If I could time travel

I would marry this woman.

Royal Enfield

So I saw this bike the other day. I had never seen anything like it and was surprised as I approached that the bike read: Royal Enfield. I talked with the owner about it for several minutes. He said they are a British company that set up factories in India and have been making the bikes the same way since the 40's. The technology is super old school and he said that they are really finicky. Either way I want one.

The Window Problem

So the other night I had an idea for a sci-fi horror comedy movie.

The movie begins with flies. I'm thinking it would start out documentary style, discussing the lifespan of flies, their habits and basic information, with narration. One of the major hangups with flies, if not the major hangup, is their inability to fly in a concise way. They, as we all know, wizz about erratically and bump into walls, lights, mirrors and mainly windows. It would be funniest to explain that flies are actually very cognitive beings, and that they don't fly about rapidly due to the true reason, lack of eyesight, and decreased senses, but that they actually think it to be the best way get around. The origins of this belief could be flashbacked to; some in depth ridiculous scenario would be the best. Maybe that the ancient master fly had an injury to his wing and couldn't fly straight, and ages ago, all of his subjects began imitating him in reverence, bumping into windows incessantly. It was then passed down generation to generation as the traditional fly flight style. You could then cut to a fly practicing or attempting to get the style down correctly. "Fly-dome" could actually be ruled by a totalitarian regime that forced all of its members to do this, or brainwashed them into doing so, or were forced to due to an ancient treaty with the humans, as a safeguard from keeping the flies at bay from taking over the world.

The plot would then follow a single gifted and talented fly that essentially figures out the "window problem." He realizes that bumping into windows doesn't work and begins flying normally.  He then begins to feel better, gaining better eyesight and growing larger. His friends are reluctant to follow along but the practice eventually catches on.

I havn't thought the rest of it out yet but essentially that's just the intro. Ensuing scifi mayhem then ensues with flies growing larger and killing humans starting a global fly vs. human conflict. It would have to be awesome though, unlike Starship troopers which kept coming to mind. The plot would be on a much smaller local scale, and would maybe involve espionage. The flies would be huge but talk in normal english.

I think I'm going to actually write the screenplay.

Isolate Yourself

Found this interesting "book nook" by Danish Architecture firm Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter. I often find myself enjoying Scandinavian stuff but this scenario seems a little contrived. 

It seems to stand out a little too starkly against the backdrop of the forest. Although this contrast creates an interesting juxtaposition, the structure almost sticks out, like a sore thumb.  I can imagine sitting inside, reading a book, and feeling uncomfortable. I would feel almost on display, like a manikin in a department store.

It feels more like a dollhouse or something you would play in as a child. On the other hand, I do enjoy the design, the material use and elevation compositions. I don't know what use I would have for something like this though. I think it seriously lacks in site specificity and overall design. To me this isn't really architecture, it's more like a tree-house or something less worthy of dissection.

William Kentridge

While I was still living in Dallas, I got a chance to visit the Modern Art Mseum of Fort Worth. If you are not familiar with this place, you must be. It is a classic Tadoa Ando display, a rare find in the United States. While in the Arts District of Fort Worth, it may be even more important to cross the street and visit the Kimball Art Museum, a Louis Kahn masterpiece. I had seen many pictures of the Kimball before visiting and the thing that caught my attention the most was the proportions Kahn uses. They are expertly executed and imbue the space with pre-existing knowledge. The art seemed to be happy to be there and respectful of such a vibrant interior.


Anyway, at the Modern Art Musuem of Forth Worth, a South African artist William Kentridge displayed an extensive exhibit of many of his experimental short films. Kentridge does stop motion animation with drawings. He works on the same sheet of paper and continues to add and subtract medium by drawing and erasing. This act gives his art a life span. The remnants of the erased pencil last on the page and continue to build layer upon layer of depth. Kentridge's art is completely unique and worth a view.

Toil Theory

To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Genesis 3:17

I became interested in this verse many years ago one Sunday morning as some pastor, somewhere was of course, blabbing about this fateful occurrence in Genesis. I began to wonder how this verse applied to modern life, as not all of us do manual labor to make a living. I always imagined Adam hunched over in a field digging ditches and sweating somewhere in Iraq, really hot, not too psyched about the prospect of another couple hundred years of doing the same.

There came a point, even very early on in history when not necessarily everyone had to work like this for their food. Solomon for instance pretty much didn't do anything hard in his life. He just chilled on some drank and got crunk with his homies and was real smart. I then began to ponder, how does this toil apply to someone like Solomon, or even myself.

A lot of people like to say, "everything happens for a reason." In the past I had never really agreed with this statement. There are plenty of things that happen in ones daily life that apparently have no purpose, and this is where I believe this toil comes into play. It can strike anyone anytime.

I began to define this toil as: anything that happens that is generally annoying and frustrating, yet has no real deeper consequence. Examples of this include: tripping, locking your keys in your car, the cable going out, mosquitos, no air conditioning, clothing stains etc.

So if we go back to everything happens for a reason, this must explain why these instances occur. Because it is toil, and we must endure.

Steve Nashtown

It's cold outside.