Fallingwater

Today, my family and I trekked out to the Pittsburgh area to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Not being a morning person, I wasn't very excited about the idea at first, as it required getting up at 6:30am. But, I must say that it was well worth it. The scenery was lovely, and the house is an amazing one-of-a-kind. I'm still floored by the fact that it was built in the 30's--Wright's designs and ideas seem very modern day, indeed.

Here are a few pictures of the house (outside only, sadly) and the surrounding woodlands. It snowed quite heavily the whole time we were there, which showed up in a few of the pictures. Adds that winter feel, I suppose.




The view as you walk to the house.


A side view of the cantilevers the house is based on. You can also see the stairs that go from the living room down to the stream. A very novel idea.


A far view highlighting how the house hangs over the waterfall.


A close up of the waterfall.


Some impressive icicles along the rocks between the main and guest houses.


Another front view.

Now if only I were incredibly rich, and Frank Lloyd Wright were still alive. . .

A Magazine Loaded With Lies

Everybody knows that magazines touch-up photos. But I've always wondered just how much they do, and what they change. Well, this site helps to answer those questions. Not only do they show the before and after of a doctored photo, they also have a demonstration that goes through each touch-up. It shows just how easily an average photo can be turned into an eye-catching magazine cover.

The before and after are pretty dramatic. It's a little sickening to think about how much deception is going on here. It's also sad that our ideas of beauty have gotten so unnatural that people have to be photoshopped beyond belief before they're "attractive."

Despite all that, this little demonstration makes me feel pretty good. Knowing that all those girls aren't really that beautiful is comforting. Takes off the pressure, I suppose. Reminds us that we're all human. Or maybe it's just the bitter, jealous girl in me talking.

A Wintry Wonderland

Having lived up north all of my life, I'm pretty used to wintery weather by now. Can't say I'm always a fan of it--especially if I have to walk 20 minutes to campus in it! But, every now and then I see something that reminds me of the things I've always liked about winter. Like this:



Simply awesome.

Ice in general is pretty neat. I remember putting bowls of water outside when I was little to wait and see when they'd freeze. I thought it was so cool. (Ok, yes, I was and still am very easily entertained.) But when ice forms in such unique shapes like this, it's even more fascinating. I'm not entirely sure how this giganticicle formed, but I think it was probably caused by the brief warm spell we had. Stuff started melting, and then all froze back again.

Either way, it's awe inspiring. Though, now that I think about it, maybe that's why it's always so cold in my dorm room. . .

WRUW, How May I Help You?

I had a very odd call into the station during my radio show this morning. I'm a bit surprised I haven't had more, my show being from 6-8 am and all. Though I'm definitely glad this is the first I've had like this.

The call went a little something like this (paraphrased, of course):

[Four Tet "My Angel Rocks Back and Fourth" playing in the background]

Me: WRUW

Caller: I, I, I hear a harp and that sounds really nice, but there's that shhhww shhhww going on too. You need to cut that out. It sounds like there are two songs playing.

Me: [laughs, about to explain that the song has the rhythmic noise in one channel and the melody in another channel]

Caller: YOU LAUGH, BUT I CAN EASILY CHANGE BACK TO 90.5. . . [continues on about the radio station and how he can stop listening]

Me: [attempts to say that it's just one song and that there's nothing I can do to change it, and that I'm sorry he doesn't like it]

Caller: [yells LOUDER over me not allowing me to say anything, threatening not to donate to telethon, and that if I keep playing music like that I will clearly not get any money donated to my show]

By now, enough time has passed that I have about a minute before I have to go on air and talk.

Caller: [still yelling loudly. He was "as serious as a heart attack and a stroke combined" when he was saying I needed to stop the music, and that I just laughed. Etc. etc.]

Me: [finally bursting in, continuing to talk even though he was yelling over me for most of it] I'm sorry you don't like the song, but it is one song and there is nothing I can do about it. I have to go because I have to talk on air.

Caller: [just keeps yelling]

Me: I HAVE TO GO NOW!

Caller: [continues to talk for a long time, finally wrapping up his threats]

Me: [by this time, extremely annoyed, having 10 seconds to rush to the microphone] BYE.

I never thought I'd get callers threatening to change the station, to not donate to telethon, and just generally yelling at me because of one song I played. He even commented that he liked the song before that one! But apparently, the Four Tet was just too much.

I don't know if I should find this funny or sad or scary. I'm not sure what sort of conditions a person who makes a call to a radio station like that must have been in. But I really question his mental state. I'm just glad he wasn't making personal threats to me.

Either way, I've had my dose of being yelled at today, that's for sure.

A Triumph of Sorts

Being done with a class that you thought was going to completely clobber you and knowing that you totally rocked it. . .Definitely an awesome feeling. Doesn't quite beat the putting-on-clothes-fresh-from-the-dryer-feeling. But it's high on the list. Sure, much of my thinking I was doomed was complete paranoia. But still!

Hooray for being done with lab. One class down, four to go.

I'll try to suck less at the whole updating thing soon. Promise.

Simply Horrific.

I had heard rumors of this before, and had hoped for dear life that it wasn't true. But sadly, it is.

Paris Hilton is apparently a musician now.

Well, at least she is putting out an album. After listening to a few of the songs on her new MySpace page, I wouldn't venture to call her such. Though the songs do provide a good laugh (via terrible lyrics, bad songwriting, and overall suckitude), I had trouble stomaching the three tracks in their entirety. It's almost painfully bad, really.

Of course, we know that the model will play the role of a pop starlette very well. Slutty pictures of her abound. I doubt she even had to do a new photoshoot for her album art work. And as the background picture of her MySpace shows, she's all set to do a cover of Rolling Stone. But it's pretty obvious that Paris is unfamiliar with playing the guitar. She appears to think that it is played with the crotch.

I'm sorry to break it to you, Paris, but you can't accomplish everything in life via vagina. Though you're sure making a valiant effort.

Edit: Apparently this was in fact a fake site. I suppose that makes sense, since she made a big deal about becoming the "hiphop princess," and those songs sounded nothing like that. Anyways, since being exposed the site has since become a thing making fun of Paris Hilton. Oh well.