November 30, 2009

moving the new motor


A bunch of folks built rafts out of trash a couple years ago, see, and went down the Mississippi River one summer. And if just knowing that people are still doing that doesn't make you happy, well, we're different sorts of people.

The Garden Of Bling of the Miss Rockaway Armada on the Mississippi River in Brooklyn, IL
2007
from sucka pant's flickr stream

Photobooth Smoker


Real tough guy, this one. Just lookin' for a fight. And a match.

no stats available
from stevechassmar's flickr stream

Annual Seamen's Masquerade Ball


I've always loved Popeye. His mumbling, his love for the oddly shaped Olive, his massive forearms. As a kid, my favorite parts of the cartoons were when he'd swallow the spinach and those arms would break out in muscles that became battle ships or explosions, and then POW! he'd knock some jerk's block off. Simple lessons from a simple character: eat right, stay near the ocean, don't take no crap, appreciate your goil.

Popeye Comics #8
1949, illustrator Bud Sagendorf
from Cover Browser

DJ Digital Watch


What's up with that pack of smokes in the background? How old is this kid?

Deventer, The Netherlands
no stats available
from time tales

November 23, 2009

Commie hunks in trunks


What an odd thing to have to look at every time you light a match. I would think that making propaganda every day like this would pretty much drop the effect, wouldn't it?

Russian matchbox cover
no stats available
from wackystuff's flickr stream

Strongman of Engine Company No. 9


I just want to know how they got up there.

Los Angeles, California
1914
from LA Fire Department Historical Archive

Adventurers Club of Denmark


Because sometimes things simply have to exist.

Egypt
1963, photographer Paul Schutzer
from LIFE

The City of Dreadful Night


Ah, look at that printing! I regret that I can't get the person who made this to show me his technique. The little elephant logo in the bottom right is also very cool.

Allahabad, India
1891, author Rudyard Kipling, wish I could credit the printmaster
A. H. Wheeler & Co. Indian Railway Library
from New York University Library

colors not found in nature


I feel like this is the cheesiest picture I've posted up; it might as well be a postcard or a trashy novel cover. The thing is, this is honestly what many Florida sunsets look like, all pink and orange and water and palms and Spanish moss in the oak trees. Trade out buildings and a parking lot for the river? bay? inlet? there, and you've got the sunsets I can see from my porch every evening it isn't raining. Looks fake, is real: the secret of Florida's success, right up until Disney twisted that.

Welaka, Florida
no stats available
from Welaka Lodge

Watson and the Shark


The boy in the water, in shock, his right foot gone down the monster's throat! His horrified crew mates racing to his rescue, fighting the chop of the bay, throwing a rope he can't think to grasp, almost tumbling over the side themselves to drag him to safety! The shark circles and strikes again and again, despite the men who battle it!

Later in life, when Watson grew from ship's boy to baronet, his coat of arms displayed the "Latin motto Scuto Divino, meaning "under God's protection," the design places Neptune, god of the sea, at the apex, brandishing a trident to repel an attacking shark, and in the upper left corner of the shield, prominently displayed, is his missing right leg!"

The painting hangs in the National Gallery of Art and the attack took place in Havana, Cuba.
Attack, 1749. Painting, 1778. Artist, John Singleton Copley.
from The National Gallery of Art, seen first (as so often is the case) at the blog Uncertain Times

November 17, 2009

Robin Wrestles Will Stuteley at Gamewell


I had this version of Robin Hood as a kid and consumed it in big bites, made many meals of it. I love the myth in all versions - there are particular good spins on Hood in both Once and Future King and The Last Unicorn - but Wyeth's drawings will always be Robin to me.

Robin Hood by Paul Creswick
1917, illustrations by N.C. Wyeth
from Project Gutenberg

November 16, 2009

Clarence Clemons & Bruce Springsteen, sitting in a tree...


Have you ever seen a Springsteen concert live?
I've seen two and at both of them, Bruce and his massive horn player, Clarence Clemons have kissed each other on the lips. It's rather shocking the first time you see it because these are two obviously extremely, well, men who like women a LOT and yet, when they kiss it is with great passion and bravado, great energy and obvious love.

*Bless Our Hearts blog

LA, California
1985, photographer Neal Preston
from CORBIS

corset and cock


Sometimes sexy is more about what they leave on than what they take off. And sometimes you just hope he's wearing button-fly britches.

no stats available
from milf4jim's flickr stream

November 15, 2009

Two sergeants, 4th Light Dragoons


To the modrn eye, these guys are a little silly looking. But I suspect they led their troops as bravely as any modern marine, regardless of their bellhop uniforms.

Crimean Peninsula
1855, photographer Roger Fenton
from All World Wars

señores metidos en cajas de metal para terapia Radio-Vitant*


This doesn't look comfortable, even with the chest windows. I wonder what this was treatment for.

*gentlemen put into metal boxes for radio treatment
1920
from Desconfianza Absoluta

kangaroo boxing


One ticket, please!

no stats available
from Theremina's flickr stream

November 11, 2009


More than slightly creepy, really, but I'm a sucker for a cowgirl pn up. Plus, I dig the lettering. Handsome stuff.

Postcard from the E.C. Kropp Co.
1940s
from Viewliner Ltd

VENGEANCE IS MINE


Now, that is super classic broad-with-a-gun pulp illustrating. The artist did great stuff with light - the hair, the slip, the gun half hidden in shadows under her.

Spicy Detective Stories
1936
from Cover Browser

Peeking over the Berlin Wall


Do you think they were communicating with someone? Just checking it out? Talking politics? Was this a date? Were they looking for relatives? Is she crying?

Berlin, Germany
Cold War era
from CarlaCarlaCarlaCarla's flickr stream

November 10, 2009

Entertainers at Sammy's-on-the-Bowery


Don't threaten these two ladies with a good time.

NYC, NY
1944-45, photographer Arthur "Weegee" Fellig
from Amber Online

November 9, 2009

Fighting Cholitas


In the unlikely chance that I ever get to Bolivia, I've got to go see the cholitas fight. They're female luchadores, but instead of the tights and masks they wear traditional skirts and braids and fight like tigers!

Bolivia
2008, photographer Ivan Kashinsky
from National Geographic Magazine

kissing at the punk house


What we miss with photography is the loud music that I have no doubt was playing. I especially like the bird he's only half paying attention to shooting.

Ireland
1980s
from wally's picasa stream

November 3, 2009

As Old As Creation


And on the 7th day, God created Syphilis. And He said, "Ain't that a bitch."

WPA Poster
1936 or 37
from The Library of Congress

chop sticks in space


I'm a kid of my generation. I grew up watching footage of astronauts floating in their tin can, chomping m&ms like Pacman and slurping floating balls of juice with a straw. he chopsticks seem like a good idea to me. If something starts to get away, they would add to your reach.

Discovery Shuttle
1985, subject Ellison Onizuka
from NASA

Suzuki Beane


my name is suzuki beane
i have a pad on bleeker street
with hugh and marcia


My Aunt Lynn read this book to my sisters and I, about a beatnik kid in the big city. I wish I had a copy to show all the new babies around me. I miss my Aunt Lynn.

Suzuki Beane
1961, written by Sandra Scoppettone, illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh
from vintage kids' books my kid loves

Motorcycle diva


Do you think she has kids now? Do you think they know how goddam cool she is?

no stats available
1970s
from Albert's EYE's flickr stream

Buddha drive by


Assignment: write a story about this photo in 4 lines or less.

no stats available
from signs and wonders's flickr stream

November 2, 2009

James Stephens (exercising).


Before he was a writer, he was an Irish gymnast. I bet he liked showing off.

gelatin silver print
1925
from the NY Public Library

Haunted Castle


I'm easily spooked, but how can you beat a dragon castle?

Miracle Strip Amusement Park, Panama City, Florida
1960s
from King Power Cinema's flickr stream

Mystery Adventure


Sometimes, I really feel a lack of adventure in my life.

“Zenith Rand, Planet Vigilante”
1936, illustrator Norman Saunders
from eFanzines.com

Space Chicken


I don't know what their game is, but I sort of want to play.

New York
1951
from hastingraham's flickr stream

November 1, 2009

Meat Market


You think times don't change? Talk about treating women like meat.

Georgia House of Representatives, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia
mid 1970s
from the Georgia Archives

Janice and I lounging on the Taylor


Doesn't that look like a good time? Layed back on your speed boat, just taking the breeze.

Winfield Lake, Kansas
1975
from gtotiger68's flickr stream

Frank and David wrassle


These are happy guys.

San Francisco
1970s
from Mr. Flikker's flickr stream, and if you are interested in gay recent history, click that link.