Superyachts and super boats are almost as expensive to maintain as they are to buy. But while some dismiss them as 21st century “let them eat cake” artifices, others see them as The Holy Grail of capitalism.

Either way, every time an expensive piece of flotsam finds itself in strife, it attracts eyeballs.

Enter: the following video, recently posted to Instagram by Top Yacht.

 

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#toowindy #plagedepampelonne Follow @topyacht Vid by @ladyjoe_ @thisissttropez

A post shared by Top Yacht (@topyacht) on Jul 25, 2020 at 7:37am PDT

It’s not quite a superyacht (a superyacht must be over 80ft in length). However, the luxurious languishing boat at the Plage de Pamplonne inspired us to find more videos of expensive vessels being parked. A little digging showed this is not the first time it’s been poorly done.

From the following 2017 video to this 2019 incident in Cairns, luxury vessels of all shapes and sizes have seen some catastrophic faux pas over the years.

To understand the true cost of these mishaps, DMARGE got on the phone with Istanbul-based luxury yacht manager Candaş Balci, who told us a vessel like Sailing Yacht A (one of the most lavish superyachts on the planet) would cost, in his estimation, 8 million euros per year to insure.

This is not optional, he said as “you can’t enter any country, any marina” without insurance.

He also told us parking mishaps aren’t the only reason many superyacht and luxury vessel owners hire a manager.

“They [the owners], relax onboard, and don’t want to have to think about any other problems.”

“They also often have limited time on the vessel.”

Balci told us there were various pain points to owning a superyacht you might not be aware of (which makes enjoying a smaller vessel a lot more attractive).

“Owning a superyacht has risks. You have 10 people (maybe) working on your yacht so it’s like a small company with payroll, social security, etc. As an owner you don’t have time for that.”

“If you have some problem it can ruin your whole summer – if you lose any of your crew and need to find another in the season it can be hard.”

There are also complex regulations that owners should be aware of, Balci told DMARGE.

“They can lock your boat down in some ports if you have something against the rules.”

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The post Incredible Video Shows Every Luxury Vessel Owners' Worst Nightmare appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

You’d think that the Australian tourism industry taking a nosedive this year would seem like an entirely foregone conclusion – with The Bat Kiss, the lasting aftermath of summer’s bushfires, and a recession all weighing on our minds (and wallets). It’s been a rough year for virtually all businesses, but those who depend on tourism for their livelihoods are having it particularly rough.

But the gloom and doom of 2020 hasn’t stopped an honest-to-goodness multi-million dollar hotel sale in NSW’s Byron Bay – something which superficially sounds like fodder for a Betoota Advocate headline, but might actually be a savvy business move and a positive sign for the tourism industry.

The Gold Coast-based Guok family just finalised their purchase of boutique Byron hotel ‘The Bower‘, officially Australia’s first pandemic-era hotel sale, Australian Financial Review reports.

RELATED: The Coolest Hotel Stays In Byron Bay

The Guoks, a prominent Singaporean business family, reportedly paid around $18 million for the 28-room property.

 

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A post shared by The Bower Boutique Hotel (@the_bower_byron_bay) on Jul 31, 2020 at 6:10pm PDT

Unsurprisingly, hotels have suffered this year – if no-one’s travelling, no-one’s booking rooms. Many businesses have closed or gone under, with occupancy rates in some cases falling below 20%.

But in the same way that the strength of the stock market is more of an indication of future economic horizons than current realities, this sale could be a bellwether for recovery in the industry.

The post Multi-Million Dollar Byron Bay Hotel Sale A Positive Sign For Travel Industry appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Someone once said Hunter S. Thompson was a moralist masquerading as an amoralist, while Richard Nixon was an amoralist masquerading as a moralist. While you’d never put Dan Bilzerian in the latter category, whether he fits into the former is an interesting question.

Is Bilzerian a larger than life, Jack Sparrow-esque antihero, or is he the grossest squanderer of wealth since Citizen Kane?

Before you decide, consider Bilzerian’s latest photo series, which suggests he may not be as much of a soulless shill as he seems. In fact, the photos show a side to America’s most defiant playboy we rarely get to see.

Bilzerian recently took to Instagram to share a bunch of his fans’ photos, in a down to earth move that rather goes against his “look at me” aesthetic.

To be fair, it was probably good for engagement with his profile (and eyeballs were probably still on him). But the point remains: there’s more to the dude than hot tubs and fast cars.

Bilzerian has been opening up to his fans more lately. As DMARGE reported last month, Bilzerian recently admitted there was no special sauce to his personality, claiming he’s incessantly surrounded by women because of his “rad life set up” more than anything else.

So, though Bilzerian is unlikely to be the next Gandhi, could he still turn a corner in public perception? If today’s Instagram stories (back to lustful excess as per usual) are anything to go by, Bilzerian couldn’t care less.

One thing’s for certain though: it’s a picturesque ride.

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Life’s really about the journey

A post shared by Dan Bilzerian (@danbilzerian) on Jun 1, 2019 at 5:57pm PDT

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The post Unexpected Instagram Posts Prove Dan Bilzerian Is A Man Of The People appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

We can all walk through the doors to any gym or fitness studio, lift some weights, and leave feeling pumped. But for all their vainglorious benefits, muscles can, on occasion, be more of an indicator of a man’s dedication to looking at himself in a mirror than his strength.So, rather than lift weights in an attempt to increase your strength, what else can you do to guarantee a stronger, fitter you? Plyometrics.You may or may not have heard of plyometrics before, but as a quick history lesson, the training technique originated in the 1950s with the Soviet Olympians. The term plyometrics, however, was coined by US Olympic long-distance runner Fred Wilt, after he saw the Soviet athletes preparing for their track and field events.The term derives from the Greek words plio, ‘more’, and metric, ‘length’, i.e. increased measurement.Time to rip the band-aid off, what exactly is plyometrics? Allow Lean Performance trainer and fitness encyclopedia Bronte Zeiher to explain.“Plyometric training involves the use of jumps, hops, bounds and skips and is a super-efficient way to improve speed, power, coordination and, in some cases, agility and overall athleticism.”

“It’s an awesome way to increase power & explosiveness, meaning producing the maximum amount of force in a minimal amount of time.”

It’s not all about box jumps, and neither is it just a case of jumping on the spot several times, or performing several leaps forward, oh no. Plyometric training is a little more niche.Bronte continues, “While a big emphasis is placed on the take off, or jump, of a movement, the same amount of attention should be applied to the landing, which will be relevant to your exercise being performed.”

 

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A post shared by BRONTE ZEIHER PERSONAL TRAINER (@brontezeiher) on Jul 29, 2020 at 12:47am PDT

Essentially, you want to jump high, land, and immediately jump high again to ‘shock’ the muscles. If you drop down from a high platform, for example, the muscles prepare for the landing by tensing up. When you hit the floor, those muscles absorb energy (eccentric contraction), which is redelivered in an upward movement. The goal of plyometric training is to make that transition from landing to jump as quickly as possible.It’s not a training technique for the faint-hearted, however, as it’s predominantly used by professional athletes, martial artists, sprinters and high jumpers.To this degree, Bronte says, “It’s important to understand and be coached correctly through the movement being performed before adding speed or explosiveness.”“A good place to start is squats, then moving onto TRX/ring-assisted squat jumps and standalone squat jumps, before progressing on to box jumps. Eventually, you can add in other variables such as hurdles.”She continues, “plyometric training should be performed no more than 1-3 times per week and adequate recovery time needed between sessions is 24-48 hours.”Not only can plyometric training gift you greater strength and power, but in doing so – and your legs becoming stronger – can provide greater stability for your entire body, resulting in fewer injuries from other exercises.

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The post Plyometrics Could Be Your Ticket To Explosive Strength appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Lewis Hamilton is maybe the most important racing driver of all time.

Not only is the Brit a six-time Formula One world champion and widely considered one of the greatest drivers of all time, but he’s also made history as the first black driver in the sport. Hamilton is to modern F1 what LeBron James is to basketball or Cristiano Ronaldo is to football: an indomitable star who’s had an enormous effect on the popularity of F1.

Four races into the 2020 Formula One World Championship and Hamilton’s already won three of them (the other race was won by his Mercedes teammate, the stoic Finn Valtteri Bottas). On top of the points tally with a whopping 88 points – Bottas at #2 trails him by 30 points – 2020 looks to further cement Hamilton’s exalted position on top of the sport.

Bottas just resigned with Mercedes, meaning 2021 will mark five seasons with the team, and insiders have been speculating whether or not Hamilton will rejoin his teammate next year too. Bottas and Hamilton have a good relationship – one that lies in stark contrast with Hamilton’s rocky relationship with previous Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

‘Silver Arrows’ fans are keen to see Hamilton stick with Bottas, but Hamilton’s not been so quick to negotiate with anyone, proving there’s more to the man than just chasing dollars or pole position.

“Ultimately, honestly, it just doesn’t feel like the right time,” Hamilton told the F1 press team in the run-up to the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in England.

“When you think about so many people in the world that have lost their jobs, people that are unemployed, then to sit and negotiate a big contract – it just doesn’t seem like the most important thing that I need to apply time to right this second.

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A post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton) on Aug 6, 2020 at 10:16am PDT

Despite being worth a cool $285 million, it’s good to see that Hamilton’s not just thinking about his next paycheck. It’s a classy move from a man who proves more and more what character he has.

Amidst the backdrop of the global economic and social upheaval we’ve experienced this year, Hamilton’s also used his profile to bring awareness to racism within F1 and around the world. He’s pushed the sport in a more progressive direction, leading anti-racism demonstrations before races and kickstarting greater corporate acceptance of the Black Lives Matter movement.

While Hamilton hardly lives a frugal existence, it’s heartening to see that he gives a toss about his fans. We agree with him: in light of all his activism, it would be in poor form to be heading straight to the negotiating table. Money isn’t everything, especially in 2020.

“The fact is I do want to continue with the team and it’s not a big effort for us to sit down and get it done. It’s just right now I don’t feel comfortable with it, and so we’ll wait a little bit longer,” he relates.

“I’m not talking to anybody else and I’m looking forward to continuing on, particularly as we’ve just started a new chapter as a team, in terms of how we educate ourselves, how we understand what we’re going to do to help be more diverse moving forwards and more inclusive… I’m super excited for what it’s possible to do with Mercedes and this time moving forward. At some stage it will get done but I’m not stressed.”

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The post Lewis Hamilton’s ‘Classy’ Move Proves Money Isn’t Everything In 2020 appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

North Korea is known for many things. Fun is not one of them. But when tourists visit, they are shown a different side to the doom and gloom portrayed in the press.

Granted: it’s an act. But some might argue it’s no different to staying in a five-star resort in Bali. Whatever you think about that, two Australians have just come out with a book that offers a rare insight into a bunch of North Korean hotels that hosted “socialist-friendly comrades” during the glory days of Soviet bloc tourism in the 70s and 80s and which Westerners seldom stay in.

They don’t claim it shows every facet of the country. But it does provide a rare glimpse into what it’s like to stay in a rarely broadcast part of Pyongyang.

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A post shared by Hotels of North Korea (@hotelsofnorthkorea) on Feb 9, 2020 at 12:43am PST

It’s perfect timing too. With international flights having been slashed and many globetrotters wiling away at home, the photos, published by publications like The Times and Traveller, are a welcome chance to live vicariously.

The images, of 11 hotels, come from Melbourne-based James Scullin, a former tour guide in North Korea, and award winning photographer Nicole Reed.

As Traveller reports, “For Scullin, 37, it was a chance to satisfy his curiosity by getting inside hotels he had only seen from the outside as a tour guide.”

For Reed, it was a chance to test her specialist “skill in perspective and picking up light, which pervades North Korean interiors and neon signs,” Scullin says on The Hotels Of Pyongyang (THOP) About Page.

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A post shared by Hotels of North Korea (@hotelsofnorthkorea) on Jun 17, 2020 at 12:30am PDT

Scullin also says, “Many express a degree of trepidation when considering a trip to the DPRK but Nicole was eager to board the Air Koryo flight from Beijing to Pyongyang as soon as possible.”

“Western tourists have typically stayed at one of Pyonyang’s two ‘deluxe hotels’ – the Koryo and the Yanggakdo.”

“To some, spending time in the hotels may sound restrictive, but to me the hotel design, strange amenities and shy staff have always been of places with the greatest opportunities to bond with local Pyongyangites.”

“With almost everything in North Korea state-run, a business like a hotel does not close down during low tourist periods, meaning the hotels in Pyongyang have survived a number of economic hardships the country has faced,” Scullin also states.

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Chongnyon Hotel – Dining Hall #northkorea #pyongyang #pyongyang2019 #northkoreanhotels #northkoreanarchitecture #brut #sovietera #sovietbuilding #koryohotel #yanggakdo #dprk #dprkorea #dprktoday

A post shared by Hotels of North Korea (@hotelsofnorthkorea) on Jun 17, 2019 at 11:49pm PDT

“Taking inspiration from the highly revered genre of Soviet architecture photography, I first got the idea to use my connection to North Korea to document these strange structures and brutalist relics.”

But forget guns and missiles, the most interesting aspect of these hotels is arguably the karaoke rooms.

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Sosan Hotel – Karaoke Gallery With distinct neon coloured room, the Sosan Hotel is known for having the most extensive English language song list in Pyongyang. Hotels of Pyongyang is available exclusively online. Shipping worldwide to your coffee table. Photography by @nicasa

A post shared by Hotels of North Korea (@hotelsofnorthkorea) on Jul 20, 2020 at 2:22am PDT

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The post Australian Photographer Offers Rare Glimpse Into North Korea's Hotel Industry appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Josh Brolin is one of the most underrated American actors of the modern era. The gruff 52-year-old is best known these days for playing Marvel Cinematic Universe supervillain Thanos, but his career in Hollywood spans decades, having appeared in films as diverse as The Goonies, True Grit, No Country For Old Men, and Hail, Caesar!

He’s also got one of the most underrated Instagram accounts on the platform. A ‘man’s man’ with a great sense of humour, Brolin shares his thoughts on everything from politics to fashion and art – and unlike many celebrities, the man doesn’t let his political leanings ‘pre-decide’ his opinion on each individual topic.

His social media presence is refreshing in an age where anyone with a platform thinks they’re suddenly some modern-day Aristotle: Brolin’s a surprisingly wise dude and a must-follow for anyone looking for inspiration on how to be a modern gentleman.

His latest post, sharing a touching moment between him and his daughter, saw many of his fans applaud his parenting style. But rather than just lapping up the glory and letting the comments section have at it, Brolin also used it as an opportunity to share some wisdom.

Brolin shared a photo of him behind the wheel of his Ram truck, with his youngest daughter Westlyn sitting on his lap with her head out the window. Both of them are clearly enjoying themselves: Westlyn’s loving the wind in her hair and Josh has a satisfied dad grin.

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A post shared by Josh Brolin (@joshbrolin) on Aug 3, 2020 at 4:13pm PDT

Commenters were quick to applaud him for what they saw as a return to ‘old-school’ parenting.

“Man I used to love to do that as a kid in my dad’s Plymouth Volare wagon, they won’t forget that!” one commenter shared.

“Nothing better than open road and letting the kids drive on the lap – it’s a smile from ear to ear.”

“No safety belt required when you in a Dodge,” another joked.

While it’s hardly the safest thing to let your kid do (Brolin’s partner later chimed in and said it was “while we went slow and on our own property”), Brolin shows how sometimes you need to ignore ‘backseat parents’ and just let your kids have fun. Good parenting is all about taking joy out of the little things, and giving your children space to grow and learn – and sometimes that means throwing caution to the wind and just enjoying life.

Related: The Secret To Attaining Cool Dad Status

Many comments quickly took on a political tinge, however:

“Glad to see you let her be a kid and have fun! Standby for the hate comments from the sensitive snowflakes!”

But it was a comment from a confused Trump supporter that motivated Brolin to weigh in.

“Josh, I’m torn how I feel about you. Sometimes you say some stupid Liberal shit then you go and do something cool like this by allowing your kid to be a kid and I like you again. Damn you Josh Brolin!”

“Because I look at anything as stupidly liberal, or conservatively brilliant,” Brolin responded.

“It’s blinding either way. Some conservatives have solid points, as do liberals. What I can’t stand is someone standing for anything based on a party lean. ‘My party is right always’ is as good as those that followed Hitler because he said they deserved better (good) then blamed a bunch of other citizens for it (bad). So stay torn how you feel about me – it’s more honest.”

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A post shared by Josh Brolin (@joshbrolin) on Jul 23, 2020 at 12:07am PDT

Brolin’s comment reveals a truth about American politics in 2020: even parenting has become a battleground in the culture wars.

With the presidential race in full swing and November’s election looming, things are particularly fractious in the United States. With the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement, COVID-19 and a nosediving economy, political polarisation in the US has never been greater.

Brolin proves that not everything or everyone fits into neat categories. He’s an outspoken progressive but an old-fashioned sort of dude, who’s just as comfortable with letting his daughter have some thrills on the road as he is with sending support to the Lebanese Red Cross.

One commenter summed it up:

“It’s not just that everything now is seen through a political lens, generally advancing the interests of politicians), even public health during a pandemic, but that there is no room left for nuance between the black and white. All or Nothing. Good or bad. Liberal or conservative. Mask or no mask. God or atheist. And it goes on and on and it’s the people that suffer, not the politicians. Think for yourself, evaluate things on your terms, and remember that everyone is really just looking for the same thing: happiness, health, contentment. Does anything else really matter?”

Well done Josh for sparking such a worthwhile discussion.

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The post Controversial Josh Brolin Instagram Post Proves He’s Immune To ‘Backseat Parenting’ appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

The French would be loathe to admit it, but Antipodeans know a thing or two about making wine, particularly those crafty South Australians.

Australia is the world’s 6th biggest wine producer and 10th biggest wine consumer in the world (8th for per capita consumption). Not only are we one the world’s biggest exporters of wine, but we are particularly discerning consumers, too: wine has long surpassed beer as the alcohol of choice for most Australians, and the Australian wine market boasts the eighth-highest average value of still wine of the top 20 wine consuming countries, Wine Australia reports.

We like a fine drop and we like drinking local stuff, and Australian wineries are some of the best in the world. But one of the very best (and perhaps most globally famous) is Penfolds. A distinctly Australian luxury brand up there with R.M. Williams and Aesop, Penfolds Grange – their most famous bottle – is a Heritage Icon of South Australia and one of the world’s most desirable cult wines.

Penfolds’ 2020 collection will see the 66th consecutive release of the famous Grange, as well as some other tasty vinos anyone would be lucky to have a taste of. But Penfolds is upping the ante: to coincide with the 2020 collection release, Penfolds is launching a new limited-edition wine assembled from four Grange vintages (2002, 2004, 2008, 2016) that might just be the best wine they’ve ever made – hell, the best wine Australia’s ever made (but don’t go telling Henschke).

Called Penfolds g4, the masterful blend has already been awarded two perfect 100 point scores from Nick Stock of jamesuckling.com and Ken Gargett from The World of Fine Wine. One of its constituent wines, the Grange 2016, also won two perfect scores itself – so it’s literally perfection on top of perfection.

A limited edition of 2,500 bottles going at 3,500 AUD (~2,515 USD) for a standard 750ml bottle, g4 is clearly meant to be a real connoisseurs’ (or real collector’s) wine. If you want one, you’re going to have to get in quick.

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The post Penfolds' New $3,500 Wine May Be The Most 'Perfect' Ever Made In Australia appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

The thought of a stock market crash terrifies most rookie investors. Meanwhile, those like Warren Buffet rub their hands with glee, ready to scoop up companies for pennies on the dollar, only to flip them and sell for a killing when the market recovers.

That’s in normal times.

2020 has been no normal plummet though. The quick recovery from the COVID stock market crash, owed largely to federal funding, has put experts like Buffet in a tricky spot, while providing a once in a lifetime opening for retail (individual) investors.

The Fed is doing such a great job of distorting markets it has totally priced out both Warren Buffett & Stanley Druckenmiller. These guys used to rely on value to invest. There can be no value when the Fed provides a neverending bid. The Fed literally just ended value investing.

— Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) June 8, 2020

However, a mildly terrifying tweet (which some have called the “best of 2020”) has exposed a big problem with this rookie trader phenomenon. Before you throw ‘Investing For Dummies’ at us: it’s not so much a risk for the market but for those investors themselves.

As The Australian Financial Review reports, “To paraphrase a widely circulated tweet, the mantra of those with an IQ below 100 and above 130 is: ‘it’s going up, dummy.'”

Said tweet, which now appears to have been deleted from the original poster’s account, is still kicking around in various forms.

All bubble stocks follow this pattern:

IQ < 100: It’s going up, dummy

IQ 100 – 130: Fuck the Fed, Fuck Elon Musk, Jeffrey Epstein, Zerohedge! Short it.

IQ 130+: It’s going up, dummy

— Aleksandr Babenko (@al_babenko83) May 25, 2020

In other words: if you’re investing right now; you’re either an idiot or a genius.

While VFS Group investment manager James Whelan recently told DMARGE a crash isn’t guaranteed (“it’s highly possible the economy will come up to meet the market”), one thing is for sure: investing right now with no greater plan than to hold on for dear life (or copy Dave Portnoy and hope for the best), is likely to end in tears.

Investing isn’t all beer and sneakers. In fact, rookie traders gaining a taste of success right now could, as DMARGE recently reported, embolden them to invest ‘casino-style’ rather than begin the journey of long term wealth creation.

As the AFR reports, “There are suggestions that in the US, although potentially Australia too, stocks are filling a void left by the absence of sports betting and closure of casinos.”

“That fun may also be funded by wage support packages or early access to superannuation.”

“There is an endless supply of social media posts from punters that clearly have no idea what they’re doing. They don’t understand the instruments they’re buying, or they have heroic risk tolerances. There’s also a fair few tragic posts of total wipe-outs,” (AFR).

The confounding factor is what it takes, intelligence or otherwise, to know when to get out. Anyone can sit on a roller coaster while the cable beneath chug-chug-chugs it up the hill.

— Mike Pienciak (@MikePienciak) May 26, 2020

Put simply: just because Dave Portnoy is doing it (likely with a whole lot more capital to risk losing than you), doesn’t mean you should too.

It’s happening in my sleep now. This massive brain refuses to take time off. I literally can’t stop making money. #DDTG pic.twitter.com/68EbEWC9fa

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 5, 2020

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The post Hidden Warning Behind The 'Best Finance Tweet Of 2020' appeared first on DMARGE Australia.