iPhone Slo-Mo: Dancers' New Friend

Useful tool...

From a new film, Dancers of New York, shot with an iPhone 6

Before the advent of high-quality smartphone shooters, slow-motion was largely left to movie montages, pro-sports instant replays, or pricey camera rigs, Christina Bonnington reports on wired.com.

But with today's smartphones, that's changed for a number of fields and disciplines.

For dancers, the smartphone's slow-motion capability has become an incredibly useful tool for honing their craft.

The new-found affordability of slow motion has enabled them to improve their technique, spruce up their audition reel, and isolate aspects of their performance that were once intangible, Bonnington wrote.

For more, including some impressive dancing in a new slow motion video shot with an iPhone: http://www.wired.com/2015/03/dancers-iphone-slo-mo/

Mercedes Plans Luxury Pickup

Midsize offering...

Artist concept of Mercedes pickup

With a tug, Volker Mornhinweg pulled a covering off a life-size clay model of the pickup truck that Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz intends to offer in the global market for midsize haulers, William Boston reports on wsj.com.

Before him stands a sporty double-cab vehicle with the tapered lines typical of Mercedes-Benz sedans and sport-utility vehicles.

But this vehicle has a loading space big enough for any craftsmen’s tools or gear for an outdoorsy family’s weekend outing, Boston wrote.

Mercedes will introduce the pickup by the end of the decade, focusing sales on Latin America, Australia, South Africa and Europe, according to Christopher Rauwald, reporting on bloomberg.com.

Mercedes says there are no current plans for a US launch, according to Boston. 

I'll bet it will be popular and a best seller.

What do you think?

For more of Boston's report:  http://www.wsj.com/articles/mercedes-benz-outlines-plan-to-offer-luxury-pickup-truck-1427414204

For more of Rauwald's report:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-27/mercedes-benz-plans-first-pickup-truck-as-luxury-pushes-limits

 

Musical Moments: Edvard Grieg, Peer Gynt

Magnificent...

 Edvard Grieg

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

This week's selection is Grieg's magnificent Peer Gynt Suite No.1.

I hope you'll enjoy it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyM2AnA96yE

Signs of Spring in New York

We can only hope...

Spring on the way?

  

As the weather fluctuated between harsh and mild, New Yorkers were on the lookout for signs of spring, such as the blossoming of magnolia trees on the lawn of the Frick Collection, nytimes.com reported over the weekend.

On the fashion front, legs emerged, and New Yorkers added a surprising color to their signature black-white-and-gray looks: chrome silver, according to the website.

In the meantime, we woke up this Palm Sunday morning to a fresh dusting and temperatures in the mid-20s.  Here's what Darien's Ring's End and the Darien River looked like early today:

For photos in Manhattan by Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham and a video report on what we hope are signs of spring:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/style/bill-cunningham-spring-unfurls.html?_r=0

New Listings Lead Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

Little Italy, NYC, Harriet Westfall

Sixteen new listings of property of sale led Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Five price changes;

-- Six accepted offers;

-- Nine properties going under contract, and

-- Two closings.

For more:

Few Words, New Film About Famed Skier Candide Thovex

Master of the mountains...

Candide Thovex

Candide Thovex, one of the world's most amazing skiers, is the subject of a new film, Few Words, on YouTube.

Thovex is described as someone with an incredible imagination who has created a whole new way of skiing.

Nothing he ever does is small, one person recalls.  He gives 110 percent no matter what he's doing.

Another says, it's easy to emulate, but very different if you're a creator like Thovex.

He makes the mountain his playground, says another.

See Thovex in free style skiing and on some unbelievably steep mountain slopes in this four minute trailer of Few Words:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsKyMNVTFAM

For the entire 59 minute film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpi2fc5vfNs

For another report on Few Words that includes some brief videos of Thovex's wonderful style: http://snowbrains.com/candide-thovex-few-words-full-movie/

 

Mapping the Fascinating Evolution of English

Rich, flexible, dynamic...

English origins

English is the language of Shakespeare and Chaucer and many more of us, Abby Nelson reports on vox.com.

 

It's spoken in dozens of countries around the world, from the United States to a tiny island named Tristan da Cunha, Nelson writes.

It reflects the influences of centuries of international exchange, including conquest and colonization, from the Vikings through the 21st century, she reports.

 

For more, including 25 fascinating maps and charts that explain how English got started and evolved into the differently accented languages spoken today: http://www.vox.com/2015/3/3/8053521/25-maps-that-explain-English

 

Runner's Delight: Your Perfect Half Marathon

Growing in popularity...

 

Nice run

 

If you're among the 13.1-mile race's many adoring fans, Jen Miller on runnersworld.com has 20 standouts for your must-run list.

 

For more, including a gallery of some beautiful places across the country to run:  http://m.runnersworld.com/photos/your-perfect-half-marathon?lang=en&utm_campaign=10today&flab_cell_id=2&flab_experiment_id=19&adbid=578073685614956544&cid=socRac_20150318_42215726&adbpr=14882900&utm_content=article&utm_source=email&part=s1&utm_medium=10today.0318&adbpl=tw&position=2&china_variant=False&uid=72299339

 

 

 

 

Dollar Sees Biggest Rally in 40 Years

The almighty dollar...

$20 bills being printed at US Bureau of Engraving, Washington, DC

The dollar has hit a 12-year high against the euro, and it's not going to stop anytime soon. Not when the dollar is in the middle of its biggest rally in almost 40 years, Matt O'Brien reports on washingtonpost.com.

But it's not just the euro that the dollar is rising against. It's pretty much every currency in the world, he wrote.

That's because the U.S. economy is doing well enough that the Federal Reserve is getting ready to raise rates, and the rest of the world is slowing down enough that it's cutting them, according to O'Brien.

For more of O'Brien's interesting report:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/17/the-dollar-is-crushing-every-other-currency-and-its-only-going-to-continue/?tid=sm_tw

For a photo gallery about American currency, including a video:

Old $10 buffalo bill

1899 $2 silver certificate

American currency since 1923

Old and beautiful American currency

Deconstructing the US dollar; for a larger view:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/448248969132303884/

Fun facts about the $2 bill and other denominations:

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/small2denom.html

  

Making a ring out of a dollar bill:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU3qheNL0Dk

 

Musical Moments: Beethoven, Ninth Symphony

Beautiful...

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven's beautiful Ninth Symphony:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAOTCtW9v0M

Darien Real Estate Springs Forward

Weekly update...

Signs of spring

Darien's residential real estate took a spring forward in the week ending today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- 18 new listings of property for sale;

-- Five price changes;

-- Nine accepted offers;

-- One property going under contract, and

-- Five closings.

For more:

Behold: The $40-Million Watch

Pricey...

New $40-Million Fascination Watch

They say that time is money—but $40 million?

Graff Diamonds has unveiled a watch with more than 152 carats of white diamonds, worth a whopping $40 million, making it one of the most expensive timepieces that has ever been created, Phil Han reports on cnbc.com.

In addition to the main piece, the watch also has a detachable 38-carat flawless diamond that can be worn as a ring, Han wrote.

For a video about the pricey timepiece:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/102519191#.

Leica: Snap Shot of a Survivor

Digital shift...

Leica in the digital age

                

Booming smartphone sales are eating into the digital camera market, but the inventor of the 35mm film camera isn’t blinking, Ellen Emmerentze Jervell reports on wsj.com.

High-end camera producer Leica Camera AG celebrated its first camera’s 100th anniversary last year with a limited-edition model emblematic of its effort to bridge old and new: a digital camera with no display—just an old-style viewfinder. The retro-chic design, which sold for €15,000 ($16,545), was a hit, she wrote.

For more of Leica's fascinating story and its shift to digital photography:  http://www.wsj.com/articles/camera-maker-leica-survives-the-digital-shift-1426295228?mod=e2tw

Some Leica fans over the years: 

Pablo Picasso

Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

 

Alfred Eisenstaedt and Eli Wallach

 

 

Georgia O'Keeffe 

 

 Queen Elizabeth

 

 

Toni Garrn

 

Charlotte Rampling

Julia Roberts

Penelope Cruz

Scarlett Johansson

 

 Audrey Tautou

   

 

Ali and Malcolm X

 

Jude Law

 

Daniel Craig

Apple Plans Web TV Service in Fall

Shake up...

Tim Cook, Apple CEO, at the company's announcements last week

Apple Inc.’s lofty plans to build an online television service are coming into sharper focus, wsj.com reported today.

The technology giant is in talks with programmers to offer a slimmed-down bundle of TV networks this fall, according to people familiar with the matter, wsj.com wrote.

 The service would have about 25 channels, anchored by broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox and would be available on Apple devices such as the Apple TV, they said, according to wsj.com.

For more from wsj.com, including a video:  http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-in-talks-to-launch-online-tv-service-1426555611

Bloomberg's headline was harder-hitting: Apple is Out to Blow Up the Cable TV Model: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-17/apple-jumping-into-skinny-bundles-threatens-500-channel-world

CNN's headline was even tougher: Cable Companies Should Be Seriously Terrified Of Apple Right Now: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/17/apple-tv-service_n_6887956.html

For coverage on nyt.com:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/business/media/apple-said-to-plan-limited-low-cost-streaming-service.html?_r=0

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When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Tasty...

St. Patrick's special

When Irish eyes are smiling, it may well be because of something delicious for St. Patrick's day, says Martha Stewart

A corned beef dinner makes a glorious Irish feast, she writes.

Don your green and honor St. Patrick with the dinner, dessert and drink recipes in this slide show, Stewart suggests: http://www.marthastewart.com/274244/saint-patricks-day-recipes/@center/307033/spring-holidays

Gorgeous, Panoramic, Hand-drawn Maps From Long Ago

A lost art...

 

Bird's eye view of Washington, DC, late1800s

 

 

Once upon a time, long before Google, we had to imagine what our towns and cities looked like from the sky, Kelsey Campbell-Dolleghan reports on gizmodo.com.

 

In fact, there were famous artists who specialized in creating these panoramic views of Earth, though today, it's a lost art, Campbell-Dolleghan writes.

 

They were called panoramic or aero views, and the Library of Congress actually has a collection devoted to almost 2,000 of these Google Earth-style maps, each drawn by hand without help from a plane or satellite.

 

Even though the bird's eye view had existed for centuries, panoramic maps were all the rage with Americans of the late 19th century.

 

For more, including wonderful examples of familiar places across the country as they appeared long ago:  gizmodo.com/the-gorgeous-panoramic-maps-are-from-a-time-before-plan-1684595323?rev=1423516444767&utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

 

Musical Moments: Clapton, Danny Boy

Wonderful...

An Irish Lane

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this week, an old favorite...Eric Clapton's wonderful Danny Boy:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuznaEyzBzs

Darien Home Market Sees Upswing

Weekly update...

Something New, Reveille Kennedy

Darien's residential real estate market saw an upswing in activity in the week ending today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- 12 new listings of property for sale;

-- One price change;

-- Five accepted offers;

-- Eight properties going under contract, and

-- Six closings.

For more: