just came across the left-hand photo on flickr by chance and was immediately confused and intrigued.

to be found in berlin, it’s actually a faithful recreation of one corner of karl schinkel’s bauakademie (building academy), the building which used to stand in the same spot before being damaged during the war and subsequently demolished in 1962 to make way for the ministry of foreign affairs. needless to say, that building has also since been demolished.

due to the importance of the original bauakademie (both culturally and architecturally) there are now, apparently, plans underway to rebuild the entire structure as close to the original as possible. what i’m not sure of is why the single corner that was built (before being surrounded by the shell covered scaffolding you see below) a few years back. according to some dodgy translations via google i get the impression that it was built as a restoration exercise, both to teach students about restoration itself and to show the public how faithful the rebuild could be.

either way, it’s a great monument that makes for a strange photo.

photo source

:: bauakademie on wikipedia

:: association for the promotion of karl friedrich schinkel’s academy of architecture

needless to say, i started looking into it, and the fascination was warranted. from the looks of it there’s some kind of race on between wineries across the globe to seek out super-architects willing to design their ultra-funky wine production facility. here are some of the best i’ve come across.

note: just for the record, i am completely uneducated when it comes to wine itself. to prove it, i like my white wine medium-sweet and my red wine topped up with coke and ice (i believe it’s called a calimocho). i can think of no reasonable defence.

1. dominus winery, napa valley, u.s.a. :: website

architect - herzog & de meuron

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2. bodegas ysios, rioja, spain :: website

architect - santiago calatrava valls

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photo source left, photo source right

3. peregrine winery, queenstown, new zealand :: website

architect - chris kelly

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4. cantina petra, suvereto, italy :: website

architect - mario botta

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5. bodegas lópez de heredia viña todonia, rioja, spain :: website

pavillion architect - zaha hadid

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photo source left, photo source right

6. weingut leo hillinger, jois, austria :: website

architect - gerner°gerner plus

all photos’ source

7. mission hill family estate, westbank, british columbia :: website

architect - olson sundberg kundig allen

photo source

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so that’s just 8 of the many superbly designed wineries on earth. special mention must quickly go to frank gehry’s recent addition to the marques de riscal winery in spain. he was commissioned to design a hotel to compliment the winery, the extravagant results of which can be seen in the video below.

i’ve included a link below to the book on amazon in case you were curious. it’s fascinating.

wine by design: the space of wine (interior angles)

this has to be one of the smartest ideas i’ve seen in a long time.

last year a mr peng yu-lun devised a system which, when implemented at mrt stations, will negate the need for trains to stop or decelerate at all when approaching the station itself. the idea, as you’ll see in the video below, is to have a seperate designated carriage for people wishing to board or alight the train which waits at the platform. the carriage then attaches to the train as it passes underneath and eventually rests on the roof until the next stop approaches and the carriage detatches and comes to a halt. have a look at the clip.

one advantage that immediately springs to mind is a presumably huge energy saving due to the fact that the main train would no longer have to stop and start on a regular basis.

i came across this video by complete mistake today on a chinese version of youtube and subsequently spent what seemed like a lifetime trying to find related information that wasn’t in taiwanese. if anyone can translate the audio i’d be grateful. the only written info i could find was from the ‘taiwan headlines’ website, which can be read here.

opened in 2005 after years of disagreements, the ‘monument to the murdered jews of europe’ is a stunning sea of concrete blocks situated in the heart of berlin.

the memorial was designed by american architect peter eisenman and each of the 2711 stones, all without plaques or inscriptions, is unique in size, the design intended to ‘represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason’.

in order to deter graffiti artists at the site, each of the stones is treated with an anti-graffiti agent, manufactured by a company called degussa. unfortunately in 2003 it was revealed that one of the company’s subsidiaries had been responsible for producing the poison gas used in nazi death camps. this didn’t exactly go down well with the public.

controversy aside, the memorial looks incredible and certainly educates a huge number of people on a daily basis: underneath the visible area is an information centre dedicated to the holocaust, in the first year alone nearly 500′000 people entered.

here’s the direct link to the memorial on google maps

a short video about the memorial…

an old bbc news article about the monument is here.

the memorial’s home on the intertubes can be found electronically through this link.

wikipedia’s still full of shit though.

[update #2] - so i may be wrong. depends on where you look.

[update] - i can’t believe there are still people out there who see wikipedia as a great source for hard fact. try looking at a few different websites now and then. there are many many sources that believe this bridge to be the shortest international bridge and i’d take their word over wikipedia’s any day.

the zavikon islands…

allegedly, the island on the left is in canada, the one on the right is in the united states. the smaller island contains the ‘backyard’ of the house on the larger island.

the result is the shortest international bridge in the world.

look with your eyes…

what lies beneath

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/26JKvBh3iKU]

what does the trailer tell us?

2 parents say goodbye to their daughter, leaving them alone in a creepy looking house with noisy neighbours. the couple are frisky. she starts hearing voices. a picture falls, the back comes free. inside is a news cutting about a missing girl. the husband denies knowledge. the ghost starts communicating with the wife. turns out the husband slept with the ghost when it was human. the music gets frantic. shards of pointy glass. women drowning in the bath. husband says “stop!”. women diving into water. a few close-ups of eyeballs. wife becomes posessed by the ghost, gets frisky.

how could this spoil the movie?

well you may as well skip the first hour because there’s nothing to learn and a major plot twist has already been revealed (he slept with the angry ghost - now she wants revenge). the only thing we don’t see is one more twist plus the ending and i’m guessing it involves water and death.

negotiator

what does the trailer tell us?

danny is the best hostage negotiator in town - he’s like a kidnapper-whisperer. his world is turned upside down, literally, as cops search his house. he’s been set-up. things turn ugly at the station. to clear his name, he takes the police hostage. he demands to see a specific negotiator - chris sabian. chris and danny start shooting one-liners at each other. it’s the meeting of 2 great minds. every other shot is of a gun being pointed. loads of action interspersed with chris realising that danny may be telling the truth. the last shot - a red-faced danny says menacingly into his walkie-talkie, “now you’re gonna have to deal with both of us”.

how could this spoil the movie?

as you sit down to watch the movie you already know that the 2 negotiators are gonna join forces to prove that one of them has been framed for something he didn’t do. if that was only a minor plot development i wouldn’t be so pissed off but it’s not. the only other thing we need to know is how they escape death at the end.

interesting fact: the “..deal with both of us” scene wasn’t even in the full movie. it’s as if they filmed it just to ruin the final product for people who choose to watch trailers.

cast away

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/rNQrDUbdScs]

what does the trailer tell us?

the movie is possibly sponsored by fedex. a man leaves his loving partner to get on a plane. the plane hits a patch of rough weather and crashes into the sea. our character survives and makes it to a seemingly deserted island. he feels lost. he’s dressed as an arab. he talks to a ball with a badly drawn face on the front. his hair grows, he loses weight. he builds a brillant raft and escapes. he finds out he was there for 4 years. we then see him meeting his partner again for the first time in 4 years. looks like he’s got some soul-searching ahead of him.

how could this spoil the movie?

spoil the movie? that was the fucking movie apart from his boring re-integration into society. also, please don’t release a trailer for a movie called cast away that includes footage of the victim escaping from the island followed by footage of the big reunion with his wife - surely that’s the pay-off scene when watching a film like this?

(interestingly, in taiwan the official title of the movie translates to “life regained after great disaster”. another excellent marketing decision.)

arlington road

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/kWqt3sclekc]

what does the trailer tell us?

jeff bridges is teaching people about terrorism / bombings. we see his new neighbour. the 2 families meet. they’re having a garden party. neighbour claims he’s a structural engineer. jeff finds a blueprint whilst snooping around the neighbours’ house. neighbour looks annoyed. turns out the neighbour changed his name. he’s the ‘mailroom bomber’ and he’s dangerous. jeff’s arguing with his wife about the whole messy situation. jeff’s shown lifting a picture to reveal more blueprints. he’s getting very paranoid and everyone’s noticing. we see jeff driving crazily, phone to ear shouting “get everyone out the building. they want the fbi this time!”. car crash. neighbour being creepy. jeff shouts “there’s a bomb in the van!”. slow-mo of jeff running as a red button is about to be pushed. lovely shot of bomber inviting jeff to a party.

how could this spoil the movie?

the trailer ruined pretty much all of the film as there’s hardly any suspense left to experience. the good guy’s neighbour is a terrorist and he wants to blow stuff up. wouldn’t it be better to find that out after you’ve paid to watch it?

the guardian

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/MwuPXvEdYh0]

what does the trailer tell us?

back in the day, costner’s rescue team character was the only survivor of a failed rescue in a storm. present day - kev’s offered an instructor’s job. he’s not interested but the boss talks him round. a cocky young upstart boasts about his rescue skills, claims he’s gonna break costner’s records. uh-oh, costner’s been stood behind him. this is gonna be a rocky relationship. a dorky member of the team confesses to being shy around women, even though he jumps out of helicopters - hehe!. upstart questions costner’s motives, if he’s so good why aint he resuing people? upstart gets caught in a storm at sea. costner says he’s going in to save him. music gets dramatic. costner shouts “hold on!” as he grabs the upstart’s arm.

how could this spoil the movie?

apart from the conclusion of the rescue at the end there’s not much to watch. we’ve already worked out that it’s a textbook ‘rocky relationship comes good as upstart learns to respect old-timer’s history’ kind of film and have seen most of the plot developments. someone might die at the end but is that enough to make me wanna watch the whole thing? no fucking way.

obviously, rainbows aren’t the only brilliant natural phenomena on earth.

below are some optical phenomena, atmospheric phenomena, electrical phenomena and natural optical illusions and they’re all incredible for one reason or another.

if you know of others worth a mention, let me know and i’ll add ‘em.

green flash

a green flash is a natural optical phenomenon and can be sometimes seen above the sun as it sets or rises. the reason for this event lies in refraction of light in the atmosphere (read more here).

i’m yet to see a decent video of a green flash so won’t even bother posting a shit one. instead, you should visit this website and learn using your mind.

crepuscular rays

crepuscular rays are shards of sunlight that shoot out from behind objects that cast a shadow, usually trees or clouds, causing columns of light to eerily light up the landscape.

check out the short clip below. a road never looked so attractive.

mirages

another of the more common optical phenomena, mirages are caused by refraction.

there are also 2 types of mirage: inferior and superior.

with an inferior mirage, the actual mirage is mirrored from above (e.g. seeing the sky on the road)

with a superior mirage, the mirage image appears above the true object. these are less common.

a more detailed eplanation can be digested here.

below: an example of an inferior mirage

sprites

sprites are relatively new discoveries and are still the subject of much scientific debate. along with blue jets and elves they form a group of occurences named transient luminous events and are electric discharges that occur high above active thunderstorms.

best of all they look like some kind of massive electrical jellyfish.

due to the fact that these events only last for milliseconds and aren’t exactly easily spotted, there are very few videos to watch. the youtube clip below was captured using an image intensified camera, bear in mind that the brightest parts of the effect are around 70km above land.

alternatively go here and watch an amazing clip in colour.

- more on this phenomenon here.

gravity wave

‘In a gravity wave, the upward moving region is the most favorable region for cloud development and the sinking region favorable for clear skies. That is why you may see rows of clouds and clear areas between the rows of clouds. A gravity wave is nothing more than a wave moving through a stable layer of the atmosphere. Thunderstorm updrafts will produce gravity waves as they try to punch into the tropopause. The tropopause represents a region of very stable air. This stable air combined with the upward momentum of a thunderstorm updraft (trigger mechanism) will generate gravity waves within the clouds trying to push into the tropopause.’ - from here.

that’s exactly what i was gonna say.

the photo above shows atmospheric gravity waves as seen from space. the amazing timelapse video below shows the phenomenon from ground level in iowa.

halo / sundog

the incredible halo in the photo above is a 22 degree sun halo and is one of the more common atmospheric phenomena, apparently caused by refraction in the hexagonal ice crystals in the air. sun dogs (aka parhelia) are the brighter parts of the halo, usually seen on each horizontal point.

there’s a more detailed explanation, with diagrams, here.

aurora borealis

mainly thanks to youtube this phenomenon has gained a huge amount of coverage in the last couple of years. even so, it’s not something you could ever grow tired of watching. if you’ve never seen it, watch the video below.

the explanation?

‘The sun gives off high-energy charged particles (also called ions) that travel out into space at speeds of 300 to 1200 kilometres per second. A cloud of such particles is called a plasma. The stream of plasma coming from the sun is known as the solar wind. As the solar wind interacts with the edge of the earth’s magnetic field, some of the particles are trapped by it and they follow the lines of magnetic force down into the ionosphere, the section of the earth’s atmosphere that extends from about 60 to 600 kilometres above the earth’s surface. When the particles collide with the gases in the ionosphere they start to glow, producing the spectacle that we know as the auroras, northern and southern.’ - from virtual finland

brocken spectre

see the halo in the photos above? the shadow in the middle is actually cast by the person taking the photograph at the top of the hill, the effect a rare one that goes by the name of brocken spectre. in order to create this effect you must be looking down into mist from the peak of a hill with a low sun behind you.

simple stuff.

the guy in the video below managed to catch a rare glimpse of the effect on film. it occurs about half way through.

moonbow

moonbows are the darker, less frequent relative of our old favourite, the rainbow. the ingredients needed: a very bright moon, rain and some luck.

there’s a brief article from new scientist here and a grainy video clip below.

gravity hills / electric brae

a slightly different ‘phenomena’ from the rest, the electric brae in maybole, scotland is one of a number of locations throughout the world known as ‘gravity hills’. it’s a stretch of angled road where vehicles ‘mysteriously’ roll uphill, the real explanation owing to the fact that the surrounding landscape sits in such a way as to give the illusion that the road is sloping in the opposite direction.

i’ve personally been to the one in the clip below and it’s pretty fucking weird even if you know the reasons behind it.

at this wiki page there’s a list of all known gravity hills in the world.

ball lightning

ball lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon that is still disputed by many people, mainly due to the lack of quality footage and research, but also because of it’s behaviour. rather than striking quickly, ball lightning can apparently last for a much longer time. there’s a brilliant page dedicated to the phenomenon here.

the video below shows a mean looking storm, the ball lighting appears about 2 minutes in. it’s well worth a look.

circumhorizon arc/fire rainbow

‘The arc is a very large halo and is close to, and parallel to the horizon. Usually only fragments are visible where there happen to be cirrus clouds’.

manchester is one of the best cities on earth.

just thought i’d let you know.

the smoking ban comes into force next weekend, gonna wave a smelly goodbye at ‘common’, a great bar just round the corner. they’re saying farewell with a smokey party.