“That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.”
Intense, right? According to the MTA website for the program that puts up these poems, “Poetry in Motion,” this was up during all of 2007. I’m pretty sure movies take longer than a year to make, but I’ve convinced myself than the Coen brothers were inspired one day while riding the 4 train.
Apparently, Paris has a similar program, in which 2,500 Parisians entered their own poetry about their beloved city in a contest to be displayed in ads on the trains. Somehow, though, the poem I saw last night didn’t seem to inspire me too much.
"Une rue pavée dort
Nous sommes au matin
Personne n’est dehors
Ils ne sont pas malins"
(A paved street sleeps
It is morning
No one is outside
They’re not smart)
Another thing about advertising here that bothers me is its blatant sexuality. When I got here, I wanted to embrace the fact that full-frontal nudity was displayed in magazine stands alongside Le Monde. “it’s so European,” I thought. “Why can’t we embrace our sexuality like that?”
Now I just feel dirty. Orangina has a new series of ads that are partout, featuring scantily-clad anthropomorphic animals with enhanced human sexual characteristics. Check out the bear with the six-pack and fig leaf, licking his lips salaciously. It just makes me feel uncomfortable, seeing animals this way. I think the U.S. does a cracking job of removing sex where it should be, and sanitizing things that are sexual. Here, it seems to be added to things that I never want to associate with sex. Like the zoo.
1 comment:
Paris,
pour te dire merci
avec mes pieds je te caresse
I agree the rue pavé dort poem and the other one
ma ville,
mon nid,
ma vie,
mon stupid poem that shouldn't have even gotten the honorable mention it did
are rather bad but the one that one first place, above, made me smile and, en fait, made me make it the description of a facebook album of paris pictures, a status equivalent to the booker prize in some eyes.
and the sex, i like. i mean. i was against my floormates freshman year when they decided to have porn n' poker night in the common room (although i did partake), and vommed a little in my mouth when, after four hours of lascivious multi angle hd dvd deed doing, the girl on girl special reared its ugly head (terrible image, and no pun intended), i liked the french openness.
one pub that i liked and i was able to find a link to http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/francois1/p3/f/IMG/galeries.jpg
ran during the the middle weeks of june. although I cant say it's effective advertising and makes me want to buy women's bathing suits, that's also the point of it. it's not just a publicité but an esprit de vie of summer and liberation and joy and loving life in a way that only taking the entire month of august can fulfill.
plus i hated reading jonathan edwards, the 1741 version since im obviously a democrat
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