tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90322769061344575402011-09-28T20:22:13.637-07:00Sideshow of visual curiosities & cultural wondersadminnoreply@blogger.comBlogger861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-35032125738963253852010-02-10T07:38:00.001-08:002010-02-10T07:40:07.206-08:00

Blaise Pascal's fear of the immense spaces made visible by CG animation and expressed in a blog.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-21393143634962865542010-02-07T11:22:00.000-08:002010-02-07T11:24:12.905-08:00

The sentiments of modernity were never more clearly stated.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-27266615617675883112009-11-28T18:00:00.000-08:002010-09-28T04:17:19.472-07:00

Just in case you missed the previous scene in which the title character has sex with a woman, kills her, splatters her blood all over her room and then chops off her fingers, director Richard Stanley underscores the character's evil nature by having him pose in front of a mounted animal skull. And just in case you miss this shot, the character goes back into the house and sets it on fire with

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-12966027711577676702009-11-28T16:40:00.000-08:002009-11-28T16:54:02.088-08:00

This logo for a hair styling salon from the late seventies/early eighties melds male and female, science and art.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-46930532692468616932009-11-28T16:38:00.000-08:002009-11-28T16:53:27.229-08:00

Electric typewriter and manual paste up from a comic book zine (c) mid-1970s.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-13049378712133390312009-10-29T20:27:00.000-07:002009-10-29T23:23:02.125-07:00

Videotapes are turned into modern art-like gibberish to simulate an out-of-focus background. From Family Guy episode Road to Rhode Island.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-4133655318470146492009-09-01T10:18:00.000-07:002009-09-03T23:56:48.752-07:00

“A deer is a symbolism for a messenger of spirits in Japanese culture. The current collection of work is inspired from the spiritual landscape juxtaposed with simple observation of life. Like the surface of water, reflecting both the branches above and the ripples obscuring the dark rocks below, my work is about both what is seen and what is unseen.” —Fumi Watanabe The Ikea PJÄTTERYD print by

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-4777890735612206742009-02-18T08:53:00.000-08:002009-03-25T11:26:21.987-07:00

Discipline-based art education has made Pollock simulations like these common throughout elementary schools in California. This one does a good job of capturing the density, scale and composition of one of Pollock's drip paintings.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-38921277597722868382009-02-17T06:20:00.000-08:002009-02-17T20:07:34.204-08:00

Create your own Pollock online at jacksonpollock.org. Curiously, when you're done, the software signs the image , "Mitos Manetas, 2003."

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-56156285244392590732009-01-31T13:26:00.000-08:002009-01-31T13:28:08.949-08:00

Painting by controversial child artist Marla ("My child could paint that") Omstead.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-47196661443557286622009-01-31T13:21:00.001-08:002009-02-01T20:42:55.653-08:00

Barack Obama's ear seems to scream in terror at his own driving.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-85068111631732191132008-07-03T13:39:00.000-07:002009-02-01T10:26:09.128-08:00

A beautiful crash image from Final Cut Pro

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-71567680929464347772008-07-03T13:12:00.001-07:002009-02-01T10:26:09.129-08:00

A Pollock-inspired painting opens the scene in the girls' art class at St. Francis Academy.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-73103315602380613722008-07-03T13:04:00.000-07:002009-02-01T10:26:09.130-08:00

"Don't like nudes?" asks James Coburn as Flynt. When he presses a button, a nude sculpture disappears and a nude painting flips around to be replaced by Giacometti and Pollock look alikes.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-52354675829904290372008-04-28T08:13:00.000-07:002009-01-31T13:29:34.106-08:00

A public service announcement turned music video and then rappified for additional hipness. Curiously interspersed with non-hip computer programmer interviews.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-59586000458368394582007-11-29T09:53:00.000-08:002008-07-03T15:38:57.282-07:00

You would think that a cinematographer would be especially sensitive to the old "tree coming out of the head" problem. You would think. From cinematographer Nicola Pecorini's website.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-75493968044380636122007-07-25T10:00:00.000-07:002007-07-24T12:21:30.831-07:00

Before the era of satellites and radar imagery, the earth was typically depicted as a cloudless world globe, like something you'd see in an elementary school classroom. Clouds were apparently seen as scattered local, not global phenomena, and the idea that the atmosphere provides protection from a powerful sun had not yet entered the popular imagination. Above: Topps Space Card, 1958.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-71385234593765616512007-07-12T09:42:00.001-07:002010-09-28T04:18:38.618-07:00

A dragonfly buzzes close by while a crocodile eats a fish in the distance? A huge, prehistoric dragonfly is engaged in a life and death struggle with the crocodile for a fish? Only the illustrator knows for sure. From Usborne's The Great Prehistoric Search (2004).

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-90502315488418728272007-07-04T06:00:00.000-07:002008-07-03T15:41:26.500-07:00

In comic books and illustration, artists frequently depict persons on video screens three-dimensionally as if they are actually inside the TV. A more accurate rendition would show the televised person drawn to match the flat perspective of the video screen. I asked established comic book artist Bob McLeod about this convention. He kindly replied that it's usually a result of expedience and

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-38317780976808734842007-07-03T15:20:00.000-07:002009-02-01T10:26:31.250-08:00

The tables at Todai restaurant in Arcadia, California, are covered with a Formica-like laminate that looks like a Pollock painting.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-2230155038023328122007-06-21T12:41:00.000-07:002008-07-03T13:39:25.255-07:00

In 2007, Youtube's CAPTCHA feature made a surprisingly capable abstract image generator. Some of my favorite creations appear above. The artistic CAPTCHAs are, unfortunately, no more.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-61285578635163243802007-06-16T15:22:00.000-07:002007-06-21T00:58:39.400-07:00

This gallery of images proves one thing: crazy people in films and TV are untidy, obsessive and have no respect for walls.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-19645008545987132252007-06-05T08:49:00.001-07:002007-06-16T23:59:09.091-07:00

The Claw (not to be confused with the not-nearly-hideous-enough Yellow Claw) was not human, but the God of Hate. Originating in Asia The Claw had various powers including the ability to grow to a tremendous size.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-52693696831715641382007-06-05T08:44:00.000-07:002007-06-05T08:51:06.202-07:00

Stylized Japanese soldier by Louis Hirschman for the Federal Art Project. This WPA poster uses the British term "fag" for cigarette butt.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-26916108372564451272007-06-05T08:41:00.001-07:002009-10-29T23:29:35.346-07:00

Here, an agent from the "Japanese Secret Service" reveals his true identity. Question: what is the makeup paint used for since no Japanese spy flesh is exposed? Also, note the box labeled "Capt. Freedom costume." Give the Japanese credit for being organized in a foreign language.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-32931959279258826062007-06-01T20:38:00.000-07:002007-06-02T07:54:38.897-07:00

In the animated Batman episode "Perchance to Dream," Bruce Wayne awakens to find himself living an ideal life—his parents are still alive and he's getting married to Selina Kyle. But he soon realizes that things aren't as they seem. One clue: everything he tries to read looks like gibberish. Features the villainous Mad Hatter.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-90621627787079201962007-06-01T19:41:00.002-07:002007-06-21T01:00:58.554-07:00

When I first saw the bottles in this illustration from the children's book Alexander the Windup Mouse, I thought the text was Russian. A second glance suggests that the text is intentionally obscured English (collage materials in the other illustrations appear in English).

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-38530219550173254572007-06-01T19:39:00.000-07:002007-06-01T19:40:53.123-07:00

Dialog box from Illustrator crash on OS X.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-9930684567305613072007-06-01T07:46:00.000-07:002007-06-05T10:06:16.439-07:00

An apparent printer error caused this page to print out as gibberish. I think this is a term paper. Found at a school computer lab.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-31798423596483498012007-01-25T15:35:00.000-08:002007-06-17T00:47:53.586-07:00

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-81788671407251480652007-01-20T12:06:00.000-08:002009-01-31T13:41:21.126-08:00

Beachside impressionist painting with multiple vanishing points. By S. Sam Park.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-40658245637613798912007-01-18T02:47:00.000-08:002007-01-18T16:27:36.346-08:00

An eerie suburban Shishigami ponders Boggle in the King of the Hill episode "Peggy the Boggle Champ," 1997.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-26451284622827144772006-11-28T16:22:00.000-08:002009-11-28T16:50:48.687-08:00

Cut-and-paste high school club underground newsletter c. mid 1970s.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-44431947307335599462006-10-31T20:20:00.000-08:002007-10-12T21:07:13.989-07:00

The clip art-like headphones, poorly formed iPod-esque silhouette, interpretation-by-slanting sound icons and over-the-top "you're a star" iconography help to make this Microsoft ad look like an old guy's idea of cool.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-17026919461664210912006-09-19T21:00:00.000-07:002007-01-18T12:30:44.577-08:00

Positioning of baby in relationship to the cow jumping over the moon results in a disturbing anomaly in this Disneyesque illustration. From Babies Love to Play Peek-a-Boo by Nancy Parent.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-76549398535798318542006-09-11T05:00:00.000-07:002006-08-15T23:43:17.206-07:00

In this newspaper photo taken after the 2004 Tsunami in Asia (top), a boat stranded on a house seems to defy gravity. Disney's Typhoon Lagoon in Florida (bottom) also features a stranded boat. But having to appeal to our intuitve sense of what is plausible, the boat balances at the top of a butte precariously—but more believably.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-49262683488123889152006-09-05T23:43:00.000-07:002007-01-18T12:31:07.829-08:00

Having a skull made from a buzz saw has apparently not diminished this model's career opportunities. Perhaps the film convention of reading images sequentially instead of simultaneously made the alignment problem of the two photos invisible to the art director. Another oddity: the Photoshopped Imagecare logo jumps from the rescuer's right lapel to his left. From American Cinematographer, April

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-62694451706944544882006-08-28T10:00:00.000-07:002006-08-15T23:57:29.441-07:00

In these examples, dinner goes de stijl when corned beef, toast, chocolate ice cream and pate de fois gras are abstracted into purified geometric form. In Conquest of Space, the pills are part of the storyline; they distinguish ordinary spacemen from those being prepared for a flight to the moon. In the Jetsons episode Test Pilot, Jane cooks by "dialing" George's meal into pill form. In Santa

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-55530546915590696142006-08-27T23:58:00.000-07:002008-07-03T13:49:49.909-07:00

Portrayed in endless variations, the wheel space station seemed at one time to be an inevitable step in the conquest of space. I wonder if the mystique of the wheel design stems in part from a misreading of the original 1952 von Braun/Bonestell illustration (shown above). The square panels on the outside of the space station are slats that open and close to control temperature. Yet, at a glance,

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-81867229120629120552006-08-26T17:27:00.001-07:002006-08-26T17:27:50.553-07:00

When I was in Japan (I can't remember whether it was the late 80's or 90's) I found this illustration on a kleenex box. I like it as an example of an outsider's point of view. Here, the entire West Coast is visualized as a Southern California skateboarder's paradise. Berkeley and San Francisco are engulfed by LA County, and Oregon and Washington are nowhere to be seen.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-35957222055653940222006-08-26T17:21:00.000-07:002009-01-31T13:42:27.442-08:00

The award-winning but much maligned Beef Producers' Cool 2 B real website showed girls how to live a healthy lifestyle that included beef consumption. The site has now transitioned into zip4tweens. Above is an image of the original pre-transitioned site. Other commercial food sites targeted at kids—pork4kids.com Arianna's Food Force one (Dairy Council) Kid's cube activities and games (Sugar

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-24118425815197982852006-08-26T05:00:00.000-07:002006-08-26T06:18:38.502-07:00

In The Amazing Spiderman #55, Doctor Octopus telecommutes to work from his secret hideaway. Artist John Romita adds horizontal lines to simulate video scan lines.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-12884188190624326802006-08-25T15:33:00.001-07:002006-08-25T15:33:56.762-07:00

Mimeograph machines printed inexpensive copies in a distinctive purple ink. They were ubiquitous throughout schools for a good part of the 20th century. Often powered by hand crank, the mimeograph (also called a "ditto machine") used a master created by typing, drawing or writing on special pressure-sensitive master paper. Shown above is a page from a 70s era mimeographed fanzine.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-35874488419311711102006-08-25T15:32:00.000-07:002006-08-25T15:33:42.387-07:00

In a fit of typographic obsession, this ad continues for five more handwritten eight-column tabloid pages. From a 70s newsprint fanzine.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-27339333402841469892006-08-25T15:31:00.000-07:002006-08-25T15:32:29.466-07:00

This aquarium supply catalog from the 70s is an example of manual paste up with electric typewriter-produced galleys. Half of the catalog is inadvertantly stapled together upside down. Printed in blue, not mimeographed.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-46661541841332520562006-08-25T10:13:00.000-07:002007-01-18T12:10:19.661-08:00

In this panel from Fantastic Four #6 Part 3, Reed Richards literally appears as a talking head.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-48738043739034226612006-08-25T09:58:00.000-07:002006-08-25T10:00:05.267-07:00

The Enterprise circles a globe-like Earth when it ventures from the future to 1968 in the Star Trek episode Assignment Earth. This episode, featuring Robert Lansing and Teri Garr, was a pilot that was never picked up.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-32477100936890324672006-08-25T09:53:00.000-07:002007-01-19T09:49:14.027-08:00

The Earth in the Universal Studios mark is a cloudless globe even today. This version is from 1946-1963.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-81299525165407616282006-08-25T09:10:00.000-07:002006-09-02T00:20:16.399-07:00

This illustration with a lovely informal lower border is from Exploring Science Four, an elementary school textbook from 1962. The accompanying text states, "a few hundred miles from the Earth there is little or no air. And so there is no fluid friction to slow down things that are moving." To make the point, this image shows the Earth's atmosphere unlike the other images in this section. Notice

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-17479755549978793332006-08-25T09:00:00.000-07:002007-06-17T01:00:48.148-07:00

This illustration from Exploring Space, a Little Golden Book published in 1958, strangely thwarts the convention of showing the Earth with the Northern Hemisphere at the top. The effect is so odd that it makes me wonder if the artwork is printed upside down. Using Sputnik-era language, the author refers to this satellite as a "little moon."

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-25294313832275216822006-08-22T11:48:00.000-07:002007-01-19T09:42:57.164-08:00

In the fifties, cowboys may have been at home on the range, but their heads were sometimes trapped in TVs. From Young Reader's Color-Picture Dictionary for Reading, Writing, and Spelling for Grades 1-2-3, 1958.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-64412910573518684702006-08-21T21:42:00.000-07:002007-01-18T11:54:32.374-08:00

This website started out as a collection of pop culture examples for use in my classes. Over the years it has expanded to include items from my various collections, ideas for future research, and materials for visual reference. Topics include exotica, modernity, incongruities, pictoral conventions and ephemera with an emphasis on the way ideas and images come into being. The collections are an

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-76437708523666436732006-08-20T17:48:00.000-07:002007-01-18T04:28:29.151-08:00

In the Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever, Kirk and Spock travel back to the twentieth century—AGAIN—where usual bad girl Joan Collins plays good girl Edith Keeler. In this case, Keeler's goodness includes the ability to forsee a utopian future in which the world's problems have been solved by science.[view 846k Quicktime video]

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-73149488882712766622006-08-20T17:12:00.000-07:002006-08-15T23:59:56.414-07:00

The modern preoccupation with the infinite discloses a peculiar tension. On the one hand, infinity dwarfs us making us feel inconsequential. On the other hand, by claiming that we understand the relative size of things, we give ourselves a position which is a form of power.Things to Come, 1936 [view 7.4 MB Quicktime video]The Fly, 1958 [view 6.2 MB Quicktime video]Planet of the Apes, 1968 [view

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-19781962343895774022006-08-20T17:11:00.001-07:002010-02-10T07:38:28.308-08:00

I feel engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces whereof I know nothing, and which know nothing of me, I am terrified. The eternal silence of these infinite spaces alarms me.—Blaise Pascal, Pensees, 1660The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-18249289055995108362006-08-16T23:36:00.000-07:002006-08-15T23:37:10.442-07:00

The ultimate dream of modern social science is expressed in the character of The Thinker. From Fantastic Four #15

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-46661738948637968912006-08-16T23:32:00.000-07:002007-06-01T16:00:31.603-07:00

This illustration from Computer and video games: how they work and how to win shows games genericized with fake English labels. Keeping with the theme of genericization, the date of this 1982 publication is omitted from the book.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-87549557632059066932006-08-16T23:31:00.000-07:002007-01-17T02:10:08.136-08:00

"Ever play one of these?" asks the caption under the image of a cartoon bee. In this 1984 ad for its sampling keyboard, it is ambiguous whether Kurzweil envisions creativity as a form of interpretive exaggeration, genetic manipulation or theatrical costuming.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-36798150599190501722006-08-15T23:58:00.001-07:002006-08-15T23:58:42.751-07:00

Whether wearing black or white, bad guys often come in shiny technological multiples. In the following films, scientifically uniform villains contrast with the unique, often rag-tag subjectivity of heroes.The Mighty Ducks [view 1.1 MB Quicktime video]Twister [view 2.2 MB Quicktime video]The Matrix Reloaded [view 700k Quicktime video]Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones [view 876k Quicktime

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-55935767224562304632006-08-15T23:57:00.003-07:002006-08-15T23:57:58.996-07:00

Manchurian Candidate, 2004 The Cell, 2000Dark City, 1998Se7en, 1995The Omen, 1976

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-12693648516841505282006-08-15T23:51:00.000-07:002006-08-15T23:59:35.341-07:00

Warnings against modern hubris and the God-like power to control or create a world resonate in the Frankenstein myth. Three examples—Frankenstein, 1931 [view 7.1 MB Quicktime video]Deep Blue Sea, 1999 [view 8.3 MB Quicktime video]Jurassic Park III, 2001 [view 3.9 MB Quicktime video]

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-26501326318994810882006-08-15T23:42:00.003-07:002006-08-15T23:42:44.717-07:00

In a disquieting scene, snowmen cheerfully consume snow cones for a midnight snack. From the 2005 children's book Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn and Mark Buehner.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-78361711425363375752006-08-15T23:42:00.001-07:002009-01-31T13:43:23.387-08:00

In the middle of the last century, aliens were typically portrayed as "little green men." Often shown wearing spacesuits and helmets with antenna, little green men were sometimes fearsome (see the infamous Topps "Mars Attacks" bubblegum cards from 1962), sometimes comic (see I Love Lucy, "Lucy is Envious," 1954; My Favorite Martian, 1963; Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, 1964; The Flintstones'

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-18904272198637874682006-08-15T23:41:00.003-07:002008-07-03T13:46:12.726-07:00

Problem in the Spiderman 1 Flash website turns video of costume designer James Acheson into Baconesque portrait.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-87712292196449088172006-08-15T23:41:00.001-07:002006-08-15T23:41:20.456-07:00

This video montage shows the similarities between scenes in Titanic (1997) and Disney's Aladdin (1992). Here, free spirits Jack and Aladdin literally show their loves a new point of view—an escape from tradition expressed metaphorically as gravity. The idea is not to suggest that Titanic is derivative, but to show how an understanding of freedom as escape from oppressive tradition resonates in

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-25828206434495345072006-08-15T23:40:00.005-07:002006-08-15T23:40:54.039-07:00

I believe I bought this mysterious tag in the early 80's with the intent of using it in an art piece. Having forgotten where it came from, what I was going to use it for, and exactly what it is, it is now truly a mysterious tag.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-54858675208549368962006-08-15T23:40:00.003-07:002006-08-15T23:40:40.199-07:00

Baby polar bear and baby seal play next to an eskimo wearing an outfit lined with the fur of an undesignated mammal. From Baby Beluga by Raffi, 1997.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-53495043966300888422006-08-15T23:39:00.003-07:002007-01-18T12:04:14.233-08:00

These comic book panels are from Fantastic Four #19. Here, Rama Tut expresses his existential boredom—what Heidegger refers to as langeweile. For Tut, as with Heidegger, the solution to boredom is to "live dangerously!" Only by living in the "danger zone" can things once again reveal themselves as charged with meaning.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-68995608792822308152006-08-15T23:39:00.001-07:002008-07-03T21:45:23.984-07:00

When I was in Japan (I can't remember whether it was the late 80's or 90's) I found this illustration on a kleenex box. I like it as an example of an outsider's point of view. Here, the entire West Coast is visualized as a Southern California skateboarder's paradise. Berkeley and San Francisco are engulfed by LA County, and Oregon and Washington are nowhere to be seen.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-23339153883248693572006-08-15T23:38:00.007-07:002006-08-15T23:38:59.181-07:00

Thanks to Ward for this Star Trek card from 1979.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-61240092618127850592006-08-15T23:38:00.005-07:002006-08-15T23:38:44.971-07:00

Page from a Victorian scrapbook.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-56356021868666385652006-08-15T23:38:00.003-07:002009-01-31T13:44:15.762-08:00

World War II's V-2 rocket still cast its spell on rocket ship design of the late sixties—at least for this eight year old. By the seventies, Star Wars will have permanently eradicated the V-2's pervasive influence.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-53055374267290994812006-08-15T23:38:00.001-07:002006-08-15T23:38:17.306-07:00

The key to modern poster composition as described in Modern Lettering for Pen and Brush, a Speedball lettering book from 1938.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-23191571187231817702006-08-15T23:37:00.003-07:002007-01-18T04:31:29.101-08:00

With the inclusion of a steering wheel, playability trumps accuracy in the design of this playground train.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-64800619295144743912006-08-15T23:37:00.001-07:002006-08-15T23:37:31.182-07:00

Underground political newsletter from Hawaii private high school, 1974.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-29320577642746525452006-08-15T23:36:00.001-07:002006-08-15T23:36:36.330-07:00

In 2001 we purchased a house in LA that was built in the 50's. In the original (but no longer valid) Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions document, we found a clause stating that the lot could not be used or occupied by "any person not of the white or Caucasian race, excepting such as are in the employ on the premises of the record owner or resident...."

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-91369554083197051672006-08-15T23:35:00.000-07:002009-01-31T13:45:29.033-08:00

In 1997 Art Center's website asked you to change the browser font, window size and links preferences to view its site properly.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-44962666951917382372006-08-15T23:33:00.004-07:002007-01-17T07:27:24.323-08:00

This page from a 30 year old wholesaler's catalog contains non-iconic images of the 70s.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-75615265632332622912006-08-15T23:33:00.003-07:002006-08-15T23:33:37.150-07:00

This was originally an interface test that evolved into thoughts on modernism which eventually got incorporated into a course. Don't forget to point and click. A distant ancestor of this site.[view 100k Flash file]

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-53111757992584041462006-08-14T23:39:00.000-07:002007-01-18T12:05:34.022-08:00

I found this comic in Jackie Annual, an English tween magazine from 1978. Sandwiched between articles on The Fonz and a blurb on Woody from the Bay City Rollers is this love story set in the future. Like Rama Tut, Floris the main character is lost in existential boredom. Also like Rama Tut, she decides that the antidote to her boredom is danger!

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-24283434185563103112006-07-09T20:40:00.000-07:002007-01-18T04:29:03.108-08:00

The universal meets the specific in this logo for a licensed general contractor. From a work solicitation flyer.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-42035837375381537172006-07-03T15:23:00.000-07:002008-07-03T15:41:09.602-07:00

In this illustration from Collier's (1959), an astronaut on the moon appears to be talking to a girl smiling mysteriously outside the space ship.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-5420820488383508522006-05-08T17:56:00.000-07:002011-05-08T18:01:11.074-07:00

Humans say goodbye to a cloudless earth as they are kidnapped for their scientific knowledge. From This Island Earth, 1955.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-59374546936313953952006-01-17T15:54:00.000-08:002007-06-01T19:50:08.777-07:00

In a future where everyone is made immortal by a wonder shot, protagonist Martin Dakan confronts his existential boredom in Wally Wood's The Precious Years. From Weird Science, 1953.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-45545751204636800102005-05-28T07:39:00.000-07:002010-09-28T03:44:12.061-07:00

In this fruit label from the 1930s, the planets, including a cloudless earth, orbit around an orange which has become the center of our solar system.

adminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9032276906134457540.post-11188067796393577452004-07-24T12:19:00.000-07:002008-07-03T21:34:54.281-07:00

In the 1959 K. Gordon Murray film Santa Claus, Santa looks down on earth using a telescope. I suppose one could argue that the earth is cloudless because in the film, Santa's castle is located in the clouds. In the film, Santa teams up with Merlin to fight the devil.

adminnoreply@blogger.com