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We come to realise that our past behaviour which is rooted and buried in our sub-conscious still rule controlling our lives today

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 05:03:00 -0700

1: We come to realise that our past behaviour which is rooted and buried in our sub-conscious still rule controlling our lives today, This has made us powerless to create our own authentic truth and introduce true recovery into our lives.

2: We start the process of learning the ten stages by awakening a new understanding of ten-stage recovery program. This leads to the persistence awakening of our hidden child within. We come to believe that the child within, at our core, is more powerful than the past history that has been imposed upon us.

3: We finally start to understand our recovery journey and make a strong decision to align with our child within, despite the pressures and distortions from others to submit to crazy distortions of family, society, and the historical voices that we still carry within ourselves.

4: We journey within ourselves to our child re-opening the truth of our past history, the good, the bad, the understood and the misunderstood.

5: We come to a renewed understanding of ourselves without our childhood historic fears

6: We begin to live in a new reality becoming entirely ready to grieve our ancient past history with our fellows.

7: We Identify, Aligning the new reality of our present life with our child within preceding with the deep and transforming work of grieving the pain and suffering of our newly identified past our losses both physical and emotional.

8: We study the ten stages and understand the deep dissociations of our escapist ways, copping strategies that we have hurt and are at present hurting ourselves with. We become willing to straighten out our past and present with our current new knowledge of ourselves and the ten stages. Our emotions start to reappear appearing fearlessly out of the mists of our clearing mind.

9: Starting to realise and reconstruct our adult life using our newly found knowledge of meditation, loving-kindness and Kindfulness to recognise and change our inappropriate dissociating behaviours, which have constantly kept us from our own personal freedom, truth and health.

10: We recognise that our behaviour has been deeply learned and sublimated within our childhood unconscious and this will keep bubbling to surface inappropriately. So we continue to monitor our attitudes, behaviours, and when we recognise a triggered response we promptly admit it to another member, trace its traumatic origin, and take actions to try to not repeat it, without beating ourselves up with shame and guilt for past behaviours.

11: Seeking constantly seeking, weeding out through self-reflection our dissociations and redundant strategies. We seek an ever-deepening connection to our perfect child within, we desire only to be guided to our intuitive voice, to recognise it and act on it.

12: Having awakened to our perfect healthy child within, we dedicate our lives to its full manifestation and to nurturing the healing paths of others

experts believe we can actually become "addicted" to stress.

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Thu, 6 Sep 2012 22:41:00 -0700

Stress can be physical,And then there’s the kind that’s in our heads — that OMG I’m so overwhelmed right now feeling. While psychological stress has some definite downsides (chronic freak-outs may increase our risk for cancer and other diseases), take a moment to exhale. In moderate amounts, stress can boost our focus, energy, and even our powers of intuition.

Still, in some cases, stress does more than light a productivity-boosting fire under our butts. Both emotional and physical stress activate our central nervous system, causing a “natural high,” says Concordia University neuroscientist and addiction specialist Jim Pfaus. “By activating our arousal and attention systems,” Pfaus says, “stressors can also wake up the neural circuitry underlying wanting and craving — just like drugs do.”

This may be why, experts believe, some of us come to like stress a little too much.

Type A and Type D personalities — or people prone to competitiveness, anxiety, and depression — may be most likely to get a high from stressful situations, says stress management specialist Debbie Mandel. Stress “addicts,” Mandel says, “may also be using endless to-do lists to avoid less-easy-to-itemize problems — feelings of inadequacy, family conflicts, or other unresolved personal issues.”

Some stress junkies have difficulty listening to others, concentrating, and even sleeping because they can’t put tomorrow’s agenda out of their minds, explains Mandel. Others tend to use exaggerated vocabulary — craaazy busy right now, workload’s insane!! And some begin to feel anxious at the mere thought of slowing down their schedule.

But psychologist and addiction researcher Stanton Peele cautions against labeling anyone a stress addict. “Only when that pursuit of stress has a significant negative impact on your life could it qualify as addiction,” he said, adding that many people are able to effectively manage — and in fact thrive under — high stress conditions. (Think: Olympic athletes or President Obama.)

Study: Stress Shrinks the Brain and Lowers Our Ability to Cope with Adversity

For budding stress “addicts” or for those who just, well, feel overwhelmed, here are some tips to dial down that anxiety:

Seek professional help if you’re verging on burnout. (Not only can hashing it out with a therapist take a load off your mind. Some studies suggest it also boosts physical fitness.)
Do something creative. Mandel recommends carving out a once-weekly time not to think about tomorrow’s agenda by painting, cooking, writing, dancing, or anything else that’ll take you off the clock temporarily.
Take it outside. Numerous studies show spending time in nature improves general well-being, lowers anxiety, stress and depression, and even boosts self-confidence. Especially for women. (As it turns out, most addiction recovery centers offer outdoor-immersion programs.)
Calm down quickly. If you really don’t have time for any of the above, these 40 tricks to chill take five minutes or less.

Some of us may seek out stress a bit more excessively than others and struggle to just relax. It takes skill to handle hectic agendas and long lists of responsibilities — without losing sleep or feeling frazzled. So try these tips and try not to freak out.

Worried that you or someone you know seeks out stress a little too much? Think stress addiction is a myth? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

For those red wine drinkers who’ve been feeling morally superior about all the health benefits of the relaxing glass or two sipped during dinner, there’s some bad news on the horizon.

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Thu, 6 Sep 2012 22:32:00 -0700

Turns out, those glasses of wine would be a lot healthier if they were non-alcoholic, a new study shows. Spanish researchers led by Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the University of Barcelona found that non-alcoholic red wine reduced blood pressure in men at high risk for heart disease better than standard red wine or gin, according to the study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research. Although the reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was modest, decreases of just 4 and 2 mm Hg have been associated with a 14 to 20 percent reduction in heart disease and stroke, the researchers pointed out. “The daily consumption of dealcoholized red wine could be useful for the prevention of low to moderate hypertension,” they concluded. Although there have been many studies on the impact of moderate drinking on health, the findings have been mixed, with some studies showing a benefit and others suggesting none. The new study found that 3 ounces of gin a day had no impact on blood pressure, while consumption of regular red wine led to a small, but not statistically significant, improvement. The new study suggests that if you’re going to have a drink, red wine would be the healthiest choice, said Dr. Kelly Anne Spratt, a heart disease prevention specialist and a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Still, Spratt said, “while there are those of us in cardiology who believe in the benefits of red wine, we want to be wary. We’re not going like gangbusters recommending people go out and start drinking. There are a lot of problems associated with drinking, like weight gain, cardiomyopathy, alcoholism, an increased breast cancer risk in women who consume two or more drinks a day.” Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues suspect that blood pressure improvements were due to the impact of polyphenols, a red wine component, on nitric oxide. The theory is that nitric oxide molecules help blood vessels relax, which allows better flow and more blood to reach the heart and other organs. For the new study, Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues followed 67 men with diabetes or three or more cardiovascular risk factors. During the study, the men were all required to consume the same foods along with one of three drinks: 10 ounces of red wine, 10 ounces of non-alcoholic red wine or 3 ounces of gin. During the 12 week study, the men tried each diet/beverage combination for four weeks at a time. The researchers determined that the standard red wine and its nonalcoholic counterpart contained equal amounts of polyphenols, an antioxidant which has been shown to decrease blood pressure. Men who drank regular red wine saw minor reductions in blood pressure – too small, in fact, to be statistically significant. Those who drank gin with their meals saw no change in blood pressure. But men who drank non-alcoholic red wine saw a blood pressure decrease of about 6 mm Hg in systolic and 2 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure. Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues concluded that their findings show that the alcohol in red wine actually weakens its ability to lower blood pressure.

Nikon releases Android-powered compact camera

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 06:27:00 -0700

Image via CrunchBase

The camera can upload images to sharing sites as well as browse the web and download movies

The first mainstream digital camera to be powered by Google's Android system has been released by Nikon.

The Japanese company's point-and-shoot Coolpix S800c model is being marketed as a "social imaging device".

Demand for compact cameras has suffered because of the rise of smartphones.

However, Nikon says its latest model offers superior picture quality thanks to the size of its lens, as well as the opportunity to install photo-editing apps and other software.

A statement from Nikon said the combination of the camera's wi-fi connectivity and new software would make it easier for users to upload their shots to social networks.

"Just like a smartphone or tablet device, the camera has the opportunity to run camera-specific photo and video applications, yet enables the various benefits of shooting with a camera," it added.

"The S800c provides access to a vast world of applications for games, productivity and personal communication/email, including Nikon's photo storage and sharing site."

The device is being marketed for $350 (£220), making it about half the price of top-end Android smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X - but one analyst said Nikon might struggle to take advantage of the fact.

Nikon's D90 SLR is more popular than any of its point-and-shoot models on Flickr

"The challenge for the camera manufacturers at the lower end is that smartphones have become so capable, so a product like this may just be too late to the market," said Martin Gill, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

"In most developed countries mobile phones are now ubiquitous and smartphone use is rapidly becoming mainstream as well.

"People carry them wherever they go, so a point-and-shoot camera will only ever be an add-on product they would also have to take with them."

Android SLRs?

Statistics from Yahoo's Flickr photo support the idea that many social-network users are opting for either smartphones or high-end devices.

Its list of the five most popular devices includes two Apple iPhones, two single-lens reflex (SLR) models from Canon, and one SLR from Nikon.

But the editor of the UK's Amateur Photographer magazine, said the launch should not be dismissed.

"This may help the firm grab a bigger share of a diminishing market," said Damien Demolder.

"But what we may see next is that this kind of technology spreads into other manufacturers products in both the compact market and, in time, in SLR cameras as well.

"Some of the added functionality will be useful to serious users. Advanced in-camera editing is really missing from the market at present - the ability to install and use progams will make being creative so much easier."

Tech site Engadget reported in March that Samsung was also considering installing an "open" third-party operating system on some of its cameras, but had yet to make a decision.

Google does not charge third-parties to use its software.

However, Microsoft does demand a licence fee for patents it owns, which it says are involved in Android technology.

Neither Microsoft nor Nikon were able to say at this time whether they had struck an agreement.

Floating Towns & Ocean Cities dozens of picturesque floating villages and islands that are so heavily populated

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:12:00 -0700

There’s only one Venice, but you might be surprised to find that you can get the same scenic and historic feel – complete with canal ‘streets’ and gondoliers – in several other towns across the globe. In fact, there are dozens of picturesque floating villages and islands that are so heavily populated, you can barely tell that there’s land under all the man-made structures. Here are 15 of the world’s most fascinating water-based communities.

Santa Cruz del Islote, Colombia

(images via: smilepanic, noticiasinteresantes)

From above, you can barely see a spot of land on this island, so completely covered is it with houses. Santa Cruz del Islote is located off the coast of Colombia and measures just .046 square miles, yet has an astonishing population of 1,200, making it the most densely populated island on earth.

Ganvie, Benin

(images via: hugo, erik cleves kristensen)

The largest lake village in Africa can be found in Lake Nokoué, in the nation of Benin. Established in the 16th or 17th centuries, Ganvieis a neighborhood of 3,000 buildings on stilts, with a population of 20-30,000. Residentsof Ganvie, which is often referred to as Africa’s Venice, subsist mostly on fishing with a little tourism, and use pirogues (canoes) to get around.

Ko Panyi, Thailand

(images via: wikimedia commons, luxury thailand travel)

Set against the dramatic background of picturesque Phang Nga Province in Thailand, the fishing village of Ko Panyi looks like paradise for people who love the water and tropical weather. The village was built on stilts by fishermen and houses about 2,000 people descended from 2 families. The coolest thing about this village is its floating soccer pitch, built by local children from old scraps of wood and fishing rafts.

Loreto Island, Lake Iseo, Italy

(images via: jon shave, imgur)

L’isola di Loreto in Italy’s Lake Iseo is not exactly crowded with people, but it’s almost entirely taken up by a castle, making it an unforgettable visual. Privately owned, the island was once the site of cloisters for the Sisters of Santa Chiara, built in 1400.

Halong Bay Floating Village, Vietnam

(images via: andrea schaffer, saragoldsmith)

Like Ko Panyi, the Halong Bay village in Vietnam is set up on the only flat space to be seen – the surface of the water. Except this one isn’t on stilts. It floats. Living directly on the bay makes it easy for the roughly 1,000 locals to catch fish and other seafood. The first two villages were formed in the early 19th century and the only time since then that the water hasn’t been heavily occupied with floating homes was during the war against the French from 1946 to 1954.

Naarden, Netherlands

(images via: wikimedia commons, google maps)

The geometry of the village of Naarden makes it an eye-catching sight when seen from above in a plane or virtually in Google Earth. It’s actually a star fort with fortified walls and a moat. Originally declared its own city in the year 1300, Naarden was fortified in the 17th century. It’s located about 15km east of Amsterdam.

Mexicaltitan, Mexico

(images via: odd stuff)

‘Mexico’s Venice’ is a small man-made island off the coast of the state of Nayarit reputed to be the birthplace of the Aztecs, the legendary Aztlan. Now promoted as a tourist attraction, Mexicaltitan is 1300 feet in diameter and home to more than 800 people. During the dry season it looks like any other island, but in the rainy season the streets flood, forcing locals to get around via canoe.

Uros Floating Village, Peru

(images via: stevencore, quinet)

The Uros people of Peru craft the islands they live on themselves, from dried totora reeds that grow within Lake Titicaca where they live. Originally built for defense purposes, the islands became the primary home of the Uros. When in contact with the water, the reeds at the bottoms of the islands rot, so they must be constantly replaced with new layers on top. Each island lasts about thirty years.

Migingo Island, Kenya

(images via: kenya stockholm)

The oft-disputed island of Migingo on Lake Victoria measures just half an acre and supports about 131 people, mostly fishermen. The modest island may not seem all that valuable, but it’s been claimed by both Kenya and Uganda because each wants access to potentially lucrative fishing rights within about 1,670 feet of the island.

Flores, Guatemala

(images vía: javier aroche, wikitravel)

Beautiful colonial red-roofed buildings cover the small island town of Flores on Lago Petén Itzá in Guatemala. The charming town is often used as a home base for travelers who wish to explore nearby Mayan ruins.

Wuzhen, China

(images via: wikimedia commons, suzuki)

Located in the center of six ancient towns south of the Yangtze River in China, Wuzhen is a scenic town full of canals navigated by water taxis reminiscent of those in Venice. Known as Wuzhen Water Town, the historic town is said to have been populated for at least 7,000 years and bears ancient stone bridges and wooden carvings.

Fadiouth, Senegal

(images via: yannarthusbertrand2.org, yosoyjuilito, wikimedia commons)

The entire town of Fadiouth sprang from a clam shell. Or, more accurately, thousands upon thousands of them. That’s what the island itself is made of. Just off the village of Joal in Senegal, Fadiouth has granaries on stilts in the water, growing exports like millet. There’s also a separate clam shell island that functions as the village’s cemetery.

Zhouzhang, China

(images via: wikimedia commons)

Here’s another example of a Venice-like town in China, infused with ancient Chinese history and culture. Zhouzhang is a water township surrounded and divided by lakes and rivers and has 14 stone bridges, including one built in the Ming Dynasty.

Lindau, Germany

(images via: wikimedia commons, lindauerhof)

Connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway, the historic city of Lindau is a Bavarian town on an island in Lake Constance in Germany. Remains of an early Roman settlement from the 1st century have been found on the island, and in the 13th century it became home to a monastery. Today, its distinctive Bavarian architecture and beautiful views have made it a popular tourist spot.

Kay Lar Ywa, Myanmar

(images via: pbase, wikimedia commons)

Myanmar’s Inle Lake supports 70,000 people in four cities including the small comity of Kay Lar Ywa. Many of the residents live in simple wooden houses on bamboo stilts, and support themselves by growing food in floating gardens. The Intha people have a practice known as‘leg rowing’, hooking a leg around a long oar to propel a boat to navigate between their homes and gardens. Some 100,000 people live and work on the water.

Could you imagine living in a real glass house

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 02:56:00 -0700

Could you imagine living in a real glass house? Created as a concept to showcase Italian company Santambrogio’s glass furniture line, this set of two concept homes would be made from blue-ish glass. From the mind of architect Carlo Santambrogio and designer Enno Arosic, you could actually own one of these if you so desired… if you could stomach the $6200-per-square-foot pricetag and the monthly cleaning bill.

London's secret music venue and their livestream act

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:26:00 -0700

With an invite-only door policy and super secret location, Boiler Room is London's most exclusive music venue. But elitism isn't the premise for its clandestine nature—in fact, anyone with an Internet connection can easily join in the fun. Using a simple webcam, the crew behind Boiler Room livestreams each set for the world to see free of charge, and each month more than a million viewers tune in to see performances by artists like James Blake, The xx, Roots Manuva, Neon Indian, Juan Maclean and more.

We recently chilled out to the smooth sounds of Brooklyn's How To Dress Well before rocking out to revered musician Matthew Dear, who brought down the house with an intense 40-minute DJ set. Keep an eye out for our interview with Dear, but for now you can get a little more insight into the underground music scene's most talked about livestream show by checking out our interview with assistant musical programmer and Boiler Room host Nic Tasker.

How important is it for Boiler Room to remain secret, at least in its location?

That is quite an important aspect of it, purely because it means when you do shows you don't get a lot of groupies, pretty much everyone in the room is either a friend of ours or one of the artist's. It helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere for the artist and I think they feel less pressure. They're also just able to chill out and be themselves more rather than having people being like, "Hi can I get your autograph?" If the artists are relaxed usually you get the best music.

It seems like there is more interaction among the crowd than at a typical venue, is that intentional?

It's definitely a social place. All the people that come down, most of them we know and they're all our friends. So they come down, hang, have a drink and just chill out, basically. From our very set-up, we do it with a webcam, we're not a highly professional organization but I think that's kind of the charm of it. The main thing is people come down with the right attitude.

How much of the show is prescribed?

I guess that depends on the artist. We never say anything. Literally, whatever they want to do—we're kind of the platform for them to do whatever they want, so if Matthew Dear wants to come and play an hour of noise with no beats, he can do that. That's fine with us, and I think that's why artists like coming to play for us. We're not like a club where you have to make people dance, we don't give a shit if people dance. It's nice if they do and it makes it more fun, but some nights you just get people appreciating the music, which is equally fun.

Is there a particular kind of artist you guys look for and ask to come perform?

No, not particularly, it's just whatever we're feeling. Thristian [Boiler Room's co-founder] has the main say on musical direction, but it's a massive team effort. In London there's five of us, New York there's two, LA there's one and Berlin there's two.

Tonight you had different set-ups for each artist, do you tailor their positioning in the room to their style?

It definitely depends on the act and what kind of music they do. With live bands we found what works nicely is having them opposite each other because it's like they're in rehearsal, like they're just jamming. Which is again trying to give them that chilled out feel that they're just at home jamming and there happens to be a camera there. For some of our shows we've had over 100,000 viewers. When you think of those numbers it's quite scary, but when you're in the room and it's all friends it creates that vibe that people don't mind. You can imagine if you had all those people in front of you it would be a very different situation.

Have you ever thought of Boiler Room as an East London version of Soul Train?

It's never crossed my mind like that, but I can see why you think that. I like to think of us as the new music broadcaster, kind of the new MTV, but obviously we operate in the underground scene mainly. But I like to think that what we do is as revolutionary as what they were doing. We're always growing into something new.

What's up next for Boiler Room?

We have had visual people in doing 3D mapping, and that's something we're looking forward to progressing—doing more with the visuals. We've got the upstairs as well, we're starting to do breakfast shows with some high profile DJs, we're going to be doing that regularly. Each will have an individual format. The next step is progressing the US shows, we're alternating weekly between New York and LA, so the next step is to take Boiler Room to America

Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap presents a groundbreaking developmental road map to guide readers away from their co-dependent behaviors and toward a life of wholeness and fulfillment.

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 02:08:00 -0700

Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap presents a groundbreaking developmental road map to guide readers away from their co-dependent behaviors and toward a life of wholeness and fulfillment.UK Citizens

This is the book that offers a different perspective on codependency and is strongly recommended by Dream Warrior Recovery as part of a solution based recovery. This bestselling book, now in a revised edition, radically challenges the prevailing medical definition of co-dependency as a permanent, progressive, and incurable addiction. Rather, the authors identify it as the result of developmental traumas that interfered with the infant-parent bonding relationship during the first year of life.US Citizens

Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Barry and Janae Weinhold correlate the developmental causes of co-dependency with relationship problems later in life, such as establishing and maintaining boundaries, clinging and dependent behaviors, people pleasing, and difficulty achieving success in the world. Then they focus on healing co-dependency, providing compelling case histories and practical activities to help readers heal early trauma and transform themselves and their primary relationships.

'water light graffiti' by antonin fourneau

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:53:00 -0700

conceived by french digitalarti artlab residence designer antonin fourneau, 'water light graffiti' is a wall comprised of thousands
of LED lights that become illuminated through contact with water or moisture. located in poitiers, france, the public installation can be
manipulated with a paintbrush, water gun, fingers or anything damp to embed a vivid digital message. the piece forms
an interactive communal urban space which visually communicates ephemeral messages without deterioration.

children interacting with the LED wall

creating imagery though a spray bottle

example of created image sequence

'water light graffiti' video

community artwork

community artwork

gif animation of 'water light graffiti'image via

Pigs worship God of Materialism

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 19:57:00 -0700

If ever there was a god to prevent you from worshiping material things, it would be this one.

The hideous pig-like thing is the masterpiece by Chinese artist Chen Wenling called God Of Materialism.

Ugly pig with green eye darting at thier master

Looking chuffed, the huge greedy pig has minions of other tiny, and just as unattractive and scary, pigs worshiping in awe at its heels.

The group stare up at their master, adorned with a plethora of jewels and necklaces representing the grotesque love of material things.

The sculpture, which looks like a bad dream, can be found at the Asia Art Centre in Beijing.

And if you're brave enough to go and see it, it will be there till October 18th 2008.

Brad Pitt is reportedly utilising his free time to plan his wedding with Angelina Jolie.

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 02:41:00 -0700

The 48-year-old has taken charge of preparations for the wedding that is expected to take place end of September. He has flown in a team of builders to renovate the home he shares with Jolie in southern France.

"Angelina isn`t so bothered about when they tie the knot, it`s Brad who is piling on the pressure," a website has quoted a source as saying.

"He wants the main house to be finished when the event takes place, even though the close friends and relatives who are invited aren`t the types to care. He wants everything to be absolutely perfect," the source added.

yellow jacket stun gun case for iphone

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sat, 4 Aug 2012 03:56:00 -0700

yellow jacket is a case that transforms the iPhone 4 & 4S into that 650,000-volt stun gun you've always needed.

scheduled to hit the US market in fall 2012 the case is advertised as being able to
easily stop an aggressive male attacker, and ready for use in less than two seconds.
its designer seth froom, a former military policeman came up with the product after
being robbed in his home at gunpoint.

what is the demand for such a hostile product you might ask? well, yellow jacket
has managed to receive over 100,000 USD worth of backing on the crowd-funding
website indiegogo which means that there must be quite a few people out there
who feel the need to transform their phone into a weapon.

detail of the stun gun nodes

the iPhone's designers could never have conceived half of the the weird and wonderful accessories
that have been designed for use with the iPhone since its launch, but even in the name of self defense
a stun gun seems a bit much, doesn't it?

Now You Can Buy a $250,000 Nail Polish

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 17:39:00 -0700

Remember that time when everyone got all freaked out about thatsnakeskin pedicure that cost $300? Well, get ready to completely lose it, because we just got a press release for the “most expensive nail polish in the world.”

That title was previously held by Models Own, which produced a $130,000 bottle (featuring a 24-carat gold, diamond-encrusted lid) back in 2010. However, the self-professed “king of black diamonds,” Azature, has doubled that figure. A bottle of black nail polish containing a whopping 267 carats of black diamonds in the actual polish will go for $250,000. Yikes. You won’t be able to just walk into Duane Reade and buy this sucker, however–only one bottle of the stuff will be produced.

For those of us who can’t afford a quarter of a million dollars for a manicure, Azature is offering a $25 version (see, now doesn’t $25 nail polish sound downright cheap in comparison?) containing one measly black diamond. You’ll be able to pick it up in LA at Fred Segal starting this month.

Estepona Town Hall sacks 176 municipal workers

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 16:50:00 -0700

The news was given on Wednesday by the Councillor for Personnel, Pilar Fernández-Figares Estepona Town Hall has sacked 176 municipal workers. The PP Councillor for Personnel, Pilar Fernández-Figares, announced on Wednesday that the 176 workers are victims of the ERE Employment Regulation which the Town Hall put forward in June. The workers will be compensated with 2.5 million € and they will be given their ‘finiquito payments of 408,000 € between them. Pilar Fernández-Figares said one they were sacked the Town Hall will start to work on a new ‘training program for the reinsertion of the sacked workers’.

BMW to sell luxury cars for less online

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 11:24:00 -0700

The BMW i3 concept car at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January. (John T. Greilick / Detroit News)

BMW will sell cars over the Web for the first time as the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles seeks an inexpensive way to reach more buyers to recoup spending on its electric models.

A direct online sales platform for BMW's new I sub-brand will be unique in an industry where, outside of small-scale experiments, competitors leave Internet orders for cars to dealers. BMW's range of strategies for the models, including a roaming sales force backing a limited showroom network, reflects the challenge carmakers face as low-emission vehicles trickle into dealerships to sluggish demand after years of development.

"There is considerable risk in BMW's approach of promoting the I brand so prominently," said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Science in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. "There is the image risk, if they don't succeed as quickly as expected, and then there's the main risk of costs, which can only be countered with high deliveries."

BMW opened the I models' first showroom Tuesday in London, although only prototype cars and informational materials will be displayed at first because the vehicles themselves won't go on sale before next year. BMW is spending about $3 billion developing the i3 battery-powered city car and i8 plug-in hybrid supercar, according to an estimate by Frost & Sullivan. Industry sales of electric cars last year, at 43,000 vehicles, were only 57 percent of the 75,000 deliveries predicted by Sarwant Singh, a London-based automotive partner at the consulting company.

Starting prices posted

The four-seat i3, scheduled to reach the market in late 2013, will be priced at about 40,000 euros ($48,500), Bratzel estimated. That compares with a 23,850-euro starting price ($29,388) in Germany for the 1-Series, the cheapest BMW-brand car. The i8, targeted for sale in 2014, will cost more than 100,000 euros ($123,221), according to Ian Robertson, BMW's sales chief.

Details of how I-model buyers, the website and dealerships will interact are "still in the planning process" and will be communicated later, Linda Croissant, a spokeswoman at Munich- based BMW, said last week. Sales will be focused on the world's major urban areas, she said.

The online sales option is aimed at a generation of drivers used to making daily purchases over the Internet, and will be an extension of the car configuration that most automakers offer customers to view models with desired options such as interior colors, seat materials and roof styles.

Test drives not an option

The Internet platform may take a while to catch on because "many customers will still want to go somewhere to look at and drive the vehicle before buying," said Ian Fletcher, an auto analyst in London at research company IHS Global Insight.

"With new technologies, there may be even greater skepticism about buying a car over the Internet, as in many cases you'll have to win the confidence of customers that it works and there is support for them," Fletcher said in an email.

The setup may help BMW reduce expenses: Internet sales require less than half the cost of distributing through a dealership, according to Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. That allows online car prices to be 5 percent to 7 percent less than showroom tags.

Still, BMW sees standard dealerships as "the backbone of what we are doing in the interface with the customer" for the I models, Robertson said in June at a press presentation at the sub-brand's Park Lane showroom in London.

Dealer selection criteria

Outlets will be restricted to dealers with high BMW-brand sales volume who have floor space as well as capacity to work with I models' powering technology and carbon-fiber body material, Robertson said. The carmaker has chosen 45 of its approximately 200 dealers in Germany to sell the i3 and i8, a ratio that will probably be similar elsewhere, he said.

Dealers will be designated as agents for the I models, which provides an "advantage" by keeping the vehicles on the carmaker's books, the association of BMW distributors in Germany said in an email.

Electric vehicles' disadvantages versus conventional cars include costly battery packs, limited ranges and the time needed to recharge. Consumer reception to models like the Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf and General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt has been tepid.

"Currently available electric cars have a limited market success because they are a big compromise," said Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst at Credit Suisse AG. "Customers are not willing to compromise and spend a lot of money."

Carbon fiber bodies lighter

BMW Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer started Project I at the end of 2007 as tighter emissions regulations threatened the viability of sporty sedans. BMW chose to create all-new vehicles that use expensive carbon fiber for a lighter body to make up for the weight of the battery system.

The approach contrasts with a decision by Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars division to convert existing models, such as the van-like B-Class or two-seat Smart, to electric power.

To make its electric vehicles more attractive, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler's Smart brand offers to lease the battery separately from the car. The automaker has a target of selling more than 10,000 of the models next year, with a starting price of 18,910 euros plus monthly battery rental at 65 euros.

The I models' new technology poses risks for BMW, "but they have no choice if they want to keep their premium and image as an innovation leader," Ellinghorst said.

The i3 and i8 will probably be among BMW's lowest-selling models through 2024, alongside the existing Z4 roadster, according to IHS estimates. In 2014, the first full year of production, BMW will probably deliver 31,380 i3s, compared with 564,760 of the best-selling 3-Series model and 18,101 Z4s, a study by the research company shows.

BMW's stance is that the models should produce earnings from the start, sales chief Robertson said.

"We clearly, as a company, go into any product launch with the view of making profit, which is no different with the I brand," Robertson said. "This is a car line just as every other car line, and we intend to make profit from Day 1."

plastic garbage guarding the museum

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:11:00 -0700

'plastic garbage guarding the museum' is the latest street intervention by spanish art collective luzinterruptus
displayed as part of the 'oh, plastiksacki' exhibition at the gewerbemuseum of winthertur, a show curated by ida-marie corell
and susanna kumschick revolving around the common plastic bag.

in constructing the large-scale installation, luzinterruptus invited city inhabitants of the swiss town to bring disposable shopping sacs
to the museum in exchange for tickets to visit the institution's various exhibitions. this initiative helped them collect more than
5,000 bags to create the colorful and illuminated work whereby they filled the bags with air - resulting in balloon forms -
placed thousands within two large dumpster bins, each outfitted with a light, to form a mountain of rainbow hued plastic.
each situated on either side of the museum's front door, the project is meant to bring forth discussion about consumption
and the reality of plastic bags, that when not used or disposed of correctly can be very damaging to the environment.
displayed over the course of four months, the work was also a documentation of the plastic bags' evolution,
sitting outside to face the elements demonstrating in a visual manner the reality of this common day object.

'plastic garbage guarding the museum' container

installation view of the colorful mountain of plastic bags

detail

containers guarding the museum

'plastic garbage guarding the museum'

bag details

bag detail

inauguration of the project

the installation after four months

forming the installation

setting-up

Egan has tracked down the exact places where photos of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel and more were taken in the 1960s and 1970s and transposed the album covers onto modern-day photographs.

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 01:53:00 -0700

Look into New York City’s past, at the locations where iconic album cover photos were taken, in a series of photo montages by Bob Egan called ‘PopSpots.’ Egan has tracked down the exact places where photos of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel and more were taken in the 1960s and 1970s and transposed the album covers onto modern-day photographs.

“Manhattan is constantly being torn down and rebuilt anew, and I’m trying to find these places while they are still around,” says Egan. At the PopSpots website, he runs down the process of finding and photographing each site. It can take a lot of work to identify the exact spot; at times, Egan has to pay attention to minute details in the photographs. Others, like Springsteen standing in front of Public School 111 on the cover of ‘River’, are much easier.

For example, he explains some of his sleuthing to spot the exact subway platform upon which Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon stood approximately 47 years ago for the cover of ‘Wednesday Morning, 3AM.’ Several websites identified it as the platform at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, but to find the exact spot he had to look to things like the height of the support beams.

Egan has also begun to branch out beyond album covers, and outside New York City. He photographed the bridge that was the setting for Edvard Munch’s iconic painting, ‘The Scream.’ See the whole collection at PopSpotsNYC.com.

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:48:00 -0700

'It's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce.' Photograph: Gary Powell/Getty Images

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings – at least if you believe the report in Thursday's Daily Mail, which looked at "embarrassing" matching couple tattoos – designs that complement or complete each other across two, romantically involved bodies.

Yet there are millions of people who feel no embarrassment about the tattoos they share with their friends, lovers and even exes. Moreover, as with most perceived "new trends" in tattooing, this practice is one with a history far older than the current generation; it's a phenomenon that provides both an insight into human beings' fundamental relationships with their own bodies and the bodies and lives of those close to them.

Tattoos have been used as markers of association for probably as long as human beings have walked the earth, to mark tribal affiliations, regimental membership in the military, membership of fraternal orders such as the masons or US college Greek letter groups, and to signify gang membership.

The most common of these types of affiliative tattoos, though, is marking an attachment to a loved one. There's an old adage in tattooed circles that suggests getting your lover's name tattooed on you is a sure kiss of death for that relationship, and it's an old gag too: Norman Rockwell's famous 1944 Saturday Evening Post cover painting, The Tattooist, shows a salty sailor in the tattooist's chair, having yet another name added to an arm already full of the crossed-out names of past paramours. Even earlier, a cartoon in Punch from 1916 shows a "fickle young thing" – a well-turned-out young woman, as it happens – revisiting her tattooist to seek an amendment to the ornamental crest tattoo on her arm as she has, euphemistically, "exchanged into another regiment".

None of this seems to have affected the long-standing popularity of having names or symbols tattooed to commemorate couples' love and bond. Magazines in the 1920s reported the latest fad for newlyweds was getting matching tattooed wedding rings; preserved tattooed skins in the Wellcome Collection from the late 19th century feature names and portraits of lovers; studies of tattoos in the American navy in the 18th century reveal a large percentage of seamen of the period bore tattoos of the names of women; even Christian pilgrims in the 16th century were recorded to have borne the names of their wives on their skins, as tokens or identificatory marks; and records attest to romantic tattooing even in ancient Rome – St Basil the Great (329-380) is said to have condemned the tattooing of a lover's name that he observed on someone's hand. While I'd certainly never advocate getting a permanent mark of your relationship too hastily, it does seem that the instinct to inscribe a permanent token transcends the ages. Caveat amator.

Single tattoos that span multiple bodies appear to be a more recent phenomenon, however. In 1977, New York-based tattoo artist Spider Webb undertook what was probably the first conceptual art project to use tattooing, in a piece called X-1000, in which he tattooed single, small Xs on to 999 individuals, and, as a culmination, one large X on the final, 1,000th skin, conceived as one contiguous work. This tattoo, potentially spanning thousands of miles at any one time, was, Webb said, "the largest tattoo ever done at any point in history". In 2000, as the culmination to a performance art project begun in 1998 designed to highlight the horrific lives and plights of the homeless and hungry in Mexico City, Santiago Sierra produced his piece 160cm Line Tattooed on Four People, a single black line tattooed across the backs of prostitutes in exchange for wraps of heroin, as a symbol of their desperation, interdependence, and utter powerlessness. Sierra would later remark: "You could make this tattooed line a kilometre long, using thousands and thousands of willing people." In 2003, author Shelley Jackson famously published her short story Skin on the bodies of 2095, one tattooed word per person. These tattoos bring together strangers in common cause.

My favourite set of matching tattoos, though, are probably the ongoing collection of work worn by twins Caleb and Jordan Kilby, tattooed with matching work by influential and extraordinarily talented New York-based artist Thomas Hooper. If you must get matching tattoos with someone, it's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce, and to get the work carried out by a tattoo artist who will produce a piece of work that will stand the test of time on its own terms.

Latvian company creates leather bound Ferrari

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:23:00 -0700

We're familiar with seeing tight leather on smoking hot women, and weird old men, but it's a first for us seeing a leather bound Ferrari F430.

There seems to be a lot of fuss over this leather bound Ferrari F430 in the UK with both The Sun and The Daily Mail reporting about it recently.

However, this isn’t a new car by any means as US motoring blog Jalopnikreported on the F430 way back in August last year. It’s a pretty cool, albeit manky, car so we thought we’d show you anyway.

It’s the work of a Latvian custom car company called Dartz who hit the headlines in 2009 when they created a $1.5 million ruby red SUV with whale foreskin-covered seats. Yes, foreskin…

Anyway, some high roller with more cash then sense decided it would be a great idea to cover his €170,000 Ferrari in dark leather.

The owner of Dartz, Leonard Yankelovich, said: "One of our very rich customers from the Cote d'Azur wanted a leather exterior and knew we could deliver.

"It took three of my staff 16 working days to apply the leather and finish. He was more than happy when he picked it up."

He won’t be too happy when he scratches it though.

Is this the most expensive way to ruin a Ferrari?

art galleries in Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Wed, 4 Jul 2012 22:02:00 -0700

Hong Kong's cash-rich art scene features major international players such as White Cube and Gagosian, says critic Mary Agnew, but there are also smaller galleries that challenge the status quo

2P Contemporary Art Gallery, where openings tend to be raucous social reunions – spilling on to the street outside

2P Contemporary Art

Tucked away on a quiet cul-de-sac in the eastern district of Sai Ying Pun, 2P is the sole art gallery on a dead-end road otherwise populated by apartments, shops and launderettes. But this modest, well-designed space boasts a programme with considerable whack – it became the first homegrown Hong Kong gallery to be accepted into LISTE at Art Basel this year; it brought with it the considerable local talents of performance artist Morgan Wong and multimedia and installation artists Magdalen Wong, Wun Ting Wendy Tai and Canadian-based Will Kwan. The tiny gallery's openings tend to be raucous social reunions – spilling on to the street outside – for the city's artists, curators and writers.
• Shop 5, GF Poga Building, 6-20 Po Tuck Street, Sai Ying Pun, +852 2803 2151, 2p-gallery.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 1pm-7pm or by appointment

10 Chancery Lane

Erasure by Dinh Q, at 10 Chancery Lane

Hong Kong's ever-soaring rents and downtown space limitations have forced numerous gallerists with small spaces in Central to find exhibition rooms further afield. Seeing potential in the burgeoning artistic hub of Chai Wan early on, 10 Chancery Lane set up 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Art Projects in the heart of the cluster of high-rise industrial buildings that line the waterfront in the eastern district. The past two years have seen an influx of design and photography studios as well as a spattering of brave residents, seduced by high ceilings and loft-style living. Chancery Lane's large-scale installation by Vietnamese artist Dinh Q Lê pulled off the considerable feat of luring hundreds of Hong Kong's fickle art-viewing public away from their protective bubble of Central.
• GF, 10 Chancery Lane, Soho, Central, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Art Projects, 6F, Unit 604, Chai Wan Industrial City Phase 1, 60 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, +852 2810 0065, 10chancerylanegallery.com, free. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

Feast Projects

Process & Transformation by Chu Teh-Chun, at Feast Projects

Ap Lei Chau is a small, densely populated island to the south-west of Hong Kong Island, and its high-rise skyline of industrial buildings makes it an unusual place for a gallery. But Feast makes the most of it, with 5,500 sq ft of white walls, high ceilings and poured concrete floors generously spread over two levels of revamped industrial space. It was opened as a non-profit art space in 2011, with a show that filled the upper main gallery with the abstract oil paintings and calligraphy of world-renowned French-based artist Chu Teh-chun. Other artists of considerable standing have followed – Xie Lei, Marlène Mocquet andRashaad Newsome have all taken the opportunity to stretch their legs in Feast's bounteous space, a rarity in this hemmed-in city..
• Unit 307, 3F Harbour Industrial Centre, 10 Lee Hing Street, Ap Lei Chau, Aberdeen, +852 2553 9522, feastprojects.com, free. Open Tues-Sat noon-7pm

Gagosian

Andreas Gursky , at Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong

Of all the major international galleries that have been flooding into the city, the Gagosian caught on to Hong Kong's cash-rich market potential in 2010, opening a luxuriously large, light-filled space in the Pedder Building in Central shopping district. Since then, aside from much champagne-swilling and elbow-rubbing, there have been substantial solo offerings by blockbuster names such as Richard Prince, Roy Lichtenstein, Zheng Fanzhi and, recently, an Asia-influenced photographic show from Andreas Gursky. While Gagosian's programme has been a little hit and miss, a recent group sculpture exhibition showing the work of John Chamberlain and Cy Twombly hinted at a growing confidence and sophistication.
• 7F Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central, +852 2151 0555,gagosian.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 11am-7pm

Gallery EXIT

The Hartford Girl and Other Stories by Angela Su, at Gallery Exit

Gallery EXIT was established in 2008, aiming to present artwork that is not afraid to shock – an antidote to the predominantly safe art environment of Hong Kong. Four years later, it's still on message – a recent exhibition by local artist Angela Su consisted of video installations of the artist having 39 lines of text tattooed or "slashed" on to her back. Its centrally located, two-level shopfront building attracts a young, local and well-versed crowd, and the programme is a pretty good indicator of what is happening in East Asian art at ground level.
• 1 Shin Hing Street, Central, +852 2541 1299, galleryexit.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 11am-7pm

Hanart TZ

In the relatively young Hong Kong art world, Hanart TZ is positively geriatric. It is tirelessly led by director Johnson Chang, who has championed Chinese contemporary art in Hong Kong since the gallery opened in early 1980s. It recently moved from a modest, book-lined showroom to considerably bigger new digs in the Pedder Building in Central, pitting it against major blue chip international galleries such as Gagosian and Simon Lee. Hanart TZ holds a special place in the hearts of stalwart Hong Kong art lovers, having produced iconic exhibitions in the late 1980s celebrating the work of Ai Weiwei's infamous Stars group of experimental, political artists from China.
• 407 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central, +852 2526 9019,hanart.com, free. Open Mon–Fri 10am-6.30pm, Sat 10am-6pm

Para/Site Art Space

A History of Possible Encounters: Ai Weiwei, Frog King Kwok, Tehching Hsieh and Martin Wong in New York, at Para/Site Art Space

For a long time, Para/Site Art Space was Hong Kong's only non-profit gallery of note. Since its formation in 1996, this small Sheung Wan exhibition space has showed some pretty weighty names. Ai Weiwei has been included in its annual programme more than once, working jointly with performance artist and architect Vito Acconci in 2009, and spearheading its current group exhibition (closes on 12 August) with Frog King Kwok, Tehching Hsieh and Martin Wong, which tracks the four artists' time working and living in New York during the 1980s.
• GF 4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, +852 2517 4620, para-site.org.hk, free. Open Wed-Sun noon-7pm

Platform China

Hallelujah by Jia Aili, at Platform China

Platform China has been established in Beijing since 2005, and opened a multi-function art space in Hong Kong in May this year, bringing a reputation for Chinese contemporary art that encompasses visual art, music, architecture, performance, film and installations. It's a neighbour to 10 Chancery Art Projects in the fast-gentrifying industrial district of Chai Wan.
• Unit 601, Chaiwan Industrial City Phase 1, 60 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, +852 2523 8893, platformchina.org, free. Open Tues-Sat by appointment

Saamlung

The Untouchables, featuring work by Conor Backman, Kadar Brock, Hou Yong, Travess Smalley, Jo-ey Tang and Yan Xing, at Saamlung Photograph: Natasha Whiffin

Since it opened in November 2011, Saamlung has had one success after another, recently including the partially destroyed canvases of New York artist Kadar Brock. Painfully cool, Saamlung is the gallery equivalent of that secret bar that every city has, but few know how to get to – hidden among law firms and retail offices on the 26th floor of an otherwise obscure Hong Kong commercial building. Finding it is half the fun.
• 26F Two Chinachem Plaza, 68 Connaught Road, Central, +852 5181 5156, saamlung.com, free. Open Tues-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat noon-6pm

White Cube

London Pictures by Gilbert & George, at White Cube, Hong Kong

White Cube is the art world giant that everyone loves to hate. Big and brash, it came bounding into the city in April 2012 with an original Gilbert & George London paintings series. The show was roundly bashed in the press, but its scale couldn't be ignored. The bright, high-ceilinged main exhibition room, flowing into offices and private viewing rooms, could house most of its centrally located rivals many times over. However, it remains to be seen if it has the guts – or interest – to use all that space to challenge and surprise the Hong Kong audience with more than just bankable big names.
• 50 Connaught Road, Central, +852 2592 2000, whitecube.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 11am-7pm

Alvaro Siza Vieira, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:17:00 -0700

Alvaro Siza Vieira, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition – laBiennale di Venezia. Courtesy: Álvaro Siza office

Álvaro Siza Vieira’s birthday week just got even better, as he has been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition. The decision was made by the Board of la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, under Director David Chipperfield’s proposal. Siza will be honored at the Giardini of la Biennale, during the opening and award ceremony on August 29th, 2012.

“It is difficult to think of a contemporary architect who has maintained such a consistent presence within the profession as Álvaro Siza. That this presence is maintained by an architect that lives and works at the extreme Atlantic margin of Europe only serves to emphasize his authority and his status.”

Continue after the break to read more.

“Since the early appreciation of the Boa Nova restaurant and the swimming pools at Leca de Palmeira and a reputation confirmed by the early houses, Siza has maintained a unique position in the architectural galaxy. This position is full of paradox. Siza has upheld a consistent production of works at the highest level, yet without the slightest hint of the overt professionalism and promotion that has become part of the contemporary architect’s machinery. Apparently running in the opposite direction to the rest of the profession he always seems to be out in front, seemingly untainted and undaunted by the practical and intellectual challenges he sets himself.”

“Secured by his isolated location, he exudes worldly wisdom. Experimenting with forms of extreme geometry he manages to produce buildings of great rigor. Developing an architectural language that is uniquely his, he seems to speak to all of us. While his work exudes the security of judgment, it is clearly intensified through cautious reflection. While we are dazzled by the lightness of his buildings, we feel the seriousness of their substance. Those of us fortunate enough to have heard him speak about architecture, using words as sparingly and as precise as the fine lines of his drawings, know that these works are not the product of a conventional talent but of a mind sophisticatedly exercised by the confidence of knowledge and the wisdom of doubt.”

American street artist Frank Shepard Fairey works on his latest piece, Envision, above a shop in Turnpike Lane

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 06:48:00 -0700

.Photograph: Teri Pengilley

The natural territory of the street artist Shepard Fairey would seem to be as all-American as it gets. Emerging from the country's skateboarding scene he achieved global prominence with his much copied, much parodied Hope poster displaying a stylised Barack Obama in shades of blue and red.

He spent much of Friday assembling his latest street mural in a seemingly less likely locale – a suburban street in Turnpike Lane, one of north London's more economically mixed neighbourhoods.

Hoisted aloft by a rented cherry picker, the 42-year-old artist used stencils and paint to create Envision, an image of a giant, stylised eyeball design, set in the frame of a disused Victorian placard site on the wall of a local shop.

The unlikely public commission, carried out with any charge by the artist, was the almost accidental result of a wider community regeneration programme carried out by the local council, Haringey, and the green travel charity Sustrans.

In getting together to decide options for more pedestrian-friendly street layouts, locals pondered what to do with the crumbling and slightly tatty shop wall, and decided the existing frame left by the long-disappeared Victorian placard would be best filled by a mural.

James Straffon, a local who helped organise the project, went to a London art gallery specialising in graffiti artists to seek help.

He said: "The woman from the gallery asked: 'Ideally, who would you like?' I said: 'I know it would never happen, but Shepard Fairy.' She said: 'Shall I get in touch with him, then?' I stuck my neck out and said yes and sent them a diagram with the sizes, thinking nothing would happen. Literally a week later they said, he's interested and he's coming over."

Straffon says he remains unsure why such a celebrated artist would be interested in a relatively out-of-the-way location. He said: "I think what sold it was that it's an old Victorian billboard. I think they like the fact it's the old London thing."

Before Fairey arrived, Straffon and some neighbours spent a day preparing the wall, painting it in a specified shade of red for a background to the stencilled design.

The US artist and his team spent several hours in decidedly mixed weather putting the design in place. Straffon said: "He's come from west coast America to dreary, sodden London. He must be thinking: 'Great, I've got to do this.' It's quite windy, too."

Another oddity is that this is Turnpike Lane's second work by a globally-known street artist in a matter of months. Last month, a mural believed to be by Banksy, a rough UK equivalent to Fairey, appeared on the wall of the area's local Poundland shop, showing a child sweatshop worker sewing jubilee bunting.

George Washington's copy of US constitution sells for $9.8m

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 03:46:00 -0700

Portrait of George Washington, whose personal copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights fetched $9.8m at auction. Photograph: Stock Montage/Getty Images

George Washington's personal copy of the US constitution and bill of rights sold for $9.8m (£6.3m) at auction on Friday, setting a record for any American book or historic document.

Bidders at Christie's New York salesroom and others on the telephone competed for the first US president's signed, gold-embossed volume dating to 1789, which had a pre-sale estimate of up to $3m.

The non-profit Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, which maintains the historic Mount Vernon estate in Virginia that was Washington's home and is now open to the public, was the successful bidder.

"The unique book had been in the Mount Vernon library until 1876, and will soon be returned to that library," said Chris Coover, senior specialist of books and manuscripts at Christie's.

The bound volume was Washington's personal copy of the Acts of Congress and is noteworthy for his bold signature marking it as his own.

The Acts of Congress include the Constitution, whose preamble promises to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," and the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the constitution, which establish such fundamental liberties as the right to free speech, press, assembly and religion.

Christie's described the book as being in near-pristine condition after 223 years. It was specially printed for Washington in 1789, his first year in office as president.

The margins include Washington's handwritten brackets and notations highlighting key passages concerning the president's responsibilities.

The Acts of Congress volume was sold from Washington's library at Mt Vernon in 1876 and eventually bought at auction by collector Richard Dietrich in the 1960s. It was being sold by the family's estate.

Similar volumes created for Thomas Jefferson, the first secretary of state and third US president, and attorney general John Jay, are in Indiana's Lilly Library and a private collection, respectively.

Rare books and manuscripts have achieved impressive prices in recent years.

An autographed manuscript of Lincoln's 1864 election victory speech sold for $3.4m in February 2009, which set a record for an American manuscript at the time. A 1787 letter written from Washington to his nephew on the subject of the ratification of the Constitution fetched $3.2m in December 2009.

ASTON MARTIN ONE-77

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 03:03:00 -0700

performance@holmesandco-london.com

ASTON MARTIN ONE-77

Car No.40 of 77 Made.

The Client is seeking 1.2 Million Sterling for the Car.

The Cars were originally sold by Aston Martin for 1Million, plus costs.

Equivalent cars are available for 2 Million Sterling – 2.7 Million Dollars.

We are Offering the Car at 1.4 Million, but it should be considerably more.

Our Client wishes for the Sale to be Confidential, and approaching clients will need to provide documents

Entitled "Cock and Bull," this showpiece by British artist Damien Hirst towers above diners at Tramshed, which only serves chicken and steak.

noreply@blogger.com (Reportage) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 16:15:00 -0700

DAMIEN HIRST

Entitled "Cock and Bull," this showpiece by British artist Damien Hirst towers above diners at Tramshed, which only serves chicken and steak.

Internationally renowned British artist Damien Hirst has created an art piece for a London restaurant in which a whole Hereford cow and cockerel are preserved in formaldehyde in a steel and glass tank, smack dab in the middle of the dining room.

Called "Cock and Bull," the showpiece towers above diners at Tramshed which -- surprise -- serves only steak and whole roasted chicken.

Like a giant aquarium mounted on a TV stand, the art installation is an extension of Hirst's Natural History, a collection of preserved animals he's been creating since 1991 -- arguably his most famous series. Hirst also created a painting for the restaurant opening entitled "Beef and Chicken" which hangs on the mezzanine level and depicts the 1990s cartoon characters "Cow and Chicken."

In the basement level, the Cock ‘n' Bull gallery showcases a rotating art exhibit every six weeks. The first exhibition Quantum Jumping features art work themed around "jumping into a parallel dimension," and runs until July 1.

The classically British menu by chef and restaurateur Mark Hix, meanwhile, is conducive to family-style dining with whole roasted, free-range chickens or marbled sirloin steaks, both served with fries. Appetizers include Yorkshire pudding with whipped chicken livers, cauliflower salad, and smoked Cornish mackerel with beets and horseradish.

It's not unusual for restaurants to house the collections of famous and interesting artists, given the synergy between food and ambiance. Pierre Gagnaire's eponymous restaurant, in Paris, for instance, houses works from the Galerie Lelong, while Wolfgang Puck has also turned his restaurant space into an exhibit for a roster of rotating artists at his CUT steakhouse in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, restaurants like Eric Ripert's Le Bernardin in New York, Jason Atherton's Pollen Street Social in London and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market in London have been shortlisted in the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards this year.

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We come to realise that our past behaviour which is rooted and buried in our sub-conscious still rule controlling our lives today

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Kay Lar Ywa, Myanmar

(images via: pbase, wikimedia commons)

Could you imagine living in a real glass house

London's secret music venue and their livestream act

How important is it for Boiler Room to remain secret, at least in its location?

It seems like there is more interaction among the crowd than at a typical venue, is that intentional?

How much of the show is prescribed?

Is there a particular kind of artist you guys look for and ask to come perform?

Tonight you had different set-ups for each artist, do you tailor their positioning in the room to their style?

Have you ever thought of Boiler Room as an East London version of Soul Train?

What's up next for Boiler Room?

Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap presents a groundbreaking developmental road map to guide readers away from their co-dependent behaviors and toward a life of wholeness and fulfillment.

'water light graffiti' by antonin fourneau

Pigs worship God of Materialism

If ever there was a god to prevent you from worshiping material things, it would be this one.

Brad Pitt is reportedly utilising his free time to plan his wedding with Angelina Jolie.

yellow jacket stun gun case for iphone

Now You Can Buy a $250,000 Nail Polish

Estepona Town Hall sacks 176 municipal workers

BMW to sell luxury cars for less online

The BMW i3 concept car at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January. (John T. Greilick / Detroit News)

Starting prices posted

Test drives not an option

Dealer selection criteria

Carbon fiber bodies lighter

plastic garbage guarding the museum

Egan has tracked down the exact places where photos of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel and more were taken in the 1960s and 1970s and transposed the album covers onto modern-day photographs.

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings

Latvian company creates leather bound Ferrari

art galleries in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's cash-rich art scene features major international players such as White Cube and Gagosian, says critic Mary Agnew, but there are also smaller galleries that challenge the status quo

2P Contemporary Art

10 Chancery Lane

Feast Projects

Gagosian

Gallery EXIT

Hanart TZ

Para/Site Art Space

Platform China

Saamlung

White Cube

Alvaro Siza Vieira, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition

American street artist Frank Shepard Fairey works on his latest piece, Envision, above a shop in Turnpike Lane

George Washington's copy of US constitution sells for $9.8m