Come with us, O our best beloveds, on a journey inside the mind of The Guttersniper.

Earlier this week, before the news trickled down to the clambering masses, our Inbox was graced with the following inferno-hot tip:

gay is just so damn modern! PJ would have been so proud, because rumor has it that none other than one Columbia department head is stepping down from one helm and stepping up to another. That bastion of American architectural taste has passed its torch yet again - from Terry to Barry. The courage to be effete indeed!

From the above it was pretty simple to divine that none other than the very brilliant Barry Bergdoll had been tapped by MoMA, at long last, to fill Terry Riley's vacant spot. It was also pretty simple to remember (after an associate reminded us) that this was old news, "broken" elsewhere by a very appropriate messenger. So we passed. Inviting, as the week wore on with its usual sloth and decay, about a dozen bitchy dissatisfied emails along the lines of the one we reproduce in archival quality below:

Have you NOTHING to say about the appointment of Barry Bergdoll as new Chief Curator for Architecture and Design at MoMA? Come on this is real news for a change... Or are you too busy studying the traffic patterns on the LIE?

Bingo to the first assertion. Not quite, alas, to the second. And, to the third, not at all; we're really beginning to favor the Southern State.

· Terence Riley is Gone. Long Live TK! [The Gutter]

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Highways! Bridges! Billboards! Have you ever seen anything more beautiful? Though we are still mourning the departure of sweet, sweet Sarah Herda (Oh, Chicago, treat her well), we still have enough good in our hearts to laud this upcoming offering from the Storefront for Art and Architecture. It's called "Lovely Infrastructure Capriccio," it's by l'artiste Linda Ganjian, and it's part of a show called "Portable" that opens on June 28. There: service. Put a fork in us.

· Coming Attractions [Storefront]

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Happy apocalypse, Dear Readers. That said, you—and we, we're hoping—can rest assured that the new endings of the old beginnings are coming at a time when the world is ready. For the National Design Awards have been announced, the finalists selected, the minds awarded. And what a selection! Craig Robins wins for Design Patron! Annabelle for Interior Design! Paolo Soleri for Lifetime Achievement! Il Antonelli bello di Paola per la mente di disegno!

But then, slam.

Look at us, Bernard. It's all for you.

· Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Awards [Official Site]

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Our predilection for a more egalitarian education notwithstanding, every so often we like to press our Twist-ian noses to the glass and check in on what the waterjet-enabled classes (a-ha!) are up to. Easha Anand, writing for the Yale Daily News, covers the last two days of an undergraduate Yale architecture studio, dubs it—with points for originality!—"archi-torture." And while it has been years—years, Dear Readers!—since our last foray on the other side of the jury line, something about it struck our interest, piqued our fancy, and maybe, just maybe, tugged on our nostalgic heartstrings. Which is why, for the second time today, we are compelled to share. Herewith, two scenes from an observed charrette:

They file in with coffee, this Wednesday night. With Starbucks cupholders and Atticus bags. With laptops and headphones, stopping to check out viciously markered posters and notes from TAs.

"It is judgment day, my friend!" Tory Wolcott '06 says, glassy eyes fixed to PC screen, covering the remaining white in her rendering with asphalt texture, all autopilot fingers and caffeine-twitch knees.

· Learning to Love Archi-Torture [Yale Daily News via ANN]

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The news that Terry Riley was leaving the MoMA for warmer climes and better diversions rippled through our tiny culturescape, leaving little more than passing—and fanciful—ponderings on who might replace him. To recap, our particular favorites—albeit in that sweeter, far more innocent time—were (in no order except one utterly meaningful to us): Robert A.M. Stern, Aaron Betsky, Joe Rosa, Paola Antonelli, and Herbert Muschamp.

It all seems so long ago. And in the meantime, we'd forgotten to care, we'd let it sit, until today, in none other than the Home section, slipped into a puff piece on the Milan furniture fair, sandwiched between Murray Moss' deep thoughts on Kartell and something about a chair you can't sit on, we found this:

Paola Antonelli, chief acting curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art...

· Terence Riley is Gone. Long Live TK! [The Gutter]
· Louche Life [NYT]

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While the latest DillerWatch™ focused mostly on the more Bride of Wildenstein-cum-brazen hussy features of the wannabe renegade architect, it appears that our dear Liz's shenanigans—surgical or otherwise—have been going on for quite some time. And while we had a more realistic education, we are thankful for the few Readers out there who spent time learning being proselytized to at Liz's current place of teaching proselytizing. Because, years later, they still remember the funny things they used to do to make fun of their professors. From a former SOA-er:

Your relentless bukake assault on Liz reminded me of a spread of her in a now defunct Princeton architecture student zine in which she also received a lot of coverage.

· DillerWatch™: A Perfect Marriage? [The Gutter]
· DillerWatch™: A Renovation Close to Home? [The Gutter]

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The Chicago Tribune announced today that the Chicago-based Graham Foundation, aka the We Got Your Money Right Here, So Long As You're Interested In Buildings Foundation, has selected a new director. Shock of all shocks, she's a chick. A broad. A skirt.

Sarah Herda, current (soon former) Storefront for Art and Architecture director and a virtual pre-teen in the world of architecture, will be formally announced Friday as (RIP) Richard Solomon's successor. Which is all very lovely and nice and very excellent for her and she's so young and has made such great strides in such a short time and how did they ever ever find her?

Life being not life and political announcements being not political announcements without the necessary ConflictWatch™, this just in from the July 2003 issue of the always trustworthy Columbia College Today:

Solomon took [JargonWatch™-worthy archispeaky journal] 306090 to New York and incorporated it, bringing on new staff members, including architecture major Emily Abruzzo ’00. Partially funded with grants from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 306090 has a circulation of 2,000.

The first issue was launched with a simultaneous show at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, named "eMeRGenT" as a nod to the journal’s subtitle. A number of subsequent issues also have had a concurrent "eMeRGenT" show, designed as a way for contributors and readers to meet and to see the objects in the journal. The events have given 306090 more exposure and brought new and established designers together.

That would be Solomon, Jonathan. Son of Solomon, Richard.

We're just saying.

· Chicago architecture fund picks 1st woman director [Chicago Tribune]
· Examining New Ideas in Architecture [Columbia College Today]

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Let her kiss me with the kisses of her mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; she shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi. Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes. Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

That's right: tonight we will meet our Adi....

· A Reception for Adi Shamir [Van Alen Institute]
· Adi. Rhymes With... [The Gutter]

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There's nothing like a scroll through Forensic Nurse magazine to take the Thursday Styles chill out of a tired 'sniper. Especially if it involves an article about architecture students, maps, and sex offenders. Two Texas A&M students have "created a spatial planning tool" (er, "map?") that helps police departments locate offenders. And make a spatial planning tool with which to diagramatically inform the post-realization of the pre-offensive plausible re-offender.

It's just so cute when they get all save-the-world-y.

· Maps by Architecture Students Track Sex Offenders [Forensic Nurse]

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Ah. A new day, a new morning, and, thankfully (given our latent proleratiat sensibilities), a new SAH listserv . While not quite the plethora we were hoping for, the last few days have brought two all-consuming issues to the architectural history forefront. First, from an etymologically curious historian:

Does anyone know the origin of the use of the word "arms," as it is employed in the names of apartment complexes and residential hotels? I assume it comes from a Medieval usage connected with coats-of-arms, but I do not have a reference for this.

Academia. Love it. But moving on, before we become even more inclined to stray back to the loving womb of Xtreme Thought. To our dear Sears-loving Rose.

Hey, how about a little light-hearted conversation? I joined this list-serv because I heard this was a happening place with wild and crazy historians!! :)

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