Category Archives: Reviews

Books Worth Reading: “A Booklover’s Guide To New York” By Cleo Le-Tan (2019)

From a New Criterion online article:

Cleo Le-Tan Knows Where All the Bookstores Are in New YorkA Booklover’s Guide to New York, by Cleo Le-Tan, with drawings by Pierre Le-Tan (Rizzoli): As Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons, some New Yorkers measure theirs in departed bookstores. I weep most for Crawford Doyle, which in 2017 closed after twenty-one years in stately residence on Madison Avenue at Eighty-first Street. But there have been compensations among the heartaches. In 2014, Albertine opened at the French Embassy, on Fifth Avenue and Seventy-ninth Street. The gorgeous store cheekily asserts on billboards that “The best bookstore in France is in New York City.” And Rizzoli, which lost its lease in its double-front townhouse on Fifty-seventh Street in 2014, later reopened on Broadway and Twenty-sixth Street, in a space nearly as grand as the original. Cleo Le-Tan’s A Booklover’s Guide to New York is expressly made for those who view the city’s bookstores as integral to its being. Documenting the shops, sellers, libraries, and bibliophiles of the city, the illustrated book is a worthy addition to any personal collection.

To read more: https://newcriterion.com/

 

Ultimate Campers: The High Technology Inside 2019 Hymer Camper Vans

From a New Atlas online article:

Hymer certainly gave credit where it was due, recognizing BASF’s role in the opening paragraph of its VisionVenture announcement and detailing elements like the Chromacool exterior paint and Veneo Slate transforming-bathroom trim. Still, it wasn’t quite clear just how deep BASF’s participation ran. Knowing a thing or two about the power of a buzzy concept vehicle (like a bike or car), BASF released some additional information last week to squeeze a little extra press out of the VisionVenture, a star of the 2019 Caravan Salon that featured in RV, auto and tech publications and blogs all over the world.

Hymer Camper Van BASF Advanced Materials

VisionVenture from HymerEven with a few months of 2019 left to go, we feel confident that the Hymer VisionVenture is the coolest camper van of the year. The concept camper has absolutely captured the public’s imagination, showing how a little bit of creative tinkering can turn the art of sleeping in a van into world-class luxury travel. When Hymer announced the concept at the start of the 2019 Düsseldorf Caravan Salon, it mentioned incorporating over 20 materials and technologies from German chemical giant BASF, touching upon some of the most integral. BASF jumped in this month to further detail exactly how its tech can benefit future van lifers.

To read more: https://newatlas.com/automotive/basf-details-hymer-visionventure-camper-van/

Future Of Dining: Door Dash Kitchens Launches First “Ghost Restaurant” In Redwood City, CA

From a The Spoon online article:

DoorDash Kitchens deliveryDoorDash customers can now order from a handful of chain restaurants and either pick up food right at the commissary or have it delivered. This first location of DoorDash Kitchens, located in Redwood City, CA, will serve several cities in the California Peninsula area, including Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Woodside, among others.

With more and more restaurants, food entrepreneurs, and delivery services using ghost kitchens, it seemed only a matter of time before DoorDash built one of its own. So it’s not too surprising that today, the San Francisco-based company announced the launch of its first ever shared commissary kitchen, dubbed DoorDash Kitchens, which will house multiple to-go restaurant concepts under a single roof, according to an email sent to The Spoon.

To read more: https://thespoon.tech/doordash-launches-its-first-ghost-kitchen-facility-for-to-go-restaurant-concepts/?ct=t(RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN)&mc_cid=96085808f3&mc_eid=15aca53f83

Health Care: How “Non-Profit” Hospitals Are Driving Up Medical Costs

From an NPR online article:

Yale School of Public HealthThe irony is most hospitals are “nonprofit,” a status that makes them tax exempt. Many (but not all) do enough charity work to justify tax benefits, yet it’s clear nonprofit hospitals are very profitable. They funnel much of the profits into cushy salaries, shiny equipment, new buildings, and, of course, lobbying. In 2018, hospitals and nursing homes spent over $100 million on lobbying activities. And they spent about $30 million on campaign contributions. Health industries have also been funneling hefty sums into dark money groups. But their political power isn’t just the result of lobbying or electioneering. Hospitals are often the biggest employers in states and cities across America.

recent study by Yale School of Public Health economist Zack Cooper and colleagues takes a look at hospital politics and helps shed light on why American health care is so insanely expensive.

Cooper and his colleagues have spent years investigating whether this was true, filing Freedom of Information Act requests and crunching data. They’ve uncovered evidence that suggests it was true. They find that legislators who were on the fence and voted “yea” for the legislation were 700% more likely to see a large bump in Medicare payment rates to hospitals in their district. Between 2005 and 2010, Congress shelled out over $2 billion to 88 hospitals through the horse-trading Section 508 provision. It was a clear win for these hospitals, which spent the money on more equipment, buildings, services, and staff.

To read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/10/15/769792903/how-non-profit-hospitals-are-driving-up-the-cost-of-health-care

Top Camping Sites: Sandy Pines Campground In Kennebunkport, Maine Added “Unique Retreats”

From an Inhabitat.com online review:

Sandy Pines Campground Kennebunkport, Maine sitesTo kick off the 2019 season, Sandy Pines installed some new glamping units that offer the best in luxurious camping. For guests looking for a trip back in time, there is a decked-out Airstream or two beautiful Conestoga wagons. Additionally, there are a few tiny cabins on site, including a minimalist A-frame with a fully opened facade. For stargazers, the transparent Oasis Dome or the Glass House would make for great stays. Most of the sites are for two people, with the exception of the family cottages, which can accommodate two adults and two children.

Located in the idyllic coastal region of Kennebunkport, the campground is surrounded by pristine forest on one side and salt marsh on the other. Designed to be a relaxing retreat, the site offers a variety of interesting accommodations.

Each glamping unit is tucked into a site overlooking the marsh, just steps away from the beach. All of the lodgings come with bed linens, bath towels and beach towels as well as private seating areas and fire pits.

To read more: https://inhabitat.com/kennebunkport-campground-offers-tiny-cabins-airstreams-and-more/

Video Profiles: Italian Photographer Massimo Vitali At Home In Lucca

Directed by: Barbara Anastacio

Even though the image-maker’s large color works are held in galleries around the world, Vitali chooses not to display any photography in his home. Instead, the crumbling walls, sky blue vaulted ceilings, eroded slogans, frescoes and marble archways of the church provide as much narrative as any image.

My Place - Massimo Vitali Short Film 2019

Massimo Vitali - Natural HabitatsAn assortment of inflatable alligators, damp bodies and candy cane-colored umbrellas typify Italian photographer Massimo Vitali’s ongoing Beach Series, which he began in 1995. Born in Como, Italy in 1944 Vitali’s internationally recognized panoramas of busy ski resorts, clubs, pools and piazzas explore the multilayered stories present in communal leisure places.

“Vitali’s choice of home reflects his intrigue in the spaces that people chose to congregate in”

This Barbara Anastacio-directed episode takes us away from the crowds and into the tranquil Tuscan city of Lucca where Vitali lives with his wife and son. The photographer’s home is a fourteenth-century church, which—in one of it’s most recent incarnations—was used a boxing and fencing gym for young fascists during the Mussolini years.

My Place - Massimo Vitali Short Film 2019

To read more: https://www.nowness.com/series/my-place/massimo-vitali-barbara-anastacio

Classic Car Events: The “Journées d’Automne” Near Paris Is Now A Top Motoring Destination

From a Classic Driver online review:

Journées d'Automne 2019Enthusiasts and friends travelled from France, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, America and even Argentina to enjoy great food and wine (we were in the Champagne region, after all), even better locations and roads and a truly diverse selection of classic cars. Wilhelm Schmid – the ever-passionate CEO of A. Lange & Söhne, Journées d’Automne’s low-key title sponsor – drove his stunning Porsche 911S from Dresden together with his wife Yvonne. “For me, this event is the highlight of my personal motoring year,” he told me. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

Journées d'Automne 2019Journées d’Automne. It sounds a bit like the title of a romance novel by Rosamunde Pilcher, but it’s actually a wonderful classic car meeting that takes place every October just east of Paris. What began several years ago as an autumnal outing for a small number of car-minded friends has evolved into a large yet intimate get-together and an insider’s tip for celebrating the end of the events season in style.

To read more: https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/why-journees-dautomne-one-our-favourite-classic-car-events?utm_campaign=832019%20Journes%20dAutomne%20EN&utm_content=832019%20Journes%20dAutomne%20EN%20CID_e131205745833e66128075b678ebd38f&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

 

Top New Fiction: “Agent Running In The Field” By John le Carré (2019)

From a The Economist online review:

Agent Running In The Field John LeCarre The Economist“Agent Running in the Field” is narrated by Nat, a 47-year-old spy for British intelligence—known not as “the Circus” of yore but, more prosaically, as “the Office”.

After years spent handling secret agents overseas Nat has returned to London to take charge of the Haven, an “outstation” of the Russia department that doubles as “a dumping ground for resettled defectors of nil value and fifth-rate informants on the skids”. With Florence, his number two, Nat throws himself into Operation Rosebud, which involves the surveillance of a London-based Ukrainian oligarch with links to Moscow Centre. Then Florence unexpectedly resigns and won’t return Nat’s calls. Equally abruptly, the powers-that-be pull the plug on the operation.

WHEN JOHN LE CARRÉ’S third book, “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold”, was published in 1963, it presented the world of espionage in a harsh new light. Spies were not brave, suave heroes. “They’re a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too,” explains the flawed and beleaguered protagonist, Alec Leamas. They are “sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives.” The novel preferred intrigue to adventure, gritty reality to escapist fantasy. Readers expecting a finale in which good conquered evil were instead offered convoluted twists and a bleak denouement.

To read more: https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/10/14/john-le-carres-25th-novel-is-blisteringly-contemporary?cid1=cust/dailypicks1/n/bl/n/20191014n/owned/n/n/dailypicks1/n/n/NA/325041/n

New Paris Museums: Bourse De Commerce – Pinault Collection To Open In June 2020

From an Art Forum online article:

Bourse de Commerce—Pinault Collection by Maxime TétardThe plans for the venue were previously reported to encompass 9,850 square feet of exhibition space, a black-box theater, and an auditorium. Earlier this year, Pinault said he wants the museum to complement existing art institutions in Paris, and that he will collaborate with the Centre Pompidou on a program that will take place concurrently at both venues in 2020.

The French billionaire art collector François Pinault announced that his $170 million contemporary art museum in Paris is slated to open next June near the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou. The Bourse de Commerce—Pinault Collection will be housed in the city’s old stock exchange, in a building designed by the Pritzker Prize–winning architect Tadao Ando, and is to host ten exhibitions a year drawing from Pinault’s collection.

To read more: https://www.artforum.com/news/francois-pinault-to-open-contemporary-art-museum-in-paris-in-june-2020-81017

Future Of Housing: Couple Builds “Absolutely Beautiful, Modern” Tiny House For $25,000 Budget

 

DIY Tiny House Trish and SaulAmazingly, this high-end home was constructed for an unbelievable budget of only US$25,000, a testament to Saul’s perseverance with the DIY build and the couple’s clever sourcing of materials. That means this entire home was built for around the same amount of money that the couple would normally spend on one years rent living in San Diego.

This couple have built an absolutely DIY Tiny House Trish and Saul interior 2beautiful, modern tiny house, and best of all, they have pulled off the entire build for a budget equivalent to just a years worth of rent in San Diego. In this weeks episode, we explore this stunning tiny house and meet its builders. 

Trysh and Saul are both traveling therapists and are no strangers to life on the road. Their carriers mean that they often find themselves needing to settle into new cities and they wanted to construct a home which could better reflect their semi-nomadic lifestyle, giving themselves a place to call home wherever they go. A tiny house on wheels was the perfect solution.

To read more: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/couple-build-incredible-tiny-house-for-one-years-rent/