6 extraordinarily stubborn 'nail houses

above: carl friedrickson's defiant 'nail house' in up [source]

near the start of up (pixar's latest gold-plated effort) we come to learn that carl fredricksen's house, or the land beneath it more specifically, is in demand by hungry developers due to its location amongst a sea of half-built, multistorey building projects, a fact that seems to make him all the more reluctant to let go of the nest he made with his late wife regardless of the offer slapped on the table. the result, until the house floats away at least, is the depressing but somehow uplifting landscape in the picture above. 


watching the film reminded me of a few very similar (but non-rendered) stubborn homeowner situations i've read about over the past couple of years, the rememberance of which resulted in me researching a fascinating and surprisingly common property (especially in china) i now know to be called a ' nail house'; so called as 'they stick out like nails in an otherwise modernized environment' and are hard to remove... 

edith macefield, seattle, u.s.a.

above: edith's mighty little house in ballard, seattle [source]

above: a publicity stunt for pixar's latest saw balloons attached to the house [source]

we'll start with edith macefield's brilliant little home in ballard as it's the first example of a nail house i'd ever read about and really reminds me of carl friedriksen's own abode. edith, who passed away last year, moved into this house in 1966 - long before the area's construction boom - and since then had turned down numerous offers from developers wishing to build a complex on her land, the highest of which is rumoured to be $1m. the developers decided to build the complex anyway and surround the house with sharp, sleek, characterless surfaces. read more here and here. see edith's house on google maps here (it's an old shot and you can still see her blue car outside the property). 

wu ping, chongqing, china

above: an aerial shot of wu ping's isolated nail house [source]

above: property to rent - not suitable for sleepwalkers [source]

perhaps the most famous nail house in history was situated on a huge mound of dirt in chonqing until april 2007, at which point it was demolished by exhausted developers after battling for 3 years and eventually parting with ¥1m. the house's owner, mrs wu ping, was the only person from 241 properties who refused to leave when asked in 2004 in order to make way for a new shopping centre. she really dug her heels in and the story quickly spread around the world by way of the intertubes. there's an interesting interview with mrs wu here. following some searching, see what i believe to be the site of wu ping's old house here on google schnapps.  

various farmers, narita airport, japan

above: narita's 2nd runway, dissected due to a defiant landowner - only the north end is usable [source]

above: the red lines indicate the parts of runway which haven't been built due to immovable landowners [from google maps]

in 1966 plans for a new airport were revealed by the japanese government, much to the annoyance of the public and especially those who owned the land upon which it was to be built. for the next 20 years a combination of regular (and sometimes fatal ) riots and defiant farmers who own land amongst the proposed runways forced developers to ditch the idea of a 3 runway airport. to this day, the middle of what was to be the 2nd runway is home to a farm and various smaller properties still sit around the terminals blocking construction of a 3rd runway. have a look around on google maps here. read more about the disputes here.  

austin spriggs, washington dc, u.s.a.

above: the house as it was in 2006, pre-shadows [source]

above: coming soon? [source]

above: what's supposedly to be a pizza joint, 2008 [source]

in 2006, austin spriggs was happily living in a house that would soon become a thorn in the side of local developers. such a thorn in fact that mr spriggs was offered more than $3m for the property in 2008 even though the property was previously only worth an estimated $200k. needless to say, he turned the offer down and then proceeded to take out a loan to convert the building into a pizza joint. as you can see, the building is absolutely dwarfed by the surrounding developments. read more here.

various properties, changsha, china

above: high street chains loom over a gutsy nail house [source]

above: at least the shop is unmissable to passers-by [source]

above: ragged brickwork is a reminder of the demolition of previously connected buildings [source]

this dilapidated shop/home sits continues to do business outside a sparkling, relatively modern-looking shopping centre in changsha city and the contrast between the two buildings is shocking. i don't know much about this house but if you look at the first photo, there are a couple more old properties which also seem to have weathered the development storm. the photos themselves are from october 2007 so i'm unsure whether they held up for much longer and a search on google maps proved fruitless. read a translated article about the buildings here. 

cai zhuxiang and zhang lianhao, shenzhen, china 

above: ultimately an extremely expensive building sits alone in shenzhen [source 1, source 2]

in 2006, cai zhuxiang and zhang lianhao, proud and determined owners of this 7 storey building in luohu, shenzhen, were approached by local developers who were on a mission to convert the surrounding area into an extremely profitable financial centre. as you can see from the photos, the couple refused and their 10yr old building and the land beneath it became the focus of a bidding war. eventually developers made an offer they couldn't refuse and in 2007 the couple gathered their belongings and moved on. although the final amount is unconfirmed, estimates point to compensation in the region of  between ¥10-20m (over us$1m). read more here.
fascinating stuff. there are plenty more of these properties to look at, a few of which are mentioned on boing boing  here. you can also search for the word 钉子户 on google, or bing, (it means 'nail house') or just click here instead.

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Lindsay wanted to change the date of the Vienna Opera

Haha, Lindsay wanted to change the date of the Vienna Opera. Good luck, crackhead. Yeah, this guy really should have gone with Gaga. She would have killed it on a fake date. Speaking of Gaga, remember those Grammy parties? Well, somebody got the bright idea that Lindsay needs to start up her music career again - I guess in addition to all of the fictitious “work” she’s doing on her multiple television shows, films, and design projects. So, this music producer named Rodney Jerkins wants to pair up Lohan and… Lady Gaga. For the love of…

    Producer Rodney Jerkins seems to believe that Lindsay Lohan would be ideal to join Lady Gaga in the studio for a collaboration effort.

    Jerkins said, “I can pair them up. I would love it. I would love to see what could happen.”

    Either with or without Gaga, Jerkins believes Lohan can pull it off. He said, “If she stays focused, I think she has what it takes. I’ve talked to her, and I said, ‘You’ve got what it takes. I really believe in you.’”

    He obviously really thinks LiLo has something. He added, “I’ve seen a lot of people questioning actresses who have wanted to become pop stars, and they don’t have it. I believe she has it, something deep down. I’ve listened to her in the past, and I think there’s something there. It just needs to be pulled out.”

For 19 years, oddball Austrian billionaire Richard Lugner has paid for nights with beautiful B-list bombshells. He pays them about $150,000 and, in exchange, they sign autographs at one of his shopping malls and then accompany him to Austria’s premier social event, the Vienna Opera Ball.
The 77-year-old, four-times-divorced father of three gets a kick out of the attention — and sometimes outrage — that his buxom rent-a-dates stir up. Over the years, he has squired Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, actresses Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch and Andie MacDowell, and burlesque performer Dita Von Teese.
But none have been so demanding as this year’s date — Lindsay Lohan. Lohan, dubbed “the fallen Disney princess” by the Austrian media, accepted Lugner’s offer after his first choice, pneumatic British reality-TV star Jordan (a k a Katie Price), stole his thunder by announcing her selection to the tabloids before he could.
But Lohan had some issues.
“She wanted to change some of the dates,” Lugner told The Post. Alas, the ultraposh Opera Ball, started in 1936, “can’t be moved.”
Then Lohan, 23, refused to pick a gown ahead of time and will wait until just before the Feb. 11 ball to pick “a European gown.” Lugner won’t comment on whether he’s picking up the tab for that. Finally, her handlers called. No champagne. No open bar. No alcohol of any kind must be allowed within Lindsay’s sight.
“Her managers have told us to make sure that she doesn’t drink during her trip,” Lugner said. “We have made arrangements to pull all the liquor from the mini-bar in the hotel room where she’ll stay, and told room service they are not to deliver drinks to her.”
To make sure Lohan will be on her best behavior as 2,000 haute Viennese waltz the night away, “we will be drinking only mineral water that night to avoid any problems.”
Maybe Lugner should have gone with his other finalist, Lady Gaga. More rubber, less trouble.
As part of the shillings-but-no-schnapps deal, Lohan will attend a press conference with Lugner the day before the ball. She’ll also sign autographs for a few hours in his massive mall, known as Lugner City. She’ll go to the dance with Lugner, his current 20-year-old girlfriend, Anastasia Sokol, his 16-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, and the teen’s 25-year-old boyfriend, Helmut Werner.

http://hotcelebrityhollywood.blogspot.com/

“My daughter is the one who chose Lindsay, and she has picked for me in the last three years because she’s more in touch with who’s in the newspapers. Me, I’m a businessman, so I don’t know these things,” Lugner said.
Lugner, who reportedly once got his eyelids Botoxed so he could look more like George Clooney, is infamous in Austria for creating a media circus at the ball with his paid escorts — especially when his guest is willing to take a turn on the crowded dance floor during the celebrated “Alles Walzer.”
“Sometimes with my guest, dancing is impossible, because so many journalists want to talk to them,” the Austrian said. “I recall, though, that Faye Dunaway and Grace Jones were great dancers. I was able to dance with them.”
Von Teese, who accompanied Lugner in 2008, said Lohan should demand extra bodyguards.
“I was trampled in a mob scene by the press. It was very frightening and also unfortunate that I couldn’t actually enjoy the beauty of the music and the dancing,” Von Teese told The Post. “I’m quite good at these partner dances, and it made me sad that I wasn’t able to be on that beautiful dance floor.”

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Kim Kardashian Leaving Dan Tana's Restaurant

Kim Kardashian in all black leaving Dan Tana's Restaurant.