Peter Behrens's Blog, page 389
November 4, 2015
International Harvester grainer, Saskatchewan
from Alex Emond on the Canadian prairies: This truck, I think , has blood instead of oil. First light comes early when there's no mountains, trees or buildings in the way. For the first few minutes the shadow is a half a mile long
November 3, 2015
Trucks at the Depot, Caribou, The County, Maine
photo by Jack Delano. A Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information photo. Many thanks to Larry Nordell for the heads-up. This is Aroostook County, Maine and I guess those are potatoes. The caption said "outside a starch factory" and maybe that's smoking in the background; or maybe they're waiting to load up a train?
November 2, 2015
Fill 'er Up: The $43 million-dollar gas station
"The U.S. Department of Defense spent nearly $43 million on a gas station in northern Afghanistan and has been unable to explain why it cost so much, a U.S. special inspector reported on Monday.
The Pentagon “charged the American taxpayers $43 million for what is likely to be the world’s most expensive gas station,” said John Sopko, head of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a congressionally mandated body. The amount was spent between 2011 and 2014 on construction and initial implementation of the station..." see the Reuters story.
Yikes. I bet some of that money went into New York and London real estate. Luxury condos. Maybe in one of those Trump buildings? Casa de Petrol was I think in LA. Photo circa 1959.
More Shore
from Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places, the Complete Works.
November 1, 2015
Robert Redford & Route 66; Patricia Highsmith, Cate Blanchett, & Carol
Route 66 was the first TV show I ever watched. Two straight guys on the road. Sorta clean-cut versions of Dean and Sal--I think at one point Kerouac tried to sue the producers for stealing his On the Road. It was on from 1961-64, and the existential banter was over my head--the 2 young men were looking to 'find themselves'--but I certainly liked that Corvette and the whole idea of taking off across the country. The show was filmed on locations all over the USA, but usually not on Route 66. Robert Redford was in a couple of episodes.
On the subject of road epics, about twenty years ago in London I came across a neat little Bloomsbury Press edition of a Patricia Highsmith novel I'd never heard of. Bloomsbury published it as CAROL, by Patricia Highsmith, but it was first published, in 1952, as THE PRICE OF SALT by Claire Morgan. Highsmith used the nom de plume because it was a novel about two women on a road trip falling in love with each other. There are some scenes at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Under any title it is a great novel, flawed but deft, and strange in the Highsmith manner--she takes her time with time, and she sees things other writers of the period don't notice. Todd Haynes' film of the novel starring Cate Blanchett, premiered at Cannes last spring and is scheduled for limited release in the US in November.
October 31, 2015
Mean Hallowe'en Machine
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men ? Happy Hallowe'en"--Alex Emond
F-1 in the two-author town, California
from Colin Washburn in the Sierra foothills:"Faded turquoise F1 getting a makeover. Near Twain Harte, Ca."--CRW
October 30, 2015
Biscuit
Classic Maine lobster boat profile but awfully clean. Built by Arno Day, perhaps? Or possibly down in Boothbay.
