Pierre Cardin goes electronique. Happy 10th Birthday LegoLand. New
England photographer travels in time. Blue Dolphin sells subs on the
e-shore. [more]
David Brenner is America's hottest young comedian.[more]
The first time I met Eugene McDaniels, he was squatting on the floor of his apartment [more]
This movie photographer immersed himself in his work. [more]
"Some day, marijuana will be legal,” Tommy announced. " [more]
Yes, people buy magazines on impulse; but here's how you can trigger the impulse [more]
In a few weeks you’ll cross the briny to meet prospects [more]
Watfare is a great model for business. Consequently,[more]
By opening this book, you have demonstrated that you really care about your future [more]
Fiber optics might just be the rainbow that leads the securities industry to the legendary pot of gold, [more]
Pause for a moment and say a prayer for independent record companies. [more]
Was it so recently that ballroom dancing seemed to be a poignant curiosity [more]
"Ben Franklin"
"Hello Ben, This is
Samuel Adams. I just wanted to - -"[more]
carlsbad,
Calif On 20 March, LegoLand celebrated its 10th birthday. The
occasion did not go unnoticed. For one thing, there was a 10-foot-tall,
5½ -foot-wide, birthday cake. It was a "wow, look at this!" cake, rather
than a "May I have another slice, please" cake. This is largely due to
the fact the cake is made up of 100,000 Lego bricks. Decorating the cake
are replicas of some of the park’s must-see attractions. (These include
a pirate ship that "sails," a dinosaur with turning head, and
illuminated candles.)
The cake will be on display throughout the summer. And on Saturdays, instead of candles, there will be birthday fireworks. The park is using this birthday occasion to debut its new “4-D” movie Bob the Builder and the Roller Coaster. (Think of it as toddler fave Bob the Builder meets LegoLand.) What is 4-D, you ask? We are told it is “3-D computer generated animation with special effects such as wind and mist.”
Magazine industry veteran Don Nicholas, CEO of magazine subscription
etailer bluedolphin.com, is anything but blue. Nicholas cheerfully noted
that an estimated $1 billion in subscriptions have now been sold online,
including solicitations by publishers, other authorized agents of all
sizes and fly-by-nighters.
Online magazine shopping may never replace the experience of newsstand
browsing, but readers who know what they want are enjoying the
convenience of ordering online—in their pajamas and without messy
blowout cards!
So far, bluedolphin.com has approximately 450,000 customers. The average
subscription is $20, and the site sells 10,000 to 12,000 subs a week.
Orders are routed directly to the publishers, who generally get about 15
percent of the sub price. “I have a very simple philosophy,” says
Nicholas, “I like the lowest level of guaranteed remit, and I think the
publication should be sold everywhere at the same price.”
Not all publishers agree. Nor are they likely to be entirely thrilled
with one of the features that Nicholas likes best. It’s called
magtracker, and it is one of those online manage-your-own-account
services. It includes a way of automatically canceling a subscription
(you should pardon the expression) at will. (Cancellation rates are in
the 15 percent to 20 percent range, Nicholas says). On the plus side, of
course, magtracker potentially frees the publisher from mailing,
remailing and re-remailing renewal notices.
And that puts another glint in Nicholas’ eye. Why not, he wonders,
enable magazine readers to access magtracker, no matter where or how
they got their subscriptions? Think of the customer service. Think of
the publisher savings. Why not, indeed?
Pierre Cardin's bold signature scrawled across electronic items
signals the debut of Pierre Cardin Electronique, Inc. What can one say
about a line of designer-label calculators? Perhaps a simple sacre
bleu!
The celebrated designer's foray Into technofashion is impressive, as he
deftly walks the tightrope between trendy and trend-setting with travel
clock radios, cassette recorders, calculators portable radios, a
language translator and an executive-traveler worldwide
voltage-converter kit.
Quartz-controlled clocks for the home and the road are available in
analog (as in big hand and little hand) and digital formats. One
cassette recorder has a built-in calculator. Two radios (an AM/FM
portable and a stereo AM/FM clock radio) are billed as the thinnest of
their ilk. The prices range from $25 for calculators and radios to $175
for tape recorders — and textures and tones from suede to gold and
silver.
Margaret
W Nelson, a photographer who lives in Boxford, Mass., noticed that old
fuzzy pictures of the town would show up on calendars and in other
strange places. She wanted to see the originals. As a result of getting
her wish granted, Nelson navigates a time machine that takes her back
and forth between today and the turn of the 20th century.
The creator of many of the old images was Arthur Wilmarth, who worked
with glass-plate negatives. Nelson, who is trying to learn more about
Wilmarth, doubts that he was a professional photographer.
"He's got a marvelous sense of humor," said Margaret Nelson. "As I've
been printing his pictures, I've discovered that he's in a
lot of them. He's seen in his underwear, his dress-up clothes, and in
his sporting clothes. He has a bulb in his hands and a little tube that
runs down his leg or behind his chair or something to the camera. In my
estimation, anybody who can pose in his underpants on an Oriental rug
with a straight face has got to be a good guy."
It seems that Wilmarth stored his negatives in the attic. In recent
years, his house was purchased by a farmer who was not sure just what he
was going to do with that stuff in the attic. Margaret Nelson happened
to get into a conversation with the farmer's cousin and thus learned
about the source of those old images that were eluding her. She could
not meet with the farmer immediately.
"It happened to be farming season," said Margaret Nelson, "and so I had
to wait until February to make an appointment with him."
The archive's accidental owner gave Nelson permission to make prints
from the glass plates. There were exhibitions of the newly printed
pictures at the Boxford Village Library and the West Boxford Library.
"I really think the images are beautiful," said Nelson. "I never thought
I'd want to print somebody else's pictures. That sounds boring; but
they're quite lovely. For example, there's one of a farmer in overalls
sowing seed in the field. There are big black clouds behind him and the
old farmhouse where both the photographer and later the farmer who owns
the negatives lives. It's really a dramatic scene, and it's made me feel
closer to what's gone before."
Perhaps this feeling of propinquity finds its way into Margaret Nelson's
own pictures.
"I've taken pictures, for five years or more, of things that go on in
town," said Nelson. "I don't mean to sound as if I'm some official town
photographer. I just photograph everything and anything that interest me —
particularly people. I also do free-lance work for a newspaper."
Nelson confessed to being an outsider. Originally from Alabama, she's
only lived in Boxford for about 20 years. Her appreciation of the town's
history and traditions has been enhanced by her work with Wilmarth's
pictures. At the same time her "alien" status helps her to freshly view
scenes that the true Boxford folk might take for granted.
And so Margaret Nelson goes back and forth in time.
"We are pretty much interested," said Nelson, "in what we are and what
we used to be."
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