“There are very few artists who have obsessed the world like Michael Jackson did. Now musical royalty, his singles topped the charts all over the globe, selling over 350 million records whilst holding the record for the best selling album of all time.
It was clear, although his success is unrivaled, that he was a troubled man whose bizarre life-style eventually eclipsed his musical talent.
This documentary will cover all aspects of his life, from the Jackson 5 to This Is It, from his humble beginnings to Neverland, and from his abusive father to his alleged abuse cases. Join us as we, remember the king.”
“300 Year Old Stone House on the Island of Vis, Croatia Small home renovation by an architect who took small house design to heart to create a beautiful house”
01) Unforgiven: The Boys Who Killed A Child (Jamie Bulger Documentary)
“This powerful and disturbing documentary covers the outcry approaching the release of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the two 10 year old boys who killed 2 year-old James Bulger in 1993. Re-telling the tragedy, the film presents the protests against their release from an institution, delves into the backgrounds of the killers, their terrible violent act and the impact it caused in UK. It also explores claims that their punishment has been a sham, as reporter Deborah Davies investigates how inmates at secure units are treated and interviews experts to learn whether eight years has been sufficient time to successfully rehabilitate the pair.”
“A walk around the field at Bensen Days March 30, 2017 (Wauchula, FL) where dozens of gyroplanes fly in annually. We look at some of the fundamental mechanisms that allow a gyroplane to fly as we contrast them to a fixed wing aircraft.”
“REQUIEM FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM is the definitive discourse with Noam Chomsky, widely regarded as the most important intellectual alive, on the defining characteristic of our time – the deliberate concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a select few. Through interviews filmed over four years, Chomsky unpacks the principles that have brought us to the crossroads of historically unprecedented inequality – tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority – while also looking back on his own life of activism and political participation. Profoundly personal and thought provoking, Chomsky provides penetrating insight into what may well be the lasting legacy of our time – the death of the middle class and swan song of functioning democracy. A potent reminder that power ultimately rests in the hands of the governed, REQUIEM is required viewing for all who maintain hope in a shared stake in the future.”
“A mysterious sea creature up to 7 feet long, with 10 arms, a sharp beak and a ravenous appetite, has invaded ocean waters off Northern California. Packs of fierce Humboldt Squid attack nearly everything they see, from fish to scuba divers.
KQED’s Quest chats with the marine biologists who are working to discover why they’ve headed north from their traditional homes off South America.”
01) I BOUGHT the CHEAPEST street legal bike on Amazon
“I just bought the cheapest street legal bike on Amazon for only $1400 with my own money! The RPS Hawk Amazon motorcycle is a great budget buy and does everything that the more expensive dual sports can do! I put the bike to the tests by taking it offroad at a coal field!”
01) Habitat 67 stacks 354 prefabs that get urban/suburban balance
“Habitat 67 was a 1960s experiment in dense, downtown housing that tried to combine the best of urban and suburban living. Architect Moshe Safdie wanted to integrate the qualities of a suburban home- the access to nature and views- into a high-rise. Built for the 1967 World’s Fair, Habitat 67 was also a prototype of an affordable “3D modular building system” that he hoped would “reinvent the apartment building”.
Like the Japanese Metabolism movement (see Nagakin capsule tower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXRJE2caPNY), Habitat 67 is an interconnected web of prefabricated cells stacked so the emergent whole feels less coldly geometric and more organic.
“Habitat 67 comprises 354 identical, prefabricated concrete forms arranged in various combinations, reaching up to 12 stories in height. Together these units create 146 residences of varying sizes and configurations, each formed from one to eight linked concrete units. The complex originally contained 158 apartments, but several apartments have since been joined to create larger units, reducing the total number. Each unit is connected to at least one private terrace, which can range from approximately 20 to 90 square metres (225 to 1,000 sq ft) in size.” – Wikipedia
Originally, Safdie had aimed to create an affordable prefab system, but given the experimental nature of the project, costs reached approximately C$140,000 per unit (pricey for the 1960s). Today, the apartment owners all own shares in the building. Long-time resident George Boynton helped instigate changing the status of the complex from government-owned apartment building to a private Limited Partnership Complex. He gave us a tour of the 10-story building and a walk-through of Mosha Safdie’s newly-renovated apartment.
Not so sure I’d do well with the open heights…but, this is still awesome.
Nakagin: 140 plug n’ play capsules float in metabolist tower:
“Resembling clusters of space pods stacked 13 stories tall, the Nakagin Capsule Tower is the world’s first example of capsule architecture. When erected in 1972, tiny prefab apartments were stacked like LEGOs (by crane) around a concrete core. Attached by only 4 high-tension bolts, the capsules were designed to be plugged in and replaced when necessary.
Each pod was a micro apartment measuring 4 by 2.5 meters, intended for Japanese businessmen who wanted to avoid a long commute home. Everything came built-in: a bed, a sink, a refrigerator, bathroom, folding desk and even a TV, radio and alarm clock.
Built in 1972 in Tokyo’s Ginza District, the building is one of the only remaining examples of Metabolist architecture: a movement begun in the 1960s that treated cities as dynamic, evolving organisms. Designed by Kisho Kurokawa for sustainability and recycleability, the Nakagin Tower has not been maintained and now nearly 50 years after it’s construction, many of the capsules are uninhabitable.
In 2007, when the building’s residents voted to demolish the building. Kurokawa proposed “unplugging” the worn-out units and replacing them with newer capsules (an idea supported by the Japan Institute of Architects). Kurokawa died in late 2007. Given the high rents in the Ginza neighborhood, most of the residents continue to push to replace the entire building, but an online group has organized to save the building and its fate remains unclear.
Today, a few residents like Masato Abe rent their unit outs on AirBnB. We (the faircompanies family of five) rented it for a night. In this video, Abe shows us his neighbor’s unit which is in nearly original condition and we filmed our night with the five of us sleeping in a self-contained capsule built for one.”
01) The Inner Chronicle of What We Are – Understanding Werner Herzog
“In this extensive review of the work of Werner Herzog, I examine the philosophy beneath his unique approach to filmmaking, and explore the significance of the many stories he brought home from faraway lands.”
