Month: July 2019

The Birth of House Music

House has become one of the most popular forms of electronic music since its inception in the late 80’s. It began in Chicago, when local DJ’s and music producers experimented with remixing disco vocals over hard hitting drum machines. They would soon play a huge role in popularizing the sound and distinguishing house music as a global music genre

Peter Saville

last July, at Raf Simons’ Spring/Summer 2018 show in New York City. Deep in Chinatown, underneath the Manhattan Bridge, Simons showed a collection of expressionistically shredded menswear with a cyberpunk edge, and included was a series of garments bearing imagery Saville had created for Factory nearly 40 years prior. This was not the first time Simons has used those graphics. His Fall/Winter 2003 collection contained similar items, many of which are now among the most covetable in his catalogue—military parkas covered in patched and painted renderings of Saville’s imagery now routinely sell for 5 figures. Why, I wondered, is this world of images still so pervasive? I put the question to Simons himself, over email. He responded simply: “It is iconic and timeless.” Well—okay, yes. But what does “timeless” actually mean?

Non-animal whey protein

The US is the single largest exporter of whey products, with estimated sales of $10B last year. The category will grow by 6% annually through 2023. But for all its popularity, all that whey still comes from cows, a fact increasingly seen as a liability for climate- and health-conscious dairy and protein lovers.

NYPD kills cyclists

Mayor de Blasio has previously defended the practice of ticketing cyclists in the days after a driver runs over someone. But poorly designed streets in New York—especially the wide avenues that run north and south in Manhattan like the one where Hightman was run over—often physically push cyclists out of the bike lane, or make it a less safe option than simply riding in the road. While the New York Department of Transportation has added 10s of km of bike lanes throughout the city in recent years, they are often unusable for more than 1 block or 2 at a time because of obstructions.

Treadmill Punishment

Inventor William Cubitt subscribed to the “no pain, no gain” philosophy. His “Tread-Wheel,” which was described in the 1822 edition of Rules for the Government of Gaols, Houses of Correction, and Penitentiaries (published by the British Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders), was presented as a way for prisoners to put in an honest day’s labor. Prisoners used treadmills in groups, with up to 24 convicts working a single machine, usually grinding grain or pumping water, sometimes for as long as 8 hours at a stretch. They’d do so “by means of steps … the gang of prisoners ascending at one end … their combined weight acting upon every successive stepping board, precisely as a stream upon the float-boards of a water wheel

this explains a lot.

High Street on Hudson

Instead of the standard-issue, coarse rock salt, Weller flecks her creation with a more delicate fleur de sel. It gently crunches without overwhelming one’s tongue, electrolyte balance, or cardiovascular system. And laced inside the bagel is a proper dose of cracked butcher’s grind black pepper. I’m calling the bagels ($2 apiece, or $4 with butter), along with the cardamom buns ($5) and black sesame kouign amanns ($5), a BUY.