Sinanation

We are in an era where clutter of prints and chunks of photo albums remind us nothing more than sweet memories pasted onto bulky old displays. We have gone digital and taken our memories with us. It is no more “glossy or matte” at the print shop. Today, we sit behind our personal computers and perfect our own frozen moment with the touch of a button. We “enhance” our photos (or better the computers do it for us). And if we still feel a little more artistic, we pop out our finger-sized HD cameras and record the moment, the day or the week. Once done, we take hours of recording back to our tiny, fully advanced home labs and turn it into a handful visual feast. Thus, we create our very own modern photo album.

The video below takes us through a couple’s vacation in Brazil. I think it is extremely well-done and is a remarkable example to our generation’s idea of a modern photo album.

This is the Paris version of a series of commercials shot for Education First, promoting the importance of language. The others include scenes from Barcelona (Spanish), Beijing (Chinese) and London (obviously, English). I think they are all brilliant.

I have resisted to write about this tiny flower shop for a long time because I was afraid of being biased. The owner is my best friend and that could have gotten in the way of my review. So, until now I waited for enough occasions to order bouquets from La Maison des Fleurs (LMDF) and let my thoughts solidify on how great this place really is. You can guess it wasn’t an easy task without a long-time girlfriend, with a married sister and only a handful precious relatives.

Ekin opened LMDF in 2009 in one of the nicest parts of Kuruçeşme overlooking the Bosphorus. I finally put my gratitude for her undisturbed creativity, perfection and service into words. Since I moved from New York in June 2010, I ordered multiple occasional bouquets from LMDF and commissioned it to take care of the flower arrangements at my sister’s Henna Night. It has mesmerized everyone each time, going beyond the beauty of nature, creating a unique art piece out of its most fragile fruits.

I am not going to play the dummy here and pretend that I don’t get special treatment on my orders. It is a wonder knowing that whatever I ask for comes out beyond my expectation. I might be a special customer, but I have seen this girl, this tiny company of professionals in action multiple times and they have never chosen the easy way out.

I remember picking up calls trying to persuade Ekin to stay in business. I remember going to sleep knowing that she was struggling to put the flowers together at some ballroom at 3 a.m. in the morning. Even now I listen to her complaining about the workload. I will not cease to tell her again and again: She can’t quit a good thing.

Give it a try and see for yourself. For Sinanation, LMDF is simply La Maison de Awesomeness.

And we call it Chateau Melange. The Part 2 to A day at Kutman Vineyards

Time to filter the grapes and rest the wine a few more weeks…

Think twice before opening the gifts. Ha ha haha hahahaha

Happy Holidays from DANIELS on Vimeo.

Bumped into this on Vimeo. Captured in Florida. Simply amazing.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

You should save time and care for these beautiful legendary cars only after overdriving today’s engineering wonders. These babies are my favorites among all the classic cars of today:

BMW 507

This amazing model of BMW was a great success in design (that would later be used in the Z3s, Z4s and Z8s) but a big catastrophe in the company’s financial strenght. Initially this sleek speedster was designed to compete with the uber-successful Mercedes-Benz 300SL in the American Market. Its looks were as good as the Mercedes and its price would be a little lower, creating the best grounds for good sales. The exquisite 507 was introduced to the Americans for the fist time in the summer of 1955 in the Waldorf-Astoria of New York. The car attracted numerous famous buyers such as Elvis Presley and Ursula Andress. Yet its projected USD 5,000 price tag was later increased to USD 10,500 as a result of massive production costs. Weak sales pushed BMW almost into bankruptcy. 252 507s were produced and only 202 are known to survive today. The famous car company survived the turmoil only with a capital infusion from a private investor. Today the  507s fetch nearly USD 1m in auctions.

Mercedes SL300

The SL300 hit the car market at the 1954 New York Auto show with its unique gull-wing doors as the fastest street car ever built at the time. 300 stood for its 3 cylinder engine and the SL stood for Sport Leicht (Sport Light). It was a technologically advanced beauty of art and engineering. Only 3,258 SL300s were built to this day. Nowadays SL300s fetch approx. USD 1.3m at auctions. It is the car that is known to make Mercedes what it is today in the American Market.

Ferrari 250 California Spyder

One of Ferrari’s most beautiful cars. The Ferrari 250s were built between early 1950s and 1960s. This version of 250 was designed to be exported to the U.S., thus was given the name “California Spyder”. Only a little more than 45 California Spyders were built. In 2007 one was sold in Florida for USD 4.5m.

Porsche 550 Spyder

Built by Porsche in 1950s. It was designed as a racing car and thus was manufactured really close to the ground. Porsche 550 Spyder is also know as the car in which the famous actor James Dean died.

Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic

Unlike its famous younger brother Veyron, Type 57 was designed by Jean Bugatti himself, who died in one while test driving the car. Only two exist today and one is owned by Ralph Lauren. The other one belonged to the world-famous American Neurologist and avid car collector, Dr. Peter D. Williamson who passed away in 2008. His Bugatti was sold for a record of USD 30m at a classic car auction held in California on 8 May 2010. The record was previously held by a 1957 black one-seater Ferrari Testa Rossa sold for USD 12m in 2009.

Jaguar XK-E

XK-E was manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1974. When it was first released Enzo Ferrari described it as “the most beautiful car ever made”.

1955 Chrysler Falcon

This two-seater concept car was designed by Chrysler in 1955 to compete with Corvette and Thunderbird. Only one was produced and it was eventually bought by a private investor. Falcon is Chrysler’s first model with exhaust pipes on the side.

You have probably seen this amazing photo before. Sharbat Gula was photographed in a Pakistan refugee camp in 1984 when she was 12 years old by the famous photographer, Steve McCurry. Her incredible photo would become the cover of National Geographic in 1985 and would be the symbol of the sharp clash between violence and beauty. Sharbat’s photo is one of the few photos that really move me, not only because of her beauty but because of the history she reveals.

Sherbat was found again only after 17 years of the original photo. Now married with 3 children, she lives in Afghanistan, unaware of her fame, untouched by the greed of our capitalist world, now hoping to be the start of an era where Afghan women can complete their education. Her life is one worth noting.

There is one more thing I can’t help but notice (and am terribly sorry to say) in this incredible observation of life through photography: women do really get uglier as years go by.