Happy New Year

 

 

All the best for 2015.

 

For you e-card: 

 

You can view your card here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Astronaut's View of Earth

Awesome...

 Earth from the space station

 

 

A new, fast-paced video presents some awesome views of Earth from the International Space Station on viemo.com.

 

Film-maker Guillaume Juin edited footage from five different ISS expeditions to create the new clip, which he paced to reflect the speed of the space station.

 

At 17,150 miles an hour, the space station orbits the Earth every 92 minutes.

 

For an amazing video: http://vimeo.com/111049676

 

 

 

Dior: Going for Gold

Glitz and glam...

On her way over the top

Dior's J'adore The Future is Gold TV commercial is something to behold.

Somebody seems to have been inspired by an elevator.

Talk about taking things to the next level.

On the other hand, the glitzy video has had more than 25 million hits on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm-vBq-1T1k

Musical Moments: Remembering Joe Cocker

Farewell...

Joe Cocker

John Robert "Joe" Cocker, the memorable English rock and blues singer and musician over the years, died December 22.

His cover of The Beatles' With a Little Help from My Friends reached number one in the UK in 1968.

He performed the song live at the Party at the Palace concert for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002.

His cover of You Are So Beautiful reached number five in the US in 1974.

He received numerous awards, including a 1983 Grammy for his US number one Up Where We Belong and an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007.

Here's Cocker with You Are So Beautiful:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xxg_-9c4qg

Home Buyers Busy in Darien

Weekly update...

 

Sunset over 59th St. Bridge as 2014 winds down

 

 

Home buyers made accepted offers the leading category in residential real estate results during Christmas week in Darien.

 

There were five accepted offers in the week ending today.

 

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

 

-- Three new listings of property for sale;

-- One price change;

-- One property going under contract, and

-- Two closings.

 

For more: 

Merry Christmas

All the best...

 

Midnight Clear

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

For your special holiday ecard:

You can view your card here.

 

Football Magic From Brazil

Fancy footwork...

Young and old get in the act

A neat McDonald's TV commercial for the World Cup this year in Brazil went viral, logging more than 4.5 million hits in a month, Vittorio Hernandez reported on ibtimes.com.

Featuring trick shots, the commercial shows different kinds of people such as cute children, pretty girls in high heels and a senior citizen riding a motorized scooter playing with a football and shooting the ball into different kinds of goals, Hernandez wrote.

Betcha’ can’t watch it just once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T7zyezBkuY

 

Musical Moments: Bach, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring/Joy to the World

Perennial favorites...

Air Force Band at the Air and Space Museum

Starting with a single cellist on the floor of the National Air and Space Museum's "Milestones of Flight" gallery, and swelling to 120 musicians, The U.S. Air Force Band entertained museum visitors with its first-ever flash mob last year.

The performance featured an original arrangement of one of Johann Sebastian Bach's best-loved works, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring/Joy to the World.

The museum was a favorite place for our family when we lived in the Washington area.  The  famous X-15 is above the performer in the photo. The black rocket plane was built by North American Aviation, where I worked after serving in the Air Force in Italy.

Thanks to my old friend, Bob LeWinter, for reminding me about this perennial Bach favorite.

I hope you'll enjoy it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cKE8pyfcZc&feature=youtu.be

-----

For more on the X-15:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR5SYp948kw

For more about North American Aviation and its many historic projects:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Aviation

Below are two videos about Taranto, where I was stationed in Italy. 

The first, in English, is a short travelogue with a history and highlights of the city and its surrounding region called Apulia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAh6N4T61kQ 

The second, in Italian, is more fun because it focuses on people and everyday life in Taranto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3_Byt3Xq4Y

For more about Taranto:  https://www.google.com/search?q=google&gws_rd=ssl#q=Taranto

Closings Top Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

 

Christmas tree in a courtyard at New York's Palace Hotel

with St. Patrick's Cathedral

 

Eleven closings topped Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

 

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

 

-- Two new listings of property for sale;

-- Three price changes;

-- Three accepted offers, and

-- Three properties going under contract.

 

For more:

 

 

 

 

 

 

May the Christmas Force be With You

At home with Star Wars...

Holiday cornucopia for charity

A long time ago (this week), in a galaxy far, far away (Newark, CA), one man gave the world a new hope for Christmas, Diana Bruk reported yesterday on esquire.com.

This brave soul cocooned his home in 12,500 lighting channels, 100,000 lights, a 17-foot guitar, and a 19-foot piano (along with a bunch of other instruments).

The beams are so bright he must avoid shining them into the sky so as not to interfere with airplanes.

Best of all, the music director synced the display to a mash-up of Star Wars music.

What do the neighbors think of this cornucopia of sound and fury? Apparently they love it because it's all for charity. "The neighbors are very supportive especially since I use the display to raise money for the poor and homeless through my church," the local hero wrote in his description.

May the force be with you, sir, Bruk wished the homeowner.

Thanks to my old friend Aaron Cross for letting me know about this wonderful clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5dfpe_-Lgg

For another Star Wars house from last year:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz4IAdH3brM

Times Have Changed

New fangled technology...

 

It's a different world

 

 

A woman goes back to work after 30 years and finds times have changed.

 

This video is only five seconds long, so watch carefully, but you'll get it.

 

If you're over 40, though, you may not understand.

 

Enjoy:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rswDobEYQ8c

 

Thanks to my old friend Bob LeWinter for letting me know about this one.

 

 

 

Yikes, Trying a Tightrope Walk Between Balloons

Flying follies...

French team trying tightrope walking between balloons

A group of French daredevils tried to tightrope walk between two hot air balloons a few thousand feet in the air, David Harding reported on nydailynews.com earlier this year.

 Filmmaker Sebastien Montaz-Rosset videoed the group as it tried to make the almost impossible crossing along a slack rope.

Some of those making the attempt fell, but for those who didn’t catch the rope in time, they were outfitted with parachutes.

For more of Harding's report, including photos of the attempt:  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/daredevils-attempt-tightrope-walk-hot-air-balloons-article-1.1607597

For a video of the attempt:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZnHa7548VE

007's New and Original Rides

Bond, James Bond...

New Aston Martin for Bond

                                       

James Bond has faced his most fiendish foe yet: the Sony hackers. A draft script for Spectre, the next 007 film, has been confirmed to have been among the secret files filched from the movie studio over the weekend, Rich Trenholm reports on cnet.com.

This comes on the heels of a bit of a temper tantrum on the Internet earlier this month when word came that Daniel Craig will drive—gasp!—a Fiat 500 in the upcoming 007 movie.
 
Well, the internet calmed down about the car flap when official confirmation came that Bond will spend at least some time driving an Aston Martin, Alex Davis reports on wired.com.
 
The British sports car maker has announced that it has created the DB10 specifically for the upcoming film. The car, unveiled at Pinewood Studios outside London, resembles many concept cars we’ve seen recently. It’s almost impossibly sleek, with minuscule mirrors, blade-like spokes on the wheels, and flush door handles, Davis writes.
 
For more of Davis' report:  http://www.wired.com/2014/12/james-bond-db10/

For more of Trenholm's report:  http://www.cnet.com/news/james-bond-licensed-to-spill-spectre-script-leaked-in-sony-hack/

 Bond's First Car Was a Monster Bentley

Blower Bentley

James Bond is almost synonymous with Aston Martin, and his newest ride, the Aston Martin DB10, is a gorgeous one-off created specifically for the forthcoming movie Spectre.

But before Bond was the dashing and debonair secret agent on the silver screen, he was the tormented and brooding assassin of Ian Fleming’s novels, Jordon Golson reports on wired.com.

In those books, he drove a Bentley. In Fleming’s first 007 novel, Casino Royale, published in 1953, Bond tooled around in a 1931 4.5 Litre Blower Bentley. It wasn’t so sleek or sexy as the Astons that Bond would come to be known for, but it was among the finest cars of its day and just the thing for getting around in all due haste with style.

For more of Golson's report:  http://www.wired.com/2014/12/first-bond-car-actually-monster-bentley/

 

Musical Moments: Adele, Someone Like You

Delightful moment...

 

With the prince

 

   

Someone Like You was inspired by a failed relationship and how Adele dealt with it.

 

The song has broken records for popularity.  It's one of Adele's many hits that have helped make her a worldwide celebrity.

 

In January, she won her 10th Grammy with Skyfall, according to wikipedia.

 

Last year, she won the Oscar for best original song for Skyfall, the first Oscar for a Bond film in 47 years, according to bbc.com

 

In 2012, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

 

While in office, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a thank-you letter to her, writing, "...with the troubles the country's in financially, you're a light at the end of the tunnel."

 

In June 2013, Adele was awarded a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for services to music.

 

She received the award from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace a year ago this week on December 19, 2013.

 

Here's Adele performing Someone at the Royal Albert Hall in London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGGItnubV-8

 

And don't miss this video of Adele receiving her MBE:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmbCK8sLq4E

 

 

 

 

 

Closings Lead Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

 

A Passing Storm, Frederick Edwin Church

 

 

Five closings led Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

 

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

 

-- Four new listings of property for sale;

-- Three price changes;

-- No accepted offers, and

-- Two properties going under contract.

 

For more:

 

 

 

Hidden Army Treasures

Amazing collection...

Original Norman Rockwell paintings are part of the hidden collection

Remember that ending scene out of Indiana Jones where the Ark of the Covenant is boxed up and wheeled through an endless government warehouse?  

Such a place actually exists, buzzfeed.com reports.

It is located 30 minutes outside Washington, D.C., at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. The building itself is very nondescript but it holds an amazing collection, according to buzzfeed.com.

For a slide show and video:http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/inside-the-armys-spectacular-hidden-treasure-room

New Mobile Apps From IBM/Apple Due Today

Pleasing customers...

 

Mobile app lets airline crews check trip progress, help passengers

 

 

IBM and Apple plan to introduce the first products of a partnership they established earlier this year today, Steve Lohr reports on nytimes.com.

 

The products are expected to include an initial 10 apps of a portfolio that may eventually include 100 or more. The apps, delivered as a cloud service, are focused on specific tasks in a handful of industries, including airlines, banking, retail and telecommunications, Lohr wrote.

 

For airlines, for example, one app allows pilots to pull together information on flight plans, schedules and weather conditions and report issues to ground crews for in-flight fuel-saving decisions. Another enables flight crews to view information on trip progress and to rebook flights en route for travelers likely to miss their scheduled connections.

 

For more of Lohr's report:  http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/apple-and-ibm-start-to-rethink-mobile-apps-for-business/?smid=tw-share&_r=0

 

For a report yesterday on Apple's 2015 outlook which is expected to be enhanced by the new partnership with IBM and others:  http://mashable.com/2014/12/09/apple-predictions-2015/

 

Note:  I am retired from IBM and an iPhone fan.

Making Millions With Holiday Decor

Festive touches...

Brightening the holidays 

 

 

Want your home or business to make an impression during the holidays?

 

Christmas Decor, a company in Texas, is making millions helping people do just that.

 

For an interesting interview with Christmas Decor's president and a bloomberg.com video of some of the company's work decorating clients' homes and businesses:  http://www.bloomberg.com/video/christmas-decor-makes-millions-lighting-up-your-home-Kp8eZ4K1QaOvR7weJSjFfQ.html

 

For more examples of the company's work:  http://christmasdecor.net/cdi2/

 

For the video of another house decorated to the nines to produce a synchronized sound and light show that has become a holiday favorite on the internet: http://www.flixxy.com/best-christmas-lights-display.htm

Favorite Houses From the Movies

Memorable places...

 

The house from Home Alone

 

 

Some of the all-time favorite houses from the movies over the years are featured on harpersbazaar.com.

 

For some memorable times at the movies, don't miss this slide show by Lauren Matthew:  http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/interiors-entertaining/best-houses-from-movies-10#slide-1

 

Musical Moments: Paganini, Rhapsody on a Theme

Wonderful classic...

 

Niccolo Paganini

 

 

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.

 

Here's Paganini's wonderful classic:

Rhapsody on a Theme:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZbvluHcNo

 

I hope you enjoy it. 

 

New Listings Jump in Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

Late Autumn Sunset

Darien residential real estate results saw a jump in new listings in the week ending today.

Twelve new listings of property for sale were reported on the Darien MLS during the week.

 

Of those, 11 were for condominiums planned for a new building near the Darien railroad station.

Results in other categories, according to the Darien MLS, were:

 

-- Four price changes;

-- One accepted offer;

-- Three properties going under contract, and

-- Six closings.

 

For more: 

 

 

A Century of Beauty Trends in Just a Minute

Time flies...

 

Beauty trends

 

 

The evolution of beauty over the past 100 years is amazing.

 

Watch a woman try on 100 years' worth of hair and makeup trends in just a minute in a quick video on cosmopolitan.com.

 

Which year did it best?  http://www.cosmopolitan.com.au/beauty/makeup/2014/12/see-100-years-of-beauty-trends-in-just-one-minute/

Latest Darien, Rowayton Real Estate Results Mixed

New update...

 

Rowayton

 

 

Darien and Rowayton residential real estate results were mixed on a year-to-date basis at the end of November, according to a new report today by the Darien MLS.

 

Darien results were flat or down slightly while Rowayton posted gains.

 

The average sale price in Darien was unchanged while it rose 12.9 percent in Rowayton.

 

Sales volume was off 5.6 percent in Darien but up 25.6 percent in Rowayton.

 

Sales dipped 5.6 percent in Darien but rose 11.3 percent in Rowayton.

 

For more: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning New Worlds Beckon

Breathtaking...

 

Scene from Wanderers

 

 

Wanderers, a stunning new film, combines breathtaking visuals of the solar system with the memorable words of Carl Sagan about future space exploration.

 

"I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts."

 

It was these two sentences from Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" that captured the heart of the great Carl Sagan. It is this romance with the unknown that triggered and emboldened mankind's exploration into space, and it is the heart of Swedish animator and digital artist Erik Wernquist's new short film, "Wanderers," Ryan Kristobbak reports on huffingtonpost.com.

 

See what it might be like to make a journey into space in the future in this wonderful, four-minute film:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/30/wanderers-short-film_n_6244990.html