1 Giant Leap

You never know what inspiration you might find in a yoga class, or anywhere else for that matter. While going through a rather arduous flow series from triangle through half moon and other poses, Wendy played this cool song:



I always find that good music can make yoga poses and long runs seem like a walk in the park.
"What was that song you were playing during triangle pose?" I asked Wendy after class.
"Haha...you must be talking about the song from 1 Giant Leap. It was a movie with a lot of yogi types. It's a great movie, touching on a lot of interesting issues. You should see it," she said.

It took me a few days to remember to look it up, but I'm glad I did. 1 Giant Leap has just released their second DVD: What About Me. Part global travelogue through 50 destinations across five continents and part music video with excellent music by a wide range of musicians, 1 Giant Leap (Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman) embark on a journey to explore the human spirit and our interconnectedness through music, culture and beliefs. It's a visual collage of our views on life, love, God, money and the search for meaning set to a moving soundtrack.

I love Tyler Brûlé!

It is indeed a rare thing to encounter someone who, time and again, just knows exactly what you crave for and delivers exactly that in the most exquisitely-packaged manner. Tyler Brûlé is just that person. Back when Wallpaper* first came out, I read and collect each issue religiously. It was a category breaker, the first "lifestyle" magazine before lifestyle stores and designer hotels came into vogue and now into the mainstream. But then, its freshness and edginess waned, especially after its acquisition by Time Warner. I haven't bought a copy of Wallpaper* in years, although I do flip through them when I have a moment of leisure in Starbucks. Wallpaper* has just become another fluffy, cotton-candy mag, all sweetness, no substance.

Yet again, Tyler Brûlé engineers another heroic rescue from my mundane business-as-usal magazine existence with the launch of Monocle (yes, the first issue came out in March and issue 3 just came out, so am a bit behind the curve on this one. Thanks to DY for enlightening me last night over our dinner discussion of my overly-ambitious airport project idea in Pressroom). DY just had delivered to my office the inaugural issue and it's truly a gem of a read coving global affairs, business, culture, design and all the rest one needs to know to be in-the-know. It took me all of 2 minutes to get on the website and subscribe.

Monocle, of course, is not the first magazine to meld politics and business with the glamour of fashion and lifestyle. Vanity Fair is one such example, but it tends to focus more on issues relevant to established American and European society and Hollywood. It's a brainier, geekier Tatler. Back in 1995, there was John F. Kennedy Jr's George. Then, in 1999, Tina Brown launched Talk magazine. Neither are still around today and neither really dealt with politics and business on a global scale, covering developed and developing worlds from such a fresh perspective, and in a visually-palatable and unforceably-fashionable way (George and Talk tried so hard to be fashionable that they became boring). For example, in issue 1 of Monocle, there is a 10-page report on China's influence in Africa. But it's their bite-sized briefings that I love with topics spanning from Australian low-cost carrier Jetstar's international expansion plans to deconstructing the wardrobe of world leaders such as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or a glimpse into a-day-in-the-life of a Kabul radio DJ. All fascinating and intriguing tidbits.

Basically, Monocle is a Wallpaper* for grown-ups. It's for those who still want to know which architect to get to design their house and what cutting-edge pieces to fill it with, but also need to know all the political, macro-economic and commercial forces that might affect the performance of their investment portfolios. It's the world as seen through Tyler Brûlé's inquisitive, creative mind and constantly roaming, aesthetically-disciplined eyes.