Wednesday 16 February 2011

Bad News Travels Fast...


...in an upward direction.

Well Now!


How about this then? It turns out that on the 1st May 1936, Anton Webern conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Alban Berg's Violin Concerto. The CD of the performance seems to be out of production, but we are ever so lucky to have the piece uploaded to youtube.
So here you go, this one's for you, dear reader! Sit back and enjoy 30 crackly minutes of pure modernist-romantic masterpiece...

Movement 1:



Movement 2:

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Plugging away...


Just thought I'd plug this month's contributions to ICON. I've written about the new Morphosis building in China. It's strange; when I was an undergraduate I got really into the deconstructivist lot, which even then was pretty retro, but I was intellectually fascinated by it all. Before I'd read enough to call him out as a dipstick, I thought that Eisenman was spot on (and even now, I'd be prepared to mount a defence of 'House X' and the 'Guardiola House', and possibly a few others, despite him), and I had the typical egotistical architecture student's infatuation with Zaha Hadid style-extravagance. Not so high on my esteem list were Gehry and Thom Mayne, but nowadays they're the ones actually deserving respect, partly because they are both constructors who show their working, as it were, and partly because they're not half as pretentious as the other late-80s lot. The 'Giant Group Campus' by Morphosis is another of those sprawling suburban corporate centres in China, much like Steven Holl's Vanke Centre, which I also wrote about last year. Think of an out of town business park with ambition and a budget, and you're almost there - a typology that doesn't seem to have much of a correspondence in Europe any more.

I also write about Foster, for the first time in a non-academic/historical context. They've built a zero-energy building in Abu Dhabi which they are all obviously very pleased with as it resonates with the technocratic Bucky Fuller-esque dreams that Foster started out with before he became the corporate architect of choice, and before he made the airport typology his own.

And finally, I have reviewed Patrik Schumacher's Autopoiesis of Architecture. I've been writing a more full critique for the blog, but I haven't been able to finish it yet due to work commitments. I promise I will try, although people have insinuated that perhaps I am the only person who would have actually bothered to read the book even if they weren't reviewing it.

There's also some great writing from Sam Jacob, Nina Power, Will Wiles, Kieran Long & Charles Holland, and features on Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson & Dan Graham. Worth the price, I reckon.

Monday 7 February 2011

Recent Activity.


An great article by Hugh Pearman on Jim Stirling's Runcorn Housing, yet another seemingly cursed work of his, demolished around the turn of the 1990s. There's a lot of Stirling around at the moment - I recently got hold of the book on the 'red trilogy', which is excellent (see Owen's review), and there is a forthcoming show of his work at Tate Britain. I've been recently fascinated with the buildings from the end of the 1970s, such as the Olivetti Training Centre and Runcorn, both of which seem to be simultaneously Brutalist, Postmodern and also Hi-Tech, an eclecticism that is strangely thrilling. Musing about this, we came up with the new, stupid term 'Brutalomo', to be used for those strange buildings from that period that defy easy classification, with the new material and referential palette still being expressed through modernist formal arrangements.


How about this creepy video of Bill Hicks standing outside Waco? As seen on Found Objects


Which is where I also found this, essentially a propaganda video for the new town of Stevenage. It makes me rather sad to watch.

Levi Bryant has posted up an essay on Derrida from an OOO perspective. I must say I'm quite excited by the prospect of an extension of Derrida's work out into the world of stuff. I thought that there was something similar when I read bits of Harman's work on withdrawal, and so it's interesting to see it being pushed further. A development to watch.


This, Adam Curtis' most recent blog, has been getting all sorts of coverage, and rightly so. He really does have one of the best blogs around, scurrying away in the BBC archives, digging out all sorts of conspiracies. It's really impressive.

There's a really interesting piece at Spillway on Gavin Stamp's 'Britains Lost Cities'.

And this, this is really something. Paul Mason over at the BBC, blogging about the current conjuncture. "The world looks more like 19th century Paris"...

Friday 4 February 2011

YOUYOUIDIOTS

Just in case you were interested in what people think about the title of this blog, here's a small collection of what the internet says about it...

• I miss you, you idiot. I miss you so much that I can't think.
• I just told you, you idiot. I'm going to send out the ragdoll monster to attack those good guys when they're not looking.
• We're talking in private because I don't wanna be seen talking to you, you idiot. Bad enough they know I exist.
• Because I love you, you idiot. i want to really lose weight ive been overweight for far to long :/
• The rule for space combat is that you have to find the enemies before they find you! You idiot!"
• Nobody's gonna tell you, you idiot! That's like asking, "Hey! Does anybody have a combination to their bank's vault?"
• I LOVE YOU, YOU IDIOT!! ;]. TAN-AS-HELL. P.S Your boobs look great in that shirt.
• I wasn't re-rating you, you idiot. You're still a 7.
• he's using you you idiot hes saying that so you do thigns for him sexually good job go find a real guy.
• No she just doesn't like you, you idiot!
• Fuck you you idiot......Got to hell bitch,
• By that I meant "I like you, you idiot." Sometimes girls are to afraid to voice that they like a guy.
• She is sitting there because she loves you and she can't leave you alone because she missed you! You idiot imbecile!
• Alex: Because I love you, you idiot! So much it scares the crap outta me.
• He whole bloody family is superior to you! You idiot, I won't dare call you my own son if you keep acting like this!
• Did you feel the urge to extend your arm upward with your palm down and shout Sieg Heil? Oh my, you are really getting in to this aren't you? YOU IDIOT!
• HE'S SUPPOSE TO SUGGEST YOU, YOU IDIOT
• Jimmy i know its you, you idiot!
• I had this buddy icon that said, "I love you, you idiot," you know the line from Gilmore Girls, my favourite show.
• I love you,you idiot. 23.I love you isn't it enough.
• I'll tell you, you idiot on the right, Fox News lied in 2000 when they said George Bush won Florida
• I Love You. "…You idiot."
• is it just me or did the guy with the camera say after the shot went in "I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU YOU IDIOT"?
• Of course I missed you, you idiot. You're my closest friend
• I love you, you idiot!" and Mir is like "O///O" now
• "And neither are you, you idiot. Farkel". you're a putz.
• "You... you idiot!" he yelled, as a single tear fled from his eyes down his cheek and landed on Blinky's face.
• And they say: 'Not you, you idiot, we mean Richie.
• She is out with everyone looking for you, you idiot, come on in, look at you need a bath, you smell like fish, have a bath and I will fix something for you to eat.
• Not you, you idiot. Geraldine.
• They want to stone you to death Mr Hughes and YOU, you idiot, are fighting the so called "islamophobics" amongst the non believers.
• Steve on Victorian towns evacuated Mark, your comments are moronic,hope Karmer catches up with you,you idiot!!
• The big curfuffle came from all the IDIOTS out there (Yes I mean you you idiot) that did not read the patch notes each time Facebook updated itself
• otherwise i know its you you idiot i out thought you, i gave you enough rope to hang yourself fool
• "I'll kill you, you idiot!"
• 'My heart belongs to you, you idiot' she always felt like saying that out loud.
• She wanted to say it—I love you, you idiot—but she just smiled back at him, trying not to let the hurt show on her face.
• Hey estupido, who took care of you you idiot and where did you get your education cause it sure wasn't at harvard!
• Nice to meet you." You IDIOT!!! That's all you came up with??
• MAYBE OUR PLAYERS WILL DRIVE TO SUFFOLK TO PAY TRIPLE REGISTRATION AND PLAY HALF A GAME FOR YOU YOU IDIOT.
• I am not a demonic sociopath like you you idiot.
• you dont tell your boyfriend that he is bad kisser and then expect him to kiss you you idiot.
• your letting a useless piece of shit walk all over you. .....you idiot....
• It was so corny... the whole "I need you you idiot! Don't die! Bawwww" thing almost killed the movie for me.
• Fuck you, you idiot. You don't know shit....
• "I THINK I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU, YOU IDIOT!" ...
• why dont you, you idiot! woow this guy rilly ... woow this guy rilly sux if i was him yd kill my self.
• When I find you, you idiot psychopath, I will definitely kill you!'
• "Do you like anybody?" "Nahhhh(Thinking: YOU, YOU IDIOT)"
• Like the present I gave you?"."You idiot! How many humans you wanna kill to attract our attention?"
• You put on the lights so other drivers can see YOU you idiot!
• the “I love you, you idiot!” Rory/Dean scene was classic and very well done. :)
• There's a reason I love you, you idiot.
• “You know I can't shoot you, you idiot,” she answered, a single tear sliding down her cheek.
• like ive told you,you idiot your flank hair matches a silver- back gorillas,a dog,and domesticated pig.
• "About what's upsetting you, you idiot! I'm not having this infuriating talk with you for my health!"
• Not you, you idiot.
• Scorpion you're not comprehending what I have said havent you, you idiot?
• i never agreed with you, you idiot.. You just a stupid moron..
• She clench her Fists and began to whack him with her Mallet "YOU-YOU-YOU IDIOT!" sh yelled.
• "I'm hugging you, you idiot," Another short silence. "And just for the record, it was her that was foolish. Any woman would be crazy to not want you. ...
• "I love you, you idiot !"
• Wasn't talking to you, you idiot! :P.
• Thank you, you idiot!
• I'm giving way to you, you idiot.
• Emily's like.. in love with you, you idiot.
• YOU ARE the Chief of Staff? are you that retarded about your constitutional responsibilities? or is everything a hypothetical with you, you idiot?
• 'What I've lost is you, you idiot. I'll drive until I get you back. Which way?'
• If some guy posts "Fuck you, you idiot!" and then retracts that shitty comment, perhaps with a brief apology for losing his head, because he honestly realizes he shouldn't have posted such a shitty comment in the first place, ...
• W: Between you and who? R: AND YOU, YOU IDIOT!
• "I love you, you idiot. I'm so sorry I forgot but I'll make it up to you. Just please do not doubt me. I saved you from vampirism didn't I?"
• ;; i love you , you idiot. !!
• And let me explain something to you, you idiot, knowing about political happenings has nothing to do with intelligence, it's acquired information that any fool (like you) can learn.
• I believe in what? lol…i am an atheist you, you idiot. I know religion is a fantasy. Science has nothing to do with religion you ignorant moron.
• "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" You IDIOT,
• Dear Nick: Grow some fucking nuts and bone the blonde girl. She wants you, you idiot. FUCKING DO IT ...
• That is you you idiot just getting them on_
• Livid with rage, I growled, "I will kill you, you idiot!" The resentment and rage began to grow within me.
• -Because I love you, you idiot!!
• RubberSoulMann you, you idiot<3
• It's not like they were going to just magically forgive you, you idiot! You majorly screwed up all of their lives!
• "You...you IDIOT!" Sayrike screeched. "What, you think that I haven't cared? That I haven't cried, haven't despaired? Just because I've only been with you for one day doesn't mean that you know a SINGLE THING that I've gone through!
• I love you, you idiot (:
• Never managed to post a deal yourself though have you, you idiot!
• That Progressive enough for you?...You Idiot.
• Okay so first, let me be clear with you, you idiot, your are not the author of the story,
• I can already see the comfusion! I shot YOU!! I shot YOU!!!! You idiot i'm ...
• I dropped a capsule in and sat here watching the poison dissolve; then you; you idiot, show up and drink the whole thing!
• I didn't need you, you idiot. I picked you. And then you picked me back.
• I'm sitting right here next you you idiot! That dude.
• English-Latin translation for The blood of Christ, shed for you, you idiot,
• I Love You You Idiot
• I love you you idiot images, I love you you idiot pictures, and I love you...
• Typical Ste that he needed Cheryl to spell it out for him in massive lights: HE LOVES YOU YOU IDIOT.
• I love you for being my knight. Thank you, you idiot
• Now we don't have a house elf any more, you - you - idiot!
• This woman knows you, you idiot. She knows you're not supposed to be around, or I'm guessing you wouldn't be hiding. She will tell someone, and they will find you. And if anyone fucks with what I'm doing here, I will kill you first.
• No Mate, I work for R&D just like you. You idiot ,
• Next morning I turn it on there it is again, the white text, black bachkground stating that you "you idiot you did not shut down right"
• Fuck you, you idiot.
• Dear you, yes you... you idiot, Why do you do this to yourself?