Dear Neil,
Ahh, hear that? That is the sound of my full stomach…okay, I know full, satisfied stomachs do not make as much noise as empty hungry ones. But I just wanted to say: Giant salads are delicious and leave me tré un-hungry (that’s the opposite of full, Neil).
I finally recieved my New Yorker in the mail on Wenseday after I posted my blog entry, so I am going to take this Friday post update of the Judge a Book by Its Cover Club to dicuss my favorite magazine’s cover. Here is a link to a picture of this weeks cover. This week the cover features, what I think looks like an oil painting by, Bruce McCall. In the “painting” we see a toll booth into a park with a sign that says “NO PICNICKING IN BUFFALO WALLOWS”. This sign makes me wonder, what are the Buffalo Wallows, and why can’t I eat a sandwich there? But the big deal with this cover is what is happening on the left: BEARS! But these aren’t just any bears, they are anthropomorphic, human-like. These cool dudes are walking on two legs, and after closer examination these bears are not just any human-like, circus-trained, fairy-tale characters. No, these awesome animals are employees of the state park. All of them have photo id tags hanging from there necks, and if that’s not enough proof, they are exiting/entering the employee entranced. What I like about this iluustration is each bear is individual and has personality. And what is more, is the “message” the illustrator is giving us: bears work in the state parks. This is even more evidenced by the cover’s title: Summer Job. Ha! It is so funny, bears work in the state parks, they do not live there. Any it is even funnier if you think about it more, bears have summer jobs, because in the winter they are busy hibernating! Ha! Get it? Summer Job? Ha! New Yorker, you crack me up (and that is just the cover).
So that is this week’s wonderful New Yorker cover. Can you see why I love The New Yorker so much now? It’s awesome.
What’s not so awesome is my inability to get any further through my collection of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales. I’m in the middle of this long, slow story called, “The Snow Queen” about a girl who loses her best friend. She goes and tried to find him, and I am just not getting it! I do not understand the point of this story! Oh, well maybe I’ll finish it in a day or too, and then I can proceed to “The Red Shoes”.
Don’t Forget to be Awesome, Neil
Love, Pam
Nice analysis of the cover, Pam! From the small picture of the cover, I immediately deduced that what was happening was the visitors were entering the park, but due to climate change, pollution, and overcrowding, I thought the bears were vacating the park entirely. But your explanation is correct, and quite a good illustration. I’m very happy you can appreciate good illustration and composition.
Comment by Neil — June 21, 2008 @ 12:29 am