Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Smoke and Mirrors

Mr. Smith hides in the elevator at Queens.

During my recent snow ordeal at La Guardia, I ended up at an obscure hotel in Queens. The desk staff was cordial behind their glass booth, and the decorum was a bit chintzy, and I did survive.

Before the computer graphics industry shaped how movies look today, you often hear of a time when the special effects industry was the master of "smoke and mirrors." I like this phrase, as it boils down to the essence of deception, or else the warping of what we think we see.

I stepped into the elevator of the hotel and loved the way that the mirrors wrapped around on all sides. I could see into infinity. That night I slept very little as I had to head to the airport at 3AM. I would have stayed in the elevator all day if I could. Well, an elevator and an airplane aren't that different if you think about it. You go up, you go down, you go up, you go down ... you get the idea.

Posted by maeda at March 12, 2005 08:10 AM