The Footnotes of Mad Men is an wonderful blog that is must read for fans of the brilliant AMC television series Mad Men. The blog is written by Natasha Vargas-Cooper who digs deep into the historic events and cultural themes featured on the show. They’ve just announced that Harper Collins will be adapting the blog into a book. Congratulations guys!

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Mad Men Explained in 60 Seconds by Landline TV

via Rachel Mercer

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In anticipation of the premier of Mad Men season 3 on August 16th, AMC has launched Mad Men Yourself, featuring character illustrations by Dyna Moe.

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guest post by Al Ridenour

So the new Star Trek film made a good at drawing kids into their parent’s (or grandparent’s) sci-fi franchise, but it’s not like Roddenberry wasn’t trying to get with the kids back in 1969. What else would explain this exquisitely ham-fisted jam by the “Space Hippies” of episode #76, “The Way to Eden”, wherein Spock grudgingly breaks out his Vulcan harp for a bit of musical diplomacy.

Of course, the real-life Nimoy was anything but grudging in his pursuit of musical stardom, and these strivings — along with the occasional nod to the breathless rhapsodies of Shatner and other ST notables — are admirably documented at Maiden Wine, with troves of all-but-lost treasures including never-before-seen footage from Nimoy’s notorious “Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” music video.

Naturally, all of this has inspired fans to join the musical chorus in a variety of ways, whether it’s hand-carving “an exact working replica” the aforementioned Vulcan harp. (It’s tuned to a diatonic, dontcha know!), dressing up as the “Mugato” and moshing with Sacramento’s Trekker punks, The No Kill I or recording novelty rockers like “Jim Beam Me Up” with Sacramento’s OTHER rival Trekkie band Warp 11.

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by unknown

The crew from the Neverwas Haul, which is a mobile Victorian era house straight out of novel by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells that traverses the dusty playa of Black Rock City, are selling some of their artifacts from a future that never was in The Neverwas Haul Explorers Supply Depot in Etsy. These rare creations are primarily attire accouterments including monocles, goggles, goggle lenses and cuff links. Each one is handmade, beautiful and the proceeds will go to the next amazing art project, which is rumored to be a steam powered car and calliope.

photo by unknown

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by Ani Niow

Ani Niow asked the question “What happens when you’re an engineering student with a minor in sexuality and you find yourself funemployed?” The answer, make steampunk vibrator, of course. It weights about a pound, is smooth to the touch, and, yes, it sorta works. When Ani tried it with steam, apparently it got too hot to touch, and I presume this meant too hot for the goonies. That said, it does work off of compressed air. If you happen to know of or have a more powerful boiler than a pressure cooker that is available, she would be interested.

In the meantime, you can see it at Femina Potens until the end of the month.

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guest post by Burstein!

These vintage PSA’s from the 1976 swine flu outbreak is everything we love about retro PSA’s. Quotes like “Swine flu? I’m too fast for it to catch me!” Or “Betty’s mother gave it to her best friend, Dotty. But Dotty had a heart condition and she died.” I just love the messaging of “Get a swine flu shot or you you will kill your grandmother’s best friend.” They are like trailers for a 1970’s horror film.

via Scot Hampton

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guest post by Aaron Muszalski

Tweed Rides – group bicycle events in which riders eschew spandex in favor of elegant, vintage-inspired riding attire – are growing in popularity, with newly-announced rides in San Francisco, Chicago, and Sydney, Australia.

photo by Rubin Starset

On the recently-launched  SFTweed blog, self-described “Tweedpunk” Colin Fahrion has announced that the Second San Francisco Tweed Ride will take place this coming Thursday, April 30th.

Once again, we fine bastions of tweed bicivility will gather to show the city how to really ride in style! Fortunately, Spring is upon us, and the night has begun to be pushed back by the day. As such, the sun shall still grace our ride, giving all passersby a chance to bask in our grand tweediness! Our last ride was a joyful time with games, contests, and of course the sharpest dressed company a cyclist could ask for.

In addition to the games, contests, and prizes that proved so popular during the inaugural San Francisco Tweed Ride, Thursday’s ride has a special surprise: a mid-route musical performance by the fabulous “post-industrial-folk-noir” septet Corpus Callosum! 

photo by Fenchurch!

Moving Eastward, Chicago’s first Tweed Ride will take place this coming Saturday, May 2nd. Organized by the fine dapper folks at The Chainlink, their event takes special inspiration from no less of an historical figure than The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill.

The 2nd of May 2009 marks the 80th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s invention of his exquisitely dry martini: copious amounts of gin poured over crushed ice while he observed the vermouth from across the room. The route, designed by the Right Honorable Lee Diamond, is 10 civilized miles meandering past (and into) some of The Windy City’s most infamous (and still open) speakeasies.

Like the SF Tweed Ride, Winston’s Tweed Ride will host contests for Most Dapper Chap, Most Snappy Lass, Most Stylish Noble Steed, Most Inspired Interpretation of Tweediness, and Best Mustache (open to both lads and inventive lasses).

image by unknown

Meanwhile, from the other side of the world, vintage cycling haberdashery Rocket Fuel brings us news of the first Sydney Tweed Ride.

image by RocketFuelStyle

Following the fine style of London, San Francisco, Auckland and soon Chicago. Sydney is having it’s very own Tweed Ride. So gather your most dapper or ladylike apparel and join us for a spin around the city and a fine cup of tea!

From London to San Francisco, or the Windy City to a Land Down Under, clearly the appeal of Tweed knows no bounds.

Interested in becoming one of the cogwheelnoscenti? The latest news of all things two-wheeled and tweedy can be had on SFTweed’s RSS feed, via their Jaunty Mailer, or on twitter @sftweed.

photo by Binx

See previously: Critical Masterpiece – The Tweed Ride Debuts in San Francisco

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guest post by Burstein!

“You must not fail, Zero M. This mission is critical…” With those words the commercial for the Zero M Sonic Blaster staring a young Kurt Russell opens and quickly turns into bizarre parody world where a lone 10 year old and his ruptured eardrum is gamely protecting his home with poofs of air. The Blaster itself is effectively a hand-pumped compressed air gun, which did not make the approval of Consumer Reports back in 1966:

The Mattel Agent Zero M Sonic Blaster 5530 fires compressed air with a deafening blast. Our measurements top out at 157 dB–above a level that can do permanent damage to the hearing of an adult. We rate the toy Not Acceptable.

Check out the other fun retro reviews and photos as posted by Mikl-em back in the day.

via RetroThing

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guest post by Burstein!

Although the tag line for Dork Yearbook is “the way we wish we weren’t,” I find these photos exceptionally sweet and endearing. They truly take me back to my excitement of going over to my friend’s house for a sleep over where we would dissemble his 486 and pretend we were adults on BBSes.

Joel Johnson began Dork Yearbook as a series of posts on Boing Boing Gadgets and they were so successful that he turned it into its own Tumbler blog.

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The 8-Bit Tarot Project by Lunar Bistro, based on the classic Rider-Waite tarot deck.

See Previously: 8 Bit Waterslide In Real Life

via Waxy

image via Lunar Bistro

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guest post by RICK!

“8-Bit Waterslide In Real Life” by Tea & Cheese

via Metafilter

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guest post by Jackson West

While checking for new movies added to Hulu, I stumbled across the 1971 film The Organization. It stars Sidney Poitier reprising his role as Lt. Virgil Tibbs from In the Heat of the Night.  Except this time he’s on the trail of a bunch of heroin smugglin’ honkies with the help of some concerned Teamsters in San Francisco (including a very young Raul Julia).  It’s standard seventies caper flick fare, though with a  multi-culti cast, funky electro-jazz soundtrack and of course great views of The City.  The highlight is the final chase scene, which takes place underneath Market Street while the Muni and BART tunnels were still under construction. It’s the equivalent of a full-nude peep show for public transportation fetishists.

See Previously:

- John Law on The History Channel’s Cities of the Underworld

- The Times of Harvey Milk Documentary Now on Hulu

- 7th Annual No Pants! Subway Ride by Improv Everywhere

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Last night Lori and I went to the restaurant Triptych in San Francisco to celebrate our 8 year wedding anniversary. Aside from serving excellent food, Triptych has one of most unique bathrooms around. First you walk down a hallway that is a mini art gallery and then once you step into the restroom and turn on the light, you are suddenly teleported to a Disco Inferno. The entire bathroom is full of 1970’s memorabilia, complete with a Disco soundtrack.

photos by Scott Beale

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guest post by Todd Lappin (Telstar Logistics)

As a fan of Southern-style BBQ, I’ve been very grateful for the arrival of Baby Blues BBQ in San Francisco on the corner of Mission Street and Precita Avenue, just south of Cesar Chavez Blvd.

Mmmmmmmmm.

As a neighbor of Baby Blues, I’m also grateful that they restored some of the neon signage from the former Rexall drug store that occupied the space until 1998. It’s so great to see the sign illuminated again, and the neon Drugs + BBQ combination suggested by the current facade reads like a recipe from the Ken Kesey Cookbook.

I also appreciate the fact that if you stand in just the right spot on Mission Street, two of the signs from the former drugstore form a crossword:

Lastly, as if all these mixed-up layers of history need additional seasoning, I like how this photo from the Online Archive of California shows the same building (visible on the far right) as it looked back in 1927, when Disernia’s Pharmacy first opened for business:

photos by Todd Lappin (Telstar Logistics) & Online Archive of California (OAC)

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2600 Online features 50+ classic Atari 2600 games that you can play online for free.

See Previously:

- Modern Video Game Cover Art Re-Interpreted In Style of Atari 2600

- Atari 2600: Pitfall, Berzerk & Venture

via Retro Thing

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guest post by Aaron Muszalski

Polish your velocipede and pull Grandpa’s tweeds down from the attic – it’s time to return to a more elegant era of cycling!

Inspired by the recent London Tweed Run, in which approximately 150 impeccably-dressed Ladies and Gentlemen poshly pedaled their woolen way from Savile Row to Bethnal Green in London, San Francisco cyclist Colin Fahrion has created the Thursday Tweed Ride. The Tweed Ride invites local cyclists to don classic woolen attire, set their caps at a jaunty angle, and take part in an unforgettably stylish ride through our fair city.

The inaugural San Francisco Thursday Tweed Ride will be held this Thursday, February the 12th. After assembling at Dolores Park’s 19th Street Bell, the Tweed Riders will sally forth at 6:30pm (meeting up with East Bay Tweed Riders at 16th St. BART), en route to their destination: North Beach’s historic Tosca Cafe and its famous hot Irish coffees.

Appropriately classy prizes will be awarded in six categories, including “Most Snappy Lass”, “Most Stylish Vintage Steed”, and “Most Inspired Interpretation of Tweediness”. (Prizes generously donated by Velo-Orange, Manifesto Bicycle, The Freewheel Bike Shop, Refried Cycles, and Prof. NifNaks Fine Moustachios.)

For those at a loss as to how to assemble a winning look, Colin has kindly prepared A Tweed Primer, with links to local thrift stores and tips on how to quickly and easily get your Tweed on!

photos by M.J.S. & Jake Appelbaum

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Mitch Ansara (Spacesick) created a fantastic series of 1960’s paperback book covers of novelized movie adaptations, from his fictional “I Can Read Movies” series. Mitch made the illustrations as part of his “Make Something Cool Every Day” project.

via Drawn!

illustrations by Mitch Ansara (Spacesick)

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guest post by Violet Blue

Oh, you little cars, how you vex us. Teeny, bite-sized vehicles — cute and efficient, fun to drive, mod-retro-glamorous, and almost as adorable as Hamster on a Piano. We can’t eat look at just one. Fortunately for us, there’s the Microcar Museum, complete with virtual tour and videos. Every day is a big day for little autos online thanks to The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum in Madison, Georgia, where they house the world’s largest collection of microcars defined as, “late 1940’s- pre-1964 range with Engine sizes of 700cc or less (many are 250cc and 50cc) and 2 doors or less.”

World War II came to an end in 1945 and Europe lay in ruins. A shell-shocked population came out of the bomb shelters and faced an unimaginable scene of devastation and ruin.

As if the seemingly endless task of clearing away the rubble wasn’t enough, there were crippling shortages of food, raw materials, electricity and gas. Value and worth were measured in Chesterfield cigarettes.

The population collectively rolled up its sleeves and went to work. The astonishing rebuilding of an entire continent over a period of ten years was accomplished through a unity of spirit and purpose unimaginable today. Bright, talented engineers, many out of the former aircraft industry, put their minds to the problems of mobilizing the population under adverse conditions. It’s said that the true master reveals himself within limitations and so this focusing of energy and talent resulted in an enormous variety of small vehicles; some successful, others less so – but all of them interesting!

The microcar or “bubble car” came to symbolize this period of renewed energy and pulling together.

The bubble car boom lasted only a decade, but the period left a lasting impression even on those who abandoned their Kabinenroller for a “real” car. The cars continue to be found in barns and collections throughout the world but are particularly meaningful to the Europeans, whose lifestyle was, in part, made possible by these tiny cars.

The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum “hopes to bring this brief, colorful flowering of talent and ingenuity to the attention of a new generation of automobile enthusiasts” And to bring back that totally awesome shade of turquoise. Check the info page for in-person admission ($5!) and visiting hours.

images via Microcar Museum

Thanks for the tip, Don C!

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The -Minus World envisions what popular video game cover art would look like if they were re-interpreted in the style of classic Atari 2600 games.

via Waxy

illustration by The -Minus World

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