H-Town Man

Good pictures... except for that last one.

Wow! Some of those crane pics are Not Safe For Work!!

Good point. Some would say it is also the nature of the media - esp. television and internet - that causes stories like this to dominate over more substantial ones. TV is an image driven medium that thrives on short attention spans; this is largely true of the internet as well. If you want discussion of serious issues, look to print-driven media - periodicals and books.

Interestingly enough, although Nikon is pretty much synonymous with modern photography, Canon is now ahead of them in market share, due to its aggressive pursuit of technologies outside the traditional photography realm (the whole field of "digital imaging"). Sony's advantage is that it is the only one of the three that doesn't have to buy its image sensor from an outside party - I think either Nikon or Canon actually buy theirs from Sony, and the other one from Panasonic. When Sony bought Minolta, they became the first company to have both image-sensing technology and lens-making know-how. The end of film was a bad thing for traditional camera companies. Look for Sony to become a much bigger player in coming years.

Ditto on Houston Camera Exchange being arrogant/condescending/not worth giving money to. Another good online store that nobody has mentioned is Adorama. The Sony Alpha line is a continuation of Minolta, which made a very respectable and user-friendly digital camera that will take any of the Maxxum series of lenses, which have been around for 25 years. It has its own version of anti-shake technology that many prefer over Nikon's or Canon's.

I think this can shed some light on what's going on here:

The thing you have to remember is, people tend to want to live in towers when there is something to look at. Chicago has a big nice lake, and LA has hills and an ocean. Miami (just to throw in another city) has an ocean. If you had the money to live in a tower, where would you want to live? The other factor, and this especially applies to LA and New York, is that once you run out of space, people tend to be MORE likely to build towers. Houston's great strength is that we have limitless land (but nothing special to look at), which pretty much makes us a great city for tract homes. At the end of the day, that's where we'll stand out.

This thread is starting to take an unfortunate postmodern turn.

This may not be news or anything, but the John Hancock Center is really a damn fine building. Just thought it was worth mentioning.

Cool pic, thanks.

So what's with the giant tv at the bottom? That looks a tad weird.

Looks okay, but nothing compared to the little green turrets and spires that we could have had. WHY COULDN'T THEY BUILD THE SHAMROCK?!!!!!!

I can't get over how excited some of y'all get about cranes. Somebody should do a HAIF crane calendar... full of high resolution pictures of cranes from all angles, some of them scantily clad in their company logo, some of them oiled and shiny, some of them muddy....

Any change has to begin somewhere. Every revolution in history began with a few people complaining about how dissatisfied they were with things. Do I expect a discussion on HAIF to directly influence how an architect designs a building or whether a developer goes through with a project? Of course not. But as the saying goes, a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and it changes the weather in New York.... People come by chance to this site, read something, and get interested. They keep reading more, learning about the city and its architectural heritage. Then they go to the Brazos Bookstore and buy books about the city's architecture, and when the books sell out, publishers become more willing to publish books on Houston architecture. Eventually you have twice as many titles in the "Local Interest" section related to architecture. The academic community starts to take notice. It becomes easier for Rice or UH to lure a professor of architecture if he doesn't feel he'd be coming to a backwater. A great emerging architect based locally will be more hesitant to move his practice elsewhere if Houston possesses a strong, homegrown architectural "scene." Sort of like New Orleans has in the culinary world, or Nashville in the music world. And besides all that, people who love something like architecture just love talking about it. Discussion is an end in itself. And when we are angry or disappointed about a building, instead of keeping our thoughts to ourselves we can complain to a group of people who will listen to our complaints and agree, or perhaps disagree, and have a (hopefully) thoughtful and stimulating discussion about why they disagree. We end up learning more, and developing our ideas further than if we kept them to ourselves.

*Please note that I am not claiming myself or Niche as "the big guy," but only the argument itself as unwinnable.

This whole argument reminds me of that scene in Cool Hand Luke where Paul Newman gets into a boxing match with the big guy at the prison camp. Of course Newman doesn't stand a chance going in, but every time the guy knocks him down, he keeps getting up and coming back for more. All the other prisoners are saying to give up, stay down, it's hopeless, but no, Luke (Newman's character) keeps taking the beatings. Finally everyone walks away, and Luke remains there, barely standing, claiming he won the fight. I think we're approaching a "walk away" moment on this thread. Most of the other posters have left, I've pretty much left, I sense that Niche has had about all that he can take, and in a day or so Houston 19514 will be standing here, claiming that because Houston has more international boardings per capita (roughly half of them going to Mexico), it is a more international city than Chicago of all places. And just as was the case with Luke, there will be something to be said for his persistence, though it's not the kind of persistence I would want for myself.

Search the Chronicle archives, and post here when you find it!

You said the Catholic Church desires churches to be mediocre all over the country. All I said to you was that that was the first I had heard of such a policy. I guess that makes me an old washer woman.

Could you imagine what would happen if people on here were ridiculing the design of a mosque or a Buddhist temple, and putting quotes in the mouths of the leaders of their respective faiths? They would probably be banned in a heartbeat. It's the message of today's multicultural world... be tolerant and respectful of all religions, EXCEPT Christianity.

Nothing to say about faith? What about the fact that it's a giant cross facing the sky, and apparent to the hundreds of thousands of people who drive by every day on the Pierce Elevated?

I know that the church that was brought up was not the one he meant, but it's clear that he was talking about the Catholic Church, and I don't see where he's coming from. Tell me what institution has done more for Western architecture than the Catholic Church. By the way, that's not an architectural committee, that's Bishop Fiorenza and Pope John Paul II. I guess the late pontiff was too busy trying to bring peace to nations and understanding to the religions of the world to improve the design of Houston's co-cathedral so the local architecture camp could be more pleased.

That's the first I've heard of a church policy that cathedrals should be "mediocre." Brilliant.

It could be because 290 brings you to the Official Texas State Bluebonnet Festival in Chapel Hill. There is also a Bluebonnet Trail that you can see on state maps, that tends to meander in the counties that 290 runs through. I'd agree that 71 is much more scenic than 290 for the first half hour or so east of Austin.

Wow, I just typed a huge response to this, without realizing that Niche already tore it to shreds, especially regarding the "per capita" argument. Have a nice day you all; I am going to catch some sun.