St Louis, host of the 1904 World Fair, created an impressive collection of architecture to capture the heart of the world and the spirit of America a century ago. One example is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, the world's largest mosaic covering 83,000 square feet with 41.5 million pieces of glass tesserae. The mosaic was finished in 1988 and employs multiple artistic styles, the signature of a modern cathedral.
This is a Gotham-esque steel factory in Granite City, Illinois.
The difficult-to-find Ford GT, a re-do of Ford's legendary 60's racer, is on exhibit at Suntrup Ford in St Louis. It's $222K, or 22 $10K pickups.
If you haven't already seen this, check out this over-the-top-feel-good trailer remake of Kubrick's The Shining.
Spring 2006 Ready-to-Wear
Junya Watanabe - Runway
See Watanabe's whole spring collection here.
It's about time designers started thinking more formally (meaning, relating to or involving outward form or structure) about clothing. One of the identifiers of late 20th century clothing design is its absolute adherence to the silhouette. Gone are the days of artificial definition: of the bustle, the train, poofed sleeves, stove-pipe hats, jodhpurs, and the like. For too long, we've been mired in a color-in-the-lines mentality with clothing, the outline of the human form the ultimate dictator of the structure and design of its coverings.
I'm ready for a change, ready to start seeing a postmodern pastiche of shocking and elegant form, combined with modern function. Our world is past the age of restrictive elegance: no one can afford to live a life bound up by the fetters of a beauty that's content to sit life out. But with the cornucopia of modern materials, and the creativity of well-trained and experimental designers, perhaps we can find a balance of formal innovation and costumes that allow us to live, work, and breathe with ease and style.
Spring 2006 Ready-to-Wear
Yohji Yamamoto - Runway
See Yamamoto's whole spring collection here.
In the early 90s, my family lived down the street from St. Mark's School of Texas, an elite private school for boys. The boys of St. Marks were smart, rich, nerdy and off-beat. They drove vintage, bumper-stickered Beemers and listened to Belle and Sebastian. They affected Monty Pythonesque British accents. They wore Dockers and Polos, but refused to tuck their shirts in or brush their hair. Let me tell you: they were the boys the girls of Dallas secretly dreamed about while dating the "yes ma'am" boys on the basketball team at the local high school.
It just so happens that St. Marks is where the Wilson brothers, Owen and Luke, went to high school. Owen was expelled in the 10th grade; Luke ran track and still holds the record in the 400m and the 800m. Wes Anderson went to a similar all-boys school in Houston, and the film Rushmore is loosely based on those two schools.
St. Marks had a pirate radio station with a very weak signal. In fact, KRSM first broadcast on the local PA system at the school. Late at night, when they should have been home doing homework like the rest of us, those mysteriously sad-eyed and worldly, rebellious boys of St. Marks would send songs into the dark, tree-lined neighborhoods of Preston Hollow. Brian Eno. Frank Zappa. Stereolab. The Beastie Boys. Nirvana. Slowdive. Spiritualized. Joy Division. And late at night, I would curl up in my windowseat in my house on Orchid Lane, my tinfoil wrapped antenna pointed toward the brick and ivy fortress down the street and that boy-DJ who was out past curfew, my ear to the speaker.
Related: The History of Dallas/Ft. Worth FM Radio; the quintessential Dallas neighborhood at night.
If you're interested in good, challenging theater in Los Angeles, then you should know about The Next Arena, a year-old non-profit theater company run by some friends of ours. This Thursday, they are putting on a fundraiser to send a one-man show to the New York Fringe Festival.
The Next Arena presents a Fundraising Benefit Performance of the Award-Winning Play
Not Dead Yet
Winner! - "Best One Act Playwriting" at 26th Annual LA Weekly Theater Awards
Thursday July 7th, 2005
6:30pm - Light Refreshments and Silent Auction (including signed Sofia Coppola dvds)
8:00pm - Performance
Salter Family Theater @ Beverly Hills High School - 241 Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills 90212
(Free Parking on campus across from the Theater)
* All Ticket are $20 DONATION *
To reserve your tickets, Call 323-660-4189
This is a one-night only performance. Don't miss the last chance to see the show that is headed to the NY Fringe Festival!!
*All proceeds go towards The Next Arena's upcoming 2006 season*
A while back Ms. Jen handed me the music meme baton, here's a quick look at my musical hard drive.
Total volume of music files on my computer:: 2754 songs, 7.3 days, 10.14 GB
Last CD I bought: we get most of our music on iTunes these days. Last import: M. Ward, Transistor Radio
Song playing right now: Bad Attitude, Lisa Germano, Happiness
"You've had all your treats and its only 8:30 am that's am you would/ Give anything to change back/ To when/ The waves/ Were smaller/ And you could jump/ Over/ Change back/ To when you laughed/ Easy/ And all your moves/ Were childlike"
Summertime Blues, Mark Bolan & T.Rex, 20th Century Boy (line-up thanks to Party Shuffle)
Five songs I listen to a lot these days:
This is the Day, The The, Soul Mining: the ultimate anthem of change.
Variation One, Stereolab, Moog Soundtrack: this song will rock you out of any bad attitude.
This is Not a Love Song, Nouvelle Vague, Nouvelle Vague-EP, bossa nova cover of the Crispin Glover industrial dance hit.
Chicago People, Sam Prekop, Who's Your New Professor?, an artist and a rocker — livin' the fantasy.
Floe, Phillip Glass, Glassworks, classic Glass.
And now I pass the baton to:
John, David Seruyange, and Micah.
