Meet the Bloggers; are the new wave of architecture weblogs the modern equivalent of the architecture zine? If anything, a weblog is even more ephemeral than even the flimsiest pamphlet, but influence is a tough thing to gauge: the interest generated by the exhibition Clip/Stamp/Fold (The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X - 197X) demonstrated how sub-mainstream journalism has a habit of lingering. The article cites Postopolis! and its proponents - BLDGBLOG, Inhabitat, Subtopia, and City of Sound (now safely esconsed on the other side of the world).

Mass in architecture. There's a distinct correlation between architectural ambition and the size of practices. Not content with conquering space, the latest releases from the Foster PR machine illustrate two vast design and planning projects; a Libyan eco-resort ('an area the size of Wales') and a zero-carbon city in Abu Dhabi. Admittedly, Foster was only contacted three months ago regarding the former, but even so the whole concept reeks of indecent haste, a world where architecture studios have reached the status of nation builders.

Meanwhile, Tom Wolfe is still beating the same anti-modernist drum as he was 25 years ago. Paul Goldberger, from 1981, 'The problem, I think - and here we get to the essence of what is wrong with this book -is that Tom Wolfe has no eye. He has a wonderful ear, and he listens hard and long, but he does not seem to see. He does not see, to take but one of so many examples, that Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building is a lush and extraordinarily beautiful object.'

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Phlight, a curious (and provocative) installation: 'Simon Tyszko has contracted engineers to build a full size replica of a section of a dakota wing that literally cuts through his living space, a 5th floor flat in Fulham, London. Tyszko has removed most of the internal walls of his flat so that he cannot escape this intervention, be he having a bath or preparing a meal.' Tyszko once created something called 'Suicide Bomber Barbie', which Julie Burchill was moved to call 'a piece of infantile wank masquerading as art'. See also the Uncle Abdul character from the Seamour Sheep series.

Car-related things at Carburetti. Related, more wing mirrors / the Old England watch, sold at the Beatles' Apple Boutique. The Official Beatles site, just because it's rather slick. Staying psychedelic, meeting Roger Dean, the master of fantasy art and design (official site). Dean's aesthetic (also translated into architecture) is coming back into fashion. See also the work of Chris Foss / Unusual Life, a weblog / Blogs by Iranians. Reminded us of the Fearless Iranians from Hell.

The Architecture of Authority, photography by Richard Ross at tmn / diskant's films weblog offers some fresh perspectives on movie soundtracks, old and new / Soiree Shot, fine art photography for sale / an ultra-slick CGI rendering of Falling Water, so crisp and iconic that you now never need to actually go there. Reality could never match up (and rarely does). Via me-fi.

Bottled Drinks by The Writers, at tmn, in which we reveal our passion for French soda pop / We Love to Build, fantasy architecture (via swiss miss) / an interactive map of urbanisation in Britain, 1960 to 2000 / the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest and Other Voices, 'a meander through the Arcades project of Walter Benjamin', both linked via Power and Everyday Life. posted by things at 13:52 / 0 comments