I called it back in December of 2006 that either James Bond #22 or #23 or Mission: Impossible 4 would take place in part in Dubai (see James Bond in Dubai).
Today the trailer for the latter was released, and here’s Tom Cruise base-jumping from the Burj Khalifa:
And then there’s this: “Tom Cruise hangs from world’s tallest building“.
Tom Cruise risked his life performing stunts for “Mission: Impossible 4″ in Dubai over the weekend: the star, 48, dangled almost 2,717 feet in the air near the top of skyscraper Burj Kahlifa, the tallest building in the world.
It’ll be interesting to see this flick, directed, of course, by the guy who did The Incredibles and Iron Giant (yes, I’m serious).
Did you see this article in Time Magazine? “The Rent Too Damn High in Dubai? Not So Much“.
Apparently 825 of the Burj Khalifa’s 900 ultra-luxury apartments remain unoccupied. (I assume that’s since the January opening).
Key quote:
But it’s the units that will be completed that are looming as a problem. The Dubai economy must still digest a flood of housing units coming on line or soon to be opened, which will further dampen prices. Through September, 27,000 residential units have been put on the market, and another 9,000 are expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. For 2011, the firm forecasts that about 30,000 new units will come on line.
This is a whole new economic crisis!
I missd this from last Friday, the New York Times has an op-ed about Dubai and specifically the Burj Khalifa: “The Age of Concrete.”
Key quote:
From a technological standpoint, it’s profoundly impressive that a reinforced concrete frame has outperformed the steel of Taipei 101 — the previous record holder for height — by 1,050 feet. This achievement suggests a new era in structural engineering: the compressive strength of concrete has tripled in the last four decades, allowing concrete structures to be thinner, lighter and far, far taller.
The world’s largest shopping mall (based on total area) is the Dubai Mall at the base of the Burj Dubai, er, Burj Khalifa. Inside the mall is the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre, which holds 10 million liters (2.6 million gallons) of water and has the Guinness World Record world’s “Largest Acrylic Panel”.
And it’s leaking.
So says the Gulf News: “Dubai Mall aquarium cracked and leaking.”
Uh-oh.
Remember when all they had to worry about was shark fights?
Josh finally lives in Maine again
after four years at Boston University, a stint in Southern California with
Walt Disney Feature Animation,
and two years in Dubai, UAE,
where he created and wrote
Newlywed in Dubai.
