January 28, 2011

The Futura

Ever notice that the letters you use to spell TYPEWRITER are all on the top row?

Royal Ad
Late 1950s

January 27, 2011

Whale shark recovered from shallow water

I don't care how harmless or dead it is, I ain't climbing down inside a god damned fish.

Florida
1912

Convertabus

I want one of these. I want a whole parade of these. Filled with musicians. Musicians dressed like pirates. In convertible buses.

Dresden
1929

January 26, 2011

A Healthy Life With Good Food

Give him some bell bottom trousers, a coat of Navy blue. Let him climb the rigging like his daddy used to do.

1920

G I Joe Christmas

That last picture plus this picture pretty much explain an entire generation.

Someone's Gramma's House
1969

Be a Public Nuisance

Hippies back then were so much shabbier than hippies today. Also, is she carrying her regular shoes? Poser.

San Francisco, CA
1967, photographer Charles W. Cushman

Happy Days

I love the look on the bird's face. "Oh, no!"

Lillian Mae Nelson in South Dakota
1912

January 25, 2011

Sassy Asses

Posed, or true to life? I bet these three had some fun. They certainly aren't dressed for fishing - I wonder what they're up to here.

no stats available

January 22, 2011

Triumphal Maximiliano

This is a parade I'd like to attend.

Emperor Maximilian I's 
Triumphal Procession of 1517
1519

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

I love this movie. And I love this poster. Especially the sandworm evoking an American flag behind him. I would hang this print in my house. Of course, have you seen my house?

Poster for a special showing at the Alamo Drafthouse
in Austin, TX
2010, artist Rich Kelly

The Slap

I have only once seen a grown man slap another grown man in anger, and it sent the fight to a whole different level than a punch would have.

1913, artists Anton & Arturo Giulio Bragaglia

January 21, 2011

Reefer Queen

If I owned a bar, I would paint one whole wall with this image.

Current Detective Magazine
1945

Ship's Cat

Man, Wockle looks like a somnofabitchin badass. Look at those back claws. For those who don't know me, I have a mean cat. Sort of the meanest cat. Meaner than you're thinking. But I may have now found her perfect mate, born too early.

Venice, Italy, aboard the USS Flusser
1924 or 25

January 17, 2011

Play With a Purpose

We did this sometimes, but without the wheel. Looks like fun.

"The Country Gentleman"
1932

Moondance

I don't care if it is an ad, it's beautiful.

Motorola Ad
1961, artist Charles Shriddle

January 16, 2011

Not the Pigs

He's hip, but he doesn't plan ahead.

Seattle, WA
1968, photographer Fred Lonidier

thigh man

At first I was thinking this was some sort of strange beauty pageant, but, looking at it, I think we was checking to make sure their bathing suits were long enough. Also, you know, groping some thigh.

Seattle, WA
1930s

January 12, 2011

with gusto

Three of the elements are shared by all creatures, but fire was a gift to humans alone. Smoking cigarettes is as intimate as we can become with fire without immediate excruciation. Every smoker is an embodiment of Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and bringing it all back home. We smoke to capture the power of the sun, to pacify Hell, to identify with the primordial spark, to feed on the marrow of the volcano. It's not the tobacco we're after but the fire. When we smoke, we are performing a version of the fire dance, a ritual as ancient as lightning.
[Still Life With Woodpecker, Tom Robbins]

French erotic magazine Paris Plaisirs
1932

January 11, 2011

De Gracy and Dalton

Honestly, I could just as easily picked any other picture from this collection. They're all amazing. My friend Tay said of one, "That's not a mug shot, that's fashion photography." As far as these two, between the eyes and the scar, I want to write a series of novels about their exploits.

Central Police Station, Sydney
1920

Through the Periscope

The more I look at these pictures, the more history seems staged.

The Gifu Maru, seen from the USS Seawolf
 in the Philippines-East Indies area
1942

Skateopia

I remember first reading about this place in the pages of Big brother Skateboard Magazine more than 10 years ago. It's a big skateboarder/artist/punk/bluegrass colony out in the boondocks. Lots of naked skating and blowing shit up for the fun of it. Looks like a hell of a time, but I sort of feel like everyone there is going to suddenly grow donkey ears and start braying.

Somewhere in Ohio
2009, photographer Morgan Ashcom
led there by uncertain times

January 10, 2011

Tunnel Men

Do you suppose this photo influenced the look of the movie Metropolis?

London Underground
1898

Third Army Louisiana Maneuvers

Action shot!

Camp Polk, LA
1943

The Dirigible

I'm not a steampunk, but I get why they're so inspired by shit like this.

1910, photographer Alfred Stieglitz

Crops

Where are you going so fast in your space farm?

artist, Paul Alexander

January 9, 2011

Queen of the Cha Cha

The thing about the French Quarter is, despite all the bead shops and Big Ass Beers, parts of it are still just like this.

New Orleans, LA
1962
from And everything else, too

January 8, 2011

keep in touch

I'm inspired. I'm going to put this aside for a bit and work on a personal letterhead. Want mail? Send your street address and two questions for me to answer (I have to have something to write about, right?) to me at drunkonpabst at gmail dot com.

Ray Bradbury's Letterhead
seen on Letterheady,
that side suggested by nursing buddha, abridged

make your orders plain

Oh, I expect the maid understood perfectly. You know, it is a wonder to me that more rich people weren't simply murdered in their beds throughout history.

1913, artist Roy Van Nice

Ghosts Appear Everywhere

Moved in a new house today. Moving was hard, but I got squared away. Bells started whistlin' and chains rattled loud. I knew I moved in a haunted house.

Adventures into Terror #25
1953, artist Bill Benulis

The Damned watching The Germs's 1st show

As Pat Smear put it, "We made noise. Darby stuck the mic in a jar of peanut butter. It was a dare, we had no songs or anything! Lorna wore her pants inside out, and Darby covered himself in red licorice...we made noise for five minutes until they threw us off." 
Basically, this photo is hilarious to me. They can't even look.

Orpheum Theater, LA, CA
1977

January 6, 2011

Calliope Player

Using the excess steam to make that boat sing.

Aboard the Princess
photographer Lawrence J. Neumann

UNEXPLODED BOMB

Who needs a bomb when you have an honest-to-god soapbox racer?

London
1939

sky and water

This is so damn cool. I wish the scan was larger so i could really make out the details. Morgan spent a lot of time getting this exactly right.

Postcard
1910, artist William Morgan

Ernest Borgnine as the Aquanaut

I love the little divers spearing the giant fish in the eye. I love the eels eating a guy? a barrel of toxic waste? But what drew me in was the trident styling on the E.

The Neptune Factor
1973

January 4, 2011

inky

I looked at this one for a while, enjoying all the little details in this tiny tattoo shop, before I realized that the gent in the back was expressing his opinion on being photographed.

Hamburg, Germany
1948

America's Most Famous Comic Hero

Joe Palooka: he's got options.

Harvey Comics
1948, illustrator Ham Fisher

Billie Holiday

Nothing to add.

1949
photographer Carl Von Vechten

Joan R. Kammer: Champion, Marksman, Marine.

I like her. She looks like she's got spunk.

12th Naval District
1954

The Best With Love, Carmen

Oh, to be Uncle Gil.

Carmen Hall, Gil Gray Circus
1978

please don't scare the birds

A trapper boy opened and closed the big doors that kept fresh air trapped down in the mine once it was forced there. He sat in the dark unless a cart came through with a light or he could bum a candle somewhere. He went into the hole before down and came out by moonlight. Those birds he sketched on the door were the only ones he'd see on a regular basis. Look, right now this country may be having some hard times, but at least we're not sending kids down to work in a hole in the dark for ten hours a day anymore. It's a start.

West Virginia
1908, photographer Lewis Wickes Hine

January 3, 2011

56th Regiment Band

In war and in peace, the one thing that separates us from the animals is music. We take it with us, whether we go to kill or to cultivate. I suspect that some day we'll find apes or chimps making music, and that will turn everything we know about humanity on ear.

Fort Dodge, Iowa
1900s

"mind-reading" by EEG

I have to say, I don't like the looks of this.

Berkeley, California
1961

Cuban Rebel Shooting at Airplane

Is there any chance he's going to actually hit the plane, or was he just all wound up and shooting at anything that looked like a target?

Cuba
1958, photographer Dickey Chapelle
(and if you have any interest in military photography, 
you should know that name)

January 2, 2011

Lift

When you party harder than other folks, your party tricks have to be more hardcore than other folks's.

1970s

affection

It's her left hand that gets me, reaching around just to touch her friend's encircling arm.

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January 1, 2011

House

I actually, literally have dreams like this. Usually the kind where I am trying to get ready for work, but my room has multiple doors and people keep walking in and out and I keep getting caught up in trying to keep them out so I can get dressed.

2009, artist Sarah Lippett

T U V

I love the wildness of these drawings. What's up with that crazy dog barking at Tom?

The Absurd ABC by Walter Crane
1874

Combat at Last

My Granpa Fish took this from the cockpit of his plane. He was both a man of action and a man of letters.

Japan
1944 or 45, Charles C. Fishburne, Jr.
from my house

after the party

Go to bed! The mess will still be there in the morning.

1960