Regeneration

Magnet #785 - Rana

Ya'll, I have found a new magnet series to start collecting. How gorgeous is this frog? Love it.

I picked up this magnet last month in the new Tampa Museum of Art, and what I should have done was pick them all up, to add to my collection! I already have the beautiful bull that my friend picked up for me in Barcelona.

But, what I didn't know back then, I know now - they're from a design firm based in Barcelona, called Barcino. They have so many gorgeous designs, I can't wait to discover more around town.

And, what I thought about the bull last year was correct! According to the Barcino folks, these magnets were created in the Spanish mosaic practice called "trencadis" that Antonio Gaudi made so popular on his buildings. They're hand-painted, which makes them all unique.

But, we all know the reason I picked the frog for today. Wait. Don't we?

It's because after a full-day BBC-A marathon of David Tennant Doctor Who episodes, the US will be broadcasting the first Matt Smith episode, "The Eleventh Hour," tonight. Likely, if I get back from shopping in time, I'll have seen the third one airing in the UK, all before the first airs here. So bizarre. And kinda wrong.

Anyway, so did ya'll know the frog - and apparently several cold-blooded animals - can regenerate limbs when it's young, and can even "die" and come back? No, really. I mean, I kinda knew, but I just sat through this video with one eye shut, in case something gross happened. There were no brilliant flashes of light, but the frog just hopped to, after being dead. Which is just kinda icky.

But, it's neat how the Doctor can do much of the same. I had no idea that Time Lords are frogs. Still, I suppose there's something to be said for the genius of Doctor Who - being able to span the years since the day after Kennedy was shot in 1963 to now, with almost a dozen men playing one character, and goodness knows how many people playing the Doctor's faithful companion.

As I was watching tonight's episode a couple of weeks ago, it amazed me to think that the BBC can just throw in a new guy and a new chick, and have an entire audience not only buy into the concept of same character different guy, but to enjoy the regenerations and the new takes on the Doctor.

Amazing.

Kinda like that frog in the video.

Very cool.

Kinda like this frog right here.

Bull-y for me!

Magnet #515 - Spanish Bull

Meet my new favorite magnet, it's pretty and shiny and mosaic-y.

And pretty, and did I mention shiny? Look at its horns! How. Cute!

The second I saw this little 2-dimensional piece, I immediately thought it was a Gaudi - not hard to believe, what with all the mosaic work running through his projects. I was thinking specifically that he might come from Parc Guell.

I took apart the packaging, and there was nothing attributing it to Gaudi. Still, I heart it so much. My friend just got back from Spain and brought him back for me - thank you, Maria!

There were a few others from her trip, but I couldn't wait to show this one off - so much so that I'm totally interrupting my planned BBC/BBC-A TV week, in honor of the US showing of Torchwood.

No worries, we'll get back to Cardiff tomorrow, particularly after ya'll see tonight's installment. Whew.

eta:
But, if you're looking for good reviews of last night's episode:

Televisionary's
Sepinwall's

And no one pay attention to whatever the hell the NYTs has to say about it. Silly.

Antoni Gaudí? Gau...don't

Magnet #483 - Paul Klee

I'm probably committing some sort of artistic sin or something, quoting one artist to talk about another...but this Paul Klee quote most accurately sums up the works of architect Antoni Gaudí.

If you haven't seen any of his work, Wiki leads you here, to his list of masterworks, all of which are superduper cool. And, from what I've heard, they're absolutely amazing in person.

Judging from the images I've seen, I honestly think the man couldn't draw a straight line to save his soul. And it's wonderful. But, I've already blogged on Gaudí before, talking about with my Casa Batlló magnet that my sisters brought back for me from Spain.

Ya'll know I love my architecture and my architects and fun designy, and yet extremely dorky, stuff. So it probably doesn't come as a surprise that I couldn't wait to watch Antonio Gaudí, a Japanese documentary of Gaudí's work. (It probably doesn't surprise you that I spent a couple of hours watching another one on Louis I. Kahn last week. But that's a whole other magnet.)

I have to be dead-on honest here. I hated it. I disliked it so much, that halfway through, I was convinced that I wasn't a Gaudí fan at all. But my sisters convinced me that it was the documentary's fault, not the work itself.

Here's what was missing:

Dialogue. I'm not talking about the conversation at the 29:57 mark. Or the interview at the 59:46 mark. I'm talking a narrator who gives me more information about who Gaudí was, as a man, as an artist, as an architect. Someone who gives the person context.

Supers. While I recognized some of the work that I was looking at, there were no captions naming the building. A simple super on the screen would have helped, so I wouldn't have to keep looking through my books and online to figure out what the hell I was looking at.

Less music. The music was silly and overdramatic, and played too much of a character here. Understandably, since there wasn't a voice there to begin with. Literally, and figuratively. (At least for the first half, because I'm totally pulling a Roger Ebert on this particular issue - I got fed up and muted it right after the dialogue came in at the 29:57 mark.)

Oh, I know there's a whole second disc, which apparently has the bio and other pertinent information. And, I know there's something to be said about letting the gorgeous work speak for itself, i'm sure. But, I just didn't like this film. In fact, I can't believe I was going to pay for a ticket to the swank arthouse art deco theatre here in town that's been showing it. Sorry, Paris theatre, but I'm glad I Netflixed this bugger.

Huh. I can't believe I'm panning a documentary produced 25 years ago. It probably makes me somewhat of a noob for not liking it. But GAH. I'm just so disappointed!

I wanted to learn more about the work. It's nice to see gorgeous cinematography, really, it is. It was seriously beautifully shot. But honestly, I could have just watched some kid's Gaudí fanvid on TV with stills and weird transitions and misspelled titles and gotten more out of it. As it was, it was like my sister said...it's like those stupid HD "shows" where they lay dramatic music against images of sunsets and sunrises in California, or wherever. That's not a documentary, that's not programming, that's not a show - that's a screensaver.

eta:
Ok. Here's something. I just read some of the Netflix comments. You'll not be surprised to know that I am apparently a big old noob for failing to appreciate one of the greatest Japanese documentarians known to man, and the scoring by one of the greatest Japanese composers known to man. I have no excuse.

Joy = noob.

I tend to disregard online comments until I'm done with something...kinda like how author quotes on books mean nothing to me when making a purchase decision. But really, even knowing now that it's my own failing doesn't stop me from wishing I had my time back.

(Thank you, GoldenGait, for the word noob.)

An architectural smile*

Magnet #198 - Gaudi's Casa Batlló

So my sister gave me one of those wonderfully designed and packaged books that I love so much - you know the books. The ones that you rarely buy for yourselves - very little text, pretty pictures, well designed and on good paperstock, so pretty, you're afraid to read it?

She got me 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, and I love it. It's fantastic. I love looking through it, seeing all the supercool buildings from around the world. I've been going through it and trying to figure out how many of them I've been to, or seen face-to-face. I refuse to count it up until I get to the end.

I sort of have a leg up, what with living here in NYC, where there are at least a dozen of the buildings. Oh, and also with me having gone to a few countries in Europe. But, if anything, this book has taught me that there's a world of amazing architecture out there. Literally.

This magnet is one of those buildings. It's Gaudi's Casa Batlló, in Barcelona, brought back by the same sister above. Locally, they call it the House of Bones - it does look rather skeletal and bony. But, if you look, there aren't very many straight lines - it flows and ebbs and it's quite amazing. From all the pictures, the inside is just as curvy-curvy. And it has all this neat tilework on the facade. I'm sure it was amazing to see in person. I'm a little sad that there are trees blocking the building from a good view.

It's definitely been added to my list of buildings to see one day. Right now, number one on that list is the Automium, in Brussels. Which was apparently built for Expo 58, a World's Fair type of exhibition.

C'mon. How could you not want to walk inside a giant silver ball? Hello, you could go in and pretend you're Jodie Foster in Contact!


*From an essay by Juan Bassegoda Noneli, lest you think I'm that poetic