American Nerd

American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent is a fascinating book. I liked it.

Useful link:
www.americannerdbook.com

Sustainable Designs

I have been always intrigued by our limited understanding of where our materials come from or where they go + I believe most people will do the right thing if they were given accurate information, proper training and simple tools + I also think the fashion industry have played a unique role via creativity, innovation and connections to promote green initiatives worldwide.

Useful links:
www.permacouture.org
www.trustforconservationinnovation.org
www.earthpledge.org

Age + Business

The article What's Age Got to Do with It? @ http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_22/b4086098742993.htm was really inspiring.

Age also needs to be accompanied by a willingness, and even eagerness, to change. We recently heard Andrea Jung, the CEO of Avon, suggest that leaders (informally) fire and rehire themselves from time to time in order to freshen their mind-sets. Now, at 48, Andrea is still plenty young, but her approach to reinvention is actually the hallmark of the most effective 'older' folks we know. Case in point is K.P. Singh, the Indian real estate developer who, at age 76, has just expanded his business into, of all things, an international cricket league—because, he says, it will teach him 'all sorts of new things.' Or take Rupert Murdoch. At 77, his passion for traditional media opportunities remains unabated, so too his interest in what's next. Chris DeWolfe, CEO of social-networking site MySpace, recently told us that Murdoch has his sleeves rolled up at his new purchase, always asking questions, always pushing to learn more.
- Jack & Suzy Welch

How true! Thanks, Jack.

Useful link:
www.welchway.com

The Fifties In Paintings And Words

Peter Schjeldahl's article Action Figures @ http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/artworld/2008/05/26/080526craw_artworld_schjeldahl was brilliant.

Remembering Sydney Pollack

(via Wiki) Sydney Pollack was an Academy Award-winning Russian-American film director, producer and actor. He directed more than 21 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 films or shows, and produced over 44 films. Pollack is best known for directing films Out of Africa (1985), Tootsie (1982), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Yakuza (1975), The Way We Were and Jeremiah Johnson (1972), along with newer films The Interpreter (2005), Sabrina (1995), The Firm (1993) and Havana (1990). He appeared in over 15 films, including The Interpreter (2005), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Husbands and Wives (1992), The Player (1992), and The Electric Horseman (1979). In 2007, he appeared opposite George Clooney in Michael Clayton, a film which he also co-produced.

Concerns about Pollack's health had surfaced in 2007 when suddenly he stepped out of directing HBO's television film Recount. The film aired on May 25, 2008. Pollack died the next day of cancer at the age of 73 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California surrounded by family.

Useful links:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001628
http://www.dga.org/news/v25_4/feat_Pollack.php3
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/05/sydney_pollack_on_youtube.html

I think Sydney Pollack was an intelligent, versatile and a brilliant film-maker.

Clean Gold

According to Communities and Small-Scale Mining, an advocacy group affiliated with the World Bank, at least 13 million people worldwide, from more than 30 developing countries, engage in artisanal and small-scale mining. These are subsistence miners, collecting particles of gold out of streambeds, in many cases making barely enough to live. They don’t use cyanide; instead, they use mercury, and, unlike industrial miners, they are releasing all their byproducts directly into the environment. This is taking place all over the world, in Africa, South America, Asia and Central Europe. Mercury is toxic. Exposure to mercury can cause damage to the brain and kidneys, and it’s especially harmful to children. Released into waterways, mercury accumulates in the bodies of fish, rendering them inedible.

Here comes technology + workshops via Cleangold. Their technology is not only brilliant but also environment-friendly.

Useful links:
www.cleangold.com
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4375612020784552233
www.artisanalmining.org
www.artminers.org
www.aceer.org

WildlifeDirect

(via Wiki) WildlifeDirect is a Kenya, US and UK registered charitable organization founded and chaired by African conservationist Richard Leakey, who is credited with putting an end to the elephant slaughter in Kenya in the 1980s. Its main office is located in Nairobi, Kenya. WildlifeDirect was established in 2006 to provide support to conservationists in Africa directly on the ground via the use of blogs, which enables anybody, anywhere to play a direct and interactive role in the survival of some of the world’s most precious species. WildlifeDirect takes no administration fee for the funds that are transferred through their website so that the financial support can go to where it was intended in its entirety. Their core costs are provided for separately through grants, primarily from the European Union.

Useful links:
http://wildlifedirect.org
www.maraconservancy.com
www.leakey.com

I have huge respect for what he's achieved.

Art Prices

I found the interview (Freakonomics Blog + Olav Velthuis + David Galenson) about the price paid for Lucian Freud's 'Benefits Supervisor Sleeping' interesting/insightful.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/what-does-336-million-mean-in-the-art-world/

'To put it mildly, it is striking that art still fetches these record prices. I had expected the art market to collapse even before the financial crisis started. Of course, what’s difficult about prices for art is that they have no 'fundamental value,' unlike, for instance, real estate prices or stocks.'
- Olav Velthuis

How true!

Eye Network

Eye Network arranges videoconferencing facilities for customers. The services are great because flying less reduces our carbon footprint, and overall the concept is good for the environment.

Dries Van Noten

(via Wiki) Dries van Noten is a Belgian fashion designer. His work is characterised by a creative use of prints (often ethnic), colours, original fabrics and layering. He has a passionate and faithful following despite the fact he does not advertise. Dries Van Noten works and lives in Antwerp. He has several shops, the first one being 'Het Modepaleis' which opened in Antwerp in 1989, followed by shops in Hong Kong and Tokyo. He sells to around 500 shops around the world; his company is entirely self-financed. In 2008, van Noten won the prestigious International Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Useful links:
www.driesvannoten.be
www.cfda.com
www.antwerp-fashion.be

I think he is one of very few designers with a sense of style and aesthetics + he has a feel for color that is so subtle, which I believe is unique.

Whole Earth Catalog

(via Wiki) The Whole Earth Catalog was a sizable catalog published twice a year from 1968 to 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. Its purpose was to provide education and 'access to tools' so a reader could 'find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested.' Apple Inc. founder and entrepreneur Steve Jobs has described the Catalog as a conceptual forerunner of Web search engines. The Catalog's development and marketing were driven by an energetic group of founders, primarily Stewart Brand, whose family was also involved with the project. Its outsize pages measured 11x14 inches (28x36 cm). Later editions were more than an inch thick. The early editions were published by the Portola Institute, headed by Richard Raymond. In 1972, the catalog won the National Book Award, the first time a catalog had ever won such an award. Brand's publishing efforts were suffused with an awareness of the importance of ecology, both as a field of study and as an influence upon the future of humankind and emerging human awareness. The catalogs disseminated many ideas now associated with the 1960s and 1970s, particularly those of the counterculture and the environmental movements. Later editions and related publications edited by Brand popularized many innovative ideas during the 1970s-1990s.

Original Whole Earth Catalog, Special 30th Anniversary Issue by Peter Warshall + Stewart Brand is a great book, full of practical and inspiring solutions for people like you and me.

Useful link:
http://sb.longnow.org

Shopping, Seduction And Mr Selfridge

Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge by Lindy Woodhead is a fascinating book (the roller-coaster life of the maverick American retail tycoon Harry Gordon Selfridge) on social history, marketing and shopping. It's eye opener and I liked it.

World Oil Reserves

Here is an interesting/informative update on world oil reserves @ http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2008/oilreserves

Useful link:
www.ogj.com

Who would have thought Canada would be No.2! Amazing!

Business Of Theatre

I found www.ebroadwayplays.com interesting (theatrical investment + philanthrophy), in fact, I liked it.

The Phoenix Lander

The animation of the Phoenix lander @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7400375.stm was brilliant.

Useful links:
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu
NASA - Phoenix

Will Self

William Self is an English novelist, reviewer and columnist. His latest novel, The Butt, won the 2008 Wodehouse prize for comic fiction.

Useful links:
www.will-self.com
www.hayfestival.com

Shigeru Miyamoto

(via Wiki) Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer. He is the creator of the Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pikmin and F-Zero franchises for Nintendo game systems. He has also supervised many titles published by Nintendo on behalf of other developers, including Metroid Prime and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Miyamoto is a world-renowned game designer, and is often called the 'father of modern video gaming'. Video games designed by him typically feature refined control-mechanics, intuitive gameplay, simplistic story lines, and imaginative worlds in which the players are encouraged to discover things for themselves.

Useful links:
www.miyamotoshrine.com
www.nintendo.com
www.gameinformer.com

I am huge fan!

Dima Bilan

(via Wiki) Dima Bilan is a Russian pop artist of Karachay descent. Dima represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with 'Never Let You Go', finishing second, and he won the contest in 2008, with the song 'Believe'.

Useful links:
www.eurovision.tv
http://bilandima.ru/enghtm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDJxR0fsbN8

Entre Les Murs (The Class)

(via Wiki) Entre les murs is a work of contemporary fiction by French writer François Bégaudeau. It is a semi-autobiographical account of Bégaudeau's experiences as a literature teacher in an inner city middle school in Paris. Published in 2006, it won the Prix France Culture/Télérama. In 2008, it was made into a movie by Laurent Cantet, also called 'Entre les murs', this film received the 2008 Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival, making it the first French film in 21 years to do so.

Useful links:
Festival de Cannes : Film details 2008
Entre les murs (2008)
Festival de Cannes

New Tanzanite Treatment

According to the American Gem Trade Association Gemological Testing Center (AGTA-GTC) + American Gemological Laboratories (AGL), a color-enhancing coating on tanzanite containing cobalt have been detected in faceted samples of tanzanites provided by their clients. Obviously the purpose of the treatement have been to improve the overall appearance of the stones, but with standard gemological testing + advanced analytical tools like X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, the treatments are identifiable. Coatings are not considered permanent.

Useful links:
www.agta.org
www.agta-gtc.org
www.aglgemlab.com
www.ftc.gov