Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Most Interesting People of 2010, in no particular order

I suppose now that Barbara Walters has picked her most fascinating people of the year, it's time that C&UW do the same. As consolation for her letdown list, we promise that Justin Bieber is nowhere in sight in ours. Here they are, in no particular order (well, the order is how quickly I found pictures of them):

Jon Hamm
Jon Hamm - Jon Hamm had three significant roles this year:
1. Don Draper boozing and fornicating his way into a shell of himself on everybody's favorite TV show (a joke... the ratings have never surpassed 3 million even during season premieres; compare that with 20 million for Dancing with the Stars).
2. The FBI agent from The Town whose brief scene with Blake Lively makes her look like a real actress (no small feat).
3. Shooting to the top of every lady's list of celebrities that they get a free pass with, including everyone's favorite ne'er-do-bachelorette, Liz Lemon.


Jackie Weaver - in a movie chalked to the brim with unforgettable performances (thank you, whoever keeps giving Guy Pearce amazing roles, and please continue to do so), Jackie Weaver outshone every single one as Smurf in Animal Kingdom. It's the kind of movie that comes back to me in the weirdest moments, when I'm sitting alone on a bench in an art gallery, say, or walking down an untoward alley looking for my escaped cat. I can't talk any of this up enough, so I highly suggest that at first chance, you see it for yourself.

Ijhal, design by Wiel Arets Architects

Wiel Arets Architects - Well, that's enough Hollywood for C&UW, and now onto the architects that have had significant years, or have come onto my radar in big ways. WAA, a Dutch studio, did so by winning the contract for the Ijhal, part of Amerstam's Centraal Station. Anyone who has been to Amsterdam surely must remember Centraal, which sits at the crux of the many railway lines servicing the Netherlands, the city's trams and buses, and ferries servicing the IJ bay. Truly the focal point of the city, WAA does a phenomenal job projecting renovations which will significantly modernize the historical site.


Boris Johnson, for his certifiably loony idea to have escalators span the Thames. I'm not going to add any further comment, just read the last line, look at the picture, read the last line again, and then slowly shake your head. Brits!

New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Kazuyo Sejima - To be fair, congratulations are in order to all of SANAA, which also includes Sejima's partner Ryue Nishizawa, for winning 2010's Pritzker Prize. However, Sejima's only the second woman to be awarded this honor, after UK's Zaha Hadid in 2004. Ladies in architecture! This is one glass ceiling which hurts me more than any other, and I will take every stone that can be thrown in its general direction because it will only take one to bring the whole thing down. And how apt is the metaphor of glass ceilings when talking about architects! I really pat myself on the back for that one. Shown above, their most recent completed project, the New Museum in NYC.


Andrew Maynard - Because I am quite certain that if C&UW continues to praise him, Mr. Maynard will have to respond to my exceedingly gracious invitation to have a cup of coffee (or tea! I'm not picky!) sometime. Honestly, dude's the reason the phrase "easy on the eyes" was ever coined. And also he does beautiful work, like the Mash House, seen above.



The President and Vice President of the United States - Because I wanted an excuse to paste this picture again. Wasn't it a great one? Oh, and thanks for the health care!

Honorable Mentions, by means of links to their Twitters: @hitRECordJoe@kanyewest@RealRobertWebb@colsonwhitehead@SteveMartinToGo

Enjoy the rest of your 2010, readers! And have an immensely lovely 2011.

3 comments:

  1. i love this post - i think it's my favorite so far! also, i love that picture of obama and biden.

    also escalators to the sky/over the Thames is how i'd want to go to heaven. y/n?

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  2. oh right - i was also surprised that you didn't put joseph gordon-levitt on this list.

    http://www.iill.net/wp-content/uploads/images/joseph-gordon-levitt.jpg

    how adorable

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  3. what in hell where is the graduating class of the university of chicago

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