Apple. Architecture.

This is the best case scenario of what happens when you put an artist in charge. Jonathan Ives, apples lead designer and his team obviously has all the confidence of the management brass over at apple. It is obvious because time and time again they put design first. They would argue that there products are so well built that it should be reflected in the design. First this concept was used in the product design, then the product packaging.

Next was a real tangible reformation of their business. If they were to sell devices other then the Mac and a few printers, they needed to have a retail presence. Dangerous, the costs could easily sink a company even on a lean budget. But somehow Apple had the balls to it backwards. Spend big big bucks on stores that reflected a continuation of their design philosophy translated into the retail environment. Clean, Transparent, Metal and Glass. Shiny. But unlike normal tech stores, go ahead, touch it all. No we didn't shut the internet off. We won't ask you to leave. They figured that the best way to promote the 'digital hub' lifestyle of macs and ipods etc, was to let the customers immerse themselves for as long as they wanted. Even now as you visit the NY Soho store it is easy to find people designing flyers, doing homework or web-design. This is not a loss - apple believes the experience to be so validating that if these folk ever do come across a few extra bucks or a regular salary they may decide that designing flyers at their apartment makes a lot more sense, and buy a mac.

This all doesn't take away from the fact that apple is presented with continuous opportunities to be cheap about things, and they still take the high road. They continue to spend a lot of money (the firm in charge of the mall-stores deployment is the same firm the GAP uses) and build a cornerstone network of high-value, well-located apple stores around the world. They keep the numbers on the small side for each market, keeping the stores busy hubs of activity. I think the busy store creates a buzz that people want to buy into?

So now comes the 9 million dollar glass cube. First of all $9 million. wow we are in a construction boom. thats laughable. thats 5120 square feet of glass - that means apple is paying 1757.81 per/foot for glazing and frameless support structure. I can buy this fittings for about $40 each that you would use, and no glass, even thick structural should cost even close to that much.

With that said: the 9 million may pay for itself in the first 9 months. As explained to me once before by a Toys R Us executive, while touring the times square store under construction - the store itself is theoretically worth its frontage in advertising. In Times Square billboards that are around 30 feet by 70 feet can run $1mil a month! This new glass cube sitting not only on prime real estate in NY, but where a lot of wealth walks right by the front door everyday is the equivalent relationship of Toy'R'us to times square. People who visit 5th to go shopping are spending big bucks, or browsing because shopping in designer shops excites them. To put what is essentially a consumer electronic shop among a row of fashion designers entrenches the already stellar reputation that apple shares among the spend-free. So the stores brand value in that location (for a 20 year lease) may easily pay for itself (in intangible numbers) before a single maestro 2 cash register is counted.

I am sure that throughout the history of corporations artists and designers have been fighting with managers and engineers. Very seldom are the artists given the chance to prove the bottom line isn't always the bottom line. Usually when they are given the chance, they have talked themselves or their design group into thinking whatever their selling is so much more wonderful then it is - and it bombs. Jonathan Ives run at Apple and Steve Jobs willingness to let it ride on these concepts has be fruitful so far. As with Cadillac in the 60s when design was king, at some point a manager comes in an starts making compromises and the whole formula falls apart - Until then i am enjoying being a spectator.

 a nice gallery is located here

Year of the Sandwich Update: BBQ time.  Made a few offerings of late.  Check out the flickr photos on the new sidebar to the right….  or you can always visit the YOTS tag on flickr.

I challenge anyone reading this to show up to my grill (panini or bbq) to make me doubt my own sandwich skills!  feed me.  We'll take pictures, i'll put them on the internet. (wow that sounds bad)

Fresh bitter herbs, olive oil + garlic mixed with balsamic for foccacia dipping (matzo)

Canadian Granny Smith Apple + pinenut + red wine reduction

Whitefish sashimi with purple died wasabi with candied organic carrot compot

Pheasant stock clear soup with bok-choy and matzo-potato gnocchi

Churrasco Farm-Raised Grain-fed Organic Turkey

Truffle Mashed Potatoes

Next post: dessert.

i recently realized that between condo / design / house renovating links and stuff for work, general interest etc, i was mis-using delicious:

House, Condo, Quest, etc links are now consolidated into one delicious site now indexed on the right-side of this blog under “thedysh bookmarks” or jump to http://del.icio.us/thedysh right now.

My personal top 10 sandwiches (for now). This list is not the gospel, please do not start a new sandwich based religion on these 10 sandwiches (if you have to, don’t interpret the sandwiches so literally, this is just a basic guideline)

10. Lettieri Cafe | Many Locations

Personal Touch: Egg Salad Panini w/ Strawberry Smoothie

9. Panini Italian Restaurants | 7600 Weston Rd. - Unit 64 Vaughan, ON L4L 8B7 | 905-264-0064
Personal Touch: The Veal sandwich is among the best, but see if you can challenge yourself to the Meatball sandwich. Add a side of spicy green olives to ensure a sound nap.

8. Pita Plus of Aventura | 18833 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33180 | 305-935-0761

Personal Touch: A healty helping of the free pickle/hot pepper salad, a falafel with the works + extra tahini.

7. Zupa’s Restaurant & Deli | 342 1/2 Adelaide Street West | 416-593-2775

Personal Touch: Just go for the pure Smoked Meat sandwich, little bit of mustard. Don’t have a platter, cause you may want another 1/2 sandwich, fries are a waste of time.

6. Studio Cafe Four Seasons Hotel | 21 Avenue Road, Toronto M5R 2G1 | 416-964-0411

Personal Touch: Club Sandwich! it comes with fruity jam too, all yours for $15!

5. Palladino’s Pizza Express | 4950 Harlem Rd Amherst, NY 14226 | 716-839-0777
Personal Touch: Any of the cold-cut based subs, with american cheese, baked in their pizza ovens. Eat in warm weather on the adjecent piknik benches. Wash it down with a beer from the convience store, 50ft away across the parking lot.

4. Dufflet Pastries | 787 Queen Street West / 2638 Yonge Street | 416-504-2870 / 416-484-9080

Personal Touch: skip the cakes, go straight to Smoked Chicken and Provolone Pressed Panini.

3. Weber’s Restaurant | HWY 11 PO Box 2308 Orillia, Ontario, Canada, L3V 6S2 | 705-325-3696

Seasonal Hours, check website
Personal Touch: Get two burgers, one cheese, one not. eat the cheese one second. Don’t skip the fries.

2. Dagwoods Sub | Many Locations all in Montreal Area

Recomendation: The Dagwood, Extra Dagwood Sauce, and buy a big pickle for a looney for dessert!

1. Belly Buster Submarines | 3447 Yonge St Toronto, ON M4N 2N3 | 416-489-6051

Personal Touch: Bacon Combo, L, T, O, S+P, SS, (Pickles), Mayo, Mustard

Question: How many people in las vegas spend a lot of time in their hotel room? of those, how many are competent. Of those, how many watch news programming?

I am willing to bet that the plan to blow up a 700lb bunker buster bomb in nevada this june goes over a few people’s heads. There will be shear panic in las vegas when the food-tourists and penny-sluts alike woddle up to the windows to see nevada’s first mushroom cloud in over a decade. The official reason for the test: “Divine Strake — will help with the effort to develop weapons that can destroy deep underground bunkers storing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.” read: IRAN.

This week in vegas open a 520 dish buffet. You want to see fallout? visit any washroom within a 2 mile radius.

The Year of the Sandwich is heating up. I have been out and about recruiting people on flickr to add the tag ‘yots’ to their photos. Soon i will link to everyone’s sandwich pictures instead of just people who email me.

In the search for participation i came across an interesting flickr photo set. Apparently this user is either a school teacher or student participating in a class sandwich making competition. Please view here for your enjoyment.

Year of the Sandwich (thanks to allan pynn) was officially declared sometime last week. We still have several months to go. Lets get our meat (or veggies) and our starch too. Don't be affriad of the carbs, some of the worlds greatest minds eat carbs too. Lets take some pics of the sandwichs we love, the people we love them with, and the lovely people who make them.

Flickr Gallery will reside here

email jody@thedysh.com for instructions on how to post

P.S. Ain't no shame in an open-face.

Also for your reference here is wiki's sandiwch listing 

I was reading my daily dose of drudgereport and came across this photo of Bush and it hit me. Maybe the man has Alzheimers. This picture really has that ‘look’ to it. The weakening of the lip and mouth muscles causing him to kind of clench to hold them in place and keep him from looking disabled and / or drooling. A quick search on google under “does george w have alzheimer’s?” reveals a few direct hits including Kevin Cassell’s writing on the subject.

Reagan served two terms while dealing with the disease and Bush’s age is the prime target zone for early onset signs of the illness. I think only time will tell whether we were dealing with a president that was dealing with a full deck.

There must have been a meeting in which a math formula was drawn up: how much over market value is a player worth who is willing to fully buy into a system? Nash seemed to fit the bill, and Colangelo stole him out from under Mark Cuban’s Claws.

Boris Diaw proves to be another example of either really good scouting and offseason moves by bryan colangelo, or that steve nash can make Barbara Streisand look like Calista Flockhart. Either way it make the new raps GM look great.

It was presumably bryan’s plan to court a free agent in nash who seems to be genuinely occupied with playing basketball for the sake of the game. He loves making his teamates better, and we love watching it.

Marion and Diaw seemed to be a two headed monster. Marion has been grabbing a league leading 12.4 boards per game - playing half of the missing centre role with Amare out the season(*). Diaws been doing just about everything else - D’ing up the teams opposing centres, steals, blocks, scrappy play, hustle & finesse.

No sportswriter whatsover would have been able to predict the improbable rise of Boris Diaw of france. Raptors fans may a remember a few times where the former-hawk lit us up, but we just wrote it off as the fact that two bottomdweller teams are playing games with no defence, someones gotta put up big numbers.

I’ve never seen such a versatile guy. At times he brings the ball up the floor, he’s played a kind of typical SG role in the past, sometimes handling the ball if nash and barbosa are both out. After realizing early in the year that the Kurt Thomas expiriment (**) wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, he has been seing a lot more time at Small and Power Forward. But more recently he has been playing games as the starting Centre.

Maybe Magic or Bird did it once before, but i don’t know of a player in my basketball modern history that has started a few games at sg, sf, pf and centre in a given season.

* Amare may still return before the seasons end.
** Maybe Bryan is capable of some less then stellar moves?