1. Blog that Slipped Under my Radar: Don’t you just LOVE when you find a blog you didn’t know about? I don’t know how I missed Elements of Style for all this time, but now it’s a daily read for me. Be sure to check out her post on how to get the look of Carrie’s new apartment.

2. Guerrilla Gardening Hits the Big Time: Remember when we told you about guerrilla gardening about a year ago? This week The NYTimes told us that the book is out. You can also watch a video about how to make a seedbomb here. You may purchase the book here.

3. The only ICFF post I’ve seen this year that isn’t exactly like all the others over at SallyTV.

4. The jet-fueled Barca lounger over at Design Hole:

5. Sketches of Frank Gehry by Sydney Pollack. I was so saddened by Sydney Pollack’s recent passing. Beyond his unbelievable talent as a director and his appeal as an actor, he just seemed like such a cool guy; like a favorite uncle. Also, there is so much Gehry starchitecture out there right now that I had forgotten the utter awe I felt the first time I saw images of Bilbao. I’m still bitter that food poisoning kept me from making it there when I was nearby in 2000; it reminded me that I still need to go. It also reminded me that he is arguably the only architect in modern times who has truly done something we haven’t seen in some other form before.

How did Pollack wind up doing his first documentary? He and Gehry were already friends, and he told Gehry something like “Why me? I don’t know how to do documentaries and I don’t really know anything about architecture.” Gehry replied “That’s why you’re perfect!” Pollack winds up being in the film quite a bit, which I really liked. The other amazing participant in the film is Gehry’s analyst! Be sure to watch the interview with Pollack in the Extras Section of the DVD about how the film evolved. An added bonus is the interviews with Julian Schnabel and Pollack’s explanation of how he came to be wearing sunglasses and a terry cloth robe in the interview.

I had forgotten about the chainlink, pre-Bilbao Gehry career, and how he railed against the rules before he became such a star. It was fascinating to see his process, from his inspirations to squiggly sketches, from crumpling up models to collaboration. Finally, major props have to be given to his genius staff who can turn his ideas into actual construction drawings. One is reminded to appreciate him so much more as a sculptor, and experimental artist (especially with materials), and a master of light and scale. Gehry is constantly looking at projects in different scales, so that he “doesn’t get enamored with the object” of a model. One scene I loved was when evaluating a part of a project on a model he said “It needs to be crankier!” How many architecture offices out there strive for cranky shapes?

• Image one from Elements of Style

• Image two from amazon.com

•Image three from  wrighttools.com via Design Hole