It’s come all the way around and stops at this: Bonusroom Books, which is like Netflix for readers. For a reasonable fee, you get Chinese language books by mail (maybe more language will be added later). Send them back and get more. It’s still in Beta test mode, so be on your toesies. We’re lucky enough to have many excellent libraries with free books of many languages, but this would be useful for people without that access. Paying for books can give them an extrinsic value and remind us how precious the printed word is. Example: we went to the Library of Congress and they have many signs reminding people that the LOC library card is not a souvenir but its use is to actually read some books!
Less than a month after it opened, the tallest tower in the world closed itself to visitors. We went up the Burj Khalifa (even though the signs still bore its original name, Burj Dubai) the day before it shut down indefinitely due to concerns of the elevator failing. Although there has been no official reason for the closing, newspapers all over the world picked up on the image of the 124 story elevator plunging down the “tower of terror.” We didn’t notice anything strange in the Burj’s elevator ride but once at the top of the Observation Deck, it was dusty and extremely windy. We felt the building sway and got motion sickness. We also noticed broken glass on the outside deck, which was already closed for maintenance. Were broken windows part of the problem for the Burj? The problem with the windows was raised by observers as early as 2007 and again in 2009. For whatever reason that it shut down, let’s hope the Burj Khalifa opens soon (with the utmost safety!) as a proud symbol of Dubai.
* Music for the first video (Art Dubai) by Moby, with his ace Moby Gratis that lets indie filmmakers like me use his music for films. Thanks!
** Music for the second (Bastikaya Art Fair) by Katy.
In Time OutDubai’s how do I love thee countdown to the city, the Global Village Pavilion gets a mention. Dubai loves having measurable successes that mainly include being in the Guinness World Records. In Dubai’s Global Village, the world’s first (of course) world record pavilion, invites visitors to break records. Some of the records were so strangely geek specific they’re worth mentioning. Most CDs flipped in one minute: 56! Fastest time taken to send a set text message: 41.05 seconds! The CD flipping is admirable because who does that anymore when a simple scroll will do the trick for mp3s? But we find fault with the record keeping of fastest time to send a text message is almost a minute. I’ve seen kids under 8 send messages faster. No word whether the message was the Gettysburg Address or the texty version of it: 4 scr & 7 yrs ago…
SMS GETTYSBURG ADDRESS BY MER-CHAN
4 scr & 7 years ago r fathers brought 4th on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, & dedic8d 2 the proposition tht all men r created =.
Now we r engaged in a gr8 civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived & so dedic8d, can long endure. We r met on a gr8 btlfield of that war. We have come 2 dedic8 a portion of that field, as a final resting place 4 those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is al2gether fitting & proper that we shld do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cnnt dedic8—we cnnt consecrate—we cnnt hallow—this ground. The brave men, living & dead, who struggled here, have consecr8d it, far above r poor power 2 + or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never 4get what they did here. It is 4 us the living, rather, 2 be dedic8d here 2 the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather 4 us 2 be here dedic8d 2 the gr8 task remaining b4 us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion 2 that cause 4 which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under G, shall have a new birth of freedom— & that gvnmnt of the ppl, by the ppl, 4 the ppl, shall not perish from the earth.
Sorry for cross posting this tweet, but we had to say more than 140 words about Dziga Vertov’s brill experimental film Man with a Movie Camera. Playing with the idea of hidden cameras way before (1929) Candid Camera, the camera finds itself at a birth and death, and even ends up in a beer glass. We’ve often had nights of filming end up that way with our documentary — let’s say it’s very inspiring. And, if you happen to be in Dubailand, check out the film accompanied by soundtrack music at Mahmovie at the Jam Jar tonight at 7:30PM (Music for the Eyes series).
Original movie poster by Vladimir and Georgy Stenberg in the Russian Constructavision style
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