For whatever it’s worth….Check out the surprise that some kids will now be getting as part of their “Happy Meals.”
What a revolutionary, and, at the same time, almost sorrowfully old-fashioned of an idea…. in this day and age… to promote BOOKS to children as though they were actually SOMETHING TO BE PRIZED.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-mcdonalds-happy-meals-toys-books-20130109,0,2150667.story
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/09/mcdonalds-give-away-15m-children-booksThe first of the two pics I’m posting is from
a similar McDonalds Happy Meal book promotion, but that one was in New Zealand.
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EDIT: Speaking of
prizes (or of treasures), ever since I first learned about him,
Ai Weiwei has been kind of a prize for me. For anyone interested, besides the pretty choice video of him dancing Gangnam style, censored, not all that surprisingly in China, that's on youtube and that’s been out for awhile, there’s a relatively new DVD:
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, that’s out now and that's filled with some pretty incredible stuff. Also, there’s a documentary video on him that has a British spin,
Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour, available for free online viewing.
Check out the second photo at
this link, especially. When I realized what the codpieces or the fig leaves were, even though I’m not usually all that outwardly expressive of a person,
I burst out laughing.
EDIT #2: As long as I'm here and talking about rather amazing people in China, check out
this story that was in the news last Spring. I loved it especially for its exemplifying the universality and the immeasurable fierceness of family love. And I didn’t mind its exaltation of the value of an education one bit, either.
