Public transport is not glamorous. Buses and trains do not usually inspire design monologues, but neither are they entirely devoid of art and culture. James McGoram explores the concept of a civic brand from a new angle, the view from his morning train.
One Saturday afternoon, about a year ago, I cracked open a beer, collapsed into a comfy chair and powered up my new, gleaming, 42inch TV. Between an American college drama and an American small-town drama, on comes this ad for AUT, that eminent design educator based in Wellesley St. The voiceover, authoritative and male, speaks thusly:
“On August 6th 1991 a war started, the war for our attention. The birth of The Internet would rock traditional media to the core…”
I've been working in the garden this weekend, and although it didn't inspire me to write any new work, it did bring up a couple of snippets that had been lying around from last year...
There’s this one time I remember, right back when I was still in love with the beautiful, copper-haired Rachel, and when Kris was still alive, and not only alive, but laughing and making all of us feel like rock stars, when for a few short seconds the whole damn mess seemed to make sense. Some people might call it an epiphany, I suppose. To be clearer, which is to say, a little less mystic, I caught a glimpse of La Vida Loca from the outside, and when I say the crazy life, I’m referring of course to the name of the café, for that’s what it was called. It’s still there by all accounts, which isn’t really so strange. After all, I’m not that old.