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Rome Reborn – An Amazing Digital Model of Ancient Rome

Rome Reborn – An Amazing Digital Model of Ancient Rome

in History | March 12th, 2012 / http://www.openculture.com/2012/03/rome_reborn_-_a_digital_model_of_ancient_rome.html

What did ancient Rome look like in A.D. 320? Rome Reborn is an international initiative to answer this question and create a 3D digital model of the Eternal City at a time when Rome’s population had reached its peak (about one million) and the first Christian churches were being built. The result is a truly stunning bird’s-eye and ground view of ancient Rome that makes you feel as if you were actually there. There are also some high-resolution images that lend themselves perfectly to being used as wallpaper for your computer. HT @amishare

The Scottish Country House by James Knox , Photographs by James Fennell .

The "Scottish Country House" chronicles a remarkable group of houses and castles that have survived the vicissitudes of Scotland's turbulent history and are still in the hands of their original families. From breakfront cabinets filled with generations of monogrammed heirloom china to canopy beds keeping the chill of a Scottish winter at bay to cabbage-rose slip-covered sofas nestled under tall Gothic windows, this book takes the reader on a tour of these residences, providing an intimate look at a marvellous hotchpotch of rooms and decoration. Specially commissioned photographs by James Fennell show inviting living rooms and tousled bedrooms, print- lined hallways and well-trampled mudrooms. Telling details capture the eccentric personalities of their owners Scottish chieftains, lairds and nobles drawn from the pages of Walter Scott; charming decorative details, such as a red silk bell-pull against green floral wallpaper, a drawer full of two- hundred-year-old love letters, or the curve of a wonderfully carved antique chair. In his anecdotal text, James Knox tells the tale of the more colourful inhabitants of these homes, both past and present. The houses are not the instant creation of trendy decorators they have evolved over generations, furnished with heirlooms and cherished hand-me-downs. This is a book for lovers of Scotland, history or decoration.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/james+knox/james+fennell/the+scottish+country+house/9202769/

The Scottish Country House in “Country Life”

James Knox (Thames & Hudson, £28 *£25)

http://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/books/article/530526/Book-review-The-Scottish-country-house.html

I spent a great deal of time rummaging in the attic,' says Clare Macpherson-Grant, recalling the late 1970s, when she and her husband, Oliver Russell, took on the castle that has been in her family since 1546. Her father, Sir Ewan, who kick-started Ballindalloch's revival after ‘naughty Uncle George' left the bulk of his will to his boyfriend, happened to mention that ‘there are some ghastly paintings up there, but before putting them on the bonfire, you might just show them to the experts from the auction houses'. Britain's earliest and most important collection of 17th-century Spanish paintings is now on view again, although what visitors really love is the corridor of family photos.

Soon after the Russells took over, a friend took me to dinner at Ballindalloch and I remember enthusing about pinenuts, then a fashionable culinary novelty. From my host's flurry of questions about the potential of planting pinenut groves in the Spey valley, I realised how daunted a High-

land laird must feel by the challenge of making a sprawling castle with 25,000 acres earn its keep. Happily, the Russells have triumphed at Ballindalloch and, over the past few decades, they have turned its fortunes around with the aid of Aberdeen Angus beef and whisky, not pinenuts.

The energy and innovation of owners past and present is a recurring theme of this splendid book, with formidable lady lairds making a strong appearance. Having played a key role in the 11th-hour rescue of Dumfries House, James Knox is interested in the ongoing survival, as well as the history, of the houses he features, and he gives many of their current owners a voice.

We hear from the 10th Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry about the influence on his forebears of ideas on estate management pro-pounded by their friend, kinsman and neighbour Sir Walter Scott; from parliamentarian Tam Dalyell, who lives up to his family values of ‘high-mindedness, courage, intellect, and enterprise, with a dash of stubbornness and swashbuckling thrown in'; and Toby Anstruther of Balcaskie, whose holidays with his mother comprised ‘a cultural tour abroad with Bannister Fletcher's bible of world architecture to hand' and who, ‘in a romantic twist', married Pevsner's granddaughter.

Too often, books on this subject fall into one of two extremes: the shortbread-tin fantasy or the dry, often politically prejudiced, architectural discourse. Aimed at a general audience, this volume straddles the divide with a spiri-ted blend of architectural and decorative detail, social context and evocation of place, fluently delivered in a vivid and engaging style. The Americanisation of spellings is deceptive, as Mr Knox is a Scot and is a trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and Dumfries House.

His selection of 10 houses, all but one still privately occupied (the Munros, who found a box containing legal writs dating back to the early 14th century, have been at Foulis for 1,000 years), spans four centuries and illustrates the changing tastes and influences that their owners-mostly enterprising merchants, lawyers, soldiers and statesmen aspired to as they built their family seats. Many set precedents in the way they responded to landscape, as at Balcaskie and Lochinch, ‘the ultimate Scottish Baronial house-a massing of ranges and wings... above the shoreline of the White Loch'.

James Fennell's sumptuous photography brings these houses alive. Focusing on interiors, he captures the texture of fabrics, the virtuosity of plasterwork, the fall of light on timber panelling. Architectural shots are juxtaposed with atmospheric details, from gilded pelmets to curling stones; spectacular portraits, family snaps and images of boudoir ephemera add to the rich mix.

The selection ranges from the ducal treasurehouses of Drumlanrig and Bowhill, and the cause célèbre of the Adams' Dumfries House, ‘one of the most complete documents of Enlightenment taste in Scotland', to houses that have never featured before, such as The House of the Binns, the first to be given to the NTS; Balcaskie, former seat of Sir William Bruce, father of Scottish Classicism; and Monzie Castle, Perthshire, remodelled by Lorimer after a fire destroyed all but two suits of armour in 1908. ‘Fire can never be anything but an enemy, but full insurance and wisdom in reconstruction are, to say the least, cheerful compensations,' Country Life commented wryly.

Back again to London's Vintage Showroom

Port look around London's Vintage Showroom, one of the world's leading dealers in vintage menswear and chat with its founders Douglas Gunn and Roy Luckett as they talk us through some of their favourite pieces from the collection.

Direction, videography and sound by Alice Masters

Music by Albinia Jones

The Shoeshiner.

Shoeshiner or boot polisher is an occupation in which a person polishes shoes with shoe polish. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job is traditionally that of a male child. Other synonyms are (mainly in American English) bootblack and shoeblack. While the role is deprecated in much of Western civilization, shining shoes is an important source of income for many children and families throughout the world. Some shoeshiners offer extra services, such as shoe repairs and general tailoring. Many well-known and high profile people started their working life as shoeshiners, including singers and presidents.

Shoe Shining - The Knowledge - MR PORTER

New York Barbershop Rotterdam. (Video below)

Robert and Ivan from New York Barbershop had an amazing weekend at the event SALON INTERNATIONAL MADRID and came back with an award for

THE BEST INTERNATIONAL BARBERSHOP OF THE YEAR 2013.

We would like to thank the organisation BARBERIAS CON ENCANTO for their warm and friendly hospitality during the event and especialy Vicenç Moreto for inviting us to Madrid.

Thanks for your friendship, sharing ideas, good food and all the gin-tonics.

We also would like to say thanks to all barbers of Spain for the respect and honour .

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-Barbershop/148807245137376

http://www.newyorkwebshop.nl/