Tag: Australia

Jul242013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Vintage 20th Century World’s Fair Postcards (1958 – 1992)

Vintage 20th Century World’s Fair Postcards (1958 – 1992)

Ephemera
Back for more, eh? As the follow-up to my set of World's Fair postcards covering the first half of the 20th century, here is the second half. This set picks up with Expo 58 in Brussels, which marked the first World's Fair held after World War II. Expo 58 (Brussels, Belgium) Century 21 Exposition (Seattle, 1962) (via Drive-In Mike) 1964 New York's World Fair (via The Pie Shops) Expo 67 (Montreal) (via The Pie Shops) HemisFair '68 (San Antonio, Texas) (via zawleski) Expo '70 (Osaka, Japan) (via Duncan Brown) Expo '74 (Spokane, Washington) (via The Pie Shops) Expo '75 (Okinawa, Japan) (via World's Fair Photos) 1982 World's Fair (Knoxville, Tennessee) 1984 Louisiana World Exposition (New Orleans) Expo '85 (Tsukuba, Japan) (via World's Fair Photos) Expo...
Read More
Jun52013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Vintage Photo Wednesday, Vol. 33: Papier-mâché Cow in Australia, 1944

Vintage Photo Wednesday, Vol. 33: Papier-mâché Cow in Australia, 1944

Vintage Photo Wednesday
I have no reason for sharing this photo, other than the fact that it's so random and so odd that it must be seen. It comes to us via the Australian War Memorial's collection, and shows a rather unique scene from the Australian home front. This odd photo was shot on February 29, 1944 by the Herald Newspaper in Melbourne, Victoria. Here is the description, which makes no note of the priceless expression on the face of the woman walking by the car: A papier-mache cow, used for milking demonstrations at the Werribee experimental farm, being tied on to the luggage carrier of Mrs. Mellor's car for transport to the farm. Mrs. Mellor is a Field Officer in charge of the Women's Land Army Mont Park training depot.
Read More
Oct142011 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Retrotisements: Halloween (1978) U.S. and Foreign Movie Posters

Retrotisements: Halloween (1978) U.S. and Foreign Movie Posters

Featured Posts, Retrotisements
This piece originally ran in October 2008. I've republished it because, really, this should run annually. But to show I'm not just being lazy, I've added posters from Denmark and Italy below! October 25 marks a momentous day in horror history — the 30th anniversary of the release of John Carpenter's slasher classic Halloween.  While it certainly wasn't the first horror film on the block, it is one of the best and most influential. I and many other fans of classic horror consider it to be part of the holy trinity of the genre, alongside Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). In retrospect, it seems like such a simple concept that it's hard to believe it hadn't been fully explored before. A psychopath is on the loose in the streets of a quiet, suburban town (Haddo
Read More
Dec92010 by Chris Holmes1 Comment
Gray Flannel Mixtape: The Best Songs of 2010

Gray Flannel Mixtape: The Best Songs of 2010

Blogstuff
Yup, it's that time again!  Before I roll out the annual year-end rundown of my favorite albums, let's take a listen to some of the best songs from 2010.  I've included YouTube clips where possible, since I used Lala last year and got burned. 1. "Them That Do Nothing" by Field Music (from Measure) - I could probably populate this whole list with songs from Field Music's third studio album.  Instead I'll just highlight the first single from it and we can all revel in its pure pop perfection.  Well done, Brewis brothers, well done indeed. 2. "Doin' It Again" by the Roots (from How I Got Over) - If there's a case to be made for why sampling can work so well in hip hop it's this track, which brilliantly weaves the Roots' own composition with John Legend's "Again".  It's the standout
Read More
Feb272010 by Chris Holmes9 Comments
Yes, I’d Like the Rectal Rocket Fuel, Please

Yes, I’d Like the Rectal Rocket Fuel, Please

Funny Stuff
The world of hot sauce aficionados is a weird one, indeed.  While I can't handle anything hotter than regular Tabasco Sauce, I would love to be one of those hot sauce people.  Why?  Because of the names. Walk into any store or display case full of hot sauce and you'll see some of the wackiest names for their wares.  They usually describe, in vivid detail, what will happen to you should you consume what's inside the bottle - a certain truth in advertising that's far too uncommon these days.  Case in point: here's the sauce menu from a Mexican restaurant called Amigos, located in Australia of all places. If I didn't know any better I'd say this was a flyer from an S&M club of some kind.  Not that I would know what one of those looks like. You know a place means business
Read More
May72008 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Retrotisements: Batman 1966 Movie Posters

Retrotisements: Batman 1966 Movie Posters

Movies, Retrotisements
Despite the tragic death of Heath Ledger, the intense ad campaign for The Dark Knight continues. Most of these ads reflect the rather dark and disturbing mood the film is sure to revel in. And for many Bat-fans, this is how it should be. 1966's full-length feature movie Batman is, at its core, a pretty dark and disturbing franchise about a kid whose parents are murdered and trains for years to become a high-tech vigilante. But it wasn't always this way. Despite the gritty origins of the character, ol' Bats had become a bit watered down by about the mid-1950s. This is due to a number of factors, but chief among them was the restrictions placed on all comics by establishment of the Comics Code Authority in 1954. The height of the character's neutering came about, however, with the 1966 de
Read More