Archive for October, 2007

Barbara Strasen

Zoomquilt II a collaborative art project

This just may put you in an epileptic seizure, but it’s probably worth a look, as far as internet collaborative art fairs.

Trip Ticket II

is dream weaver a triple entendre?

Cultura Sin Fronteras at expresAAons-artAAstAAcas

Patriots Scandal Widens

Startling Revelations from The Smoking GunAA

Steven Holl : NYU Department of Philosophy

Those of us from the Bean know Steven Holl‘s academic work all too well, what with all the coverage his concrete ‘sponge’ [read : Simmon’s Hall] got in both the local and national media - and then ensuing debate over the building’s design.

In a more recent project, which just opened at the start of this school year, Holl investigates porosity yet again - but this time within a renovation/restoration project for NYU‘s Philosophy Department. Long story short? The concept is much iller as an insertion into a pre-existing structure - just look at the photos of this staircase…thing is SIIICK.

As I’ve already said, this time around Holl experimented with the insertion of a ‘porous’ stair into an existing 1890 building at 3-5 Washington Place. Leaving the historic exterior untouched, Holl’s aim was to give the Department of Philosophy a ‘luminous image’ with the new interiors - including faculty and graduate student offices, seminar rooms, a periodicals library & lounge and a ground floor 120-seat cork auditorium.

Read the complete article here, over at the architecture page.

::All images copyright Andy Ryan::

Eye Candy : Alex Cherry

This comes straight from the pages of architecture.mnp, where our very own archie has professed his love for art and architecture.AA We’re with him on that and therefore have included the whole text of his post, go check out his page.

[image : Recapitulation by Alex Cherry]
Over here at architecture.MNP we love architecture, and we love art [you see where I’m going with this?] - so I’ve got throw up anything that combines the two. That, combined with Wednesdays basically being an ‘eye candy’ kind of day [hey, hump day sucks for ninjas too] has got me thinking we’ll feature more art and/or ‘paper architecture’ mid week - we’ll see.

Here we’ve got work by Alex Cherry, and we’re feelin it. Enjoy, and check out more of his [and others work] here at vhm-design.com.

[image : To Another Abyss… by Alex Cherry]

Mellow Jell-o

Here’s what you need:

- 1 box of Jello Mix
- $500JA worth of decent grade weed.
- A strainer
- 1 1/2 cups of water
- A pot
- Little paper or plastic shot cups.

Recipe over at our cuddies’ site, Afflicted YardAA

…and when they’re done, give one to the guy who cleans the yard…

Haha, sorry, but the pictures made it necessary to post this.AA Thanks to Trizlam for sendin’ this one in.

How Starbucks Saved My Life - A Review

This review is written by a mnp guest writer, sometime contributor and long time friend.

A Brief Review: Asking for More Complexity in How Starbucks Saved My Life

Michael Gill’s book, How Starbucks Saved My Life, is entrenched in the idea thatAA a€oerebirtha€A is possible. Describing the year that Gill started a job Starbucks and found, as he writes, a a€oehappiness thata€A he a€oe had never known before,a€A the memoir claims that a new kind of life is always achievable (206). A Yale graduate and advertising exec for twenty-five years, Gill lived a life of "privilege" that many strive for. However, after losing his job at J.Walter Thomson, starting a failing business, and getting a divorce, he realizes he can no longer afford the life he once led. Depressed, scared, and lost, he walks into a Starbucks and is offered a job-a job that "saves" his life.

While one might be skeptical of such an immediate transition, Gilla€™s book is determined to illustrate how cleaning bathrooms, serving a good cup of coffee, and working with people from such different lifestyles brought him happiness. He achieves this goal during the scenes where we see him in the storea€"interacting with his partners and learning the job. Acknowledging his own racism and classism, Gill writes about his coworkers with a great deal of gratitude and sincerity. Mainly his relationship with Crystal (the manager who offered him the job) revitalizes both Gill and the reader. As his boss, she trusts him, believes in him, and encourages him to do what he never thought he coulda€"like handle money at the register. In turn, he helps her plan presentations (with the skills he learned in advertising) and helps her laugh. The genuine and honest account of this relationship is as touching as it is convincing; we believe that Crystal could have aided Gill towards a kind of a€oerebirtha€A he describes.

However, what undermines Gilla€™s genuine feeling of a€oehappinessa€A in his new job is the way he constantly pits good cop against bad cop-J. Walter Thomson and a farmhouse in the country being the a€oebada€A and Starbucks and an empty apartment being the a€oegood.a€AAA Anything that is at Starbucks was not at J.Walter Thomson and anything that makes up his a€oenewa€A life has no trace of the a€oeold.a€A This dichotomy not only feels forced but also leaves the reader yearning for more complexity. Can one really shed ones old life, and let it go like a€oea smelly pair of old swimming trunksa€A (176)? And is it true that if we do, the other part of our lived life becomes, as he writes, a€oe a jokea€A (205)? Within this careless dismissal of his old life as a a€oejoke,a€A the memoir loses part of its vitality. It feels like Gill is trying to prove something and in so doing, forces the reader to ask-if you really are happy, should you have to prove it?

To purchase this book, go here.