Just when we were getting used to our August semi-slumber, we were compelled to sail back into wifi range, set the old Hitachi on the starboard toerail, unfurl the mizzen spanker, open all the seacocks, and dial up the ComLink protocols to GutterSat 1. And what did we find, oh our still so very very deeply Dearest Best Beloveds? Behold, ye mighty, the fruits of our inbox, and WTF?

Hi,

I'm a writer with Details magazine looking to feature a new (within the last three months) or soon-to-open (I'm working on the October issue) gorgeous architectural space, probably something commercial, such as a new building/restaurant space/etc.

Do you have any suggestions or anything I should look out for, anything the architectural community is excited about seeing completed?

Thanks very much for your help.

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Something's gotten into the kids this week over at the Home section. Because, for the first time ever, it's the sexxxiest section in the paper. Lead story on desperate housewives banging their contractors; a feature on couples and their plumbing; and the opening of the Nymphenburg (say what?) Porcelain Manufactory. Now where did we put those fifty bucks?

· House & Home [New York Times]

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So many of you are writing in to inquire as to why we have not commented on the recent double dose of Jean Nouvel in the New York Times (perhaps we are "useless, slatternly fops all aswell with our own debauchery," as one of you kindly suggested) that we thought we would actually stir from our summertime torpor, if for but a moment, to do so. As we see it from here, he got a nice sloppy one from Nicolai—writes one Reader, "Sounds like Nouvel just gave Nicolai a woody... Muscular industrial landscapes, Virile landscapes, erotic lipstick red... whew...did it just get a bit hot in here?"—and a pretty sound spanking—"my heart sank"—from Kimmelman.

All in all, not an unenjoyable outing for the Frenchman.

· On the Mississippi, A Vision Steeped in an Industrial Past [NYT]
· A Heart of Darkness in the Cityof Light [NYT]

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We're sick. Like clockwork. And all our droogies are off and away and about and beyond. Bitches. So we suffer alone, our neuresthenia our only friend. And now this: A reader sent in a curious image (leg or cock? you decide...) along with this as-curious note, subject line "parse this, kids":

seriously. are we going to talk about arch journalism, or are we going to talk about arch journalism?

Gets a big "huh?" from the team here. What's left of it. But parse for yourself. Full image shocking reveal follows, below.

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This week, we'll read between the lines. Former section editor Michael Cannell comes back to write about (a house) fitting into a new situation; former Architect's Newsletter gossipeuse Aric Chen writes about a kid in the design world; Andrew Postman reconciles his three loves—the zodiac, interior decorating, and reality TV—into a rare first-person story; and Stephanie Rosenbloom ties it all together with an outright full swap. Need we say more?

· House & Home [NYT]

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This week, we're pushed and pulled by the section; told to grieve, then asked to laugh. The cover story on Henry Varnum Poor's house makes us weep for the homes lost and the art ignored; At Home With Amy Sedaris/Jerri Blank reminds us to stay away from the crunked crank; Elinor Burkett discovers that you can go home again; and the shit about gardens is about happy little strawberries. We just can't decide whether to laugh or cry.

· House & Home [NYT]

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Having come late to the Ground Zero game, perhaps he should be forgiven. Perhaps. But that would be no fun. In the Times today, Nicolai O. has outdone himself, running together an amazing string of credulous confusions and half-thoughts. Frankly, there's more there than we can stomach to critique this fine, fine day. So let's just take one typically sloppy graf:

It is the mayor and the governor who should be credited with the latest design, not the bruised architect. Now that his design has been eviscerated, Mr. Arad could consider stepping aside, rather than twist in the wind. Since the experience of the pools will be two-dimensional, perhaps the memorial should be turned over to an artist rather than an architect.

Ill-informed: As an amazing 95% of his fellow New Yorkers have intuited, the mayor is an innocent here. But the governor and his henchmen not only should have been but actually were credited (among those who follow the story closely, including many of Nic's able colleagues) with the final contours of the Arad design—not only in the revised form that survived until this week, but as it was first presented in late 2003.

Ill-mannered: Arad got snookered (again), so he should storm off in a huff (again!)? Is that what real artists do? Real artists like Peter Eisenman, whose Shoahpalooza in Berlin gets BJ #108 from Nicolai elsewhere in the article? Not if they want to work in this town.

Ill-conceived: The experience of the pools is now only 2D? Nope. So they should really be designed by an artist. Huh?!?

You'll have to discover for yourself the other hidden treasures. Or skip it and read David Dunlap's thoughtful update. Then join us in casting your vote for the Draft Dunlap as Architecture Critic campaign below....

· Ground Zero Memorial, Revised But Not Improved [NYT]
· The Effect of Moving 9/11 Names to Street Level [NYT]

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So a major architect (we'll give him that) claims publicly that he designed a thing he did not design (in this case, of course, his own apartment) and somehow, through the magic of Nina (we're guessing), it turns into an error of "the interview"? Reader supplied absurdity follows:

An interview in the Domains column on May 21 with the architect Daniel Libeskind referred imprecisely to the design of his apartment. While Libeskind contributed to it, the architect was Alexander Gorlin. CORRECTED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES Sun Jun 18 2006

Eschew the passive voice! Own it! Be a mensch!

· Gutterland Police Blotter: Danny Robs His Own Apartment [The Gutter]

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There's a lot of buzz in the beachy, summer Monday air about Michael Arad's 9/11 memorial and the prospect that it might lose its waterfalls. You say: mon dieu! We say tant pis. The real story, as ever, is elsewhere. But also staring us in the face. Anyone notice something strange about this late-breaking AP report on the fresh PitWorld drama? Why, may we politely ask—and with all due respect—the fuck would a reporter quote Danny on the subject? Twice! Even he's moved on....

· 9/11 Memorial to be Redesigned [AP]

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This just in! El ArchRecord Hefe Bob Ivy is writing a rapidly updated reverse chronological order series of short and witty reports—straight from the AIA convention ground, perhaps even using a laptop connected to the internet via a "WiFi" "hotspot,"—which are presented in a scrolling interface with the occasional admixture of digital pix and, even, yes, links!!!

Maybe we should call him Blog Ivy!

· Record@AIA06 [ArchRecord]

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