Hasta La Ideas

Reader Christy submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I use iTunes and have burned all my CDs to iTunes. I also have a huge box in my basement of all the hardcopy CDs.

Is there any reason I would need to keep them (computer crash or something), or am I safe to start giving them away?

Christy, the idealist in me says that if you have burned all of your CDs in a lossless format and you have your computer backed up to a secure online location, you should be fine getting rid of your physical CDs. However, the pragmatist in me has to admit that there is a box of CDs in my basement and I wouldn’t even do what I just suggested.

Also, from a legal standpoint, you aren’t supposed to have a digital copy of a CD without also having the physical copy.

I guess when it comes down to it, my official advice would be to simply get rid of the jewel cases (they can be recycled in most communities) and store all of your hardcopy CDs in a CD Notebook. If you do this, you won’t have to pay the fees to store all of your lossless music data online and you’ll cover your arse if the RIAA ever comes knocking at your door.

Thank you, Christy, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Next week, Brooklyn artist Stephen Floyd‘s first solo show in New York, “I Love America and America Loves Me,” opens at Heist Gallery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The exhibition includes sixty-four works, curated by the artist’s friends Valentina Angeloni and Daniel Basiletti, which span an increasingly broad range of subjects including panties, watermelons, maps, muscles and penises. (Click images for expanded views).

Floyd’s drawings explore the mundane, the socio-political and the sexually charged through disarming humor that borders on juvenile but never sinks into vulgarity. In fact, while first glances might suggest an artist just out for laughs, spending a little time with Floyd’s drawings reveals an incisive wit that gets to the heart of our modern pathologies, like homophobia, sexual prowess and American imperialism. Floyd spares nothing with his satirical perspective.

Following the recent success of solo exhibitions in Japan at the Butterfly Stroke Gallery, Tokyo, and the Trancepop Gallery, Kyoto, we’re certain this show will sell out. Get there early because these attractively-priced pieces make fantastic gifts. A drawing of dinosaur called Liccalottapus? Now who wouldn’t want to find that under the tree?

I Love America and America Loves Me
Opening Reception: 3 November 2009, 6:30-9:30pm
4 November 2009-18 December 2009
Heist Gallery
27 Essex Street
New York, NY 10002 map
tel. +1 212 253 0451

See our previous post on Stephen’s work here

Despite the hopefully-misguided beliefs of apparently a lot of people in China that starchitect Rem Koolhaas wants nothing more than to mock them with his buildings’ designs, there’s some positive news coming from the neighbor to his “controversial” CCTV Tower, the badly charred Mandarin Oriental hotel he also designed. It was one of the big architecture tragedies at the start of this year, when an errant firework found its way inside the building, setting it totally ablaze almost instantly, taking with it a firefighter’s life and nearly $800 million poured into the about-to-open project (here’s our report on personally seeing the damage up close back in May). But now Koolhaas’ firm, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, has been back to the scene and have announced that despite its utterly-apocalyptic appearance, the building still seems structurally sound and that the damage might all be fixable. OMA hasn’t said that they will for sure be working to rebuild, plans to move forward do seem likely, and that means that maybe the worst option has been diverted, that the Mandarin would have to be demolished completely.

“The preliminary findings are that the building can be repaired,” said architect Ole Scheeren, the building project’s leader. “It’s still intact and safe. There will mainly be a repair effort, but not a complete rebuilding.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This week’s Workspace of the Week is |Andrea|’s versatile office:

I am a fan of this space for a number of reasons. First, I like the use of the Metro Shelving units that allow |Andrea| to configure the space in a multitude of ways. Second, I like how things are grouped together by purpose: books on one shelf, media on another (DVDs and such are stored in the red boxes), only things used while working are on the desktop, etc. Finally, I like how the cables have been managed so that they’re not overwhelming the work surface. Well done. Thank you, |Andrea|, for your submission to our pool.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.