Fabulous footage of the opening of Expo 70 in Osaka, perhaps the most cohesive and exhilerating architectural event ever held. More images at Ribapix. The Expo's time capsule was built by Matsushita, and is due to be opened in 6970. Unlike recent time capsule fiascos, one has high hopes the Japanese one will remain intact for 5000 years. Happily, the entire contents of the capsule are online (albeit in Japanese). Via arkitektur, via ExpoMuseum, which has its own Blog, tracking upcoming Expos and Expo architecture. The Swiss Pavilion at Expo 2010 is a bit of a departure - a toe in the water of international post-modernism (Gulf State Post Modernism, perhaps), MVRDV meets Palm, and a world away from Peter Zumthor's wooden pavilion at Hanover 2000.

On to the ephemera. Jose Guadalupe Posada's bloody but concise pamphlets chronicling the History of Mexico, commissioned in 1900 (via Candyland, which also has a sustained pop at Monocle) / a guide to Ten Different New Yorks, from the viewpoint of the Design Maven to the Dog Freak (with presumably some crossover between the two).

Dyckhoff draws up a list of Britain's ugliest buildings in The Times, a popular pastime in this day and age, which says something about the perceived quality - or lack of quality - of contemporary architecture / container cranes made by ZPMC, the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company. Something you own has probably been lifted by a ZPMC crane at some point in its life / Atlas(t) has evolved into what it's calling 'The Galleon Trade Edition', 'embedded reportage' from Galleon Trade, 'a series of international arts exchange projects, focusing on the Philippines, Mexico, and California'. Posts tackle issues like the cultural equalisation resulting from pirate DVDs.

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway goes to war / all about architecture in Milton Keynes / a chaotic but enthusiastic Volvo fan page / BigShinyThing, a weblog / headline of the week: Bear confronts Whitesnake singer / Video games need 'realism boost' / Broken Britain, urban exploration close to home / Materialicio.us, objects and places with a modernist bias.

The UCM Museum, eccentric isn't the word / 163 beach huts / What They Could Do, They Did, an arts collaborative / artblog, self explanatory / buses in Huddersfield / VW buses, old and new / Swiss Army Mobile Bakery / slumber offsetting / atmospheric photos of the Borges Ranch in Walnut Creek, California / Seoul, Then and Now (via). posted by things at 10:03 / 0 comments