16 Must-See Movies For 2016

Anomalisa

January

Charlie Kaufman, who wrote Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, is behind this bizarre, brilliant stop-motion animation about a man who sees everyone in the world as identical, until he meets a woman who is startlingly different. Like the best Kaufman, beneath its weirdness is some heartfelt human emotion.

• Added: 04 Jan 2016

  

• Eddie The Eagle

  26th February
  The British public loves a sporting underdog and there was no sporting star less hopeful than Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards. Edwards dreamed of going to the Winter Olympics as a ski-jumper and he wasn’t going to let his lack of natural talent stop him.

  Photo: PRESS

  Added: 04 Jan 2016

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• Zoolander 2

  12th February
  15 years after the original, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson polish up their Blue Steel again. This time, lots of pretty celebrities – Miley Cyrus, Biebs – are being murdered and Derek Zoolander and Hansel take it upon themselves to solve the crime. There are buttloads of famous people – Benedict Cumberbatch, Penelope Cruz, Lewis Hamilton – in it.

  Photo: Getty

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Spotlight

  29th February
  The true story of a Boston newspaper team who exposed a paedophile scandal in the Catholic Church. If you like a good, old-fashioned talky drama then this is a belter, with a faultless cast.

  Photo: PRESS

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Bourne 5

  29th July
  After the clunking disappointment of The Bourne Legacy, which tried to continue the Bourne franchise without Jason Bourne, Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, director of films 2 and 3, have been tempted back. The plot is described as dealing with a “post-Snowden world”, so expect cyber security issues, and lots of inventive fighting again.

  Photo: PRESS

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  The Nice Guys

  20th May
  In 1970s LA, a struggling private eye (Gosling) teams up with a detective (Crowe) to investigate the disappearance of a girl and the death of a porn star. Their mission leads them to a huge conspiracy involving some very powerful people. It’s written/directed by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon), one of the best dialogue writers in the business.

  Photo: 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Captain America: Civil War

  29th April
  This is the start of a big story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The government wants to regulate superheroes, which splits the specially-powered into two factions: one against regulation, led by Captain America; the other led by Tony Stark who wants to cooperate with the authorities. That means lots of Avengers’ in-fighting.

  Photo: PRESS

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Deadpool

  4th February
  Cynical about comic-book films? This might be the comic-book film for you. In this lower-key Marvel production – its budget is a fraction of Captain America’s – Reynolds plays a man who submits to advanced cancer treatment and winds up a heavily disfigured, sarcastic, violent, pansexual super(anti)hero.

  Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  X-Men: Apocalypse

  19th May
  They’ve done the ’60s, the ’70s and now the X-Men are into the 1980s. Big hair, big shoulderpads and a big villain in the form of Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), an ancient mutant who has arrived in modern times to destroy the world. It’s likely to be the final outing for Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, so make the most of it.

  Photo: PRESS

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  The Girl On The Train

  7th October
  Paul Hawkins’ thriller was arguably the must-read novel of the year. It’s the story of a depressed drunk (Blunt) who builds a fantasy life for a couple she watches every day from the train, then gets sucked into their lives when she notices something amiss one day.

  Photo: Barry Wetcher

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Suicide Squad

  5th August
  Can you have a superhero film without any heroes? In this oddity a gang of villains are blackmailed into taking on a secret government mission. Those villains include Will Smith as marksman Deadshot and Margot Robbie as the loopy Harley Quinn. Jared Leto plays the villain of all villains, the Joker.

  Photo: 2015 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

  18th November
  It’s set in the Harry Potter world but there’s no chance of the boy wizard appearing because this takes place in 1920s New York. Newt Scamander (Redmayne) is a wizard who travels the world collecting magical creatures. For the benefit of cinematic drama, lots of them escape. JK Rowling has written the script.

  Photo: 2015 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Ghostbusters

  15th July
  It’s the ’80s favourite reworked and recast with an all-woman team. This, as you can imagine, made certain men of the internet fall over, bless them. Those women include the extremely funny Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, and it’s directed by Bridesmaids’ Paul Feig, so let’s ignore the Twitter misogynists, shall we?

  Photo: Sony Pictures

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Point Break

  12th February
  If you weren’t around in the ’90s and watch the original Point Break now, you might wonder why so many people of a certain age go nuts for it. But the new version hopes to capture the same sense of adrenalised, silly fun, with Bracey as an undercover cop hoping to bust a gang who commit corporate heists that usually involve extreme sports.

  Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Hail Caesar

  26th February
  The Coen brothers get together lots of glossy film stars for a farce set in the golden age of cinema. Clooney plays the biggest film star of his day, who is kidnapped during production of a historical epic, sending the studio into a panic. If you’re a cinema nut then this ispacked with nods to old school Hollywood that you will adore.

  Photo: PRESS

  Added: 04 Jan 2016
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  Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

  25th March
  There’s a lot riding on Warner Bros’ biggest film of the summer. Not only does it put together the two titans of the DC comics universe, who disagree on the correct way to fight crime. It’s also the launching point for Wonder Woman and sows the seeds for a whole load of Justice League films.

  Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

  Added: 04 Jan 2016

Axl Rose reportedly set to replace Brian Johnson as AC/DC frontman for rest of band’s tour

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose could be set to fill in for Brian Johnson as the frontman of AC/DC for the rest of the hard rock band’s tour, reports are suggesting.

The Australian group recently rescheduled a handful of US live dates after singer Johnson was advised by doctors to “stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss”. The group issued a statement on their official website confirming that the remaining dates of their US tour will be “made up later in the year, likely with a guest vocalist”.

Now, as reported by Alternative Nation, a radio DJ from Atlanta named Jason Bailey has claimed that a “very very good source” informed him that Rose will join the band for the rest of their tour dates after being “flown in” to the US city to audition with the group.

“This is what I’m being told, Axl was meeting with the AC/DC group, because it’s all but a done deal that Axl will front AC/DC for the ten remaining shows. All ten, including Atlanta,” the Atlanta Radio 100.5 DJ is quoted as saying.

He added: “From what I was told, this was all kind of new inside information to me, Angus [Young, AC/DC guitarist] is a very black and white guy. He’s like, Brian, for health reasons, can’t continue fronting the band. He was supposed to retire after the last tour, so they wanted to continue going out on the road and continue making music, so if you can’t do it, we appreciate your services, but the show must go on.”

“They’re in town, they were auditioning people for the job, and then they flew Axl in, again, this is from my source.”

Guns N’ Roses fansite GnR Truth had previously alleged that Axl Rose was spotted in Atlanta recently, further speculating that he might have been auditioning to link up live with AC/DC.

NME has approached press representatives of both AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses for a response to the reports.

EXCLUSIVE: Belgian Intelligence Had Precise Warning That Airport Targeted for Bombing

Attack in subway likely also known in advance by Belgian and Western agencies; attack plan was formulated at de-facto ISIS capital of Raqqa, in Syria.

The Belgian security services, as well as other Western intelligence agencies, had advance and precise intelligence warnings regarding the terrorist attacks in Belgium on Tuesday, Haaretz has learned.
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The security services knew, with a high degree of certainty, that attacks were planned in the very near future for the airport and, apparently, for the subway as well.

Despite the advance warning, the intelligence and security preparedness in Brussels, where most of the European Union agencies are located, was limited in its scope and insufficient for the severity and immediacy of the alert.

As far as is known, the attacks were planned by the headquarters of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Raqqa, Syria, which it has pronounced as the capital of its Islamic caliphate.

The terror cell responsible for the attacks in Brussels on Tuesday was closely associated with the network behind the series of attacks in Paris last November. At this stage, it appears that both were part of the same terrorist infrastructure, connected at the top by the terrorist Salah Abdeslam, who was involved in both the preparation for the Paris attacks and its implementation.

Abdeslam escaped from Paris after the November attacks, hid out in Brussels and was arrested last week by the Belgian authorities.
Abdeslam’s arrest was apparently the trigger for Tuesday’s attacks, due to the concern in ISIS that he might give information about the planned attacks under interrogation, particularly in the light of reports that he was cooperating with his captors.

The testimony of the detained terrorist, alongside other intelligence information, part of which concerned ISIS operations in Syria, should have resulted in much more stringent security preparedness in crowded public places in Brussels, along with a heightened search for the cell.

As of now, the search is focused on the terrorist Najim Laachraoui, who created the explosive vests used by the bombers and escaped from the airport at the last moment.

There is concern, however, that other cells connected to ISIS in Western Europe will attempt to carry out additional attacks in the near future, either in Belgium or in other countries involved in the war against the terror organization in Syria and Iraq.

At least 31 people were killed and 260 wounded in the terrorist bombings at the Brussels airport and in the subway system on Tuesday. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by ISIS.

Belgian authorities have named the two airport attackers as brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui. Laachraoui, who was photographed with the brothers at the airport and was observed fleeing the scene, is the subject of a massive manhunt.

Zillertal TimeLapses

Thoughts and music : ‘The World of Man and Nature’ by Alan Watts

Vintage Photos Show New York City Commuters In 1966

Danny Lyon was famous for his work photographing the civil rights movement in the south and motorcycle gangs in Chicago.

When he returned to New York, his mother told him, if ever got bored, he should “just talk to someone on the subway.”

We’re not sure if he ever took his mother’s advice and talked to the straphangers, but he sure did take some beautiful pictures of them.

The result is a photo series he called “Underground: 1966,” which features eight pictures Lyon took candidly of travelers on the New York City Subway system in Brooklyn during New Year’s Eve in 1966.

Danny Lyon, courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York/Zürich

The series is now being exhibited for the very first time, and will be on display in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center subway station for the next year.

“Brooklyn is changing very rapidly and so many newcomers have joined longtime residents among the 40,000 people who use the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station every day,” Lester Burg, senior manager of MTA Arts & Design, said in statement. “‘Underground: 1966’ is a great opportunity to show them how it used to be, and to show off the work of a groundbreaking photographer who was born in Brooklyn.”

Danny Lyon, courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York/Zürich

Lyon was methodical in his approach to the photographs, like any true artist. For his artist’s tools, he used a Rolleiflex camera with color translucency film.

He didn’t use a tripod for any of the photos (they weren’t allowed on the subway), even when the frame had moving objects, which created a blur effect on some of the photos featuring motion. He told Fast.co that, since the color film was slow, he leaned on poles to keep his camera steady.

Danny Lyon, courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York/Zürich

This artistic choice perfectly captured the hustle and bustle of the subway system. It also makes the surreal somber faces of his subjects pop that much more against the blur of movement.

Though Lyon no longer uses a Rolleiflex, he told Fast.co he still sometimes takes pictures of commuters traversing the city on the subway.

“I find sitting across from people as they move through the city fascinating, and I often take out my iPhone, hoping to make a portrait unobserved,” he said. “But it’s very hard to do.”

See the rest of Lyon’s amazing photographs below:

Danny Lyon, courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York/Zürich

Danny Lyon, courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York/Zürich

Two Lands – Greenland | Iceland

“Two Lands – Greenland | Iceland” is the result of a very brief 10 day shoot I did. The video is a compilation of some of the footage I shot while there. Some of the other shots are in lockdown by the client so I used what I could to create this video. I spent 4 days shooting in Iceland and 6 days shooting in Greenland. Greenland locations include the Kangerlussuaq, Ilulissat, Ilimanaq, Ilulissat Ice Fjord, Russell Glacier, Greenland Icecap, and Disko Bay. Iceland locations include the South Coast, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Kirkjufell, and Grundarfjörður.

Stunning Floating Markets in Asia

A floating market is a market where goods are sold from boats. Originating in times and places where water transport played an important role in daily life, most floating markets operating today mainly serve as tourist attractions, and are chiefly found in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. The sellers often gather at 3:00 and come back at 11:00.

The following are stunning analogue photos of daily life in floating markets in Asia.

10 beautiful Australian libraries

Mortlock Chamber, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia. Photograph: State Library of South Australia

State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland. Photograph: Jon Linkins/State Library of Queensland

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria. Photograph: State Library of Victoria

Surry Hills library and community centre, Sydney, New South Wales. Photograph: City of Sydney

State Library of NSW, Sydney, New South Wales. Photograph: State Library of NSW

Murray Bridge library, Murray Bridge, South Australia. Photograph: Sam Noonan/Hassell

Library at the Dock, Melbourne, Victoria. Photograph: City of Melbourne

Barr Smith library at the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia. Photograph: University of Adelaide

Library at Edith Cowan University in Joondalup, Western Australia. Photograph: Edith Cowan University

Craigieburn library in Hume, Victoria has been named public library of the year following a cross-continent competition by the Danish Agency for Culture. Judges called it a “democratic meeting place, open to diversity and interaction”. From opulent state buildings to state-of-the-art university architecture, here are nine more amazing libraries across Australia – which would you add to the list?

The Chakras-The Seven Centers of Consciousness

A primary focus of Amrit Yoga is to build heat by charging the battery of the body, which is based in the lower three centers. As this energy is aroused and consciously directed from the lower chakras to the upper ones, our biological prana awakens to its evolutionary potential.

Awakened prana, called Kundalini, carries out healing and cleansing at an accelerated level – resulting in the purification of the nerve channels in the body as well as cleansing kriyas – all of which prepare the body for accelerated spiritual development.

Chakra One: Roots, Alignment, Earth

Muladhara is the body in physical space and time, developing groundedness, stability and foundation. In Amrit Yoga, the attention is alignment in all poses, building awareness and strength in the legs – especially all standing poses. Anything that stabilizes and roots the foundation reinforces muladhara.

Chakra Two: Sensation, Flow, Water

In Swadisthana we become aware of the senses, sensation (pleasure/pain) and emotions that accompany each pose. We allow our awareness of ecstatic energy to build in the second half of the pose. Suggested poses include pigeon, bridge and the spinal twist.

Chakra Three: Power, Fire

In Manipura, our fire (spiritual heat) is stimulated. We “jump-start” the battery of the body, the physical storehouse of energy, through strong standing poses like The Warrior. The willful aspect of the practice is also associated with chakra three. In the first half of the Amrit Yoga Level I sequence, we are building the battery in the belly and then consciously directing that energy upward. This is an essential part of Level I as this conscious generation and directing of energy is necessary for prana to awaken and move upward to higher centers.

Chakra Four: Awakening to the Spiritual Path

In Anahata, we are asked to open the heart. This requires spiritual commitment to let the ego drop away. In Amrit Yoga the heart energy is engaged with the use of the arms, with mudras, giving and receiving movements. Some heart opening poses can be: camel, yoga mudra, cobra, half locust (opens arms and heart meridians). Breath and the fourth chakra are closely connected (lungs).

Chakra Five: Communication (internal/external) – the power of sound vibration

Visuddha is more apparent in Level II Amrit Yoga, but also in Level I – we turn into the vibration of prana that sources the movement. Use sound vibration when in the pose and the power of your word (opening intention and Om) to create the vibrational field you intend. Become aware of your own inner dialogue and if it serves you or not. In Amrit Yoga the throat chakra may be stimulated through chanting, bridge, camel and shoulder stand postures.

Chakra Six: the Third Eye

Meditation, witness, meditative awareness Pratyahara; deep absorption without choosing for or against what is present in Ajna chakra. In the second half of the pose and Third Eye integration-consciously allow energies to grow with meditative attention and draw freed energies upward toward the Third Eye for integration. All forward bending poses where the head is lower than the heart brings attention and energy to the third eye (child, yoga mudra, wide-angle forward bend).

Chakra Seven: Silence

In the Sahasrar, the elixir of Amrita comes through silencing the fluctuations of the mind. This is the entry into the bliss body, which can happen in the second half of the pose, in Third Eye Meditation integration, or in any pose. All these practices of Amrit Yoga are intended to reach the final point of stilling the modifications of the mind, which is always associated with the seventh chakra.

17 of the world’s most beautiful clock towers

The clock is of course better known as Big Ben, which is actually the name of the bell inside, which was installed in the tower in 1859. The tower itself is called Elizabeth Tower.

Equally worthy of our admiration, and with remarkable stonework, is the Rajabhai clock tower, in a university compound in Mumbai, India.

One of the most famous clocks in Europe is the astronomical clock found on the Old City Hall in Prague. The movements of its allegorical mechnical figures always draw a crowd to the Old Town Square. It was installed in 1410 and death, portrayed as a skeleton, strikes the time.

This clock tower, the Zytglogge in Berne, Switzerland, is less lofty but also photogenic. It is found in the old part of the city which is a UNESCO heritage site, and was built between 1218-20.

Clock towers in farther flung destinations bear subtle influences of local architectural styles, such as this one in Bukittinggi, Indonesia, which has a distinct south-Asian flavour.

Or this Islamic-style clock tower in Kuala Lumpur, which is attached to the Sultan Abdul Samad mosque.

This caravanasi in Acre, Israel is known as the Khan Al-Umdan. It was built in 1784, with the clock tower overlooking granite pillars that surround a courtyard.

In Beirut, Lebanon, the elegant Hamidiyyeh Clock Tower, originally built in 1897, was reconstructed following the civil war.

The Mekkah Royal Hotel clock tower is the tallest in the world (601m) and also known as the Abraj Al-Bait Towers. It dominates a government-owned complex of buildings in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The clock face is also the world’s largest, at 43m in diameter.

It may be (much) shorter but this clock tower in Metz, France, has its fair share of admirers.

Another grand, European clock tower is found at the city hall in Munich, Germany. It’s gothic style is reminiscent of Big Ben, but it was built much later, in 1908.

In Moscow, certainly the reddest clock on the list, the Spasskaya Tower flanks the eastern wall of the Kremlin and is the complex’s main tower, built in 1491 by an Italian architect. The clock appeared later.

This is the Old Kowloon station clock tower, one of Hong Kong‘s most recognisable landmarks. It’s 44m tall and was completed in 1915. Time only stopped ticking during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in the Second World War. The tower is a lone survivor, as the rest of the station was demolished in 1977.

More recently-built clock towers can be found in more modern styles, such as this, in the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. A policeman used to stand on the top and direct the traffic. Germany’s first traffic lights were installed in 1924.

Also notable is this, the Deira Clock tower, insalubriously sited at a busy roundabout in Dubai. The arms of this Sixties’ concrete structure gracefully arc towards a boxy clock that balances on their tips in the centre.

In America, the Philadelphia City Hall clock tower is not to be sniffed at, completed in 1901.

San Francisco‘s, at the Ferry Building Marketplace, strikes a pose in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. It survived two major earthquakes in 1906 and 1989.

This Luxury Capsule Will Take You on a 5-Hour Long Space Vacation

While SpaceX and Virgin Galactic seem to get all the headlines, World View, a luxury flight capsule, is expected to send tourists up into the Earth’s atmosphere on five-hour tours starting in an estimated 4 years time.

World View, under direction from Paragon Space Development Corporation in Arizona, plans to send people 100,000 feet above the earth’s surface in a capsule powered by a large balloon, which can drift into orbit for hours at a time.

The capsule features four circular windows and holds six passengers plus two crew members.

It is hard to image a front row seat in outer space but it is coming sooner rather than later.

Nigel Goode, director of Priestmangoode, says, “You’re seeing the curvature of earth, the blackness of space. It’s such a life-changing experience. This is what it’s all about.”

The interior design of the capsule is still ongoing, but expect to see a lot of carbon fiber and other lightweight materials used in order to minimize weight and fuel cost.

The cost of enjoying a trip to space by way of a World View is still up in the air, but it is clear that multiple capsules will be developed for both tourism and space research.

Oligarchs of Eastern Europe Scoop Up Stakes in Media Companies

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Across Eastern Europe, local oligarchs and investment groups — some directly connected to their countries’ political leadership — are snapping up newspapers and other media companies, prompting deep concerns among journalists and others about press freedom.

It is just one of an array of developments across the region raising questions, a quarter century after the fall of the Berlin Wall, about progress toward Western standards of democracy and free speech.

As in Russia, there are increasing worries about a potentially dangerous concentration of power in the hands of people who have managed to acquire both wealth and political influence and are increasingly extending their control to media outlets.

Here in Slovakia, a German media company sold a substantial stake in the nation’s last serious, independent newspaper to a well-connected investment group that had been among its investigative targets.

At a time of similar developments across the region, what stood out in the investment in Petit Press and its prominent SME flagship newspaper by the group, Penta Investments, was the reaction of the paper’s staff.

Matus Kostolny, 39, editor in chief for the last eight years, walked out the door. Four of his deputies followed. And 50 members of the paper’s 80-person staff submitted notice to leave by the end of the year.

“I think Penta intends to misuse the newspapers for their own purposes,” Mr. Kostolny said. “Their idea of free speech is entirely different from mine.”

But the situation in Slovakia is just the latest in which owners, often Western European or American, have chosen to sell Eastern European media properties and powerful local interests have stepped forward and snapped them up.

Andrej Babis, an agriculture and fertilizer tycoon, not only owns the Czech Republic’s largest publishing house and several important media outlets, he is the government’s minister of finance.

In Latvia, opaque disclosure laws obscured who controlled much of the country’s news media until a corruption investigation of one of the country’s richest businessmen revealed that he and two other oligarchs were the principal owners.

In Hungary, beyond outright state ownership of much of the news media, top associates of Prime Minister Viktor Orban control significant chunks. Chief among them is Lajos Simicska, who went to school with the prime minister and whose construction company has profited lavishly from state contracts, although the two are said to be feuding of late.

In Romania, the leading television news station, the right-wing Antena 3, is only part of the vast media empire owned by the billionaire Dan Voiculescu, the founder of the country’s Conservative Party. In August, Mr. Voiculescu was sentenced to 10 years in prison on money laundering charges.

Several oligarchs control the media companies in Bulgaria, regularly ranked in last place among European Union nations in the World Press Freedom Index. That includes a former lawmaker, Delyan Peevski, whose New Bulgarian Media Group — ostensibly controlled by his mother, though opponents charge that he holds the real power — has been closely linked to governments controlled by several parties.

In the 1990s, after the collapse of Communism, most media outlets were either owned outright by the state or utterly dependent on government advertising. When foreign owners — most notably from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States — subsequently bought up local newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets, journalists found that the distant owners had no interest in local politics. That was a relief for a time.

“For us, it was perfect,” Mr. Kostolny said of the German conglomerate that owned SME. “We had very professional owners who never picked up the phone and tried to influence the newspaper. Not once.”

But when the economy sank in 2008, most of these foreign owners decided to retreat to their core businesses back home and put their media companies in Central and Eastern Europe on the block. At that point, the distance between their Western owners and the political realities in their countries began to seem like a drawback, especially as the owners began selling to local interests with a direct stake in the coverage.

“It turned out that as much as they didn’t care about Slovak politics, they also didn’t care about who they sold the papers to and the impact of the sale on Czech and Slovak society,” Mr. Kostolny said.

The end result, said Marian Lesko, a commentator for Trend Magazine, a Bratislava-based business journal also owned by Penta Investments, is that “in Slovakia, independent media is no more, basically.”

Alexej Fulmek, the chief executive of Petit Press and one of the founders of SME, said he was troubled by Penta’s stake in the company but decided to stay on to protect SME and the other Petit Press publications, including the most important network of regional papers in the country.

“I am not happy with the situation,” he said. “We don’t like Penta. They have too many economic interests with the government.”

For its part, Penta bristles at being compared to politically connected oligarchs in the region, instead presenting itself as a fairly standard, Western-style investment company with interests in hospitals, retail outlets, real estate and other industries that now happens to include media.

Officials of the company, led by its dominant principal, Jaroslav Hascak, said they were interested only in keeping their media investments profitable by consolidating them and had no intention of meddling in the newsrooms.

“We do not have any direct businesses with the state,” said Martin Danko, the group’s chief spokesman. “We are not providing any services, not participating in any state competitions to supply something. But we are definitely operating in regulated businesses.”

Penta got into the media business after other entities controlled by local oligarchs — Mr. Babis, the Czech finance minister, as well as Ivan Jakabovic and Patrik Tkac, who control the J&T Finance Group in Slovakia — had already started investing in the industry.

Penta’s 45 percent interest in Petit Press prevents it from dominating the newsroom, even if it wished to do so — which, Mr. Danko said, it does not, because it understands that the credibility of the news is the core of the company’s profitability.

Mr. Kostolny doesn’t buy it. “Penta’s real interest is in influence, in controlling their critics,” he said. “They will make back their investment with one state contract, and nobody will bother them by writing about it.”

Mr. Kostolny is now working on a plan under which his deputies and as many former SME staffers as he can afford to hire will produce Projekt N, a web portal and a print paper, perhaps weekly, perhaps daily. His plan is to offer breaking news for free online, but to charge for longer and investigative pieces.

For the moment, though, they have no office outside of the Next Apache cafe — the name, said aloud, sounds like “nech sa paci,” which means “here you are” in Slovak — where Mr. Kostolny and many former employees now hang out.

“I still don’t have investors,” he said. “I don’t have computers. I don’t have printing machines. I don’t have anything.”

For his part, Mr. Fulmek said he intended to spend the next several weeks trying to talk some of those who put in their notice to stay at SME with him and fight the good fight there. He even hopes to persuade Mr. Kostolny and his deputies to return, but he is not optimistic.

“They are very pure,” Mr. Fulmek said. “And that’s good, because the country needs such people.”

Billionaires double since financial crisis

The number of billionaires has more than doubled to 1,645 since the financial crisis.

But as the ranks of those with 10-figure fortunes swelled, the gap between the rich and poor has widened rapidly, a new Oxfam report on inequality finds.

The growing inequality is dangerous and can even lead to violence and dangerous living conditions, Oxfam finds.

Here are some other findings:

It’s an elite club: The world’s richest 85 people own as much as the entire poorer half of the world.

And they’re getting richer by the second: Last year, these 85 people grew $668 million richer each day. The combined wealth of today’s billionaires has grown by 124% in the last four years to $5.4 trillion.

Men dominate: Only three of the 30 richest people in the world are women.

Women are lonely at the top and lesser paid: Only 23 of Fortune 500 companies are headed by women. But even these top women are likely to be paid less for doing the same jobs as their male colleagues.

Riches not flowing to poor: Mexican magnate Carlos Slim reclaimed the title of world’s richest man in 2014. But the number of Mexicans living in poverty grew by 3% since 2010.

Growing country = growing poor: It’s the same story in many other countries. In the last decade, Zambia’s economy grew on average 6% a year, lifting the country to the World Bank’s lower-middle income category. Yet the number of Zambians living below the poverty line grew from 65% to 74% during the same period.

Born poor and staying poor: Being born to poor parents means staying poor for life. Half of the kids born to low-income parents in the U.S. will grow up to be low-income adults. In Peru, two-thirds of those kids stay poor.

It’s better in Denmark: Denmark has one of the lowest inequality rates — only one in seven kids from low-income families end up there.

Inequality leads to violence: Latin America, the most unequal region according to Oxfam, is also among the most dangerous in the world. Millions of people in Latin America have been murdered between 2000 and 2010 and the continent has 41 of the world’s 50 most dangerous cities. Oxfam says inequality contributes to the violence.

Vienna is ‘the capital of spies’

More than 7,000 secret agents and spies are currently working in Vienna, more than in any other city, according to a new book by Austrian investigative journalist Emil Bobi.

Bobi believes the city is popular with spies because “if something strange happens that cannot be explained, and if diplomatic complications and espionage are at play, then it’s just accepted as the Austrian way,” he told the ORF.

His book Die Schattenstadt (The Void) addresses the question of why the Austrian capital became a stronghold for international agents, long before 9/11.

He claims that foreign secret agents hold important positions in embassies, international organisations and corporations in the city – but that they are only here for the purpose of acquiring and transmitting secret information.

He says that Austria’s state police are aware of this, but do nothing to stop it. Spying is only punishable by law in Austria if it is aimed directly at Austria. If foreign governments wish to spy on other foreign states in Vienna that is perfectly legal.

Recently reports emerged suggesting that a US spy who worked for German foreign intelligence had been meeting with CIA agents at the US embassy in Vienna.

Former police officers and politicians, as well as cabaret artists and psychoanalysts are employed as agents, Bobi claims.

Siegfried Beer, director of the Austrian Centre for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies, at the University of Graz, agrees that there are at least 7,000 agents based in Vienna, working in embassies and international organizations.

Bobi says that one reason spies feel so comfortable in Vienna is that “the so-called real Viennese operate in the private sector in the same way as intelligence agencies do.”

“Spies love being sent to work in Vienna, because of the high quality of life, and its geographical location. Some even return here once they retire,” he added.

Austria has been an international spy hub since the late 19th Century, when people from all parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire flocked to the city.

Bobi says that the Viennese are steeped in a culture of espionage. “In the market places and streets one could hear more than 40 languages. The Viennese were always busy getting to know strangers and trying to figure out what they wanted.”

The disintegration of Austria-Hungary and the political turmoil in Central Europe after World War I led to more and more secret services basing themselves in Vienna.

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The Mysteries and Tragedy of Russia’s Bottomless Karst Lake (PHOTOS)

The water is serene but deathly cold – and danger lurks beneath its surface. Yet, in the aquatic depths the promise of discovering hidden underwater caves and relics of our past awaits. Here, beauty and allure belie risks – but risks that some are prepared to take.

“A sapphire in a ring of green trees.” That’s how this stunning lake has been described. Even on overcast days, the water has a deep, crystal blue color like the gemstone to which it has been compared.

But there is much more than splendor to this lake. Beneath its smooth surface lie mysteries as yet unsolved. And some of these are secrets that the lake will not easily give up; at least, not if the recent tragic death of one diving explorer and the hospitalization of another are read as telltale signs.

9 Magical Zen Gardens

Zen garden is an interesting and deeply spiritual aspect of Japanese gardening traditions. The typical Zen garden consists of an enclosed and shallow sand box of sorts which features predominantly sand or gravel with rocks of various shapes and sizes.

The rocks and sand (or gravel) are the chief elements of the garden, which generally creates the scene of islands in the sea. The sand or gravel in a Zen garden represents the sea or ocean and is used instead of water. It will be carefully raked by tending monks to create the impression of waves on the surface of a body of water.

The rocks themselves represent islands or rock formations jutting out from the water. The overall goal is to create a small-scale recreation of an aerial or cliff-top view of an intricate coastal scene. One of the primary differences between a Zen garden and most other varieties is the lack of living elements. Although grass may sometimes be included, no other plant or flower species will be found in a classic Zen garden.

This can be both unusual and exotically appealing to people with no past experience with the history and meaning of a Zen garden.

The world’s most extraordinary hotels in pictures

Mihir Garh, Rajasthan 
“The fort sits in splendid isolation amid the Thar Desert near Jodhpur. It looks like an enormous sandcastle, a mirage, and is not just a unique place to stay; it’s a shrine to the artistic and architectural traditions of Rajasthan in general and Jodhpur in particular.”

Planet Baobab, Botswana
“Botswana’s Makgadigadi Pan comprises the world’s largest network of salt pans – a thirsty, mirage-inducing landscape of flat, shimmering expanses under hard blue skies. Halfway along the sole tarred road through this arid moonscape, a statue of an anteater towers at the dusty verge. It is a surreal sight, and an appropriate signpost for the distinctive Planet Baobab.”

Prendiparte B&B, Bologna, Italy
“A medieval high-rise turned romantic hideaway, the Torre Prendiparte is unlike anywhere else you’ll ever stay. The living area is on the first two floors and comprises a snug, classically-furnished living room, mezzanine bedroom, and kitchen. Above this is the former jail where you can still see graffiti left by prisoners on the 2m-thick walls.”

Qasr al Sarab, UAE
“Rising from the shifting sands, Qasr Al Sarab appears like a mirage on the edge of the vast Empty Quarter desert. Outside high crenellated walls echo fortresses of old. Inside rooms continue the dream of Arabian Nights with sumptuous fabrics, carved Islamic designs, woven rugs, wooden doors and metalwork lanterns.”

Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, Tasmania, Australia
“A stay at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge plunges you into the heart of Tasmania’s wilderness, with luxury that feels as organic as your surrounds. The cabins are nestled privately in the bushland, with wallabies bounding past the windows and wombats shuffling amid the trees.”

Free Spirit Spheres, British Columbia, Canada
“Suspended in the trees on sturdy guide ropes, Vancouver Island’s Free Spirit Spheres look like giant eyeballs peering deep into the British Columbia woodlands. Step inside and the handmade orbs – accessed via spiral rope staircases or slender steel bridges – are lined like comfy boat cabins with built-in beds and cabinets.”

Taskonak Hotel, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
“Göreme has dozens of beautiful cave-hotels but Taşkonak manages to dish up the cave-suites and stupendous views Cappadocia is famous for without breaking your budget.”

Thonga Beach Lodge, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa
“One of few such lodges within the extraordinary 328,000 hectare iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a Unesco world heritage site.”

Saugerties Lighthouse, New York state, USA
“Saugerties Lighthouse is a historic 1869 landmark that makes a wonderful base for exploring the scenic Hudson valley. It is 100 miles north of New York City, and the red brick building has played a pivotal role in safely guiding steamboats, barges and other vessels safely along the Hudson river over the years. More recently (in the mid 1990s), the lighthouse was transformed into a two-room B&B, providing safe haven of a different sort.”

The Gibbon Experience Treehouse, Bokeo Reserve, Laos
“The tree houses erected by conservation group Animo are a thing of architectural wonder, straddling the giant trunks of strangler fig trees. But more extraordinary still is that to reach these vertiginous eyries you’ll have to trek through the fecund realm of the tiger, then catch a series of exhilarating zip lines strung across the forest canopy, before flying into your night’s accommodation.”

Amazing color pictures from 1960s Budapest

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National Geographic Photo Contest

 

 

 

 

100 years old pictures in colours before World War I

Türkei, Bursa, Ladengeschaeft einer Confiserie, Auguste Leon, 1. Juni 1913

Vietnam. Tonkin, Leon Busy, 1914

Indien, Statue des Heiligen Stiers, Stephane Passet, 29. Januar 1914

Österreich, Wien, Judengasse, Fotograf unbekannt, 23. April 1913

Mongolei, nahe Ulaanbaatar Urga, Stéphane Passet, 23. Juli 1913

Irland, Galway, Marguerite Mespoulet, 26. Mai 1913

Indien, Uttar Pradesh, Agra. Mausoleum Taj Mahal von Shah Jahan für Mumtaz Mahal, Stéphane Passet, 19.-21. Januar 1914

Indien, Amritsar. Marmorne Strasse zum Goldenden Tempel, neben den rituellen Reinigungsbecken, dem Darbar Sahib und dem Hari Mandir, Stéphane Passet, 15. Januar 1914

China, nach Kalgan. Nomadenlager, drei Männer und ein Junge vor einer Jurte, Stéphane Passet, 18.-21. Juli 1912

Water pipe smoking. Samarkand

Mongolei, Ulaanbaatar. Der Finanzminister des unabhängigen Staats Mongolei auf dem Marktplatz, Stéphane Passet, 22. Juli 1913

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In March 1939, renowned fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien penned an essay enitled “On Fairy-Stories” which explores the nature of fantasy and the cultural role of fairy tales. His argument is the same — that there is no such thing as “writing for children.” Tolkien writes: “A ‘fairy-story’ is one which touches on or uses Faerie, whatever its own main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. Faerie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated by Magic — but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso : if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away.”

Tolkien adds: “Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else … may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds.” You can read more excerpts from Tolkien’s essay by visiting BrainPickings.org.

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The Real Walter White (VIDEO)

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A new industry born from the disaster — LED indoor farm

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Awesome pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope

 

 

 

 

Great Gardens: “Prospect Cottage” by Howard Sooley – NOWNESS

http://vimeo.com/103807651

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