11 Albums I Rather Enjoyed Listening In 2011 That Happen To Be Released In 2011
January 5th, 2012 § 2 Comments
In no particular order:
Deaf Center – Owl Splinters
Euros Childs – Ends
Total Control – Henge Beat
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I
Roll The Dice – In Dust
Wild Flag – Wild Flag
Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
Austra – Feel It Break
Iceage – New Brigade
Future Islands – On The Water
Fiscal Crisis, or the Neo-Liberal Assault on Democracy?
December 28th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
“[...], the call on the streets is precisely not to “fix” this fiscal crisis, but to insist that the dismantling of neo-liberalism is imperative for the renewal of radical democracy.”
Judith Butler
Noone Makes Mixtapes Anymore (Vol. I)
December 26th, 2011 § 2 Comments
I used to know a guy who listed ‘not making mixtapes’ among his hobbies because ‘noone makes mixtapes anymore’. Well, that may not be that true anymore, especially if you tend to attend ATPs or hang out with the sort of crafty, twee crowds that do put an effort into that kind of thing, but I’m admittedly pretty bad at this. It took me about two years to make a mixtape for the Boyfriend. So I thought that since I made it this Christmas, I might as well put it up online. I accompanied it with a few sketches making up a little story of how we met and stuff.
They’re not amazing but I only had a few hours to spare. I actually made the pencil sketches while I was waiting for my computer to perform various tasks when I was working on my thesis on a Sunday! (It’s a slow computer, yes.)
You can listen to (most of) the mixtape on Spotify here.
Unfortunately, two key songs in the mixtape are not available on Spotify. These are The Birth and Death of the Day by Explosions in the Sky in the beginning and Lucy’s Hamper by Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci towards the end.
Enjoy! 
Christmas Gift Guide For The Architect In Your Life
December 26th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Okay, I’ll admit it might be a little too late to plan for presents but as a lawyer I used to know used to say architects are always late when it comes to submitting things so they might not even notice at the first place. I also have to admit I don’t exactly count myself as an architect these days and I’m pretty rubbish with presents, if I buy them at all, but for some reason I came up with a few ideas on what you could get to the architect in your life.
1. Ostrich-inspired Pillow to Nap Anywhere, Noise-Free
Must-have accessory in the workplace for the sleep deprived employee. (via H.)
“The Froebel Gifts appear deceptively simple but they represent a sophisticated approach to child development. Frank Lloyd Wright, Buckminster Fuller, and many other notable architects and artists were educated with the Froebel Gifts.” They are great for introducing kids into visual mathematical concepts and a brilliant alternative to the horrid gender-biased toys of our times. Adults will love them too.
3. T-shirts with CAD material-based hatch patterns
Chances are your friend works or has spent a considerable amount of her/his life working as a CAD-monkey. They’re gonna love this, trust me. Or they might never speak to you again. It is also likely it will make them mentally type ‘H’ followed by the space bar. There are plenty of hatches to choose from: concrete, wood, grass, glass, steel and insulation. I have already ordered myself the insulation one.
Faster and more ergonomically designed than Adobe’s environment and the scratch disks will never be full again! Not sure you can automate procedures to run in batch mode though.
5. A hug
Architects have it pretty bad these days. The construction industry has been hit really hard during the crisis and, to top it up, they’re probably too sleep deprived to take the streets to protest. And since time immemorial, the funniest three-word joke for architects has been ‘work/life balance’. In recent years, we have seen a number of successful campaign initiatives, such as the National Hug A Stressed Architecture Student Day, aiming to raise awareness on the issue. So remember this Christmas: hug your architect.
Some Robots Are Cuter Than Others
November 19th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
The State Of Air
November 19th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
This is a really good BLDGBLOG article on the politics of indoor environment manipulation. My interest on the history of engineered indoor environments was triggered recently while researching current theories on human thermal comfort and came across a few texts like G. Cooper’s Air Conditioning America. It’s the history of industrialised societies falling for the easy option of controlled indoor air and lazy architecture; a succinct metaphor is offered by Betty Draper fantasising a quickie with the air conditioning salesman. What I find fascinating about the subject is that it lies in the intersection between architecture, social class division and current environmental concerns. Gated communities meet psychrometric charts. And I’m afraid we ain’t seen nothing yet.
Graham Is A Weirdo And Other Stories
November 18th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
That’s a gift I received a few weeks ago. I absolutely fucking love everything that comes out of Gemma Correll‘s sketchbook. I initially assumed that the cat depicted in the cover is Graham. Rather frustratingly, as is revealed in the inside pages of the booklet, her name is Susan and she’s a music theatre enthusiast. What a weirdo.
Capitalism vs. Climate
November 17th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
“Here at the Heartland Institute’s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change, the premier gathering for those dedicated to denying the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, this qualifies as a rhetorical question. Like asking a meeting of German central bankers if Greeks are untrustworthy.”
Naomi Klein on Capitalism vs. the Climate
