grasswire

Back to the Renault 4 book - apparently, the book was quite a hip item, at least if we judge from the illustrations. Originally published in 1968 (Yugoslav/Slovene edition is from 1969), it features this illustration of a mum in what can only be described as a mini skirt - a fashion item that only came out a few years before. Click here for a larger image.

I found this lovely children’s book in the pile of discarded books at our library on Saturday. Apart from nostalgia - Renault 4 used to be one of the more popular cars in Slovenia (a local factory produced the popularly called “Katrca” for a long time after it was discontinued elsewhere) - I took the book because of its advertising nature. Or should I say product promotion and brand recognition-building…
It is always surprising to me how little advertising has changed over the years but I was still shocked by the communication channels they were using in 1969. I mean, children’s book… no wonder they had to impose restrictions on advertising for children. Check illustrations in the gallery bellow.
And it also reads like a regular advertising copy: “My dad says that we can be happy to own such a comfortable car. Renault cars which our ancestors used did not have such comfortable seats, nor as good springs.” Or: “The back seat is collapsible. Thus we can enlarge the trunk and my dad can transport all of his stuff: various cans of paints, boxes and brushes”.

This morning while boiling water to make a cup of Turkish coffee, I suddenly felt the urge to use my recent acquisition - the crinkled cup by Rob Brandt. But than it suddenly did not seem right to drink a proper coffee from a cup like this, so I made myself some instant coffee instead. Well, I need to relax my mind from grading and I admit, it sometimes works in a strange way. Anyway, I bought the cup (like me)originally designed in 1970’s in a Brooklyn design store Spring with a nice selection of objects and a good taste of music. Speaking of Brooklyn and stuff I liked (but did not buy), on my way to the airport I stopped at Brooklyn Flea  and spotted:
- elegant prints by Lotta Jansdotter (see the pic with elephant below)
- Polaroid-inspired work by Sean Tubridy
- sophisticated block printed T-shirts by 1Girl1Boy
- Ciarian Tully’s photographs (his framed mixed media photographs look better than pics on the web page)

Since my “adventures” since the return have been mainly confined to lecturing, grading and taking care of Tamara’s cold, you’ll get some more of the New York pics. Today’s topic - found and made pairs. Click on the image that opens after you click the thumbnail to get the full size pic.

A shot inventory of things to remember:
- the enigmatic and poetic beer descriptions which make ordering a bit of a venture
- the number of shops that sell boxes for moving
- breakfasts at Metro diner (take the number specials number four)
- old, fading painted advertisments and signs
- the view of the city from a sort of roof top after-party
- crafter’s stalls and the relaxed atmosphere at Union square
- replacing guidebook for a list of places recommended by friendly natives and the surprises this brings
- trying to get a cab on the street (try doing it in the middle of the night for five people)
- not to mention all the crazy photos tourists take

Well, not just back but back on the old track, i.e. lecturing, grading papers and searching for a good real estate deal. And sorting out impressions and memories of New York along the way. Will post more tomorrow, so far I had just managed to browse through the photographs once as both of my girls are currently ill.

Off to conferernce in New York, will be back on Monday.
Must say hat a certain line from a certain REM song came to my mind today -  ”Leaving New York, never easy (it’s pulling me apart)”. Only in my head, it goes: Leaving for New York, never easy…” 

The thumbnails are actually from my commuter train (a.k.a. Kamnčan)

Ta-da, look what came in yesterday’s mail – Slovene magazine Fotografija with my article on the theory of advertising photography on page four. One of my friends would probably call this a Borges-type of story, writing about the non-existent things :)

I have been grading tons of student essays lately and some of them even turned out to be quite fun. Ok, not fun but at least interesting. One of such assignments was the analysis of the book cover of their favourite book or the book they are currently reading.
Was fairly surprised by the selection – ranging from Da Vinci code and Harry Potter to Dostoyevsky (probably because of easy interpretation of cover), from hip stories about modern women to memoirs of child abuse, topped with a dash of social science textbooks.
But I must admit that the cover above was my favourite - the Czech story about mean Colorado beetle from the days of hard core communist propaganda. I particularly like the face of the beetle, the way it is reminiscent of that of Olive from Popeye. BTW, the student did not notice this detail - is this another sign of my aging?