Containing the Fire

I received a lot of criticism to my first post about how I feel the evolution of this city needs to progress. While I in no way feel a physical fire is nessecary to raze New York to the ground. I do feel that a certain developmental zeal is lacking when it comes to the creation of 21^st century aesthetic for our city. Anyone who assumed otherwise by my previous entry clearly missed what was meant by spiritual fire.

As a contributing writer to Cabled Magazine I am in a position to both view new products and learn about recent developments in a variety of technical fields. It is my hope that here, on The Milk of Paradise, I can discuss how I feel these products and developments can be implemented into creating what I perceive as a 21^st century New York lifestyle.

One recent invention I learned about has paved the way for advancements in the auto industry and has created the possibly for a host of new automobile to role off assembly lines and into consumers hands. I am talking about the “Air Car.” The air car is just that, a car that runs on a combination of electricity and compressed air. It’s sleek, quiet, and absolutely futuristic. It presents a possibility to eliminate both air pollution and noise pollution in one fell swoop and turn New York into a shining beacon of the potential of 21^st century transportation. To learn more about the air car and how it can revolutionize the auto industry read my full expose in this months Cabled magazine.

On the architecture front there are plans for a new mega skyscraper to be built in the heart of downtown Manhattan. The primary concern New York residents have about this skyscraper is how it will alternate what they perceive to be city’s iconic skyline.  To me this is a ridiculous concern, the skyline of the city has been constantly evolving since the cities birth and wishing it to remain stagnant is the same as calling for the end of progress. The empire state building stood as the axis mundi of the city for more than 2/3^rds of the 20^th century. It’s time has passed and it is now time to embrace a new central beacon for the future.

To expand on this theme I would like to take a moment to talk about this city’s past. New York has stood for nearly four hundred years and many great landmarks have come and gone. Frankly, I find it silly to get sentimental over an object. A building is like any other gadget or product, and should be replaced when a newer, sleeker model comes along. Buildings are just things and, contrary to what some people living in this city seem to believe, do not have souls. They don’t go anywhere when they are demolished, they are simply replaced by the next thing. While I, like many people in the city, have grown attached to the aesthetics of certain buildings in this city, I would never allow this attachment to impede the progress of this city. When the time has come to replace the Bank of America building with a new, futuristic skyscraper, then so be it.

I’d like to end this entry on a personal note: The Cabled Magazine Developer party will be coming up next week. It notorious for being an event where independent inventors come and show off the things they’ve been working on. Things that they feel will hopefully shape the world of tomorrow. I’ll be sure to post some updates from the party so all my readers will get the first look at what could possibly be the future. 

Starting the Fire

What is form? What is function? Which of the two outrank the other? For me it is definitely form. When it comes to buying any new electronic gadget, I will always take the sleeker looking device over the more “technically” advanced. Honestly, who cares how futuristic a device is if it doesn’t look like the future. That’s our motto here at the Milk of paradise, “to present an image of the future,” this doesn’t just apply to digital devices and electronics, but is a design aestectic that needs to be embraced in all fields. Who wants to by a couch if it looks old fashion, or even just modern? That couch needs to look like it belongs in a 21^st century apartment in a 21^st century building.

Now that we’ve established the point of view from which were going to approach things in this blog let’s take a look a one of the many products on today’s market:

First up, the Melon computer company’s new internet ready touch screen television. This device perfectly represents our point of view here at the Milk of Paradise, its sleek white, buttonless exterior is matched perfectly by its slim, buttonless remote. Who cares if Melon limits the user experience when they provide such brilliant styling for ones futuristic condo.

Speaking on condominiums, I’ve been extremely impressed by the recent wave of architecture to spring up around New York City. Particularly with the recent wave of condominiums I finally feel like New York is on the verge of being transformed into a 21^st century city. What I like about Condos, is the sleek glass exterior combined with the clean, antiseptic feeling of the interiors present the occupant with a living environment that finally captures the future living environment people have been dreaming about for the past century. I know many people are in love with their brownstones or other “classic” apartment building but why would anyone want to live in a building with such a dark, dingy interior when they could live a bright, clean condo complete with a new Melon Intenet Ready Touch Screen television.

If we’re going to remake New York not just into a 21^st century city, but one for the 22^nd city were going to have to take a look at what city planners are doing over in city’s like Shanghai and Beijing. In both shanghai Beijing the city planners have aside small historical districts to preserve the “old” city but then have pushed forward in other areas to remove outdated building and create new 21^st century living and working spaces. It is quite the marvel to behold and I feel when they are finished with the current building boom both cities will be true sites to behold.

New York needs to follow the same path as cities in China. Of course we need to hang on to our cities historic landmarks like the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, even the Flat Iron building, but much of the living and work space in all of our city’s five boroughs is frankly outdated. Much like the great Chicago fire spurred Chicago’s development as the premier 20^th century city, New York needs its own spiritual fire to push progress forward and force us to remake this city into a true image of the future. Otherwise we’re all going to look pretty silly walking around with our sleek new Melon MyPhones in what has become an unfortunately anachronistic city.