tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66816369335772069722024-03-19T04:14:21.709-07:00PapergreatChris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13435979081891289688noreply@blogger.comBlogger3644125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-666950967688555452024-03-10T14:17:00.001-07:002024-03-10T14:17:07.131-07:00"The Japanese Twins" by Lucy Fitch Perkins<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqtZh-1RCGtXfwkKytCgno2BZvHHUbeFj8IsNjcwFX7SW1xF_11rYoNPh3hxZh3aqtXoLkXMXKqOFBgVCHIL3rtRqnN93PKteyRlpx36Ss1jtZJMgXEeO-31RoiS2W0tAqiBSsIRmiEWc31cIj_2NGj1dpap3ob7QNl_K1tgOpsePNPbcI3ORrVztyqcd/s3715/IMG_0769.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3715" data-original-width="2698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqtZh-1RCGtXfwkKytCgno2BZvHHUbeFj8IsNjcwFX7SW1xF_11rYoNPh3hxZh3aqtXoLkXMXKqOFBgVCHIL3rtRqnN93PKteyRlpx36Ss1jtZJMgXEeO-31RoiS2W0tAqiBSsIRmiEWc31cIj_2NGj1dpap3ob7QNl_K1tgOpsePNPbcI3ORrVztyqcd/s3715/IMG_0769.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Title:</b> <i>The Japanese Twins</i></li><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Author and illustrator:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Fitch_Perkins">Lucy Fitch Perkins</a> (1865-1937)</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>About the author:</b> </span>Perkins was an Indiana-born children's author and illustrator who was wildly successful (or at least her publisher was), with Houghton Mifflin selling more than 2 million copies of her books. Born Lucy Fitch, she married architect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_H._Perkins_(architect)">Dwight H. Perkins</a> in 1891. According to an outstanding article on the <a href="https://evanstonwomen.org/woman/lucy-fitch-perkins/">Evanston (Illinois) Women's History Project website</a>: "Although Perkins started her career as an artist, she utilized her position in the publishing world to instruct social change to children through her writing. ... Perkins firmly believed she could teach tolerance and mutual respect to children by appealing to their sympathies and engaging their imagination through fiction, and that despite the melting pot America was becoming, there could be peace among the different nationalities of children within Chicago and Evanston schools. She was deeply affected by the oppressed and depressed nations flocking to American shores and worried how a homogenous national could be made out of such heterogeneous material." </li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Quote from Perkins herself:</b> </span>This quote is from <a href="https://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2016/07/lucy-fitch-perkins-and-her-twins-by.html">The History Girls blog</a>, and I <a href="https://www.geni.com/people/Lucy-Perkins/6000000001661346487">confirmed</a> that it came from 1935's <i>The Junior Book of Authors</i>: "The necessity for mutual respect and understanding between people of different nationalities if we are ever to live in peace on this planet. In particular I felt the necessity for this in this country where all the nations of the earth are represented in the population."</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>About the "Twins" series</b>: </span>Perkins published <i>The Dutch Twins</i> in 1911 after being inspired by friend Edwin Osgood Grover, a publisher and educator. The series was a huge success, eventually growing to 26 books. <i>The Japanese Twins</i>, published in 1912, was the second book in the series. According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Fitch_Perkins">Wikipedia</a>: "For each book, Perkins would try to interview an individual who grew up in the given country to gain an understanding of the particular customs. In later books in the series, such as <i>The American Twins of the Revolution</i>, history supplanted geography as the basis of the twins' backgrounds." The Evanston Women's History Project article <a href="https://evanstonwomen.org/woman/lucy-fitch-perkins/">adds</a>: "Through her writing of the Twin series of children’s fiction, Perkins addressed significant issues such as the tremendous importance of land ownership, absentee landlordism, immigration, game preserves and themes of almost an adult nature. However, these gave the reader an appreciation of what was done historically in America to make it the country which attracted many nations to immigrate here, and demonstrated how a cohesive future could be created if cultures and customs were understood and respected."</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Some criticism:</b> </span>It should be noted that, while Perkins' aims were generally praiseworthy, at least one volume in the Twin series received both contemporary and modern criticism. 1931's <i>The Pickaninny Twins</i> features two African American children living in the U.S. South. In an essay that appears in the 2014 book <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24215398-ethics-and-children-s-literature">Ethics and Children's Literature</a></i>, Moira Hinderer writes: "Series books with regional themese were particularly prone to descriptions of a never-changing, plantation South stocked with stereotyped Black characters, and the wide range of reactions to these books reveals the challenges that librarians ... faced as they sought to change racial representations in children's literature." Hinderer notes that while Perkins' books focused on themes of loyalty, family, honesty and bravery, "When Perkins wrote a book about Black children in the American South she chose to call it <i>The <a href="https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/antiblack/picaninny/homepage.htm">Pickaninny</a> Twins</i>. The book was a classic plantation story about the frolicking misadventures of superstititious 'darkies.' ... The publication of <i>The Pickaninny Twins</i> brought quick public criticism from African American librarians [even as] Perkins's work was widely praised by mainstream professional publications."</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>About this book:</b> </span>My hardcover copy of <i>The Japanese Twins</i> is listed as "School Edition" and is through The Riverside Press. While <i>The Japanese Twins</i> was first published in 1912, there is no publication date on this edition. However, the "Also by this author" listing at the front includes books that were published through 1938, so this volume can't be from any earlier than that year.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Dimensions:</b> </span>5½ inches by 7⅝ inches.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Pages:</b> </span>178, plus introduction and end notes directed at teachers</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Provenance:</b> </span>The name David Clarence Frost is written in cursive on the "This Book belongs to" page. I purchased this book at Cupboard Maker Books in Enola, Pennsylvania, about four or five years ago. I got a few of Perkins' other books at the same time.</li><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Excerpt #1:</b> First of all, they came into a broad roadway with beautiful great cedar trees on each side. Under those trees were little booths. Great paper lanterns and banners of all colors hung in front of the booths; and when they waved gayly in the wind, the place looked like a giant flower-garden in full bloom.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Excerpt #2:</b> </span>Their Mother gave them each a paper umbrella in case of rain. She hung a little brocaded bag, wtih a jar of rice inside, on the left arm of each Twin. This was for their luncheon. Then she gave them each a brand-new copy-book and a brand-new soroban. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soroban">soroban</a> is a counting machine.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Excerpt #3:</b> </span>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kura_%28storehouse%29">"Kura"</a> is a little fireproof house in the garden. ... In it Taro and Take and their Father and Mother and Grandmother keep all their greatest treasures. That is why Taro and Take were so glad to go there. Nearly everybody in Japan has just such a safe little house in the garden. Maybe you can guess the reason why. It isn't only because of fires. It's because of earthquakes.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Rating on Goodreads:</b> </span>3.94 stars (out of 5)</li><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Goodreads review #1:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/843210034">TheLibraryOfSarah wrote</a>: "Still not sure how accurate this is, but this is a very sweet story and well-written. I liked how the author wrote it in such a way that it sounds like she's talking to the reader, and I give her a lot of credit writing a book about another culture in a positive light, attempting to teach children about how other people live, in 1912."</li><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Goodreads review #2 (excerpt):</b><b> </b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3698592490">Ashley Lambert-Maberly wrote</a>: "Does anyone else think ... Perkins is a long-ago closet feminist? She makes this adorable characters come to life, they act like real children, the girl twin is clearly the equal of the boy twin, and yet ... society tells the girl 'you're limited, you're not as special, you get fewer choices.' It's very frustrating, and I think Perkins intends readers to walk away with a huge dose of 'but that's not fair!'"</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating on Amazon: </span>4.1 stars (out of 5)</li><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Amazon review #1:</b> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RCJZL1STH50BC">Stephen G wrote</a>: "Easy to read for children to give them an idea of how other cultures treat their children. I'm living in Japan and although this book is old the traditional values it depicts haven't changed much."</li><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Amazon review #2: </b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Twins-Lucy-Fitch-Perkins/product-reviews/B00134Q0YC/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_prev_1?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=1">Angela Whelan</a> wrote: "Chose several of the twins series of books as a trip down memory lane. Can distinctly remember reading them as a child and wondered why I was so enamoured of them. Have discovered how I know various things about different cultures from these books." </li></ul><div>Some of Perkins' illustrations from <i>The Japanese Twins</i>...</div><div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hS87Vak3rrjiAdoiTN9COvIUo1PeH2qgJTRDT5s4qEoKQW1vVAPJSPMveQ-nY1ND7HgMHiu7tb15kuaetA7Uw-16UH1FTRjrX-FDlg2vMrUqvLaCfri26IkC6dwCMHj7z0IL4M-wN1Dr34PtNm5rXgMAaf304hIGexFZSb1tJS2Zh8oJdzwhTMVga7xQ/s2858/IMG_0770.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2432" data-original-width="2858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hS87Vak3rrjiAdoiTN9COvIUo1PeH2qgJTRDT5s4qEoKQW1vVAPJSPMveQ-nY1ND7HgMHiu7tb15kuaetA7Uw-16UH1FTRjrX-FDlg2vMrUqvLaCfri26IkC6dwCMHj7z0IL4M-wN1Dr34PtNm5rXgMAaf304hIGexFZSb1tJS2Zh8oJdzwhTMVga7xQ/s2858/IMG_0770.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEial0F4_LkSnGi93hYtcPdKEGTF3-dOsKtJ6wBQQ32j-XCR6ByNRJ2LHbBh1DEN_8aJ-nhg6_99DkUoceRbYdbGfM3Wulo00rqX41-68vj1RT1cq9JSTxR-tstgNHE25bJiXFn7IX2_zrG14z9AcmG5pQMO28pKWEk3jfEfzXETfhsWgFGQJtC29g2mCGRq/s3019/IMG_0773.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1935" data-original-width="3019" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEial0F4_LkSnGi93hYtcPdKEGTF3-dOsKtJ6wBQQ32j-XCR6ByNRJ2LHbBh1DEN_8aJ-nhg6_99DkUoceRbYdbGfM3Wulo00rqX41-68vj1RT1cq9JSTxR-tstgNHE25bJiXFn7IX2_zrG14z9AcmG5pQMO28pKWEk3jfEfzXETfhsWgFGQJtC29g2mCGRq/s3019/IMG_0773.jpg" width="450" /></a></div></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-50020860703922102252024-03-07T08:10:00.002-07:002024-03-07T08:10:42.090-07:00Somewhere out there: Unpublished stories by Ruth Manning-Sanders<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgrLhDZyWpZWdWv1G2lh-aRM2FsxqtAEA0dU0aAmMiexJJyIwp-PS74aAuTs_ALRJgG1qPqatErPEBd7Pbeb0F8Xo6ZNSqKTKQv_lo9dZS0eE7ayf6OQ0wkMS1ETOSLOMuJLt-esyFXIozARu3xPYEtVgoVDGUeLzPorKBUs67koDEBtc4-i_y0y2f81S/s3000/AA_UNPUBBED1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgrLhDZyWpZWdWv1G2lh-aRM2FsxqtAEA0dU0aAmMiexJJyIwp-PS74aAuTs_ALRJgG1qPqatErPEBd7Pbeb0F8Xo6ZNSqKTKQv_lo9dZS0eE7ayf6OQ0wkMS1ETOSLOMuJLt-esyFXIozARu3xPYEtVgoVDGUeLzPorKBUs67koDEBtc4-i_y0y2f81S/s3000/AA_UNPUBBED1.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.davidlay.co.uk/">Lay's Auctioneers</a> in the United Kingdom had another high-price auction today involving material from the estate of Ruth Manning-Sanders. (I wrote about an earlier one in <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2023/01/some-of-books-that-helped-to-inspire.html">January 2023</a>.) Tantalizingly, this one focused on Manning-Sanders' papers and, specifically, her unpublished stories! Boxes and <b>boxes</b> of unpublished stories. (Gasp!)<div><br /></div><div>This was the official auction listing:</div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>"A vast collection of folk stories and fairy tales in typescript.</div><div><br /></div><div>A very large collection containing thousands of folk stories from around the world, almost all in typescript with graphite notes to titles showing origin, included in this important collection are unpublished works including the novel 'Fog in the Channel'.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Ruth Manning-Sanders was best known for her collections of fairy tales and folktales from around the world. Her significance lies in her dedication to preserving and sharing traditional stories from various cultures. While some fairy tales were well-known and widely published, Manning-Sanders sought out and shared lesser-known stories. This helped shed light on narratives that might have been overlooked and ensured that a broader range of cultural traditions was represented in her collection at a time when the field of folklore and fairy tale collections was often dominated by male scholars. Manning-Sanders made a significant contribution as a female folklorist. Her work helped pave the way for a more inclusive representation of voices in the study and preservation of folklore.</div><div><br /></div><div>"An important collection of folk and fairy stories.</div><div><br /></div><div>"From the estate of the authors descendants."</div></blockquote><div></div><div>So, we now know that Manning-Sanders wrote an unpublished novel titled <i>Fog in the Channel</i>. I wonder what decade it's from. Was this one of her novels for adults from her early writing days? Or one of her later juvenile novels? Perhaps the individual who won this lot will seek to have it published some day. I think it's also fair to hope that these papers and ephemera will eventually be housed in a research library. I'm glad they still exist, and I hope they continue to exist for future scholars.</div><div><br /></div><div>Notes on these papers also serve to further emphasize the important role that Manning-Sanders' daughter, Joan Floyd, played in her mother's writing efforts. They truly seemed to be a two-person team in the creation of many of the folklore and fairy tale collections.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are some more of the Lay's Auctioneers photos from the auction preview, for posterity:</div></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmuMBfGxE-_-zWwKbj7_j52lunt6svzKKzBkSJZsxh3rN3FzmldBfYwyx6Nx9NGH33kOM-8TV_BNKM_BvnP5erfrA6-DmBuSKwAoKg3gmNk9KZ94zwKB45LAPbsWKQmK5TSxt7NFl2wfzXR8bvD-Kcg8VHvPnXDNPfvMkJ1W2pAae1RzkyOv1bVo3Of_g/s3000/RMS12.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmuMBfGxE-_-zWwKbj7_j52lunt6svzKKzBkSJZsxh3rN3FzmldBfYwyx6Nx9NGH33kOM-8TV_BNKM_BvnP5erfrA6-DmBuSKwAoKg3gmNk9KZ94zwKB45LAPbsWKQmK5TSxt7NFl2wfzXR8bvD-Kcg8VHvPnXDNPfvMkJ1W2pAae1RzkyOv1bVo3Of_g/s3000/RMS12.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-67337811612418737112024-02-09T19:34:00.001-07:002024-02-09T19:34:06.142-07:00Ukraine correspondences<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXw0FqQbYYRCJYD5PW876vz3Us1C5jSpHBqYnUwjmYBqE1KGYRT8EPzFuUen8Y0dPooZZ-OCT-wwJkUPdHLJ1DvrJvkcUd9qAEWQnIo_hZrVN0NB-VMeS8phRBrEbQVbGOw3bl1X_WTdMcqbuAU0U_hr3-A1aaJyY4FFPYq6l9Xk94IK2B5imuhGFhWvOZ/s3721/IMG_0313.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2809" data-original-width="3721" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXw0FqQbYYRCJYD5PW876vz3Us1C5jSpHBqYnUwjmYBqE1KGYRT8EPzFuUen8Y0dPooZZ-OCT-wwJkUPdHLJ1DvrJvkcUd9qAEWQnIo_hZrVN0NB-VMeS8phRBrEbQVbGOw3bl1X_WTdMcqbuAU0U_hr3-A1aaJyY4FFPYq6l9Xk94IK2B5imuhGFhWvOZ/s3721/IMG_0313.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div><a href="https://www.postcrossing.com/">Postcrossing</a> has allowed me to connect with many wonderful people from Ukraine over the years. But life changed drastically for many Ukrainians two years ago this month, when Vladimir Putin's murderous Russian forces invaded the sovereign European nation of Ukraine. Many Ukrainian citizens have fled the fighting and become refugees. Whether they are still in the country or not, their futures remain uncertain while the war rages. (And that uncertainty is certainly heightened by Congress failing in recent months to provide the Ukrainian government with the assistance it needs to counter the Russian invasion.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In recent days I've received a handful of correspondence reminding me of the humans who are affected every hour of every day by this war. </div><div><br /></div><div>1. I received the above postcard a few days ago. The text covers the entire back of the card. It states:</div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><blockquote>"Hello Chris! I'm alive. :) I deeply appreciate your thoughtful card, which brought joy to my life and gratitude for your support of Ukraine. Though I received it on 25th of April, I'm sending this in December 2023 to add a touch of Christmas cheer. The image of a Ukrainian tractor pulling a russian tank is a real story, you can Goolgl it. The inscription means 'Good evening, we are from Ukraine.' Now it's popular phrase. russia is still bombing my country and killing Ukrainians I keep waking up from explosions and listening to missiles and drones shooting down. But we believe in our victory. :) Million times thank you for your card." </blockquote></span></div><div>The postcard is unsigned.</div><div><br /></div><div>2. In the meantime, I requested a new random Postcrossing user to send a postcard to this week, and I happened to receive the address of Ukrainian woman who is now living in Poland with her dog (Gerda) and cat (Murka). It's not clear from her profile whether she moved to Poland before the Russian invasion, or fled there during the past two years to escape the violence. Poland has taken in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_refugee_crisis_(2022%E2%80%93present)">the most Ukrainian refugees</a> — more than 1.6 million through last July. This Postcrossing member is seeking cards of koalas, owls, fairies, unicorns, Harry Potter and Avatar, so I'll do my best to send some good cheer her way.</div><div><br /></div><div>3. Through Postcrossing, a Ukrainian and I became pen pals in the spring of 2021, exchanging postcards and letters often. She was (fortuitously?) on vacation in another country when the invasion began two years ago and has been essentially displaced ever since, trying to find a potential home, and perhaps new employment, elsewhere in the world. She's spent time in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and then Canada for a long stint in 2023. Recently, she had an opportunity to visit loved ones in and around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. This is part of what she emailed me about the experience:</div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><blockquote>"And so, here I am — in the freezing, snowy and uncalm city of Kyiv. The atmosphere at the moment is much worse than it was in April when I visited last time. The mobilization policy has been toughened — local authorities catch males literally everywhere in the city and serve them a summons to join the Armed forces of Ukraine. All my male friends, who don't want to find themselves at the war front, panic and not go out much. So, for the last week, I only met with my two female friends. I also visited my company's new office in Kyiv, but it was so short — after the first two hours of working, we received a message asking everyone to go home immediately due to the upcoming military recruitment centre raid in that district. So, as you can see, it's very turbulent. I feel sorry for young men who don't want to participate in the war. I think that war is awful, and even when the country is at war, it doesn't mean that every single man can physically and mentally participate in it. ... So many professionals support Ukraine in another way. And it's so sad that Ukraine doesn't have enough resources and support to win the war, so it ends up using such dirty methods as catching males on the streets. None will be a good soldier by force. So, overall, everything is sad here. And I wish it to end soon (but surely it won't)." </blockquote></span></div><div>4. Finally, on February 2, I received this email notification that a Postcrossing card I sent to another Ukrainian on November 26 had finally arrived after more than two months:</div><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Hello Chris!! Greetings from KYIV!</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Thank you so much for your postcard! Too bad you didn't see my daughter's eyes! When she saw that a letter had arrived for her — she was shocked! It was so sweet and so precious. I took the letter while she was at school and did not open it. When we were leaving school, I said that something special was waiting for her. She was so happy!!!</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">You have beautiful cats and a big heart. After all, only a person with a big heart can love animals so much :)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Many thanks to you and your family! I wish you only the best!</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"P.S All Ukrainians are infinitely grateful to America! Honestly, it's only thanks to patriot systems that my daughter can sleep in her own bed and not in a bomb shelter.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"From Kyiv with big love!” </span></div></blockquote><p>Excuse me, but now I need to go and write more correspondence. </p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-17216635044466768572024-02-04T15:44:00.001-07:002024-02-04T15:44:10.737-07:00Hans Holzer's "The Psychic World of Plants"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA2Nn18mSVygbYnk2HKMTFUFJJuJkHE_xBRi8kDLUidjaPkHgEQ3N-jr8p_1TevAVNVMryRS2JCQVw8Wtgl8P64sBnJXUCOiMpE49Y2rWzXUDqpEi_6opLS8phyphenhyphenjXlZAS58nOpWQ9tXpp-BB7wDuqy9hMBwGU0_SApiXGPVsWxytZ8lg5wrZm7K_zY52dL/s3695/IMG_0241.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3695" data-original-width="2223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA2Nn18mSVygbYnk2HKMTFUFJJuJkHE_xBRi8kDLUidjaPkHgEQ3N-jr8p_1TevAVNVMryRS2JCQVw8Wtgl8P64sBnJXUCOiMpE49Y2rWzXUDqpEi_6opLS8phyphenhyphenjXlZAS58nOpWQ9tXpp-BB7wDuqy9hMBwGU0_SApiXGPVsWxytZ8lg5wrZm7K_zY52dL/s3695/IMG_0241.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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Here's another in an occasional series about the more obscure paperbacks penned by parapsychologist and ghost hunter Hans Holzer. The most recent post before this examined <i><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2023/08/hans-holzers-window-to-past-exploring.html">Window to the Past: Exploring History Through ESP</a></i>. There's almost nothing on the internet about today's book, so this is a chance to get some information out there for posterity.<div><br /></div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Title:</b> <i>The Psychic World of Plants</i></li><li><b>Additional cover text:</b> Discover what your plants are thinking in this fascinating revelation</li><li><b>Author:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holzer">Hans Holzer</a> (1920-2009)</li><li><b>Cover designer:</b> Unknown</li><li><b>Bonkers questions posed on the back cover: </b>Does a carrot scream when it's uprooted? Do plants feel pain? fear? love? Can they <i>communicate </i>emotions? How do you <i>listen</i> to a plant? How do they feel about being eaten?</li><li><b>Publication date: </b>September 1975</li><li><b>Publisher: </b>Pyramid Books (V3695)</li><li><b>Format: </b>Paperback</li><li><b>Pages: </b>125</li><li><b>Cover price:</b> $1.25 (the equivalent of about $7.20 today)</li><li><b>Chapter titles: </b>It's a Plant's World; How People and Plants Relate to Each Other; Science Looks at Plant Communication; Plants in Your Life; A Life with Plants: How to Deal with Your Rooted Friends; and The Do's and Don't of Eating Plants.</li><li><b>First sentences:</b> "When a book like Peter Tompkins' and Christopher Bird's <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6054496-the-secret-life-of-plants">The Secret Life of Plants</a></i> gets on the best-seller list, it is certainly news. It is further news when a total of seven or eight books devoted to the investigation of relationships between human beings and plants are suddenly popping up all over the publishing scene. There is no doubt about it, what goes on in a plant's heart is of great concern to an increasing number of human beings."</li><li><b>Last sentence: </b>"After all, where would we all be <i>without</i> plants?"</li><li><b>Highlights from "How People and Plants Relate to Each Other":</b> Holzer buys a "lovely pinkish-red <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea">bougainvillea</a>" from Futterman's and decides to have some psychic friends — <a href="https://www.echonyc.com/~horn/unbelievable/?p=541">Ethel Johnson Meyers</a>, Ingrid Beckman and Patricia Allen Bott — see what vibes they can get from various houseplants. Ingrid finds love, tranquility, laziness and warmth in the vibrations of various plants, and attempts to communicate with some of them. Patricia talks about her conversations with her geranium, which is afraid of her cat. </li><li><b>Highlights from "Science Looks at Plant Communication":</b> Much of this chapter is just Holzer repeating material from Tompkins' and Bird's <i>The Secret Life of Plants</i>. It's pretty clear that this short book was, in part, an attempt to capitalize on the 1970s plant craze. The chapter then moves on to the topics of auras and energy fields. (We have, of course, been able to apply <b>scientific</b> methods and <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/">come a long way in our understanding of actual plant communications</a> since these parapsychology days of the 1970s.)</li><li><b>Highlights from "Plants in Your Life": </b>Here's a fun sentence: "Nevertheless, the possibility of utilizing the ability of plants to foresee things, to sense danger, and to warn man of its approach has led researcher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleve_Backster">[Cleve] Backster</a> to the somewhat outrageous suggestion that plants be used in jungle warfare to warn of approaching enemies." The chapter then pivots into the sex life of plants, how certain plants stimulate sexual responses in humans and the use of plants in religious ceremonies. Witchcraft comes up, of course, because this is Hans Holzer. </li><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-X4e_ilpSAJeW61Xgo1PA0-0_vDXLRWuAAzk9oyjebhlEm_Vyiv5qmW63znfX2ImgInoXn3lS1NBKvXQ27sC3gFHmzDTOOA8cwb25Ty2gcb64ePYGWVNGREUk-pEhbXdK7vYUoduSqE37buYqj10bJhuT4eOHnk_07m6e72IF1dF_szx7_SGHwXHJY7gI/s1010/10118489.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-X4e_ilpSAJeW61Xgo1PA0-0_vDXLRWuAAzk9oyjebhlEm_Vyiv5qmW63znfX2ImgInoXn3lS1NBKvXQ27sC3gFHmzDTOOA8cwb25Ty2gcb64ePYGWVNGREUk-pEhbXdK7vYUoduSqE37buYqj10bJhuT4eOHnk_07m6e72IF1dF_szx7_SGHwXHJY7gI/s320/10118489.jpg" width="190" /></a></div><b>Highlights from "A Life with Plants: How to Deal with Your Rooted Friends": </b>This chapter starts by drawing material from Jerry Baker's early 1970s book <i>Plants are Like People</i>. It's basically a bunch of gardening tips without much from the realm of parapsychology beyond "consider your plants' feelings" and "talk to your plants." There's a rundown of which plants are best-suited to each Zodiac symbol. </li><li><b>Highlights from "The Do's and Don't of Eating Plants": </b>This chapter allows Holzer to make a callback to his 1973 Pyramid paperback <i><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2020/01/hans-holzer-was-stalking-ghosts-and.html">The Vegetarian Way of Life</a></i>. Holzer notes: "One of the commonest arguments I hear from time to time against my being a vegetarian is that I kill plants, living beings, and that there really isn't any difference between destroying plant life and taking animal life." Holzer doesn't do his defense any favors by stating that plants have liquids that are similar to blood and that it has been "proven" that they feel pain. But he says we can treat plant food compassionately: "Breaking plants by hand without properly cutting them, mutilating them in any way while they are still connected to the root, destroying plants you do not need for food are all taboos that should be observed. ... Food plants should not be taken from the soil in the middle of the day but either at sunup or sundown. ... Do not leave plants [that have been harvested] lying around for long periods, allowing them to die slowly." Holzer also has strong opinions about soil additives to help plants' growth: "Neither chemical fertilizer not manure is the asnwer to healthy plants. Compost, that is, the natural remnants of decomposing leaves, flowers, and other products found in nature, is not only nonpoisonous but highly useful in stimulating soil conservation." To add a touch of the paranormal to the chapter, Holzer mentions that fresh fruit and mushrooms are excellent for boosting psychic perception. (No, not <i>those</i> kind of mushrooms.)</li></ul></div></div><div>That's it. There are no reviews or discussions of this book on the internet, so hopefully this post will become the go-to resource for all those seeking Holzer's thoughts on plants and the supernatural. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitymE2Q7CWnPei1-n-WGgigdxRJSz1xXMndTjCI-zkpSuucc2UBtvYKCFGZjqR12uAoyzzO2X-BE8oazI8E2xi2B2PyEouZ-sXAEAXiWDch-3zeieTNpRfR1gfQ9pH4nBNtehi_hstRguyi0ypq7XG1PREQQsW49Iw7maHG-fdMWPLSQIpdjD6M6zZag2k/s4032/IMG_0243.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitymE2Q7CWnPei1-n-WGgigdxRJSz1xXMndTjCI-zkpSuucc2UBtvYKCFGZjqR12uAoyzzO2X-BE8oazI8E2xi2B2PyEouZ-sXAEAXiWDch-3zeieTNpRfR1gfQ9pH4nBNtehi_hstRguyi0ypq7XG1PREQQsW49Iw7maHG-fdMWPLSQIpdjD6M6zZag2k/s4032/IMG_0243.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">That's Oliver, whose mother, Mamacita, left him (and his four siblings) at our back door </div><div style="text-align: center;">one morning last August when he was about 4 weeks old. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Later, we were able to get Mamacita (a feral cat) spayed, which will make </div><div style="text-align: center;">her life far better and spare us from future surprise kittens.</div></span></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-34725712302308534632024-02-03T13:30:00.001-07:002024-02-03T13:30:05.284-07:00Resimplify Me, Chapter 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplxuiSiLkM7iIznwIUvxr5mqwptvoj7I0b2yU1BEQwIHpLDpJWaWyUDeP4vQ_gNlNeJ4Ul_ly_5d4Adv86SihnUCimbB5ZNAztdJ04gm5m68Zmxcbn0WlfQPtJYNeTXJSwnApdkJS81g931lM-79Wvawe1E98DUuwMJy0XJ0zLumQK_yIOWxgLRkRpt3m/s4028/IMG_0222.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2405" data-original-width="4028" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplxuiSiLkM7iIznwIUvxr5mqwptvoj7I0b2yU1BEQwIHpLDpJWaWyUDeP4vQ_gNlNeJ4Ul_ly_5d4Adv86SihnUCimbB5ZNAztdJ04gm5m68Zmxcbn0WlfQPtJYNeTXJSwnApdkJS81g931lM-79Wvawe1E98DUuwMJy0XJ0zLumQK_yIOWxgLRkRpt3m/s4028/IMG_0222.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<p>I enjoy being surrounded by interesting things, but I need to be surrounded by <i>far fewer</i> interesting things. Too much stuff — too many options — is often paralyzing and stressful. I have more physical media than I will ever get around to in the time I have left. So I am officially embarking upon a long-term project I call <b>Resimplify Me</b>. A good place to start is books, because they are bulky and I have <i>plenty</i> to spare. Realistically, there are only so many 400-page tomes I’m going to read moving forward.</p><p>This is going to be a <i>long</i> project. The only place to start is one shelf (or drawer, or box) at a time. On this sunny Saturday morning, I'm beginning on a bookshelf. (Actually, it ended up being two bookshelves.) Shown above is top shelf of the far-right bookcase along my bedroom wall. </p><p>These are my notes from along the way...</p><p>1. The top two shelves on this bookcase are world nonfiction. To get to them on the stepladder, I brushed past and jingled the bells that used to hang from the front door of the house on Oak Crest Lane. They're hanging from my bedroom ceiling now. </p><p>2. Sitting atop the book case is <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2012/03/how-would-delaware-respond-to-nuclear.html">the state of Delaware's detailed 1967 plan</a> for responding to a nuclear attack, which I blogged about 12 years ago. I have no idea what to do with it.</p><p>3. As I go through this process, bigger books receive greater scrutiny and have a higher bar for surviving the winnowing. One of these thicker books, 2018's <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40105885">The Adventures of Owen Hatherley in the Post-Soviet Space</a></i>, already seems a bit outdated in this time of the Russia-Ukraine war. Old Soviet ways aren't so old, perhaps. Tim Judah's <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28587994-in-wartime">In Wartime</a></i> seems to be the more relevant book.</p><p>4. I'm expanding today's mini-project a little bit. My aim is now to winnow these top two shelves down to <b>one</b> shelf. Here's the second shelf.
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_UvhFoEMMbMyk8NRHwpPJoPVOsrH5l0Vrhh1BnJJEGNUsHB-w_hVbOy9Zwub21GTgM3lhMoUhMCg5ipaYKJxZrESO2G-GKSBID3EMcu-4uOEBYpqhCGO3z1msXZllAkHcPmOwYr_HmC3OlL7Aam2C5aInq3YEYiHQExAwvAb1JPsiPaIhtu0RU1X-hSH/s4028/IMG_0223.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2269" data-original-width="4028" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_UvhFoEMMbMyk8NRHwpPJoPVOsrH5l0Vrhh1BnJJEGNUsHB-w_hVbOy9Zwub21GTgM3lhMoUhMCg5ipaYKJxZrESO2G-GKSBID3EMcu-4uOEBYpqhCGO3z1msXZllAkHcPmOwYr_HmC3OlL7Aam2C5aInq3YEYiHQExAwvAb1JPsiPaIhtu0RU1X-hSH/s4028/IMG_0223.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<p>5. As I assess them, there are some easy decisions for pruning. Some of these books veer <i>way too far</i> into an overambitious and overaspirational idea of my finite future reading time. Also, many of these are easily obtainable from a public library if I ever change my mind. So, my philosophy is that I'm keeping certain books that are older, rarer and less likely to be in the public library sytem.</p><p>6. Early on, it feels like today's project is going to be a failure: There’s no way I’m going to get these two shelves condensed to one shelf, or even close to one shelf. I love books, ideas and the idea of books. These history books are all meaningful. They are important.</p><p>7. <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39020.1491">1491</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/145139.America_in_1492">America in 1492</a></i>, and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9862761-1493"><i>1493</i></a> all have to go if there's any hope of reaching today's resimplifying goal. All are easily obtained at the library. Browsing <i>America in 1492</i>, I flip to this sentence “Local autonomy in implementing the mit’a labor tax was one of the special characteristics of the system that enhanced its efficiency and flexibility.” I am reassured that I am not going to read 443 pages of this. </p><p>8. I no longer want to read about why <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/287682.Ivan_the_Terrible">Ivan is Terrible</a>, but I am keeping both books about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Railway">Trans-Siberian Railway</a>. (I thought I blogged about Kuranov's book, but I guess not.)</p><p>9. I have to flip through the books that are being pruned to check for <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/search/label/Tucked%20away%20inside">Tucked Away Inside</a> items. Most will be removed and transferred to other volumes. I might leave a select few as easter eggs for future readers.</p><p>10. I will cheat and put some of these books elsewhere. Specifically I’m thinking about the vintage tourism guides, such as <i><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2016/02/1967s-romania-guidebook-and-artwork-of.html">Romania</a></i>. Yes, I’m just kicking the can down the road, but it's part of the sorting process.</p><p>11. As for what does get pruned, I will try to sell some at Bookmans. (<i>So I can buy more books? Yikes!</i>) I will put some into Little Free Libraries and give the rest to Goodwill. I don't have the energy for Facebook Marketplace, and I’m not at the "sell stuff on eBay" stage of Resimplify Me yet, though that will necessarily come.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZtg4cLWVH0U5HuBchHluUiDj3vFyQ8nTSJa2a8o-zfoODymcEmmGnq-s7bFfIsjlIP5frCF3V0PUk7n9UogGW4SH-7DopK48IHm_ZkebFqtQ_2fVu3x63CjRNW_dFGZdx-LKg-XARYTvBSwn0WI5EBnkXzOVts8Cwjoa27_eDN_kroF8OIHPQiJU5rFT/s2719/IMG_0224.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2580" data-original-width="2719" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZtg4cLWVH0U5HuBchHluUiDj3vFyQ8nTSJa2a8o-zfoODymcEmmGnq-s7bFfIsjlIP5frCF3V0PUk7n9UogGW4SH-7DopK48IHm_ZkebFqtQ_2fVu3x63CjRNW_dFGZdx-LKg-XARYTvBSwn0WI5EBnkXzOVts8Cwjoa27_eDN_kroF8OIHPQiJU5rFT/s2719/IMG_0224.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Snugs was "helping" and playing with a spring while I pruned.</span></div><p style="text-align: left;">12. <i><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2019/04/book-cover-syrian-yankee.html">Syrian Yankee</a></i> is in beautiful shape and it’s signed by the author. Checking on AbeBooks, however, it simply doesn’t have much value. Author Salom Rizk seems to have signed a lot of them. I’m going to take it off the shelf, but decide later about its best new home. These are the kind of mid-century books that were so prevalent on my great-grandfather’s and grandmother’s bookshelves at Oak Crest Lane, and I have a nostalgic weakness for recreating that kind of experience, even while knowing it’s unlikely that there will be future young explorers of my shelves.</p><p>13. I’m not a big fan of oversize books, but <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3424306-riddles-of-the-sphinx">Riddles of the Sphinx</a></i> survives this pruning.</p><p>14. Why do so many of these books dwell on taxation?</p><p>15. I'm cheating again and putting <i>The Land and People of Czechoslovakia</i> with the other old textbooks. So there.</p><p>16. Now I need to make some tough decisions about the Native American section and the oddly large Scandinavian section. </p><p>17. Another cheat I’ve deployed over the years: I’m going to leave Simon Winchester’s <i>The River at the Center of the World </i>out on the bedstand to read (and prune thereafter). Minutes, later, I decided to do this with <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18104725-the-almost-nearly-perfect-people?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=3Y78GY1aXe&rank=1">The Almost Nearly Perfect People</a>, </i>too. I found this card tucked away inside that book, and it seemed like <b>exactly</b> the encouragement I need for this ongoing project.
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmRYY4zh6WLQM7uYoyE5Kpo8XT-l66FpOfcNgmTHVken0B0TcHcYOSV3wfKcm-m5xF-vNg-VVx-fwXSJjDL1g9v9ThF1KSY5USJDiAB_4cF9zoiszr8c_UhqDgAD6JQb9P6fcSAW99jN2xyIZR0NRlhXuiRiXxv9rcpcmyPxNsJhJSo1C713q3g-G5UCPC/s3803/IMG_0225.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3008" data-original-width="3803" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmRYY4zh6WLQM7uYoyE5Kpo8XT-l66FpOfcNgmTHVken0B0TcHcYOSV3wfKcm-m5xF-vNg-VVx-fwXSJjDL1g9v9ThF1KSY5USJDiAB_4cF9zoiszr8c_UhqDgAD6JQb9P6fcSAW99jN2xyIZR0NRlhXuiRiXxv9rcpcmyPxNsJhJSo1C713q3g-G5UCPC/s3803/IMG_0225.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<p>18. I shudder as I realize that I have some unshelved piles of books at the moment. What if I do all this work to make everything fit and then come across another nonfiction book that belongs on this shelf? </p><p>19. Getting very close now. Close enough that I may cut myself some slack and not prune things that I’m unsure about. Also, I have other nonfiction sections that some of these books can fold into. </p><p>20. OK, I’m finished. There was a significant amount of “cheating” and I didn’t get to<i> just</i> one shelf, but I’m very satisfied with the number of books that were pruned (about 18). Looking at what remains, it’s very clear that I have favored stories of people over academic tomes.
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPDXdG_TJ8jerEtl1NKO8X_3Y_3eHR7ciMbH1vrDrmRPJJ8ML04xHIqueznlkpF6WgoufDehriZ5Cx5YfSbjlgUnRoHRPFjAlNPlj6FRoHsCwhCBkzHB-nu1lUo5a2REj-F2pDM_Xe377mNKa4OjZf6F53IGBrjRzcqshQxuc3KKonFNdYG0-I4_4iv5W/s4032/IMG_0226.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPDXdG_TJ8jerEtl1NKO8X_3Y_3eHR7ciMbH1vrDrmRPJJ8ML04xHIqueznlkpF6WgoufDehriZ5Cx5YfSbjlgUnRoHRPFjAlNPlj6FRoHsCwhCBkzHB-nu1lUo5a2REj-F2pDM_Xe377mNKa4OjZf6F53IGBrjRzcqshQxuc3KKonFNdYG0-I4_4iv5W/s4032/IMG_0226.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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21. Only about three dozen shelves to go! (Gulp.)<p></p>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-63350160089503547452024-01-29T18:23:00.001-07:002024-01-29T18:23:55.686-07:00"The Monster Maker": A sci-fi film about pollution that didn't get made<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcGmedMX7aDIgN3bKjCtLUqS9w5jLZDyBnyf4VpZiIjVsggzI8iZdTxZVAUcr8REMfNbRhgedVi4VBnD0C497Ai4NxAToK0gBSkw3zyZYDzscO2avuomh98nSMAxPtO3ChI9WFr4Dus7hZfe_PIZIqhflTqs6e6btU0VJdwqAAdvnptFMNqq46CSF-C3N/s3469/TOFFEE_BOOK.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3469" data-original-width="2706" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcGmedMX7aDIgN3bKjCtLUqS9w5jLZDyBnyf4VpZiIjVsggzI8iZdTxZVAUcr8REMfNbRhgedVi4VBnD0C497Ai4NxAToK0gBSkw3zyZYDzscO2avuomh98nSMAxPtO3ChI9WFr4Dus7hZfe_PIZIqhflTqs6e6btU0VJdwqAAdvnptFMNqq46CSF-C3N/s320/TOFFEE_BOOK.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monaco">James Monaco's</a> 1979 book <i>Alain Resnais</i><sup>1</sup>, the author describes a tantalizing film project involving surrealist director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Resnais">Renais</a> and Timely Comics/Marvel Comics legend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Lee">Stan Lee</a> that, sadly, never came to fruition.<div><br /></div><div>Resnais, who was French, spent some time in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s working on various potential projects. One of those possibilities, as Monaco wrote, involved a documentary about <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2013/01/imaginary-hp-lovecraft-postcard.html">H.P. Lovecraft</a>, with some backing from William Friedkin. But that fell through, possibly because Friedkin got involved with <i>The Exorcist</i><sup>2</sup>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another idea involved a film, proposed to be titled <i>The Monster Maker</i>, that would be written by Lee. </div><div><br /></div><div>Monaco spends part of a chapter on Renais' unrealized projects going into great detail about the project and its origins. <i>The Monster Maker</i> would have followed Larry Morgan ("a producer of grade C horror films") and his regular lead actor, Stephen Cavanaugh. Morgan aspires to produce something greater than schlock. And Cavanaugh, whose wife has recently died, "thinks air pollution was the cause. He goes a little crazy and blackmails Morgan into promising to do a film which will expose the evils of pollution once and for all time," Monaco wrote. The sci-film element comes at the end, with garbage itself becoming the monster (possibly having been "summoned" by the now-insane Cavanaugh).</div><div><br /></div><div>"The sky darkens with smoke," Monaco wrote, describing the ending. "The bay overflows with pustulous flotsam and jetsam — and worse — dreck. Garbage runs rampant in the streets. In a montage of 25 extraordinary scenes, pollution triumphs in the city as crowds run screaming in terror from the stench, the smoke, the horror of it all."</div><div><br /></div><div>For all of this, the tone would have been crucial — and perhaps impossible to nail. Lee and Resnais envisioned a comic-book-like story with "a subtle tone of cinematic irony to be a commentary on the style as well as an example of it." Why style? Wrote Monaco: "'The Monster Maker' is a grand and exuberant compendium of all the cliches of the B movie which have thrilled and enthralled audiences for fifty years: science fiction, sentimental romance, horror, revenge, and cataclysm — it's all there. That more important perhaps, 'The Monster Maker' takes these conventions seriously at the same time as it parodies them. This is not camp, but something more serious."</div><div><br /></div><div>And thus the American Spider-Man co-creator Lee and the French surrealist Resnais were setting the bar extremely high. Monaco opined that <i>The Monster Maker</i> would not have been a very commercial project, and added that "with a little bad luck, it could easily have been a disaster for Resnais."<div><br /></div><div>A disaster, perhaps. But there's no way it would have been an uninteresting one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Resnais did extensive location scouting in New York for the unrealized project. In his book, Monaco includes a handful of those photos, reprinted from Resnais' photography book, <i>Repérages</i>, which was published in 1974. Those black-and-white images are further reproduced here. The quality is poor for several reasons, including the fact that I couldn't open the book flat to get good photos. But I think they give a good idea of Resnais' vision and inspirations for the meta-commentary pollution monster movie that was never to be. </div><div><div><div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vb1Nv8-AJCthPizPEq3GFHWrdrnP4BOWwtNeIcZv2tAx4BsrOhi-m12PQIwzUXSaoFy-ra324RWuz-XuQ2SQTaXDKuLTFm1WH3vGLTXPAcHb8q-B_mnKJHmeooMMO-9praa3qRN_omFtWud4RUYEtkJPTTbG4Ed_WI85MAFmA1vGSr8_TiT31DNLnsza/s3589/IMG_9678.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2649" data-original-width="3589" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vb1Nv8-AJCthPizPEq3GFHWrdrnP4BOWwtNeIcZv2tAx4BsrOhi-m12PQIwzUXSaoFy-ra324RWuz-XuQ2SQTaXDKuLTFm1WH3vGLTXPAcHb8q-B_mnKJHmeooMMO-9praa3qRN_omFtWud4RUYEtkJPTTbG4Ed_WI85MAFmA1vGSr8_TiT31DNLnsza/s3589/IMG_9678.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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Footnotes </b></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">1. Yes, I'm a film nerd for having this book. My favorite Resnais movie is <i>Last Year at Marienbad</i>, but his most interesting and challenging film that I've seen is the one he made immediately afterward, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_(film)">Muriel</a></i>. Also, it my opinion that Resnais' 32-minute 1956 Holocaust documentary, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_and_Fog_(1956_film)">Night and Fog</a></i>, should be be required viewing for American 11th grade or 12th grade students (with <a href="https://www.socialstudies.com/pdf/VY100V-DV.pdf">proper context, forewarning and discussion beforehand</a>). This is especially needed in this moment, when society's knowledge of history, 20th century history in particular, is threatened by undereducation and by the willful promotion of false or revisionist history that seeks to advance hate-based agendas. <i>Night and Fog</i>'s length fits neatly into a single class period, and I think those young people who watch it will be far less inclined to subsequently take dangerous demagogues and denialists of true history seriously. </span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">2. Interestingly, while the idea for a Lovecraft documentary floundered, Resnais in 1977 made a fictional film about an aging writer titled <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence_(1977_film)">Providence</a></i>. Some scenes were filmed in Providence, Rhode Island, where Lovecraft lived most of his life. <i>Providence</i> also features Ellen Burstyn, who was of course in Friedkin's <i>The Exorcist</i>. I need to track this one down!</span></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-59585241302254813182024-01-28T18:05:00.001-07:002024-01-28T18:05:44.167-07:00A water-stained postcard memory and fiddling with technology<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWw2rSo_VjU4vGYhJ1kn8Vpluu3gBC62OZ5S1LFPh5DdgO0diUynleet895_gE4YuCVfOMaW5ksykLCapsurZPwFuQmDSvuLl6VMG5F0cr6TVHAIOGu-L05qlHtNIth_ku5jJlgwon0t0tdo9t1ToYEgt-tjiA05sCYuYZKKflbEaOflnZhE1advNVOlo/s4030/IMG_0092.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2495" data-original-width="4030" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWw2rSo_VjU4vGYhJ1kn8Vpluu3gBC62OZ5S1LFPh5DdgO0diUynleet895_gE4YuCVfOMaW5ksykLCapsurZPwFuQmDSvuLl6VMG5F0cr6TVHAIOGu-L05qlHtNIth_ku5jJlgwon0t0tdo9t1ToYEgt-tjiA05sCYuYZKKflbEaOflnZhE1advNVOlo/s4030/IMG_0092.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Autumn (left) and Osmond "Bounds" Portifoy with today's postcard.</div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Since I started this blog in 2010, I've struggled at times with the technology to get quality pictures into the posts. This is supposed to be an ephemera archive, after all, so I want to include images that are sharp and true. </div><div><br /></div><div>For many years, the majority of the images for Papergreat came via flatbed scanner. It could be a cumbersome process, especially for posts with many images. The worst part, though, wasn't that it was time-consuming. It was that our various scanners struggled to faithfully reproduce certain colors, especially blues and purples, as I recall. There was an extent to which I could counterbalance that in photo-editing software, but often I just had to live with the flawed result.</div><div><br /></div><div>In recent years, I made a big switch, and almost all images have come from my iPhone photography. The combination of speed (compared to a scanner) and high-resolution image was enough for me to make the switch. The downsides are that I need to be mindful of the lighting conditions, and it's harder to keep images from being skewed, depending on the angle at which I'm holding the camera. (Another upside, though, is that it has allowed for a lot more photos that include cats.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I've been itching to try a scanner again, because it's better than an iPhone for things like postcards, old photographs and book covers that have a lot of reflectivity. So I got a CanonScan LiDE 300, which plugs right into my laptop. </div><div><br /></div><div>For the first test, I gave it a challenge. When we were at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookmans">Bookmans</a> here in Arizona last autumn, Joan found an amazing postcard of the Motel Providence in Media, Pennsylvania. Besides having some minor sentimental value for my family history (more on that in a moment), the postcard is a water-stained work of art. Somewhere along the way, it got pressed up against the back of another postcard, and the pigments from that other card's stamps and cursive writing now appear on the front of the Motel Providence postcard. </div><div><br /></div><div>For most, I suppose, that would mean the damaged postcard should just be tossed. To me, though, it has been turned into a one-of-a-kind artwork. To get more of a sense of the aesthetic I'm talking about, <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2018/01/damaged-but-beautiful-postcard-from.html">this January 2018 post</a> and its many related links are a good start. I love a mint vintage postcard as much as anyone, but damaged cards that have nonetheless survived the passing decades are sublime.</div><div><br /></div><div>Alas, the scanner couldn't handle the colors of this postcard as well as I would have hoped. First, here's the front of the postcard from a photograph taken with my iPhone SE:</div>
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This is a faithful reproduction. That stamp (hey there, President Lincoln) and the handwriting are basically hot pink atop the glossy photograph.<div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, this is the image from the CanonScan LiDE 300, and this is <i>after </i>some minor tweaks and a boost of a saturation levels in Pixlr:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbkw0Ky5NLg-HFrd-TeukiuExf0hnaMepgZcLvP5Pql06cL8ppHVgIuVeeUIe9AF2ElyC2GkznKsUlymZBZtt2gig-sjOP0fG31FBnh4wWwncJOU-ch7ZFhMhyphenhyphenQxt4u3gSqYPlyDCACFUQvaga9ing25YcteQhe85YNwYScaZFFN2Ji6Z2Vh9NEAz6AvR/s1652/a_providence-1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1652" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbkw0Ky5NLg-HFrd-TeukiuExf0hnaMepgZcLvP5Pql06cL8ppHVgIuVeeUIe9AF2ElyC2GkznKsUlymZBZtt2gig-sjOP0fG31FBnh4wWwncJOU-ch7ZFhMhyphenhyphenQxt4u3gSqYPlyDCACFUQvaga9ing25YcteQhe85YNwYScaZFFN2Ji6Z2Vh9NEAz6AvR/s1652/a_providence-1.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
Ugh. It could not handle the hot pink <i>at all</i>, turning it lighter and purple. I don't think this will be an issue with everything I use the scanner for, moving forward, but it's a bummer nonetheless and I'll have to be cognizant of comparing originals to the scanned images. (While I also adjust to wearing my new 1.25 reading glasses.)
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYQ1o-82cJLzcFBPDR3rmUrNa7so_epLwnnKhE_oIFKcreBsFbHeeEsrZZfrwP4liMxj8f8kiF_Ssq_biMlMI358QAcsZdSwoh4ZRzLHiB2KhIxUmu4bGRdCoQ_XvI4BKDqigAFUUlfsHgRhIGoR-t2QDPSbsh7CyriIQvtvk33R9769xbGgVg4XmhM19/s1642/ProvidenceBack.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1061" data-original-width="1642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYQ1o-82cJLzcFBPDR3rmUrNa7so_epLwnnKhE_oIFKcreBsFbHeeEsrZZfrwP4liMxj8f8kiF_Ssq_biMlMI358QAcsZdSwoh4ZRzLHiB2KhIxUmu4bGRdCoQ_XvI4BKDqigAFUUlfsHgRhIGoR-t2QDPSbsh7CyriIQvtvk33R9769xbGgVg4XmhM19/s1642/ProvidenceBack.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Those reading glasses, plus my grandmother's trusty magnifying glass, show me the following text on the back of this postcard:<blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Area Code 215 Phone LO 6-6480</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">MOTEL PROVIDENCE</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Media, Pennsylvania</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Delaware County's newest and finest Air Conditioned economy motel. 10 miles West of Philadelphia — 4 miles North of Chester. Intersection of Rt. #1 & Rt. #252. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No charge for "in room" Continental Breakfast — 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Interiors by Strawbridge and Clothier.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Radio & T.V. by R.C.A. Air conditioning by G.E. Fire proof & sound proof construction. Architecturally designed and engineered by MEDIA REAL ESTATE COMPANY.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;">Color photography by Jay Layton Manning, Ardmore, Pa.</div></blockquote><div></div><div>Our family of four would sometimes stay at Motel Providence in the late 1970s through mid 1980s when we came from Clayton or Montoursville or Largo and visited my grandmother and great-grandparents at their house on nearby Oak Crest Lane in Wallingford. It was a perfectly fine motel that served it purpose. There was a fast-food restaurant right next door — I can't remember whether it was McDonald's or Burger King — and we'd get breakfast and bring it back to the room. I guess it was better than the "continental breakfast."</div><div><br /></div><div>Motel Providence is now called the Media Inn & Suites. The large MOTEL PROVIDENCE letters across the top of the roof are gone. But I guess they haven't been gone too long. <a href="http://www.lazerfilm.com/films/motelprovidence/index.html">A nine-minute film</a> was shot there in 2014, and the letters were still atop the building:</div><div><div><div><br /></div></div></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQGXjbPxviZu2CYvdi5SfEfqX28oCiH27XQ8pTfSaQ4FBCmTLixc5JCJ_fBsUetLcPmX78GR99D-U2xMy4eJTnLu4wP65YAyQKyMg5YveE56rWMV1HKwVWCRs8yho5kT0ONUQ2Qgv85VW7Wk1oPQaA38Lr9Q54-y98lSaUzF7GTqMOdujd4u_cmuCIZ73/s691/LETTER.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="691" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQGXjbPxviZu2CYvdi5SfEfqX28oCiH27XQ8pTfSaQ4FBCmTLixc5JCJ_fBsUetLcPmX78GR99D-U2xMy4eJTnLu4wP65YAyQKyMg5YveE56rWMV1HKwVWCRs8yho5kT0ONUQ2Qgv85VW7Wk1oPQaA38Lr9Q54-y98lSaUzF7GTqMOdujd4u_cmuCIZ73/s691/LETTER.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-2009057245573380152024-01-21T15:26:00.001-07:002024-01-21T15:26:16.933-07:00Book cover: "The Haunted Universe"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCmTrNl8XbE3jXD058L-b79OnC1-Nkv-QsGkTTdqi3lX1EQ-jxh-T8lpUaXPKZRV5s7lxT2bQBh90Xf5Ao2aR9b4cl7y0HT7-2a0D_5EhIWuyfkPBqxWW6pfZY6FI-DyUiMfiEtW6n_RlYV6cniQJlKdMcO_SL8GpxzzDZMaB_LdRCPBiO0pvmRjAwMYLP/s3853/IMG_9964.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3853" data-original-width="2327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCmTrNl8XbE3jXD058L-b79OnC1-Nkv-QsGkTTdqi3lX1EQ-jxh-T8lpUaXPKZRV5s7lxT2bQBh90Xf5Ao2aR9b4cl7y0HT7-2a0D_5EhIWuyfkPBqxWW6pfZY6FI-DyUiMfiEtW6n_RlYV6cniQJlKdMcO_SL8GpxzzDZMaB_LdRCPBiO0pvmRjAwMYLP/s3852/IMG_9964.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Title:</b> <i>The Haunted Universe</i></li><li><b>Additional cover text:</b> "Miracles, hauntings, UFOs, unexplained disappearances, monsters — are they the work of some alien power? Or are they the creations of the psychic power within us?:</li><li><b>Author:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Scott_Rogo">D. Scott Rogo</a> (1950-1990)</li><li><b>Cover illustrator:</b> Unknown</li><li><b>What's happening on the cover?</b> Unknown. I guess I'm reminded of <i>Magnolia</i>, though.</li><li><b>Additional questions posed on the back cover:</b> "Is our universe haunted by bizarre denizens of another dimension? Are we being manipulated by extraterrestrials for a reason? Or are we ourselves the actual culprits, unconsciously calling on the psychic energies of our minds to create these phenomena? Is it mind over matter, belief giving birth to reality?"</li><li><b>Publication date:</b> 1977</li><li><b>Publisher:</b> Signet (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_American_Library">New American Library</a>), W7508</li><li><b>Format: </b>Paperback</li><li><b>Pages:</b> 168</li><li><b>Cover price: </b>$1.50 (about $7.67 today, which is just about par for the course for a trade paperback)</li><li><b>Dedication:</b> "To <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Ebon">Martin Ebon</a>, in thanks for his help and support"</li><li><b>Others thanked in acknowledgements:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthold_E._Schwarz">Berthold Schwarz</a>, <a href="https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?24384">Raymond Bayless</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Gaddis">Vincent Gaddis</a> (inventor of the phrase "Bermuda Triangle"), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keel">John Keel</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_T._Sanderson">Ivan Sanderson</a>.</li><li><b>Closing excerpt from acknowledgements:</b> "Finally, I would like to thank those few 'respectable' parapsychologists and colleagues who urged me <i>not</i> to write this book, fearing it would adversely reflect on both me and the field. It was their timidity and reticence that helped me realize how important getting this material out in the open really is!"</li><li><b>First sentence: </b>"By inclination I am a pretty reserved fellow."</li><li><b>Last paragraph:</b> "I do not know what further research will prove about all the theories and speculations I have outlined in this book. They might all prove to be false. On the other hand, I shall be delighted if eventually science discovers that I am right!"</li><li><b>Excerpt #1:</b> "We have pretty well established that people and objects disappear into nowhere, or show up out of nowhere, or disappear and then reappear sometime later. All this is reminiscent of the U.S. postal system: letters never arrive, show up weeks after they were mailed, or undergo similar remarkable adventures. This analogy isn't meant to be totally flippant. What I'm suggesting is that all of these oddities represent a transportation system. And like any other system, things are bound to go wrong everyone once in a while! The concept of instantly transporting objects and people via teleportation through some sort of 'hyper-dimension' is certainly not mere science fiction."</li><li><b>So, the idea of mail — including the Christmas postcards I sent to a pen pal in the Netherlands but that never arrived — getting lost could represent a "hyper-dimension" event and not merely human incompetence or poor design of sorting/processing machines? </b>Apparently. </li><li><b>Excerpt #2:</b> "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Guirdham">Dr. [Arthur] Guirdham</a> is no slouch. He is a highly regarded and trained mental health specialist who was a practicing clinician for some forty years. However, there is one element of his approach to psychiatry that makes him unique among behavorial scientists. He believes that the world is haunted by evil forces and that these forces can exert a wicked pressure on unsuspecting man."</li><li><b>Rating on Goodreads:</b> 3.69 stars (out of 5)</li><li><b>Goodreads review excerpt: </b>In 2021, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4156504972">coffee wrote</a>, "Specifically [Rogo] feels that collective conciousness created UFOs, miracles such as weeping statues, and cryptids such as Mothman and Big Foot. I'd say chronologically, so far this is my favorite of all of Scott Rogo's books, as he finally loosens up and rids himself of the crutch that is Raymond Bayless. ... Regardless, the book reads like someone who just read up a bunch of John Keel and wrote his own version of hwat [sic] he thinks is going on. That would be seen as me throwing shade, but I love John Keel so this was great reading."</li><li><b>Rating on Amazon: </b>4.2 stars (out of 5) </li><li><b>Amazon review excerpt: </b>In 2007, author <a href="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Laura_Knight-Jadczyk">Laura Knight-Jadczyk</a> wrote a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R9FA9KF92YEHB">5,100-word review</a> of <i>The Haunted Universe</i> that veers into several tangents and concludes: "... I don't think I trust much of what he writes at all. Have to give him two stars for trying, but he loses points for obfuscation of evidence and subjective thinking."</li><li><b>Additional insight:</b> If you're interested in contemporary thoughts about Rogo, two fans of his writing on X (formerly Twitter) are Theo Paijmans (<a href="https://twitter.com/memizon">@memizon</a>) and Loren Coleman (<a href="https://twitter.com/CryptoLoren">@CryptoLoren</a>).</li></ul><div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">But wait, there's more!</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>This card for ordering the Astara publication "Finding Your Place in the Golden Age" was tucked away inside, perhaps for use as a bookmark. </div><div><br /></div><div>Astara has been around since 1951 and is <a href="https://www.astara.org/">still going strong</a>. From its <a href="https://www.astara.org/astara">website</a>: "Since 1951, Astara has existed to provide humanity with the knowledge of the Laws of the Universe, so that they may learn to make decisions based upon their own Higher Guidance. Spiritual self-realization is emphasized and information is provided to guide each individual on their own sacred life's path. Astara's teachings bridge the gap between contemporary Eastern and Western spiritual philosophies, presenting their mysteries in a clear context with the wisdom of ancient spiritual truths."</div><div><br /></div><div>According to <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/astara">Encyclopedia.com</a>, Astara was founded by Robert and Earlyne Chaney, both former spiritualists. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuTdeUUnhjqAHlZe8-w6QDrz573OYc5sS5FsQYMZbkK1_ubnC8C-ygzA1SMxNH8hSO6WQO7Nq7I9lJ8V7-epymqaSnLw8bL9pj7-lfrpiXLQKrYcutMlPyqUHhyphenhyphenn9LlFhRRnVXqTudY4N9-c8qzhAeUAho8XU5Cfcmdeu8J0CR-qHgtAaaI9t1XT-8PqBh/s3270/IMG_9965.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuTdeUUnhjqAHlZe8-w6QDrz573OYc5sS5FsQYMZbkK1_ubnC8C-ygzA1SMxNH8hSO6WQO7Nq7I9lJ8V7-epymqaSnLw8bL9pj7-lfrpiXLQKrYcutMlPyqUHhyphenhyphenn9LlFhRRnVXqTudY4N9-c8qzhAeUAho8XU5Cfcmdeu8J0CR-qHgtAaaI9t1XT-8PqBh/s3270/IMG_9965.jpg" width="450" /></a></div></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-31239888485895429282024-01-20T11:35:00.002-07:002024-01-20T11:35:42.722-07:00Another Sweetniks doll by Lada Draskovic surfaces<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OsKMJGIIfeR__4MBXgKWGc5zMePDuz90kZL2mVbC_EyZh3OKAkMnMTqx-Q4mHVNctwk11Bq8Yhd9ZSU3VKDfIwiJTfyLuh9TRyDuHAo6rpZ-r5eIfWq7SwH6ZgSuatc1NNiNLy2jM9dfUzB07cn7hk4Q-lKJ-qoZt3jKWVLGH-X0eiJu0-rc7r8_O2aa/s640/Lada-Draskovic-Sweetnik-Red.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OsKMJGIIfeR__4MBXgKWGc5zMePDuz90kZL2mVbC_EyZh3OKAkMnMTqx-Q4mHVNctwk11Bq8Yhd9ZSU3VKDfIwiJTfyLuh9TRyDuHAo6rpZ-r5eIfWq7SwH6ZgSuatc1NNiNLy2jM9dfUzB07cn7hk4Q-lKJ-qoZt3jKWVLGH-X0eiJu0-rc7r8_O2aa/s640/Lada-Draskovic-Sweetnik-Red.jpg" width="440" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiedYMTAaU2i0Kd8NlwHe-wOp7ynMJeeNlH5TIdqxlRF7eXYNPgIMpNi47mvpq1AUAdyIwcNsaTbszayqug-kIJWbLHnhcGEmeVqeQ0ALS6f4pfVbTPFfRyBxf_H3umA84GSxRe3mu5cAjWJL2XQRRZkdUTyht9_0t_9u7uSolzUn8XAFzTjpnJJ0T_4kg/s640/Lada-Draskovic-Sweetnik-Red-Back.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiedYMTAaU2i0Kd8NlwHe-wOp7ynMJeeNlH5TIdqxlRF7eXYNPgIMpNi47mvpq1AUAdyIwcNsaTbszayqug-kIJWbLHnhcGEmeVqeQ0ALS6f4pfVbTPFfRyBxf_H3umA84GSxRe3mu5cAjWJL2XQRRZkdUTyht9_0t_9u7uSolzUn8XAFzTjpnJJ0T_4kg/s640/Lada-Draskovic-Sweetnik-Red-Back.jpg" width="440" /></a></div><b>Whoa!</b> On the heels of <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2023/11/extremely-rare-sweetnik-doll-by-lada.html">November's post</a> about one of Lada Draskovic's 1960s Sweetniks dolls showing up on eBay, a reader has gotten in touch and shared the story of <i>her</i> Sweetniks doll. It's incredible how many of these are still around and in great condition.<div><br /></div><div><div>Kita from Texas wrote to share her information and the above photos of her Sweetniks doll, which she has kindly given me permission to share here:</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"I was searching to see what I could find out about my beatnik doll. I ran across your blog about these dolls. ... I thought you would like to hear of another 'sighting' of the Beatnik/Sweetnik Doll! ... I wish I could remember where in San Antonio, Texas, my mother bought the doll. I will need to research if there was a Saks there. I thought most likely it was a famous store named <a href="https://www.sanantonio.gov/Mission-Trails/Mission-Trails-Historic-Sites/Detail-Page/ArtMID/16185/ArticleID/4433/Joske%E2%80%99s-Department-Store">Joske’s</a> in downtown San Antonio. I was with her and I remember telling her I really wanted it. Too bad, too, that I don’t know what she paid for it. ...</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"I have had her since the early 1960s and bought it new. She was enclosed in a plastic top, but I discarded that when I put it in my china cabinet, years ago. I am the original owner and for some reason I kept her all these years. She is in excellent shape, as you can see from the pictures. I always kept very good care of all my dolls and didn’t actually play with them. I was an outdoorsy kid, which was good luck for my beatnik! ...</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"I am considering selling her. But, I would like to get her into the right hands, being that she is so rare. Not a strand of hair is out of place after all these years and lots of moving. ... A museum would suit her fine!"</span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Kita added later that she contacted Sotheby's for a possible auction consignment, but was told that they had no information on Draskovic's Sweetniks and couldn't help her further. These unique dolls truly remain a mystery! Meanwhile, <i>another </i>reader posetd this intriguing comment: "I have what I’m pretty sure is a Sweetnik doll from the early 60s — <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_(1963_film)">Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra</a>." I asked for more details, but haven't heard anything further.</div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-10686430585034044812024-01-18T19:27:00.001-07:002024-01-18T19:27:26.785-07:00Farewell Titan, aka Titanoboa, aka T-Dog Terwillinger<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWCjY1bqJl98o-rBEUZRMxC9TDBrzlVpmFvt-VEqA7LjlDWeJN6vo3Y1T9hCrk-9z6qS3uZ9MYAzCPdeR5kpGrreO9BQYqK7D9WrmTabE2NMkEu2xehawWBPW1v6natHEIannKrxidMJDvb_Gee8S0HgmjjGP40ajCXO0mBPBwsnil0ro0YOoKEQnwFgC/s1280/IMG_8561.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWCjY1bqJl98o-rBEUZRMxC9TDBrzlVpmFvt-VEqA7LjlDWeJN6vo3Y1T9hCrk-9z6qS3uZ9MYAzCPdeR5kpGrreO9BQYqK7D9WrmTabE2NMkEu2xehawWBPW1v6natHEIannKrxidMJDvb_Gee8S0HgmjjGP40ajCXO0mBPBwsnil0ro0YOoKEQnwFgC/s1280/IMG_8561.JPG" width="450" /></a></div>
It's been a sad week. We had to say goodbye to Titan yesterday and helped him cross the rainbow bridge. Fortunately, we were able to do it at home, so he was in his familiar surroundings, around loved ones. He was 8, or maybe 10. We have little idea, really. We adopted him in the summer of 2018, and he was already very fully grown. (His name fit him well.) He had been at several stops before us, but never permanent ones, because he's always been a problematic cat, one way or the other. But we accepted him fully, problems and all.<div><br /></div><div>He started as a TNR'd feral cat and had the tipped ear to prove it, but this was not an outdoor cat with outdoor cat skills. Or indoor skills, really. He drooled and ate and took naps, during which he snored. He peed where he wasn't supposed to. Often. But he was also incredibly friendly and gentle. Visitors loved him, probably because he happily galloped over to them as soon as they came in the door. Eventually, some people just started coming to visit Titan, not necessarily us. </div><div><br /></div><div>As we accumulated kittens in the past two years, Titan was our go-to cat for introducing the kittens to the adult cats. He accepted them all, and they used him as a big pillow for their naps. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Here's the very nice tribute that Ashar <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C2N-7kHvpuv/">wrote on Instagram</a>:</div></div><blockquote><div><div>"Titan,</div><div>"You were the gentlest giant who thought that he was just a wee tiny baby. You loved getting sink drink which usually involved you getting drenched. You loved to cuddle and sit with us. You made us laugh with your ridiculous laying positions. You chripped when you purred which sounded a lot like a tribble from Star Trek. You loved rolling around outside. You enjoyed food. Most of all you also managed to cheer people up and everyone loved you. You were such a good boy.</div><div><br /></div><div>"You will forever be remembered in our hearts. We love you Titan."</div></div><div></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDfrATrjEEPyDU7s8z8rjXw_3zZ8YjxFTtib5tP2sO9RDvqpUN3Dq6jB1JGxEUrSvll1_wt2nCuTZPwz8MBAu0puSNzLmHczODrGwk4RFTfq2hyRKZyyptQTT7VWkNq1-CrOPZbT2ibGt5FG56Wt5Dque97h7kO5SbxevqF6EJwNqlL_wPFn655PmFmo61/s3024/IMG_9430.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDfrATrjEEPyDU7s8z8rjXw_3zZ8YjxFTtib5tP2sO9RDvqpUN3Dq6jB1JGxEUrSvll1_wt2nCuTZPwz8MBAu0puSNzLmHczODrGwk4RFTfq2hyRKZyyptQTT7VWkNq1-CrOPZbT2ibGt5FG56Wt5Dque97h7kO5SbxevqF6EJwNqlL_wPFn655PmFmo61/s3024/IMG_9430.JPG" width="450" /></a></div>Above: Titan and <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2021/08/farewell-mr-bill-aka-billbo-baggins-aka.html">Mr. Bill</a>.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvwAfkyYOgj4ssVIInKZWBcVPYqASTN7S7KK6SrMGmFLsJ7HEmGC4-UzIcwDBJaY47kC80pn9pTIeVTvlKF4rgbyfJxtPAZjxJPEyBPkeqVW_mTTpbaBf3j2SLOcABmPm4FWzVzi4jLHxbucp4L6OVgx5MYFUTyE9HsNcsUuRw7KoYemRj9fFCxMKQ3Hd/s3024/IMG_9551.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="2268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvwAfkyYOgj4ssVIInKZWBcVPYqASTN7S7KK6SrMGmFLsJ7HEmGC4-UzIcwDBJaY47kC80pn9pTIeVTvlKF4rgbyfJxtPAZjxJPEyBPkeqVW_mTTpbaBf3j2SLOcABmPm4FWzVzi4jLHxbucp4L6OVgx5MYFUTyE9HsNcsUuRw7KoYemRj9fFCxMKQ3Hd/s3024/IMG_9551.JPG" width="450" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUeWFl4g8snA-9mS_IlwnNHlM7btlySYHRzDbeRlyOCSLyMzD-irdGLmti2C8QAccVVH4yA1pFwnEsPR-X-UuCBNb2p8PdIblqdkuXbHjh74FjET1FVyX8V7wqQKJ-0lGiC3J9SmxP60If-079tyB_vx83QGsRSFls_TY2Wtt3kTUywzOHfddYvLwGgK2/s3024/IMG_9815.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="2268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUeWFl4g8snA-9mS_IlwnNHlM7btlySYHRzDbeRlyOCSLyMzD-irdGLmti2C8QAccVVH4yA1pFwnEsPR-X-UuCBNb2p8PdIblqdkuXbHjh74FjET1FVyX8V7wqQKJ-0lGiC3J9SmxP60If-079tyB_vx83QGsRSFls_TY2Wtt3kTUywzOHfddYvLwGgK2/s3024/IMG_9815.JPG" width="450" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEAU0hWEY81wBRig-Ky-jwFsiiGRK_5BXu7WdmJMOouByJ8U3cthbXqGmhQQEx14qil7XGuFoahbw-B6DOxQj5HeY0yV8bc3NhRvoeeKCMYq5Byj2EocO6212VahFvLyzhnBofkwevqw9CUUsHXbuiX8S0yuJiPnq-IaoW3yZ_S7_gXJRF0GSaiCC1lPmo/s3024/IMG_2474.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEAU0hWEY81wBRig-Ky-jwFsiiGRK_5BXu7WdmJMOouByJ8U3cthbXqGmhQQEx14qil7XGuFoahbw-B6DOxQj5HeY0yV8bc3NhRvoeeKCMYq5Byj2EocO6212VahFvLyzhnBofkwevqw9CUUsHXbuiX8S0yuJiPnq-IaoW3yZ_S7_gXJRF0GSaiCC1lPmo/s3024/IMG_2474.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Above: Titan the work-from-home pandemic helper cat #1.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_QYyY8-g9jOWCETE0lOL-fOHiz1a4CgX29Swp8z6dNDdd2LyFqQPcfCsWUJjAZhAHdLF6ymHxqHJ3i4nOFVXTtewYMuT21SKex6c_zxgrI2ftnAFxyycC7pZmHAfgqEs4AK2cOVOYxC1G62h3fHz0KdsRfh-l0jwcuwBk50uMTrGGTkeuWdkMC08-kXo_/s1280/IMG_3644.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_QYyY8-g9jOWCETE0lOL-fOHiz1a4CgX29Swp8z6dNDdd2LyFqQPcfCsWUJjAZhAHdLF6ymHxqHJ3i4nOFVXTtewYMuT21SKex6c_zxgrI2ftnAFxyycC7pZmHAfgqEs4AK2cOVOYxC1G62h3fHz0KdsRfh-l0jwcuwBk50uMTrGGTkeuWdkMC08-kXo_/s1280/IMG_3644.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Above: Titan the work-from-home pandemic helper cat #2.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibumEWbouhE9ces5FvfJr4xNYfNGEzR0SJqSEKBxp5cyANRiK97YVxFuU3vZYjfbB4DWrut_sRcD-nTMMrxMyWrHyf-7v-U7AATFOeOvptPs-nFaKp6N71yivDYoQBcJI-nw2fKjV6IFo1SZbCu4DZsBJ6d7IrDTQPkA9O7Rk2_LUzgz6wxmY_R-McbInM/s4032/IMG_7020.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibumEWbouhE9ces5FvfJr4xNYfNGEzR0SJqSEKBxp5cyANRiK97YVxFuU3vZYjfbB4DWrut_sRcD-nTMMrxMyWrHyf-7v-U7AATFOeOvptPs-nFaKp6N71yivDYoQBcJI-nw2fKjV6IFo1SZbCu4DZsBJ6d7IrDTQPkA9O7Rk2_LUzgz6wxmY_R-McbInM/s4032/IMG_7020.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Above: Titan meeting Autumn
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSckXT1fcDtH0JKA1BtdrBPoJW5sKEzTAga4Nn-vB_sm4Q9yjuu2hTNVwapWr9mzeAdAgjwESxMld0N1i4aOg-mqjJcfh3sbMER1gfVPgUHTZR1j3hKpSLqhSufe4rSt9TrU1KFA6cfQYv7A-2u6nkh_cALjz4K9lntPh2ALhrXeXD_K1uFk12wI_kNjC/s4032/IMG_7385.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSckXT1fcDtH0JKA1BtdrBPoJW5sKEzTAga4Nn-vB_sm4Q9yjuu2hTNVwapWr9mzeAdAgjwESxMld0N1i4aOg-mqjJcfh3sbMER1gfVPgUHTZR1j3hKpSLqhSufe4rSt9TrU1KFA6cfQYv7A-2u6nkh_cALjz4K9lntPh2ALhrXeXD_K1uFk12wI_kNjC/s4032/IMG_7385.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Above: Titan napping with Bandit
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxgAdHpgepbMEui9GVMQ93Gp1pnnwrXKcrMSYwT3di-jClkb8B044jnkaWm-oFy481rpnX4dgRVHKv9GFVCamQUX-vFS2ub4ct5t8dDzFJ6bDs9j1jGGIieG6lTgEyrK9mzmcd6-ueLGE_5nnk6vBbOb3iCfz2AoYqXh4W9dpm-nX1O5d3t2pLfyzzRI3/s3151/IMG_9873.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1437" data-original-width="3151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxgAdHpgepbMEui9GVMQ93Gp1pnnwrXKcrMSYwT3di-jClkb8B044jnkaWm-oFy481rpnX4dgRVHKv9GFVCamQUX-vFS2ub4ct5t8dDzFJ6bDs9j1jGGIieG6lTgEyrK9mzmcd6-ueLGE_5nnk6vBbOb3iCfz2AoYqXh4W9dpm-nX1O5d3t2pLfyzzRI3/s3151/IMG_9873.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Above: Titan eating from <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2023/03/big-bois-special-dinner-plate.html">Big Boi's plate</a> this week while Big Boi sits nearby (it's a long story)
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjXEWEHA-tt2jbU2es6rD3eXdNpLED-htWkPxTidbffFLdXHPhky_dcjqGa5hSxka7e0O4huXCLibkZ2Z1qiRg6jrKL7oYQqvVqr4QGoZK41Nhvd5dqQQPaay1_3DYjq7x7QBzKzE4B4S9RUEXsU5qU3RyaPvwAWpNNtKsZWpd8oiIvUqYK3aHveKZDsdE/s2721/IMG_9853.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2380" data-original-width="2721" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjXEWEHA-tt2jbU2es6rD3eXdNpLED-htWkPxTidbffFLdXHPhky_dcjqGa5hSxka7e0O4huXCLibkZ2Z1qiRg6jrKL7oYQqvVqr4QGoZK41Nhvd5dqQQPaay1_3DYjq7x7QBzKzE4B4S9RUEXsU5qU3RyaPvwAWpNNtKsZWpd8oiIvUqYK3aHveKZDsdE/s2721/IMG_9853.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
Some final outside time this week.
Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-40265933563546948772024-01-14T16:24:00.001-07:002024-01-14T16:24:07.813-07:00Book cover: "The Chesterfield Gold"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizv258XBKxYhAcaYNYWiGfzqzWZT-iWGMeaxS3kapWxeYXB16_RAhyphenhyphenWMT_MhOA-Vvxc3zv2WJTkCjsqQ35u3PWtbYfzOXwPmUWdtjCkjoj3KghrqqtztMuJQesk9GWgflMSZH3JB1cw_iPdOomzxX6uXPxQcHG5gNahXxUfcWjU92pxwJLS65rwvQZtQSK/s3822/IMG_9823.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3822" data-original-width="2399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizv258XBKxYhAcaYNYWiGfzqzWZT-iWGMeaxS3kapWxeYXB16_RAhyphenhyphenWMT_MhOA-Vvxc3zv2WJTkCjsqQ35u3PWtbYfzOXwPmUWdtjCkjoj3KghrqqtztMuJQesk9GWgflMSZH3JB1cw_iPdOomzxX6uXPxQcHG5gNahXxUfcWjU92pxwJLS65rwvQZtQSK/s3822/IMG_9823.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AOaHtiBdz8LG5eVYO2BvGY-XFG595HUV8M5vARnoxWLncxOVNnc9CRCsKtM3IWOzL5_7Ts37fXISeguYRgvL5eL9X9Cgbnj563QCVoHgpqpKiEs6qL3Ldq_BPtYKvyzIbC0x7Y-qUKN44QVr4KJMi4AHJi94J79GKEAMeP9fq8se1ltlCiddxj0VkvMc/s3801/IMG_9824.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3801" data-original-width="2364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AOaHtiBdz8LG5eVYO2BvGY-XFG595HUV8M5vARnoxWLncxOVNnc9CRCsKtM3IWOzL5_7Ts37fXISeguYRgvL5eL9X9Cgbnj563QCVoHgpqpKiEs6qL3Ldq_BPtYKvyzIbC0x7Y-qUKN44QVr4KJMi4AHJi94J79GKEAMeP9fq8se1ltlCiddxj0VkvMc/s3801/IMG_9824.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Title:</b> <i>The Chesterfield Gold</i></li><li><b>Author:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Pilkington_(writer)">Roger Pilkington</a> (1915-2003). In 1992, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/crossing-atlantic-ihindenbergi-180978188/">he wrote about</a> crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the Hindenburg.</li><li><b>Cover design:</b> Barbara Nunan. (I can't find anything about her, which is a bummer.)</li><li><b>Illustrator: </b>Piet Klaasse (1918-2001)</li><li><b>Original publication date: </b>1957</li><li><b>Publication date of this edition: </b>1971</li><li><b>Publisher:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffin_Books">Puffin Books</a> (an imprint of Penguin Books, London)</li><li><b>Editor of Puffin Books:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaye_Webb">Kaye Webb</a> (1914-1996). She served as the editor of Puffin Books from 1961 to 1979.</li><li><b>Format:</b> Paperback</li><li><b>Pages:</b> 189</li><li><b>Back cover price:</b> "25p 5/-" 1971 was the year of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_Day">Decimal Day</a> in the United Kingdom and Ireland</li><li><b>Dedication: </b>"<i>To Hugh </i>and all young people who can handle a boat." Pilkington had a son named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Austin_Windle_Pilkington">Hugh Austin Windle Pilkington</a> (1942-1986). </li><li><b>First sentence:</b> "Where are we, Daddy?"</li><li><b>Last sentence: </b>"Only it's rather a different size."</li><li><b>Random excerpt #1:</b> There's no better place for a good sound sleep than on board a small boat in a harbour, and in the submarine basin at Dover, the <i>Dabchick</i>'s crew were asleep as soon as they were in bed.</li><li><b>Random excerpt #2:</b> All in all, Michael thought that the American was rather nicer than a crook out to be.</li><li><b>Random excerpt #3: </b>Right beneath the great statue of Liberty with her lamp held high in her hand, the smack clipped round the stone bull-nose of the island, straight in front of the oncoming <i>Marguerite</i>. </li><li><b>Rating on Goodreads:</b> 4.67 stars (out of 5)</li><li><b>Reviews: </b>Alas, there are no reviews of this boating thriller anywhere online. If you've read it or remember it, feel free to comment below and be the first person to review this book in cyberspace! The book is part of what's called Pilkington's Branxome Family series. Kirkus reviewed one of the other books in the series, 1958's <i>The Missing Panel</i>, and I think it kind of has the same seafaring flavor as <i>The Chesterfield Gold</i>, so this is what Kirkus had to say: "One panel of a priceless Antwerp altar piece was missing. Though the thief had confessed his guilt just before his death, there was only an enigmatic riddle to help the Bracome [sic] children discover its whereabouts. Peter, Michael and Jill, traveling with their parents in their little boat ... set out to recover the altar piece. A cave-in in an underground labyrinth nearly ends their search. Some of the plot devices are melodramatic. It's a no-holds-barred derring-do adventure story of three British youngsters on a chase, with some effective cliff-hanging before success." </li></ul><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5bl2tm_EE-BmSS8jptbzWmlDvKQb5c5hr-SipXk6pM-NMs2_nrykDBqGz1RJgA_lS6pEMjP8pItLQna7gZtU9pJmfBGmUZdkTiPSCBDfALkXfM7Dy9Kw53N6yopHTwDiAZ4XEleT77uodY3gT52cIHaHqREouDYs8yeOVBsDiqukVQi8Wkcn8aUiuvPQ/s3695/IMG_9825.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2759" data-original-width="3695" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5bl2tm_EE-BmSS8jptbzWmlDvKQb5c5hr-SipXk6pM-NMs2_nrykDBqGz1RJgA_lS6pEMjP8pItLQna7gZtU9pJmfBGmUZdkTiPSCBDfALkXfM7Dy9Kw53N6yopHTwDiAZ4XEleT77uodY3gT52cIHaHqREouDYs8yeOVBsDiqukVQi8Wkcn8aUiuvPQ/s3695/IMG_9825.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
</div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-51461017160947711212024-01-08T11:30:00.024-07:002024-01-08T11:30:00.139-07:00Spacing out with Brad Steiger in Switzerland<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmoLki-nc0s1MikALgVjSarVjdVrDDUbxvA9RIMH0zXVTCsCmwcc-tzUB5V69QLPcqVPrvgXSEdd5ey0kzM3Pd97JYP2tbg9vbvMqAX08LZYOg1jAKlAk_Z59yJwAOP-0JSB65SlQG1LbCQwFeyuCGA3QjclvkZuYEKocVi1D0foSSAg1kNtzjx8eJ7Ss/s551/MYSTERIES1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="413" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmoLki-nc0s1MikALgVjSarVjdVrDDUbxvA9RIMH0zXVTCsCmwcc-tzUB5V69QLPcqVPrvgXSEdd5ey0kzM3Pd97JYP2tbg9vbvMqAX08LZYOg1jAKlAk_Z59yJwAOP-0JSB65SlQG1LbCQwFeyuCGA3QjclvkZuYEKocVi1D0foSSAg1kNtzjx8eJ7Ss/w286-h381/MYSTERIES1.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>While researching <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2023/07/book-cover-strangers-from-skies.html">the post</a> about Brad Steiger's <i>Strangers from the Skies</i> last summer, I came across a Goodreads review for another one Steiger's books that made me laugh.<p></p><p>The reviewer, Documentally, was writing in 2022 about Steiger's <i>Mysteries of Time and Space</i>, which was first published in 1974. He wrote:</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><p><i>"I picked this up off a shelf in a Swiss mountain hut while working as a Pastore in 1999. According to my journal it was 20th of July and I read it in one sitting. The cows were behaving and there was little else to do.</i></p><p><i>"It sounded like I enjoyed it. I loved Brad's daring predictions from 1974. I especially liked his writings on how important it is to be childlike and not childish. That it's important to realise you can fashion reality.</i></p><p><i>"I was also pretty stoned on that particular day and this might have assisted in my appreciation of his book. For that reason I have given it 4 stars."</i></p></blockquote><p><i></i></p><p>Documentally has <a href="https://documentally.substack.com/">a Substack</a>, if you want to check out more of his writing. It's described as "A human authored journal in search of novelty, exploring what we share, how we share, and where we’re going." Sounds like it shares a lot in common with Papergreat, with the big difference being that I rarely leave home anymore. Also, I'm more of a saké guy.</p>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-79024010951594162972024-01-07T11:21:00.002-07:002024-01-07T19:38:45.636-07:00Book cover: "Challenge to Reality"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSfdhkhN4qeWZtClKFvDgG33osscKDd2PiG1g5Oft2R4n6jFVcfUQNLTAJ8ZhUGvzoVCGE6qOxSEAtxbKc5fQ2ALRInqIDIjlegRTa-x_70l73F8s3ZJPCdXVUeVwPuaMPv4T4Yt6O2evCEXS25R5hvLsiZ8BxbjmLM4ypW0ViaNoEqb4oUeDOTW1geSD/s3915/IMG_9659.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3915" data-original-width="2351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSfdhkhN4qeWZtClKFvDgG33osscKDd2PiG1g5Oft2R4n6jFVcfUQNLTAJ8ZhUGvzoVCGE6qOxSEAtxbKc5fQ2ALRInqIDIjlegRTa-x_70l73F8s3ZJPCdXVUeVwPuaMPv4T4Yt6O2evCEXS25R5hvLsiZ8BxbjmLM4ypW0ViaNoEqb4oUeDOTW1geSD/s3915/IMG_9659.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div><i>"Challenge to Reality" feels like an apt phrase as we enter this daunting year.</i></div><div><br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Title: </b><i>Challenge to Reality</i></li><li><b>Author:</b> John Macklin. I can't find much biographical information on him, despite his many published works. We do have this information from the front of the book: "For nearly 20 years John Macklin, expert in psychic phenomena and the supernatural, has hunted ghosts. He has crossed three continents chasing stories, spent countless nights in 'haunted' houses, focused his infra-red camera on curious sights, and his microphone on curious sounds. Most of the events have had some rational solution at their roots. <i>But some haven't.</i> ... Nine times out of ten, the 'phenomenon' turns out to be an illusion, delusion, or fraud. For twenty years, it's been Mr. Macklin's job to investigate the tenth. ... These, then, are the stories of the author's experiences, and other stories he has collected over the years."</li><li><b>Cover designer: </b>Unknown</li><li><b>Publication date:</b> 1968</li><li><b>Publisher: </b>Ace Star (H-108)</li><li><b>Pages:</b> 158</li><li><b>Format:</b> Paperback</li><li><b>Cover price:</b> 60 cents</li><li><b>Some chapter titles: </b>The Mummy in the Clock Case; The Dream House That Percy Built; The Deadly Nightmare of Emily Jones; What Did the Axe-Man See?; The Dinner Guest No One Else Saw; The Ghosts of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballechin_House">Ballechin House</a>; The Tomb of Standing Stones; The Witch and the Waif; Riddle of a Hundred Lost Islands; The Riddle of the Musical Plants; Little Girl Lost; The Witch Who Laughs at the Law; and The Ghostly Glow from <a href="https://davidfarrant.org/ghosts-of-waltham-abbey/">Waltham Abbey</a>.</li><li><b>Excerpt #1: </b>"Many stories make us realize just how powerful superstition can be. For instance, many years ago, when a bridge was being built in Germany, influential townspeople would insist that a living child be buried in the foundations. They believed that the foundations would then remain firm. And the younger the person, the longer it would remain so."</li><li><b>Wait, is that true?</b> Well, it's a long-lived bit of grisly folklore, though it's certainly not limited to Germany. Some believe that there are implied references to child sacrifice in the nursery rhyme <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_Is_Falling_Down">"London Bridge Is Falling Down,"</a> though there are scores of speculative guesses at the "historical" references in that song, and they should all be taken with a grain of salt (Hey, another superstition!).</li><li><b>Excerpt #2:</b> "The specter turned, and the terrified woman saw the enormous, longboned hands and the large protruding eyes. The man, who wore a long robe tied around the middle, nodded his head in a very peculiar way towards her husband, then vanished."</li><li><b>Excerpt #3:</b> "The awe-inspiring specter that suddenly appeared in front of Charles Winston in 1901 was of the type known as a <a href="https://occult-world.com/radiant-boy/">Radiant Boy</a>. They are usually reckoned to warn of impending death."</li><li><b>Amazon review: </b>In 2011, Bookworm70 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2GE4BMJBK7D6T/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0007FW4G6">wrote, scathingly</a>: "Books of John Macklin are easy to read. They contain events, mysteries and other phenomena considered to be out of this world. However, the problem with his works, they contain a lot of errors and do not agree with historical facts."</li><li><b>Fanzine mention: </b>In <a href="https://fancyclopedia.org/Scottishe">Scottishe</a> #52, a zine published by <a href="https://fancyclopedia.org/Ethel_Lindsay">Ethel Lindsay</a> (1921-1996) in May 1969, Lindsay writes: "This is the eighth in a series by Macklin, so his collections of ghost strories [sic] must be a good seller. Each collection has about forty stories."</li><li><b>Other books by Macklin:</b> <i>Strange Destinies, The Strange and Uncanny, The Enigma of the Unknown, Dwellers in Darkness, Orbits of the Unknown, Dimensions Beyond the Known, A Look Through Secret Doors</i> and <i>Journey Beyond the Grave</i>.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">But wait, there's more</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>A fun bonus: There was an old receipt tucked away inside this paperback book. I can't say for sure that this is the receipt from the book's original purchase, but that's a good bet. Someone paid $1.04 (99 cents, plus 5 cents tax) at the Stanford Sport Shop in Palo Alto, California, on August 29, 1969. According to <a href="https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/c163d3ad72215cbb5a8c49703f2b8b8c/changes-on-el-camino/index.html">Palo Alto Weekly</a>, the Stanford Sport Shop rented and sold skis, shoes and sports gear for 53 years, until it closed in 1989. Geoff Millington and his daughter Tracy Millington operated the business. If <i>Challenge to Reality</i> was sold there in 1969, it seems they had a book rack, too. Something to read in front of the fireplace at night after a day on the slopes?</div><div><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7pDKeUBbx5-QEIkTgMpls6-A8eX4m8eKWTBwn8oUFofp_0alVqp-KqA-2eRru6H7Fbs39aMM7hsqBTVBB8OOIm29z9OXbGu8knM1TEY7StloDv3UmSeW3LPlHiWAD7DwAhIv6JOg1NVMdxRdHZGOzipITaDxO8sVrJoRk1FQ6jOgOTnFXL9an5VeUYMui/s3952/IMG_9663.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3952" data-original-width="2449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7pDKeUBbx5-QEIkTgMpls6-A8eX4m8eKWTBwn8oUFofp_0alVqp-KqA-2eRru6H7Fbs39aMM7hsqBTVBB8OOIm29z9OXbGu8knM1TEY7StloDv3UmSeW3LPlHiWAD7DwAhIv6JOg1NVMdxRdHZGOzipITaDxO8sVrJoRk1FQ6jOgOTnFXL9an5VeUYMui/s3952/IMG_9663.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-24377366003503590582024-01-04T20:27:00.011-07:002024-01-04T20:33:57.639-07:00Movie ruminations and my favorite first-time watches of 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWX0Zko6JC8l8ml0c1BWMq3jBg2-bmxIeaEMy0PvC6nkze4zA5Q_jbyg7xn-7V2JHqGAGS3N8g8SYwVFDQY8ZJ5BOyphqDJHqKvf0GokINC2rW3bhagRaA2SRJZVxvaYeZQeKbMDofa4DLlz6i7Fy2Fu_DJ49O73Xo56UZm52oTVIB3xiGx1ZVsVvMChf/s3708/IMG_9630.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3708" data-original-width="2325" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWX0Zko6JC8l8ml0c1BWMq3jBg2-bmxIeaEMy0PvC6nkze4zA5Q_jbyg7xn-7V2JHqGAGS3N8g8SYwVFDQY8ZJ5BOyphqDJHqKvf0GokINC2rW3bhagRaA2SRJZVxvaYeZQeKbMDofa4DLlz6i7Fy2Fu_DJ49O73Xo56UZm52oTVIB3xiGx1ZVsVvMChf/w257-h410/IMG_9630.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>One of my earliest movie memories — and, yes, I know that Memory can be a Trickster, shuffling real or imagined things all around the brain's chronology for all sorts of reasons — is watching a reel from 1935's <i>The Bride of Frankenstein</i> projected onto the wall of <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2017/07/my-grandmother-on-wilmington-friends.html">my grandmother's</a> living room at her house in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Valley,_Pennsylvania">Rose Valley</a>, circa 1974. Fittingly, she also had those <a href="https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/comedy-and-tragedy-masks-of-theatre">Ancient Greek comedy and tragedy masks</a> (Thalia and Melpomene) on the walls of that room. As a preschooler, I found them fascinating and a little scary. That's what I remember, anyway: The projected moving image of a screaming Elsa Lanchester flickering against the wall, partially illuminating those eyeless, mouthless masks.<div><br /></div><div>What a ways we've come in watching movies in the comfort of our homes in the past half-century. Now we can watch <i>Barbie</i> or <i>Oppenheimer</i> at home on our 55-inch high-definition televisions, just months after they were in movie theaters. (And how long will movie theaters last?) </div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't watch <i>Barbie </i>or <i>Oppenheimer</i> in 2023. In fact, I didn't watch nearly as many movies, old or new, as I was hoping to last year. My final count for the year was around 70. I could blame the cats, but there's never just one reason. </div><div><br /></div><div>Still, I was fortunate to see a lot of great stuff! And, <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2020/01/a-rainy-evening-of-movie-book.html">as I did for 2022</a>, I've compiled a list of my <b>20 favorite "first-time watches" of 2023</b>:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Black Cat Mansion (1958, Nobuo Nakagawa)</li><li>Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974, Brian Clemens)</li><li>Dead of Night (1945, Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer)</li><li>Deep Red (1975, Dario Argento)</li><li>The Fifth Horseman Is Fear (1965, Zbyněk Brynych)</li><li>Game Night (2018, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein) </li><li>Ghostwatch (1992, Lesley Manning)</li><li>The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001, Takashi Miike) </li><li>The Innocents (1961, Jack Clayton)</li><li>Lonesome (1928, Paul Fejös)</li><li>Marjoe (1972, Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan)</li><li>Midareru [English: Yearning] (1964, Mikio Naruse)</li><li>No One Will Save You (2023, Brian Duffield)</li><li>Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019, Quentin Tarantino)</li><li>Prey (2022, Dan Trachtenberg)</li><li>The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman)</li><li>Synecdoche, New York (2008, Charlie Kaufman)</li><li>Tabi no Omosa [English: Journey Into Solitude] (1972, Kōichi Saitō)</li><li>Where Chimneys Are Seen (1953, Heinosuke Gosho)</li><li>The Wind (1928, Victor Sjöström)</li></ul></div></div><div><br /></div><div>As it was in 2022, it's an eclectic list. Japanese films take up a quarter of the slots. There are some flat-out cinema classics that I didn't get to until I was 52. Better late than never! </div><div><br /></div><div>There are a lot of horror films here. Ashar and I watch<b> a lot</b> of horror films, and I'm glad some of them made it into my Top 20. Others had no shot (Sorry, <i>Scary Movie 4</i>. Actually, I'm not sorry. I'd like that 90 minutes back.). Other stuff was just perfectly fun, like <i>Don't Be Afraid of the Dark</i> (1973),<i> Spooks Run Wild </i>(1941), <i>Tucker & Dale vs. Evil</i> (2010) and even the baffling <i>Uncle Was a Vampire</i> (1959), in which Christopher Lee's sense of having fun was contagious enough for all of us. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here are Ashar's thoughts on horror films from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzFR8ufvV1A/?img_index=1">an Oct. 31, 2023, post</a> he made on Instagram:</div><div><blockquote><div>"Halloween is my fav time of year. I love the atmosphere of Halloween where things get spooky and you can see people who go all out into decorating their houses and you can go to haunted attractions and watch scary movies.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFeEemtFZ-kl1aHTg0YqH8llKlxLVbGEs6tJDPFyZ6nEicwMeIeHWYcom6dLpUM2VNqyFa4zsV9mmTL4ygJm_AvSAwoKKZfRa97ceFk8O-w4__GoFyiEZaAywyHEyO3HHpqyto2fKT7_jpGl2CQnN5ftfrK4eYAdwjAlHfCg7Rw-L7WI-v1ZGIcj2tyUty/s503/ASHAR_SON.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="422" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFeEemtFZ-kl1aHTg0YqH8llKlxLVbGEs6tJDPFyZ6nEicwMeIeHWYcom6dLpUM2VNqyFa4zsV9mmTL4ygJm_AvSAwoKKZfRa97ceFk8O-w4__GoFyiEZaAywyHEyO3HHpqyto2fKT7_jpGl2CQnN5ftfrK4eYAdwjAlHfCg7Rw-L7WI-v1ZGIcj2tyUty/w240-h286/ASHAR_SON.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>"Personally I tend to celebrate Halloween all year every year. I will watch horror movies even when it isn’t Halloween because I’m a big horror fan. I truly enjoy horror movies. I love the feeling of uneasiness and dread and anxiety and the way they can get your heart racing and just keep you on edge. Something about that is really unsettling but at the same time appealing. It’s hard to explain but if you are a horror fan you probably understand.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Horror as a topic is vast but it’s really interesting to think about. It’s interesting to try and understand or learn about what makes horror so great and see how it has involved over the years. It raises interesting questions and points you may not have thought about before. It can make you feel uneasy and make you check every dark corner in your house at night because you just have this feeling that something could be watching you.</div><div><br /></div><div>"This Halloween I just decided to watch a ton of horror movies and I kicked that off with watching The Amityville Horror (2005) starring @vancityreynolds last night into this morning and let me tell you that movie is really good and Ryan is an incredible actor. He does a fantastic job playing George Lutz.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I didn’t really have a costume planned this year but I realised that I could dress up as Ryan’s portrayal of George Lutz like he is in the first picture. It’s not exactly the same but it’s my take on it and I honestly couldn’t be happier since I got to incorporate my hero into my fav time of year.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Stay Spooky and have a Happy Halloween"</div></blockquote><div></div></div><div>My movie goals for 2024 are to watch more movies; watch horror movies with Ashar (and also introduce him to great stuff from other genres); get to more of the classics I've never seen; chill out with some Shaw Brothers flicks; make it through more of the Varda and Bergman sets; rewatch my favorite Ozus; find some super-bizarre stuff; finally catch <i>Barbie</i> and <i>Oppenheimer </i>(but especially <i>The Holdovers</i>); have a Vincent Price marathon; watch more old documentaries and .... well, I could just keep going and going. Happy film-watching in 2024!
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQbio0u1-aRl1AvW3Y_cPubLGmG4OpucNmqwKnSNRQx0fq7zdrw6Cc6HyY_GYhO4sEa7FYMkGwoBtWQ4DqSRGNhrbXBx7hCP67bkYQR63-PnxmtBOz7kqbRDxasrmHxROQI-WLejvkxPaKwyJcIMr2Af7b2UlFuf5pM11l2vp2gOnPyeiQwvhampRhr3OM/s1280/image-w1280.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQbio0u1-aRl1AvW3Y_cPubLGmG4OpucNmqwKnSNRQx0fq7zdrw6Cc6HyY_GYhO4sEa7FYMkGwoBtWQ4DqSRGNhrbXBx7hCP67bkYQR63-PnxmtBOz7kqbRDxasrmHxROQI-WLejvkxPaKwyJcIMr2Af7b2UlFuf5pM11l2vp2gOnPyeiQwvhampRhr3OM/s1280/image-w1280.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lillian Gish in <i>The Wind</i>.</span></div></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-88245256279367082252024-01-01T12:20:00.002-07:002024-01-01T14:36:11.005-07:00From the readers: Sasquatches, Yetis, Star Trek and more<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWuX7S-6eUOG7azhQSPkGAzMaH3evksGS-cFVpbtkIaEFQM6smucr5gFfx-7StkHI33QOVoxGpB_A4VD7vRXB7qqk4HuYn5ZiBB3ireRD57APbaI2orVgvDtgg1F8SwU_fQFUA6IZNeVCz_cxt5hyaLcThuT0UxLZT9nDKe1CRKkKSXvxOi_QaK1FrLZB/s1204/Strange%20Abominable%20Snowmen,%201970.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1204" data-original-width="725" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWuX7S-6eUOG7azhQSPkGAzMaH3evksGS-cFVpbtkIaEFQM6smucr5gFfx-7StkHI33QOVoxGpB_A4VD7vRXB7qqk4HuYn5ZiBB3ireRD57APbaI2orVgvDtgg1F8SwU_fQFUA6IZNeVCz_cxt5hyaLcThuT0UxLZT9nDKe1CRKkKSXvxOi_QaK1FrLZB/w237-h393/Strange%20Abominable%20Snowmen,%201970.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><b>Happy New Year! </b>Papergreat has made it to 2024! It's a good day for a roundup of reader comments from the fourth quarter of 2023. Thanks for all of your feedback!<p></p><p><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2023/09/examining-abominable-snowman-from-all.html">Examining "The Abominable Snowman" from all sides in 1977:</a></b> Tom from <a href="https://garagesalin.blogspot.com/">Garage Sale Finds</a> writes: "As a kid, I devoured any books on Bigfoot/ASM. I'd check them out from our library and order them from Scholastic. I somehow missed this book. The book whose cover traumatized me was <i>Strange Abominable Snowmen</i> by Warren Smith (pictured at right)." </p><p>I wasn't familiar with that Warren Smith book. In fact, I wasn't familiar with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Smith_(author)">Warren Smith</a> at all, which is kind of bonkers. His list of books is quite the amazing rabbit hole of cryptozoology and the paranormal titles from the heyday of the 1960s and 1970s. Just some of his titles: <i>Strange Women of the Occult, Strange Powers of the Mind, Strange Hexes, Myth and Mystery of Atlantis, The Hidden Secrets of the Hollow Earth, Secrets of the Loch Ness Monster, UFO Trek</i> and <i>Let's Face Facts About Flying Saucers</i>. I'll be keeping an eye out for some of these!</p><p><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2019/03/lamenting-what-well-never-know-about.html">Lamenting what we'll never know about Phyllis J. Stalnaker Harris:</a></b> Unfortunately, I had to shut down commenting on this post, because some commenters were getting nasty toward each other and some were being disrespectful of Phyllis' memory. That's not in the spirit of this blog at all. Most of the old comments are still up. One of the final (anonymous) comments was: "You have no right to surmise what her life was like. Unfortunately, the authorities gave her a label and they didn’t even really know anything about her. ... She may have been a nice person and was at the wrong place at the wrong time."</p><p><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2020/12/new-edition-of-ruth-manning-sanders.html">New edition of Ruth Manning-Sanders' "A Book of Witches":</a></b> Anonymous asks: "Does it have all of the great original illustrations? I've seen reviews of some of the other reprints of Ruth Manning-Sanders that have omitted the illustrations, and the illustrations are so amazing!"</p><p>Yes indeed! The 2020 reprint edition of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Book-Witches-Ruth-Manning-Sanders/dp/0997294736">A Book of Witches</a></i> by MAB Media features the original Robin Jacques illustrations. Follow <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mabmedia.net">MAB Media on Facebook</a> for more info on upcoming reprints.</p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8vUTdZ07BbIyCtUpOEGOwL25HPxSOS3f94xG5Q6F735CKU4a2iZZfiE-6wrzs15y7x_gTOyRoh3jv57SPxK9K4J3vw7-fuFZBL5CywkwKNgHgwHv5nNjuQy1YQVH-4yISn8Xp5h0lA86YXIedeKUoU376tSRaOIIhlfNYtKzVDefNiel0SQ08i1fZXh24/s1600/Star_Trek_Duty_Jacket.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1195" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8vUTdZ07BbIyCtUpOEGOwL25HPxSOS3f94xG5Q6F735CKU4a2iZZfiE-6wrzs15y7x_gTOyRoh3jv57SPxK9K4J3vw7-fuFZBL5CywkwKNgHgwHv5nNjuQy1YQVH-4yISn8Xp5h0lA86YXIedeKUoU376tSRaOIIhlfNYtKzVDefNiel0SQ08i1fZXh24/s320/Star_Trek_Duty_Jacket.jpg" width="239" /></a></b></div><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2014/03/unfortunate-apparel-of-1980-official.html">Unfortunate apparel of 1980: The official Star Trek duty jacket:</a></b> EJD1984 writes: "I had the T-shirt!! Have spent years trying to find a picture of it to prove I'm not going senile. I believe I picked it up at a 1980 Star Trek convention when I was 15 years old. Thank You SO MUCH for posting this!" <p></p><p><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2017/09/the-elementary-school-in-city-behind.html" style="font-weight: bold;">The elementary school in the City Behind the Fence:</a><b> </b>Carolyn writes: "I went to Cedar Hill for a brief time in 1972 when we lived in Oak Ridge. We were only there for three months, but I have such great memories of that place!"</p><div><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2018/01/the-lost-corners-of-paul-crockett.html">The Lost Corners of Paul Crockett:</a></b> Those who have been following this post and the tale surrounding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_Family">Manson Family</a> may be interested in a new video link that was shared in the comments. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Someone asked "Any links to these comments that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Watkins_(Manson_Family)">Paul Watkins</a> allegedly made about Paul Crockett?" In response, Anonymous posted a link to a YouTube video titled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt0HoWG8Dnw">"Paul Watkins Manson Family Self Recorded Conversation 1988 to a Fan."</a> </div><div><br /></div></div><div><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2023/11/update-on-amazing-house-in-coudersport.html">Update on an amazing house in Coudersport, Pennsylvania:</a></b> Anonymous writes: "When I worked for Farm Credit, one of our branches was in Coudersport. I can't believe I didn't spot this."</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2010/12/take-ride-with-edwards-motor-transit-co.html">Take a ride with Edwards Motor Transit Co.:</a></b> Butch Joyner writes: "My dad drove for Edwards for over 40 years. It was a family business, we were all close. I remember vividly Bill, Bob and Wes. I have some lasting stories of this 4-year-old boy and my dealings with Wes. Hope this finds you well, Wesley! To the good times!" </div><div><br /></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAnl-4rglJTn5khYjnY5weaBIQRkx0o1iuQg7u62U6AzggZux1GQpv031TOBoGixkBdoxcwpx_OKZ2sYkOVJ63RL3O_4RDEt-3u2434LFgRjaLhkf0uENA533ahQ7LgrfX7sjOmHOtwpAcSpiLI-Y6jI9fWOBvIFtVgDH3scilGdO3UNNKnZaQHSsqligB/s1692/Komm_Esse_1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1692" data-original-width="1064" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAnl-4rglJTn5khYjnY5weaBIQRkx0o1iuQg7u62U6AzggZux1GQpv031TOBoGixkBdoxcwpx_OKZ2sYkOVJ63RL3O_4RDEt-3u2434LFgRjaLhkf0uENA533ahQ7LgrfX7sjOmHOtwpAcSpiLI-Y6jI9fWOBvIFtVgDH3scilGdO3UNNKnZaQHSsqligB/w260-h414/Komm_Esse_1.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2021/11/postcard-for-haags-hotel-in.html">Postcard for Haag's Hotel in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania:</a></b> Anonymous writes: "In 2007 I took my daughter to Roadside America, which she totally enjoyed. We then had lunch at Haags Hotel, which was very historical and we both enjoyed. Sad to hear it closed."</div><div><br /></div><div>Indeed, neither the hotel nor Roadside America is in business anymore. Very sad.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2017/02/receipt-and-more-tucked-away-inside.html">Receipt and more tucked away inside 1967 sci-fi paperback:</a></b> Anonymous writes: "Ross Music was at Eastland and Northland malls and closed both stores in the mid-1980s, as the owner was retiring. I worked at the Eastland location and have very fond memories of the owner Irving, and Melissa Press Downey, the manager, and my co-worker Jimmy Grindstaff."</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2011/03/coupons-from-eh-koester-bakery-co.html">Coupons from the E.H. Koester Bakery Co.:</a></b> This early Papergreat post drew a lot of great comments and memories a decade ago. A new one from Anonymous: "My father's first job was at E.H. Koester Bakery Co. I have his pay stubs from 1949."</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2015/01/board-for-parker-brothers-1936-version.html">Board for Parker Brothers' 1936 version of the game Finance:</a></b> Anonymous asks: "What is the value of this game?" </div><div><br /></div><div>Looking through eBay, there are many listings for pieces and/or replacement boards for Finance. All of those are relatively inexpensive. As far as the complete (or near-complete) game, I see some listings for 1950s editions of the game that are as low $25 to $30 (price plus shipping). Some near-complete versions of the 1936 edition (including the box) are as low as $34. So it's definitely attainable for collectors.</div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-27055949067244860902023-12-31T13:30:00.002-07:002023-12-31T13:30:46.068-07:00"I'm Going to Build a Supermarket One of These Days" <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVK-HgbOopKb_ngRNLxfrK7N4doUZo6rJYnuYUkjxzKAxTClGj29ZyWASMpPWYpnOAdTZyNr0zDVRkQrX1upsBlL2MNL6YPgNh7FvYy9g7PSj09WS_me-FrH8oKa7i8USDYVi2GjQSYW9bjMxEOwEubWy6f6l_NBdC4xRnwT4Ixo9DHQuWxc1ZXLON1Fiw/s2926/IMG_9517.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2926" data-original-width="2893" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVK-HgbOopKb_ngRNLxfrK7N4doUZo6rJYnuYUkjxzKAxTClGj29ZyWASMpPWYpnOAdTZyNr0zDVRkQrX1upsBlL2MNL6YPgNh7FvYy9g7PSj09WS_me-FrH8oKa7i8USDYVi2GjQSYW9bjMxEOwEubWy6f6l_NBdC4xRnwT4Ixo9DHQuWxc1ZXLON1Fiw/s2926/IMG_9517.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><i>
I love this little children's book!</i><div><br /></div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Title:</b><i><b> </b>I'm Going to Build a Supermarket One of These Days</i></li><li><b>Authors:</b> Helen Baten and Barbara von Molnar, adapted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Martin_Jr.">Bill Martin Jr.</a> (1916-2004).</li><li><b>Illustrator:</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Papas">William Papas</a> (1927-2000). Credited in the book solely as "Papas." He was previously mentioned in <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2016/02/promoting-damian-and-dragon-by-manning.html">this 2016 post </a>about <i>Damian and the Dragon</i>.</li><li><b>Publisher:</b> Holt, Rinehart and Winston</li><li><b>Year:</b> 1970</li><li><b>Pages:</b> 32</li><li><b>Format:</b> Hardcover</li><li><b>Plot: </b>The short book is basically a Dr. Seuss-like fantasy about what a grocery store would be like if it were run by children. Papas' pictures are a delight. The store would be called "Land of Milk & Honey." Everything would be free, and only children would be permitted inside. (There's an illustration in which adults are protesting outside, one with a sign stating "We Want Equal Rights.") The fantasy supermarket is filled with roller-skaters, elephants, kangaroos and a merry-go-round. There are impromptu baseball games and all sorts of treats, like cotton candy, ice cream and coconut cakes. Kids who don't want to shop can watch movies underneath the checkout counters. (Why checkout counters are needed when everything is free is not explained.) </li><li><b>Reviews:</b> There's almost nothing online about this book from a half-century ago, so I'm glad this post is serving in a small way to preserve it. There is <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3486635324">one nice review on Goodreads</a>, in which Sharla states, "This is one of my all-time favorite books from when I was young." She further notes that there were two audio cassette versions, one that was a straight readthrough and one that's a musical sing-a-long version! </li></ul></div><div>Here are some more of Papas' wonderful illustrations...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilygN9quB-s0FkerflqvEa2lVTtD5nYH4aaogcFzZ0YfKIdi1oMzmtV4zGA7ozD4ynqtKS3F7ud2ZTWWRwtRLJf03AxVN0Ilx3YPmhud61abhj4W8rk_yVfSsxvQW1TvU7u5wNWBhrInOAibNYM5GFtXWdbayZcNYD9OmOwpUrRBqAizq8Fb1iqzPUOhfm/s2813/IMG_9519.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2813" data-original-width="2478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilygN9quB-s0FkerflqvEa2lVTtD5nYH4aaogcFzZ0YfKIdi1oMzmtV4zGA7ozD4ynqtKS3F7ud2ZTWWRwtRLJf03AxVN0Ilx3YPmhud61abhj4W8rk_yVfSsxvQW1TvU7u5wNWBhrInOAibNYM5GFtXWdbayZcNYD9OmOwpUrRBqAizq8Fb1iqzPUOhfm/s2813/IMG_9519.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXx1SaV1dcH5LVkz0RYSNUVGsE_2TGpgKj6am0_VXvZpKLbfTrM_P88sgEo80THq8uSnsi-XfDWjEzdZwrSg8qjbJ129V1iYWy8k-eON9Ue7GBXnVmrFDx2z2Dchu9HH7kgzFgrKmA5Dv5bIxZ_CL4kOboJbJIDqCcOW7MbBKOelDOl7qsJFf_C4SHoSew/s2929/IMG_9524.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2929" data-original-width="2622" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXx1SaV1dcH5LVkz0RYSNUVGsE_2TGpgKj6am0_VXvZpKLbfTrM_P88sgEo80THq8uSnsi-XfDWjEzdZwrSg8qjbJ129V1iYWy8k-eON9Ue7GBXnVmrFDx2z2Dchu9HH7kgzFgrKmA5Dv5bIxZ_CL4kOboJbJIDqCcOW7MbBKOelDOl7qsJFf_C4SHoSew/s2929/IMG_9524.jpg" width="450" /></a></div></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-48681993445891913472023-12-30T21:32:00.003-07:002023-12-30T21:32:33.434-07:00Postcrossings to close out 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykv-ECMPKUFIMUvVfWxRIe4fjVOZyxAnQM4oNjJGAx6gFh4uQ6sILidnOi4WQbAsVNSvrxjSM6yTxxbGWB52c5v14nCvQV8hVJmTDNb2UKhG5gsKZnizZ086W8bR1GrkVntPHnOADTi1uxWFA1f1Ekvlmy7GPpa_s97HAkrkGarJMnxScNTEVzAMAgzE1/s3870/IMG_9504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3870" data-original-width="2630" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykv-ECMPKUFIMUvVfWxRIe4fjVOZyxAnQM4oNjJGAx6gFh4uQ6sILidnOi4WQbAsVNSvrxjSM6yTxxbGWB52c5v14nCvQV8hVJmTDNb2UKhG5gsKZnizZ086W8bR1GrkVntPHnOADTi1uxWFA1f1Ekvlmy7GPpa_s97HAkrkGarJMnxScNTEVzAMAgzE1/w282-h416/IMG_9504.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>December was a busy month for sending and receiving Postcrossing cards and cards from some of my pen pals. Pictured are some of the jolly postcards that came to our mailbox. I got cards this month from France, Germany, China, Scotland, India, the Netherlands, Poland, Bangladesh, Slovakia, Czechia and elsewhere. <p></p><p>One sender wrote of enjoying their first snow of the season. Another spread the message that we should be kind. A high school student shared that he's a movie lover and recently saw Christopher Nolan's <i>The Prestige</i>.</p><p>Also nice have been the email messages acknowledging receipt of Postcrossing postcards I've send around the globe. Here are a handful for the holidays:</p><p><b>Anne from Finland wrote:</b> "We have some 30 cm of snow here and it's so beautiful outside. So it's going to be a white Christmas here as usual. I hope you'll get the rain you need there soon."</p><p><b>Sylvia from Ireland wrote:</b> "Thank you Chris for your postcard with your nice message. We are sharing lots of hobbies — I also like collecting books — especially vintage ones; and old movies — <i>Gone with the Wind, White Christmas</i> are my favourites, and I have to say I did see all movies with John Wayne (my husband has all of his movies, so I had no choice); and folklore — especially Polish, as I'm originally from that country (just finished a beautiful chain for a Christmas tree made out of straw and crepe paper, from book published in 1920s). I'm reading books every morning before my kids wakes up. And I, actually my whole family, are animal lovers. We do have 2 cute dogs and nearly 16 years old cat lady. And I'm always on the go."</p><p><b>Marit from Norway wrote:</b> "Thank you for your nice postcard. I am not a big fan of winter, especially when it snows a lot, then gets mild with rain, and then get cold again with ice as a result."</p><p><b>Simone from Germany wrote:</b> "Thank you for your lovely card. It put a smile on my face. Now all the lovely snow is gone and it looks like a green and mild Christmas time for the rest of December. Now I am enjoying a hot tea and Postcrossing. I wish you a wonderful advent and Christmas time."</p><p><b>Linda from the Netherlands wrote:</b> "Thank you so much for this cute postcard, I love it! And I get your love for cats. It so happens that my boyfriend (who's name is Chris) has a cat as well and I love snuggling with her and getting that unconditional love. Like you said, it is so wholesome in this world and how it is at the moment. I will check your blog out!"</p><p><b>Naomi from Japan wrote:</b> "Thank you for sending me such a romantic postcard from the Arizona desert! I was surprised that you know so many old Japanese movies and actresses! I'm also a fan of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasujir%C5%8D_Ozu">Ozu</a>. And his birthplace is very close to my house. It is now a very small museum and occasionally shows his films for free. By the way, my favorite American directors are Hitchcock and Nolan."</p><p><b>Hulya from Germany wrote:</b> "Thank you so much for your beautiful card with the cats. My favourite films of Daniel Day-Lewis are <i>My Beautiful Laundrette</i> and <i>Eversmile, New Jersey</i>. I wish you beautiful Christmas days."</p>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-54388306068399191222023-12-30T11:57:00.001-07:002023-12-30T11:57:11.488-07:00Merry Christmas postcard sent to Muskegon in 1916<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXFDKfeSNH4HxP42ZrIoyT_cdI4lV5B6WRsLc7HeJr2LVdxwx6kSKNM-PpSCn9CdpvWCre0ei491kXN1aw0pMN6voigp6CfASd2ovCVnA-03misE0DkpyjvN6KsFFJNMQiNUmvy8Uwee42klZq9YDg3BSqCf5E7m2zPSCiBADmao3Ic9oEDo931le1cWro/s3804/IMG_9488.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3804" data-original-width="2455" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXFDKfeSNH4HxP42ZrIoyT_cdI4lV5B6WRsLc7HeJr2LVdxwx6kSKNM-PpSCn9CdpvWCre0ei491kXN1aw0pMN6voigp6CfASd2ovCVnA-03misE0DkpyjvN6KsFFJNMQiNUmvy8Uwee42klZq9YDg3BSqCf5E7m2zPSCiBADmao3Ic9oEDo931le1cWro/s3804/IMG_9488.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGnXhrkvP_euZ__cdbNhfHp_mFs3OhgV7mTY3apytbRcn3nl-pp1KUhhcPxmjefVOogcc4W4H7E2sSH1vGzyB1lM9UKgDJMG0oN9t1qMfPfcIRHPhkHsQ1_HJlrL6OiQz_PyS1l_zkYSzYu8xK2ptOKaNAsgAQuYY7IcrOsN4h0_g612L1Tas3z4boDwB/s3844/IMG_9489.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2388" data-original-width="3844" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGnXhrkvP_euZ__cdbNhfHp_mFs3OhgV7mTY3apytbRcn3nl-pp1KUhhcPxmjefVOogcc4W4H7E2sSH1vGzyB1lM9UKgDJMG0oN9t1qMfPfcIRHPhkHsQ1_HJlrL6OiQz_PyS1l_zkYSzYu8xK2ptOKaNAsgAQuYY7IcrOsN4h0_g612L1Tas3z4boDwB/s3844/IMG_9489.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>We're still in the midst of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas">12 days of Christmas</a>, so here's a Merry Christmas postcard that was sent to Miss N. Bosch in Muskegon, Michigan, in December 1916, a month in which more awful things (including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Friday_(1916)">avalanches</a>) were happening amid World War I, author Shirley Jackson entered the world and Grigori Rasputin exited it in grisly fashion.<div><br /></div><div>I love the snowman on this Azo real photo postcard, though it doesn't look at all like it's actually made of snow. I suspect it was set up in a photo studio, and folks would come in and pose with it, then leave with their personalized RPPC to send to friends and family. On the back, Jane B. writes only "Merry Xmas & Happy New Year."</div><div><br /></div><div>I used a Google image search to try to find the same snowman. No luck, but I did find a similar RPPCs <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/12807180162736705/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/61431982403433609/">here</a> and <a href="https://www.cardcow.com/625676/art-deco-kids-with-snowman-christmas-santa-snowmen/">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Snowmen have been around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowman#History">since at least the Middle Ages</a>. According to Wikipedia, the tallest one ever built was 122 feet! Genesis has a 1978 song about a snowman titled "Snowbound," but there's debate over whether it's about an actual snowman, or a poor guy who has died of hypothermia. Here are part of the lyrics:</div><div><div><i></i></div><blockquote><div><i>Hey there's a Snowman</i></div><div><i>Hey, hey what a Snowman</i></div><div><i>Pray for the Snowman</i></div><div><i>Ooh, ooh what a Snowman</i></div><div><i>They say a snow year's a good year</i></div><div><i>Filled with the love of all who lie so deep</i></div></blockquote></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-57770209112679571522023-12-09T14:20:00.002-07:002023-12-09T14:20:09.153-07:001909 Christmas postcard mailed from Auburn, New York<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9XsfIFIHCCqEvkmwG3g_mTAOzVPdV7AZco5OTplAJNJZzAqf3QCLpby8w22QK2kXpZw7UDrd9hKaKo83j5dn7CNO9lnVPs-zLetq3UhdQoqllG9EyFYrbAHyE2wxBL1oTWwMcEmXX5viO_yrP8uXBbqFeZC7qWZDhQpLJ6r16wJlonbOB1V_bpz-7fjC/s3438/CARD_FRONT_XMAS2023.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3438" data-original-width="2208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9XsfIFIHCCqEvkmwG3g_mTAOzVPdV7AZco5OTplAJNJZzAqf3QCLpby8w22QK2kXpZw7UDrd9hKaKo83j5dn7CNO9lnVPs-zLetq3UhdQoqllG9EyFYrbAHyE2wxBL1oTWwMcEmXX5viO_yrP8uXBbqFeZC7qWZDhQpLJ6r16wJlonbOB1V_bpz-7fjC/s3438/CARD_FRONT_XMAS2023.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr-oxMuqDy4lov-6pdGqNAnwW_nUXiPhhGwDroPo4mYOtYliXmuIWYzm4zBKVXBzKeqNSp5UE-AvdWAkzB-bHD88GMpC5QkscJ-_e2ZbwNN1EE9Ut4vdjVJM5TkDjUFXDrp3tuva8ge2FaqV3KovXS_eSdFiLCkGSeQTS2IT4iVgQUKvrGWwLrdmF5or5_/s3365/1909Back.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2152" data-original-width="3365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr-oxMuqDy4lov-6pdGqNAnwW_nUXiPhhGwDroPo4mYOtYliXmuIWYzm4zBKVXBzKeqNSp5UE-AvdWAkzB-bHD88GMpC5QkscJ-_e2ZbwNN1EE9Ut4vdjVJM5TkDjUFXDrp3tuva8ge2FaqV3KovXS_eSdFiLCkGSeQTS2IT4iVgQUKvrGWwLrdmF5or5_/s3365/1909Back.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Have you mailed your Christmas cards yet? This vintage "Happy be your Christmas" postcard from 114 years ago was postmarked at 3:30 p.m. on December 22, 1909, in Auburn, New York, and mailed about 22 miles northeast to Syracuse, New York. I wonder if it arrived by Christmas Eve.<div><br /></div><div>The recipient was Mr. Clinton L. Borst. The postcard is from his mother. It states:</div><div></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>My Dear Son,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>I was so glad to get your letter today for I had been thinking of them all day — <u>sorry, very sorry</u>. I am fealing [sic] good now. I was [nauseous] last week. I do miss Miss Howl some and I miss you two. Are you going out to Euclid Christmas day. Hope you will have a good time. </i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Mother</i></span></div></blockquote><div></div><div><div>If I am correct in my genealogy websurfing, Clinton Borst lived from 1879 to 1947 and thus was 30 when he received this postcard. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Mother" is Catherine Malissa (Sitterly) Borst (1848-1938). It's pretty neat to have a postcard that is handwritten by a woman who was born the same year that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush">California gold rush</a> began.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>The April 7, 1919, edition of The Auburn Citizen noted that Clinton L. Borst of Auburn and Marvin E. Borst of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canastota,_New_York">Canastota</a>, who did business as Borst Bros., in the town of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throop,_New_York">Throop</a>, filed a bankruptcy petition.</div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-11901906763520950042023-12-04T17:18:00.001-07:002023-12-04T17:18:37.838-07:00A 1975 introduction to horror cinema<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDZ_1HUkj5tptH_1w9T5lR2GCQJLpzhFNE8hPcAeZDSxuiIrxI35BFJ561RS6LtBtMSBG28kif4xnVIS0ANcS9SE5rqhXAekhuY_5QXFzwgVr5IhGamP3zW5AqtlHrn1HD2LGJcONl1xOdFQ9xfWDGpslkXLnmIeX0wQ1-YefpUnkaS8ASlXYfxS_FAkJ/s4032/IMG_8711%20%282%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDZ_1HUkj5tptH_1w9T5lR2GCQJLpzhFNE8hPcAeZDSxuiIrxI35BFJ561RS6LtBtMSBG28kif4xnVIS0ANcS9SE5rqhXAekhuY_5QXFzwgVr5IhGamP3zW5AqtlHrn1HD2LGJcONl1xOdFQ9xfWDGpslkXLnmIeX0wQ1-YefpUnkaS8ASlXYfxS_FAkJ/s4032/IMG_8711%20%282%29.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
Here's Smoky with 1975's <i>Movie Monsters</i> by Thomas G. Aylesworth. This is a battered (aka "much read") copy in a school library binding. Although someone removed all of the circulation cards and tried to obscure its provenance with a thick black marker, I can tell you that this copy was in the Brandywine Heights Elementary School library in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topton,_Pennsylvania">Topton, Pennsylvania</a>. <div><br /></div><div>This was a right proper book for an elementary school library in the 1970s, when monster-loving kids wore turtlenecks and corduroy trousers and inhabited a world with the hue of Polaroid photos and the haze of cigarette smoke. Aylesworth's book covers King Kong, Godzilla, Frankenstein's creature, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Fly, Dracula, The Bride of Frankenstein ("the greatest monster sequel," it states), Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man and Dr. Moreau's creatures (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Lost_Souls_(1932_film)">Charles Laughton version</a>). </div><div><br /></div><div>There's also a section on the greatest copycat monsters, which basically calls the Hammer creatures of Christopher Lee and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_the_Werewolf">Oliver Reed</a> nothing more than "interesting copies." And there's a short section on the greatest monster actors of all time, which cites only Lon Chaney Sr., Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2020/10/vincent-price-tells-it-like-it-is.html">Vincent Price</a>. The list could have been a bit lengthier and more expansive — Fay Wray? Elsa Lanchester? Barbara Steele? Agnes Moorehead? I know the idea of Scream Queens was still a few years away in 1975, but it would have been nice for Aylesworth to honor some horror actress pioneers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, this book served as an solid gateway to horror cinema for a lot of kids nearly a half-century ago. In a 2009 review on Amazon, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1E5EA6GLYSOEJ/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0397316399">Rodney writes</a>: "This was quite possibly the first book I purchased on my own as a kid. It set the stage for a life long love of monsters and horror movies."</div><div><br /></div><div>And in a 2018 review on Goodreads, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2585832495">Timothy writes</a>: "I had any of Aylesworth's books I could get my hands on ... when I was a kid. Read them over and over. It's 40 years later, and I am still an obsessed Monster Movies fan. I wish I could have met the man as an adult and told him how much joy I got from reading these little books, over and over and over."</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigPAlbTtVuIdckW8cWlJfjfnxitOii3uX6DP-VLL1ZRIMg_HyYVq-AS74l7kOQjO1ZPejQPWlcVXN48Gd5Ns9KQBpg-pFpSzy9RzUNnB_TlECnQPdCfaKdAFythh6QWlTgCGQcu-SO-HJhJaJHgDESm52Laeiw6clIGCWv0ZFEf_3D2bIr5LsaelpVVjZh/s3499/IMG_8712.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3020" data-original-width="3499" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigPAlbTtVuIdckW8cWlJfjfnxitOii3uX6DP-VLL1ZRIMg_HyYVq-AS74l7kOQjO1ZPejQPWlcVXN48Gd5Ns9KQBpg-pFpSzy9RzUNnB_TlECnQPdCfaKdAFythh6QWlTgCGQcu-SO-HJhJaJHgDESm52Laeiw6clIGCWv0ZFEf_3D2bIr5LsaelpVVjZh/s320/IMG_8712.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Indeed, Aylesworth (1927-1995) wrote a lot of books for kids who were curious about monsters, ghosts, spooks and the paranormal. Even by 1975, he had quite the impressive bibliography, as seen here on the "Other books by..." page at the front of <i>Movie Monsters</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>His papers from 1968 through 1983 are held at the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. <a href="https://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/degrum/public_html/html/research/findaids/DG0048f.html">That website's biographical note states</a> that when Aylesworth began writing nonfiction for children, he focused topics of science and the environment: "He enjoyed tremendous success with<i> This Vital Air, This Vital Water</i> (1968), a book on environmental pollution that was translated into seven languages. After hosting a houseguest with an interest in astrology and witchcraft, Aylesworth began writing juvenile books on the occult. <i>Servants of the Devil</i> (1971), a book on witches, was well received and followed by similar titles on vampires, werewolves, mythological beasts, and paranormal phenomena. He also served as ghostwriter for young readers' autobiographies of several celebrities and co-wrote a series of seventeen travel books with his wife, Virginia."</div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-80317441867041609822023-11-26T12:31:00.003-07:002023-11-26T12:31:59.451-07:00Update on an amazing house in Coudersport, Pennsylvania<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKn59dMWzEIx2lyDtKcHCC2H6oRmlDWQ-V1n4rNIIaevTsDdu5BHRnlwUpNlpMp1Z2yfN9Ak_a9XRZ2p11TmoFiuIZvcU7GbnOUX8Nv3yqhcwCWbmnPu3yXvCWUQzSowVDTu6b3293ETipHaDrnnY7MeC5Ev-tufMi-z67bhtBYLWt3eMnI5v0MKjhT-N/s1170/CREEPY_NO_MORE.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKn59dMWzEIx2lyDtKcHCC2H6oRmlDWQ-V1n4rNIIaevTsDdu5BHRnlwUpNlpMp1Z2yfN9Ak_a9XRZ2p11TmoFiuIZvcU7GbnOUX8Nv3yqhcwCWbmnPu3yXvCWUQzSowVDTu6b3293ETipHaDrnnY7MeC5Ev-tufMi-z67bhtBYLWt3eMnI5v0MKjhT-N/s1170/CREEPY_NO_MORE.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">From the Facebook page <a href="http://www.facebook.com/fwknoxvilla">www.facebook.com/fwknoxvilla</a>, posted November 23, 2023.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCDzyIzxBV5FWZFSEzkbjenwloRIxVnOk8tuHHfekU5AY9hTMc5lowdKQN_lVE92PaKZ8qBjbpnEGG2lxjSn_lV742HtO_nrqc0p17D5EdJw7T2LFMeOJrL16JWlB8Xy5opN8t7ZEOihq-TDf0hzTW83_l7g2o6QOp4jG7vd9McN7xlePixmxX_plnjvSB/s1600/CoHouse1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1109" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCDzyIzxBV5FWZFSEzkbjenwloRIxVnOk8tuHHfekU5AY9hTMc5lowdKQN_lVE92PaKZ8qBjbpnEGG2lxjSn_lV742HtO_nrqc0p17D5EdJw7T2LFMeOJrL16JWlB8Xy5opN8t7ZEOihq-TDf0hzTW83_l7g2o6QOp4jG7vd9McN7xlePixmxX_plnjvSB/s320/CoHouse1.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>During a fun trip that Joan and I made to northern Pennsylvania in May 2013, I snapped a photo of a dilapidated house in Coudersport, Potter County. I added some filters and <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2013/06/photograph-of-creepy-old-house-for.html">posted it here</a> as a quickie snapshot of a "creepy old house." Later, I made it available <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/i/postcard/Creepy-old-house-Coudersport-Pennsylvania-by-Papergreat/15343398.V7PMD">as a postcard on Redbubble</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>But it's no longer creepy!</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OnTheRoadInPennsylvania/posts/pfbid028qFFpZTeMCvMBwbb4nhARHn2vYYHq7R9C6NxpnrWbSX7SUUrLDdeqnifLUtkCYgyl">a post by On the Road in Pennsylvania</a> that showed up in Facebook feed in early November, I learned that this house is undergoing an <i>amazing</i> renovation. </div><div><br /></div><div>The restoration is being documented <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fwknoxvilla">on Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/fwknoxvilla">Instagram</a> and <a href="http://www.fwknoxvilla.com/">a blog</a> so that everyone can follow along. <b>I'm so glad I found out about this!</b> Without that out-of-the-blue Facebook post, I probably wouldn't have known any of this. Now I want to help spread the word in my small way.</div><div><br /></div><div>It turns out that there is a good bit known about this house. Located at 4 North Main Street in Coudersport, it's an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italianate_architecture">Italianate</a> house built in 1880 by Franklin W. Knox, a prominent lawyer and businessman. It was also formerly the Old Hickory Tavern.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.fwknoxvilla.com/p/videos.html">According to the blog</a>, "Construction began in 1878 and was completed in May of 1880, only a few weeks before a fire swept through the town." Knox had seen a similar house in Pittsburgh and wanted one for himself in Coudersport, built with locally sourced "maple, cherry, black birch, pine, oak, hemlock, chestnut and butternut." The estimated costed was $10,000, which would be a little north of $310,000 today (though I suspect using so much valuable wood would send the price <i>far</i> higher).</div><div><br /></div><div>The house was electrified around 1905. After a couple of transfers of ownership, it became Coudersport's second Old Hickory Tavern around 1928. After a string of additional ownership changes over the decades, it was purchased by those who are currently renovating it in 2016.</div><div><br /></div><div>Writing on <a href="http://www.fwknoxvilla.com/2021/08/perfect-rant.html">the blog</a> in 2021, co-owner Holly Mauser states, "I’m thankful for that, that so many people can see the beauty in an old house. They saw that beauty years ago when it was really not looking it’s best. I’m thankful that they saw potential like we did. I hope more people keep seeing the potential in these amazing buildings wherever they live." (The <a href="http://www.fwknoxvilla.com/2021/08/perfect-rant.html">full post</a> is quite wonderful.)</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're interested in learning more, I highly recommend checking out all that's been documented on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fwknoxvilla">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/fwknoxvilla">Instagram</a> about this epic renovation. I think we're all looking forward to the day when its 1880 beauty is restored as fully as reasonably possible. Coudersport is already a great place to visit, and the restoration of the old Knox house is just one more reason to take that road trip.</div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-48452077808391739002023-11-25T20:35:00.001-07:002023-11-25T20:35:08.592-07:00Extremely rare Sweetnik doll by Lada Draskovic hits eBay<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAFOA7yGukNJqP_5EHKnMg-X-cLhOqIZD6PEQYeddp0KF0g2dh3PtrzBWav9I_UKiBFsyY-R7LmQ2e2OZf4E4sU-MeH2qegYy8iaaTzSPvs7O32Ywy8C7VP8HVarZUZkeWouxYyNZTagUn6fldFcGkGTeujWEsn_neGk0UneWNsJNUrqbR55t7JTwQQn6f/s1021/SWEETNIK_DRASKOVIC_2023.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="1021" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAFOA7yGukNJqP_5EHKnMg-X-cLhOqIZD6PEQYeddp0KF0g2dh3PtrzBWav9I_UKiBFsyY-R7LmQ2e2OZf4E4sU-MeH2qegYy8iaaTzSPvs7O32Ywy8C7VP8HVarZUZkeWouxYyNZTagUn6fldFcGkGTeujWEsn_neGk0UneWNsJNUrqbR55t7JTwQQn6f/s1021/SWEETNIK_DRASKOVIC_2023.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
It was more than 12½ years ago that I first learned of Lada Draskovic's "beatnik dolls," officially called Sweetniks, thanks to a small photograph in the 1961 Compton Yearbook.<div><br /></div><div>Over time, I compiled everything I discovered about Draskovic in 2013's <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2013/01/the-incomplete-lada-draskovic.html">The Incomplete Lada Draskovic</a> and 2018's <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2018/06/an-addendum-to-incomplete-lada-draskovic.html">An Addendum to "The Incomplete Lada Draskovic."</a> It's a history tale for which I still have far more questions than answers. And the dolls themselves are rarer still; there can't be many still in existence. </div><div><br /></div><div>But another doll <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/296068538816">has cropped up</a>. I have an eBay email alert for "Sweetniks," just in case it might provide a lead to learning more about Draskovic or her dolls. This newly listed doll is different than the other two I've seen color pictures of (one purple-haired, with a matching cat, and the other blonde). This one has brown hair (with maybe a hint of magenta) and is wearing an outfit that I think definitely qualifies as beatnik. It's amazing how unique each doll is.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/296068538816">listed on eBay for $1,300</a> by a seller in Illinois. That sounds about right, because we know that one Sweetnik was initially listed on eBay for $1,200 in 2018, and that the buyer later accepted the best offer (which was undisclosed). It, of course, only takes one collector who knows about the Sweetniks, is aware of their extreme rarity, and has the available funds in order to make a sale. So it will be interesting to see if someone snatches this one up. It's certainly a beauty.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>The eBay listing doesn't tell us much that's new, stating <i>"Vintage 'Sweetnik' doll from early 1960’s. Made in Italy by artist Lada Draskovic. These are very rare. Original made for Saks. Very few made it into the United States. Excellent condition. Hand painted. Doll is almost 15” tall."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>But the photos are excellent — some of the best I've seen of these elusive dolls. I'm going to share them here for posterity; this post should be around much longer than an eBay listing, and I feel a deep obligation at this point to document everything that's known about Draskovic's Sweetniks.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Ra7sD2_9CJYJ0iC70hEMkq6b2wj-00yaGoSOR68PzvKshDbK2oy3-aJSII4Kon-bxf_HpzlzLA_Zv-WPocB1RGv2Zg9PYhuE1xNxNc-2EkgtwKP9qX6mwwoGp05oKS3ZonTmBe5auoIJXFSYuj_s-lkcsz6YqTTFZAMui3tmkfTcxi7VAmmBXsafM-_6/s1600/Sweetnik_2023_H.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Ra7sD2_9CJYJ0iC70hEMkq6b2wj-00yaGoSOR68PzvKshDbK2oy3-aJSII4Kon-bxf_HpzlzLA_Zv-WPocB1RGv2Zg9PYhuE1xNxNc-2EkgtwKP9qX6mwwoGp05oKS3ZonTmBe5auoIJXFSYuj_s-lkcsz6YqTTFZAMui3tmkfTcxi7VAmmBXsafM-_6/s1600/Sweetnik_2023_H.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjA0c95K4zaCOJ5Gm9yt2P0ZtbUD2h8mIsckzKXjPeoD8kuNXkSgehtWFXhKlX1mY_1q9k55TBt98lGkNPsbNE3iZgysqhXCYwfyZLGpOlvTTk0sVXhvNwOyCp26FiAEzbJoD8WlHvNIpKw9Y9VPfeCaxccyGHLiePdMAYyoNCxpKdgMhAelLVdjDAYuDI/s1600/Sweetnik_2023_I.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjA0c95K4zaCOJ5Gm9yt2P0ZtbUD2h8mIsckzKXjPeoD8kuNXkSgehtWFXhKlX1mY_1q9k55TBt98lGkNPsbNE3iZgysqhXCYwfyZLGpOlvTTk0sVXhvNwOyCp26FiAEzbJoD8WlHvNIpKw9Y9VPfeCaxccyGHLiePdMAYyoNCxpKdgMhAelLVdjDAYuDI/s1600/Sweetnik_2023_I.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-66978011940267575432023-11-12T13:45:00.001-07:002023-11-12T13:45:24.792-07:00Send the Popcorn Clown to get me<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Zv1Hv8qY4_Py7NurYNf0aBSNPHyMriVa-PT14xTqfns-hvMXH2W0uNI7pDrt8_j7HJ4hHI3AMkp2E3iVuah6OsREvAFYbHDy8YqglkW-TxGCFr7EwgULOKii-nDZEgTT-bGK-Wk6mvczPuoYdG-K0CCkSLc3RJAdKRc2kjwV4x_LkTyB9-xS9GscNLuU/s3687/CLOWNCORN.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2395" data-original-width="3687" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Zv1Hv8qY4_Py7NurYNf0aBSNPHyMriVa-PT14xTqfns-hvMXH2W0uNI7pDrt8_j7HJ4hHI3AMkp2E3iVuah6OsREvAFYbHDy8YqglkW-TxGCFr7EwgULOKii-nDZEgTT-bGK-Wk6mvczPuoYdG-K0CCkSLc3RJAdKRc2kjwV4x_LkTyB9-xS9GscNLuU/s3687/CLOWNCORN.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
For the <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2022/10/mild-fear-2022-mea-culpa.html">second year in a row</a>, I whiffed on October/Halloween posts. I had so many grand plans and so much spooky/fun stuff lined up on the runway. Once again, I blame cats, work and the Phillies for stealing all my available time, but ultimately the blame should be directed at me. I just wasn't disciplined enough to keep Papergreat rolling during the best month of the year.<div><br /></div><div>This clown was going to be part of the Mild Fear festivities. Maybe my punishment should be having to hang out with him in a haunted house on a dark and stormy night. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, this colorful postcard was published in 1968 by Yankee Colour Corp. of Massachusetts. It shows — in the happy days long before <i>Poltergeist</i> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(character)">Bob Gray</a> flipped the script on clowns — a red-haired clown selling popcorn in a Boston-area park. The caption on the back explains:</div><div><blockquote>"Ye Days of Yore ... saw this Popcorn Wagon built by Mr. [Eleftherios] Alexion in South Boston, Mass., in 1915. Travelling Boston for 48 years, he became friend of young and young-at-heart at his frequented stop between the Common and Public Garden. Acquired by Mr. [Joseph A.] Coyle in 1963, this wagon still pops corn in a wire basket over white gas flame."</blockquote></div><div>I wonder what happened to the wagon, which would be 108 years old now and would certainly be museum-worthy. </div><div><br /></div><div>When this postcard was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VintageRoadside/posts/pfbid0RyGdkESegqLeLqJ6SkvByoP7FTKgyAENkgsbMULPEEBj1YWyKZJkTGyRC2WzNpkUl?locale=mt_MT">posted on Facebook</a> by Vintage Roadside, most of the comments were exactly what you'd expect. But I did like this one from Mary Beth: <i>"I think this is really sweet, but I’m from the pre-scary clown era. What a lovely man to have spent 48 years brightening up days for kids and adults with fresh popcorn. Hard for me to see anything other than good vibes here. Send in the clowns — I love ‘em."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe it's time to bring back Good Clowns and give them another chance. What do we think?</div><div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, now I have the upcoming late autumn and winter to put all of my belated Halloween posts onto Papergreat. Winter chills, indeed.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjue9zwRbioBZXMs9jf3Hi_g3UcjKBmtP9zrSZ_V-AHe2i6nlEwVJary3Ts06jg94fOc7N20SjrlVa0dSv1Ci1r2Xn2n7gLkFdAbvfJMB038io1ecC6hzaOfe1FgDOwnCTNCRJgsYuphWi69CnqZhaW8cdwHBJsplG93R4TyjLq8Mq8piglQPrJNt_OnuDQ/s1934/WAGONBACK.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1934" data-original-width="1799" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjue9zwRbioBZXMs9jf3Hi_g3UcjKBmtP9zrSZ_V-AHe2i6nlEwVJary3Ts06jg94fOc7N20SjrlVa0dSv1Ci1r2Xn2n7gLkFdAbvfJMB038io1ecC6hzaOfe1FgDOwnCTNCRJgsYuphWi69CnqZhaW8cdwHBJsplG93R4TyjLq8Mq8piglQPrJNt_OnuDQ/s1934/WAGONBACK.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNEI0-HBAz1fPVrpzyVguC_qSNY3o4DFGtSb0Vxj-Z6E4TF_6It_PNMwN9gULkMNCws6p_uTleVRHFbzeSs5uSZvxYPVZVRzDgIyO54Z5ox4wwMyHKl-9z5HrFDqy832AF8Ilf9SppdN8uQkiaZ9C6BYNt4NuDbSAhcC6NiZwVxXmV2xCh0TEzAdVLedm/s1008/CLOWNCLOSEUP.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="918" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNEI0-HBAz1fPVrpzyVguC_qSNY3o4DFGtSb0Vxj-Z6E4TF_6It_PNMwN9gULkMNCws6p_uTleVRHFbzeSs5uSZvxYPVZVRzDgIyO54Z5ox4wwMyHKl-9z5HrFDqy832AF8Ilf9SppdN8uQkiaZ9C6BYNt4NuDbSAhcC6NiZwVxXmV2xCh0TEzAdVLedm/s1008/CLOWNCLOSEUP.jpg" width="450" /></a></div></div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-49808502283795404692023-10-30T08:00:00.032-07:002023-10-30T08:00:00.140-07:00Postcard of cat on a broomstick<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYAaimjqabJpBfAnoWW0e02xxo-bklRGqdVP1lh7j9FuyfakdJVUSDRK1XBRFErUucZ9GjAaSdY3mi6acmnCfbQ78Ng22hsMynxvQyU_vM0cPz7LIB-HXflLm2xMY7wmJcZmfnBQ_t1hEoSwU-av_eYpZNoRZbGXbUEw297Hy6uiJT5J-nt58UNnTF4ab8/s3630/IMG-7444.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3630" data-original-width="2476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYAaimjqabJpBfAnoWW0e02xxo-bklRGqdVP1lh7j9FuyfakdJVUSDRK1XBRFErUucZ9GjAaSdY3mi6acmnCfbQ78Ng22hsMynxvQyU_vM0cPz7LIB-HXflLm2xMY7wmJcZmfnBQ_t1hEoSwU-av_eYpZNoRZbGXbUEw297Hy6uiJT5J-nt58UNnTF4ab8/s3630/IMG-7444.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>This is one of my favorite Halloween-themed Postcrossing cards that I've received this autumn. Unfortunately, there's no clear indication who the illustrator is on this Hogwarts-inspired card. <div><br /></div><div>It was sent by Yi-Ning, who lives in Taiwan with four cats — Bacon, Babao, Licon and iPhoenix — all of whom are rescued strays, which warms my heart. Yi-Ning has some limitations due to health issues, but works part-time helping elderly citizens at the hospital and is a powerhouse on Postcrossing, with more than 8,000 cards sent and received. Postcards really do let you travel the world and meet other people, with the mailbox serving as your magic portal. I'm glad our portals connected.</div>Chris Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875854143718805298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6681636933577206972.post-82867699678846900412023-09-23T12:45:00.000-07:002023-09-23T12:45:03.551-07:001968's "Voices from the Love Generation"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Oq6PvqWT70rsmL-fWFzd1GW2zy9Je6ABsJCuqRP4oxicVC3aWdHrUHsm4BGuc8kXqFd6KcAXPeeHPGUtdYh4MzqpYz9Pd8bT5jBjfeVqLYExb7XkBzCYhyHwnJxJb8BkwBuoOnN_TrZqqsNoBevbGFgYzH84R3Eacz4qq9h8vd8BLdDmmaMg9fpIosmM/s3586/WOLF_LOVE_GENERATION.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3586" data-original-width="2370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Oq6PvqWT70rsmL-fWFzd1GW2zy9Je6ABsJCuqRP4oxicVC3aWdHrUHsm4BGuc8kXqFd6KcAXPeeHPGUtdYh4MzqpYz9Pd8bT5jBjfeVqLYExb7XkBzCYhyHwnJxJb8BkwBuoOnN_TrZqqsNoBevbGFgYzH84R3Eacz4qq9h8vd8BLdDmmaMg9fpIosmM/s3586/WOLF_LOVE_GENERATION.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCjZZMKpNwp5NmzNz6ucxX0eRdd5IGcwrrH8iyGdFpCt-lchgeigznr5TPWbXrOmnLbfTn6ybvgjRFIw6Y64apvPMr8lQe8U3jpfqhOfLSBBBkH0V7tVYOaYnJFjgnu-r4f2rRKv22EHUxg8MzaRQDe8Q_gQc5P-ZhCmaSuzhv35L8sI_sTQIGrk3RkZlV/s3940/IMG-7158.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3940" data-original-width="2124" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCjZZMKpNwp5NmzNz6ucxX0eRdd5IGcwrrH8iyGdFpCt-lchgeigznr5TPWbXrOmnLbfTn6ybvgjRFIw6Y64apvPMr8lQe8U3jpfqhOfLSBBBkH0V7tVYOaYnJFjgnu-r4f2rRKv22EHUxg8MzaRQDe8Q_gQc5P-ZhCmaSuzhv35L8sI_sTQIGrk3RkZlV/w192-h356/IMG-7158.jpg" width="192" /></a></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Title: </b><i>Voices from the Love Generation</i></li><li><b>Editors: </b>Edited and with an introduction and epilogue by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Wolf">Leonard Wolf</a> (1923-2019), in collaboration with Deborah Wolf. They were married. I believe that Deborah Goleman Wolf is still alive; she is the author of the 1979 nonfiction book <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3742736">The Lesbian Community</a></i>. Leonard Wolf went on to write many notable books about Dracula, especially focusing on Bram Stoker's novel. That makes him a good candidate to appear on Papergreat again in the future.</li><li><b>Cover design:</b> William McLane</li><li><b>Interior photographs: </b>Credited mostly to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Ackerman">Ralph Ackerman</a> (1941-2008), with some by Thomas Weir. The three photographs with this post are all by Ackerman. Weir is known for taking <a href="https://collections.artsmia.org/art/52525/the-grateful-dead-and-family-thomas-weir">some famous shots</a> of The Grateful Dead, though he is <i>not</i> related to the Dead's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Weir">Bob Weir</a>.</li><li><b>Publisher: </b>Little, Brown and Company</li><li><b>Year:</b> 1968</li><li><b>Pages:</b> 283</li><li><b>Format: </b>Hardcover</li><li><b>Provenance:</b> This copy was formerly shelved in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsdell_Public_Library">Ramsdell Public Library</a> in Housatonic, Massachusetts (not to be confused with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miskatonic_University">Miskatonic University</a>).</li><li><b>Dust jacket blurb: </b>"Leonard Wolf, professor of English at San Francisco State College, has been involved with the Haight-Asbury Hippie community for over a year as an observer and as director of Happening House, a communications center in the district. Along with his admittedly straight sensibility, Mr. Wolf brought to his work in the community an open mind and a determination to understand the movement as it really is. <i>Voices from the Love Generation</i> is a collection of interviews with fifteen Hippies, recorded and arranged by Mr. Wolf and his wife Deborah. The startling candor, the rough language, the frankness about sex and drugs, indeed, the mere effort at communication with the straight world that characterize these interviews, are a tribute to the trust and respect the Wolfs have earned from the Hippies. This book is <i>by</i> the Hippies, not <i>about </i>them."</li><li><b>Dedication:</b> "This book is affectionately dedicated to the entire Haight-Asbury community."</li><li><b>Quote from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenore_Kandel">Lenore Kandel</a> interview: </b>"Love is a gift. No bargain. You love someone, you take them, and you accept them entirely. And they're supposed to accept you, wherever you're at, if they love you. The only way I know it's going to happen is by experimentation, by living, and by telling the truth."</li><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fLsHhpudjwYt5tjCMjRPphXwQVvPYMpFWwTNSRVceXEMhWSPfWQ8pr2LAH5lWurOorAUK9dRJdhmSfKLNQO-gBjG4s5tX34pEAwf3hKoW0yjGXlul3WHu9Em1gOrPEFhbdjmyj1xDomEOWlCMiOhhYHU-OHlsfUgzn8ZZEJqX6CQK944cwaX39g4gWv8/s2949/IMG-7159.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2949" data-original-width="2478" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fLsHhpudjwYt5tjCMjRPphXwQVvPYMpFWwTNSRVceXEMhWSPfWQ8pr2LAH5lWurOorAUK9dRJdhmSfKLNQO-gBjG4s5tX34pEAwf3hKoW0yjGXlul3WHu9Em1gOrPEFhbdjmyj1xDomEOWlCMiOhhYHU-OHlsfUgzn8ZZEJqX6CQK944cwaX39g4gWv8/w256-h305/IMG-7159.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><b>Quote from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Gleeson">Patrick Gleeson</a> interview (pictured at right):</b> "For one thing, I feel that if you want to find the roots of our present problems, the vital roots, you can go back to the seventeenth century and see them becoming public issues and big problems then. You can see the rise of technology [and] the thing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift">Swift</a> was so worried about — abstraction. It's only through abstraction that we can have cybernation and cybernation will finally free us from the hangups of the physical universe."</li><li><b>What is "cybnernation" in this context?</b> Per Leonard Wolf's extensive glossary, cybernation is "electronically controlled industrial automation." </li><li><b>Quote from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Wilson">Wes Wilson</a> interview: </b>"I think the hippies are sort of like a beginning of something which is going to be different. I think there will probably be very few people in the Haight-Asbury who will go into a very disciplined scene. ... I don't think the system we're living in is going to outlast the hippies. The system will change. The thing that's happening with hippies is a growth, not a static thing."</li><li><b>Full list of subjects interviewed:</b> Peter Mackaness, Lenore Kandel, Steve Levine, Patrick Gleeson, Maggie Gaskin (pictured at top of this post), Charlotte Todd, Peter Cohon and Sam, Sandra Butler, Pancho, Tsvi Strauch, Teresa Murphy, Wes Wilson, Ron Thelin, Shirly Wise, and Peter Berg.</li><li><b>Rating on Goodreads:</b> 4.20 stars (out of 5)</li><li><b>Goodreads review excerpt: </b>In a long, insightful 2012 review, Tracey Madeley <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/481146520">noted</a>: "Throughout all the interviews there is a naivety and a hope for a better way of living. This is a great primary source for anyone wanting to study hippies, their values and ideas."</li><li><b>Rating on Amazon</b>: 4.80 stars (out of 5)</li><li><b>Amazon review excerpt: </b>In a long and also insightful 2011 review, Mary Mekko <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R365KMK89SADPC/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0006BUROW">noted</a>: "Anyone who wasn't there will find these extensive interviews, in many cases classic hippie-druggie rambling, to be very insightful. They show the innocence of some of the aspirants to a New Life, those who wished to shed encumbrances, broken families, unhappy pasts including their aimless academic pursuits, odd jobs, careers, or lack thereof. Attracted by the Free Love ideals, both young men and women found the experience of free sex encounters at that time in history to be liberating. Aided by acid trips, the world appeared to them to be their love oysters. ... A great book for recording the genuine thoughts of the time, before the 'scene got ugly.' Note also ... that the Haight-Ashbury was a CHEAP neighborhood. The whole movement depended on free handouts, free food, donated clothes, welfare checks and parents sending money. ... This is the kind of book one should read, in retrospect, to see how our society has come in the direction it has. The young people seem incredibly innocent, if not disingenuous. They so much yearn for a world of peace, love and harmony — where they won't have to work, put up with rules, roommates, discomfort, etc. etc. And where has such a place ever existed, I do wonder? One can almost yearn along with them as one reads their ramblings. In the end, the movement was a yearning ending in a yawn."</li><li><b>Related post:</b> <a href="http://www.papergreat.com/2020/05/book-cover-flower-people.html">"The Flower People"</a></li></ul>
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