Blogging Monocle: Narcotecture

"Candy-colored Mansions." We thought you might enjoy a look at the homes of Afghanistan's nouveau-riche (many are druglords) that appear in the June issue of Monocle. There is a great slideshow online for those readers not willing to spend $10 an issue...

The story looks at the evolution of the city of Herat. The rich are tearing down scores of buildings to shoddily build elaborate palaces (meanwhile schools and basic infrastructure remain damaged/destroyed)

(Photographs by Ash Sweeting)

Comments (8)

looks like a wedding cake

posted by LaDonnaNichole on May 22nd 2007 at 12:45pm
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There's always money in the banana stand.

posted by SomeSteff on May 22nd 2007 at 1:23pm
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Somesteff, oh my gosh, a Bluth fan! I suppose there are even fewer fans of "The Wire" (I can't find any), but nice to see one.

My entire view of Afghanistan changed after reading "The Kite Runner".

Yes, I know I should be underlining, but I'm too lazy.

Becky

posted by becky on May 22nd 2007 at 9:18pm
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Oh yeah! The Kite Runner--what a good read! See also some of their movies: Kandahar is the only one that comes to mind at the moment; but also the Iranian movies. The Wind Will Carry Us and all the other films by Abbas Kiarostami. And try The Cow (don't remember director). You'll really know what desert village life is all about....

posted by Aulaire on May 23rd 2007 at 2:52am
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thanks for the mention of kite runner - I've put it on my list of must reads.

I love The Wire, but haven't kept up with it. My favorite scene is where the detectives are searching a murder scene and never say any word but some variation of the f word.

Kandahar - great film.

posted by Pixie on May 23rd 2007 at 4:50am
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These look like Donald Trump's casino's in Atlantic City.

posted by BrooklynRob on May 23rd 2007 at 6:59am
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This made me think of an interesting element of an exhibition called "Gritty Brits: New London Architecture" in the Architectural Center of the Carnegie Museum here in Pittsburgh. A proposal for reworking a public housing high rise by a British firm called :FAT:{Fashion Architecture Taste}
see the building here:

http://www.fashionarchitecturetaste.com/2005/07/brookes_estate.html

the whole exhibition was fascinating--lots of interesting architectural ideas and reuse of existing buildings coming out of modern London.

posted by polkadot on May 23rd 2007 at 11:58am
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Love "The Wire". It's the best writing on TV and better than most movies.

And "Kandahar"...wow, what a movie. Beautiful, wrenching, and perfect. If you like that, check out the films of Bahman Ghobadi - "Marooned In Iraq", "Turtles Can Fly", etc.

This architecture is interesting...weird to see another culture's nouveau riche McMansion style.

posted by Leela on May 23rd 2007 at 2:54pm
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