Here and There

This is the first installment of a new feature on Here and There, tentatively titled “mepedia.” I hope you enjoy.

These are some of the things I learned yesterday, Monday, August 13, 2007:

* Karl Rove will resign from the Bush administration at the end of August. Reactions are expected and generic, but my insight is that the “family” excuse is to politics what the “busy” excuse is to the rest of us. Sort of. At least in its transparency.

* Brooke Astor dies. Okay, “news” of a 105-year-old woman dying isn’t exactly, well, news. But I’d like to give my boss props for calling this one the night before (Sunday) on, as far as I can tell, absolutely no evidence. He also mentioned some friends of his at The New York Times who had Astor and Pavarotti on their death watch. Luciano lives another day.

* Finished an article in the August 13, 2007 issue of The New Yorker about Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, a rare, fucked-up disorder found only in males in which the sufferer is compelled to destroy himself. It manifests most readily in the eating of the fingers and lips. Article mentions a spectrum of self-mutiliating behavior that encompasses a bad habit of mine: eating cuticles till they bleed. Help! Danger!

* After going over a story on transit-oriented development somewhere in the Peninsula (in the city of San Mateo, I believe), a coworker told me about the idea of arcology, or massive structures of huddled humans living in a sustainable, ecologically sound way.

* From visiting the wikipedia page on arcology, I found the concept of the count noun, such as “cattle” or, formerly, “fish.” Never knew that term, but it’s handy for making people think I’m some kind of grammarian.

* Toward the end of the shift last night, a coworker informed me of Van Halen’s reunion tour, which former bassist Michael Anthony will unfortunately not be taking part in thanks to his sacking by Eddie van Halen earlier this year. The younger van Halen brother replaced the band’s longtime bassist (and proud purveyor of the Jack Daniels bass guitar) with none other than his own son, 16-year-old Wolfgang van Halen. Natch.

* Read somewhere that the new Minneapolis bridge(s) will have five lanes each way. Well, the smaller bridge didn’t work, so what else to do but build bigger??

* Another New Yorker tidbit: From James Surowiecki’s Financial Page, learned the term rent-seeker, describing “a company [that] seeks to manipulate economic conditions rather than actually create value.” Sounds vaguely familiar.

* Finally, began an article in the same New Yorker about elaborate, highly lucrative European olive oil scams. Learned a little about the process of making olive oil, which the author describes as similar to juice extraction. Also learned that olives are closely related to cherries and plums (and mangoes, which the author omitted), all of which are known as drupes. Nice word.

Out of pure spite, I decided not to attend today’s one-hour “blessing” of the new San Francisco Federal Building. I had tried twice in the past, only to be either mislead or have attitude flung at me by people who are, essentially, my employees (true, they’re also self-employed).

Those who did see the building’s interior feel free to comment. I plan on going after presumed crowds have died down.

Back in June, I went over to see San Francisco’s new federal building, at Mission and Seventh streets. I was under the false impression that the latest architectural monolith to join the SF skyline was then open to the public. After talking to security on opposite ends of the building that day, I was told with utmost certainty that the building would open to the public July 7.

So I went back yesterday.

My roommate said to me on the way out the door, “Are you sure it’s opening today?” Hmm, I thought, maybe not a bad idea to check. My companion agreed. I couldn’t find anything on the building’s opening. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t happening. We had business downtown anyway, so on we went.

Upon arrival, we went to the same main door where I was told that yesterday was the day. One set of doors had a piece of paper taped haphazardly to it announcing PLEASE USE OTHER DOOR. But there were two other doors. I noted quickly there were no security guards right inside. What appeared to be an employee walked into the leftmost doors, and we followed him.

As he was about to turn a corner, he turned around and shot a very disapproving glance at us. Not seeing security, we had stopped in our tracks. I don’t recall if he said outloud or just looked a “Can I help you?” at us. I replied, “Is the building open to the public today?” “No,” he said, condescendingly. “Do you guys have badges?” “Oh, no, we don’t. I was here last month and was told July 7 was the day it opened.” “Who told you that?” he responded, all incredulously and indignant. Jeez, I thought, what crawled in his government ass and died?

“Oh, the security guy that was right here,” I said, gesturing toward the security station, with it’s treadmill x-ray scan machines and metal detectors. “No, that’s not true, you can’t come in here. It’s a federal building.” No shit, really?

“Oh, well, do you know when it will open?” I asked, determined to prove that his paranoia was unwarranted.

He muttered something about August or late July, and his front was broken. He had no idea what he was talking about.

Today, I found this article by the Chronicle’s John King on the building’s dedication tomorrow and opening to the public Tuesday.

I hope you’re reading this, Mr. Confident and wrong federal employee. Don’t make me say it … I pay your check, asshole.

I’ve watched it being built, and drooled with envy. I’ve been one of those San Francisco residents who, upon the structure’s completion, wondered whether the construction was still under way. I’ve got into jocular spats about the beauty/shortcomings/simplicity/god-awfulness of the building. I’ve come to see it as one potential iteration of the future of architecture, based solely on its aesthetics.

But after visiting the structure just other day and taking some photos of the exterior (the building won’t be open to the public until July 7). I needed more. Also, I was deployed by a friend (yes, a nay-sayer) to find out why the federal building is what it is. She was faux indignant.

So I started poking around. The architect’s website … not too helpful.

From the Pritzker Prize website:

the project has developed around three primary objectives: to create a new urban touchstone for San Francisco that serves and enhances the community; to radically redefine the culture of the workplace and provide a model environment with respect to health, productivity and creativity; and to establish a new benchmark for building design through the intelligent use of natural resources.

And this:

Following from a critical reinvention of traditional office planning, open work areas are located at the building perimeter and private offices and conference spaces at the center cores. Corner offices have been eliminated, radically inverting traditional hierarchies and democratizing access to operable windows, natural lighting and ventilation. Views to the city are afforded from 90% of the workstations.

So there you have it. There is rhyme to the reason. I’ll have to report back once I am able to view the interior, and do hope to get more information on why the outside looks exactly like it does, other than mere frivolity.

A few months ago, Dwell’s website launched a staff-driven blog. It’s a well-presented assortment of world art and architecture goings on. Check it out.

Was reading a story in today’s SF Examiner about the Golden Gate Bridge’s being named the fifth favorite “architectural” structure in the U.S. The story started out calling the bridge the city’s “famous international-orange” span. Should that be hyphenated, I asked myself. Or did they forget a word or get dash-happy over at the Ex?

Well, leave it Wikipedia to settle matters of such import.

Among other things, it’s the color of NASA’s Advanced Crew Escape Suit.

The other day, I began a work-in-progress (what, I ask, is not a work-in-progress?), compiling a list of things I like about the country I live in. I got up to 25.

Today, I’m adding to it, beginning with number 26. (Remember, there is no reason for the order of my list. It only denotes the chronology at which things come to me).

1. Google
2. Apple
3. Al Gore
4. Bill Clinton
5. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
6. The Bill of Rights
7. California wine
8. MIT
9. Spike Jonze
10. Charlie Kaufman
11. The New York Times
12. New York City
13. The Flaming Lips
14. The New Yorker
15. Benjamin Franklin
16. Thomas Jefferson
17. Thomas Paine
18. Teddy Roosevelt
19. Woodward and Bernstein (back then, anyway)
20. Wikipedia
21. Star Wars (the original trilogy)
22. Willie Nelson
23. Paul Krugman
24. Thomas Friedman
25. Frank Rich
26. Hendrik Hertzberg < <<
27. Keith Olbermann
28. The Atlantic
29. James Watson
30. The Grand Canyon
31. The Daily Show (who, much to my amusement, recently made its clips available through a proprietary player)
32. Texas barbeque
33. The Internet
34. The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways
35. Seinfeld
36. NPR
37. Frontline
38. Nova
39. PBS in general
40. The Discovery Channel

+++…I often stop off at Whole Foods to grab a salad before work. They’ve got a great salad bar, and (methinks) reasonable prices.

Today, I was dismayed and not a little confused to find the salad mix and spinach trays empty, yet the tray between them full of romaine leaves. Stupefied, I flagged my friend down (she was somewhere near the cheeses or the wines, I’m not sure which) to tell her there’d be no salad for me (I wasn’t yet willing to settle for romaine) when another customer informed me this absence of green leaves was due to the spinach/E. coli recall going on.

Sure enough, I found a small sign Whole Foods put up for irate customers such as myself announcing the recall as the reason they had no spring mix today. I honestly don’t remember seeing spinach, baby leaves or otherwise, in the spring mix, but I guess when it comes to E. coli, better to err on the side of caution?

+++…Just started reading David Remnick’s article on Bill Clinton’s post-presidency (can’t find the article online, but here’s a talk Remnick had with Blake Eskin about it), and was moved to near-tears by the following line: “I identify with people who get beat up.”

Leave it to Bill to perfectly, succinctly sum up the contrast between himself and his presidency and that of the current occupant of the White House. After all, Bush would be the guy beating people up, pretty much. Right?

+++…A friend and I challenged each other to list, first, the top five countries we want to visit, then to expand those five into a list of the top 10. Just thought I’d share mine with the world:

1. China
2. Russia
3. Spain
4. Japan
5. Greece
6. Vietnam
7. Turkey
8. Egypt
9. India
10. the Southeastern Arabian Peninsula countries

A few of these may need explaining, so allow me (and to link excessively to Wikipedia)…

I’ve always wanted to go to China, but, uncharacteristically, told myself it seemed too “out there.” But I’d guess that in the last seven or eight years, through a combination of meeting people who’ve visited and/or lived there, and reading more about China, I’ve found my urge to go increasing. Because of its history, size, and ever-increasing importance in the world, China tops my list.

Russia, besides occupying its place in history, is the homeland for half my ancestors.

Spain…well, let’s just say that it’s ridiculous that I haven’t already gone. It gets third because I need to get it out of the way.

Japan isn’t higher because it is borderline prohibitively expensive. Still, I’m dying to see it.

Greece for history and “the Mediterranean lifestyle,” by which I mean good meat, olives, and wine. And lots of sun. Sounds suspiciously like my life now…

Vietnam because I want to see southeast Asia, and if I had to pick one country, Vietnam interests me the most.

Turkey for history, art/architecture, and culture. The crossroads beckon…

Egypt for history (the cradle, perhaps) and to see camels outside of a zoo.

India, which is so far down due to shear intimidation, but on the list in the first place because of…well, everything. Size, history, growing importance on the world stage.

And lastly, countries like Oman, Qatar, UAE because I want to see that part of the world, and these countries seem “safe.”

I know as much about architecture as I know about wine. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate both, does it? I know a good building when I see it, much as I know a good vintage when I taste one.

I was up at 20th and Church today, looking toward downtown and SOMA, and I once again noticed the new federal building, which is still under construction, but is starting to really take shape. The building was designed by Morphosis architect Brandon Welling and team.

The models are gorgeous, and the actual building doesn’t disappoint, with a mostly glass skin covering a concrete and steel skeleton. The panes are placed at very odd and attractive angles that draw your eyes all over the place. Kind of dizzying, in fact. Kind of like our federal government.

In a couple of past posts, I’ve extolled the architectural virtues of another new building in SF—the de Young museum. For me, this new building rivals the de Young in its risky, edgy “behavior.” In fact, I like using that word to describe this new movement in architecture—building with attitude. Haha…