Hang in there ’til the end. Whoa nelly! [via Vintage Ads]

The Monsanto House of the Future was part of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland from 1957 until 1967, and was a showcase of what plastics could do. The house was made of eight pre-fabricated plastic pieces; the building was so strong that when the time came for it to be demolished, the wrecking ball bounced right off.

Disneyland’s Monsanto House of the Future, from Daveland

The House of the Future under construction

The Daveland blog has some great pictures from the Goody Clancy architecture firm of the house as it was being constructed. I love the above picture of the completed home — largely because it captures the pastoral feel of the landscaping, which is in such sharp contrast to the modern-as-modern-can-be home. I also love this picture to the left — this time, it’s the contrast of the traditional Sleeping Beauty’s castle in the background against the upstart little plastic building.

The Daveland blog has more pictures, be sure to check them out: Part 1 and Part 2 [via Stuff from the Park]

The Problem:
Carrying grocery bags, while not the worst of life’s trials, is kind of a pain in the butt. And the hands: those plastic handles get mighty uncomfy when you’re carrying cans and cans of Hobo Soup. The bags whack against your legs, unless you hold your arms out awkwardly. Each time you have to hit an elevator button, retreive your keys or open a door means a clumsy minute of bag juggling and rearranging.

The Inspiration:
Hobos. More specifically, the bindlestick. That’s the name for the kerchief-tied bundle at the end of a stick that is the icon of hobo living.

The Solution: the Bindleflop
The Bindleflop lets you carry your groceries, or any handled bags, easily on your shoulder. The Lose Weight Exercise is rested at your shoulder instead of in your palms, making it much easier to go long distances without your hands getting fatigued. Instead of swinging around and whacking into your legs, your bags gently brush against your side. And your hands are free to handle doors, keys, or carry more groceries!

Groceries in a Bindleflop

How to Make Your Very Own Bindleflop:
Take a removable strap from an old laptop case. They typically have metal clips at the end that spin freely. Clip both ends onto a carabiner*. Slip your grocery bags, or any other handled bags, into the carabiner. Slide the Bindleflop onto your shoulder, orienting any bags with squishy stuff (tomatoes, bread) to the outside.

Bindleflop in action

Hanford and I have been kicking around the idea for the Bindleflop for a while now. At first, it was only half-seriously, but we tried it out for the first time last night, and were surprised at how comfortable it was, and how well it worked. Since it’s so easy to grab it on the way out the door (unlike a folding cart), it’s likely to become something we use regularly.

* I grew up in Seattle, where they give you a carabiner along with your first teddy bear when you’re born. I don’t know if they’re as easy to come by in other parts of the world. You can find them at sports stores.

Has your secret dream been to live just like the star of an ’80s daytime soap opera? Well, you’re in luck — because ’80s daytime soap opera star Brenda Dickson’s dream was to help everyone be just like her. In this 1987 relic, she’ll walk you the steps to becoming “very dramatic” — including pointers on fashion, makeup, diet & Lose Weight Exercise.

It’s a long video, so it’s been split into two parts. If you’ve ever seen a completely over-the-top ’80s outfit in a thrift store and wondered “who the hell bought that? and did they actually wear it?” — the answer is: Brenda Dickson bought it, and she not only wore it, she hired somebody to videotape her wearing it.

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t understand how this game didn’t catch on.

Anticipation at Wikipedia [via Digg]

A few years ago, PBS aired a documentary by Ken Burns, called Horatio’s Drive, about the first time a car was driven from coast-to-coast across the United States. It’s a pretty charming tale, and fun to consider how very different an undertaking it is today.

Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson

Bud rode shotgun

When Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson started out on his trip in early 1903, there were only 150 miles of paved road in all of the United States; he had to drive his car on dirt roads, fields and streams. There were no gas stations along Horatio’s drive, no auto shops to get spare parts, no motels to stay during the night. The horseless carriage was still a novelty, and his car had no roof or windshield; a cross-country trip on a riding lawnmower would be more comfortable (and reliable).

Horatio recruited two companions, the first road buddies: a mechanic, and a dog. The dog, named Bud, was picked up early on in the trip, and turned out to be a great dog: he even wore goggles like a road-tested champ. He was “the one member of [the] trio who used no profanity on the entire trip.”

What drove him to such a mad undertaking? A $50 bet in a San Francisco bar that it couldn’t be done.

[Horatio's Drive at PBS.com]

Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip

I love old-timey characters like the dog in this advertising image below; it’s got a strange quality in its eyes unlike modern cartoons. The label on the can is a bonus. If I could still get this, I would eat it every day.

[Flickr, via A Sampler of Things]

I’ve kind of got a thing for armadillos. I’ve never seen one in person — a live one, at least… I saw a squished one at the side of the road once when I was in Texas for a business trip. I can rattle off random armadillo facts for you (They’re born as litters of identical quadruplets! The only one that can roll up into a perfect ball is the three-banded armadillo! The pink fairy armadillo is only four inches long! They carry leprosy!), but I think you’ll be much more interested in this:

My armadillo purse

Lined with pink satin!

Your eyes do not deceive you: this is a purse, made of an actual, real armadillo. It’s been bent around into a sort of football shape, clutching itself with its sweet little claws, and with rhinestones for eyes. It’s lined in pink satin, and has a mirror under its neck so you can check your lipstick. It is fancy.

I got this as a gift from my mom, who also has a thing for armadillos. She found it for me more than ten years ago, I have no idea where, and I don’t know how old it is. I’ve heard that they used to sell these down near the border in Texas, and that they were a popular tourist item.

The image on the left is from a rare stop-motion puppet of Jerry Lewis that was built by the Rankin/Bass animation studio for some specials. While I’m not a huge Jerry Lewis fan, I can’t get over how cool it would have been if Rankin/Bass (creators of all the great stop-motion Christmas specials) had gone through and produced these cartoons. The puppet has a look to it that you just don’t see in modern animation. Check out the all the photos of the Jerry Lewis Puppet.

According to the Rankin/Bass Historian, it turns out that Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass were huge Jerry Lewis fans and were working on two projects to being Jerry Lewis to stop-motion world. One was “Punch and Judy” and the other was “The Bellboy”. They never went into full production but there was some work done on them. A song was written called “Hey Bellhop!”, which has been locked away in the Rankin/Bass vaults all these years. A demo recording of the song will be included in the soon-to-be-released soundtrack to the The Daydreamer, a special I’ve never seen. Seeing the image of the Jerry Lewis puppet fills my mind with thoughts of what this might have been.

Ze King! Ze Premier! Then all the ministers!
Army! Navy! Department Sanitaire! …

This Harveytoon cartoon isn’t really outstanding in any particular way, but it’s one I remembered as a kid I’ve wanted to see again for probably the last 20 years. I’ve searched for it several times before, and while it’s mentioned in several places in the web, I’ve only come across an actual video of it very recently! It’s beloved by many, but probably totally unknown to most. Here’s the description from IMDB’s entry for it, see if it shakes loose any memories:

A French shopkeeper’s life is disrupted by a daily parade. The parade consists of “ze king, ze premier, all ze lords and ministers, army, navy, department sanitaire.” When the “department sanitaire” hits a pothole, all the garbage gets dumped onto the street in front of his store.

UPDATE: According to the Classic Cartoon blog, the The Harveytoons DVD Collection features Le Petite Parade on Disc 4! Check it out on Amazon.com!