Toe Wrestling

Wikipedia page here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 12, 2016 - Comments (0)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Eccentrics, Feet

The odds of writing Paradise Lost…

...by drawing the text letter by letter (and word for word) from a bag containing the twenty six letters of the alphabet, each letter being replaced after being drawn.

For anyone planning to attempt this, John Venn (the guy who invented Venn diagrams) helpfully calculated the odds in his 1888 book The Logic of Chance.

The odds come out to 1 in 26^350,000. In other words, not impossible. So start picking those letters!

Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 11, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Literature, Books

Got Tu Go Disco

We often focus here at WU on bad movies, but we have neglected the study of horrible Broadway shows. To remedy that, let's sample GOT TU GO DISCO, of which critic Michael Musto says:

Got Tu Go Disco. (17 performances in 1979). A flashy, empty musical about the disco phenomenon, featuring Studio 54's actual doorman. He should have been beaten with his clipboard. The "tu" in the title was a pretty good giveaway that this was pure doogy du.

I love that the lead character was named "Cassette."

Here are the geniuses responsible.



And the title track.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 11, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, 1970s, Dance

Dakota Cigarettes for the Virile Female

In 1990, R.J. Reynolds test marketed a new brand of cigarette named "Dakota." But the brand immediately generated controversy when internal company documents leaked to the Washington Post revealed that the cigarettes were narrowly targeted at a demographic described as "virile females."

What exactly is a "virile female"? It was apparently "a woman with no education beyond high school, whose favorite television roles are Roseanne and 'evening soap opera (bitches)' and whose chief aspiration is 'to get married in her early 20s' and spend her free time 'with her boyfriend doing whatever he is doing.'"

The phrase "virile female" attracted a lot of interest. Many people wondered if it was acceptable English. Language columnist William Safire weighed in on the issue, asking, "Can you use virile woman without committing an oxymoronic act?" He concluded, yes you can:


He further noted that there was literary precedent for the phrase:


However, even though Safire had officially approved the phrase "virile female," the cigarettes themselves didn't perform well in the test marketing, so Reynolds scuttled the brand.

Palm Beach Post - Feb 17, 1990

Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 10, 2016 - Comments (6)
Category: Products, Smoking and Tobacco, 1990s

Antonio De Soto Major

We tend to think we have some eccentric politicians today, like the UK's Boris Johnson or, ahem, a certain President-elect. But really, the past had the present beat hollow, and we are proved to be relatively colorless today by comparison.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 10, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Eccentrics, Politics, Europe, Nineteenth Century

Butter Dance

Melati Suryodarmo's Butter Dance is well known — almost 2 million views on YouTube — but somehow this classic of modern performance art has, so far, escaped the attention of WU. So for all who haven't seen it yet, here it is.

(My favorite moment is at around the 1:45 mark).

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 09, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category:

Mr. Omelet

I am very sad that the original "Mr. Omelet" pan which debuted in 1976 has been rechristened as simply "Rolled Omelet" pan, and lost its wooden handle.





I am even sadder that I can learn nothing about its illustrious inventor, Robert S. Bardin, and that the only image I have of him is a featureless smudge.



Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 09, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Domestic, Appliances, Inventions, 1970s

America needs a space age president

Gabriel Green campaigned to be President of the United States in 1960, promoting himself as "your write-in space-age candidate."

His main qualification was that he had "seen at least 75 flying saucers and has chatted with space people." Also, he was founder of the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America. He promised that his presidency would usher in "The World of Tomorrow, and UTOPIA now."

However, he didn't attract a lot of support from voters. He attributed this to the fact that "not enough Americans have yet seen flying saucers or talked to outer space people." So he dropped out of the race and endorsed John F. Kennedy. The space people told him that they approved his decision.

He ran again in 1972, with similar results.

More info (and photos) at Gabriel Green for President.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 08, 2016 - Comments (6)
Category: Politics, Strange Candidates, 1960s

Occult Knowledge and Esoteric Wisdom of the Cross

It's always good to "separate the 'shaft' from the wheat."

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 08, 2016 - Comments (0)
Category: Eccentrics, New Age, Religion

Chuck Shepherd:  NOTW Milestone

Friends: the post immediately below this one is Chuck's 1500th weekly column! Do the math, kids: Twenty-eight-plus years of brilliant curation and commentary. What else began in 1988 that is still going strong and undiminished? Oh, sure Afghanistan is still wracked by war. But is that an honorable achievement? No! The Phantom of the Opera debuted in 1988 and is still running. But I'll take Chuck over Andrew Lloyd Webber any day!

Please weigh in with your own thoughts and applause and appreciations. Perhaps your 28-year-old child somehow owes his or her birth to NOTW? Your marriage was saved by NOTW? You went to Washington as a humble Senator and conducted a noble filibuster by reciting NOTW columns? No? Well, in any case, Chuck has brightened many a day and life. That's what really matters.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 07, 2016 - Comments (13)
Category: Anniversary, Weird Universe, Chuck