INTERESTING POSTCARDS!!

[Valentine Mark Herman]

From time to time we have outbreaks of whether a Postcard is Boring, or not.

“Yes it is”. “No it isn''t.”

“All Postcards are Boring.” “All Postcards are interesting”.

And so on, and so forth.

So, LET'S TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Announcing

INTERESTING POSTCARDS!!

Please post your Interesting Postcards here.

And, if you want to, please tell us why you think they are Interesting.

Hopefully, this might interest the many members of this Group (You?!) who haven't shown much interest so far in Boring Postcards.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

'SINGLE TICKET TO UTOPIA' POSTCARD

'Why is this an Interesting Postcard, Val?'

It's interesting because of the setting -- a Dutch railway station -- and the Dutch railway company's (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) new way to get passengers back on their trains: 'Masks Compulsory, Clothes Optionals -- and we will get you to Utopia' ('Maskers verplicht, kleding optioneel onderdelen - en we brengen je naar Utopia')

Without the promise of Utopia, the French adopted the 'Masks Compulsory, Clothes Optional' policy at their nudist beaches and camps this summer. (So I am told, not being a nudist)

If you seek Utopia from a Dutch coffee shop these days you'll have to buy your stuff on a take-out basis. Place your orders...but not for coffee.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

The Interesting/Boring Postcard Dilemma -- a Postcard and some Questions from Heleen, and some thoughts from Val

Heleen sent me this Postcard on the back of which she raised some Questions:

"The more I look at Boring Postcards, the more I think them interesting", Heleen writes. "So the solution is not to look too much at postcards!? This card makes me wonder is the card boring, or is the man bored, or is the soccer watcher bored because the soccer player is asleep on his couch on the field, or is the card bored, or the card board, or the cardboard? To be short much food for thought and too little time to be bored in!"

I've been wrestling with this Interesting/boring dilemma while writing the Introduction to the Boring Postcards book, and will share some thoughts with you. But first I agree with Heleen -- don't look too hard at a Postcard, don't read into it what's not there, and what's not meant to be there. It's not meant to have deep meaning. As to this Postcard, I will do what I have just advocated one should not do -- read too much into it. At first glance, the card is a bit funny, but neither particularly interesting nor boring. But there are some interesting and thought provoking things in it, such as the dog asleep on the man-- how did it get on the pitch? indeed how did the sofa get onto the pitch? did the boy play with his glasses on? I thought that he was holding a double-hanled tea cup, but no, it's a trophy? etc

In my book, I refer  to the 'sameness' of Boring Postcards:"

"... while the subject of one Postcard is neither particularly interesting nor Boring – a multi-story Sheraton Hotel, for example – several Postcards of multi-story Hotels (which need not all have to be Sheratons) is Boring because of their sameness. This also works in reverse.One Postcard of something – a car, for example – may be interesting, but grouping several car Postcards together may result in something Boring. Again, this is because of their sameness."

(Well that copy & paste didn't work very well!) Look at these photos that hopefully illustrate my point -- one hotel, and then 4 very similiar hotels:

One car, and then 4 similiar cars:

That's where I' at now. Thanks Heleen. And any thoughts, Gang?

[Heleen de Vaan]

Interesting (because written in the past) postcards (?),

https://hergebruikelijk.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/geschreven-ansicht...

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Thanks Heleen. Yes, this is the same sort of thing. But Jackson only picks out the funny bit of the message, and not the whole text. I haven't included any text in my book, and just focussed on the front, visual side of the card. And, as the languages range from Arabic to Ukranian, I couldn't make sense of them, even if the writing was legible, which, in many cases, it isn't

[Francis Lammé]

Hmmm... interesting!