December 2011
26 posts
Coconut Water
Fat-free, cholesterol-free, low-calorie, super-hydrating, naturally rich in electrolytes — the touted benefits of America’s latest health craze, coconut water, seem endless. Dubbed “nature’s sports drink” and “life-enhancer” by marketers, its no wonder why celebrities have replaced their acai berry drinks and Kabbalah water with a juice box. But with a...
Mise-en-scène
Mise-en-scène (French “placing on stage”) is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means “visual theme” or “telling a story”—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction. Mise-en-scène has been called film...
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989) was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. His first hit song, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, became world famous. The song sparked an international dance craze in places as far away as Berlin’s native Russia, which also “flung itself into the ragtime beat...
No Logo
The quotation on the cover calls No Logo “the Das Kapital of the growing anti-corporate movement”. This is no doubt an exaggeration, not to mention a poor comparison, but there is some truth in it. At any rate, it is more imaginative and less clichéd than calling the book a “bible”. Klein’s book (her first) has been elevated to the position of essential reading for the wannabe/newbie...
Bang & Olufsen
Bang & Olufsen is a Danish company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets and telephones. It was founded in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, whose first significant product was a radio that worked with alternating current, when most radios were run from batteries. In 2004, the company opened a factory in the Czech Republic where it employs approximately 250 staff...
Alice Waters
Alice Waters (born 1944) is an American chef, restaurateur, activist, and author. She is the owner of Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, California restaurant famous for its organic, locally-grown ingredients and for pioneering California cuisine. Waters opened the restaurant in 1971. It has consistently ranked among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Waters has been cited as one of the most...
Hue, Vietnam
Huế is the capital city of Thua Thien-Huế province, Vietnam. Between 1802 and 1945, it was the imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty. It is well known for its monuments and architecture. Its population stands at about 950,000 people. Located in the center of Vietnam, Hue is famous for its severe weather with boiling hot days in the summer and ceaseless raining weeks in the winter. Hue people,...
Übermensch
The Übermensch (German for “Overman, Overhuman, Above-Human, Superman”) is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche posited the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra. There is no overall consensus regarding the precise meaning of the Übermensch, nor on the importance of the concept in Nietzsche’s thought....
Aristide Bruant
Aristide Bruant (1851 - 1925) was a French cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner. He is best known as the man in the red scarf and black cape featured on certain famous posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He has also been credited as the creator of the chanson réaliste musical genre. Born Louis Armand Aristide Bruand in the village of Courtenay, Loiret in France, Bruant left his home...
Hugo Awards
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards until 1992. Organized and overseen by the World Science Fiction Society, the awards are given each year...
Otis Blue
Otis Redding’s third album, and his first fully realized album, presents his talent unfettered, his direction clear, and his confidence emboldened, with fully half the songs representing a reach that extended his musical grasp. More than a quarter of this album is given over to Redding’s versions of songs by Sam Cooke, his idol, who had died the previous December, and all three are...
Gordon Willis
Gordon Willis, ASC, (born 1931) is an American cinematographer best known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather series as well as Woody Allen’s Annie Hall and Manhattan. His fellow cinematographer William Fraker has called Willis’s work “a milestone in visual storytelling”, while one critic suggested that “more than any other director of...
The Gardens Of Perfect Brightness
The Old Summer Palace, known in China as Yuan Ming Yuan (the Gardens of Perfect Brightness), and originally called the Imperial Gardens, was a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing. It is located 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northwest of the walls of the Imperial City, built in the 18th and early 19th century, where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty resided and handled government affairs. Known for...