Drunk Drivers Can Hit Anything, And Will

Imagine the Sahara desert. A vast, arid sandbox with limited plant life. And the Tenere is a region of the southern Sahara with an extremely hot and dry climate and even more limited plant life. But up until 1973, there was a lonely acacia tree known as the Tree of Ténéré (L’Arbre du Ténéré). Being so isolated, the tree became a landmark on caravan routes and earned a place on most maps of the area. It stood for decades as a beacon for weary travelers, until a drunk driver knocked it down. Yup, the only tree in the entire region and the drunk managed to hit it. In remembrance to what was once considered to be the most isolated tree on Earth, a metal pole was put in its place. You'll need a translator for The Story but the pictures are fairly self-explanatory.

Posted By: Nethie - Mon May 18, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: History, Nature, 1970s, Africa, Alcohol

“Fanta, you’re fantasizing!”

Hausu is an interesting film from 1970s Japan directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. This film is beyond bizarre with a flying lamp shade that kills and a piano that devours it's prey. I had the chance to watch this with a group of friends when it aired on IFC in April and we had a blast. The movie almost makes no sense, but is a great experience. From what I've heard, the director got the idea from a dream his daughter had, which makes sense. The effects in the film are actually pretty cool for the time period.




More in extended >>

Posted By: mdb777 - Sat May 09, 2009 - Comments (1)
Category: Movies, 1970s, Asia

Float On

Barry White, they ain't!

Posted By: Paul - Sun May 03, 2009 - Comments (0)
Category: Music, Sex Symbols, 1970s

Annual MIT Piano Drop

The event of this post's title occured a few days ago.



However, because the drop is now an anticipated, regular event, it cannot possibly compare with the excitement of the very first one!

Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 26, 2009 - Comments (6)
Category: Destruction, Education, 1970s

Follies of the Mad Men #62

[From Playboy magazine for September 1971.]

Please parse the logic here for me. We'll use feminism to sell ugly shoes for men? I just don't get it....

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 06, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Shoes, Feminism, 1970s

Follies of the Mad Men #61

[From Playboy magazine for September 1971.]

Oh, yeah, a belt your Dad would wear back in 1971 could trigger all that groovy hippie stuff. Note the sign that uses Frank Zappa's name for cachet. Did he sue, I wonder?

Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 31, 2009 - Comments (10)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s

Follies of the Mad Men #59

What exactly was the name of that toy again?

Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 20, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Toys, 1970s

THE MASTER TOUCH Car Chase

Enjoy this battle between Detroit and European steel from Kirk Douglas's THE MASTER TOUCH.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 11, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Destruction, Movies, 1970s, Cars

Lotti Golden

In Look magazine for September 9 1969, there's an article about an aspiring young singer named Lotti Golden, who wanted to be just like Dylan. Never having heard of her before, I got curious and did some research.

She did go on to release a couple of albums. This blogger discusses her career and offers a compressed audio file of one whole album. This fellow does the same.

But overall, poor Lotti is so obscure she doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry, and her records never made it to CD.

In 1982, she tried again with a group called Warp 9, purveyors of "new wave funk." You can hear two samples of their stuff here.

If you listen to the clip below, you might see why she never made it big. This song is like five different disparate songs jammed into one.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 03, 2009 - Comments (41)
Category: Music, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s

Afterlife

Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 26, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category: Death, Cartoons, 1970s