Christie's has a storied history of blockbuster art sales that date all the way back to the 18th century. 

But the auction house is taking a decidedly different direction with "If I Live I'll See You Tuesday," an auction being put on by the company's contemporary-art specialist, Loic Gouzer.

Rather than distribute traditional marketing materials, Gouzer is using his personal Instagram account (@loicgouzer) to give a sneak peek at what pieces will be for sale during the auction on May 12. 

"Instagram is a great way to communicate. It's free, and there's that gray zone where you can put what you want without worrying about copyright," Gouzer said to Business Insider. "You're marketing the sale, but it's also a platform to express your own view. It's in flux with my own vision of things."

In this photo from Gouzer's account, you'll see a Picasso work in the foreground and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Made in Japan I” in the back.  

Here, he showcases a wall of flames by Wade Guyton. 

An employee shows off Andy Warhol's "Little Electric Chair."

The turn to social media is an interesting one for the famous auction house. 

"Instagram is more irreverent, more direct than traditional marketing. And for the younger generation, this is how they follow art and communicate," Gouzer said. 

The photos can also give consumers a behind-the-scenes look at how an auction house prepares for a sale. The process has been highly secretive in the past, and, according to Gouzer, a piece of art can touch as many as 30 sets of hands before it's sold. 

"There's this whole journey of artwork that people don't know about," he said. 

The auction team decided to create a video that would give a closer look at the somewhat underground process. To give it an edge, they hired professional skateboarder Chris Martin to make his way through the warehouse in style, setting his journey to "Sail" by Awolnation. 

Art buffs may cringe at the sight of Martin getting close to some of the more famous works. 

"Art and acrobatics are not always associated together, but artists are taking a risk in their work every day," Gouzer said. "We've had the usual load of angry people, but that's typical when you're trying something new." 

In the video, you'll see Martin skating past multimillion-dollar works of art. 

Here, he jumps over a set of rugs. He even turns the gallery into his own personal skate park. 

The camera makes lots of quick movements to keep it interesting. 

You can watch the whole video here.  

SEE ALSO: Kickstarter's New Office Is Incredible

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For everyone dreaming of the chance to visit North Korea, you're in luck. There is now an app for that. 

The North Korea Travel app, released on Wednesday, promises to be the most comprehensive guide ever created for tourists to the Hermit Kingdom. 

The app, which will be available through both the App Store and Google play, will feature information on over 350 locations throughout the country. Each location will feature "Tour Guide Tips" provided by Simon Cockerell, who works in the North Korea travel industry and has visited the country over 120 times.

With more than 10 years experience in the country, the guide provides "insider tips on every single location in the app, all of which have been GPS mapped by the world's leading DPRK satellite imagery expert," NK News said in a statement.

Like a guide book, the North Korea Travel app also features additional information about the country's history, culture, and language. Users can also build then own custom tours through the application, and then compare prices for various travel agencies based on their desired itineraries.

The application also has a dedicated off-line mode, since the developers admit that it is highly unlikely that tourists will be able to access the internet during their visit. 

For those interested in North Korea, but unwilling to travel to the location, the app also features numerous photos of each potential tourist location. 

It is estimated that between 1,000 to 3,000 Western tourists visit North Korea every year, with thousands more visiting from Asia. Most tours are based around North Korea's capital Pyongyang, the DMZ, and the ancient city of Kaesong.

While tourists can visit North Korea, it is not without its dangers. Kenneth Bae, a Korean American missionary, is facing up to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for charges of trying to overthrow the state. 

The North Korea Travel app is being developed in conjunction with Uniquely.Travel and Magora Systems. After North Korea, travel guides to Iran, Burma, and Libya are in the works. 

Below is the promotional video for the app:

SEE ALSO: North Korea detains a 24-year-old American tourist

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Cornell has unveiled its vision for the massive tech campus it plans to build on New York City's Roosevelt Island.

When the campus opens in 2017, it will provide a permanent home for an entirely new school called Cornell Tech that city officials hope will position New York as a major tech center. Cornell beat out top-notch schools like Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford to create the new graduate school, which will be focused on classes in computer science.A recent $133 million gift from Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife, Joan, created The Jacobs Institute, which will offer dual-degrees in the applied information-based sciences.

Eight degrees will eventually be offered, three of which will be dual master's degrees from Cornell and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The three degrees will cover "connective media," "healthier life," and "built environment." 

The idea is that classes will position students to use technology to solve problems faced by various industries in New York City and the world. 

"Cornell Tech will bring a sharp increase in science and engineering teaching, attract students from around the world, and spin off new local companies and thousands of new jobs, and inject billions of dollars into our economy," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press release announcing the funding. 

Roosevelt Island, a narrow strip of land between Manhattan and Queens, is an interesting choice for a tech hub. It's fairly isolated and difficult to access, and cars are only allowed on certain parts of the island. In addition to campus buildings, the project calls for the construction of new roads and 2.5 acres of open space. The buildings themselves will be pretty high-tech, too. The architects hope to achieve net-zero energy in the academic building by installing solar panels on its roof. They also plan to install a system of 400 geothermal wells that will heat and cool the campus. 

"Our hope is that this campus will become a place where people who are interested in using tech to make a difference in the world will find this to be a place that's a magnet for them," Cornell Tech Dean and Vice Provost Daniel Huttenlocher said in a video announcing the project. 

When completed, the two-million-square-foot complex will house approximately 2,000 full-time graduate students. The campus won't be completed until 2017, but until then, a group of 18 engineering students enrolled in the new program are working out of temporary classrooms in Google's Chelsea offices. In January, the school enrolled eight students in a beta class for a master's degree in computer science. 

SEE ALSO: LG's Plans For A New US Headquarters Are Causing A Lot Of Controversy In New Jersey

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Foodies who can afford a $9.99 fee can finally order from chic restaurants that typically don't offer other delivery options. The service is called Caviar, and you can think of it as the GrubHub for rich people.

The online ordering startup launched last year in San Francisco and is now active in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., with plans to expand to other cities soon. It has received $15 million in funding, including a $13 million round led by Tiger Global announced in April.

"We look for the best restaurants in the city that have great food," partner John Keh told Business Insider. "Our restaurant partners do not have to be the fanciest in town, but if they make some of the best dishes in their category, we partner with them." 

Once Caviar partners with a restaurant, it send a professional photographer to capture mouthwatering images for the online menu.

"A picture of the food lets you quickly determine if the dish is appealing to you," Keh said. "As the saying goes, we eat with our eyes."

Prices on Caviar, which are set by restaurants, can be slightly higher than prices in the restaurant, as noted by Eater. Users also pay a 18% gratuity charge and the $9.99 delivery fee.

Caviar gave Business Insider an exclusive list of the ten most popular New York  restaurants on its site, along with the most popular dish from each. 

10. L'Apicio: Pork Chop

L'Apicio is a trendy East Village Italian restaurant that's been popular with critics since it opened in 2012. Although known for its polenta and award-winning meatballs, L'Apicio also makes a popular $30 pork chop, served with apples and roasted turnips, which Caviar users love.

9. DBGB Kitchen and Bar: The Frenchie BurgerThis gastropub by famed French chef Daniel Boulud offers diners a wide selection of house-made sausages and burgers, among other bistro fare. The $17 Frenchie — a burger topped with confit pork belly, arugula, tomato-onion compote, morbier cheese, peppered brioche bun, cornichon, and mustard — is a favorite with Caviar users. 

8. Taim: Green Falafel SandwichTaim, which has locations in the West Village and Nolita, serves some of the best falafel in the city. Taim's most popular item on Caviar is the green falafel sandwich, a cheap option at just $6. It's served with pita on the side. 

7. Motorino: Cherry Stone Clam PizzeIn 2010, New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton declared Motorino the best pizza in New York City. Caviar users love Motorino, too, especially the $17 cherry stone clam pizza. 

6. Blue Ribbon Sushi: Omakase SushiBlue Ribbon's sushi outpost is a favorite on Caviar, as is its omakase sushi. The fish selection depends on the daily catch, and at $85, it's a pretty steep choice for lunch. 

5. Katz's Deli: Katz's PastramiKatz's Deli has been a Lower East Side classic for decades, and Caviar users can't get enough of its famous pastrami. You can order the sandwich for $18.45 with Caviar. 

4. Momofuku Má Pêche: Pork Buns

Má Pêche, part of the Momofuku dining empire, is a trendy, upscale restaurant with a dim sum-style menu. Its most popular item is the $10 pork buns, served with pork belly, hoisin, cucumber, and scallions. You can also order from Momofuku Milk Bar, which has five locations serving delicious desserts across NYC. 

3. Otto's Tacos: Carnitas TacoThis new East Village spot serves tiny tacos with a choice of five different fillings. The most popular taco on Caviar is the carnitas option, with slow-cooked pork served on a fresh corn tortilla. Each mini taco costs $3. 

2. Mission Cantina: Lamb BurritoMission Cantina is a new Mexican venture from Danny Bowien, the chef behind the critically-acclaimed Mission Chinese. Lines to get in can be long, and it's a hit on Caviar as well. The most popular item is the lamb burrito, served with beans, avocado, crema, queso blanco, salsa fresca, chips, and two types of salsa.

1. Han Dynasty: Dan Dan Noodles

Han Dynasty is a new Sichuan restaurant in the East Village that regularly has 45 minute waits for a table. It's no surprise delivery service is so popular. The most-ordered dish is an $8.70 Dan Dan Noodles, Sichuan noodles in a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan pepper, minced pork, and scallions.

SEE ALSO: This Is What The Kitchen Of The Future Could Look Like

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Moving into a new apartment can be stressful.

After splurging on essentials like couches and tables, it's daunting to think about how to make a new place feel more like home.

But decorating doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are 11 brilliant ways to decorate your apartment on the cheap.

1. Buy removable wallpaper or decals.

Permanent wallpaper is intimidating because it’s so difficult to remove from walls. For renters or home owners who are design commitment-phobes, removable wallpaper is the perfect solution for adding color and personal style to a room.

It sticks easily to walls and is simple to apply and remove. Tempaper and Chasing Paper are great brands to browse, and Etsy also has a multitude of designs to choose from.

2. Build a DIY bar cart.

A bar cart is a fun design element, but carts from stores like Restoration Hardware and Crate & Barrel can be extremely expensive.

A better option is to find a cheap cart at your local flea market or hardware store (Harbor Freight and Ikea both have affordable utility carts, too). Spray paint the hardware or the entire cart to suit your tastes, and then add your own decorative elements, like tumbler glasses, cocktail recipe books, and bar tools. Use the bar cart to show off your favorite prints, tableware, and expensive bottles of liquor, too.

See this selection of DIY bar carts for inspiration.

3. Make your room seem bigger with a large mirror (or two).

A floor length mirror can make a room appear larger and more open, especially in tiny apartments.

Position the mirror so it reflects a window and catches the most light, adding dimension to the room.

Browse local flea markets or Craigslist to find huge mirrors at affordable prices.

4. Paint your old furniture.

When you get sick of your bed or other pieces of large furniture, consider painting over the existing finish instead of dumping your stuff. A new coat of paint on an old dresser can drastically change a piece without costing very much.

First, remove all of the hardware and wipe down the piece with a cloth to get rid of any dust. Use sandpaper to lightly buff away the glossy finish, and then either spray paint or add two regular coats of paint. After it dries, add a coat of water-based lacquer, polyurethane, or a thin coat of clear paste wax to make the new finish last.

See how we refurbished a boring Ikea desk here.

5. Hide storage creatively.

Clutter will make your home seem smaller than it is. Get rid of unnecessary room accessories, magazines, and books, and invest in furniture that does double-duty like storage ottomans, chests, or vintage suitcases stacked to look like a table.

Another fine option is placing certain furniture — such as chairs, tables, or cabinets — at an angle in the corner of the room to create a built-in hidden spot for hiding extra stuff.

6. Update lamp shades. 

To keep lighting from looking dated, switch out old lamp shades for new, clean ones. Certain older styles can date a room, and over time, lamp shades attract dust and grime that makes them look dingy. Keep the original lamp base, and buy a new shade that adds a pop of color or a graphic pattern to liven up your space.

7. Change hardware on door handles and furniture.

New drawer handles or door knobs can transform old furniture (plus, it’s cheaper than buying something brand-new). Quality stores like Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, and Anthropologie all sell fancy and attractive hardware to help even a Wal-Mart dresser look high-end.

8. Swap out existing ceiling fixtures.

Chances are your current ceiling lamp or fan hasn’t been updated for over 20 years. Instead of letting these eyesores ruin your décor, switch them out for more modern lighting options. The effect this minor change will have on your space is amazing. (Just make sure that if you rent, you keep the original fan or light fixture to reinstall before moving out.)

9. Mask grungy counter tops or tile with stickers.

Just like removable wallpaper, there are tile stickers designed to add patterns to existing kitchen and bath tiling, as well as removable granite film or "instant granite" that uses adhesive to stick onto existing counter tops. Both are removed easily, and are relatively affordable, especially if you plan to stay in your place longer than a year.

10. Create your own artwork.

You could buy an expensive painting, or troll flea markets and vintage stores until you find something you admire. But an easy way to get art you love is to simply create it.

Amazon sells large pre-stretched canvases for around $20, and you can buy paint and brushes from a local craft store. Search around for works of art online for inspiration, and then make it your own. You may want to opt for a modern-art look, so that your talent (or lack thereof) can be skewed as creative and not child-like.

For those unsure of how to create a certain effect or where to start, head over to a local craft store and ask for advice about recreating a specific painting or design.

11. If all else fails, get a plant.

Plants immediately add life to any room. The easiest options, of course, are self-sufficient plants such as cacti or succulents like aloe vera that not only look nice, but don’t require a lot of maintenance. Find an interesting pot or bowl and go to a local farmer's market to see what flora options are available.

SEE ALSO: The 11 Most Expensive US Homes Ever Sold

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Just because school's out doesn't mean kids can't keep learning during the summer.

From an entrepreneur camp backed by Silicon Valley heavyweights to a whale-watching camp that teaches marine biology, here are 10 camps where your kids will keep using their brains this summer. 

Kids will learn business skills at Camp BizSmart.

Where: Stanford University or Silicon Valley Community Foundation, south of San Francisco, Calif.

When: Four 12-day sessions run between June 16th and Aug. 8th

Cost: $1,590 standard tuition for the camp at Standford, $1,290 for the camp at SVCF

What they'll learn: Camp BizSmart pairs teams of kids between the ages of 11 and 15 with top executive mentors. Each exec gives their team of kids a business problem they must solve, giving them a chance to learn teamwork, financial analysis and negotiation.

Tech entrepreneurs at Google, Microsoft and Cisco have backed the camp.

Concordia Language Villages offers language immersion.

Where: Moorhead, Minn.

When: 1-week to 6-week sessions offered between June 9th and Aug. 30th 

Cost: Between $515 and $5,975

What they'll learn: Kids at Concordia Language Villages aren't called campers, but villagers. They're issued passports and given names in other languages to create an immersive language-learning environment. 

The camp offers courses in 15 modern languages including Arabic, Japanese and Danish. In addition to learning a new language, students also get a cultural experience, participating in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony one day and playing fútbol like they do in Spain the next.

Hawthorne Valley Farm Camp is a working farm.

Where: Columbia County, N.Y.

When: Six sessions up to three weeks long run between June 29th and Aug. 9th

What they'll learn: Hawthorne Valley Farm invites 8-to-15-year-olds to live, work and play on their 400-acre spread. Younger kids go to House Camp, where they live together with staff in a large barn house and learn the basics of farm life. Older kids go to Field Camp, where they actually help do the work of the biodynamic farm.

All campers eat together family-style to emphasize community spirit. Everything eaten is grown or produced on the farm, oftentimes by the kids themselves. Campers also assist in the farm-to-store system of running a profitable farm.

Visual data guru Seth Kadish has a new post up at his Vizual Statistix blog showing the data you'd get if you poured every drink in the world into one big glass.

He used the 1,500 recipes in Paul Knorr’s Big Bad-Ass Book of Cocktails, added up the drinks' components (measured in parts) and divided by 1,500 to get the average composition.  

The results: 7.2% would have vodka, 5.2% gin, 4.4% orange juice, and 3.6% cream. Twelve percent would have a splash of lime or grenadine (though presumably less lime new given the massive shortage). Just 17% would be served on the rocks.

The "mystery mixture" is actually everything too small to register more than 1%, like beer, coke and juices.

Check it out:

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When you're just starting your career, you need all the help you can get managing your time. Even when you're working hard, you could be wasting a tremendous amount of time either by trying to multitask or by focusing too much on minute details.

Montreal-based designer Étienne Garbugli has struggled with all of that. But as he's gotten older, he's learned how to manage his time and workload more effectively. Today, he's a consultant and entrepreneur, and recently published his first book, "Lean B2B: Build Products Businesses Want."

Last year, he collected some of his favorite lessons in the SlideShare presentation "26 Time Management Hacks I Wish I'd Known At 20." In December, SlideShare named it the "Most Liked" presentation of 2013.

Below, we've explained some of Garbugli's best time-management tips everyone should learn in their 20s.

1. There's always time. Time is priorities.

You never "run out of time." If you didn't finish something by the time it was due, it's because you didn't consider it urgent or enjoyable enough to prioritize ahead of whatever else you were doing.

2. Days always fill up faster than you'd expect.

Build in some buffer time. As the founder of Ruby on Rails and Basecamp, David Heinemeier Hansson said, "Only plan on four to five hours of real work per day."

3. Work more when you're in the zone. Relax when you're not.

Some days you'll be off your game, and other times you'll be able to maintain your focus for 12 hours straight. Take advantage of those days.

4. Stop multitasking. It kills your focus.

There have been academic studies that found the brain expends energy as it readjusts its focus from one item to the next. If you're spending your day multitasking, you're exhausting your brain.

5. We're always more focused and productive with limited time.

Work always seems to find a way of filling the space allotted for it, so set shorter time limits for each task.

6. Work is the best way to get working. Start with small tasks to get the ball rolling.

The business plan you need to finish may be intimidating at 8 in the morning. Get your mind on the right path with easy tasks, such as answering important work emails.

7. Work iteratively. Expectations to do things perfectly are stifling.

Gen. George S. Patton once said, "A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."

8. More work hours doesn't mean more productivity. Use constraints as opportunities.

Don't kid yourself into thinking that sitting at your desk will somehow extract work from you. Do whatever you can to finish your current task by the end of regular work hours instead of working into the night.

9. Separate brainless and strategic tasks to become more productive.

Ideally, you can brainstorm your ideas and then execute them. If you're constantly stopping your flow of work to rethink something, you're slowing yourself down.

10. Organize important meetings early in the day. Time leading up to an event is often wasted.

If you have an important meeting scheduled for 4 p.m., it's easy for anxiety to set in and keep that meeting at the front of your mind. Try to get them over with early so you can work without worrying about them.

11. Schedule meetings and communication by email or phone back-to-back to create blocks of uninterrupted work.

You'll disrupt your flow if you're reaching out to people throughout the day.

12. Work around procrastination. Procrastinate between intense sprints of work.

Try Francesco Cirillo's "Pomodoro Technique." "Pomodoro" is Italian for "tomato," and it refers to the tomato-shaped cooking timer Cirillo used to break his work into 25-minute increments with 5-minute breaks in between. You can use the same idea with your own increments, as long as they inspire bursts of hard work.

13. Break down a massive task into manageable blocks.

Alabama football coach Nick Saban follows a similar philosophy he calls the Process. Instead of having his players focus on winning the championship, he trains them to focus only on what is directly in front of them — each block, pass, and field goal.

14. No two tasks ever hold the same importance. Always prioritize. Be really careful with to-do lists.

Daily to-do lists are effective ways of scheduling your day. Just do what you can to keep bullet points from making "clean desk" on par with "file taxes."

15. Always know the one thing you really need to get done during the day.

To help prioritize, determine what task in front of you is most important, and focus your energy into getting that done as soon as possible.

16. Delegate, and learn to make use of other people.

To be truly efficient, get over the fear of handing work off to someone else. "If something can be done 80% as well by someone else, delegate!" says John C. Maxwell, author of "How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life."

17. Turn the page on yesterday. Only ever think about today and tomorrow.

Don't distract yourself with either the successes or failures of the past. Focus instead on what's in front of you.

18. Set deadlines for everything. Don't let tasks go on indefinitely.

Spending too much time on a project or keeping it on the backburner for too long will lead to stagnation. Get things done and move on.

19. Always take notes.

Don't assume you'll remember every good idea that comes into your head during the day. It doesn't matter if it's a notebook, whiteboard, or an app like Evernote— just write stuff down.

20. Write down any unrelated thoughts that pop up when you're in the zone, so that they don't linger as distractions.

You'll get them out of the way without losing them.

SEE ALSO: 11 Ways To Set Yourself Up For Success In Your Early 20s

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All it takes is a single tweet or text for some people to reveal their poor grasp of the English language.

Homophones — words that sound alike but are spelled differently — can be particularly pesky.

Regardless, you should never choose incorrectly in these nine situations:

1. "Your" vs. "You're"

"Your" is a possessive pronoun, while "you're" is a contraction of "you are."

Example 1: You're pretty. 

Example 2: Give me some of your whiskey.

2. "It's" vs. "Its"

Normally, an apostrophe symbolizes possession, as in, "I took the dog's bone." But because apostrophes also replace omitted letters — as in "don't" — the "it's" vs. "its" decision gets complicated. 

Use "its" as the possessive pronoun and "it's" for the shortened version of "it is."

Example 1: The dog chewed on its bone.

Example 2: It's raining.

3. "Then" vs. "Than"

"Then" conveys time, while "than" is used for comparison. 

Example 1: We left the party and then went home.

Example 2: We would rather go home than stay at the party.

4. "There" vs. "They're" vs. "Their"

"There" is a location. "Their" is a possessive pronoun. And "they're" is a contraction of "they are."

Use them wisely. 

5. "We're" vs. "Were"

"We're" is a contraction of "we are" and "were" is the past tense of "are."

6. "Affect" vs. "Effect"

"Affect" is a verb and "effect" is a noun.

There are, however, rare exceptions. For example, someone can "effect change" and "affect" can be a psychological symptom. 

Example: How did that affect you? 

Example: What effect did that have on you?

7. "Two" vs. "Too" vs. "To"

"Two" is a number. 

"To" is a preposition. It's used to express motion, although often not literally, toward a person, place, or thing.

And "too" is a synonym for "also."

8. "Into" vs. "In To"

"Into" is a preposition that indicates movement or transformation, while "in to," as two separate words, does not.

Example: We drove the car into the lake. 

Example: I turned my test in to the teacher. 

In the latter example, if you wrote "into," you're implying you literally changed your test into your teacher.

9. "Alot"

"Alot" isn't a word. This phrase is always two separate words: a lot.

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Hotels are so much more than just a place to lay your head at the end of the day.

They've become destinations offering everything from restaurants helmed by celebrity chefs to hot rooftop bars.

We evaluated the New York City hotels that have opened within the last year and looked at hotels that will open later this year, and found the buzziest new offerings. 

Book your room soon — here's where you'll want to stay next time you're in New York City.

Refinery Hotel

Address: 63 West 38th St., Garment District 

Open: May 2013

Price: Starting at $399 per night.

The Refinery Hotel used to be the Colony Arcade Building, a 20th century hat factory. The hotel keeps that rich Garment District history alive with oversized hatpins stacked behind the registration decks and scissor motifs in the rugs. Stonehill & Taylor — the design firm behind the chic NoMad Hotel — took the reins of the Refinery.

It has a prime location, too: Guests can walk to Times Square, the Theater District, Bryant Park and the Empire State Building in 10 minutes. 

But if they decide to stay in, the hotel offers a prime rooftop bar. It's divided into three sections with a retractable glass roof that keeps it a comfortable place to hang out in the snow or sun.  

The Paper Factory Hotel

Address: 37-06 36th St., Long Island City, Queens

Open: Winter 2013

Price: Starting at $145 for a double.

Built inside a hundred-year-old paper factory in Long Island City, the Paper Factory Hotel takes its name and aesthetic from the building's history. The old Fourdrinier machine is about to be turned into a restaurant and bar. There's even a spiral staircase held up entirely on a column of books. 

The renovation cost owner Gal Sela $27 million, according to Curbed NY. Although 16o rooms could have fit in the space, Sela opted to only construct 122 to maximize the spaciousness of each room. There's also a communal kitchen for travelers who want to save a buck and enjoy cooking with fellow guests.

NYLO New York

Address: 2178 Broadway, Upper West Side

Open: October 2013

Price: Starting at $259 per night.

NYLO New York plays with the idea of the piano bar, with three restaurants stuffed with Chesterfield sofas and a red lacquered piano. It pays homage to New York City's Jazz Age with Roaring '20s architecture. Rooms from the 14th floor through the top offer balconies that overlook Central Park and the Hudson River from the Upper West Side.

The hotel is great for the cultured traveler who wants to stay within steps of Lincoln Center and the American Museum of Natural History. 

Produced by Justin Gmoser

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The nation of Brunei has come under fire for its recent imposition of Shariah law, an Islamic code that metes out harsh penalties like amputation and stoning for offenses like theft and gay sex.

Eventually, Brunei will implement the death penalty for certain violations of the code.

Shariah law, which is based on the Quran, covers a range of issues within a "moral framework," which doesn't exactly jibe with outlandish past media reports about the royal family of Brunei. The family is thought to be one of the wealthiest royal families in the world. The Sultan alone is reportedly worth $20 billion.

In July 2011, a Vanity Fair tell-all detailed the outrageous spending habits and lifestyle of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, brother of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Among other tidbits, the profile said Prince Jefri owned more than 2,300 cars and a yacht named Tits with tenders called Nipple 1 and Nipple 2. 

The Sultan himself lives in a palace with 1,788 rooms and 257 bathrooms. It's considered to be the world's second-largest palace after Beijing's Forbidden City, and reportedly has a 110-car garage, an air-conditioned stable for the Sultan's 200 polo ponies, and five swimming pools.

After the new laws went into effect in Brunei May 1, a former mistress to the Sultan detailed her experience in the Daily Beast, writing:

And yet it is the privilege of the prince and the sultan to misbehave. The picaresque escapades and legendary extravagances of the brothers are indulged with a collective wink. For everyone else residing within Brunei’s borders, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, freedoms are curtailed, and those limitations now are potentially enforced by brutal violence.

Stories about the wild lives of the royal family of Brunei abound. Robert Rangel, a former deputy sheriff in Los Angeles who also spent several years running security for the Sultan and his brother in LA, shared some stories of almost unthinkable extravagance in the recently released "The Organ Grinder's Monkey."

According to the book, the Sultan and his family regularly traveled with an entourage of 150 and paid Disney to have theme park characters flown to Brunei for a kids' birthday party. Alcohol (which can't be sold legally in Brunei) and mistresses were regularly present, Rangel writes.

The two excerpts below (republished with permission) reveal just how wealthy — and demanding — the royal family could be.

The time the Sultan's 14-year-old nephew spent $500,000 on two Bentleys:

I had been told that Prince Hakeem [the eldest son of the Sultan's brother] was not a shopper. It’s true that he did not shop every day, but to say that he is not a shopper is a lie!

Mr. Mustapha [the assistant to Prince Jefri, the Sultan's brother] called me, “Prince Hakeem wants to go to the Beverly Hills Rolls Royce dealer. He wants to buy a ‘Bentley.’” Of course, as you know, a Bentley is a car—a very expensive car.

Off we went to the dealership. Of course we had called prior to arriving and a salesman was expecting us. He had been told who we were and he was salivating to sell us a couple of Bentleys. There were two Bentleys on the showroom floor. One was dark blue and the other pearl white. Prince Hakeem turned to me, “Steve, which color do you like?”

“Your Highness,” I said. I know, I know, you’re thinking he’s fourteen years old. Here I was calling him Your Highness and he is not even old enough to have a driver’s license and he’s looking to buy a Bentley. Hey, I’m not making this up; I’m just telling you what happened.

I said (Yes, I was in disbelief but refused to show it to the salesman), “I like the dark blue one.”

He turned to the salesman and said, “I’ll take them both!” So much for my opinion.

“Certainly, sir.” The one he liked cost one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but there were just a few minor changes he wanted to make so that he could have it just exactly as he preferred. He wanted the Bentley converted from a four-door to a two-door and some other minor changes. How do you make a two-door car into a four-door car? I guess with saws, torches, and rivets. I was shuddering thinking that they would be chopping up a one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar car. 

When he was through, the one- hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar Bentley cost two hundred fifty thousand dollars. After the negotiations, he turned to me, “I got the blue one for my dad. I’ll keep the white one.” A fourteen-year-old. Hell, he bought them like he was ordering a Big Mac.

Only one of the Bentleys was ever driven one time, and Prince Hakeem drove it. After buying the cars, he drove the white Bentley from Beverly Hills to the Santa Monica Beach then back to Beverly Hills again. Thereafter, the Bentleys were stored at one of Prince Jefri’s homes in Beverly Hills never to be driven again.

The time the family's staff spent $50,000 on roses for a half-hour visit:

In August of 1990, Princess Pengiran Isteri Norahyati [PIN, first wife of Prince Jefri] came to Los Angeles to celebrate her birthday. When they arrived, I was instructed by PG Mustapha to decorate the two houses on Hartford Way [in Beverly Hills] with flowers. He said that PIN was probably going to walk through both houses.  “Steve, if she likes the houses, she might move into them.”

“Okay, Mr. Mustapha. What kind of flowers?”

“Roses. Red roses.”

“All red roses?”

“Yes.”

You have to understand each house was approximately eight thousand square feet. What would be your next question? How many, right? Should I put some in the bedrooms and the entryways? So I asked, “How many?”

“As many as possible,” was his answer. “Just fill up all the rooms!”

All the rooms? Every room? Kitchens, bathrooms . . . closets?

I called the florist to look at the houses. It was like the old days at the gas station. “How much gas you want, Mac?” My head whipped around to face him, “Fill’er up!”

I ended up putting in 2,500 roses in each house. I thought surely this was more than enough. To say the houses smelled like roses was like saying a fart stinks.

On the night of PIN’s arrival, PG Mustapha came to look over the houses before she arrived. Once inside, he said, “Not enough. More roses.”

Not enough? I asked him, “How many more do you want?”

He answered, “Double it up!”

“DOUBLE IT UP?”

So I called the florist and told him that he needed to come right away.

“More roses, more roses. DOUBLE IT UP!” I floored the florist. You bet he returned that same night. He couldn’t believe that there weren’t enough roses. He doubled the amount so that ultimately there were five thousand roses in each house. The houses looked like a mortuary with ten bedrooms, two dining rooms, two breakfast nooks, two huge kitchens, four living rooms, and four dens, all full and overflowing with red roses. Keep in mind that this was just for PIN to see the houses, not to stay in them.

She spent a total of thirty minutes looking at the houses and then left. Because PIN was staying in Los Angeles for ten days, I had to replenish them and make sure that the roses stayed fresh throughout her visit. This was in case she wanted to go back to see the houses again. Thank God I did because on the eighth day, she revisited the houses. A fair, approximate cost for the roses was $50,000 big ones. That’s equivalent to many family’s income for a full year! It still looked nice and rosy when she left.

SEE ALSO: The 23 Most Impressive Dynasties In America Today

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More than two dozen chefs and restaurants received top honors during the James Beard Foundation’s annual awards ceremony, which took place earlier this week.

We've been following the journeys of many of these chefs from the start, including Cronut king Dominique Ansel, rising chef Jimmy Bannos Jr. (of Chicago’s Purple Pig), and Southwestern honoree Chris Shepherd (of Houston’s Underbelly).

Read on for insight into the winning toques' favorite places to eat, the best spots in their hometowns, and more. 

Rising Star Chef of the Year: Jimmy Bannos, Jr.

"For me, there's nothing more satisfying than a properly done, well-executed plate of pasta." (Chicago Chef Jimmy Bannos, Jr.: The Best Thing I Ate This Week)

Oustanding Bar Program: The Bar at the NoMad Hotel

"New York’s food scene is truly unique because it is this wonderful melting pot where immigrants from all over the world have brought with them their cuisines and their ingredients." (New York City Chef Secrets: Where The NoMad's Daniel Humm Eats in NYC)

Outstanding Pastry Chef: Dominique Ansel

"When you work in a kitchen every day, you often think vacation is a time to get out and stop thinking about food already. That's what I always say to myself. I don't do any research, any planning, or make any reservations. And then I get hungry, and experience that first random meal. It's, more often than not, utterly unspectacular. And that's when I realize that good food absolutely makes a better vacation." (Cronut Creator Dominique Ansel: Six Things I'd Rather Eat Instead of the Cronut)

Best Chef, Northeast: Jamie Bissonnette

"I think I eat at John Dory more than almost any other restaurant in New York City. I love to sit at the bar and order a dozen oysters and the Carta di Musica." (NYC Chef Jamie Bissonnette: The Best Thing I Ate This Week)

Best Chef, Southwest: Chris Shepherd

"Houston is a beautiful city to be in right now with all the upscale dining and this ethnic explosion, especially of Vietnamese, Chinese and Hispanic cuisines, in the past 20 years." (The Best Ethnic Eats in Houston: We Asked a Chef)

Oustanding Restaurateur: Barbara Lynch

"There's another company I'm starting, a nutritional line of food products, where everything's dehydrated. It's one of the best ways to cure food versus canned or frozen, because the nutrients don’t change. I have a lot of dehydrators in the kitchen, and I love to play around with them." (What’s For Dinner At…Menton in Boston)

Outstanding Service: The Restaurant at Meadowood (executive chef Christopher Kostow)

"Napa Valley is so fortunate in that we have a great abundance of local artisans, purveyors, and wilds to work with. St. Helena also has an incredibly close-knit sense of community one may be surprised to find in a tourist destination city." (Napa Valley Chef Secrets: Where Michelin Starred Chef Christopher Kostow Says You Should Eat)

More From Condé Nast Traveler:

America's Best Sandwiches 

The Best Hotel Bars in the World 

This is What a "Flying Apartment" Looks Like 

How Google Earth Led to the Discovery of a Long-Lost Forest 

SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Restaurants On The Planet

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Identical twins are nearly identical at birth. But what happens after birth?

Chinese photographer Gao Rong Guo recently tried to answer that question, traveling across his hometown province of Shandong in search of identical twin pairs in their 50s and ultimately photographing 12 pairs of twins. These subjects have led different lives from their twins and now look undeniably different.

"He/she used to have the same face, living in the same family, but their lives changed due to various reasons after growing up," Gao told The Huffington Post. 

Gao shared some photos with us, and you can check out the rest on his website. We have included information about the pairs from Gao's book, "Identical Twins," which does not appear to be available in the U.S.

Yu Zhe (left) was married to a farmer in her village who has since died. She makes a living by farming and weaving nets by hand. Yu Lan (right) is also married to a farmer. The couple has two daughters and a son and makes a living by farming. Their son has Down syndrome.Guo Yao (left) has two sons. One works on a farm with Yao, while the other moved away after graduating from college. Guo Hui (right) has three children: two sons and a daughter, who are all married. Guo Hui and his family are all cotton planters and must work hard all year.Shou Yi (left) has two daughters, both married, a son, who has divorced twice, and several grandchildren. Shou Li (right) has four daughters, all married, and two granddaughters. Yi's life is more stressful than Li's, according to Gao.Weiai (left) married a local farmer and has a son and two daughters. The son is a student, while the two daughters run a computer company together. Weijing (right) is married to a peasant in the village. The two live by planting and selling trees.Hung Lans (left) has a son and two daughters. Hung Ju (right) has two sons, both married. Ju's husband died of cancer last year.Pei Wen (left) has two sons, who are both married and doing well. Pei Wu has a son and a daughter. His daughter is married, while his son has moved away for work.King (left) and Yun (right) both married farmers in their village. Yun and her husband are still farmers, while King and her husband run a prosperous fishing net factory. Lian Wen (left) has a daughter in junior high school. Lian Wu (right) has a son also in junior high school. Wu is the section chief of the marketing department at his company, but it's not clear what Wen does for a living.Bao Yi (left) broke his neck when he was performing a handstand as a child and has been disabled ever since. He has never married and is a doctor in the village. Bao Ren (right) is a farmer and construction worker. He has a son and daughter, who are also farmers.Wang Cai (left) is married with a son and a daughter. The daughter died from leukemia, while the son has a family. The family has a successful coal business. Yu Xia (right) is married to a farmer and has two sons, both of whom have married and moved away.Zhiguo died when he was 35. His wife has remarried. Zhidong is a local appliances dealer and repairman. He has two daughters and a son, and his business has been very successful.

SEE ALSO: 11 Surreal Photos From A Pagan Festival In Rural China

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If you drink on Wall Street, you must (at some point) drink scotch. If you care about scotch, you must have a brand. This is a topic over which many of the most staid bankers in the world are willing to come to blows, but general consensus is Macallan is ridiculously good scotch.

This kind of agreement on Wall Street, ladies and gentlemen, is rare. So we had to get to the bottom of who makes Macallan, how, and why exactly it's become such a heavy favorite?

To do that, we talked to Paul Ross, the CEO and president of Edrington Americas. It's the new, U.S. branch of Edrington International, the company that owns Macallan, charged with making their portfolio more popular in the United States.

It's a recent push, and Ross, a Scottish former CPA with an easy smile and thick brogue, seems like a solid choice for it. Business Insider sat down in his office, he poured out some Macallan, and we got straight to the business of his business.

"People aren't' drinking more, they're drinking better," he said, especially in the United States.

Edrington, which is owned by the largest charity in Scotland, The Robertson Trust, has had success in markets like Asia and Africa.

Where big companies like Pernod Ricard are heading east to conquer new markets, Edrington has to head west to the United States, where 40% of the world's premium spirits are consumed.

"This is about the next decade for us because we're investing $200 million in the Macallan estate," Ross said.

The fact that his company is owned for a non-profit, he added, allows them to take long-term views like that. Edrington is focused not on the next quarter or even year, but on the next 20 years.

That's why Macallan uses no artificial coloring and is aged in sherry oak casks that cost 10 times the bourbon casks many scotch distillers use. Seventy percent of the flavor in your glass comes from that wood.

When a bottle of 12-year can cost you upwards of $70, it had better.

Edrington takes a different approach to marketing as well. At this point, you're not going to see a Macallan commercial. The company has always relied on word of mouth, which has been amplified by the power of social media in recent years, and Edrington is looking to promote the brand by engaging people through experiences — events and partnerships with brands like Bentley and Montblanc. These are memories people can keep and share with others.

"People make the story for us," said Ross. "We do some advertising, but it's always back to the product, back to the hero."

That being said, we had to ask Ross which of those products is his own personal hero.

"If it's my money, Macallan 18 on the rocks."

You heard it here first, people.

NOW WATCH: 3 Things You Need To Know To Pass As A Cigar Aficionado

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In-N-Out, the cult favorite burger joint of the West Coast, has been teasing the East Coast with rumors of expansion for years.

The fast food retailer has slowly expanded eastward over its 65-year lifetime to Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and most recently Texas. The company has also been holding "pop-up shops" around the world, where burgers tend to sell out within minutes.

All signs seemingly point to a plan for expansion. 

But there are four major factors making it highly unlikely that East Coasters will get to experience the joy of an In-N-Out in their neighborhood any time soon. 

1. Quality control: There are no freezers or microwaves in any In-N-Out restaurants because the company has a strict policy of serving its food fresh. Therefore, all locations must be close to its distribution facilities, which are in Baldwin Park, Calif. and Dallas, Texas.

"At In-N-Out Burger, we make all of our hamburger patties ourselves and deliver them fresh to all of our restaurants with our own delivery vehicles," In-N-Out Vice President of Planning and Development Carl Van Fleet told Business Insider. "Nothing is ever frozen. Our new restaurant locations are limited by the distance we can travel from our patty making facilities and distribution centers."

In-N-Out owner Lynsi Torres says the burger chain's quality is what sets it apart from competitors. 

"We're not changing things like many other companies do," she told The OC Register in a February 2013 interview. "That's kept us unique; it's kept the customers feeling like we're not a sellout."

2. Exclusivity: Everything has more appeal when it's not available to everyone, and the exclusivity of In-N-Out is what has helped the restaurant gain such a rabid following of fans.

In response to pleading from a local politician for an In-N-Out to open in Denver, Van Fleet made it clear the company isn't planning to expand.

"You continue to give us the biggest compliment possible with your efforts to interest us in Colorado,” he wrote in a letter obtained by The Denver Post. "That said, at this time, we’re still not looking to add a sixth state and we’re just focusing our growth efforts in the five states where we currently operate."

3.Competition: The East Coast has a number burger joints that would offer tough competition for In-N-Out, including Shake Shack and Five Guys.

4. No franchising: In-N-Out is a family-owned company that doesn't believe in franchising. A large-scale expansion without franchising would require a massive amount of up-front capital from the company.

"In-N-Out remains privately owned and the Snyder family has no plans to take the company public or franchise any units," the company reaffirms on its website.

SEE ALSO:  18 Awesome Fast Food Items You Can't Get In The US

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If you cycle to work, there are usually two options: walk in with a stretched-out and rumpled suit, or quickly sneak into a bathroom to change out of your Livestrong spandex.

Now, there's a third option.

San Francisco-based company Parker Dusseau designed the "Commuter Suit," an outfit that is just as comfortable on your bike as it is in the boardroom. 

“The biggest common complaint [cyclists] have is that they have to change their clothes once they get to work,” the company's founder, Vaughn Brown, told Bloomberg Businessweek. 

His inspiration was to make “clothing that allowed me to be active but also allowed me to look the way I want to look.”

Parker Dusseau achieves this active-formal ensemble with a gusset in the crotch, rubber in the waistband to keep the button-down tucked in, buttons to secure a pants roll-up, athletic mesh lining the jacket, and reflective strips under collar and cuffs.

But comfort doesn't come cheap. The merino suit comes in either charcoal or navy and goes for a total of $730. 

SEE ALSO: How To Get Treated Just Like The 1% And Avoid Long Lines At The Airport

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Plus, flight support will organize all the logistics of your trip, including tour times, ground transportation, and flight itineraries, making it a "smooth and headache free experience." Phew!

The website advertises that $43,500 is just the starting price. According to Belezerian, that price just is for the Hawker 400XP, but different jet size categories would change the price (presumably pushing it up).

Additionally, the ground transportation and catering is not included.

In order to travel in style, you can book the package at 617-328-Jets or visit the website. 

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