Category Archives: Wilderness

Robert Stark talks to filmmaker Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson about his film Heartstone(Hjartasteinn)

acting, Cinema, Culture, dreams, Film, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Heartstone, Homosexuality, humor, Iceland, relationships, Suicide, Wilderness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Icelandic film director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson about his film Heartstone(Hjartasteinn). Check out the Facebook page for Heartstone.

Topics:

Guðmundur’s long term dream of making the film inspired by a personal story
The importance for the film to be light and funny as well as dramatic
A difficult ending that still has hope
The theme of adolescence
Casting the actors
Heartstone’s screening at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and winning the Queer Lion at the 73rd Venice Film Festival
Inspiration from Paul Thomas Anderson’s  Magnolia and The Master, and Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me
Film locations in remote parts of Iceland
Safety guards from Game of Thrones who helped with the cliff climbing scene
Guðmundur’s film Ártún
The Icelandic Film Industry
Upcoming film project about misfit youth

Click Here to download!

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island




Santa Ynez Mountains & Lake Cachuma Photo Album

California, Photography, Santa Barbara, Travel, Wilderness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Album includes the Santa Ynez Mountains‎, views of Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Valley, Knapp’s Castle, and Lake Cachuma in  Santa Barbara County, California .

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island

Continue reading Santa Ynez Mountains & Lake Cachuma Photo Album →

Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk about Urbanist observations from trip to San Diego

1980's, 80's music, aesthetics, American Culture, Andrew Yang, Architecture, Basic Income, Calexit, California, Cities, Class, Culture, demographics, Economics, Environment, Erasure, Historic Preservation, History, Immigration, John C. Portman Jr, Los Angeles, Malibu, Malls, Matthew Pegas, Mexico, Middle Class, Music, Politics, Postmodernism, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, Suburbia, SWPL, Travel, Urbanism, Wealth, Wilderness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk about their recent trip to San Diego and their observations on cultural and urbanist trends.

Topics:

San Diego’s reputation as a smaller, cleaner, nicer version of LA and its unique attributes
The layout of the city with a centralized downtown near the waterfront surrounded by suburban sprawl
San Diego and Orange County among the largest areas of upper middle class sprawl in the nation
Politics of San Diego as a historically Republican stronghold that has trended Democratic in recent years
Demographics of San Diego and how they relate to overall CA trends
The most stereotypical American City located in CA while the State is culturally drifting apart from the rest of the Country
After decades of suburban sprawl, San Diego eyes big shift to dense development
The historic Gaslamp Quarter which is the one section that feels truly urban
Horton Plaza: Will this PoMo wonderland in San Diego be saved?
Architect Jon Jerde’s inspiration for Horton Plaza from Ray Bradbury’s “The Aesthetic of Lostness” extolling the virtues of getting “safely lost”
Wealthy beach community La Jolla and it’s village layout
The importance of investing in communal places that the public can enjoy, particularly in wealthy areas
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
The Victorian Hotel del Coronado
Friendship Park at the US/Mexico Border and political symbolism of the border wall
The Inland Empire
Heavenly Action by Erasure, the soundtrack of the trip with a message that friendship, love, and positivity can conquer anything

Click Here to download!

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island




Urbanist Lessons from Trip to the Southwest

aesthetics, American Culture, Architecture, arcology, Art Deco, California, capitalism, Cities, Class, Consumerism, Corporations, Culture, demographics, Disneyland, Donald Trump, Economics, Futurism, Grand Canyon, Hipsters, Historic Preservation, History, Las Vegas, Matthew Pegas, Mid-Century Modern, Middle Class, Mormonism, Neoliberalism, Neon, Photography, Politics, Postmodernism, Retro Futurism, Skyscrapers, social capital, social trust, Suburbia, Travel, Urbanism, Utah, Utopia, Wilderness, Zion National Park, Zoning

Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas discuss their trip last fall to Las Vegas(Vegas Strip and Downtown), The Grand Canyon, and Zion.

Topics:

Las Vegas as the quintessential Post Modernist City
Creating an other wordy aura that does not exist in mundane consumerism
Creating something noble or grandiose out of consumerism
Las Vegas as an economic rather than geographic concept
Nothing permanent because architecture only survives if profitable
Vintage Vegas and Neon Signage
Irony of historic preservationist dismissing architecture of value because it is a product of capitalism
The pros and cons of private zoning
Casino Resorts functioning as an arcology or self contained city
Theme parks as models for urbanism
The potential for an urban alternative to over priced West Coast Cities
St. George Utah, sprawl layout, and high trust homogeneous middle class demographic
Alt-Urbanist solutions that seek to recreate those attributes in an urban setting
Southern Utah and Northern Arizona as one of the most scenic and geologically diverse regions in the world

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Constantin von Hoffmeister about India

aesthetics, Africa, Archeofuturism, Architecture, Art, Asia, China, Cities, Class, colonialism, Constantin von Hoffmeister, Crime, Cuisine, Culture, demographics, Diversity, Economics, England, Globalization, Hinduism, History, Immigration, Imperialism, income inequality, India, Islam, journalism, Le Corbusier, Mass Transit, National Futurism, Nationalism, Politics, Race Relations, Religion, Skyscrapers, social trust, Travel, Urbanism, Wealth, Wilderness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Constantin von Hoffmeister is originally from Germany, lives in Moscow, blogs at Oge Noct, and published the National Futurist Manifesto.

Topics:

Working as a journalist for Blitz(newspaper) in Bombay and National Herald in New Delhi
Interviews with Sonia Gandhi and the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama on migrants in Europe
Activists Launch ‘Gandhi Must Fall’ Against Statue of ‘Racist’
The cultural and ethnic diversity of India
The Ancient language of Sanskrit, linguistic division between Hindi and Tamil, and the role of English
The Parsis
The Indian diaspora
India’s geopolitics and rivalry with China and the Islamic World
Indian Cuisine and the regional differences
The poor quality of sanitation in India
Economic disparities among regional and demographic groups
Growing prosperity, investment in infrastructure, and skyscrapers
The Right’s irrational hatred of skyscrapers and the need for National Futurist architecture
Le Corbusier’s model of Urbanism and his Chandigarh project in New Delhi
Indo-Saracenic architecture from the British Colonial era
Indo-Islamic and Mughal architecture
The impact of British Colonialism
Political tension between secularist and Hindu Nationalist

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Adam Mayer about San Francisco Architecture

1960's, 1970's, 1980's, Adam Mayer, aesthetics, Architecture, arcology, Art Deco, Beverly Hills, Brutalism, California, Cities, Culture, Danville CA, Economics, Environment, Futurism, gentrification, Historic Preservation, History, John C. Portman Jr, Los Angeles, Los Gatos CA, Mass Transit, Matthew Pegas, Mid-Century Modern, Mount Diablo, Neon, Oakland, Postmodernism, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, Suburbia, Urbanism, Wilderness, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk to architect Adam Mayer about San Francisco’s architectural history and current trends. Check out his Twitter, Instagram, and Architectural Portfolio.

Topics:

Robert’s meetup and architectural tour with Adam in Downtown SF
Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery
SF Neon TOURS
Beaux-Arts Palace Hotel
Art Deco highrises Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Shell Building, and Pac Bell Tower
Mid Century Modern Joseph Eichler highrises, the Fairmont Hotel, and the Hilton
William Pereira’s Transamerica Pyramid and Louis Kahn’s use of concrete inspired by ancient monuments
Underappreciated 80’s post modernism, Art Deco revival, Marriott Juke Box, and Crocker Galleria
Philip Johnson’s 101 California Street and Union Square Neiman Marcus
The John Portman designed Embarcadero Center, it’s attributes of a self contained city and urban oasis, and the JW Marriott
Portman’s uniqueness in being both an architect and real estate developer
Jonathan Segal’s project ‘Architect as Developer’
SOMA highrise boom, Central SoMa Rezone, 5M development, and, Caltrain redevelopment 
New Transbay Transit Center
SOMA skyscrapers 181 Fremont, Salesforce Tower, and Rem Koolhaas’ Tower
The end of the high-rise boom cycle
The Missing Middle Housing
Addressing the housing crisis while respecting historic preservation and aesthetics
Current trends in architecture and marriage between modernism and post modernism(meta modernism)

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island