Miscellaneous roundup

Images of earth from space via the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) cameras aboard the Terra satellite. Unlike weather satellites, this is a camera taking true-color images of the Earth's surface, often focusing on unique events (dust bowls, erupting volcanoes, etc.) Totally fascinating. I came across this via the Earth Observatory website mentioned in this week's issue of The New Yorker.- - -I've recently come to appreciate Mies van der Rohe's Lange House (1927-1930), which had previously escaped my focused attention. Some images: photo by Hans Engels, two views from the lawn</a>, a short essay by Kent Kleinman and Leslie Van Duzer of Columbia University, an image from 1985, and one last one. A beauty, no? Especially in the first image, which I've seen printed at a larger scale and in which the contrast between the dark brick and the white interiors is most pronounced.- - -There is a Spanish-language bank advertisement on a bus shelter around the corner from my house whose text says something to the effect of "Steering my life in new and better directions." The conscious act of translation works to separate the message from the company placing the advertisement, and, lifted out of its context, it serves as a little pick-me-up on my way to the train every morning. It gives me a (slightly Nietzschian) confidence in my own willpower to change things in my life, to make it better. I'm glad the advertisement is not in English.- - -Even though my posts on contemporary art seem to fall flat in terms of response, I'm drafting a top ten exhibitions/works list for the year. The items are selected, but I want to write a little bit about why I felt each selection was important. Coming soon.- - -Holiday reading list: The Practice of Everyday Life by Michel de Certeau, The Critique of Everyday Life, Part 1 by Henri Lefebvre, and selections from The Everyday Life Reader edited by Ben Highmore. I also plan to re-read Miwon Kwon's One Place After Another: Site-specific Art and Locational Identity and finish Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism. Pretty hefty for one week, but I think I can manage. One question: Has anyone read Prague by Arthur Phillips? It popped up on a number of best-of lists for the year, and I'm curious for a slightly more in-depth opinion.- - -I'm in the middle of paper-writing purgatory (who isn't?) at the moment. Longer posts on specific topics returning soon. In the meantime, if anyone has any final comments to add to the thread on Susan Sontag's essay in last week's New Yorker, they're still appreciated.