things I wrote

Pulling Up Architecture By the Boot

2007-03-05T03:40:00.002-08:00

OMA’s 'fun palace' in the Central Business District UPDATE: Some initial thoughts on the building's demise, and a lengthy meditation on the entire project in the National.While the twisting, otherworldly shape of Beijing’s new Central Business District landmark, the CCTV Tower, took months of head-scratching effort by engineers and designers to develop, the look of its lesser-known sister

A City Within A City

2007-03-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

Architect Li Hu's Mega Hall Moma project emphasizes public spaces and green design Beijing is vanishing, the architect Li Hu said one recent evening. It might have sounded like a sensational statement you would expect to hear from one of China's leading architects. The partner-in-charge of Steven Holl Architects in Beijing slid over to the window at his office at the Mega Hall Moma, a luxury

The Front of the Bus

2007-03-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

Beijing buses a move The traffic in Beijing is so bad, it is said that even its most efficient denizens can only accomplish one task per day. Hoping to change that local wisdom, the Beijing Municipal Committee of Transportation managed to do a few things one day in late December: it announced new bus fares, a reorganization of the bus network, and a massive increase in public

People Feature: Lester Brown Breaks it Down

2006-11-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

that's Beijing, November 2006 Getting China and the world to tell the "ecological truth"text by Alex Pasternack In 1995, a little book about food security and the environment entitled Who Will Feed China made him an enemy of the state. American economist and head of the Earth Policy Institute, Lester Brown’s demand for “ecological truth” left him lambasted by scientists and officials for

Towering Ambitions

2006-08-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

Ole Scheeren of OMA is driving the world’s largest architectural project, Beijing's CCTV+TVCC by Alex PasternackImportant architects tend to look and sound as ostentatious as their designs, which is why you may not immediately recognize Ole Scheeren. The angular 35-year old German was sitting in a coffee shop in the Central Business District recently, wearing a shirt with an open

City Scene: Who Needs Friends When You Have Money?

2006-08-01T22:24:00.000-07:00

that's Beijing, August 2006 A salesperson robotically waving a wand that distributed a light mist, another dispassionately demonstrating a spinning top to a couple of curious African men, two of a handful of customers, while a television showed a program about the Olympics. On display were jade sculptures, silky qipao, a paltry assortment of tea, and a selection of benign

City Scene: Water-less World

2006-08-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

that's Beijing, August 2006 Beijing has invested billions of yuan in massive projects to increase and improve its water supplies, but with a new initiative to change how the public uses the wet stuff – from raising the prices of water to promoting cutting edge toilets – do we sense desperation? The driest major city in the world keeps getting drier, with an annual

On the Road Again

2006-06-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

From TIME asia Magazine, June 26, 2006 Vol. 167, No. 25 Ma Jian envisioned Tibet as Nirvana. The book he wrote after his journey offers a darker vision BY ALEX PASTERNACK | HONG KONG In 1985, writes Ma Jian, he headed from Beijing to Tibet hoping to "work out what I should be doing with my life." Ma, like so many discontented romantics, envisioned the

Russian Doll

2006-06-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

It's an old story: Wide-eyed nine-year old Jewish girl flees Russia to the shores of New York with her parents, who barely make ends meet while she passes her time exploring their Bronx neighborhood, the old Tin Pan Alley, and the piano keys — a remnant from years of practice in the old country and exposure to the classics (Chopin but also Pushkin). Soon, the setting becomes a downtown Manhattan

City Scene: Sizing Up our Newest Sibling

2006-06-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

that's Beijing, June 2006 Eager to make friends with the rest of the world in advance of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing’s vice mayor Sun Anmin jetted down to New Zealand last month to toss another municipality into its pile of “sister” cities, which already includes Madrid, Athens, Budapest, Bucharest, Havana, Manila, and even Tokyo. Though Beijing treated Wellington to the longest

City Scene: How to Repel the Sand

2006-06-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

that's Beijing, June 2006 In the old days, village officials in China’s arid north would pray to the gods for rain. These days, when rainfall is badly needed to end droughts – or, increasingly, to clean up the city in advance of Beijing’s “Green Olympics” – the government doesn’t need to offer sacrifices to the heavens: it shoots chemicals at them with anti-aircraft cannons. While

City Scene: Quincy’s Olympic Theme

2006-06-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

that's Beijing, July 2006 When Quincy Jones came to town in late May – to announce, according to a press release, that he would “write songs for the Beijing Olympic Games,” tbj naturally had a hundred questions to ask the 71-time Grammy Award nominee. Unfortunately, the press conference answered few of them. For instance, will his song actually be used? The

Review: Jel / Soft Money (Anticon)

2006-03-25T21:26:00.000-08:00

The Sunday South China Morning Post, March 25, 2006 “Don’t buy this product, you don’t need it,” is a curious way to start rapping on your solo debut album. As Soft Money opens with To Buy a Car, Jel, nee Jeffrey Logan, is soberly imagining the click-y, breakbeat advertising jingle he’d write for a fleet of “street legal war vehicles.” But he’s also winking at the doting avant garde hip hop

The Harvard Amateur

2005-06-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

by alex pasternack(I am told that I delivered this to the class of 2005 and others in Tercentary Theater on the 8th of July 2005, the day before graduation.)Family, friends, teachers, and all those people who asked me to mention them—good afternoon.Soon-to-be graduates of the Class of 2005—you’re all a bunch of amateurs.That doesn’t sound right I know. Something about the word amateur doesn’t

Open Spaces

2005-06-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

June 8, 2005 edition of the Harvard Crimson“This place is so much nicer without those banners,” a friend said the other day as we walked through the Law School yard, articulating something simple but insightful about Harvard. When graduation rolls around, every yard around campus undergoes a sudden makeover. Tailored by teams of landscapers and decked out in tents and stages and banners, they

An Opt-Out Wind Energy Fee

2004-12-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

By ALEX L. PASTERNACK and MATTHEW W. MAHAN Last year, a group of students at Harvard’s Kennedy School got wind of what millions of students, consumers, businesses, governments and various organizations had been doing for years: paying a little extra money to get some clean, renewable energy. They lobbied the student government and the administration and encouraged their peers to

Sufjan Stevens Profile

2004-11-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

Published on Friday, November 19, 2004Biblically minded folkie shares faith in song—just don’t call it Christian rockBy ALEX L. PASTERNACKCrimson Staff Writer Even if your only religion involves band t-shirts and b-side vinyl, consider for a moment an afternoon organ recital at your local cathedral as a perfect, albeit unlikely, refuge from today’s folk-pop play list

Matt and Ben at Winthrop House (my house!)

2004-11-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

Originally published on Monday, November 01, 2004 in the News section of The Harvard Crimson. Theater Review: Dynamic Duo Humors with Past By ALEXANDER L. PASTERNACK On Theater Writing a hit script is about as hard as finding a parking space in the Square (or so goes one playwright’s saying, I think). When the producers of the hit play Matt and Ben couldn’t find a venue in the area that

Review: Hellboy, Special Edition DVD

2004-10-30T14:35:00.001-07:00

The Harvard Crimson, October 29, 2004 Directed by Guilermo Del Toro Columbia Pictures If, to the purist, movie adaptations of novels are the equivalent of glorified book jackets, adaptations of comic books might be no-brainers: with the visuals already on paper, Hollywood writers and directors get to bypass the harder and, often, more imaginative steps of screen translation. But

Sounds of Silence: New albums that know when to shut up

2004-10-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Review: Adem, Homesongs, and Kings of Convenience, Riot on an Empty StreetHarvard Independent, October 21, 2004By Alex PasternackThese days it’s hard to find records, even “folk” ones, that aren’t laced up with some slick production team, some ambient hum, or even the thick click of a drum machine somewhere in the background, lest there be a moment of silence. The slight twinkle that opens Adem

I Don’t Heart Huckabees

2004-09-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Review: I Heart Huckabees, opens October 1 Appeared in The Harvard Independent There’s a lot of sizing-up staring in I Heart Huckabees. You know, a slightly turned head with narrow eyes looking warily at someone who, in this case, is usually doing likewise. The existential detectives Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (played exhaustively by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman) do it with a feverish intensity,

PROFILE: ZARA KOZLOV

2004-08-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

Young and Republican — and Proud of It By ALEX PASTERNACK Zara Kozlov, a sprightly 24-yearold from New Jersey, cuts an image of suburban wholesomeness, rounded out with old-fashioned manners. At 5’4”, wearing a pink tank top and waves of short brunette hair, she meets her interviewer exactly when she says she will (“I can guarantee 2:15”) — not a minute later or earlier. She’s been

U.S. Open Draws an Apolitical Crowd

2004-08-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to The Sun As activists and conventioneers from around the country converged at Madison Square Garden, another excited — though more reserved — group of outof-towners assembled in Flushing. The only rally they were interested in was a quiet one between players on a court at the USTA National Tennis Center, where the U.S. Open tournament starts today.

OMG!! Present Zine!!

2004-08-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

Present magazine's web site: http://geocities.com/presentzine http://presentzine.blogspot.com yuhhuh.

Miramax Rejects RNC Anti-Kerry Film

2004-08-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to the Sun A proposal by the Republican National Committee to put a short documentary attacking John Kerry in theaters around the country was rejected by film distributor Miramax, RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie said yesterday. The film, a bare-bones collection of video clips of Senator Kerry making apparently contradictory statements on Iraq and entitled “Kerry Iraq

Scarcity of Anti-Kerry Book on Shelves Raises Questions

2004-08-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

Some Posit That Liberal Conspiracy Keeps It Out of Stores By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to the Sun While a best-selling book has brought questions about Senator Kerry’sVietnam record to the front burner, some New Yorkers are asking another question: Where is the book? “Unfit for Command,” the centerpiece of the critique of the Democratic presidential candidate’s war experience that has played

New Collegians Prepare for Convention Clogging

2004-08-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

By ALEX PASTERNACK On top of the usual uncertainties that surround the first week of college — roommates, classes, and how to find the dining hall — the thousands of freshmen arriving in New York at the end of August are facing an additional unknown: sharing their new hometown with a 300,000-person political convention. “I’m actually really frustrated about it. It’s really hard going away to

In Brief: DEALERS SELLING CIGARETTES WITHOUT TAX LICENSES, HEVESI AUDIT REPORTS

2004-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

As many as 875 New York City retailers have been selling cigarettes without licenses, according to an audit report released yesterday by State Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s office, which pushes for improved coordination of tobacco licensing by state and city agencies. Cigarette vendors and wholesalers in New York City must obtain licenses from the state and city. The Comptroller’s audit, conducted

To Flee or Not To Flee Is N.Y. Question

2004-08-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to the Sun Conventional city wisdom dictates there is no better time to flee the city than the last week in August — especially when that happens to be the week of the Republican National Convention. On top of terror concerns, add some of New Yorkers’ biggest nuisances to this year’s end-of-summer boil — Republicans (roughly 30,000), journalists (15,000),

KEYES ENTERS ILLINOIS SENATE RACE AGAINST DEMOCRAT OBAMA

2004-08-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Conservative Will Need To Establish Residency By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to the Sun A two-time presidential candidate and black conservative commentator, Alan Keyes, entered the campaign fray in Illinois yesterday, ending a month of Republican anxiety over who would face rising star Barack Obama in an uphill battle for the state’s Republican Senate seat. State GOP leaders last week

xiu xiu, knitting factory, 8/7/04

2004-08-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

HE takes many minutes to set up his instruments. To tune. To tinker with knobs that are only innocent-looking. Lately I've been thinking that musicians ought to do more setting up during their sets instead of beforehand, a way to add some aural spice to the set, some instrument groaning in the throes of birth and making the too long time between sets shorter. This is not what he is doing. He is

Sole Example of Architect’s Work in America Is Destroyed

2004-08-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to the Sun A death knell is clanging for an Upper East Side townhouse considered to be one of New York’s finest Modernist buildings, as its new owner finishes extensive changes to its façade despite protests from neighbors and preservation groups. Since early June some of the building’s major elements, including its iconic stainless steel column, have

Google Turns Up Credit Card Numbers

2004-08-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to the Sun Amid growing concerns about the proliferation of personal data on the Internet, a Web site reported yesterday that a simple search on the popular Google search engine can easily be used to find individuals’ credit card information. Using a feature that allows queries for particular number ranges — a tool meant to find consumer goods at particular

Pro-Bush Jewish Group Starts Blog

2004-08-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

An non-partisan Jewish group calling for the re-election of President Bush because he is “best for Israel” took their message to the internet yesterday, opening a website with essays and a weblog documenting the presidential candidates’ “stark differences” over the current Palestinian crisis. Jeff Steier, the New York non-profit executive who started the website, said he got the idea during

Computer Malfunction Grounds US Airways, American Flights for Several Hours

2004-08-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

By ALEX PASTERNACK Special to the Sun A computer malfunction forced the groundings of all American Airlines and US Airways flights in the country for three hours yesterday morning, delaying hundreds of passengers at New York’s three major airports through the evening. The cause of the groundings “wasn’t a safety or security issue,” said a spokesperson for US Airways, Amy Kudwa. Instead,

Midler, Disney Team To Make East Harlem a Bit Greener

2004-07-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

Actress Bette Midler and Disney’s CEO, Michael Eisner, got their hands dirty in a run-down East Harlem lot yesterday, helping local leaders and volunteers transform the vacant space into a garden and playground for their community. The project, the culmination of work by the 8th District council member, Eric Reed; Ms. Midler’s nonprofit New York Restoration Project, and Disney’s outreach

‘Does Anyone Here Like Chocolate?’

2004-07-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

Sweet Day for Young Plaza Ambassadors Cooking class in the Plaza’s Le Trianon Suite yesterday had all the trappings of grandeur to be expected at the famous hotel. Men in navy vests stood at the ready like U.S. Open ball boys, dutifully waiting to wipe down any errant foods. A swath of protective saran wrap covered the ornate carpet. When the worldclass chef arrived, his class was

Living Between the Exits

2004-07-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Movie Review: Garden State from the Harvard Crimson In the era of hype and summer blockbusters, it seems easy to feel impressed by a movie well before one stumbles into the freezing dimness of the theater. If the multiplex happens to be in one of countless depressing shopping malls or on the side of the oppressive expressway, the build-up is even bigger. And if the trailer is

CLINTON'S LOVE OF CHINA, FOUND IN TRANSLATION

2004-07-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

President Clinton’s sprawling memoir is chock-full of personal revelations and political musings, but perhaps none is more surprising than his effusive admiration for Communist Party leader Mao Zedong. When readers in China opened newly-minted copies of “My Life” this week, they discovered that the American president once blamed for the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade also

RIGHTS REPORTS TIE KHARTOUM TO KILLINGS

2004-07-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

Government Memos Show Death Directives Arab militias that use systematic rape to intimidate African women in the war-torn Darfur region have been backed, protected, and recruited by the Sudanese government, documents and testimony collected by human rights groups showed yesterday. Two days ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote on sanctions against militia leaders,confidential memos

U.N. Peacekeepers In Africa Accused Of Sexual Abuse

2004-07-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

PROBE: OFFICERS IN THE CONGO RAN CHILD PROSTITUTION RING The United Nations is investigating dozens of allegations that members of its peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been sexually exploiting and abusing young girls, most of whom have spent years fleeing the rape and violence of local militias. But the investigation, focusing on officers stationed

Illegal stun guns sold openly on the internet for less than £20

2004-06-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

By David Bamber and Alex Pasternack (Filed: 27/06/2004) Illegal stun guns, which are being used by muggers and robbers to incapacitate their victims for up to an hour, are being sold openly on the internet for less than £20. Criminals use the guns, officially classified as firearms, because they do not cause permanent damage and so their use is hard to prove

Summers

2004-06-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

Artist: Nas Date & Time: 8/15/2004 3:00 PM Gates Open: 1:30 PM Price: Suggested donation is $10 Genre: rap, hip hop Nas, ten years after his groundbreaking platinum debut Illmatic, which helped spearhead the hip-hop renaissance of New York, stands alone at the pinnacle of hip-hop. Nas takes his place as one of hip-hops greatest street poets. Poet, prophet, and teacher - his skills

2004-02-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

The Walkmen, The Middle East Club February 27, 2004 Their name scared the bejesus out of me from the start, denoting their singularity as men walking (merely walking, perhaps even with sunglasses on down a beat-up street), or walking incarnations of those ubiquitous portable cassette players (see "Doing Cultural Studies with the Walkman"), that double image prefaced by the over-rated overbearing

Eyedea Rebuilds Underground Hip-hop from the Beat Up

2004-02-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

Published on Friday, February 20, 2004 By ALEX L. PASTERNACKCrimson Staff Writer ELAN A. GREENWALD—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER The cutting-edge Eyedea sets a new standard for hip-hop as he plunges the sonic depths with fellow MC Slug onstage at the Roxy.

2003-08-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader, In an effort to improve (add to) the content of my sorry ass blog, I offer up random ideas and commentary on cultural produce. That's all my melting brain can come up with. Alex

2003-08-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

British Sea Power w/ Fiery Furnaces Northsix, August 11, 2003 The opening Fiery Furnaces set, in which a demure sister and brother named Friedberger emitted vocals and guitar in a going-through-the-motions sort of way, made me sleepy and a bit wistful. What interesting lyrics she sings on their record were mostly drowned out by somewhat uninteresting music, dominated by older brother’s playful

2003-04-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

about to write a paper I am dreaming of the feeling of airy unwashed sheets on my dry unwashed skin. that would be magical now, the suspension of reality by way of cotton and mattress spring fancy. I would run outside to reinvigorate myself in the rush of the river. But the river is guarded by a gate and, in this surprise rise of winter on his death bed, in this last frozen breath, the river

2003-03-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

I just work up. woke up. tired, throat hurts. I thought it was 'desert throat', what those brave young people get in the rush of warring arabic sandstorms, which would fit in nicely with my dream--my city block was struck with an errant cruise missle, aiming perhaps for the turbaned donut seller. George bush woke me up with some much-applaused evangelical platitudes, and i wasn't sure if this

How Elite Episcopal Lost Star Director

2002-10-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

Tales Out Of SchoolOctober 28, 2002by Alex PasternackOn East 69th Street is typically reserved for show-and-tell, singing and Bible readings. Last June 24, however, the room played host to over 100 parents who had come to hear a more grown-up story from the school's board of trustees: why Episcopal's sprightly director, Cheryl Kelly, had just been asked to leave.Many of the parents-who pay about

Countdown to Bliss

2002-10-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

September 16, 2002, The New York ObserverAdam Edelberg and Kim ChernoffMet: Oct. 31, 1993Engaged: Memorial Day Weekend, 2002Projected Wedding Date: Nov. 9, 2002"I thought he was too tall for me," said Kim Chernoff, 5-foot-2, of the 6-foot-2 Adam Edelberg, whom she met at a boozy frat party when they were both Boston University freshmen.The summer before their senior year, Ms. Chernoff, who had

Kings of Convenience: Norwegian Quiet Riot

2002-08-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

August 5, 2002The New York ObserverEver since the Strokes revived the downtown punk-garage scene with the impetuosity of Joey Ramone and the influence of Alan Greenspan, the decibel meters have been busy with an unending stream of other bands with loud, basic sounds and names to match: the Hives, the Vines, the Liars. At this raucous party, acoustic guitars and soft voices are about as