Fans of urban architecture and current design will be flocking to bookstores today to snatch up the latest offering by the guru of current design groove, Bruce Mau.

Mau made an international name for himself when he teamed up with architect Rem Koolhaas to co-pen the fascinating S,M,L,XL, the acclaimed 1998 thesis on Koolhaas's buildings and ideas. Sure that book was mostly about Koolhaas's work, but Mau got equal billing, and now the graphic designer is putting his own thoughts down on paper with Life Style.

But first a brief aside on why this book is guaranteed success. We live in a time obsessed with design. Before you'd worry about how you looked, but your home wasn't the key focus in life. You didn't fret over the design of your toothbrush and as long as you had clean towels and enough wine glasses, no flags were raised.

Alas, 'tis no longer the case. I've been hunting for just the right soap dish for a couple of months now. Selecting a toothbrush that works with the aesthetics of my bathroom (along with being soft enough for questionable gums) is a near obsession. Do I sound like a freak? If I do, welcome to the 21st century. A universe as obsessed with designing our homes, as outfitting our bodies. And it's this strange new world where Bruce Mau's Life Style will find a welcome home.

But Life Style isn't some coffee table, pretty, picture book that requires no mental steam. Among other things, the text is a rigorous study of the effects the information age is having on design. In the past, the machine age had its distinct effect on the look of things. Recall how chrome grills crept into diners and office towers? (Need I say more than the Chrysler Building?) Well Mau looks at the changes the information age is exacting on current design.

Do you know what the ecotone is? It's an environmental term that describes an area where two ecosystems -- let's say a farm and swamp land -- coexist. Now let's take this analogy and examine it in terms of the new economy and the old economy. Mau makes a point that the one thing that's flourishing between these two disparate entities is the area of design. Design is currently fecund and full of exciting possibilites.

Here's an idea of some of the exciting metaphors Bruce Mau is excavating in Life Style:

"Design today is flourishing in (the ecotone). Its symbol is the veil, a graphic device that conveys the conflicting desire to conceal and reveal. Shadow, translucency, reflection, refraction, dappling, stippling, blurring, shimmering, vibration, moire, netting, layering, superimposition: these are some of the visual devices used to render the veil in contemporary design. Recent examples include the Apple G4 Power Cube; shadow niches in the walls of the British architect John Pawson and the spring 2001 collection by the fashion designer Helmut Lang."

This is just one of the herd of fascinating observations contained in Life Style. Don't miss it. Mau's Canadian. He's cool. And he's got his finger on the pulse. (Available in bookstores today, Phaidon Press, $69.95)

Don Quixote:
Tonight the National Ballet of Canada kicks off its second ballet of the dance season with Ludwig Minkus's Don Quixote. The three-act comedy follows Don Quixote and his trusty sidekick Sancho Panza as they search for the ideal woman.

Driven by the vision of Dulcinea (the abovementioned perfect woman), the duo travels to sunny Barcelona where Quixote sets his eyes on Kitri, a woman in love with another man by the name of Basilio. To make matters even more complicated, her father's promised Kitri's hand to Gamache the noble village fop.

Enter Quixote who thinks that Kitri is the woman for him. Kitri and Basilio run away to a gypsy camp, shadowed by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, with Gamache and Kitri's papa close behind.

And this is just the first act. The second and third acts contain a mock suicide, tilting at windmills, marrying a corpse and of course, the whole kit and kaboodle ends with a spectacular, virtuosic Grand Pas de Deux in Act III.

NY Notes: Just to let you know that James Kudelka's choreographed versions of The Firebird and The Four Seasons are grabbing rave reviews in The New York Times. The dance critic calls them "dazzling" and "glittering". The critic went on to crow that The Firebird was a hybrid of The Lion King and Serge Diaghilev in a "highly synthetic but persuasive staging. There is no doubt now that Mr. Kudelka's Four Seasons is a masterpiece for our time."

You've got to be proud to hear that! Kudelka's double feature will be presented in the U.S. as a co-production for the Houston Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre.