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Grete Eliassen / Martin Freeman / 3BallMTY / The Bots / Maya Gabeira / Ashley Fiolek / Julian Wilson

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JANUARY 2013

FREAK SHOW Louie Vito and the hottest action sports athletes on fear and glory in 2013 PORTRAITS BY TERRY RICHARDSON

01 January 13

ON SALE NOW

Call 800.745.3000 or visit Ticketmaster.com Tickets can also be purchased at the Planet Hollywood Box Office

Produced by CeeLo Green and Primary Wave

THE WORLD OF RED BULL

January 56

2013 ACTION PLAN Photographer Terry Richardson teams with Red Bull athletes like Maya Gabeira to kick off the new year in style.

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: TERRY RICHARDSON PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES, TERRY RICHARDSON, REX FEATURES. ILLUSTRATION: ALBERT EXERGIAN

DANGER ZONE Before photographer Katie Orlinsky and writer Aníbal Santiago traveled to the northern Mexican town of Matehuala to bring you this month’s story on the pointy boots movement (p. 64), they got in touch with the local police chief. He told them they could come as long as they left by sundown. Two weeks before, the drug wars ravaging that area of Mexico claimed Matehuala’s mayor. Both made it in and out, and produced a powerful story on a fashion and music trend that has provided solace for young Mexicans on both sides of the border. For some lighter fare, we turned to provocateur Terry Richardson (p. 56), who photographed the cream of the action sports crop as they look forward to this coming year. We hope you’re as stoked as they were. Happy holidays, and see you in 2013.

WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT? Actually, you know people really will love Martin Freeman in The Hobbit.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES It’s part boat, part spacecraft. And America’s Cup sailors love the danger of a craft on the edge of chaos.

THE WORLD OF RED BULL

January GET THE GEAR Miss the NHL? Bernd Brückler tells you what you need to safely have pucks fly at your face.

MOUNTAIN MEN The riders of Red Bull Rampage got down and dirty as they tricked up Utah’s red soil.

The Red Bulletin

The America’s Cup boats, Red Bull Rampage, Daniel Bodin, Dakar Rally and Grete Eliassen in action on video. Free for Android & iPad

THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE At museums around the world, the buildings housing the collections are just as impressive as the works they contain.

8 Photos of the Month 14 News: Red Bull Crashed Ice on Xbox Live 18 The Bots 20 Gear Evolution 23 Blake Griffin: Dunk Machine 24 The science behind ice sailing 26 Lucky Numbers: Recording

PHOTOGRAPHY: GEPA PICTURES, MATTIAS FREDRIKSSON (2), CORBIS

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SPORTS MEDICINE

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THE WORLD OF RED BULL

January “ I knocked

out two teeth— it’s the most painful thing I’ve done. ” Daniel Bodin

ME AND MY BODY Daniel Bodin flies through the air with the greatest of ease– on a snowmobile weighing hundreds of pounds.

88 TRAINING WITH THE PROS

There are the rigors of skiing—and then there are the rigors of freeskiing. Grete Eliassen works on her speed and her agility on and off the slopes.

72 GETTING DAKAR ON TRACK

In the months before the famed race, the course is painstakingly laid out thanks to the efforts of one small team with a really good map.

more 84

TRAVEL

Dubai has long been known as a center for high-end shopping—but now its outdoor gifts are receiving deserved attention.

BOOTS AND BEATS

As the drug wars rage in Mexico, the Tribal music scene—and its distinctive fashion sense, including pointy-toed boots—has moved over the border to take hold in Dallas.

THE LIST

Global goings-on in sports and culture.

90 NIGHTLIFE

SAVE THE DATE

KAINRATH

MIND’S EYE

Christmas Day in the NBA and the BCS Championship: Ink these special events in your diary. Our cartoonist

Our columnist, Jeff Wise

A glamorous club, an exotic cocktail, a midnight snack, the best in music and much, much more: Everything you need to get you through ’til dawn.

PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL BLOM/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, BRIAN NEVINS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, HEINZ TESAREK, KATIE ORLINSKY

Body & Mind

Mild Violence

T SAI NA G L AC I E R , AL A S K A

TUNNEL VISION

The best laid plans of ice and men: The Ataraxia Project was a meticulously planned 10-week expedition to wildest Alaska, to culminate in the firstever kite-assisted ascent of Mount Marcus Bakerâ€™s 13,176 ft. On their way, the eight-strong team found a remarkable ice tunnel in a glacier 60 miles southeast of Anchorage. Weather canceled the Baker climb; it could not spoil Sebastian Bubmannâ€™s indoor fly-by. Expedition log: www.ataraxia2012.com Photograph: Mammut/Nicolas Chibas

TH E W H ITE S E A , RU S S IA

FROZEN ASSETS Under the ice in Kandalaksha Bay, in the northwest tip of Russia about 100 miles east of the Finnish border, is one of the worldâ€™s hot-topic bodies of cold water. This place is home to beluga whales and uniquely indigenous soft corals; salinity is low due to the many rivers flowing here. But with melting ice caps and nearby oil rigs, the delicate ecology is under threat. On-the-ground reportage: region51.com/en Photograph: Franco Banfi/Getty Images

ROMSDAL, NORWAY

ICICLE RIDE

There are two kinds of adventure seekers in the Norwegian fjords who never cross paths. The BASE jumpers proliferate in summer, when this place shows its warm-weather face. Come the winter, with its frozen blanket of snow, the ice climbers take over, traveling in the opposite direction and at far slower speeds. Austrian ascender Kurt Astner is a leading light of the latter, increasingly popular discipline. Do it yourself: www.visitnorway.com Photograph: Thomas Senf

Bullevard Sports and culture on the quick

In the Gangnam A crazy video with the horse dance has become a launch pad for a Korean pop offensive. K-Pop is now taking over the Internet, and possibly the world. Here are three followers in the wake of Psy’s Gangnam Style:

HYUNA Psy’s Gangnam Style dance partner is a pop superstar in Asia, both as a solo artist and in girl band 4Minute. Her garish hip-hop single “Ice Cream” has “chartmelting hit” written all over it.

LET THE GAME BEGIN

Red Bull Crashed Ice is coming to a console near you.

SHINEE This five-piece boy band have their own show on South Korean TV. The rest of the world is fast getting the message too; tickets for Shinee’s last concert in London sold out within minutes.

You can now enjoy the least cozy winter sport in the comfort of your humble abode. Playing Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect on Xbox Live Arcade means you taking command of one of four racers, on one of five twist-and-turn-packed courses based on real Red Bull Crashed Ice race locations. Splitscreen and party modes allow up to eight

players to take part; races can also take place online. Using the Kinect motion controller, players build speed by pumping their arms, and turn and jump, in the same way that real-life Red Bull Crashed Ice contestants take to the frozen tracks. All the excitement and skill, then, but not so cold. www.redbull.com/gaming

PICTURES OF THE MONTH

EVERY SHOT ON TARGET

2NE1 Black Eyed Peas guru will.i.am is working on this girl group’s English-language debut album. They have had success with one Japanese- and two Koreanlanguage albums since 2010.

Have you taken a picture with a Red Bull flavor? Email it to us at: phototicker@redbulletin.com Every month we print a selection, with our favorite pic awarded a limited-edition Sigg bottle. Tough, functional and well-suited to sports, it features The Red Bulletin logo.

Yeongam, South Korea At the Korean GP, Mark Webber (left) and Sebastian Vettel (right) in Gangnam Style with Psy. Mark Thompson

Innovate The James Dyson Award 2012

Photographic artist Jason Nocito (above) has exhibited at the 12Mail gallery.

Three years ago, a small gallery opened in the heart of Paris with a concept as simple as it was courageous. 12Mail has its focus on art outside of the mainstream, which usually means work by young or totally unknown talent. The idea bore fruit; 16 exhibitions and thousands of visitors later, and 12Mail is an established creative point in one of the world’s leading art cities. Paris has this small gallery to thank for bringing it the works of Sophie Bramly, one of the first photographers to document the beginnings of hip-hop in New York, and the haunting work of genius cartoonist Charles Burns. Another highlight was the exhibition by cult French record label Born Bad, the centerpiece of which was a beautifully designed 1970s motorbike that Jarvis Cocker fell in love with at the opening. In celebration of its third birthday, 12Mail has published a fittingly lavish retrospective book.

12 Mail a Red Bull Space | 2009-2013

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES (2), PICTUREDESK.COM, RED BULL CRASHED ICE, JASON NOCITO/12MAIL, JAMES DYSON AWARD (3), EMI MUSIC

Arty birthday

22/10/12 20:02:16

www.12mail.fr

SAFETYNET This year’s winning entry allows and actually helps, via light stimulation, small and nontarget fish to escape commercial nets.

REVIVAL VEST A life jacket made of a fabric that can detect if its wearer is unconscious by monitoring breathing patterns and then inflate automatically.

THE BETH PROJECT Aimed at the developing world’s 30 million amputees, this ‘adapter’ fits exactly to the residual limb, and, crucially, can be mass produced.

KYLIE IN VOGUE A French art-house movie and an orchestral live album to mark 25 years in the music biz? Bravo, Miss Minogue. She released her first record in 1987, while still starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. Now Kylie Minogue, 44, is branching out once more. Her new live greatest-hits album was recorded with an orchestra at the legendary Abbey Road studios, and she has a role in a new film from French director Leos Carax. So, an album featuring an orchestra. Why do that? It was one of my dreams. Doing my songs this way makes them far more emotive. Who would ever have thought that you could be moved by “I Should Be So Lucky”? The lyrics are actually really sad, but people miss that because

of the poppy sound. The new arrangement fits in with what the lyrics are saying. And I’m proud to have worked in the same studios as The Beatles. Have you completely turned your back on disco? Don’t worry: I’m already working on my next album, which will be dance-pop. Why have you returned to making movies? I’ve appeared in some of the worst films ever! So I started to think, maybe that’s not for me, I’ll just stick with music, but then I got the call from Leos. He is a visionary. The role I play in Holy Motors was a challenge, and it has reawakened my desire to act. The Abbey Road Sessions is out now: www.kylie.com

Can’t get you out of our heads: Kylie, the perpetual pop princess.

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Amman, Jordan Red Bull Car Park Drift brought motorsport frenzy to the capital. Naim Chidiac

Mumbai, India

F1 cars require precision, regardless of what they’re made of or how big they are. Wanda Hendricks

Castleton, England

In the Peak District, only 40 of 250 starters finished the 21-mile Red Bull Steeplechase. Rutger Pauw

B U L L E VA R D

Red Bull Illume: Image Quest 2013 Sure, you’re big on Instagram—but not all great photos can be captured on the fly on your iPhone and then prettified with a couple of cool filters. Bust out your real camera, capture some shots, and enter them in Red Bull Illume, the action and adventure sports photography competition. Submissions are being accepted between now and April 30th in 10 categories: lifestyle, playground, energy, spirit, close-up, wings, sequence, new creativity, experimental, and illumination. Judges will select five images from each category to go on a global tour—but the photos won’t be displayed in some boring gallery full of people wearing chunky glasses. Illume exhibitions occur outdoors at night, and each work is backlit. Out of those on exhibition, one overall winner will be named and receive a Leica S camera. 2013 is the third edition of Illume, which is held every three years. In 2010, almost 23,000 images were submitted to determine the 50 finalists … so get snappin’. www.redbullillume.com

Performing at Red Bull Sound Space at KROQ.

KEYED UP

Exhibitions are held at night, and are open to the public for free.

Kemer, Turkey Man and machine

took on the elements in Red Bull Sea to Sky. Lukasz Nazdraczew

Let’s be clear: 2012 was a damn good year for the Black Keys. They completed a world tour in support of their album El Camino, and they’re wrapping up the year with a New Year’s Eve stand in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel. But it’s out with the old, in with the new for 2013. The duo will head back into the studio early in the year to work on new material, and plan to once again conspire with Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton. “He doesn’t produce in the sense that he’s creating the sounds,” says drummer Patrick Carney after a recent performance at Red Bull Sound Space. “He’s helping us write and make decisions. He’s got interesting opinions about stuff, and that’s why people like to work with him across the board. He does give advice about playing less here and

Santiago, Chile A war of words between freestyle rhymers at Red Bull Batalla los Gallos. Alfred Jürgen

there, but then again I also taught him how to play drums ... sort of. I gave him his first drum lessons.” Carney and Keys guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach recently made waves with another notable producer—RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan—on the soundtrack to The Man With the Iron Fists, due out on DVD on 2013. The relationship goes back to the Keys’ 2009 hip-hop collab album, Blakroc. “RZA, Dan, and I got together in L.A. about two years ago,” says Carney, “and we cut a bunch of stuff every night for a week. That’s where [Iron Fists’] “The Baddest Man Alive” came from. We have maybe 10 songs in the can, but we’re probably not going to do anything with them. We were just having fun making music. Chillin’ and eating lots of vegetarian pad thai.” www.theblackkeys.com

Cape Town, South Africa Red Bull

Street Style hero Chris Njokwana shows fleet feet at Red Bull Shibobo. Craig Kolesky

WORDS: ANN DONAHUE. PHOTOGRAPHY: CARLO CRUZ/RED BULL CONTENT POOL (2), ROBERT SNOW/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

Back in the studio, 2013 looks golden for the Black Keys.

B U L L E VA R D

WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT?

MARTIN FREEMAN

Playing the lead in The Hobbit, the follow-up film trilogy to The Lord of the Rings, means you’re about to go from “oh yes, that guy” to one of the most visible faces on Earth and Middle Earth. Here’s what goes on behind it.

FI RST AC T

Martin John C. Freem an was born on Sept. 8, 1971. Drama sch ool followed youth theater, and as a wo rking actor he appeared on the lon g-running British medical drama Casu alty. His character, a thief, fell through the roof of a factory during a botched rob bery.

TH UM

BS UP As Bilbo Baggins, Freeman makes it a hat trick playing nerd-culture lege nds. His first came as Arthur Dent in the film ver sion of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 200 5; his second is as Watson in Sherlock, a Brit ish TV hit. “I can’t deny that it’s quite strange,” he said of his three-peat. NOT SO FUN NY

WORK /LIFE BALAN CE

In 2001 came a gamechanging role: Freeman played Tim Canterbury in Ricky Gervais’s original version of The Office. More than a decade later, people still quote lines from the show and shout “Tim! Tim!” at him in the street. Perhaps starring in The Hobbit will change all that, but “Hi, Bilbo!” might not be that much of an improvement.

WORDS: PAUL WILSON. ILLUSTRATION: LIE-INS AND TIGERS

ALL YO U NE ED IS ...

Having exposed Tim’s inner turmoil in The Office, Freeman then pushed his outer limits in the 2003 movie Love Actually. In the film’s best on running joke, he is John, y bod w fello with set film a lly double Judy. On set and tota laugh. Off and t cha can y the ed, nak shy. Do set and clothed, they are antic rom a It’s er? eth tog get y the ss. gue a comedy. Take

RETRO ACTIV E

Despite being 41, Freeman is really a child of the ’60s. “I’ve been a fanatic of Motown music since I was a teenager,” he said, giddy with excitement in Detroit, the spiritual home of the record label, when he was making a BBC documentary to mark its 50th anniversary in 2009. “It makes you laugh, cry, sing, dance.”

Between Hitchhiker’s and Sherlock, which began in 2010, Freeman had a run of less-than-stellar movies. There will not be many retrospectives of his comedies Dedication, The Good Night, and The All Together. Swinging With the Finkels, a wife-swap “comedy,” has a 0 percent rating at RottenTomatoes.com.

REA L NIC E

According to Hobbit director Peter Jackson, Freeman is “very hobbit-y in real life.” He is not suggesting that his star lives underground—more that he is a homebody who likes things nice and easy. Freeman enjoys time with his girlfriend and two young children, and once said his ideal day was a trip to the seaside with record shopping and fish and chips, followed by a DVD back at home. Lovely.

COM IC BOO K GUY

ct of its The Hobbit trilogy is the biggest proje . There was kind since, well, The Lord of the Rings h 2011 to 266 days’ filming on 99 sets from Marc e July 2012. “Sometimes it feels like you’r h “whic an, Freem said l,” nove in a graphic is fine by me.” The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is released on December 14: www.thehobbit.com

B U L L E VA R D

THINK OF THE YOUNG’NS

THE BOTS

They have a combined age of 35, yet they’ve played together for a decade. Brothers fronting a rock band? You haven’t heard it like this before.

Born Mikaiah: June 21, 1993, Bellflower, Calif. Anaiah: Nov. 22, 1996, Hollywood, Calif. Influences The brothers first fell for reggae, then their father introduced them to rock ’n’ roll. Current favorites include Arcade Fire, The White Stripes, and The xx. Celebrity fans Jack Black, Mos Def, Blur, Paul McCartney Dislikes Mikaiah: Their mother being on the tour bus. Anaiah: People asking if his afro is a wig.

Getting carried away: Anaiah goes crowd surfing during a gig.

They’re two teenage brothers without props or pretensions. All Mikaiah and Anaiah Lei need to rock their blend of raw garage-punk as The Bots is a guitar, drums, and big sound. Damon Albarn and Jack Black have both taken the Californian brothers on tour with them. Many of the venues they’ve played would not let them in the front door: Mikaiah is 19 and Anaiah just 16. They write their own songs, and there’s no big record company pulling the strings behind the scenes. The Bots are real. And real loud. They are your rock stars of tomorrow.   : Despite your age, you’re pretty experienced rockers. How did you start making music? : We met at rock ’n’ roll fat camp. The harder we rocked, the faster the pounds dropped of us. : Not quite, but it would make a really good story. We started jamming in our bedroom when we were 9 and 6 years old. We played instruments in a pretty rough way at first, like toys I guess, but it quickly became something more. You make a tremendous amount of noise for a two-man band. : We’re a good team. That’s why we’re the two-piece we are. : We like a big sound. We’ve always been into the same stuff, so together it

The Bots haben bereits drei Platten veröffentlicht. 2013 kommt die neue.

means we can get crazy and wild with it. You’ve played to crowds of thousands supporting the likes of Blur and Tenacious D. Do you get nervous? : I do get nervous before playing to big crowds. : I don’t. I’m fine. : Come on, you weren’t nervous at all before that first gig with Tenacious D? : Oh yeah, that day I was. : I thought so. How is it trying to balance a life of rock ’n’ roll with school? : Fine! After a long summer of touring in Europe, I’m gearing up for school again. It’s easy to balance it. I get pretty good grades. Can you be taken seriously as rockers if your mother is with you on tour? : She has to come along, because Anaiah is so young. It’s terrible. You’ve got our mom dancing to the songs at the side of the stage. I try not to think about it … : … but then you hear this voice from the side of the stage going, “Smile! Smile at the crowd.” Just awful. Music and live dates: www.thebotsband.com

“It’s terrible. You’ve got our mom dancing to the songs at the side of the stage.”

WORDS: RUTH MORGAN. PHOTOGRAPHY: DAN WILTON

Names Mikaiah Lei, Anaiah Lei

Epic moments from the worldâ€™s best clubs and festivals: Strobelight Anthems on rbmaradio.com

B U L L E VA R D

GEAR EVOLUTION

Overachiever Underwear Silk has given way to man-made fiber, but when modern ski underwear applies pressure, it does so for a reason.

FUNCTIONALITY

All-in-one design with a ruff and partially covered zip: Ski jumpers effectively wore a second full layer under their jumpsuits. Annoying VPLs were elegantly avoided.

FRICTION

Although functional, it could be problematic. “I was as stiff as a post,” says ski jumper Hubert Neuper, of his posture in these pants. They were only used on really cold days.

SILK

It insulates well, is pliable, does not irritate the skin, hardly absorbs body odor and is very thin. Before the term “microclimate” was used, silk was creating just that, effortlessly.

1979 MÄSER ONE-PIECE “I can still remember when we got that underwear,” says Austrian former ski jumper Hubert Neuper. “From the point of view of functionality and design, it was a great accomplishment. It was light and thin, and it kept the cold out really well, but it created extra friction, which stopped me getting into the perfect position. So I only wore it in extreme temperatures, like at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.”

Hubert Neuper: Wearing this underwear, he won Olympic silver in 1980. www.fis-ski.com

STITCHED UP

The designers used 3D motion-capture footage of hundreds of athletes to optimally position seams and inserts. Sizing system also considers sex, age, and body-fat ratio.

AIR-CON

UNDER PRESSURE

Air in the hollow fibers of the nylon/ spandex material keeps the wearer warmer, while the elasticity and stretchability allow maximum freedom of movement.

WORDS: ULRICH CORAZZA. PHOTOGRAPHY: KURT KEINRATH, PICTUREDESK.COM, ANDREAS JAKWERTH

Surface pressure on the body impacts blood circulation, which in turn impacts muscle performance. This suit applies pressure in all the right places to help muscles.

2012 SKINS S400 THERMAL COMPRESSION SUIT Thomas Morgenstern is a strong advocate of the supportive compression clothing made by Australian company Skins. “In the past we just used to wear a thin turtleneck; it wasn’t very comfortable,” says the Austrian, a double Olympic ski-jump champion. “This is really close-fitting underwear, and it goes perfectly under the jumpsuit, because air can be trapped between the two layers, and that is of great use to us ski jumpers.”

Thomas Morgenstern and the Austrian ski team had a hand in the suit’s development. www.skins.net

B U L L E VA R D

1 GOING DENTAL ME AND MY BODY

DANIEL BODIN

I knocked out two teeth in 2004, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I crashed the snowmobile and knocked out a front tooth and one at the side—the most painful thing I’ve done. Now I have false ones there.

2 PAIN IN THE NECK

In January, practicing for the Winter X Games, I landed in the foam pit with the snowmobile on top of me, breaking five vertebrae in my neck. I wore a halo for three months, rested for two more, then I was back on the bike.

The Swede, 28, a double Winter X Games freestyle snowmobile champ, is also happy dropping backflips on a motocross bike—and dealing with the fallout from both. www.redbull.com

4 WRACKED RIBS

I’ve broken six or seven ribs over the years, mainly from freestyle motocross when the handlebar gets jammed in your side. Compared to everything else, breaking a rib is nothing. As long as you don’t sneeze.

3 POP YOUR COLLAR

I’ve broken my collarbone seven times: five on the left side and two on the right. I ride FMX and snowmobile, and the breaks are about 50/50 between the two. The first one took eight weeks to heal, and the last one took three, so my body’s learning to take it.

I compressed my left ankle really badly in 2008, when I overshot a jump on the snowmobile and landed flat. I still don’t walk right and I can’t run—I didn’t get it treated at the time, and I’m looking to correct that now. But broken bones heal. I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I’m still going. I’m lucky. See Daniel Bodin in action on the jumps with the Red Bulletin tablet app!

WORDS: RUTH MORGAN. PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL BLOM

5 FOOTING THE SPILL

B U L L E VA R D

HARD & FAST

Top performers and winning ways from around the globe.

Scary: Griffin's Halloween slam.

FLIGHT PATTERN

WORDS: ANN DONAHUE. PHOTOGRAPHY: NBAE/GETTY IMAGES, GETTY IMAGES, LUCHO VIDALES/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, DAN VOJTECH/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, KELVIN TRAUTMAN. ILLUSTRATION: DIETMAR KAINRATH

Blake Griffin is en route to another NBA dunk title.

Filip Polc triumphed at the world’s highest MTB race, Red Bull Descenso del Cóndor, in La Paz, Bolivia, starting at 13,000 feet.

As Blake Griffin proved when he won the All-Star Weekend dunk contest in 2011, do not mess with a man who dunks over cars for fun. In his three active years in the NBA, the 6’10” forward has been the L.A. Clippers’ human highlight reel, averaging over two dunks per game. 2010-2011 season: 214 dunks, No. 2 in the NBA Best dunk: Nov. 20, 2010 vs. the New York Knicks Less than a month into his rookie season, Griffin aptly combined poise and showmanship on the floor. He picked up the ball in a scramble at the Knicks’ end of the court, hustled down the boards, completed a nifty defensive spin to avoid being stripped by Danilo Gallinari and then launched to the basket. 2011-2012 season: 192 dunks, No. 1 in the NBA Best dunk: Jan. 30, 2012 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder Kendrick Perkins, I’m so sorry. You seem like a really nice guy. But it’s probably going to be mentioned in your obituary how Griffin destroyed you during this dunk, grasping your face and shoving it out of the way with his left hand while driving to the hoop with his right. You know it’s a stunner when LeBron James tweeted in the immediate aftermath that it was the dunk of the year. 2012-2013 season Best dunk … so far: Oct. 31, 2012 vs. the Memphis Grizzlies The opening game of the season was brimming with bad blood held over from the previous year; the Clippers defeated the Grizzlies in Memphis in a hard-fought Game 7 during the first round of the playoffs. Griffin’s big slam was a savvy punctuating punch in the heated rivalry for one big reason: He made it look so, so easy. www.blakegriffin.com

Surfer Julian Wilson (see story, page 56) sealed a lastwave win over Gabriel Medina in the Rip Curl Pro final in northern Portugal.

South African runner Ryan Sandes won the 62-mile Salomon Sky Run on home soil in 12:36, knocking two hours off the previous record.

After Sébastien Loeb crashed out of the WRC Rally d’Italia, his teammate Mikko Hirvonen (right) took the win.

B U L L E VA R D

WINNING FORMULA

COLD STANDARD

Why is sailing so much faster on ice than on water?

The 2012 ice sailing world championship took place in Sweden. The 2013 race will take place Jan. 26–Feb. 2 in the U.S.

WORDS: THOMAS SCHREFL. PHOTOGRAPHY: OSKAR KIHLBORG. ILLUSTRATION: MANDY FISCHER

OUT ON THE ICE “It’s as if you’re flying a few inches above the ice,” says Ron Sherry, the world No. 1 ice sailor. “Ice sailboats only weigh about 44 lbs. and accelerate very quickly. In just six seconds, you can reach 62 mph. The best ice for high speeds is black ice, which results from low temperatures and no wind. When it’s smooth as glass and free of grooves, you feel like you could just carry on getting faster and faster.” BACK IN THE LAB “Ice boats reach top speeds of up to 93 mph,” says Professor Thomas Schrefl of the St. Polten University of Applied Sciences and the University of Sheffield. “This speed is determined by the equilibrium of propulsion and resistance. The key here is resistance; unlike sailing on water, frictional forces are relatively low in ice sailing. With conventional sailing, water molecules attach themselves to the hull and move along with the boat; molecules further away from the boat are motionless. Because of this velocity differential, the molecules shear against each other. The frictional force that results increases with the velocity of the boat or the proportion of the hull in contact with water. “On the ice surface, however, in particularly cold conditions, the uppermost layer of ice molecules assumes a ‘water-like’ condition and oscillates upwards and downwards, forming a type of lubricating film. At higher temperatures this lubricating level is thicker, and the skids on the ice boat have to force their way through more ‘water-like’ molecules because of the increased friction. This is why experts refer to ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ ice. “With ice sailing, the resistance between the skids and the ice is negligible compared to wind resistance. The friction coefficient between metal and ice is µ = 0.01. The frictional force results from the product of the frictional coefficient and the weight N to F = µN. “The skids play an important part: They help to keep the ice sailor on track in the face of wind forces. The highest speeds arise when the wind comes from side-on. When the sailor travels in the direction of the wind, he or she can’t sail faster than the wind. Once the glider reaches wind speed, the sail doesn’t ‘feel’ the wind. However, when the wind comes from the side, the air flows around the sail, as it does around the surface area of an airplane in flight. “Varying circulation velocities at the front and rear results in buoyancy, A, which works vertically. The wind resistance, R, operates in the direction of the wind. The balance of forces results in a glider speed of ν = (A/R) Wn + Wp, where Wn represents the wind velocity in the direction of travel, and Wp the wind velocity parallel to direction of travel.” ice.idniyra.org

B U L L E VA R D

LUCKY NUMBERS

RECORDED MUSIC

The gramophone was first played 125 years ago, thus spawning the record industry. From the first vinyl to the largest collection, from the most expensive disc to laser beam turntables, here are the stats.

In 1870, a 19-year-old man from Hanover, Germany, emigrated to America, taking with him a vision of a machine on which people would be able to record their last thoughts as they lay on their deathbeds. Emile Berliner registered his device with the patent office in 1887. Thomas Alva Edison had unveiled his phonograph 10 years earlier, but its slab rollers meant it was unsuited to mass production. By contrast, Berliner’s machine, which he named the gramophone, played flat, waxed zinc discs, which were cheap to produce.

Emile Berliner The forerunner: Edison’s phonograph

Saville’s New Order cover

33⅓

The quality of the first gramophone records was so bad that they came with printed lyrics, so that the buyer could understand the content. An improvement came in 1896, when Berliner switched production to make discs from shellac. When he finally fitted his gramophone with a clockwork motor to replace the crank handle, the gramophone record became a top seller. In 1948, 19 years after Berliner’s death, Columbia Records released the first vinyl discs to be played at 33¹/³ rpm: That’s an LP to you and me.

150,000

The world’s most expensive record is a copy of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy signed by John Lennon. What makes the record such a bizarre collector’s item is the fact that Lennon had autographed it just a few hours before his death; the man who gave him the record to be signed was Mark Chapman, his killer. The record even served as a piece of evidence in the trial, as Chapman’s fingerprints were found on the album cover. An anonymous collector bought it in 1999 for $150,000 and is now offering it online for a rumored $850,000.

With over a million in sales, the original 1983 version of “Blue Monday,” by British band New Order, is the best-selling 12inch single. But it was success that landed the group’s record label in trouble. The cover, created by designer Peter Saville to look like a floppy disk, was so expensive to produce due to the print and stamping processes that Factory Records lost 5 pence on every copy sold. Saville said later that no one had expected such success and so production costs hadn’t been discussed much beforehand. Factory Records filed for bankruptcy nine years later.

2,500,000 Former record shop owner Paul Mawhinney took his work home with him and built a collection of 2.5 million vinyl records in his basement. “Only 13 percent of the songs which came out between 1948 and 1966 are available on CD,” he said. “That means that 87 percent of the music that was made back then isn’t available anymore.” In December 2011, Mawhinney, now in his 70s, sold the collection to Leo Yao, a Taiwanese engineer on the team that developed the MP3.

Double Fantasy by John and Yoko

Early Berliner vinyl

Paul Mawhinney’s record collection The laser turntable

15,910

Conservative music collectors agree: No digital recording, no matter how sophisticated, comes close to the warm sound of a vinyl record. Yet vinyl is worn down every time a record is played, the result being the familiar crackle. Japanese manufacturers ELP have come to the rescue: Their laser turntable sweeps the grooves with a laser beam, not a needle, so that there is no wear and tear as the music is played. Snags for vinyl lovers are that the device itself looks like an outsized CD player, and starting at $15,910, it costs more than some new family hatchbacks. www.berliner.montreal.museum

WORDS: FLORIAN OBKIRCHER. PHOTOGRAPHY: PICTUREDESK.COM (2), CORBIS, RECORD COMP. (2), MUSEUM VICTORIA, REX FEATURES, ELP

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LIVING

HISTO 10 MARVELOUS MUSEUMS, AND HOW THEY SHAPE OUR PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. BY STEPHEN BAYLEY

NEW MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

New York

Architect: SANAA Year opened: 2007 Here on the Bowery is New York’s first contemporary art museum since the influential MoMA. But while MoMA institutionalized the established darlings of the international art world, MOCA decided on a more subversive role. Even the architects who designed it were unknown in the U.S. at the time. SANAA is an acronym of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, who join Shigeru Ban (The Nomadic Museum of shipping containers) and the late Kenzo Tange (Yokohama Museum of Art) as outstanding Japanese museum designers. MOCA is built on the site of an old parking lot. It comprises boxes arranged on a shifting axis to give a staggered effect, as if to explain that MOCA is a nonhierarchical institution. A paradox is represented here: MOCA is interested in insubstantial digital art but has acquired a building of emphatic architectonic presence. It’s both a foil and refutation of the videos and light shows inside. Although SANAA had earlier designed the Christian Dior shop in Tokyo, MOCA made their international reputation. Subsequently they built The Rolex Learning Centre in Lausanne (2010) and the pop-up Serpentine Pavilion in London (2009). A defining characteristic of modern life is that commerce and culture are no longer distinct; indeed, the worlds of brand experience and museum visiting are the same. Art and luxury have become the same thing.

PHOTOGRAPHY: WADE ZIMMERMAN/CORBIS

You want a caricature of museum staff? Old style: A creaking, sallow man in paramilitary uniform attends a grim display of fossils with a feather duster. New style: A black-clad, buzzcut young buck with an earpiece pours sparkling water for a rich person at a noisy party held under bright lights. Museums were once vast, stately municipal repositories of knowledge, and they had architecture to match. The imposing classical façade of The British Museum was designed as an irrefutable statement of London’s self-determined role as guardian, if not robber, of the world’s material culture. London’s Natural History Museum was built in Gothic style, the design of Britain’s 19th-century town halls. This was intended to suggest other values. The Natural History Museum was where the first dinosaurs were displayed and classified; perhaps dinosaurs felt at home in an architectural setting that suggested the primitive rather than the refined. Certainly, wherever they are and whatever they display, any museum betrays the pride, ambitions, beliefs, and preoccupations, as well as the anxieties and doubts, of the civilization that built it. Significantly, just as the great municipal museums were explaining science and art, the new department stores were putting the manufactured world on display and offering it for sale. Observers made the connection and a stream of metaphors followed. The novelist Émile Zola called Paris’s Le Bon Marché a “cathedrale de la commerce moderne.” His contemporary, Julien Guadet, went further and said it was a “musée de marchandise.” America added an extra commercial dimension to the museum concept. In New York, The Frick Collection was what happened when new American money met old French furniture. The Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1929 not by dissolute radicals but by the Rockefellers. MoMA made art that was once challenging a safe investment. Then, in Paris during the 1970s, the Centre Pompidou showed how startling architecture could make a museum into an urban trophy. Only confident cultures, cities, or individuals build museums. A new generation of international museums now represents the limits of architectural possibilities. For an architect, a museum is a longed-for commission: an opportunity to design the ultimate building, free, to a large extent, from everyday realities. A museum is a symbol of wealth, status, culture, confidence, virility, and style.

SANAAâ€™s shifted-box approach to the design of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New Yorkâ€™s Lower East Side makes for a variety of open, fluid, column-free, and lightfilled internal spaces that are different heights at every level.

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BMW WELT

Munich

Coop Himmelb(l)au, 2007

Is this what a world designed by BMW would look like? The German car maker has devised a unique brand experience under one huge 178,000-squarefoot roof, which doubles as solar plant, providing power for the whole building.

PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTOCK, CORBIS, IWAN BAAN

Coop Himmelb(l)au was established by young architects Wolf Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky, and Michael Holzer in Vienna in 1968, a year that saw idealistic student rebellions all over Europe. Thus, the studio’s name is revealing. “Coop” suggests a decent communitarianism, while Himmelb(l)au is deliberately ambiguous: It can, translated, mean either “heavenly architecture” or “blue sky.” Or both. In 1968, when French students were throwing cobblestones at cops, BMW was busy consolidating a reputation made with the “Neue Klasse” cars of 1961. With their clean lines and Bauhaus heritage, BMW cars became symbols of Germany’s economic progress and were eagerly endorsed by global markets. So much so that by the 21st century, BMW was no longer a specialist Bavarian motor manufacturer but a globally recognized luxury product, trading on a reputation for emphatic design, driving pleasure, and advanced technology. So when BMW decided to create a temple to its own value system near Munich’s old Olympiapark, the brief was a complicated and subtle one. The Bauhaus values of clarity and functionalism, which were so well

represented by, say, a 1968 BMW 2002, were already being reconsidered. Indeed, the 2003 5-series presented a new design language that was expressive, organic, and, some said, perverse. Coop Himmelb(l)au, which made its reputation at New York’s Museum of Modern Art Deconstructivist Architecture show in 1988, was well able to interpret the ambitious brief. A BMW Welt of 1968 would have been a well-detailed shed. In 2007, it was instead a vast structure with complex spaces and many layers of meaning. Technology and quality remain, but assertiveness and complexity have been added to the mix of values. So has a restaurant and bar. Here you can take delivery of your new car or study the past.

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VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM

Weil am Rhein, Germany

PHOTOGRAPHY: IWAN BAAN, VITRA, PICTUREDESK.COM

Various, 1989 The 1980s, they say, was the “design decade.” London’s Design Museum opened in August 1989 and was, technically, the first. Vitra’s Design Museum opened later that same year. But while London’s Design Museum has a single Thames-side building and a focused didactic program, the Vitra Design Museum is an evolving commercial project. Vitra is a Basel furniture maker. When it acquired the license to make Charles Eames’s famous chairs, a relationship with designer-as-celebrity was established. A ruinous factory fire in 1981 gave Rolf Fehlbaum an opportunity to reinvent the family business in full conformity with the zeitgeist’s taste for designer this and designer that. Originally, Frank Gehry was commissioned to create a museum to house Fehlbaum’s collection of classic modernist furniture. But Fehlbaum soon had the idea of the Vitra “campus,” now moved to Germany, becoming a living experiment in patronage as well as an impressive advertisement of his vision. Zaha Hadid’s very first real building was Vitra’s private fire station, finished in 1993. Other architects creating stand-alone buildings on the continuously expanding Vitra site included Nicholas Grimshaw (1981 and 1986), Tadao Ando (1993), Álvaro Siza (1994), and Herzog & de Meuron (2010). A virtuous circle of competitive egos was established by Fehlbaum’s daring commissions: Few ambitious designers would refuse to join this roster of architectural galacticos. The Vitra Design Museum became the “designer” phenomenon incarnate. But, enduringly, Fehlbaum confirmed a link between culture and commerce, between trade and art, between shops and galleries.

Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra, just wanted somewhere to exhibit his collection of classic modernist furniture. Yet by the time the Vitra Design Museum was completed in 1989, the original concept had grown into a full campus to showcase Fehlbaum’s vision. The main Design Museum building is at the center of more than 10 structures in Weil am Rhein. As Frank Gehry’s first building in Europe, it has a deconstructivist, geometric exterior that is not apparent from inside, with clean lines complementing various exhibitions.

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VULCANIA

Saint Ours les Roches, France Hans Hollein, 2002

The Auvergne in Central France is Europe’s largest volcanic area, and Puy de Dôme, at 4,800 feet, is its highest volcano (although there have been no eruptions for about 8,000 years). The region’s wild emptiness and dramatic volcanic remains are a startling reminder of ineffable natural forces. Here, on a 140-acre military site is Vulcania, named after the blacksmith’s forge in Virgil’s Aeneid. Volcanoes are such

powerful symbols, we readily connect them with mythology. Vulcania’s architect is the Austrian Hans Hollein, one of Europe’s first postmodernists. The postmodernists aimed to replace the geometric restraint and manipulative moral certainties of modernism with design inspired by irrationality, tolerant of decoration and inclined to narrative, sometimes of a frivolous sort. Hollein’s great buildings include Frankfurt’s Museum für Moderne Kunst (1983– 1991) and the Haas Haus (1990), a jaunty monument to postmodernist shapemaking in Vienna. Hollein won The Pritzker Prize, architecture’s top honor, in

PHOTOGRAPHY: PICTUREDESK.COM, REX FEATURES, SHUTTERSTOCK

Vulcania is where prehistory meets postmodern, where a volcano-themed park blurs into a museum of seismology. Inside, there’s a huge volcano simulator (top); its 91foot cone is both a reaction to the landscape (this picture) and a lightwell (right). Was Hans Hollein creating a form of popular entertainment or a serious geology lesson?

1985, but his most significant association was with Memphis, the collective of architects and designers who gathered around Ettore Sottsass in Milan in 1981. Vulcania, with its grand concept of connecting to prehistory and suggesting access to the center of the Earth, was a challenging commission. Hollein’s museum is buried in a “crater” in the volcanic subsoil: The only structure visible is a 91-foot cone whose form suggests a volcano but whose function is to bring light into the building. The Auvernais landscape humbles architecture, and Hollein responded by taking his museum underground.

The elegant spaces of the Modern Wing at Chicago’s Art Institute increases the museum’s overall size by a third. Renzo Piano designed the building (top) with a canopy made of aluminium blades that deflects harsh light from the south, while filtering northern light into the third-floor galleries that overlook Millennium Park (left).

THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO MODERN WING

Chicago

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES, CORBIS

Renzo Piano, 2009 The Genoese architect Renzo Piano is perhaps the outstanding museum designer of today. His portfolio of radically different museums includes the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, Los Angeles; The Menil Collection, Houston; and the Parco dello Musico, Rome. Piano’s new extension in Chicago turns The Art Institute into the second-largest museum in the United States. The great journalist A.J. Liebling said that Chicago is a great city, not just a large place. Here is its monument. The Modern Wing houses The Art Institute’s collection of art, photography, architecture, and design. A vast sunshade comprises photo-sensitive, computermodeled blades that continuously monitor and adapt to ambient light. The aim is to achieve optimum conditions for viewing art while maintaining strict

conservation criteria for responsible energy usage. Despite these sometimes conflicting demands, the Modern Wing satisfies the stringent Chicago Energy Conservation Code. Piano’s ingenuity as a designer is not at a cost to his essential modesty, revealed by the name of his practice: The Renzo Piano Building Workshop. He says: “It is not enough for the light to be perfect. You also need calm, serenity, and even a voluptuous quality.” All these characteristics are present in this building. Chicago was the birthplace of the skyscraper, but Piano’s Art Institute is essentially lowlevel: The various elements are tied together, and bonded to the immediate surroundings, by an elegant, swooping pedestrian bridge. In some ways this is a conservative design, but appropriately so for such a stately and magnificent institution. Bravura tricks would be out of place here. The Windy City’s most famous architect was Frank Lloyd Wright. He said: “Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world.” You can see for yourself at 111 South Michigan Avenue. 33

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CITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Valencia, Spain

Santiago Calatrava, 1998 The Valencia architect-engineer Santiago Calatrava is the Ferran Adrià of building design. Just as Catalan chef Adrià represents a new Spain of inventiveness in food, so Calatrava has extended the possibilities of architecture. Adrià takes the chemical composition of food and the comprehension of the customer to its limits. Calatrava does the same with structures, meanwhile creating bridges and buildings that test definitions of what’s sculpture and what’s architecture. Calatrava’s Ph.D. thesis of 1980 was titled The Foldability of Space Frames. Ever

since, an inventive approach to space and structure has characterized his designs. Gaining recognition at the Seville Expo of 1992, his Puente del Alamillo is a singlepylon cable-stayed cantilever bridge. It is a dramatic shape by day and night. The City of Arts and Sciences is a symbol of Valencia’s revival as a major European city. It comprises six elements: L’Hemisféric (a planetarium and cinema); Museu de les Ciènces (an interactive museum); L’Umbracle (a pedestrian connector); Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (performing arts); El Puente de l’Assut de

l’Or (a bridge); and L’Agora (a sports plaza). Each is essentially populist rather than academic, and each component has been designed by Calatrava (and his partner, Félix Candela) as a bravura exercise in expressionist shape-making. Essentially complete by 2005, this vast, expensive project has had many critics. Opposition politicians called it a “work of the Pharaohs.” The general public’s response is open to interpretation, and critics cannot decide whether Calatrava is a charlatan or a genius. Of course, he is a little bit of each.

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER GUNZEL/CORBIS, SHUTTERSTOCK, REX FEATURES

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Santiago Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences is an awe-inspiring entertainment and educational complex. Mostly made of laminate glass and surrounded by water, its six structures include a planetarium that resembles an eye, a dome-like IMAX cinema (left), and the grandiose Príncipe Felipe Science Museum (above).

MAXXI

Rome

Zaha Hadid, 2010

LOUVRE

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Jean Nouvel, 2013 Paris’s Louvre was the first great national museum, a self-conscious statement of France’s magnificent purpose, unequaled prestige, and lofty refinement. Most would agree that the Louvre is the greatest museum in the world. So when, as a result of a diplomatic and commercial agreement between France and Abu Dhabi, it was announced that the Louvre Abu Dhabi would open in 2013, there were many critics who damned it as cheapening. This was an exercise in cynical brand extension as fatuous as couturier Pierre Cardin’s decision to put his signature on frying pans. Jean Nouvel, together with British architectural engineers Buro Happold, is building Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island. In 2014, it will be joined by that other pioneer of museological brand extension, yet another branch of The Guggenheim (to be designed by Frank Gehry). To complete the list of usual suspects, Norman Foster’s Sheikh Zayed Museum will later compete for attention on the island with a Gary Player golf course. Nouvel proposes a “floating dome structure,” since domes are a traditional feature of Middle Eastern architecture and also a reliable way of adding prestige to projects where prestige is lacking. (London’s Millennium Dome is, in fact, more like a tent.) But there will be more prestige still in this little bit of the Gulf that will be forever hereinafter France. The Louvre Abu Dhabi will cycle loans from not only the Louvre but also from Versailles, the Centre Pompidou, and the Musée d’Orsay. There has been a petition in France against the “sale of the Louvre,” but the museum’s director says it would be irresponsible to ignore the “internationalization” of museums. In a global market, a traveling Louvre museum becomes an ad for France.

Below: A computergenerated image of the dome-shaped Louvre Abu Dhabi in the UAE. It will be located in the city’s Saadiyat Island’s Cultural District (top), near the Norman Foster– designed Sheikh Zayed National Museum.

For many years, Baghdad-born Londoner Zaha Hadid enjoyed, if that is the correct term, the reputation for being the most outstanding international architect who had never actually built anything. Her demanding, contrarian, illogical, energetic, and sometimes baffling designs delighted critics but alarmed competition committees and alienated clients. Now, Hadid is one of the busiest architects in the world, designing eye-catching trophy institutions that are often as difficult to build as they are easy to enjoy. Rome’s MAXXI—the Museo Nazionale delle Art del XXI Secolo—is typical. It is both magnificent and absurd. Hadid was one of a group of architects, including Coop Himmelb(l)au and Frank Gehry, who came to prominence with MoMA’s deconstructivist exhibition of 1988. “The dream of pure form has been disturbed,” the authors of the catalogue noted. Indeed, it had. Deconstructivism dismantled and reassembled the component parts of a building in a style that was as astonishing as it was impractical. MAXXI is doubly absurd, in that when it first opened its doors in 2010, it was a museum for work that did not yet exist—the art was not installed until some six months after its official opening. Yet Hadid is not deterred by rational criticism. Rome’s first modern art museum was, essentially, empty, but its architect said it is “an immersive urban environment for the exchange of ideas.” The dynamic architecture literally reflects this dialogue: Indoors and outdoors are not distinct; mobile panels redefine interior spaces; a glass roof disrupts conventional expectations. MAXXI’s finances have come under scrutiny from the Italian government, but that may be more to do with its out-oftown location than its credibility as a cultural space. MAXXI is a museum repurposed as a research lab of design, art, architecture, and advertising. Since the 1970s, some new museum architecture has been more assertive than the content it houses. This is doubly the case with MAXXI. As Hadid says, the 21st-century museum is “no longer just a museum.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY: ATELIERS JEAN NOUVEL (2), IWAN BAAN (3)

No place like Rome: The serpentine halls of Zaha Hadid’s concrete Maxxi museum offer structural surprises around each corner, which is just as well, because for six months after its official opening, the architect decreed that no art should hang on its walls. “It’s not an object container but rather a campus for art,” said Hadid.

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Washington, D.C.

Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, 1976 Step off Washington’s National Mall and you come face to face with a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Only a very dull person could fail to be astonished by the confrontation. The Air and Space Museum is the largest of its kind in the world. A part of The Smithsonian Institution, guardian of America’s heritage, it is a fittingly vast memorial to one of the country’s greatest achievements: technological subjugation of air and space. Air and Space is one of the most visited museums in the world. No glorified hangar, the prestige of its contents is emphasized by its neighbor, The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden.

Somehow when you see the 1903 Wright Flyer, a Supermarine Spitfire, a Macchi C.202 “Folgore” and a Messerschmitt Mb109 dangling in the vastness, silhouetted against the sky, mere sculpture seems somewhat wanting both in visual drama and formal inventiveness. Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, now HOK, is one of the great corporate U.S. architectural firms. For this museum, the brief was to create a “gigantic mechanism for efficiently directing throngs of people.” Air and Space is, in all essentials, a capacious shed finished with very high-quality materials. Despite the size and scale of the densely packed exhibits, there is no sense of overcrowding, but there is a sense of intimacy. A Martin Marauder bomber may have been designed as a lethal weapon, but technology is in itself morally neutral. Here you can suspend morality and enjoy the astonishing machines for what they are: extraordinary technical achievements and objects of beauty.

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is the most popular museum on The Red Bulletin’s list, with almost 9 million visitors per year. Smaller exhibitions are housed in the series of marble-clad cubes (above left), while the adjoining hangar-like atria are where huge exhibits such as old warplanes and missiles (left and above) can be found.

PHOTOGRAPHY: NASM, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE

NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

KNUT HAMSUN CENTER

Hamarøy, Norway

PHOTOGRAPHY: CORBIS (2), STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS

Steven Holl, 2009 Ernest Hemingway said Knut Hamsun “taught me how to write.” The Norwegian’s stream-of-consciousness writing and dark musings (reminiscent of Dostoyevsky and Kafka) influenced James Joyce as well. A portrait of Hamsun taken in 1890 when Hunger, his first novel, was published, shows a demented-looking young man wearing a monocle. Hamsun came from a poor family in Nordland, a land of aspen, birch, fjords, and worrying solitude. Hamsun thought himself the soul of Norway, and so in his memory in Hamarøy, a town with a population of less than 2,000 on the road to the Lofoten Islands, the Knut Hamsun Center was established. The designer was Steven Holl, an American architect who has fallen under the sway of French philosophy and buddy of Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Holl’s theory is that buildings are like bodies and are a “battleground of invisible forces.” The Knut Hamsun Center is a challenging geometric structure of stained black wood, in noteworthy contrast to its natural surroundings. Grass grows on the roof. Inside, an escalator penetrates the spaces and works like a body’s spine. The intention is to create strange, diverting spatial experiences for the visitor—and it works.

Dedicated to Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun, this Steven Holl– designed museum features a tarred black exterior, much like that of wooden medieval Norse churches. The interiors allow light to ricochet in different ways throughout the year, providing an inspiring setting for exhibitions.

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TO THE SUMMIT

In Utah, there is a mountain bike event so dangerously demanding that it’s saved for the end of the season. There’s a start line and a finish line: Between is where riders seek out their own limit—and that of the mountain. Words: Werner Jessner Photography: Mattias Fredriksson

Andreu Lacondeguy on his way to the start gate. His route down is to his right.

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f this were the Alps, there’d be a safety rope. The mountain ridge is less than 3 feet wide. On one side, the abyss drops maybe 200 feet, twice that on the other side. “The crash that ends your career is always within the scope of the possible,” says Brit Gee Atherton, the 2012 downhill mountain bike world championship runner-up. He’s resting up right now, having injured his ankles in a full-tilt smash during a practice run for the Red Bull Rampage event. Hanging around at the finish line, resting on his crutches, or, better still, sitting down, a packet of ibuprofen poking out of the pocket of his shorts. The summit of this mountain bike race looms out of the Utah desert. Spectators scramble for spots; they crouch on their heels, skidding down 6 critical feet. They’re a friendly bunch up here, offering a helping hand whenever it is required. The view is breathtaking. Geography teachers should bring their field trips to Virgin, Utah. Without saying a word, kids would understand tectonics, erosion, and rock composition.

THIS IS THE CONTEST THAT EVERYONE WANTS TO WIN. IT DEFINES MOUNTAIN BIKING’S LIMITS. 42

Where do we come from? Where are we going? Life’s big questions are posed by the elemental geography of Utah. On a factfinding mission here: Kyle Strait.

Above: Kurt Sorge is faultless and nimble on the way to winning the event. Left: Martin Söderström, the man with the steepest learning curve. His jeans deny him FMB World Tour overall victory.

In the character of this magnificent reddish-brown mountain lies the secret of Red Bull Rampage—the impossibility of re-creating it elsewhere. It is delicate, fragile sandstone, or, rather, stony sand, which easily crumbles into anything from big clumps to the finest dust. When combined with water, the sand hardens to become stable, but not set like cement. Such terrain only survives in frost-free areas with little rain. It’s a glimpse back at the crumbling monuments of a primeval world. One guy not singing the praises of the Utah desert’s geological features is Brandon Semenuk, winner of the 2008 Red Bull Rampage. He has traveled to the final competition in Virgin as the leader of the Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour. “The ground is hard to read, and that doesn’t make you particularly confident,” he says. This could be read as understatement from a dominant racer who has won the 2012 season’s largest and most important freeride events, but the Canadian muscleman with the designer grunge haircut is being totally honest. “Red Bull Rampage is in a league of its own. This is the contest 43

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that everyone wants to win. It defines the limits of mountain biking every time.” Semenuk, 21, watched his first Red Bull Rampage at the age of 11, when the event was held on the other side of the village of Virgin; Thomas Vanderham, 31, from Canada, has raced in every Rampage to date. “This year is my seventh time here,” says the charismatic rider from British Columbia. Vanderham has been dubbed the Roger Moore of freeriding, because of his oh-so-cool way of brushing the dust from his jacket after the wildest rides. He thinks this impression is wrong, “I’ve actually been badly injured,” he says. “I don’t sleep very well before Red Bull Rampage, even though I know what I have to do. I vividly recall the night before my first attempt; none of us had any idea. I didn’t get a wink of sleep. It was probably not the best way to prepare.”

he way to prepare, says Vanderham, is to focus on the strengths of, and avoid any weaknesses in, the composition of the course. The only fixed points are the start gate and the finish line; everything else in between is open, the possibilities for creativity endless. As a rider, during the Monday to Thursday before qualifying on Friday, and on Saturday’s rest day before race day on Sunday, you can dig, and irrigate as much as you want; you can build with wood and stone, and you can grab as many helping hands as you can find. It’s your mountain, your line, your will, your skill. Your madness, your demons. Your fear, your body, your limits. Your run at Red Bull Rampage—it’s you. Vanderham doesn’t compete regularly. These days, he’s more into making mountain biking videos and traveling. “The only exception is Red Bull Rampage,” he says. “I’m real good at the wide, fast jumps. I love big mountain races, extreme terrain.” Ever tried a backflip? “Once or twice, but it feels weird hanging upside down under the bike. I’m more into the long jumps.” As a logical consequence of his preferences, Vanderham and his

First a battered ankle, then some painkillers, followed by a wild crash, more painkillers: The indestructible Gee Atherton ends up a spectator. He’ll be back in 2013.

THOMAS VANDERHAM IS KNOWN AS THE ROGER MOORE OF FREERIDING, BECAUSE OF HIS DEBONAIR POST-FINISH REMOVAL OF DUST FROM HIS RACE GEAR. 44

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Itâ€™s a long walk to the summit, a long way home when you fall. Darren Berrecloth (left and far left) needed solace after his courage and imagination were no match for physics.

There were many crashes in qualifying on Friday. Kenny Smith stayed down for a worryingly long time.

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backup troops build a landing on the opposite slope, which is higher by at least 15 feet than that of the t-crossing, i-dotting Martin Söderström, who uses the same jump at this spot. The lanky Swede is making his debut at Red Bull Rampage, and the fact that he travels to Utah as the runner-up of the FMB World Tour doesn’t make it easier for him. It’s a case of all or nothing, especially since Semenuk is considered much more of a big-mountain specialist than Söderström with his dirt-jump background. In the lead-up to the event he suspected that Red Bull Rampage would be bigger than anything he had ever done before. The sheer size of the jumps, absurd gradient, and exposure of the terrain have put Europe’s best freerider under more pressure than he could have imagined. His strategy: survive the wild upper part and excel at the bottom, with its largely artificial obstacles. He hides his trepidation behind his wide smile, but those who watch carefully notice that Söderström is out practicing a good part of his course while everyone else is either tinkering around with their bikes or licking their wounds. In the midst of all the bike talk and dismissal of bruises is a chattering freerider who couldn’t care less. “It’s an important contest, but it’s just a contest.” Do you fear it? “No, man.” Excited, nervous? “Why, man?” Who will win? “Lots of the guys could, man.” Including you? “Totes, man!” Andreu Lacondeguy, undoubtedly one of the favorites this year, is letting off steam. As a rookie two years ago, he finished fourth after a gust of wind blindsided him and his bike on a

ON THE WAY TO VICTORY, HIS JEANS CATCH ON THE SADDLE WHILE HE EXECUTES HIS VERY LAST 360° JUMP. 46

backflip. The Catalonian is always accompanied by his brother, Lluis, a happy-go-lucky kid and a demon on a BMX. (To distinguish between them: Andreu’s knuckles are tattooed with LOVE DIRT, Lluis’s read RIDE BMX.) “I think Red Bull Rampage is less dangerous than other events,” says Andreu, “because you build your own takeoffs and landings and you don’t have to rely on the stuff brainless track builders usually come up with.” There’s a sense in the paddock that this year’s judges will be looking more for creativity and big-mountain skills. The days when bold idiots could gamble with a single killer trick are over. “In 2001,” Vanderham says, “you needed a lot more balls than skills. Today it’s more balanced.”

ee Atherton is on the other side of the ballsversus-skills debate. Despite his ankle injuries, he drags himself onto his bike at 8 in the morning on the day of the race, when the light is still clear and the spectators are few. The 60-foot drop he’s aiming to do is the biggest of his career. He hits an overhang with the right side of his body and head a good 30 feet above the ground; he blacks out momentarily—his helmet is covered in blood. It’s not a

Incredible endurance: Thomas Vanderham (above) has finished in the top 10 of every Red Bull Rampage.

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career-ending injury but a season-ending one. It is no coincidence that Red Bull Rampage is the last stop before the winter break. Semenuk’s line from the mountain is bold. Only he would contemplate riding it, let alone actually go through with it. However, a couple of careless mistakes send him crashing out in both his runs. Suddenly, the FMB World Tour is wide open. Vanderham slams out two more Roger Moore runs. With these he would very likely have won all Red Bull Rampages to date. In 2012, they enable him to post an impressive seven top-10 finishes. Van the Man is happy, and now looking forward to the ski season. Dark horse Lacondeguy makes two relatively unspectacular screwups. His chattering now has an angry undertone. He finishes fourth again. Söderström rides the steepest learning curve of the weekend. In his final runs, it is hard to imagine that this is his first time here. Although he rode a bike usually used by recreational and junior downhill riders, he makes the difficult upper section of the mountain look like a walk in the park. Below, he shines as expected—until the last jump. On the way to overall victory of the FMB World Tour, his jeans catch on the saddle while he executes his very last 360° jump, leaving his Björn Borg underwear exposed to the crowd. Söderström is pissed off, “but being the second-best freerider in the world is not so bad.” It means Semenuk is crowned winner of the FMB Tour. Other finishers: American rider Will White, on a bike that would have been considered scrap metal 10 years ago. Geoff “Gully” Gulevich, who makes jumps where other riders just feel their way. Gulevich’s fellow Canadian, Kurt Sorge, who knocks out two insane runs, charms the judges and wins the event. Best news for all concerned: confirmation of the 2013 event, again to be held in Virgin, Utah. www.redbullrampage.com

Kurt Sorge, winner, Red Bull Rampage 2012.

Watch highlights of Red Bull Rampage on The Red Bulletin tablet app. Download it now for free.

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SAILING AT THE

EDGE of CONTROL

High-speed catamarans and races so close to shore, you can hear the screaming onboard. Welcome to the new-look AMERICAâ€™S CUP, where success is measured not just by how far you push your boat, but whether you come out of it in one piece.

PHOTOGRAPHY: GUILAIN GRENIER/ORACLE TEAM USA

Words: Andreas Tzortzis

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T 50

Pitch-poled

After capsizing catastrophically during a training run on the San Francisco Bay, the Oracle Team USA AC72 drifted four miles out through the Golden Gate Bridge thanks to the tide. Oracle’s support crafts retrieved the boat, but the wing sail collapsed and broke into several pieces. It will take until the end of the year to repair.

PHOTOGRAPHY: GUILAIN GRENIER/ORACLE TEAM USA

he San Francisco Bay was typically frosty on a blustery weekday last October. A wind of up to 30 mph had whipped the 50-degree water into whitecaps, across which crisscrossed a fighter-jet-looking sailboat helmed by the America’s Cup champ and wunderkind Australian skipper Jimmy Spithill. Measuring 72 feet long with a carbonfiber “wing sail” 131 feet high, the boat has a racecar’s unbridled speed and crash potential. In the gilded history of the America’s Cup series in which it will be raced next summer, there has never been anything quite like it. “The performance of these boats compared to five years ago is staggering,” says Dirk Kramers, one of Oracle Team USA’s lead designers. “Five years ago you have keel boats going upwind in 9 knots (10 mph). You’re now going upwind in 20 knots (23 mph). It’s like running the 100-meter dash in the Olympics in 10 seconds and four years later running it in five seconds. It doesn’t happen very often in sports.” Welcome to the new-look America’s Cup, a broadcast- and crowd-friendly effort by sport’s oldest trophy series to bust out of the rarefied gin-soaked halls of yacht clubbery and appeal to a broader base. And it starts with the AC72. “It’s a little bit like going to the moon,” says Spithill. “You don’t really know what you’re going to get on the way.” Exhibit A: That fateful day in October, when a gust of wind hit the powerful wing sail hard on a turn and the front tips of the hulls dug into the water, beginning a slow capsize the sailors call “pitchpoling.” The helmets and armored Kevlar

“The performance of these boats is staggering. It’s like running the 100m dash in 10 seconds and four years later running it in five seconds. It doesn’t happen very often in sports.”

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vests the 11 crew members were wearing kept them from serious harm. But the damage to the $8 million boat was significant, with the wing sail collapsing in several pieces as the tide pushed the boat out through the Golden Gate Bridge. “We don’t want to do it again, but this is in the cards,” says Spithill. “It’s kind of like going to a car race and saying there’s not going to be a car crash. Because there’s a chance of that. That’s why these boats are so extreme.”

ince 1851, the America’s Cup has been the ultimate test for the world’s best sailors, requiring a combination of skill, design ingenuity, and deep pockets to challenge for the trophy. When New York Yacht Club’s America challenged the pinnacle of yachting prowess, the British Royal Yacht Squadron, the boat was the first to sport a narrow bow, or front, and a wide stern in the back. But it also had six showers and a galley capable of producing banquets. The century-plus since has brought a constant drive for innovation in the

design of the yachts. Australia II, the first yacht to wrest away the America’s Cup from the U.S. after 132 years in 1983, used lightweight carbon fiber, and a winged keel that improved maneuverability to great success. In 2010, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison invested millions in developing the most advanced boat in America’s Cup history. Not two- but three-hulled, the USA 17 featured engine-powered sail trimmers, was wired to collect data as it sailed, and featured a preposterous 20-story sail made not of cloth but of a construction of carbon-fiber ribbing and a Saran-wraplike material used on ultra-light airplane gliders. The wing sail was 80 percent larger than that of a Boeing 747’s wing and, helmed by the young Spithill, it blew competitor, the Swiss boat Alinghi, away. “This stuff is scary. There’s plenty of things to keep me up at night, believe me,” says Scott Ferguson, a wing-sail specialist who worked on the USA 17 boat. “Sometimes it’s the stupidest, smallest thing that can go wrong. I go on the boats for the first sails, and we’re wearing helmets and I think, ‘Make sure you have your life insurance policy set.’ ” In 2011, Ferguson and other designers from the top America’s Cup teams got together in New Zealand and came up with a design for a new boat: A 45-foot

Team New Zealand suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the 72-feet-smaller Stars & Stripes, of the San Diego Yacht Club.

Through the years

1851 AMERICA

1903 RELIANCE

1937 ENDEAVOUR II

CLUB New York Yacht Club LENGTH 98 ft. BEAM 22.3 ft. DRAFT 11 ft. WEIGHT 170.55 tons SAIL AREA 4,962 square ft.

CLUB New York Yacht Club LENGTH 139.5 ft. BEAM 25 ft. DRAFT 20 ft. WEIGHT 140 tons SAIL AREA 15,231 square ft.

CLUB Royal Yacht Squadron (U.K.) LENGTH 132 ft. BEAM 21 ft. DRAFT 14.5 ft. WEIGHT 163 tons SAIL AREA 7,104 square ft.

The boat that began it all. The first winner of the America’s Cup. And the first racing yacht in history to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The biggest ship ever built for the America’s Cup. The steel mast reached 197 feet. The mainsail alone weighed 1.5 tons.

Of the beautiful and stately J-class of sailboats, the ship ran into heavy storms while crossing the Atlantic to compete.

ILLUSTRATION: ALBERT EXERGIAN

Winning the Cup requires a combination of design ingenuity and deep pockets.

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1937: The U.S. boat Ranger (left) beat Endeavour II.

David sailed Goliath into the ground—and ended up in court.

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES (3), KEYSTONE-FRANCE (2)

Stars & Stripes’ Dennis Conner and the Gipper.

The victorious Ranger was taken apart after the season and used for war materials.

America’s Cup History For 132 years, the U.S. won every America’s Cup regatta, countering Great Britain’s assumed superiority with technical innovation and professional preparation. In 1983, that reign came to an end when the Australians captured the Cup. (Handover was more difficult than anticipated, given the fact that the Americans

had long ago screwed the trophy into their cabinet.) 1988 marked another historical milestone, when the gigantic Team New Zealand boat was soundly beaten by the catamaran Stars & Stripes—72 feet smaller. The legal battle over the disparate design strategies led to a one-design class of sailboats.

The trophy of silver and tin measures 43 inches tall and weighs 40 pounds.

1958 SCEPTRE

1988 STARS & STRIPES

1992 AMERICA3

2012 AC72

CLUB Royal Yacht Squadron (U.K.) LENGTH 67 ft. BEAM 11.4 ft. DRAFT 8.8 ft. WEIGHT 30 tons SAIL AREA 1,722 square ft.

CLUB San Diego Yacht Club LENGTH 60 ft. BEAM 30 ft. DRAFT 9.7 ft. WEIGHT 2.8 tons SAIL AREA 1,792 square ft.

CLUB San Diego Yacht Club LENGTH 73 ft. BEAM 17.5 ft. DRAFT 12.6 ft. WEIGHT 16.23 tons SAIL AREA 2,829 square ft.

ONE DESIGN LENGTH 72 ft. BEAM 46 ft. DRAFT 14.5 ft. WEIGHT 6.2 tons SAIL AREA 6,242 square ft.

Dwindling resources following WWII led to a one-design class. The boats became significantly smaller.

The first catamaran to ever compete in the Cup. New Zealand protested the entry but lost that protest and the race.

The International America’s Cup Class (IACC) marked a quantum leap in design. Modern materials, more sail area, more speed.

An effort to broaden sailing’s appeal, the AC72s are fast and sail with only 11 crew boasting Olympic levels of fitness.

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Gennaker & Jib. The sail loft at Oracle Team USA has subterranean sewing machines to trim and repair the carbon-fiber sails, made by North Sails.

Wing. The same fabric used on ultra-light planes is stretched over a carbon-fiber frame. The sail area is about the size of a two-story house.

catamaran of carbon-fiber hulls, smaller versions of USA 17’s wing sails, and room for a crew of five. Small enough to be packed into a shipping container, the 45s would serve two purposes: as display models for a form of America’s Cup racing where sailors need to prove their mettle on boats of similar design, and as a starter kit for teams planning the 72-foot boat. Guiding their efforts is a 45-page PDF document that sets ground rules on materials and dimensions, a designer’s bible if you will. The margin of victory can be decided in the wiggle room designers find within that America’s Cup– issued document. The number of elements on the wing sail, for example, or the shape of the daggerboard that slides in and out of each hull, and the layout of the trampoline across which the crew moves when switching from side to side—all can make the difference between a first- and last-place finish. “These boats, you still have design and engineering pushing the envelope. But on the sailing point of view, these are Formula 1,” says Spithill. “The harder you push them, the faster they go. But you cross the line and there’s some big consequences.”

The AC72 This will be the first America’s Cup regatta where all the competing boats have a wing sail. The AC72 will reach speeds over 30 mph. Competitors for sport’s oldest trophy can expect to spend $30 million to $100 million building the boat.

1 AC72

Size Matters Oracle Team USA’s last America’s Cup entry (in 2010) featured a wing sail 80 percent larger than the 747 wing. But the AC72 is only slightly larger.

www.americascup.com Check out the free Red Bulletin tablet app and watch the AC72 get airborne. Plus, get a closer look at the secret Oracle Team USA boat workshop.

Boeing 747 Wing

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“It used to be like watching paint dry.” Why this America’s Cup needs to be different.

rguably the most successful competitive sailor in the history of the sport, Oracle Team USA’s Russell Coutts is working on a new legacy: bringing the world’s oldest trophy into the 21st century. The newlook America’s Cup features lightningfast boats of one design racing on quick courses in the San Francisco Bay, one of the most windy and intimate arenas for the sport in the world.

PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERON BAIRD/RED BULL CONTENT POOL (4), GUILAIN GRENIER (2). ILLUSTRATION: ALBERT EXERGIAN

Daggerboard. If the boat hits speeds upwards of 30 mph, the daggerboard will help the boat hydrofoil, a potential game-changer. Its design is one of the most closely kept secrets among teams.

Hull. Made of carbon fiber and an aluminum honeycomb layer of the kind used in F1 cars.

What should people new to the sport expect? First of all they should forget what they’ve seen in the past. The races are much shorter. The America’s Cup final [in September 2013] is going to be two races on the one day with a short race in between. The races used to be miles out to sea, and used to take forever to complete. They were in slow boats. It was technical, and to be inside the boats it was great. But it used to be like watching paint dry. Why was it so important to change? Most if not all the sports these days, particularly in this economy, are challenged to get our costs lower and get the competitive platform better, by increasing the television ratings and increasing and broadening the audience. We just can’t have a sport that’s only there for the people who play that particular sport. It’s just not going to be commercially sustainable. We needed to broaden our audience, needed to make it more exciting and understandable. Who do you want to reach? My kids didn’t used to watch it. We were watching one of the races recently and my

11-year-old said, “I don’t know why I didn’t think this was interesting before. This is great.” Those were his exact words. If you don’t want a sport to die, you’ve got to engage with young people. Have you walked into a yacht club lately? They’re boring. We need to ramp that up. We need to get young people involved. It’s a place that’s full of 50- and 60-year-olds. I’m one of them. I’m criticizing my generation for not recognizing that and addressing it. We’ve got to adapt; we can’t be stuck in the past. How are the one-design boats helping you move in that direction? I brought some people in [to the warehouse] the other day, and they’re looking at it and thinking, “This is more like an aircraft.” And it is when you look at the aerodynamics. You don’t even think about that. You think it’s a boat with a white triangle on a blue background with a bunch of guys sitting around and having a beer. You know that’s the image that people have got. And you look at this thing and it’s just, “F**k, that’s a race boat, that’s a machine.” When you launch that, it’s almost a step into the unknown. The format for racing is split between match racing—i.e. one-on-one—and fleet racing. Which do you prefer? Look, I think the fleet racing is way better than the match racing. The America’s Cup started as a fleet race … and I think the America’s Cup would be better as a fleet race. That would be hugely controversial now. You’re taking amateurs on the boats with you, as guests. Why? Because we can. One of the guys said to me, “I thought I was going to come onboard and get handed a glass of champagne and sit in a comfy chair.” And you’re on there, and it’s edgy and quite violent. [Olympic sprinter] Michael Johnson fell off. He thought he could stand up walking across the boat. He obviously couldn’t. That’s a real experience, and that’s something unique for this sport.

Russell Coutts

The New Zealand native has won the Cup four times.

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NEW YEAR, NEW STAKES

THE CREAM OF THE ACTION SPORTS CROP ON FAME, FEAR, AND GLORY AS THEY TAKE ON 2013 (WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM TERRY RICHARDSON). WORDS: ANDREAS TZORTZIS & ANN DONAHUE 56

PHOTOGRAPHY: TERRY RICHARDSON

ROBBIE MADDISON We could talk about the stunts: Jumping up the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas on a bike—and then back down. Hurling himself over the harbor in San Diego on New Year’s Eve. Flipping through the air with the greatest of ease at X Games. Or we could talk about the injuries: Several concussions, a busted hand, countless cracked ribs. Both metrics are a fair measure for the unequaled daredevil. And if all that wasn’t enough for him to hang a big ol’ badass diploma on his wall: He also did the motorcycle stunts in the recent James Bond movie, Skyfall. FAME To be recognized and respected; with this comes a unique opportunity, because through influencing and leading others you can make changes for the better. FEAR It’s in us all, but it’s something that can be worked on and overcome. GLORY It’s recognition and celebration of a great achievement. 2013 I want to bring a new vision and format to FMX. I also want to further develop an invention I have been working on and continue to change the game in the motorcycle world.

BRYCE MENZIES The cliché, of course, is that boys love playing in the dirt. But not many 25-year-olds can make a successful career out of it. Take a big ol’ truck and race it off the pavement, and Menzies is the guy you want behind the wheel to push the machine to its limits. The TORC champion in 2011 and 2012, he also finished first for two years running in the Baja 500’s grueling Trophy Truck category. FAME The privilege to have people know who you are and to be able to influence their lives. FEAR There is no room for fear in my life, because I have to stay on the edge to stay competitive. GLORY Hard work and perseverance on reaching your goals and making it to the top. 2013 I want to hold on to my short course No. 1 plate, win the Baja 1000, and also make a name for myself in Global Rallycross.

“TERRY WAS GOING TO MAKE ANYTHING YOU DID LOOK GOOD.”

LOUIE VITO One of the most fit athletes in snowboarding, Vito has only improved his prowess on the halfpipe since the 2010 Olympics, when he finished off the podium. The Ohio native was halfpipe champ on the Dew Tour last year and is looking for more this year. He’d never shot with Richardson before, but “the whole thing was a lot more laid-back than I thought … he was gonna make anything you did look good.” FAME To be recognized for what you do, who you are, and how you carry yourself. FEAR An obstacle in the way of achieving a goal or objective. The bigger the fear, the better the feeling you get after you have overcome and achieved that goal. GLORY The feeling you get when all the hard work, dedication, sacrifices, ups and downs pay off. 2013 I want to win everything and anything I do anyways. I have won Dew Tour before, but I want to win it again. I always wanted to win the U.S. X Games because I never have, and the U.S. Open because I never have. But I also want to win Euro X Games, even though I’ve won it before.

“I’M NOT A BIG FAN OF IT, BECAUSE MOST OF MY FRIENDS ARE JUST MY FRIENDS BECAUSE OF MY ‘FAME.’ ”

ASHLEY FIOLEK After first getting on a motorcycle when she could barely walk, the 22-year-old is now the four-time champ of the Women’s Motocross Association, as comfortable getting down and dirty on a bike as she is fending off throngs of boys with a politely worded buzz-off text message. She was the first woman to be signed to the American Honda Racing team—and doubtless the first motocrosser, male or female, to get a spread in Vogue. And not that it matters, really—and Fiolek makes damn sure it doesn’t matter—she’s been deaf since birth. FAME I’m not a big fan of that word because usually most of my friends just are my friends because of my “fame.” FEAR Fear is something that I like to challenge myself with every day. Fear is tough, but I always try to face it. GLORY Accomplishment. 2013 I want to win all rounds at the Global X Games.

JULIAN WILSON A pro since the age of 14, the Australian big-wave charger created the deliciously named “sushi roll” (Google it), and took some time last year to take on a big wave at the treacherous Teahupo’o in Tahiti. So, talent, fame, and, of course ... looks, with banshee-like screams greeting him at every stop on the ASP Tour. FAME I don’t feel like I’m “famous.” Sure, I get recognized at all types of different locations and sometimes very surprising locations, which is cool, but a little surprising as well. I’m not sure what happens or if there’s a time when someone stipulates you are actually famous, but I don’t think I’m there yet. FEAR I really like big waves! But in saying that, when the waves are enormous there is definitely fear inside of me, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m more afraid of things out of my control. I’m confident that if I’m in a situation where I can control the variables, then I will always be fine, but it’s those damn “uncontrollables” that scare me! GLORY I’m not chasing glory, but I am chasing success. 2013 I’ve had a good taste of success in 2012 and really want to carry that over to 2013.

“I LIKE TO FEEL FEAR. IT’S CHALLENGING TO CONTROL, BUT I BELIEVE IT CAN EMPOWER PEOPLE.”

MAYA GABEIRA Few people, let alone women, do what the 25-year-old Brazilian does with regularity in the ocean. The five-time winner of the Billabong XXL Big Wave Award has been chasing and riding giants since she was an 18-year-old waitress newly arrived in Hawaii. Along the way, she’s encountered a few nasty spills and comments from the boys who rule big-wave surfing. FAME Only positive if one can do good with it. In sports, I guess it can be recognition, which is good. But never focus on fame. It should only be a consequence of your work, if you do work under the spotlight. FEAR I like to feel it. It’s challenging to control, but I believe it can empower people. Fear is part of life, and its what we do with it that is the most important. GLORY To me, glory can be the moment after riding a big and memorable wave. When I get safe to the channel and all emotions and adrenaline are running fresh, that is a moment of glory. It’s a pure and strong moment that can only be achieved through my own work and commitment. 2013 Looking forward to riding some bigger waves. Still dreaming about paddling Jaws on the right day and conditions.

TERRY RICHARDSON

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES

As the product of fashion photographer Bob Richardson and Hollywood High, Richardson is at ease both behind the camera and connecting with the A-listers and freaks he photographs. His flash-lit style on a simple background demands his subjects come out of their shell while in front of his lens. He coaxes, he cajoles, he flirts until he gets the shot. The photos in his books Kibosh and Terryworld feature full-frontal nudity and simulated sex acts. Though polarizingâ€”to put it mildlyâ€”his gritty and intimate style has become de rigueur in the magazine and advertising worlds in the last decade, with many imitators riding his coattails. Eager to shoot the world of action sports, he paired up with Red Bull athletes to give us this portfolio of the unsung heroes of the extreme scene. They were happy to oblige.

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elcome to Matehuala” reads the monumental cement arch that greets visitors. Truth is, this fall morning, there’s little to welcome you to this mournful city. There are two inns—El Trailero (The Truck Driver) and Las Infieles (The Unfaithful Ones)—as well as junkyards, old tire lots, and mounds of trash and litter that an old farmer sorts through so his goats can chew on the thin slivers of grass that sprout from the nooks and crannies on the sidewalks and road. A little over two years ago, when it was still peaceful here, journalists from countries as far-flung as Holland, Brazil, Germany, and Argentina would travel thousands of miles to set foot in this city in San Luis Potosí, a state in northern Mexico. Amid a region that’s been sterilized by drought, their cameras focused on a colorful extravagance: Los Parranderos, Los Socios, and other teen groups who had popularized a genre of music known as tribal guarachero—a mix of electronica, cumbia, and preHispanic sounds—with dances held at private clubs. Along with the music, among the scene’s most appealing characteristics were the dancers’ “pointy boots,” whose tips, up to 6 feet long, were used in intricate choreographies. But now, those quirky stories out of Matehuala compete with news steeped in misfortune, as is common in Mexico: The morning of August 12, the city’s newly elected mayor, Edgar Morales Pérez, left a wedding held at the Club de Leones. He was intercepted by armed men and murdered. 64

DANCING IN

NARCOLAND From small-town Mexico to big-city USA, the dance style known as tribal is offering a generation on both sides of the border respite from the narco wars ravaging Mexico. In the clubs and on the streets with the pointybooted guaracheros. Words: Aníbal Santiago Photography: Katie Orlinsky

LOS PARRANDEROS BRAG OF THEIR FEMALE FOLLOWING. “THEY KISS US, THEY HUG US, THEY GRAB AT US. YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO GET THEM OFF.”

“OUR HIP-HOP”

We take the desolate La Dichosa Road, south of Matehuala, to find Los Parranderos (The Partiers). Under a furious sun, a blue Grand Caravan truck, old and run-down, veers off the road, raising a cloud of dust, and stops. When Pascual Escobedo, the leader of the group, opens the window to greet us, the car’s stereo booms with norteño accordion, the chun-ta-ta of the drums and a refrain that says: “You make me feel butterflies in my stomach when my cell phone rings and I see it’s you.” Pascual, Miguel, Jonathan, Erick, and Luis—the first group to break out with the choreographed tribal guarachero dance in northern Mexico—step out of 66

the car. They’re in front of Mesquit Rodeo, an imposing club in the middle of the desert where three years ago— dressed in identical, all-blue skinny jeans, T-shirt, pointy boots, and hats—they won their first tribal disco contest. From that night on, they became tempting fruit for hordes of women who gather to watch and maybe even sample when they appear at fairs, discos, and rodeos. That’s why they don’t bat an eye when two girls walk up—who knows how they found out that they would be here for a photo shoot? Lucy Méndez, an outgoing girl from Texas, poses for shots with her idols, showing off the attributes that emerge from her revealing black top. “For Mexicans in the U.S.,

tribal is our hip-hop,” says the 30-yearold, who gazes raptly at her Parranderos as she whispers with the other fan. Mayra Rivera, 23 years old, wearing Bermuda shorts and a white smile, sneaked out of her job as a store clerk just to catch a glimpse of them. “They look tough but they’re sweet, and with those tight pants, I get excited,” she laughs, blushing as she surreptitiously checks out her five temptations, decked out in black and pink pointy boots and T-shirts stamped with giant beer bottles. Like veteran cowboys, Los Parranderos walk alongside the bar, the dry ground arid under their feet. They pose for the picture hooking their thumbs over their pockets, with toughguy faces, laughing at some innuendo and looking at the camera sideways, like TV heartthrobs. “Women,” brags 18-yearold Erick Castillo, hair spiked up with gel, “look for us in hotels all the time.” “They kiss us, they hug us, they

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Left: Los Parranderos show off their many talents. Above: Jonathan Castillo practices his dance moves at the Mesquit Rodeo. Below: Miguel Hernández motors around his native city.

grab at us—you don’t know how to get them off you,” adds Escobedo. But soon, that reality that blends desire, dance, music, dames, and money—in other words, the dream of a better life—could disappear: Drug-war violence is encroaching, severely curtailing nightlife across the region. Pushed northward along with others in search of shelter, the tribal movement has crossed the Río Bravo to plant roots in Texas.

“I LIKE YOUR BOOTS”

With his pants clinging to his meaty thighs and a golden cross hanging around his neck, Joel carefully watches the packed dance floor at Kalúa, a club in northern Dallas. He’s serious, unflappable, oblivious to the dozens of succulent women twirling around him on the prowl for brave macho men. His gaze is brusque. “Why are you wearing those boots?” I ask, pointing at his black “pointys.” He answers disdainfully: “Maybe it’s because the girls say: ‘I like your boots.’ ” His three friends, standing silently by with their feathered hats, nod as if this were a universal truth. “Let’s hear it for Tamaulipas … Zacatecas … Chihuahua!” a voice shouts over the PA, and the crowd that on this Saturday night came to Mexico—even if it’s in Texas—answers with loud screams every time they hear the name of their town. Up in the sound booth, the DJs lower the volume of romantic norteño singer Julión Alvarez to push up a mix of DJ Tetris and 3BallMTY, the group that put tribal music on the map. The trio of DJs who popularized tribal guarachero have taken the sound everywhere, becoming one of the most popular acts in Mexico and even garnering a Latin Grammy nomination in 2012. Six years ago, Erick Rincón, Sheeqo Beat, and DJ Otto played at parties for teens in their city, Antiguo de Monterrey. But their local scene started dimming in 2011. “One day,” says Rincón, “I was going to play at the Arcoiris bar, and I couldn’t make it because 67

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drug dealers blocked the road with a bus.” Fortunately, the world opened up for them recently with the video for their song “Inténtalo,” and now, at 19 years old, 3BallMTY (short for Tribal Monterrey) have performed at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Worldtronics in Berlin, and El Zócalo in México City. It was their ticket out of the violence that surrounded them. Back in the club, women are clinging to men’s necks and unlock their hips as they continue their ritual tribalero dance: The couples dissolve, and now all the dancers gyrate counterclockwise around the perimeter of the dance floor. They advance in slow motion, elbows bent, a Corona with lime wedge in hand. They take tiny steps, as if not to disturb with expansive moves the addictive flow of this electrocumbia that travels through their bodies. “Regional Mexican used to be hat, banda, and corrido; tribal modernized it,” says DJ Nando, his hands over the console. “With tribal, women are more forward,” adds DJ Shaggy, who leads the night in this sea of hats full of sweaty girls who— punished by the effects of American fast food—gasp for air. There are 8 million people of Mexican origin in Texas, 30 percent of the state’s population, and it doesn’t take much to attract throngs of Tex-Mex teenagers from Dallas and the suburbs to the tribal contest. The rotation goes on. No one laughs, no one shouts, no one loses form. Once in a while some young guy with the Virgin of Guadalupe embroidered on the back of his black shirt ambles to the center of the floor and takes a couple of dance steps. And although the ambience is Mexican, the law is American. At 2 a.m., the party ends.

“THIS IS WHAT I SOWED”

The F-150 Ford, Ram 1500, and other flashy trucks that pack norteño disco parking lots at night, prowl down dusty Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas’s major thoroughfare for Mexican commerce during the day. They often stop at number 11253, Gómez Western Wear. “So, you’re the one with the e-mails?” asks Vladimir Gómez, the young owner from Michoacán, as soon as I set foot inside. “I threw them away. Everything that comes from Mexico I throw in the trash.” “Why?” I ask. “The way things are over there, you never know who you’re dealing with,” he answers. Every inch of the store—walls, floor, stands—is packed with product designed to make Mexicans dress “like Mexicans.” In two words: boots and hats. On a 68

THE BANDS ARE SURVIVORS NOT ONLY OF THE MUSICAL GENRE BUT OF THE VIOLENCE AFFLICTING ALL OF NORTHERN MEXICO.

Above: The Erika shoe store, where pointy boots are manufactured. Right: Custom models are made for men, women, and children.

vertical shelf, 40 pairs of Innovation pointy boots make up a brilliant tower of color, the only bright spot in a store dominated by brown leather. There are purple, silver, red, and blue pointys, made of satin and sequins, with lights, golden hooks, rhinestones, and fake diamonds. Gómez was a waiter up until 2000, when he started selling pointy boots. A pair can fetch up to $800, and the quality is evident in two attributes: On one side, he uses tanned calf leather, which makes the point firm and flexible; on the other, he uses calfskin, which makes the shoe ductile and comfortable. The length stretches as far as the imagination: “I’ve made up to 6 feet,” he says, “so you can grab the tips without leaning down.” “Why are Mexicans so ostentatious?” I ask. “The American Dream Mexican can have what he would never have in Mexico: A good truck and a good pair of boots. When you buy them and wear them, you’re saying: ‘Look, this is what I sowed.’ ”

“YOU HAVE THE STYLE”

Three years ago, Los Parranderos began weekly rehearsals in the dusty streets of their neighborhood. They were getting paid to do wedding gigs and quinceañeras (Sweet 15 parties), and they soon became rock stars in and around Matehuala. One day in 2011, 3BallMTY’s Rincón wrote them a message on Facebook: “Guys, I want to do a video with you. América Sierra and El Bebeto will sing. You have the style.” Days later, Los Parranderos traveled to Monterrey. Fabled producer Toy Selectah gave them a sophisticated look for “Inténtalo,” a sexy video that has more than 31 million views on YouTube. Things exploded: Together with 3BallMTY, they packed bull rings in Coahuila, Nuevo León, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí. “Tribal in the street, tribal in the stores, tribal on radio, tribal on TV,” says Escobedo. “And girls would only look at you if you were wearing the boots,” adds Rincón. Tribal has since traveled to Central and South America, where 3BallMTY plays live: “These people all get our music via

Above: Tribal dancers from San Luis Potosí walk around one of the main streets of Matehuala. Left: Pascual Escobedo, Los Parranderos’ frontman.

Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube,” says Rincón. “It’s interesting: They feel a new calling for traditional music, because, for example, we blend in punta from Central America or cumbia villera from Argentina. They see themselves reflected in tribal and they get hooked.”

“WE WANT OUR VISA”

The pointy boots echo loudly inside the huge, dimly lit Mesquit Rodeo, with its cowboy chairs, Tecate logos, and wagon wheels on the walls. But there’s no party atmosphere as Los Parranderos get ready to rehearse. They’re serving as a musical diversion in the midst of the war against drugs that has wounded San Luis Potosí, flagbearers for a fad that in its way has brought joy to a terrorized community. “If you spend your time dancing, you think less about joining organized crime,” says Escobedo. And even though Matehuala radio stations air tribal music daily, the dance shows have dropped dramatically. “We go out scared,” admits Escobedo. “No one drinks alcohol. We’re always together; we always travel on main streets. 69

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We hear about murders, bodies, and we think, ‘What if something happens during the show?’ You live in uncertainty.” The atmosphere in Matehuala is subdued; most people never speak out loud. To escape the fear, you only have to drive 210 miles north to Texas—the new tribal guarachero paradise. In the last few years, some 160,000 from San Luis Potosí have taken that route. “In one YouTube video,” says dancer Miguel Hernández, “a thug says: ‘Leave these little guys alone. They’re from my country, Matehuala, and thanks to them, Matehuala is doing better.’ But we want our visa. People are waiting for us on the other side.”

BLUE LAMBORGHINI

On the steps of the rodeo at Club Rio in Dallas, there’s a steady sale of snow cones, tacos de pastor, and nopal tortillas. The Sunday afternoon party is full of children. Even so, the host, “Don Pepe,” a big man with a red shirt and a double chin, can’t help taking a few digs at Mexico’s current situation: “The band that’s playing today doesn’t have a Grammy nomination, but a gram nomination, hahaha.” He lifts his beer toward a cowboy with a black hat, sideburns, and on his chest a giant medal of Jesús Malverde, a folk hero known as a “narco-saint” who aided the poor. “Boys, ’til cirrhosis do us part,” Don Pepe jokes. The man lifts his Corona in reply. He laughs and hugs his friends. In this ring in Arcadia Park, the five Dallas cops who patrol the area don’t bat an eye at what they see or what they 70

hear: “At 17, he already organized his army in school, he already had his BlackBerry, he’s backed by El Cheyo, bullet against bullet, the brain behind the bills,” are the words to “La Plomería,” a narcocorrido that plays minutes before the sun goes down. Like every Sunday evening, dozens of youngsters listen to tribal on the dance floor inside the enormous hangar. They can do one of two things: Play tag or try their little dance steps. If their boots don’t grab the slippery floor, they’ll trip and hurt their knees. But they’ll never lose their hats, which they immediately grab and put back on as soon as they fall: A tribalero kid must look the part. Take Carlos Zaragoza, 9 years old and six-time winner of the Kiddie Tribal contest. Overweight and all, he dances with the agility of a cat. And there he is, winning $100 here and there to make his dream come true: “I’m saving my money so I can grow up rich and buy a blue Lamborghini,” he says excitedly.

THE KING OF TRIBAL

Payasos, Plebeyos, Alterados, Socios … Matehuala is a breeding ground for tribal groups. Between police operatives, sirens, and the silent fear of its inhabitants, the booted ones defend their right to do great things with their long, colored feet. Today, for example, Fernando Martínez, leader of Tribal Matehuala, has parked his spectacular black convertible Pontiac in the middle of the city. “Can I take a picture of you on the hood?” asks the photographer when she

Above: At the Kalúa Club in Dallas, Mexican-American tribal fans make the traditional rounds of the disco floor. Right: Dancers with pointy boots get frisked before they enter the club.

Left: There are close to 8 million people of Mexican origin in Texas. Each week, hundreds of them crowd the Dallas clubs where tribal has become king on the dance floor.

notices him—muscular thighs, cologne, skin-tight T-shirt—walking by with his fluorescent pointy boots. “Too many lookie-loos,” he complains, but still agrees to do it with a nonchalance that quickly disappears. From the crowd that forms to see him pose steps out Karla, a black-eyed beauty in tight pants. She looks at him flirtatiously, and he responds by inviting her to pose with him. She smiles and collapses into his firm biceps. “With my boots and this,” he says, slapping the car, “they can’t resist.” But with Tribal Matehuala, Martínez breaks rank. “The original tribalero with shirt, feathered hat, and pointy boots is gone. Let them criticize us. That makes us famous,” he says. Martínez refuses to wear hats, often switches his boots for “tribal sneakers,” and his group includes two women, which refutes the taboo that only men can dance tribal. Martínez, like Los Parranderos and other local bands, are survivors not only of the musical genre but of the violence and the drought of opportunities that afflict all northern Mexico. What they do is link to a

more normal life, far from drug lords and danger. At least while they dance. A few blocks from here, in the same place where earlier we encountered 30 armed policemen looking for suspicious activity, we’re meeting Los Parranderos to take the last photos. On the lonely corner of Juárez and Cinco de Febrero, young brothers Ángel, Isaac, and Itzel are surprised to see the group putting on their boots on the sidewalk outside their house. “It’s Los Parranderos,” whispers their mom, Rosario, from her doorstep. A minute later, as the dancers pose in front of a graffiti-painted wall, 3-year-old Ángel hands me a cell phone. It’s playing a video: “Look how you dance this rhythm/with a foot here and there/with these long boots, that’s how you dance, dance tribal,” goes the song by El Rey del Tribal, featuring Los Parranderos. Dirty and snot-faced, the little boy looks at me and begins to gyrate with his arms and feet: He wants me to see that he, too, dances tribal. Put on your botas picudas: twitter.com/3BallMTY

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The Racemakers Before the Dakar Rally, a reconnaissance team drives the length of the course to compile the guidebook for the drivers. Ahead of the 35th Dakarâ€”the fourth since its move from Africa to South Americaâ€”The Red Bulletin called shotgun on this extraordinary exploratory expedition. Words: Christophe Couvrat

Photography: Heinz Stephan Tesarek

GPS coordinates, inch-perfect mileage, all potential obstacles noted with military precision. Nothing left to chance.

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BRAZIL

PERU LIMA PISCO

hen you’re traveling at speeds of around 80 mph and conditions are more off-road than on, the slightest bump in the road could be fatal. Yet when dangerous-looking ground rapidly fills the windshield of a 4 x4 piloted by two veteran French motorsportsmen as they map out the course for the Dakar Rally, there’s no panic. Jipé, in the driver’s seat, whispers something across to Jacky as he makes two swift pedal maneuvers. Jacky makes a note in the book in his lap. These two men know each other, and the terrain, better than anyone. You might call Jean-Pierre “Jipé” Fontenay and Jacky Dubois an “old couple,” but don’t let them hear you. Fontenay, a sprightly 55, has a sun-weathered face rich with wrinkles, but he still has that same beady eye and cast-iron grip that has seen him complete 21 Dakars, including victory in 1998. Alongside him is Jacky Dubois, an even sprightlier 63, who has raced so many special-stage miles, on the Dakar and elsewhere and everywhere, that he has lost count. When, as is the case now, he is creating the road book for a rally that each driver and, more particularly, his co-driver will use to navigate through the race, he uses three different-colored felt-tip pens, which are kept on the dashboard just in front of him, under a GPS device. In this car—a Toyota Hilux that the two men refer to as “The Toy”—there is a brake pedal under his right foot. Sometimes it’s one, sometimes the other who stops the car. But it is Dubois who notices the slightest changes in terrain. Every bump, ditch, trench, rut, dip, stretch of water, patch of water ... It all gets noted down, hand-written in, drawn on.

NAZCA AREQUIPA 1

BOLIVIA

ARICA

PACIFIC OCEAN

CALAMA

SALTA Atacama Desert

SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMÁN

COPIAPÓ FIAMBALÁ LA SERENA

LA RIOJA CÓRDOBA

SANTIAGO DE CHILE

ARGENTINA CHILE

What’s the plan?

Jean-Pierre Fontenay (left) and David Castera getting back to Dakar basics. Even in this era of GPS, in the high plains of South America, the two sometimes use a good old-fashioned paper map to work out where they are.

Fontenay has racked up 21 Dakar rallies. Dubois, sitting next to him, has lost count of how many rallies he has been in.

Any bump, ditch, trench, body of water ... it all gets noted down and drawn in. STEEP-SIDED ROAD In Argentina, Dakar 2013 participants will discover stunning landscapesâ€” such as this one, just a few miles away from the wine-growing area of Cafayate, in the north of the country.

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The Toy comes to a halt; it is Fontenay on the brakes this time. Dubois is the judge investigating the road. The two men come to an agreement on the 18 mph danger zones, a compulsory one for the book whenever the racecourse passes through a village. At each feature, GPS coordinates, distances to and from other features on the course, and the level of difficulty and any potential obstacles, are all noted down with pinpoint accuracy. On paper, using the felt pens. “Even if we provide a glossary in all languages for foreign drivers,” says Dubois, “nothing’s as good as a drawing.” This is proof of the old adage about experience and there being no substitute for it. David Castera, the Dakar’s sporting director, would not have his road book made any other way. “Obviously, we have to come up with the best road book possible,” says Castera. “We enter the GPS coordinates into the computer every evening. Sometimes we’re too tired, so it all stays in Jacky’s notebooks and we take care of it later, either when we’re on the plane or once we’re back in Paris [where the Dakar’s organizing company is based]. Let me tell you, we definitely don’t want to lose those notebooks.” During the rally itself, only a few top drivers will take the time to conscientiously study the road book every evening before drifting off to sleep. The others will either be up to their elbows in muck fixing cars, or out for the count. But it is unfamiliarity with the road book that causes more problems than anything else. “Take the motorcyclists,” says Castera, who came in third on two wheels in the 1997 Dakar Rally. “There are 15 who are really fast, 15 who are fast, and 200 who trundle along at a regular pace because they haven’t read the book.”

Getting off on the wrong foot

The reconnaissance missions aren’t all easy sailing. They might well provide a chance to wave and chat with the locals (below right and opposite page), but they can also hold some nasty surprises. Castera got the rear end of his Toyota stuck in a slippery, muddy stream (top right). Fontenay and Dubois towed him out with two ropes (one wasn’t enough). All in a day’s work, of course.

The thermometer reads close to 32°F at an altitude of 16,000 feet. Back down in the valleys, it’s showing 100°F.

Castera : “We’ll

sleep anywhere, and too bad if there’s no hot water coming out of the showers.”

BLUE NIGHT The border crossing at Calama, in northern Chile, is the last sign of life before Argentina and the Cordillera mountain crossing.

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You get up at 7 a.m. and go to bed at midnight. In between are 375 miles of tracks, dunes, and asphalt.

6th stage, Arica-Calama

Fontenay is a jack-of-all-trades. Consummate driver, occasional mechanic, and, here, camp builder in Chile, after a long day in the sand dunes. On the menu for that night’s dinner: red meat, cheese, salad, and vino tinto.

Castera is the right-hand man of Etienne Lavigne, the director of the Dakar. In November 2005, Lavigne’s predecessor, Stéphane Le Bail, was involved in a scooter accident; the 2006 rally was just two months away. Time was short. They had to get the road book finished, so Lavigne asked Castera to do just that. “All the work had already been done,” Castera says, modestly. He has been responsible for the making of the road book ever since. It’s a job with many potential pitfalls. Like last spring, for example. “We got stuck in the mud in the middle of the Valle de la Luna [a desert valley in western Chile] at an altitude of 11,800 feet. We didn’t have a satellite phone, and we were almost out of food and water. We had to walk 16 miles to get to the nearest village, by which time our feet were covered in blood. We stumbled across a couple of Americans who had come to make use of the world’s highest vineyards.” Even without telling those kinds of stories, Castera has the air of one of those guys who never gives up. He always has a word for everyone, is always thinking ahead. Up at 7 a.m. and in bed at midnight. In between, there is an average of 375 miles driven over all sorts of terrain: tracks, dunes, mountains, and asphalt. That’s the rhythm the reconnaissance guys work to on their four pre-race trips. A routine is essential in this work; after all, the safety of one of the world’s great races is at stake. “There are so many things to think of,” says Castera, as he makes notes in a notebook, for use at a later meeting. (Castera drives the route ahead of Fontenay and Dubois in The Toy; two support cars follow.) Here, in Calama, an area around the city of the same name in northern Chile, the place is awash with copper mines. The region is prosperous. After the ups and downs of the Peruvian dunes, the seventh stage of the Dakar takes the competitors through the Argentinian province of Jujuy and on to Salta, which means crossing the Andes at the San Pedro de Atacama border post. It is two days to go until Castera and crew have a day off. 78

Castera : “Entering

Chile will be the crucial moment for most competitors.”

GRAINS OF SAND The Arica region is named after a mystical city of legendary beauty. The dunes are not conquered easily here in the Atacama Desert: They stand dozens of feet tall.

Soaking wet, freezing cold, but full Sometimes you’ve got to know when to take the plunge. The Toyota dives straight in. Lit by “The Toy’s” headlights, the crew pose for the camera at an altitude of 16,200 feet, with temperatures close to freezing (opposite page). After a hot, much-appreciated meal (below), they’re on their way again.

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There’s not much oxygen up here and so the crew, and therefore their vehicles, are under some strain.

Crew’s Control A seven-strong team runs the well-oiled machine that is the recon mission. Two of them, Fran and Pablo, are the Argentinian reconnaissance men for the Amaury Sport Organisation, the French team that runs Dakar. Other local contacts serve as vital staging posts for the organization in Peru and Chile. Four times a year, the reconnaissance gang do the three-part “reconnaissance, work, sleep” mission. We asked each of the seven one question: What does the Dakar mean to you? Above from left JACKY DUBOIS (63), navigator, author of the road book: “Surpassing oneself.” PATRICK JUILLET (46), mechanic: “A huge human adventure made up of pitfalls, with a unique atmosphere. In Africa, we used to repair the cars and bikes in villages we passed.” JEAN-PIERRE FONTENAY (55), 21 Dakars under his belt, won it in 1998: “A 30-year-old human adventure.” ALBERTO GONÇALVES (56), nighttime head of the course command center: “The chance to live out my passion for rallying and 4x4s.”

ALAIN GROSMAN (51), in charge of the Paris command center: “The Dakar is a wonderful way to get to know yourself. The essence of it hasn’t changed. Thierry Sabine, the Dakar’s founder, summed it up very well back in the day. ‘It’s a race for amateurs where there’s also a place for professionals.’ ” FRANCISCO (31, kneeling) and PABLO (37, not pictured), alias Tic & Tac, are also involved with guaranteeing the safety of the 2,500 people who bivouac every night of the race: “We have been immersed in world rally since we were kids. We’re 100 percent devoted to the Dakar. It’s unique.”

Perched, for the most part, over 13,000 feet above sea level, this special stage is amazingly beautiful and amazingly difficult. After 25 very quick miles that pose no real danger, the toughest part starts: a harsh section with precipices and villages to negotiate, and all under the watchful gaze of shepherds and their llamas. Castera asks a local man, who seems to love chewing coca leaves, to point out where the road leads. “You can try over there,” he is told, and the recon mission sets off in Godknows-what direction. Soon, huge electricity pylons loom into view, as does the Tuzgle volcano, which reaches a height of 18,000 feet, with traces of lava visible on its mountainside. A little further along, the course passes under the highest train viaduct in the world, sitting proudly on the horizon in a steep valley. There’s not much oxygen in the air up here, at an altitude of 16,000 feet, and so the crew and their vehicles are under strain. Everyone is happy to stop for lunch at the small town of San Antonio de Los Cobres. Fontenay also takes advantage of the break to start a debate: “Soccer players aren’t motivated enough when you consider their salaries!” The argument gets going in earnest. “How much did Ari Vatanen or

Carlos Sainz get paid to compete in the Dakar?” someone asks, referring to two former winners of the race. “A huge sum in the hundreds of thousands of euros,” huffs someone else. After lunch, the team finds Ruta 40—the longest main road in Argentina, which stretches for 3,500 miles between Rio Gallegos, a port on the southeastern tip of the country—and takes it to the charming little town of Cachi, near its northern endpoint, where a cozy bed is welcome. Here, bellies are stretched again by delicious empanadas. Tonight will be a quiet night. In the race proper, many competitors will be suffering at this point. The seventh stage has 400 special-stage markers and 200 liaisonsection markers on roads 13 feet wide perched along the top of ravines 13,000 feet high.

he next day, with the two gas tanks in each of the convoy’s four Toyotas filled, the destination is Córdoba, in the center of northern Argentina, 430 miles away. More winding roads, ravines, rivers, and breathtaking landscapes. This is, without a doubt, the most beautiful stage of the 2013 Dakar. “We’re in for a treat,” Castera warns us. He’s not wrong. About 30 miles into the journey, the Toyotas enter the Calchaquí Valley, not far from the town of Laguna Brealito. Every view is beautiful. The French singer Jacques Dutronc sang “Le monde entier est un cactus”—the whole world is a cactus. Perhaps he was familiar with this part of South America, because it is packed with cacti small and large, long and twisted, short and fat, together in clumps or all alone. Every one is fiercely protected by the local authorities. On this, the first day of spring, there’s a mechanical breakdown. The bearing on the front left wheel of one of the Toyotas, not The Toy, has given up the ghost. Which doesn’t matter. Patrick Juillet, the mechanic, gets down to business. He takes the problem area apart, knocks it against his 4x4’s bumper and that is that. In the meantime, in the middle of nowhere, the team has remembered to eat. With their stomachs full, they enter the Quebrada de las Flechas valley, crossing the Calchaquí River several times. This landscape is pure Dante; Castera was right. The road from here, which runs from Cafayate to Córdoba, lets wine lovers take in the majesty of the local vineyards. Argentina, this country of pick-up trucks, has given back to the Dakar an air of nobility. ww.dakar.com Bring this year’s Dakar Rally to life in the free Red Bulletin Tablet App with a special interactive map of the course and behind-the-scenes pictures of Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Jacky Dubois in action.

FATE DOESNâ€™T ASK. IT COULD ALSO BE ME. OR YOU. David Coulthard.

13-time Formula 1 Grand Prix Winner and Wings For Life Ambassador.

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Contents 84. TRAVEL Dubai: It's not just for shopping 86. Get THE GEAR Miss the NHL? Get your fix learning about Bernd Brückler's goalie equipment 88. TRAINING Fitness tips from slopestyle pro Grete Eliassen 90. NIGHTLIFE Everything you need to get you through ’til dawn 94. THE LIST What’s happening around the globe in sports and culture 96. SAVE THE DATE Events for your diary 97. KAINRATH Our cartoonist

Photography: brian nevins/red bull content pool

98. MIND’S EYE Columnist Jeff Wise

Slippery slope: Agility is one of the keys to slopestyle skier Grete Eliassen's workouts. Get her training tips on page 88.

MORE BODY & MIND

SPECTACULAR TRAVEL ADVENTURES

Leaving the city for the high life

DUBAI Even in a land known for the fine art of luxury shopping, the great outdoors beckons.

Dubai

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

It was once a modest fishing village; today it’s considered the jewel of the Middle East. Thanks to oil exports, international trade, and tourism, Dubai has transformed itself into a land of luxury and excess. Since the late 1990s, the United Arab Emirates’ most populous city has earned a global reputation for commercial attractions and malls so large they require hailing indoor taxis. But while the shopping is a big part of the culture—you can’t beat a zero percent sales tax—there is more. Dubai offers a mix of futuristic architecture—including the world’s tallest building, the 160-story Burj Khalifa—lavish luxury, and Old World

Skydiver Jeff Provenzano gets a bird's eye view of Dubai.

culture. Just 40 minutes outside the bustling city you’ll find a landscape covered in sand dunes, where locals honor tradition and make their living raising camels, while falcons, desert foxes, and the Arabian oryx roam free. After a water taxi ride over the Dubai Creek you’re wandering through cobblestone street souks, haggling for deals on spices, gold, and Persian rugs while sampling pistachio-stuffed dates. The streets of Dubai are brimming with trendsetters. Even the women clad in traditional black burqas clutch the latest designer handbags. Locals greet you with a smile, excited to recommend their favorite falafel house or rave about the latest construction project, such as a moving skyscraper slated to continuously change shape with individual rotating floors. Travelers flock from India, Europe, and Asia to experience Dubai’s whitesand beaches, desert excursions, and urban amenities. But this tourism hotspot boasts an array of activities—many that don’t involve shopping bags.

WORDS: NICOLE PAJER . PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF PROVENZANO, NICOLE PAJER (3)

AWAY DAYS

Five out of the box (or, uh, out of the mall) ways to spend your time in Dubai 1 Skiing or snowboarding in the desert

With temperatures reaching up to 118°F, sweating is a typical accessory to a trip to Dubai. If you must dodge humidity with artificial air conditioning, why not hit the slopes? Dubai has its own indoor ski resort—five runs as well as a freestyle zone of rails and jumps. After throwing on your gear in a changing area that resembles a Colorado ski lodge, a quick chairlift ride provides you with 32,000 square feet of snowy terrain. There’s even a lodge at the top where you can grab a hot chocolate. While it doesn’t compare to conquering the moguls at Vail, Ski Dubai comes without wind, ice, and rocks.

www.skidxb.com

When you go camping, please remember that some 4x4s are furrier than others.

2 Sandboarding on the dunes

The sand dunes in Dubai are perfect for plunging down. Rent a sandboard (essentially a wax-free snowboard) from a local tour operator and locate a steepsided sand dune. Upon reaching the top of the dune, strap in, place your weight on your back foot, and sail down. The thrill is well worth the hike back up at the end of the ride. While sand is slower than snow, the rush of sandboarding comes from bombing straight down a dune; there is no turning or jumping involved, and speed is of the essence.

www.arabian-adventures.com

3 Skydiving with a killer view

Sandboarding in Dubai gives a whole new meaning to wearing board shorts.

If you’re going to be jumping out of a plane, you might as well have enticing things to look at on the way down. The primary dropzone in Dubai is located on The Palm Jumeirah, on a platform that extends into the sea. Jumpers free fall The weather outside is frightful, but inside it's quite delightful.

over the manmade islands that are iconic enough to be shown in every photo of Dubai. Red Bull professional skydiver Jeff Provenzano describes the experience as “skydiving over Tatooine, an alien planet from Star Wars, mixed with Bahama blue water.” In addition to enjoying the view, it’s common for participants to leap from the plane next to royalty, as Sheikh Hamdan, Dubai’s Crown Prince, is a frequent skydiver. www.skydivedubai.ae

4 Wadi bashing

In the arid summer months in Dubai, dried-up riverbeds (known in Arabic as wadis) make for an exciting off-road terrain. This sport, known as Wadi bashing, involves snaking through twisty riverbeds in specially crafted 4-wheelers. Wadi bashing is an adrenaline-filled rush that is similar to dune driving but involves bouncing over rocks and boulders instead of sand, which makes for a bone-shaking experience. The best time to Wadi bash is October to April, during Dubai’s dry season. www.dayoutdubai.com

5 Camping in the desert

While Dubai hotels are undeniably glamorous, there’s nothing better than sleeping under a sky painted with stars. Pitch your tent in a valley of dunes and watch a fireball sun set on a bed of pristine sand. Fly solo or experience the desert breeze on a curated overnight adventure where your camping experience comes with a side of BBQ, belly dancers, and endless puffs of shesha (what the locals call hookah). There’s something magical about “roughing it.” www.desertrangers.com

5 1

Tender mercies: Brückler’s bulging bag of essentials enables him to play in what is arguably team sports’ most dangerous position.

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GET THE GEAR A PRO’S ESSENTIALS

Hard target

Austrian ice-hockey goalie Bernd Brückler is paid to stop pucks that fly toward him at speeds approaching 100 mph. The contents of his locker keep him alive. 1. Wall goalie mask My mask is made from an extremely robust plastic that is also used in the making of cars. I came up with the design myself. It retraces my career: Austria, Canada, Finland, Russia.

11 8

2. Reebok PlayDry Performance underwear It’s cold on the ice, as you’d expect, and yet I sweat a lot. An ice-hockey goalie moves around a lot more than you might think, so the most useful thing about this underwear is its ability to absorb moisture.

3. Bauer skates I’ve stuck with this venerable American brand since my youth. The difference now is the skates I wear—size 13, extra wide—are custom-made and cost over $1,300 a pair. I have two.

WORDS: ULRICH CORAZZA. PHOTOGRAPHY: MANFRED BURGER

4. Warrior goalie stick Made in the U.S., like my skates. I’ve been using this type since the 2008/2009 season. Unlike many outfield players’ sticks, which are made of carbon, mine’s made of wood and fiberglass. I take three to every game, and get through about 40 in a season. 5. Brian’s goalie blocker Especially well-padded blocker, with high-density finger and hand protection, made in Canada by Brian’s, a small firm that provides a custom service to professional goalie clients like me. 6. Brian’s chest and arm protector Even though it’s heavily

padded, it’s light and doesn’t restrict my movements. 7. Brian’s catch glove I only switched to using this glove this year; Brian’s only makes goalie gear. The glove is light but well padded, and takes the edge off the hardest slapshots. 8. Reebok hockey pants These pants are already four years old and constantly need to be patched or sewn up. My team [Red Bull Salzburg of the Austrian Hockey League] has someone on staff who does that. Some of my teammates laugh at me in the dressing room when I wear these, but they’ve got character. 9. Brian’s shin guards Regulation, mass-produced white shin guards, as worn by most goalies. Their oversized look ought to unsettle forwards. 10. Reebok goalie box No part of a goalie’s protective gear is more important than any other. However… 11. Red Bulls jersey I used to play wearing number 30, historically a number chosen by players in my position. Legendary goalies Martin Brodeur and Chris Osgood both wore it. However, at Red Bull Salzburg, I’ve got jersey number 26. 12. Reebok hockey bag This huge, wheeled bag is almost 3 feet long and weighs about 55 lbs. when it has all my gear in it. www.redbulls.com/icehockey

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Eliassen’s off-piste experience stands her in good stead for slopestyle.

Harder, better, faster, stronger

Fitter, happier

TRAINING WITH THE PROS

GRETE ELIASSEN The American-Norwegian X Games gold medalist is a freeskier on a mission: Sochi 2014.

With slopestyle set to make its Winter Olympics debut in the Russian city of Sochi, Grete Eliassen is ahead of the curve. After being born in the U.S., she was raised in Norway, where skiing is king of all sports. But the 26-year-old returned to America in 2005, hitting the snowy slopes of Salt Lake City to embark on a new way of training. “To be a good freeskier in the past, what you did was ski a lot,” says Eliassen. “But in recent years, the sport’s really been professionalized; it’s getting more structured. “Slopestyle consists of 50- to 75-foot jumps, rails, and features called jibs that you do tricks off of, so your whole body has to be prepared to take the physical force of all that. Now, 50 percent of our training is on snow, 25 percent is strength and conditioning, and 25 percent is aerial awareness training on trampolines. But the creativity and freedom of freeskiing is still as strong as ever.” Eliassen also focuses on what she eats, reaping the benefits of getting out of her body what she puts into it. “I have to be really strict with my diet,” she says. “Over the last couple of years, I’ve been working with a nutritionist from the U.S. ski team and have noticed such a big difference. Getting your own nutritionist is important, as the plan will be very different for each person. I’ll eat light and snack throughout the day, then at dinner I hammer down the protein, grains, and vegetables.” 88

With competition season demanding athletes to put in up to 10 hours per day on the slope, it is off-season—June to October—that Eliassen builds the strength to take on the world’s best. SEVEN DAYS A WEEK Three-hour workout daily, including a dynamic warm-up for one hour: Bike for 20 minutes, then stretch, using a foam roller on the muscles before and after, which helps reduce lactic-acid buildup.

finished a run and I need to get back up and do it again.” SATURDAY, SUNDAY Two-hour hike or swim.“On the weekend, I try to keep it mellow and go for something easier.”

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY Strength: After the warm-up, free weights for two hours: Upper body, focusing on shoulders to protect against injury, followed by lower body, focusing on thighs to prepare for landings. TUESDAY, THURSDAY Cardio/core: After the warm-up, a bike session in two-hour intervals, in the gym or outdoors. “Running isn’t good for me and my knees, as I’m already doing so much impact skiing, so I stick to my bike. The intervals get my heart rate up above 180 bpm. That is high, considering I’m not an endurance athlete, but it helps at times when I’ve just

www.greteeliassen.com

To watch a video of freeskier Grete Eliassen, download the free Red Bulletin tablet app.

WORDS: RUTH MORGAN. PHOTOGRAPHY: ASHLEY BARKER/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, MIKE ARZT/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

WORK OUT

THDE N I T E L L U RE B ! P P S E A G A M I I NG V O M G N I E X T R AO

RIES O T S Y R R D I NA

CH OS T T A O C H P E E Y E XC LUSI V E

E E R F O DOWNL AD

www.redbulletin.com Find a list of all compatible Android devices at www.redbulletin.com

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Nightlife Whatever gets you through the night

DO IT Ice skating in the Big Apple ROMANCE: Skating in front of New York’s Rockefeller Center and its Christmas tree decorated with 30,000 energy-saving LED bulbs. Also available: a marriage-proposal package. SHOW TIME: The 122-by-59-foot rink is open every day from 7 a.m. to midnight, through April 2013. THE DOLLARS: During high season (until Jan. 7), tickets are $25 for 90 minutes, while skate rental will set you back $10.

OUT NOW

“We hugged each other, went ‘Pffft.’ ” Led Zeppelin What came next after that comeback.

It was the musical event of 2007: Led Zeppelin, the gods of hard rock, reunited for a single concert, 27 years after the band broke up in the wake of the death of drummer John Bonham. Some 20 million fans from all over the world applied online for tickets for the gig at London’s O2 Arena; according to the Guinness Book of Records, it was the biggest rush on concert tickets of all time. For all those who didn’t get lucky (and the 18,000 who did), Led Zep are now serving up two satisfying hours of that unique London show on record and on film. Why wait five years to release this? John Paul Jones, bassist: Five years is five minutes in Led Zeppelin time.

What was it like having Jason Bonham [son of John] on drums? Jones: Jason was great, because all the songs we played throughout the Zeppelin years, we would end songs in a different way, and so we would play something and say, “Well, how does this one end?” And we’d all look at Jason, and he would go, “Well, in 1971, you did this, and in 1973, you went into this ...” He has this huge, encyclopedic knowledge and it was just a real compliment. How did you celebrate after the show? Robert Plant, vocalist: I think we just hugged each other and went, “Pffft.” It was nuts that we didn’t do any warm-up gigs. That was the warm-up! Does that mean that fans can hope for another concert one day? Plant: Have you seen the film? Did you enjoy it? Then we’ve done our job.

Celebration Day is out now on CD, DVD and Blu-ray: www.ledzeppelin.com

THEY SAID IT...

“ I often think that the

night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. ”

Vincent van Gogh, painter (1853–1890)

COCKTAIL

Slow Dancer A drink super-quick in its preparation that guarantees guilt-free cocktail enjoyment. Conceived by the bar team at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria, the Slow Dancer is a five-fruit refresher that needs a slow hand only in its final flourish. The careful addition of cranberry juice—it’s a trickle, not a rush—will leave a glass glistening with a muddled red hue to rival any sunset Hollywood actors have ever walked off into. INGREDIENTS Squeeze of lime juice .5 oz. kiwi syrup 2 oz. apple juice 2 oz. lychee juice 3 oz. cranberry juice fruit skewer as garnish

CLUB PROPAGANDA

INSTRUCTIONS Pour the lime, kiwi, apple and lychee juice into a cocktail shaker. Shake briefly, pour into a glass filled with ice, then slowly pour over the cranberry juice.

PHOTOGRAPHY: KEVIN WESTENBERG, WARNER MUSIC, LAIF, PROPAGANDA CLUB, FOTOSTUDIO EISENHUT & MAYER

PROPAGANDA Bolshoy Zlatoustinskiy pereulok, dom 7, Moscow, Russia www.propagandamoscow.com

CLUB

“Diners just get up and start dancing.” Propaganda By day it’s a charming hipster restaurant; by night, it becomes a temple of dance and an absolute must-visit if you want to sample the best house music Moscow has to offer. When the club opened in 1997… We wanted to carve out a space in Moscow’s nightlife where the quality of the music comes first. Our inspiration was the Body & Soul parties by New York DJs Danny Krivit and Joe Claussell.

From outside, the club looks … Inviting, with its huge stainedglass windows that make you think of the cozy environment inside. Things really get going at … Midnight. That’s when the restaurant turns into a club. The transformation is fluid; people simply get up and start dancing. To pass the doorman you need … A positive attitude—and it won’t do any harm to know which DJ you are going to hear. We want people who care about the music. DJs are selected because … We like what they play and how they do it. They are house specialists from all over the world; in October, we had KiNK, Gerd Janson and Patrick Chardronnet. It’s considered packed when … We’ve got around 500 people in. Best nearby late-night snacks at ... Propaganda’s two satellites, Filial and Ludi Kak Ludi, both just five minutes’ walk from the club. Interview: Kirill Saldadze, club owner

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HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS (1989) It was the first movie that I ever watched in a movie theater. I must have been 4 or 5 when I first saw it, and I just remember being very terrified of being in a giant black box like that and having this giant silver screen shining down at me. This spearheaded my love of film, and my obsession of going to a theater to watch movies. Plus, the giant ant was really cool too.

TAKE 3

“I am a Batman fanboy” Passion Pit. Passion Pit’s Ian Hultquist walks us through three movies that shaped his love for film. Passion Pit’s lyrics tackle some pretty serious topics. In the band’s highly anticipated follow-up album, Gossamer, vocalist Michael Agelakos takes fans through his three-year battle with bipolar disorder—touching on a vast array of emotions stemming from his multiple hospitalizations and suicidal thoughts. Tough as they may be to sing about, the band’s multitude of intense experiences do result in exceptional tunes, such as the album’s current single, “Constant Conversations.” And while their lyrics may be heavy, life is not completely somber. Keyboardist/guitarist Ian Hultquist says he recognizes the importance of distractions to keep both himself and his fellow bandmates sane while on the road. The band is known to engage in occasional FIFA tournaments, but their main source of distraction is watching movies. Hultquist is a huge film buff; he lives for the movie theater and is pursuing a side career of scoring films. “Movies are something that have always been ingrained in me from an early age. They inspire so much of what I do and are something that are so natural to me,” he says, explaining that his most relaxed state is when he’s sitting down to work on a film score. The Passion Pit co-founder took a break from the road to share his three favorite films with us. www.passionpitmusic.com

THE 400 BLOWS (1959) The first time I saw it, I watched through almost the entire movie before realizing how completely enveloped I was in it. The ending caught me completely off guard. You are going along, following this kid through one mistake after another, and it just freezes on this one image, and that’s it. Aside from the acting and directing, the whole story and the whole way they are really able to put you into this kid’s life really opened it up for me.

THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) I am a huge Batman fanboy. So I can’t help but love almost anything that revolves around the character, but this also happens to be an incredible movie! I’m an absolutely huge Christopher Nolan fan—from his first movie following on through everything I’ve ever seen him do. It brought something to the character that not any other Batman movies were able to ever do.

LATE EATS

Beirut: Falafel The fried chickpea balls are synonymous with the Lebanese city. WHY BEIRUT? True, you could associate falafel with other cities in the region too, like Cairo, Damascus, or Tel Aviv. Indeed, you could say they’ve become a staple of street food in any one of the world’s metropolises now. But the cult is particularly noticeable in Beirut, and not for nothing are so many falafel stands around the globe simply called “Beirut,” which just goes to show that the falafel here is world class.

Photography: getty images, picturedesk.com, Kobal Collection (2), Fotostudio Eisenhut & Mayer

WHERE ARE THEY REALLY FROM? The fried balls are yet another Middle East political issue up for discussion. And maybe this part of the world would be a much better place if the conflict here was discussed in the same way the origins of the falafel are, that is to say with a hint of irony and tongue firmly in cheek. Some sources say they originated in Egypt as a dish Copts ate during Lent. And, yes, there are also copyright battles over them between Israel and Lebanon. But lots of other countries have those over national dishes too.

WHAT ARE FALAFELS MADE OF? You can give the balls an aromatic twist depending on the spices you use, but there are a few ingredients that you can’t do without, namely chickpeas, onion, and cumin; then they are seasoned with either parsley, garlic, or coriander and perhaps a little bulgur. Some people roll falafels in sesame before they’re fried and others put baking powder in the dough so that they become fluffy inside. They are almost always served with tahini sesame paste and hummus.

BEIRUT’S BEST FALAFEL We could make a list several pages long of the best falafel places in Beirut. But there are a few that come up time and again as leading the way: Falafel Friyha, M. Sahyoun, Falafel Abou Rami, and Falafel Tabbara.

FALAFEL RECORDS There have been numerous unofficial attempts at creating the world’s largest falafel, but the Guinness World Records Committee says the biggest ever was made in Beirut in May 2010. Chef Ramzi Choueiri made a falafel weighing in at 11,400 lbs. with the help of 300 students from Al-Kafaàt University.

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The List

6 4

December 2012/ January 2013

3 3 1 9

Sports

DECEMBER 6-16, 2012, TOYOTA & YOKOHAMA, JAPAN

FIFA Club World Cup

Which is the best club team in soccer? Each year, the FIFA Club World Cup brings the six continental champions together with the top team in Japan for a contest in Tokyo. For the last five years, the trophy has been in European hands. This year Chelsea of the English Premier League makes their FIFA Club World Cup debut after winning the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 2011/12. The London outfit will take on the likes of Auckland City (New Zealand), Monterrey (Mexico), and SC Corinthians (Brazil).

DECEMBER 29, 2012-JANUARY 6, 2013, GERMANY AND AUSTRIA

Four Hills Tournament For the 61st time, a quartet of high points situated in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany) and Innsbruck and Bischofshofen (Austria) play host to the aptly named Four Hills Tournament, an event high on the list of highlights on ski jumping’s calendar. Winning here is no easy task: A single mistake can ruin any chance of a good result, as all eight competitive jumps go toward the final score. Since 2009, the winners have all come from Austria—Wolfgang Loitzl, Andreas Kofler, Thomas Morgenstern, and, last time, Gregor Schlierenzauer. 3 Cyril Despres is gearing up for the Dakar Rally.

Can Chelsea be world champs too?

JANUARY, 1, 2013, MUNICH, GERMANY

ASP World Tour

FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

What better place for surfing’s top series to come to an end than in the birthplace of the sport? The Banzai Pipeline on Hawaii’s thirdlargest island, Oahu, is famous for its mighty and incredibly dangerous waves, which luckily for the spectators, break near the beach. It’s an exciting two-man battle for the title. Will surfing icon Kelly Slater take his world championship win tally up to 12 or will his closest rival, Australian Joel Parkinson, secure his first overall ASP Tour victory?

Ski races don’t have to be held way above sea level: This season, the Alpine Ski World Cup stars will also square off in Munich. The best 16 men and women from the World Cup lineup will take part in parallel knockout battles on a frozen racetrack in the heart of Bavaria’s largest city. As last year’s competition fell foul of warm weather, the 2011 winners—Croat Ivica Kostelic and Maria Pietilä Holmner of Sweden—will be defending their titles.

DECEMBER 8–20, 2012, OAHU, HAWAII

Gregor Schlierenzauer defends his Four Hills title.

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES (2), GEPA/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, PICTUREDESK.COM, RUTGER PAUW/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, MARCELO MARAGNI/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

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JANUARY 5-20, 2013, PERU, ARGENTINA & CHILE

Dakar Rally

DECEMBER 14-16, 2012, LONDON

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker rocks the boat.

World Memory Championships

DECEMBER 28-30, 2012, TOKYO

a world where most of us can’t remember 7 In our own phone number, there are people at the other end of the spectrum like Wang Feng, winner of the last three World Memory Championships. Cerebral athletes go head-to-head in memorizing exercises in 10 different disciplines, the toughest of which is “speed cards”: The quick thinkers have to remember the sequence of 52 playing cards and reproduce it as quickly as possible. The current record stands at an astonishing 21.19 seconds.

Comiket

Manga princesses, ancient swordsmen, colorful astronauts, and every kind of superhero. Fans dressing up as their favorite comics characters is called cosplay, and devotees create incredibly ornate costumes as close to the originals as possible. This movement has its origins in Japan, where the first Comiket was held in 1975, and now the largest cosplay convention takes place twice a year. The Comiket fair attracts 560,000 fans—many of them in costume. It’s a place for exchanging beloved comics and admiring glances.

6 DECEMBER 31, 2012, SENTOSA, SINGAPORE

Siloso Beach Countdown

year, the route of the most legendary 5 This long-course rally will run north to south for the first time, from Lima to Santiago, but still takes in the Atacama Desert, the driest on Earth. There are 14 stages and almost 5,000 miles for man and machine to conquer—and they only get one day off. Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel is Monsieur Dakar, having won the rally on his motorbike six times and another four times in his car, the most recent occasion being just last year. His compatriot Cyril Despres is aiming for a fifth title on two wheels.

To greet the New Year, a perfect stretch of beach of this idyllic corner of southeast Asia will be transformed into a dancefloor for 12 hours. DJs from the Café del Mar venue in Ibiza begin the evening slowly before upping the tempo as the clock nudges toward midnight.

Culture Dance takes flight as B-Boys meet Bach. DECEMBER 12, 2012, MOSCOW

Red Bull Flying Bach The crowd-pleasing blend of classical music and breakdancing winds up its 2012 in Russia, with stops in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Since May, the German b-boy crew Flying Steps has performed across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, including stops in such varied locations as Dubai, Prague, and Tokyo. The artistic director of the program is Christoph Hagel, originally known for staging operas in unique outposts—like Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” in a Berlin subway station.

DECEMBER 19-23, 2012, JAMAICA

S.S. Coachella

Coachella is one of the coolest music festivals in the country; indie rock icons like Radiohead and The Black Keys have headlined, and the crowd is a mix of savvy music fans and A-list stars. But so as not to make us wait until April for the main event in California, this a spinoff taking place in Caribbean waters. The likes of Pulp, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, and TOKiMONSTA will be performing aboard the S.S. Coachella cruise liner.

All dressed up, comic-hero style, in Tokyo.

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Save The Date December 2012/ January 2013 JANUARY 7, 2013

BCS Championship Oh, BCS Championship Game, we hardly knew ye. Actually, scratch that. Oh, BCS Championship Game, we know you all too well and totally hate you. The single-game college-football championship is going to be junked in favor of a much more exciting playoff format after the 2014 season. In the meantime, we’ll just sit here in our post-holiday food coma and watch one SEC team beat the hell out of another one. www.bcsfootball.org

Works from Jean-Michel Basquiat will be shown in San Francisco. DECEMBER 8, 2012-JUNE 2, 2013

Academy Award nominations You know why only really junky movies are released in January and February? Because the movie industry assumes you’re rushing out to see the class-act films that were just nominated for Best Picture, and not Tarantula vs. Helicopters IV. Going into awards season, the smart money seems to be split between Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, starring Daniel DayLewis as Honest Abe, and David O. Russell’s oddball comedy, Silver Linings Playbook. www.oscars.org

Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper star in Silver Linings Playbook.

The Logan Collection at SFMOMA It’s Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jeff Koons, oh my! “Don’t Be Shy, Don’t Hold Back: The Logan Collection” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will display selections from the extraordinary contemporary art collection of Vicki and Kent Logan. Kent Logan began collecting art in 1993 while he was working at investment bank Montgomery Securities in San Francisco—and the couple now owns more than 900 works, including 35 Warhols. www.sfmoma.org

DECEMBER 25, 2012

Christmas Day in the NBA The day features three big rivalry games on ESPN, all perfectly spaced out so you can thoroughly ignore your family, except during halftime. The Boston Celtics take on the Brooklyn Nets at noon EST, followed by the New York Knicks playing the Los Angeles Lakers at 3 p.m. The last game of the trifecta is a rematch of the 2012 NBA Finals when the Oklahoma City Thunder visit the Miami Heat at 5:30 p.m. www.nba.com

Have yourself a merry little Kobemas.

WORDS: ANN DONAHUE. PHOTOGRAPHY: PICTUREDESK.COM (2), GETTY IMAGES

JANUARY 15, 2013

ILLUSTRATION: DIETMAR KAINRATH

K A I N R AT H

s regularly as the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, Americans stage a mass migration to their local gym the first week in January. But like the mating flight of passerine birds, this dalliance with fitness is brief. By the following week, the sign-up sheet for the elliptical trainers is waning, and by Presidents Day the bottom of the yoga mat pile has returned to its long hibernation. This turn of events surprises no one. Like the ’60s-era Chevy Corvair, New Year’s resolutions seem engineered to break down. Yet we keep on making them, knowing full well how unlikely they are to pan out. Our persistence speaks to a deep reality of the human condition: We crave change, we believe that we are capable of change, and yet we find ourselves perennially in the same old rut. One study found that 90 percent of coronary-bypass patients go back to their old, unhealthy eating habits within two years of their operation. Another found that a substantial majority of dieters regain all their weight within a year—or wind up even heavier than when they started. We fail to change time after time because, quite frankly, human beings are profoundly overconfident about their own willpower. Psychologists call this failing “restraint bias.” We assume we’ll be able to bulldoze our urges because we’re bad at remembering how tempting temptation can be. When we’re full, we forget how irresistible that bacon triple cheeseburger is when we’re hungry. So we allow ourselves to walk into situations in which our willpower is going to be overwhelmed. That’s not to say that change is impossible. People do transform their lives, every day. But for the most part they don’t do it by relying on willpower. The key, it turns out, is to accept the need for a fundamental change and simply behave like the person you want to become. Instead of wondering, What should I do?, imagine the person you

Mind’s Eye

Being Is Believing Avoid resolutions this year. The secret to change is pretending you’re already there. want to be and ask: What would they do? This approach works because of the rather surprising way that our brains form self-judgments. Numerous experiments have demonstrated that when it comes to forming beliefs about our own character and proclivities, we don’t peer inward; instead, we observe our own external behavior. If we see ourselves carrying out a particular action—whatever the motivation—our self-conception molds itself to explain that reality. One researcher asked a group of subjects to take part in a contrived experiment in which they could win a sum of money. Afterward he approached the subjects and told them that he’d had to use his own paltry funds to subsidize the experiment. Apologizing, he asked if they wouldn’t mind giving the money back, so he could continue his research. A second group of subjects performed the same contrived experiment and won the same prize money—but weren’t asked to

give the money back. Finally, all of the subjects were asked to rate the researcher’s likability. It turned out the ones who’d given back their prize money liked him a lot better. The reason: In order to explain our own behavior to ourselves, we have to make assumptions about our own proclivities. I gave the guy money, the subjects subconsciously reasoned, so I must have liked him. Likewise, the most effective way to move toward change is to act like you’ve already achieved it. Don’t play mind games with yourself; don’t worry about affirmations. The way to become a fit person is to act like one. I’ve always found that the hardest part of exercising—the only hard part, really— is putting on my sneakers. Once they’re on, there’s pretty much a 100 percent chance I’ll go and work out. Why else would I have these shoes on? Obviously, you can’t change your internal reality overnight. But act out the change you want, and day by day, the weight of evidence will become undeniable. Before long, the person you pretend to be becomes the person that you are. For all the ridicule I’ve heaped on New Year’s resolutions, I must confess I’ve tried a few over the years. On Dec. 31, 2000, I vowed that I would give up smoking. Just before midnight, I took a long, last drag, and threw away the rest of the pack. The next day I woke up an ex-smoker—precariously. For the next few weeks, I’d eye the embers of friends’ cigarettes like a cat watching a canary. But I didn’t want to go back to being the person—the smoker—I’d been before the turn of the millennium. So day after day I stuck it out, until eventually I realized that my new identity had become concrete. Not only did I not want a cigarette, I couldn’t imagine wanting one. This New Year’s Eve I’ll celebrate my 12th year without a smoke. Jeff Wise is a journalist and the author of Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger.

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