In the article "Dr. Evil's Lair Evolves" at Wired News, the enigmatically named Momus captures a current phase shift that's happening in big box stores around the country. With IKEAs popping up everywhere and Target filling up with celebrity designer items like the Michael Graves collection (way modern, but unfortunately bad functional design), the masses are turning on to modern.
The article takes a quick look at the roots of modernism, and how the Soviet Union screwed it up, leading to the dystopian visions of 1984 and Blade Runner. The backlash shows up in some interesting places, as the article points out that Ian Fleming named austere-modern baddie Goldfinger of the Bond series after a Marxist architect--a nicely layered critique for what was essentially escapist fiction, coming from pastoral-populist Fleming.
Take a look at Dwell magazine, however. The people living in these swanky modern houses are not evil SPECTRE agents. The only guy I'm wondering about, in fact, is this mysterious "Momus."

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Posted by erik to HipSmart at 11/15/2005 10:03:09 AM