Twentieth Century
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 43
Somehow, this series of posts has become shockingly relevant!
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 28, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art, Russia, Twentieth Century
The Palace of the Soviets
Take what metaphors and allegories you will from this famous failure.
The Wikipedia page tells us:
The Palace of the Soviets (Russian: Дворец Советов, Dvorets Sovetov) was a project to construct a political convention center in Moscow on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The main function of the palace was to house sessions of the Supreme Soviet in its 130-metre (430 ft) wide and 100-metre (330 ft) tall grand hall seating over 20,000 people. If built, the 416-metre (1,365 ft) tall palace would have become the world's tallest structure, with an internal volume surpassing the combined volumes of the six tallest American skyscrapers.[10]
The music on this video is annoying--hit MUTE--but otherwise it's well done.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 15, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Architecture, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Government, Success & Failure, Russia, Twentieth Century
The Grape Day Queen of Escondido
The official page.Grape Day started in 1908 as a way to celebrate Escondido's grape harvest and promote the city. It flourished until 1950 and was revived by the Escondido History Center in 1996. Each year in October*, our community comes together to celebrate Grape Day.
An article from 2006.
The 1949 candidates, courtesy of the Weekly Times-Advocate (Escondido, California)19 Aug 1949, Fri Page 6
The 1913 winner.
Source: Times-Advocate (Escondido, California)18 Feb 1973, Sun Page 8
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 09, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Agriculture, Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Regionalism, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
Pinboard Animation: “The Nose”
This cartoon is pretty great. But when you consider how it was made...
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 30, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Inventions, Cartoons, Twentieth Century
Angier’s Petroleum Emulsion
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 15, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust
Unlikely Reasons for Murder No. 8
Source: NYT for 9/23/1899.
Source: NYT for 1/6/1900.
Source.
Source: Reading Times (Reading, Pennsylvania)01 May 1900, Tue Page 3
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 11, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Crime, Death, Theater and Stage, Women, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
The Wonderland of Doo
The history of newspaper comic strips is replete with many oddities.An excellent blog on the topic, with almost daily posts, is STRIPPER'S GUIDE.
Here's one creation that has received very little attention, based on its scarcity of Google hits. Its creator was Arch Dale.
Each instance featured a big block of text, which I am omitting, save for one sample.
This survey is by no means complete, just a taste.
The strips were also collected in book form.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 07, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Newspapers, Comics, Surrealism, Fantasy, Twentieth Century
Secretarial Sadism
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 01, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, Women, Twentieth Century
Miss Orchid Bathing Suit
I wish I knew the real title and other details of this beauty queen. But I think, just based on the costume, we can include her in our pageant of Weird Beauty Contest Winners.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 27, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Nature, Twentieth Century
The Future Farmers of America Sweethearts
Visit this page for a full history, and lots more photos.Prior to 1969 about the only way a female could be involved with the FFA was to be a chapter sweetheart. In the early days of the FFA, it was common for a chapter to have an FFA Sweetheart. The Sweetheart was typically voted on by the members and the selection of the sweetheart more often than not was a popularity/beauty contest. The Sweetheart, often wearing a white sweetheart jacket, might represent the chapter in a parade, at the school’s homecoming, or in a county livestock show or fair.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 22, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Agriculture, Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Education, Twentieth Century
| Who We Are |
|---|
| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. 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. Contact Us |