BEAUTY: Man For Winter--Alexandr

Beautiful hunky ginger man Alexandr (@personalkrampus) looks just like Kris Kringle from the classic 1970 stop motion animated holiday classic television special "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town!"

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"What Have You Got Toulouse?"--A 1970-1971 Calendar by Hallmark

I came across this relic on The Peculiar Manicule, a great site that features illustration from the 60s and 70s. This is the look of things as I was growing up, on television, in magazines, in films, on tee shirts... and this 1970-1971 16-month calendar from Hallmark (yes, Hallmark!) called "What Have You Got Toulouse?" reminds me so much of certain Saturday afternoon cartoons, The Beatles' psychedelic "Yellow Submarine," the comedy show "Laugh In," and especially Saul Bass' legendary short film "Why Man Creates," previously here!

Expo '70

My recent post here about the 1964-65 World's Fair in Queens triggered a memory from my early childhood: when I was small, I inherited my mom's View Master from when she was a little girl (for the younger readers, Google "View Master" for an explanation) and for birthdays or holidays, relatives would buy me slides for it. Somewhere along the way, I got a set (mature readers will recall that sets came with 3 round discs or "reels") of Expo '70 as it was called: the 1970 World's Fair that was held in Osaka, Japan. As a child, the photos absolutely fascinated me. And even now, looking at photos of the Expo, I am stunned at how amazing the architecture is. Most of the buildings are truly "modern:" they reference nothing that existed at the time. They look like structures that we would see if we were to land on an alien planet. What are they for? Do creatures live in them? What odd materials and shapes...

I have never attended a World's Fair, but from what I have read and the pictures I have seen, this certainly has to be the strangest, most innovative, and most wonderful looking Fair either before or since!

Just like the '64-'65 World's Fair in Queens with its gigantic silver globe, Expo '70 had a breathtaking centerpiece at the entrance as well. This was the Tower of the Sun, designed by artist Tarō Okamoto. It was (and still is, thanks to conservation efforts) a totem-like structure, at once completely primitive and futuristic, featuring a white column with a folded face, stylized arms or wings, and a smaller gold disc face with an antenna at the top. This monumental, protective presence poked up out of a hole in a building that was called Big Roof and greeted visitors during the day, or at night when two Xenon arc lamps shone out of the eyes of the top-most golden face. The Tower of the Sun was hollow and held a colorful site-specific sculptural piece entitled "The Tree of Life," which represented the evolution of all life on earth. I recall the look of this sculpture vividly, seen in the third picture down, as one of the pictures from my View Master reel. At the time, I thought it was what the inside of a tree looked like under a microscope. And it probably is! Although I was a little boy in a tiny town in upstate New York, I felt like I had been to Expo '70 through these pictures and my imagination.


Top to bottom: Tower of the Sun; Tower of the Sun at night with lights shining from its eyes; The Tree of Life inside The Tower of the Sun; aerial view showing the cocoon/ larva-like Fuji Pavilion at the back; Expo '70 scenery; Gas Pavilion; Japanese Telecommunications Pavilion; Korea Pavilion; Switzerland Pavilion; Takara Beautilion; Toshiba-IHI Pavilion; Wacoal-Riccar Pavilion; the Expo '70 Tower; fountains of what seem to be levitating boxes designed by the legendary Isamu Noguchi.

Below is a marvelous film of home movies taken of the Expo.

Both Sides Now

I've looked at this song from both sides now...

and it's heartbreaking on so many levels.

The legendary Joni Mitchell... I am left speechless and tearful.