I'll take Manhattan

I am in New York. Glad about it, mad about it New York.

I have a couple of meetings there today and I'm spending the weekend getting some Christmassy R&R. Somebody near and dear cashed in a king's ransom in frequent flier miles and I'm the lucky beneficiary of what promises to be the most luxe version of Manhattan I've ever experienced. I used to go to New York and slum it for long weekends. There was a boarding house on 14th Street that I viewed as a second home at one time in my life. At $69 for a sleeping room, a shared bath and coffee and a bagel in the morning, the Chelsea Pines Inn is still a deal and a half.

There will be no Chelsea Pines this weekend. Instead, we're booked in the New York Palace.

The Palace is one of those places I still can't believe I'm allowed to enter.

As much as I'm looking forward to my meetings today and my deluxe accommodations this weekend, what will end up as one of the highlights of my life are two tickets.

Two tickets to see a full production of La Boheme at the Met on Saturday night. Grand opera gets no more grand in this hemisphere and arguably, in the world.






Add to it the usual round of visiting with friends in the city and just drinking it all in and I'm in for a weekend to remember.

In an experiment of a sort. I am letting my blog go blank through Monday. Tomorrow will be the first time in two and a half years that I haven't had a new post on this site. Posting every day is a labor of love and it's become so ingrained I can't imagine not posting every day. Starting tomorrow, I'm not going to have to imagine it any longer.

So enjoy your weekends everybody and I'll see you around here again on Tuesday when I resume my regular posting schedule.

Compelling, modern lighting from Leucos

Leucos USA is a family of distinctive lighting brands that includes Leucos, ITRE, LUXIT and the FDV Collection. Hand-crafted in Italy, all of the Leucos USA products represent the very best blend of traditional hand-blown glass techniques combined with innovative, modern design.

The Leucos brands represent a staggering number of lighting options, many of which are in stock in a warehouse just outside of New York.

Leucos just announced the addition of five new designs and here are their highlights.

Block S100 and Block P100
Sleek rectangular fixtures created by the Leucos design team, the Block S100, suspension modeland the Block P100 wall unit complete the Block suite of lights with great élan. Composed of beautifully silk-screened glass on bright steel structures, their fluorescent light sources create a warm and lustrous glow. Block is available in three color combinations: platinum with 3D effect,platinum pattern on white base and pure white. Block S100 measures 39 3/8” in length and 4 3/8” in height with a drop of 78 ¾”. Block P100 measures 39 3/8” in length and 4 3/8” in height.

Laguna S75 and Laguna S105
Collaboratively designed by Design R. Toso and N. Massari & Associates with Giusto Toso,these suspension fixtures complement the sconce and ceiling models already available in this grouping. The Laguna models are both ornamental and modern, combining an external glass profile with a decorative centerpiece. These glass suspension lights are available in Canal with a decorative pattern of amber or white embellished with gold leaf and glass shavings or Platino, which is adorned with silk-screened platinum spirals. Both the Canal and Platino versions utilize energy-efficient fluorescent lamps. Laguna S75 measures 29 1/2” in length and 8 1/4” in height and the longer S105 is 41 3/8” in length and 8 1/4” in height.

Witch
This blown glass suspension light has an enchanting quality, as its incandescent light source glows expressively through its center. Designed by Marco Piva, it is available in four color palettes: transparent black with black painted metal structure; mirrored crystal on chrome plated metal structure; white on chrome plated metal structure; or gray on chrome plated metal structure. It hangs from a white painted metal canopy and measures 17 3/4” in diameter and 9 7/8” in height.

Google wants to give you a new laptop

Well not everybody but close.

Google's Chrome operating system is in its final beta stage and Google's looking for some brave volunteers to test their brand new, first-ever, Google-branded laptop. The hard part's done and the laptop betas will ship in January '011.

You can apply here to become one of a select few individuals given one of these laptop prototypes. There are some strings attached. First, this is a beta test and the goal of a beta is to work out bug. Expect bugs. Secondly, you have to agree to be monitored by the kids in Mountain View.

I applied yesterday and I'd be honored to be selected. Imagine playing a role in the beginning of the end of the cumbersome ineptitude of MicroSoft and the haughty, customer-be-damned world of Apple. Sign me up! Oh wait, I already did. Here's that link again.

Conductors on Twitter, oh my!

I make no secret of the fact that I love Twitter.

I also make no secret of the fact that I love classical music.

Photo from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

Well, what happen if the two things combined? Well for one day only they have. Today is Ask a Conductor day on Twitter.

A little background. On Twitter, if you have a question to ask the universe, you use something called a hashtag. Hashtags go on the end of a Tweet and they are indexed by the site, so anyone can search for them. The hastag in this case is #askaconductor. Click on that last link and you'll go to the Twitter search results for instances where that tag's used in a Tweet. The directory's updated in real time.

So if you're a Twitter-er and you have a burning question you want to ask about classical music, just ask it and use the hashtag #askaconductor. Conductors and orchestra people from all over the world will be monitoring Twitter today and answer these questions personally. There are conductors from all the world's major (and minor) orchestras involved so who knows? Maybe Michael Tilson Thomas or Esa-Pekka Salonen will answer your question. Here's the link to the #askaconductor site.

Catalunyan range hoods make me question everything I think I know

Range hoods used to be an afterthought. They were the unglamorous, practical thing that every kitchen needed. For years, they were the gnarled hand of necessity reaching into an otherwise lovely and well-thought out room. They were all so boxily utilitarian that nobody really thought about them.

All of that started to change since the beginning of the new millennium and we seem to be reaching some kind of critical mass with them. every time I turn around it seems, someone's re-thought the range hood again.

Well, most of the time I don't get too excited about these re-thought range hoods. Then I saw this.

That's the Sphere from Frecan.

Frecan is a Catalunyan appliance manufacturer with its headquarters in Barcelona. They didn't stop with the Sphere either. Check out the Saturn.

Between the two of them I'd be hard-pressed to pick which one I like more. Now clearly, some of these hoods (and I hate to call them hoods, the Brits call them "extractors" which sounds so much more elegant) aren't capable of venting to the outside, they just recirculate. Keep in mind that in their target market, they're not dealing with the enormous cooking appliances popular in the US. However, some of these models could be adapted to use in North America. Just look at these beauties.

Frecan's really onto something here, who says that range hoods have to be boring? Check out Frecan's website, maybe I'm not the only one who'll be questioning everything he thinks he knows.