November 11, 2002

Today is the day to snivel.

Some reading material for you:

What is my guilty pleasure? Read it at Professor Barnhardt's Journal.

Also, if you're in Chicago, be sure to pick up a copy of UR Chicago (free in the orange boxes on the corners) and check out my little page 32 on local film.

This weekend my mom and I took a day trip to the great city of Milwaukee to see their new art museum. Incidentally, if you're around there, I highly recommend their Polish art exhibit, not the least of which because it includes a very beautiful painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Yes, well, also, apparently, this da Vinci character is a popular dude, because my mom and I arrived at the museum at 11:30 and we weren't able to see the exhibit until 5 p.m., since we didn't get tickets ahead of time. We weren't fazed, though, because a.) we would find a mall and b.) the actual museum is a spectacle in itself. If you look at the website, the building was designed by an architect named Calatrava, who made it look like a cross between a seagull and a fancy boat. A few times a day, these gigantic wings on top of the buildling open and close.

Because life is a cruel joke, we were not able to actually see these wings open and close ourselves, because it was too windy out. Which made me think about how this Calatrava pitched the design of the museum. He must have thought that this was some gigantic joke: a museum with wings that opened and closed for no particular reason? Maybe he was high. But then, of course, the joke was on him; the planners, who may have been smoking something themselves, actually thought it was a good idea. "Dude! A museum with wings! Rock!" That's probably why they have such a small Impressionists collection; all the money went to the damn wings.

This made me think. Are interesting, but ultimately useless architectural features the way of the future? Because, if they are, I have some recommendations:

-A buildilng that periodically jumps two feet off the ground, every hour on the hour

-A building with an exterior faucet that secretes peach nectar.

-A building that continuously plays "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones via speakers implanted in the gutters.

-A building that rotates, very slowly, with one full rotation every year.

Why aren't I rich yet?