Continuing with the subject of random vehicle photos altered with annoying photo filters, here is an awesome moving piece of art. This Gulliver-like Jesus sitting in the low-flying cloud, winged angels leading people out of their coffins with lids still attached, and even a bible-gripping Yosemite Sam, could be yours if you manage to locate the owners phone number.
Continuing with the alcohol theme, here are some photos depicting a sobriety test experiment performed in Kansas City in 1941. The cops slowly liquor up a test subject and then perform sobriety tests on him using a precision “drunkometer”.
In 1986 the Iron Curtain was starting to lift and the Soviet and American people got their first glimpses of each other. That year Katya Lycheva traveled to the United States with the mission of peace and even met with the President Reagan.
Few days ago I saw this article from some Russian publication of that time and translated it for the blog. It’s funny how even as late as 1986 the article had to include a mandatory “evil Americans” paragraph (highlighted).
Katya’s Doves:
This photograph shows Katya Lycheva. She is talking about the trip to the USA she took last spring with the delegation of the Soviet Committee for Peace.
Katya was welcomed with warmth and hospitality. Children and teachers were waiting for her in schools. They decorated their classrooms, painted greeting banners and made souvenirs for her.
From city to city a welcoming wave of warmth and hospitality was rolling with an increasing power. Chicago, New York, Washington D.C…. Children wanted to find out what Katya likes, learn her favorite songs.
When during the first days of the trip in one of the schools in Brooklyn Katya started singing “Solnechny Krug” (Sun Circle) no one knew the song and could not join in. But days later in Los Angeles the whole audience was singing with Katya “May there always be sunshine”!
However, today’s America showed Katya its hostile, slanderous, malicious underside. The enemies of peace and disarmament tried their best to harm Katya’s mission. They asked sneaky questions at press-conferences. They tried to catch her off-guard to take embarrassing pictures. They threatened her over the phone and tried to intimidate her.
Despite all these efforts, she showed up at all scheduled meeting happy, smiling and calm like the day before and again the children tried to reach out to her together with those adults, who want peaceful, wonderful life for everyone on this planet.
Katya came home, but in the hearts of hundreds of American children remained the feeling of gratitude to her, for the first time they got to learn the truth about our country. They also cherished white paper doves with the addresses of the Soviet boys and girls written on their wings – addresses of friendship.
Katya Lycheva honorably carried out the mission started by her little American counterpart Samantha Smith.
The sky’s bright blue.
The sun is up high—
This is the little boy’s picture
He drew it for you
and then wrote there for you.
Just to make clear what he drew.
Chorus:
May there always be sunshine,
May there always be blue skies,
May there always be my mama,
May there always be me!
I love reading restaurant reviews. Maybe it has to do with me vicariously visiting all the restaurants that I will never visit and eat the food I can’t afford through the person of a food critic. Some reviewers are fun and to the point, the other ones are too wordy and their taste buds are long ago killed by alcohol in the drinks paid for by their employer. Couple of days ago Chimpo, who is obviously still evolving as a food critic, reviewed my borscht with just one word. It wasn’t the review I was hoping to get, but it was probably valid for some people (who are clearly clueless). However, I think that borscht-hating s.o.b. stumbled onto something here – one-word food reviews. Think about it: not a review, not a blurb, just one word that completely describes your feelings about a place or a food item or even a movie or a book. No more reading long opuses about tough steaks or overcooked spaghetti, one word is enough. The possibilities are endless -imagine whole Zagat guide on one page! It’s not as easy as it seems – i’s hard not to be repetitive especially with bad reviews. After all the four-letter words are used it’s hard to come up with something descriptive. My one reader can exercise in the comment section below.
Continuing with the subject of vintage magazine ads, below are some full-page clips advertising food and soft drinks. It’s interesting to see which products survived into today, as well as trace some common items to the days when they were first introduced. Advertising and marketing were pretty much absent during my childhood – people having to deal with shortages did not need additional enticement to buy things. I don’t recall seeing any commercials on TV or in print until the mid-1980’s. Now, when technology provides a way to block most TV and internet advertisement, I find myself marveling at these old ads, probably because they look so naive and amateurish compared to the slick ways the goods are being sold to us today.
We’ll start with this subtly racist ad for Aunt Jemima pancakes.
