Sneakers from the NikeCraft collection.

“I don’t want to sound like a Luddite, but I’m very skeptical of big business,” the artist Tom Sachs said, talking about NikeCraft, a small collection he did with the shoemaker that he introduced with his exhibition, “Space Program: Mars,” now at the Park Avenue Armory.

Mr. Sachs is no Luddite, and he has raised enough questions about consumerism over the years to be wary of his own motives in collaborating with a major brand. I happened to drop by the Armory as Mr. Sachs was finishing the installation for Tuesday night’s opening, and with a schoolboy’s enthusiasm (and a nerdish pocket protector poking out of his shirt), he led me into a room that had the gear on display. I was bowled over.

I first met Mr. Sachs a decade ago at a gallery in Paris, where he was exhibiting his Chanel guillotine and a scale model of a Nazi death camp created from a Prada hat box. The work was disturbing, partly because it so impishly dealt with the strange and terrifying aspects of brand worship, especially luxury brands. Nowadays almost no one questions their dominance (and that may be even more frightening). Mr. Sachs didn’t seem a sucker for fashion, though. A sharp observer maybe, but not a follower.

The NikeCraft pieces grew out of a conversation he had with Mark Parker, Nike’s chief executive, three years ago. They spent hours talking about the merits of individual handcraft versus factory production. Mr. Sachs was interested in technical materials used for NASA and the military, but also in notions like durability and reuse; he recalled how his father used to sand down the bottoms of worn sneakers and attach a less-worn tread.

At one point, Mr. Parker told him, “If you think you can do better, why don’t you try.”

Mr. Sachs made visits to the Nike headquarters in Portland, Ore., and their folks came to his studio.

“I’m really surprised and pleased that they turned out so well,” he said of the products, which include a pair of sneakers (the Mars Yard shoe), two jackets, and lightweight carry bags that make use of air bag material and, in some cases, rip cords and grappling hooks. Bricolage is a big part of the “Mars” installation, with space vehicles transparently made out of plywood and screws, and Mr. Sachs has given that feeling to NikeCraft. Indeed, with the tote and backpack, there’s a sly sense of overdesign, not unlike you might find with an overly worked designer handbag.

Mr. Sachs seemed to enjoy the design process, saying, “I was immediately challenged by how complex it is to produce with a team that isn’t mine.” It was interesting to him how certain ideas got lost or ignored in the process. He recalled how a sample maker in a Vietnam factory just decided to eliminate a detail. “He said, ‘That’s a stupid idea,’ ” Mr. Sachs recalled, chuckling. At first the artist was annoyed (“Give me that guy’s number”), but the sample maker also made suggestions that were incorporated in the final design. As Mr. Sachs said of the process, “It’s not this autocratic vision.”

The olive-green Chester coat.

The jacket styles are striking. The Marsfly golden-yellow windbreaker comes with sleeve and hood tension pulls, Kevlar stitching and leather trim for the cuffs and visor brim. The leather bits were added by hand in New York. The olive-green Chester coat, in a three-layer waterproof fabric, is plain enough to look elegant over a business suit. Mr. Sachs had the lining printed with essential scientific information, like the entire periodic table. It’s handy for settling a bar-room argument, he said.

“A good part of what drives the fashion business is perceived obsolescence, but it can have a destructive impact on consumers,” Mr. Sachs said. There are also ecological issues. “The answer is we have to make stuff that lasts.”

With a limited production, NikeCraft is pricey: from $ 385 for the sneakers to $ 700 for a lightweight tote. Items are available for sale at the Armory and at Union, in Los Angeles, as well as boutiques in London, Berlin, Paris and Tokyo.

Source: blogs.nytimes.com

A man takes a photo of a new artwork attributed to Banksy in London. Picture: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

Banksy’s Parachuting Rat artwork in Melbourne was destroyed earlier this week. Picture: Steven Crabtree

The famous street artist’s new image was discovered on the wall of a discount shop in the Wood Green area of north London on Tuesday – the same day his Melbourne artwork was destroyed.

No chances have been taken with the image, which has been covered in plastic in a bid to prevent it from suffering the same fate.

The work depicts a poor child using a sewing machine to make Union Jack flags.

His Parachuting Rat creation was ruined on Tuesday by drilling work for a cafe in Prahran, Melbourne.

It was the third Banksy lost in two years. Vandals damaged one in Fitzroy last August and council workers painted over a Banksy in Hosier Lane in April 2010.

Amazing art: The best of Banksy’s work 

In pictures: The world’s best street art

Banksy

The stencilled image depicts a poor child making Union Jack flags on a sewing machine. Picture: Getty Images

Source: Getty Images

Banksy

It’s located on the wall of a discount shop in the Wood Green area of north London. Picture: Getty Images

Source: Getty Images

Source: www.news.com.au/travel

Source: www.autoblog.com

Adam Posen, external member of the monetary policy committee at the Bank of England, is stepping down. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

• 
  Share

• Tweet this

Source: Copy of Business News

She’s still weighing her options at this point, and Jennifer Lopez hasn’t decided if she’ll return for next season’s “American Idol” just yet.

The “On The Floor” songstress tweeted that she’s not made up her mind, so the rumors that she’s opting to move on simply aren’t true.

Source: gossipcenter.com

Andrew Demetriou. Photo: Pat Scala

JUST 2½ years ago lowly Richmond was ridiculed for its breathtakingly ambitious five-year plan to play finals three times, wipe out its large, growing debt and double its membership to 75,000. It was called the 3-0-75 plan.

If Richmond wins tonight, it could, depending on other results, be out of the eight on percentage alone, with a persuasive argument to play finals this year. So nearing the halfway mark of the five-year plan, it could be on track to achieve all three goals.

The Richmond membership stands at 49,100 – more even than its opponent tonight, Essendon, and bitter cross-town rival Carlton – and is expected to soon break 50,000 with the launch of a three-game membership.

The debt, which began at $ 4.5 million, is $ 3.5 million. When the Fighting Tiger Fund was launched with a dinner that raised about $ 2 million, the club used half to retire debt and the other half was invested in football.

The continued membership rise has helped the club exceed its forecasts so it will make a profit this year that could hit seven figures.

The club has front-ended some player contracts and therefore is in a position to buy a player when free agency begins this year. It has also invested significantly in development and recruiting.

In 2009, the season before the plan was launched, Richmond won 5½ games and finished second-last. It had a new coach and had cleaned out its playing list. Richmond will host another dinner on June 2 to renew the impetus to the Fighting Tiger Fund.

President Gary March has said he wants to cut the debt to $ 2 million this year.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou yesterday lauded the change at Richmond and lavished praise on chief executive Brendon Gale for the turnaround, which he said was incomplete but showed signs of a trend to financial and football health.

“I can remember when Brendon Gale put out that five-year plan and how he was ridiculed about the aspirational aspects of the targets, with people saying they were far-fetched,” Demetriou told The Saturday Age.

”He has done a remarkable job, make no mistake, in what he has done at Richmond. He has been a great appointment by Gary and the board.

”Everyone has always assumed that Richmond has this great underlying supporter base that will come out of the woodwork if they are successful and maybe that is true but … what they have achieved in this period has been extraordinary.

“Last year they received a large amount in equalisation from the AFL but prior to that they had not received much from the AFL and neither had they asked for it. They wanted to be self-sufficient.”

The 3-0-75 plan was for finals in three years and beyond that for three premierships in 10 years. It shows Richmond is seeking not just to be good but wants once more to be great.

It may not make the finals this year and so be unable to get to three finals appearances in five years.

It may also fall short of 75,000 members but on both counts it seems likely to be close. The sense of change and growth is clear.

Source: www.theage.com.au/sport

This documentary includes the shows host before their show actually started airing on television. This film is the reason why the show was actually picked up and you will know the reasons why when you see it. Zak Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin are all here and ready to go on a three week ghost hunting expedition in Nevada, focusing in Virginia City, mining towns and the Goldfield Hotel.

What makes this film so unique is the just how real it is. The reactions of the three friends who experience this happenings that are going on have such force and terror in them that you as the viewer cannot help thinking that you are right there in the room with them.

You will see a full body apparition, another apparition hiding in a corner and what seems to be some extensive poltergeist activity. Watching this film during the daytime is enough to have you looking around your house to give yourself some reassurance that somebody is not in the room watching you. One thing that is truly remarkable about this film is the proof that is shown to us is also put through analysis to prove to us that the video is authentic, which is something not a lot of these types of shows do now a days.

One important thing I wanted to talk about was the ending of the film. Now I will not give it away of course and give any details as to what happens, but lets just say in takes place in this Goldfield Hotel’s basement, and it was the scariest most gut-wrenching 10-15 minutes I have ever encountered in any film or documentary. It came to the point where I just wanted to turn it off and forget about it. But I allowed my courage to take over and watched it. It was not pleasant. My heart was racing. I was starting to sweat. I guess after seeing films such as Paranormal Activity and Poltergeist that you wait and expect for that creepy doll to pop out of the corner of the screen or the scary ghost face to pop up out of nowhere. I was expecting something like that the whole time upon viewing but kept say nothing like that was going to happen, and that what made it more terrifying. The unknown lurking in the darkness is always scarier than seeing the creature in the darkness.

The Ghost Adventures documentary is well worth viewing. It will open your eyes to a whole new world of the paranormal. I do dare you to watch it at night time with the lights off. I could barely watch it during the day with the lights on.

4 out of 4 stars

Source: www.moviesonline.ca

Vogue, via Associated PressVogue, May 2012.

Beginning with their June issues, the editors of the 19 international editions of Vogue magazine have made a pact to stop using models under age 16 or those who, from the viewpoint of the editors, appear to have an eating disorder.

In a somewhat unusual announcement, unusual in that the magazines are wading into a controversial issue, the Condé Nast International chairman, Jonathan Newhouse, said on Thursday, “Vogue editors around the world want the magazines to reflect their commitment to the health of the models who appear on the pages and the well-being of their readers.”

For decades, fashion magazines have been criticized for upholding an unrealistic standard of beauty, and even more so with the widespread use of digital retouching that often results in images of models and celebrities that have no basis in reality. While Vogue editors like Anna Wintour, of the American edition, and Franca Sozzani, of Italy, have participated in recent efforts by the Council of Fashion Designers of America to promote healthier behavior in the modeling industry, the magazines have not typically issued their own standards.

The fashion council released its own guidelines to designers and modeling agencies last season, asking them not to use models younger than 16 on their runways, and most have complied. The designer Marc Jacobs, however, disagreed with the council on that point and did use some models under that age, represented by Ford Models, in his show.

The Vogue announcement included the following six-point pact.

“1. We will not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder. We will work with models who, in our view, are healthy and help to promote a healthy body image.

“2. We will ask agents not to knowingly send us underage girls and casting directors to check IDs when casting shoots, shows and campaigns.

“3. We will help to structure mentoring programs where more mature models are able to give advice and guidance to younger girls, and we will help to raise industry-wide awareness through education, as has been integral to the Council of Fashion Designers of America Health Initiative.

“4. We will encourage producers to create healthy backstage working conditions, including healthy food options and a respect for privacy. We will encourage casting agents not to keep models unreasonably late.

“5. We encourage designers to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing, which limits the range of women who can be photographed in their clothes, and encourages the use of extremely thin models.

“6. We will be ambassadors for the message of healthy body image.”

Source: blogs.nytimes.com

The Pixel Building in Melbourne has been named among the world’s ugliest. Picture: Supplied by Grocon

The Pixel building in Melbourne has been named among the world’s top 10 building eyesores by travel website Trippy.com and Reuters.

An architectural guinea pig in carbon neutral designs, the building stands out with its quirky design featuring what appears to be shards of glass in bright colours.

Coming in at number one was the “dreary” J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, US, followed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, US which was reportedly even disliked by the architect.

Other buildings that made the list included the “chaotic, Transformer-like” Aoyama Technical College in Shibuya, Japan, and the “outdated” Trump Tower in New York.

It’s not the only building in Melbourne deemed “ugly”, with Federation Square named among the world’s top 10 ugliest buildings by travel site Virtual Tourist in 2009.

A review of the building found it: "Frenzied and overly complicated, the chaotic feel of the complex is made worse by a web of unsightly wires from which overhead lights dangle."

In pictures: The world’s ugliest buildings

In pictures: The world’s strangest buildings

Federation Square

Melbourne’s iconic Federation Square is an eye-sore. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Source: Herald Sun

Source: www.news.com.au/travel

Source: www.autoblog.com