November 2018
November 30, 2018
Copy Machine Art
Strange landscapes created on a copy machine using materials such as food packaging, plastic wrap, and fabric scraps to stand in for earth, water, and sky. By artist Dominique Teufen. More info: Wired
Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 30, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art
Yoko “Sings”
Let us know when you bail.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 30, 2018 -
Comments (6)
Category: Annoying Things, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults, Music, 1960s
November 29, 2018
Miller Clear Beer
One of the most notorious marketing failures in the beer industry: Miller's decision to create a beer that not only tasted like water, but looked like it as well. It was an outgrowth of the "clear craze" of the 1980s and 90s (making transparent products because, as wikipedia notes, "clarity was equated with purity and freedom from artificial dyes").
Staunton News Leader - June 27, 1993
Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 29, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Inebriation and Intoxicants, Products, 1990s
Follies of the Madmen #398
Usage of this product enables user to read the mystical language of flowers.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 29, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Hygiene, Body Fluids, Languages, Nature, 1950s
November 28, 2018
The Guts Game
The first game ever that requires the player to swallow a sensor. The game is then played by doing things to change your gut temperature over the next 24 hours, until the sensor is excreted. The game isn't yet available for sale. From Forbes.com:More info: Exertion Games Lab [pdf]
Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 28, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Games
Emma Harbin, the Dixie Eagle
Not only was she one of the earliest women aviators, but she also helped her husband run a tourist court and dairy! (Lots of great fotos at the link.)
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 28, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Regionalism, Air Travel and Airlines, Hotels, Twentieth Century
November 27, 2018
Parental Pressure
David Phillips was so eager to become a grandfather that in 1969 he built a 9-foot statue of a pregnant woman outside his house as a subtle hint to his son, Bill, and daughter-in-law that they should hurry up and start producing children.I found a picture of the statue under wraps, but unfortunately not one of it uncovered. Nor could I find out if Bill Phillips and his wife ever did succumb to the parental pressure and hade children. But I did find out that he was a minor celebrity as a trumpet player. You can read his bio on the Canadian Encyclopedia. He was a founding member of the band Canadian Brass. The bio also reports a rumor that he played the trumpet solo on Penny Lane, which he didn't, but apparently he was famous enough as a trumpet player that the idea seemed plausible to some people.
Great Falls Tribune - June 4, 1969
Calgary Herald - June 6, 1969
The trumpeter who actually played the solo on Penny Lane was David Mason. See video below.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 27, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Music, Parents, 1960s
Bathtubs Over Broadway
A new documentary about "industrial musicals" is just hitting selected theaters.The film's homepage.
The book that served as the source.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 27, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Theater and Stage, Industry, Factories and Manufacturing, Outsider Art, Surrealism, Twentieth Century
November 26, 2018
GPS of the 1920s
I can think of one obvious problem with mounting the map in front of the windshield.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 26, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Geography and Maps, 1920s, Cars
1966 Revisited
Not only do you get the intro and outro to a stinker of a sitcom, but also a litany of worries--headaches, upset stomachs, flyaway hair--that seem positively benign in 2018.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 26, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, 1960s
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction books such as Elephants on Acid. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
