Pretty Goes with Pretty

Yesterday's News—Today! (Architecture Edition)

Bldgblog has a great post about “pedestrian nostalgia”:

[S]omething I think about more and more lately is the possibility that Americans get as nostalgic as they do about college—identifying themselves as graduates of certain universities to a degree, and with a passion, that I genuinely think is alien to most cultures—whatever that means—not simply because college represents the only four years in which they might have pursued their real interests, but because, in the United States, college is a totally different lifestyle.
You walk everywhere.

Meanwhile, tomorrow night at the Arts Center College of Design in Pasadena, Bldgblog and Materials & Applications are sponsoring a film fest dedicated to science fiction and architecture. It’s free and open to the public. More details at Bldgblog.

Gravestmor has a post up about OMA’s current project: building the Death Star in Dubai (or is it a giant radio?).

Also in Dubai, Alec Soth has an image up of the collection of man-made islands created in the form of a map of the world. Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson just bought Greece.

Enjoy the Weekend: Jorge Ben

Jorge Ben: Pais Tropical

Enjoy.

The Hummingbird's Daughter

The only book I read this year that wasn't by Graham Greene was the altogether excellent Hummingbird's Daugher, by Luis Alberto Urrea. Going into the book all I really knew was that there was a "mystical" element to the book, which led me to assume it would be Garcia Marquez-like magical realism. But it really is its own animal. It's quietly epic, with wonderfully drawn characters down to the most minor or incidental, and does a great job of blending true history, vivid imagery, and masterful storytelling. Highly recommended if you haven't read it already.

If you have read it, then get yourself over to Readerville, where we'll all be discussing the book throughout the month of May. Join the discussion or just lurk—there's sure to be some insight.

[For those not familiar—you do have to register, for free, to access the content at Readerville. Once you've done so you can lurk or post to your heart's content. They do ask for a monthly donation, but it's just that, so don't let it scare you off if you've never poked around there.]

Went Fishin'

Last week's posts somehow point to how on the pulse and out of touch I am, simultaneously. Here I am lamenting mp3 blogs and the internet's effects on music writing, when unbeknownst to me, all the critics were having a grand old time in Seattle together, sparking among other things this very conversation.

Since Thursday there have been a lot of blog posts worth reading. Of course I promptly went away for a short vacation and missed most of it. Hopefully the conversation isn't over yet, and hopefully it won't be subsumed by Coachella reviews, which, let's face it, get boring really quick.

I'm still playing catch-up, so Catbirdseat's links to various discussions is helpful, and Zoilus has the complete rundown of the EMP conference plus opinions, which I've only just begun to read [this might be the easiest Zoilus post from which to navigate].