Category Archives: Profiles

San Francisco Food Views: How Chili House Chef Han Li-Jun Crafts Peking Duck

Bon Appétit (March 21, 2023) – A perfect Peking Duck is maroon in color, with crispy skin encasing juicy, tender meat— and Han Li-Jun, founder and head chef of Chili House in San Francisco, has been in the craft of making it for 3 decades. Watch him break down each step in the intricate process, as demonstrated by his collaborator Chef Han, in serving authentic and traditional Peking Duck.

Chili House SF is an authentic Chinese Food Restaurant located in the Richmond District of San Francisco, California. Our executive chef, Chef Han, has been cooking since 1988 and has had the privilege of serving his cuisine to Chinese Presidents and Foreign Ministers.

Ukraine War Views: Danish Photographer Jan Grarup “Russians Are Terrorizing”

Louisiana Channel (March 21, 2023) – Meet the award-winning Danish photographer Jan Grarup, who has covered the Ukraine war from its beginning and has spent months on the frontline.

“This is going to change the world as we know it.”

“The pictures are a documentation of the brutality within the conflict itself. It’s about civilians and civilian casualties because they are the ones hit the hardest. “

“The Russians are terrorizing the civilian population. They are hitting civilian infrastructure, may it be water, electricity, or heating. That brutality is extremely important to show. For me, it is about getting as close to these people as possible.”

Grarup is convinced that the ongoing war in Ukraine will mark the beginning of a new area that will isolate Russia from the Western World for generations to come: “I have been covering wars and conflicts for the last 35 years – just about every conflict you can imagine. In many ways, the brutality of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 is second to none. But the war in Ukraine comes really, really close. It’s basically a country which is desiring democracy and freedom and independence – and because of that, its people are killed.”

Grarups also reflects upon his feelings covering the war, such as his general discomfort with silence as “you can be sure that something is about to happen.” On the other hand, he sees the necessity to document the war for future generations and the possible prosecution of war crimes. “What I like about black-and-white photography is its timelessness. We think in our part of the world that the world has changed, developed, and moved far away from what we have seen historically.

But the fact is: It hasn’t. It’s still the same atrocities. It’s still the same victims.” Jan Grarup was born in Denmark in 1968 and is today regarded as one of the leading and most experienced war photographers globally. Already in 1991, the year of his graduation, he won the prestigious Danish Press Photographer of the Year Award, a prize he would receive on several further occasions. In 1993, he moved to Berlin for a year, working as a freelance photographer for Danish newspapers and magazines. Afterwards, Grarup covered many wars and conflicts worldwide, including the Gulf War, the Rwandan genocide, the siege of Sarajevo and the Palestinian uprising against Israel in 2000.

His coverage of the conflict between Palestine and Israel led to two series: The Boys of Ramallah, which earned him the Pictures of the Year International World Understanding Award in 2002, followed by The Boys from Hebron. His book, Shadowland (2006), presents his work during the 12 years he spent in Kashmir, Sierra Leone, Chechnya, Rwanda, Kosovo, Slovakia, Ramallah, Hebron, Iraq, Iran, and Darfur. In the words of Foto8’s review, it is “intensely personal, deeply felt, and immaculately composed.”

His second book, Darfur: A Silent Genocide, was published in 2009. In 2017 he released the prizewinning bestseller And Then There Was Silence. He is currently working on a follow-up called While We Bleed with Danish author Adam Holm about the war in Ukraine. Jan Grarup has won numerous prizes for his dedicated work, for example eight World Press Awards, the Pictures of the Year International World Understanding Award, the UNICEF Children Photo of the Year Award, Visa d’Or, Leica Oskar Barnack Award, to mention a few of the more prestigious ones. Jan Grarup was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The interview took place at the Danish War Museum in March 2023 on the occasion of Grarup’s exhibition One Year With War. Camera: Jakob Solbakken Edited by: Helle Pagter Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner

READ MORE AT LOUISIANA CHANNEL

Art History: The ‘Dance (I)’ By Henri Matisse (1909)

The Museum of Modern Art (March 17, 2023) – In our latest ArtSpeaks episode, Eana Kim, Vilcek Fellow in Paintings and Sculpture chose Henri Matisse’s “Dance (I)” because his work led her life in an unexpected direction.

“What really struck me was Matisse’s journey from mastering all the academic skills to unlearning everything to create his own art,” Kim says. “He really tried to dig into and explore the fundamental elements, like forms and colors. He was looking into something more essential to create something pure. I needed to follow that path.”

In the online edition of MoMA’s ArtSpeaks program, we invite staff members, artists, and special guests to share personal impressions of an artwork in the galleries. Here, curator Eana Kim examines Matisse’s iconic expression of pleasure and joy.

Profiles: La Seine Musicale Architect Shigeru Ban

Dezeen (March 16, 2023) – Japanese architect Shigeru Ban explains how his egg-shaped music auditorium acts as a western gateway to Paris in the last instalment of Dezeen’s Concrete Icons series produced in collaboration with Holcim.

The video features La Seine Musicale, a music complex that houses a large multipurpose concert hall and a smaller auditorium. The musical facility is located on the Ile Seguin island near Paris’s western suburbs, occupying a third of French architect Jean Nouvel’s mixed-use masterplan of the island.

Additional footage courtesy of La Seine Musicale, by Arthur Maneint, Hensli Sage and Noesys Prod.

Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/?p=1905754

New Travel Trailers: 2024 Lightship L1 All-Electric

March 9, 2023: The Lightship L1 was tightly engineered for zero emissions, for comfort, and built to last. We started with aero principles to create a near-zero range loss for EVs and lower costs at the gas pump. From the battery and solar roof down to appliances, every decision was about ease of use.

And of course, relaxing just outside nature’s door. Kick back with plenty of room to gather and stow it all away in smart storage solutions. Add the bonus of powering your home or charging your EV, and this is unlike any travel trailer you’ve ever had.

1952 Mid-Century Modern: Tour Of ‘Snyder House’ In Shelter Island, New York

Sotheby’s International Realty (March 10, 2023) – ‘The Snyder House’ is something of a legend in the long history of Shelter Island. Built in 1952 and designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg for John Snyder, the CEO of the Pressed Steel Car Company, 2 Charlie’s Lane was recognized as a mid-century marvel, both in design and waterfront location, offering magnificent panoramic water views of West Neck Harbor and Long Island Sound (Source: Official Bertrand Goldberg website).

Considered a ‘must see,’ onlookers would come from the Island and beyond, many transported by amphibious airplanes from New York City to experience the so-called ‘demonstration house.’ In 2002, the current owners undertook rebuilding the home on its original sprawling footprint, maintaining the elements of its mid-century modernist design while sparing no expense to bring this 20th-century masterpiece up to 21st-century living standards of ultimate comfort and high-end quality.

Papua New Guinea Travel: Secrets Of The Sepik River Basin – ‘A Second Amazon’

ABC News In-depth (March 9, 2023) – On Australia’s northern doorstep lies one of the most extraordinary places on earth – some environmentalists call it the second Amazon. The Sepik River Basin in Papua New Guinea is a natural wonder and home to rich and ancient cultures.

It’s a place few outsiders ever get to see. For some time, PNG correspondent Natalie Whiting has been hearing rumours about what’s going on in the remote areas upriver – claims of a logging land grab, police brutality, even killings. She undertakes the journey far up the Sepik River to see for herself what’s happening. In the rainforest of the Upper Sepik a community is divided.

Logging operations and a proposed massive mine site bring hope of economic prosperity for some. But others fear development of the land by international companies means environmental destruction with little benefit. PNG is the world’s largest exporter of tropical round logs but out of sight in the Sepik region some landowners say the logging is happening without proper consent and there are consequences for those who stand in the way.

With a long history of mistrust of big corporations and the promises they make, many of the locals are angry and ready to do whatever it takes to preserve some of the most unspoilt rainforests and waterways on the planet. Read more here: https://ab.co/3Jr8kWE

Seafood Insider: Catching Spiny Lobsters In Bermuda

Eater (March 8, 2023) – In Bermuda, spiny lobsters are only in season for seven months. Fisherman and restaurant owner Delvin Bean has been catching lobsters for 30 years, and he takes them straight to his restaurant where they are one of his most sought-after dishes.

Commonly referred to as the Florida spiny lobster, the Caribbean spiny lobster inhabits tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Spiny lobsters get their name from the forward-pointing spines that cover their bodies to help protect them from predators. They vary in color from almost white to dark red-orange. Two large, cream-colored spots on the top of the second segment of the tail make spiny lobsters easy to identify. They have long antennae over their eyes that they wave to scare off predators and smaller antennae-like structures called antennules that sense movement and detect chemicals in the water.

Reviews: The Business Of Formula 1 Racing (2023)

Financial Times (February 27, 2023) – F1 is undergoing a kind of revolution, with new rules, new tech, new teams, and new fans – boosted by the Netflix show Drive to Survive. Ahead of the first race of the season in Bahrain, the FT goes behind the scenes at the McLaren Technology Centre, where the team is competing to get their cars back to the front of the grid.

Rural Design: Crystal Lake Pavilion, West Catskills, NY

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FEBRUARY 2023

LOCATED IN THE WEST CATSKILLS OF NEW YORK STATE IS THE 497-ACRE CRYSTAL LAKE WILD FOREST WHICH INCLUDES A 32-ACRE MAN-MADE LAKE, SEEPS AND STREAMS, WETLANDS AND AN OLD BEAVER POND. THE LAKE SHORE AND SURROUNDING MOIST WOODLAND PROVIDE HABITATS FOR TRILLIUMS, WILD LEEKS, JACK-IN-THE-PULPITS AND DUTCHMAN’S BRITCHES. THE LAKE IS SURROUNDED BY ROLLING HILLS (HIGHEST ELEVATION 1,980 FEET), QUITE STEEP ALONG ITS EASTERN SHORE. THE ECOLOGY OF THE FOREST IS HOME TO HUNDREDS OF TYPES OF INDIGENOUS SPECIES OF PLANETS, FLOWERS AND TREES AS WELL AS WILDLIFE AND INSECTS UNIQUE TO THE REGION OF THE WEST CATSKILLS.  

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THE CRYSTAL LAKE PAVILION IS DESIGNED TO BE USED FOR MEDITATION AND YOGA CLASSES AS WELL AS GROUP THERAPY. THE PAVILION IS A SITE-SPECIFIC WORK, EMBRACING THE SURROUNDING NATURAL ENVIRONMENT THROUGH ITS ALL GLASS SKIN AND STRUCTURAL TRANSPARENCY. ACCESSIBLE ONLY BY BOAT, THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PAVILION IS AN ALL TIMBER FRAME STRUCTURE WITH LIGHT STEEL CONNECTIONS AND A STANDING SEAM STEEL ROOF. UTILIZING A TRADITIONAL KING POST METHOD OF TIMBER CONSTRUCTION,

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THE BUILDING IS COMPOSED OF A SERIES OF HEAVY TIMBERS JOINED TOGETHER WITH LAP JOINTS AND PEGGED MORTISE AND TENON JOINTS. THE DOMINANT STRUCTURAL FEATURE OF THE PAVILION IS THE BUILDING’S CENTER POST WHICH CANTILEVERS OFF A SINGLE SOLID CONCRETE PIER SET INTO THE LAKE BED. THE LAKE PAVILION APPEARS TO BE FLOATING OVER THE LAKE SURFACE WHILE REFLECTING ITS TRIANGULATED ROOF PRESENTING AN OPTICAL ILLUSION OF WEIGHTLESSNESS.

MARC THORPE DESIGN