martin klasch

Illustration: Wacky packages

"Wacky packages are a series of trading cards featuring parodies of consumer products. The cards were produced by the Topps Company beginning in 1967, usually in a sticker format. The original series sold for two years, and the concept proved popular enough that it has been revived every few years since. At one time the product briefly outsold baseball cards." - Wikipedia

The most well-known and loved artist behind the Wacky packages illustrations, though there were many involved, is without a doubt the versatile artist Norman Saunders. We have posted about his Ugly buttons and linked to the exciting normansaunders.com already. Now we would like to direct your attention towards the Wacky packages website (not the official one). It's a nice big package full of wacky images. Enjoy!

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Toy: Bernie

"Meet Bernadette, A.K.A Bernie. Bernie was made from a well-worn sock and is turning into a well-worn stuffed animal! Bernie loves to sit and eat goldfish crackers ALL day long. She can be shy at first but once she gets to know you she's quite the motormouth. I have to go, she wants me to throw the goldfish into her mouth so she can catch them!"

- Diane Koss

Show us your dirty wow wow

PS. Mine was the teddy bear Bam Bam. I still haven't had the heart to throw him away so he still lives in a box somewhere.

Game: Factory Balls

Factory Balls - will you find the right production order?

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Wisdom: Fourteen Things

"Fourteen Things That It Took Me Over 50 Years To Learn" by Dave Barry. These are actually pretty good and some are really funny. OK, a sample:

"You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment."

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Design: Russian Book Jackets, 1917-1942

Russian Book Jackets, 1917-1942. I bookmarked this some time ago and I believe I found it via Growabrain. If you think that NYPLDG's collection is too much to browse through here are nineteen of my favorites (recommended) and below they are shown, for the really lazy of you, in a picture-play.

Vintage Photos: N'Buda Funkshun

"A small selection of promotional photographs (early glamrock/discofunk bands and buggy eyed entertainers) from the 1970s uncovered in a Venice alleyway by one Mike Lee."
says uploader sonicexcess in LiveJournal Vintage Photographs.

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Technology: 7 Unusual Propeller-driven vehicles

7 Unusual Propeller-driven vehicles
- here is the list. What did they look like? Were they any good?

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Blogger: Image posting problems

I have some problems ...posting images. That's a big problem 'couse, maybe you've noticed, I love images. Since a few days my images have decided to resize themselves and end up much smaller then they have to.

For example take a look at this post and then there's the last post where I wanted the images bigger than they are, filling up the whole post width. I have tried to click and drag them in the Compose mode without result and I've tried editing the code in the Edit Html mode but no dice. well, that is, I've managed to make some changes but not good enough.
Also when I made some changes in my sidebar under the headline "...and these" they suddenly ended up ridiculously small instead of filling out the whole sidebar width.

What's going on?? Have you had any similar experiences?

UPDATE:
CPU feast

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Design: Italian Pastille Box Wrappers

Italian candy producer Leone has some great designs for their pastille box wrappers. The first one is absinthe flavor and is only one item in a range of products Leone makes with "the green fairy".
The "caffé" wrapper retro design made me think of the great Italian artist Fortunato Depero's brilliant advertising art.

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Commercial: "Soniiiiiii"

Sony Radio Commercial
Uploaded by Fronning

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Commercial: Commodore Vic 20 Computer 1982

From: TVNETWORKS

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Commercial: "Ich lieb dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht"

From: TVNETWORKS

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Commercial: "...now with life-like hair!"

From: TVNETWORKS

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Book Covers: Big Brother

1984 was written by Eric Arthur Blair in 1948 and as it has been reprinted a great many times in numerous countries these are of course just a drop in the ocean when it comes to fronts covers of the book. Just the same, there they are.

By the way, the 1984 index stands at "UNGOOD" - that can't be good, can it?

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Music: Glen Campbell

Glen Campbell (1936- ) The first video in this Glen Campbell playlist don't have very much of Glen in it as it is a medley of songs sung by a bunch of artists; The Ronettes, Sonny and Cher, Darlene Love and the Blossoms, Bobby Goldsboro, Donna Loren, Billy Preston, The Shindogs, The Righteous Brothers and... Glen Campbell. I just thought it was such a great TV production, this 1965 Shindig show, that I could not not have it in the jukebox. Thank you Polaroid and Dippity-Do!! If you want to watch it in a larger screen just push ZOOM at the bottom of the player.

Thanks to all the uploaders like mrdantefontana and nicetrip...

PS. Did you know he was a member of the Beach Boys in the mid 60s?
OK, here's the famous mugshot too.

Sometimes two great minds get similar ideas at the same time: The World Of Kane.: Glen Campbell: Wichita Lineman

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Poster Art: German expressionism

Josef Fenneker (1895-1956). Here and here.

Via El Burlador

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Vintage postcard: World exposition 1937

An interesting postcard from the world exposition - Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne - in Paris 1937. The Nazi-German pavilion on the left placed directly across the Stalin-Soviet pavilion on the right. Talk about premonition of things to come.

Uploaded to Vintage photographs by h rust

The German pavilion was designed by Albert Speer (and sculptor Josef Thorak) and the Soviet pavilion by Boris Mihailovich Iofan (and sculptor Vera Mukhina). Need I say they both were awarded the gold medal?

Please go here for more postcards and photos from the exposition!

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Movie Posters: Submarine Theme

There's something special about submarine movies isn't there? Which is your favorite in this genre? For me the winner is Das Boot, hands down or should I say periscope down...

Click the posters for larger images. Do you want me to add a poster? Send it over!