The State of MY Union
So anyone who actually still logs on and attempts to read this blog has probably noticed that I haven't been writing as much as I used to. I have to apologize for that. It's because I'm writing at this other page called sportingo.com and even there - I haven't written much at all. I'm just not the best at staying "on top of things." So I've got a few extra minutes here at the office with which I can devote to supplying all the loyal architectureandfootballaholics with a little info. I'll try and keep this directed towards architecture and/or football.
Newcastle have been on the up and up, and with this being the January transfer season, I've been going on and checking all my seedy tabloid websites daily when I wake up. Transfer seasons are the worst, because every morning, I wake up thinking, "maybe today's the day we signed Thierry." Then I check the seedy tabloid sites and my heart sinks as all I ever see is something about our manager or gaffer "standing behind" someone. Like although they've been playing rubbish for the past three weeks, I think I'll give him another three weeks to either turn good or drive the stock down another three points by being beaten by a championship side 5-1 in the lowly third round of the FA Cup. But besides not signing anyone, we've actually been playing fairly decently.
If no one's been following along very closely, we've had more and more devastating injury problems. We've typically been starting between 2 and 4 academy players, most of which are still in their teens. If we're STARTING academy players, its obvious that our entire bench is also made up of academy players, so if something goes wrong on the pitch, there really aren't too many options. But they've been playing out of their skin and have racked up some nice results. The only exception to this was when they were beaten 5-1 by a team in the division below theirs. Not as good as Newcastle, but the kids' inexperience really showed by obviously thinking that this game would be a breeze (this was three days after the same team tied Manchester United 2-2) and not really taking their opponents seriously. They got it handed to them 5-1, and hopefully Mr. Roeder gave them a nice belt whipping in the locker room after that.
Tonight is the third Master Disaster Architect Duel. This is a head to head competition, somewhere in NYC, between two groups of architects, where they've got a limeted amount of time and resources, and they're given a design project to work on. It's usually like 3 hours. So they have to design something, make a model of it, drawings, sketches, and a presentation. During this time, there is a LIVE audience watching them, as well as a live DJ spinning records. It's like a big party. Then after the 3 hours, they present their projects and somehow a winner is chosen. Just an AWESOME idea I think. I won't be going because the prez's S.O.T.U. is on tonight but sometime I'd really love to see one of these. Hopefully there will be photos.
Has anyone seen this monstrosity Calatrava wants to put up on Chicago's lakefront? It looks like some sort of weird popsicle, or drill bit, or sex toy, or something, and the design is old and tired and uninspiring, and it's WAYYYY too tall for its location, and just really isn't appealing. The apartments will sell for nothing less than a million dollars. This was a great opportunity for Chicago to stand out as a new architectural destination city, but Calatrava has spoiled it. (Apparently, as if this wasn't obvious from the beginning, Calatrava himself actually had and will have nothing to do with the design of the tower - it's been designed by his new "development" division (something most of the starchitects are doing these days) and it's just some schmo in his office who designed it and will be putting the Calatrava stamp on it. Shame.)
Let's see what else......my sister bought a new house. A nice little one story ranch spec house near a school. Good location. As an architect, I've got major - MAJOR - issues with this house. But as a normal person, it's really nice. It's going to make her and Adil very happy, I'm sure of that. Especially when they get their killer new bathroom put in.
Finally - we're still waiting on the Stockholm competition finalist announcement. It's the "blue foam" thing I showed you a while back. Once it's out I'll put up some pics, but it's still technically very confidential.
GO BEARS
Newcastle have been on the up and up, and with this being the January transfer season, I've been going on and checking all my seedy tabloid websites daily when I wake up. Transfer seasons are the worst, because every morning, I wake up thinking, "maybe today's the day we signed Thierry." Then I check the seedy tabloid sites and my heart sinks as all I ever see is something about our manager or gaffer "standing behind" someone. Like although they've been playing rubbish for the past three weeks, I think I'll give him another three weeks to either turn good or drive the stock down another three points by being beaten by a championship side 5-1 in the lowly third round of the FA Cup. But besides not signing anyone, we've actually been playing fairly decently.
If no one's been following along very closely, we've had more and more devastating injury problems. We've typically been starting between 2 and 4 academy players, most of which are still in their teens. If we're STARTING academy players, its obvious that our entire bench is also made up of academy players, so if something goes wrong on the pitch, there really aren't too many options. But they've been playing out of their skin and have racked up some nice results. The only exception to this was when they were beaten 5-1 by a team in the division below theirs. Not as good as Newcastle, but the kids' inexperience really showed by obviously thinking that this game would be a breeze (this was three days after the same team tied Manchester United 2-2) and not really taking their opponents seriously. They got it handed to them 5-1, and hopefully Mr. Roeder gave them a nice belt whipping in the locker room after that.
Tonight is the third Master Disaster Architect Duel. This is a head to head competition, somewhere in NYC, between two groups of architects, where they've got a limeted amount of time and resources, and they're given a design project to work on. It's usually like 3 hours. So they have to design something, make a model of it, drawings, sketches, and a presentation. During this time, there is a LIVE audience watching them, as well as a live DJ spinning records. It's like a big party. Then after the 3 hours, they present their projects and somehow a winner is chosen. Just an AWESOME idea I think. I won't be going because the prez's S.O.T.U. is on tonight but sometime I'd really love to see one of these. Hopefully there will be photos.Has anyone seen this monstrosity Calatrava wants to put up on Chicago's lakefront? It looks like some sort of weird popsicle, or drill bit, or sex toy, or something, and the design is old and tired and uninspiring, and it's WAYYYY too tall for its location, and just really isn't appealing. The apartments will sell for nothing less than a million dollars. This was a great opportunity for Chicago to stand out as a new architectural destination city, but Calatrava has spoiled it. (Apparently, as if this wasn't obvious from the beginning, Calatrava himself actually had and will have nothing to do with the design of the tower - it's been designed by his new "development" division (something most of the starchitects are doing these days) and it's just some schmo in his office who designed it and will be putting the Calatrava stamp on it. Shame.)Let's see what else......my sister bought a new house. A nice little one story ranch spec house near a school. Good location. As an architect, I've got major - MAJOR - issues with this house. But as a normal person, it's really nice. It's going to make her and Adil very happy, I'm sure of that. Especially when they get their killer new bathroom put in.
Finally - we're still waiting on the Stockholm competition finalist announcement. It's the "blue foam" thing I showed you a while back. Once it's out I'll put up some pics, but it's still technically very confidential.
GO BEARS
Labels: Architecture, Football
posted by darkred at 2:22 PM
2 Comments:
Woo Hoo!! I FINALLY made the blog! It's about darn time.
Hey! I didn't know J&A bought a house! Congratulations. So Jaimee, if you want Kevin to have REAL architectural misgivings about a house, just show him ours....
-Karen
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