Watch Spencer Seabrooke break the world record for the longest free solo slackline by 7 meters. Without the use of any safety equipment, he has to make a daring 64 meters long walk, being 290 meters above ground. The drone footage coupled with the recorded clear sound of Spencer's breathing, add to the overall excitement.

Want more? Take a look at Alex Honnold's free solo climb in Yosemite National Park, or highwire walker Bunny Dryden's daring stunts from 1936 in Downtown Los Angeles. And to finish it off, watch Alassan Issa jump over a speeding Lamborghini Gallardo.

Via Devour. H/t kottke.org.

I have just seen the film "Bad Words" with one of my favorite actors, Jason Bateman, who also did his directorial debut with this one. The story revolves around 40-year-old and eighth grade dropout Guy Trilby, who thanks to a loophole, enters a National Spelling Bee. I had no idea a spelling bee could turn this nasty!

Besides the great acting by Bateman, actors Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney, and Philip Baker Hall make this a wonderful film experience, together with a funny script. And 10-year-old Rohan Chand, who acts alongside Bateman, does a phenomenal job.

Watch the trailer:

Despite working as a fashion photographer, Mark Reay found himself homeless for 6 years living in NYC, a life event that's been documented in the documentary "Homme Less". Here, from the review by The Hollywood Reporter:

Reay, a handsome 52-year-old with the kind of hair that makes a man not mind the thought of graying, grooms himself in city-park restrooms and at the YMCA, where a few lockers contain his natty wardrobe and assorted possessions. A camera, cell phone and laptop make him a one-man photo crew, allowing him to shoot the backstage action at Fashion Week, edit and upload pix using coffee-shop wi-fi, and maintain as much of a digital presence as anyone else who works outside an office. He has health insurance and a bank account, thanks to his actors' guild, and friends — most of whom don't know he's been sleeping rough for five or six years. In fact, his current camp is on the roof above an unwitting friend's apartment, requiring him to move stealthily from sidewalk to rooftop lest he bump into the man in the stairwell.

Short footage from the documentary:

Reading about the film and having watched the trailer, I wondered how it came about, that Mark wasn't able to get him a place of his own. Film critic Mark Dujsik answers my question:

Reay pretty much admits he's homeless by choice, as a way to save on the expense of renting an apartment. After all, he needs the little money he earns in order to do the work he wants to do, which often includes networking at bars until 2 o'clock in the morning. He could get a "normal" job if he wanted, but he doesn't want to. Reay speaks directly to the camera, telling the audience that we can feel free to come up to that roof and tell him to get a regular job. "Kick my ass," as he puts it, and we can't tell if he means that literally or figuratively.

And the same does the following BBC segment:

Via kottke.org.

People who are meditating, are to be found literally everywhere. Now, in the world of corporation, meditation is booming and some companies offer their employees to meditate during worktime, in some cases even providing them with meditation rooms.

"More and more companies are offering meditation rooms and allowing employees to meditate on company time, because if you're dragging at 4 p.m. and you have to keep going until 6 or 7 p.m. and you're just exhausted, you don't want to just grab a tenth cup of coffee," said Bob Roth [Executive Director of the The David Lynch Foundation and TM teacher], a renowned meditation teacher based in New York City.

[…]

Such meditation programs [the Transcendental Meditation course] are proven to have boosted the bottom line of businesses and the productivity and job performance of employees, in addition to reducing healthcare costs across the board. But a unique benefit of holistic health options like transcendental meditation is the sense of well-being and connection each practitioner finds within themselves.

"The benefit that people notice right off the bat is that they start sleeping better almost immediately. They also wake up feeling fresher in the morning," said Roth. "They also have a sustained energy that isn't nervous or agitated but very settled, powerful and creative energy."

Featured image: Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013), taken from Bloomberg's meditation article. Illustration by Jamie Chung, and the portrait of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, by Philippe Halsman / Magnum Photos.

I think it was back in the late nineties, when I watched a TV segment about blogger Justin Hall. A TV team was invited into his home in San Fransisco, and he talked about sharing his life on the internet, something that back then was a bit unusual, or maybe I should say very unusual. Several years later, I was reminded about this fascinating interview once again, when I read one of Justin's articles in Yoga Journal. "Ah, the internet guy" I thought, mistakenly thinking that he wasn't blogging anymore. Fast forward to today, and I just found out that Justin has released the documentary "overshare: the links.net story", and that he's been blogging for 20 years.

Hello, my name is Justin Hall and I've been sharing my personal life in explicit detail online for over twenty years. Starting in 1994, my personal web site Justin's Links from the Underground has documented family secrets, romantic relationships, and my experiments with sex and drugs.

overshare: the links.net story is a documentary about fumbling to foster intimacy between strangers online. Through interviews, analysis and graphic animations, I share my motivations, my joys and my sorrows from pioneering personal sharing for the 21st century. In 2004 the New York Times referred to me as "perhaps the founding father of personal weblogging." I hope this documentary reveals that I was a privileged white male with access to technology who worked to invite as many people as possible to join him in co-creating an internet where we have a chance to honestly share of our humanity.

Visiting the documentary page is pure nostalgia, reminding me of the early days of the web, with simple webdesign layouts, animated GIFs, bulleted lists, and those tables. As a side note, the recent website re-design of artist Vanilla Ice, brings many of these elements back to life once more.

Via kottke.org.

In our consumer society with planned obsolescence, a computer has an average lifespan of two years. When they get thrown away, some of them might show up at Alaba International Market in Lagos, Nigeria. Every month, around 500 shipping containers with used electronic goods arrive to the market, and business is thriving.

One in three electronic items arriving at Alaba is broken, but highly skilled technicians are paid to repair them. “If you have two computers that aren’t working, you take bits from both of them and make one working computer,” says Julius Monye, 52, a secondhand-computer seller. “After my technicians have worked on them, 90 percent of the computers will function.” The refurbished computers are tidied up with some spray-paint and put on display for the 300,000 people who come to Alaba every day. Despite the paint, the origins of the computers are part of their appeal. “Secondhand products from America or Europe can have a better quality than new Nigerian ones,” explains Julius.

One of my favorite graphic designers, Aaron Draplin, talks about his haven, the studio, in New York Magazine's article "A Design Guru's Work Lair".

When I worked out of my home, the reason I left was I ran out of space. I go out and grab stuff from the dead world and hoard it. The language they used on these nameplates was really cool. The type is so beautiful. There’s no cake-decorating going on because it’s better work. I’ve made business cards like this for people. The beauty of some of this stuff — weird patches from over the years, old office supplies, whatever. Now when I do a patch for somebody, I know where to go.

For more Draplin, watch the making of Field Notes' Shelterwood Edition.

Photo credit: Leah Nash for New York Times.

From French photographer Francois Prost's photo series "Faubourg" depicting suburban architecture of Paris.

Les Choux de Créteil, Val-de-Marne, Paris, by architect Gérard Grandval:

Giralda, Saint-Blaise, 20th arrondissement, Paris, by architecture firm Delaage-Tsaropoulos:

Cité Michelet, 19th arrondissement, Paris, by architects A. Coquet, H. Auffret, D. Auger, P. Hayoit de Bois Lucy, J.P. Cazals and B. Massip:

Les tours Nuages, Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, Paris, by architect Émile Aillaud:

Porte de Clignancourt, 18th arrondissement, Paris:

H/t Colors Magazine.

The ski film "Afterglow", produced by Sweetgrass Productions, was shot during the night on location at Golden Alpine Holidays, British Columbia and Alyeska Resort, Alaska. It includes the talented skiers Chris Benchetler, Daron Rahlves, Eric Hjorleifson, and Pep Fujas, together with lots of powder and colors.

Via Malcolm Brown.

Meet Jake Weidmann, a perfectionist and Master Penman by trade. Today, there are only twelve certified Master Penmen in the world, and Jake is the youngest. In his work, he likes to blend calligraphy into the art, which infuses them with more life and meaning.

Via Devour.