Much to the astonishment of many a high-school or college student, us old folks like to attend lectures for fun. And since I am old…
That’s right, tomorrow night I am going to a lecture on Frank Lloyd Wright at the Pope-Leighey House, one of his Usonian houses on display here in Virginia (moved to the site of Woodlawn).
The lecture is being given by Thomas Schmidt, Director-Emeritus of Fallingwater, usually considered Wright’s masterpiece–and rightly so. (One of these days I’m finally going to tour Fallingwater, though its distance from me is just enough that I’d probably have to make a weekend of it. It’s about a 4-hour drive from DC to southwest PA, which isn’t bad, but if I tried to do it in one day…hoo boy, that’s a lot of driving.)
When I saw this come up, I thought it’d be fun to attend. As an architecture fan, and a fan of Wright, it was a no-brainer. Wright is not my favorite architect (that’d be Niemeyer followed by Salmona–discovered at an exhibit I attended here in DC), but he is way up there. I’ve always had a dream of living in a Wright house, even if I’d be whacking my head on every doorframe and ceiling. The “if I had all the money in the world” Wright house for me? The Ennis House, Wright’s textile block apotheosis, which would be a money pit to restore, but it’d be worth it.
And, yep, give me textile block over the Prairie or Usonian Wright works. (I also like his commercial works like Johnson Wax more than most of his homes.) In fact, that’s probably why I’m so enamored with Salmona, who was a master of using bricks. Something about that sort of modernism-meets-solid-stone that lights my imagination and wonder.
Welp, it’s the time for school to begin for elhi to college students alike. And, perhaps feeling the vibes, I’m actually thinking about taking a class or some classes myself. Part to learn something new and cool and part, if I’m being honest, in the hope of meeting new people. Though, really, hard to do in a 3-hour one-time class…hmm…
Still, classes! As a resident of Fairfax County, I’m looking over the Fairfax County ACE courses. I’ve looked at them all, and most of them sound cool, but FC is a big county and I’m not really looking to have to drive 1 hour in rush-hour traffic after work to get to a class. So, I’m focusing on ones near me (Annandale-ish area, the Plum Center is ideal).
To that end, I’ve identified two courses that I might do. First is Lebanese Cuisine: Vegetarian and the other is Indian Cuisine: Vegetarian. Very veggie of me, eh?
I’m also looking at Thai Cuisine as well, but it conflicts with the Lebanese course. I suppose right now I’m trying to decide, do I do Lebanese or Thai?
So, my two or so readers and my 5603242237 Russian spammers, which one should I choose? (I thought about doing a poll, but polls on WordPress aren’t as easy as I thought so I said screw that. It’s relaxing weekend time!)
Yours in student,
Matt
Been thinking about what to do this weekend…if Danny doesn’t decide to wash it out here in DC. The models generated at my work seem to be a bit conflicted at the moment.
However, I am going to assume the best! And what might my weekend entail? Museum! Yay! In fact, two museums! Double yay!
The first one I want to hit up is the National Geographic Society Museum. They currently have two exhibitions I want to look at. One is “Lions and Leopards” by the famous Jouberts. Maybe you don’t recognize the name, but you’d recognize their photos, I bet! The other exhibition is “Kodachrome Culture” which celebrates “the American tourist in Europe” and their photos using Kodachrome film. It also is a bit of a tribute to Kodachrome which Kodak recently stopped production on.
The other museum I plan to visit is the OAS’ Art Museum of the Americas. They have an exhibit on Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona, master of the red brick. I’m a bit of an architecture nut, so I’m excited about this one.
In fact, it isn’t my first architecture exhibit at the OAS. They had a Niemeyer exhibit there last year which was great as well. But then, I love love love Niemeyer. One of my current goals in life is to go to Brasília and view all of Niemeyer’s works there. Ahh…perchance to dream.
Other than the museum, the weekend is probably normality. Library, grocery store, Trader Joe’s…
Yours in weekend,
Matt
