I'm bringing Xanga back - drop a comment if you're with me!

Apparently there are some people who actually want to know what I have been reading and have complained because I have not posted lately.  A good dose of frozen shoulder has limited my activities, even typing at the computer.  If you don't know what that is that's OK.  I hope you never have to find out!

One son had me reading Jeans:a Cultural History of an American Icon, which was rather dull and not the full story, seeing as it covers, as history, a goodly amount of time that has occurred on the front page and in ads in my life time.  A whole lot was left unsaid so it became rather trite to me. The early years were most informative.  Maybe you will read the front half of the book and learn something about denim you didn't know.  I knew most of it already.  Guess I am getting old....

 If anyone is interested in the cult of celebrity, this book makes a good case for Madame Tussaud being part of its origins.  While you might not agree with that, the book really does give one an insider's view of the French Revolution.  I think every American student should read it. I don't celebrate July 14th and I knew American education had gone to pot when I saw how the texts continually compare the French and American Revolutions, never contrasting them.  On purpose they were not the same thing, by the grace of God they were not the same thing. There are more differences than similarities.  For those who have a hard time with dry history texts, this would give one a good bit of history  re: the French Revolution, surrounding the story of Madame Tussaud's waxworks.

I have always been a fan of wax museums.  There used to be a wax figure at Santa Santa Claus Land(Indiana) that sat looking as if she were going to take your ticket.  It always tricked me.  Little did I know that its origins can be traced back to Tussaud.  There used to be a wax museum along A1A, somewhere at the north end of Miami, or Golden Isles, I am not sure.  Maybe even North of Lauderdale.  I do know I visited it several times.  I was always intrigued with how lifelike the figures were.  They had great life size dioramas of Florida history, from Seminole settings through the astronauts.  When I finally got to visit THE wax museum, Madame Tussaud's in London, I was disappointed at how old, musty and dusty those figures were.  It was a real let down.  That was quite awhile ago.  I am sure the figures have been improved.  We visited the branch they placed in Orlando about 30 years ago.  We were the only ones there at the time.  I think it went under.  Perhaps the digital age has made such amusements passe.

I don't think the book was a letdown.  Maybe I was predisposed to be interested in the topic.  If I still had a student around I would have him read A Tale of Two Cities and this book and come up with a writing assignment.  Maybe someone else out there will do that.

I looked at a People magazine while waiting to get my hair cut yesterday.  That was enough celebrity viewing to last me a year.  Yuck.  No self respect, that's for sure. My sister who majored in drama and worked in the costuming department would be interested in the costuming history covered in the Tussaud book.  Since today's celebrities barely wear clothes....no wonder the idea of visiting a waxworks is not high on anyone's list.

We've had a lot discussions about viral marketing lately.  The internet has changed the way we communicate, do business, and get the news.  As Americans we seem to take innovation for granted.  I think the rest of the world takes to it even more readily than we do.   And yet human nature is the same.  The mobs of the French Revolution were one thing, now text messaging brings the mobs into action in all parts of the world these days. Putting the two together, the knowledge of the mob rule of French Revolution and the mobs that technology has manipulated makes for a rather dark future.  I am glad I am a pilgrim, how about you?