Plain Jane and Fashionable Jean

It's no point to harbor any primeval grrr...grudge or contempt against ugliness or beauty, but...distaste...

Last Sunday, March 11th, 2007, this giant Plain Jane was standing on my way when I was crossing a sky bridge to settle an errand at a graphic production store beyond. If there is any rule of thumb or common sense and by any formal standard or hidden agenda, this ugly, rather UGLY, is outright unacceptable. A big disgrace. Anyone living in it should be so ashamed of its design; those condensing units protrude like some venereal warts are qualifying examples of the helluva self-imposed humiliation. It is not a building; it is not a house; it is not a shed; and it not a shelter. It is not a design and it is not design. It is not even worthy to exist on Earth. It is so unsightly and surely a form of visual pollution. I just want to puke and only dynamite can salvage both Plain Jane and its designer's souls.

Not too far away and blessed by the balmy weather of the day, these two Fashionable Jeans were invitingly flashy and glitteringly showy under the hardly seen clear blue sky of Shanghai. Every inch of these buildings is blaring so loudly of capitalism. Oh, look at me, Sandra Dee! Come take me now! Oops, pardon...they are Fashionable Jeans. In fact, each is respectively adorned with a Mardi Gras globe and a dunce cone at the rooftops. Signs of The Third Coming, these decors are always glowing at night and they are almost the 'landmark signature' for one to judge or steer ways around this part of Lujiazui Commercial District or from afar. The actual construction date is unknown though; however, they are essentially the early postmodern style upsurged in the mid-1980s.

There are many Plain Janes and Fashionable Jeans in town, yes, right here in Shanghai upon the Sea. They exist ubiquitously at every unsuspected corner of your unguarded eyes...

Jeremy
March 13th, 2007
Shanghai upon the Sea