Tag: Diversions

Diversions

Now at the Speed Cinema: ‘The Seer: A portrait of Wendell Berry’

From the Speed’s website: “Traversing four seasons of the farming cycle in Henry County, Ky., this documentary illustrates Wendell Berry’s agrarian philosophy. Berry moved back to the Henry County rural community in 1965, where he settled into a life of farming, writing, and teaching, with the relationship of the individual to land and community being central to his work. Within one generation, the balance between these core issues has been tested by the commercialization of agriculture.” Here’s a clip:

Directed by Laura Dunn. Co-producers: Gill Holland of Louisville; Nick Offerman of “Parks and Recreation”; and Owsley Brown III, a documentary filmmaker in San Francisco.

Tickets: $7 for members; $9 for non-members. Show times, with links to buy tickets:

* director Dunn will be there in person.

 

About the cinema

Speed Art Museum logoThe 142-seat theater is part of the newly renovated museum’s expansion. It’s equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including 16-mm, 35-mm and DCI-compliant 4K digital projection systems.

Wish List

The only $345 men’s swim shorts you’ll need this summer at Lakeside Swim Club. (Unless you want to spend $595)

Boulevard is always on the prowl for cool, locally available products that set Louisville apart. But every now and then, we run across an item so achingly beautiful, we break my solo-local rule. For the first time, here’s one:

British clothing company Orlebar Brown’s signature Bulldog mid-length swim shorts. They’re the latest in a collection based on society photographer Slim Aarons‘ pool photos taken in the 1960s and ’70s in Palm Beach, the Riviera, and other resorts made famous by that era’s jet-setters. (Keep reading for more about Aarons.) This pair is from a 1975 photo of the Princess Hotel in Acapulco. It’s $345, not including sales tax.

Each pair is individual, and expertly mapped to work 360° around in extraordinary detail, as you can see in this side view:

Bulldog 2 side

Although I like this model best, there are plenty more to choose from.

About the designer
Adam Brown
Brown

Photographer Adam Brown launched Orlebar in London in 2007. It got a big publicity boost in 2012, when producers of that year’s James Bond film Skyfall confirmed star Daniel Craig was wearing Orlebar poolside. You can’t buy any of the company’s clothes locally, unfortunately; the closest retailer is in Birmingham, Ala. (Weird, yes.) Of course, you can mail-order direct from the company.

But here’s what’s truly handy: the lovely Lakeside Swim Club in the Highlands’ Belknap neighborhood. It’s open to members and their guests all summer until 9 p.m.; opening times vary. Operating hours.

Lakeside opened in 1924 at the site of a former rock quarry, according to Wikipedia. It’s known for its steep, 40-foot rock walls and huge quarry “lake” — actually, a 3.2 million gallon swimming pool, with a flat concrete bottom and depths ranging from 3-20 feet:

Lakeside
Looking northwest across Lakeside’s main pool.
About Aarons
Poolside
$59 at Amazon.

He published his photographs in Town & Country and other society shiny sheets, as well as a series of books. He died in 2006 at 89, following a career made out of what he called “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.”

Now, if you think your pool photos are even better than Aarons’, Orlebar let’s you design your own suit based on a photo you supply via the company’s #snapshorts app from the Apple and Google Play app stores. But it’ll cost you $595!

Catch 007 wearing Orlebar:

Diversions

At tonight’s Forecastle Festival, the chillwave Georgia man behind ‘Portlandia’s’ dreamy theme music

There are so many things to anticipate at the annual three-day Forecastle music festival starting tomorrow at Waterfront Park, including artisanal corn dogs (they had them last year), and luxury, air-conditioned bathrooms for those who’ve sprung for $400 weekend VIP tickets.

Forecastle logoBut most of all, a performance by Washed Out from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. ET tonight. Recorded by Ernest Greene — that’s him in the photo, top — Washed Out is known to many for “Feel It All Around,” the opening theme for the hit IFC series “Portlandia.” Listen to it in the music player in the sidebar, left, or in the video, below:

Greene, 33, was born in Perry, Ga. His recordings fall within genres that include chillwave, and dreampop, according to Wikipedia. From Forecastle’s bio:

His music has been nothing if not dreamy, but for his second full-length, he’s taken the idea of letting your mind wander to another state a huge leap further. On “Paracosm,” the musician explores the album’s namesake phenomenon, where people create detailed imaginary worlds. The concept has been used to describe fantasy lands like Tolkien’s Middle Earth and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, and it’s at the heart of the 2004 documentary “In The Realms Of The Unreal,” about outsider artist Henry Darger.

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Monty 1978-2016 | ‘He never bit anyone in his 35 years here at the zoo, which is rare!’

Louisville Zoo officials were forced to euthanize Monty, a popular 38-year-old male Burmese python after he was recently diagnosed with cancer.

The giant snake hadn’t been eating well and was losing weight after developing lymphoma, an immune system cancer, according to a zoo statement. The veterinary and HerpAquarium teams decided the most humane course was to euthanize the python on Tuesday.

In death, he is now globally famous. News of his demise was reported as far away as Continue reading “Monty 1978-2016 | ‘He never bit anyone in his 35 years here at the zoo, which is rare!’” →

Diversions

Ali Center: Visits will jump 50%, to 150,000, this year after prize-fighter’s death

Ali Center logoThis year’s surge would follow several previous years when attendance stagnated at around 75,000 to 80,000, spokeswoman Jeanie Kahnke told The Courier-Journal for a story this morning.

Some 25,000 people have visited the center since June 3 alone, the day the prize-fighting Louisville native and humanitarian died in Phoenix after battling Parkinson’s disease for decades. CEO Donald Lassere said the steady stream of visitors will be “the new norm for the foreseeable future.”

The center opened in 2005 at a cost of $80 million after years of planning and fundraising.

Diversions

Sip to this next weekend: Brown-Forman officially launches its first new bourbon brand in 20 years

It’s Cooper’s Craft, which Brown-Forman first announced in April. The new brand reflects the value the Louisville-based spirits giant places on building its own barrels, and the flavor good wood adds to the final mix.

Coopers Craft smallerBF and Louisville Magazine are hosting the launch party Friday, July 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Pointe, 1205 E. Washington St. in Butchertown. Tickets are $20, which includes three drinks, live music by the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys, plus a barrel-raising demonstration. Details here.

Brown-Forman established its own cooperage in 1945 and to this day, is the only major distiller to build barrels at its own in-house cooperage, as this video explains: