My education is as an Architect. It's a well rounded curriculum with it's focus on arts, sciences and humanities. My favorite "style" has to be Art Deco. I love the optimism, the futurism and the hope it portrays in it's style. Many other styles and schools of thought do different things like evoke reverence or awe or comfort or efficiency. Art Deco creates jewelry boxes out of buildings, alarm clocks and coffee makers. Beautiful works of art that function.

I even like the Art Deco era women, but know they'd be a let-down because they didn't shave and douche properly.

Art Deco Architecture

My friend's dad became an architect after being inspired by the Empire State Building and the whole art deco style. Later worked for these guys, who built it. They used to refer to the twin towers as "the packing crates."

I may have told this story before but...

Freshman year they have our class in a lecture hall and Profs ask "How many of you think you will become a practicing Architect?" 98% of class raises hand and professors make big production of saying how only 80% will graduate in Architecture and only 60% of those will ever get registered and how the A students will become professors and B students will one day work for the C students. Big reality lecture they loved giving every year.

Our last year our professors brought in the first year professors to our admittedly smaller class. They tell us we have been an exceptional class and tell us how this is so. They illustrate GPA's and national student awards won and tell anecdotes about our classmates. Then they ask the same question "How many of you expect to be practicing Architects?". About 20% raise their hands. Confused Professors say: "No, if you DO plan to practice Architecture raise your hand..." Same 20%. They were obviously stumped and crushed.

After the lecture a Prof I was close to asked me (I was one who did not raise my hand) "Why didn't anyone raise their hand and what's the problem?"

I told him "you told us how we did our jobs, maybe y'all didn't do yours". Luckily, it was too late for them to change any of our grades.

Besides the style, the quality of the stuff built in that era sets it apart. They built to last forever, and out of the best materials. Seems most of the stuff built today is made to last until you get a CO, so the builder gets the final payment. After that, its a crap shoot.

Indeed. Some of the ornamentation on the Chrysler Building and the Empire State approaches shit the Pharaohs did. Chrome, nickel silver, bronze, and "Al u minum" or aluminum when it was worth more per ounce than gold.

Yeah, when America, and Americans, had pride. I used to think that the pride waned around the time Reagan left the White House. Now I feel more and more that was just a short term bubble on our decent down the shitter.

Art deco jewelry is very nice too. The furniture, eh. Stuck along with Depression era stuff in between the Victorian/Machine Made Oak of the late 1800's/early 1900's and the fancy mahogany stuff of the 40's and 50's. A lot of the stuff gives the feeling of veneer over balsa.

Now this is some awesome stuff: