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☆ ‘Barbie’ Review: Out of the Box and On the Road
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Manohla Dargis | More About Manohla Dargis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

That’s a question that swirls through Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” a live-action, you-go-girl fantasia about the world’s most famous doll. The movie opens with a prelude that parodies the “dawn of man” sequence in “2001: A Space Odyssey” (with girls, not ape-men), and then shifts to Barbie Land, a kaleidoscopic wonderland. There, Gerwig sets the scene and tone with Barbie (Margot Robbie) — who calls herself stereotypical Barbie — soon floating out of her Dreamhouse, as if she were being lifted by a giant invisible hand. Written by Gerwig and her partner, Noah Baumbach, the movie introduces Barbie on yet another perfect day in Barbie Land, in which dolls played by humans exist in what resembles a toyland gated community. There, framed by a painted mountain range, Barbie and a diverse group of other Barbies rule, living in homes with few exterior walls.

Persons: Greta Gerwig’s “ Barbie, ”, fantasia, Barbie, George Bernard Shaw’s, Lerner, Loewe, “ Barbie, Gerwig, Margot Robbie, —, Barbie —, Noah Baumbach, Eero Saarinen Organizations: Mattel Locations: Barbie

☆ Will There Ever Be Another Popular Mayor of New York City?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Ginia Bellafante | More About Ginia Bellafante | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Relying on surveys of biographers, social scientists and experts in urban policy and on an elaborate methodology, Mr. Holli concluded that Fiorello La Guardia was the best mayor in the history of the United States. No other New York mayor appeared on the “best” list; three were included among the worst. New York City is a notoriously difficult place to manage, and measuring success in real time is also complicated. On the face of it, the question of whether the current mayor is popular or not would appear to be a simple one determined by statistics, anecdote and so on, but it is knottier than that. During the campaign, his evasiveness led to headlines like, “Where Does Eric Adams Really Live?” because it was not obvious, a confusion that he blamed on shoddy paperwork at the hands of a homeless accountant.

Persons: Melvin Holli, Holli, Fiorello, Eric Adams, Bill de Blasio Organizations: Big City Mayors, Fiorello La Guardia, New, Yorkers, rancid Locations: Big City, ”, New York, Philadelphia, United States, York

☆ A Bond Villain’s Lair in the Hamptons? That’s Only the Half of It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Tim Mckeough | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The experimental midcentury-modern architecture of the Hamptons has long been a source of fascination to many in the design world — including Timothy Godbold, an interior designer based in Southampton, N.Y. So in the fall of 2019, when he noticed an unusual modernist house in town listed for sale, he was intrigued. But the interior was dated and the weathered-cedar exterior had been repaired with mismatched boards, so the house had languished on the market. “It was really quirky, and it was a really good price,” Mr. Godbold, 55, said. “The shape of the house was so incredible, but the different shades of wood were distracting to the eye.

Persons: Timothy Godbold, Eugene L, Futterman, Mr, Godbold, “, ’ ”, ” Organizations: Hamptons Locations: Southampton, N.Y

☆ The Modern Farmhouse Is Today’s McMansion. And It’s Here to Stay.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Ronda Kaysen | More About Ronda Kaysen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Pottery Barn Kids advertises a modern farmhouse crib, on sale for $600, and Home Depot sells a modern farmhouse outdoor playhouse for $299. “If a builder says, ‘I need three elevations,’ one will always be modern farmhouse,” she said. Ms. Sachs, 32, a stay-at-home mother, and Mr. Sachs, 36, who owns a commercial finance business, doubled down on modern farmhouse soon after they moved into the $1.351 million home. For Ms. Sachs, midcentury modern feels too cold, and the Italianate style she grew up with felt too ornate and uncomfortable. By contrast, modern farmhouse feels like home.

Persons: Jessica Cloe, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, Deryl Patterson, ‘, ”, Mark Canale, Sachs, “ It’s Organizations: Home Depot, National Association of Home Builders, Housing, Hamptons Locations: Santa Monica, Philadelphia

☆ Nations Aim to Zero Out Shipping Emissions by Midcentury
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Max Bearak | More About Max Bearak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Negotiators from nearly every country reached a provisional agreement on Thursday to effectively eliminate the shipping industry’s greenhouse gas emissions by as close to 2050 as possible. The breakthrough was made at an annual meeting in London of the International Maritime Organization, the global shipping regulator. The agreement, which will be formally signed on Friday, also sets goals for emissions reductions to be reached by 2030 and 2040. But a strong last-minute push from small island nations and other poorer coastal countries led to commitments from the organization that are in line with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That is the threshold most climate scientists say the world must avoid crossing to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change.

Organizations: International Maritime Organization Locations: London

☆ $2.5 Million Homes in Colorado, Washington and Maine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Angela Serratore | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is half a block from the popular oversized sundial at Cranmer Park and less than a mile from public elementary and middle schools. A movie theater and a Trader Joe’s are also nearby, on Colorado Boulevard. Driving to downtown takes about half an hour. Size: 3,054 square feetPrice per square foot: $819Indoors: Mature landscaping shields the property from the street, and a brick driveway leads to the home’s front entrance, up a short flight of stairs. A double-sided fireplace faces a sitting area on one side and a cozy conversation pit with built-in bench seating on the other.

Persons: Richard W, Quinn Organizations: Denver, American Institute of Architects Locations: American Institute of Architects ’ Connecticut, Colorado, Breckenridge, Vail

☆ An $8.5 Million Long Island Home With a View That ‘Stops People in Their Tracks’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Anthony Paletta | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The village of Cove Neck, N.Y., has a variety of striking views of Long Island Sound, but one that is particularly remarkable is available for sale for the first time in 45 years: a midcentury home built as a series of triangles to emphasize the vistas from its cliff top location.

Locations: Neck, N.Y

☆ See how a young couple turned a neglected Los Angeles bungalow into a midcentury marvel and romantic proposal spot with just $50,000 in renovations
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In 2020, Angelina Murphy and Skyler Johnson had a tough time finding an affordable Los Angeles home. See how they turned the deteriorating 1950s bungalow into the home of their dreams for $50,000. "We were looking to buy and weren't having much luck," Murphy told Insider. "Taking on the renovation process ourselves was the best way to have a really nice home that we could afford," Murphy said. See how Murphy and Johnson transformed the more than 70-year-old three-bedroom, one-bathroom home from a crumbling pad into their forever home without breaking the bank.

Persons: Angelina Murphy, Skyler Johnson, —, Murphy, they'd, Skyler, Johnson, homebuyers, Alcynna Lloyd Organizations: Service, YouTube, alloyd Locations: Los Angeles, LA

☆ How Far Would You Go for Midcentury Furniture?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Chantel Tattoli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The credenza in the back of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van groaned as Lars Balderskilde drove through the woodlands near Vejle, a city on a fjord about two and a half hours from Copenhagen. It was late January, and after passing a lake filled with swans, Mr. Balderskilde stopped at a house where he picked up an old bar cabinet that he paid for in cash. Then came stops at other homes to collect nesting tables and a mirror. “It’s always emotional, but you have to let go,” Ms. Toft said to Mr. Balderskilde, who had come to look at various pieces in the house. Ms. Kock showed him a tiny clay bird that she had made as a girl.

Persons: van groaned, Lars Balderskilde, Balderskilde, Nina Toft, Grethe Kock, “ It’s, ” Ms, Toft, Kock, “, ” Organizations: Mercedes, Benz, van Locations: Vejle, Copenhagen

☆ In Branson, Missouri, a Two-Wheeled Fix for the Commuter Blues
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Richard Fausset | Chase Castor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WHY WE’RE HEREWe’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In this Midwest tourist town, a housing crisis has led to creative transportation solutions. Eventually, she was evicted, her car was repossessed, and she found herself living at first in the woods, and later in one of the old motels around the city’s gaudy entertainment strip. By some estimates, close to 20 percent of the people living in Branson are homeless or staying in motels. They are workers and drifters, service industry strivers and worn-down honky-tonkers, some struggling with addiction, some raising children under trying circumstances.

Persons: Christie Schubert, Schubert Locations: Branson, Mo, America

☆ $1.8 Million Homes in Florida, New York and Tennessee
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Angela Serratore | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is about a five-minute drive from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, and about 15 minutes from downtown Sarasota. Sarasota Bay is a few blocks away, and this house comes with a deeded boat slip. The tile floors continue through an arched doorway into a living room with an original fireplace and two sets of French doors that open to a patio. Through another arched doorway is a dining room open to an updated kitchen with walnut cabinets, marble counters and stainless steel appliances. Off this space is a family room with a built-in entertainment center and white-painted, beamed ceilings and paneled walls.

Persons: Ralph Twitchell, Paul Rudolph, John Organizations: Sarasota School of Architecture, Ringling Museum of Art Locations: Sarasota, Fla, Sarasota Bay

☆ Climate change has fueled larger wildfires in California, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The area burned from wildfires in California's northern and central forests increased fivefold between 1971 and 2021, an increase driven largely by human-caused climate change, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The 10 largest wildfires in California happened in the last two decades, five of which occurred in 2020 and eight after 2017. Scientists estimate the area burned during an average summer could rise as much as 50% by midcentury as hotter and drier conditions intensify the blazes. The researchers conducted a statistical analysis of temperature and wildfire data for summers in California between 1971 and 2021 and assessed models that showed how the last few decades may have looked without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. They discovered that burned area increased 172% more than it would have without climate change.

Organizations: National Academy of Sciences, U.S ., D.C, New Locations: California, Canada, U.S . East Coast, Philadelphia, Washington, New York City

☆ To Truly Understand the Past, Pick Up an Old Magazine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Brian Dillon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

And not a single mention yet of AIDS; in a Wrangler ad, a model’s speech bubble announces, oblivious: “I’m Positive.” In these magazine pages, it both is and is not the 1984 of my memory. “Priceless flotsam they seemed to us then,” Elizabeth Hardwick once wrote, recalling her youthful fascination with old jazz records. I’ve long felt the same way about magazines, old and new. Old magazines are cheap time machines, archaeologies of collective desire. Find a print issue, specialist or popular, preferably more than 20 years old (though 10 may do the trick), and read it from cover to cover.

Persons: Kate Bush, won’t, ” It’s, Roland, ” Elizabeth Hardwick, Joan Didion, ”, Hardwick, Alberto Giacometti, Gordon Parks, William Klein Organizations: Vogue Locations: London, New York, Dublin, ., Mexico City

☆ See inside Wave House, the legendary Malibu beach home once owned by Rod Stewart that just listed for $49.5 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A house that juts out over Malibu's coveted beach hit the market for the first time in 36 years. Rod Stewart bought it in the 1970s and sold it to record executive Mo Ostin in 1987. The house was designed to look like a set of cresting waves by California architect Harry Gesner. The Coopers were friends with California architect Harry Gesner, and commissioned Gesner to design a house for their family that encapsulated their affinity for the outdoors. The estate of Mo Ostin, the home's most recent owner and onetime record executive who's known for signing Jimi Hendrix and The Kinks, listed the property in early June for $49.5 million.

Persons: Rod Stewart, Mo Ostin, Harry Gesner, —, Gerry Cooper, Gesner, Glenn Cooper's, Cooper, Lisa Germany, Jimi Hendrix Organizations: Service, Glenn, Coopers, Malibu Colony Locations: California, Malibu, Mo

☆ Exploring Rock Hudson’s Legacy Through a New Lens
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rock Hudson was the ultimate midcentury movie star, turning heads and breaking hearts as the camera lit his chiseled face and rugged frame. The double life he led as a gay man — and his death from AIDS-related causes at 59 in 1985 — have sealed him in Hollywood lore, but he is largely unknown to new generations of film fans. For Stephen Kijak, the director of the HBO documentary “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed,” premiering Sunday at the Tribeca Festival (and streaming on Max on June 28), the actor was a fascinating figure to explore, both as a quintessential midcentury movie star and a gay icon. Mr. Kijak, who has directed several L.G.B.T.Q.-themed films, spoke recently from his Los Angeles home about the legacy of and enduring fascination with a movie star who lived a gay life almost out in the open and who, in a true act of openness as one of the first celebrities — if not the first — to go public about his illness, changed the course of how the world responded to the AIDS epidemic. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Persons: Hudson, —, Stephen Kijak, Kijak Organizations: HBO, Tribeca, Max Locations: Hollywood, Los Angeles

☆ A blogger who started off posting photos of LA's high-design homes on Instagram became a real-estate agent who turned his 99,000 followers into $200 million in sales last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He started a design-focused Instagram account, Take Sunset, that has almost 100,000 followers. Now he runs a team of agents named after the account that closed $200 million in deals in 2022. The couple still live in the house Kallick helped them purchase. He said the Instagram account still generates multiple leads — sometimes even from celebrities. Prospective buyers might reach out thinking they only want to see midcentury homes.

☆ Hegra has been inhabited for 12,000 years -- but has only had tourists for four
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Now, increased investment in archeology from the Saudi government means that more and more information is coming out of Hegra and other Nabatean sites. I think they just get absorbed in the story of the growth of the Roman Empire.”"Hinat" greets travelers at the Hegra visitor's center. Now, travelers can see her in the Hegra visitors’ center. Expand your searchMany visitors combine their Hegra trip with visits to the smaller nearby historic sites of Dadan and Jabal Ikmah. Don’t miss the covered outdoor station near the Hegra visitor’s center, where you can practice using a small chisel to carve your name or initials into pieces of stone.

☆ Review: ‘The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,’ Uneven Yet a Powerful Draw
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Laura Collins-Hughes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Sidney Brustein, whom she has placed at the center of this crowded tragicomedy, is not an interesting person. (The play is a Tony nominee for best revival; Silverman is its only acting nominee.) Terrible at business, he has just bought a local newsweekly without mentioning it to Iris, because theirs is nowhere near a marriage of equals. The title nods to that: It’s Sidney’s window, not Iris’s too, even though it is in their living room. Sidney finds a smidgen of purpose when he agrees to back his politician friend Wally (Andy Grotelueschen), and puts a campaign sign in the window, advocating reform.

☆ In California, a John Marsh Davis-Designed Home Comes Up for Sale for the Very First Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Fred A. Bernstein | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

There are supports, but a magician hid some of them in floor-to-ceiling bookcases and threaded others through wisteria-laden trellises. Though labeled Midcentury Modern, his houses are nothing like the better known Midcentury Modern works of architects like Richard Neutra, which are composed of flat, white surfaces. And, though labeled organic, they are nothing like the better-known organic works of Frank Lloyd Wright, which tend to hug the ground. Mr. Davis’s houses aren’t flat, or white, or low. They soar, in a style that Hans Baldauf, the author of a new book about Mr. Davis, calls “wood expressionism.” Mr. Davis himself liked to call his approach Forgotten Modern.

☆ A New Survey Erases Male Artists From the Western Canon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Tiana Reid | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But although her index of names succeeds in providing some answer to the question posed in Linda Nochlin’s trailblazing 1971 essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?,” Hessel does less than Nochlin did, 50 years ago, to unsettle the terms of the question itself. Can inserting women into the art-historical canon interrupt the system of canonization itself? Why does Hessel rely on the same methods of archival organization — linear history, market-based tastes, distinct genre boundaries — that played a part in producing women’s very exclusion? How instead might the fact of women’s presence disrupt the presuppositions of art’s place in the world? An especially moving chapter, “The Body in Sculpture,” initiates an answer.

☆ Here's why Rolex watches are so expensive and how the brand gained its luxury status
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

With their precision manufacturing, specially sourced materials, and exceptional craftsmanship, Rolex watches have never come cheap, but neither were they out of financial reach for 1960s working professionals in search of perfect timekeeping and technical innovation. "Back then, anybody could afford a Rolex," Hess told Insider. Dealers would buy luxury watches in Switzerland to carry across the border and sell in Italy. That reputation has helped Rolex crush the competition with a quarter of the luxury watch market — more than double that of runner-up Omega. "They all buy the little wannabe Rolex brands in the beginning and finally, when they achieve success, they buy that Rolex."

☆ ‘Good Night, Oscar’ Review: Sean Hayes With Demerol and Cadenzas
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Jesse Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Oscar Levant, the troubled midcentury musician and wag, often said he’d erased “the fine line between genius and insanity.”He says it again, or a version of it, in “Good Night, Oscar,” the unconvincing biographical fantasia that opened Monday at the Belasco Theater. But on the evidence of the character as written, and especially as impersonated by Sean Hayes in a gloomy if accurate performance, Levant doesn’t erase the line so much as fudge it. Certainly the play, by Doug Wright, fails to make much of a case for the genius part of the joke. Instead, it offers a spray of Levant’s most famous quips, like the one about Elizabeth Taylor: “Always a bride, never a bridesmaid.” And instead of dramatizing how marvelous Levant was, it just says so repeatedly. Mostly it’s just a cry; Levant doesn’t seem brilliant but ill.

☆ Viral fast-food hacks, like the Chipotle 'fajita quesadilla,' prove American appetites haven't caught up to the climate crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The TikTok creator, known for reviewing fast-food staples, posted last summer about leveling up Chipotle's steak quesadilla with fajita veggies. Nathan Llorin, another popular TikToker, told Insider that it wasn't until he started eating and reviewing fast food that his videos took off. A climate message for menusIn January, research showed that labeling fast-food menus with their climate impacts swayed people away from red meat. But about 10% of customers now choose a meatless option, including Sofritas, the chain's plant-based mainstay made from tofu. Frost, the TikToker, told Insider that of all the things viewers attack her for on the platform, the environmental impact of fast food isn't among them.

☆ Puerto Rico solar switch a life and death matter -US energy chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/4] Cars drive under a downed power pole in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico September 21, 2022. Puerto Rico has not typically been a large focus of U.S. energy chiefs. Colon covets the solar power Granholm offered, as it could also lower electricity bills, typically twice those on the mainland. Granholm said some 400,000 homes need rooftop solar but the $1 billion is only enough for up to 50,000 homes. Puerto Rico only generates about 3% of its electricity from renewables and the rest from fossil fuels.

☆ Why Blackouts, Power Outages Are Becoming More Common
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Taylor Dorrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Power outages have increased 64% from the early 2000s, and weather-related outages — many driven by the worsening climate crisis — have increased 78%. A record-breaking blizzard in Buffalo, New York, this winter caused power outages throughout the city, resulting in the deaths of 47 residents. In 2021, a heat wave led to power outages and the deaths of hundreds in the Pacific Northwest. While regional organizations might use fees to penalize companies for power outages, it's now much harder to pinpoint and hold a person or entity responsible. In the meantime, the climate crisis will continue to wreak havoc on an aging grid system that puts profits over reliability.

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