Work at Home

When you work at home, you’re always on time.

Call Me Moderne

Architecture plays a starring role, almost as stunning as Clive Owen himself, in the recently-released-on-DVD suspense film, The International. The movie features numerous buildings with strong vertical and horizontal lines, which makes the scenes filmed in curvilinear landscapes all the more prominent.

One of these is the big shootout in the Guggenheim, and since director Tom Tykwer and his crew couldn’t shoot up the real Guggenheim, they re-created the museum’s interior for the film.

The Guggenheim was completed in 1959, six months after the death of its architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Schindler’s Listed

For the manageable sum of $7, you can visit R.M. Schindler’s West Hollywood studio-residence. Or for $5,000 a month, you can live in one of his houses.

Up for lease: Buck Residence, Schindler’s 1934 gem at the corner of Genesee and 8th Street. The property retains much of its original character, and includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open living room, sliding glass walls, clerestory windows and interior partitions...

According to Los Angeles: An Architectural Guide: “All privacy on the exterior with just a touch of Streamline Moderne. The interior spaces open through great panels of glass in the south garden area. One of Schindler’s finest houses.”

I can attest to the house’s near-miraculous privacy. Every time I’ve driven by, I’ve tried to peek in the windows, with no success.

Buck Residence : : 805 South Genesee Avenue, Los Angeles, CA

Lease info: Deasy/Penner+Associates

MAK Center for Art and Architecture L.A.

R.M. Schindler Studio and Residence : : 835 North Kings Road, West Hollywood, CA

Los Angeles: An Architectural Guide, David Gebhard and Robert Winter

Cuckoo For Coconut

Every day brings a new reason to celebrate. What’s today’s rationale? It’s National German Chocolate Cake Day.

German chocolate cake is not from Germany, although it is chocolate. Click here to learn about branding gone awry. 

To make your own, check out last year’s Los Angeles Times blog covering the 50th anniversary of this American classic. The blog presents a traditional version based on candy-maker Samuel German’s baking chocolate, along with more attempts at reinvention than even Madonna has tried.

Flair Publisher Fleur Cowles, 101, Dies

Fleur Cowles, publisher of one of the most brilliant magazines ever — Flair — died in a nursing home in Sussex, England last Friday. Cowles was 101. Here’s a link to her New York Times obituary. Also, here’s a link to a Hello Sunshine posting from a while back that featured some spreads from her illustrious magazine.

Simply Dogged

Here’s another page from my Workingman Press handbag-a-day calendar. (Thanks again, Christopher!) 

Here’s a joke told to me by a neighbor who was walking a recalcitrant black Scottie:

Q. What’s the difference between a terrier and a terrorist?

A. You can reason with a terrorist.

It’s National Cheese Day!

It’s the day I’ve been waiting for all year, except for National Peanut Butter Day (March 1) and National Chocolate Truffle Day (May 2). 

In celebration of National Cheese Day, here’s a recipe for Dried Porcini and Gruyere Tarts,  which was mentioned during an NPR story, The Ten Best Summer Cookbooks of 2009. The recipe is from Preserved, by Nick Sandler and Johnny Action. 

So, while you’re chilling the pastry dough, why not flop down on the love seat to watch Wallace and Gromit experience the joys of their favorite, Wensleydale cheese?