Tuesday, April 22, 2008

What Do The Insane Prefer On The Radio?

Here, from a 1938 Radio Guide, we have a pre-Nielsen cross-section of American listeners: the inhabitants of insane asylums.

In first place is, of course, Burns and Allen -- and I don't think you had to be crazy to find them hilarious, but it helped. In second place, H. V. Kaltenborn, the respected radiojournalist, whose commentary show apparently spoke to those who are usually only spoken to by people in their own heads. Bringing up the rear, Guy Lombardo and his orchestra, their dance-hall tunes soothing the savage breast.

I doubt, if I were a radio personality, I'd ever want a radio magazine to explain my popularity as having anything to do with insanity. Granted, at the time things like homosexuality, sexually-liberated women, and writing inflammatory pamphlets would get you tossed into the booby-hatch, so you can't count the listeners as all giant-rabbit-channelers.

A critical eye will note that each of these entries hails from the CBS studios, and the notes describing the 'winners' is rather average advertising copy. Why CBS would entertain the notion of promoting their shows in the guise of 'sanitariums love us!', I can't say -- although there's the possiblity that a competitor, when approached for such a thing, said, "hey, we'll pay you double if you put CBS shows in there."


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Monday, April 21, 2008

Modern Woman Monday: More Vintage Cookbooks



Serving Up Vintage Recipes: Collecting Cook Books, by Val Ubell.

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

No Trash In The Future

I've got a 1962 "Municipal Index" -- it's essentially a catalog of manufacturers of street sweepers, steamrollers, fireplugs, and other things cities need. Most of the ads are boring, showing crap like 'features' and 'details' -- and then I run across this one from United Metal Receptacle Corp:

The implication is that, in the future, people won't recognize a freakin' trash can. I expect she's got Burger King 3000 back at home showing the kids how to use a fork and knife. As advertising goes, it serves its purpose: I'll remember the ad, and remember why it looks that way, but it implies that in the future, women can become archaeologists but they'll be dumb as posts. Smokin' hot, but dumb as posts. Thanks, 1962, for this lesson in feminism.

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Friday, April 11, 2008

High-Five Fridays #13

1)In today's ear worm news... Got La Cucaracha stuck in your head? Finding out what the song means may not be key to getting rid of it, but you should understand what you are humming. (And if it's not stuck in your head, it will now! You're welcome.)

2) I'd like to thank all those who've been participating in my CQ interview project.

Here's a bit from co-conspirator Collin:

Collin David: (Sure, you know him from this very blog; but sometimes it’s fun to also be the interviewee. He also can be found at his own blog, ResonantFish.com, and in the CQ Community.)

#1 Among other things: I primarily collect Batman stuff and action figures of all kinds. Secondary (but still scary) collections include vinyl records, art, robots, squid, DVDs and videos, trade paperback comics, Legos, gaming miniatures, trading cards, all kinds of books, scrap pieces of plastic, wood, metal and beyond, instruments. I’m actually slimming down a bit due to space concerns. And when I say ‘concerns’, I mean ‘am I going to be crushed in the night?’

3) A high-five for Silent Porn Star's mention on Dancing With The Stars (NWS) (even if it was an odd coincidence, not a real plug).

4) We like random factoids, especially when they're fun.

5) Speaking of buses...



Thanks to brasmeta01 for posting it.

Want to give high-fives too? Participation is a lot like Thursday Thirteen, only your post is links to who and what you like. (Plus, it's only 5 instead of 13!)

Find out how to give your High-Five Fridays here!

The purpose of this meme is to give high-fives to 5 people, posts, blogs and/or websites you've admired during the week. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 5 high-fives on Friday. Trackbacks, pings, linky widgets, comment links accepted!

Visiting fellow High-Fivers is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your High-Fives in others comments (please note if NWS).



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Friday, April 4, 2008

Craft-Scan Friday: Get Yer Space-Age Santas Here

Remember the 60's and how they promised us a future of hover cars and jet-pack travel? Well, some of us do, anyway. The rest of you can put down your Tommee Tippee cups and see why the rest of us all believed so hard.

See, our moms were busy creating space-age Christmases. Just like Ethel Peterson who had covered the face of her clock (now at a thrift shop near you) with a half-circle of gold-flocked cardboard. "Stars, pasted onto the blue crepe paper, give 'sky' effect."



Pretty potent stuff, merging forever, the idea of travel, space, and free gifts.

Here Santa rides a rocket -- which they call a "jet" ("cut from linoleum rolls and covered with shelf paper, then painted"). Not only better than that, a reindeer rests on the rings of Saturn.



What the heck can be better than typing "a reindeer rests on the rings of Saturn"? Seeing it. I can't wait to make hundreds for next year's holiday craft fair.

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Meat-za Pizza


Some assembly required; not available in all 50 states.

(Tell us how to serve and eat that, Louella!)

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"Lowbrow, No-Brow, Pop Surrealism" -- Our Kind Of Thing

From Brooklyn Dispatches, by James Kalm:
“You know, I’m completely ignorant of that artist’s work. I try not to pay any attention to art history.” I heard these words from a slight, young European artist, a lock of hair strategically hanging across his left eye, just frazzled enough to be chic. I wanted to smack him upside the head; thought better, maybe just a headlock and some nuggies. It wasn’t like I was talking to him about some cult figure from Albania or Bushwick. I was referring to Robert Rauschenberg, the Robert Rauschenberg. I’d bumped into this kid after closing time on a Sunday afternoon in the “Killing Room” at a Williamsburg gallery.

Where the following video can be found...
James Kalm ventures out east to visit an exhibition which melds the influences of Graffiti, Surrealism, science-fiction illustration and cartoon art titled "Pop Subversion". Curated by Andrew Ford, this exhibition inhabits an undefined realm that many young artists currently find themselves in, between the street and the gallery, the comic book and the hallucinatory dream. Features an extended interview with Andrew Ford.

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High-Five Fridays #12

1) Giving back linky love to Tom McMahon for reading here.

2) Props must go to Boing Boing for noting how cool I am (even if it was for the dolls in a dead tree post at CQ) -- it still counts, and I'm still cool. (And thanks to William at Hang Fire Books for getting it there.)

3) Linky love, with many returns, to Learning To Share.

4) Ditto PCL LinkDump.

5) And more linky love to & from Jenn Beyer.

Want to give high-fives too? Participation is a lot like Thursday Thirteen, only your post is links to who and what you like. (Plus, it's only 5 instead of 13!)

Find out how to give your High-Five Fridays here!

The purpose of this meme is to give high-fives to 5 people, posts, blogs and/or websites you've admired during the week. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 5 high-fives on Friday. Trackbacks, pings, linky widgets, comment links accepted!

Visiting fellow High-Fivers is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your High-Fives in others comments (please note if NWS).



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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Retro Manners Refresher




(The First) Thirteen Comments On Social Awareness Tips
"From Refresh Your Table Manners", by Luella Cuming, 1964 Family Circle.


1-5 Rules for informal meals:
At an informal seated meal the hostess may pass dishes from a serving cart at her immediate left; she then serves herself last.
Jeeze, I'd hate to see the formal rules. What direction does the hostess pass? Does it suck to be left-handed then, and if so, does it suck more than serving yourself last when you know there's not going to be enough because the husband brought home 3 extra buddies?
The cart holds a water pitcher, extra silver, glasses, napkins, and any other items that may be needed during the meal. If an item is dropped by a guest, the hostess replaces it from the cart without comment.
Without comment you say... That would kill quite a bit of dinner conversation, wouldn't it? And in my family, we'd drop 'em on purpose, just to force a comment.
If you drop your fork and the hostess doesn't notice, you may use any other fork that is there -- or, without explanation, say to your hostess, "May I please have a fork?"
I agree; if the hostess doesn't notice you (how rude!), by all means, grab the meat serving fork and start shoveling.

Ever notice how the lowly spoon and knife are left out of the discussion? I'd say 67% of all utensils dropped at the table are knives.

Or maybe it's some sort of passive-aggressive thing in my family and the knives aren't really 'dropped' at all...

Movin' on...


6 Passing Food
When you help yourself to food or pass it, hold the dish from underneath so that you do not leave fingerprints on the rim.
(Will keep this PG-13. Will keep this PG-13...)

7 Hey, look, the etiquette lady apparently doesn't believe in grammar; there is no period or other punctuation at the end of most of these tips.

8-10 Yeah, Luella is only on tip number 3, but then I told you that this was 13 comments on the tips; so I'm way ahead of her.


In buffet dining, the hostess stands beside the table and encourages shy guests or offers to serve them.
You have guests too shy to eat? Isn't this one of those survival of the fittest things where we should just let nature take its course?

And what side does the hostess stand on?
Do not overload your plate; it looks unattractive and is hard to manage.
Was this 1964 B.C. -- Before Chinet?

This, though, would explain the shy people who wonder how much food on a plate is unattractive.

11-13 And now for your holy crap moment...
In table manners there are many accepted forms, all equally correct. For example, the continental fashion of eating
The continental fashion of eating? That's how people eat breakfast at hotels, right?
and the zigzag style are equally proper.
Um... Time for a little help here.

OK, I do not zigzag; I am officially a continental styled gal.
If you have your own tradition, try to develop its fine points. The suggestions here are in a widely accepted American tradition
What? No mention of how piggy eats?! Well, I guess that American tradition -- or at least its finer points -- really didn't come into full acceptance until Ralphie's brother Randy showed us in a Christmas Story in 1983.



To be continued...

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



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