Having successfully shaken off its family friendly image of the ’90s, Las Vegas is now an unashamedly indulgent playground for adults. Lured by the assurance that “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, record numbers of people are coming to party.
Almost 40 million people visited Las Vegas last year and a record proportion of those were Australians. It’s a trend that looks set to continue with the promise of cheaper fares when Virgin Blue’s new long-haul carrier, V Australia, starts daily... Read Full Story
If you’re a Bob Dylan fan you may have seen his poems published recently in The New Yorker. And if you were around in the 60’s, you’re no doubt familiar with the illuminating photographs of Barry Feinstein. Together the pics and poems form the basis of a new book, Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric: The Lost Manuscript, available next month from Simon & Schuster.
A synopsis: Surfacing for the first time after more than forty years, Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric is a remarkable, long-lost manuscript... Read Full Story
In salons and studios, Helen Greenwood takes a walking tour of Paris to inhale the city’s most exquisite perfumes:
Guerlain, Caron, Hermes, Jean Patou - these names are a fanfare to fine fragrance. My mission is to track down the French niche perfume houses and perfumeries, however. Not Sephora and Marionnaud: they’re mainstream. I’m looking for those harder-to-find, lesser-known names. I’m hunting the perfumes you won’t find at a duty-free store, that aren’t even available in Australia... Read Full Story
A dizzying visual representation of one day’s worth of air travel over Europe. Stay tuned for the ‘flip’ that shows a cross-section revealing the density of the air traffic. That’s a lot of planes, passengers, cargo and C0².
Related: an info-vis of 24 hours of global air traffic and an interesting visual overview on airport wayfinding signage. It’s good to see one of the classics of that particular field of design endeavour mentioned there too: the masterful wayfinding signage of Amsterdam’s... Read Full Story
Joe Conason for Salon makes a convincing argument on the dumbing down of the GOP asking why more conservatives aren’t disgusted that their party nominated a person devoid of qualifications for the vice presidency (again)? Whatever your persuasion, there’s good solid intellectual sense here. What one might say passes for “elitist” these days.
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A wonderful read from the wonderful Anne Lamott on the late (and sorely missed) buckaroo populist and freedom fighter, Molly Ivins, who would have had a ball with the insanity of this presidential election.
It breaks a girl’s heart to know that Molly Ivins does not get to have a go at the Republican slate this year. I can see that big, rosy, sunflower face watching this all with astonishment and roaring with laughter. Ivins — the legendary buckaroo populist, journalist, freelance hell... Read Full Story
Fashion designer Michael Kors based his 2008 fall collection in part on Mad Men. The maturity of dress on the show is part of what attracted him:
Aren’t we ready for that again? For some maturity? I have to tell you, I am sick and tired of hair down to there and crotch-high hemlines. It’s so obvious. For Fall I was really trying to bring back buttoned-up sexy — think Grace Kelly. So cool, so poised. She never reveals a thing and you can’t take your eyes off of her. I mean, watch “Rear Window... Read Full Story
A very moving story making its way through our digitally disconnected lives. “The Cab Ride I’ll Never Forget,” by Kent Nerburn. Sometimes when it all gets too much, it’s small little tales like this that comfort and console. [via dooce]
“For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a... Read Full Story
Starting on October 5th, 30 graphic designers will create 30 posters presenting 30 reasons to vote for Barack Obama. To recieve daily emails, sign up here. [via designobserver]
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