#sir james quinlan

[cleowho]

“It's a pity you've no explanation...”

The Ambassadors of Death - season 07 - 1970

[conniejoworld]

By KEVIN KRAUSE

Staff Writer kkrause@dallasnews.com

He was a fugitive who had threatened to go to war with the government and had illegally gotten his hands on a powerful firearm after being released from prison.

And he was in contact with another militia extremist who months later would begin plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor, according to the FBI.

“I am now a sought after man, who is going to stand up and NEVER allow them to kidnap me again,” Kevin “KC” Massey said on Facebook.

Massey’s final days were spent running, hiding and talking about a final confrontation. That, however, never happened. The North Texas man who once led vigilante patrols on the Texas-Mexico border shot himself two days before Christmas in 2019 in Van Zandt County, putting an end to the manhunt.

Over a year after Massey’s death, some associates who allegedly provided him with aid and support are now themselves facing prison time. While on the run, Massey, 53, became a powerful symbol of resistance for the resurgent anti-government militia movement that has been radicalizing people disaffected by the pandemic and national politics.

Cody Gene Reynolds, 34, of Hunt County recently pleaded guilty in Dallas to buying Massey an AR-15-style firearm a few months before Massey’s suicide. Reynolds is scheduled to be sentenced in August, according to court records. His attorney declined to comment.

And Barry Gordon Croft, 44, was communicating with Massey on Facebook in the fall of 2019, promising to help him and to train him for a coming war against the government, the FBI says. Croft, of Delaware, has been charged along with about a dozen others with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A third man, James Russell Smith, was arrested and tried on a charge of harboring Massey at his Hunt County home. But a federal jury in Dallas found Smith, 70, not guilty several months ago.

Massey was already a hero to some other homegrown extremists, and his death only served to make him a martyr in the eyes of like-minded militia members. An Illinois podcaster last year called Massey a “fallen political prisoner.” And a Facebook page created for him called Massey a “patriot who served on the Texas border repelling foreign invaders.”

For federal authorities who are looking to contain the growth of domestic terrorism in the U.S, that is a concern.

“Massey’s status as a fugitive became a symbol of government oppression for individuals like Croft who harbored anti-government and anti-federal law enforcement views,” an FBI complaint in that case said.

Croft was arrested in October. Prosecutors called him a ringleader in the Whitmer kidnapping scheme as well as the “prime mover behind” the construction and testing of “weapons of mass destruction.”

Croft took part in nighttime surveillance of the governor’s house, planned to bomb a bridge and detonated test bombs he planned to use, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said in a filing. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney declined to comment.

‘They will ... pay’

Croft messaged Massey on Facebook in October 2019 when Massey was a fugitive, the FBI says. Among the things Croft said to Massey were, “They will have to pay for what they have done,” and “I don’t care if we destroy this whole planet in the fight that is coming, but a reckoning is necessary,” an FBI affidavit said.

Croft also allegedly said that “the People” didn’t support what happened to Massey and that “Our hour draws near, brother.”

“I’m going to North Carolina on Saturday to discuss going to war against the government of North Carolina,” Croft allegedly wrote. “They invited me to speak and share tactics. Please come out bro. We need you.”

Croft also told Massey in his messages that he could help him, according to the FBI.

“I can pull you out,” Croft allegedly told him. “Let me get you nourished back to combat ready … I need to recover you, sir.”

Massey, 53, was an electrician from Quinlan, an hour east of Dallas, and a man with “alarming rage” and a love of heavy weaponry, federal authorities have said.

He had gone into hiding around May 2019, several months after being released from prison on probation for a federal weapons charge that stemmed from his armed border patrols, court records say.

In addition to being a militia member, Massey was a Three Percenter, which refers to a far-right, anti-government movement that the FBI is building a conspiracy case against in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and insurrection, according to published reports and court records.

Three Percenters are also referred to as “III%ers” or “threepers.” The term Three Percenter is based on the myth that only 3% of American colonists fought against the British during the American Revolution. Authorities say it’s not a single group but more of a common belief that a small yet determined force of armed citizens can overthrow a government. Many independent militias incorporate it into their names.

Authorities say Croft posted the following comment online in April 2019: “Be it known, any harm to KCI Massey III by the federal government will trigger my 3% [expletive] to action!!!%”

Help from friends

Massey came to the attention of federal authorities in 2014 when he was in Brownsville as a member of a border vigilante group called Rusty’s Rangers. Dressed in military fatigues, he conducted armed patrols with others on the South Texas border to search for immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S., authorities say.

The militia members, displeased with U.S. border enforcement, said they took matters into their own hands after obtaining permission to access private property. Their makeshift “Camp Lonestar” on rural land served as a “staging area for their patrols,” according to the feds.

Massey routinely videotaped his border activities and posted them on Facebook, court records said. He would later say on Facebook that he had the power of citizen’s arrest. In posts, Massey described detaining immigrants at gunpoint and binding their wrists with zip ties.

He vowed to remain at the border until regulators “sealed the border or there’s some sort of civil war,” prosecutors said.

Instead he was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Massey was found with 20 homemade explosive devices and other weapons at the time, court records say. He was convicted and sentenced in 2016 to 41 months in federal prison.

His prison writings, archived online by a supporter, as well as his Facebook posts, show that he fervently embraced right-wing extremist movements.

According to prosecutors, he also expressed support for Timothy McVeigh, whose bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 killed more than 160 people and injured over 680 others.

Massey was released from prison in June 2018 to begin serving his three-year probation term, according to court records. As a felon, he could not legally have firearms.

But Massey drove with Reynolds to a Caddo Mills gun store in December 2018 to buy one, according to court records. Massey gave Reynolds money and told him which gun to buy. Reynolds then purchased the Diamondback Arms DB15 for Massey. The gun, although called a pistol, looks and performs like an assault rifle.

Reynolds pleaded guilty on March 30 to acquiring a firearm from a licensed dealer by false or fictitious statement and to aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm, court records show. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

A warrant was issued for Massey’s arrest in May 2019 after he tested positive for illegal drugs and failed to report to his probation officer, court records show.

While on the run, Massey went to a second man for help, an old friend, prosecutors said.

An acquittal

James Russell Smith is retired from the construction industry and lives in Lone Oak, east of Dallas. He had known Massey for about 20 years and recruited him to join the Cossacks Motorcycle Club years earlier, prosecutors said. Massey told Smith he was broke, hungry and needed a place to stay, according to court records.

In July 2019, Massey moved to Smith’s property near the banks of Lake Tawakoni, court records say. Smith provided him with food and shelter and also allowed Massey to store his property, including firearms, on his land, according to prosecutors.

U.S. marshals learned Massey was there and set up surveillance. Massey was seen coming and going from the home with what appeared to be a firearm on his hip, a federal complaint said.

Agents raided the home with a search warrant but Massey was gone, having “escaped into the woods,” prosecutors said.

Smith told agents he didn’t know where Massey was. The marshals said they found an AK-47-style pistol inside a bag he left behind. While the marshals continued to look for Massey, the government in July 2019 charged Smith with conspiracy to conceal a person from arrest.

Smith’s trial ended in September with an acquittal. Juror notes submitted during deliberations indicate they had an issue with a critical element of the charge — that Smith knew of the existence of a federal arrest warrant for Massey at the time.

‘Key issue’

Smith’s attorney, Keith Willeford, said in an interview that the arrest warrant for Massey had been sealed and therefore wasn’t public knowledge.

“The key issue was the fact that they had to prove that my client knew that KC had a warrant,” he said.

Willeford said Massey stayed at his client’s property for only about four nights. And no one ever called Smith to inform him that Massey was wanted or to ask for his help in locating him, Willeford said.

William Hagen, a federal prosecutor, tried unsuccessfully in 2015 to seek a tougher prison term for Massey, citing his “utter disregard for federal law.”

And he issued a warning that turned out to be prophetic.

“Because the defendant not only disrespects the law, but explicitly rejects the legitimacy of it, he will undoubtedly rearm and reoffend once released from prison,” Hagen wrote.

The 911 call came in on Dec. 23, 2019. Police said Massey’s body was found in a “small wooded area.”

Twitter: @KevinRKrause

[talesofpassingtime]

Books 2018

How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger

Ruby, Molly E. Jamieson

Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut

The Artist, The Audience and a Man Called Nothing, F.K. Preston

Confessions of a Mask, Yukio Mishima

Goodbye, Mr. Nothing, F.K. Preston

Plexus, Henry Miller

The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Under the Roofs of Paris, Henry Miller

The Swimming Pool Library, Alan Hollinghurst

Valmouth, Ronald Firbank

Rock Star Ex, Jewel Quinlan

Fima, Amos Oz

Dirty Little Freaks, Jaden Wilkes

Men I’m Not Married To, Dorothy Parker

How Long Has This Been Going On? Ethan Mordden

Enchanted India, Prince Karageorg Bojidar

Warwick the Kingmaker, Charles Oman

Tun-Huang, Yasushi Ionue

Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin

Lost Illusions, Honore de Balzac

The Lost Language of Cranes, David Leavitt

Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany

The Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer

The Narrative of Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allan Poe

The Ballet Russes and Beyond, Davinia Caddy

A Treatise on the Art of Dancing, Giovanni Gallini

On the Road, Jack Kerouac

The Cities of the Plain, Marcel Proust

Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol

The City and the Pillar, Gore Vidal

Little Man, What Now? Hans Fallada

Confessions of an English Opium Eater, Thomas de Quincey

A Boy’s Own Story, Edmund White

The Street of Crocodiles, Bruno Schulz

Delta of Venus, Anais Nin

Witch Stories, Eliza Lynn Linton

Witch, David Cain

Billiards at Half-Past Nine, Heinrich Boll

Lorenzo de Medici, Alfred von Reumont

Catherine de Medici, Honore de Balzac

The Cat’s Whiskers, Mackenzie Brown

[lothiriel84]

Only last night I found myself lost (by the station called King's Cross)

Here follows another of my long rambling travel blogs. You have been warned. 

Saturday 8th September

It’s fair to say that I have a complicated relationship with Stansted Airport; on the one hand, it’s my default gateway into the UK (I’ve only ever landed at Gatwick Airport exactly once, and of course Edinburgh Airport on my one trip to Scotland). On the other hand, it’s stupidly far from London, and I’ve been seriously sleep deprived every single time I set foot in it. (Oh, and there’s also that one time when I actually missed my flight, but let’s not dwell on that.)

Still, it’s been way more fun than it had any right to be to stand on the train platform right outside the airport, and watch the music video of Single-Bilingual by the Pet Shop Boys on my phone. It’s quite a silly video, and it’s actually been filmed at Stansted Airport. I hadn’t been this much into Pet Shop Boys’ music on my previous visit, or, you know, at all; now they’re probably my favourite musical group, and a brilliant sountrack to my trip on top of that.

But I’m digressing. The thing is, rather than going straight into London from Stansted, I took a train to Cambridge instead. As it turns out, Cambridge is relatively close to Stansted, and as I had recently watched (and fell in love with) James Ivory’s Maurice, I was really looking forward to seeing one of the main locations of the film/novel. Given how I was planning to go on the Ghost Bus Tour in London that same evening, I was on a rather tight schedule; still, I managed to visit King’s College and its chapel (which is one of the locations where Maurice was filmed), and Queens’ College with its Mathematical Bridge. 

After that, I had to rush and take a train to London; and as it happened, my train arrived into King’s Cross station, which is not only the title of a Pet Shop Boys song (yeah, I’m going to bring up PSB a lot throughout this post, I’m not even sorry), but also the location of a statue dedicated to Sir Nigel Gresley, of Infinitely Bad fame. 

In the end, @smegandtheheads and I both succeeded in reaching Northumberland Avenue on time for the first Ghost Bus Tour of the evening (sorry again, Lizzie, for making you dash all the way there at such short notice). Neither of us had ever been on that specific tour with Peter Davis as the conductor, so it was quite brilliant; Peter is such a sweetheart, and terribly funny on top of that. Here’s a picture of the man himself, looking as if he’s some kind of ghostly gentleman. (Sorry.)

On a side note, I’m absolutely sure he added the final “Get out of my bus” specifically because he knew Lizzie and I were on board. I really can’t wait for the re-release of the old Monster Hunters episodes, and the new ones to follow.

(Peter also hinted that there might be a fourth season in the cards, which would be absolutely amazing.)

I was really quite tired after that - not only I had had very little sleep prior to, or even during, my flight, but I had been carrying my cabin baggage on my back all day long, both in Cambridge and in London. I’m so glad I eventually decided to accept when Lizzie invited me to join her and her boyfriend for dinner, along with their podcaster friends. I had such a fantastic time listening to Max talk about all of Definitely Human’s past, present, and future projects - including the Monster Hunters re-release, which is probably the one I’m most excited about at this moment in time. 

(Well, that, and the final few episodes of The Infinite Bad. I’m so going to die before it’s over, the one thing that still needs to be seen is whether that will happen out of dread, grief, or both of those things at the same time.)

Anyway, for those of you not in the know, The Monster Hunters is an absolutely brilliant comedy/horror podcast, set in swinging London in the early 1970s; written by and starring Peter Davis and Matthew Woodcock, featuring (among others) the incredibly talented voices of Simon Kane and Laura Marshall. All existing episodes will be re-released under the Definitely Human label, each one featuring a short commentary from the creators themselves; there will also be additional Patreon-exclusive content, and new episodes coming up in due course. 

(And, well, sorry Max if I sounded much more excited about MH than any of the other projects you’re currently involved in, but I’m so grateful that DH stepped in to make the rest of series 3 happen, and so much more.)

Sunday 9th September

Sunday was a rather quiet one, as I was still tired from the previous day. Passing through Brixton I accidentally discovered they have a David Bowie mural there, which I hadn’t known in spite of having very nearly walked past it on two previous occasions, and it was a nice surprise to find out. 

Eventually, I did reach the Festival of the Great North Wood in Sydenham Hill Wood, which I think I had previously heard about from one of Carrie Quinlan’s tweets. It was a relatively small event, but they did have a few birds of prey on show, including this lovely little chap.

They also did guided walks through the wood, and it was lovely to be able to join one of those. Our guide talked us through the history of that particular wood, and the railway that once ran through it; it was quite nice, even more so as I do tend to spend quite a lot of time in parks and green areas whenever I’m in London.

After that, I headed to Crystal Palace Park, which is not very far from there. I had already been there before, but it’s always nice to see those big dumb Victorian dinosaurs loitering in the shrubbery.

Monday 10th September

After spending quite some time on Google Maps trying to work out whether it made any sense to attempt a day trip to Ottery St Mary (for much obvious Cabin Pressure reasons) or anywhere else in Devon, I had eventually settled for Dorset as a much more feasible option. Quite apart from some rather specific associations that I’m not going to mention here, Poole was the perfect place for a Jurassic Coast boat trip; and given how the stunning Durdle Door is quite a difficult place to reach, that was the next best thing, at least as far as I am concerned. 

The coastal cruise, sailing from Poole Quay, allowed a really stunning view on Poole Harbour and Old Harry Rocks; and after a brief stop at Swanage Pier, it circled back, giving us passengers another chance to admire the chalk cliffs on our way back to the quay. 

Once back on dry land, I went to visit Poole Museum, and also stopped by an old sweet shop which somehow reminded me of Carolyn Knapp-Shappey. It’s even called Truly Scrumptious, which is - an interesting coincidence, I guess?

And then, back to London, where I had a bit of a random walk, ending up in the approximate spot - facing the Palace of Westminster across the Thames - that is featured at some point during the music video for West End Girls. Which I then proceeded to watch on my phone. (Nothing to see here, guys - just a completely normal human being, doing completely normal stuff. Yep.)

Tuesday 11th September

Having worked in a mail centre for a little over two years, I thought it would be fun to go and visit the Postal Museum, even more so as they give you the option to ride the Mail Rail, which was basically an underground railway used to move mail between sorting offices. The museum was nice, and the ride was quite cool, albeit rather short.

On my way back to my hotel I made a detour to St Pancras Gardens, where the tomb of Mary Wollstonecraft is, and also that rather curious landmark that is the Hardy Tree. Plus, I very cleverly accidentally located the Mornington Crescent underground station, which is apparently the subject of a game I literally know nothing about, save for its name. 

In the evening, I went to the first preview show of An Execution (by invitation only), which was the actual reason why I was in London in the first place. I will probably try and write a proper (-ish) review as a separate blog entry at some point; for now, suffice to say that it was weird and brilliant in equal measure, with quite an unusual set design combined with decidedly intense performances from all four actors. 

(The cast included Simon Kane, Tom Lyall, Greg McLaren and Shamira Turner. I assume most of you will at least be familiar with Simon’s voice as featured in John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme; as for Tom Lyall, he played a rather magnificent Oberon in last year’s Mighty Fin musical A Midwinter Night’s Dream, as well as the delightfully over-the-top boss of a record company in The Devil Gets All The Best Tunes.)

After the show, I took a detour in order to get a few pictures of the Post Office Tower (yeah, I do realise it’s mostly referred to as the BT Tower these days, but to me it will always be the Post Office Tower of Monster Hunters fame) and King’s Cross too, despite having already been there on Saturday. 

(Sir Nigel Gresley still hadn’t turned into a mass of writhing hands, which I decided to take as a good sign. I still hadn’t listened to the episode of The Infinite Bad which was due to be released the following day, which definitely had me screaming at the unexpected turn of events. Well.)

Wednesday 12th September

As I was planning to go to the Wellcome Collection, I decided I might as well have a walk through Regent’s Park first. The weather was a bit changeable, and it even rained for a bit; still, it was nice, and I accidentally stumbled upon the Frieze Sculpture 2018, which included some rather curious works by contemporary and modern artists. The malevolent looking penguin was quite a treat, giving off such powerful Infinitely Bad vibes - though there were no carcasses of supernatural stags knocking about, much to everyone’s relief.

(On a side note, how long has the Wonderpass under Marylebone Road been there? I’m pretty sure I’ve been in that area at least a couple of times before, but I might have simply failed to notice it, I guess?)

In order to gain further dread, I then proceeded to visit the Teeth exhibition at the Wellcome Collection; it was a must see for a fan of The Infinite Bad, and I had been hoping to be able to just sit outside the exhibition area afterwards, and listen to the new episode. As it turned out, data roaming was just awful inside that building, and as it was getting late I was forced to postpone the listening. 

(Which I then ended up doing whilst packing my bag for my flight back home, much later that night. Not exactly ideal for such a detail/reveal-packed episode, but still.)

That evening I went to the second preview show for An Execution (by invitation only); it was still as good as the first time around, with the added bonus of a rather - shall we say, interesting? - poem about a spider, which had apparently been added in the space between the two shows. 

And, well, that’s it for me this trip, I guess. Or, rather...

Thursday 13th September

As it turns out, there’s about one thing that can make a forty-five minute walk to Victoria Coach Station at four in the morning marginally more bearable, and that’s listening to Pet Shop Boys’ music. 

What is rather less pleasant is having your flight departure delayed by over an hour - though thankfully with us passengers already boarded, or I would have literally fallen over - because they had taken too long to load the baggage onto the plane, and the flight plan had expired. Which, I’ll admit, is an interesting piece of information for a Cabin Pressure fan, but it doesn’t quite help when you’ve had no sleep and there’s no way you can actually manage to doze off on one of those contraptions that Ryanair insists on calling a seat. 

(Arthur, dear heart, as much as I adore you, could you please stop referring to takeoff delays as ‘brilliant’? And we didn’t even have Monopoly to play, such a shame.)

[jamesquinlanmeservy-author]

JQM LITERARY CHAT Welcomes M K Wiseman

Tell us about yourself:

  Hello, I’m M. K. Wiseman. Came into writing from a rather roundabout way—the idea for my first novel came while I was transitioning my professional aims from animation to librarianship. (To this day, I still storyboard before I write.) I engage in steampunk happenings whenever I can (TeslaCon, in Madison, WI is epic!) and it is through a steampunk chat session on Twitter that I found my publisher. I’ve a disparate collection of hobbies and interests: I unicycle, draw, paint, and perform with a Croatian folk ensemble. I’m a Parrot Head who dreams of having a sailboat of my own. And I absolutely love the Rocky Mountains and hot hot New Mexican cuisine.

    Tell us about your book:

  The Bookminder series is a YA historical fantasy revolving around the story of Liara – 16-year-old orphan whose life is bound by the Laws of Magick – and Nagarath – a reclusive mage hiding from magick itself. Of course, fate throws these two together. Needless to say, their pairing is both volatile and delightful, especially when the past catches them up in the form of Nagarath’s former friend, Anisthe – a war mage with grand aims and few scruples. Book 2, The Kithseeker, is due out at the end of August 2018 and takes our heroes out of 17th century Istria and over to the court of King Louis XIV.

  What influenced you to write your current genre?

  All sorts of little bits of my life fell into The Bookminder – my profession, my heritage, my quirks of humor . . . I really like a good, solid magic system when I read fantasy. To this day, some of my favorite books are YA and younger—perhaps there’s some simple nostalgia in there for me, who knows. And as for the historical angle? I credit that with my trip to Croatia in 1997 and all the years I performed with the youth tamburitza orchestra in town. That, too, held a sort of magic. In the end, it all blended together and led me to YA hist fantasy. Book-wise, I’d say that Tolkien has influenced me by his attention to little details—through him I think of stories differently. Some people say they skip bits of Lord of the Rings, but I stop and linger over every description of every hillside, each vast tract of lane and beautifully wrought detail. Little Women also tends to stop and invite us to smell the roses. Same with, to a point, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes – though to a lesser extent, of course. I guess I’ve always really feel at home in a grounded story, content within the old prose. That’s my favorite sort of literary adventure – far from cell phones and Twitter (which, don’t get me wrong, I adore!)

(These two two images are from the Castle at Ozalj from my 1997 Croatia trip)

Who are your favorite authors?

  Laurie R. King; Brian Jacques (whom I met several times!); Jimmy Buffett; Douglas Adams; Carol Kendall; Orson Scott Card; Madeleine L’Engle; Tamora Pierce; Philip Pullman; Ursula Le Guin; C. S. Lewis; J. R. R. Tolkien; Louisa May Alcott; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (and Adrian Conan Doyle) … ok, stopping myself here. 😉

  What are your favorite books?

  Am I trusted to answer this after my lengthy response to the above? I’ll reign myself in.

Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall: this one may still be my all-time favorite book. A close second is Mariel of Redwall by Brian Jacques which utterly changed reading for me.

  Who are your favorite literary characters?

  Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes. Not even a question. No close seconds. They’re just…. Oh, they’re wonderful, aren’t they?

  Is there anything you want to share with potential readers?

  Read what you like! My librarian background leads me to often quote from S. R. Ranganathan’s ‘5 Laws of Library Science’. They’re meant to detail in beautiful simplicity the principles of librarianship but I have taken numbers 2 & 3 as a sort of banner that I wave around when I go places and, inevitably, talk books and reading with folks: “Every reader his/her book.”

“Every book its reader.”

For me, that means that acknowledging and respecting someone’s reading preferences. I won’t name names—you may supply your own as we all know someone, somewhere who has disparaged a book or series or author—but some popular fiction catches a lot of flack for boldly being what it is. Some folks need a fast read and would never think to tackle War and Peace while others may not read unless it is War and Peace. I say: Happy reading!

  Where can we go to learn more about you and your literary works?

  I live on Twitter @FaublesFables. Come say hi! (Same handle for my Facebook and Instagram pages.) Website is mkwisemanauthor.com – *you may notice construction workers wandering about there the next couple of months. Trying to get a new, interactive space up and running (hearkening back to my animation for that bit) and it has proven slow going. My old website is there under it all, though. Come poke around. Thanks to my lovely host, Mr. James Quinlan Meservy, for the chat!

Meet M K Wiseman JQM LITERARY CHAT Welcomes M K Wiseman Tell us about yourself: Hello, I’m M. K. Wiseman. Came into writing from a rather roundabout way—the idea for my first novel came while I was transitioning my professional aims from animation to librarianship.

[learningrendezvous]

Architecture and Design

FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY, THE: AIMING HIGH WITH SUSTAINABLE DESIGN (MATTHIAS SAUERBRUCH & LOUISA HUTTON)

Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton set up Sauerbruch Hutton in 1989, now based in Berlin. Their best known buildings include the GSW Headquarters in Berlin, for which they were nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2000.

In this talk they focus on the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau, completed in 2005. With its mix of low-tech materials and high-tech production processes, the building was designed to showcase the best in sustainable architecture.

Hutton and Sauerbruch describe the development of the building's curvilinear plan along the route of an old railway line, and their use of colour, a constant in their work; how any sustainable building is only as efficient as the people who inhabit it; and how a concern for environmental efficiency has been a running thread through their work, from their Photonics Centre Berlin in 1998, through Museum Brandhorst, 2008, Munich Re, 2014, and the soon to be completed M9 Museum in Venice-Metre.

CD-ROM / 2016 / 51 minutes

NO DISCIPLINE (RON ARAD)

Israeli-born Ron Arad is a prolific designer whose output spans buildings, furniture and sculpture. Perhaps his best known work, the Design Museum in Holon, Israel, has become a symbol for the city. His recent projects include a cancer treatment centre, an upside down tower and the interior makeover of the famous Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC.

In this talk, Ron Arad discusses training at the Architectural Association during the 1970s, his first success with the iconic 1981 Rover Chair, current architecture and design projects, and the freedom that comes from embracing many disciplines.

CD-ROM / 2016 / 37 minutes

CHATEAU MARGAUX, FRANCE (NORMAN FOSTER)

Norman Foster is one of the world's pre-eminent architects. With his practice Foster + Partners, Lord Foster has designed every possible building type and worked in every corner of the globe, picking up numerous awards and accolades along the way.

For his recently completed winery for Chateau Margaux, Lord Foster drew on the local vernacular to create a different addition to the famous estate. In this talk he discusses why he became so personally involved with the project, about combining recycled materials with cutting edge technology, and his client's delight at the new building's understated boldness.

CD-ROM / 2015

LEADENHALL BUILDING, THE: THE SERVANT & THE SERVED (GRAHAM STIRK)

Graham Stirk is a senior partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, having first joined the practice in 1983 when it was titled the Richard Rogers Partnership. As principal architect on buildings that include the office scheme 88 Wood Street, the luxury residential building One Hyde Park, two airports and a winery, he helps steer the design direction of the practice.

Here Stirk discusses The Leadenhall Building - a speculative office tower in London's financial district. The tower is inclined along the south side to avoid blocking a key view of St Paul's Cathedral, with core services housed in a vertical "cassette" on the north side. The concept of distinct served and servant spaces, borrowed from Louis Kahn, recurs throughout the work of the practice. Stirk also explores the challenges of building across the street from the Lloyd's Register of Shipping - the first building he worked on after graduation and, in contrast to Leadenhall, one of the most bespoke office buildings on the planet - and explains the 11 year lag between commission and completion.

CD-ROM / 2015 / 40 minutes

SUNCHEON CITY, KOREA: HOLDING THE ECO-LINE (CHARLES JENCKS)

American-born Charles Jencks is a landscape architect, theorist and critic best known for his Garden of Cosmic Speculation, near Dumfries, Scotland, and his writings on post-modernism. He has designed landscapes projects around the world, including Parco Portello in Milan, Northumberlandia near Newcastle, England and Wu Chi at the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing. Jencks is also co-founder of the Maggie's Centres - a series of cancer care centres designed by leading modern architects, named in honour of his late wife Maggie Keswick.

In this talk, Jencks discusses his recent project Holding The Eco-Line, a landscape design for the Suncheon Bay Expo in 2013. He explains the development of the design, and his Korean hosts' reaction to it, as well as the importance of symbolism in his work. He also discusses his latest creation the Crawick Multiverse, inspired by cutting edge theories of the origin of the universe.

DVD-ROM / 2015 / 39 minutes

BREAKING INTO CHINA: FENGMING MOUNTAIN PARK (MARTHA SCHWARTZ)

Martha Schwartz first came to prominence with her Boston bagel garden - a radical manifesto for a more artful approach to landscape design. Her recent projects include Dublin Docklands Grand Canal Square in Dublin, Mesa Arts Centre in Arizona and Jacob Javits Convention Center Plaza, New York.

In this talk, she describes her project Fengming Mountain Park in the Chinese city Chongqing for a major Chinese developer. The project is a rectangular section cut through a large construction site, designed to showcase the sales centre for a series of forthcoming residential towers. Building on the idea of zigzagging movement of water down a mountain, she has created a processional route across the site, marked by a series of monumental orange cut-steel structures - like origami mountains on legs - that glow at night.

This is a truly exciting time to be working in China, she says, with construction taking place on an epic scale and developers just beginning to appreciate landscape architecture as art-form.

CD-ROM / 2014 / 48 minutes

MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF ART (KEITH BRADLEY)

Keith Bradley is senior partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studio, based in Bath, UK. Bradley led FCBS's best known work, the Stirling Prize-winning Accordia Housing Project in Cambridge. He's also worked on major urban regeneration schemes, public museums, galleries and academic buildings.

In this talk, Bradley explores FCBS's Manchester School Of Art extension building, completed in April 2013. He discusses the evolution of the design, which includes a vertical gallery space where students can showcase their work, an interactive hybrid studio intended to foster creative collaboration between students from different disciplines and triple height columns with a relief cast decorative detail inspired by the textiles of Lewis Day, who taught at the school a century ago. Manchester School Of Art was shortlisted for the 2014 Stirling Prize.

CD-ROM / 2014 / 37 minutes

REINVENTING THE STADIUM: FROM SYDNEY TO LONDON & BEYOND (ROD SHEARD)

Australian-born Rod Sheard is senior principal of leading sports architects Populous. Following early experiments with stadium design at the John Smith's Stadium in Huddersfield, Sheard's firm went on to win the competition for Sydney's 2000 Olympic ANZ Stadium. Since then, the firm has built a portfolio of international sports buildings including London's Wembley Stadium, the Yankees ballpark in New York, Nationals Park in Washington DC, Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire, England, the London 2012 Olympic Stadium and the forthcoming Qatar World Cup Stadium.

In this talk, Sheard compares the experience of designing the Sydney and London Olympic Stadiums, and explores how his firm has led the way in the evolution of sports venues into the complex, quality buildings they are today.

CD-ROM / 2014 / 45 minutes

CAREER RETROSPECTIVE: ALISTAIR MCALPINE

Alistair McAlpine started working for the family building firm Sir Robert McAlpine at the age of sixteen. After his first job on Howard Robinson's Shell Centre on London's South Bank, he want on to work with many of the pre-eminent architects of the post war era: Denis Lasdun, Basil Spence and YRM. His close relationship with Cedric Price spanned many decades, until the latter's death in 2003.

In this talk, McAlpine recalls being summoned by Lasdun during building of the National Theatre and his attempt to matchmake Price with Richard Seifert. He discusses commissioning Classical architect Quinlan Terry to design a series of follies for his personal estate, and his concerns about the current London building boom.

CD-ROM / 2013 / 31 minutes

COMMUNICATION VESSELS: AN ARCHITECTURAL PARACOSM (NEIL SPILLER)

Professor Neil Spiller is dean of the school of architecture at Greenwich University. Before moving to Greenwich in September 2010, he was vice-dean at the Bartlett school of architecture, where he founded AVATAR, the Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research Group.

In this talk, Spiller describes his 14-year long Communicating Vessels project - an architectural paracosm set on an island in Kent. His designs for the island - which include a walled garden in memory of the American theorist Lebbeus Woods - draw on the work of the Surrealists, science fiction and technological advances such as nanotechnology and augmented reality.

CD-ROM / 2013 / 34 minutes

LIFE & WORK (JAMES GOWAN)

James Gowan, best known for the Leicester University Engineering Building, which he designed along with James Stirling, talks here about his life and work. Now in his eighties, Gowan recalls his training at the Glasgow school of art, his early career in London where he met Geoffrey and Philip Powell, his collaboration with Stirling, and the tensions that forced him to go his own way, just as the pair were coming to prominence.

Gowan's interest in social housing began with Ham Common - the project which launched his partnership with Stirling - and continued with schemes at Creek Road and Trafalgar Road in Greenwich, London. Other buildings include the Schreiber House in Hampstead, London and the latest addition to his Humanitas Hospital, Milan. Still influenced by his Beaux Arts training, Gowan believes he is an architect in the gothic, as opposed to the classical, tradition.

CD-ROM / 2013 / 41 minutes

9/11 MEMORIAL, THE (MICHAEL ARAD)

Michael Arad won the 2003 competition to design the World Trade Centre memorial over more than 5,000 other entries. Born in Israel in 1969, Arad was living in New York City on 9/11. His scheme for the memorial, which began as a personal project in the days and weeks following the World Trade Centre attacks, was based on an image of two vast voids in the Hudson river, reflecting the absence of the demolished towers. The project, which took seven years to complete and was beset by politics and conflict, opened in September 2011 to critical acclaim.

In this talk, Arad, a principle at Handel Architects, describes his ambitions for the project, his determination to protect his original vision in the face of conflicting expectations, and the challenge of winning such a high profile commission so early in his career.

CD-ROM / 2012

AFTER ARCHIGRAM (MICHAEL WEBB)

Michael Webb is one of the founder members of the Archigram Group, and was perhaps best known for his "Bowellist" designs for a furniture factory in High Wickham.

In this talk he discusses the evolution of his architectural approach, his relationship with the rest of the Archigram team, and why he gave up practising.

CD-ROM / 2012 / 52 minutes

REFURBISHMENT OF NEW YORK'S LINCOLN CENTER, THE (CHARLES RENFRO)

Charles Renfro joined Diller and Scofidio, founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, in 1997. Since Renfro became a partner in 2004, the firm has been known as Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The practice first gained attention for its site-specific, landscape and multi-media work, most notably the Blur Building, a pavilion at the 2002 Swiss Expo. It completed its first major building, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston, in 2006. The renovation of the High Line, a formerly disused elevated railway line running along the west side of Manhattan, has become a much loved addition to the city since it opened in summer 2009. The second phase of the High Line opened in summer 2011.

In this talk, Renfro discusses the firm's interventions at the Lincoln Center arts complex in Manhattan's Upper West Side. He discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the original campus, designed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by America's leading architects of the time, and outlines Diller Scofidio + Renfro's approach to the refurbishment. He details the various phases of the project, which include opening up the Julliard music school and the Alice Tully concert hall, reworking Dan Kiley's landscape scheme for the North Plaza, and re-energising the Lincoln Center's front entrance, Robertson Plaza.

CD-ROM / 2011 / 38 minutes

TWENTY MINUTES IN MANHATTAN (MICHAEL SORKIN)

Michael Sorkin is the founder of Sorkin Studio based in New York City. His recent projects include the planning and design of an environmentally sensitive 5000-unit community in Penang, Malaysia, masterplans for sites in Hamburg and Leipzig as well as a plan for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. Architecture critic for the Village Voice for ten years, he is currently a contributing editor to Architectural Record and author of numerous books including "Variations On A Theme Park", "Exquisite Corpse" and "Indefensible Space".

In this talk he discusses his latest book "Twenty Minutes In Manhattan" - a personal reflection on fifteen years of social and physical change in his home city - how cities might change in the future and his speculative environmental design work through his non-profit Terreform.

CD-ROM / 2010 / 47 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Architecture_1709.html

[cleowho]

“Why didn't you inform Space Control at once?”

The Ambassadors of Death - season 07 - 1970

[cleowho]

“Sir James?!”

The Ambassadors of Death - season 07 - 1970