dancing about architecture

made me happy

2009-02-27T23:48:00.001-08:00

because everyone should hear this

2009-02-18T06:12:00.000-08:00

yesterday evening, i read this brilliant article over at the new york times... to sum up, america's single greatest national shame: education. it is so refreshing to finally hear people on a national level start to talk not just about a broken american educational system, but to actually hear them talk about new and innovative ways to solve the problem. these two videos are just a couple that i have watched and been inspired by.

both from the videos and the article, i feel heartened and i am starting to hope that maybe we will find a way to repair our educational system so that kids can start to reach their full potential because of the schooling they are getting and not in spite of it.

my father is an incredible teacher. i want to be a teacher/professor, eventually... and i can only hope that i will be one of those top quartile teachers... the kind that can get people excited about learning. yes, i may be a little (a lot) nerdy, but i am just fine with that.

can you imagine what amazing results we would get if all of the teachers or people who want to be teachers in america - in the world, actually - were as inspired as the people at KIPP? can you imagine how far we could go as a people if everyone was receiving a great education? if everyone was engaged in the learning process?

i just gives me so much hope, it's almost unbearable (but in a very, very good way).

the tool list that every architect dreams about

2009-02-18T01:32:00.001-08:00

i got this in the mail today, and i think that any and every architect/engineer/planner/designer i know dreams about having just such a tool list.

hey, a girl can dream, right?

heads up people!

2009-02-08T08:05:00.001-08:00

ART1:ITALY IS A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC [...]

comparisons

2009-01-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

some differences are a matter of fact...

who's the genius who made this? you're my hero!

tee hee

2009-01-14T04:15:00.000-08:00

what would your dream closet look like?

video from TBWA, neboko for heineken, january 2009.

crafty christmas

2008-12-18T02:05:00.000-08:00

pip-squeak chapeau inspired neck warmer via ellybeth

hand-printed fleece scarves via curbly (found at design*sponge)

i have been trying to get into the habit of giving (mostly) handmade gifts this year. given that my wallet looks slightly anorexic this year, i think that my time and a (hopefully) well-crafted/well-thought-out gift at least demonstrates that though i may not be able to give the fanciest things, they still come from the heart.

time to get crafty!

images via ellybeth and curbly, respectively.

holiday parties

2008-12-16T05:32:00.001-08:00

image via stan and ergo

Jingle bells...remixed!

2008-11-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

it makes me laugh and it makes me happy!
btw, can anyone send out a Gap striped scarf??! :)

..just a normal day!

2008-11-22T00:50:00.000-08:00

Remind Me on Vimeo.

love royksopp!

'venti' is 'twenty'... 'large' is 'large'

2008-11-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

found at swissmiss (it made me giggle)

seen on 'the daily show' (it also made me giggle)

friends don't let friends drink starbucks. it's too confusing.

React people, react!

2008-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Right after Mr Berlusconi made his funny joke, many italians reacted against it. Common people used and made what they could to say:
hey wait a second, THIS IS NOT FUNNY, IDIOT!

La marcia degli Abbronzatissimi [i.e. The supertanned people march] and facebook group
a couple of other facebook groups in which Italian people apologize to Obama

and, dulcis in fundo, a 'NOT SPEAKING IN MY NAME' group, which we're going to be part of!

There's not many people on it yet, but it will grow!
not speaking in my name

Silvio: if he didn't already exist, we would have had to invent him [but also not!]

2008-11-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

From BBC news:
Berlusconi in his own words
Berlusconi's loose tongue has often got him into trouble
The outgoing Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is well known for his blunt language - a tendency to make what one of his predecessors, Massimo D'Alema, described as "planetary gaffes".
Here is a selection of Berlusconi clangers:

At a rally during the 2006 election campaign:
"Read The Black Book of Communism and you will discover that in the China of Mao, they did not eat children, but had them boiled to fertilise the fields."

On left-wing voters at a conference of retailers during the 2006 campaign:
"I trust the intelligence of the Italian people too much to think that there are so many pricks around who would vote against their own best interests."

At the launch of the 2006 campaign:
"I am the Jesus Christ of politics. I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone."

Promising to put family values at the centre of his campaign:
"I will try to meet your expectations, and I promise from now on, two-and-a-half months of absolute sexual abstinence, until [election day on] 9 April."

To German MEP Martin Schulz, at start of Italy's EU presidency in July 2003:
"I know that in Italy there is a man producing a film on Nazi concentration camps - I shall put you forward for the role of Kapo (guard chosen from among the prisoners) - you would be perfect."

During the controversy raging over the above remark:

"I'll try to soften it and become boring, maybe even very boring, but I am not sure I will be able to do it."

To a German newspaper:

"In Italy I am almost seen as German for my workaholism. Also I am from Milan, the city where people work the hardest. Work, work, work - I am almost German."

At the Brussels summit, at the end of Italy's EU presidency, in December 2003:
"Let's talk about football and women." (Turning to four-times-married German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.) "Gerhard, why don't you start?"

On Italian secretaries (comments made at the New York stock exchange):
"Italy is now a great country to invest in... today we have fewer communists and those who are still there deny having been one. Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries... superb girls."

On Mussolini:
"Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile."

In the wake of 11 September:
"We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and - in contrast with Islamic countries - respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its value understanding of diversity and tolerance...

"The West will continue to conquer peoples, even if it means a confrontation with another civilisation, Islam, firmly entrenched where it was 1,400 years ago."

His response to worldwide condemnation of the above speech:

"They have tried to hang me on an isolated word, taken out of context from my whole speech."

"I did not say anything against the Islamic civilisation... It's the work of some people in the Italian leftist press who wanted to tarnish my image and destroy my long-standing relations with Arabs and Muslims."

On Italian justice:
"Eighty-five per cent of the Italian press is left-wing and among the judges it is even worse... There is a cancer in Italy that we have to treat: the politicisation of the magistracy."

On judges pursuing former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti on charges relating to the Mafia:

"Those judges are doubly mad! In the first place, because they are politically mad, and in the second place because they are mad anyway.

"If they do that job it is because they are anthropologically different from the rest of the human race."

On his trial, now suspended, in which he denies charges of bribing judges to prevent the sale of a state-owned food company to a rival:

"I believed and still believe that citizen Berlusconi should be praised for having prevented the state's wealth from being looted... I was expecting a Gold Medal for Civil Worthiness for ensuring the state earned 2,000bn [lire]."

On himself:
"The best political leader in Europe and in the world."

"There is no-one on the world stage who can compete with me."

"Out of love for Italy, I felt I had to save it from the left."

"The right man in the right job."

"I don't need to go into office for the power. I have houses all over the world, stupendous boats... beautiful airplanes, a beautiful wife, a beautiful family... I am making a sacrifice."

A joke about Aids told by Mr Berlusconi:
"An Aids patient asks his doctor whether the sand treatment prescribed him will do any good. 'No', the doctor replies, 'but you will get accustomed to living under the earth'."

His response to critics who said the joke was offensive:

"They have lost their minds; they really have come to the end of the line, indeed they have gone beyond it. I would advise them, too, to undergo sand treatment..."

On his alleged conflict of interest as prime minister and one of Italy's biggest tycoons, with major media holdings:
"If I, taking care of everyone's interests, also take care of my own, you can't talk about a conflict of interest."

On a proposal to base an EU food standards agency in Finland, rather than the Italian city of Parma:
"Parma is synonymous with good cuisine. The Finns don't even know what prosciutto is. I cannot accept this."

On history:
"The founders of Rome were Romulus and Remulus ..."

Suntanned?!

2008-11-10T12:30:00.001-08:00

I have been following the Daily Show for all the campaign: finally Jon Stewart decided it was time to talk about Italy and to aknowledge just how sharp our prime minister is!

All of this could not be done without his greatness... Ladies and Gentlemen, take some time with Mr Silvio Berlusconi!

better late than never

2008-11-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

i love that it is the day after the election, and i finally find this:

anyhow, it's still purdy.

the lovely enrica and i will be out for a night of pure OBAMArama here in stuttgart.

congratulations, america. change is coming - countdown to january 20th, 2009. check out isobamapresident.com for a countdown to the dawn of a new american era.

something greater is on its way. are you ready?

image via obama for america.

hope over fear. yes we can.

2008-11-05T01:50:00.001-08:00

Collective Anxiety

2008-11-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

It's 8PM here, we'll start hearing something from US in 6 hours...aaarghhh!
from 11 PM we'll be at the DAZ... (www.daz.org)
Election rally.... VOTE!!! and vote right so we can celebrate! :)

[...]

2008-11-02T05:03:00.001-08:00

sock puppet patriotism... or a break from election-related nonsense with sifl & olly.

2008-10-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

more words of change

2008-10-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

'change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. we are the ones we've been waiting for. we are the change that we seek.'

-barack obama-

image via barackobama.com

if MURS were president

2008-10-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

i visited swissmiss today for a dose of inspiration and found this video from GOOD's if (fill in the blank here) were president video series. i think that this one is my favorite, but mos def's video is probably a tie.

In praise of change

2008-10-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

the theme of the week for dummies!
we are over-excited about the election! ica wants to vote!

all the wrong support...

2008-10-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

saturday, the new york times op-ed columnist nicholas d. kristof published a lovely little piece called 'the endorsement from hell.' to sum up - insert pause for dramatic effect - al qaeda has offered an endorsement of mr. mccain for the presidency of the united states of america...

i can say two things in response before i get to my other commentary: 1] umm, wow.; and, 2] their endorsement says it all for me.

my favorite passage of mr. kristof's article, and the part that illustrates my views on the situation, is as follows:

“From [Al Qaeda's] perspective, a continuation of Bush policies is best for recruiting,” said Professor Nye, adding that Mr. McCain is far more likely to continue those policies.

An American president who keeps troops in Iraq indefinitely, fulminates about Islamic terrorism, inclines toward military solutions and antagonizes other nations is an excellent recruiting tool. In contrast, an African-American president with a Muslim grandfather and a penchant for building bridges rather than blowing them up would give Al Qaeda recruiters fits.

just the mental image of some anger-filled al qaeda 'rep' throwing a hissy fit over obama in office is enough to make me smile.

now, i know that mr. mccain's platform is not a carbon copy of mr. bush's, but apparently, the entity that we as a nation are supposed to be fighting against finds his 'methods' similar enough to realize that 4 years of america under mccain would probably benefit their 'recruitment' efforts. not to mention that it would promote a continuation of a global loss of respect for the united states of america... because, let's face it, if we do not draw a strong line in the sand between what has been since 2000 and what needs to be after 2008 (and i personally do not think that this is possible under another gop president), people will continue to solely view the u.s. as a greedy, ignorant war-monger who sticks its nose in everyone else's business without invitation. people will not stop to think about all of the wonderful things that america represents, just as they do not now. people will not stop to actually look at the people of the united states of america and see what truly amazing human beings the country fosters. ... and because people will only see the negative image of america, they won't stop to think when someone fills their head with hate aimed toward the greedy giant.

i know that mr. mccain isn't the only candidate to receive an endorsement from a 'terrorist organization.' add that to the fact that no one can really control who supports them or not and all is just about even... however, to me, it is still al qaeda who is making the endorsement. to me, it is still the organization that actually attacked america that is making this particular endorsement... and that speaks mountains to me.

image via yourct.com

words of change: a little inspiration for your morning

2008-10-27T01:33:00.000-07:00

'... in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.'

-Barack Obama-

image via barackobama.com

1

2008-10-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

still not a blog!