H/G is a Berlin based web studio established in 2005. This is our blog where you will find the things that have caught our attention in design, music, business, art and culture. People who speak here are Christian Ittner and Steve Sinnwell.
Our corporate site is located at www.hopeglory.com
This month a team of Canadian and Spanish researchers went on a deep-sea expedition using a remotely operated vehicle at Newfoundland at Canada’s Atlantic coast with a maximum depth of about 3.000 meters and found 11 potentially new species. Among them is the little fella pictured above, a still unidentified purple octopus.
B.I.K.E. is an exploration of the Black Label Bicycle Club and the wider tallbike subculture that has grown up around it. Comprised mainly of artists driven by anti-materialism and a belief that the impending apocalypse will render cars useless and bicycles in power, BLBC battles mainstream consumer culture and rival gangs for its vision of a better tomorrow. The film chronicles the trials of co-director Anthony Howard as he tries to become a member of the club.
In an industry as large as fashion, it remains difficult to know the conditions of many production facilities. That’s where the labor conditions group Fair Wear Foundation comes in. The Amsterdam-based nonprofit aims to fully expose the manufacturing process with a verification system to ensure that garments are made under sustainable working environments. As a multi-stakeholder initiative, they work to get corporate and textile associations, trade unions and non-governmental associations on board too.
With ten years already under their belt, FWF represents many fashion brands from Acne and Mammut to Cheap Monday and Nudie Jeans. Today the foundation inspects 1,000-plus factories that manufacture garments for 50 labels, helping reassure consumers that, from China to Turkey, fair labor standards are met.
You can download their 2009 annual report here.
Shot over a four year period, Holy Wars follows a danger-seeking Christian missionary and a radical Irish Muslim convert, both of whom believe in an apocalyptic battle, after which their religion will ultimately rule the world.
In Last Train Home, Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Lixin Fan tells the story of a family embarking on an annual tormenting journey along with 200 other million peasant workers to reunite with their distant family, and to revive their love and dignity as China soars as the world’s next super power.
Five days ago, in the northeastern port city of Dalian, China, two oil pipelines exploded, sending flames hundreds of feet into the air and burning for over 15 hours, destroying several structures – the cause of the explosion is under investigation. The damaged pipes released thousands of gallons of oil, which flowed into the nearby harbor and the Yellow Sea. The total amount of oil spilled is still not clear.
Jane Korman’s 89-year-old father Adolek Kohn arrived at Auschwitz in a cattle car over 65 years ago. In 2009, he returned to Auschwitz and other locations in Poland associated with the Holocaust and did a victory dance with his daughter and several of his grandchildren. When Korman first exhibited the videos in Australia, she received quite a bit of criticism.
Many Jewish survivors have reacted gravely to the video, accusing her of disrespect. Yet Korman told Australian daily The Jewish News that “it might be disrespectful, but he [her father] is saying ‘we’re dancing, we should be dancing, we’re celebrating our survival and the generations after me,’ – the generation he’s created. We are affirming our existence.”
At the end of WWII, 60 minutes of raw film, having sat undisturbed in an East German archive, was discovered. Shot by the Nazis in Warsaw in May 1942, this footage quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record of the Warsaw Ghetto. However, the later discovery of a long-missing reel, inclusive of multiple takes and cameraman staging scenes, complicated earlier readings of the footage.
Pictures from day 51 after the explosion.
This June 6th marked the 66th anniversary of the 1944 Allied invasion of France. Several operations were combined to carry out the largest amphibious invasion in history – over 160,000 troops landed on June 6th, assisted by over 5,000 ships, aerial bombardment, gliders and paratroopers.
