpa

Elephant. COOL PHOTO

2011-04-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

Curious and FUN tv shows to watch

2011-03-31T12:28:00.001-07:00

These are the television shows that I currently love watching.

Jamie's Food Escapes
(Cooking Channel on Cable tv)
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/jamies-food-escapes/index.html

Jamie Oliver hits the road for a culinary expedition through the world's cultures and cuisines. Travelling across Europe and North Africa, Jamie discovers as much about the people as the food. Heading off the tourist track, he finds authentic ingredients and extraordinary characters, preparing delicious recipes en route. From truffle and boar hunting in the French Pyrenees to spear fishing off an island near Athens, Jamie attempts to uncover the freshest, most authentic dishes; including the street food of Marrakesh, herring in Sweden and sweet prawns in Venice. He immerses himself in the diverse cultures, learning traditional cooking practices from the locals and taking part in their cultural ceremonies.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/

Two Fat Ladies
(Cooking Channel on Cable tv)
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/two-fat-ladies/index.html

The Two Fat Ladies are cooks, not chefs — they reject the pretensions and elaborations of haute cuisine and are aggressively unfashionable, delighting in such ingredients as clotted cream, lard and fatty meats. Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright tour Britain in their vintage Triumph Thunderbird, questing to rediscover the delights of traditional home cooking using the freshest of ingredients, as well as indulgent ones. Presenting enjoyable meals full of strong flavors and free of restraint, these flamboyant ladies have achieved worldwide cult status, united in their enthusiasms, prejudices and an unshakeable belief in their own culinary expertise.

Barefoot Contessa
(Food Network on Cable tv)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/barefoot-contessa/index.html

Popular cookbook author and magazine columnist Ina Garten throws open the doors of her Hampton's home for delicious food, dazzling ideas and good fun on Food Network's Barefoot Contessa.

The Barefoot Contessa is back and this time it's basics. You've been invited to all of her fabulous parties, and now America's hostess with the mostess, Ina Garten, lifts the veil on all her tips, sharing techniques and incredible elegant and easy recipes. Ina throws open the doors of her Hampton's home for more delicious food, dazzling ideas and good fun.

http://www.barefootcontessa.com/

One Girl, Five Gays
(Logo Network on Cable)
http://www.logotv.com/shows/one_girl_five_gays/series.jhtml

What happens when one sassy straight girl gets up close and personal with five fierce gay men? A whole lot of OMFG. Host and resident straight gal pal Aliya-Jasmine gets down and dirty with her gaggle of gays in 1 Girl 5 Gays--part talk show, part advice column, all outrageousness. Featuring real stories from a panel of hysterical guys, 1 Girl 5 Gays boldly bares it all. From jaw-dropping questions about love and sex to juicy celebrity gossip and pop culture drama, no topic is off limits for this group of hip hotties. Check in with the boys (and girl!) of 1 Girl 5. Gays to get the inside scoop on everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask!

Watch What Happens Live!
(Bravo TV on Cable tv)
http://www.bravotv.com/watch-what-happens-live

On Watch What Happens: Live, Bravo's Andy Cohen sits down every week with guests from the network's hit shows -- and from the world of entertainment -- to chat about what just transpired on-air and in pop culture. The live half-hour, which is full of viewer interaction, includes lively debates and passionate discussions about everything from fashion, to the latest Housewives drama, to the week's celebrity headlines.

Bravo viewers can get up-close and personal not only with Cohen and his guests, but also with their favorite Bravo-lebrities and contestants, by interacting via e-mail, phone, video, Twitter and Facebook.

Check them out. They're all fun, fabulous and truly unique.

Diners, Drive-ins & Dives
(Food Network on Cable tv)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/diners-drive-ins-and-dives/index.html

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives are popular again thanks to faithful baby boomers, a slew of younger fans and a whole new generation of owners. Join Guy Fieri as he visits classic "greasy spoon" spots, from a roadside shack in Tarpley, Texas to a Las Vegas sports bar with stellar stromboli.

Everything on BRAVO Tv
(Bravo TV on Cable tv)
http://www.bravotv.com/shows

This fun, festive television network features all sorts of entertaining reality shows. My current favorites, in addition to Watch What Happens Live! are (not all of these are currently in season):

Million Dollar Listing
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Real Housewives of Atlanta
Real Housewives of New Jersy
Top Chef All Stars
Flipping Out

World's Tallest Hotel opens in Hong Kong

2011-03-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

T-A-L-L hotel in a very T-A-L-L new skyscraper

The world's tallest hotel recently opened on Hong Kong's West Kowloon mainland. The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong is located in the International Commerce Centre (ICC) building on floors 102 to 118. The building itself is the 4th tallest building in the world with 118 stories (1,588 ft) and the tallest building in towering Hong Kong.

The five-star hotel has 312 rooms ranging from 530 square feet to 3,920 square feet. With six restaurants, a spa and an indoor infinity pool overlooking Victoria Harbour, there is no reason to leave this tall aerie. The hotel's lobby is 425 m (1,394 ft) above the ground, becoming the highest hotel in the world surpassing that of the Park Hyatt in the Shanghai World Financial Center.

Herve Humler, president of luxury hotel chain said the building was a landmark hotel which was the culmination of many years of hard work. 'We have been able to create truly spectacular so we can welcome our guests not just to the tallest hotel in the world, but also to one of the very best hotels in the world,' he said. 'We are taking luxury to new heights in every sense.'

The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong will likely lose the tallest hotel in the world distinction in 2014, when the J-Hotel opens near the top of the 2,073-foot Shanghai Tower.

The ICC building can be seen in the distance in this partial photo of the Hong Kong skyline

New BOEING 747-800 is BIG

2011-03-26T11:47:00.001-07:00

B-I-G

Boeing 747-800

The new, larger version of the 747 (above) made its maiden flight March 20, 2011. The plane will compete with the Airbus A380 as one of the largest commercial aircraft in the world. It is approximately 12 ft longer than the Airbus making this aircraft the longest in the world (the 747-800 is 250.2 ft. long versus the Airbus which is 238.6 ft).

The Airbus A380 (shown in the photograph above) is currently the world's largest aircraft, with a capacity to carry 525 individuals in a 3-class configuraion (the 747-800 will hold 467 in the a 3-class configuration). The principal difference between the two airplanes is the upper deck. The A380 upper deck runs the full extent of the aircraft's fuselage as opposed to the 747-800 which runs about halfway. There are currently 42 A380's in operation throughout the world, with an additional 200 aircraft on order.

For a comparison of the two aircrafts, the Boeing 747-800 and the Airbus A380, see this CNN article at http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/boeing-747-8-and-airbus-a380-death-match-152563.

The 747-800 Intercontinental is larger than the 747-400, the previous incarnation of the 747 and reflects many of the technologies and efficiencies that were developed and incorporated into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The 747-800 is approximately 18 ft longer than the 747-400 (231.10 ft). It features a stretched upper deck like its predecessors the 747-400 and 747-300. The additional length of the -800 extends to the upper deck (11.7 ft longer than the -400) which will include an additional 34 passengers. Other enhanced passenger features include:

larger passenger windows
enhanced overhead space
more efficient passenger space with relocated galleys and upper-deck staircase

You can read more about the aircraft's enhanced passenger features at http://www.seattlepi.com/business/251973_air14.html.

In addition to passenger comfort and technological efficiencies, this new aircraft will be "greener" with enhanced fuel and other cost efficiencies and noise reduction.

It is a beauty, no?

This new aircraft escalates the fierce competition between the two double-decker aircrafts the 747 and the A380. At one point, the US Air Force considered both aircraft to replace the Air Force One 747-200s that comprise the aging presidential fleet. EADS the manufacturer of the A380 has elected not to bid for the project which leaves the 747-800 and the 787 Dreamliner as final competitors for the project which may end up including both aircraft.

Boeing has currently received 33 orders for the 747-800 Intercontinental which, upon completion of its flight testing and certification, is expected to first be delivered at the end of 2011. Boeing also sells a Freighter version of the aircraft and has 74 current orders.

Fore more information about the Boeing 747-800 you can visit Boeing's website at http://www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/747-8_facts.html. See a video of the maiden flight at http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/video-boeing-747-8-intercontinental-makes-its-first-flight-804065.

LIZ Taylor: A Remarkable Life

2011-03-24T11:37:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth Taylor
R.I.P.
1932-2011

A remarkable life and one that was well-lived.

Air New Zealand YOU TUBE commercial

2010-10-22T18:51:00.001-07:00

Funny short commercial titled "Bare Essentials" for Air New Zealand

The LIONWHISPERER

2010-10-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

The man who turns lions into pussycats: The 'Lion Whisperer' takes a risky ride on fearsome animal.

Snuggling up to a fully grown male lion seems foolish enough. To then climb on its back is surely suicide.

But as you can see, Kevin Richardson enjoys doing just that – and insists his actions are perfectly safe.

The animal behaviourist claims he shares such a profound bond with the fearsome beasts that he can even spend the night curled up with them.

The 34-year-old runs a conservation park near Johannesburg in South Africa where he also keeps cheetahs, leopards and hyenas.

He befriends the animals by talking to them and treating them with ‘love and respect’ – to the extent that they consider him part of their pride.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1320646/The-man-turns-lions-pussycats-The-Lion-Whisperer-takes-risky-ride.html#ixzz12doQdgg3

ME WANT: ONE man's $1billion 27-story new home

2010-10-14T16:31:00.001-07:00

This is the extravagant £630m ($1bn) home built by a billionaire Indian tycoon to house his family-of-four in Mumbai.

With 27 storeys, Antilia will be home to Mukesh Ambani and features a health club with a gym and dance studio, a ballroom, at least one swimming pool and a 50-seater cinema.

Towering above the Mumbai skyline, the 37,000sq ft property is 570ft high and also boasts three helipads on its roof, space for 160 vehicles on its lower floors and nine lifts.

He will employ 600 staff at the property and his family will live in the top floors, where they will enjoy views of the Arabian Sea.

Mr Ambani has surprised many by constructing Antilia - named after a mythical island - as he built his business reputation as a private individual who avoided the flamboyance of India's ultra-rich.

The vast building is constructed from glass, steel and tiles and also features a four-storey hanging garden which is designed to keep the interior cooler in summer and warmer in the winter.

According to Forbes magazine, Mr Ambani is worth £18billion. He is the richest man in India and the fourth richest in the world.

The interior of the property, on Altamount Road, has been designed by a U.S. firm and has been described as 'Asian contemporary'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1320426/Mukesh-Ambani-Indias-richest-man-builds-home-valued-630m.html#ixzz12NZJj9hL

ELEPHANTS

2010-09-24T12:21:00.001-07:00

DIPTENDU DUTTA / AFP / Getty Images

Elephant Tracks

An elephant crosses a railway track, which runs through the Mahananda Wildlife sanctuary in west Bengal.

Thursday, Sep. 16, 2010

Horizontal Skyscraper

2010-09-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

Designed by Steven Holl, the massive 1,296,459-square-foot Horizontal Skyscraper in Shenzhen, China floats above the surface using just eight legs. To give you an idea of how impressive this is: The building's as long as the Empire State Building is tall.

http://gizmodo.com/5627328/the-horizontal-skyscraper-is-as-long-as-the-empire-state-is-tall

ELEPHANTS

2010-09-04T18:40:00.001-07:00

EVE ENSLER's Embrace Your Inner Girl

2010-08-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

I'm a feminist. This sums up every reason why. Eve, of course, wrote The Vagina Monologues which I have yet to see in concert--I've only read the book.

At about 19 minutes short this lecture is worth every minute. Thanks to my friend Carla Tourin for sending me this amazing video. I sobbed my way through! Stunning.

Cool photo!

2010-07-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Time Picture of the DAY
Bedrock

Odd Anderson / AFP / Getty Images

A polar bear dries off in the sun after coming out of the water in his enclosure at a zoo in Berlin.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/today-in-pictures/0,31511,2006018,00.html#ixzz0v5wIbLti

ME Want: A 747 Wing house

2010-07-17T11:10:00.001-07:00

Here's a short video:

From http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/06/malibu-house-built-with-aircraft-wing-nears-takeoff/1:

On a 55-acre property in the remote hills of Malibu, Calif., an old Boeing 747 is taking on a new life as the "Wing House."

David Hertz. the architect, stands on an aircraft wing, which forms the home's roof, with owner Francie Rehwald.

CAPTION

By Laura Doss

Architect David Hertz came up with the idea after his client Francie Rehwald said she wanted a curved, feminine-shaped home for her lot overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He started sketching shapes and aircraft came to mind.

The Boeing 747 was deconstructed into several pieces before being transported from the California desert to a 55-acre lot in the hills of Malibu, Calif.

CAPTION

By Laura Doss

"Why not use an airplane wing?" he recalls asking her. Rehwald, who co-owns a Mercedes car dealership and loves to recycle, didn't flinch.

This shows parts of the aircraft being transported to the site.

CAPTION

By Laura Doss

That was about three years ago, and Hertz says the energy-efficient project -- chosen as "This Week's Green House" --- is now about six months from completion as builders finish interior work.

PHOTOS: Green homes across the USA

"It speaks to repurposing and reuse," Hertz says of the commercial aircraft, which was mothballed along with hundreds of other old planes in the California desert.

Architect David Hertz and owner Francie Rehwald stand on the home's roof, or aircraft wing, as they look out toward the Pacific Ocean.

CAPTION

By Laura Doss

The future home of Francie Rehwald, begun in 2007, is nearing completion.

CAPTION

By Laura Doss

Hertz, who founded Studio of Environmental Architecture, a Santa Monica-based firm, says Rehwald bought the entire Boeing 747-200 for $35,000. She then spent extra to deconstruct it into pieces and transport it to her property.

Its parts have been spread over seven different structures.

CAPTION

By Laura Doss

Because it was so huge -- more than 230 feet long, 195 feet wide and 63 feet tall, its parts have been spread over seven different structures. The plane's wings form the main residence while the cockpit has become the "Meditation Pavilion."

Here, an aircraft wing is being lowered onto the hilly site for construction.

CAPTION

By Laura Doss

The first class cabin deck is now a guest house, and the lower half of the fuselage, which formed the cargo hold, serves as the roof of the "Animal Barn" intended to house endangered species.

The process wasn't easy. The remote location necessitated a lot of infrastructure work, including an access road. Due partly to the unique nature of the structure, Hertz says 17 government agencies had to sign off on permits, a process that took about 18 months.

He says they had to register the roof of the house with the Federal Aviation Administration so pilots flying overhead would not mistake it as a downed aircraft.

Hertz, who's been involved in green building since the late 1970s, incorporated sustainable features such as an 11 kilowatt solar array. The house also has a cistern for irrigation, plenty of daylighting, non-toxic materials and highly efficient equipment such as a ductless LG heat pump.

"We've created strategic openings to promote cross ventilation," says Hertz, who is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and an accredited professional with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.

All this doesn't come cheap. Hertz says the home, which has about 3,000 square feet of interior space and 5,500 square feet of roof, will cost about $2 million.

Via Hertz's website: "The Main Residence will use both of the main wings as well as the 2 stabilizers from the tail section as a roof for the Master Bedroom. The Art Studio Building will use a 50-foot long section of the upper fuselage as a roof, while the remaining front portion of the fuselage and upper first class cabin deck will be used as the roof of the Guest House. The lower half of the fuselage, which forms the cargo hold, will form the roof of the Animal Barn. A Meditation Pavilion will be made from the entire front of the airplane at 28 feet in diameter and 45 feet tall; the cockpit windows will form a skylight."

Incidentally, the house is built on the site of designer Tony Duquette's eclectic Epcot-esque estate, which burnt down in the nineties. The property was formerly owned by famous designer Tony Duquette and still has many of the "recycled" structures that he installed, although the former residence was destroyed in a fire.

Check out this video:

Astonishing video OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official

2010-07-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

COOL photo! Greece Lightning

2010-06-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Petros Giannakouris / AP

Greece Lighting

A Bolt of lighting streaks across the sky over the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

TIME Photo of the DAy: Monday, Jun. 28, 2010

NEW Leaning Tower in Abu Dabai

2010-06-07T16:56:00.001-07:00

Not so fast, Pisa! UAE lays claim to world's furthest leaning tower

By the CNN Wire Staff

June 7, 2010 1:53 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Chalk another record to the United Arab Emirates' collection.

The Capital Gate building in the desert kingdom's capital, Abu Dhabi, has been certified by Guinness World Records as the "World's Furthest Leaning Man-made Tower."

How far does it lean? Nearly five times farther than the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.

The 35-story Abu Dhabi building has an 18-degree slope, compared with four degrees for the freestanding bell tower.

But unlike the tower in Pisa, the Capital Gate building has been deliberately engineered to slant.

Video: UAE tower gets Guinness record

The floor plates are stacked vertically up to the 12th floor, after which they are staggered over each other by between 300 mm to 1,400 mm -- giving the tower its lean, the owners said.

"It is a signature building which speaks to the foresight of the emirate," said Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon al Nahyan, the chairman of the building's owner, Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company.

The mixed-use building will be ready for occupancy at the end of the year. It is featured in a new National Geographic documentary, called "Megastructures."

In January, Dubai -- one of seven emirates that make up the UAE -- unveiled the world's tallest skyscraper: the $1.5 billion, 160-story Burj Khalifa, which has a height of more than 800 meters (2,625 ft).

Cool new building in China proposed

2010-05-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

KPF Pen Chinas Future Tallest Skyscraper
Published on 19-05-2010 by Skyscrapernews.com

Adding to their impressive collection of super talls currently being worked on in China is Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates design for Ping An International Finance Centre in the city of Shenzhen.

The scheme is being built by and for the insurance company that have lent their name to it as its new headquarters with the first eleven floors of the building serveing as a new shopping centre.

The building will reach a grand total of 648 metres in height making it the tallest building in the Peoples Republic beating Gensler's under construction Shanghai Tower by 16 metres. It also marks the latest part of the on going competition between Shenzhen and Shanghai for the tallest skyscraper in the country - something they have been battling away at since the early 90s.

The building height though reaches its pinnacle thanks to a an elegant spire coming off a tapering top quarter meaning that the Shanghai Tower will continue to have a taller roof.

Helping the structure are two super columns on each side of the tower that have been engineered by Thornton Tomasetti - these are required as the taller a building the greater the area that the faces of it can take up, and thus the greater the load that the wind can put on it. It's also for the purpose of reducing wind loading that supertall towers such as the Ping An IFC are usually aerodynamically styled.

If the Ping An IFC does go ahead, then the scheme is scheduled to be completed in 2014.

2010-05-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

4 animals that could really talk

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife/05/14/mf.animals.that.could.talk/index.html?hpt=C2

AMAZING moms of the animal kingdom TIME photo essay

2010-05-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

DLILLC / Corbis

African Elephant
The largest land mammal also has the longest pregnancy among mammals, averaging a staggering 22 months. Elephants usually give birth to one calf, who will rely on the mother's milk for four to six years. One would think that years of devotion to her calf and the protection of the herd would lead to a healthy adult elephant, but in reality, very few calves live to adulthood.

Frans Lanting / Corbis

Emperor Penguin
Successfully raising a chick is a truly remarkable accomplishment for this mom and dad. Courtship for a typical couple starts in March and April, when temperatures in the Antarctic are about –40°F (–40°C). Emperor penguins are serial monogamists and will wait for their previous year's mate before breeding again. The female produces one egg and leaves it in the care of its father while she makes the nearly 74-mile (119 km) journey back to sea to capture the fish she will need for feeding. Upon returning to the nesting site, she must relocate her mate and chick. Then the pair switch roles, Mom caring for the offspring while Dad makes the same long journey to the ocean and back for food.

Help out these amazing moms through the World Wildlife Fund.

ME WANT the new Nissan Leaf electric car

2010-04-27T07:37:00.001-07:00

From Wired:

(Wired) -- Early demand for the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle is strong, with 6,635 people reserving cars in just three days -- a figure that represents more than 10 percent of the Leafs Nissan will build in its first year of production.

Nissan started taking reservations for the four-door, five-passenger EV on Tuesday afternoon, and almost instantly people were signing up to get one. The Nissan Leaf, which will cost $25,280 after the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, rolls into showrooms in December.

"We had 2,700 reservations in the first three hours," said Dave Mingle, Nissan's senior director for customer management and business strategy. "It exceeded what we expected, though we knew from what the hand-raisers were telling us this is an exceptionally passionate crowd."

The hand-raisers he's referring to are the 117,000 people who registered at the Leaf website to get a place in line once the reservation system opened. Those who have made reservations paid $99 to make sure they're on the list when the Nissan Leaf starts appearing at dealerships.

Mingle said interest has been strongest in the "smile states" of the East and West coasts and the South. TheLeaf will be available only in selected areas to start -- California, Oregon, Seattle, Phoenix-Tucson and east-central Tennessee -- but Nissan plans to roll it out nationally by the end of 2011.

Not every car will be delivered in December, of course; they'll be delivered as they're available.

Nissan has the capacity to build 50,000 Leafs in the first year, but it is not yet known how many of those are slated to arrive in the United States.

Given that more than 3,700 people in Japan have reserved Leafs, about 20 percent of the first year's production is spoken for. EV advocates have said Nissan has priced the Leaf so competitively -- it's comparable to the Honda Civic and Toyota Prius -- that it could have trouble meeting demand.

That remains to be seen, of course, and Nissan isn't making any predictions. But it's pleased with the demand so far.

"It's been pretty fast and furious," Mingle said.

And by the way, Nissan insists the plural of Leaf, at least as far as the car goes, is Leafs.

Fun video. Carroll High School Powder Puff Cheerleaders

2010-04-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

SIGN LANGUAGE a great short film

2010-04-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

This will cheer up your day. I love this bloke's sense of pride.

The film is 4:57 minutes in length

Grizzly bear cubs COOL PHOTO

2010-04-13T06:21:00.001-07:00

From National Geographic

Cartier & America Exhibition in San Francsico

2010-04-10T18:18:00.001-07:00

Okay, if you're a Northern Californian you've gotta go to the Legion of Honor to this exclusive one-time exhibition of Cartier creations for Americans.

Particularly the spectacular standout 3 pieces that were part of The Duchess of Windsor's collection: the Flamingo pin, the cabochon Sapphire Panther (my favorite of all of her jewelry pieces) and the bib thing-ie (above). These three pieces were part of the most famous and triumphant jewelry auction in history which was held in Geneva by Sotheby's in 1987. The sapphire diamond clip sold for $1,026,667. The ruby, sapphire, emerald, citrine and diamond Flamingo clip sold for $806,667 and the bib necklace sold for $605,000. That historic sale went on to raise a total of $50million. The Duchess of Windsor left her entire estate, valued at approximately $90million, to the Pasteur Institute in the second largest bequest in the Institute's history. All of which has been used to fund the Pasteur's research overthe last two decades which has included AIDS and other of our most pervasive diseases of our modern times.
The above is the famed Tutti-Frutti piece designed for Mrs. Daisy Fellowes. Other exciting pieces: Princess Grace's necklace and engagement ring on loan by Prince Albert II of Monaco, Elizabeth Taylor's Cartier ruby and diamond necklace, and Marjorie Merriweather's Indian carved emerald brooch with one emerald dating from the Mughal era. GO see this exhibit.

The exhibition runs through May 9 (it was extended) so hurry. For more information, visit: cartier and america

I am President of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor Historical Society, Inc. If you're curious about the Windsors please check out the Society's website at www.ddows.org

All photos above are courtesy of the San Francisco Fine Art Museum, except the black & white photos of the Windsors and the Duchess of Windsor Jewelry auction catalogue. These are from the personal collection of Mark Gaulding.

Can I go here? Cool new photo

2010-04-06T08:05:00.001-07:00

I'd travel there for sure. Would you if you could?

Frightening or Exciting?

2010-04-06T08:00:00.001-07:00

Check out this great video from YouTube......Exponential Times?

I think it's exciting but as a species spiritually-speaking we're still cavemen using antiquated outdated mythologies. Which is frightening. If intellectually we can grow exponentially why haven't we been able to do so spiritually? Just saying.

Spring has sprung

2010-04-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks for this great photo from my friend Staci Pope. Taken on the gulf on the outskirts of Nixon, Texas. Get a load of the palette of these wildflowers. Lady Bird Johnson is smiling from some nether region, I'm sure :)

NOW this is a show I wish I'd seen

2010-03-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

TIME:

Pictures of the Day

Leonardo Suarez / Reuters

Flying High
Dancers attached to a crane perform during the South American Games closing ceremony in Medellin, Colombia.

Tuesday, Mar. 30, 2010

COOL Photo Puppy LOVE

2010-03-27T07:44:00.001-07:00

As it should be:
Time Picture of the Day March 24, 2010
MAURICIO LIMA / AFP / Getty Images

Puppy Love
In southern Afghanistan US Marines give a stray puppy some cereal.

Wednesday, Mar. 24, 2010

The Strand and Magnolia Bakery in NYC....my two favorite places on the planet

2010-03-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

I made a quick trip into "The City" on Monday from Long Island to visit my two favorite places: The Strand Bookstore and Magnolia Bakery both in the Village.

It was worth every too short, New York minute. It was drizzling and a perfect day.

The Strand sells new and used books and is the ultimate bookstore for me. In my previous blog entry, I shared the Top 10 bookstores in the world according to a writer for London's Guardian newspaper. The Strand was conspicuously absent! The Strand is simply heaven. I wish I could work there.

Magnolia Bakery, for those of you who are unfamiliar, came to fame in Sex and the City television series. They are famous for their incomparable cupcakes (I prefer the vanilla...with that butter cream frosting). But I also tried this time the red velvet cupcakes which were also delicious. My friends with whom I was staying in Long Island, Shelly and Patti, told me that the bakery has something that is even more fabulous than cupcakes these days and which happens to be one of my most favorite desserts: Banana Pudding. And they were right. Banana Pudding is either really lousy or really spectacular, IMHO.

Magnolia's Banana Pudding is simply one of the most heavenly, spectacular culinary experiences you'll have in your lifetime. I moaned and sighed and sobbed through my two experiences thusfar. Last portion will be served tonight. I'm already weeping at the thought. (I even brought home Banana Pudding and cupcakes to share with The Bug.)

After the two visits and the walk in the drizzle to and fro I took the LIRR back to Glen Cove. What a perfect day!

Magnolia Bakery (this is the original downtown location but they have two other locations)
401 Bleecker Street
(212) 462-2572
www.magnoliabakery.com

Strand Book Store
828 Broadway
(212) 473-1452
www.strandbooks.com
Get directions

TOP 10 book stores in the world

2010-03-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my beloved friend Carla Tourin for this article.

According to Guardian (where in the hell is The Strand?)

Top shelves

Every booklover has their favourite shop, and while it's true that many independents have been driven out of business by online sales and supermarket bestsellers, you still don't have to look too hard to find one that's thriving. To prove it, Sean Dodson chooses the 10 bookshops from around the world which he considers to be the fairest of them all.

1) Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht

What does a city do with an 800-year-old church with no congregation? Well, it could make like the Dutch and convert it into a temple of books. The old Dominican church in Maastricht was being used for bicycle storage not long ago, but thanks to a radical refurbishment by Dutch architects Merkx + Girod it has been turned into what could possibly be the most beautiful bookshop of all time. The Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen, which opened just before Christmas, retains the character and charm of the old church, while being fitted with a minimalist and modern interior design that overcomes any suggestion of fustiness. From the images you can find on the web you can see that it is a bookshop made in heaven.

2) El Ateneo in Buenos Aires

All the world's a page at El Ateneo, a bookshop converted from an old theatre in downtown Buenos Aires. As you can see from this photomontage the El Ateneo has retained its former splendour, with high painted ceiling, original balconies and ornate carvings intact. Even the crimson stage curtains remain part of the show. Comfy chairs are scattered throughout, the stage is utilised as a reading area and café, and even better, the former theatre boxes are used as tiny reading rooms.

3) Livraria Lello in Porto

Proving that purpose-built bookshops can be every bit as beautiful as converted buildings, the divine Livraria Lello in Porto has been selling books in the most salubrious of settings since 1881. Featuring a staircase to heaven and beautifully intricate wooden panels and columns (see for yourself with these gorgeous 360-degree views), stained glass ceilings and books - lots of lovely books.

4) Secret Headquarters comic bookstore in Los Angeles

A mere profiterole to the fabulous layer cakes of Porto and Buenos Aires, but the Secret Headquarters more than holds its own. Nestled in the creative cluster of Silver Lake, just east of Hollywood, this boutique store offers a sophisticated alternative to most of its rivals and has a reputation for being one of the neatest, friendliest comic stores anywhere. Canadian science fiction author Cory Doctorow rates it as the finest in the world.

5) Borders in Glasgow

The might of the Michigan-based megastore may make a lot of independent booksellers fearful, but few book lovers can fail to be beguiled by the neo-classical architecture of its behemoth Glasgow branch. Originally designed by Archibald Elliot in 1827 for the Royal Bank, Borders has occupied a prime spot on Royal Exchange Square since the millennium and won over many of the city's book lovers. People reading on the steps outside have become as much a feature of Glasgow as the traffic cone on the head of Wellington's statue. Well, almost. Would have been higher on my list if the aesthetic magnificence of the building had in any way been matched by the interior.

6) Scarthin's in the Peak District

Of course, others might prefer the altogether more earthy beauty of a shop like Scarthin Books in the Peak District. Scarthin's has been selling new and second-hand books since the mid-1970s. It has rooms full of new and old books, a delightful café and what can best be described as a small exhibition of curiosities on the first floor. It is a bookshop so beloved, that it advertises local guest and farmhouses on its websites where devotees can stay overnight.

7) Posada in Brussels

Located in a dear old house near St Magdalen's church in Brussels, Posada Books is as famous for its pretty interior as it is for its collection of new and second-hand art books. Has a remarkable collection of exhibition catalogues, which goes back to the beginning of the last century, and holds occasional exhibitions too.

8) El Péndulo in Mexico

The Polanco branch of Pendulo in Mexico City has long been known as one of the best ways to beat the heat in the largest city in the world. Although it only has a small English language section, its open architecture populated with several trees makes for an excellent afternoon's escape. In honesty, as popular for its excellent cafe as it is its books.

9) Keibunsya in Kyoto

If you love bookshops even where you can't read the language, then Keibunsya in Kyoto needs to be on your list too. Some say it's the lighting, others the well-proportioned panels around the walls. Or perhaps it's the little galleries embedded in the bookshelves. Most agree it's just the quiet dignity of the place that's hard to beat. Lots of pretty Japanese art books to marvel at and a few English language ones as well.

10) Hatchards in London

Although the bookshop of Cambridge University is technically the oldest bookshop in Britain, Hatchards of Piccadilly, which has been trading since 1797, is definitely the most aristocratic. Not only does it boast three royal warrants, meaning it supplies books to Her Majesty, it has counted Disraeli, Wilde and Byron among its regulars. Today it retains the spirit of days past, with an interior described by one follower as "reminiscent of being inside a rambling old house, with six floors of small rooms all linked together curling around a central staircase."

This article is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jan/11/bestukbookshops

uardian.co.uk, Friday 11 January 2008 10.11 GMT

Heading from Baltimore to NYC

2010-03-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

I'm on Amtrak heading from Baltimore back to NYC. I love riding trains.

Where I live in Southern California train travel is a rarity. When I lived in San Diego I used to take Amtrak periodically from San Diego to LA for business.

There is nothing more civilized than train travel. I know commuters who do it frequently travel via train might think differently. But try commuting for hours in a car....you're so limited in how you can utilize your time. You certainly couldn't blog like I'm doing now.....at least until they've eliminated the need for fingers for computers and replace it with voice commands.

But I love to travel by train. By plane, in fact. And by boat. I guess I'm not very earthbound. I'd rather be going to, traveling to something and I'd imagine that is the appeal that boats, planes and trains have for me.

I get to ride the train so infrequently these days that it is a true pleasure to do so.

After dinner tonight, I'll head out to my deahest friend, Shelly Mullen's home in Long Island for a long weekend which I am eagerly looking forward to.

Have a great weekend too!

Mark

I'm off to NYC tomorrow for a week

2010-03-14T15:41:00.001-07:00

Will blog while I'm gone. But I'm heading to my favorite city in the world. Here I come The Strand and Magnolia Bakery.

Mark

Cool PHOTO Like Mother, Like Daughter

2010-03-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

TIME Picture of the Week

Itsuo Inouye / AP

Like Mother, Like Daughter
A 27-day-old female Reticulated Giraffe stands beside her mother at Kanazawa Zoological Park in Yokohama, Japan.

http://www.time.com/time/picturesoftheweek/0,29409,1969871_2084162,00.html

PRECIOUS a phenomonal film OSCAR countdown

2010-03-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Bug and I went Wednesday to see Precious. Which means that we've now seen all of the films that include Best Actress nominations and all Best Picture nominees, except for two.

This movie , like another nominated Best Picture, The Hurt Locker, is utterly unrelenting and unflinching in its depiction of shocking and horrifying circumstances. In this case, it is the physical and sexual abuse of its heroine (and in every sense of the word), Precious, a teenage girl who lives a living nightmare in her apartment with her monstrous mother, played by Mo'Nique.

Hand Mo'Nique the award for everything because that is the most electrifying, perfectly realized performance in the history of film making. There is nothing likable about this character. And yet Mo'Nique delivers a performance that is so tragic, so frightening, and heartbreaking.

I must say as fair warning: this movie deals blatantly and candidly with incest/rape/physical abuse. It is not an easy movie to watch in this respect. And yet the movie is a work of intense dark beauty.

Precious, played brilliantly by Gibourey Sidabay (such a beautiful name), is the most abused person I think that has ever been depicted on the screen and yet somehow this character finds a way to move forward, and is certainly the most unlikely candidate. Precious is an obese teenager, who with a push of good intention from her High School principal is sent to a school which is designed to educate students with the same challenges as Precious. It is through this school that Precious, in spite of horrific acts of abuse, learns that she is a precious one of god's creatures and after having given birth to her second child (Precious' father was the father of her two babies) finds the courage and strength to walk away from her mother.

This movie is still resonating in my mind. I literally at moments during the film screamed or cried "NO!" it was that astonishing and unrelenting.

So, for my Oscar predictions/preferences. I ultimately think, having seen all of the Best Actress nominees' performances, that the race is down to Sandra Bullock and Helen Mirren (Carey Mulligan maybe). Ms. Sidabay gives a landmark performance, yes. But compared with MoNique's interpretation it isn't landmark enough, IMHO, to rate as Best Actress. I'm rooting for Sandra at this point!

See this movie. Lee Daniels also certainly deserves to win Best Director. But I think that honor will end up going to the director of The Hurt Locker.

What are your thoughts/predictions?

Tomorrow morning I'll go to see the last film I'll be able to view before the award ceremony Sunday evening. That's A Single Man.

Hysterical PHOTO Drag Race TIME Picture of the Day

2010-03-04T07:37:00.001-08:00

This made my morning. You gotta love those Aussies. They have such a great sense of humor. Go Girls!

Time Photo of the Day

Tim Wimborne / Reuters

DRAG RACES
Drag Queens race on the main straight of the Randwick Horse racing course during the Pink Stiletto race day in Sydney, Australia.
Friday, Feb. 26, 2010

The LAST STATION Another fabulous movie

2010-03-02T09:23:00.001-08:00

Boy, what can I say but 2009 was truly a distinguished year, IMHO, for movies. At least the movies that are up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The problem is, while this select few represent a really interesting spectrum of subjects/topics, there is really a dearth of quality movies made these days.

In fact, there is a dearth of films made these days, period.

Anyway, the Bug and I toddled on over to the Cinema Palme d'Or yesterday to catch The Last Station which is one of the last Best Picture candidates that we hadn't seen. Neither of us had a clue about what the movie was about. We knew only this: it was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress and its cast included the goddess Helen Mirren and that hottie James McAvoy.

I seldom read film reviews because I couldn't care less what a critic thinks of a movie. If I wish to see a movie, then I'll see the movie, critically drubbed or not. I don't watch tv. So I learn about new films and their subject matter by trailers or online or occasionally the Sunday newspaper.

But I somehow knew nothing about The Last Station (actually the same was true for An Education....I only knew vaguely that it took place in the 60s). How fun is that? What a wonderful surprise we had.

The Last Station is about the final months in the life of Leo Tolstoy, in early 1900's. Christopher Plummer, nominee for Best Supporting Actor, portrays the master writer and his wife, Countess Sofya Tolstoy, is played in usually brilliant fashion by La Mirren (who is nominated for Best Actress).

And then there is that remarkably fetching and talented James McAvoy. What a wonderful string of films he has made (my favorite film last year, Atonement, before that, The Last King of Scotland. Oh, and one of my other favorite movies, Becoming Jane). He brings an earnestness to the character of Valentin Bulgakov, who is Tolstoy's secretary (everytime he sneezes my heart breaks). This is an interesting character and I can't think of any other actor who could have brought a better interpretation than McAvoy. Valentin is an idealistic Tolstoyan, a practicing virginal celibate, who passionately believes in the tenets of the Tolstoyan Movement: brotherly love and world peace through pacifism, and a denouncement of material wealth and physical love.

Paul Giamatti is brilliant as the Movement's villainous leader, Vladimir Chertkov.

But this move is absolutely astonishing because of the dueling tour de force performances of Plummer and La Mirren.

I have to say that Mirren, in my opinion, is the only other Best Actress nominee, besides Sandra Bullock, who should win the award based upon performance. I haven't seen Precious yet, will see it this afternoon. So I may have to revise my opinion. But I still think Bullock will win. Mirren already has a Best Actress and I think Bullock will win because this is her one true shot at the award and she also set such a huge example for female stars with The Blind Side, which is the highest grossing film starring a major female actress, currently at $250million (domestic).

I haven't seen Jeff Bridges performance yet. He's my sentimental favorite. But Plummer should win Supporting actor........talk about a career! Father Von Trapp needs and Academy Award.

GO see The Last Station. A beautiful, magnificent film.

One observation for those more well-versed on Tolstoy or Russian History. After seeing this movie, I'm wondering if the Tolstoyan Movement didn't pave the way for the Russian Revolution? Anyone have anything to add. It seemed that, as depicted in The Last Station, that the Movement was anti-religion, anti-Tzar. Given that Tolstoy was so beloved by the people, he was even considered Saint-like, that kind of power and influence would have been the only thing capable of undermining the monarchy and the Russian orthodox church.

Tell me if I'm right/wrong.......Interesting thought though.

AN Education A TRULY FABULOUS movie

2010-03-01T08:23:00.000-08:00

Well the final countdown is on. Only a few more days until my favorite show (along with the Tony's): the Academy Awards.

The Bug and I went to see An Education yesterday. Absolutely perfect film and completely original and unique, as are most of the nominated Best Films of the year. From my perspective, based upon the films up for Best Picture, this has been a great year for the industry (I do NOT concur with this conclusion when I visit a video rental store).

This film is magical and its lead actress, Carey Mulligan, gives a performance that is incandescent and on the level of Holly Golllightly by Audrey Hepburn. The comparison with this screen goddess are numerous. But unlike the flighty (in one of my favorite films of all times, Breakfast At Tiffany's see previous blog post). Holly, Jenny, although a bit naive is quite grounded. This almost 17-year old is more mature than all of the other adults that surround her.

The movie is a coming of age film of a young, beautiful and precocious girl, Jenny, growing up in the 60s London who falls in love with a playboy almost twice her age. The young girl, who is attending a prep school in preparation for Oxford, enters a sophisticated world that is at first enchanting and that is completely enchanted by Jenny.

This film benefits from a brilliant script by Nick Hornsby (based upon a memoir by Lynn Barber). The bon mots are numerous and I laughed and cried my way through this movie, much as I did with Up In the Air and The Blind Side.

This film, also benefits from a tour de force ensemble cast: Emma Thompson, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, and the delicious eye candy Dominc Cooper. Rosamund Pike gives a brilliant performance as Helen, a not so dumb, dumb blonde.

The thing that I relish about this film is that our heroine, Jenny, is smart, extremely sophisticated (precociously), funny, fun-loving, principled teenager who navigates her way through a despicable, albeit appealing cast of characters.

So, the real question is: Who shall be the Best Actress winner? Carey certainly deserves it. But my money and opinion is still on Sandra Bullock. That performance was career defining especially after a very lengthy run. Ms. Mulligan I hope has a similar long career ahead as well with more Oscar possibilities. This actress is truly unique. She has a similar quiet intelligence, beauty and humor truly evocative of Audrey Hepburn. It might have been the script and great casting but somehow I think this was a unique alchemy of a good script, a good casting agent and an actress who had the awareness and that certain je ne cest quoi, to bring magic to an already magical movie (even the scene above is evocative of Breakfast At Tiffany's when Holly came to visit George Peppard through the window of his bedroom).

And the Soundtrack is amazing. Thanks to my friend Staci Pope in the beautiful city of Austin for sending me the soundtrack.

Bug and I also rented and watched Coco Before Chanel. It was my second time to see (see previous post) but it was equally as compelling. A brilliant performance by Audrey Tautou.

I hope to see these films before Sunday: The Last Station, Precious, A Single Man.

What did you think of An Education?

The BLACK HOLE A Short Film

2010-02-23T09:56:00.001-08:00

This is a fascinating super short short film, titled The Black Hole. Careful there, dude! Check and see what I'm talking about. Be sure and leave your ratings below.

Director: Diamond Dugs
Running Time: 2'34
Country: U.K.
Category: Comedy

A sleep deprived office worker finds a Black Hole whilst photocopying late one night Suddenly the possibilities seem endless. Will greed get the better of him?

Phil & Olly aka Diamond Dogs met in the last murky years of the 20th Century at one of Wimbledon School of Arts now legendary parties. They teamed up in 2003 and began shooting no budget promos whilst busting their balls as Art Directors to pay their bills. Phil & Olly continue their careers as editor & art director respectively to fund their directing projects in a world of ever shrinking budgets.

The boys are currently in production on music videos for Will and the People and The Enemy and in pre-production on a 30 second Miller Light commercial. They are also penned to shoot a 4 minute short for Future Shorts in conjunction with Samsung called Spontaneously Capture your life and in pre-production with The UK Film Council in association with Virgin Media Shorts on a short film project called The Archaeologist

Cool PICTURE Chinese Year of the Tiger

2010-02-20T08:55:00.000-08:00

Celebrating Chinese Year of the Tiger
Time Pictures of the Week

Coochy-Coo
Siberian tigers perform for visitors at a zoo in Fuzhou, China, on the second day of the Lunar New Year — the year of the Tiger.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/picturesoftheweek#ixzz0g61Cfr9x

HRH Prince William looking good on cover of HELLO

2010-02-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

The darker hair color looks good. Hides the loss. Now when is the wedding going to be?

ME WANT Largest Yacht in the World plans unveiled

2010-02-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

My favorite Russian oligarch, hottie, billionaire Roman Abramovich must be salivating. Plans were unveiled recently for a new largest yacht in the world, by designer Berkeley March (isn't that the most "Upson Downs" name ever?) The proposed yacht would be 656 ft (200m) and could cost up to $1 billion (£650 million).

About the juxtaposition of such an extravagant toy in today's bleak economic environment March said:
"Some people may say the timing was a little bit daft. But I think that many people who previously would not have had the power to buy such a yacht, are thinking that now is their chance. The people left with a lot of money have more power now, as there is less demand."

According to March, the recession did not change rich people's beliefs that "size matters. Recession or not, it's still all about men's egos."

Abramovich currently has the biggest in the world: yacht that is (the "Eclipse"). Hopefully he'll add this to his collection of super yachts.

So should we criticize these billionaires and their penis envy competition? Does one really need multiple yachts, several private jets, multiple homes around the world? I wonder: would it be forgivable if these toys were equally matched with philanthropic donations and contributions?

I still would like to have one of these and a private jet. If I could have those then I would only want a flat or two in some lovely world capitals. That's not too excessive is it? Now to get the billions.

Mr. Abramovich, if you're reading this I hope you'll buy this and always have the biggest yacht! I am ashamed to say, as politically correct as I am, that you are my hero. To be 40-ish, cute, rich beyond belief and to be able to have all of these amazing things would be wonderful. There's an idea for a reality show: "How to be Roman Abramovich for a day!" He could develop the concept into a Trump-like franchise, with a phrase like "Mine's bigger" instead of "You're fired"!!

I'd definitely make a visit to one of Roman's residences, La Croe, the Duke & Duchess of Windsor's former compound in Cap d'Antibes, the first visit on the show if I were a contestant! That is mighty fine taste you have, Mr. Abramovich!

ME Wants: So what's your thoughts about a $1billion largest yacht in the world(polls)

Ellen Degeneres and AMERICAN IDOL

2010-02-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

Did you watch Ellen Degeneres' debut on American Idol last night? The reviews have been very good and positive which doesn't surprise me. I was sick and had to go to bed early. I was disappointed because I was very eager to see her debut. What did you think?

Photo: Michael Becker/ FOX

Ellen Degeneres and American Idol debut(polls)

Chinese new YEAR of the TIGER

2010-02-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

February 14, 2010 marks the beginning of a new Chinese year: this year we have the year of the TIGER.

According to CNN:
"Tigers could become extinct in the wild in less than a generation, the World Wildlife Fund warned Wednesday as it launched a campaign to save them.

The number of tigers in the wild has dwindled to 3,200 -- less than the number held in captivity in the United States alone, the campaigners said.

'There is a real threat of losing this magnificent animal forever in our lifetime,' said Sybille Klenzendorf, director of the WWF-US species conservation program. 'This would be like losing the stars in the sky.

'Three tiger subspecies have gone extinct, and another, the South China tiger, has not been seen in the wild in 25 years,' she told reporters."

According to WWF, there are more tigers in zoos than in the wild. Please visit the wwf website to find out more about this.

I was born in another year of the tiger, 1962, and I'm feeling extinct. To the rest of you Tigers out there hope you'll take note that our namesakes could use some help.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/year-of-tiger.html

According to wikipedia these are the animals in the Chinese New Year.

Animal	Branch	New Year dates
鼠 Rat	子 Zǐ	February 19, 1996	February 7, 2008
牛 Ox	丑 Chǒu	February 7, 1997	January 26, 2009
虎 Tiger	寅 Yín	January 28, 1998	February 14, 2010
兔 Rabbit	卯 Mǎo	February 16, 1999	February 3, 2011
龍 Dragon	辰 Chén	February 5, 2000	January 23, 2012
蛇 Snake	巳 Sì	January 24, 2001	February 10, 2013
馬 Horse	午 Wǔ	February 12, 2002	January 31, 2014
羊 Sheep	未 Wèi	February 1, 2003	February 19, 2015
猴 Monkey	申 Shēn	January 22, 2004	February 8, 2016
雞 Rooster	酉 Yǒu	February 9, 2005	January 28, 2017
狗 Dog	戌 Xū	January 29, 2006	February 16, 2018
豬 Pig	亥 Hài	February 18, 2007	February 5, 2019

The Tiger ( 虎 ), is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Tiger is associated with the earthly branch symbol 寅.People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year Of The Tiger," while also bearing the following elemental sign:

8 February 1902 - 28 January 1903: Water Tiger
26 January 1914 - 13 February 1915: Wood Tiger
13 February 1926 - 1 February 1927: Fire Tiger
31 January 1938 - 18 February 1939: Earth Tiger
17 February 1950 - 5 February 1951: Metal Tiger
5 February 1962 - 24 January 1963: Water Tiger **
23 January 1974 - 10 February 1975: Wood Tiger
9 February 1986 - 28 January 1987: Fire Tiger
28 January 1998 - 15 February 1999: Earth Tiger
14 February 2010 - 2 February 2011: Metal Tiger

The following information is from http://www.yearofthetiger.net/:
People that are born in the Year of the Tiger are generally well liked because of their charismatic personalities. Often, failing at a given duty or being unproductive in his personal or professional life can cause a Tiger to experience a deep sense of depression. A Tiger is always at their happiest when they endeavor to climb the ladder of success. Attaining the top spot is his foremost purpose; being in a position of power is her ultimate goal. They are quick learners, need to be challenged and often prefer to work alone. Some Tigers tend to change careers more frequently because they get bored quite easily. They are natural born leaders and perform at their best if working towards positions of power and influence. So once there is no further room for progression, they will often move on to something else.

Anyone that is born in the Year of the Tiger is usually straightforward and outgoing by nature. They will never give up no matter how aggravated they may become. But, they are also full of suspicion and at times will take hasty action. Never lose sight of the fact that Tigers are smart and instinctive.

People born in the Year of the Tiger always take pride in being different from others, and normally demonstrate their originality best in their homes. Their homes are typically filled with exotic possessions. It is no surprise that one of the Tiger’s favorite gemstones is the cat’s eye, but tigers also love the sparkle of rubies and diamonds. They like to spend money, and also to share it. They can be very impulsive spenders because they know they can at all times make more.

The Year of the Tiger is the third year in the cycle of “Heavenly Branches”. Customarily, it is called “Yin”. Those born in the Year of the Tiger are compatible with the horse, dog, and dragons. The year 2010 is another Year of the Tiger. It is the ji-chou year. Jji is the sixth of the Ten Celestial Stems and yin is the third of the Twelve Terrestrial Branches and marks the Year of the Tiger.

Positive and Negative Capability

Positive: The Tiger can be lovable, alluring, warm-hearted, altruistic, honourable, hard-working, pleasant, independant, engaging, dynamic and idealist sweetie pies.

Negative: The Tiger can also be rash, hot-headed, reckless, infatuated, quarrelsome, caustic, moody, predatory, rebellious, disobedient and irreverent rascals.

Celebrity

Some Famous Tigers: Sir David Attenborough, Natalie Wood, Tom Berenger, Agatha Christie, H.G. Wells, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Dickinson, Isadora Duncan, Roberta Flack, Frederick Forsyth, Jodie Foster, Stevie Wonder Sir Alec Guiness, Hugh Hefner, William Hurt, Dylan Thomas, Marilyn Monroe, Demi Moore, Beatrix Potter, Diana Rigg, Lionel Ritchie, Kenny Rogers.

Don't know which animal you were born under the Chinese Lunar year? Visit here:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/dating/2010/02/10/hail-the-year-of-the-tiger-and-see-what-chinese-zodiac-sign-you-should-date/

This blog entry is dedicated to one of my oldest, best, and dearest loved friends Miss Rosalynn "Deah" Carter, aka as Michelle Shelly Mullen and her beloved Patticakes Bradley. Both are fellow Tigers. All hail the Tiger!

MOVIES and the weekend...and thoughts about Best Picture Academy Award AVATAR v HURT LOCKER

2010-02-08T11:12:00.001-08:00

This weekend I saw two of the front runners for Best Picture Oscar: Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Man is this a tough one. These two movies are truly apples and oranges.

I saw Avatar in 3D at IMAX theater and it is easily the most unique film experience of my life. It is a beautiful film. And it is landmark, no doubt, and not JUST because it is the highest grossing film of all time (NOT adjusted for inflation and by the way that does make a huge difference). The movie is cinematically flawless. It is a masterpiece. But there are some problems with it. I think the whole beginning of the movie is very vague. It also goes a little overboard in depicting the Marine colonel as one-dimensional. It bordered at times on being a little too Disney-esque. That being said though, it is a profound story and is filled with a lot of provocative, intelligent, and complex themes (it is without a doubt a strong pro-Environment, anti-Republican party message but it really is a very spiritually evolved film as well). It is truly such a landmark film that one has to give it the title "one of the greatest films ever made." But it still has some flaws. That Sam Worthington is one mighty fine little hottie. It was also great seeing Sigourney Weaver.

The Hurt Locker is really a perfect film. It has no flaws. Unless you consider the fact that it is a very depressing film a flaw, which I don't. It is truly one of the more emotionally difficult movies I've seen in my lifetime. The only other one that I can think of is Deer Hunter. It is a stunning film though. The acting is tour de force. It is a relentless movie and it doesn't flinch or allow the viewer to shirk from facing the realities of Iraq, the War on Iraq, the Iraqi people, etc. Set in war-torn Baghdad the film tells the story of a unit of three soldiers whose responsibility is to safely disable bombs that have been set. It is a brutal film in every way. It also is one of the more balanced films that I think I've ever seen. The citizens of Baghdad (terrorist and non) watching from the buildings in the various scenes where SFC William James (the film's main character) moves towards the incendiary devices was an interesting perspective: who is the villain? Who was the invade in those scenarios? I don't know if this was intentional but I just thought the whole movie avoided, and amazingly so, being judgmental in any way, which seems to me it's greatest accomplishment. (There were two appearances by major actors that I was glad to see: Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce.)

So Avatar has some flaws and The Hurt Locker doesn't. But ultimately the sheer scale of Avatar I think gives it a little bit of leeway; I think it should win the Best Picture, even though there are some weak aspects.

I also saw The Blind Side again yesterday, which I was thrilled was included in nominations for Best Picture. Contrary to what critics said, I thought the film amazingly transcended itself, primarily because of the remarkable performances from Sandra Bullock (I wasn't previously a huge fan of hers by the way) and Quinton Aaron, who plays Michael Oher. This film could have been just a passable feel-good movie for white-bread, Republican, Christians. It ends up being a unique balance of humor and poignancy, and for that the director deserves kudos. In most hands this would have been a second rate movie with similar performances. But it really is an excellent piece of film making. I should add that I am now certain that Sandra Bullock SHOULD win Best Actress for this role, despite the fact that I LOVE La Streep and the film Julia and Julia. I just believe that Bullock delivers a tour de force, emotionally nuanced, technically perfect performance. When I first saw the movie I thought that this role for Bullock was like Julia Robert's Erin Brokovich: a singular career best. (These performances are so uniquely realized by the actresses in ways that no other actress perhaps could have, if that makes sense?) But I didn't think she would have a chance because well....she was Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep is......La Streep. But the fact that The Blind Side, having earned almost $250 domestically (which even Streep has never done....not Angelina Jolie, not Julia Roberts, not even Reese Witherspoon or Cameron Diaz) is the highest grossing film with a major actress in the title role and was nominated for Best Picture, I think, has paved the way for Bullock to deservedly win. This is a major thing for all actresses, this box office revenue accomplishment. It means more actress driven films will be made, I hope! Which is a fantastic thing as far as I'm concerned (I'm not much of a testosterone film lover).

I think I've seen now, with the exception of Precious and A Single Man, all of the truly serious contenders for Best Picture Academy Award.

Inglorious Basterds was completely overrated, although I did enjoy Diane Kruger's performance. Up In The Air (as I blogged about in previous posting) is brilliant and a perfect film, with incredible performances by Clooney and his two co-stars. It is a true accomplishment for Jason Reitman. But compared to Avatar and The Hurt Locker it just doesn't stand up to that level.

I will see Precious next, then A Single Man. And then I think I'm prepared to have an opinion on who SHOULD win the major awards. Although often that is not who wins. I'm usually pretty astute about who will win, whether or not I have a personal opinion. So watch and see how my predictions do. This year is an interesting year. The only sure award is Jeff Bridges for Best Actor. I haven't seen that movie or A Single Man to see Colin Firth, the other major contender so I don't have a personal opinion. I just think Jeff Bridges will win. It's his time after a long career with brilliant performances in very unique movies.

Another interesting characteristic of Academy Awards this year is that major money makers don't usually translate to Academy Award esteem. But Avatar's accomplishment is so significant and historic and The Blind Side's as well. Can't say the same for the stupid film Transponder can you? A film, I should add, I refuse to see.

Well here's my Oscar opinions and predictions on the major awards at the moment:

Best Film
Should Win: Avatar
Who Will Win: Avatar

Best Actor
Should Win: undecided
Who Will Win: Jeff Bridges

Best Actress
Should Win: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Who Will Win: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Best Director
Should Win: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Who Will Win: James Cameron, Avatar

I'd love to hear your thoughts as well?

Great new book HOTEL Bemelmans

2010-02-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

I love to read and quite frankly the only reason I really started this blog was to talk about reading and books. But for the last six months, while I'm reading as prolifically as always, I just haven't read anything that I thought worthy of public discussion here.

I don't know if books, like films, etc. are not being published in as many numbers and therefore the quality is down or what (I do know that I don't often find a DVD to rent because there doesn't seem to be as many movies that interest me these days).

Until I read HOTEL BEMELMANS by Ludwig Bemelmans. He was a New York busboy, waiter, and restaurateur in New York in the 20's and 30's. The book is a series of short essays or sketches about the life and times of the Hotel Splendide where Bemelmans worked. The Splendide was in reality the Ritz Carlton.

With an introduction by Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential), the book tells the secrets and scandals of the hotel's staff and rich patrons and guests. As Bemelman's modern day counterpart, Bourdain says: "Ludwig Bemelmans was the original bad boy of the New York hotel/restaurant subculture."

Bemelmans has several claims to fame besides his bad boy restaurateur image. He was an artist and humorist and perhaps most famous for being the author and illustrator of the Madeline books. Like the Madeline series, HOTEL BEMELMANS includes the author's illustrations of the various characters and episodes that are in the book.

Originally from Austria, Bemelmans arrived here as the book says: "at the age of sixteen after he shot a head-waiter at his uncle's hotel." He has a very wry and wickedly funny sense of humor and I literally guffawed throughout the book.

This is a zany cast of characters of con men, gypsies, a wizard, and a number of other eccentric bosses and co-workers. There's Vladimir Slezack, or "Mr. Sigsag" as he's commonly referred to by the staff, who is the catering banquet manager who Bemelmans works for. But my favorite is the hotel manager, Otto Brauhaus:

"Otto Brauhaus (illustration by Bemelmans at right) was an immense stout man; he had to bend down to pass under the tall doorways of his hotel. Big as his feet, which gave him much trouble, telegraphing their sorrows to his ever-worried face, was his heart. For despite his conception of himself as a stern executive, and strict disciplinarian, he could not conceal his kindness. He liked to laugh with guests and employees alike, and the result was that his countenance was the scene of an unending emotional conflict."

What I loved most about Brauhaus is his German accent which "he had somehow never been able to improve.......Brauhaus spoke with a thick dialect that sometimes sounded like a vaudeville comedian trying for effect. He was, in any case, inarticulate, and hated to talk. Two expressions recurred in his speech like commas; without them he seemed hardly able to speak: 'Cheeses Greisd!' and 'Gotdemm it!'

I roared and guffawed my way through this book especially when Brauhuas popped up with his "Cheeses Greisd! Gotdemm it," usually in the same sentence. Here's an example: "But things had not been going too well with Brauhaus's friends, these elderly men who ate and drank too well. In one week Mr. Brauhaus went to two funerals. He came back very gloomy from the second, saying 'Gotdemm it, Cheeses Greisd, every time I see a friend of mine he's dead.'

When he discovers the staff having fun when they thought he was away "Brauhaus stormed back there and exploded: 'What is diss? Gotdemm it! Cheeses Greisd! You have a birdtay zelepration here?'"

There are certain phrases in books that somehow make their way into my daily lexicon. "Fecking eejit" is one (from Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, one of my favorite books of all time). But "Gotdemm it Cheeses Greisd" is the newest.

His drawings are as unique as his writing voice as well. Each person illustrated in the drawing reflects a certain self-assuredness/self-possession with themselves. While this is funny when you encounter a pompous, it's even funnier depicting the eccentricities of some of the characters.

This book is really just delightful. You'll relish every moment. I swear, Gotdemm it Cheeses Greisd!

Photo of Ludwig Bemelmans by

Life Magazine, April 1945, Photographer Walter Sanders

Painting by Bemelmans "Terrasse"

NEW World cruise ship UTOPIA with condos for sale

2010-02-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

From Money/CNN: New Mexico-based investors have teamed with Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries to build The Utopia, (above, as it would look in Miami) an opulent $1.1 billion ocean liner that will travel the globe, hopping between the world's major sporting and cultural events. The 105,000-ton and 1,000-foot long ship -- the weight and length of more than three Lady Liberty statues, from the base of the concrete platform to the top of the torch -- is scheduled for completion in 2013.

As their website says: "Travel the world in the comfort of your own home." Yes, please, ME WANT. Can you imagine living on this ship. Constantly on the move but all of your stuff right there with you? Of course, I'd prefer the 40,000 ft home! After all, you wouldn't want to get island fever by feeling all cooped up.

Even a six-month stay as a hotel guest would be nice. But I'd rather just have my permanent home on board this non-permanent nomadic city. Remember you can click on photos to enlarge......especially the floor plan below.

Utopia will have 15 decks, 200 private residence units and 204 hotel rooms. That makes the ship spacious enough to accommodate 3,000 guests, said chairman of Utopia Residences David Robb, but to turn up the luxe, Utopia will only welcome 600 guests aboard at a time. Plus 600 crew members to serve them.

The cost of most residences on the Utopia will range from $3.8 million for a 1,400-square-foot condo to $24 million for a 6,600-square feet estate. The single 40,000-square-foot unit will be priced at $160 million. The lairs go on sale in 2010.

Located on Decks 8-15, Utopia’s 190 luxury residences are well-situated to offer breathtaking views wherever your home will travel. Each residential deck has been carefully designed to offer maximum comfort and convenience, with service areas for our professional chefs and caterers and additional storage space all just steps away from your door. Residents will also have access to six private elevators shuttling to and from the residential decks.

They offer a variety of floorplan and sizes. Here the Carnevale Estate Plan 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 1,890 - 1,967 square feet (176-183 sqm)

You can visit the Utopia's website at: http://www.utopiaresidences.com/utopian_living/index.php

2010 Oscar Nominations

2010-02-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

And here they are, in case you haven't heard: the 2010 Oscar nominations (not any surprises). I've made predictions as well (three gold stars)....will do this again (predict) when time draws nearer to ceremony. The predictions are, I should add, not preferences. Meaning I don't necessarily agree with the prediction. The films with * are the ones that I have seen.

What do you think?

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

82nd Oscar Nominations

Best picture

"Avatar" *** *
"The Hurt Locker" *
"Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
"Up in the Air" *
"Inglourious Basterds" *
"Up" *
"The Blind Side" *
"District 9"
"An Education" *
"A Serious Man"

Actor

George Clooney, "Up in the Air" *
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart" ***
Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker" *

Actress

Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia" *
Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side" *** *
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station" *
Carey Mulligan, "An Education" *

Supporting actor

Matt Damon, "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds" *

Supporting actress

Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air" *
Mo'Nique, "Precious" ***
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air" *
Penelope Cruz, "Nine" *
Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"

Director

Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds" *
Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker" *
James Cameron, "Avatar" ***
Lee Daniels, "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air" *

Animated feature

"Up" ***
"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"

Original screenplay

"The Hurt Locker" ***
"Inglourious Basterds"
"The Messenger"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"

Adapted screenplay

"District 9"
"An Education"*** *
"In the Loop"
"Precious"
"Up in the Air" *

Best foreign-language film

"Ajami"
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos"
"The Milk of Sorrow"
"Un Prophète"
"The White Ribbon"

Best film editing

"Avatar" *
"District 9"
"The Hurt Locker" *** *
"Inglourious Basterds" *
"Precious"

Art direction

"Avatar" ***
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
"Nine" *
"Sherlock Holmes"
"The Young Victoria"

Cinematography

"Avatar"***
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
"The Hurt Locker" *
"Inglourious Basterds" *
"The White Ribbon"

Costume design

"Bright Star"
"Coco Before Chanel" ***
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
"Nine"
"The Young Victoria"

Best documentary feature

"Burma VJ"
"The Cove" *
"Food, Inc."
"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"
"Which Way Home"

Documentary short

"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
"Music by Prudence"
"Rabbit à la Berlin"

Makeup

"Il Divo"
"Star Trek"
"The Young Victoria"

Music (original score)

"Avatar" ***
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Sherlock Holmes"
"Up"

Music (original song)

"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog"
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog"
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36"
"Take it All" from "Nine"
"The Weary Kind (Theme from "Crazy Heart") from "Crazy Heart"

Short film, animated

"French Toast"
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty"
"The Lady and the Reaper"
"Logorama"
"A Matter of Loaf and Death"

Short film, live action

"The Door"
"Instead of Abracadabra"
"Kavi"
"Miracle Fish"
"The New Tenants"

Sound editing

"Avatar" *
"The Hurt Locker" *
"Inglourious Basterds" *
"Star Trek" *
"Up"*

Sound mixing

"Avatar" *
"The Hurt Locker" *** *
"Inglourious Basterds" *
"Star Trek" *
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Visual effects

"Avatar" *** *
"District 9"
"Star Trek" *

Oh You're BREAKING MY HEART. This photo is TOO cool

2010-01-29T17:55:00.000-08:00

TIME's Picture of the Week
Sukree Sukplang / Reuters

It's All Love

Three piglets rest next to their eight-year-old adoptive mother, Sai Mai, at Thailand's Sriracha Tiger Zoo.

NEVER FORGET: Memories of visiting Auschwitz 32 years ago

2010-01-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

Peter Andrews / Reuters

NEVER FORGET

When I was a teenager, about 16 I think, I had the amazing and overwhelming experience of going on a 3-week trip to then-Soviet Union Russia and Poland. As a a member of my church choir we embarked on the trip to sing secular music, ironically, at some of the most beautiful churches in Russia and Poland. Our travels took us to Leningrad, as it was known at the time (it is now St. Petersburg); Moscow; Warsaw; Krakow and many other towns and villages.

At the time I was a messed up, confused teen. I'm not sure how much the trip helped or hindered that condition, although the experience did leave an indelible lifetime imprint that in essence changed inextricably who I was and who I have become today. It wasn't a change that really happened immediately at the time. I think it was a seed that was planted that over the years following, as I aged, became more distinctly entrenched and altered the way I processed the world. In some ways I think it made me a fatalist, although I rather think that's a genetic trait that I was born with, so it simply triggered a natural condition. You could say the trip made me a darker shade of grey.

That life-altering, perspective-skewing aspect of my trip to Russian and Poland in 1978 was a visit to the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. We actually visited two former concentration camps, however, the other one had been razed by the Germans and was only a memorial to the many children who died there--if I recall it was a concentration camp for children.

Being a 16-year old and witnessing such human atrocities I think is a very beneficial experience. I don't know whether the visit had the same impact on my fellow choir singers--no doubt it had an equal impact on us all, but in distinctly different and unique ways. Others might have found hope from the visit that perhaps changed their lives inextricably too.

But for me, a child of the 70s who lived in terror because of my homosexuality, the visit I think highlighted the world in which I lived. I understood such hatred. I had witnessed personally hatred all of my life. I don't know that I knew that so much at the time as much as it slowly dawned on me as I grew up in the years following the trip.

That experience, awakened me to the world in future years with less of a naivete.

Seeing actual piles of glasses/spectacles, piles of hair of the remains of some of the 1.1 million people who were exterminated at Auschwitz is something that we should all witness. Standing in front of two of the ovens where hundreds of thousands of bodies were burned in the crematoriums or standing in the showers where millions of people were gassed, or standing in front of the walls which are pockmarked with bullet holes which killed thousands more: this is something we should all see. And never forget.

This is what we are. Our species is capable of this. No church, no religious institution, no political institution, no political party, no politician, no God/Goddess can illustrate or instruct us about the true basic nature of humankind, more than Auschwitz. This is what we are capable of and what we've done over the thousands of years since our existence, usually in the name of religion. We kill each other: brutally, barbarically, heinously. Our capacity as a species for love and intelligence, does not conquer all. Even with these supposed higher levels of capability, which give us a supposed advantage to the other species on our planet, look at the world that we live in today in 2010....a world that we are destroying. Look around you at the world that man has created, evolved, and which is still sometimes as barbaric and without reason as it was in the Dark Ages.

After that remarkably profound and seminal personal experience at Auschwitz, I never could see the world in any other way except with an inherent unease that somehow the same thing would happen again. I could see vestiges of similar hatred all around me as a young gay man growing up in Texas in the late 70s. I still see the same vestiges of hatred, and even more startling and prevalently some 30 years later, everywhere, as a gay middle-aged man living in Southern California. Auschwitz and the Holocaust happened over 65 years ago. And I'm afraid that it will happen, no, it is happening again. It has happened in countries in Africa over the last 50 years.

Time.com has a rather remarkable article with photos which marks the 65th anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp's liberation. You can visit the site:

These photos are austerely beautiful, the contemporary ones, which masks the hideous nightmare that existed 65 years ago. Underneath the photos below are the captions from Time.com

Peter Andrews / Reuters
Never Forget The barbed wire fences serve as a reminder of the horrors of the past. There were thought to be around 7,000 survivors in the camp at the time of the liberation in 1945 with only a handful still alive. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu honored the victims and those who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis. "We encounter the worst evil in the history of mankind together with the greatest courage in the history of humanity. This is not an easy encounter but it gives us hope and direction for our future."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1956984_2029641,00.html

Peter Andrews / Reuters

New Day Rising The camp's barracks are pictured on the early morning of January 27, 2010. In 2005 the United Nations declared the date International Holocaust Remembrance Day. More than a million people were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz.

One of my favorite places to visit in Washington DC is the Holocaust Museum. Even if you cannot make a trip to Poland to actually witness Auschwitz, do make an effort to go to this museum in DC. For more information, visit The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's website for more information: http://www.ushmm.org/ .

If you look around you every moment of the day, hatred is so prevalent and rampant in every aspect of our lives. I read today that Fox News is now the most trusted source of news in the US.....now that's a whole lot of hatred spewing that emanates from the most trusted news source. I even examine my own hatred for right-wing Republicans and Christian conservatives and I see the same base essence of our species that created an Auschwitz and its outcome approximately 65 years ago. The ushmm.org website has a very good section dedicated to genocide. Please investigate.

I remember reading and listening to mythology/religion scholar Joseph Campbell in the late 80's. He made the statement, which seems even more prophetic today, that somehow in our modern technologically advancing (these days at dizzying speeds of light) world we had not evolved a new mythology in which to find a spiritual path which resonates for our times. His assertion was that, throughout man's history, societies had created mythologies that were necessary and helpful to humans and that were based upon mankind's evolutionary maturity. Campbell's observation was that we were long overdue for a new mythology which reflected our evolutionary progress. We seem as a species to be stuck at a spiritual age of a two year old, although our intellectual maturity is that of a 40 year old. When I look around today that is most evident and even more frightening than when I heard Mr. Campbell make the observation two decades ago.

So this blog entry today isn't positive, I'm sorry. It is most fatalistic. We really can only do one thing though: NEVER FORGET what we are capable of. It's chilling enough to make one reconsider your own thoughts and to examine more closely the world in which you live today.

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day

I won't ever forget that visit to Auschwitz. I cannot ever forget that mankind is capable of such horrific acts. It can and will happen again. Unless we never forget.

Roger Viollet / Getty

Unimaginable The ovens of Auschwitz. "The Holocaust is the tragedy which unites Europe," European Jewish Congress leader Moshe Kantor said on the eve of the anniversary, which President Barack Obama was due to address by video.

CEBU Dancing Inmates REALLY cool music video Michael Jackson's This Is It

2010-01-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

This is an amazing musical video. Thanks for this from Flesh Addicted for this find!
Cebu Dancing Inmates – Michael Jackson’s This Is It DVD. The “Thriller” routine of the Cebu dancing inmates captured audiences worldwide, including the King of Pop himself, the late Michael Jackson. Payne, along with two of Jackson’s backup dancers, taught the inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center new routines for a special dance video that will be released to coincide with the “This Is It” DVD launch.

The number was called “The Drill,” the last choreography Payne and Jackson collaborated on before the King of Pop died in June 2009.

The performance was uploaded on the video-sharing site YouTube last January 22. Accessed on the morning of January 26, the video clip had already been viewed 417,610 times. The number also showed the inmates forming a huge peace sign, possibly in remembrance of Jackson, who advocated world peace. Dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid also joined the inmates, who wore black “This Is It” shirts.

The choreographer said it was but fitting to include a special dance number from the now world-renowned Cebu inmates for the special “This Is It” DVD launch. The Cebu dancing inmates even made it to the “Michael Jackson Opus,” the only new publication that was approved and endorsed by Jackson himself and the estate of Michael Jackson.

1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice!

A floating future for New Orleans? New Orleans Arcology Habitat

2010-01-26T09:53:00.000-08:00

Wonder if Brad Pitt is in on this one? I want to live in this too.. All illustrations/cg renderings by Tangram 3DS LLC

From World Architecture News

Floating city concept designed for ecological living solution

Kevin Schopfer, heading up Ahearn Schopfer architects practice, has developed this unconventional solution to ecological living, specified for use in New Orleans.

Together with Tangram 3DS, a firm specializing in visualization and computer animation, Schopfer has designed and presented New Orleans Arcology Habitat (NOAH) as a proposed urban Arcology (architecture and ecology), whose philosophic underpinnings rest in combining large scale sustainability with concentrated urban structures, in this case a floating city.

NOAH's structure is designed for concentrated use with around 20,000 housing units at an average of 1,100 sq ft, three hotels, 1,500 time-share units and 500,000 sq ft of retail space. Also incorporated are three casinos, 500,000 sq ft of commercial condominiums, parking for 8,000 cars, a school, 100,000 sq ft of cultural facilities and a 20,000 sq ft health facility, making the structure socially self-sufficient. All fitting together with public amenities and administrative offices into an estimated 30 million sq ft.

Asked about why NOAH took this form, the architect responded: "The Pyramid shape is the strongest, most able shape to guarantee structural stability when considering the size and height to width ratio of the entire structure. The shape was also chosen so that the wind and inclement weather would be able to blow through the building instead of fight it."

Transportation through the structure would be made possible by the implementation of staggered 'zone elevators' and a mini electric 'subway' system.

Chosen as the 'city that needs it most' the design of NOAH is not created to complement the fabric of New Orleans but as a 'sustainable icon' which would be forever anchored by its coastline.

Beautiful Pachyderms (not of the US political kind I might add)

2010-01-24T11:06:00.001-08:00

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

If you follow this blog you'll know that I love elephants. This is the sweetest gesture. The Haiti situation was indeed hideous before the earthquake and is beyond disastrous at this point. My heart truly goes out to that country. I encourage everyone to please donate something. They needed it before....but now. I donated to the Red Cross using the text-messaging effort--it involves sending the word "Haiti" in a cellphone text message to the number 90999, which automatically adds a $10 pledge to a person's phone bill.

The picture above is from TIME.com picture of the day, January 21, 2010.

Please
Thai elephants walk through the backpackers' area of Khao San Road to collect money for the survivors of Haiti's earthquake.

NOW this is funny....way to go Conan!

2010-01-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

I don't watch tv, except for DVD. I used to watch CNN at night but I cannot stand Larry King anymore and Anderson Cooper (before the Haiti disaster) seems to be trying to become Fox (or as another blogger sagely said: faux fox). Alas, I will maybe watch Discovery channel or Chelsea Lately when I eat dinner.

So, most of the recent NBC late night brouhaha was a bit lost on me. I never liked Leno. I've always preferred Letterman. I've never watched Conan or Leno's new shows. But I do think no matter what, that the NBC people are idiots.

Since I don't like Leno I'm automatically sympathetic to Conan. But after this, I LOVE the guy. This is utterly hysterical. You go, Conan. (thanks to perezhilton.com for this). And good for Tom Hanks for taking part in this perfect fuck you gesture.

Perezhilton had this listing today on his blogsite:

You Go, Coco! O'Brien Blows NBC's Money Until The End!

Read More: Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog from Perez Hilton http://www.perezhilton.com/#ixzz0dYe7WjIl
Celebrity Juice, Not from Concentrate

Although Conan refrained from slamming NBC during his last night on the Tonight Show, Coco had no problem spending the network's $$$!

According to The Roots' drummer and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon house band leader Questlove, NBC paid $500,000 for Tom Hanks to walk out to The Beatles' Lovely Rita (in honor of Hanks' wife, Rita Wilson) on Conan's Friday night show!!

Tweeted Questlove:

"yo i hate spoiling but i will have you know that walk on song we just heard was half a milli. i know cause i got the list rate at nbc… anytime you use the beatles on tv that will cost you dearly."

Ha!

Read More: Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog from Perez Hilton http://www.perezhilton.com/#ixzz0dYdwxzEd
Celebrity Juice, Not from Concentrate

Newest Tall Building in the world proposed. IN Miami--the Miapolis?

2010-01-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks to RobOrange for this blog sighting. We're into tall, large structures here and this is big, big news. If it ever gets built? Can anyone in the US afford something so expensive?

It is quite large but it doesn't have the elegance that Dubai's Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) has? I don't think. It is rather nice looking and it is colossally tall, which is the first attraction for me. I like my buildings tall.........BIG and TALL. It actually looks like two buildings attached with intermittent connecting floors. It appears to be built on an island which is interesting. But I think the crown thing at the top is a bit odd. It looks strangely like a bishop's mitre. The base is rather interesting as it looks like it is very "green" design-oriented. But the photo below from above makes the whole structure too phallic and the base looks a bit to "scrotal." What do you think?

No telling how long it will take to build if it ever gets built. So the current reigning world champion, the Burj Khalifa should stay champ for a while.

Developed by Kobi Karp, a Miami based architectural and interior design firm, the “Miapolis” is a 975-meter high tower planned for Watson Island that if constructed will surpass Dubai’s Burj Khalifa by 183 meters. Accommodating an amusement park, observatory, restaurants, 1.96 million sq ft of shops, over 1000 apartments, 1 million sq ft office space and a 792-room hotel, the 160-story superscraper will create 35,000 permanent jobs and generate $39 million to the City and $2.5 billion to the local economy annually. To quote the Miapolis website,

Miapolis is an economic engine... and a sensible and rational solution for the local economy by resolving the Jungle Island debts while producing $942 million annually in tax revenues, and no taxpayer funds required. More importantly, Miapolis creates 46,000 construction and 35,000 permanent jobs.

Johnny Depp on the COVER of the new GQ

2010-01-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

I'm heading directly to the store to get the new GQ issue with that brilliant and gorgeous Johnny Depp on the cover. The issue is the 25 Most Stylish Men in the World and includes a few other favorite hotties: Daniel Day Lewis and Robert Pattinson.

EVANESCENCE My Immortal

2010-01-16T09:59:00.001-08:00

I really love this song, My Immortal from Evanescence.

PROVOCATIVE short film: Sebastian's Voodoo

2010-01-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

This is a rather remarkable SHORT, short film. What do you think? Beautiful and sad in a very dark way though, huh?

Director: Joaquin Baldwin
Running Time: 4'06
Country: U.S.A.
Category: Drama

A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death.

Joaquin Baldwin is an Annie Award nominee director and animator from Paraguay. Living in Los Angeles, he is now finishing his MFA in animation at UCLA. He has received over 50 international awards for his animated films Sebastian's Voodoo and Papiroflexia, and also several grants including the Jack Kent Cooke full Graduate Scholarship in 2006.

I've recently added star ratings capability for each of the postings. I love getting feedback and hopefully this is a quick and easy way for readers of this blog to respond. Be sure and leave your rating (1 to 5 yellow stars below). Or even better your comments.

Another Cool photo from TIME.com

2010-01-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Matt Stroshane / Getty
They've really had some great stuff recently at Time.com Picture of the Day/Pictures of the Week after a long period of nothing.

Here's a beautiful shot of the Space Shuttle. It's hard to imagine that these magnificent machines will be retiring soon. A bit like the Concord supersonic airplane.....nothing has been built to replace it. Sad that we don't seem to evolve much these days (but of course that's silly of me...after all look at that gorgeous 2,600 ft high new tallest building, Burj Khalafi. See my previous posts a few days ago).

Endeavour
Space Shuttle Endeavour rolls to launch pad 39-a at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

New portrait of PRINCES William and Harry at London's National Portrait Gallery

2010-01-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

So I'm quite the anglo-phile (among my many "philes"/obsessions).

This is a great new portrait of those two great Princes William and Harry by artist Nicky Philipps. The portrait is now a part of the collection at the National Portrait Gallery.

For more information, check out the CNN article at http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/06/prince.william.harry.portrait/index.html

Their mother should be proud! Handsome dudes, aren't they!

The world's tallest building is now named BURJ Khalifa

2010-01-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

I just can't get enough of this beautiful structure.

So the building opened yesterday but it has a new name. Previously called Burj Dubai it is now called Burj Khalifa.

It's height is just dizzying as these photos attest.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Kamran Jebreili / AP

All photos are from Time.com: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery

BURJ DUBAI opens today...tallest building in the world. It's gorgeous

2010-01-04T09:13:00.001-08:00

I just love 'em built tall and handsome. Isn't this one of the most beautiful sights, ever? The BURJ DUBAI opens today in Dubai. Congratulations to all of the Dubai dudes who made this incredible accomplishment come true. At 2,600 ft. tall it is TWICE as tall as the former Sear's Tower in Chicago.

Marwan Naamani / AFP / Getty

Burj Dubai

"Dubai may be struggling financially, but money problems won't keep it from opening Burj Dubai on Jan. 4 and snagging the title for world's tallest building from Toronto, which has the soon-to-be second tallest CN Tower. Burj Dubai's actual height is a closely guarded secret, although developers admit that it will be at least 2,600 ft. (790 m) tall — almost twice the height of Chicago's Willis Tower [former Sear's Tower]. The tower, which cost an estimated $1.5 billion to construct, boasts 164 floors, nearly 1,100 one- to three-bedroom apartments and elevators that travel up to 25 miles per hour. Visitors to the 124th-floor observation deck can see 50 miles on a clear day."

This photo is part of photograph series at TIME.com titled: A Brief History of World's Tallest Buildings.

Tall buildings is one of my passions in life. You can read other blog postings on Tall Buildings or Burj Dubai by clicking here.

Keep driving mankind to newer heights and newer levels, Dubai. This is a most remarkable place. Read "A Brief History of Dubai."

My favorite animal, the DOLPHIN, along with the elephant....Watch this documentary THE COVE

2010-01-02T16:05:00.001-08:00

Really great, but very disturbing, documentary about the butchery of my second favorite animal, the dolphin (along with elephants)! I watched this last weekend.

Find out more about this documentary and the true story of what is happening to dolphins in Japan by clicking here: http://www.takepart.com/thecove

Saw NINE yesterday. Other movies I wish to see

2009-12-27T11:08:00.001-08:00

There's a spate of great interesting films I want to see. I saw Rob Marshall's NINE, yesterday.

NINE 4.5 stars (my rating out of 5)
How could this movie NOT be seen: starring the truly hot (and talented) Daniel Day Lewis and a cast of goddesses: Penelope Cruz, Dame Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard, plus performances by Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, and Black-eyed-Pea's Fergie. I'm SO glad they didn't cast that awful Catherine Zeta Jones.

This film was wonderful. It was actually better than I expected. I thought Daniel Day Lewis was marvelous, although maybe miscast (can that be possible-to be marvelous and yet miscast in a movie?). Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, and Penelope Cruz were remarkable. Kate Hudson was quite fun and delivered an infectious performance. My main problem with the movie though was Nicole Kidman...completely miscast. She seems soul-less to me. Although her simple musical delivery of her song was admirable. Go see this movie!

Here's the other films I wish to see over the next few days and months. Have you any suggestions?

THE YOUNG VICTORIA
starring the marvelous Emily Blunt and the delicious Rupert Friend who starred in one my favorite movies this year, Cheri

A SINGLE MAN a movie by the beautiful Tom Ford starring the most beautiful Mr. Darcy Colin Firth and by the book of one of my favorite writers, Christopher Isherwood (although this is not my favorite of his books)...not to mention the always fabulous Julianne Moore

Terry Gilliam's THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS with the delicious Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell taking on the unfinished scenes of Heath Ledger.

IT'S COMPLICATED .....but of course because of La Streep, the goddess of all movie-time

VALENTINE'S DAY...starring everybody! Usually movies that includes a cast of a thousand stars turn out to be stinkers but this one might defy the odds. What a gorgeous of cast of absolutely wonderful interesting actors. the hottie Ashton Kutcher, the hottie Bradley Cooper, the hottie Topher Grace, almost-a-goddess Julia Roberts, almost-a-goddess Anne Hathaway, Emma Roberts, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Taylor Lautner, the hottie Patrick Dempsey, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Garner, the goddess Shirley MacClaine, Jaime Foxx, the hottie Eric Dane, Jessica "I'm not Latin" Alba (as per Perez Hilton), the diva Queen Latifah, George Lopez, Hector Elizondo, Joe Jonas. Who isn't in this movie? How did the afford to pay all of those people?

Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND with the delicious Johnny Depp and another star-studded cast including: Helena Bonham Carter, the almost goddess Anne Hathaway, Michael Sheen, always brilliant Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Crispin Glover.

Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES with the hotties Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr

WHEN IN ROME with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel because I love romantic comedies/chick-flicks

As you can see I like chick-flicks mostly.

COOL PHOTO TIME Picture of the Week

2009-12-25T09:48:00.001-08:00

Gao Zengshuang / Xinhua / ZUMA
Finally, Time has recently had some pictures that are interesting to post. Isn't this gorgeous?

WINTER WONDERLAND
Tourists walk around one of the displays at the Ice and Snow Festival during its preview in Harbin, China.

Cool Photo. A baby elephant.

2009-12-24T13:39:00.001-08:00

Michael Dalder / Reuters

I want a baby elephant! Isn't it the best.

TIME Pictures of the Week
December 23, 2009

Tell Me All About It
Baby elephant Jamuna Toni cuddles with a zookeeper at Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo.

Recommended new movies!

2009-12-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

I've seen some really great movies at the theater recently....which is unusual. It seems like I go through each year with nothing appealing enough to compel me to leave the house and go to the theater and then in the last few weeks of the year there are suddenly a bunch of great movies to go to. The majority of the year, nothing but bullshit testosterone movies made for teenage boys. Silly isn't it? (Well, they did have two brilliant films that were released earlier this year: Julie & Julia and Cheri).

So, here's my thoughts about some of the GREAT movies that I've just seen (and my ratings: 1 to 5 star, 5 star is the best):

UP IN THE AIR 5stars

This is an unusual movie. It is a serious comedy. Not really a black comedy, although it is that in a sense as it accurately reflects the rather bleak economic world we live in today. What I think makes this movie unique is that it has a perfectly blended balance of both humor and serious, upsetting material.

UP IN THE AIR is about a man who works for a company that specializes in termination of employees. The firm, unlike the rest of the world, is enjoying a boon....it is thriving thanks to the rampant economic disaster which is rampaging through the world at the moment. Staff downsizings and layoffs are big business at the moment and this firm is riding the wave, doing the dirty work for companies who are facing bleak economic realities. Clooney is a professional "terminator" so to speak.

The movie is brilliant primarily because of the script. A script which crackles with humor and intelligence and a defiance of traditional choices that would have made most filmmakers turn this into a formulaic feel good movie with just a happy ending.

The movie is also brilliant because of the director, Jason Reitman (who also wrote the script).

But, finally, perhaps the most important ingredient in the alchemy which makes this a perfect film, are the actors. I must say that I've always thought George Clooney was an interesting, easy-on-the-eyes celebrity. But I never thought that he was necessarily a great actor. Until now. His performance is genius in its restraint and nuance. In fact, I really am not sure what other actor could have taken this role and created such a remarkable and gorgeous performance.

Vera Farmiga is absolutely stunning in a role that is in my mind an historical first in modern movies. She plays Clooney's equally ambitious sexual partner. As she says in the film to Clooney: "Think of me as you with a vagina." I won't say anything because I don't want to spoil the films dénouement .....but she is so gorgeous and sensual and her character so appealing and then, in its sheer originality, the script gives us a most unusual, nontraditional diversion. This actress deserves a nod from the Academy. A brilliant performance. And a brilliantly realized character by both the Reitman and Farmiga.

Anna Kendrick, who plays the naive young woman who Clooney is assigned to teach the ropes of his industry, is absolutely spot on with her interpretation of this young upwardly professional, just out of college, who begins to learn that life is not the idealistic perfection we all are raised in the US to expect.

Oh, and did I say that Clooney, in addition, to Farmiga is as delicious to look at as could be.

This is a perfect movie. Give it the Academy Award.

THE BLIND SIDE 4stars

This film has I believe been rather panned by reviewers. Some of the criticisms are that it is a schmaltzy story about a rich white family who "adopt" a young black man. But it seems rather foolish to criticize a film for being "formulaic" if the film is based upon a very true story. I doubt the Tuohys and Michael Lewis (the movie is based upon Lewis' book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game) lived their lives to tailor make a perfect Hollywood script for a future movie. The story is what it is. It happened. And it is a wonderful, uplifting story, saccharine though it may be. I perhaps could support criticism of the script if it was not based upon a true story, as it would seem blatantly formulaic. A movie to make rich white people feel happy about their Christianity and their good fortune. A movie that would make most rich white Republicans affirm just how good their white-bread world really is (most of these audience members would probably never have done what the Tuohy's did). But this story really happened, just as it is depicted in this film.

But the thing that makes this movie a great movie, is Sandra Bullock's tour-de-force performance, which I think is the best of her career. The same can be said about Quinton Aaron's portrayal of the film's protaganist, Michael Oher.

Bullock portrays a Southern socialite with absolute precision. The vocal cadence is absolutely spot on.
I do hope these two actors receive a nomination for an academy award nod despite the academy's usual snootiness when it comes to films of this genre.

Kathy Bates is just another great reason to see this film.

I must admit this movie made me feel wonderful, which I could have judged as being formulaic, contrived, gratuitous, and manipulative, if it wasn't a beautiful true story with two brilliantly beautiful performances by Bullock and Aaron.

NEW
MOON 4 stars
Okay, so I'm a HUGE fan of the Stephanie Meyers book series. LOVED every single book. Which is what I like about the associated film series, New Moon the most recent addition. The films are so true to the original stories and the casting so absolutely true to the original book characters that you cannot HELP but love these films. But, the reason I love the movies all the more is because his HOTNESS, Robert Pattinson, who plays the vampire Edward Cullen.

This actor is so beautiful....and his co-star, Kristin Stewart, who plays the book's protaganist, Bella, is equally as compelling.

I loved this film. Can't wait for the next two.

And, as much as I LOVE Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson SHOULD have been People's Sexiest Man Alive this year. Forget the just post-pubescent Taylor Lautner. Pattinson is sexiest.....first of all he is well-beyond the legal age. But also, I'd prefer to have the life sucked out of me by a vampire rather being chewed up by a smelly old werewolf.

COCO 5star
This is quite simply a stunning film. Audrey Tautou gives an incredibly nuanced and brilliant performance of Coco Chanel. But it is her two male love interests in the movie that I thought made the film unique. Benoît Poelvoorde (Étienne Balsan) and Alessandro Nivola (Boy Capel) play her older and younger lovers, respectively, and each of these men are absolutely delicious to look at. But this movie does something unusual: it imbues the male characters with vulnerabilities which make them all the more erotic and if anything only intensifies their virility. Coco and UP IN THE AIR both share a "pioneering" spirit in film in that they portray women who are equal in strength as men. I wish we could see more movies that represent the world as it is, not the cardboard one-dimensional portrayals of men and women right out of a Republican Party members' Bible.

But ultimately this movie is brilliant because of Audrey Tautou. She must receive a nomination for Best Actress.

If you follow this blog, you know that one of my fascinations is with courtesans in history. Coco was a courtesan of sorts and the film gives an interesting portrayal of courtesans in France.

And by the way, tell me if you don't swoon every time that hotness Alessandro Nivola is onscreen.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE 4stars
This is a wonderful movie. The true brilliance is in the "Wild Thing" characters. They are so perfectly brought to life.

This film is such an incredible journey because of the sets and the costumes as well (and the soundtrack).

This film also has the always brilliant Catherine Keener cast as the mother.

ME WANT2: WHY eco-friendly yacht and Roman Abramovich my hero!

2009-12-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

It's a plane! No, it's a space ship. No it's a boat. A Boat? Yes, the WHY is quite simply the most magnificently realized yacht ever. Beyond comprehension.

Wally Yachts is no stranger to innovative, fabulous yacht designs but this one in particular strikes my fancy.

I've wanted a yacht, like I've wanted a jet, forever. I guess I'm lucky that I haven't had a chance to sink my money yet into a traditional yacht because this yacht, the WHY (Wally-Hermès Yacht) is a dream. It's not even remotely like a traditional yacht but more like a floating island. Almost
as wide as it is long (58m x 38m or 190ft x 124ft), it seems like its half beachfront property.

And the soaring open interior.

One of my heroes (because he's so rich and he likes toys that I like/want), that cute Russian oil oligarch billionaire, Roman Abramovich (see previous listing here about all of the things this guy has that I'd like too), has a fleet of yachts, one of which, aptly named The Eclipse (the photo of boat below Abramovich pic), is the world's largest in the world at 557ft. His other yachts include: the Pelorus (377ft), the Ecstasea ( 282ft) and the Sussurro (161ft)....but I'll bet he'll be building the next world's largest, but a WHY version.

FEAST your eyes/dreams upon this. Couldn't you just sail away on this and NEVER come back? Bye bye Republicans! Bye bye radical fundamentalist Christians! Bye bye neo-Nazis! Bye Bye Dick Cheney!

So just retract those roofs and put the petal to the metal and blue skies from now on. Right? Watch the video below.

For more information visit the WHY's official website: http://www.why-yachts.com/

Another Cool photo from TIME, Pictures of the Week.

2009-12-18T09:50:00.001-08:00

Ian Langsdon / EPA

Going For A Stroll
Paris' Eiffel Tower gleams through a heavy snowfall.

http://www.time.com/time/picturesoftheweek/0,29409,1948494_2014267,00.html

The goddess DOROTHY PARKER: another great quote

2009-12-17T20:22:00.001-08:00

"Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common."
-Dorothy Parker

I am sorry for introducing such hideousness in the photos below, which is the opposite of this blogs purpose: this website is dedicated to beauty. But the hideous atrocities below illustrate Parker's beautiful observation in the most effective way:

The 787 Dreamliner makes its first FLIGHT. Isn't it beautiful

2009-12-16T11:03:00.001-08:00

Amidst all of the horrors of the world something beautiful took place yesterday. The long overdue first flight of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner airplane took place yesterday in Seattle. It is an exquisitely beautiful machine, no? It's made up of mostly composite materials and is much lighter than traditional aircraft.

It's wings almost resemble a bird??

New commercial aircraft are a rare breed these days. According to Boeing only every decade or so (although I think they left out Airbus planes, including the perfect A380). So yesterday was a special day....the birth of a new aircraft which will usher in a new era of aviation. Read more about the Dreamliner to find out just why this will be an historical aircraft.

I watched the takeoff live yesterday. It made my day! The photo below is of the plane's first landing.

The plane is the fastest selling aircraft in aviation with almost 900 orders currently, before the plane has even received its airworthy certification. The interior will usher in a new era for passenger comfort. Because of the composite material of the body of the aircraft the plane will not need to be pressurized at as high an altitude which will dramatically decrease passenger jet lag. The windows will be larger (I love large windows...see my post on the Gulfstream). The cabin will be more open.

This is a really gorgeous plane. It is designed to replace Boeing's 767 aircraft. It has two aisles and can fly long distance international routes, like the big boys 747 and A380, but with a lot few passengers.

The aircraft will carry 200-290 passengers depending upon the configuration and model of the aircraft.

Please visit the Boeing website to see this beautiful plane and find out more.

Wonder if Roman Abramovich will also order one of these as a private jet (see my previous posting on the A380 private jet).

I still think it a damn shame that our stupid species hasn't created a new breed of supersonic passenger jets after the demise of the pioneering Concord SST. It is one of the few examples in human history of mankind taking several giant step backwards.

Maybe Boeing's only number left: the 797 will be supersonic jet?

Great Quote from OSCAR WILDE

2009-12-12T10:25:00.001-08:00

“There is so much to be said in favor of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”

Oscar Wilde

Really COOL photo from TIME's 2009 Year In Pictures

2009-12-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Isn't this beautiful? I'd rather be there. Rather than this right-wing whacko, lonney tune country that we live in these days.

Can we please just outlaw the following: Scary Dick Cheney, the US political institution called Christianity, the Pope, Dim-wit Sarah Palin, Jon Gosselin, Carrie Prejean, Ann Coulter, the porcine Rush Limbaugh and all of the Tea Party people.

Please! SILENCE....the cacophony is too exhausting......Go away..........bury yourselves. Just don't inflict yourselves and your wretched screeching on this world anymore. It is just too torturous. And utterly devoid of any possible constructive benefit.

Sorry for venting but I just can't help myself anymore. We are literally barraged by the din of these whining, shrill, extremely limited individuals and their Über limited thought processes.

There is nothing intellectually required to exert and spew hatred and violent and myopic emotions. It takes no effort spiritually or philosophically to practice pure hatred. I'm not Christian (I'm actually an atheist) but as far as I'm concerned it takes more rigorous substance as a human being to overcome one's own hatreds and prejudices rather than to give in to them and feed them. Practicing hatred is simply laziness.

Hatred really is a "no-brainer."

Another World

The planet Saturn is captured in a photograph taken by the Cassini orbiter. Carolyn Porco, the leader of the Imaging Team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, comments, "This year we had the thrill of observing the Saturn equinox. That's the moment when the sun, seen from Saturn, crosses the equator going from south to north. The sun sets on the rings, illuminating them edge-on. The geometry revealed structures and phenomena in the rings we had never seen before. We saw this famous adornment spring from two dimensions into three, with some ring structures soaring as high as the Rocky Mountains. It made me feel blessed."

Photo: NASA/JPL

For more information and beautiful photos of the Cassini Project visit the link below: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Dilly, the pet deer. From CNN

2009-12-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

I want one.

A sick deer is treated by a veterinarian and eventually becomes part of her family. WJW's Mark Zinni reports.

BARBRA STREISAND's NEW album. Who Knew?

2009-12-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

What a great, understated new album by the original Diva herself. Lady Gaga? Mariah Carey? Who's that? No one....and I mean NO ONE embodies every element of the term diva more than this goddess.

Before anyone (except Garland, Callas, and Merman) there was and is La Diva Streisand. This album is a lovely selection of some of my favorite old standards. Before her overdone symphonic albums like Yentl, etc, Ms. Streisand was putting out some of the most brilliant works ever recorded. This album harkens back to that time, in my opinion.

The entire collection of songs and Streisand's restrained and brilliant vocal interpretation coupled with the exquisite piano and instrument arrangements by Diana Krall and her band, make this in my opinion one of the diva's best albums ever.

Here's two of my favorite songs that are on her new album. See what I mean. Sheer perfection, this woman.

Some Other Time
Music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Comden/Green

On the Town is a musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, based on Jerome Robbins' idea for his 1944 ballet Fancy Free, which he had set to Bernstein's music. The musical introduced several popular and classic songs, among them "New York, New York", "Lonely Town", "I Can Cook, Too", and "Some Other Time". The story concerns three American sailors on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City during wartime 1944. Each of the three sailors becomes enamoured of a particular woman — and of the city itself.

On the Town was first produced on Broadway in 1944 and was made into a film in 1949. The show has enjoyed a number of major revivals. The musical integrates dance into its storytelling: Robbins made a number of ballets and extended dance sequences for the show, including the "Imaginary Coney Island" ballet.

See my other blogs about the masterful Leonard Bernstein.

Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most...
Lyrics by Fran Landesman, set to music by Tommy Wolf.

Landesman's first career was in the fashion industry in New York. She and her husband then moved to his home of St Louis, where he and his brother started up the "Crystal Palace", a cabaret. This was a successful venture, attracting big-name acts as well as producing avant-garde theatre.

Fran Landesman's experiences sitting in the bar of the Crystal Palace, listening to musicians and audiences, led her to begin writing song lyrics in 1952. One of her best-known is "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most", her exploration of T.S. Eliot's "April is the cruelest month..." The Palace's pianist Tommy Wolf set her lyrics to music, and the song became a hit, leading to more Landesman–Wolf creations.

This is an album for anyone who truly is devoted to the honest telling of brilliant lyrics, songs sung angelically, and the emotional landscape realized perfectly.

Bravo, La Streisand!

SUPERB! A new cool photo, finally. And, some fun words to say.

2009-12-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

Fun photo from TIME's Today in Pictures. Ring-tailed Lemurs dine on a pre-Christmas surprise of dried fruits served à la Santa Claus boot at an animal park in Hamburg.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/today-in-pictures/0,31511,1945722,00.html#ixzz0YpyT5zvO

Philipp Guelland / AFP / Getty

These pictures are my "lazy" blog day listings. They're quick and easy to post and I don't have to worry too much about typos or bad grammar!

Or I should say they used to be. Time has a great photo collection on their website. I usually select the "cool" photos for this blog from their Today In Pictures or Pictures of the Week collections but for the last 2-3 months the options have been really slim, if non-existent. They haven't had any photos? you ask.

Yes, they've had plenty of photos. But they are all so bleak and depressing....photos of natural disasters; wars; death; destruction; decay; widows/orphans in dire straits; disease; despotism; jingoism/Republicanism (they both mean the same thing); former fascist, dastardly, deceitful, devious ex-Vice Presidents; dead superstars; disastrous, deceitful, devious, delirious, former Vice President Female Republican candidates; morbidly obese, drug-addicted, right wing talk show hosts; dim-witted former reality television stars with overly large families; dead-end wars fought by decrepit, antediluvian, archaic, duplicitous, religious political institutions; .....I could go on.

Don't, please! you say. I can't take anymore! you say.

Well at least we used some of my favorite words in the diatribe above. Don't you love words? I love a Thesaurus.

I suppose that this dearth of happy/positive photos is representative of the time in which we live. But couldn't they include a fucking frivolous photo like the one above, at least occasionally? So the world is coming to an end. Couldn't we have a happy moment or two as part of the mashup? It's our last possible chance for a smile.

My favorite word is fuck. It is the most expressive and exquisite word in the lexicon. Sorry to shock. But I have to be honest. What's even better than a fuck?.....saying the word "fuck" ("Prolly", as daninoksc says, because the word is the only thing available for my use!)

Or antediluvian. Or dearth. Aren't these great and fun words to speak??!!!

Dictionary.com sends out a daily email with a word of the day which, besides my first cup of coffee, is usually the only highlight to facing another "fresh hell" of a day ("fresh hell" thanks to Dorothy Parker: A line attributed many times to Shakespeare but actually it's from American author/critic/poet and wit Dorothy Parker. She is reported to have exclaimed "What fresh hell is this?" when her train of thought was interrupted by a telephone. She then started using it in place of "hello" when answering the phone or a knock at her door.)

Here's a really cool, interesting word from yesterday's dictionary.com email transmission. The word just sounds curious and the meaning is interesting (it's almost an onomatopoeia, no?).

Word of the Day

Friday, December 04, 2009

gallimaufry

\gal-uh-MAW-free\ , noun;

A hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley.

Quotes:

Today bilingual programs are conducted in a gallimaufry of around 80 tongues, ranging from Spanish to Lithuanian to Micronesian Yapese.

-- Ezra Bowen, "For Learning or Ethnic Pride?", Time, July 8, 1985

We have the same eyes dark and chestnut hair. But I am a lame gallimaufry and she remains perfect.

-- Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

Maran reports the daily jostlings and thrivings in a public school with 3,200 students, 185 teachers, 45 languages, a principal and five vice principals, five safety monitors, 62 sports teams and a gallimaufry of alternative programs, clubs and cliques.

-- Colman McCarthy, "A Writer Goes Back to School", Washington Post, August 20, 2001

Origin:

Gallimaufry, originally meaning "a hash of various kinds of meats," comes from French galimafrée, from Old French, from galer, "to rejoice, to make merry" (source of English gala) + mafrer, "to eat much," from Medieval Dutch maffelen, "to open one's mouth wide."

Have a great day! Let this gallimaufry of a blog posting put a smile on your face to mask the frown!

I want to live in this cool building

2009-12-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

MAD Architects Unveil Urban Forest Skyscraper For China by Bridgette Meinhold, 12/1/09, www.inhabitat.com

"Inspired by mountainous Chinese landscapes and the traditional villages built their hillsides, MAD Architects has unveiled plans to create a towering vertical Urban Forest. Designed for Chongqing, China, the projects consists of a stacked vertical forest set in the heart of the city, designed to bring more nature and open space in a dense and compact way. MAD Architects is becoming more known for their sustainable designs, and hopefully the green design aspects of this new tower extend beyond the garden spaces on each floor."

The excerpt and photos above are from http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/12/01/mad-architects-unveil-urban-forest-skyscraper-for-china/.

This architecture firm has some really interesting designs. Check out another blog list on inhabitat for MAD's proposed design of a Taiwanese civic center (below): http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/09/25/mad-unveils-taichung-convention-center-with-solar-eco-skin/

Visit an earlier blog post about another similar building design, The Dynamic Building, by clicking here: http://markgsmusings.blogspot.com/2009/08/those-dubai-dudes-are-really-amazing.html

This building, which was to have been built in Dubai (not sure if that will happen now) will rotate and will be constantly changing its shape unlike the China skyscraper which I think will be static. But the varying shapes of the floors are very similar. I'd like to live in either of these buildings actually.

China and UAE are definitely the places to be these days, architecturally speaking. I still think that Dubai is one of the modern wonders of the world, despite all of the recent press about their financial difficulties. They at least have something historic and noble to show for it.

Just finished Michael Thomas Ford's great new novel WHAT WE REMEMBER

2009-11-30T09:13:00.001-08:00

I've been on a major reading binge of late. I just finished Michael Thomas Ford's newest novel, What We Remember, yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I've read all of this author's books, so I am a fan. But this particular book was unique in that it really was also a mystery novel. While it explored the same intense human relationships and emotional themes that Ford's other books typically cover, I have a feeling the author wanted to try a different approach. The novel, which explores a murder in a family, is essentially a mystery or thriller experience which I found rather refreshing change but it I still wasn't short-changed the pleasure of reading a very well written drama.

This book is about a New York family, the McClouds. This family is about as dysfunctional as a family can get. The present time in the book is the early 90's. Sheriff Dan McCloud, the father, nine-years before, committed suicide leaving his widow and three children, oldest daughter, Celeste, James, the eldest son and Billy, the baby of the family. The family life of the McClouds is complexly entwined with the family of Dan's best friend, A.J. Derry. Almost incestuously!

I quote from the Booklist review:

'“No secret stays buried forever,” says one character, wielding a knife and summing up the action ignited when the nine-year belief that Sheriff Dan McCloud committed suicide is exploded. His uniformed body is accidentally found, shot twice and shoved into a trunk, which also contains his eldest son James’ class ring. Skeletons tumble from family closets in a small town where everyone seems to knows everyone else’s business as James, the family’s pride, returns home, and the legal investigation ensues. None of this is easy on James’ mom, junkie kid-brother Billy, or sister Celeste, now married to Cold Falls’ current sheriff, Nate, stepson of A. J., Sheriff Dan’s friend and partner. Twists, surprises, and cover-ups abound, as Ford reveals the truth about A. J. and Dan and the complex secrets linking their families, including substance abuse, forgery, rape, illegitimate birth—and yes, murder. The reappearance of A. J.’s daughter, Nancy, James’ high-school flame, brings new shock waves of revelation in Ford’s fast-moving yet thoughtful exploration of family love and the things we do in its name.'

I'm telling you this book has more plot twists and more murder suspects than you can keep up with. Which is really why the book reads like a thriller. I just couldn't put the book down.

Alternating between the book's present (the early 90s) and a retrospective look at the time of the suicide, the author slowly unfolds the complex plot and the "truth" of what happened with these two families. And in trademark Ford fashion he presents an indepth multi-dimensional cast of characters who all have flaws. There are a couple of villains, who are actually portrayed with some objectivity by Ford.

I highly recommend this book....and any of Michael Thomas Ford's books.

If you'd like to purchase the book, just click here. You can see some of the other titles by Mr. Ford as well.

Jeff Buckley's most amazing concert performance of HALLELUJAH, Leonard Cohen's song

2009-11-27T09:55:00.001-08:00

Photo of Jeff Buckley by Cabir Davis

This remarkably beautiful man recorded one of the most amazing live performance in concert of a song that I've ever heard (although I didn't hear it live)

I've talked in previous blogs about how much I love Leonard Cohen's music. And Rufus Wainwright, who did an amazing cover of Cohen's Hallelujah. But it would seem that the gorgeous Rufus may have had his inspiration from Jeff Buckley. Listen to this performance of Hallelujah. My heart breaks. Watching this gorgeous man sing with such intensity and passion is truly remarkably beautiful experience.

Jeff Buckley died in a tragic drowning accident in Memphis on May 29, 1997. Since then, he's become recognized as a very influential songwriter/singer for his generation, even though he had a very short-lived career.

A documentary has been made about his life, Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley. And an upcoming movie will feature either James Franco or Robert Pattinson in the title role. The trailer for the documentary is below:

Many performers have acknowledged Buckley's influence in their own musical style, including the exquisite Rufus, who wrote the song Memphis Skyline, as a tribute to Buckley. Watch this video here:

via videosift.com

The lyrics to the song Memphis Skyline by Rufus Wainwright:

Never thought of Hades
Under the Mississippi
But still I've come to sing for him
So southern furies
Prepare to walk for my harp
I have strung, and I will leave with him
Relax the cogs of rhyme
Over the Memphis sky
Turn back the wheels of time
Under the Memphis skyline
Always hated him for the way he looked
In the gaslight of the morning
Then came hallelujah sounding like mad Ophelia
For me in my room living
So kiss me, my darling stay with me till morning
Turn back and you will stay
Under the Memphis Skyline

Leonard Bernstein's perfect SIMPLE SONG by the goddess RENEE FLEMING

2009-11-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

Leonard Bernstein is a bit of hero for me. One of my favorites of his songs, SIMPLE SONG (Hymn and Song), is from his musical theater composition materpiece MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers. This remarkable composition, perhaps one of his greatest, was commissioned by another goddess, Jacqueline Kennedy, for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C in 1971. It is a variation of the traditional Requiem Masses written throughout history by composers.

There are a number of other wonderful songs from this composition and I'll feature some of my other favorites in future entries.

This song is coupled with one of the most beautiful voices, that of the diva Renee Fleming. It is the perfect example of a heavenly song finding the perfect vehicle to deliver it. See. It is perfect in every way.

For the perfect simple beauty of this song and this beautiful voice, I give Thanks. They enrich my world.

Polar Bear will be extinct within 50 years

2009-11-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

I just listened to the saddest profile on NPR a moment ago. The polar bear will be extinct within 50 years. There are now only 20,000-25,000 of these beautiful creatures still living. How can that be? How can something so noble be killed by something so ignoble such as the pathetic most base and disgusting animal, the human?

I quote from a Time Magazine article from 5/2009: "Polar bears have become the universal symbol of global warming, not so much because they're cute or cuddly (they're actually ferocious and not opposed to cannibalism.)" The photo above is from Time Magazine article and is by Fish and Wildlife Service / AP.

Since these ferocious, cannibalistic animals must become extinct I suggest that another odious, ferocious and cannibalistic creature become extinct. One that has contributed, and continues to contribute to the extinction of anything but their own:

Interesting enough, the elephant, my favorite animal despite its association with politics shown above, is also an endangered species in some parts of the world. Perhaps there is only one species of elephant, the Republican one, that should become extinct?

The sooner the better. Before they exterminate the rest of the world.

I have always made a commitment to refrain from any politicization in this blog. I respect everyone's opinion, but I think that view is an anachronism these days.

I would prefer to create something more beautiful and an alternative to the hideous ugly barbaric and ignoble political world that we live in the US. I will continue the policy with this blog because part of the reason I even do this blog is to discipline myself to look at the world positively, instead of slashing my wrists, which is what one does if one watches news these days.

Forgive my lapse here. Ultimately, the thing that we should care about isn't politicians and faux politicians. But these beautiful creatures that we destroying. Elephants and polar bears.

Not the cartoon characters depicted in the Republican logo above.

A timeless quote from Edith Sitwell

2009-11-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.
-- Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964)

Seems to be quite a relevant statement these days as well.

Photograph of Edith Sitwell by the brilliant Cecil Beaton, 1927

Mr. G's musings

New TALLEST BUILDING in the world Announced

Elephant. COOL PHOTO

Curious and FUN tv shows to watch

World's Tallest Hotel opens in Hong Kong

New BOEING 747-800 is BIG

LIZ Taylor: A Remarkable Life

Air New Zealand YOU TUBE commercial

The LIONWHISPERER

ME WANT: ONE man's $1billion 27-story new home

ELEPHANTS

Elephant Tracks

Horizontal Skyscraper

ELEPHANTS

EVE ENSLER's Embrace Your Inner Girl

Cool photo!

ME Want: A 747 Wing house

Astonishing video OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official

COOL photo! Greece Lightning

NEW Leaning Tower in Abu Dabai

Not so fast, Pisa! UAE lays claim to world's furthest leaning tower

Cool new building in China proposed

KPF Pen Chinas Future Tallest Skyscraper

AMAZING moms of the animal kingdom TIME photo essay

ME WANT the new Nissan Leaf electric car

Fun video. Carroll High School Powder Puff Cheerleaders

SIGN LANGUAGE a great short film

Grizzly bear cubs COOL PHOTO

Cartier & America Exhibition in San Francsico

Can I go here? Cool new photo

Frightening or Exciting?

Spring has sprung

NOW this is a show I wish I'd seen

Pictures of the Day

COOL Photo Puppy LOVE

The Strand and Magnolia Bakery in NYC....my two favorite places on the planet

TOP 10 book stores in the world

Heading from Baltimore to NYC

I'm off to NYC tomorrow for a week

Cool PHOTO Like Mother, Like Daughter

PRECIOUS a phenomonal film OSCAR countdown

Hysterical PHOTO Drag Race TIME Picture of the Day

The LAST STATION Another fabulous movie

AN Education A TRULY FABULOUS movie

The BLACK HOLE A Short Film

Cool PICTURE Chinese Year of the Tiger

HRH Prince William looking good on cover of HELLO

ME WANT Largest Yacht in the World plans unveiled

Ellen Degeneres and AMERICAN IDOL

Chinese new YEAR of the TIGER

MOVIES and the weekend...and thoughts about Best Picture Academy Award AVATAR v HURT LOCKER

Great new book HOTEL Bemelmans

NEW World cruise ship UTOPIA with condos for sale

2010 Oscar Nominations

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Oh You're BREAKING MY HEART. This photo is TOO cool

NEVER FORGET: Memories of visiting Auschwitz 32 years ago

CEBU Dancing Inmates REALLY cool music video Michael Jackson's This Is It

A floating future for New Orleans? New Orleans Arcology Habitat

Floating city concept designed for ecological living solution

Beautiful Pachyderms (not of the US political kind I might add)

NOW this is funny....way to go Conan!

Newest Tall Building in the world proposed. IN Miami--the Miapolis?

Johnny Depp on the COVER of the new GQ

EVANESCENCE My Immortal

PROVOCATIVE short film: Sebastian's Voodoo

Another Cool photo from TIME.com

New portrait of PRINCES William and Harry at London's National Portrait Gallery

The world's tallest building is now named BURJ Khalifa

BURJ DUBAI opens today...tallest building in the world. It's gorgeous

My favorite animal, the DOLPHIN, along with the elephant....Watch this documentary THE COVE

Saw NINE yesterday. Other movies I wish to see

COOL PHOTO TIME Picture of the Week

Cool Photo. A baby elephant.

Recommended new movies!

ME WANT2: WHY eco-friendly yacht and Roman Abramovich my hero!

Another Cool photo from TIME, Pictures of the Week.

The goddess DOROTHY PARKER: another great quote

The 787 Dreamliner makes its first FLIGHT. Isn't it beautiful

Great Quote from OSCAR WILDE