Mormons - La Jolla, CA

Caltrans District 7 Headquarters - Downtown Los Angeles

Morphosis' Caltrans District 7 Headquarters in Downtown LA is one of the most unreal buildings I have seen in a while. Like most architecturally significant buildings of our times, i.e. the Walt Disney Concert Hall, you might notice it from a car commercial or two.

My favorite features of this building is the way the address of the building is displayed and the function of the screen wall on the building. Which can all be seen here.When I first saw the building I thought the design of randomly open aluminum panels was a bit superfluous until I read an article in Architectural Record about it. Basically the screen panels "open and close mechanically in a continually moving pattern, providing surface variety on the facade, shielding the interior from the sun and giving office workers changing views to the outside." Not only this but it helps release heat that would otherwise be trapped between the shade and the offices.

Frank Lloyd Wright - Anderton Court Shops - Beverly Hills, CA

Built in 1952 the Anderton Court Shops, located on Beverly Hills famed Rodeo Drive, is one of the only commericial properties built by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Academy Theater and 5th Ave. - Inglewood, CA

Both of these theaters are located a couple of blocks from each other on Manchester Blvd. (3141 and 2541 respectively) in Inglewood, the "City of Champions". The Academy Theater, designed by renowned architect S. Charles Lee, was built to to host the Academy Awards although it was never held here and is now a church who keep the theater well preserved. The 5th Ave. on the other hand is sadly neglected but right next door to Permanent Hair Replacement and Lookin' Sharp!

New Explosions in the Sky song "Welcome, Ghost" MP3

This is, what I read from P-Fork, the shortest song in their whole catalogue and is off the forthcoming LP All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone. I actually saw them perform this at their recent and amazing show at the El Rey. That being said it was a little meaner and guitar heavy at the show. Warning: This song is a speaker destroyer as I have never heard a song so bass drum heavy, I couldn't imagine listening to it loud in your apartment without upsetting everyone around you. It's a strong song but to me their music is more contextual to the album itself so although it's far from a disappointment I am still waiting to hear it in context.

The album will be released on February 20th and will also come in a limited edition double disc which includes a remix cd that with the likes of Four Tet and Eluvium. You can hear the song in full below.

Welcome, Ghost

My New Favorite Website: HornyManatee.com

www.hornymanatee.com

There is a great story behind this but I want you to go to the site first, have a laugh, and then I will tell you about it.

Done? Checked it out? Okay.

I rarely watch TV. These days I never find time for it, the only show I watch with any form of consistency is Real Time with Bill Maher (even that is only on On Demand which I watch at my convenience). That being said, I was up last night on the computer and decided to have The Late Show with Conan O'Brien, a show I love but have not watched for ages, on in the background. I love the show but again, the act of watching TV is one that I avoid. He began to talk about how he had a sketch on about new rejected mascots, a staple of the show, and how the night before he made a joke about how you can see him at www.hornymanatee.com. What he didn't know is that if he says a website on the air, even as a joke, and it doesn't exist, NBC is required by some sort of law to purchase that domain name.

Conan decided since they had to buy it that they should not let it go to waste so they made the page itself. I was really in stitches about this, yes I just said that, and I thought it was so funny that I would share it with you. So enjoy the hot Manatee action.

The Fountain - An Abomination

I can’t write a review quite as scathingly good as the one here at the LA Weekly, which i advise you read as everything it says is true. Darren Aronofsky’s new film, The Fountain was an abomination to the likes of which I haven‘t seen in awhile. I knew within the first minutes of the film that it was bad and I was ready to walk out at least 15 times but I decided to stick through it as I never walk out of films. The review I linked covers a lot of what I feel about the film but there are a couple of things I would like to mention.

There is a scene in which Hugh Jackman’s shadow is practicing karate in front of the stars in space... yeah that good. Also I have never felt more claustrophobic watching a film. Every shot seemed to be some insanely close close-up of Hugh Jackman or whoever was in the frame. Near the end of the film there is this ridiculous scene in which Hugh Jackman turns into the tree of life… yeah, you read that right, and someone out loud in the theater said “ I didn’t know this was a comedy” And it’s far from it. Among many of the film's glaringly obvious problems, the biggest one is how earnestly serious the film takes itself, never taking a step back to realize how god awful it is.

I really have trouble understanding how someone can go from amazing to atrocious so quickly. Pi is fine, the acting wasn’t much to write home about but it was interesting and done extremely well especially with the budget in mind. Requiem for a Dream though was brilliant. Not only was it extremely technically innovative, being composed with over 2000 cuts, using various technical gimmicks and succeeding, it was one of the most harrowing film experiences I had ever had (although a few years later Irreversible definitely beat it out as I had trouble looking at the screen half the time). After my friend Gady and I saw the film we were so depressed and we tried to go out and have a good time but it was impossible. I thought I would never be able to watch it again but I have seen it at least 5 times since and everytime the ending grabs you by the balls (or vagina) and never lets go. And then The Fountain... Brad Pitt made the best decision of his life backing out of this film. This is not a film that is some sort of misunderstood movie that will become a cult classic, because it's just flat out bad. I wonder if Southland Tales is this bad?