31 October 2006

Design in a Small Town 9: Proximity


(I am in storytelling mode tonight, forgive me)

My father teaches Entomology at the university and his department, which houses an insect museum, shares the building with the Food Science and Human Nutrition department.

Many entomology researchers rear insects in effort to keep live samples to study. Apparently someone had been rearing Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches only to have them...um, escape. Needless to say, they have begun to appear throughout the building. Without invitation, I might add.

There is nothing more that needs to be said. You put two and two together. Food and cockroaches.

What does this have to do with design, you ask? Well, who on earth thought it was a great idea to put the entomologists and the food science people together? This was bound to happen, I suppose.

BONUS: Roach Cam! (from South Carolina)

About this Time

When I was an undergraduate I was at the mercy of my fellow classmates when it came time to find rides home for the holidays. Precious few friends, it seemed, were making that 300 mile trek across the state. One year, I happened to finish early and was very fortunate to catch a ride with a friend who lived 80 miles from my hometown and who was gracious enough to drive me to my front door before turning around and continuing on for another hour and a half.

I remember it was a cold November evening and my friend had decided to leave the major highways and take a back road in an attempt to cut time. We had to pass through several small towns on the way. Without warning the crystal clear night turned into a thick fog and as we entered the first town it was as if we had entered a dream. The town was completely deserted and apart from the one or two street lights the town was unlit - not a single house was illuminated from within.

It really bothered us. I remember we drove a little faster to get past this place. The fog lifted and the second small town we passed through was bright and full of life. It was very strange.

When I got to my parent's home, it was late and I was greeted by my sister, who was also visiting, and after getting settled I told about the creepy little town and she replied, "I have something really scary to tell you."

I am not a brave soul and the tone my sister set with those words really got to me. I sat down on the couch and grabbed a pillow for security.

My sister went on to explain how earlier in the evening my dad had casually admitted that, while we lived in our previous home (a creaky old Dutch colonial job a block or so away), he had had reoccurring nightmares about someone falling into a well. This was the first time he had admitted this to anyone and my mother, who had researched the history of the home, remarked that there had been a well that sat where the back porch was now. To take it further my mother now felt it safe to admit that she too had had strange experiences: a number of times she had seen out of the corner of her eye someone standing near her only to turn quickly to see nothing. This was beyond the usual sense that we often get at times.

My sister's confession, however, was beyond belief and to this day still makes me uncomfortable. She revealed that on more than one occasion she had awoken to find a young woman standing at the foot of her bed. She has since told me that, unable to speak or scream out of sheer terror, she would squeeze her eyes shut until she knew the girl had gone. Mind you these encounters happened not when my sister was a child but when she was teenager.

I had a hard time sleeping that night. In my mind I thought back to all the strange things I had experienced such as the times my cat would hiss and growl at things that weren't there or the time my sister's friend came to spend the night and pulled the blinds down and up again only to return to the living room later to find the blinds down again. I remember this because I took the blame for it and it seemed unusual that the blinds would be pulled down (they never were used at all in the room).

I don't know how much of these stories is embellishment and distortion over time. But I do know that when I recently revisited the house (a friend lives there now) that I felt nothing. The only awkward vibe I felt was when I remarked to my friend that I'd forgotten how small the bathrooms were.

But maybe he is not telling me something. Maybe, just maybe, he has inherited the nightmares and lonely little girl at the foot of the bed.

Happy Halloween.

26 October 2006

Thursday Lovin': Resentful Rover

Mars Rover Beginning To Hate Mars

The Onion

Mars Rover Beginning To Hate Mars

PASADENA, CA—After nearly three years of nonstop data collection, Spirit has begun transmitting obscene gestures and confusing rants.

21 October 2006

Friday Lovin': Poodle People Unite! (and exercise)

I am not quite sure what to say about this:

18 October 2006

Wednesday Lovin': Movie Pitches

Found this on Digg.com:

Erik Blevin's Kick Ass Movie Pitches

17 October 2006

Dubai as Metaphor


image: © 2005 Harry Lambert

My sisters-in-law have vacationed in Dubai for a decade now and have remarked on what an utter and complete transformation has happened there. Once desert, the city is now home to some new and visionary architectural projects.

The money it must take to create, say, what will be the world's tallest building or to do massive terra forming is mind-boggling. No wonder architects and engineers are lining up to strut their stuff in Dubai.

The problem is that as forward-looking as the work is and as seductive the visual forms are, the power use to keep those structures functioning (cooling for instance) is very old world. I haven't seen many proposals (not that I have looked very hard) that, for instance, use solar as an integrated element - one that would make the buildings sustainable. The focus then seems to be on extravagant form.

Dubai then becomes symbolic of our time. With money comes the potential for something truly great that could be used as a model throughout the world. Instead it is used for an investment in surface.

12 October 2006

Thinking outside the box

Yesterday it was reported that Muslims were offended by the shape of an Apple store in New York City because of its vague similarity to the Ka'ba, a holy site in Mecca. Needless to say, the story played up to stereotypes about Muslims as irrationally fastiduous to the point of militancy regarding anything even moderately resembling religious symbols and artifacts. Well, the story appears to be a pitiful extrapolation from one person's statement.

However, reading the comments today on a site dedicated to fanatic mac users is really very interesting and does so much to destroy many stereotypes about Muslims . It shows how light and entertaining things can be when we don't fall into prejudice and, instead, embrace our techno-fetishes.

Old School Collision Control

I don't know if it is the time of day or what but I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this:

09 October 2006

Proof: There is only one me


HowManyOfMe.com
There are:
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

Rosa Parks (Her Chevy?)

Slate has a good article criticizing a new Chevy commercial. The commercial uses a number of images that, because of their juxtaposition to inane imagery and music, make the commercial...well, kind of "icky".

04 October 2006

Wednesday Lovin': Your Last Elevator Ride (or not)

I love this trompe l'oeil painting in an elevator.

02 October 2006

Scandal, glorious scandal.

Mirror Neurons and the Agony of Bad Advertising


The AIA (American Institute of Architects) have run this image in their magazine adverts for some time now. The caption next to the image reads: "Mom's cranky. Dad's irritable. The kids are grouchy. Everybody needs counseling. With an architect."

Ok.

This ad is really quite awful for so many reasons. First of all the image of the woman screaming does nothing to promote architecture. Secondly, the scream annoys me to no end. I actually think this is due primarily to my mirror neurons. I see someone screaming, it makes me uncomfortable because she looks to be in pain, and now I, just in looking at her, relate to that pain and make a mental connection to the AIA. Great! The advertising firm has now united the AIA and the idea of pain.

But probably the most offensive thing about the advert is the fact that this comes off as sort of a cheap bit of advertising. The image looks like the redundantly bland images spat out by stock image firms and it seems as though the advertising firm slapped on the copy to make it fit the client.

Architects and the field of architecture deserve better than this. There needs to be something in the AIA's advertising that talks about the exciting new developments in architecture or, in contrast, how the contemporary AIA continues a very rich history.

Whatever, just please, no more screaming ladies.

FOREST FOR THE TREES UPDATE:

It just came to me. It seems that the image of the screaming woman plays into stereotypes of the hysterical woman who is so overwhelmed and unable to handle life's pressures. Only to be rescued by the professional (read: male) architect. Mom's cranky, huh?

01 October 2006

Visual Evidence: Republicans are psychopathic

Today I found this interesting site that has a number polls and their results. In a general survey about current events and governmental policy, I found the results very startling. On almost every question the histograms provide evidence that a fair proportion of people who define themselves as Republicans are concerned primarily for themselves and do not want any social programs what-so-ever. To extrapolate is to tread on dangerous ground. So, that's why I am willing do it, just for you dear reader: Republicans are psychopathic!

Judge for yourself. A Wikipedia definition of psychopathic (I actually looked up the term sociopath, but I like psychopathic as it has more sting):

A psychopath is defined as having no concern for the feelings of others & a complete disregard for any sense of social obligation. They seem egocentric and lacking insight and any sense of responsibility or consequence. Their emotions are thought to be superficial and shallow, if they exist at all. They are considered callous, manipulative and incapable of forming lasting relationships, let alone of any kind of love. It is thought that any emotions which the true psychopath exhibits are the fruits of watching and mimicking other people's emotions. They show poor impulse control and a low tolerance for frustration and aggression. They have no empathy, remorse, anxiety or guilt in relation to their behavior. In short, they truly are devoid of conscience.
quod erat demonstrandum