Thursday Lovin': Resentful Rover

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.

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

I am not quite sure what to say about this:

Wednesday Lovin': Movie Pitches

Found this on Digg.com:

Erik Blevin's Kick Ass Movie Pitches

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.

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:

Proof: There is only one me

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

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".

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

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

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?

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