SEATTLE

between all of your crazy hours and my time zone this is a 24 hour board

lol museum is hueg

lingbert otm x 8080. It's doubled at least, and the two lower floors are free (cafe, shop, auditorium, hands-on studio, music stage under tumbling cars. Cars are very meh. The 3:30 - 4 am crowd was smallish, but there were still lots of people there. mellow amped guitar dood played non-stop to keep people happy, Caffe Lladro and Starbucks were open. We got there at 3:30, got tix for 4 am, didn't think to try to get in early until stepson and friend showed up at 3:50 - they let us all right in, no waiting. Techno playing and dancing in the main gallery. Escalators now up to the 3rd and 4th floor spaces, as well as elevators. Most disturbing new acquisition: Untitled (Cheap to Feed) - a taxidermied dog (jack russell or wirehaired fox terrier) curled up as if asleep in a dark tan plastic chair. gold plated Brancusi bird. Most memorable room after a nap: 5 Asian restorations, with the fabulous crow screen that used to be at SAAM, a 13th century chinese richly colored scroll, the section of 72 foot long japanese deer poem scroll. 2 original woodblocks from Views of Mt. Fuji. The PNW artists gallery - lots of Mark Tobey's market scenes and Morris Graves. Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight have their own gallery. The Tiepolo ceiling has been moved into this overwhelmingly shiny new porcelain room. My happiest moment - realizing there weren't any huge blatant Chihuly's hanging around. Favoritest piece - an atypical John Singer Sargent portrait titled something like In the Olive Grove.

We didn't see everything, didn't get to the tea house, didn't find the Maori longhouse or jade, collapsed in the cafe around 5:30 am and had tea and frites w/ remoulade and some cheese/crackers, then gawked in the new shop. Home by 6:30 am, asleep by 7:30.

jaq, you were getting home just as i was leaving home. and LOL there were times on the tickets? i just blithely walked right in. no line at all when i got there, though... uncrowded till after 8:30 or so. no techno either; that sounds fun.

guys, i liked the cars! at least i did after i saw the video that accompanies the piece. i mean i'm not in love with it, but i think it works. i love that it's pedestrian (whatever, ford tauruses) and yet monumental (that thing takes up a lot of space, and there are cars inside the museum! a bunch of them! and they're hanging from the ceiling!). i think it's a good installation.

i love that j. lawrence and g. knight have a gallery.

that dog is FUCKED UP.

i spent most of my time in the modern rooms. i especially enjoyed the minimal room and the, what was it called? the room with the joseph bueys and the dog-tag chainmail? god my memory sucks. anyway, the northernmost part -- the new part -- of the third floor is my deal.

i was pretty done by the time i got to the aboriginal rooms, and basically raced through the rest of it. the william eggelston in the special exibition room was a treat (though not one of his more compelling pieces, to be sure), but that museum needs a lot more photography -- non-portrait photography, that is.

otm to the lack of monster chihuly bullshit.

there's a lot i didn't see BUT i took the opportunity to finally get my museum membership (birthday 2006 now officially concluded). so i can go back any time. and so can you, jergins. or anyone who wants to pose as jergins.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/486966309_b038cc48cb.jpg?v=0

kudos to the lusty lady for being a good neighbor, and kudos to the neighborhood for letting the lusty lady be. luv u, seattle.

here are a couple of different renderings of the four seasons, posted at the construction site:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/486966341_cb1eff37f1.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/178/486966365_dc3b95f9fe.jpg?v=0

yay membership! we got one too; good to share :) I also really liked the giant seascape by the german guy - and the one of the isolated house by the same guy. And the etruscan influenced greyhounds. I was trying to imagine dancing with some of those masks on my head. Would severely curtail my party endurance even further I think.

jaq, speaking of: i just left a voicemail for you, re. sunday night cocktails. it's going to be a SAM de-brief. call me!

lxy, how long were you at the museum?

ling bert, mmm... 2 or 2 1/2 hours, i guess. how long were you there?

jaq, re. your question last night about what most excited or enthused or affected me: i named the contemporary japanese artists (nara, murakami) that i was happy to see but neglected to mention in my "review" above, however what i forgot to talk about both here and in our conversation is this:

joseph cornell! i love him, and i was so happy to see his work in person for the first time!

our quarter was released last week! i just saw it for the first time today.

http://www.usmint.gov/images/mint_programs/50sq_program/states/WA_winner.gif

I didn't see the Joseph Cornell and so now I have to go back.

What is that business down by the fish's tail? A fly-fisher on the shore?

herschel?

GIS I love you (searching for the other proposed WA quarters and i found this)

http://www.magicalrabbit.com/ebay/Gin_and_Tonic.jpg

the tunnel boring machine breaks through, completing the first of two link light rail tunnels under beacon hill:

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=142029&shu=1

Tunnel boring pron! White spurting drilling stuff!

They are planting plants along the tracks down by us. I don't want it to sit idle until 2009; there should be short route mule-drawn trams! Take me 3 blocks, up to Othello, to the Safeway and the bank.

boys and their construction toys.

word is it'll open 3-6 months early, so that's something.

http://www.slate.com/id/2166300/

not necessarily a recommendation:

University District Street Fair this weekend

you love it

Hm. No market this morning due to street fair :( But we can go to the Columbia City one on Wednesday night.

The Seattle Cheese Festival is today and tomorrow, down at Pike Place Market. I don't know that we'll go. I had got tix for the cheese nun doco at the art museum for Fri afternoon, but Mr. Jaq had a late running phone interview so we didn't go. (He got the job though, yay!)

congratulations to mr. jaq!

look and this monster. damn. 44 stories at 8th and Pine.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/MetroGuy03/AVA.jpg

kinda fun:

http://www.urbancondominiums.com/

click on CITYSCAPE 2010 at the top. it'll popup for a flyover video thingee.

ghost buildings

ghost boxes

they managed to save first united methodist and are planning to put a skinny tower next to it. it may look something like this:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070530/450Church31_Proposed_Massing_with.1.jpg

Escala webcam (I can never seem to get these to work in Firefox):

http://75.160.106.198/user/cgi-bin/view_S_t_uF.thtml

i'd always wondered why the routing of the future LRT line through the u-district didn't go under campus:

Sound Transit moved its tunnel east from Portage Bay to the Montlake Cut, where the soil is more stable; and it agreed to a winding tunnel around the east edge of campus in a future phase, instead of a direct line that could pose vibration risks to UW science labs.

That Escala webcam is cool... live action!

we have to go to the showroom

I've been thinking that the Columbia Tower needs a counterpoint. It takes up too much mental space on the skyline. Something like the Chicago Spire:

http://www.djc.com/special/cmarket2003/BankOfAmerica.jpg http://archrecord.construction.com/news/images/070420calatrava1.jpg

(though they look evenly matched the chicago spire will be about 2x as tall when completed. but you get what i'm saying)

like WOW:

http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/17306/2001440139253023649_rs.jpg

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/320011_landsale16.html

exciting!

what will become of it?

http://www.see-seattle.com/odyssey-carwash.jpg

big day 7-8-7

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Boeing_787_crop.jpg

Marilynne Robinson is giving a free public lecture at 7 pm on 8/15 at the Henry. Spotting the announcement in the Sunday paper gave me giddy fan-girl palpitations!

And, I wondered, is this part of D4n's summer UW series?

it is part of that, as a matter of fact. good call, jaq!

UW / Sound Transit agreement

not exactly seattle but,

tacoma got a new bridge today:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1075/825215561_99bb2a613d.jpg?v=0

it's very beautiful:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1164/826125314_5950a410d0.jpg?v=0

Dear Faculty and Staff:

I am writing to congratulate you for helping the University reach a remarkable milestone. This week, the University is announcing that for the first time, total annual funding for sponsored research exceeded $1 billion. These results are for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007, and they include funding for research from the federal government and from private sources like foundations and corporations. Funding from the federal government comprises nearly 80 percent of this total. As you may know, the University of Washington has been the top recipient of federal funds among public universities every year since 1974. It has been in the top five for both public and private universities every year since 1969, and in recent years has been second only to Johns Hopkins.

Yet even with this incredible track record, this year marks the first time our total funding for research has topped a billion dollars.

This is an extraordinary accomplishment at any time, but especially now when federal funding is flat. It is due, of course, to all of you who participate in the University's research enterprise and who work so hard to garner funding for sponsored research. It is, in my view, the single most telling fact about the quality of the people who work here.

Competing so successfully at this level is truly an amazing feat, and I want to thank the many thousands of you who play a role and participate in our research for helping us reach this milestone.

Congratulations to everyone. You should all take great pride in being a part of this exceptional record of success.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Emmert
President

Seattle in the banner today

oh btw good work uw

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/images/headers/31.jpg

(cuz it looks so good)

http://kasei.us/archives/roadtrip-blue_angels.jpg

since i've been giving portland bars props lately, i figure i should at least give ups to one of my favorite bars in seawa:

http://static.flickr.com/138/406363242_585656a22f.jpg

stay as cool as possible this weekend my beloved boxlers

thank you, dear mookie. we're hatching a plan to gtfo. it'll be miiiiild on the coast.