Tokyo!

Tokyo! has been saved in my instant queue for months now, undeservedly alone and neglected, but yesterday I finally got around to watching it.

And it blew my fucking mind...away.

Tokyo! is really three short films comprising one unique (bizarre) look at Japan's largest metropolis. And although each story uncovers and probes different aspects of human experience and emotion in unrelated story-lines, the urban context connects all three and frames each tale. Like sister films Paris, Je'taime and New York, I Love You, the starring role undoubtedly goes to the city itself. While there was no collaboration between the directors (director Bong Joon-ho said, "The three of us saw each other’s work for the first time there [at the Cannes premiere.]"), the trailer went as far to announce "Do we shape cities, or do cities shape us?" I couldn't find any information on if the producers of the film were architects in a past life, but creating a montage of urban themes was undoubtedly a scheming goal from the film's inception.

One particularly fascinating detail from Michel Gondry's contribution "Interior Design" conjured up a whole new scenario when the character Akira, a burgeoning filmmaker, gets inspired by a strange urban space...

"Something's wrong with these buildings. They all refuse physical contact with each other. Every night, flat ghosts slide in and out of these gaps and wander about the city. They wander about the city scaring the people shit-less. The authorities fill in the gaps with concrete, but the buildings keep moving apart letting the flat creatures take over."

A premise for a film (or book?) I hope to see (read) one day. Movie stills from Leos Carax's "Merde" and Bong Joon-ho's "Shaking Tokyo" below.

København.

[the mountain dwellings by big.]

[the mountain rising over the neighborhood seen from martin's house, taken in winter, obviously.]

[the new city from the top of the mountain.]

[at the 'career cannon' concert, but don't remember what happened here.]

[all photos courtesy martin, my host, seen here in the black t-shirt, his gorgeous family behind him and his friends/roomates beside me.]

For me, traveling to Copenhagen was many things. It was my last trip of the semester before going back to The States, my first solo traveling experience, and my first couch surfing experience. After all the growing I experienced this past semester and all the things I learned, this trip was my final test of myself, the real final exam for this study abroad experience. I had to prove to myself that I could be my own support, that fear is overrated, and that making things happen for yourself is possible.

And I'd like to think I did.

Some of the highlights from my trip >>>

> Living for three days right next to Big's Mountain Dwellings, possibly my favorite building. UNREAL.
> Visiting the office of JDS Architects. I literally went inside and was shown around the studio...still can't believe it.
> Danish bike lanes. They line almost every street making biking the best way to move through the city. The Danish people have adapted bikes in to many different forms...moving groceries, pets, children, etc.
> Having dinner with Martin, his roommates, and his family. They made some sort of fried danish pork meatloaf. Very good.
> Going to a concert with Martin, his entire family, friends, and roommates to see his (soon to be?) brother-in-law perform.
> Bar hoping in Copenhagen. We'll stop there.
> Having wine and bread for breakfast at 1 in the afternoon and watching the final episode of Twin Peaks with the guys.
> Being asked by the owner of a restaurant specializing in hamburgers what my opinion of his hamburgers was.
> The Danish Kroner. About 7 of them equal one US Dollar and since Denmark is a Socialist welfare state with ridiculous taxes, my hamburger cost 187 kr, or 32 dollars.
> Visiting the Danish Architecture Center and seeing the exhibition of 3XN Architecture's work.
> Walking around Copenhagen, getting trapped by canals with no bridges over them and not having a map.
> The CPH metro. The trains are driver-less allowing one to sit in the front to witness the train move through the underground and illuminated tunnels beneath the city. Beautifully futuristic.
> Siting next to Big's Harbour Bath project and reading their monograph. I almost started crying from pure joy and amazement...realizing my whole world was converging in one place for me at that moment.


That's the short of it. I am hoping to get an internship in the city in the future because spending more time in Copenhagen is definitely on the agenda.

Berlin, i love you.

We came to Berlin with a mission:  To discover cool again.

 

Florence was getting old.  The slowly disintegrating renaissance relics were weighing ever more heavily on our eyes and the stuffy streets full of fashionably stuffy people and asian tourists were increasingly becoming a joke and a pity.

The simple solution became clear.  A little r & r somewhere, fittingly, the opposite of what we had become so accustomed to and tired of, would do us all a big favor.  Yes, Berlin had a lot to offer a member of the contemporary world, deprived of that life source that only a big-time city can provide.  First, there was the Berlinale, an international film festival in the glamorous spotlight of movie stars, critics, and film lovers the world over.  The likes of Scorsese, Banksy, Franco, and Russian snow queens (just to name a few of our favorites) meandered about the film goers.  A long break in the Hyatt Hotel Cafe was bound to land us a citing of some high profile celebrity, we were told, but our agenda had other plans.

Like the Berlin architecture.  Pulverized to a pulp in many places by the second world war, the city experienced a rebirth, and I'd be damned to say they might be the lucky ones.  Project after project we passed proclaimed a new hope and a dream, reigning clearly as the Cathedral bells, for a new life and a new Germany.  I gladly joined in song.  But it wasn't just an architecture of guilt, no, something else drove these lyrics.  Something more profound, more sustainable.

A ride on the underground train proved most enlightening.  The Berliners are lovers of life, art, culture, and music, and yet by the look of 'em you would never know.  They act like genuine human beings, not the over-tamed yuppies and bourgeoisie one would expect to find in a cultural scene so alive I almost think I could throw a stick in the crowd and expect to hit a painter or a cellist.

Maybe it stems from Germany's pioneering past, with greats such as Walter Gropius and Mies Van der Rohe heading the subversive Bauhaus movement.  Revolutionary thinkers who paved the way for all of us nobodies to think what we think now.  Walking the displays of the Bauhaus Museum I felt for the first time in my life that I wanted to go back there to the decade of the 30s, just to soak up the atmosphere of the school and learn from the students as well as the faculty.  At the same time, it makes me feel like a good for nothing shmuck who hasn't a creative thought in his body.  How could their ideology be so relevant today? 

No, there's something about Berlin.  And with any luck I'll be back there soon, to discover more of it's secrets, it's unsolved puzzles, and find out for myself what really makes the city tick.  Why, really, are the people so friendly and a daily stroll there so dignified and comfortable?  Why can't I be there now?  Well, I'm what they call a idealist...and idealists never get their way.  They always have to gaze ahead at their vision never quite disappearing over the horizon.  But one day, when I run fast enough you bet I'll catch up.  Maybe it's Berlin and maybe another city I have yet to investigate.  But one thing is for sure...

I'm gonna get there.

Atlantis exists.

My first impression of Florence:  make-believe city where everything revolves around the past.  Essentially, stuck in a rut.  First impressions of Venice:  make-believe city due to the belief that places like this don't really exist.  I mean, floating cities, waterbuses, grand canals, numerous pedestrian bridges.  If Atlantis exists, this is it.  It hasn't been lost to the sea, yet.

I don't even know if Venice can be called a city.  It is its own typology.

We went to Venice because they were celebrating the Carnival of Venice (essentially Mardi-Gras), world-famous for it's tradition of elaborate costumes and masks.   We saw some things relating to the festival, but almost every single organized event we planned to attend, we were late for.  So, I missed out on a lot.  The opening ceremony, a parade on the canals of Lido, another performance, and another parade in Piazza San Marco.  I'm sure they were nice.

Still, coming to Venice I wasn't sure what to expect.  I remember as a child thinking that the city was probably the nicest place in Europe and it was the only place on this continent I wanted to go.  I liked it because of the canals.  But that childlike wonderment is still relevant for me today.  (Just think if you replaced the streets of any other city with rivers.  It's really an incredible alternative.)  The city has a reputation of being horribly overrun with tourists...to the point that Italians don't even live there anymore.  I don't know if that's true, but I found it odd that on an island that hasn't had the ability to expand for hundreds of years, just off the main pedestrian thoroughfares existed almost total isolation from the (worse than, seriously) sardine-like piazzas of the carnival events.  The city is mostly comprised of small alleys and courtyards where no one ventured.  (Even this is different than Florence.  The roads less taken here are still pretty crowded comparatively.)

I don't feel like writing....and there is a lot to say.  Damn.

The other important thing about Venice was the mix of modern and traditional architecture.  Oh it was beautiful.  Just this fact alone gave me the impression that Venice was a city less high-strung and more aware of the contemporary world.  The Calatrava bridge is a perfect example.  (physically anyway....the political aspect of the bridge isn't so enlightening.)  As well, I'll take a boat rather than a subway to get around a city anyday.  This form of transportation is exponentially more dignified than going underground and popping up in random places like moles.

We didn't go to any museums, or check out any tourist spots, which was also nice.  Just a beautiful weekend in Venice.  But I can't wait to go back in April with the school.

The floating city exists.

 

  

  

 

Figuring out italy.

For someone who has never been abroad (okay, I've visited Canada but we can all agree that hardly counts), studying in Italy this semester is a big change. And being transplanted from cow-town Ohio, maybe even more so.

Orientation week started yesterday. This is meant to help us in our transition to Italian life, and also to complete necessary tasks and documents associated with our extended stay. We heard from the Florence program director, Marcello Fantoni, first. Even though his welcome was far from brief, he said some very important things that shed light on some the troubles I have been experiencing since my arrival here in Florence. Amongst them, and the most notable to me, is that Fantoni made a remark comparing Florence to an American mall or amusement park. He claimed the two to be very similar, especially considering themes, but where the theme in a mall tends toward a “tropical” environment with palm trees and foliage, here, the theme is the Renaissance. He warned us to not be deceived by the appearance of it all. And taking a second look around with his words in mind I now see clearly why I had the uncomfortable feeling that the city was a fabricated movie set from the very beginning. Because that's exactly what it is. Of course, Florence has its moments of truth I am sure (and am even more motivated to discover them), the real intent behind the city isn't so obvious. I am still feeling it out, but the city will have to prove itself to me as I get to know it better.

Fantoni urged us to seek out the real Italy and the real Europe, which he believes exists outside of the main tourist cities. This has had me thinking a lot over the past day. It appeared that Fantoni essentially dismissed the substantially of entire cities based on their touristy status. He offered another example when explaining his experiences traveling to the States. Specifically, he believes New York City is not an accurate depiction of the United States as a whole. While I agree with him, I also disagree because I do believe there is truth there. But being a citizen of the country familiar with its customs, habits, political landscape, and history, I can decipher somewhat easily what is reality and what is fake or for show in a comparatively familiar place. This however is not true for me in Italy. Since I know almost nothing about the country, I cannot fully understand one thing from another. It's people, it's buildings, the customs, the language, and other elements of the whole I come into contact with on a daily basis must be taken as they are, yet there exists a reason and a history for all of these things. For example, I must take everyone I see on the streets as they appear to me, but to me almost everyone looks Italian. Except for a few obvious exceptions, I cannot decipher who is a native, a businessman, a tourist, an illegal immigrant, likely poor, likely wealthy, or from other parts of Europe. To Italians, understanding the typology of the local population seems very important when considering day to day life and current issues, for reasons I don't yet understand. What troubles me, and causes me slight paranoia, is that I am told everyone in this country can likely determine just by sight my status as an American student (a label, I learned, that holds certain connotations).

This was pointed out by an Italian police officer that spoke to us yesterday in addition to Fantoni, and was also successful in shedding some light on the conditions we now find ourselves in. When coming here I didn't expect quite what I have experienced so far. I of course expected differences from my life in the U.S., but being here puts a new spin and perspective on so many elements of my existence in this world that goes beyond what I could have imagined. My hope is to discover the true Italy and maybe even the truer me. Time will tell, but one thing is definitely unquestionable: this experience is changing me.

And it has only been four days.