Weird Universe Blog — December 4, 2021
Sinkles
I posted a few days ago about the International Association of People Who Dine Over the Kitchen Sink, aka 'Sinkies'.And then yesterday, by chance, I came across this Portlandia sketch about Sinkles, the restaurant for people who dine over the kitchen sink.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 04, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Humor | Restaurants
Follies of the Madmen #521
Our candy is the only thing that offers solace to this hideous cyborg who lives a life of eternal anguish and pain.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 04, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Advertising | Candy
December 3, 2021
Whiffy’s Club
Because Marilyn Meissler had always wondered if she was the only person who liked the smell of skunks, in 1989 she placed an ad in USA Today seeking out other skunk lovers:She got such a positive response that a year later she founded "Whiffy's Club" — a club for people who like the odor of skunks. For $35 members got a t-shirt, button, membership card, and newsletter. And for an extra $11, they got a bottle of skunk aroma.
Montreal Gazette - July 3, 1989
Sequoyah County Times - Jan 31, 1991
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 03, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations | Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents
Tinkerbell’s Mind
Bob Crewe had a master plan for the group, 'the Glitterhouse', who had been on his payroll for almost a year at the time that their first recordings came out. Crewe envisioned a one-two punch! Hit them with the 'Barbarella soundtrack album and then two months later, the Glitterhouse album, 'Color Blind'! Superstardom was surely around the corner at last for the now warehoused Glitterhouse. Big hits and big concerts? Barbarella' the single, did not happen for the Glitterhouse. The soundtrack album had some success but didn't seem to translate into any recognition for the band. The presence of the Glitterhouse was downplayed on the record and it seemed mostly a showcase for Bob Crewe and Charles Fox. The release of 'Color Blind - First Edition' was quick & quiet. A single from the album, 'Tinkerbell's Mind' made the top 50 in NYC, but died elsewhere. Any publicity was small indeed, and the band was never put out on the road or to play live. About four weeks after the release of 'Color Blind', when it was clear that the single had bombed, the Glitterhouse were taken off their meager salary, given no gigs and told to make do. Crewe had the band do some new demo's but there was also tension in the band. So, the Glitterhouse, attacked from without and within soon broke up and were readily released from their record label. One can only theorize about why the Glitterhouse were treated so shoddily by Crewe and his label. The Glitterhouse were a great live band that was never given an opportunity to play live. Crewe's company also managed them. Perhaps the label couldn't deal with a white sounding pop band fronted by a Black man. Who knows?
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 03, 2021 -
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Category: Forgotten Figures and Where Are They Now? | Music | Psychedelic | 1960s
December 2, 2021
Miss Drumsticks
The Miss Drumsticks contest began as a companion to the Arkansas Turkey Trot festival which, in turn, is famous for the tradition (now discontinued) of hurling live turkeys out of a plane.Contestants concealed their upper half behind a picture of a turkey so they could be judged on their 'drumsticks' alone.
I believe the contest continues to this day.
image source: Google arts and culture
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 02, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests
Surprise, Surprise!
Did this really happen twice in the space of a year, in a manner that became noticeable to a newspaper? Or was it the invention of a bored and desperate reporter, then copied by another?Source for first item: Lindsay Gazette (Lindsay, California) 31 May 1935, Fri Page 11
Source for second item: Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Florida) 29 May 1936, Fri Page 2
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 02, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Domestic | Travel | Fables, Myths, Urban Legends, Rumors, Water-Cooler Lore | 1930s
December 1, 2021
Henry Kissinger, Weatherman
Henry Kissinger fulfilling his dream of being a weatherman.Info: Orlando Sentinel, May 15 1991
Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 01, 2021 -
Comments (5)
Category: Television | Diplomacy and Foreign Relations | 1990s | Weather
Miss Lovely Eyes
"Contestants in the Miss Lovely Eyes beauty pageant in Florida wearing masks to obscure the rest of their faces, circa 1930."
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 01, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | 1930s | Face and Facial Expressions
November 30, 2021
Jim Gernhart, the living corpse
In 1951, Jim Gernhart, having recently retired, decided to hold a rehearsal of his own funeral. He kept rehearsing it each subsequent year for 25 years, until finally (still alive) he gave up. Because of this annual ritual he became known as Colorado's "living corpse".He eventually died in 1980 at the age of 103.
Tampa Tribune - Jan 24, 1980
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 30, 2021 -
Comments (6)
Category: Death | Eccentrics
A History of Mechanical Horses
Read the piece here.
There should be a separate article on mechanical horses in literature. My favorite one occurs in these two novels by Roger Zelazny.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 30, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals | Inventions | Literature | Fantasy | AI, Robots and Other Automatons | Nineteenth Century | Twentieth Century
