Christie’s (January 11, 2024) – The Rocket Man singer and his husband, David Furnish, discuss the Peachtree Road residence where the pop legend became a ‘serious collector’ of exuberant art and objects.
In 1991 when Sir Elton John bought a duplex-apartment at Park Place on Peachtree Road in Atlanta’s coveted Buckhead neighbourhood, he couldn’t have imagined the extent to which the city would transform him personally and professionally.
The Local Project (January 9, 2024) – Situated in a frequently cold, wet and windy location, Ramirez Residence by Norman Millar Architects and Judith Sheine Architect is a sea ranch home that is built to complement the rugged landscape.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Modern Ranch 01:10 – A Coastal Location and its History 02:12 – The Architectural Collaboration and Design Guidelines 04:04 – Building the Interiors into the Landscape 04:29 – The Clients Coastal Requests 05:26 – A Traditional and Natural Material Palette 06:55 – Respecting the History of Sea Ranch
Placed north of San Francisco, and positioned along miles of ocean coastline, Ramirez Residence possesses an interesting history that goes back to the community’s conception by Alfred Boeke. Transforming a sheep ranch on a degrading landscape into an ideal utopian community, Alfred Boeke implemented strict design guidelines for the architecture of the buildings and the way they sat in the landscape. As such, each of the surrounding homes were inspired by weathered barns, designed out of local timber and made to withstand the harsh climate over a long period of time.
Built into the landscape, Ramirez Residence was specifically designed to preserve local views and communal open spaces. Based on the design principles and ideas of the weathered barns with the slopping roof of a ranch, Ramirez Residence appears fairly simple in its exterior form. With no overhangs to prevent uplift from the strong winds, the house tour shows an almost box-like home clad in local timbers but, once inside, a complex and articulated interior design reveals itself. Following the house tour inside, the reveal of built-in furniture continues the idea of a home nestled into the landscape. Emphasising this idea in the bathrooms and kitchen, the architects encourage the idea that the rooms and kitchen are objects within the home.
CNBC (January 8, 2024) – CNBC Marathon explores the economics of waste management and how the United States is solving its trash problem. In 2019, the North American waste management market reached $208 billion.
Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:48 How Trash Makes Money In The U.S. (Published July 2021) 15:59 How Amazon, American Airlines And Subaru Burn Waste To Make Energy (Published May 2022) 32:24 How To Clean Up The World’s Most Polluted Rivers (Published August 2022) 46:16 Where Do EV Batteries Go When They Die? (Published March 2023)
Thanks to advancements in modern chemistry and support from municipal governments, landfills have seen astonishing financial success in recent years. Burning waste to make energy is a $10 billion industry in the U.S., and the fastest growing part of the business is waste from big companies like Amazon, Subaru, Quest Diagnostics and American Airlines.
They’re part of a growing corporate movement toward “zero landfill” as pressure mounts to reach sustainability requirements. It’s estimated that every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean through rivers, and as global waste generation increases, the problem is poised to worsen.
But a host of companies from Baltimore, Maryland to Bengaluru, India are working on the issue, developing novel methods to capture trash from rivers before it reaches the ocean. Dozens of electric vehicles are scheduled to debut in the next few years and over 300 million electric vehicles are expected to be on the world’s roads by 2030.
The lifetime for an EV battery is estimated to be 12 to 15 years in moderate climates, but that doesn’t mean the batteries end up in landfills when they die.
DW Travel (January 7, 2024) – The Philippines consists of no less than 7,000 islands, many of which have beautiful beaches and a fascinating underwater world. Two expert travel guides, Philippine-born Ave @avelovinit and her Norwegian husband Martin @martinsolhaugen show you their personal top travel destinations for the island state in the Western Pacific.
Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:58 From Manila to Boracay 01:54 Boracay island 04:05 El Nido, Palawan island 04:44 Manila 05:46 Siargao island 07:58 Sorsogon, Province of Bico, Kasanggayahan Festival
DW Classical Music (January 7, 2024) – A furious piano piece of the Romantic period. Tiffany Poon plays Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 at the Dresden Music Festival 2023. The concert took place in the Palais im Grossen Garten.
Video timeline: (00:00) Coming on stage (00:27) 1. Lebhaft (02:03) 2. Innig (03:36) 3. Etwas hahnbüchen (05:10) 4. Ungeduldig (06:30) 5. Einfach (08:21) 6. Sehr rasch und in sich hinein (10:05) 7. Nicht schnell mit äußerst starker Empfindung (14:07) 8. Frisch (15:14) 9. No tempo indication (16:46) 10. Balladenmäßig sehr rasch (18:15) 11. Einfach (19:51) 12. Mit Humor (20:36) 13. Wild und lustig (23:44) 14. Zart und singend (25:50) 15. Frisch (27:58) 16. Mit gutem Humor (29:22) 17. Wie aus der Ferne (32:56) 18. Nicht schnell
The Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, are a two-part piano cycle by Robert Schumann, each consisting of nine character pieces. Schumann wrote 19 pieces, the last of which remains incomplete. The work was composed in the two months following his engagement to Clara Wieck on August 14, 1837. In the first piece, he quotes a motif from the Mazurka No. 5 from her Soirées musicales Op. 6 in the Motto of C. W. He speaks to her of wedding thoughts, which he has incorporated into the pieces. To his friend Carl Montag, however, he spoke of “death dances, St. Vitus’ dances, dances of graces and goblins”.
Schumann’s pseudonyms Florestan and Eusebius also play an important role here. The two characters symbolize his dual role in the fictitious Davidsbund, which also gives this cycle its name. Florestan is the “roaring, exuberant stormtrooper”. Eusebius represents the opposite pole as “the gentle youth who always remains modestly in the background”. In the first edition, the plays are either titled “Florestan and Eusebius” or just one of the two names.
BBC Earth (January 7, 2024) – Journey to the coastal deserts of Baja California to witness marine turtles laying their eggs and dolphins gliding through the ocean.
It is the only desert in the world surrounded by two seas, a geologically isolated peninsula sets the stage for a myriad of remarkable plants and animals exemplifying adaptations to an isolated and arid environment. The Baja California Desert is the peninsular arm of the mainland Sonoran Desert, and although closely related to each other, they contain dramatically different evolutionary histories.
Clairmont Films (January 6, 2024) – Ecuador is a country straddling the equator on South America’s west coast. Its diverse landscape encompasses Amazon jungle, Andean highlands and the wildlife-rich Galápagos Islands.
In the Andean foothills at an elevation of 2,850m, Quito, the capital, is known for its largely intact Spanish colonial center, with decorated 16th- and 17th-century palaces and religious sites, like the ornate Compañía de Jesús Church.
AKSense – Zurich (January 6, 2024) – Grindelwald, a village in Switzerland’s Bernese Alps, is a popular gateway for the Jungfrau Region, with skiing in winter and hiking in summer. The First Aerial Cableway is the cableway with six-seater gondolas travelling from Grindelwald up to First via Bort and Schreckfeld.
The gondola cableway has a capacity of up to 1,200 persons per hour with a travelling time of approximately 25 minutes. Aside from the gondola cableway, Firstbahn AG also has three chairlifts and two ski lifts.
Monocle on Saturday, January 6, 2024: What lasting effect has the Capitol Hill riot had on the US over the past three years? Monocle’s Christopher Chermak discusses how views and memories of that day have changed. How will Asia’s elections this month impact the rest of the world?
Monocle’s Naomi Xu Elegant looks ahead. And is ‘Saltburn’ a perfect satire or does it fall flat? Join journalist Vincent McAviney and Georgina Godwin for a review of the week’s news and culture.
The Wall Street Journal (January 5, 2024) – Iran-backed groups connect to form a land bridge across the Middle East and form an alliance that Tehran calls the ‘Axis of Resistance.’ This land bridge can be used to transport equipment and personnel, but also allows for positions in Iraq and Syria to attack U.S. interests or threaten Israel closer to its borders.
Video timeline: 0:00 ‘Axis of Resistance’ 0:37 Iran’s allies 1:44 Iran’s history 3:22 U.S. in the Middle East 4:14 Attacks since Oct. 7
WSJ explains what to know about the alliance that includes Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious