databeautiful

“The historic city of St. Petersburg in Russia will soon be home to the tallest and supposedly ‘greenest’ tower in Europe. The UK-based architectural firm RMJM was given a go by the Russian gas giant to build the new Gazprom Neft headquarters in the former Russian capital.” (Via archinect.com.)

“The main tower ‘is to rise at least 300 meters (985 feet) into the sky and symbolize the growing power of the firm. It is also to be situated just opposite the famed 18th century Smolny Cathedral on the Neva River in historic St. Petersburg.’  (Via bldgblog.)

Contemporary Art Tops the Auction Charts, Business Week online, April 8, 2008.

Some quotes:

“New Indonesian and other Southeast Asian artists are commanding five- and six-figure sums for their work, which is being snapped up by collectors, galleries, and auction houses around the world.”

“Contemporary art is now the driving force of an auction house,” says François Curiel, the Paris chairman of Christie’s Europe.”

“On Apr. 2, French Culture Minister Christine Albanel announced a plan to revitalize the country’s art market by providing zero-interest loans of €5,000 to €10,000 ($7,865 to $15,706) for buyers.”

If you have not done this yet, spend some time playing with blogpulse (from Nielson BuzzMetrics). Whlle other web and social media measurement companies - such as m:metrics and Big Champaign - give you only little samples, saving their tools for paying customers, BlogPulse (at least for now) actually allows you to do some pretty impressive research. Try each of four BlogPulse tools.