Comments on Working on a Building

Hmm, I thought it was the CN Tower that was beaten. But I've only read articles about it from Toronto, so the perspective is probably biased.

we should blow up dubai, and this pointless exercise in arab ego, on the way out of iraq. tit for tat.

architects are whores. i would know.

I believe you are correct, Gloria.

Dubai in 10 years is going to be the futuristic city of the future we see in movies.

I've ready some ugly things about the way they treat construction workers there (in Dubai, not specifically that building). And it's being built for the super rich.

So I have mixed feelings about the place. It's going to be beautiful, but at what cost and for whose benefit?

i suppose we could tell the east asian slave laborers to clear out before we blow the fuck out of it, because we're 'civilized', and not 'terrorists'.

any firm working there has no shame.

You should read the Saunders essay, monkey. It wonders about those questions. And includes a funny scene in a water park. And it's great.

How do they intend to change the desert from brown to blue?

Anyone else hearing shades of Babel here? I gave up trying to find biblical reference in everything but this in particular reminds me of 1) Babel and 2) Pharoah's Egypt during Moses' time. "Let my people goooo"

Dreamy! I wanna move into that pristine tower!

Is this Halliburton's new headquarters?

Built by indentured servants, ta boot! (if I remember the story correctly, most of laborers are Filipino, trapped in "pay off your ride here before you get paid"-type contracts).

I hope they're investing wisely, or when the wells run dry that place is going to be one bizarre post-apocalyptic ghetto.

@10

Those were pretty much my thoughts exactly. This extravagance is pretty, but there is NOTHING in that dessert but oil A building that big needs to be maintained and if there are no funds .... oh man.

Is it wrong that my first thought was that it would be really funny if the thing toppled over... or some schmucks fly a plane into it.

I'm just about done with Raban's Bad Land, and I need a new book. Brendan, any chance you might lend some of your literary wisdom to a lowly computer guy (with a liberal arts education)? Would you recommend Saunder's book? I vaguely recall laughing through Ask an Optimist in The New Yorker. Or is there something better I should pick up?

@10,

Just what I was thinking. Coolest (inevitable) ghost town ever. It'll look really amazing sticking out of 20+ feet of sea water.

looks like Bellevue.

10, 11
little of dubai's economy is based on oil revenues. theyve got a lucrative free economic zone and income from tourism is increasing and will continue to as they build more stupid slowly-sinking islands and 70-star hotels and indoor amusement parks for rich people to enjoy. i would be curious what would happen once all their neighbors' wells dry up.
also migrant workers comprise a large majority of the population so thats gonna be fun down the road.

That reminds me of the Ivory Tower from the NeverEnding Story.

The solution to that babel problem was obvious enough - English. Of course at earth scale anything you stick on it will be about as phallic as a micropenis (which is in fact an official medical diagnosis - ICD9 752.64).

I know where all that money the Bush Administration lost in Iraq went now!

Condi will fly in for visits on Falcor.

I love that the "Atheist Awareness Campaign" post is followed up with a reference to a gospel song.

Unlike the architects of this building, I don't make others participate in my masturbation fantasies.

"Weird-off," a phrase I hope to use a lot in the future. :-)

@20 wins.

I love it. Its a wild looking building. Too bad we don't build big in America anymore.

Sean: Yes, Saunders is good. Most of the time.

Other titles by living writers that jump to the front of my brain: Absurdistan by Shteyngart, Wake Up Sir by Jonathan Ames, and Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma. I want to read the new Steven Pinker book, but haven't yet.

Many thanks.

This is what Broadway should look like. Those Arabs know density, folks.

@24: Yeah, but we've still got the tallest structure, period -- a TV antenna tower in South Dakota. It's over 2,000 feet tall. (It doesn't count as free-standing because it's supported by guy wires.)

@1: It depends on what perspective you're looking at it from. Taipei 101 was previously the tallest office building, and the CN Tower was the tallest freestanding structure. Traditionally these are considered separate distinctions. This new building has broken both records.