Cut and spliced photography by Osaka based Palla aka Kazuhiko Kawahara.
+ Palla is providing photographs to be used for the poster for the Swarm of Angels open source film project. Go vote now for your favourite!
++ An interview at PingMag.
- ‣Brooklyn Archipelago on This American Life. This weeks show, “In the Shadow of the City”, tells three stories set in and around the edges of town. The dumping ground for Louis Sullivan’s buildings, a tour in New Orleans of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the chocolate smelling bridges of Chicago.
But by far the most fun is the first story, Brooklyn Archipelago where, in a Ballardian twist of fate, a couple of Russian American hipsters, go sailing off Brooklyn one day and find themselves shipwrecked, on the mudflats of Jamaica Bay.
There is some talk of making ducks into slippers and chief protagonist, Alex Zharov states the immortal phrase “I like badgers probably for the same reason i like the state of Utah where I never was, you know? They attract me in the way they might be hiding something cool from me.” Good stuff from the always excellent radio show.
[Direct Link to the mp3 file] #
- ‣95 Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship. I totally don’t need this. My penmanship is already super ornamental. But youse folk might find it useful.
[Link]
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- ‣Patterns by Ludd. A flickr set of mostly hideous, accidentally hip, and occasionally tasteful public transport fabric patterns.
[Link]
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- ‣Cyborg pigeons have been spotted in Beijing.
“Scientists with the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center of east China’s Shandong University of Science and Technology say they implanted micro electrodes in the brain of a pigeon so they can command it to fly right or left or up or down.”
This is all we need. Photos of the charming little flying rascals here. [Link] #
- ‣Trailer for In The Pit. OH&S nightmares abound in this documentary on construction workers in Mexico City.
[Link]
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- ‣Anti terrorism blackhawk helicopters are keeping the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney awake. I am not sure exactly what the helicopters are going to do if some dastardly acts of terror do go down in the CBD, however I do have to admit they make a pretty awesome sight screaming between the towers along George Street. (Pictured here, looking not so awesome…)
And as we know, it is better to be awake and safe than asleep and terrified. [Link]
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- ‣Del.icio.us Pecha Kucha Presentation Creator. Nifty little webapp that creates an automated Pecha Kucha slideshow from your last 20 del.icio.us bookmarks. It would be nice if it were possible to create the slideshow by username and tag (ie ‘pechakucha’) . Check out my automated slideshow by typing ‘gravestmor’ into the input field.
via archinect. [Link]
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This is more or less a test to see if I can get this ‘pictobrowser‘ thingey to work…
If it does, you should see below, a selection of photos from my Flickr page. Fingers crossed.
It may not work in your feedreader… If not, let me know.
- ‣Artificial Reef Made of Old Tires Suprisingly Turns Out To Be An Ecological Disaster
“A well-intentioned attempt in 1972 to create what was touted as the world’s largest artificial reef made of tires has become an ecological disaster. The idea was simple: Create new marine habitat and alternative dive sites to relieve pressure on natural reefs, while disposing of tires that were clogging landfills. Decades later, it is clear the plan failed miserably.”
[Link] #
- ‣The Return of Reason. 1923 short film by Man Ray. [Link]
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- ‣Live Lobster Skill Tester machine spotted in Sapporo. We never saw anything like this when we were there, the closest being the Hot Chips Vending Machine. Which, come to think of it would make an ideal neighbour to the ‘Marine Catcher’. [Link]
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- ‣Tintin and Prouve Exhibitions in Paris. Back in the day I had a terribly difficult time deciding if I liked Tintin or Asterix more. I would like to think that Tintin came out on top, but I fear that action set-pieces of Asterix featuring gourds and menhirs may have won the day. Jean Prouve though? I was all over him at age eight, that’s for sure. [Link]
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Spotted over at BLDGBLOG is the winning entry for the ‘eVolo Architecture Skyscraper competition by Somnath Ray that called for entries to propose the future of tall buildings. Ray’s entry proposed an organic, parasitic structure grafted to surrounding buildings.
“With ever- increasing densities and changing programs, Para-city grows in the entire three-dimensional space of its host; the existing skyscrapers of the present urban landscape. Para-city feeds from the service-cores of its host (since sufficient service spaces already exist within the host-structure) to potentially free itself as a program-less ludic-zone, implying a radical overcoming of any spatial hierarchy.”
I will admit that I have my reservations about parasite projects, throwing them in the same barrel as Shipping Container projects, but these are certainly arresting images. And they imagine a kind of building that, like the shimmering, constantly evolving towers in William Gibson’s ‘Virtual Light’ built of nano-machines, seem somewhat inevitable. After all, the host buildings are already in existence; wireless networks being exploited by war drivers, the venting of mechanical cooling systems keeping the homeless alive as they sleep over exhaust vents.
And of course, well, ‘of course’ only if we share a misspent youth and adulthood with our noses stuck in the picture books, these images call to mind the Aquarius Complex in Ronin.
Ronin, by Frank Miller, tells the story of a 13th Century Samurai, whose drive to revenge his master’s slaying at the hand of demon Agat, leads to his being reborn in the 21st Century where said demon has set up shop. Swordplay and intrigue ensue.
The action of the 21st Century takes place in a dystopian New York City that has been overrun by thugs and mutants. Sprawled throughout and completely dominating the city is the Aquarius Complex, the headquarters of the Aquarius Corporation, a self reproducing and repairing structure under the control of the AI, Virgo and constructed out of ‘biocircuitry’.
Over the course of the book, as the Ronin closes in on Agat - who has incidentally taken the form of Taggart, the owner of Aquarius - the giant structure slowly envelopes New York City. As is the wont of a glacial blob of sentient, inhabitable machinery.
That’s Casey McKenna above, kickass Head of Security for the Aquarius Complex, stalking its halls, looking for answers yo.
- ‣Well, my push to get elected to Chapter Council at the RAIA was an abject failure… Oh well. Thanks to those readers that voted! [Link]
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- ‣Meet Christopher Laudamiel - “The enfant terrible of contemporary perfumery”. [Link]
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- ‣One A Space Odyssey. 2001 A Space Odyssey in one minute and in Lego. A well considered use of the monkeys from the Pirate range. Via Daring Fireball. [Link]
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Hungarian scientists have discovered a new type of shape, which they have dubbed the Gomboc:
“Two Hungarians puzzled by how certain creatures with shells, like turtles and beetles, are able to self-right have developed a shape with one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium to explain the phenomenon.” [smh]
And what’s more, it’s mono-monostatic!
I don’t know what it means to have one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium, But I think we can expect to see this shape go the way of the Moebius Strip, Klien Bottle and Eternity Puzzles as justification for Self-Toppleable-Equilibrically-Unstable Cultural Centres in the near future.
- ‣Slick site for the New National Office for Arts Council England by Caruso St John. With a history of office planning, various ‘office paradigms’ discussed, and a nice collection of tables and sidechairs. Just the kind of thing workplace design folk will be piss-their-pants-excited over. Website design by Practise.
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- ‣Orbiting junk in space, once a nuisance, is now a threat.
“Early this year, after a half-century of growth, the federal list of detectable objects (four inches wide or larger) reached 10,000, including dead satellites, spent rocket stages, a camera, a hand tool and junkyards of whirling debris left over from chance explosions and destructive tests. Now, experts say, China’s test on Jan. 11 of an antisatellite rocket that shattered an old satellite into hundreds of large fragments means the chain reaction will most likely start sooner. If their predictions are right, the cascade could put billions of dollars’ worth of advanced satellites at risk and eventually threaten to limit humanity’s reach for the stars.”
And be sure to check out this infographic which shows the debris in question biding its time, gathering its forces, preparing for the invasion. #
- ‣Frank Lloyd Wright played by Robocop in musical “Franks Home”.
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The Liberal Party (not to be confused with the liberal peoples) has put East Darling Harbour, sorry The Hungry Mile, sorry Barragaroo Bay (!) on the agenda for the upcoming NSW State elections in March saying that it would scrap the development if elected and return the strip to a park and a working port. Chris Hartcher, Liberal Planning spokesman speaking, presumably, in support of urban sprawl says:
“We don’t agree that the CBD needs expanding. It’s close to saturation point already,” he said. “The metropolitan area needs to grow but not necessarily the CBD.”
“Peter Debnam’s plan is wrong,” said the NSW Property Council’s executive director, Ken Morrison. “The CBD needs to grow as this is Australia’s only global city. East Darling Harbour is an opportunity to ensure that this pre-eminent position continues. A choice confronts us when Patrick [stevedores] leaves next year: an empty shed on a concrete slab, or a generous park with an extension of the CBD with hotel, retail and residential development.” #
Does this mean that urban affairs will become the subject of public debate in Sydney? This will be a staggering leap if it transpires; Sydney being the kind of place where public discussion on the built environment stretches at most to poeple complaining about the trains running late and how That-New-Tower-In-The-City looks like Something-Else-That’s-Not-A-Building-That-I-Have-In-My-House.
Updates will be ferocious.
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Previous EDH gear on gravestmor: Entry.
The shortlist.
Other entries.
Open letter to the Jury.
Slidenights.
Remarch Working Harbour Forum.
- ‣Some sweet quilt action over at Ping Mag from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival.
“Brilliance” by Junko Shibada and “Punahou St. and S. Beretania St” by Toshie Shinohara are particularly captivating… Previous quilt coverage, those of Gee Bend may be found here. [Link]
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- ‣A service station in Omaha is selling what it dubs Terror Free Oil.
“The Terror-Free Oil Initiative (TFO), which runs the outlet, says none of its fuel comes from countries which it believes are supporting terrorism. It currently uses only petrol from the US and Canada, rejecting supplies from the Middle East and elsewhere.”
[Link] #