What Were They Thinking? #2

I don't know, to me large amounts of DDT and small glass boxes don't seem like a good combination...


(from the May 1963 issue of Popular Science)

Posted By: Salamander Sam - Tue Oct 06, 2009 - Comments (1)
Category: Products, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Follies of the Mad Men #74

This little film is simply the most brilliant surrealistic, dadaistic piece of cinema of the second half of the twentieth century. Opening with a full minute of a young woman wandering an autumnal landscape, it evolves into an anti-capitalist treatise featuring a world where decorative refrigerators rule mankind. And it's all done without dialogue. Forget Bunuel and Dali! Westinghouse and the Jam Handy Organization rule!

Considering it was made circa 1968, one has to ask: what were they smoking/dropping, and where can I get some today?

Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 02, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, Interior Decorating, Drugs, 1960s

Follies of the Mad Men #73

Why do I get the sense that this "game" is just one card away from turning into a full-fledged orgy?

Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 29, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Games, 1960s

Romper Room, Aussie Style

Viewing this clip is a Twilight Zone experience for me--and, I expect, for others of my generation. I grew up watching ROMPER ROOM, but the Aussie accent of this gal on the Downunder version jars with my nostalgia. I've fallen into some alternate timeline.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 25, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Television, Children, 1960s

Moment of Decision

Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 24, 2009 - Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Stupid Criminals, Juvenile Delinquency, 1960s, Cars

French-film-inspired Terrorism?

Given that Najibullah Zazi seems to have been planning terrorist assaults on the NYC subway system, is it possible he got his inspiration from a surname-related French New Wave film Zazie dans le métro?

I entirely blame avant-garde author of the original novel, Raymond Queneau.

You can never trust these artsy types!

UPDATE: this clip from the film looks awfully suspicious to me!

Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 23, 2009 - Comments (1)
Category: Death, Destruction, Disasters, Movies, Terrorism and Terrorists, 1960s, Europe

The Cashless Society, As Predicted In 1967.

Here's a clip from the BBC popular science program Tomorrow's World from 1967, talking about how the future will become a cashless society. It's interesting to see that the very first debit-card system shown on the program used PINs rather than signatures to authorize.

Unfortunately, the BBC iPlayer can't be embedded like most online videos, so here's a link to the excerpt in question.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/tomorrowsworld/8012.shtml

This is just one of a number of Tomorrow's World clips the BBC is making freely available online. There are some real gems on the site, including a first look at the "light-pen" from 1967, an early screen outing for the Moog synthesizer from 1969, and a demonstration of one of the first true mobile phone systems from 1979.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/tomorrowsworld/index.shtml

Oops, it seems not everyone can view the Online BBC Archive. For those who can't here's a couple of stills from the electronic banking and mobile phone segments mentioned above.





Love that funky retro dial! :lol:

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Mon Sep 14, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Futurism, Television, 1960s

The Nostrils Cannae Take It, Captain!

In the future, all people will smell this way! Well maybe not, but design house Genki Wear has launched three Star Trek themed scents for the trekkie who has everything, including B.O.

For the men there's a choice of Tiberius or Red Shirt. The former refers to the "T" of James T. Kirk, and presumably makes you smell like a womanising maverick. The latter an allusion to the numerous expendable extras from the original series; though why smelling like someone with a life expectancy of minutes is supposed to be a turn on is not explained. For the women there's Pon Farr, named for the stage of a Vulcan's life where their emotions come to the surface and they become both aggressive and sexually receptive. Fortunately for Earthwomen (and their partners) the pointy ears and domestic violence are optional, and staging fights to the death with gardening implements is not advised.

All three fragrances are available to buy from Genki Wear at $29.99 each.



(Images from social shopping network Kaboodle.)

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Fri Aug 28, 2009 - Comments (10)
Category: Aliens, Geeks, Nerds and Pointdexters, Pop Culture, Television, 1960s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

The Shaggs

Here's an oldie-but-goodie from the catalog of weird music: MY PAL FOOT-FOOT, by the Shaggs.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 05, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Cryptozoology, Fictional Monsters, Family, Music, 1960s

The Past Is Another Country #1

From The Saturday Evening Post for April 13 1963.

I'm guessing by the signature that this is the work of Ronald Michaud.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 09, 2009 - Comments (0)
Category: Cannibalism, Food, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1960s, Africa