22nd June 2008

Ball Buster Game Commerical from 1975

Ball Buster Game

I don’t know where Billoney finds this stuff.

[Via BooBerry Alarmclock]

posted in Midcentury | Comments Off

29th May 2008

Real Life WALL-E Robot

If you know we well, you know I loves me some robots. This is just too cool — a real life robot of the new Pixar character, Wall-E. I’ve not listened to the audio of the clip yet (but I read it’s a bit awkward) but I really love the look of the character as a real life robot.

posted in Animation, Art, Disney, Tech | 1 Comment

15th May 2008

Bugs Bunny: Greatest Banned Baseball Player Ever

Bugs Bunny vs Gashouse Gorillas

I am a huge fan of coming up with a funny-yet-completely-impractical idea and then actually doing it, especially when it snowballs into excruciating absurdity. Which is why I burst into laughter many times while reading the painfully exhaustive 5500 word technical analysis of Bugs Bunny’s legendary baseball game against the Gashouse Gorillas. Here’s a snip:

What can modern baseball analysis tell us about the talent of Bugs Bunny? Unfortunately, we are faced with several problems:

* This game provides us with an extremely limited sample. Bunny plays for only five innings.
* The level of competition is never established.

As the first can’t be overcome, let’s deal with the second. From the level of fan interest, it is fair to assume that the players involved are good enough to be a major draw: a semi-pro game of local celebrities would not (and still does not) draw a sufficient crowd to pack in fifty thousand fans who cheer wildly at events (for one example, see the attendance at MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball games). The best-fit explanation is that the Teahouse Totallers are a collection of former greats of baseball, playing against a team of current pro and semi-pro players drawn from the New York region.

Check out the full article here.

And here’s the cartoon itself:

[via Cartoon Brew]

posted in Animation | Comments Off

10th May 2008

Animation by Chris Ware

One of my favorite illustrators Chris Ware animated this segment for This American Life:

[via Laughing Squid]

posted in Animation, Art | Comments Off

29th April 2008

Page Miss Glory Cartoon

“Here comes Miss Glory!” popped into my head last night, and I had to seek this old cartoon out. I have vivid memories of this cartoon as a wee lad; it was one of my favorites. What I did not have any memory of was the copious amount of boozing, stripping and fine moderne art deco design throughout it.

They don’t make cartoons like they used to.

posted in Animation, Art, Design, Midcentury, Television | 2 Comments

24th April 2008

Vintage Atari Games

Oh, how these vintage Atari games bring back memories. Fuzzy memories. Kinda. Well, maybe.

Vintage Atari Games
Vintage Atari Games

[via Shawne]

posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

5th April 2008

Grandma Zelda’s Advice

I’m so glad I never asked my Grandma for advice, but I’m glad this guy did.

[Via Shawne]

posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment

28th March 2008

Paper Wallet Update

So I’ve been pestered by a few friends, and some strangers (Hi Books Inc!) to post my paper wallets. See, I make these wallets, out of paper, then use them till they almost fall apart, and then make new ones. For over 10 years now. And I’ve been meaning to post them here when they’re all shiny and new; before they slowly get dinged up and torn; before they conform to the shape of my ass. But the problem is when I make a new one, I almost always forget to take photos. And when I remember to take photos, I get so picky about the lighting and background and the angles that the photos never get taken.

But in the spirit of getting shit done and moving on, I present to you crappy photos of my previous two paper wallets, taken today, on my desk under the yellow light of my K’nex lamp, with the bare minimum effort put into setting up the shots.

Today we have two paper wallets.

60s Legs Paper Wallet

NOTE: At the time these photos were taken, the wallet’s seen a few months of wear and tear, and is looking a little weathered not unlike an off-the-strip Vegas cocktail waitress (Sorry mom! No offense!), but when it was new it looked fly.

This wallet was made out of two extra-long postcards I found in some gift store. I thought legs would make a great theme. I was wrong. Still I like how it turned out, and it has only offended a few so far.

Boot Wallet
Boot Wallet
Boot Wallet

North Woods Inn Paper Wallet

NOTE: At the time these photos were taken, the wallet was so badly worn that I retired it (and made the Legs wallet above), so it’s looking a bit like the box to a “We swear it works fine” returned digital camera at Fry’s. When it was new, it looked badass.

I love Clearman’s North Woods Inn. A lot. It is so fantastic it deserves it’s own post here. But here’s the Cliff Notes: The North Woods Inn is a themed family restaurant in Southern California that takes it’s cue from the rustic romanticism of the snow dusted Klondike. It’s a big log cabin (and by big I mean freaking huge) with permanent, fiberglass snow on it’s rooftop. The place has not changed since it opened in the 60s … but is has also not fallen into disrepair. It looks pretty much like I imagine it looked like on opening day; preserved in time perhaps better than Disneyland. The food is good, the service is friendly, and the crowd has real appeal — multiple generations of families gathering to celebrate good report cards and new drivers licenses. I ate lunch there on a Sunday and must have heard Happy Birthday (sung to the real tune of Happy Birthday) and Happy Anniversary (also sung to the real tune of Happy Birthday) at least thirty times.

Anyway, at the gift shop I picked up a couple of North Woods Inn pint glasses, and a set of North Woods Inn steak knives, and of course some of these fancy North Woods Inn postcards, which I used to make perhaps my favoriteist wallet of them all: the North Woods Inn Paper Wallet.

I need to make a new one of these soon.

North Woods Inn Paper Wallet
North Woods Inn Paper Wallet

Wait! Here’s some photos I just found when the wallet was pretty new, and I took it back to the motherland to be reunited with cheese toast, their famous “two salads”, and a stein of Molson (okay, okay, it was probably Anchor Steam):

North Woods Inn Paper Wallet

And now for the reverse angle:

North Woods Inn Paper Wallet

I hope to post more, with better pictures, as I make new ones. And there’s a whole story about why I started making them in the first place. Watch this space for more!

posted in Art, Crafts, Design, Food, Midcentury | 5 Comments

17th March 2008

Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2008

I guess it was today? Or yesterday? Or was it Saturday? I’m kinda confused. Here’s some St Patricky goodness of many flavors for y’all to enjoy.

Darby O’Gill meets King Brian — it really warms up when Darby plays the Fox Chase at 4:50

Also check out Darby O’Gill’s Wishing Song

Leprechauns Christmas Gold … Not really for St. Patrick’s Day but every holiday needs dome Rankin/bass.

Also, who wouldn’t love the Swedish Chef, Animal, and Beaker singing Danny Boy? [Tip o' the cap goes to Humu!]

Now I’m off for my traditional Irish meal of Irish O’Garlic sausages and a Shamrock Shake

posted in Disney, Music, Rankin/Bass | Comments Off

27th February 2008

The Lonely Hunter

By my friend Graham Annable. Check out all his inspired animation on the Grickle Channel.

posted in Animation | 1 Comment