"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" Ballet Is Magic Brought to Life

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The National Ballet of Canada (NBC) production of Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a reflection of the famous Alice stories themselves - fun, completely imaginative and filled with unexpected moments of awe.  Like many, Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite stories.  With the countless interpretations of the books through film and other mediums, it's hard not to think that perhaps the tale has been stretched in every which way possible.  If that is your mindset, watching this production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland will change it completely.


This ballet is unlike any ballet production I've ever been to.  Combining elements of dance, multimedia, and beautiful music by Joby Talbot, the cast of NBC take the audience into a truly fantastical world.  In describing the U.S. premiere of this production and the Music Center debut of the National Ballet of Canada, Music Center Director of Programming Renae Williams Niles writes

Alice is truly the most complex ballet we have presented to date, equaling more than three times the scale of many other full-length ballet productions. With its captivating choreography and inventive design and use of technology it is quite an iconic production. The music by Joby Talbot with 24 different movements, guides us on a thrilling journey...

With a run time of two hours and thirty-five minutes, this ballet holds nothing back.  It provides its own framework for the Alice story - we meet Alice as part of the Liddell family, with Lewis Carroll entertaining the children with magic tricks, as a garden party is being set up.  Alice also has a young romance with Jack, the gardener boy, that will carry into her adventures in Wonderland.  But from there the tale is very much true to the book.  The combination of multimedia and beautiful stage sets is part of what makes this ballet so memorable.  The audience truly feels as if they are falling down a rabbit hole with Alice and are with her as she shrinks and grows while drinking and eating cake. 

The characters themselves come to life in both expected and unexpected ways.  Dancers portray a familiar cast of characters, including the Duchess, the Cook, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar and, of course, the Queen of Hearts.  The Cheshire Cat is literally larger than life with its many pieces and dancers that bring him into the scenes.  Each scene falls effortlessly into the next and with every rise of the curtain for a new set design, there was a hush in the crowd at its beauty.  The ballet dancers carry you on this journey through Wonderland, with their technical skill and grace their dancing is part of the storytelling, their movements on stage more magical feats to add to the loveable madness.   

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland draws the audience into the emotional, the fun, and the funny.  Whether we're falling into a rabbit hole or watching the fearful entry of the Queen of Hearts or laughing at the outlandish antics of favorite, silly characters, this ballet does what the best shows do: it makes the audience forget the world outside and believe that anything is possible.


- Charity Tran 

Short Order's New Menu Items Inspired by Hoof to Tail Movement

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Just over one year ago, Los Angeles chef legend, Nancy Silverton, in partnership with restauranteur, Bill Chait. opened Short Order at the Originals Farmers Market, just above Dupar's at Third and Fairfax.  At the time, much attention was focused on the burgers, as the Nancy Silverton burger blend had been featured for many years at one of the butcher stalls at the Original Farmers Market.  With increasing awareness in Los Angeles (for example Lindy and Grundy butchers just up the street) about hoof to tail use of an entire cow, Executive Chef Christine Page has set out to integrate the use of two steers per week, for a series of dishes that some would be featured just one day a week.  In discussion with Chef Page, his earlier training in supply chain economics while getting his MBA at USC in their entrepreneurship program was going to be really tested. 

One featured Short Order dish, of limited availability, is the Ruben, in which Chef Page is making his own corned beef: however, due to its popularity, the two entire steer order per week, are being augmented by additional brisket orders, and they still have been known to run out. Short Order is also making their own bacon for their BLT which they call a BPB-LTA for their inclusion of pork belly along with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. Another weekly dish on Tuesday is their Shepards pie, which makes use of leftover meats centered around a large marrow bone.  Probably a must try at Short Order is the deep frying of their renown pickles, probably better than any fried pickles that one might get at a County Fair.  The use of frying also comes into play, by frying the ordinary croissant and stuffing it with banana cardamon cream. This and other imaginative desserts are available to go from a separate take out section. For coffee lovers, you will find Short Order serving coffee from Verve of Santa Cruz. Plus a number of innovative cocktails making use of fresh farm to table ingredients. In addition to the upstairs dining, one can also eat and drink on the ground level portion of the restaurant that is set up as a bar.

Here are my Short Order pictures shared  from Flickr as a slideshow below, and for those with an Ipad, click here.



So if visiting the Grove or the Original Farmers Market, plan on a visit to Short Order for some very tasty menu items. If you go on a Thursday, then you can catch the Bacon wrapped filet.  My picture in the slide show is a mini-version using a quail egg that will eventually show up on a happy hour menu in a slider version. I have now been to Short Order several times, and I have added it to my other favorite Los Angeles food destinations with Nancy's imprint, Mozza, and Bill's ownership, Rivera, in partnership with Jon Sedlar.

The Ultimate Marin Infinity Pool- Belvedere's Shimmering Bay View...

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The Ultimate Marin Infinity PoolBelvedere's Shimmering Bay View
I grew up in San Francisco, and Marin County so over the years, I have become quite familiar with some of the most beautiful homes in the San Francisco Bay Area. Belvedere is Italian, and translated into English it means "beautiful view."
This Belvedere beauty has one of the coolest Infinity pool I have ever seen in my life!!! It is called "At The Waters Edge" and it is located on the western-slope of Belvedere Island which has a view of "Sausalito's Sparkling Bay."

I have been in this house and it is one of the coolest modern homes I have ever seen. it was designed by the New York based architect, Charles Gwathmey. In the future I plan to write much more extensively about it and show many more photos of its architecture.


I have never been much of a fan of the Plasma TV over the fireplace, but I must admit this one is really, really nice!!!

Joseph Simmons Run's House Indoor Basketball Court

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Joseph SimmonsRun's House Indoor Basketball Court ManCave
I love shooting hoops. I am not that crazy about playing basketball, but I find just hanging-out with a friend or by myself, while shooting hoops to be extremely therapeutic and it is a good way to maintain your flexibility and balance.
Joseph Simmons, best know as "Run" was one of the founding members of Run DMC. He has his own reality TV show named "Run's House" and in the following set of photos, we see him chillin' on his indoor basket ball court, which I believe is right of the kitchen.

I think it is fascinating how well thought-out the space-saving design of Run's indoor basketball court is. If you look closely, the hoop and backboard are attached to the wall so help save room. I would love to have a setup like this, but I would want the ability to lower the hoop so I could slam dunk the ball.

Joseph Simmons is now a practicing minister known as Reverend Run, and he is the younger brother of Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Records.

...The Greatest Piece Of Residential Architecture... Virginia Tech's LUMENHAUS

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Note: I am still in the process of working on this article and it still has a long way to go. When I am done writing this article, I will remove this notice.
Preface
Anybody who knows me, knows I am a design fanatic of the highest order, and for the past 30 years–since I was 16 years old–I have dedicated much of my life energy toward learning about, understanding and creating great design. Thus, it should come as no surprise, architectural design, and interior design are two things I am really passionate about.

I am excited to share the story of the LumenHaus with you because I believe it represents one of the greatest pieces of residential architecture the world has ever seen. Not only am I madly in love with this house, but in my lifetime, I hope to build a house very similar to the LumenHaus.

One of my main goals with this article is to share all my research on the design of the LumenHaus with you, so you will understand why I am so passionate about its super innovative design. 
Many disparate articles have been written on the LumenHaus, and videos have been added to YouTube, but I feel like there is no cohesive place you can go to learn about the magic of the LumenHaus in a holistic way. My objective with this article, is to offer a complete, comprehensive, detailed, thorough overview of the LumenHaus.

I also some ideas on how to improve the design of the LumenHaus, which I also plan to share.



...The Greatest Piece Of New Residential Architecture...
Virginia Tech's LUMENHAUS
Responsive Architecture Defined
My single favorite piece of residential architecture is named LUMENHAUS, and it was conceived and built by Virginia Tech's School of Architecture. It's inspiration was the "glass pavillion-style Fransworth House designed by Bauhaus architect, Mies Van Der Rohe."
I could create and maintain a blog, just on the amazing design of the LUMENHAUS, so on Jake's Architecture World, I plan to write a series of detailed stories on this magnificent piece of residential architecture.
LUMENHAUS is the 3rd solar-house designed and built by Virginia Tech, as part of a research and development program which began in 2002. The LUMENHAUS is a perfect blend of innovative architecture design and technology.


Concept
The LumenHaus was designed to compete in the Solar Decathlon, which means it must meet or exceed several criteria. In particular, it must be 800 or less square feet (of living space) and it must be "off-the-grid", meaning it must generate enough electricity to provide its occupants with enough energy to not have to use electricity or natural gas from a local provider. 

The LumenHaus, as it turns out, is so fuel efficient, it not only meets the goal of being off-the-grid, but significantly exceeds it be being able to generate enough electricity to power several other homes! The Virginia Tech LumenHaus won the 2010 European Solar Decathlon, which was held in Madrid, Spain.

Virginia Tech came up with the name LumenHaus, which is a combination of "Lumen", which means "the power of light", coupled with the word "Haus", which is inspired by the German "BauHaus" architectural movement from the early 20th century.

The LumenHaus design team was inspired by the famous, modernist, minimalist-masterpiece, Farnsworth House, which was designed in 1945 and completed in 1951 in Plano, Illinois by the world-renowned BauHaus designer, Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). In the photo below, we see the Farnsworth House on the left next to the LumenHaus, on the right.





Both homes have a north and south walls constructed out of glass, which optimizes the exposure to natural daylight. Both the Farnsworth and LumenHaus have a center section that contains the bathroom and shower.

In my opinion, as a designer, there is really something to be said for smaller spaces that are intimate and well designed, and that is where the LumenHaus really shines. It in like a miniature mansion, meaning is is really small, but seems very large in every way.




Overview
The image below gives a roofless overview of the LumenHaus. The kitchen is located on the left, with the bathroom cube in the middle, and the bathroom on the right side.






Back Yard (Rear View)
The 2 images below gives a view of the back yard view of the LumenHaus with the privacy screens slid open all the way.







Front Yard (Front Door View)
The images below shows the font door, and the with the privacy screens slid out of the way.


This first video, produced by Virginia Tech's LumenHaus team, offers a fairly comprehensive and inspirational overview. That being said, I think they, or somebody, should produce a super-detailed, full-length documentary of the LumenHaus.



Kitchen
The Kitchen area of the LumenHaus is amazing as you can see in this video. It is filled with space saving innovations, all developed by the LumenHaus team. Notice the kitchen window even has the ability to dim itself, based upon how bright the sun is shining on it!


The modular kitchen table system in the Lumenhaus is fascinatingly useful. In the first photo below we see the kitchen looking like a normal kitchen with a dining room table.


The kitchen counter is modular, and since it is on wheels, it can move out to extend the kitchen counter-space, thus, effectively doubling the counter-space.


It is interesting to note when the countertop extension is in place covering the granite countertop, it has a circular sink cutout (as seen below) that allows you to use the sink. This is some seriously innovative design work!!!

In the next image, we see the dining room table has been moved out onto the rear deck, and the modular secondary, counter-space has been utilized to extend the kitchen-space.



The photo below shows the kitchen from the living room perspective, which is interesting.





Kitchen Detail
The Kitchen cabinetry in the Lumenhaus is designed to completely optimize the kitchen space. In the photo below, we see how well the microwave-oven is camouflaged .

In the next image, we see the granite kitchen countertop with the modular wood countertop removed. The black granite with the blonde wood looks great!!!



Kitchen At Night
The kitchen images above show the Lumenhaus kitchen in the daytime, and this next set of images show the kitchen at night. The blonde wood which must be maple or birch is not only beautiful, but it gives the kitchen a wide-open space, which is warm and the beautiful lighting gives it a romantic appeal.



As a designer, I have always liked smaller, intimate, well-designed spaces. which follow the premise that Less, Is More. There is really something to be said for highly optimized space utilization, and this is where the LumenHaus really excels.





The photos below show a dinner party taking place in the LumenHaus.






Bathroom
The LumenHaus bathroom is the centerpiece of the LumenHaus, literally and figuratively. Before we explore the details, let's examine the core structure. In this first photo below, we see the bathroom cube structure from the kitchen, looking toward the bedroom.







This next photo was taken standing in front of the LumenHaus bathroom door. We see the sink directly in front, with the toilet to the right and a sliding frosted door, that lets natural light in, while maintaining privacy. 



This next image is a close up of the sink. One of the most interesting features about the LumenHaus is that the when you are in the bathroom, it has a completely different vibe than the rest of the LumenHaus.


This next image taken with a fish-eye lens gives an interesting perspective on the bathroom layout, including the light well.







In the next photo, you can see the shower area located on the left side of the image.







If you look closely, in the next image below, you can see the shower head in the mirror on the right side of the mirror.




In this next image you see the unfinished bathroom structure from the opposite kitchen perspective. Obviously the rectangular cutout on the front is for the big screen TV.



In the next image, we see the same bathroom structure from the front door perspective.







Bedroom
The photo below it taken from the bedroom looking past the bathroom cube to the kitchen. The Office nook is located in the left cooridor, and you can also see the bathroom door which is in the open position. Notice the four closet doors which are closed.




In the photo below, we see the two sets of two-door closets slid out of the way to not only expose a flat scree TV, but notice that the closets double as hallway doors, to block-off and isolate the bedroom from the rest of the place. This is absolute genius design. 
My only constructive criticism is that I believe the TV should be much, much larger. I believe both TVs, located on each side of the bathroom should have TV's that are as large as possible. I think they should be 70, 80 or even 90 inches with 4K resolution.

This next photo shows the unmade modular bed, which apparently doubles as multiple seating surfaces, for when you have company, I think? You can see in this image how the bed faces the cabinets pictured above.




In the photo below, we see the bed with the end removed, and we also get a good view of the innovative ceiling lighting.




The photo below shows the bedroom with the bed made up, and you notice in the open cabinet located on the left side of the bed, there is an LG washer/dryer machine. The LG washer/dryer is an HE machine, and it washes, then dries your clothes. It runs on 110 and is extremely fuel efficient.

"Alongside that do-gooder instinct is a strong desire for fairness because, being out in the world, reporters encounter a great deal of unfairness."

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"We want to expose that and even rub your noses in it. In a way, we’re shouting, through our stories: 'This is unfair! Somebody do something!' Conservative and liberal journalists alike feel this way...."

That’s why many journalists have a hard time giving much voice to those opposed to gay marriage. They see people opposed to gay rights today as cousins, perhaps distant cousins, of people in the 1950s and 1960s who, citing God and the Bible, opposed black people sitting in the bus seat, or dining at the lunch counter, of their choosing.

Says Patrick B. Pexton, the Washington Post ombudsman.

"Sephora is a smoke monster, a rainbow, a Mobius strip of promises. There's no getting a grip on it. There is no end."

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"There's only more. You can chase the dragon of self-improvement slash self-enhancement slash self-acceptance until the day you die; there's always a new fragrance, a new lip color, a new miracle cream right around the corner...."

You go in for a lip balm and come out with body polish, dry shampoo, BB cream, and Kat Von D's "Sinner" smoky eyes palette. (The are over 100,000 videos titled "Sephora Haul" on YouTube to watch should you have any doubts.) Oodles on display, a myriad of options, infinite possibilities. When you think you've finally found the solution, the crutch, the key, either you run out and need more; they stop making it and it vanishes like so much sparkly Guerlain Terra Cotta dust; or you find that what once satisfied you no longer does the trick.

100,000 videos. I tried watching one and got a couple minutes in... about 20% through. It really is a form of madness. You need to be careful going in. It's quite bizarre. You've got to admire the design of the place. A shop is a psychological manipulation and it's impressive when it's done well, but — as I said — you need to be careful.