Dogeaters Manga | Mankind failed to transcend the Petroleum Age

The guillotine…

Posted on 07.18.15 under Japan Olympic Stadium, Kenzo Tange, Marie Antoinette, Versailles

“We have decided to go back to the start on the Tokyo Olympics-Paralympics stadium plan, and start over from zero,” said the prime minister, Shinzō Abe, after a meeting at his office with Yoshirō Mori, chairman of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee.

It was going to be the most expensive stadium ever at $2 billion USD. Opposition from leading Japanese architects, the general populace was strong and the ruling party is down in the polls. With this eleventh-hour, desperation move, perhaps the prime minister gets to keep his head.

This was designed by Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi-British architect. In 2004 she became the first woman recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and received the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011.

How is it so different than the current Yoyogi National stadium between Harajuku and Shibuya that it would have replaced?

This stadium was designed by Kenzō Tange, winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents.

A lesson from history, learned?

I believe the last nail in the coffins of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI was the impression of tone-deaf over-spending for personal purchases. First there was the diamond necklace, which she was accused of trying to defraud the Crown Jewelers. Rumors that she plastered the walls with gold and diamonds while war debt piled up — the French, by way of Marie Antoinette’s prodding, gave assistance to the Thirteen Colonies that became America. Ironic in a way because she also changed the fashion at court from the heavy makeup and hooped dresses to the simpler English style.

I went to Versailles a couple of weeks ago. It’s over-romanticized, ornate beyond anything you’ve ever seen before, huge — the parties must have been epic! Just about the most fabulous (and I never use that word) palace
in the world. All I kept thinking — and saying, was: “It must be great to be a queen. Until they chop off your head.”

The first gate…

The second gate…

A place like this is under continuous renovation. I wonder what the monthly maintenance fees are?

We were almost the first in line, so I was able to get this shot without any people in it. Nope, didn’t have to photoshop anyone out!

The best adjectives for Versailles are “opulent” and “voluptuous.”

But wait there’s more. This model shows the expanse of Versailles but doesn’t include the Hameau, which was commissioned by Marie Antoinette in 1783. This was not just one or two buildings, but something like a village landscaped in the style of a British garden. Apparently the French populace was appalled by the cost. There were streams and miniature man-o-war and galleys on the lakes.

We’ll get it later.

There must be thousands of statues.

Tons of paintings in frames on the walls, on the ceilings, in the corners of the ceilings. The rooms are themed for the Greek gods.

Much more of this, it just keeps coming.

And coming…

Mirrors were a sign of ostentatious wealth as they were very expensive to make. This room was situated to reflect a garden.

Paintings glorifying French victory in war. Surprisingly, a very large room was filled with paintings and statues.

The great Charlemagne.

Perhaps you already knew that the French love breasts.

After lunch, we finally made it outside to walk and cruise the gardens. Again, the scope of which is impossible to describe.

I took about 500 photos at Versailles, so just multiply by 20 or 30 to get a feeling for the full impact of this place. Again, a magnificent place that has to be experienced to be believed.

One of the smaller fountains near the palace.

Love these hedges.

One of the contemporary art pieces.

Breasts and a snake. Must be one of the first stripper with snake acts.

Ah, now we’re past the Petit Trianon (there’s also a Grand Trianon built by Louis XIV for his maîtresse-en-titre (chief mistess) as a place to relax away from the strictures of the court.

The Petite Trianon seemed to me like a pretty plain structure but apparently it’s a celebrated example of the transition from the Rococo style of the earlier part of the 18th century, to the more sober and refined, Neoclassical style of the 1760s and onward.

So on to the Hameau which is like the world of the Hobbit’s Middle Earth.

Vegetables arranged like a flower garden.

We rested here and wondered why there was a bench in front of this tree…

The soho in london

Posted on 07.05.15 under Das Kapital, gay hussar, karl marx, london, Neville Brody, Ronnie Scott's

Junko and I had the honor to be treated to dinner, drinks and a tour of Soho, London by Neville Brody, the godfather of Mac-based graphic design.

We have known Neville since the late 80s and remained friends through all the ups and downs of the last 25 years. He is now quite up as he is the Dean of the School of Communications (one of 6 schools) at the Royal College of Art in London. RCA is post-graduate only.

The convocation was last Sunday and Ridley Scott, a graduate of RCA, was given an honorary doctorate. Neville gave him a tour of the college and when they came to one of his lecture rooms, Ridley said that that was the room where Vangelis scored BLADE RUNNER. The walls emanate with historically creative vibrations…

During Neville’s days at Face Magazine, Soho was sex shops, live music venues, gay clubs, sex shows, record shops, and gathering places for artists of all expression. Karl Marx lived there when he wrote Das Kapital.

However, like everywhere else, all the cool and culture spots are being exploited by developers and gentrified. The process is done like this: 1) a derelict area is targeted. 2) artists are given the freedom to make studios. 3) The area gets a buzz and becomes a trendy destination for first locals, and then tourists. 4) the developers raise the rents, push the artists out, tear down the old buildings and put up high rises. Rinse and repeat.

There are still elements of the old Soho, but it’s changing fast.

I just like the name of this place. Like the station name: Elephant and Castle. Those English really do use English in a crazy way.

The word, “Ho,” is not a reference to what you think, being that it is in Soho. It is a Vietnamese restaurant.

Sounds artistic, but I think this is part of the gentrification process.

The legendary Ronnie Scott’s.

Yes, duly warned but gay marriage is legal in America, so not a problem, right? ; )

This is hetero, so it must be safe, right? ; )

You know this is healthy.

So we’re just tourists.

This is a losing effort.

This shop is closed. Across the street, the vinyl shop is still open, though.

Everyone drinks on the street outside the pubs in good weather.

Outside every pub!

This place really is gay — transvestites, etc.

The Gay Hussar is not gay. It only changed ownership.

Silence of the Deer

Posted on 06.29.15 under aya fujimoto, Isaac Wong, miyuki odani, umami, uzuraya

Aya (OuiOui), Miyuki Odani, Isaac and I popped our heads into a shop on rue de Rochechouart and was rewarded with a thin sliver of deer ham.

She asked us if we were from Japan and said there’s a word to describe the taste, “umami.” It was a delicate smoked ham flavor with the hint of a hard cheese in the aftertaste.

Last Sunday of June

Posted on 06.29.15 under Paris

Is a flea market on Rue de Feutrier. The last several years it has rained, but this Sunday was gorgeous!

There seems to be a lot of interest in taxidermy and large mounted insects in display boxes.

And a pinpoint of interest in Nazis, perhaps…

And/or politics…

And breasts are always in fashion.

And grammar.

But what does an alligator have to do with a kindergarten?

I think we discussed sociopolitical issues, but perhaps that was my imagination.

But the real treasure was the vintage Sony Walkman in mint condition!

Ground Control to Major Kim

Posted on 06.28.15 under art space paris, françois avril, Ground Control, Junko Wong, Kim Gérard, Kim Rosselier, Paris

Ground Control is an art space/multiple bar and brasserie/event space/playground that exists for one year at a specific location.

An unused government property, in this case an old railway station, is taken over for a limited amounted of time and transformed into a cultural destination.