William Turbridge Breaks Breaks Freediving Record

At 11:20 a.m. on Friday, April 10 in Dean’s Blue Hole, Bahamas, New Zealand freediver William Trubridge broke the world record in unassisted freediving, descending 88m (288 ft) and returning to the surface on a single breath of air without the use of any weight or propulsive assistance.

The dive took place as part of “Vertical Blue 2009,” an invitational freediving event where the world’s elite freedivers compete over nine days. Already in the competition three world records had been broken by Britain’s Sara Campbell and Austrian Herbert Nitsch, but this was the first to be set by a New Zealander in the event.

William Trubridge has been training as a freediver for the last six years, and in April 2007 set his first world record in this discipline with a dive to 82m. Later in the year the record was broken with an 83m by Herbert Nitsch, but William bettered it again in 2008 with 86m. Herbert attempted the record on the sixth day of this event, but turned early at 71m. William also attempted 88m on the 4th day of the event, and although he made the depth and returned to the surface he blacked out as he took his first breath, and was thus disqualified.

William admits there was a lot of anticipation and anxiety when he entered the water for another attempt at the record, but he managed to remain calm and finished the dive in three minutes and 30 seconds, returning to the surface completely lucid. William said this result is the product of years of intensive training, and the support of his sponsors Suunto, Extreme Drinks, and Orca, and a generous scholarship from AMP.

Car Chess

After Audi bought a prominent billboard on Santa Monica Blvd. showcasing their new A4 with the tagline, “Your Move, BMW,” the Bavarian car maker responded in kind. BMW bought space on an even bigger billboard featuring their famed M3 and simply answered: “Checkmate.”

Fakes Are Never In Fashion

Harpers Bazaar has an ongoing campaign to educate and perhaps slow down the counterfeit luxury goods market. I'm not sure which is worse, someone trying to 'rock' a fake bag to join the brand game or someone who paid up for the real thing and now can't pay off their credit card bill.

Also since Harper's has decided to stand up and try and right a wrong--how about no longer accepting advertising from cigarette companies? Cancer isn't in fashion either.

April 21, 2009 Event

Fashion Fights Cancer is an exceptional fashion event displaying the talents of premier designers while bringing global awareness to the importance of funding cancer research and producing a CURE.

Designers donate their time, efforts and heart offering a behind the scenes peek into the world of fashion, creating a total lifestyle experience.

It is a monumental event, exhibiting great humanitarian efforts flowing from the creative showrooms of each designer, into the hands of devoted cancer supporters worldwide. Fashion Fights Cancer will be held at the Audi Forum New York City located at 47 & Park in Manhattan, NY.

Hola Cuba

The Obama administration has decided to loosen restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba for Cuban-Americans, a senior administration official said Monday.

The White House plans to announce the change today.

The decision represents a significant shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba. It comes days before Obama leaves for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

As the son of a Cuban immigrant it will be nice to be able to go without having to circumvent the law:)

Icon Airlines

The Sport Flying revolution has just begun. In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), working closely with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) created what has been called “The biggest change in aviation in 50 years.” They created an entirely new category of aircraft (Light Sport Aircraft) as well as a new category of pilot license (Sport Pilot), both aimed specifically at consumer recreational flying. Now, the dream of flight is more accessible and more affordable than ever before.

ICON was founded in 2005 by Kirk Hawkins. Hawkins, a graduate from the Stanford Business School, is an accomplished engineer, former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot, and long-time motorsport enthusiast. With its world-class team of engineers, designers, advisors, and investors, ICON is located in Southern California - home of the world’s largest concentration of both aerospace and automobile design resources. ICON’s engineering and development team came from Burt Rutan’s famed Scaled Composites, which created such record setting projects as Voyager, Global Flyer, the X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne, and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

$149,000 diaper not included.

Awesome Tapes From Africa

New Yorker Brian Shimkovitz bought his first African tape in Ghana in 2002. His blog lists artists across Africa. Spread the word--this is one incredible resource for listening/learning about music that doesn't get heard in our universe. Enjoy!

Maramotti Collection = Max Mara $$$

The Project

Achille Maramotti first conceived of creating a public collection of contemporary art some thirty years ago, and planned to make it an exemplary institution, open to connoisseurs and other interested individuals, in the service of the aesthetic and intellectual appreciation of art. He intended this collection to mirror the evolution of the most advanced artistic thinking of his time.

Up until 2000, portions of the collection’s holdings were exhibited for extended periods of time in the corridors and shared spaces of the Max Mara building in Reggio Emilia’s via Fratelli Cervi, with a view to promoting a fruitful, daily interchange between artistic creativity and industrial design. One therefore espies a continuity in the decision to turn this building, once geared to the creation of fashion collections, into the permanent seat of an art collection. The constant exploration of the separate but related and always evolving languages of fashion and art was Achille Maramotti’s central passion.

Every visitor is given a personal guided tour, either one on one or in small groups by the museum curator. Why? For one, it gives the opportunity to understand the collection as an organized group of works. Secondly, Maramotti was not a fan of museums in which art could be studied only by peering between gaps in a crowd. He was of the conviction that art should be pondered in space and tranquility.