So, I saw John Wick some days ago. It seems he likes architecture. In this picture we see Alvaro Siza on par with an Armani Lambskin Jacket or a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 as symbol represented by the book Alvaro Siza, Complete Works 1952-2013. So, judging by some adjectives extracted from Alvaro Siza's wikipedia page, John Wick, the character is european, renowned, unobstructed, reconstructed, poetic, giving, cultural, accessible, honored, special, natural and complex.

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Vídeo (below) by Kogonada explores centrality in the work of Wes Anderson. Go to his vimeo page for some more explorations on author ticks like Fire and Water by Malick, views from below by Tarantino or one-point perspective in the work of Kubrik.
Om a side note music is by Alexadre Desplat who has an impressive and heterogeneous resumé.

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"Le véritable Amphitryon est l'Amphitryon où l'on dîne." 

MOLIÈRE

Understanding performance as a generator, we questioned the power of an object in a given context: what tears us apart also brings us together - an antithesis that ‘THE HOST’ [O Anfitrião - PT] manifests willingly. This device employs elements most frequently associated with separation and/or exclusion, subverting them into the creation of meeting point. ‘THE HOST’ hopes to accommodate and contaminate unexpected everyday performances or elaborate theatrical creations, offering generously its stage to an uninvited but welcomed crowd.

‘THE HOST’ is a device which blurs the gap between stage and audience, promoting an unusual proximity between "spectators" and "actors". It imposes the necessary circumstance to the performance, conditioning the action and thus valuing the importance of the object itself as catalytic element for diverse interactions.

The project was conceived and built by Nuno Pimenta and Ricardo Leal in close collaboration with Miguel C. Tavares (construction, documentation e logistics), still under the umbrella of DOSE collective.

After making its debut at this year's MANOBRAS NO PORTO, hosting every activity (cultural, natural, legal and illegal) of the Miradouro da Sé, ‘THE HOST’ will soon be part of the pieces exhibited at  CAAPP - Circuito Aberto de Arte Pública de Paredes.

-edited- added images, reviewed text

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...and in this time of the year something magical happens! Vince Guaraldi Trio's music (who made the classic soundtrack to "Charlie Brown's Christmas") gets played again, a lot. Just look at the graphic below taken from last.fm:

If you must play christmas song during the holidays make it Vince Guaraldi's!

Some scenes from the film:

 

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Sigur rós have given a dozen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's new album valtari. the idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom. among the filmmakers are ramin bahrani, alma har'el and john cameron mitchell.

The last in the series, film #16 come out today. You can check them all out in this page! If you're lucky there will even be a screening on the weekend of the 7th december near your house.

Here are my favorites. #3 - Fjögur píanó - is directed by Alma Har'el featuring Shia Labeouf. #5 Ég Anda is directed by Ramin Bahrani.

 

I also recommend #2 by Inga Birgisdóttir, #9 by dash shaw and John Cameron Mitchell and #10 by Nick Abrahams Read More

Cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" by Trent Raznor and Karen O. From the "Millenium : The Girl and the Dragon Tattoo"'s soundtrack, the video uses reworked images from the movie trailer. Read More

(post-it art by Marc Johns)

Guy Hurton explain how your mind invariably wonders off after some time of concentration and how a time-out can actually help you stay focused improving productivity. Here's a list of what you can do while at the office in order to take a break:

[1] Go take a walk.
[2] Get coffee/tea, even it’s just at the office kitchen.
[3] Go for a smoke—even though you really should quit and do…
[4] Tai chi or yoga.
[5] Go out and call someone you love.
[6] Read for a few minutes.
[7] Look at architecture publications (offices usually have these)
[8] Look on the internet for a while.
[9] Email a friend.
[10] Go “bother” a colleague and get him/her to get coffee/tea with you.
[11] Go to your local bookstore.
[12] Sit in a park.
[13] Eat lunch outside the office—not at your computer.
[14] Ride your bike for a few minutes.
[15] Daydream.
[16] Listen to some music.
[17] Wash your face and brush your teeth.
[18] Step outside and people watch.
[19] Buy a little something for your partner/loved one.
[20] Think about something besides architecture.
[21] Remember to breathe.
[22] Do some drawings on post-its.

Read more in archdaily Read More

(guide to "Paris, je t'aime")

The Mairie de Paris website provides for a page dedicated to cinema, specifically to movies which use the city of Paris as a set or even as a character. There are pdf guides to the sites present in films like "Paris", "Paris je t'aime", or "Midnight in Paris".

Find it HERE Read More

The Désert de Retz is an Anglo-Chinois or French landscape garden - created on the edge of the forêt de Marly in the commune of Chambourcy, in north-central France. It was built at the end of the 18th century by the aristocrat François Racine de Monville on his 40-hectare (99-acre) estate. It is notable for the construction of 17 (or 20) buildings, of which only 10 still survive, referring to classical antiquity or in an exotic style. Those buildings include: a summer house (the "colonne brisée", or ruined column), in the form of the base of a shattered column from an imaginary gigantic temple, an ice house in the form of an Egyptian pyramid, an obelisk, a temple dedicated to Pan, and a (now-lost) Chinese pavilion.

via wikipedia

De l’artiste A. Claris qui signe cette feuille nous ne savons rien. Il livre pourtant une aquarelle exécutée avec une maîtrise remarquable. Le plan de cette fabrique, brillante de fantaisie et d’imagination, prévue pour un parc agrémenté de vases et de statues, indique que l’architecte propose au commanditaire : bibliothèque, cabinet, salle à manger et salon. L’élégante façade auréolée de têtes de morts ouvre ses yeux sur deux balcons-loggias d’où l’on pourrait entendre les aria de la cantatrice Louise-Rosalie Dugazon. Si les Vanité nous rappellent notre matérialité et la fulgurance de notre passage sur terre, l’histoire raconte aussi que Charon, célèbre nocher des Enfers, embarque les morts pour les faire traverser le Styx. Il a déjà quitté sa passagère et guide sa gondole vers d’autres défunts. Claris a ajouté un figurant, [lui même ?] un pécheur trop occupé pour regarder la scène.

in Paris Musées

Now, wait a minute... Was "po-mo" invented before "modernism"?! Or maybe "post-modernism" was the new "romantic"!! Read More

An article written by Guy Horton as part of The Indicator column in archdaily.
I've highlighted some of the most poignant  to me.

9] It’s architecture, not medicine. You can take a break and no one will die.
10] Significant others are more important than architecture; they are the ones who will pull you through in the end. See 49.
12] The industry underpays. Push for what you are worth.
18] Get the biggest monitor you can.
19] Do not, however, ask for two monitors. Even though it makes you look like a bad-ass you will be expected to do twice the amount of work.
26] Understand how your office is run as a business and how they go after projects.
31] Be suspicious if your firm expects you to work long hours of overtime for no compensation. Be doubly suspicious if they justify it by saying things like, “It’s just part of the learning curve” or “We had to go through this, too.”
34] Don’t dress like an intern. See 72.
38] If your firm is outsourcing work to save money, be concerned.
39] Architecture firms can have multiple glass ceilings. Be aware of them all.
40] If a principal of a firm sees making coffee or moving boxes as beneath him/her, consider looking for another office.
45] Architects are in a service industry. They provide services to clients.

46] In proportion to their pay, architects require the most education, most training, and the most exams to become licensed professionals.
48] Embrace the business-side of architecture.
49] If you are an architect you should automatically qualify for psychotherapy and medication.
 50] Most architects believe they were destined to become architects because of their early childhood experiences. They showed signs of architectural greatness at a very young age. This is a myth that reinforces an unhealthy hero complex. See 49.
53] Do not take design strategies or operations learned in studio too seriously.
56] All firms are different. Shop.
57] To save time, assume your wife is right.
60] If you are married when you go to architecture school, studio ends at 7:00.
63] If your studio instructor is a recent graduate, be alarmed.
64] Do not obsess about sustainability to the exclusion of other factors.
67] Read Rem Koolhaas, but do not obsess and fantasize about being him. Delirious New York is still relevant.
69] Keep in touch with everyone you know, especially if they aren’t in architecture.
70] In fact, make friends who are not architects.
71] Do not wear the same shoes every day, They will start to smell.
72] Make sure your jeans are up-to-date. No acid-wash. No baggy.
74] If you must read Italo Calvino, read more than just Invisible Cities.
75] Expect a period of post-traumatic stress disorder after you graduate. Do not make any important decisions during this time.
77] Architecture is fueled by fetishes—rectilinear designer eyewear, for instance.

78] When trying to decide if a theory book is good, check the bibliography first.

81] If you already have a B.Arch, consider further education in a different field. Your M.Arch. can’t make a real contribution to the field if you’re just showing off software skills.
84] Architecture firms should consider forming economic alliances similar to OPEC.
87] The eighties and postmodernism were not all bad.
89] Architect’s web pages are often out of control and take too long to load.

90] In one’s life there are a finite number of all-nighters one can pull. You probably used them all up in school.
91] Understand the contexts from which modernism arose.
92] When the economy is good architects can rely on experience to run firms, but when the economy is bad they need advanced business skills they may not possess.
93] Architecture is dependent on boom and bust cycles.
94] Good design is not necessarily the most important factor in running a successful architecture firm.
95] Branding is important.
96] In a corporate firm, those at the top are not necessarily the best but they may have been there the longest.
100] Architecture office parking lots communicate success. There should be at least a couple high-end luxury cars. If there are a lot of beaters, be wary. If all cars are beaters, don’t go in.
101] Be concerned when you are too idle at work. Read More

It starts tomorrow!!!

+INFO - REVISTADEDALO.COM

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ORGANIZAÇÃO | PARCERIA | APOIOS INSTITUCIONAIS


PARCEIROS MEDIA
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The Festival 404, born in the city of Rosario in December 2004, is an independent non-profit organization whose main objective is to promote and spread artistic productions around the world in the field of electronic art, generating a production environment in which the authors are interrelated.

According to the organization, "the '404 Festival Taiwan 2010 / Official Spot' film investigates the genesis of a world created from information where success and failure becomes layered into an evolving urban landscape. This city is not designed through intentional desires, but rather by the proliferation of ideas and thus equating failure with success, each becomes their own thread in a tapestry of an evolving construct." This is so obvious that sometimes people forget it. It is very nicely put though. As is their manisfesto:

ERROR IS CREATION
MANIFESTO TAIWAN 2010
By Gina Valenti

We live in a system that allows mistakes only when the solutions can be found solely within it.
We live in a system to which we must abide by, except when we make art.

I've always dreamt with a world that doesn't fear to make mistakes, never about one that flaunts the fact of being right.

In a historical moment that privileges the appearance of new devices,
people have easily become used to assimilate ideas which haven't been conceived to be their own, when actually thoughts should be newer than the novelty.

Those who believe to be part of a large audience, think of technological means as the only way not to fall behind, ignoring that this behaviour is the worst way of moving forward, only delaying the invention of our next bonfire.

In error lies a combination of possibilities that avoid function. This is a quality shared with art, and its residual value consists in being unuseful, in its lack of practicity.

Error bursts onto the scene.
Objects fail on purpose, forcing us to contemplate their inherent creative nature.

The main purpose of every object is to fail, and by doing so, they turn into something more complete: the result of what we do and do not expect. It becomes a new object, with new features, that will travel through the path that maximizes it.

In a world where thinking is considered erroneous, thinking becomes a duty.
Error is creation.

You should really go to their website and check out the artists page. It is loaded with videos and other goodies. Here a sample of what you might find:

And remember: embrace the unintended consequences.

P.S. I just still haven't figured out why the slogan is spoken in Portuguese… "festival quatro zero quatro, o erro é criação, o mesmo número um sítio novo, taiwan 2010"… Read More

This public service announcement is brought to you by The Joker. Read More

Filmmakers have given us memorable antagonists who single-handedly level large-scale devastation. Less appreciated, however, are cinematographers' skill at evoking systematic failure through atmospheric devices: innocent anf fluffy clouds part, darken, and hell fire descends. A quick inventory of disaster film-skies reminds us that in the movies - and in real life - crisis may strike anytime.

(click on the image to see the bigger picture)

Covered are Earthquake, Iron Man, Encounters of the Third Kind, The Happening, Airport, Armageddon, Babel, Jaws, Waterworld, Wall Street, Wall-E, THX-1138, There Will Be Blood, Poseidon, Dante's Peak, Syriana, 28 Days Later, The Perfect Storm, AI Artificial Inteligence, The Constant Gardiner and Resident Evil: Extintion.

Part of the "Urban China Bootlegged for Volume by C-Lab".

bootleg |ˈboōtˌleg|
adjective [ attrib.]
(esp. of liquor, computer software, or recordings) made, distributed, or sold illegally : bootleg cassettes | bootleg whiskey.
 
verb (-legged, -legging) [ trans.]
make, distribute, or sell (illicit goods, esp. liquor, computer software, or recordings) illegally : [as n.] (bootlegging) domestic bootlegging was almost impossible to control | [as adj.] (bootlegged) bootlegged videos.
 
noun
1 an illegal musical recording, esp. one made at a concert.
2 Football a play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff and runs with the ball hidden next to his hip: he scored on a 29-yard bootleg on fourth down.
 
DERIVATIVES
bootlegger |ˈbutˈlɛgər| noun
ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from the smugglers' practice of concealing bottles in their boots.
in New Oxford American Dictionary

Wikipedia clears things up:

An illegally copied release is distinguished from a counterfeit. Counterfeits attempt to mimic the look of officially released product; illegally copied releases do not necessarily do so, possibly substituting cover art or creating new compilations of a group's released songs. A counterfeit is always an illegal copy but an illegal copy is not necessarily a counterfeit.

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Conan has recently made a joke on Jagnefält Milton's Master Plan proposal for the city of Åndalsnes in Norway by stating it already existed under the name "trailer park".

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Here I was dwelling in ArchDaily, looking for a specific post I had seen a couple of weeks ago when Russian Constructivism hit me in the head (there is a pun here). It seems that some graduates of the University of Western Australia have been studying Soviet Constructivism "by researching, analyzing and reproducing various significant buildings from the movement". And right there, the first image that appears is Batman Return's Nygmatech facility.  Well, not really, but that's the first thing that came to my mind. It was (is) actually a model of the Monument to Christopher Columbus, a building conceptualised in 1929 that looks like a 50's blender and which was quite bluntly transformed into part of the Riddler's lair. Almost all depictions of Gotham try to transcended all times and places, melding elements of Art Deco, Russian Constructivism, European and American futurism, modernism and post-modernism. So this comes as no surprise and I wasn't really the first person to realize this connection - as can anyway be proven by ArchDaily's post comments. I'm unable to understand if the commenters think the Australian guys are joking with them or even if they think that Batman Forever, a film so bad it has gone past good and back to bad again (in Enid's words), has somehow inspired Russian Constructivism itself.

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Ratatat likes playing with movies. Googling on the words present at the end of Bilar and at the beggining of Drugs I found out they're an extract of Werner Herzog's Stroszek. "Was wird daraus? - Wenn der Bruno mal tot geht - Wo landen diese Sachen? Wo landen diese Instrumente?" I couldn't find the exact scene but go and see the movie.

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Highlight of the movie: mall in credits. Read More

Dan: Everybody wants to be happy.
Larry: Depressives don't. They want to be unhappy to confirm they're depressed. If they were happy they couldn't be depressed anymore. They'd have to go out into the world and live. Which can be depressing.

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