Elsewhere

For All It Has to Offer, Cincinnati Deserves Another Look: comparing Over-the-Rhine’s Findlay Market to Boston’s Faneuil Hall is a bit LOLtastic, but the love from Lexington is much appreciated.

The Edible Hut: a new community gathering space with a living, edible roof and oculus to the sky in Detroit’s Osborn neighborhood [online fundraiser ends today].

Odessa: Vanished: I’m so glad that I ate one last dinner at this NYC institution before its recent closure.

New Photos of Renovations in the Abandoned Loew’s Kings Theater in Brooklyn: on the other end of the urban spectrum, an old movie theater is being given a new lease on life as a performance venue.

China’s German Ghost City: all about Anting German Town, a development on the outskirts of Shanghai.

Case Study Houses: Then and Now: tons of eye candy for fans of Modern architecture.

Abandoned House in the Woods Taken over by Wild Animals: what!

Top 10 VisuaLingual Posts of 2011

To start the new year, let’s check out the blog posts that got the most hits in 2011. We’ve got some repeats from 2009 and 2010, plus a few surprises. The #1 spot stays the same; can you guess what it is?

Shad Crossing by Ming Fay

More mosaic! Shanghai-born artist Ming Fay designed this series of vivid mosaics for the Delancey Street station in NYC, depicting giant shad crossing a river, which represent the travel of immigrants across the ocean as well as commuters’ travels across the Williamsburg Bridge.

World City Illustrations by Fernando Volken Togni

Fernando Volken Togni is an illustrator based in Porto Alegre, Brazil, who recently completed a series of awesome illustrations for Oryx, the in-flight magazine of Qatar Airlines. Each image represents 24 hours in a city, including New York City, Melbourne, Phuket, and others.

Elsewhere

Enjoy Your Weekend: lots to do this holiday weekend.

Charley Harper Original Art Exhibit: next Saturday, a long-lost treasure trove of Harper’s paintings for Ford Times and Lincoln Mercury Times will be unveiled at Fabulous Frames & Art in Montgomery.

Punk Institution Receives City Money for New Building: a major victory for ABC No Rio and its “culture of opposition since 1980.”

No Longer Empty: a collective of curators and artists steps up to take advantage of shuttered storefronts in NYC.

Art Deco Buildings: a blog documenting Art Deco architectural porn around the world. Yummy!

Turf War at the Hot Dog Cart: like unruly children at the playground, NYC’s Old School and New School street vendors battle it out with intimidation and tattling on each other.

Nearly Completed High-Rise Collapses in Shanghai: OMFG!

Elsewhere

Give with a Local Touch: much love from the Enquirer to some local folks who make Cincinnati-centered gifts, including yours truly.

Holiday Gift Guide: Co-Workers: CIN Weekly recommends the Ohio River coasters for your workplace secret Santa exchange.

Program Alert: “Building Holidays”: tomorrow, check out a special holiday-themed trolley tour by Architreks.

Annual Harper Show at Fab Frames: also tomorrow, a one-day show and sale celebrating the Harpers, Cincinnati’s most talented family — Charley, his wife Edie, and their son Brett.

Shanghai World Financial Center named ‘Best Tall Building Overall’ by CTBUH: no, dude, it’s a freaking bottle opener in the sky.

Old Europe and New Brooklyn in Williamsburg: oh, it turns out that the European hipsters “are more serious shoppers.” I see…

Recycled Subway Cars Turned into Studios in London: creative reuse that benefits creative people; I totally want one.

Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition

Monopoly has a simple, effective formula that works with varied themes [apparently even the Junior Disney Princess Edition]. I’ve just learned that, earlier this year, people voted for cities to be included in the new Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition. 20 top cities were chosen out of the pool of 70, with 2 more earning spots on the board as a result of write-in votes.