TDK, originally uploaded by Jubru

Check out this set of Tape Cassette Inserts and let your mix-tape nostalgia wash over you.

Colin Rowe, Introduction, Five Architects; 1979

…if we are here presented with what might seem to be an argument for pure passivity, with an argument that the architect should act simply as the midwife of history, then we might also recognize and entirely contrary strand of though which no less urgently clamors for attention. The idea that any repetition, any copying, and employment of a precedent or a physical model is a failure of creative acuity is one of the central intuitions of the modern movement. This is the deep seated idea that repetition establishes convention and that convention leads to callousness; and thus, almost constitutionally, modern architecture has been opposed to the dictatorship of the merely received.

Peter Eisenman, The End of the Classical: The End of the Beginning, the End of the End, Perspecta 21; 1984

Therefore, to propose the end of the beginning and the end of the end is to propose the end of beginning and ends of value – to propose an other timeless space of invention. It is a timeless space in the present without a determining relation to an ideal future of to an idealized past. Architecture in the present is seen as a process of inventing an artificial past and a futureless present. It remembers a no-longer future.
This paper is based on three non-verifiable assumptions or values: timeless (originless, endless), architecture; non-representational (objectless) architecture; and artificial (arbitrary, reasonless) architecture.

Cargo., originally uploaded by JDGM/Judgment.

11_231728, originally uploaded by kallgan

Funny photoshop renderings of the War on the CCTV Complex.
Related:

• After the Fire: Mandarin Oriental Beijing Aftermath
• Mandarin Oriental Beijing, at the CCTV Complex, is on Fire

Bridge, originally uploaded by plemeljr

New York Times comes out in favor of the East River Bridge tolls outlined in the Ravitch Plan, in an unsigned editorial, If Drivers Win, Riders Lose:

Just about every commuter pays a fee of some sort — except for drivers who use those bridges. This is manifestly unfair to millions of others who take the bus, subway or railroad in this area to get to work.
Charging drivers their fair share was an important part of proposals offered last year by a commission led by Richard Ravitch, who once ran the authority. To put the entire system on a stronger financial footing, and to avoid both drastic fare increases and service cuts, the commission’s plan required contributions from riders, businesses and people who drive cars.

CCTV Hotel burned down, originally uploaded by drea_beijing

As we wrote about yesterday, the CCTV Complex was on Fire. Above is what is left of the OMA building. Also check out these fire photos.

The Muppet Show forms the basis of all that is good in childhood television (Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock forming the other sides of the Jim Henson iron triangle). So CNN’s article, Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters is a welcome bit of nostalgia and gives me an opportunity to nominate Pepe the King Prawn as the best second tier muppet:

Pepe the King Prawn’s full name is Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales. I heart Pepe. He was a chef in Madrid before going Hollywood on “Muppets Tonight” in 1996. He was paired with Seymour the Elephant (Pepe was originally going to be a mouse) on the show, but Seymour never developed quite the same following and was only in two episodes. He rarely gets names right — some of his mispronunciations include “muffins” instead of Muppets, “Kermin” instead of Kermit and “Scooper” instead of Scooter. He’s quite full of himself — in addition to thinking that he’s quite the ladies’ man, he also fully expects to win several Oscars.

Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales – awesome

Volume, Crisis • February 2009, originally uploaded by bldgblog

BLDGBLOG has the newest C-LAB publication, Volume #19 Crisis. Most interesting is the above image which features skies from different movies forming a panorama of aerial catastrophe. You should view it large for the full grandeur.