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Can We End This Destructive Conflict?
I still haven’t been to the movies since I moved to Berlin. I hear you can order a beer? I’ll have to sneak some pretzels and nuts from King Kullen under my jacket. How many of you have never snuck in a snack?
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November, 2008
- I’m at ad:tech New York today. Looking forward to meeting a few people I’ve been speaking to on the phone.
- Off to vote.
- Listening to French conversation in the press room of #adtechny as I write a blog post. All I hear are web 2.0 brand names dropped every min.
- heading over to latitude bar for the #adtechny cocktail party. I really could use a drink after today.
- Obama is the 44th President of the United States.
- Google withdrawing from Yahoo deal; not worth the legal fight. Mission Accomplished.
- Off to The Emperor Has No Clothes: The Affluent Consumer Online @ #adtechny & @doshdosh Palin is done. Party going to mutate in next 4 yrs
- Playing with the new www.Plaxo.com site before getting the Higbie Bagels with the German.
- Eddie Bauer’s return policy, a huge part of their brand is purposely vague & disingenuous. The brand is old, tired, boring & will die a slow death
- Comments on my “DPA” post brought back memories of cruisin’, Monte Carlos, t-tops, IROC’s & Z. Cavariccis. What does DPA mean to you LI?
- Wish I could be in the Oval Office listening to the Bush & Obama conversation.
- I just got hit by friendly fire Rick Rolling Bea. Now I that stupid song stuck in my head.
- Back at my desk returning calls & emails. Fun having dinner with Rob, Melissa, Bea at Mexican Radio & drinks with team Greece at Pravada.
- Did the Google Analytics home page change? I like.
- My weekly review is going analog. Working with pencil and paper today.
- A product added to iliketotallyloveit.com only 6 hours ago by a first time submitter is already #3 on Google for its Key Word. I’m shocked.
- Off to see 007 at the new Tanger outlet movie theater. It’s a warm & damp long island night. Storm’s a-brewing.
- Double 0 Awesome. This Bond kicks A$$. The new theater @ Tanger Arches is a brand spanking new & clean, please tare down stinky Commack
- Digg Facts: Over 30 million users every month, about 16,000 submissions a day, and about 32,000 comments.
- Cleaning garage day here at the Barba’s & I found my Palm Pilot IIIxe. Damn, there is no way to connect it to any of my computers.
- Packing books and listening to mash-ups from the http://mashuptown.com/ podcast. Bose speakers, best present ever.
- Taking the German to Benihana’s tonight for something different. I think she’ll like it and I haven’t been since Abracadabra came out.
- Alan Keyes files a lawsuit over Obama eligibility. Why doesn’t this issue go away?
- Pondering. Will Obama offer McCain Sec. of Defense? Clinton Sec of State? What would Lincoln do? Would they accept it? Shouldn’t I be sleeping?
- Getting acquainted with the Google Analytics visualization feature. Watching trends for the past two years. Wish I could slow the speed down.
- What’s the etiquette when someone accepts a friendship/connection on a social network? Is emailing a thank you already too spammy? Thoughts?
- CEOs of GM, Ford & Chrysler flew private jets to DC to cry poverty. Go home & restructure before begging. Fire PR & fly first class back.
- I have 1 hour before the wife gets home. Let’s see how much of the Rezorter style sheet I can get done. Richard bear w/ me as I slow u down.
- That was a very very productive hour. Going to be a husband for a few hours, continue after she falls asleep. Thank you SomaFM Digitalis.
- Done for tonight. Can Richard & I rebuild/launch Rezorter.com in 7 days? That’s the challenge I’m enjoying. Going in a totally new direction
- ‘Twas the night before tomorrow, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, only tony B’s mouse.
- Great conversation w/ an Internets Celebrities of Ghetto Big Mac, Bodega & Checkmate fame.
- Felt great to go back to EUE/Screen Gems today, see the old gang. I’ve come full circle & ready for what’s coming next. I learned a lot there
- Listening to Kayne West’s new album. Love/hate him this guy is talented. The first track is very sad. 1st album since his mother passed on.
- Listening to Kanye’s new album again while working on the Rezorter UI design. The first track is my favorite. Album reminiscent of William Orbit
- How does my partner Richard work this fast? Now I have to catch up.
- Listening to Pink Floyd’s The Man & the Journey. Recorded live 1969.
- For some strange reason, everyone is awake at 5 am & ready to have breakfast. I guess she’s excited to get to work today too.
- Been going almost non-stop since 6 am. Going to take a little lunch break. Checkers (the poor man’s In & Out burger) here I come!
- There is so much in my life to be thankful for.
- While Bea sleeps I’m playing with her brand new MacBookPro. Glossy screen, no 2nd button, cold sharp aluminum edges but it’s looks awesome!
- Productive day of de-cluttering, organizing & packing. Found tons of cool stuff from my childhood. Taking Mrs. Barba out as my reward.
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Geller Update
This was just emailed to me by Jake:
Paying Homage to a Man Who Left His Mark on the East End By Nicholas Morehead, The Southampton Press, June 1, 2006
In the quest to complete his latest project, Jake Gorst is up against a powerful enemy: time. The 36-year-old documentary filmmaker is looking for financial backing to make a movie about his grandfather, the renowned architect Andrew Geller, now in his 80s. Mr. Geller’s unconventional use of angular designs throughout Fire Island and the East End in 1950s and 1960s established him among the most prominent East End architects. Examples of Mr. Geller’s work can be seen throughout eastern Long Island. There’s the Elkin House in Amagansett, built-in 1966 with its series of triangles resembling a geodesic dome unpeeled. And the Pearlroth House, built in what is now West Hampton Dunes in 1958. With its side-by-side double-diamond configuration, the Pearlroth House looks more interstellar spacecraft than domestic domicile.
Considered iconic by most who know it—a modern, progressive, post-World War II resort home—the Pearlroth House, with its bold shapes and striking design, has inspired generations of architects to pursue similar careers, according to Mr. Gorst.
Last spring, owner Jonathan Pearlroth offered to donate the house to Southampton Town rather than demolish it to make way for a new home he plans to build on the site. The Town Board agreed to take the house and in October agreed to move the now-famous box kite-shaped beach house to Hot Dog Beach in East Quogue. There, it will be used as a learning center, part of a larger recreational master plan for the area.
Mr. Geller’s designs, Mr. Gorst argues, are significant not only for their architectural brilliance but also for their cultural significance. Through their unique structures and shapes, Mr. Gorst said his grandfather “showed the world … that the common man could indeed be the king of his own castle or castles.”
From his early days growing up a child of Russian immigrant parents in Depression-era Brooklyn through his prominent career as vice president of architecture for Raymond Loewy, considered by many to be the father of industrial design, Mr. Geller’s story is one that needs to be told, Mr. Gorst said. And it needs to be told soon. In the last two months alone, two potential interview subjects died—Justin Fabricius, who ran the Raymond Loewy office in the early 1970s, and John “Hobby” Miller, who constructed most of Mr. Geller’s designs on Fire Island and in the Hamptons.
“Besides them, there are probably about a dozen original homeowners—all in their 80s and 90s—that we need to get to soon,” Mr. Gorst said.
Mr. Gorst has made several documentaries through his Northport-based company Jonamac Productions, including “Leisurama,” a 2005 film about a Montauk housing development. Jonamac is currently in post-production on “Desert Utopia: Mid-Century Architecture in Palm Springs.”
As for the Geller film, Mr. Gorst’s crew is ready to go. His wife, Tracey, is set to be the production assistant, and Mr. Gorst himself does most of the camera work and just about all of the editings. He even has a title for the project: ”Call Me Andy.”
Mr. Gorst expects the movie will cost about $131,100 to make.
Meanwhile, Mr. Geller is “rather overwhelmed with the attention and he doesn’t really understand” why anyone is making such a fuss over him, Mr. Gorst said.
“It’s unbelievable,” Mr. Geller said recently from his Northport home. Having conducted his portion of the film’s interviews about a year and a half ago, Mr. Geller said now he’s “just sitting here being flattered.
“That’s what happens when you have a fantastic grandson.”