“How much does your building weigh, Mr. Foster?” is freaking brilliant

If you love creativity, if you love culture, if you love intelligence, if you love life, you will probably love this documentary. Oh, and the architecture is exquisite too. Thank you Norman Foster.

Later, on 2/12/2013 …

I’ve watched this three times now. For me, it’s an astonishing, beautiful film.

It’s well-crafted, well-written, well-edited, well-photographed and well-narrated. You get a sense of Norman, and the arc of his career. But it’s more than just about an architect. It’s about being a human being. And it’s about humans working together.

The icing on the cake is the music. This wonderful original score, written by Joan Valent, is integrated throughout the film. But his music near the end, that carries through the credits, had me in tears.

The predictability of humans

Humans are fairly predictable in the following sense: we are usually doing things, or trying to do things, that prove we’re not apes. Even though we are apes, we would hate being mistaken for one! So we adorn ourselves with things, experiences, friends, accomplishments, and ideas. And we often prefer doing these things over actually working together to solve real problems. That’s what I often find so funny. Yet I often do it too!