A n d r e w s G u m W o r l d

IMAGE: europics.at

Today’s Croatian Times reports on a wooden gum pillar created by artist Andrej Macko from Slovonski Brod in eastern Croatia.

Macko is head of the “Seed, Stump, Art, Life” artists cooperative which helps war veterans learn new skills by creating handcrafted wooden furniture pieces, which have been featured most recently at Eco-Ethno Croatia fair. Despite suffering post-traumatic stress disorders following his service in the Croatian Homeland war in the 1990s, Macko says he has now dedicated his life to art and wood.

 As Macko notes in the article, this particular idea came to him as he struggled with the challenge of discarded gum — and an elegant solution to that problem:

The idea of a chewing-gum pillar came to him after he realised many people just did not know what to do with their chewing gum and threw it into the street. Now, they can just stick it onto the artistic pillar.

Split residents and tourists can see his work in the city centre.

Macko’s aim was to offer them a simple, unique, educational and ecological place for disposal of their gum.

He said the chewing-gum pillar required regular, special disinfection and frequent replacement by a new one.

He claimed the pillar was not only a practical but also an environmental solution because cleaning streets full of chewing gum was very expensive and required dangerous chemicals.

IMAGE: Brisbane Times

Friday morning’s Brisbane Times features a review of Cartier’s newest scent, “Roadster” (pictured above), a cologne targeted at both men and women.

The scent was created by Mathilde Laurent, who left Guerlain to become Cartier’s bespoke perfumer in 2005.

The review notes that in her work at Cartier, Laurent’s goal has been to make perfume “worthy of Cartier’s clientele and not for the sake of publicity.”

As the review goes on to note (again, emphasis ours):

Roadster, her first non-bespoke fragrance for Cartier, bears the symbols of a watch of the same name, down to its cap that mimics the crown of the Cartier timepiece.

Marketing aside, Laurent has mingled a mint of awesome proportions with earthy vetiver, warm resins and soft vanilla. Her mint isn’t strident like toothpaste or hygienic like chewing gum but sultry and sophisticated. Think antebellum American plantation, not ante-room waiting for the dentist.

Speedway, originally uploaded by JTWilcox.

Today’s Hometown newspaper from suburban Detroit reported on a gum related burgalry at a local Speedway gas station.

As the local crime watch article reports, under the heading “Sticky Fingers”:

Twenty-one boxes of chewing gum — containing 244 packs of assorted varieties — with a retail value of $339 were reported stolen Aug. 28 from a Speedway gas station on Sheldon Road. The theft occurred between 9 p.m., Aug. 27, and 6:30 a.m. the next day.

A police report said a security video shows two different men standing by the gum display, at different times, during the period the theft occurred. One appeared to have an accomplice who was distracting the attendant near a Lottery machine, police said.

Arithmetic, originally uploaded by kunja.

We’re always fond of research that shows chewing gum makes you, well, smarter.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times reported on a research project funded by Wrigley at the Baylor College of Medicine. Those who took part in the study either chewed sugar-free gum during math class, during math homework, during math tests, or they didn’t chew gum at all.

After 14 weeks, the students took a math test and had their math grades assessed. As the Times reported:

Those who chewed gum had a 3% increase in standardized math test scores and had final math grades that were significantly better than the other students. Teachers observed that those who chewed gum seemed to require fewer breaks, sustain attention longer and remain quieter.

While the research didn’t fully explain what the relationship was between gum chewing and math improvement, the lead researcher on the study, Dr. Craig Johnston, said that “there is research demonstrating an increase in blood flow in the brain during chewing.”

The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of Experimental Biology 2009 in New Orleans this past April.

IMAGE: Enfield Independent.

Ben Wilson, a British artist who turns discarded gum into artwork (we’ve featured him before in AndrewsGumWorld) recently lost his jacket in Enfield, Middlesex and the local newspaper, the Independent published a plea last week for its return:

Ben Wilson, 45, of Muswell Hill, was devastated to discover he had walked off without his fluorescent jacket when touching up unsightly underfoot deposits at the base of the fountain in the market square.

“That jacket has been keeping the rain and snow off me for the past four and a half years and has people’s tags and signatures on” he said.

Anyone who finds the jacket is encouraged to contact the reporter of the article, Hannah Crown.

IMAGE: Sail-World.com.

Three Texas fishermen were rescued this past weekend after being lost at sea for a week. The three boaters were found 180 miles from land after a Coast Guard search that covered nearly 86,000 square miles. They were discovered while still with their capsized catamaran, Affordable Fantasy.

An ABC News report on the rescue detailed how the men stayed alive until they were found (emphasis ours):

The Coast Guard officials said they survived because they stuck with the boat. The men also rationed bubble gum and crackers and used a hose to suck fresh water out of the internal “washdown” tank. Fishermen often keep such a tank to wash fish slime off their boat when they are out in the salt water.

Chewing Gum Posters, originally uploaded by Phil McGrady.

IMAGE: Media.

Clemenger BBDO, an ad agency in Australia, has helped Wrigley plunge into the world of social media by creating The 5 Feed, a website designed to help the gum company “connect with young people who increasingly demand digital involvement and greater creativity; ‘an audience that is seeking, sharing and remixing culture.’”

In a piece earlier this summer in Media, it described the agency’s creation of The 5 Feed site, “a social platform that invites the public to download and remix works from commissioned Australian designers, artists and musicians.”

 You can explore that site, and do your own remixing of culture, here.

ps Wrigley 5 gum flavo(u)r translation guide from the Land Down Under:

Pulse (Australia) = Lush (North America)

Electro = Rain

Cobalt = Cobalt

IMAGE: oleole.com.

A Brazilian futebol/soccer player, José da Silva Aloísio, discovered the threatening drawbacks of chewing gum and running into fellow players. As The New York Times reported last week:

Aloisio, a striker for Vasco da Gama, wound up in the hospital after colliding with an opponent and choking on his gum during a second-division game Tuesday. He was released from the hospital and avoided serious injury.

While Aloísio doesn’t remember much of the injury — after which he stopped breathing momentarily — the accident has inspired a new approach for the mingling of futebol and chiclete:

“I don’t remember a lot,” Aloisio told local media Wednesday. “I only remember the doctor taking the gum out. I have never been scared like this — no more chewing gum for me.”

IMAGE: Nate Robertson blog.

Nate Robertson (that’s him in a pic from his own blog, chewing gum) has appeared in these pages before as part of the Gum Time tradition that inspires Detroit Tigers rallies (earlier, we included a great shot from Flickr of the animated score board from a Tigers game featuring the rally-worthy, gum-chewing efforts of Mr. Robertson).

As he notes, his blog got its title from this activity:

Along the way, it seems I also am becoming known for chewing huge wads of bubblegum to start Tiger rallies. That’s where the name for this blog comes in.

And, later he indicates that his interests are:

 Going after a World Series title and chewing as much bubble gum as I can fit into my mouth to help start Tiger rallies.

Which is why, of course, that today’s news from Major League Baseball is a bit disconcerting to gum connoisseurs and that is, sadly, that the tradition is coming to an end. As an article today notes:

Robertson’s superstition to throw wads of gum into his mouth became a Detroit phenomenon in 2006 during the summer and then during the Tigers’ run to the World Series. Eventually, it grew a little too big, and he lost his taste for constantly chewing gum in the late innings.

You can read all the details here.