A River Runs Through It And The Foot Of God

Today I want to show you the “up north area” of Toolinguria. The place where the middle and upper class has a second home to get away from it all. The architecture here is too dominated by utilitarian steel shapes, that wither and weather in the seasons and thus become a part of the landscape. The little village we are visiting today is is the sleepy 326 soul village of Oreton. Oreton is about two and a half hours north of the Capitol Molybdenopolis, but a lot more idyllic. So idyllic, that is was barely trumped by Montana as the location for the movie “A River Runs Through It”.

In order to maximize the untouched open spaces and to minimize man’s impact on the area, the cabins are rather close to each other.

You can see the chimneys towering over the roofs which also serve as sun decks in the Summer.
When you Google For Oreton, Toolinguria, there is a peculiar image – one that the community claims that it clearly shows the “Foot Of God”. See for yourself, can you spot it?

If you have found said foot, then it means God wears Chuck’s, which means she’d be presumably pretty cool….I suppose. But, it’s up to you what you make of it.

Alright, there you have it. You have wasted another perfectly good 10 minutes to read about Toolinguria.
Stay sharp and exercise your imagination muscles.

Markus \m/

A Mixed Bag

Today is a mixed bag, the use of remainders and remnants, journalistic Bauerng’röstl. I have two more images from Molybdenopolis, from the warehouse district. I have a still life and I have a sunset that was proudly presented to us by Mother Nature.
Molybdenopolis, a town build on ore mining and metal processing. A town such as this surely avails over warehouses where the goods can be stored until they are shipped and that’s what we have here. The warehouse district at sunrise.

The same neighborhood a few minutes later, with the sun already much higher on the horizon.

You see it was a beautiful day in Molybdenopolis. From what I hear, the Molybdenites we’re celebrating Germany’s victory in the Football World Cup in Brazil over Argentina. Toolinguria, does not have a football team that would be anywhere close to qualifying for any tournament. They stink, but apparently, Toolinguria sends a strong team to the Scottish Highland Games every year. Who knew?
NEXT! Still life, so we can calm down from all this Toolinguria warehouse district excitement.

No need for me to comment….enjoy the feeling of being transcended.
Onwards to the closing images of yesterday ….in fact the closing of the day that was yesterday – Wednesday.

Mother Nature staged her show right as we were enjoying dinner – an interruption of sorts, but it was worth it.

And you know it was worth it, when it’s worth it in colour AND black and white.

Stay sharp and find and enjoy your own mixed bags of whatever…mixed stuff.

Cheers
Markus \m/

The Magnificent Mile-long Boulevard Of The Eternal Victory Of Competence Over Utter Ineptness

Yes, Molybdenopolis has it’s own Boulevard of pride, where the citizens swagger along. It is similar in grandeur to New York’s 5th Avenue, Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, Minneapolis Niccolette Mall, Berlin’s Ku’damm, Paris’ Champps Ellysées and of course Bozen’s Unter Den Lauben. In Molybdenopolis the official name is “The Magnificent Mile-long Boulevard Of The Eternal Victory Of Competence Over Utter Ineptness”, or called by its nickname “the Mag”. As part of the current exhibition by Äügüstè Plûm, the Mag has been converted into a mile-long walkway of pointillist art. And it is a sight to behold. “Art Critics Distinguished” Magazine’s editor-in-chief called it “stunningly, breathtakingly, amazingly multicolored, representing all mankind for eternity, ever”. But see for yourself.

Don’t forget to breathe.

And with that long view down towards the horizon of possibilities, cure to world hunger and world peace I bid you Adieu for today, with my traditional request for you to stay sharp, for god’s sake.

Cheers from Molybdenopolis, Tooolinguria
Markus \m/

The Molybdenopolis Art Scene

Saturday night the Molybdenopolis Museum For Avantgarde & Contemporary Art – the MACA, as the Molybdenopolites call it – had a big opening of a new Expo, by native daughter Äügüstè Plûm. His art is polarizing, yet always unique. The current exhibition focuses on the seemingly unsolvable and eternal conflict of industry and art, labor and pleasure. So before I continue blathering on, let’s get right into Äügüstè’s installations.

Here luxury cars are covered in big fat paint blotches.

The randomness and the simplicity and clarity of the colors represent the simple life and desires of the working class, while the luxury sports car represents the fruit of the laboratory enjoyed by the few wealthy Molybdenopolites – there is clearly a social critical aspect to the work of Äügüstè. Her work is at a superficial level very playful and happy, yet there is a dark depth to it, that makes the connoisseurs and educated art lover slightly uncomfortable.
Äügüstè installations are not just limited to the MACA, but are on display also about town, integrated into the cityscape.

Here the spectator is looking down from the old stock exchange building onto an installation. But the most popular installation is clearly the carousel installation.
And with that final view just shortly before the the fair will be opened, I leave you alone mesmerized by the art you have just witnessed.

Stay sharp and think about a trip this weekend to Molybdenopolis or just your local museum.

cheers
Markus \m/

Drink Milk Campaign In Thailand

In 1997, I did my grocery shopping at a Lucky’s supermarket in Pacific Beach, CA. The place was just a short skateboard ride down Turquoise. As I stood by the register to pay my goods, I saw a postcard with the Van Halen brothers drenched in milk. On the bottom of the card it said:”got milk”. That was an awesome advertisement campaign.
Now, Thailand is embarking on its own milk promotion campaign. But it is not quite a cool and imaginative the original Got Milk campaign.

The message in Thailand lies on how happy the cows are. They receive real grass, corn AND fresh water, get massages, have a sleeping pad on which they can listen to music. I wonder if you play different styles of music if you get different products. Say you play the cows reggae,do you get milk shakes? If you play heavy metal will the udder churn the milk and you milk butter off? Finally, there is even a nice man who reads stories to the cows. May be these aren’t stories, but maybe they are scientific texts or papers on milk product economics and in an effort to make cattle farming even more humane, the cows have a say in what to do with their mild and how to market it best. Clearly, the possibilities are endless.
But seriously, the milk campaign in Thailand is an effort to actually promote human growth – as in body height. Thailand has one of the lowest annual per capita consumption a of milk in Asia. Now, as I have worked – albeit briefly in advertisement photography – I would cancel the happy cow campaign and replace it with the following.
A typical Thai Muay Thai fighter post fight with a glass of milk and a typical weightlifting “farang” , with bruises a black eye and a front tooth missing. The tag line on the bottom of the page would read:”Thai Milk Delivers A Punch!”

Don’t thank me, just Do it, Now!

Stay sharp.

Yours Markus \m/

More Satellite Images From Toolinguria

The old toolings I started showing earlier today are revving my fantasy and imagination. So I decided to show you a few more satellite images from the country of Toolinuria. This is the neighborhood, called the Gateway (get it “gate”). It is the gritty part town and also the most historical of the Toolinguria’s largest city Molybdenopolis.

In the center of the shot you see the roof of the old opera house. Maria Callas celebrated successes here, but in the 17th century, Nicolo Paganini supposed by was playing his violin so virtuoso that the violin erupted sponatanously in flames. This incident inspired a Dutch immigrant to America 200 years later to write a piece for the guitar, called Eruption. The immigrant’s name was Edward Van Halen…..true story!
The old opera is now used as a concert hall.
To the right of the old opera is a live music barbecue bar. Progressive as Molybdenopolis is, the barbecue selection covers meat and vegetarian offerings. Just like the music, the food is basic but oh-so-good.

Here we see student housing and the Rec Center from the top. In the early 19th century these buildings housed the miners and their families. The neighborhood bears witness to a time that would rather be forgotten by the families with long bloodlines in Molybdenopolis. The owners of the mineral mines paid 70% of a worker’s salary in housing and company currency and the remaining 30% in Toolinguria’s official legal tender, the Chamfer € (pronounced with a guttural CH as in “Chanukah” or “Chach, I am such a schlemiel”). The workers were in essence forced to spend 70% of their income at the company store. The prices were non-market prices and wee set by the owner families, thus making the wealthy even wealthier. A scheme successfully copied a few years later by amongst others the steel baron himself Andrew Carnegie.
Well, this concludes the news from Toolinguria and it’s Capitol Molybdenopolis.

Stay sharp
Markus \m/