Rainbow nation
The News Review:
- Rainbow nation
- Coffee grounds no jolt for lemon tree
- Welcome to Melbourne, the world’s designer city
- Dancing with the dark side
- Beach Boys: Endless Harmony
- Two Houses, Two Visions
Rainbow nation
Telegraph.co.uk - Jan 21, 2006
Linda Keevy’s charming herb and cutting garden was, she tells me, influenced by our own Sarah Raven. I am told, and there were signs, that a distinctively African landscaping style is gaining prominence and this seemed to me the most interesting and exotic aspect for British visitors. The garden designed by Donovan Gillman of Roomtogro for South African Airways, for example, had a more home-grown African feel, with split fencing, local materials and artefacts, African sculpture and native trees and flowers, such as the wonderful bird of paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae). Indeed, in a number of gardens, indigenous plants were to the fore. The way was led by Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, which showed both its Gold Medal-winning 2005 Chelsea garden (African Dream) and a fascinating triangular exhibit, pointing up the very different plants that grow in the three Cape botanical gardens, Kirstenbosch in Cape Town; Harold Porter at Betty’s Bay on the south coast; and Karoo Desert at Worcester on the edge of the Little Karoo region. “Waterwise” is a word you hear a lot in South Africa and Chrisman Stander, an artist and environmentalist, took his inspiration from squatter camps such as Khayelitsha on the outskirts of Cape Town, which so shake up the complacency of tourists driving into the city from the airport. His idea was to show the importance of using both recycled materials and indigenous plants with little requirement for scarce, expensive water.
Coffee grounds no jolt for lemon tree
Rocky Mountain News - Jan 21, 2006
Keep in mind that all varieties tend to hold leaves late in fall,often until Thanksgiving. This alone makes Callery flowering pearsprone to damage from snow loads. Q: Last spring my home-grown tomato transplants got veryleggy. What happened, and how should I prevent that this spring?A: Leggy tomato transplants often result when temperaturesare kept higher than necessary, under less-than-optimal light levelsand with little or no air movement. Tomato-seed germination is good at75 degrees, but place seedling transplants where temperatures are 65 to70 degrees. Suspend a grow light low, close to foliage. Use it tosupplement sunlight before dusk for a couple of hours.
Welcome to Melbourne, the world’s designer city
The Age - Jan 21, 2006
So argues RMIT University’s innovation professor ofarchitecture, Leon van Schaik, in his new book, Design CityMelbourne, due to be published in March. “Sydney looks the part of a design city, with Utzon’s iconicOpera House, wonderfully and unforgettably sited, but with as muchconsequence for the local design culture as if it were from Mars,”he writesIn Melbourne, it is the home-grown architects who have put theirdistinctive mark on the city, creating a metropolis that is beinglauded internationally for its innovative design, says Professorvan Schaik. “In the 1970s, it was Graz, in the 1980s it was Barcelona, inthe ’90s it was Amsterdam and Rotterdam … And, in the firstdecade of the 21st century, Melbourne seems to be a place thatexcites our curiosity. It’s a grand claim. Professor van Schaik defends his position byciting the many outstanding constructions — new andredeveloped — along Melbourne’s central spine, among themRMIT’s Storey Hall and the visitor centre at the Shrine ofRemembrance, both by Ashton Raggatt McDougall; Wood Marsh’sAustralian Centre for Contemporary Art; and the State Library’sdomed reading room. His book celebrates the work of such contemporary Melbournearchitects as Edmund and Corrigan, Kerstin Thompson, Sean Godsell,Greg Burgess, John Wardle, Peter Elliott and Allan Powell.
Dancing with the dark side
Telegraph.co.uk - Jan 21, 2006
However, says Antonio, “It’s really in this past century that flamenco has had its childhood and maturity - it’s been very fast-developing. And even now, it is very fresh and very young. “Quite unlike classical ballet - which in Spain continues to play second fiddle to its home-grown rival - flamenco is based not on a vocabulary of steps, but on palos (or styles), each with a different mood and rhythm. “It’s a very personal language,” says Antonio. “Flamenco is born more in the singing, and in the playing of guitar. The dancing comes later. There are the basic palos - alegrías, tangos, siguerillas and so on - and from there you can have a very wide map, like a river.
Beach Boys: Endless Harmony
The Age - Jan 21, 2006
TypeDocumentary, EntertainmentChannelOvationDateSaturday January 21Time7:30 PM The Beach Boys sang about sun, surf and sand. But as a band,they did more, representing time and place and embodying thepost-war American dream of freedom and prosperity their fathers hadfought for. This comprehensive two-part documentary charts the rise of theBeach Boys from their roots as a home-grown family band cobbledtogether by Wilson brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike andfriends to an international recording act with 35 top-40 singlesand almost 40 albums. Their 35-year career was marked by increasingmusical sophistication, creative experimentation, emotionalupheaval and the deaths of Carl and Dennis. Archival clips capture the Beach Boys’ unique sound, recent andvintage interview footage with the band’s members, families,associates and peers (including Glen Campbell, Jackson Browne andElvis Costello) provide a backstage pass to group’s dynamics andcreative processes.
Two Houses, Two Visions
Washington Post - Jan 21, 2006
The two houses spoke to different worlds, as well as different wallets. At 7,100 square feet, the New American Home is a palatial structure that dwarves many American houses, though not as much as it once would have. Now even the houses of fairly ordinary Americans have grown markedly. In 1950, the average new single-family house was 983 square feet; in 2005, the average new house was 2,349 square feet, even as family sizes have fallen. And 39 percent of all new houses are bigger than 2,400 square feet. "We’re trying to achieve a ‘wow’ factor everywhere you go in the house," said Orlando-based builder Alex Hannigan, who built the New American Home. The goal in the design is creating a "sense of grandeur," said John Orgren, regional design manager for WCI Communities Inc.