Word: muste
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Viet Nam war, in particular, has exposed the weaknesses of the briefing ritual. The requirement of brevity means that briefers must rely heavily on hard facts and statistics, even when dealing with subjects that defy quantification. Time and again, military briefers in Viet Nam have "proved" that the war was being won with the help of impressive "body counts" of enemy dead that were impossible to verify, let alone dispute. With the aid of computers, U.S. officials were equally sanguine about stating to the decimal point how many villages were "secure" in Viet Nam. Such was the faith...
...goes on a mission and debriefed after it. Base commanders take great pride in showing off their briefing rooms and their graphics departments, which turn out an unending stream of impressive audio-visual aids. "When we briefed General Westmoreland," recalls one officer in Viet Nam, "we knew that we must fill at least 30 minutes even if the information did not require it. So we made our charts more complicated, our graphs more detailed. It all took up time." But it has impressed the South Vietnamese, who have become as adept as their allies at briefing. On this front...
...ritual, the military briefer is not supposed to depart from traditional practice. His performance is frequently inspected as closely as his uniform for flaws. He must speak in a neutral, colorless voice that nonetheless conveys enthusiasm. He must not stumble in his grammar or pronunciation; ambitious junior officers understandably devote many idle hours to perfecting their delivery. A briefing may begin with a comment intended to jolt the audience into paying attention, or at least staying awake. It might, for example, start with the statement: "We have won the war in Viet Nam." Or, depending on the audience...
Ground Rules. To accomplish this difficult task, Oldenburg has developed some basic ground rules for his work. The subject first must be timely; he has no use for dead symbols. It must also be an object that touches the body, like furniture and food, or is constantly used, like housewares. "I never make representations of bodies but of things that relate to bodies so that the body sensation is passed along to the spectator either literally or by suggestion." Finally, his creations must have something to do with sex. "If you ignore that," he says, "you're missing...
Soft Drum. The glory of vinyl struck Oldenburg in 1963. It was an ideal substitute for the hard plaster and enamel paint he had been using-and it was soft as skin. "It works by itself, takes different positions. I established guidelines, but the pieces must be arranged by others or it arranges itself." Oldenburg's Soft Drum Set takes an object specifically noted for its tautness and its sharp staccato clatter and expresses it as a chaos of relaxation. The Drum Set looks more like man's viscera than his toy (another example of a body image...