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April 29, 2006

Bali Does Moscow in '66

When I was 5 years old, my family moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Tehran, Iran. My dad worked for Fluor, Inc. building oil refineries. In 1966, we went on a 10-day tour of Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev in the former Soviet Union. You can see me in this photograph taken in Red Square (click for larger image), wearing my little sable hat and holding the Fluor sign. My mother and father are standing next to me on the right.

It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I have vivid memories of the trip even now, 40 years later, which is fortunate because we have no photographs except for a pack of 19 color postcards that my dad bought after Intourist exposed the film in my mother's camera when they caught her taking pictures of a building that was "under reconstruction" (Soviet-ese for anything they didn't want you to take pictures of).

I decided to scan and upload these postcards today, partly to play with the new gallery software I just installed, but mostly because they're pretty cool and I wanted to share them. You'll note that some don't have English captions, so if you know what's shown in the photograph, leave me a comment.

[Link: 1966 Moscow Postcard Set]

April 17, 2006

The Paintings Of the Revolution Will Not Be Velvetized

Maopost: the site that lets you become a Hero of the Cultural Revolution! Just choose one of their classic propaganda posters, then send them a photo of yourself along with $149, and artist Zhu Yao-Hui will synthesize a gorgeous oil painting of you joyfully serving the Chinese Communist Party! [Link][via YesButNoYes]

April 16, 2006

Happy Easter (Island)!

When you've finished finding your Easter baskets and biting the heads off of chocolate bunnies, please allow me to refer you to yet another terrific photo essay from The 'Lope on the mysterious Moai of Rapa Nui, and the many forms it's taken on in western pop-culture. [Link]

April 6, 2006

Unbekannte Flugobjekte

Once again, the Cartoonist proves that he has cooler junk than I do by posting these ultra-fab scans of UFO-abilia found in boxes lying around his house. I'm going down to my tiki bar to drink Zombies, play pinball, and sulk now.

[Link: UFO television book]
[Link: UFO trading card album]

April 4, 2006

Encountering the Encounter

The 'Lope has posted a beautiful photo essay of one of my favorite Los Angeles landmarks, The Encounter Restaurant. This joint is one of the best examples of 1960s-style retro-futurist architecture on the planet, (their food and drinks ain't half-bad either). Plus, you just can't beat the 360-degree views of the airport runways. I always make a point of hanging out here to enjoy a cocktail and some nouvelle nosh whenever I pass through LAX.

[Link: The Future Was So Cool in 1961]