From ArchDaily:

Skyhouse is a house in the sky, a residential penthouse located at the summit of one of the earliest surviving skyscrapers in New York City and situated within the incomparable vertical cityscape of Lower Manhattan. The project involved the construction of a set of unique living spaces inside a decorative penthouse structure which had never before been used as a residence… The spaces of this residence and the vistas channeled through it ascend and descend through all four levels of the penthouse structure and into the three-dimensional cityscape surrounding it in every direction.

The building was designed by architect R.H. Robertson and constructed in 1894-95 to house the printing operations of the American Tract Society. The building is one of the earliest -and one of the oldest surviving- steel framed skyscrapers in New York. It was also one of the city’s tallest and largest skyscrapers upon its completion, with twenty-two full stories plus cellar, basement, and a four story penthouse. A two-story high open arcade originally wrapped around the penthouse structure with 15’ tall winged caryatids at the four corners. A two-story hipped roof rises above the arcade, creating a picturesque feature in the skyline of lower Manhattan but serving a largely ornamental function at the crown of the building.

The original riveted steel beams, idiosyncratic steel connections, and longitudinal steel truss supporting the roof ridge -among the earliest structural steel used in skyscraper construction in New York- figure prominently in the renovated penthouse. The enormous hipped roof, the massive masonry arches spanning the main level windows, the projecting copper dormers, and the intimate ocular windows at the attic level also contribute to the dialogue between the handsome traditional envelope and the startlingly contemporary interior. When the restoration of the caryatids is complete, the enormous angel at the entrance to the private penthouse terrace will again spread her wings over the arched doorway, adding a final spectacular element from the original building to the experience of the new penthouse residence.

Disney just released a new Mickey Mouse animated short called Croissant de Triomphe, one of 19 such shorts they’re releasing over the coming year that will find Mickey and his friends – Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto – getting up to hilarious hijinks in places like Santa Monica, New York, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Venice and the Alps:

I aspire to everything in this short. To me, it’s a perfect film, and it doesn’t get appreciably better than this. Kudos to the creators – executive producer and director Paul Rudish (Dexter’s Laboratory). directors Aaron Springer (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Clay Morrow (Dexter’s Laboratory), and art director Joseph Holt (The Powerpuff Girls).

I was thinking about the issue of desertification recently, wondering if a solution could ever be found.

Welp, looks like this guy found one:

Here’s his bio from TED:

Desertification of the world’s grasslands, Allan Savory suggests, is the immediate cause of poverty, social breakdown, violence, cultural genocide — and a significent contribution to climate change. In the 1960s, while working in Africa on the interrelated problems of increasing poverty and disappearing wildlife, Savory made a significant breakthrough in understanding the degradation and desertification of grassland ecosystems. After decades of study and collaboration, thousands of managers of land, livestock and wildlife on five continents today follow the methodology he calls “Holistic Management.”

In 1992, Savory and his wife, Jody Butterfield, formed the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe, a learning site for people all over Africa. In 2010, the Centre won the Buckminster Fuller Challenge for its work in reversing desertification. In that same year he and his wife, with others, founded the Savory Institute in Boulder, Colorado, to promote large-scale restoration of the world’s grasslands.

Definitely worth watching. It’s amazing.

6 year old Terra from the UK was the youngest competitor in the recently completed Chelles Battle Pro, an international breakdancing competition that takes place yearly in France, and walked away with the “Best Dancer of the Baby Battle” title. I’m going to go ahead and agree that she earned it:

“To This Day,” a spoken word poem about bullying by Shane Koyczan, put to music by Olivia Mennell, Stefan Bienz, Maiya Robbie, and Aaron Joyce, and animated by a whole slew of collaborators:

Danny Ainge has decisions to make.

If Boston trades Rajon Rondo for Eric Gordon (Gordon’s available and has worn out his welcome in New Orleans), Paul Pierce for Josh Smith (Smith is available and won’t sign for less than a maximum contract this summer in Atlanta), and Kevin Garnett for DeAndre Jordan and Eric Bledsoe (a trade that Los Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro and stars Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups are pushing for), then the Celtics roster this summer would look something like this:

PG Eric Bledsoe, 23 ($2.6m)
SG Eric Gordon, 24 ($14.3m)
SF Josh Smith, 27 (expiring)
PF Jeff Green, 26 ($8.7m)
C DeAndre Jordan, 24 ($11.0m)
—
Avery Bradley, 23 ($2.5m)
Brandon Bass, 27 ($6.8m)
Courtney Lee, 27 ($5.2m)
Fab Melo, 22 ($1.3m)
Jared Sullinger, 20 ($1.4m)
Jason Terry, 35 ($5.2m)
Jason Collins, 34 (expiring)
Leandro Barbosa, 30 (expiring)
Chris Wilcox, 30 (expiring)

I mean, if you’re Danny Ainge, you have to at least consider this, don’t you?

Only one player over 27 signed past the summer.

Approximately $59m guaranteed to your 10 signed players, leaving around $11m of breathing space to sign Josh Smith before hitting the luxury tax.

And you’ve got a really young team with loads of potential that’s bound to be harnessed by its Hall of Fame coach that’s good enough to compete in the East for years to come.

But it requires completely blowing up your core as you know it.

And, honestly, it probably requires sending Jason Terry out, as well, so Boston has the option of signing Josh Smith to a max contract this summer if they so choose.

James Harden and Kris Humphries in “Mirror”

Kevin Durant in “Who is KD?”

Chris Bosh and Ray Allen in “Neighborhood Kids”

Carmelo Anthony in “The Melos”

Kyrie Irving in “Week of Greatness”

Jump, the first single and video from Emoticon Dawn, the Toronto duo made up of spoken word poet Ian Keteku and composer Arlen Yanch:

Disney has just put its Oscar-nominated animated short film, Paperman, online. Directed by NSCAD grad and Disney animator John Kahrs, it’s a beautiful, touching, and magical tale. Exactly the sort of thing I want to see more of.

Here’s the description from YouTube:

Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, “Paperman.” Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him. Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, “Paperman” pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction.

Looks like a city you’d want to live in, eh?