Monocle on Saturday, April 8, 2023: Georgina Godwin and the weekend’s biggest discussion topics. Simon Brooke reviews the papers, Andrew Mueller recaps the week and we visit a hub for Japanese culture in Washington.
All posts by She Seeks Serene
Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine – April 10, 2023
Barron’s Magazine – April 10, 2023:
Inside Morgan Stanley’s Success—and What’s Ahead
The firm plans to hit $10 trillion in client assets over the next decade. If James Gorman can get it there, the stock will keep winning.
Growth Funds Are Poised to Outshine Again. Here’s How to Pick the Right Ones.
Due to shifting market dynamics, some growth funds might no longer hold what have long been considered growth stocks. Three actively managed funds to consider.
This Fintech Is Safe From Banking Turmoil. Buy It While It’s Cheap.
Financial-software provider Jack Henry & Associates, at its cheapest valuation in years, can keep prospering even if banks continue to stumble.
Pinterest Is Staging a Turnaround. Why the Stock Is a Buy.
A new CEO—and an improvement in earnings—means that shares in the social-media site could rise by 20% from current levels.
Front Page: The New York Times – April 8, 2023
In Dealing With China, U.S. and Europe Take Different Tacks
The Biden administration says there is “convergence.” But trans-Atlantic leaders adopt different strategies on security and trade issues — including on Ukraine and Taiwan.
U.S. Job Growth Eases, but Extends Its Streak
Employers added 236,000 jobs as the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases appeared to take a toll. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent.
The Biden administration says there is “convergence.” But trans-Atlantic leaders adopt different strategies on security and trade issues — including on Ukraine and Taiwan.
Judge Invalidates F.D.A. Approval of the Abortion Pill Mifepristone
The Texas judge’s ruling was quickly contradicted by another federal judge in Washington State who ordered the F.D.A. to keep mifepristone available.
New Batch of Classified Documents Appears on Social Media Sites
Secret documents that appear to detail American national security secrets on Ukraine, the Middle East and China have surfaced online.
In A.I. Race, Microsoft and Google Choose Speed Over Caution
Technology companies were once leery of what some artificial intelligence could do. Now the priority is winning control of the industry’s next big thing.
The New York Times Book Review – April 9, 2023
The New York Times Book Review – April 9, 2023:
It’s Like ‘Little Women’ — but With Basketball
In “Hello Beautiful,” Ann Napolitano puts a fresh spin on the classic story of four sisters.
“It is your God-given right as an American fiction writer,” Ursula K. Le Guin once said, to change point of view. But “you need to know that you’re doing it,” she warned, and “some American fiction writers don’t.”
Osamu Dazai, With Help From TikTok, Keeps Finding New Fans
The enduring appeal of a midcentury Japanese novelist who wrote of alienation and suicide.
The first thing you hear is an eerie synth tone, followed by a portentous, insinuating voice. “Tell me, Dazai,” it says. “Why is it you wish to die?”
“Let’s turn that question around,” someone earnestly replies. “Is there really any value to this thing we call … living?” Then a beat drops, accompanied by distorted shouts.
Real People, Reincarnated in the Pages of New Novels
These hefty books explore the lives of a former poet, a polarizing artist and a Scottish rebel from unexpected angles.
One of the great attractions of historical fiction is its ability to approach the past from unexpected angles, allowing us to consider famous figures in surprising ways. It’s a tactic that pays off brilliantly in Stephen May’s elegantly acerbic SELL US THE ROPE (Bloomsbury, 240 pp., paperback, $18), which features a thuggish former poet who calls himself Koba. The world will later know him as Stalin.
Aerial Travel: Genoa In Northwestern Italy (4K)
Located about 75 miles (120 km) south of Milan on the Gulf of Genoa, the city occupies a narrow coastal plain and the western slopes of the Apennine Range. The city has a mild Mediterranean climate.
Shipbuilding is the major industry; other industries produce petroleum, textiles, iron and steel, locomotives, paper, sugar, cement, chemicals, fertilizers, and electrical, railway, and marine equipment. Genoa also is a major centre for finance and commerce. The port of Genoa leads all other Italian ports in volume of passengers and freight traffic and is the main source of city income. It handles imports chiefly of coal, crude oil, and grain and exports mainly of cotton and silk textiles, olive oil, and wine.
San Francisco Arts: ‘Ansel Adams + Richard Misrach: Exploring Legacies’ (2023)
Featuring archival footage of Ansel Adams, as well as interviews with Berkeley-based photographer Richard Misrach and FAMSF curator Lauren Palmor, this film examines the impact of Ansel Adams’s prolific photography in the Bay Area and beyond. “Ansel Adams in Our Time” is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in partnership with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
It is on view at the de Young museum from April 8 until July 23, 2023.
Architecture Tour: Leschi Inventor’s House, Seattle
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Inventors Dream House 00:23 – The Pacific North-West 00:37 – Liquid Light 00:48 – An Inventors Brief 01:36 – The Caterpillar Yellow 01:58 – A Walkthrough of the Home and the Experimental Spaces 02:25 – The View 02:56 – A Cantilevered Home 03:09 – The Mechanical Room 03:41 – Blurring the Boundaries Between Living and Experimenting 04:16 – The Materials 05:27 – Little Surprises at the Hands of the Craftsmen 06:14 – It’s About ‘How Things Work’
Following a brief that asked for a representation of the client’s characteristics, the architect has focused on supplying a home that allows the owner to create, workshop and experiment on different levels. Additionally, the architect responds to the home’s location, climate and consistent rain by employing materials that become one with the land as well as work with the wet weather Seattle is known for.
At the start of the inventor’s dream house tour, a big yellow front door has been created to greet visitors. Specifically chosen to be the exact same colour as Caterpillar’s heavy machinery, the door opens to reveal the unique interior of steel and concrete. On the front door, the owner’s experimental characteristics can be appreciated with a lock usually seen and used within a bank vault. As one continues through the inventors dream home and passes by the staircase made of industrial level steel, the welcoming of a double-height living space showcases the union between domains for experimentation and living.
As such, the use of black granite counters with an inbuilt Bunsen burner on the island table allows for the owner to do their own research within the comfort of their home with views over Lake Washington. To connect to the surrounds, giant glass panel doors have been installed across one wall of the living space – once opened, the living room becomes a deck space in which the owner can enjoy all year round. The main living quarters cantilever off a thick steel pipe, which also services the living room’s fireplace.
Upstairs, a loft has been stationed to be a think space for the inventor, while located on the ground floor is the mechanical room. Seen as the most important room within the inventors dream house, the undercroft of the home showcases an expression of all the mechanics and systems to the home, while also becoming celebration of everyone involved in the process. In the materiality palette of the inventors dream house, the architect uses weathered steel on the exterior as well as the interior – the cladded elements within the home have been waxed to allow for the steel to remain in its natural finish as it came out of the factory.
Additionally, concrete covers the floor to further allow for the owner to experiment with ease. Matched with the light and dark walls is the cabinetry, which is created from a dense particle board that has been stained and finished with a flat clear lacquer over the top. Designed to be a union between an assembly of pieces, the inventors dream house is finished and made to evolve in the wet weather so to become one with its surrounds.
Exhibitions: ‘Ramses And The Gold Of The Pharaohs’
It’s a gesture of recognition from Egyptian authorities after French scientists saved the mummy of Ramses II from a devastating fungus in 1976. Our Culture Editor Eve Jackson went to check out the once-in-a-lifetime show, while Lyana Saleh of FRANCE 24’s Arabic channel spoke with renowned Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass about the fight to repatriate Egypt’s ancient artefacts.
Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’
April 6, 2023: This week: Ben Luke talks to Melanie Gerlis about the recent turbulence in the banking sector, as US banks go under, an ailing Credit Suisse is acquired by UBS and Deutsche Bank shares fall at one point by 14%.
What are the implications for the art world? Melanie also explains the figures in the latest Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. The Baltimore Museum of Art in the US this week opens the exhibition The Culture: Hip Hop & Contemporary Art in the 21st Century.
We speak to Asma Naeem, the director of the BMA and co-curator of the show, about what she’s called “the second pop art movement”. And this episode’s Work of the Week is The Calling of Saint Matthew by the 17th-century Afro-Hispanic artist Juan de Pareja. He is best known as the subject of one of the greatest ever portraits, by Diego Velázquez, the artist who enslaved Pareja for two decades before his manumission in Rome in 1650.
David Pullins and Vanessa K. Valdés, the curators of a new exhibition about Juan de Pareja at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, tell us about the painting.The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Baltimore Museum of Art, until 16 July; St Louis Art Museum, 26 August-1 January 2024.Juan de Pareja, Afro-Hispanic Painter, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, until 16 July.
Interior Design: A Tour Of Berdoulat, Bath, England
Video timeline: 00:00 – Shop: “Originally in the 18th-century, the shop would have a completely different format” 02:51 – Kitchen & Living Room: “The kitchen is the real heart of the home” 05:24 – Internal Courtyard: “This is the room where we relax and also come up with ideas” 07:54 – Bedroom: “We colour-matched the original Georgian green” 10:30 – Shop Vaults: “This is the original kitchen from the 18th-century servants’ quarters”
With a deep respect for the history and soul of the building, they have sensitively renovated the Grade II-listed space. “In 1890, three very eccentric Victorians joined forces,” explains Patrick as he stands in the front-of-house shop.
“What they did with the building was to completely reformat the space. All of the internal walls at ground and first-floor were removed, as was the ceiling to create this fantastic double-heighted space.” Watch the full episode of Design Notes with Patrick & Neri Williams and tour Berdoulat in Bath.
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