Category Archives: Meinung
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Really
First of all apologies that TrendEngel didn’t present you this book earlier. This isn’t a trend we spotted early but rather late – Having said that: We don’t care.
“In this book, I have summed up how to put your space in order in a way that will change your life forever.”
This is the ambitious first sentence of Marie Kondo’s best-selling manifesto, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Direct and devoid of clutter, this sentence rings true to her philosophy. Unlike most self-help books, there are no extraneous words, no pandering—the lack of “wink wink” gesturing reads as an appealing, authentic statement.
This is what she says: People should focus on the present, and in tidying, this manifests in the form of using present-day valuations of all of one’s belongings. People are wrong when they think that pair of jeans will ever fit again, Kondo is arguing. They’re also wrong when they think they’ll read that book again. These optimistic predictions keep people from getting rid of things they don’t need.
Sounds stupid? It isn’t It’s really fascinating.
Dice – The King is Back – Andrew Dice Clay
With Dice, Showtime’s new comedy series, Andrew Dice Clay attempts to create a vision of himself as both a private citizen and as the creator and maintainer of the stand-up comedy persona that made him such a global phenomenon in the 1980s and 90s. This would seemingly be in loosely same mold as shows like Louie and Maron, which allowed Louis C.K. and Mark Maron to mine not only the lives of skilled performers but also their distinct philosophies and perspectives. Where those shows dealt with a chaotic life in the midst of a unique career in a creative field, however, Dice deals with the struggles of settling down, less in terms of romantically than as a celebrity and, to a lesser extent, an artist.
This is a little gem of a TV show. Well done Dice. This is really cool.
Graffiti of the Week – Street Art Nr. 205
Stumptown – Sellouts or Coffee-Gods?
When legendary New York coffee brand Stumptown was sold to Pete’s Coffee last year the reaction in the social media hemisphere was drastic:
“Sellouts”
“Everyone is for sale at the right price.”
“It’s a sad day. Another Starbucks story in the making. Great for the owners but bad for the coffee quality.”
“what the effing hell. is nothing sacred?”
“Scratch stumptown off my list of coffee places to go. It’s been nice knowing ya’.”
“This is a travesty.”
Well, the truth is, Stumptwon does produce TrendEngels favorite coffee in the US and the cold brew available in select super markets in the US makes any european cold coffee product look stupid. Fact.
Graffiti of the Week – Street Art Nr. 204
City of Gold – A Delicious Documentary
The first food critic to be award a Pulitzer Prize, Jonathan Gold is esteemed for his perception as a cultural observer as well as a culinary expert. Laura Gabbert’s “City of Gold” neatly echoes that appeal by amplifying its native Los Angeleno subject’s love of both gastronomic diversity and his wildly diverse hometown itself. You needn’t be previously knowledgable about either to be charmed by this ebullient documentary.
Gold is a “failed cellist,” a former L.A. Weekly proofreader and a music writer/editor who first seriously investigated his love of food with an epic quest to sample every eatery along 15-mile Pico Boulevard from downtown to Santa Monica. That alerted him to the intricacies of the sprawling megalopolis’ populations, where immigrant pockets can create a miniature “Tehrangeles” or a locus for specialties from a particular Mexican region.
Jonathan Gold is a genius and one of the best writers of modern america. This is a documentary no one should miss.
Rock The Shack – This Is What We Dream About
Rock the Shack takes us to the places we long for. For the first time in the history of humankind, more people live in cities than in the country. Yet, at the same time, more and more city dwellers are yearning for rural farms, mountain cabins, or seaside homes.
These kinds of refuges offer modern men and women a promise of
what urban centers usually cannot provide: quiet, relaxation, being out of reach, getting back to basics, feeling human again.
Rock the Shack is a survey of such contemporary refuges from around the world—from basic to luxury. The book features a compelling range of sparingly to intricately furnished cabins, cottages, second homes, tree houses, transformations, shelters, and cocoons. The look of the included structures from the outside is just as important as the view from inside. What these diverse projects have in common is an exceptional spirit that melds the uniqueness of a geographic location with the individual character of the building’s owner and architect.
The Broad – The World’s Coolest Museum?
Traveling up through the middle of The Broad in the round, glass elevator you can peek inside what’s known as “the vault”— an entire floor storing the Broads’ collection of more than 2,000 paintings, photos and sculptures.
On the top floor of this new Los Angeles landmark, diffused natural light pours in through skylights. There’s work here from Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman and Chris Burden. There’s an entire room for Takashi Murakami.
This is the gift to the world made possible by Eli and Edythe Broad. Forbes estimates Eli Broad is worth $7.4 billion. He made his fortune building suburban tract homes, and also running an insurance company. He and his wife bought their first artwork — a van Gogh drawing — and then quickly switched to collecting contemporary art. He says they liked buying works with social or political meaning. And along the way, they’ve gotten to know the artists personally.
Called The Broad (pronounced brode) and housed in a $140 million, three-story building by Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, it enshrines the collection of some 2,000 works. There are 2 main stars: The building itself and the Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room, a mirror-lined chamber housing a dazzling and seemingly endless LED light display, Just beautiful to put it mildly.
Graffiti of the Week – Street Art Nr. 203
