Which would you rather?

 November 4

or November 5

This is a survey.

My 2020 OSCAR predictions

My predictions.   We almost did it.  See my earlier post about the Oscars 2/6.

We managed to see Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Judy, Marriage Story, The Two Popes, JoJo Rabbit
Rocketman, Parasite, Joker, Pain and Glory, Harriet, A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood and Honeyland.   

We’ve seen all of them except Bombshell, Little Women, 1917 and The Irishman (by choice for the latter).   And we saw all of these movies without leaving.  

So here’s my predictions.  I’m going on record.

My Personal Choices

Actor:    Joaquin Phoenix OR Tom Hanks

Supporting Actor:   Brad Pitt

Actress:  Rene Zellwegger OR Cynthia Erick

Supporting Actress: Laura Dern OR Scarlett Johansson

Director: Joker OR Once Upon A Time

Documentary:  Honeyland

International: Pararasite

Original Song:   Stand Up, Harriet

Adapted Screenplay:   Joker OR JoJo Rabbit

Original Screenplay:   Parasite OR Once Upon a Time

Best Picture: Joker OR Parasite OR JoJo Rabbit OR Once upon a Time

Here’s what I think will win:

Actor:    Joaquin Phoenix

Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt

Actress:  Renee Zellwegger

Supporting Actress: Laura Dern

Director: Tarantino

Documentary:  Honeyland

International: Pararasite

Original Song:   Stand Up, Harriet

Adapted Screenplay:   Joker OR JoJo Rabbit

Original Screenplay:   1917 OR Once Upon a Time

Best Picture: 1917 OR Once upon a Time

How’d you do?

I LOVE this beautiful modern home

This house is exquisite.  It blends with nature beautifully.  It was in Dezeen (dozeen.com) magazine  (James Brillon | 29 September 2018). 

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

The Idaho waterfront masterpiece by architects McCall Design and Planning is built into rugged granite boulders that face Payette Lake.  According to James Brillon, "Cliff House is named for its placement on a steep slope in a wooded area. The design was informed by the natural context, which helped determine the layout of the home's three levels as they step down the hillside." 

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

It has five bedrooms on three floors.  The home features floor-to ceiling windows throughout.  The architects called it 'a sophisticated treehouse for grown-ups.'   

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

My favorite interior feature is the large circular stair that leads from the living room down to the den which features a   From the living room, a circular stair leads down to the den which incorporates an exposed boulder is visible here, reinforcing the connection to the site.  "Staircases were treated as sculptural elements, floating above existing and introduced rock elements," said McCall Design and Planning. "The flaring circular staircase to the game room was built using I-beams bent in Seattle after a full-scale mock-up was created on site in wood."  

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

This is an exquisite house.  It faintly evokes of Frank Lloyd Wright's design motifs with low wooden ceilings.  It pays homage to Wright's masterpiece "Fallingwater" (https://www.fallingwater.org). by integrating the house in its natural context with the a layout of the home's three levels as they step down and are integrated down the hillside.  

The floor plan of the three floors is below.  

Photography is by Gabe Bonder

We made a PEACH PIE

We made a Peach Pie. I don't think I've ever baked a pie. I find the whole dough portion a little tedious. Thank heavens for Junebug (my mother)! Bella, our recent adopted rescue dog, was our sous chef.

This turned out wonderful. The recipe had a fancier "lattice" top but we made a simpler one. 

We didn't make the dough as the recipe directs. I bought packaged dough in the refrigerated section. 

The recipe is here:  https://zoebakes.com/2018/07/22/peach-pie/

Bella our sous chef

R.I.P. to ARETHA FRANKLIN

R.I.P. to Aretha Franklin who had one of the most incredible singing voices of our time. You deserve respect and devotion. She had an unprecedented talent.

A previous Facebook posting showed Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand singing together on Judy's eponymous television series in the 60's. It would have been even more of a triumph for Judy to have hosted the Queen of Soul. La Franklin was that and more.

Bravo, Aretha and thank you for changing our world with your talent, beauty and genius.

One of my favorite things: A New SKYSCRAPER

I haven't posted here for a while.  Thanks for the two comments that were left in the interim.  Thank you.

No doubt that this passion I have for tall buildings is phallic.  But I wasn't aware of this new structure, currently called "Lakhtta Centre" which is being built in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg in Russia.  When finished it will be the tallest building in Europe at 87 floors, 462 meters high (1,516 ft.)  The building, according to Dezeen, the design has a 90 degree twist from foundation to tip.

Photography is by Slava Korolev

It was designed by "British architect Tony Kettle designed the tower during his tenure at RMJM, before handing the project over to Russian architects Gorproject to complete."  It continues a trend of "spire" skyscrapers (London's Spire, Shenzhen's new super tall building and others) that are being built.

I love the continued evolution and beauty of architecture in the world.  The US was once the leader for these structures.  Sadly, we have become very low on the totem pole of architecture height distinction and building design.  It illustrates the decline of our country in so many things in this Trump-era.

India Block, Dezeen, https://www.dezeen.com/2018/07/30/lakhta-centre-europes-tallest-skyscraper-rmjm-architecture/

A beautiful, modern house in the HAMPTONS. Me Want!

This is such a work of art, in my opinion.   The architecture, interior design and landscape is perfect.  It is named Ocean Pond. 

This home was featured on daily beast at https://www.thedailybeast.com/omg-i-want-that-house-ocean-pond-residence-photo/1

"Set on 42-acres of beachside land, this chateau is all about a reverence for wood, for breathtaking design, and for the luxurious touches that will make your house the envy of the Long Island coast."

R.I.P. Anthony Bourdain

I admired him.  His show, Parts Unknown on CNN was the best thing on television.  Someone, I think it Eric Ripert, said he was the greatest storyteller.  He was that and so much more.

I believe that each of us should have the liberty to live and die.  I respect his choice today.  But I am heartbroken.  I feel like the world lost someone important, special and irreplaceable.  The world is awful, but you, Mr. Bourdain, brought a different view that made me feel somewhat like hope.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/here-are-anthony-bourdains-most-powerful-pieces-of-writing_us_5b1a9124e4b0bbb7a0dc054b

A POSITIVE story about East Coast Hurricane

Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast in 2012 and devastated Manhattan and other neighboring cities.  This article illustrates how they are rebuilding the houses that had been obliterated by Sandy.  This is wonderful news.  But 6 years later?????!
(1) Photos and article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5803383/Photos-capture-house-raising-Jersey-Shore-Hurricane-Sandy.html




The devastation that 2017 Hurricane Maria wrought on "is regarded as being the worst natural disaster on record." 

Recent news articles have uncovered the death total in Puerto Rico was so egregiously understated at  60 deaths just after the hurricane but is estimated now at approximately 4,500 people.  A majority of the citizens of Puerto Rica are living in hideous conditions: 

• there is very poor access to medicine and health care workers.
• their homes were destroyed and now they are living with dozens in the assortment of small houses that weren't devastated by the huricane
• they have not had water and other utility services (water, etc) restored

The blame for the inhumane response trump, republicans and all americans. Puerto Rican's are statuary citizens when the US designated P.R. to be US territory,

Puerto Rico still needs our help as does Haiti.  Please read this article:  https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/06/04/death-toll-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico/







Please donate:

I LOVE this architectural conversion from an electrical substation to a BEAUTIFUL Mansion and compound in Chicago.

"OMG, I Want That House: Chicago, Illinois," Allison McNearney, The Daily Beast, June 2, 1918.  This conversion of an old electrical substation in Lincoln Park to a repurposed mansion in Chicago is exquisite (Click on it to enlarge and enjoy it all the more).  Architecture and design by Liederbach and Graham (https://www.trulia.com/p/il/chicago/1970-n-burling-st-chicago-il-60614--1147957990).

It is a large compound, which has been beautifully tended to by a landscaper architect.

The eclectic use of mixed colors/patterns in the interior design isn't exactly my style.  But the paean to it's industrial roots are charming to me. I would love living in the "mansion" just the way it is.

I love the amazing shower with a balcony! 

I love this imaginative home.  It used to be an electrical substation.  And now, it is truly a beautiful example of design and the way ahead (without  Trump) for our species.  All photos are from www.thedailybeast.com:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/omg-i-want-that-house-chicago-illinois-photos/1?source=email&via=desktop

This architectural curiosity is so reminiscent of another home that was featured earlier on this blog (which no one reads).  A Spanish architect, Ricardo Bofill, converted a former cement factory into a Medieval castle.  No one seems to give a shit that I write here.  But if you want to see the blog about the Spanish castle click here:  This is a modern architectural RENOVATION wonder: former cement factory becomes a MEDIEVAL CASTLE in Spain

Or maybe not.  No in the world shares my interests. It has been that from moment I was born. I keep spending time trying trying this forum.  I don't benefit at all from this waste of time.

I do not spell or write very well anymore.  I was infected with HIV at the onset of the illness in the early 80's (unprotected sex and methamphetimine usage when I shared needles.  The first time I did meth intravenously, at 22ish, I felt more wonderful than I had ever felt.  I remember saying to my friend: "where has this been all my life.)  

None of us had any idea of the malevolent, evil change coming our way.  I was a deer in the headlight.  I have survived I don't know decades from my infection.  People have always hated me from the day I was born in Lubbock, Tx, until now.

I hope that someone will read this blog blog.  It is the only diary that I have.

I have always loved architecture.  When I was a lad I was obsessed with Frank Lloyd Wright, Architecture, and Airlines.  I obsessed over these things.  They gave me dreams.

I'm done for the evening, if not forever.  I have spent so many years trying to learn this online forum. I'm just not that good at it like most of the recent technological developments.  It is truly for me to leave this.  I am so ready to leave this world.  But I love my sweet new rescue dog, (Bella).  She is wonderful. She was so skittish but the two of us have a soulmate relationship.  

Please check out the house profiled in this entry and the other one from the past that is similar.  Or check out any of my previous belongings.  

GIA CARANGI: Remembering a beautiful woman and her life

Back in the late years of last century, I read a biography about the life the "first supermodel," Gia Carangi ("Thing of Beauty" by Stephen Fried).  It has haunted me every since.  She was so beautiful.  Her life was short and ended tragically.  She was one of the first famous women who died of AIDS as a result of her heroine addiction.

 I fell in love with her when I discovered her and read the biography.  I have seen it said that when Cindy Crawford started she was referred to as 'Baby Gia' on Twitter ('When I first started modeling I was referred to as "Baby Gia" after Gia Carangi. What do you think?', Cindy Crawford's Twitter account)

Cindy's amazing success continues to this day.  But Gia led a life of the 70's/80's.  She died tragically in 1983 of AIDS at the young age of 26.

I was a couple of years younger than her and I lived through the AIDS crisis (I'm still alive today since becoming HIV+ in the early to mid 80's.)  The older I get (I'm now 55) I am saddened, with exception of a few people who have died, future generations have no understanding of people that lived amazing lives before us.  No doubt when I was young I was the same way.

I won't ever forget Gia Carangi for her amazing beauty and her short life.  Her star burned so bright.















https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/29/gia-carangi-fashion_n_4686597.html

The SEATTLE SPACE NEEDLE completes a $100 million renovation

My paternal side of the family lived in Seattle and Washington.  I lived in Texas.  But I grew up as a young lad, teenager, young adult visiting Seattle and my favorite Aunt.  She was Aunt LaVaughn by name but she was truly the most wonderful larger than life character.  She was my very own Auntie Mame.

Every visit, we would go up to the rotating restaurant at the top of Seattle Space Needle.  It was magical.  In my adult life I been to Seattle many times.  It feels like a second home considering I've been there so many times and had so many important people there throughout my life.

The last time I was there was five years ago.  We went to the restaurant for lunch.  It was lovely. (Except as the room revolved pieces of gum left by children over the years would reveal themselves.)  It was disgusting.  But they served as much as a landmark as the beautiful 360 degree Seattle cityscape that was hundreds of feet below.   It was a very memorable dining experience then, when I was 50 as it had been decades when I was there as a young boy.

The last time I was there the renovation were announced.

Architectural Digest reports that the project is completed (1).  It looks as though they truly have made it a more modern and enticing experience.

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/seattle-space-needle-renovation?mbid=nl_05192018PM_Weekly&CNDID=35772209&spMailingID=13539731&spUserID=MTMzMTM1NjI1MDA3S0&spJobID=1401682475&spReportId=MTQwMTY4MjQ3NQS2

(1) Kristine Hansen, Architectural Digest, May 2018, "Seattle’s Iconic Space Needle Prepares to Unveil a $100 Million Renovation"

What a GREAT Home Design in JOSHUA TREE

According to the article, this is a proposed home that has been commissioned by a producer.  Designed by British architect James Whitaker, it is comprised of shipping containers that have been assembled in a modern, provocative and original design.  The house will be built in Joshua Tree, CA which is a neighbor of mine in the Palm Springs area of southern California.  Palm Springs is known for its mid-century modern architectural wonders.  Joshua Tree and other hi-Desert homes have created many ultra-modern homes (this area isn't that populated) that, in my opinion, are the perfect setting for these cutting edge designs.

I have admired of the last few years many examples of beautiful homes that use shipping containers.  This one is the best and I think that it is because of its location in such strange, other-worldly landscape.  It would be just as appealable in an urban environment and I've seen examples.  These designs aren't quite as cutting edge.

I love unique architectural designs.  I live in a region where architecture is an important part of its history and culture.  I'm fortunate.

Check out the article about this house at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4929326/British-designer-creates-incredible-asterisk-shaped-home.html