Events / eMeRgEnCy PoStCaRd DiStRiBuTiOn EfFoRt!
When:June 25th, 2008 @ 12:00am TO July 5th, 2008 @ 12:00am
Where:
New York Correspondence School/Everywhere
Enrollment
43/unlimited
Organizer:
Myrna Minx
Description:
It has come to my attention that THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH POSTCARDS IN THE WORLD! Our postal workers are dying of boredom! They have been forced to raise the price of postage stamps to counter the negative effect of this sharp decline of postcards in recent years. We must do something.
Also, it's fun to get stuff in the mail.
Also, it's fun to make postcards.
Also, it's fun to baffle Non Players with inexplicable mail art.
Should you participate in this event you will be asked to hand-make at least one postcard or moticos along a specific theme. You may make as many as you like. They may be as complex or simple, ugly or beautiful as you like. We are going to inundate 3 Non Players with as many bizzaro postcards as possible, with no explanation whatsoever. Perhaps they will become players after such antics, or perhaps they will assume a fake name and go into hiding. That depends on what you send 'em.
Sign up and I will send you a PM with 1 to 3 addresses of the victims- er...Non Players. You will make one or more lovely handmade postcards and drop them in the mailbox sometime between the 25th and 28th of this month. That insures that all the postcards will arrive en masse, with no explanation. All postcards will have a return address. Whether you use your own or another that I give you is your choice, but you will use New York Correspondence School as the name of the return address.
Addressee Cities and Themes
postcards sent to Chicago should be made around a Squirrel theme.
postcards sent to St. Louis should have a Strange Bicycle theme.
postcards sent to Atlanta will be about the United States of America.
Please post pictures of your postcards in the comments thread of this event. I will post Non Player reactions to the Mail Art Inundation as the postcards roll in...
Might I suggest organizing a mail-art-making party complete with refreshments and glue sticks? It's cheap, creative, wholesome entertainment. Well, I guess that depends on what your refreshments are...
This event is a tribute to Ray Johnson.
Responses
43 Attending
- Ink Tea
- anna one
- Vena Nightmare
- Blue
- Fonne Tayne
- rongo rongo
- Ben Yamiin
- Lincøln
- Jellybean of Thark
- Spidere
- Heatherlynn
- Tøm
- Loki
- Terpsichore
- Not Here No More
- Ricky Ricardo
- Beetle bomb
- JJason Recognition
- teucer
- bunny dragon
- Myrna Minx
- Morse Kode
- Dax Tran-Caffee
- Yas
- Bjørn Teuleuse
- Minch
- KristinawithaK
- zer0gee
- Dela Dejavoo
- Julian Muffinbot
- meredithian
- auntie matter
- Sparrows Fall
- Gremlin
- Mr. O.
- heather galaxy
- done
- Stacie Mundhenke
- Evil Sugar
- Inspector Hound
- H L
- Rainy
- Ayma Mack
Terms
wonderful, genius, mail, everyoneshouldsee, myrnamadeitComments
Man, I was all set to join this, but then I realized I'd be out of town on the day of. Oh well.
Good luck. This should be awesome.
and you don't have the ability to use a mailbox where you are going.... i do not accept your excuses!
Actually, I'm sure I'd be able to mail stuff... but I'd want to make everything within the next day or so.
So... count me back in, and send me the addresses promptly.
this is very exciting! the postcard drop dates are while i will be visiting a friend in baltimore who will definitely be thrilled to join me in making postcards. pls to send me the addresses.
how were your non-player postcard inundatees chosen?
the atlanta address is a friend who has recently moved away. i didn't get to see her before she left and i want her to know that i love her. the CHI and STL addresses are friends whose lives i wanna infuse with a little randomness, fun, and art. there may also be another surprise address with an as-yet-undisclosed theme...
any of these recipients may reply to your art with some of their own, so keep that in mind when deciding whether or not to use your own address as the return.
PM's with addresses will be sent to all later in the week. If you find yourself having fun with this, make many moticos and feel free to send multiples to the same addresses. i want this to be... what's that word you kids use? EPIC.
I would like to add a challenge to the mix:
Make a postcard for all the addresses Myrna has... in return you will receive my eternal admiration.
Trust me, you want that… deep down you know you do.
I accept your challenge! Pls to be having all 3 addies, Ms. Minx?
Sparrows, for responding so promptly and with such enthusiasm, you will be rewarded... with more than just my admiration... muahahaha.
:: breathless anticipation ::
:: moment of worry ::
:: breathless anticipation ::
Wait, some people are considering not making three postcards? I just assumed that that was the natural ways of things. And now I learn that I'll get Minch's eternal admiration too? Man, life is good.
I'll do all three, but I'm only doing it for the eternal admiration.
Harry, please do exactly that, sir. And please share it with us.
i want in on this eternal admiration action.
This looks fun as hell. Anybody up for a postcard party?
SFØers actually in SF... I would like to invite you to a postcard making party at my place the evening of June 25th. PM me if you'd like to attend and I will email you details and directions.
Moustachievious it has been suggested that we combine our powers for this.
you know if i am going to make efforts to have fun with this event i espect someone else to do it right away!
"I've got a big pile of things at home which will make moticos. They're really collages- paste-ups of pictures and pieces of paper- but that sounds too much like what they really are, so I call them moticos. It's a good word because it's both singular and plural and you can pronounce it how you like."
-Ray Johnson
I dunno about other people, but I kinda like the idea of one or two postcards arriving late, especially if it's clear that they were probably sent at the same time but were from far away. Like a guy arriving late to a party.
yes. i'll gladly send your designs, mounted beautifully on card stock with first class postage.
but i like what JJason said, too. i like the idea of international moticos, with international post marks, as well.
whatever Harry wants!
The gummies will make postcards. Please send three addresses.
Please also send a return address for inclusion on the postcards. The gummies do not wish to reveal the location of GummyLand to unknown humans, as this often leads to the nomming of gummies.
Postcards! We loves postcards, especially weird and beautiful ones! Three addies for us, please.
I am having a Postcard Making Party for this...
I can't use my own address and I'd feel bad about using someone else's. I do love the event though, so I'll figure something out.
Vena, you can use Myrna's or Mine... she will provide you with the return address depending on the mailing address. Don't feel bad about using ours, we want you to :)
That sounds great then! I'm excited.
Oh sweet. 32!!!! anyone in SF who can make it, come to the post card making party. come come!
will be posted tomorrow to be on time in US and A!
will be posted tomorrow to be hopefully also on time in USA!
Well then just attend the Motocose without mascara.
:)
Now that the comment JJason is replying to has been deleted, it makes no sense at all.
I sent out my postcards today! Sadly, I didn't have a chance to photograph them so it'll have to remain a mystery. I hope I put enough postage on them.
We had two motico-making parties, we AU0-ers. I put all my postcards in the mail today, Squirrels, Strange Bicycles, United States of America... and when I can figure out how to access my media folder (hangs head in dumbness) I will post pictures of my faves, I will.
To get pictures into the folder, you can email them to Rainy@sf0.org
To access the media folder (and other people may know better ways to do this - the gummies are not the most tech savvy of creatures), go to any praxis (submitted or unsubmitted, it doesn't matter) and click on the 'manage files' tab. Then, at the bottom of that page, there is a link that says "show" for the media files.
Thanks, Evil; that's what I did. I guess my emailing of pics either hadn't caught up or didn't work.
Yeah, sometimes the system is all, "Yeah, whatevahs" when you send it your files, and they never show up - I think this happens more often if you're sending large files. I mean, obviously you've figured it out by this point, but I thought I'd note that you didn't necessarily do anything wrong.
Maybe there is a sockpuppet somewhere with all of our pictures in its file cache. Like dryer socks - they are all going somewhere I'm sure.
The gummies made some postcards. They decided the postcards should have pictures of bears on them. For the first postcard, they drew a squirrel giving an acorn to some gummy bears:
On the back, they put a quote about squirrels:
"A squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit!"
They decided that they weren't very good at drawing things that weren't bears, so for the next card they used cut up bits of paper and magazine, which Rainy very kindly supplied for them:
The back of this postcard had a quote that said:
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
For the last card, they decided that while magazine pictures of bears were okay, hand drawn gummy bears were better. They decided to draw a US flag made entirely of gummy bears! Sadly, after only a few red stripes, the gummies got really tired of drawing bears. So they filled in the rest with cut up bits of magazine. It ended up looking rather nice, and this was the gummies' favorite card:
They couldn't find a quote they liked about the United States of America, so instead they quoted some lyrics from a song by The Presidents of the United States of America:
"Peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man, in a factory downtown."
The gummies had a good time making the postcards. Evil Sugar has promised to mail them tomorrow.
As promised, my two faves of my moticos...
the other side says squirrels with wings, cause there are
other side says bicycle bicycle, bike bike!, which is a lyric from a song by a friends' band of long ago
I still love someone being corrected on the proper way to do squirrel form.
This is my favorite!
And your squirrel card is my other favorite.
Can you send me a postcard?
I misspelled Bri-Zone, and i liked it, so i left it...
FRONT:
BACK:
THAT, sir, is a lamb on wheels.
Excellent.
I am very much a fan of these Ms. Minx...very much a fan
"Gateway Arch, or front wheel?"
"Giant Squirrel attacks the Sears Tower in Chicago"
"Golly Gee, America sure is swell!"
it was a class entitled "Clock and Compass" and all of the projects centered around time and space. Pretty vague, eh? The bitch gave me a C.
Are the non-players chosen at random, or do the organizers know them? Because I know of someone in Chicago who is very into squirrels...
So I am curious if they went to her.
"The Widow Clark House"
"this is not truth; it could never be real"
"plans for prosthetic automobile"
"not a squirrel"
"never go back ?"
"Lisa Leszczewicz is my Adorablest"
"the Sveltess & the Awkwardfish"
I agree. Dax-mail-art is spectacular. I have even had the honor of seeing some in person.
Compared to the amazing things above, I am almost embarrassed to post mine. Still, I really enjoyed making them. :)
"They say a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. But in this environmentally conscious era, shouldn't we all consider alternative transportation? in the future, even bizarre mutant metal fish will be accepted for who they are."
"I have no artistic ability, so I thought I would send you a different way of looking at the United States instead. We so often have our perceptions influenced by size, changing size can reveal truths we didn't even know were obscured. Psychological studies have shown that even when displaying bar graphs, we instinctively assign importance according to the area, rather than the height. As with most psychological information, this knowledge can be used either to deceive, or to show the truth."
"Peanuts are the most common bait used in squirrel fishing, primarily due to the ease of attachment and their clear attractiveness to the squirrels. in addition, they make an excellent snack during long fishing expeditions."
"Some people don't understand that squirrel fishing is only catch-and-release."
Loki (et all) it was a joy to have all you creative friendly sføers in my home! You are welcome back anytime.
These are mine.... I sort of made some extras of various themes:
USA
Natural Architecture
Frida (because I love her, and because we're friends...)
Minch's postcards are beautifullest!
i kinda suck at art and get easily overwhelmed, so i limited myself to just the few supplies i found at the home of my friend that i'm visiting this week. i did buy a gluestick though. she didn't have markers or paints or anything, nor any stack of handy collage-able magazines so these are all paper cutouts. i made the bikes and the USA (and several others that i will come back and post later) and my host made the squirrels card. we both wrote messages on the back.
Placed in the post this morning:
The first one is homage to Loki.
The second one features many of Rubin's clues.
The last one has actual highest quality hair!
waterproof and transparent in case of emergency.
Terpsichore kissed each one of them for me before she put them in the box.
United States of America
Front:
Back:
Thank you Minch for your wonderful hospitality and Blue for your large array of donated supplies!
I know that guy. #3 on team USA. I've had dinner with him and played basketball against him and he beat me. And I have legs that work.
i met #3 also, but only briefly. i was not able to discern whether or not he was a benevolent asshole (or any other type of asshole). (his team did a halftime demo at roller derby nationals last year.)
he has an autobiography out, that may give some insight.
Ms. Defiler, one of my best friends is in a wheelchair, and is a superb wheelchair basketball player and marathon racer. He is friends will many athletes, and we often get to hang out. He always has interesting dinner guests over. And he's a pretty nice guy if you ask me.
I am receiving love in the mail... and it is good.
oh no! i think some of the bits and pieces of mine came off in the mail. i didn't have the strongest of glues at my disposal, just the stuff kids use in elementary school...
I still think it is the loveliest blasting greatness picture ever!
Muffinbot's cards are awesome. Like Henri Matisse with Safety Scissors and Elmer's!
If you're wondering, I am not being at all sarcastic.
in my stick figures i was inspired by XKCD.
It's henri matisse meets xkcd!
I love them! Someone tell me who came up with my amazing theme-- The Sveltess & The Awkwardfish. Who plotted this in secret?? I suspect Dax. Thank you everyone!
From Rainy:
From Minch:
From Julian Muffinbot with a hilarious handwritten letter about her first ever Wal-Mart experience:
From Gremlin:
From Spidere:
From ???
From ???
From ???
From ???
From ???
From JJason (I opened this one- I had to ensure that the cardboard support was really just)
i think that says "Base villainry is what I call it, but what can you do?"
From Dax:
I want to know who made them! They are darling.
I have a cardboard one too! Was that also you JJason?
Myrna, I as well, opened my cardboard postcard to ensure it was indeed, just supportive cardboard inside :)
Probably. That was the stock market one, yes?
you say that like postcards weren't your drop-everything-else-including-the-IV-bag top priority.
About five years ago, I was heavy into the mail art thing. I also sent out a ridiculous amount of stuff. Then I simply lost interest, which is sort of how things usually work for me (SF0 has had much more staying power than most of my other endeavors). I did it all - ATCs, postcards, art objects - but was mostly into doing decos. Lots and lots of decos. Loved those damn things.
I still have all my supplies and sometimes make the odd piece for a friend, and would probably be up for an SF0-centric exchange... ;)
i had a brief fling with ATCs myself. i remember it with fondness because i enjoyed it so much even though i hadn't made a ton of art in the past.
Yep, ATCs were what I did last before I stopped doing mail art entirely - I exchanged some through a livejournal group as recently as a year and a half ago. I kept with them the longest because they can be made fairly quickly and don't require a long-term time commitment as some other forms of mail art do.
ATCs = artist trading cards, decos = a type of friendship book.
from FOEcakes and CGØ:
from FOEcakes and CGØ:
from Zer0gee:
from Mat Defiler (back):
from Mat Defiler (front):
I love pastsards.
I love real paper, with real stamps, being put in the real mail.
I love making them myself.
I LOVE Myrna for the invitation :)