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Housecleaning

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Уважаемые дамы и господа, I’ve made a few changes around the sides and back pages of this blog. The Good Posts page has had some things added, while the About page has gained some more text and lost its cat.

A number of links had lapsed and others needed to be added. For example, the Postmodern Conservative link has been dead since the decline of Culture11, and American Socialism for the Rich and Design New Haven got new URLs.

I’ve added GGW co-bloggers at Beatus Est, Just Up the Pike, BeyondDC, and City Block. Don’t know why I didn’t have them before, but all you need to know is that they write about the same things I do, just 4-5 miles from Tenleytown, and with a wide range of viewpoints. Also, you can check out Richard Layman’s RPUS.

On the architecture side of things, I’ve updated the list with a number of local architecture blogs, including Design Cult, The Straight Torquer, and hidden gem, Washington, DC Architecture: History and Theory. That last one approaches DC with serious academic depth in a surprisingly legible style that I really admire.

Outside of DC, I’ve added faslanyc and Free Association Design, both frequent readers of Mammoth. Also, you can click through to Polis, a blog that covers global urbanism. With one Polis contributor, Peter Sigrist, we will be beginning a small dialogue about Soviet architecture. Check out his series of posts on the parks of Moscow, which will give you a solid night’s worth of fascinating reading.

Now, if you read Russian, you can now find a little section I hope will be growing over the next few months. Already, there is Вашня и Лабаринт (Tower and Labyrinth), Metroblog, Теории и Практики (Theory and Practice), Москва, Которой Нет (The Moscow that Isn’t There), and Moscow Cycle Chic, now that temperatures are getting up into the 60s.

My friend Anna deserves mention for the log of her social life NOMOFOMO, including, but not limited to, such topics as ancient hams and women in sparkly gold catsuits. Then there’s DC Blogs, which notes various DMV-area blogs, including this one.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Peoples’ District, which is possibly the most interesting web presence in DC right now. All it is is an image and a monologue about a resident. And it’s great.

Sand Moon

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I mentioned Sam West, auteur and gentleman scoundrel, once before. A graduate of the prestigious Janney Elementary School, a couple years back, he produced this film called Sand Moon, which is embedded below.

It’s a sort of tale of karma passed through the lens of Upper Northwest slackers. Produced in 72 hours in 2008, is also a showcase of DC’s highlights, such as the roof of the Tenleytown CVS, truck barrier planters, Mazza Galerie, the Chevy Chase Starbucks, and Potomac Video.

The film runs for 21 minutes and stars Mason Cash (Murch), David Iscoe (Lafayette), Tommy McCarthy (Murch), and the rest of the Cocaine in Motion crew.

Conservative Socialism for the Kids

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I read in the Post this afternoon that a 13-year-old Germantown girl was punished and ridiculed for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance Predictably, there have been accusations of anti-Americanism, Liberalism, and the Mohammedan heresy, among other things.

With all that puffing in mind, it’s worth bringing up the origins of the pledge. It was written by a Francis Bellamy, a Massachusetts socialist and flag salesman in the 1890s who was aiming to instill national pride. A product of the Civil War generation, he also wanted to emphasize the permanent national unity of the United States, which was much looser in concept before Appomattox. The pledge was meant to be accompanied by a salute, pictured above, and it was a major component of a national pride celebration held on – of all days – Columbus Day.

So, it might not quiet any shriekers, but the next time someone tells you we should force children to pledge their loyalty to the state, please kindly do remind them of what the Bellamy salute looks like.

A Momentary Synchronization

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Tower of Winds, Tokyo

I looked up from my desk this evening to see a handful of blue lights in the neatly stacked windows of the apartment building that sits across the street. Deep blue, as though the world was experiencing a collective computer crash. The color changed and I realized it was the Grammies. For a few hours, the building changed colors to reflect the shared culture of this consumerist happening.

I’m reminded of Toyo Ito’s Tower of Winds and its synesthetic translation of Tokyo’s Hubbub. And I’m reminded of my external hard drives. They have a large blue light on the front that signifies that they are on. So too do blue flickers in windows; they  indicate that the households are turned on as well.

Five Things, Arranged by Size and Scope

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A few found ideas.

One: First, let’s start with what’s in the room. My friend Anna at NOMOFOMO informed me of the publishing of a rather serious book about John Cage’s rather infamous piece 4’33”. The plainly titled book, it turns out, is by Kyle Gann, probably one of the most famous people ever driven off of Wikipedia. Hopefully the book will cool some of the really obnoxious commentary that trots its tired ass out whenever you mention the piece. On a related note, I was at the Smithsonian American Art Museum when some man wearing a North Face vest walked into the room with his brood and began ridiculing the works as “The Painter who Couldn’t draw curves, The Painter who Couldn’t Draw Faces, the Painter Who Didn’t Care,” repeated smugly for several minutes. Unfortunately for his smugness, we were in a gallery entitled, GRAPHIC MASTERS III. There were no paintings so … no painters either, boss.

Two: Anyway, over in my neighborhood, Richard Layman wrote a simple piece in regard to the recent efforts to build a streetcar on Wisconsin Avenue – and the consequent vicious opposition. The arguments are not that new, but he does break down the current bogeyman that guided transit will be hopelessly snarled up by obstructions. His point: it happens more often on highways, and can be minimized with design. On that note, and getting much bigger (153 comments at writing), is the thread on DCMud about the Safegate Pause.

Three: Moving out to the general idea of the neighborhood,  Kaid Benfield penned a remarkably concise and thoughtful definition of Transit-Oriented Development. He emphasizes the oriented part, making the point that it’s the way the neighborhood and buildings facilitate transit use and walkability that is most important. It’s worth a read.

Via Elemental/Mammoth
Quinta Monroy, via Elemental/Mammoth

Four: Getting a lot bigger, Mammoth covers mammothly (as they promised) the best architecture of the decade. Unlike so many lists of flashy blingitechture and navelgazing critiques of said blingitechture and excess, the list contains projects emblematic of new directions in architecture. Included is the Large Hadron Collider, cheap manifest-traditional housing, Chinese High Speed Rail, geoengineering, and using good design to recover from years of terror. After reading it, I feel like calling this next decade for Latin America.

Five: Finally, getting into centuries and abstract ideas, Kirk Savage will be doing a live chat tomorrow on Greater Washington.  Savage is the author of Monument Wars and Standing Soldiers Kneeling Slaves. The latter book is about the depiction of slavery in public art. The former traces the role of the monument in America over two hundred years as the changes played out in Washington, DC. I’m only about halfway through the book, but it is really good. He puts an impressive amount of information about monuments, memory, and architecture into a genuinely enjoyable read. I don’t have enough thoughts at the moment, but there will be more coming from it.

Until 1 PM Tuesday, you can always submit questions at this page, and I’ll let you go with some bonus Eames:

Eatable Things: Roti Roll

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roti roll

Part one of Indian Food Month here at цarьchitect covers the frankie, probably the best post-bacchanalian food, and also the most delicious vegetarian fast food. In college, I was lucky enough to live not far from a little joint called Roti Roll. From the tiny storefront, they served up massive indian dishes wrapped in a slightly-fried whole wheat Indian bread called roti. Unlike naan, roti is unleavened, which makes it much cheaper, but also a little less fluffy. Because it’s flat, it makes an ideal edible food container. Though, unlike tortilla, roti is pretty thick, so you still have a really satisfying squish when you bite into it.

Now, because the college I attended has a remarkably incompetent administration, I had the brief opportunity to go up and grab one the other day. I came in from the cold and got my prize: the Unda Aloo Masala frankie (pictured above). Inside its shell, you’ve got a mass of almost-melted potatoes and peas with a little egg for moisture. It brings soft satisfaction to every part of your gullet. The Aloo Gobi Muttar variant has a moister mix of peas and cauliflower that’s more refined, even if it’s not pure carbolipid ecstasy. The Aloo Masala and Masala Unda are minimalist for the dieting/poor drunkard. And if you insist on carnivorating your Indian food, the Chicken Malai frankie and Chicken Lollipop (not a wrap) are good choices.

If you’re in New York, hop on up the B/D up to 110th street. Especially if it’s cold, and you’re a little sloppy, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything better. There are other Indian places in New York that serve fast Indian food including frankies, primarily serving the taxi-driver set, and 53rd&6th Chicken and Rice is a legend unto itself, but I’m feeling nostalgic today.

I think what I’m saying here is that DC needs to get a frankie joint. This is a multi-kulti extravaganza of a city – it should taste like one. It’s practically destiny. Despite Dave Stroup’s White-Guilt-fueled “it must be racist” silliness about the Fojol Bros.’ getups, If they, or any other food entity set up a frankie cart in DC, I’d make the pilgrimage. Weekly.

In Search of Lost Terms

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I thought I’d join in on all the annual reflection this time of year by giving you some insight into where this website fits into the universe of architectural blogs. This past year, the top search topics for my site were:

  1. “DC metro map” in some form or another, at well over 300 hits;
  2. Neutra, which is surprising, considering I wrote one post about him;
  3. “Adjika,” also odd, in that I wrote one post about it;
  4. My own blog’s name,
  5. And Phil Freelon, also about whom I’ve only written once.

Nonetheless, I haven’t been getting too high on searches for Tenleytown – but this name theif is. What the hell? Sometimes, though, the results are a little more unusual:

Continue reading ➞ In Search of Lost Terms