July 4th Grab Bag: SunTrust Decor, Reid Prize, Illiteracy, Urban Exploration, Flag Cake

Happy July 4. I hope it's hot and hot doggy for you, friends, and family.

Do you mind a few incomplete thoughts?

1. SunTrust Branch Bank Decor
I'm alarmed about the decor of SunTrust banks: With all the art, with all the artists, with all the design talent out there, SunTrust has nothing but marketing drek. One glance is all it gets, one glance is more than it deserves. It's no fun for customers but think of the folks who work in those rooms all day long.

2. The Eggshell Mosaic in Decatur First Bank
A mosaic mural made from painted eggshells - really - is in the Commerce Street branch. It delights every time. In fact it delights me more every time. Hear that SunTrust?

3. Neel Reid Prize winner 2003, Pernille Christensen
I'm planning to blog all the J. Neel Reid Prize winners. I've done 2 of 11. Next week I hope to meet with Pernille Christensen whose theme was “Retracing the Footsteps of John Ruskin” in Venice. Pernille is a teacher, researcher, and PhD student at Clemson.

4. Exploring Atlanta's Modern Ruins
Creative Loafing's Thomas Wheatley and Scott Henry wrote an outstanding article about Urban Exploration, about hardcore architecture tourists. This is probably happening in a town near you. "As with many 21st-century subcultures, disparate pockets of recreational trespassers didn't realize they constituted an actual scene until they connected on the Internet. "

5. Classic Illiteracy by Calder Loth
We see buildings that are a bit "off" some more than a bit off. We don't necessarily know why, but it's not you and I who are illiterate. Calder Loth writes in the Classist Blog: "We must realize that what fuels the naysayers are not necessarily the high-quality works...but...illiterate classical-style building(s) spread across American’s landscape."

6. Happy 4th, Happy Cakes, Happy Friends and Family
If you feel the ground shake before fireworks, it's probably our annual 4th of July party. Some scenes from last year:




Flag Cake.


Charlotte had the baby less than 24 hours after last years party.


Frequent toasts soothed the flip-cup competitors.


It was self-parking all the way.


The best parties have multiple generations.


If you see these guys at YOUR party, they are at the wrong party.


Best wishes.