Aralia spinosa, the devil's walking-stick

I know thousands of people were dropping by anxiously at 8 am this morning, from Uganda and Ontario and California, and have continued to drop in all day long, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Thursday Travesty or Triumph IV would have arrived. What would it be? What wild images would constrict the gaze or burst the optic nerve? Would the concept be comprehensible or fantastic and unimaginable, like Conan?

Well, I'm sick.

And there will consequently be no Thursday Travesty or Triumph this week because I'm way behind on my mounds of school work, as naptime has been cutting into study time. So you'll know I'm better when I post again.

Latin Roots

Wow! Is this Harriet Mier's real blog? It feels funny, but I'm not sure! (link via Andrew Sullivan.)

More seriously, "enjoy" the New Republic's 'hackocracy', a short list of fifteen of the worst hacks in the Bush administration.

Thursday Travesty or Triumph III

Well, the small number of commentators seemed to like Parc Diagonal Mar, as it went three for three in the triumph category.

Today's site is Capitol Plaza, located in the neighborhood of Chelsea Heights in New York, New York. The design is primarily by Thomas Balsley, who has been practicing in New York since the seventies. Some of his best known projects include Skyline Park in Denver, Chelsea Waterside Park in Manhattan, and the residences of Martha Stewart and Donald Trump. Capitol Plaza is on a much smaller scale than those projects, occupying a brief alley-like space between W 26th and W 27th Streets.

(click on image to go to a detailed plan view of the site)

The park features a multitude of "whimsical" (that's Balsley's description of them) seating options, seen in use here:

I find the plant material interesting, I'm always a big fan of Asian plant material, and Balsley's done some interesting things with the bamboo, particularly as it peeks through the ellipsodal openings in the orange grate.

Here's a brief list by Balsley of characteristics he aimed for in designing the plaza (he gets bonus points for dropping the Jane Jacobs reference):
"* Keeping the plan uncomplicated and making clear sight lines to prevent fears related to personal security;
* Lighting it well at night;
* Encouraging a pedestrian flow through the plaza at all hours it remains open. The condo building next to Capitol Plaza faces south, and a secondary exit into the plaza encourages residents heading north to cut through the space;
* Designing to 'keep eyes on the plaza,' he said, paraphrasing Jane Jacobs. For instance, Balsley insisted that a strip of land, only 8 feet wide and extending 100 feet along the plaza’s northeast edge, be given over to retail. 'That parcel wasn’t part of the bonus plaza, and the developer was going to turn it into a place for parking stackers [contraptions that raise cars],' he said. 'That would have left a blank wall there, which wouldn’t do.' Hoping for the city’s longest cappuccino bar, he had to settle for hip-hop shops. 'The important thing is people come in and out of there, which is a lot better than a blank wall.'"

Quote is from LAM's feature on it. Go here and here for more images and so on, if you're interested.

You'll never walk alone

Whoah! Fantastic goal (don't watch it if you don't have speedy internet) here by the young Freddy Adu, I'm never sure whether to believe the hype about him or not, but he shows a fantastic touch as he gets around the first defender (I'm not sure who that helpless bloke is)... the second defender is Nelson Akwari, and he shows why he was traded to an expansion team this year by standing like an orange traffic cone as Freddy blazes around him, but that first touch, flick, turn, and heading of the ball directly into the path of a dribble, that's sublime. Happened in a game between my (new) hometown (and championship-bound) DC United and the hapless and error-prone Real Salt Lake (that's supposed to be Real like Real Madrid i.e. Re-owl, not "reel", I think its really dumb too if you must ask).

I'm tempted to make this today's Travesty or Triumph and clearly this is a Triumph, but I'll be back later with a real Travesty or Triumph.

Its not right

(Thursday Travesty or Triumph will be along later today, I'm thinking about what to do)

In the meantime, a pair of links to keep us busy:

1. Apparently George Will hammered the Miers nomination, as he well should have.

2. Evidence of the Huffington Post's general insanity can be seen here.

I am also rather excited to see the McCain amendment pass with such strong support.

The land whose blood runneth orange

Is anyone having trouble viewing the pictures for Thursday's Travesty or Triumph? Perhaps I need to download then upload them, rather than simply linking to the images on the ASLA's website...

So I went over to West Potomac Park yesterday to practice with my frisbee team (I have no experience with this game, but I thought I'd better do something to keep my legs going), but they were nowhere to be found. I thought I would go running for a while instead, then, but on the way back to the car I spotted a soccer game that looked sufficiently disorganized and asked if I could join. I was happy to see that they did not mind, since I haven't played since I left Athens. After playing for a while I asked one of the people if they were any particular group or just a bunch of random people. He replied that they were the Federal Triangles. As in pink federal triangles. So that was unexpected and humorous. They weren't particularly great soccer players, but, hey, they were nice enough. Although I did grown (inwardly) when one of them requested that the teams switch directions because he thought the field's feng shui was throwing his game off. I don't think I will be joining them again.