i mean, the details get lost: the right trousers, shoes, white shirt and blue tie – alas the glasses and the mediocre hair bring it down
Tintin, the intrepid reporter who managed to foil his enemies, while chasing down a story and exotic countries, was, and remains, my hero.
As a seven(?)-year-old in Guilford, I did my best to emulate him, alas, glasses were a necessity but the +4 pants, rackish tie and dapper overcoat captured the spirit for my satisfaction… as does the jaunty grasp of the overcoat showing “im ready for anything”. {Indeed, I was ready for anything and off into the world i went, eventually morphine more into a captain had hot type and finally settling into professor calculus/sunflower .}
However, I spent the entire evening trying to explain to people who I was. Surrey wasn’t ready then, and likely isn’t now, for this remix of (a relatively to North American audiences) obscure Belgian.
Why yes, I am very official, thank you for asking.
Licensed to hug with Diplomatic Immunity (adding to passport collection)
Entered the TinTin phase of Ichiro’s life:
Well blistering barnacles, no internationally minded youth misses out on that goodness that is Tin Tin, I have a complete collection including the “rather awkward” ones written in that *cough cough* colonial European mindset.
Hergé’s leather satchel of supplies
We’re enjoying Tintin in Tibet right now (and I’m up playing the friendship angle and downplaying the plane crash angle considering our upcoming travel at his fascination with airplanes).
Yesterday, after seitai, we stopped at a secondhand shop to purchase a couple more dining room chairs, shelf and whatnot… The secondhand stores here are really fantastic and we furnished our house in our eclectic style thanks to these treasure troves, but the point is: There was a model ship, triple masted, vaguely like The Unicorn, on a shelf and while we were purchasing the other larger items I said “and I will take that as well!” (pretending I’m paying in US dollars so I’m getting a great deal – macro economic currency humour is great right?)
Brought it home and a little guy right away realized that it was “just like Tintin” and the Unicorn. He examined it very carefully, which was a relief because he’s at that stage were smashing things is a lot more fun :)
Speaking of: here at my “creative life archive” (fancy name for a blog) scheduled on the 31st is a photo of me doing my best to dress up as tin Tintin in the crappy suburbs in probably 1978, my glasses kind of ruining the whole thing and spent the night trying to explain to people who I was… people would say “Rintintin the dog?” I would roll my eyes and sadness/discussed and stumble away with my crappy candy wishing i could go live in some exotic land.
Also at this aforementioned “don’t call it a blog“ is field notes from a Hergé museum exhibit in Quebec city with loads of his original sketches but even better for me, ephemera, his supplies, kit bag, inspiration items all that kind of stuff. Have you seen it? I mean I expect everyone has seen every post that I put out there so I mean, you must have :-) geez, there is even a [TinTin Fun category]
Photographic Evidence
Picked up 2 family studio portraits (1 of the three of us and 1 of wife as a young girl with mother, father and younger brother) we had matted, edged (filleted?), framed and holy smokes, so great! Fancy times & so worth it. Going to make a gallery on a wood panel wall soon.
One is the three of us is from the “time traveler“ series a couple years ago / matted with burgundy, gold edge and carved up wood frame and looks quite Taisho era: mysterious and majestic.
Time Traveler Family, v. 1 (this pose with burgundy-ish mat an brown carved frame and gold edges, such fancy!)
The wife & in-laws photo has kind of a mirror image pose with “lost in Showa” beige vibes + kimono splash. Both F-i-L and I have rather “serious/neutral” expressions, both photos have baby feet and Mothers with Fujii-family trademark short-cut hair.
Will hang up soon and will look so great. Next up: photo shoot with Grandparents and us all together… so we go on #AxeHandles
Hospital Switcheroo
Not of particular interest to anyone but, for the record: Finished hopefully-last visit to the “big city hospital” it’s shiny and efficient however from now, the diligent if a-bit-worn Okayama University Hospital with their MECFS program is my primary point of contact and care.
Reminder of this article about MECFS in The Atlantic (i’ve printed it and taken to Doctors) by Ed Yong is really worth reading to understand a bit about the weird medical conundrums which me and many many deal with. Oh and a great recap by someone called Heather about “10 things i wish people knew about ME“.
Grateful Dead Dave’s Picks
Trying *not* to buy too many records of late due to impending trip (more later) but the new “Dave’s Picks” Grateful Dead is from the Eugene 1990 shows, ergo:
Seaside Chat: Dave's Picks 2023 Subscriptions https://t.co/Z4Ilm8Mk0s / these riffs from @lemieuxdavid about the Grateful Dead releases are so pleasant. Happy the archive is in hands of this curator (funny, he's my age and lives where i used to but we've never met) PS Hi Dave.
and next Dave's Picks is the legendary (for me and my pals) Eugene 1990 shows (day 1) and the next announcement is staying in #Cascadia from late 70s Portland. https://t.co/5eMZYHqA1N
Also Neal Casal “Illuminations for the Dead” which was made special for the set break music at the Grateful Dead 50th anniversary shows – instrumental, ethereal, atmospheric – but sadly Neal packed it in shortly thereafter :(
And Dan Mangan’s new offering “Being Somewhere” is en route, just missing “Postcards and Daydreams” to complete my vinyl archive including the 10 year reissues for “Nice Nice Very Nice” and “Oh Fortune”
“Television” is one of those bands who’s talked about in reverent tones by aficionados of a certain type / mostly as ‘the band that could’ve’ or ‘band that influenced that other band that became…’ / fraught with conflicting genius, specter of addiction, calamity of timing #sighhttps://t.co/1dy1D3NfTK
Aside: Need to re-up my cardigan stash with 2+ decent wool all-around-ers.
Current are a little bit too shabby (even for my “weary/eccentric community college prof” style) & cotton ones are quickly becoming inadequate for season.
i mean, who is even who here?
Now, how do I do this without leaving the house?
Note: I like “aged/classic“ communication methods but what I don’t miss: long distance phone bills (remember being stiffed so many times cause i was the sucker with a Sprint card). And my seitai Dr just gifted me a classic black rotary phone! Will sit like a noble buffalo in the studio so i can call you whenever i can’t.
(pending) Book project
Pals have namechecked for #NaNoWriMo( which is awesome National Novel Writing Month campaign) but I’m not attaching my star to it because I’m physically incapable of sitting at a chair and banging out 50,000 words // my head has the stories no doubt but the body won’t cooperate so instead I’m using the month to assemble poems like Lego bricks and hide out in the barn…
It’s really also a “mental reset“ from this year of endless paperwork, I mean so much paperwork and so many hospital visits.
The good news is: the recent medication/IV routine and seasonal weather changes here have given me a little bit of a spark / Summer was brutal, typhoon season crushed what was left of my head, but now it’s chilly, crisp and sunny. So aside from a neighbour (probably 3 km away) trimming their grass requiring me to close the window, I’ve managed to patch together a couple “good days” in a row. Just writing this though I feel like I’m jinxing it. But, I’ll eat my oatmeal and head to work at a standing bench desk with records playing and probably record somekind of meta-documentation (unsurprisingly) and see how we roll on.
So, recap: Planning on spending November in the barn assembling a book of poetry, with snippets of letters, maybe some musings, prose riffs… I’m not sure yet but… Importantly, I want the book to “look and feel beautiful”.
I’m not sure what I will do for publication whether that’s self/on demand, shop it out to a boutique publisher but it’s really important to me that it’s typeset to look timeless and dammit, gorgeous and be printed on paper stock with a nice hand.
I think I will add in some black-and-white Lomo images just for atmosphere in section breaks but stay away from color so it doesn’t become an unwieldy expense for people to collect/purchase.
Mostly I just don’t want it to look like that sort of “I made this book in Word and sent it as a PDF“ typography style if you know what I mean. Margins, gutters, typefaces are all very important but I don’t really have the true skills.
Anyhow, i’m making the book for Stanley (before he heads off to sea)
My Doctor – who is a practitioner of seitai (a Japanese healing modality, not quite Reiki, shiatsu, acupressure, chiropractic nor massage – but a little bit like each of them for lack of a better explanation) has become a very pleasant friend as we bond over a mutual affection for vinyl. In fact he gifted me the magnificent Yamaha GT 2000 turntable. He also seems to enjoy my art projects and displays a few of my pieces around his otherwise serene office.
I’ve wanted to spend some time with him just listening to records so he can see the beautiful machine in action in the now tidied up, electrical and cooler-equipped kura storehouse studio – and today was that day.
Commemorative postcard, view 2
We listened to parts of seven different records (Debussy, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Garcia, John Coltrane, Nat King Cole), gently looked through several scrapbooks (Shimane, Kyoto, Nepal), enjoyed coffee and gelato and he enjoyed at least seven cigarettes.
He signed the guestbook (again as he is a two time visitor) and I made him a commemorative card for the occasion involving elements connected to the various conversations we enjoyed together.
Commemorative postcard, view 3
If you’re curious, the reverse side is a print of an oil pastel painting of a brilliantly orange (like the envelope) house near my Ayurveda hospital in Kerala, India. Not my best painting but it was the first time I’d made a painting in several years after the “illness“ started and my brain started firing again. Thailand and Nepal are also included as they were part of my healing ramble #Ongoing
Also sent him home with a bunch of table grapes and a Corona melon, yes really.
Painting, magnifying glass, hat and poster – not necessarily commemorative
I should’ve snapped a picture of the both of us together but here is a hat purchased in Port Townsend Washington instead (with a Jean Smith painting and a Tintin Expo 86 poster behind).
Memo: little dude had a fever, up to 39.5°, recently but monitored with Dr. visits & now back in action (& school tmrw)… always a little unnerving *in these times* but he remained bright eyed, full of curiosity & energy (though not as interested in food due to related sore throat).
PS he was sure happy to see Momma come home from her arborist test (me too!) #io
After my dad Lorne H Olson passed and we sorted through his papers, I took custody of a few various pieces of paper ephemera to document and curate as is my custom.
I’ve share a few bits and pieces from his life and next up (since today in anniversary of opening) is his passport for Expo 86, the worlds fair that was a *big deal* in Vancouver.
As it goes, I have kind of mixed feelings and memories about this as my parents had recently separated, I ended up in Utah with Mom but got a Volkswagen bus and returned for a summer of hijinks with my pals.
I recall two of my younger brothers had season passes and more visits for sure (perhaps they’ll chime in), and also recall that with my older brother, we had been at inaugural concerts the fancy new domed BC Place (Bowie, Gabriel, Tubes + Guess Who at a BC Lions game) – I had adventures skateboarding around the new stadium, rode the Skytrain (ALRT) from New West (before Surrey extension, rambled around geodesic dome Science world… {From when I was about 12-3 in Whalley, I started skipping school and heading downtown to spend my paper route money on records at Odyssey Imports, Collector’s RPM and other record shops on Seymour and Granvilles St. what not… But I digress…}
Oh and here’s Tintin on the Moon sticker from Belgian pavilion on the aforementioned beloved VW bus. I loved transportation, geography and wanted to “go everywhere, gather stories and share with pals” which is what i’ve done since then #expo86
Tintin, Belgian Pavilion Expo 86 Sticker / in 1974 VW Bus “Earthship” in Granny’s backyard in Logan UT
Note: i also have the corresponding poster – both a tattered original and a quality framed version thanks to JMV (photos may appear elsewhere in this archive).
Let’s catch up with a 4 pack of Ichiro cards for collectors, fans & general enthusiasts. Yup, i’m the papa who loooooves his boy (though i’ve lost track of the card numbers… was bound to happen).
Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 and ending with this dispatch.
Thank you for your perceived interest and erstwhile support.
Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 with intent of chronicling existence through various primary evidence sourced from studio portraits, class photos, ID / passport photos, or occasionally other “casual/group/random” shots when the above don’t exist in my archive (note: not “artificial intelligence,” really me, pulled from shoeboxes, journals, wallets and whatnot – diligently scanned and dated via glasses and haircuts, lightly annotated). Continue reading #daveo50 ~ 1978 / 50 years > days > photos→
mixed-media art library, global diary, project dossier and whole life documentation
