Category Archives: Culture

Culture, Food & Drink, Magazines, Reviews, Tourism, Travel

Views: Discover Germany Switzerland & Germany Magazine – July 2023

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Fashion Finds: July 2023 | Discover Germany

Discover Germany, Switzerland and Austria – The top three hikes in the Alps; garden season highlights; a special focus on Alta Badia, a cyclist’s paradise; an interview with actor Peter Ketnath; top Riesling wines for long summer evenings; Switzerland’s best agencies and more… 

TOP 3 HIKES IN THE ALPS

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The Alps offer a variety of walks and hikes for every skill level. Some of our favourites can be found in the Swiss Aletsch Arena region which is known for its outstanding natural beauty, its many sunshine hours, and more.

Alta Badia: A CYCLIST’S PARADISE

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In the heart of the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage, Alta Badia offers the ideal area to experience the emotions that cyclists, from amateurs to professionals, seek and appreciate every time they saddle up.

In recent years, thanks to the numerous activities and initiatives related to cycling, Alta Badia has become a point of reference for demanding cyclists. In August 2022, Alta Badia was awarded the GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) certificate, an internationally recognised reference standard for sustainable tourism. The bicycle, in all its forms, is the ideal means to experience tourism in an environmentally sustainable way, and events such as the Maratona dles Dolomites-Enel and the Bike Days should therefore be a symbol and an important signal in this direction. For this reason, cycling in Alta Badia is in no way inferior to hiking, where clean air, splendid landscapes and spectacular peaks invite you to treat nature with respect.

Culture, Magazines, Previews, Reviews, Society, Tourism, Travel

CULTURE: FRANCE-AMÉRIQUE MAGAZINE – JULY/AUG 2023

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France-Amérique Magazine – July/August 2023 –  The issue celebrates Bastille Day, a look at La Marseillaise in New York City; why the 1789 Revolution still carries so much weight in contemporary French culture; a profile of French food design pioneer Anna Polonsky; and learn all about the Great Chartreuse Shortage of 2023…

ANNA POLONSKY – The French Food Design Pioneer

Born in Paris and based in New York City, the founder of the Polonsky & Friends studio combines her passions for design and cuisine by creating visual identities for restaurants and food brands.

LA MARSEILLAISE – A Taste of Free France in Manhattan

Where could you have once danced to accordion music, met fellow French comrades-in-arms, and even bumped into Marlene Dietrich, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jean Gabin? All the Free French soldiers who passed through New York City during World War II would have pointed you toward La Marseillaise, on Second Avenue.

SARAH BERNHARDT – A Scandalous French Superstar in America

Having completed nine tours of the United States during her career, actress Sarah Bernhardt was probably the most famous French woman in America at the time. An exhibition in Paris is currently celebrating the thespian, who passed away a century ago this year.

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews, Society

Preview: New York Times Magazine – July 2, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (July 2, 2023) –

In this week’s cover story, Lynsey Addario takes us to a Ukrainian town where an 11-year-old is navigating a childhood transformed by war. Plus, a profile of the Christian pop star Marcos Witt and an investigation into how federal law targets thousands of women on anti-addiction medications.

A Boy’s Life on the Front Lines

In a Ukrainian town, an 11-year-old navigates a childhood transformed by war.

In a town near the Eastern front lines of the Donbas region of Ukraine, an 11-year-old boy named Yegor’s days were as predictable as they could be, given the unpredictability of war.

A.I. and TV Ads Were Made for Each Other

A photo collage of frames from AI-generated spoof advertisements, showing people drinking orange juice and beer and eating pizza. Close examination of the images reveal some strange visual distortions.

A string of uncanny videos show what generative A.I. and advertising have in common: They chew up the cultural subconscious and spit it back at us.

By Mac Schwerin

Even if I didn’t work in advertising, I would be a connoisseur of commercials. You’re probably one, too. Think of all the tropes you’ve ingested over the years — the forest-green hatchbacks conquering rugged Western landscapes, the miles of mozzarella stretched by major pizza chains. These are the images that let you know what kind of pitch you’re watching, so you won’t be confused when the brand shows up.

Arts & Literature, Culture, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Arts/Culture: Humanities Magazine – Summer 2023

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Humanities Magazine – Summer 2023 Issue

Red Map, Blue Map

Red and blue political map of the U.S.

In the 1970s and ’80s, geographer Ken Martis mapped every congressional district and color-coded them by political party, going all the way back to the first Congress. 

Where Johnny Cash Came From

The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land.

Hell’s Searing Gaze

A traveling exhibition explores the underworld

In the captivating survey “Comparative Hell: Arts of Asian Underworlds,” the damned are boiled alive. Writhing in pain, they are skewered, mauled by dogs, and devoured by ink-black birds. But the show is dotted throughout by charming reprieves: a lush jade-green garden, creamy-white blossoms, and whirling clouds. This is a hell that delights as much as it punishes. 

Arts & Literature, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – July 3, 2023

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The New Yorker – July 3, 2023 issue: For Independence Day, the artist Kadir Nelson chose to portray a young woman who, though she may be standing in the midst of the festivities, is anchored in her own private world.

The Divine Comedy of Roman Emperors’ Last Words

A statue of a man atop a walking eagle.

In the end, godlike aspirations often met with all too human final moments.

By Mary Beard

One of the funniest works of Roman literature to survive—and the only one that has ever made me laugh out loud—is a skit, written by the philosopher Seneca, about the Emperor Claudius’ adventures on his way to Mt. Olympus after his death. Titled “Apocolocyntosis Divi Claudii” (“The ‘Pumpkinification’ of the Deified Claudius”), it recounts how the Roman Senate declared that the dead Emperor was now a god, complete with his own temple, priests, and official rites of worship. The deification of emperors was fairly standard practice at the time, and the spoof claimed to lift the lid on what really happened during the process.

How Plastics Are Poisoning Us

An outline of a woman made out of plastic beads and trash

They both release and attract toxic chemicals, and appear everywhere from human placentas to chasms thirty-six thousand feet beneath the sea. Will we ever be rid of them?

By Elizabeth Kolbert

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews, Society

Preview: New York Times Magazine – June 25, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (June 23, 2023) – In this issue, Christopher Cox on the risk that California’s dams will fail; Charlie Savage on his connection to Pink Floyd and “The Wizard of Oz”; Dan Kois on Lorrie Moore; and more.

Suddenly, It Looks Like We’re in a Golden Age for Medicine

We may be on the cusp of an era of astonishing innovation — the limits of which aren’t even clear yet.

By DAVID WALLACE-WELLS

The Trillion-Gallon Question: What if California’s Dams Fail?

Oroville Dam’s spillways.

One superstorm could send walls of water sweeping through populated areas. There’s not much time to act.

Culture, Design, Lifestyle, Magazines, Reviews, Society

Design/Culture: Monocle Magazine – July/Aug 2023

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Monocle Magazine (July/August 2023 issue) – Monocle’s annual Quality of Life Survey puts the world’s best cities through their paces and profiles the urban centres on the up.

We also get set for summer by gardening in Hiroshima, dining in Marseille and dancing in Mexico City. Plus: how Bratislava’s bass-playing, architect mayor is helping the city to find its groove.

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Culture: Country Life Magazine – June 21, 2023

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Country Life Magazine – June 21, 2023 issue:

From field to dinner-party fork

Feeding friends with food grown in your own garden is a delight, finds Natasha Goodfellow.

Why treasure is a universal word

London’s new Treasure House Fair deserves to be a triumph, believes Huon Mallalieu.

Skye Gyngell’s favourite painting

The culinary director chooses a graphic work full of energy.

Ode to June

Jamie Blackett swelters on the farm, where greenfinches fly and the meadow shimmers.

Native breeds

Kate Green falls for the teddy-bear Greyface Dartmoor sheep.

Life, the universe and everything

Does cave art hold the answer, asks Robin Hanbury-Tenison.

Arts, Culture, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews, Travel

Arts/History: Smithsonian Magazine – July/Aug 2023

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Smithsonian Magazine - July/August 2023 - SoftArchive

Smithsonian Magazine – July/August Issue: American Tapestries- Three artists creating bold new versions of a cherished art form; In search of Willa Cather; Archaeology of the world’s oldest village, and more…

A Massive Archive Tells the Story of Early African American Photographers

Arresting portraits, now a part of the Smithsonian collections, illuminate the little-known role these artists played in chronicling 19th-century life

“Before daguerreotypes, if you wanted a portrait made, you commissioned a painter,” says John Jacob, SAAM’s director of photography, as we study Rhoda’s portrait. “Photography democratized portraiture because it was significantly cheaper. But until we acquired these images, we weren’t able to show in our collection that African Americans were part of this process, as photographers and subjects, and also as entrepreneurs and innovators, experimenting with the latest technology and investing in it.”