Greetings loyal DustBubble readers (both of you),
Just a quick note that after a 4 month hiatus, DustBubble has dissolved and risen from the sudsy ashes into a new form, going live tomorrow morning here.
Thank you goes to Doug Wilson again, a gifted designer/typographer/teacher the creator of my wondrous Blind Box, which I will continue to hold dear, and which provided the seed for this new space.
See you all real soon!
Typing “how to” into google, and letting the global search bank fill out the rest with their ranked cache of search phrases…
It is interesting to see a lyrical New Yorker with a hobo’s name moaning in the back of a black London cab. Where is the cab going? . . .and then all that remains is near bliss.
Two very thoughtful projects: The Black Cab Sessions & Langhorne Slim w. Johnny Flynn
A group of 8 Thanksgiving postcards, from the Golden Age.
Sent November 23, 1909 to Mr. P. Helvin, Thornton’s Ferry, N.H. No message.
Sent November 15, 1915 to Miss Iva McMackin, Westerville, Ohio.
Dear Cousin,
We rec’d your card a long time ago and finally we are asnwering it.We are all well and Morris almost lives outdoors. They have been cleaning the auto engine to-day and I washed this morning. My tolerably swift* girl went away Sat. so I’m boss of the ranch for a while. Saw your Mamma + Papa at Greenwood yesterday, so you know it’s auto weather. Don’t eat to [sic] much with this spoon and we will see you xmas.
-Alla
(editorial note: what!?)
* emphasis original to author
Sent November 1910, to Mrs. George Hazzard, Sprakers, N.Y.
Dear Mother,
I talk of coming home for Thanksgiving if nothing happens to prevent. I am feeling fine now as this is good healthy weather. I have got 2 new [...] for every day. Guess I could bring them along and make them while I am out there and comming [sic] Thurs morning and stay still Sat. or Sun.
From, Ada
Postmark scratched off.
Best wishes, from Mamma to Georgie, Nov. 26, 1914.
No postmark. No message.
No postmark. No message.
No postmark. No message, except the word “grandma.”
Postmark unrecognizable, to Mr. + Mrs. B.C. Lereed, Wakefield, Va.
Am sending you a pie by this [...] man, hope you enjoy it. Give Judith a big piece… -Martha
Last time around, we unpacked the cultural biases and historical context that enveloped the Tempting Banana Recipes leaflet. Like political regimes, prevailing tastes (in the oral sense of the word, specifically) seem to change across time. Forget about “tempting”; a few of these recipes sounds downright offensive to the modern palette.
As the first entry in the Outmoded Recipes section, DustBubble will tackle an especially foul sounding concoction–Banana Flank Steak–to see if indeed it is as disgusting as it sounds, or rather if somewhere along the line it became taboo to mix bananas and beef…
The ingredients:
Tropical Stuffing :
1. Dice (4) bananas and chop (1/2) medium onion
2. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl
3. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and set aside
Flank Steak :
1. Stack (2) 1 lb. flank steaks
2. Using a toothpick attached to a string, sew the two slabs together, leaving an opening at one end for stuffing
at this stage, your flank steak should resemble an oven mit…
3. Liberally fill the meat pocket with tropical stuffing, and sew the end closed, creating a pillow of meat
4. Season both sides and brown in a heavy skillet
5. Transfer to a covered pot with 1/2 cup water in the bottom and cook for 2 hours in a 300 degree oven, flipping the meat after 1 hour
6. Cut and serve
Review :
If you can trick yourself into thinking of the tastes as simply “sweet” and “savory” rather than distinct flavors, this dish is surprisingly stomachable. The string will be difficult to remove–it may be easier just to eat. The stuffing will expand during cooking, creating a perfect ratio of meat-to-banana in each bite. The meat will keep in the refrigerator for quite a few days, making for reliable leftovers. Best served with a cheap white wine.
Could this innocent recipe pamphlet actually be a piece of anti-Communist propaganda?…
…well, not entirely, but it was created within an American culture rife with anti-Communist sentiments. And bananas–those tasty Central American delights–were not without political import. Let’s peel back the layers…
According to the United Fruit Company Historical Society (that this exists hints the scope this company once had),
Between 1955 and 1962 United Fruit published around 15 million pieces of literature for [American] students in elementary grades through high school to promote the learning of bananas and the health benefits of their consumption…
While it is difficult to be certain that the pamphlet in question was created for schools, we will assume this to be so for the sake of the argument. Even if it wasn’t, the overarching principles still apply.
So what happens when a major corporation is allowed to “promote the learning” of their keystone product in schools? Naturally, their primary objective, however veiled, will be to condition young consumers. We need to go no further than the first two words of the “About Bananas” section to appreciate this point: Buy bananas. The shrewd minds behind this flyer also offer additional free banana recipes by post to any interested parties, knowing full well that implicit in the offer is the guarantee that its recipient will be buying more [Chiquita] bananas. Of course, there are some informative bits interspersed between these bookends.
So where, then, does Communism enter? We travel now to the Guatemala, arguably United Fruit’s most important banana republic, where just three years prior, then President Jacobo Arbenz instituted the Agrarian Reform Act (1953) that redistributed vast quantities of fruit plots to landless peasants. Back in the US, this came to be understood as Guatemala spreading its “Marxist tentacles” throughout Central America.
A year later, Guatemalan dissidents staged a coup, backed by the United State, overthrowing Arbenz. The story grows more complex from here, but in essence, United Fruit–ruthless Captialists at home, with alleged Communist bedfellows abroad–lost the favor of the American government, and shortly after began their decline. All this, over a piece of fruit.
One question remains: are these recipes really tempting? Banana scallops, banana and shrimp curry, banana flank steak?!
Stay tuned to find out.
Please excuse the brief hiccup…the bubble hasn’t burst.
Stereoscopy is positively miraculous, if only for its singular ability to make people and places from the 19th Century feel actual. There are several easy DIY stereo viewer plans online (link). Sadly, an apparatus for effective computer viewing is harder to come by without un-stowing some folding money.
One alternative is the alleged “cross viewing method“, which, in at least one opinion, is both futile and painful. To simply get the gist however, the “wiggle method” suffices, produced here in an animated .gif (the boughs of the leftmost tree work seem to work the best…won’t work in all browsers):
Either Teddy Roosevelt or William Howard Taft held the Presidency when this image was captured. Finding out who filled the Senate proved difficult, while stats abound for the impressively atrocious 1909 Washington Senators baseball team. (Sidenote: the next year, Taft was the first President ever to throw out a first pitch.)
The back (click to enlarge):
“We have no need for apologies for our national capitol”…which is more than can be said for North Dakota (image).
Sigh…not another postcard.
Wait! That’s not a postcard! That’s an oversize advertisement made to resemble a postcard to heighten its recipient’s association between gas heating and the American ideals of the adventure and abundance. Well, why didn’t you say so?
The frontal view of Pikes Peak is deliberately unexciting, intimating the sublime without actually delivering (though, the pinholes at the top would suggest that someone was moved enough to post it for display). The electric lines that punctuate the foreground betray a hurried photographer or, perhaps more likely, suggest the impossibility already by the 1950s of effectively photographing the peak without a visible human footprint.
The text on the back, simulating a conventional postcard’s didactic caption and handwritten inscription, serves as an advertisement for gas heaters from the Joliet-based Conlon-Moore Corporation. Deceptively, the caption begins with background on Pikes Peak, and Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. for whom it is named, but quickly shifts focus to the Radiant Hearth Gas Heaters that grace the Summit House atop the mountain. The cold, rugged conditions at 14,000 ft. are too much for likes of the average heater, or at least that is the suggestion.
Upon encountering the towering mountain, Lt. Peak pronounced it unscaleable. Now, thousands of visitors, mostly in automobiles, prove him wrong each year, celebrating their accomplishment within the balmy Summit House. As a final reward for the contemporary frontiersman, weary from his journey, the Summit House now offers Free Donuts to accompany the view. Eat that, Zebulon.
As you may know, millionaire aviator Steve Fossett went missing on Monday in lofty, Earhartian fashion. In 2002, Fossett became the first person to travel ’round the world (RTW) alone in a hot air balloon, the preferred transportation for millionaires and mid nineteenth-century French photographers. In tribute, here are some hand-clicked links that explore ballooning and its rich history. Here’s to you, Steve Fossett…
Why are many current photographers, both amateur and professional, drawn to the vignetting? It gives photos a specific look and feel, but to what end? How does it affect how the photograph is read?
This question first came to mind while perusing John Londei’s new book Shutting Up Shop: The Decline of the Traditional Small Shop (via Ilike). The effect fits perfectly with his subject. John mentioned that it influenced how each shot developed; he wrote in an e-mail correspondence, “Composing the shots within the vignette was integral to the way I approached each…”
Here are several possibilities that attempt to answer “to what end?” along with a photo to illustrate each (with varying degrees of success). The list is certainly not exhaustive and is meant to start discussion, so please critique on it or add to it:
1. Directing focus. This is likely the primary reason it first became popular convention in the nineteenth century. It literally circles where the viewer should look.
2. Mimicking “actual” vision. This was suggested on the Vignetting Flickr group (not to be confused with the cuddly Vignette Sluts). Human eyes do not see complete rectangles of information like most photographs register. Vignetting theoretically more closely simulates the optical effects of seeing with a round eyeball.
3. Framing an image. Similar to #1. A vignette creates a soft border for an image. This bridges the photographic definition with its original meaning, which refers to decorative borders in books. The blackened corners are (coincidentally?) quite similar to the corners in traditional photo albums. Arguably this fraing makes the photograph more an object as compared to a liberated image.
These first three are primarily technical, but just as attractive are reasons that deal with content…
4. Drawing attention the photographer, and the photographic process. Whereas a normal photo can briefly deceive the mind into ignoring its unreality, a vignetted photo points to its own artifice, revealing the device used in its capture, which reminds the viewer of the unseen third player.
5. Creating a voyeuristic or otherworldly effect. It’s like looking through a peephole. Objects often seem unreachable, but more magical because of it. The viewer is let in on a secret.
6. That “Old Timey” look. Vignetting was originally an undesired effect from poor equipment or improper camera settings. The popularity of toy cameras like the Holga helped make this something to embrace. There is a sense of looking back in time.
Others??
More blind box soon…
