(For the making of a larger cartoon with the easier reading, click the third toe of the fourth foot from the left.)
Today's Bizarro cartoon is sponsored by Baby Man.
This cartoon was inspired by the ugly building that is going up across the street from Bizarro International Headquarters here in Brooklyn. There used to be a charming, old, three-story red brick warehouse from the late 19th century, but the owner tore it down and is erecting a hideous condo building. If the architecture were at least interesting or tasteful I would not mind so much, but the monstrosity he is erecting will be twice as tall as the old building and utterly odious. A couple of floors are finished, and now that I can see the "style" of the building, I pray for the 50-foot woman to stomp it into dust. Or Godzilla, though he does not have a skirt up which I could look from my vantage point across the street. (Of course, a 50-foot woman probably has an 8-foot "schnootzer," and that might be even more frightening than Godzilla.)
I know the man who owns the land and he is a nice enough guy. But he's one of these people who hasn't an ounce of interest in asthetics. To him, "a building's a building." When a person doesn't even recognize the difference between an ugly building and a beautiful one when it is pointed out and explained, as I once did for him, you don't have much of a chance.
Of course, at this very moment, he may be writing on his blog that he knows a guy who doesn't recognize a huge profit margin even when it is pointed out and explained, and that my investment portfolio is odious.
The obvious difference is that I am not erecting a six-story reminder of my lack of financial skills across the street from his home.
8 comments:
=v= There's a school of thought that the original 50 Foot Woman represented the Freeway Revolt of the time, which generally pitted woman-led neighborhood groups against haughty male planners. I don't have any idea how true that is, but I can certainly fantasize about a 50 Foot Woman with new urbanist/liveable city values smashing up freeways and condos.
I wonder how tall the Woman With Fifty Feet is. Might she actually be a 50-Foot 50-Foot Woman? Those are rarer than Yetis!
I dunno if I'd call the second building in your example "beautiful" but I'd certainly go with "better than the ugly, boring, what were they thinking?" building in the first example.
But I'd imagine beauty is in the eye of the guy paying the architect. Me, give me lots of windows and a rabbit warren design.
No, I agree with you, that second building is UG-LEE! Lorna thinks that first building is ugly. That's why we have boring, McMansions all over America. Sigh.
I live in an area (suburbia) where they are tearing down 50-75 year old perfectly nice houses that have character and charm and replacing them with horrible, ugly McMansions that stretch from property line to property line (what happened to having a yard? Wasn't that the point of living in suburbia in the firs place?) and they are often covered in this pale, concrete type facade that makes them look like strange warehouses. They often have 3 car garages. They all seem to look alike. Ugly. Of course, now a lot of these are standing empty because of the real estate melt-down.
BTW, Apart from being deeply disturbing, I couldn't help but notice that photo of the guy with the giant paper-mache (sp?) "hoo-ha" (that's a technical term) has the anatomy all wrong. (The "door button" is on the outside of the door, if you get my drift.) No wonder some men have so much trouble satisfying a woman. IF ONLY we were built that way! We wouldn't need battery operated appliances.
Another way to limite the visual confrontation with an unesthetic object : living inside.
So what's with the building with all the little shacks tacked to the outside? Are those for the women to sit inside, heavily veiled of course, so they might have a glimpse of street life without being compromised? Or are those just the outhouses, and one should exercise extreme care while walking on the sidewalk below?
@ YetAnotherSteve...
Those box-looking things on the building walls are covered balconies. For reasons unknown to me, the Hasidims in neighboring Williamsburg routinely fence in their balconies and windows so that the entire building literally looks like a prison. They often get fancy on the balconies with tents and walls and roofs, too. The man responsible for the ugly building across the streets lives in this community, so I assume that anything more attractive than the federal pen at Leavenworth seem beautiful by comparison.
I love the first building and hate the second. Dan you are a strange man.
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