It has been a busy week here at the Architectural Centre website, but I couldn’t not post this one – so here is a little something for your Friday afternoon entertainment:
Sweet! (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Movie’
Video of the Week – Future by Airbus
Friday, June 17th, 2011The City and the City
Friday, August 13th, 2010So, I’ve just finished reading China Miéville’s novel The city and the city – the first novel I’ve actually made it through in quite some time.
Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is the low-down on the dual cities that are the main character/s of the book:
The City & The City takes place in the cities of Besźel and Ul Qoma. These two cities actually occupy much of the same geographical space, but via the volition of their citizens (and the threat of the secret power known as Breach), they are perceived as two different cities. A denizen of one city must dutifully ‘unsee’ (that is, ignore, or fade into the background) the denizens, buildings, and events taking place in the other city — even if they are an inch away. This separation is emphasized by the style of clothing, architecture, gait, and the way denizens of each city generally carry themselves. Residents of the cities are taught from childhood to recognise things belonging to the other city without actually seeing them. Ignoring the separation, even by accident, is called “breaching” – a terrible crime by the citizens of the two cities, worse than murder. (more…)
Video of the Week XII: Poundbury: Building Communities
Friday, April 24th, 2009Here is a companion piece to the Prince Charles post of a couple of weeks ago (I hope it is clear by now that my Zaha comments were made with tongue embedded firmly in cheek…). Here, for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure perhaps?), is a very short clip propounding the virtues of Poundbury:
What do you make of it? Would you live there? (more…)
Video of the Week XI: Libidinal Gehry confronts asexual Eisner
Thursday, April 16th, 2009I’d like to say the title says it all, but the mental image is just too disturbing – and there isn’t really a whole lot of confronting going on. What we are exposed to here (if I can use that expression to open a discussion of sexuality), is an excellent piece of post-design rationalization from Gehry, and a rambling Eisner whose point, if we extrapolate somewhat, would seem to suggest that Gehry’s buildings could never be as universally adored in the same way as Mickey Mouse – well… duh!
And I’m not sure exactly what the person who posted this clip on youtube was really trying to say by describing the video in the following manner:
Michael Eisner and Frank Gehry talking about the way their sexuality expresses itself in their work. In a word, Michael Eisner is to Mickey Mouse as Frank Gehry is to Marilyn Monroe.
I’m assuming it has nothing to do with Frank singing happy birthday to Obama…
Anyway, having watched this, the burning question I had was – have we really reached the point in our culture when this conversation passes as a) a serious discussion on the state of contemporary art and culture, or b) entertainment? You decide….
m-d
Video of the Week VIII: Mister Glasses (episode 1)
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009This is actually the first episode of 6 short stylishly noir Mister Glasses film clips (although for some reason episode 5 is missing). Never before has the relationship between love, sex, patricide, and Modernist architecture been so clearly expressed – it’s enough to make contemporary Modernist revivalism look hollow and superficial in comparison to the seriousness with which Mister Glasses and his team approach architecture and its meaning…
My favourite is the second episode – although ep. 6 is pretty good too, especially if you are looking for architectural pick-up lines to try out… If there is a moral in there somewhere, it seems the Modernist always ‘gets the girl’… (perhaps this explains the current revival?)…
Episode 2; episode 3, episode 4, episode 6.
Update: the ‘lost’ episode 5 was taken down by youtube, but is available here. That youtube felt compelled to remove it is quite ironic in the context of structural nudity honesty that the client initially rejected… However, the real question is, where can we get an engineer as blankly persuasive as Hard Hat…?
Video of the Week VII: The Architects Sketch
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009The Architect Sketch (by John Cleese and Graham Chapman)
If some of you found that last week’s video resonated all to familiarly, then try this one on for size. It is a pretty famous Monty Python sketch, so there is a good chance that you’ll have seen it before, but it is definitely worth another look…
Cast: Mr Tid: Graham Chapman; Mr Wiggin: John Cleese; City Gent One: Michael Palin; Client 2: Terry Jones; Mr Wymer: Eric Idle
You’ll have to admit that the residential block proposed by the first architect does address the problem of housing shortage in a rather…, um…, creative manner…
m-d
Video of the Week VI: smack the pony – architects
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009Smack the Pony, according to Wikipedia, was a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4 (some of you out there might have seen them?). Weirdly, its title was intended to sound like a euphemism for female masturbation – something I won’t tag this post with in case it gets too popular amongst a demographic that we are just not seeking here…
Anyways – here’s an amusing sketch that reveals what really goes on in those design concept meetings. The expressions of a bemused Jo (the engineer) are classic…
m-d