Don’t Look Down!
Of course you do tours like this every weekend. This is really more about the photo than about the undoubtedly magnificent physical feat of climber Angela VanWiemeersch, who hangs here in a crack in Long Canyon in the US state of Utah, where only a little sun flashes through at just the right moment. Angela isn’t simply some climbing fanatic; she is in fact also a rope access technician. Meaning: wherever technical work has to be done at great heights – hanging banners, inspecting mobile-phone masts or clambering about beneath stadium roofs to carry out installations – she comes into play. The woman on the rope, where cranes can no longer reach. The photo of Angela VanWiemeersch was taken by Krystle Wright, an Australian who became the first woman to win the Red Bull Illume competition as the world’s best sport and action photographer.
Mighty Strong, Please!
How much do you weigh? A trim 85 kilos? Good. Then please bite down on the tow hitch of a Volvo XC40 Recharge with passengers aboard and swing the whole thing vertically into the air. That is exactly what the red ants in the photo manage, proportionally speaking – they can move objects 30 to 40 times their own body weight. We owe this incredible image to the boundless patience of photographer and videographer Ridho Arifuddin. Like countless others. Ridho Arifuddin lies in wait near his house in South Kalimantan (an Indonesian province on the island of Borneo), lures ants and other insects or amphibians with treats and in this way shoots the most fascinating macro photos. Follow him at @ridhoarifuddin_real. A young creative who lavishes so much attention on the tiniest inhabitants of the Earth deserves admiration in return.
How a (New) Star Is Born
Disney Channel, with its children’s and youth shows, is something of a treasure trove for new stars, a source that never dries up. Britney Spears came out of it, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, just to name a few. The newest start-up: Olivia Rodrigo from the series «High School Musical: The Musical – The Series». She is being carefully manoeuvred into pole position at exactly the moment when Swift-mania – Taylor Swift sang in 2009 in «Hannah Montana – The Movie» – is at its peak. A downturn is foreseeable, and the market needs fresh material that can be pushed to dizzying heights and then written back down again. A machine. A money machine. These kids certainly have talent, otherwise it wouldn’t work. And they have the luck of being in the right place at the right time, on the right channel. By US standards Olivia has only just come of age. May she come through this carefully planned career unscathed.
Nothing Is Sacred Anymore
Or: however you do it, you do it wrong. The photo is a snapshot from 2 February 2024, when Mario Irminger, president of the executive board of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FMC), had to field questions from a throng of journalists after a press conference. He had announced a «betrayal of Dutti» – at least that is how it felt to a shocked public. The central news: the cut of up to 1,500 full-time jobs at the FMC and the sale of various group subsidiaries. Has everyone forgotten that, ever since Irminger’s appointment, the press had pointed out how stale and ponderous Migros was, questioning whether the idea of the cooperative federation was even still up to date, and that some fresh wind should finally blow through the executive floors? Now someone does it, and even that isn’t right. Nothing ventured, nothing gained – another piece of wisdom. With this gambit Irminger may have laid the groundwork for a modern Migros, whose core business will run healthy, lively and above all affordable for all customers into the coming decades. Reliably. Nothing less is what Duttweiler, Migros’ founder, God rest his soul, would have wanted.
This article appeared in MEN issue 1/24 (May 2024).
