Good Idea, Bad Idea

EoA back again!

Hey, did you guys ever watch the cartoon Animaniacs when you were little? I watched it all the time.
That show was genius. The older I get, the more I appreciate all the jokes they put into it that really were meant for adults. Despite all those jokes, it's amazing that they were still able to make it such a hit with kids. It's one of those show that was truly inter-generational, like Pee-Wee's Playhouse. But! I digress....

One of my favorite bits from the show was "Good Idea, Bad Idea"
It was generaly a quick sketch where they'd have Tom Bodett from the "Motel Six" commercial do a voice over on something that was a good idea, and something similar that was a really bad idea. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about.

So along those lines, I wanted to go all Urban Planner on 'good idea, bad idea'. A few weeks ago, I went to an outdoor movie screening in Hollywood held by Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The movie shown was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, one of the only films to every get a 100% rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes.

Pee-Wee Herman: truly, a bicycle-oriented urbanist before his time

I could go on and on about how much that movie rocked, but I've got something else I'd rather nerd out about. And so begins: Good Idea, Bad Idea.

Mixed-Use Good Idea:
Reusing a low-intensity single purpose plot of land (like a cemetery) for something like outdoor movie screenings.

And there were tons of people there! Way more than you'd probably find 'paying respects' on any given Sunday. This isn't to denigrate people respecting the dead, but we need to think of ways to integrate mixed uses into our cities and lives. The less space we can take up for activities and the more activities we can fit into the spaces we have, the more compact and vibrant our cities will be. I mean, check this out:

That's a lot of people...

Mixed-Use Bad Idea:
Putting a factory right next to a cemetery. I'm all for mixed-use, but let's think about why people invented zoning in the first place. It was primarly a tool to protect us from the harmful effects of pollution and industry. I'm not sure how much peace and serenity you can get at a cemetery when there's a manufacturing plant right next to you.

That's not very peaceful...

Good Idea, Bad Idea. Sometimes, you just need to listen to the Animaincs. I've heard that they're zany. To the max.