Scene / Seen (Pastel Shades)

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Explain this....

I try to support Canadian companies whenever I can.  Far too often they go out of business, but I have to concede that there's often a reason they do so.  I find it hard to comprehend why Amazon.ca  carries such limited stock.  I've received "you may be interested in" notices for the most bizarre items, such as yard implements.  God knows how expensive the delivery would be.  I've usually only ever ordered books and CD's, so why they think I'd order lawn clippers is curious.  Then, there's the cost.  They are way more expensive then their U.S. counterparts.  Here is an example.  I was looking at a Canadian book today.  This is not the first time I've come upon this.   I love Amazon.Com.  I want to support the Canadian counterpart, but they need to get it together.
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I left a note with the Canadian site on the "report a lower price" section.  I'll update if something happens.

By the way, I once tried to order a book in the local mall, which carries endless copies of "Chicken Soup for the Soul."  That should tell you all that you need to know about that book store.  I tried to engage the clerk in a conversation about some author and she had no clue what I was talking about.  She then told me it would take a couple of months to get the book in.  I went with Amazon.

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UPDATE....Amazon.ca must have acted on my message, as when I checked back the book was no longer listed for sale.   It was still available on the American site as originally priced.   Good work, Amazon, on taking action.

Found Item (Music Poster - Men Without Hats)

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This poster is from an unknown year, sometime in the early eighties.  The band is Canadian and is very catchy synth-pop.

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I've added a video, as most people only know them by one song (Safety Dance).  "Antarctica is a much better produced work.   Just try not moving while this video is playing.

Found Items (Import Hits List)

This was the store to buy your vinyl in the early eighties and here's the list of what was selling during one such week.  This was a store that provided alternative listening selections.  It was certainly not the stuff that would have made Dick Clark's list or made Bill Board.
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Found Items (Old Travel Brochure)

I had somebody bring this back for me when they went on a trip, as I collected them when I was young.  The bizarre thing?  People now sell them on Ebay.  Something else that I cannot figure out is the parking configuration on the cover.  There is no way that this could be a selling point, especially since people drank and drove at that time.   Furthermore, that was some walk from the lobby to the car.  Make sure to have a good look at the way the ground is painted under the vehicles.  Don't you dare park a Japanese modell on top of that!
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Try doing that in disco heals.   Something tells me that people didn't stiff the valet at this hotel; none of the 'I'll take care of it myself," especially if they had luggage.
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Then there's this lounge.  It looks very...how shall I say it,..Republican.
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This is just the place that Pat Nixon would have met up with Trish after she'd had her hair blown out.  It was obviously okay to smoke back then (note the ashtrays).  I wonder how many people zoned out with a valium and a Scotch, then later made a vacation of it, years later, at The Betty Ford?  This photo looks like a clip from The Stepford Wives for some reason.

Found Item (Retro Travel Post Card)

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This is a post-card that was handed out to kids when they travelled with Finnair, back in the day.  People who flew with the company in that era  also received travel bags and got to eat with real cutlery.  I can still remember the wonderful scent of the moist towlettes that Finnair used; it was very distinct and fresh.

Found Item (A Weird Post Card with Kids Doing Rude Things)

This post-card is of the old church in Helsinki and it was purchased in the l970's.  It's a weird one and I always knew it was odd.  Take a look at the kids...they are obviously aware of the camera.  Here, I've cropped it for you.
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One kid is pointing at her butt.  Two of them are either picking their noses or thumbing them.  Yes, this is an honest to God, real post-card.

Scene / Scene (Something out of Hopper)

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The Fat Bee (or how I'm feeling at the moment)

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I have a ton of stuff to do, but somehow I've become entangled in inertia.  I feel like this fat bee...it all began well, but due to some reverse metamorphosis, I  turned into a slug.  I've gummed down and stuck to my chair.

Pondering Poe

I watched "Fall of the House of Usher" today (the original, with Vincent Price).

I've always liked old Roger Corman, Hammer Horror and Vincent Price films.  Obviously, I've read works by Edgar Allen Poe and we certainly had to study his poetry in elementary school.  What I did not realize until a few years ago was that Poe had migraines.  This gave new meaning to this work for me, one that I've not seen discussed before.

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Roderick complains of a variety of symptoms, including:  a morbid acuteness of the senses,  eyes that were tormented by all but the faintest of illumination,  and an extreme sensitivity to odour and sound.  I can relate, as when I get ill, I am often stuck in a room with no light or sound for days.  I literally cannot even more enough to feed the cats and they've learned to fend for themselves.  I wonder if Poe wasn't projecting when he wrote?  Roderick was a character described very much like an agoraphobic.  People with severe migraines often give up making plans, as they so often fall through.  A change in routine is often triggering.  I'm a person who is stuck on a graveyard shift sleep pattern, thanks to a sleep disorder.  If I try to alter it, I get really ill.   Living with chronic pain can bring about a malaise and depression that might seem odd to others, especially as the person looks normal.  The novel and movie discuss the family curse.  Well, this is a disease that afflicted my grandmother severely, one of my cousins and I detect signs of it in my niece.  I hope not.  We understand more about it now then we did in Poe's day, when people would rely on laudanum to cure their ills.  Products with codeine were fairly accessible and people weren't subjected to "the talk" and shipped off to the Betty Ford.  Ask a person with migraines if they've ever been tempted to reach for an easy out and they will tell you...yes.

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Anybody who feels physical discomfort on an ongoing basis views the world differently then a person who is free of pain.  I have to wonder if it influenced Poe's writing?   Did it make him more gifted, or would he have experienced more of the world had he not been ill?  Would he have been as interesting had he had not had such a maudlin view of life?  It's impossible to know, but I thought of it as I watched Vincent Price eat up the scenery.

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Scene / Seen (Andy Warhol Meets Hitchcock's Birds

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Product Shout Out

I've been a vegetarian for ethical reasons for a long time, which means I don't use leather products either.  This has long been a problem at work, since I have to wear a uniform and my boots must comply with a dress code.  I'm stuck wearing my shoes to death.    Technically, they want them to have steal toes, but I confess to cheating on that.  I need something that's black, doesn't slip and doesn't have heals.  A while ago, I was lucky enough to find the perfect pair by New Rush.  Best of all, they were under fifty dollars.  I placed two orders, as they were on stock. 

Talk Like A Pirate Day Came And Went...

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My cat (Dot), missed it.  This is where catnip abuse takes you.

Winter Sky

After working nightshift, it was a cool morning.  We had to spend several minutes scraping the ice off the car windows.

Pioneer Book on Topic (Reviewing Books for Young Adults)

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In my quest for  Young Adult books that I could purchase for my niece, I noticed on Amazon that "Lisa, Bright and Dark" by John Neufield still has an audience.  This novel  had been stocked in my school's library and I can still recall the television movie with Kay Lenz.  It was much discussed the night after it was broadcast.
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"Lisa Bright and Dark" was one of the first books to address self injury.  The movie, in fact, did not shy away from that scene and people were shocked by the graphic nature of its portrayal.  And yes...it happened in elementary school back in that time.  I recall the girl that cut herself with the point of a compass in class.
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This novel details how Lisa, seemingly pretty and well-do-do, hides a dark side.  Her personality suddenly changes and can become violent and self destructive.  As her parents don't want to address the issue, her core group of three friends take it upon themselves to help her.
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There are several pop -cultural  references that are dated, but the basic issues are still relevant.  Our attitudes towards psychology have changed.  It's doubtful a girl this troubled would be permitted to continue to attend class without intervention in today's world.  If nothing else, there would be fear that she could engage in behaviour  that might harm others.
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I suspect that some of the above issues will prove distracting for a person who is thirteen, but I have added the book to the list all the same.  Near the start of the book, the narrator writes the following:  "  Adults are in many ways simply chicken:  by protecting us, they protect themselves, which means that no one ever gets to the truth.  This is not a good system."  Kids are really good at figuring out exactly how much their parents can handle.   If they think they'll be overwhelmed and "lose it" if approached with stories of cutting, questions on birth control, etc,, they'll go to other sources.  People unable to keep the avenues open need to at least provide decent resources.  Books never let me down.

Go Ask Alice Redux (Reviewing books for young adults)

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My niece turned thirteen the other day and I remember what I thought about at that age; what my friends and I talked about.  Although my parents were wonderful, it would have been very uncomfortable for me to bring up things with them.  We never had "the talk."  As to school guidance counsellors, there was only one, in all my years, that the kids ever had any faith in.  I used to read books on a variety of topics and I decided that perhaps they would be a good segue, should the need arise, for my niece to raise issuess with me.  I'm going to leave them around and she can read them if she wants.  That way, she can talk about "somebody in her school," going through something similiar.

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One of the books I ordered from Amazon was "Lucy in the Sky" penned by Annonymous.  The plot was very familiar to me, as I'd read "Go Ask Alice" many years ago.  In what ways are the plots the same?  A girl who wouldn't normally party is introduced by friends to pot and then, increasingly, to harder drugs.  Her father is a college instructor.  Alice ran away to San Francisco and the "author" of this book pays a visit to the city.  Both have artistic  interests.  Both books are writtten in a diary format.  I don't want to give away too much of the plot, so I will stop here.

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However, it will keep a reader of that age interested.  It doesn't shy away from sex and whether adults want to accept it or not, teens are familiar with the various practices hinted at in the book.  The point is made that the lack of sobriety may make the act reckless.

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It's an easy read and I think that people of about the age of fifteen will be the ones to most appreciate this.

Scene / Seen (Colour Encounter)

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Thirty Years On---Less Than Zero

I reread the l985 book "Less Than Zero" by Bret Easton Ellis.
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Although the book makes references to musical groups of the time, it still holds up.  This is reflected by book sales and by the fact that Ellis is still asked about the characters in this novel.  There has been talk of a movie remake.
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Nihilism is not a new phenomena.   Dostoevesky explored it, to some length, in the 1800's..  Russian teens had embraced it, without benefit of goth music or the internet.  Baudelaire and Shelly wrote of wanton excess decades ago.  Like it or not, there  is glamour in destruction, especially when it's decked out in designer duds and attractive people.  Ellis lets us watch with the the insider's scoop usually reserved for  the annonymous National Inquirer writer.
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In l985 the kids were not all right; they were starting to melt under all that Hollywood sun.  Reality television had yet to be invented, but Ellis wrote of it.  He came from the Hills and these were his homies.  Hollywood is a land of illusion and pretend, with what's on the outside that counts.  "Less Than Zero" reveals that how the worship of the superficial causes one to lose themselves...to disappear here.
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Decades later, Clay is brought back as the main character in "Imperial Bedrooms.".  He was a blank canvas in the earlier book.  Nature, abhorring a vacuum, allowed something to occupy that space; that being a person who beats women, somebody who would sell out his friend.
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Clay, Trent, Rip, Blair and the others had been taught the names  of all the right bands to listen to and all the cool designer labels.  What they had not learned was right and wrong and how to figure out what they truly believed.  As a result, they needed the images on the screen to tell them who they were.  Without it, they didn't exist.  Clay no longer needed the billboard to disappear, or drugs, as he himself was the void.  Perhaps our constant need to take selfies is emblematic of this.

 

Scene / Seen

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Found Item - Retro Illustrations - Stories Old and New

I found this book (Stories Old and New) in a used book pile.  As you can see, the cover has seen better days:
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This was used as a reader in elementary schools.  It has a copyright of l964 and was put out by Cobb Clark Publishing.  F.C. Biehl is listed as the principal writer.  It was the illustrations inside that caught my attention.
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Any one of these illustrations are guaranteed  to take a person back.  Surely you recall classrooms that had at least one kid who ate the paste that smelled like mint?  Whatever became of that kid, btw?  At the start of the school year, these readers were always familiar and inviting to people like myself, who enjoyed books.
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The illustrators listed in this book are as follows:
Gordon Rayner
Douglas Sneyd
Helmut Rath
Jerry Lazare
Jim Walker
Margaret Cochrane
Kalman Banitz

Metal Fatigue

METAL FATIGUE

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Of the five senses, touch was the first to go

When the rot set in.

Necrotic from disinterest; disused and numb,

A disconnected leper, this  colony of one.

Then sound;  your  message left unheard.

Just the tap tap tap of my  manic mind.

No pause....just repeat; the eternal rewind.

Sleep starved, all words stuck  frozen in time.

For leading me into temptation;

(forgive my glutinous sins),

Taste then  smell withered and  died.

Staunch as a deacon, control finally  mine.

The harvest ignored, decayed  on  the vine.

Only sight eludes my metal fatigue.

The mirror much stronger it haunts--oh!--it  taunts.

Its warped fun-house image now  all that I see.

The bully I made....this  cruel double of me.

Found Item - Tummi Trainer

I'd blogged a while ago about the endless ads I was getting on Youtube from one company.  They were twice the sound of whatever it was that I was watching, had no relation to anything I'd ever purchased or watched, and the music made me want to toss the screen across the room.  After my complaint on the corporation's  site  about literally having to sit through their commercials every ten minutes (yes, I was driven to that), it stopped.  However, it recently began again and therefore, they deserve no mercy.   And never, ever argue with a person who probably has OCD and sometimes did research in university.  

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So, I knew I'd seen a similar product before, and here it is:
(Of course I have it in my pile of stuff).
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Gee, look familiar?  It's eerily similar to the blaring advertisement I keep getting.  There's a side by side picture of a mid-section.  There's a belt that works on reducing that part of your anatomy.  That crappy F@#X - Belt commercial tells me, through endless repetition, that   "This is the button."  This ad has a buckle that seems to look very much like a button.
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The major difference is that this was available for purchase in 1976 for under fifteen dollars,  unlike the much larger sum being asked by the F@#K Belt.
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I know people are driven to purchase exercise products at this time of year, but I'd rethink buying this particular belt.

Ode to Dorothy Parker

"What fresh hell is this?" asked Dorothy Parker.  Surely no truer words have been spoken in describing dates like today.  This town is an anomaly...drive a few miles west towards the city and there is no snow.  At times we've had wind-chill hitting -20 or worse and they've been brisk, but bearable.  Now isn't the time, but there's no running water in this town.  We're on wells, yet pay more in taxes then people I know in the city.

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The highway cameras show the mess.  Yes...highways.   One shot is of the Trans-Canada Freeway.

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The power was out for several hours and it just flickered again a while ago.  So much as to the myth about the west coast being mild.  It doesn't hold true for this town.

Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Anyone Who Had a Heart

I came upon this video by chance.  I like Elvis Costello and I've heard many versions of this song.

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Elvis Costello was one of the early "New Wave" acts that made a name for himself in North America.  His appearance on S.N.L. caused many people to develop a taste for this  genre of music.   Lyrics that  challenged political leaders and referenced literature weren't a staple of mainstream top 40 at that time.  It was limited to disco and stadium rock.  Costello has continued to put out albums, including one with Burt Bacharach.  Unfortunately, this song is not included.

Found Items - New Sounds New Styles (But not new wave)

Music and fashion in the eighties went beyond Madonna's corsets and plastic bracelets, although it was that which the mainstream entertainment press focused.   In England there was a wide variety of music and fashion styles---the two being linked.  The clothing that one wore often defined their listening taste.  The May 1982 issue of "New Sounds New Styles" showcased one of these trends.  What to call it?  Poverty chic, perhaps.  There was also a mix of ethnic influences, with the hair and the patterns found on material.
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People dressed like this were very likely to be listening to Dexy's Midnight Runners.  They had a hit, finally, in North America with "Come on Eileen."  I much prefer their song Geno.  I challenge you to not move when listening to this one.
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Admittedly, many bands from that era were all about the hair and for a brief period, bobtails (similiar to dreadlocks) were sported.  The eighties weren't just about looking like the guy from "The Flock of Seagulls."  This song got some airplay in North American clubs, but it did not reach a mainstream audience.

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When people of a certain age start to complain about "music today," they need to be reminded of this song.  We all have shameful secrets in our closet (and LP's in storage).
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This sort of apparel could very well have been purchased at The Foundry.   Sue Cowles mixed an eclectic range of symbols and colours in her designs.
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Specific hair salons had a cachet to them and being seen in their chairs was important.   One such locale was Antenna, where the owner claimed to have created a few of the trendiest cuts.  In this article, Simon Forbes explains their origins.
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Recognition goes to:
-Deanne Pearson (writer-Antenna article)
-Russell Young (photos - Antenna article)
-Graham K Smith (writer- Haysi Fantayzee) also ( writer - The Foundry)
-Jamie Morgan (photo - Haysi Fantayzee)
-Richard Simpson (photo - Haysi Fantayzee)
-Iain McKell (photo - Dressing Down and Getting Out in London)
-Mark Lebon (photo - The Foundry)
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Finally, thanks to "New Sounds New Styles" magazine---May l982.  It was a great little mag.