Molotch Cocktail

Whoa! Check it out: another toilet blog! It's the companion blog to the book Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, as reviewed in the Atlantic Monthly, with a pretty spiffy slideshow.

This looks like a book the TP Blog can really get behind. It is a collection of essays by various types of scholars (historians, cultural analysts, etc.) and edited by NYU sociologist Harvey Molotch and doctoral student Laura Norén. There are 12 articles, discussing architecture, gender segregation, class, disability and "the gross factor" (i.e. issues of disgust and cleanliness). Plus that whole public versus private thing.

There are some pretty great images in the slide show. This is one of my favorites:


Such a pretty urinal! Except I wonder if it's weird to take a piss in such a beautiful flower. Or maybe you guys like that kind of thing.

See the rest of the slide show here.

{Photo: Clark Sorenson, via Atlantic Monthly and Toilet (the book)}

Thanks to Agent NH for scouting this one out!

Hippies Use Side Door

Some dear relatives of mine have recently moved into the area for a temporary stay, and are renting a place in a local college hippie town. The apartment isn't too unusual, but it is certainly rented to people of all sorts who stay for short periods, including, to be sure, a lot of students. The first time I visited, I did not even enter the bathroom. But when I did finally go in, I found it was a mine of interesting tidbits...


For starters, they have what I will call a "flow-through" bathroom. You remember from Lipton tea, right? That was probably even before my time, but I distinctly remember singing some sort of silly song as a kid, and my mom explaining to me the concept of the "flow-through" teabag (in order to increase brewing effectiveness, etc.) But what I mean is that there is a door on one side, and a door on the other side, so that if you happen to be on one side or the other, you can just go into the bathroom without having to walk all the way around your house to get there. Or you can go in and simply "flow through" to the other side. On the downside, you have to close and/or lock two doors, and then remember to unlock or otherwise open the other door before you leave. But still, I can see the advantages. The cat likes it, apparently.



Here is a view where you can see through one doorway into the other.

Also, another slightly odd thing about the bathroom is the way the toilet is placed, seemingly right in the middle of the floor plan. Looking at it, it's hard to see where else you would put the toilet, but for some reason it is not flush (haha) against the wall, but rather freestanding a couple inches out for reasons unbeknownst to moi. And the freestanding TP holder probably doesn't help.


Next up: The shower. If you look closely, you can see that there are two sets of knobs. One for bath faucet. One for shower. My "Aunt" (let's call her) says that this is one of the most annoying things about it, to her...



I wondered if the bathroom had always been a bathroom, or perhaps had been another type of room at some point (say, a really small bedroom?). Probably not, given the "flow-through" nature of the door arrangement. But I was noticing the way the bath and shower element seemed to be built out into the space. And I also kind of liked the archway-type detail above the shower curtain. (This was the first time my "Uncle" had ever noticed that.)

Next to the sink, they had a microfiber hand towel, which was so soft, you just wanted to keep touching it. And I kid you not, your hands would be dry in seconds, but the towel didn't seem to get wet at all. My Auntie loves it, and I must confess that I am a fan!


Finally, the bathroom chamber came equipped with this lovely sign right above the toilet. It's a pretty legit sign, actually. You could put a sign like this in almost any bathroom anywhere. But I think it's significant of the town that they are living in, which, as I mentioned, is a hippie college town. Which means it's full of people who like to save water by not flushing the toilet at all unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for saving water. And I also, on occasion, will elect not to flush, if it doesn't seem like there's much going on. But there are degrees to this approach, and I think some people take it to the extreme.

Case in point: I once interviewed at a political magazine (based in this same town), and when I used the bathroom there, I discovered an ongoing discussion taking place on a piece of paper taped inside the bathroom stall, debating the merits and detractor qualities of flushing versus non-flushing, including which type of pee was permissible to not-flush, etc. (For example "stinky pee" = flush, while non-stinky = okay to leave. But then you have to decide which is which. You get the point). So that's where this was happening. Which is why I laughed when I saw the sign. Because I knew why it was there and that, yes, some people do need to be instructed to flush the toilet every time. Because a clogged toilet, as I'm sure you know, is not a laughing matter.

World Toilet Day!

So, in case you missed it, World Toilet Day was last Friday, November, 19th. BUT you still have time to make a video about poo for this contest, run by Water for People. Well, they say make a video about poo. But it's really a video about toilets. All the stuff the TP blog is really about: toilet failure, toilet success and toilet innovation!

The World Toilet Organization (www.worldtoilet.org) has more info on World Toilet Day here. (Not to be confused with International Toilet Paper Day, which is August 26).

Meanwhile, get out your cameras/recording device of choice. The deadline for your poo-filled , toilet-happy video is December 2, 2010.

And if you are looking for mugs to hold your coffee, various containers for other liquids, or a tote for all that solid food you're going to eat, all to help you keep going back to the toilet again and again, you can shop the Water for People store here. Oh, and they have pens, too. So I guess you can keep a record of it.

Thanks to Agent BP for alerting us to this contest!

{Image via WaterforPeople.org}

Detective Toilet Cam

I love Law & Order. Specifically, I like Law & Order SVU. It's not sketchy, I swear! Oh, and I write a blog about toilets - #$%@&! Crap. Well, whatever. It's not sketchy. But those two things are both, admittedly, potentially sketchy. And what do you get when you combine two potentially sketchy things that I like to do? *Magic*

Witness Exhibit A - Law & Order SVU: Year Five, Episode 25 (last episode). They really went out with a "bang" that year. I haven't even watched very far past the intro, and I had to stop and write this. So there won't be any spoilers. Unless you want to be surprised by the intro, in which case, STOP READING!!

The show begins with - and this is where the TP part comes in - a perp who installs a mini-cam into a public toilet. I know, I know, gross. Even I think it's gross. I am not here to commend the installation of waterproof cameras in public places where the sun don't shine. It's just not OK.

What I do commend, however, is the wanton use deadpan toilet puns in the script. For instance, the squad Captain calls the installer of the camera the "potty perp." And the intro, which often ends with a clever one-liner, did not disappoint. Since the high-tech gadget was a wireless transmitter, set up to stream the illicit video directly to someone's computer, Detective Stabler (Chris Meloni), observed that they would be looking for the "guy who downloaded the most crap."

Ah, writers of L&O SVU, I <3 you.

UPDATE: Of course, as you might expect, the entire episode becomes more sordid after that (if you can imagine). The potty-cam turns out to be just the entrée to the "real crime," and after about 10 minutes, we don't see that guy again. But it all starts with technology getting into the wrong place, as it were. So, not to inspire paranoia or anything, but if you do happen to be in a public bathroom and you see a miniature camera pointing at you, maybe try and find a different stall. Or at least be decent and cover the thing up.

That's our public service announcement for the day.

Thanks for listening!

Sweet Dreams

Last night was a first. Not the first time that I've dreamed of toilets and bathrooms, but the first time I dreamed about *blogging* about toilets and bathrooms. So I'm going to write about it.

As I remember, in the dream, I found myself waiting in line multiple times in a ladies' room. Once it was at a wedding reception, and once at - I don't know what it was, I forget. Somewhere where there were a lot of people. Anyway, in both cases, I was waiting for inordinately long periods of time while groups of four or five girls would hang out and talk and put on makeup and check email on their phones all in one stall, while I was waiting there having to pee. I could see all this because there wasn't really a door on the stall, just kind of a curtain thingy. Plus, it was really just obvious.

So, for one of these (the wedding reception, I believe), I went in and told them what was up. I said that they had to actually pee, or clear out. And so they did. It was great. Badass bathroom confrontation.

And after that (in my dream), I thought to myself, "I really have to blog about this," i.e. the women in the stalls using their phones and whatnot. So here I am. I'm blogging about it. Except that it didn't happen in a real restroom that I can remember. But it might...

This Toilet is Crap

Virginia's Toilet / Virginia Gardiner / The Bathroom Reinvented / Dwell from gary nadeau on Vimeo.

Literally. It's a toilet made of poo. We think that's the ultimate in self-reference. But that's just the introduction. This student is out to create waterless toilets, to save the world from excess flushing and transform poo into something useful.

Who knows if it will ever catch on in the Western world, but we think she's onto something. If nothing else, we feel a kinship, because she, like us, realizes how useful toilets are. but you probably haven't heard this much about poo since you were three.

We discovered this video on the World Toilet Day Facebook page. Follow the link for more information.

Scary Paper

Speaking of Japan, here's a novel idea: print your toilet-based horror novel on a roll of toilet paper!

Japanese horror novelist Koji Suzuki is the author behind the story that eventually became the Hollywood blockbuster "The Ring." His latest novella, aptly titled "Drop" takes place in a public toilet whose bowl is possessed by an evil spirit.

Suzuki partnered with Hayashi Paper Corp. to have his story printed in blue (with spatters of red) on toilet paper rolls, instead of going the normal book-publisher route. {Just goes to show, I suppose, how much the publishing industry is truly in the toilet.}

What I love is that it solves so many problems at once. You get handy reading material for the bathroom. It's cheap (a roll will cost you just under $3, or £1.40), plus, you don't have to worry about what to do with the book, once you've read it.

And if you get scared reading about a possessed toilet bowl while you happened to be sitting on one, you can relax because you get to have the last laugh when you use it to wipe your bum. Only downside: may only be available in Japanese...for now!

{Photo courtesy of Telegraph UK/AP}

Sur la Plage

I will always appreciate a good bathroom on the beach. This one is one of the series of public loos that line the beachfront of Alameda, facing the Bay of San Francisco. I honestly can't remember what we used to do without beach toilets as a kid. In Maine, you don't really pay to go to the beach. Someone owns the property, but makes it accessible to the public, and you just go. This means easy access to the beach. Not so easy access to facilities. Particularly when the beach is miles from a gas station. So I don't know. We probably peed in the water. Which was freezing.

In Massachusetts, you pay to park at the beach. That's how they get you. But on the bonus side, you might have certain amenities, such as bathrooms.

And while we're on the subject, can we talk about how annoying it is to try to use the baño when you've got a one-piece bathing suit on, under your clothes? This, again, is one area in which guys most definitely have it easier.

Bikinis: more practical than you think.

Steampunk Toilet

You know you want it. Well, I do. It's the "Antique Toilet of the Future." Otherwise known as the Steampunk toilet.

Steampunk, in case you didn't know, is the quasi-futuristic-Victorian-era-throwback-maker-y movement among the artist type people who like to make things for the Hell of it, or really for the pleasure of it, or because it looks cool. All of these things. This blogger, for one, is very interested, and would like to get or make herself a steampunk laptop someday. Ah, a writer can dream.

But back to the toilet!

So, this one comes with a "control panel," lights, gauges of unexplained significance, a coffee cup holder, brass seat, and, of course, a laser.

Because who doesn't need a laser on their toilet?

I do.

Anyone for tennis?

Thrill Ride

So here is a little gem from Geekologie, submitted by Benn. Leave it to the Japanese to come up with...a bathroom stall designed to look like a ski jump.

Obviously. Because what do you and I always think about when using the toilet? Ski Jumping! Of course. Naturally.

Text from Geekologie:
"This is a bathroom stall in some Japanese ski resort that actually serves as an advertisement for a Coca-Cola coffee product (ad on toilet paper holder and back wall). As you can see, it was designed to look like a realistic ski-jump (or dump), complete with skis painted on the ground and everything. You just sit down, close your eyes, and imagine you're atop the mountain, ready to launch yourself off a cliff. Then open them and realize you've thrown yourself off the seat and shit on your leg."

I'd say this ad campaign is reminiscent of the Charmin Public Toilets, although I am not sure that I want to associate a brown beverage with a bathroom experience. I guess adrenaline rush is what they were going for. That, and a captive audience.

Technology in the Toilet

And we're back!

Now, let us approach the subject of the old cell-phone-in-the-toilet issue. My own mother, for one, has dropped no less than two cell phones in various toilets (possibly more, for all I know.). She subsequently went on to use said cell phones after the fact. She has an unusual relationship with technology.

This past weekend, I overheard some girls talking about cell phones at the bus stop. One of them said, "They should make cell phones waterproof for people who drop them in the toilet."

And if you didn't think this was a matter of national concern, NPR itself reported on it just this past December.

If you've ever dropped your cell phone in the drink, here's a little instruction on how to provide emergency CPR (Cell Phone Resuscitation).

image: Corbis

Stand up, Sit down

So yesterday, I went for a jobs information session, which was kind of a bust, but I figured, since I was there, I might as well make use of their facilities.

The organization that I was investigating apparently caters to a lot of immigrants. Not to mention the building was located in the Financial District, which is not that far from Chinatown, and the classroom I was in, where the meeting was held, had signs all over the room in Chinese, with translations. I thought nothing of it, except, "This really doesn't seem like the organization for me."

So I went into the ladies' room, which seemed normal enough - except for the sign posted above the toilet, asking patrons to please "not stand on the toilets." And they included graphics to clearly show what they meant, in case you were wondering.




As Westerners, we are pretty freaked out by the idea of squatting over a hole in the ground. I went into one not-very-well-kept bathroom in France to find such a device, and promptly exited the facility. But what if that's what you're used to? I guess it could get pretty confusing. I guess it could seem like that's what the toilet "seat" is for. I'm sure it's all just a big misunderstanding. Or else it's just another creative way to avoid the germs on toilet seats. But they must have had a problem with it, or else they would not have posted the sign. Anyway, that was first for me. Just thought I'd share.

In the Bathroom

This...is my bathroom. I thought I would introduce myself to you by way of the water closet, the loo, el baño. That space which is so personal, so private, and yet, where everything is revealed. I have the standard American white porcelain toilet, as you can see. I made a point of getting a nice, woven white shower curtain - tasteful, but not too much. Goes with the sort of beige wall color. There's a three-section medicine cabinet to the right, which you can't see (very exciting!). And we have a nice bird painting on the wall to the left, hidden behind the door. I recently replaced the shower head with a gentler one, which also happens to be a water-saving shower head. Yay, saving water! And the rug - funny story about the rug.

Looks like it matches the diamonds in the floor pattern, doesn't it? Well, it does match. The thing is, I went to Target, thinking I would buy a white rug, to match the shower curtain, only they didn't have any white ones with a texture that I liked. I got this color, thinking it was a lot lighter beige than it actually was. Only when I brought it home, did I realized that it matched the color in the floor EXACTLY. Kismet! Well, that's how it goes with toilets, I guess. You just have to channel their energy. Tap into your intuition. And you will never be without a sufficient and safe place to relieve yourself.

Well, so that's my bathroom at present. Pretty cosy. I like it. And I look forward to sharing with you stories of many more...