#( brick by brick ; krystyna )

[latenightcinephile]

#885: ‘Man of Marble’, dir. Andrzej Wajda, 1976.

There’s a number of levels at work in Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Marble, even without taking into account the circumstances of the film’s production. Man of Marble is about a student filmmaker, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), looking to make a film about a folk hero from the Polish Communist era. The folk hero, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), disappeared from the public record, seemingly in some kind of disgrace, and Agnieszka has to pursue a number of weak leads and scour cinema archives to find information about Mateusz. The film has a lot of structural similarities to Citizen Kane, because Agnieszka proceeds through interview after interview, each of which reveals more information about the main figure (but not the answer to the most important question). Each interviewee is able to illuminate only some sections of the subject’s life, and each illumination is subject to the interviewee’s own positioning and biases.

In other words, when Agnieszka interviews Witek (Michał Tarkowski), a former saboteur arrested by the state and ‘rehabilitated’, his conversation frequently veers away from discussing Mateusz towards the refinery he is now in charge of. Any insights we get into the history of Mateusz are buried beneath twenty years of re-education. Mateusz’s wife is reduced to tears by the humiliation of her treatment, and any information we get about the folk hero loses any sense of proportion.

There are also some telling absences in the stories. Like many propaganda heroes, Mateusz’s claim to fame is built on something vague and almost mythic: he is a bricklayer who was chosen to demonstrate the benefits of Communist work strategies, leading a team that lays a seemingly impossible number of bricks. The way this particular story is told by those who were there makes it seem like there were contingencies to artifically inflate the number of bricks laid - the ends justifying the means. To Wajda’s credit, his film leaves this ambiguity open: while Mateusz’s team is lagging behind with two hours to go, they somehow manage to blow past their target nonetheless.

Wajda also pins down the more nuanced workings of propaganda throughout the film. Agnieszka’s first interaction with a relic of Mateusz’s story is the statue of the film’s title, buried in the storage facility of a museum. In order to access any information about what has been lost, she needs to literally go underground, accessing fragmentary materials in archives and locating sources through word-of-mouth. The most interesting parts of the film are these moments of discovery, with the not-so-subtle subtext being that the methods by which the Polish regime erased Mateusz’s story were as effective as the methods by which they created it.

This is also the film’s weakest aspect, though: it creates a subtext so compelling that by the end of Man of Marble the film has fallen victim to its own subtext itself. Any analysis of a period of previous propaganda has to acknowledge that the propaganda was a tool for immoral ends. Propaganda has to be effective in order to convince a populace of an otherwise untenable idea: if the idea weren’t untenable, the propaganda wouldn’t be necessary.

In rejecting the propaganda of a previous era, though, Man of Marble tends on occasion towards making its own propaganda. This is at its most apparent in its establishing shots, weirdly enough: each arrival in a new town is accompanied by shots of bucolic mountains and happy urban dwellers, like some traveler’s orientation video from the 1970s. The message is uncomfortably clear: the life people are experiencing now is dramatically better than the world under the previous regime. In itself, this is propaganda too, just for a more acceptable idea. It seems deliberate that our arrival at the plant where Witek works is by helicopter, just so we can get sweeping aerial shots of this new age of industry, as well as an acknowledgement of how far society has come that helicopters are now in the hands of the citizens!

Wajda probably didn’t intend this to be the case: he just wanted to examine Poland’s past and the scars it left behind. But the further we get from any period, the more glaringly obvious its propaganda becomes, and Man of Marble is no exception. The film’s final reveal, that Mateusz was killed in a worker’s riot, was ultimately cut by the censors (it’s odd that that was what was cut when so much other damning stuff was left in). Wajda would come back to this topic a few years later, though, with Man of Iron, and I’ll be curious to see if this propagandising was a fluke or a trend.

[art-now-uk]

Finding Golden Hope, Krystyna Spink

Some times when you think your life has hit a brick wall...you must Hope and Pray, Keep going until things get back on track. The painting has threads of gold which represent finding hope as if digging for gold, only it is more precious. If it were not for Hope the heart would die.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Finding-Golden-Hope/324250/3767903/view

[stagepaul2-blog]

16 Places to Get Great Pierogies in Philadelphia

Guides

All our favorite places to eat these Polish potato-stuffed dumplings, from traditional versions to gourmet pockets with fancy fillings.

Pierogie Kitchen | Facebook

There are few foods as comforting as a plate of pierogies, delectably tender dough pockets stuffed with cheese and potato, seared golden brown, and smothered with caramelized onions with a side of tangy sour cream.

Philly is a destination city for them, with a veritable Pierogi Alley in Port Richmond. But you can find great pierogies at restaurants across the city, from upscale downtown spots and gastropubs to diners and dive bars. Here are our favorite places to get pierogies in Philadelphia.

Mom Mom’s Kitchen | Facebook

Mom Mom’s Kitchen, Bridesburg Our favorite Polish restaurant — hell, one of our favorite restaurants period — is this food cart-turned-brick-and-mortar. Hit them up for golabki, kielbasa (from Czerw’s, of course), and pan-seared pierogies in potato, farmers’ cheese, or Philly cheesesteak.

Pierogie Kitchen, Roxborough This spot specializes in house-made, hand-pinched pierogies, which you can order hot to eat there or cold to prep at home. Get them in classics like potato-cheddar or in gourmet flavors like Buffalo chicken, three cheese-pepperoni, and chocolate ganache.

Donna’s Bar, Port Richmond An old-school neighborhood watering hole that hosts Best of Philly-winning karaoke and also serves killer pierogies is pretty much all we’ve ever wanted in a bar.

Memphis Taproom, Kensington Get a taste of Eastern Europe filtered through a gastropub lens at this Cumberland Street hangout. Order their cheesesteak pierogies on their own, or get them as part of the Port Richmond Platter alongside kielbasy, kraut, and potato pancakes.

Green Rock Tavern | Facebook

Green Rock Tavern, Port Richmond This Lehigh Avenue bar’s pierogi recipe is the stuff of urban legend. Get them au naturel in seasonal flavors, or go big with their pierogi hoagie — which is half-price on Tuesdays.

Famous Frank’s-A-Lot, Market East Center City is light on pierogi options, but one of Reading Terminal Market’s eclectic vendors has the hookup, with pierogies on its menu alongside Texas Tommies, BBQ chicken, and mac ‘n’ cheese.

New Wave Cafe, Port Richmond Richmond and Allegheny is to pierogies what 9th and Washington is to tacos or 10th and Race to Chinese cuisine — pretty much ground zero, with several stellar options within a block or two. One of the best known is New Wave, where you can get a round of Polish beer to go with your fried pierogies.

Bud & Marilyn’s, Midtown Village Of course Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran’s ode to Midwestern supper club fare keeps pierogies on the menu. Their fancied-up version is made with smoked cheddar and served with browned butter, shallots, apple-celery salad, and a zingy horseradish crème fraîche on the side.

Pierogi Factory | Facebook

Pierogi Factory, Bustleton This homestyle Polish spot on Bustleton Avenue serves broiled or fried pierogies Ukranian style (potato and sauerkraut), Israeli style (potato and mushroom), Italian style (spinach, ricotta, parmesan) and good old “original” (potato and cheese). Don’t forget the babka for dessert.

M&M Restaurant, Port Richmond Named for owners Martin and Margaret Cudnik, who have run this old-school Allegheny Avenue diner since 1993, M&M mostly serves American-style breakfast — except for their pierogies, which Margaret learned to make growing up in her native Poland.

Kraftwork, Fishtown Just south of pierogi central, the Girard Avenue gastropub keeps crispy-fried potato-and-mushroom pierogies, served with an apple chutney and chive crème fraîche, on its regular menu.

Syrenka Luncheonette, Port Richmond Chef Krystyna Florczak serves substantially-sized, crazy-cheap pierogies at this cafeteria-style spot along with Polish dishes like bigos (AKA hunter’s stew, made with pork and kraut), potato pancakes, and blintzes.

Tattooed Mom | Facebook

Tattooed Mom, South Street The iconic South Street dive is one of the few places outside the River Wards that keeps pierogies on its menu consistently (and also offers a vegan option). Pro tip: on Thursdays, they’re only 50 cents a pop.

Dinner House, Port Richmond Relative newcomer Dinner House (it opened just three years ago) serves Polish grandma-style fare, including featherlight pierogies, from a menu in both Polish and English.

Southampton Spa, Southampton This road trip-worthy Russian spa just outside Northeast Philly limits features a pool, hot tubs, several different sauna rooms. But there’s also a menu of classic Russian dishes like borscht, smoked fish, and pierogi-esque potato dumplings, which just seem to taste better when you eat them poolside in a bathrobe.

Crime & Punishment, Brewerytown True to its name, the grub at this Girard Avenue brewpub is Eastern European-inflected, with a menu of beets, kielbasa, and, of course, pierogies. Theirs are stuffed with braised pork jowl, or get the potato-only veggie version.

Source: https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2018/11/27/best-pierogies-philadelphia/

[shortstruck83-blog]

16 Places to Get Great Pierogies in Philadelphia

Guides

All our favorite places to eat these Polish potato-stuffed dumplings, from traditional versions to gourmet pockets with fancy fillings.

Pierogie Kitchen | Facebook

There are few foods as comforting as a plate of pierogies, delectably tender dough pockets stuffed with cheese and potato, seared golden brown, and smothered with caramelized onions with a side of tangy sour cream.

Philly is a destination city for them, with a veritable Pierogi Alley in Port Richmond. But you can find great pierogies at restaurants across the city, from upscale downtown spots and gastropubs to diners and dive bars. Here are our favorite places to get pierogies in Philadelphia.

Mom Mom’s Kitchen | Facebook

Mom Mom’s Kitchen, Bridesburg Our favorite Polish restaurant — hell, one of our favorite restaurants period — is this food cart-turned-brick-and-mortar. Hit them up for golabki, kielbasa (from Czerw’s, of course), and pan-seared pierogies in potato, farmers’ cheese, or Philly cheesesteak.

Pierogie Kitchen, Roxborough This spot specializes in house-made, hand-pinched pierogies, which you can order hot to eat there or cold to prep at home. Get them in classics like potato-cheddar or in gourmet flavors like Buffalo chicken, three cheese-pepperoni, and chocolate ganache.

Donna’s Bar, Port Richmond An old-school neighborhood watering hole that hosts Best of Philly-winning karaoke and also serves killer pierogies is pretty much all we’ve ever wanted in a bar.

Memphis Taproom, Kensington Get a taste of Eastern Europe filtered through a gastropub lens at this Cumberland Street hangout. Order their cheesesteak pierogies on their own, or get them as part of the Port Richmond Platter alongside kielbasy, kraut, and potato pancakes.

Green Rock Tavern | Facebook

Green Rock Tavern, Port Richmond This Lehigh Avenue bar’s pierogi recipe is the stuff of urban legend. Get them au naturel in seasonal flavors, or go big with their pierogi hoagie — which is half-price on Tuesdays.

Famous Frank’s-A-Lot, Market East Center City is light on pierogi options, but one of Reading Terminal Market’s eclectic vendors has the hookup, with pierogies on its menu alongside Texas Tommies, BBQ chicken, and mac ‘n’ cheese.

New Wave Cafe, Port Richmond Richmond and Allegheny is to pierogies what 9th and Washington is to tacos or 10th and Race to Chinese cuisine — pretty much ground zero, with several stellar options within a block or two. One of the best known is New Wave, where you can get a round of Polish beer to go with your fried pierogies.

Bud & Marilyn’s, Midtown Village Of course Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran’s ode to Midwestern supper club fare keeps pierogies on the menu. Their fancied-up version is made with smoked cheddar and served with browned butter, shallots, apple-celery salad, and a zingy horseradish crème fraîche on the side.

Pierogi Factory | Facebook

Pierogi Factory, Bustleton This homestyle Polish spot on Bustleton Avenue serves broiled or fried pierogies Ukranian style (potato and sauerkraut), Israeli style (potato and mushroom), Italian style (spinach, ricotta, parmesan) and good old “original” (potato and cheese). Don’t forget the babka for dessert.

M&M Restaurant, Port Richmond Named for owners Martin and Margaret Cudnik, who have run this old-school Allegheny Avenue diner since 1993, M&M mostly serves American-style breakfast — except for their pierogies, which Margaret learned to make growing up in her native Poland.

Kraftwork, Fishtown Just south of pierogi central, the Girard Avenue gastropub keeps crispy-fried potato-and-mushroom pierogies, served with an apple chutney and chive crème fraîche, on its regular menu.

Syrenka Luncheonette, Port Richmond Chef Krystyna Florczak serves substantially-sized, crazy-cheap pierogies at this cafeteria-style spot along with Polish dishes like bigos (AKA hunter’s stew, made with pork and kraut), potato pancakes, and blintzes.

Tattooed Mom | Facebook

Tattooed Mom, South Street The iconic South Street dive is one of the few places outside the River Wards that keeps pierogies on its menu consistently (and also offers a vegan option). Pro tip: on Thursdays, they’re only 50 cents a pop.

Dinner House, Port Richmond Relative newcomer Dinner House (it opened just three years ago) serves Polish grandma-style fare, including featherlight pierogies, from a menu in both Polish and English.

Southampton Spa, Southampton This road trip-worthy Russian spa just outside Northeast Philly limits features a pool, hot tubs, several different sauna rooms. But there’s also a menu of classic Russian dishes like borscht, smoked fish, and pierogi-esque potato dumplings, which just seem to taste better when you eat them poolside in a bathrobe.

Crime & Punishment, Brewerytown True to its name, the grub at this Girard Avenue brewpub is Eastern European-inflected, with a menu of beets, kielbasa, and, of course, pierogies. Theirs are stuffed with braised pork jowl, or get the potato-only veggie version.

Source: https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2018/11/27/best-pierogies-philadelphia/

[juliandmouton30]

BIG completes Lego visitor centre shaped like a stack of building blocks

Bjarke Ingels' firm BIG has unveiled its new visitor centre for toy company Lego – a stack of huge building blocks, featuring brightly coloured patios that are home to a submarine, a shark and a camel.

A pair of "pixelated" staircases allow visitors to scale the exterior of the Lego House to reach the patios, which are set atop 21 blocks shaped to resemble scaled-up Lego bricks.

Copenhagen- and New York-based firm BIG designed the 12,000-square-metre centre to provide a new attraction for Lego fans in the company's hometown of Billund, Denmark.

Its location, on the site of Billund's old town hall, also puts it in close proximity to the Legoland theme park.

"Lego House is a literal manifestation of the infinite possibilities of the Lego brick – one that embodies the notion of systematic creativity and allows children of all ages countless opportunities to create their own worlds and to inhabit them through play," said Ingels.

"At its finest, that is what architecture, and Lego play, is all about: empowering people to imagine new worlds that are more exciting and expressive than the status quo – and to provide them with the tools and the skills to make them reality."

The brightly-hued terraces aren't visible from the plaza that surrounds the base of the building, and passersby instead see only the white ceramic tiles the structure is clad in.

The plaza, steps and a square set into the centre of the building are open to the public, while huge Lego exhibition halls within the 12,000-square-metre building are for paying visitors.

A tree made from plastic building bricks sprawls up through an atrium, which is wrapped by a staircase that links floors housing giant models of dinosaurs, whole cities and mountain ranges made from the toy bricks.

Like the roof terraces, the galleries are colour-coded using the colours of Lego bricks to create a way-finding system.

Play areas on the first and second levels are divided up into red, blue, green and yellow zones, designed to represent different aspects of a child's learning process.

The uppermost floor of the building is home to the Masterpiece Gallery, which is illuminated by eight porthole skylights that mimic the shape of the stud-connectors found on the top of each Lego block.

The gallery is used to display structures created by Lego fans. From its roof, visitors can take in 360-degree views of the city, which is where Lego was founded in 1932.

The lower floor hosts a gallery charting the history of Lego's brand, and a space named the Vault – set directly below the public square – where children and AFoLs (Adult Fans of Lego) can get a glimpse of the first editions of many of Lego's most famous building kits.

Lego released a model kit of the Lego House to coincide with the building's opening. The 774-piece, 197-step kit replicates the stacked-block formation of the building and its brightly coloured terraces, which were captured in drone footage taken by Lego ahead of the building's completion.

The visitors centre also includes a cafe and restaurant – where meals are served in Lego brick-shaped boxes by robots – and conference facilities.

Bjarke Ingels, who is currently heading up his New York team, has plans to move back to his native Denmark later this year, where BIG is working on a pair of high-rise residential towers with spiky facades beside a new IKEA store in Copenhagen.

Ingels, who came in second on the inaugural Dezeen Hot list, is also currently working on a new campus for Google in London with British designer Thomas Heatherwick.

Related story

Lego releases drone footage of BIG's Lego House nearing completion

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

Project credits:

Partners in charge: Bjarke Ingels, Finn Nørkjær, Brian Yang Project leader: Brian Yang Project manager: Finn Nørkjær Project architect: Snorre Nash Project architect (facades): Snorre Nash Team: Andreas Klok Pedersen, Agne Tamasauskaite, Annette Birthe Jensen, Ariel Joy Norback Wallner, Ask Hvas, Birgitte Villadsen, Chris Falla, Christoffer Gotfredsen, Daruisz Duong Vu Hong, David Zahle, Esben Christoffersen, Franck Fdida, Ioana Fartadi Scurtu, Jakob Andreassen, Jakob Ohm Laursen, Jakob Sand, Jakub Matheus Wlodarczyk, Jesper Bo Jensen, Jesper Boye Andersen, Julia Boromissza, Kasper Reimer Hansen, Katarzyna Krystyna Siedlecka, Katarzyna Stachura, Kekoa Charlot, Leszek Czaja, Lone Fenger Albrechtsen, Louise Bøgeskov Hou, Mads Enggaard Stidsen, Magnus Algreen Suhr, Manon Otto, Marta Christensen, Mathias Bank Stigsen, Michael Kepke, Ole Dau Mortensen, Ryohei Koike, Sergiu Calacean, Søren Askehave, Stefan Plugaru, Stefan Wolf, Thomas Jakobsen Randbøll, Tobias Hjortdal, Tommy Bjørnstrup Collaborators: COWI, Dr. Lüchinger+Meyer Bauingenieure, Jesper Kongshaug, Gade & Mortensen Akustik, E-types Client: Lego

The post BIG completes Lego visitor centre shaped like a stack of building blocks appeared first on Dezeen.

from ifttt-furniture https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/03/big-bjarke-ingels-architecture-lego-house-billund-denmark/

[werechosen]

BRICK BY BRICK: a krystna wronski playlist

[werechosen]

👑, 🔪, 🎨, 🎭, 🎶 + 🍁 (krys)

👑 which muse is most likely to take over the world

I feel like Nora has the most access and already has the power to take over the world, but Krys is much more ambitious in that aspect, so I feel like Krys would be the one for this.

🔪 which muse would you most likely be enemies with

I wouldn’t be enemies with any of my characters, but it’s possible I might find Cami slightly annoying just because she’s so positive all the time and on bad days that would definitely irritate me.

🎨 which muse is the most artistic

Cami, but Nora is a close second.

🎭 which muse is the easiest to write

It generally depends on my mood of the day, but for some reason I always have muse for Krys and I find her to be the easiest muse to write.

🎶 what song makes you think of Krys

Use Me by Beans and Fatback, and a bunch of other songs tbh but I can’t think of them off the top of my head

🍁 what inspired you to write/create Krys

Well I knew I wanted a Polish character because just... Poland (come talk to me more about Poland if u want a crash course on it’s history tbh eyoo), and then just Kaz Brekker from the Six of Crows series heavily inspired her backstory, but she’s def more chill than Kaz and also the rules play differently as a woman so that affects things obvi. I also love my morally grey/black characters so that was also a part of what initiated me to create Krys.