Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City - A Nobel Prize laureate Turkish novelist Pamuk presents a beautifully written portrait of an ancient city, a memoir of his childhood and his fractured family all living in a single apartment building in Istanbul, Turkey.

Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World - Books about finance, economics and global markets generally bore me to death, but this is one of the more interesting ones.

Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives - I read it twice. Even though 2666 has made him famous and commercially successful, The Savage Detectives remains Bolaño's best novel. Long, complex and captivating. Highly recommended!

Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero - Set in Los Angeles in the early 80s, this novel captures the lives of wealthy teenagers who experienced sex, drugs and relentless partying at too early an age. Disturbing, raw and depressing at the same time.

Are you bored? If so, here's a newsflash for you:

In a commentary to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in April, experts say there's a possibility that the more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early. Annie Britton and Martin Shipley of University College London caution that boredom alone isn't likely to kill you — but it could be a symptom of other risky behavior like drinking, smoking, taking drugs or having a psychological problem.

Got it? Now get your lazy ass up and do something. Or not.

Being bored could be bad for your health [AP]

To have an interesting life, stop choosing the default settings.

Notorious UK graffiti artist Banksy has a new 85-minute movie in the pipeline, titled Exit Through The Gift Shop. According to BBC, the film - labeled as "the world's first street art disaster movie" - will have its world premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

I can't wait for this flick to come out. The trailer looks hilarious and very promising! Should be a lot of fun. More info here.

Yesterday's catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, left thousands of people homeless and in urgent need of medical help. Collapsed infrastructure and severe loss of food and drinking water are other imminent threats facing people after the earthquake.

I just donated money to the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders to help disaster relief in Haiti. So should you, no matter how small your donation is.

Update: Bill Maher (@billmaher) just tweeted:

Haiti: u know who gets away with murder? God. No matter what shit goes down, to the least deserving, he skates on "mysterious ways"

Sure, Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti further confirms that there's no fucking God out there...

Honestly, I'm sooo sick of winter! I can't stand the cold outside any longer! Can't wait for summer! Gonna spend some time in San Francisco and Napa this summer, then Boston and Maine in fall. Woo hoo! BTW.. the picture above is awesome, isn't it?

Guests celebrating new year at the highest pub in England had a longer than expected stay, after heavy snow left them stranded for three days. About 30 people arrived at the Tan Hill Inn in North Yorkshire on New Year's Eve to welcome in 2010. But the wintry weather conditions meant the residents were snowed in for a further two nights.

So? Just keep on drinking...

Guests snowed in for New Year at UK's highest pub [Guardian]

Happy new year to you folks! Let's make it a good one...

Last year I blogged about a set of horrific images of Dubai's labor camps that surfaced on the web. Now Johann Hari uncovers a more gripping and scandalous report on the dark side of Dubai, it's debt problems, slavery, racism and ecological issues:

Once the manic burst of building has stopped and the whirlwind has slowed, the secrets of Dubai are slowly seeping out. This is a city built from nothing in just a few wild decades on credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery. Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing – at last – into history.

This line from one of the workers interviewed for the article sums it up best:

This is the most terrible place! I hate it! I was here for months before I realised – everything in Dubai is fake. Everything you see. The trees are fake, the workers' contracts are fake, the islands are fake, the smiles are fake – even the water is fake!

The dark side of Dubai [Independent]

This underground home, located in the Swiss village of Vals, is set amidst a cluster of mountain houses and if you don't look carefully you might miss it! The most striking thing about this stone house is the majestic Alpine view through a wide, elliptical opening in the hillside, revealing spacious outdoor entertaining areas that lead to the home's main entrance.

Incredible concept! Imagine living in a place like that!

Swiss Mountain House Rocks! [Trendir]
House in Vals [Abitare]

Photo by Ralph Hockens, via Flickr.

The American Dialect Society is now accepting nominations for the "word of the year" of 2009, as well as for the "word of the decade" for 2000-2009.

What is the word or phrase which best characterizes the year or the decade? What expression most reflects the ideas, events, and themes which have occupied the English-speaking world, especially North America? Nominations should be sent to woty@americandialect.org. They can also be made in Twitter by using the hashtag #woty09.

Now accepting nominations for the 2009 "word of the year" and the 2000-9 "word of the decade" [ADS, via Kottke]

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent." She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

All you can do is just stare with your mouth wide open. Absolutely amazing!!!

Sand Animations with Kseniya Simonova [ArtisticThings]

[MethodShop, via Gizmodo]

The Wall Street Journal ran a great article recently about the flaws and inconsistencies in wine ratings, based on a study conducted by Robert Hodgson, a retired professor who taught statistics at Humboldt State University.

In his first study, each year, for four years, Mr. Hodgson served actual panels of California State Fair Wine Competition judges—some 70 judges each year—about 100 wines over a two-day period. He employed the same blind tasting process as the actual competition. In Mr. Hodgson's study, however, every wine was presented to each judge three different times, each time drawn from the same bottle. The results astonished Mr. Hodgson. The judges' wine ratings typically varied by ±4 points on a standard ratings scale running from 80 to 100. A wine rated 91 on one tasting would often be rated an 87 or 95 on the next. Some of the judges did much worse, and only about one in 10 regularly rated the same wine within a range of ±2 points.

This is not surprising at all to me. I've been saying for years that wine ratings are subjective. Different people, different tastes.

A Hint of Hype, A Taste of Illusion [WSJ]

"go to work, send your kids to school, follow fashion, act normal, walk on the pavements, watch T.V., save for your old age, obey the law, Repeat after me: I am free"

Amazing graffiti on Philip St, Bedminster in Bristol, UK (opposite Windmill City Farm).

Photo by pshab on Flickr.