Category Archives: Reviews

Classic Modern Brands: “London Sock Company” Offers “Dizzying Choice” Of Sartorial Style

From a Country Life UK online article:

London Sock Company colorsHaving established our Simply Sartorial collection that offers a rainbow of strong, confident colours – and which remains our best seller – we have taken a playful approach to patterns and textures. We have added jacquards, herringbones, merinos and cashmeres to the range.

Our view is that it’s the small things that make a big difference; we firmly believe that buying online can also be a luxurious experience, so we maintain the same approach to every aspect of what we do, from customer service to packaging in which your socks arrive.

London Sock Company

The London Sock Company was built on a belief that good socks can inspire confidence. Seriously. At LSC, we believe that pulling on a great pair of socks in the morning has the power to transform not just your style, but your state of mind. Our founders created this brand in 2013 to help modern gents embrace their personality and be inspired to be the best version of themselves.

https://www.londonsockcompany.com/about/

Read more at: https://www.countrylife.co.uk/promoted/transformative-power-really-beautiful-pair-socks-207802#1M3tUaxwKFrgHOXH.99

 

Retail Trends: Patagonia Opens Up “Worn Wear” Pop-Up Store In Colorado

From a RetailDive.com online release:

Worn Wear Patagonia storesIn addition to the pop-up Worn Wear store, Patagonia also has Worn Wear mobile repair stations, which visit a variety of locations, including Patagonia stores, specialty retailers, ski resorts and colleges to offer up their refurbishment capabilities. The mobile stations have been to over 135 locations so far, according to the release, and will fix products from any brand.

Worn Wear Patagonia storesPatagonia on Thursday opened its first ever physical store for Worn Wear, Patagonia’s resale business. The store is a pop-up in Boulder, Colorado, which will stay open until February 2020, according to a press release emailed to Retail Dive.

The pop-up will be stocked with only Worn Wear products, as well as the outdoor retailer’s ReCrafted Collection, which sells clothes made from apparel that was beyond repair. In addition to selling used gear, the pop-up shop will host repair and upcycling workshops.

To read more: https://www.retaildive.com/news/patagonia-opens-first-worn-wear-store/567533/

Future Of Homebuilding: “Cork House” By Matthew Barnett Howland (2019)

From Architect Matthew Barnett Howland website:

Matthew Barnett Howland Cork HouseCork House embodies a strong whole life approach to sustainability, from resource through to end-of-life.  Expanded cork is a pure bio-material made with waste from cork forestry.  The bark of the cork oak is harvested by hand every nine years without harming the tree or disturbing the forest.  Matthew Barnett Howland Cork HouseThis gentle agro-industry sustains the Mediterranean cork oak landscapes, providing a rich biodiverse habitat that is widely recognised. This compelling ecological origin of expanded cork is mirrored at the opposite end of the building’s lifecycle.  The construction system is dry-jointed, so that all 1,268 blocks of cork can be reclaimed at end-of-building-life for re-use, recycling, or returning to the biosphere.

Completed in 2019, Cork House was designed by Matthew Barnett Howland with Dido Milne and Oliver Wilton.

Cork House is a brand new and radically simple form of plant-based construction.  Monolithic walls and corbelled roofs are made almost entirely from solid load-bearing cork.  This highly innovative self-build construction kit is designed for disassembly, is carbon-negative at completion and has exceptionally low whole life carbon.

To read more: https://www.matthewbarnetthowland.com/

Health Studies: Reduced Mental Alertness (“Brain Fog”) Is Caused By Inflammation In The Body

From a Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News release:

NeuroImage Journal“These results show quite clearly that there’s a very specific part of the brain network that’s affected by inflammation,” noted Mazaheri. “This could explain ‘brain fog’.”

Raymond added that “this research finding is a major step forward in understanding the links between physical, cognitive, and mental health and tells us that even the mildest of illnesses may reduce alertness.”

Researchers at the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Human Brain Health in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam say they have uncovered a possible explanation for the mental sluggishness that often accompanies illness. The team investigated the link between “mental fog” and inflammation, the body’s response to illness. In a study (“Selective effects of acute low-grade inflammation on human visual attention”) published in Neuroimage, they showed that inflammation appears to have a particularly negative impact on the brain’s readiness to reach and maintain an alert state.

To read more: https://www.genengnews.com/news/link-found-between-inflammation-and-mental-sluggishness/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=GEN+Daily+News+Highlights&utm_content=01&utm_campaign=GEN+Daily+News+Highlights_20191118&oly_enc_id=5678C5137845J4Z

New Travel/Photography Books: “Remote Places To Stay” By Debbie Pappyn

From a Yatzer.com online review:

Remote Places To Stay by Debbie Pappyn 2019The visuals make up most of the book’s volume, with David De Vleeschauwer’s photography magically working on various levels: on the one hand, artfully conveying the splendour and beauty of all the featured remote landscapes, and on the other, focusing on minute details that we usually pay no attention to: such details are isolated and enlarged as if to make us stop and look for a while. Each location is also paired with a hotel or guesthouse review, together with snippets of information about the area and how to actually get there. Remote Places To Stay by Debbie Pappyn 2019Above all, ‘Remote Places to Stay’ is all about humans and the sheer variety of lifestyles that are possible, as through its evocative photography and well-written texts, we are able to uncover small, hidden corners of the world where life flows in a different tempo altogether.

“In an age of acceleration, nothing is so cherished as slowness,” writes essayist and novelist Pico Iyer in his reflective preface for the book Remote Places to Stay — an exceptional hardcover featuring 22 of the world’s remotest travel destinations. The book is the brainchild of Debbie Pappyn and David De Vleeschauwer, a pair of devoted travellers that is also behind the popular travel blog Classe Touriste.

To read more: https://www.yatzer.com/remote-places-stay

Top New Gallery Exhibits: “Annie Lapin – Strange Little Beast” At The Shulamit Nazarian (LA)

From a Shulamit Nazarian online review:

Annie Lapin. Halving Having (StepScape 4), 2019.The artist incorporates an array of art historical scenes such as John Martin’s English-Romantic apocalypses and Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass with ubiquitous imagery sourced from the Internet. The highly rendered areas in her paintings resemble a cascade of Google image search results where cellphone photos of skylines and gardens slide past gestural marks. 

Annie Lapin Strange Little Best Exhibit at Shulamit NazarianShulamit Nazarian is pleased to present Strange Little Beast, a solo exhibition of new works by Los Angeles-based painter Annie Lapin. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Annie Lapin’s paintings call attention to the human desire for meaning making–our effort to create order out of chaos. In Strange Little Beast, Lapin’s paintings use her interest in art history, perception, and the materiality of painting itself to examine the role of digital technology and narrative building in our contemporary moment.

To read more: http://www.shulamitnazarian.com/exhibition/annie-lapin/#

 

Brain Health: “Package Of Lifestyle Changes” (Brisk Exercise, Healthy Diet & Sleep, Cognitive Training) Helps Prevent Dementia

From a Wall Street Journal online article:

How Likely is Dementia - Source The Lancet, Gill Livingston, et al.
How Likely Is Dementia?

Dementia is a complicated disease that has multiple causes and risk factors, some of which remain unknown. Nevertheless, there is increasing evidence that people—even those who inherit genes that put them at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s in later life—can improve their chances by adopting lifestyle changes.

“It’s not just about running three times a week,” says Sarah Lenz Lock, executive director of AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health. “Instead, it’s about a package of behaviors, including aerobic exercise, strength training, a healthy diet, sleep and cognitive training.”

When it comes to battling dementia, the unfortunate news is this: Medications have proven ineffective at curing or stopping the disease and its most common form, Alzheimer’s disease. But that isn’t the end of the story. According to a recent wave of scientific studies, we have more control over our cognitive health than is commonly known. We just have to take certain steps—ideally, early and often—to live a healthier lifestyle.

In fact, according to a recent report commissioned by the Lancet, a medical journal, around 35% of dementia cases might be prevented if people do things including exercising and engaging in cognitively stimulating activities. “When people ask me how to prevent dementia, they often want a simple answer, such as vitamins, dietary supplements or the latest hyped idea,” says Eric Larson, a physician at Kaiser Permanente in Seattle and one of a group of scientists who helped prepare the report. “I tell them they can take many common-sense actions that promote health throughout life.”

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-science-tells-us-about-preventing-dementia-11574004600

To Improve Healthcare: A New, Unbiased “Health Information Agency” Would Transform System

From a HealthAffairs.org online article:

Health Information AgencyThis proposed agency could work like a seal of approval, like the Energy Star program run by the Environmental Protection Agency, for new software, apps, and vendors that will be handling sensitive health information. Just like dishwashers evaluated by Consumer Reports, apps that handle personal health information should have a similar unbiased review process.   

The US health care system is finally at a tipping point of much needed and overdue modernization. While it promises a brave new world of streamlined and improved health care, we are facing nothing short of a revolutionary transformation that is based on a tsunami of readily accessible health information and digital tools.

Currently, there is no federal agency, public-private collaboration, or private industry mechanism that is prepared to handle the ensuing activity in its entirety. We need to get a handle on how best to protect our private health care data while also making sure that information is allowed to flow as freely as necessary to improve our delivery system and population’s health. We need a dedicated team of experts who speak the language of both information technology and public policy. We need a new federal agency that has jurisdiction and dedicated staff to oversee health information and the technology that will simplify and operationalize the information.

To read more: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20191108.972878/full/?utm_campaign=HASU&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Association+Health+Plans%3B+HIV+Preventive+Recommendations%3B+Improper+Medicaid+Enrollment+Following+Expansion%3B+Health+Reform+On+The+Campaign+Trail%3B+Frequent+Emergency+Department+Users&utm_source=Newsletter

New Museum Exhibitions: “Troy – Myth And Reality” At The British Museum

From The British Museum website:

The British MuseumFrom Helen of Troy’s abduction to the deception of the Trojan Horse and the fall of the city, tread the line between myth and reality in this phenomenal new exhibition.

Troy Myth and Reality British Museum ExhibitThe story of the ancient city of Troy, and of the great war that was fought over it, has been told for some 3,000 years. Spread by travelling storytellers, it was cast into powerful words by the Greek poet Homer as early as the eighth to seventh century BC – and into powerful images by ancient Greek and Roman artists. Just as it enraptured audiences in the past, it still speaks to us today and it’s easy to see why. It’s a story that has it all – love and loss, courage and passion, violence and vengeance, triumph and tragedy – on a truly epic scale.

Spanning several decades, the tale is set in Greece’s mythical past. At its heart is the powerful city of Troy on the western coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), besieged for 10 years by the Greeks, who sailed across the Aegean Sea to take revenge for a grave insult – the abduction of a woman. This ancient world war features a stellar cast of characters. Even the gods are involved.

To read more: https://blog.britishmuseum.org/the-myth-of-the-trojan-war/

New Destination Bars: “Fever-Tree Porch” Is In “Iconic Location” In NYC

From a Forbes.com online review:

A collection of mixed drinks at the new Fever-Tree Porch at Bryant ParkANTHONY DEEYINGExpect many of those chairs to be filled in the months ahead. The Winter Village is a huge draw, built around a massive ice rink enjoyed by upwards of 300,000 skaters throughout the holiday season. “We want people to enjoy great cocktails and drinks at the Porch, to take time to relax and appreciate the city with all its extraordinary energy,”

Earlier this month, cocktails started pouring at Fever-Tree Porch–a new, branded bar in Manhattan’s tree-lined Bryant Park. The year-long partnership marks the first of its kind between one of New York City’s premiere public spaces and the world’s top-selling purveyor of premium tonics and mixers. It also provides an al fresco outpost for some of the 12 million visitors making their way through the destination, annually. Given its prime location at the corner of 6th Avenue and 40th Street–one of the most trafficked sections in the country–the folks behind it are gearing up to serve as many as 75,000 cocktails over the course of the next 12 months.

To read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradjaphe/2019/11/13/fever-tree-opens-its-first-ever-branded-bar-in-new-york-city/#56dae5434636