Oslo

Doug Mills/NYTimes

“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth,” Mr. Obama said. “We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”

Broadway

Photo: Sarah Krulwich/New York Times
Cate Blanchett and Joel Edgerton star in "A Streetcar Named Desire," directed by Liv Ullman.

Ben Brantley:

This Blanche is no passive victim. She knows herself painfully well, which makes her both funnier and sadder than most Blanches. Always, though, we are aware of her knowing that standing up and staying sane are merely provisional; she could topple over at any second. That delicate balance assumes its most wrenching form in her climactic face-off with Stanley, as Blanche tries to defy not only her predatory brother-in-law but also the drunkenness that keeps pulling her to the floor. Gravity is not on her side.

New Orleans

Cheryl Gerber/The New York Times

A home commissioned by Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation.

NYTimes: In 2007, frustrated by the slow pace of rebuilding in the Lower Ninth, Brad Pitt set up a foundation called Make It Right; the foundation then commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, green houses. The organization plans to build 150 homes, all for returning Lower Ninth residents. So far, just 15 of them are occupied, but those 15 make a big impression.

Indeed, from the main route into the Lower Ninth, the Claiborne Avenue Bridge, it’s impossible to miss the Brad Pitt Houses, as everyone here calls them. They are sprawling, angular buildings in bold hues not usually seen outside a gelateria. Monuments to the city’s resilience, and to Hollywood’s big heart, they are also New Orleans’s newest tourist attraction.

Story here.

San Francisco

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

NYTimes: The Golden Gate Bridge under construction in 1937, when an era of huge public works projects was under way. Story here.

Photo: DH
Reproduction Malibu Tile, PD 136D; Ceramic tray, IKEA, 100.951.87; Domestic Furniture (Roy McMakin) Pine End Table, c. 1980

Almodóvar

Photo: Emilio Pereda & Paola Ardizzoni/Sony Pictures Classics
Penelope Cruz: "Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces)" (2009)

Bertoia

Photo: Sotheby's
Auction: Robert Isabell's collection.
A copper Bertoia "Bush" sculpture is estimated to sell for $30,000 to $50,000.
Story here.

Terence Koh

Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Terence Koh for Converse 1HUND(RED) Artists Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers, $150, available Nov. 21 at Opening Ceremony, 35 Howard Street; (212) 219-2688.

Atlantis

Photo: Chris O'Meara/Associated Press
NYTimes: The space shuttle Atlantis lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Via GQ:
Military Peacoat
Coat, $385, by Nautica. Sweater, $168, by Tretorn. T-shirt, $30 (for pack of three), by Calvin Klein Underwear. Jeans, $155, by A.P.C.

Photo: Tintype Photographs by David Sokosh for the New York Times; Photographed on Governors Island, New York.
NYTimes: Left, Spurr gray cashmere-wool coat, $2,695 to order at Bergdorf Goodman; Ann Demeulemeester black wool vest, $815 at Barneys New York; tan cotton-wool henley, $98 at Amoskeag XX; black wool pants, $238 at Marc by Marc Jacobs. Right, gray wool trench coat with black detail, $3,795 at Dolce & Gabbana; Engineered Garments black wool serge vest, $265 at Barneys; Trovata ivory cotton henley, $160 at Odin; charcoal gray wool pants, $630 at Prada.

Bauhaus

Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Art Resource, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

NYTimes story here.

Topanga

Photo: DH

Berlin

Photo: Andreas Meichsner for The New York Times

NYTimes: Juerg Judin, an art dealer and collector, spent three years renovating this former midcentury gas station in the Schöneberg district in Berlin.

Story here.

Emitt Rhodes

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