Surveys and renderings

Magnet #987 - Museum of Science and Industry

The magnet is from the supercool Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. So much fun to be had there! And epiphanies, as well.

The museum building was originally built for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, otherwise known as the World's Columbian Exposition, as the Palace of Fine Arts. The 140-room building housed 8,000 exhibits, and was one of the great buildings of the fair. (Ya'll know I love my world's fairs. STWsis emailed me about the National Building Museum's world's fairs exhibition that I'm totally gonna see between Christmas and New Year's. I can't wait!)

I won't lie - I love this magnet because it's pretty and blue, and it reads like architectural renderings for the building. Don't worry - even on the real magnet, you can't read the type on the magnet. I tried. With a magnifying glass. (Sheesh, between being deaf last night and not being able to read this puppy, I'm decrepit, I tell you!)

I picked this guy for today, because it's part of what I've learned recently. Art comes in three forms: pictures, sculptures and architecture, which is what I've raved about for the last couple years on this blog.

That's part of why I decided to start a little independent study class for myself, running out and buying an incredibly heavy art history textbook (thank you Barnes & Noble Textbooks!). Each day I'm doing a little bit of reading and notetaking, to at least have some basic knowledge of art history.

Yes, yes, you can't learn everything from books, but I feel like I visit enough museums and galleries, and lectures to count as a well-rounded survey course. Plus, I have an in with the professor!

Flying carpet ride

Magnet #675 - The Modern Wing

I picked this up in Chicago - love when I can get image magnets of the actual museum. Of course, it's cool when the building's so darn cool to merit a magnet, I guess.

If ever you're hanging out in Chicago with a spare few hours, definitely go see the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. It's one of the biggest museum projects in years, and likely to be one of the last on this grand of a scale for a while.

Go for the art, but go for the building, too, which was designed by famed museum architect Renzo Piano.

Remember how I was talking about artists' visual vocabulary? To my untrained eye, I think that it's the same thing with architects. As I learn more about each architect, I'm starting to recognize the telltale hallmarks of their respective work.

For example, I visited the Morgan Library for the first time a few weeks ago and just by looking at around, I totally knew who did the addition before I even Googled it. It probably has more to do with the fact that I'd been watching the progress on the Modern Wing for months before it opened, and also, because Piano's designed several buildings that I've both seen and visited recently, including the Morgan and the relatively new New York Times Building, both buildings with a lot of glass and steel.

Rather than solid, closed exterior walls, his work seems to always have this slatted look of steel and glass - allowing for as much light through as possible, making the interior space seem brighter and bigger, lighter and airy. That slatted look extends to his ceilings - where they create this sort of flying-carpet kind of canopy above.

Though the existing museum space, was no slouch, The Modern Wing was no exception - I loved it, from the main hall, to the staircases, to the overlooks, and terrific interiors. A fantastic space - and well befitting all the supercool artwork they're exhibiting.

Misty water-colored memories

Magnet #546 - Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry

You know how sometimes you have these weird, faded memories, and you're not always sure if they're real, or ever happened at all?

I've had one such hazy memory for as long as I can remember, and I could swear that I blogged about, because GoldenGait said something about it. (And of course, now I can find no mention of it!)

Anyway, the memory: I'm very little, and in this very dark room, with dark blue lighting and I'm eye-level with a diorama of some sort, and it's huge. We leave the room, and I'm in some darkened stairwell, with my mom and a little stroller, too.

In that stairwell, there's some sort of machine that makes wax blue toys and stuff, and I'm dying for one. My parents (the parents who used to take me to Toys 'R Us every week after playschool to pick out a toy, before the dreaded little sisters were born), my parents said no! (/spoiled firstborn)

So for years, I've always remembered that room. The dark. The blue. The dankness of the stairway. The toy I didn't get. But, here's funny. My parents don't remember that. At all.

I knew it was in Chicago. And I knew it was early days (either for me, or for my sister, since there was a stroller). But my parents couldn't tell me what museum. I'd always figured the Field Museum.

I was wrong!

During the Chicago trip, we had a girls' day out and visited the really, supercool Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, because of the Harry Potter exhibit (for DC sister), and because I wanted to see the Lego architecture exhibit.

So we went, and as soon as I saw the submarine MOLD-A-RAMA in one of the hallways, I just knew that this machine and museum were it! Dudes, I totally spent the two bucks to get that sub. And watch the darn machine work. First, it's not rubber, it's plastic. The machine pumps the liquid plastic into the mold, and then it quick dries, and it's pushed off the ledge and into the retrieval bin.

I know this, because I paid another two bucks. For a train. And then a tractor. I had a blast discovering those MOLD-A-RAMA machines. How freakin' delightfully kitsch! But, during our whole visit, I couldn't figure out why there would have been a dark diorama with blue lights. Besides which, where the heck was my blue toy that I've been waiting for going on three decades now?

While my dad was waiting for us outside, I was still wandering in the gift shop (of course), and I spied this magnet, and absent-mindedly wondered how I missed a castle. Then I saw postcards of the interior, and ding! I knew that was it!

Ya'll, I literally ran all the away across the museum to the Colleen Moore Fairy Castle (she was a silent film actress), and once there, it was confirmed as the place of my memories. You'll see my pics are a little blurry because of the dark, but also because I couldn't keep still my excitement! No joke.

It was superneat, and hella crowded with munchkins, so I didn't stay. They also didn't have the MOLD-A-RAMA for a blue castle, but I would bet money that they used to.

Oh, I dunno if what I remember was really a memory or not. And, my parents can still neither confirm, nor deny it. But I have to believe it. Otherwise, then that day was just creepy, huh?


In other news:

1. I should have known MOLD-A-RAMAS are collectible, with historians and everything. Of course. joytheorem proven again: There's a following for everything in this world.
2. I should have known MOLD-A-RAMAS are everywhere. And, they don't list the blue castle mold for Illinois. Which means that that whole day was just creepy. Unacceptable.
3. Finally, you must, you must visit this museum. And here's 75 reasons to do so, from the Chicago Trib.

eta:
*runs into magnetpost*

OMG, OMG, OMG! It's true! It's true! Check out the Fairy Castle link at the side! It's from the Museum of Science and Industry. And it's BLUE! OMG!

eta2:
Huh. Well, both sisters said this was in Wonderfalls. And I didn't believe it. But, here! Check it out starting at 5:31.

And the band played on

Magnet #531 - Stanley Tigerman's The Titanic, 1978

I freakin' love this image.

I think I love it more because it's totally not a Photoshop job, it's a photomontage! What I can't figure out is if Tigerman actually composed the two images together and then took a picture of the whole thing to make it one image, or if he left it as two. I think it's the former.

This image is hanging in the Architecture and Design section of the Art Institute of Chicago - I just love that it's hanging there with all the pencil sketches and drawings and models of great works around the world. You see, Tigerman meant for it to be a critique on Chicago's architecture in the late 70s - or rather, what was being taught in architecture schools at the time. That's why he used Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Crown Hall building sinking into the water, calling it the Titanic.

Such a great image.

And so apropos for today, when I feel like I'm playing triangle for that band that refused to leave the Titanic as she was going down.

Oh good gravy, how melodramatic can I be? You're lucky I'm writing this at the beginning of the day, rather than being maudlin about it later on tonight.

Modern isn't boring

Magnet #527 - Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884

Yay, I finally got to visit the Art Institute of Chicago!!

I loved every minute of it - even when we got lost and had to pass the same little elephant statue in the Asian art gallery four times. There was entirely too much to see in one day, let alone half a day. Though, detours and funny layouts made for a heck of a lot of walking around!

After reading so much about Renzo Piano's new Modern Wing, I was happy for the chance to check it out myself - yes, there's a separate magnet for that.

Dudes - most of what we saw today, I haven't seen in person - from Hockey's Collectors and Ruscha's City to Motley's Nightlife to architectural drawings by Louis H. Sullivan and Louis I. Kahn and Mies van der Rohe, and remants of reliefs and doors and windows saved or scavenged from various buildings around town. Good gravy, I could spend days there.

The AIC had a few Monet magnets that I've blogged on - the Artist's house at Argenteuil, and of course, different versions of his haystacks, and his Japanese footbridge at Giverny. But, they also had an extraordinary number of his paintings that I've never seen - ever. Which is just fantastic, if you've scoured the eastern hemisphere for all the magnets Monets you can possibly see.

The AIC collection also includes the final Sunday on La Grande Jatte that was submitted for the 1886 Impressionists Exhibition. I actually bought this magnet in NYC, because I've been visiting the piece at the Met for years. Of course, now I have to go read the back of the magnet, or pop on by the Met to verify, but, from what I can tell, the Met has one of the 50 studies he did for that final piece. Who knew?

Honestly, while I'm glad to have seen it here in town, I'm slightly annoyed that what we have at the Met is a study. (But then again, I also have issues with all the various Monet haystacks and lillies running around this giant Earth.)

Anyway, I've uploaded the unedited, somewhat haphazard (for now) FB album for the AIC and the supercool Millennium Park, sans any real captions yet.

Enjoy. Then, get your bums to the AIC and have a looksee for yourself. You won't be sorry.

The Memory Mile

Magnet #525 - Chicago

I just realized that today is DC sister's birthday, and we spent all day reminiscing about days before she was born. Whoops.

Still, happy birthday!

After being rudely awakened at 3:45 this morning, we finally made it to Chicago, and it's been a total trip down memory lane - from seeing the building where I was almost kidnapped, to seeing where I was baptized, to seeing our first apartment and my mom's hospital.

It's been a great day, as I rediscovered memories of the Lions Club selling their candy on the street side and finding the Mold-A-Rama at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

More on everything soon...

Oh! Today's supercool magnet is another one of my @KristinaMyers magnets from her her Etsy store! Love these map ones - totally my fave!

Argenteuil in Chicago

Magnet #506 - Monet's The Artist's House at Argenteuil, 1873

Someone sent this in the mail to me, as a magnetic card!

The house in this painting is one that Monet rented in Argenteuil - that's Camille in the doorway, and his kid Jean, with the little hoop. And, there in the front, are giant blue and white planters that they bought in Holland. Supposedly, this is where Monet discovered his green thumb.

I haven't yet seen this painting, but soon, maybe. It's in the Art Institute of Chicago's collection.

I'm anxious to go visit the AIC, because of their new Modern Wing. It's a Renzo Piano building, and it's had some mixed reviews, though mostly positive. For $283 million, it's probably going to be one of the last of the great art museum additions for a while.

But, it does look supercool, no?

Light! Light!

Magnet #325 - John Hancock Building

When I was very little, with my parents in Chicago, whenever we would approach the Loop, we'd see the John Hancock building, and according to my parents, I used to yell out, "chu-ka! chu-ka!" and open and close my hands in some sort of jazz hands thing.

My parents' native Filipino dialect is Bisayan, and the word for light, is suga, so that's what I was yelling out whenever we'd see the light signals flashing from the tops of the Hancock Building. Yeah, you probably have to be there to see how much fun my parents have telling this story.

I love the building, for the giggles it still gives my parents whenever they see it, but also, because it's a pretty neat building in its own right. Designed by Fazlur Kahn of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and known for its X-cross bracing, that criss-cross all the way to the top. It's shaped into a wedge, which makes it look much taller than it is.

It took something like 5 million manhours to build, and stands at more than 90 stories. Supposedly, if you include those lighted antennas, the John Hancock Center is the fourth-tallest building in the world.

They just refurbished the Observatory last year, so I bet it's supercool up there. The building is multi-use, which basically means that people live and work in it - they have something like 48 floors of condo space there. Dudes, that'd be an awesome address and view, I'm sure.

The skyscraper was named for John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, the company that was named for John Hancock back in 1862. And, the reason I picked this magnet for today?

Today's the birthday of John Hancock - President of the Second Continental Congress, first signer of the Declaration of Independence, and nine-term governor of Massachusetts.

Odd. Big signature. Big buildings. Hmmm...wonder how tall he was in real life.

A Natural-Born Alien

Magnet #247 - Doctor Who's Slitheen

So, we established yesterday that we moved from Chicago and its snowy, snowy environs down to sunshiny Salisbury/Granite Quarry, North Carolina, when I was in Kindergarten. And, though I was fairly young, I remember feeling very much like an alien on the playground.

First, the alien name: Supposedly, that's when I started going by Joy in school. I swear, I was told it was because no one could pronounce "Linille" as my first name, though now I'm rethinking that train of thought, given the kidnap thing. So already, I was kinda getting used to the name - apparently that took, given my penchant for, well, my name.

Second, the alien language: I remember the first day of school. Because my last name begins with Ab...I was first in the lunch line. The teacher told me to lead the line from the classroom, and "stop down yonder."

I got in trouble. Because I kept going. Because I didn't know what the hell "down yonder" meant. C'mon, I mean, even now, can anyone tell me what "down yonder" actually means?

Third, the alien accent: I was lucky to understand the words "down yonder," cuz on top of not understanding the Southernisms (which we ended up buying a book about later on, which explained so much), I couldn't understand the thick accents. Seriously. Northern versus Southern accents are hard to get used to. Still are, sometimes.

Fourth, the alien environment: No snow. There was NO snow in North Carolina. At least not smackdab in the middle of the state. And how was Santa going to find us without snow? So what'd my very sweet parents do? They packed me up in the car and drove me up to the mountains of North Carolina to prove that it did snow there. I swear, I remember being let out of the car to touch the snow and being very happy.

Finally, the alien communications: So small was Salisbury, that our moving to town made the front page of the local news section of the local newspaper. A whole article about the new family in town, and the kid they had to tote up to the mountains to prove the existence of snow in the South.

Anyway, there were many other things over the years that made me feel like a alien in NC, and the ensuing culture shock from it...but, I probably have magnets for those, too.

(Mind you, they probably wouldn't be a Doctor Who Slitheen from Raxacoricofallapatorious, but this was apropos to the subject, and also, pinkish for NBCAM!)

eta:
Today's DW shout-out is also because I had a dream last night that I was pals with David Tennant. And went to watch his new show: Hamlet.

The musical.

David Tennant wasn't that great of a singer in it. Also, mysteriously short.

I'm just sayin'.

Playing it safe

Magnet #246 - Playground Safety

I was born in Chicago, and lived there for the first five years of my life. Then the Blizzard of 78-79 hit, and, complying with an ordinance outlawing too much snow on rooftops, my dad fell off the roof of the house. By March, we were living in North Carolina. Our people were island peoples, can you blame him?

That was the story I told for the next 25 years of my life. Blizzard, rooftop, bam! North Carolina.

So, my sister (the one actually born in NC) calls me one day, while she was at home visiting our parents, and asked me about the kidnap thing. I'm like, do what?

She'd been in the car arguing with the parents, and had busted out with "Well, I don't know why the hell you moved to this damn state in the first place." And one of the parents goes, because of the kidnapping threat.

I'm still like, I'm sorry, do what? Much like my sister said. Out loud. To them.

They said, yeah, your sister almost got kidnapped, so we had to leave. You know this story.

My sister's like, NO, I don't!

It's at this point where I tell my sister I have to get off the phone. I call my parents to discuss, and the story goes as such:

My mom's practice was in the South Side. I used to hang out there - I was the cute little Filipino girl traipsing around in the office waiting room, mom's office, my playground. One of the patients was a junkie who demanded drugs from mom. She refused. Said patient went a little nuts, and threatened to kidnap me, that anything could happen, and even knew where I went to preschool.

So my parents basically hightailed it out of town to keep us safe.

Cut to 25 years later and I'm freaking out on the phone, and they're like, but you knew about this!

Uh, NO. Don't you think that if I had a choice between the blizzard story and a kidnapping threat, that I'd lead with the kidnapping threat?

At this point, I had to get off the phone with them. So that I could call everyone I'd ever met (/Cordelia), and tell this exact story.

But, as I thought more and more about it, the more it made sense. Where I used to have free reign over the office in Chicago, the office in NC, not so much. We were always restricted to mom's office behind two closed doors, and never allowed into the waiting room, unless it was a patient that I knew (my teachers, principals, etc.). Of course, the more and more I thought about it, I had to call my parents back and to ask, OMG, were they were sure they were my parents, and OMG, what if I'm not really joy!

All joking aside, and to be a tiny bit melodramatic (me? never!) about it, finding out 25 years later completely rocked my world. It was a bit like everything I'd ever known to be true in my life (at least the blizzard/roof thing) was a lie.

Anyway, so now ya'll know the story of how became the Transplanted Yankee on a Southern Playground.

P.S. This story had nothing to do with real playgrounds, or the National Program for Playground Safety, but I thought it fitting. But I'm not gonna lie, I totally changed up the hues from their corporate red, to the pink for NBCAM.

My kind of town

Magnet #182 - Chicago, IL

Goldengait has an uncanny knack for seeing future magnetposts. Chicago's my hometown as well! I was born there, and moved down to NC when I was five. (And, yes, that's another magnet altogether...just as soon as I can find a magnet with either snow or kidnapping. /inside joke)

Anyway, as GG mentioned, Chicago is in the running for the 2016 Olympics, in company with Madrid, Rio and Tokyo. It's still early days yet, since the IOC won't be picking the host city the 2016 Games until October 2, 2009.

While I'm happy that there's a U.S. city still in the running, this is another bittersweet situation for me, since I helped out on the LA 2016 bid last year. They had some great marketing material that I wish had had the chance to see the light of day.

I'm up in the air, while I'd love to have the Olympics here, within easy reach, we've already been host to quite a few Games. Meanwhile, South America has never hosted the Olympics.

Oh, and is it wrong that I want Rio to win because it has the cutest Candidate City logo?

Would you like a side with that potbelly (stove)?

Magnet #143 - Potbelly

In keeping with the fridge magnet theme, here's a Potbelly magnet that a friend of mine got me in Chicago.

Until just now, I hadn't connected it with the sub shop, because we don't have any here in town. Which is sad, because I'm writing this post during my lunch hour, and now I'm kinda hungry.

But, how neat is this. Apparently, the owners used to run an antique shop, and on a lark, they started selling sandwiches. People started coming back for the sandwiches, and voila! Potbelly Sandwich Works!