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.

First, a short organizational announcement: I am trying to see if I can run a caption contest on my FB page, but so far there is only one participant and a winner by default. Feel free to join in. Next time I’ll just run it here.

Driving through Kansas is never very exciting. While there are many historic sites and things to see, they are pretty well spaced out, separated by miles and miles of endless fields and roads stabbing the horizon. Even by Kansas standards 200 miles between Kansas City and Hutchinson are pretty boring. Only few places made an effort to lure the passing traveler but even I, usually curious about all the rural wonders, wasn’t going to get off the road to see the “Rhino Capital of Kansas”. We did a 5-minute detour in Peabody, KS which posted several signs announcing its main attraction 1880’s Main Street. The Main Street looked exactly like every other small town in Eastern Kansas, most of which were built around the same time. Instead, I liked this house and that’s all I have to say about Peabody, KS.

On a crisp November morning the only sound in the historic downtown Coffeyville, KS  was the uncontrollable laughter of two people sitting in a small car in front of a mural hanging on a brick wall. Two people have been doing this for some time, and when one of them would stop laughing, the other pointed to the mural again and both would start giggling again, feverishly wiping away streaming tears. Two people were not strangers to the small town folk art but just like visitors to the Sistine Chapel they knew this could never be surpassed.

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.

I have a camera too, you know.
This composition is called “Another Forecast Screw-up”. In it we see a local weatherman staring at the snow he didn’t predict. He is bent under the heavy guilt and curses of the TV viewers. The sculptor expressed heavy burden of being a failed meteorologist through the tense back muscles and a somber pose. Viewer could almost feel the weatherman thinking: “I should have listened to my parents and went to a law school”.
Stone, snow, shuttlecocks. Author unknown.

The next composition is called “Flower Power Melts The Snow”.
Rusted Car, Snow, Trees. Donated by D&C Scrapyards.

This photo is called “See a Man About A Horse”. In it we observe three major components: a group of submerged lights which signify the word “see”, a man and a horse. The lights are submerged in the vessels with water. The artist wanted to show how electric hazard affects the other components of the composition. Does it scare a man? A horse? We don’t know.The calmness reflects the thought that the man and the horse in the photo don’t know anything about electric safety. Maybe the horse actually knows something because it’s looking away. The man is clueless though.

Man, Horse, Electric Hazard. Donated by the Fire Department.

Lastly, I took this photo of a journal where visitors are encouraged to leave their thoughts.
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