Wow, this portrait brought tears to my eyes! Nowness presents filmmaker Rebecca Dreyfus' portrait of the late novelist and long time Zen student Peter Matthiessen, author of the critically acclaimed "The Snow Leopard" (1978).

I have yet to read "The Snow Leopard", but if I'm not mistaken, mindfulness expert Dr. Jon Kabat–Zinn included some excerpts from it and included them in his wonderful book "Wherever You Go, There You Are", a book that I highly recommend to all that are interested in meditation.

The interview is part of Dreyfus' on-going series "On Meditation".

Action on Sugar is a charity that consists of a group of specialists that research sugar's effects on health. They have just released some rather shocking data, which reveals that many hot flavoured drinks from well-known companies such as Starbucks, Costa Coffee and KFC contain large amounts of added sugar. For example, one of Starbucks' Hot Mulled Fruits contained 25 teaspoons of sugar per serving compared to a can of (unhealthy) Coke with only 9 teaspoons per can.

With an estimated 1.7 billion cups of coffee sold each year in the UK from over 18,000 outlets and one in five of the population (including teenagers) visiting a coffee shop daily, campaign group Action on Sugar is today warning of the dangerously high sugar content of certain hot beverages found in many high street coffee shop chains.

This new research by Action on Sugar shows that 98% of the 131 hot flavoured drinks analysed would receive a 'red' (high) label for excessive levels of sugars per serving as sold.

What's more, 35% of the hot flavoured drinks contain the same amount or more sugars than Coca Cola, which contains a massive 9 teaspoons of sugar per can – equivalent to 7 chocolate biscuits.

The worst offender is the Starbuck's Hot Mulled Fruit - Grape with Chai, Orange and Cinnamon Venti (extra-large) – a mix of chai and fruit concentrate, topped with a cinnamon stick and a slice of orange – which contains 25 teaspoons of sugar (that's the equivalent of sugar in 5 muffins), followed by Costa Coffee's Chai Latte (large) with a massive 20 teaspoons of sugar. Interestingly, a Starbuck's Hot Mulled Fruit - Grape with Chai, Orange and Cinnamon Tall (medium) has almost half the amount of sugar than the larger sized cup (13 vs 25 tsp).

Featured image: Cropped vintage ad for Domino's Pure Cane Sugar from 1955. Via Keg Foam.

In Nazaré, Portugal, surfers come together to surf some of the biggest waves in the world. And when conditions get real rough, it's Black Naza time (YouTube link).

Nazaré is the world's stage for the biggest waves ever ridden, most of the memorable rides so far were all during big days with favourable or at least sufficient conditions for surfers and safety teams to ride and operate… when conditions go beyond that point, we call it Black Naza.

Via Holy Kaw.

Are you a New Yorker who needs some inspiration on where to find a new pizza joint, or you just happen to love pizza?!

Take a few minutes and enjoy food author and filmmaker George Motz's short documentary "Brooklyn Pizza" (2008) and watch the food masters of Totonno's, Grimaldi's and Di Fara's make the perfect pizza from dough to pie.

The organization and site Twin Galaxies keeps track of video game world records. It was founded by gaming enthusiast/meditator/musician Walter Day in 1981, who took care of its operations until 2010.

Filmmaker Lara Hidalgo made the short "Twin Galaxies and the Golden Domes" about Day's work and interviewed him at his home in Fairfield, Iowa, an interview that also covers his practice of Transcendental Meditation.

Update: Had to remove the embeded video because of the autoplay function. Watch it here instead.

Watch the short in three-parts on Vimeo:

• Twin Galaxies and the Golden Domes – part one
• Twin Galaxies and the Golden Domes – part two
• Twin Galaxies and the Golden Domes – part three

From 2013, Jesse Pearson, former editor in chief of Vice magazine, talks to The New York Times about his transition from Vice to creating his own creative magazine called "Apology".

Apology's content, a mix of fiction, literary nonfiction, photography and cultural reporting, ranges from the comedic to the arcane. There is a 58-page question-and-answer with the Adult Swim satirists "Tim and Eric"; a sit-down with John Ashbery conducted during a visit to the poet's antique clapboard-and-stone house in Hudson, N.Y.; and a transcript of a wonky panel discussion about "The Endangered Semicolon." The cover photo by Roe Ethridge evokes the floral artwork from a 1983 L.P. by the band New Order. Mr. Pearson hopes the idiosyncratic, almost zine-like appeal will help distinguish Apology from the cultural exclusivity of journals like n+1 and The Paris Review, while piquing the interest of readers familiar with his previous editorial pursuits.

"I guess what I’m talking about is moving out of the hipster ghetto," he said, scrolling through proofs on his two MacBook Pros. "Can I make the semicolon interesting to people who used to be into the kind of stuff I did at Vice? Because I really want to be able to."

Featured image: Jesse Pearson's portrait by photographer Danny Ghitis / The New York Times

In Business Insider, corporate speaker Jullien Gordon tells the differences between a high performer who works in a healthy way, and the workaholic who risks getting burned out.

Gordon says that a high performer knows when to "turn it up." They know when they're expected or required to give everything they have — and they save their energy for those occasions.

"They don't buy into the illusion of 110%," he writes in the LinkedIn post. "They know that 110% is unsustainable. Instead they focus on increasing their capacity so that their 100% is better than the competition's 110%."

A workaholic attempts to go all out all the time: "They have difficulty prioritizing what's important, therefore, everything is important in their mind."

He tells Business Insider: "The hardest worker doesn't always win, but the winner does work harder."

Los Angeles Times staff photographer Jay L. Clendenin used his vintage Polaroid Land Camera 180 loaded with Fuji's instant film when it was time for this year's Sundance Film Festival and celebrity portraits in an attempt to differ from the work of other publications. Before Sundance Film Festival, Clendenin had shot celebrity Polaroid-portraits during last year's Comic-Con in San Diego and Toronto International Film Festival.

This current love affair began in July 2015, when we pulled off our first studio at Comic-Con in San Diego. Wanting to try something unique to add to our digital coverage, I shot a set of these “Polaroid-style” portraits, which were a hit with our subjects.

Next we tackled the Toronto International Film Festival in the fall of 2015 with the process, to an even bigger response — word spread and publicists and subjects began asking to do a "polaroid" when they entered our space.

Director Todd Solondz at the Sundance Film Festival 2016 in Park City, Utah:

Director and actor Don Cheadle at the Sundance Film Festival 2016 in Park City, Utah:

Featured image: Actress Alicia Vikander.

Author and director Cyril Dion has together with actress Mélanie Laurent made the documentary "Tomorrow" (Demain) that focuses on climate change and how to reverse this with environmentally friendly alternatives.

Showing solutions, telling a feel-good story… this may be the best way to solve the ecological, economical and social crises that our countries are going through. After a special briefing for the journal Nature announced the possible extinction of a part of mankind before the end of the 21st century, Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent, together with a team of four people, carried out an investigation in ten different countries to figure out what may lead to this disaster and above all how to avoid it.

During their journey, they met the pioneers who are re-inventing agriculture, energy, economy, democracy and education. Joining those concrete and positive actions which are already working, they began to figure out what could be tomorrow's world…

Watch trailer:

Via Mélanie Laurent.

By using Google Maps and studying historic photos from the area, Swede Erik Björnwall has created a fantasy railway station and miniature town called "Martindale–Jefferson City 1955" that resembles a society found in Wisconsin, USA, in the 50's.

Unfortunately, I can't find any streaming footage of Martindale, so I leave you with this video about Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg instead. Miniatur Wunderland has the largest model railway in the world and lots of other great objects built in miniature format.

Other great miniature work I've previously written about include artist Michael Paul Smith's miniature town Elgin Park and photographer Frank Kunert's photo series of small worlds.

Imgage credit: Copyright Erik Björnwall