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"His aim is to set seven breathtaking records in seven days by going higher or further than anyone dared go before"

BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Where others take the cable car, Freddy Nock knows he can just hop on top of the steel wire and walk up to the peak.



The Swiss tightrope expert has already inched his way up or down four mountains in Germany, Austria and Switzerland this week.



His aim is to set seven breathtaking records in seven days by going higher or further than anyone dared go before.



On Thursday, the 46-year-old was saddling up near Bern, the Swiss capital, in a bid to cycle across a wire strung between two cranes 50 meters (164 feet) above the ground.



Nock, who never uses a safety harness during his stunts, is donating proceeds from his weeklong daredevil tour to charity

Hector Tobar's Los Angeles

Like the narrator of Italo Calvino's novel "Invisible Cities," I felt I was wandering a city with a history largely unknown to me. So I taped a passage from that book to my Times cubicle:



"The city … does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps…."



These days, just about everywhere I go in L.A., I feel history written in the landscape. L.A. is getting older. And when I go home, to the blocks where I grew up, I see the imprint left by generations of Angelenos.



(excerpts from a commentary by Hector Tobar, L A Times)

"Chasing Madoff"

What should have been a disturbing examination of a colossal financial crime in "Chasing Madoff" is instead a disturbed one.



Using an irritably distracting collage of hopped-up graphics, archival footage and faux-noir re-creations in black and white, director Jeff Prosserman's frenzied documentary focuses on the scandal's much-noted whistle-blower, a securities analyst named Harry Markopolos, who had been trying for 10 years — before Bernard Madoff's 2008 arrest — to let the world know Madoff's money-managing operation was a Ponzi scheme

Dolly led the way

With the huge rise in popularity of young female country stars such as Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood taking home Grammys and other awards and climbing to No. 1 on Billboard charts, it's difficult to imagine a time when the women of country music did not appeal to such a wide audience. But before Swift, Underwood and Miranda Lambert, there were a handful of women like Dolly Parton paving the way for female country stars.

"electronic tattoo"

Forget those old, bulky electrodes of the past. Researchers have created a device that can track your heart, brain and muscle activity as effectively as conventional monitoring systems — and is thin enough to be laminated onto the skin like a temporary tattoo. Down the line, such electronic patches could be used to monitor vital functions, aid in physical rehabilitation or perhaps be deployed in covert military operations.

"Even Cary Grant said he wanted to be Cary Grant"

Even Cary Grant said he wanted to be Cary Grant. And why not? Cinema’s well-tailored Prince Charming made everything look effortless — whether fleeing a murderous crop duster or taming Katharine Hepburn. Still, no one’s quite prepared for an African American on death row to go all C.K. Dexter Haven in Rick Pagano’s inventive but awkward legal drama, “Treat Yourself Like Cary Grant,” now at the Lillian Theatre.

Battle over shark fin soup heats up in California

An emotional battle over a traditional soup has split California's Chinese American community as environmental and animal welfare groups push the Legislature to ban the sale and possession of shark fins.



The bill passed the Assembly last month, 65-8, but is running into trouble in the Senate.



The fight has pitted influential Chinese American politicians against one another, some of whom are running for mayor of San Francisco. Chinese traders and restaurant owners have hired lobbyists to oppose a ban, and busloads of Chinatown residents have descended on the Capitol, saying that a ban would violate cultural custom.



Houston Rockets basketball star Yao Ming has joined other celebrities, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Scarlett Johansson, in public support of a ban. "Remember, when the buying stops, the killing can too," says Ming, in a YouTube video that shows him pushing away a bowl of soup.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster Front View

Unlike Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Rolls-Royce – who are owned by highly successful mainstream brands Volkswagen, Audi, Fiat and BMW respectively – specialist manufacturers such as Aston Martin have a hard time in the market.

Whereas a company like Mercedes-Benz can afford to spend €5 billion (US$7.1 billion) in one year on research and development, the Gaydon-based manufacturer of performance/luxury coupes is planning its next models on the eight-year-old platform that first underpinned the DB9 coupe in 2003!

In fact, of the 15 models in the brand’s current line-up only two of them – the One-77 supercar and Toyota iQ-derived Cygnet city car – are not based on the DB9’s aluminium “vertical-horizontal” platform.

Ian Callum, who designed the DB9 and is now working as design director at Tata’s Jaguar/Land Rover, explains:

“It’s still that same old basic design [of two-door coupe / convertible]. Some will argue that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But you do get to a time when you have to move on.”

The brand’s bestselling, US$113,400 Vantage coupe and even the upcoming, £330,000 (US$539,979) V12 Zagato will be based on the same old underpinnings as its eight-year-old stablemate due to a need to keep costs down across the board.

Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez explains: “All the projects that we are doing have to make a profit. We can’t afford a project that is just a marketing tool.”

It’s one of the reasons the automaker has been able to secure a 20% profit margin in the last financial year, despite selling only 4,299 cars. Compare this to Mercedes-Benz, which had a FY2010 profit margin of 10.7%.

By recycling technology and cannibalising its older platforms and engines, Aston Martin has been able to remain profitable. It’s a sentiment echoed by company CFO Hanno Kirner:

“We don’t make the mistake of applying manufacturing techniques that are perfectly sensible for 500,000-a-year models to small-volume cars.”

Whereas companies like BMW are investing in lightweight carbon fibre materials, electric vehicles (EVs) and front-wheel-drive, Aston Martin just continues to do what it has always done mostly due to a lack of resources.

It’s one of the reasons the brand took in £509 million ($830 million) in revenue for the last financial year and is currently looking into both an expansion into China and a potential public float.

Still, analyst Andrew Jackson at London research firm Datamonitor is not convinced the brand is as well off as it may first appear:

“The models are starting to have a slight whiff of Sunday dinner being used in sandwiches later in the week. It leaves the impression of a company stretching itself as far as it can. In the industry that they operate in, with their competitors, they really need to be cutting edge.”

And with rivals like the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and the Nissan GT-R – cars that are both cheaper and more technologically advanced than the recently introduced Virage – Aston-Martin will certainly have to raise its game if it’s going to remain competitive in 2012 and beyond.

By Tristan Hankins

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster First Look

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster Side View

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster Interior View

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster Photos

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster Rear Action View

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster Car Wheel

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 Roadster Images

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque At 2010 Paris Motor Show

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Front View

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Official Images

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Center Console

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Side View

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Clauster Gauge and Steering Wheel View

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque First Look

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Car Interior

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque At 2010 Paris Motor Show

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Rear View

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Seats Photo

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Pictures

2011 Ferrari 599 Sa Aperta Special Edition

2011 Ferrari 599 Sa Aperta Special Edition

2011 Ferrari 599 Sa Aperta Side View

2011 Ferrari 599 Sa Aperta Overhead Photo

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept First Look

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept Supercar

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept Front Seats

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept Side View

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept Car Interior

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept Rear Side View

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept Overhead