Rejected! [kinda NSFW]

I remember seeing those, what, eight or ten years ago at the Fantasy Filmfest as a supporting movie for some other movie whose name I forgot and was thrilled. The clips get more and more NSFW as they progress and actually the less violent ones are in my opinion much funnier than the others. The first two are my favorites, but they are all worth watching. Don Hertzfeld’s official page can be found here.

We are still on the West Coast, enjoying the weather, feasting on ripe figs in the backyard, and sampling tiny kiwis whose name I also forgot but which are the size of a gummy bear and have a taste like ten kiwis laced with lemon juice – absolutely delicious. I can’t wait for when we have our own backyard and live in a climate that makes gardening fun and not feel like toiling in the searing Connecticut sun…

Filed under: Bizarre-O-Rama, Feed Me Food, Travel , cartoon, Don Hertzfeld, fig, kiwi, NSFW, Rejected, West Coast

The Tale of How

I have come across this video before quite a while ago and just started thinking about it last week. This got posted before, but it’s such a great story that I don’t mind posting it again. Be sure to check out the artists’ website, The Black Heart Gang.

For some reason I can’t post the video, so I have to point you forward towards the Vimeo page – sorry about that. Once I figure out how to post it here, I will.

Filed under: Art and Stuff, Bizarre-O-Rama, music , cartoon, drawing, music, story, video

Today it’s all about death death death

It’s a blistering 75ºF outside and today we talk about death. Isn’t it funny sometimes how all of a sudden one topic comes to the forefront of your day? The first thing I found was this blog that had been started in conjuction with an exhibition of the Justice and Police Department Archives and the Historic Houses Trust. Sadly, it’s not very well maintained, but there are some haunting, surreal vintage crime scene photos on it {NSFW & not for the squeamish). You could take one picture and write an entire book about what happened.

The really amazing thing, however, are the vintage mugshots. They are intense! There are some more pictures and background info on TrAcEy’s blog. Apparently, those mugshots were taken by the New South Wales Police Department photographers between 1910 and 1930. There are approximately 2500 of them and you can see a handful of them on the Historic Houses Trust’s searchable website. What strikes me about those portraits is how sharp and clear they are.

To round this up, we have Slate reviewing a book called Dissection, which is essentially a collection of, well, vintage photographs from the dissection room. Here’s a snip from the review:

This lost genre of photographs, Edmonson explains, dates roughly from 1880 to 1930. The images, which were taken at medical schools across the country, generally display groups of student dissectors posing with their cadavers. At times, the students—who are mostly male but occasionally female—are actively dissecting. Not surprisingly, many of the cadavers look less like human beings than pieces of meat. But in other images, especially those involving the skeletons that students used to help identify the bones and other landmarks in their cadavers, the dead are in unnatural positions, either by themselves or with students. A cadaver smokes a pipe; skeletons play cards; skeletons hug their dissectors; skeletons are even propped up to appear as though they are dissecting sleeping students.

Posted via web from Bearded Dave

UPDATE: Jessica Palmer wrote a great post on this topic on :bioephemera:, which is a blog I can only highly recommend for all you science aficionados out there. Great writing on art, anatomy, and science.

Filed under: Bizarre-O-Rama, Books, Documentary, History, Photography, Vintage Stuff , book, crime, death, dissection, intense, mugshots, Photography, vintage

Well, isn’t that nice?

via scienceblogs.com

Thank God the time of sniffles and coughs and phlegm is over – but wait, isn’t it allergy season?

Posted via web from Bearded Dave

Filed under: Art and Stuff, Bizarre-O-Rama , advertising, cartoon, disease, germs

It’s Christmas – almost.

Christmas is right around the corner and this will be the first one I’ll be spending in the US, so I’m curious and excited. Also, the year is almost over and it has been the Year-of-Wrapping-Things-Up. One thing that will happen is that I’m through watching The Wire. So sad, I am really going to miss that series. Back to Christmas, though. See, the insane thing about America is all this barely legal, almost guaranteed to be bad, telemarketing substratum of the internet and TV. Don’t get me wrong, some of this stuff is pretty practical, but I can’t help but think that there’s a reason why the majority of it never sees the light of day and not only the electronic flicker of a screen. Take the nose-warmer, for example. I have a cold nose, but I wouldn’t want to be caught dead wearing on of these. There are a couple of vendors, but my favorite is Original Udder Balm DOT com. Come on, with a name like this, can you go wrong?

Another thing I came across are Tater Mitts (be careful, video autostarts) – which is kinda useful,  but if you think about it, you’d probably be faster peeling them the old-fashioned way. I love the announcer – “NOT WITH A KNIFE! IT CAN BE DANGEROUS!” Almost too good to be true.

Then there is the Slanket, which is, you’re right, a blanket with sleeves. Get it? The great thing here is the pitch “Large sleeves let your hands run free! Reach for the phone and order pizza,” while, you know, still being under the blanket! Wicked!!!

So take your pick – these are gifts for the one relative who already has everything.

Filed under: Bizarre-O-Rama, Life , christmas, crime, funny presents, gifts, nosewarmer, slanket, tater mitts, The Wire, tv