poorboyoftroy

...meaning this space will soon host some fictional sketches.  I hope.

..."If all time is eternally present / All time is unredeemable."  I believe I stand in league with Marcel Proust in this regard.  

...but I'm not.  I'll invariably end up back at Greenberry's, fighting for table space with the same locals I've been sparring with for half a year and listening to the same obnoxiously over-sung jazz vocal standards that have been pumped in over the Sirius Radio feed ever since the holidays ended.  I'll drink 20-40 oz. of the terrific drip coffee and probably eat a scone (blueberry - love how they pull apart without breaking apart and how the baked blueberries have the consistency of raisins). I should note that I will find all of this immensely enjoyable.  And, as neurotic as the crowd tends to be, I really do end up meeting some very interesting knockabouts there, inasmuch as the DC area has knockabouts (telecommuting government contractors is a more apt description -- oh, and some of them are law students).  It'll be a great day, I'm certain of it.

unimail genève 5 Originally uploaded by stadtwanderer/randonneur_urbain I find myself today looking over the umpteenth revised draft of a paper I started a year and a half ago in Geneva while working at the UN. I spent quite a few weekends working on it at UNIMAIL, the campus of the University of Geneva located two blocks from my apartment, itself adjacent to the lovely Carouge neighborhood. UNIMAIL was one of the few places I could get WIFI access on the weekends, other than the smoke-filled cafes down the Boulevard Carl Vogt. The building is a massive congeries of classrooms, lecture halls, and a large bookstore, arrayed on multiple levels under a glass ceiling with multiple colored panels and unified by a large lobby/central hallway. It looks like an architectural vision of the future as conceived in the late 70's/early 80's -- it recalls in me some youthful archetypal images of the future as experienced in built space, which undoubtedly derive most immediately from my v...

"Sept pièces faciles" Originally uploaded by les.abattoirs I really have no idea what this piece is about or who the artist is - evidently, this was at one point on display at MAMCO Geneva, one of my favorite art museums (sortof like if a really artsy urban high school just relented and became a museum). It's very playful/exuberant, and probably took about 5 minutes to make.

Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland Originally uploaded by photoriel I've been puzzling, ruminating really, over how to conceive of Lausanne, Switzerland, ever since I spent two and a half days there one and a half years ago, and I think I've finally stumbled upon it: Lausanne is the hyper-articulated city. Positively every single corner of it, at least, of its Old Town, which to my mind is rather self-contained, is embellished with a small garden or some well-appointed landscaping, graffiti, or art. This embellishment adds to its complexity: Lausanne looks as though it were planned by M.C. Escher, layer upon imponderable layer, myriad multi-pronged intersections, and angled cobblestoned pedestrian walkways that provide the best means of traversing the many layers. For all its density of expression and complexity of design, it is exceptionally well-curated - everything looks as thought it belongs, as though it couldn't possibly be any other way. Look for more on Lausanne in the ...

High court - Le Corbusier Originally uploaded by mr prudence ...I could do far worse than Le Corbusier. Seen here is a detail from his massive and fascinating High Court building, built as part of a commission to implement a design (not his, but still) for an urban core for India's first planned city, Chandigarh, established in 1947 by Prime Minister Nehru as the new capital of the contentious state of Punjab. I would love to have an entire city to construct, though my imagination would give out after deciding where to ideally place the coffee shops. In all seriousness, though, there is a peerless power and prestige that goes into accomplishing what Le Corbusier did with Chandigarh -- more than leaving an indelible mark, he articulates through his designs much of the urban experience of a city of 1 million people from beyond the grave.

...don't roundhouse kick the subway train!

It turns out that I will need to visit the Empire State Building in order to go to MoMA . Pretty ridiculous, I realize. Maybe I can add a scavenger hunt into the mix?

Greater New York Originally uploaded by tangentialism ...will emerge this upcoming weekend when I finally, at the ripe-old age of 2#, make my pilgrimage to New York City. Well, we are spending most of our time in Brooklyn, attending a show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (somewhat of a misnomer as BAM also screens films), drinking at hipster bars with genuine Williamsburg hipsters, and generally just seeing what B'lynn has to offer. We will, however, go to MoMA, which is at the very top of my list of "museums to see," and even though I'm not a huge Tim Burton fan, I'm really looking forward to seeing the "space" -- museums themselves are intrinsically interesting, often more so than the art that they exhibit. I'll post more about it here...or on my other blog (not sure, we'll see what happens).

I really need to figure out specific purposes for each of my two blogs, *especially* now that I can post to my Blogger via email. I think I've got it: I will continue to use my Posterous as an extension of my Twitter to post random media and impressions that I come across on the go (err, you know, what most people do with micro-blogs). At the same time, I will begin to use my Blogger to post substantive, thematically-rooted and textually-heavy think-pieces, possibly fictional sketches. Ca va?

Hirschhorn Museum Originally uploaded by gonzo67 In retrospect, I should not have been worried that finishing grad school (without a job to immediately transition into) would leave me feeling bereft or without purpose. Rather, I feel liberated - free, more specifically, to explore an amazing city I've seen almost exclusively in passing, to read books that I've had on my Amazon wishlist for 3 years, to catch up with friends I've neglected, and to, well, blog! Also, also, also, I have a long-tabled creative writing project that I would love to continue. Re exploring the city -- it is amazing to me that one can spend so long in a place, ingraining the facades of its buildings in one's mind without taking the time (not having the time) to delve beneath the surface and reveal the immensity of its depth. I've done that before with cities (desolee, Geneve), but I won't let that happen with DC in my time here!

...in this basement office that I am actually noticing it. Normally, I am not one to feel (certainly, never to comment upon) shortcomings in ambient temperature. Though I'm no stoic, my unexercised, under-slept body is almost always able to keep me at a tenable operating temperature. Now, however, I apparently can't even rely on it to do that. I might have to wear my overcoat...inside. Ugh. That said, it's a rather nice(-looking), sunny (albeit very cold) day here in The District.