I have spent the last two full days working on Theory papers. I have to write twelve 500 word essays in 4 categories: Design Culture; Buildings in Los Angeles; 20th Century Architectural Movements; and responses to essays in our reader. I had six rough drafts finished on Friday, now I have 10 (twelve actually, but two are so bad that I have to scrap them). Tomorrow I have to write two more and edit, footnote and find images for all of them. I know that 12 essays doesn’t really sound like that much, and it wouldn’t be if that was all I had to do; there is studio finals, firm job, freelance job, structures final, physics final etc… And for some reason the fucking library is closed all weekend. I can understand closing Thursday and Friday for the holiday, but come on, there are two weeks of the semester left and I need the fucking library to be open. So I had to lug about 35 or so of my books to studio after digging and digging through my bookshelves (still arranged by color) to find relevant books. So, yeah, this isn’t fun. I would say 6 or 7 of the essays were fun because they were topics I enjoyed and actually wanted to write about. But 12 is too many. It’s interesting that 500 words can seem an unreachable goal when you are writing about something that bores you to death, and nowhere near enough when the topic excites you. Here are the topics/titles with a brief abstract/opinion about them below. If any of you have any ideas/sources for me to check out, leave them in the comments. Word.

-Design Culture

1. Skart- Skateboard art and its influence, as well as the path of the graphic artists to the gallery world. Additionally I thought it was interesting that these people were producing art that would quickly be completely scratched off and illegible as soon as the board was used. It’s something I know a lot about and it was a pretty easy one to do. A little bit hard to research/cite sources because all of the ideas are mine and I know more about than most people and I can find a library that has any of the Sean Cliver books.
2. Dogme 95 and Modernism- I compared the manifestos/restrictions placed on filmmakers and architects by the modernist doctrines. I really see a lot of early modernism in the Dogme 95 manifesto. Plus I just really like the films of Lars Von trier.
3. Amp’d Design/Culture- I haven’t written this one yet, and I need to formulate my argument. It seems like marketing (at least to like the 15-25 yr old demographic) has become increasingly violent, adrenaline-y, and militaristic. It almost seems like some sort of propaganda to get people to join the military. I need to find examples and get this one clear in my own head. Any thoughts/direction?
-Buildings in Los Angeles

1. The Gehry Grand Avenue Development- I was part of a team that worked on the Grand Intervention project (and subsequent LACMA presentation) and I computer modeled this entire scheme. So I had a pretty good idea of the scale issues/problems of Gehry’s proposal, so this one was kind of easy and fun to write. And I had a good idea for the image to use for this one and it was my own property, so, yeah I like this one.
2. The Hollywood Sign- I took the stance of looking at the sign as simply a world famous billboard, and its influence on the billboard/advertising/consumerist culture of Los Angeles. This one isn’t bad and was at least kinda fun.
3. Learn To Forget: In Defense of Tearing Down- I took a polemic stance in favor of tearing down historic buildings and doing away with HPOZ and any kind of conservation. I attempted to make the argument that this kind of thinking can stand in the way of progress. I also tried to tie in aspects of virtual tourism and illustrate that the “idea” of the building, and the photo and/or website are as or more important than the built structure. This came to me after realizing that I like photographs of the Guggenheim NYC better than visiting it. I also said that “the King’s Rd. house shouldn’t be treated like royalty” which I think is a nice play on words. Do I agree with this stance? Not really, but it was kind of a fun stance to take, and I have written 2 or 3 essays on the other side of the argument. But really I just wanted to use the title which is the chorus from one of my favorite X songs.

-Movements

1. Situationism & the Sex Pistols- A totally fun paper to write because I am a fan of both the Situationists and the Sex Pistols. It’s way too long right now and I need to edit out about 300 words. I bought Never Mind the Bollocks on vinyl (still have it somewhere) in 1985 and have been into Situationist ideas for at least the past 4 years so this one was an interesting culmination of two related topics.
2. Supermodernism and Hyper-homogeneity- I literally hadn’t heard the term “Supermodernism” until two weeks ago, so this one requires research (umm, closed library, I’m looking at you). it’s 500 words and done-ish, but I need to make sure that i even know what the fuck I am trying to say. The basic argument is that if you drop little Disney Halls everywhere than they are really no different than a Starbucks, just a lot more expensive. Banality is the theme here.
3. Postmodernism- I have never been able to get excited about Postmodernism, and this paper is unwritten for that reason. I plan on focusing on the antenna of the Guild House, its removal; the idea that sparked the decorated shed. But we’ll see. This one probably won’t be anything to write home about.
4. Futurist Manifesto Blog- I scrapped this one. It was an interesting-ish idea. I formatted the Futurist Manifesto into your everyday blog. Each numbered manifesto item was a blog post and the commentary came via my response in the comments. It’s a little kitsch, though that isn’t what killed it. I started noticing Fascism in the Futurists and after researching that a little bit found a real link to Mussolini. I read 5 books about Mussolini and Fascist Italy last summer and there is no way that I could write a 500 word essay on this. I need at least 10 pages and more than a 4 day weekend. so, scrapped and on to the aforementioned PoMo.

-Reader Responses

1. Digital Geography- This is an interesting essay by Joel Kotkin. Usually theorists and urbanists think that the digital revolution will make place irrelevant. Kotkin argues that digital = remote workers = a choice in places to live. We aren’t tied to the manufacturing plant anymore and this makes place very relevant. I make the argument that LA is a very attractive city in this Digital Geography. I kinda like this one.
2. Hedge- I really liked this one. Hedge is cooperative design practice. I won’t go into the specifics of this one, but as I read this essay I felt like I was reading my own ideas. Ideas I have discussed at length with those I plan to go into business with. There is only one fundamental difference in the business model of Hedge and the model I have been formulating for the past couple of years.
3. Bigness- Written by Rem at his Remmiest. I read a quote where he describes his essay as “dangerous”. That sounds so cheesy, “My essay is dangerous!” But anyhow, I tried to decode it and figure out just who/what it is dangerous to. I wrote a decent essay but nothing to get too excited about.

So that’s that. I should be done with this tomorrow (if the fucking library decides to open) and can begin the race to the finish, staying up three days at a time, that is studio finals.

I have been extremely busy and updating time is a luxury, but I am taking tonight and tomorrow off and I figured an update was deserved.

Some Notes:

-A couple of weeks ago I was at the bar Cha-Cha in Silverlake and ran into an old friend, Patrick O’dell, who runs the website Epicly Later’d which has been a daily read of mine for awhile. So, I am honored to have an appearance during Patrick’s Los Angeles trip from NYC. He joined us on tour a few (few = like 10) years ago when I was a professional skateboarder and he was a skateboard photographer. Now he is the Photo Editor for Vice Magazine.

-The same night as above, i went outside for a cigarette and looked up at the sign on the adjacent building: RICHARD AND DION NEUTRA, ARCHITECTS. Cool. Richard built the building and Dion has kept it up for the past couple of decades, but now it is for sale. It was nice to get a couple of minutes of excitement from imagining Neutra in his office designing some of my favorite houses in LA.

-The semester is almost over and I have been averaging about 3 nights sleep a week. This has been a relatively un-inspiring semester. Studio is good, but some of my other classes are not as good as they could be. Next semester is looking good though.

-People have been telling me I look a lot like the new James Bond. My physics teacher stopped class the other day to tell me this, and I have been told since then verbally and text messagely. If you know how much of a 007 fan I am, you can only imagine hat a compliment this is to me.

-Did I say I was busy? Over the Thanksgiving break, I have a lot of writing to do, a lot of model building to do, a lot of computer modeling/dwg-ing to do, a lot of structures/physics to do, and I decided to take on a freelance job as well. Is it possible to do 500 hours of work in 72 hours? Stay tuned

-I have decided to probably quit the firm I am at, and pursue a job offer I received a few months ago. I emailed said job offer a few minutes ago and will keep you posted on progress.

-I am disgusted by the UCLA tasering incident. Ironically, a few posts ago I had UCLA on the top of my list of Grad Schools. But. If changes aren’t made w/r/t this incident, there isn’t a chance in fuck I will even consider UCLA. Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams must go, every Cop at the scene must go. This is so fucked up. I understand the student in question was antagonistic. But. he is a fucking 23 year old student who had probably been up for many many hours working his ass off. I know I would probably react the same if a security guard tried to kick me out of my library at school. And according to other UCLA students the ID rule wasn’t that enforced. Usually, you would be allowed to log off and then log on to your computer to prove your school affiliation. Regardless, there is no fucking need to taser a kid who poses no fucking physical threat to you. No reason. Both the cop in question and the acting chancellor have questionable backgrounds and I hop they are both gone. I know that my refusal to enroll there is a small protest that probably has no real weight on this incident, but I am someone who takes education seriously, works his ass off and will hopefully have the option to go the grad school of his choice, and will not fucking go to a school that overlooks this kind of abusive behavior. And I have to assume I am not alone. To all of those involved, I wish you the absolute worst. Especially the cop who responded to the student asking for his badge number with the threat, “stand back or you’ll get tased to.” Fuck you.

-And I don’t want to end on an angry rant, so Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I am having a co-op dinner with the girl who lives upstairs and several of her friends and mine. I am thankful for a lot of things: friends, family, readers, good music and girth to name a few.

The results are in and they are good. Aside from the fact that a proposition to tax the oil companies and use said tax money to fund clean energy initiatives didn’t pass in California, I am pleased with the results. I didn’t vote for Arnold, but I can’t say that I am totally mad at the way he governs. Hmm, it feels weird to even think the phrase, “I don’t think Arnold Schwarzenegger is a bad governor of California.”

But on to the real good news, the Republicans lost control of the House and Senate AND Rumsfeld is gone. Finally I feel like I am a part of my country, and that everyone else hasn’t lost their fucking minds. The Republicans have fucked up badly this year (and so on) and should be sent a message. Hopefully the Democrats don’t screw anything up, because the scrutiny will be on them…blah, blah, I will still vote Green in the next presidential election anyhow.

But for now, I suppose, I am happy. Except that I have had a headache all bloody day and I have a really hard exam in the morning and I had like two sips of coffee so now I will be up all god damn night. 5000.

PROP 1A- NO

PROP 1B- NO

PROP 1C-YES

PROP 1D-YES

PROP 1E- YES

PROP J- YES

PROP 83- NO

PROP 84- YES

PROP 85- NO

PROP 86- NO

PROP 87-YES

PROP 88-NO

PROP 89- YES

PROP 90-NO

 

 

California Supreme Court Justice
Joyce L. Kennard: Yes
Carol A. Corrigan: No

 

CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL JUSTICE

Robert Mallano. Yes.

Frances Rothschild. Yes.

Roger W. Boren. NO

Victoria M. Chavez. No.

Patti S. Kitching. No.

Richard D. Aldrich. No.

Norman L. Epstein. NO.

Thomas Willhite. No.

Nora M. Manella. Yes.

Steven Suzukawa. No.

Richard M. Mosk. Yes.

Sandy R. Kriegler. No.

Arthur Gilbert. Yes.

Dennis Perluss. Yes.

Fred Woods.  NO

Laurie D. Zelon. Yes.

Candace Cooper. YeS

Madeleine Flier. Yes

 

Los Angeles Superior Court (LA County)
* Office 8: Deborah L. Sanchez
* Office 18: Daviann L. Mitchell
* Office 102: UNDECIDED
* Office 104: Bobbi Tillmon
* Office 114: Janis Levart Barquist

 

Governor: Phil Angelides

Lieutenant Governor: DONNA J. WARREN

Secretary of State: FORREST HILL

Controller: John Chiang

Treasurer: Bill Lockyer

Attorney General: Jerry Brown

Insurance Commissioner: JAY EARL BURDEN

Member of State Board of Equalization, 4th district: Judy Chu

US Senator: Todd Chretien

US REP 33RD DIST.  DIANE WATSON

STATE SENTAOR 26TH DIST, MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS

STATE ASSEMBLY 46TH DIST. KEVIN DE LEON

That’s my new site, that little thing in the bottom left hand corner is Echo Park Lake. The program requirements are for four residential units (1 one bedroom, 1 two bedroom, 1 three bedroom and 1 studio) and some sort of commercial element that I am not supposed to know about yet, but a little bird told me. This is the final project of the semester and I am completely amazed. Does it seem like time is going abnormally fast to anyone else?

With that in mind, the next couple of years of my life are busy as hell, and the time to begin planning for them is now, or yesterday actually. This semester will be finished in just over a month, and then next semester is 3B, and then summer will be spent studying in Barcelona, Paris, and Berlin (with a long weekend in Marrakesh), then I will be in 4A which is a comprehensive studio and thesis development, then the next semester will be 5B Degree project, and then Graduate School begins that summer and lasts a year…. all of that with virtually no breaks.

So I need to begin thinking about applying to grad school. Right now my short list of schools looks like this:

1. UCLA
2. The Bartlett
3. Harvard
4. Columbia
5. Sci-arc

The list is in the order of, hmm, not sure, likelihood maybe. I would probably rather go the The Bartlett over UCLA, but UCLA is right here, a good school, and less than 1/4 the cost of all of the others listed. These are the schools that I will apply to, and I will make the decision based on acceptance. I suppose.

But now there is a Fourplex to design in Echo Park.