First of all.

::YAY::
BECAUSE ON MARCH 24TH, 2006, CHRISTOPHER PROPOSED, I ACCEPTED (OF COURSE!), AND NOW I AM QUITE POSSIBLY (read: most definitely) THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD!!!!!

and now for the silly part of the post.

Today in our History of Non-Western Art class, we discussed an article by Jonathan M. Reynolds entitled "Ise Shrine and a Modernist Construction of Japanese Tradition." After wading through discussion on the shrine at Ise and its history, function, and design, our class eventually stumbled upon the most entertaining portion of the entire article. Well, it piqued our interests in Japanese architecture if nothing else. And since the article appears on JSTOR, I'll indulge you the snipets that simply infused our class with an endless supply of amused and perhaps somewhat embarrassed laughter:

They revel in the contrast between sensuous, silky, smooth surfaces of finely planed wood rafters and the vibrant texture of the precisely trimmed miscanthus thatch roofs.... these photographs threaten to strip the core structures of their mystery.... These architectural details are laid bare before the viewer with an intensity that verges on the pornographic.


I'm not sure what prompted Mr. Reynolds to use such colorful descriptions in his otherwise rather bland article, but whatever it was...

I want what he's having.