Des Produits du Manoir aux Visions

[Thom Courcelle]

Ohhh..a big red envelope arrived from Japan with delectibles that could only have come from the artisticly devious mind of Marie Wintzer...  MULITPLE interesting pieces, many of them in leaflet or booklet form.  First  to catch my eye was an instructional booklet on some altered sheet music...

...instructions on how to make paper bag masks!  "For best effect make the eyes large, with exaggerated effects!"  I hope that littel boy doesn't accidentally glue his smart little tie onto his art project.  

The theme of the the majority of this hoard seemed to be "definitions."  Or, rather, lists of definitions, dictionary pages, lexicons... of a certain minxus variety...

The evidence was photo-documented!  (Looks like paper, but it's a photo!)

Also a photo!...

Minxus Marie has tried her own hand at creating a Minxus Dictionary... I think this is important to document the world for future generations... Although this dictionary might just come from the world of Alice's Wonderland...

MMmmmmm.... The letter "M"...

Which begines the word "macaque"...

...and "map"...

...and "mysteries"...

...and "MARVELOUS!"

You're not only a first-rate mail artist; you're a first-rate photographer, too!  Blessings and cheer, dear Marie!

[De Villo Sloan]

There was Popular Science too.

[Marie Wintzer]

The issue of Mech Pop I got has a few articles with very roughly colorized pictures, which are those I prefer. It's funny, because it makes everything look like its science-fiction. Maybe it is. I googled around a little bit, and now I need to get my hands on old Popular Science (I couldn't find popular reality):

- had to get rid of that other one -

[De Villo Sloan]

Ambrose Bierce wrote "Devil's Dictionary," which is also very interesting and has an entry, or at least a passage I've seen quoted called "oil of mink."

[De Villo Sloan]

Popular Mechanics was an extremely popular sort of speculative science and technology (and sometimes more practical) mass-circulation magazine in the USA.

Funny thing is - in the Zine Era, in mail-art I remember there was this zine called "Popular Reality" that was this alternative take on "Popular Mechanics." It mocked mainstream, suburban culture. From Google, it looks like "Popular Reality" might still exist in some form.

And the old "pulp" magazines remain a great source of all kinds of material.

[Marie Wintzer]

MinXus Seattle. That sounds great.

You're right, we already have a MinXus lexicon. This one wants to be a kind of dictionary of a surreal world. I was inspired by Johnson's dictionary, when I heard of it on a radio program. I'm working on page 3 but am kind of stuck. Hmmm... that part is not advancing very well.

When I went back to France this summer I found this great magazine from the 50s, Mechanique Populaire. They have funny stories and illustrations, perfect for mail art. Unfortunately the material is limited.

[De Villo Sloan]

I have seen some of these pages on the M-L blog, but I did not know there was anything sustained. Marie does seem to be trying to create some sort of lexicon. A MinXus lexicon already exists, independent of this. It really, really shows the impact of Cheryl Penn, and I'll bet some version of this is going into the New Alexandrian Library.

She also keeps experimenting with dropped letters, such as MinXus - Min-us. Tom picked up on visons - visions. This is very... Borges or something.

[Claire (aka Cleo)]

Indeed!

[De Villo Sloan]

OMG, this has to be one of the world's great MinXus treasures for sure. Absolutely stunning. Thanks for this great blog that lets us all see it, Thom. And I guess you now rate as MinXus-West being caretaker of this book.

[Marie Wintzer]

Thank you Thom!! A wonderful blog from you. Again! I'm happy you like the humble package. 

Your MINXUS scrabble tiles are with me, in my bag, I'm always looking for an opportunity to take pictures of them. Great fun. Thank you!

(and thank you Claire) :-))

[Claire (aka Cleo)]

lord, is she capable of doing anything that's not amazing?!