Saturday, May 03, 2008
A Positive Understanding Of Islam’
Sarah H. Bayliss writes about why many cultural institutions around the world are showcasing Islamic art + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2494
Executricks
Executricks: Or How to Retire While You're Still Working by Stanley Bing is an interesting book because I think we all need Stanley Bing's global positioning system for a sane and pleasantly successful life.
Useful link:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/stanleybing
Useful link:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/stanleybing
Style And Tradition
The article, Top jewelers turn to their heritage to sell on the global stage @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/02/arts/rcajmenkes.php was interesting, and I think today heritage is becoming the buzz word among top jewelers because it inspires and sells.
Lipstick Theory
The article, Hard Times, but Your Lips Look Great @ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/fashion/01SKIN.html?_r=1&oref=slogin was brilliant and insightful + I have learned something new today.
Jack Kirby
(via Wiki) Jack Kirby was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of the medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is 'The King'. Historians and most comics creators acknowledge Kirby as one of the medium's greatest and most influential artists.
Jack Kirby will be remembered forever.
Useful links:
www.kirbymuseum.org
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/05/02/jack.kirby/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50Mjdsh_iw
Jack Kirby will be remembered forever.
Useful links:
www.kirbymuseum.org
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/05/02/jack.kirby/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50Mjdsh_iw
Gold Update
It has been reported that MMTC Ltd, India’s largest bullion trader, is expected to import 140 tonnes of gold in 2008-09 + MMTC/Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux have also decided to to make gold and silver medallions and coins, which I think will further the demand for precious metals.
Useful links:
www.pamp.ch
www.mmtclimited.com
Useful links:
www.pamp.ch
www.mmtclimited.com
A Spectacular Win In DTC’s ‘One against Hundred’ Game
Total internal reflections of Chaim Even Zohar on the renowned Belgian rough diamond trading company Diamanthandel A. Spira BVBA + how the company got listed in the new Diamond Trading Company (DTC) client list for the 2008-2011 contract period + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
Greatest Songs Of All Time
The complete list of Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time are @ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs
A few of my favorites:
- Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan
- A Change Is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke
- Blowin' in the Wind, Bob Dylan
- Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
- Stairway To Heaven, Led Zeppelin
- One, U2
- No Woman, No Cry, Bob Marley and the Wailers
- That'll Be the Day, Buddy Holly and the Crickets
- Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles
- Hotel California, The Eagles
- Billie Jean, Michael Jackson
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
- You Can't Always Get What You Want, The Rolling Stones
- Losing My Religion, R.E.M.
- Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain, Willie Nelson
- Candle in the Wind, Elton John
- Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton
- C'mon Everybody, Eddie Cochran
- The Boys of Summer, Don Henley
- Piano Man, Billy Joel
- Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley
Useful link:
www.rollingstone.com
A few of my favorites:
- Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan
- A Change Is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke
- Blowin' in the Wind, Bob Dylan
- Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
- Stairway To Heaven, Led Zeppelin
- One, U2
- No Woman, No Cry, Bob Marley and the Wailers
- That'll Be the Day, Buddy Holly and the Crickets
- Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles
- Hotel California, The Eagles
- Billie Jean, Michael Jackson
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
- You Can't Always Get What You Want, The Rolling Stones
- Losing My Religion, R.E.M.
- Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain, Willie Nelson
- Candle in the Wind, Elton John
- Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton
- C'mon Everybody, Eddie Cochran
- The Boys of Summer, Don Henley
- Piano Man, Billy Joel
- Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley
Useful link:
www.rollingstone.com
Friday, May 02, 2008
Knowing Your Opponent
How to get inside your opponents' heads rather than their hearts? The article Inside a deal was brilliant. http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11288484
Useful link:
www.psychologicalscience.org
Useful link:
www.psychologicalscience.org
Stephen Gregory
I really liked Steven Gregory's unique skull embedded with precious stones + I think it's one-of-a-kind art form with its own beauty and luster with a precious message.
Useful links:
www.opus-art.com
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2277561,00.html
Useful links:
www.opus-art.com
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2277561,00.html
Forevermark
De Beers says it plans to launch the world’s leading diamond brand Forevermark via carefully selected jewelers in Asia/South Africa + it's own independent grading laboratories in Belgium and England using proprietary technology exclusively for Forevermark diamonds.
I think this concept will definitely re-assure diamond consumers of all ages at a cost (if they don't care).
Useful links:
www.forevermark.com
www.debeersgroup.com
www.dtc.com
I think this concept will definitely re-assure diamond consumers of all ages at a cost (if they don't care).
Useful links:
www.forevermark.com
www.debeersgroup.com
www.dtc.com
Twilight Becomes Night: A New Documentary
In her new documentary, Twilight Becomes Night, filmmaker Virginie-Alvine Perrette shows why America should fear a chain store takeover. Brilliant! I liked it.
Useful link:
www.twilightbecomesnight.com
Useful link:
www.twilightbecomesnight.com
Art During The Great War
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
The versatility of Mr Nevinson and the way in which he alters his style to suit his subject is seen in ‘A Group of Soldiers’. The great truth about the English ‘Tommy’ after 1915 was that he was the British working man in disguise, and here with unerring accuracy Mr Nevinson has penetrated to the man behind the uniform, and unveiled the man of toil, the unit of the machine. Some have demurred that in the foremost figures the hands are exaggerated but, while the point is open to debate, a slight exaggeration is permissible as emphasising the fact that these men belong to the horny-handed class. In this group, where there is no movement to be registered, Futurist devices would be out of place and they are avoided, but there is still a faint trace of Cubism in the definite angles of the simple modelling, and this helps to give a monumental sense of strength and doggedness to the sturdy figures.
In landscape, as well as in his figure paintings, Mr Nevinson contrived to get at the reality behind te thing seen. ‘The Road from Arras to Bapaume’ is neither impressionistic nor photographic, but it gives the essential truth of a scene acutely remembered. All the inessential details have been suppressed, with the result that the main recollections of the truth—the white, switchback track of Roman straightness, the lopped-down tree-trunks, the stream of moving traffic, and the limitless expanse—are recorded with increased strength and intensity. This is one of Mr Nevinson’s later war pictures, and while he no doubt enjoyed greater facilities and privileges when he returned to France in July 1917 as an ‘official artist’ than he had done in 1914-15 as a motor mechanic, the essential qualities in his pictures remained the same. His reputation was made with the earlier pictures, in which the mannerisms were most marked; in the later works these mannerisms were pruned to a vanishing point, and realities were stated without any serious loss in strength and with increased clarity.
It is no wonder that the war pictures of Mr Nevinson took London by storm in the early days of the War. He was the first to show the grim inner realities of modern fighting, and others who dealt only with appearances seemed in comparison remote from the heart of the subject. When other young artists were released from the fighting line, a new series of visions of men as automata expressed the new outlook of a new generation, but their work did not begin to appear in exhibitions till nearing the time of the Armistice in 1918.
The first serious rival to Mr Nevinson appeared in April 1916, when a large painting, ‘The Kensington’s at Laventie’ by Mr Eric H Kennington, was exhibited in Regent Street. Mr Kennington, a young painter of promise in whom Mr William Nicholson had taken an interest, was an artist of quite another type. He was untouched by the most modern movements, except that he had a leaning towards simplicity of drawing and emphasis of design: this and a knowledge of the War from within was all he had in common with Mr Nevinson. After only three months training in England as a Territorial, Private Kennington went to France at the beginning of November 1914 with the 13th Battalion of the London Regiment (The Kensingtons). He returned to England in 1915, when he was discharged unfit for further service, and then began to paint this great picture of a typical moment in the life at the Front during the terrible winter of 1914-15. The moment chosen for representation in this picture was when his platoon, after serving for four days and nights in the fire trenches, enduring the piercing cold of twenty degrees of frost and almost continuous snow, had at last been relieved. The men have emerged from the communication trench terminating in a ruined farmyard, and are forming up along the ruined village street. Each figure in the picture is an actual portrait, and the artist has given the following description of his work:
Corporal J Kealey is about to give the order ‘Fall in, No.7 Platoon.’ ....In the first four....reading from right to left—are Pte.Slade, resting wtih both hands on his rifle; Lee—Cpl. Wilson, Pte. Guy, and Pte.McCafferty, who is turning to look at te other men falling in behind....On the extreme left is Pte.H Bristol....Directly behind Pte.Guy are two men in waterproof sheets: Pte.Kennington (the artist) in a blue trench helmet and Pte.W.Harvey....On the ground is Pte. A Todd...He has fallen exhausted by continual sickness, hard work, lack of sleep, long hours of ‘standing—to ,’ and observing.
This picture shows quite another aspect of realism. It is a stately presentation of human endurance, of the quiet heroism of the rank and file. The deadliest enemy here is the piercing cold, which seems to pervade the whole picture. Apart from its human emotional appeal, this large picture—in which the figures are two—thirds life—size—possesses a peculiar technical interest in that it is painted on glass. The advantage of this method is that the pigment is hermetically sealed, and so long as the thick plate—glass endures unbroken the color of the surface will remain for centuries as fresh as on the day which it was painted. The technical difficulties, however, will be apparent even to laymen when it is realized that in order to use this method the whole picture has to be painted backward. Not only has the subject to be reversed on the other side of the glass, but the process of painting has to be reversed also: the upper touches, which on a canvas would have been the last, must be laid first on the glass, and what would have been the first brush stroke on a canvas must be put on the glass last. Looking at the apparent case with which the whole picture has been painted, and remembering the infinite difficulties of the method employed, ‘The Kensingtons at Laventie’ must be pronounced a great technical achievement as well as a noble memorial of British fortitude.
Art During The Great War (continued)
The versatility of Mr Nevinson and the way in which he alters his style to suit his subject is seen in ‘A Group of Soldiers’. The great truth about the English ‘Tommy’ after 1915 was that he was the British working man in disguise, and here with unerring accuracy Mr Nevinson has penetrated to the man behind the uniform, and unveiled the man of toil, the unit of the machine. Some have demurred that in the foremost figures the hands are exaggerated but, while the point is open to debate, a slight exaggeration is permissible as emphasising the fact that these men belong to the horny-handed class. In this group, where there is no movement to be registered, Futurist devices would be out of place and they are avoided, but there is still a faint trace of Cubism in the definite angles of the simple modelling, and this helps to give a monumental sense of strength and doggedness to the sturdy figures.
In landscape, as well as in his figure paintings, Mr Nevinson contrived to get at the reality behind te thing seen. ‘The Road from Arras to Bapaume’ is neither impressionistic nor photographic, but it gives the essential truth of a scene acutely remembered. All the inessential details have been suppressed, with the result that the main recollections of the truth—the white, switchback track of Roman straightness, the lopped-down tree-trunks, the stream of moving traffic, and the limitless expanse—are recorded with increased strength and intensity. This is one of Mr Nevinson’s later war pictures, and while he no doubt enjoyed greater facilities and privileges when he returned to France in July 1917 as an ‘official artist’ than he had done in 1914-15 as a motor mechanic, the essential qualities in his pictures remained the same. His reputation was made with the earlier pictures, in which the mannerisms were most marked; in the later works these mannerisms were pruned to a vanishing point, and realities were stated without any serious loss in strength and with increased clarity.
It is no wonder that the war pictures of Mr Nevinson took London by storm in the early days of the War. He was the first to show the grim inner realities of modern fighting, and others who dealt only with appearances seemed in comparison remote from the heart of the subject. When other young artists were released from the fighting line, a new series of visions of men as automata expressed the new outlook of a new generation, but their work did not begin to appear in exhibitions till nearing the time of the Armistice in 1918.
The first serious rival to Mr Nevinson appeared in April 1916, when a large painting, ‘The Kensington’s at Laventie’ by Mr Eric H Kennington, was exhibited in Regent Street. Mr Kennington, a young painter of promise in whom Mr William Nicholson had taken an interest, was an artist of quite another type. He was untouched by the most modern movements, except that he had a leaning towards simplicity of drawing and emphasis of design: this and a knowledge of the War from within was all he had in common with Mr Nevinson. After only three months training in England as a Territorial, Private Kennington went to France at the beginning of November 1914 with the 13th Battalion of the London Regiment (The Kensingtons). He returned to England in 1915, when he was discharged unfit for further service, and then began to paint this great picture of a typical moment in the life at the Front during the terrible winter of 1914-15. The moment chosen for representation in this picture was when his platoon, after serving for four days and nights in the fire trenches, enduring the piercing cold of twenty degrees of frost and almost continuous snow, had at last been relieved. The men have emerged from the communication trench terminating in a ruined farmyard, and are forming up along the ruined village street. Each figure in the picture is an actual portrait, and the artist has given the following description of his work:
Corporal J Kealey is about to give the order ‘Fall in, No.7 Platoon.’ ....In the first four....reading from right to left—are Pte.Slade, resting wtih both hands on his rifle; Lee—Cpl. Wilson, Pte. Guy, and Pte.McCafferty, who is turning to look at te other men falling in behind....On the extreme left is Pte.H Bristol....Directly behind Pte.Guy are two men in waterproof sheets: Pte.Kennington (the artist) in a blue trench helmet and Pte.W.Harvey....On the ground is Pte. A Todd...He has fallen exhausted by continual sickness, hard work, lack of sleep, long hours of ‘standing—to ,’ and observing.
This picture shows quite another aspect of realism. It is a stately presentation of human endurance, of the quiet heroism of the rank and file. The deadliest enemy here is the piercing cold, which seems to pervade the whole picture. Apart from its human emotional appeal, this large picture—in which the figures are two—thirds life—size—possesses a peculiar technical interest in that it is painted on glass. The advantage of this method is that the pigment is hermetically sealed, and so long as the thick plate—glass endures unbroken the color of the surface will remain for centuries as fresh as on the day which it was painted. The technical difficulties, however, will be apparent even to laymen when it is realized that in order to use this method the whole picture has to be painted backward. Not only has the subject to be reversed on the other side of the glass, but the process of painting has to be reversed also: the upper touches, which on a canvas would have been the last, must be laid first on the glass, and what would have been the first brush stroke on a canvas must be put on the glass last. Looking at the apparent case with which the whole picture has been painted, and remembering the infinite difficulties of the method employed, ‘The Kensingtons at Laventie’ must be pronounced a great technical achievement as well as a noble memorial of British fortitude.
Art During The Great War (continued)
Random Thoughts
'What we wanted to do was once the customer come into our store we wanted to be sure that we are able to hold them for another few minutes, because they say that if you are able to make them sit for 10-15 minutes, they are ready to shop for another 30 minutes, so for us, every minutes is moolah.'
- B S Nagesh, MD
www.shoppersstop.com
- B S Nagesh, MD
www.shoppersstop.com
T- rays
(via Wiki) Electromagnetic waves sent at terahertz frequencies, known as terahertz radiation, terahertz waves, terahertz light, T-rays, T-light, T-lux and THz, are in the region of the electromagnetic spectrum between 300 gigahertz (3x1011 Hz) and 3 terahertz (3x1012 Hz), corresponding to the submillimeter wavelength range between 1 millimeter (high-frequency edge of the microwave band) and 100 micrometer (long-wavelength edge of far-infrared light).
I found the article Detecting T-rays @ http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11286550 interesting because of its wide application in various faculties of science and technology + I also believe T-rays could be useful in detecting unique chemical signatures in sophistcated treated/synthetic colored stones and diamonds.
Useful links:
www.nist.gov
www.ieee.org
I found the article Detecting T-rays @ http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11286550 interesting because of its wide application in various faculties of science and technology + I also believe T-rays could be useful in detecting unique chemical signatures in sophistcated treated/synthetic colored stones and diamonds.
Useful links:
www.nist.gov
www.ieee.org
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The Memory Project
I really liked the O2 Memory Project . Congratulations to Gabby Shawcross + Jason Bruges for designing the Memory Project. It was Brilliant!
Useful link:
www.o2memoryproject.com
Useful link:
www.o2memoryproject.com
The Adventures Of Johnny Bunko
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need by Daniel H. Pink is a fascinating book with good sense of humor + it's informative.
I liked it.
Useful link:
www.johnnybunko.com
I liked it.
Useful link:
www.johnnybunko.com
The Perth Mint
(via Wiki) The Perth Mint is Australia's oldest operating mint + today the Mint continues to provide refining and other services to the gold industry and manufactures many coin related numismatic items for investors and coin collectors.
Interestingly the mint has become a prime tourist destination for the Asian visitors, especially the Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Japanese and Indian customers because of their passion for gold.
Useful link:
www.perthmint.com.au
Interestingly the mint has become a prime tourist destination for the Asian visitors, especially the Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Japanese and Indian customers because of their passion for gold.
Useful link:
www.perthmint.com.au
Carbon Footprint
I found the carbon footprint analysis (a paper - pdf) by the MIT class @ http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/mit-class-calcu.html interesting because I think Timothy Gutowski and his team were spot on + definitely we may have to change our lifestyle to save the environment.
Useful links:
www.mit.edu
www.ieee.org
Useful links:
www.mit.edu
www.ieee.org
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