A modern “rec” room

[From an advertisement for Motorola televisions. Life, July 27, 1962. Click for a much larger room.]

Thinking about rumpus rooms made me think about rec rooms. I found this room via Google Books. The description from the advertisement:

Here’s architect Leon Deller’s design of a modern “rec” room — using prestressed concrete walls and ceiling and large aquarium windows that look directly into the backyard swimming pool. Motorola’s portable TV features 4-function remote control tuning. The manufacturer’s list price is $199.95, optional with dealers. Slightly higher in some areas.

Notice that even in the world of the future, people play ping-pong. But all eyes should be on the television: “The clean lines of the remote control portable look right at home.” Yes, in 1962 the television was a piece of furniture that had to blend with the rest of a room. The other set in this ad, a set made for the living room, has “French Provincial styling.”

Part of the ad is lost in the gutter between pages, so I’ve done my best to have the chair cast a coherent shadow. Please imagine the white space as a concrete column keeping the house from caving in.

This ad was one in a series of Motorola ads with artist renderings of futuristic abodes. The artist bringing these architectural dreams to life: Charles Schridde. If you want to read more: Charles Schridde and the mid-century ad men of Motorola (Eichler Network).

[But we cannot go to the rec room, for the rec room will bring us no peace.]

Or not

Just woke up to new news.

To paraphrase William Carlos Williams: We cannot go to the city for the city will bring us no peace. Not as long as there’s the country to go back to.

[After “Raleigh Was Right.” The city: Naked City, the television series, our household’s escape from the news last night.]

Back to Naked City

Elaine and I removed ourselves from reality for an hour to watch a couple of episodes of Naked City. “Let’s see what’s come out while we weren’t paying attention,” said I. So we switched on CNN and began checking our phones. In our hour away, the news had come out that Hope Hicks has tested positive for COVID-19. And a former assistant to Melania Trump had released a tape of a Melania Trump conversation:

“I’m working like a — my ass off at Christmas stuff that, you know, who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration? But I need to do it, right? Correct? Okay, and then I do it, and I say that I’m working on Christmas planning for the Christmas, and they say, ‘Ooh, what about the children, that they were separated?’ Give me a fucking break.”

Back to Naked City.

*

10:24 p.m.: Samantha Vinograd, on Twitter: “Trump’s irresponsibility has put himself, his family, his staff, the functioning of our government, and millions of Americans at unnecessary risk.”

[My transcription.]

Verne Edquist (1931–2020)

He was Glenn Gould’s piano tuner. The New York Times has an obituary. Better: from the Glenn Gould Foundation, an appreciation by the writer Katie Hafner. An excerpt:

Over the years Verne collected dozens of tools. Some he bought from old-timers, and others he adapted from other trades. He had surgical forceps and dental explorers, which made dandy hooks, opticians’ screwdrivers for adjusting harpsichords, barber scissors for trimming felt, and shoemaker pegs for plugging holes. From the welding trade he took soapstone, a dry lubricant for the buckskin that can squeak in the action of older pianos.

There’s a filmed interview too.

Superspreader

It’s not just the rallies. A study from the Cornell Alliance for Science finds that Donald Trump* is the “single largest driver” of misinformation about COVID-19. From a New York Times article:

Mentions of Mr. Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the overall “misinformation conversation,” making the president the largest driver of the “infodemic” — falsehoods involving the pandemic.

Trump* = death. Vote as if your life depends on it.

Winking Owl — hoo?

Yes, hoo’s behind Aldi’s Winking Owl wines? Here’s an answer , along with much more about Winking Owl. I’m happy to see that I’m not alone in my judgment: Shiraz good, Cab bad.

*SIGH*

[Peanuts, October 4, 1973. Click for a larger view.]

Peppermint Patty has been staying at Charlie Brown’s (“Chuck’s”) house while her father is away.

Yesterday’s Peanuts is today’s Peanuts. Only the screens have changed. Today’s strip makes me want to pop some corn and take out my stamp collection. Wait — what stamp collection?

A squirrel speaks

It was standing next to a flowerpot. “Strange as it may seem,” the squirrel said, “Eddie Cantor may be growing in that flowerpot.”

I think they must have put something in the flu shot. Or in the Winking Owl Shiraz.

Related reading
All OCA dream posts (Pinboard)

[Aldi’s Winking Owl Shiraz — $2.95! — is surprisingly, genuinely good. The Cab? Not good at all.]

“There was this thing”

W.G. Sebald, from “Dark Night Sallies Forth,” in Against Nature, trans. Michael Hamburger (New York: Modern Library, 2003).

For a moment in this strange, beautiful autobiographical poem, Sebald seems to turn into John Ashbery.

Related reading
All OCA Sebald posts (Pinboard)

Theater of War via Zoom

Antigone in Ferguson :

A groundbreaking project that fuses dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral music performed by a diverse choir, from St. Louis, Missouri and New York City culminating in powerful, healing discussions about racialized violence, police brutality, systemic oppression, gender-based violence, health inequality, and social justice.

October 2, 4:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m. and October 17, 5:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m. CDT

*

Theater of War for Frontline Medical Providers :

An innovative project that presents dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of scenes from ancient Greek plays to help nurses, doctors, EMS, first responders, administrators, and other heath care providers engage in healing, constructive discussions about the unique challenges and stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic. This event will use Sophocles’s Philoctetes and Women of Trachis to create a vocabulary for discussing themes such as personal risk, death/dying, grief, deviation from standards of care, abandonment, helplessness, and complex ethical decisions.

October 7, 12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. CDT

*

The King Lear Project :

Streamlined readings of scenes from Shakespeare’s King Lear to engage diverse audiences — including older adults, caregivers, and family members — in open, healing, constructive discussions about the challenges of aging, dementia, and caring for friends and loved ones.

October 14, 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. CDT

*

Mothers of the Movement :

A conversation with Gwen Carr and Valerie Bell about their tireless work as Mothers of the Movement.

October 15, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m. CDT

Follow the links to register for these free events.