Link About It: This Week’s Picks
Aging wine under the sea, a better version of the Mexico border wall, and how Missy Elliott can save a life
1. Essential Chuck Berry Songs
Widely known as a pioneer of rock’n’roll—if not the inventor of it—Chuck Berry passed away this weekend. Reworking rhythm and blues into what we now know as rock music, Berry was a true legend—a guitarist, singer/songwriter who also had some incredible moves on stage and an undeniable charisma and self-confidence. The Times selected 15 of his countless songs that are essential to understanding not only the talent Berry held, but also his remarkable influence on popular music. Bob Dylan once called Berry “the Shakespeare of rock’n’roll,” and his legacy is monumental.
2. A Creative Alternative to a Border Wall
Malaysia’s No-To-Scale Studio has suggested yet another clever alternative to President Trump’s proposed Mexico/USA border wall. Certainly more fun (and more cost-effective) than a wall, the design outfit proposes a 1,954 mile-long dining table—at which Mexican and American residents and citizens can join each other for meals and socializing (BYO chair). The studio says, “Take it from us, we’ve lived in a pseudo-democracy all our lives… and inevitably sometimes we have friction, but we always come together for food.” Sadly this brilliant idea won’t see the light of day, but even the concept is an important reminder.
3. Kosho Tsuboi’s Magic Wall Calendar
As a part of Google’s Android Experiments concept project series, industrial designer Kosho Tsuboi has proposed a hi-res, electronic, paper, wall calendar. Despite advances in calendar apps, many of us remain divided between our digital scheduling and tactile wall or agenda planning. Tsuboi’s Magic Calendar unites both by way of an “interconnected paper-thin e-ink color display.” Tsuboi actually spent time in a zen monastery, perhaps fashioning his understanding of time and planning. For sure, this is an idea that many people will hope to be realized. Learn more of Tsuboi’s developments with Android Experiments at Design Milk.
4. How CPR and Missy Elliott Go Hand in Hand
Whether you’re into Missy Elliott, Hanson or more of a Pink Floyd fan, thinking of their music while performing CPR might help you save a life. CPR (aka cardiopulmonary resuscitation) should be performed at 100 beats per minute, which is a pace that many non-musicians might have a little trouble figuring out—especially in an emergency. The New York Presbyterian Hospital has released a 100-bpm playlist on Spotify, so if you find yourself in a crisis, singing one of these songs in your head (or aloud) could mean your CPR is more effective. With tracks including “Man in the Mirror” and “Crazy in Love,” the playlist also includes “I Will Survive,” “Quit Playing Games With My Heart,” and “Stayin’ Alive”—surely a few doctors were having a laugh when selecting these tunes.
5. The Internet is Saving Culture
In an New York Times article brimming with hope, author Farhad Manjoo argues that while it may have appeared the internet was being detrimental to culture, in fact, it’s saving it. First, he makes clear that a series of new formats have led to low barriers of entry for creators. This may have hurt the business model of culture at first, but now it appears we’ve figured it out—or are moving in that direction. People are now paying for online content—and the subscription model is at the forefront. Citing new statistics, Manjoo celebrates the fact that Netflix now has 94 million subscribers, Spotify has risen to 50 million, Apple Music landed 20 million in a year and a half, and even the New York Times itself has risen to three million subscribers (both print and digital). As Manjoo states, “The digital economy is finally beginning to coalesce around a sustainable way of supporting content.”
6. Why Some People Aren’t Moved by Music
While some songs might make you sob, others will have you tapping your toes or breaking into dance in the middle of the office, but some people aren’t really moved by music—not even Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman.” These people experience a phenomenon called musical anhedonia, and they find music to be boring or distracting. In a recent study of 45 students at the University of Barcelona, the subjects were divided into three groups—those who live and die for music, those who enjoy it, and those who have no interest. When listening to music, the two musically inclined groups had a clear link between the auditory and reward regions of the brain—the latter group had no connection. No connection equals no real joy from listening to music. So next time you get the chills from a special tune, enjoy it, because not everyone can. Read more at The Atlantic.
7. A Look Inside Yves Behar’s Home
Unsurprisingly, designer (and CH favorite) Yves Béhar’s San Francisco home is a sight to behold. The Swiss-born creator (who is also a CEO and entrepreneur) takes Nowness on tour of his house, while discussing his own design philosophies and beliefs. With plenty of geometrical pieces and sharp edges, Béhar’s home avoids being stuffy or clinical; the interior is inviting and textural. Most alluring of all, it’s quite full of books. See the film at Nowness.
8. Aging Champagne Under the Sea
Four years after tasting champagne 170-year-old champagne found in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea, Veuve Cliquot’s cellar master Dominique Demarville launched Cellar in the Sea: a program for underwater aging. Demarville placed 350 bottles deep in the Baltic, with a plan in place to check them over 40 years. They aren’t the only brand to do so. A vineyard in Spain and one in the Napa valley are also studying the effects of such aging. Right now, all that’s really known—according to some experts—is that some results truly taste impressive.
Link About It is our filtered look at the web, shared daily in Link and on social media, and rounded up every Saturday morning.
