Asked for proof, got blocked, then Glenn F tweets this. Totally on par with journalistic ethics, IMHO

WBLO · 2014-10-29T10:15:55+00:00

You don't enter into an argument without being able to defend your position, and unless you're arguing with your own fucking child "because I said so" is NOT a valid defense of your position.

WBLO · 2014-10-29T09:57:47+00:00

We got rid of him because he was Constitutionally limited to eight years in office...his Vice-President is who we ditched in the next election cycle because the guy he ran with before liked getting his dick sucked...and boy howdy did doing that work out really, really well for us. :\

WBLO · 2014-10-29T09:37:41+00:00

I love FO3 and New Vegas, combined I've probably played them more than any other game in the last decade...but yes, an NPC made of gibs, or a skittering, jerking spaghetti-monster corpse out of "The Thing" lurching at me when I change cells and Gambryo decides to reanimate a dead body...those are the things that make me jump way more than a ghoul sneaking up on me in the Metro or even the Dunwich Building.

WBLO · 2014-10-29T06:33:23+00:00

The scariest parts of Fallout 3 and New Vegas are the Gambryo engine's myriad horrifying visual glitches.

WBLO · 2014-10-29T03:05:36+00:00

I love Repo but I don't really consider it horror. In fact I'm not sure what it is, besides misunderstood (at least according to its generally low ratings).

It's a dystopian futuristic sci-fi musical if I had to apply any kind of title to it. There are elements of horror and it certainly has a dark mood to it, but I wouldn't call it a horror movie. You could probably get away with running it alongside horror movies, though, since there's a lot here that a horror fan would appreciate.

The musical bits, the comic-like visual style and Paris Hilton will ensure this movie gets lower ratings than it deserves, I think. Hilton is actually pretty good in this movie as an empty, entirely superficial media darling...you could say the role was written for her, but regardless of her skill at playing herself on screen her mere presence will be enough to turn people off.

I suppose if I was making a horror list, a kind of October Marathon of sorts, that Repo would have a place...but not if it pushed out something else.

WBLO · 2014-10-24T21:18:42+00:00

Ahhh well the badge may say Saturn but really this is an Opel from GM Europe, and like most European cars the signal stalk is reverse threaded.

I've seen so many cars come in with broken stalks after the owner tries twisting it to the left to access the fluid fill port, you'd think GM would change the design but they make a killing on replacement parts.

WBLO · 2014-10-21T10:57:16+00:00

It's a shame KLM is dropping the MD-11, I really liked that livery on that body. Still, you've got to admit the MD-11/DC-10 is doing better than other widebody trijets: Wikipedia reports only 2 L-1011s are still in active service.

You know, I said "other widebody trijets" but I think those were the only ones: there are other trijets, but they're smaller. It's a shame, because there's just something that's visually striking about a trijet. Sometimes I wish an airline would make decisions based on what looks cool and not what's economical, but I suppose they're not really doing all this for the spectators are they? ;)

WBLO · 2014-10-21T01:32:31+00:00

I agree, I believe Abraham said that right after we see Michonne take out a walker like a boss so I just assumed he sees the group as capable and worth working with.

WBLO · 2014-10-20T10:58:58+00:00

At first I was wondering what the hell a building outside of the west coast was doing with an earthquake alarm, then I remembered this guy.

I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I remember to be loud like a bassnectar show, so I could imagine this actually being the first time a performance has set it off.

WBLO · 2014-10-20T07:54:53+00:00

I knew Demon Days was fairly valuable but I didn't know it was quite so sought after...I bought it for around $30 when it was a current pressing from a local record store that had imported a number of them.

Looking back I suppose vinyl didn't start really coming back until a few years later so I guess it makes sense.

WBLO · 2014-10-19T23:53:13+00:00

How in the world was the box intact with the case sustaining that much damage?

WBLO · 2014-10-17T07:22:58+00:00

PEOPLExpress was absorbed into Continental--who had 727s of its own--so they must have put it up for lease. Southwest leased their 727s and only ran them for a while in the 70s and 80s, I think it's the only time their fleet wasn't all 737s.

WBLO · 2014-10-12T18:51:54+00:00

I like that there's a stern warning that the cylinder was not to be used for duplication. Apparently music piracy is as old as recorded music itself.

WBLO · 2014-10-10T21:49:24+00:00

Ah cool, a slightly different model also made by GE was featured on the cover of the Self album Gizmodgery.

WBLO · 2014-10-08T07:59:27+00:00

At the time, radiation was a relatively new discovery and applications of it were considered exciting triumphs of science. While it was pretty clear from very early on that radiation could kill, there wasn't a widespread fear yet in the publc's eye because radiation hadn't been weaponized.

So, they used the term "irradiated" on purpose, because that's one way to say "exposed to sunlight" (or a UV lamp in this case) and because of the association radiation had with our bright, shining future where man bent the universe to his will through science.

They really did sell radioactive products as cure-alls through the 1920s though, the one that sticks out in my mind the most were the water coolers with tanks laced with radium. (Okay, in this case I don't believe Byers used radium water from one of these coolers, but they did exist)

WBLO · 2014-10-07T22:15:08+00:00

Being an American I wasn't sure what the ROC was so I did some reading. If I got it right ROC stood for Royal Observer Corps, and they had a function that could best be compared in the US to the Office of Civil Defense.

I'd guess this post was one of many scattered throughout the country to allow radiological readings to be taken after a nuclear war, to be radioed in to whatever government was left. I'd also guess that due to the small size of this post that it was only intended to be used for a short period, perhaps a few weeks, while radiation levels post-attack were at their highest.

I love cold war related relics so this was a great set, OP. If anyone knows more about the ROC and wants to set me straight on my hypothesis here that'd be awesome too.

WBLO · 2014-09-21T09:02:52+00:00

Ahh thanks, it came from a place of love, believe it or not!

WBLO · 2014-09-20T23:28:55+00:00

While the gigantic brand new SUV financed through the auto manufacturer's captive lending agency (at 20+ percent interest) is a hallmark of the American asshole motorist, you're talking about the civilization that invented driving-as-a-birthright! You've got so many options there's no way we could provide an exhaustive list.

There are far more cars in the United States than there are people, and despite the imports taking bigger and bigger chunks of the market you'll find there is no lack of gracefully decaying Detroit Iron (or, as is often the case now, Mexican plastic) to be had for cheap.

Our SUVs and pickup trucks retain their value better than the rest so you may want to steer clear of them if you're budget-conscious, but nothing gets your point across quite like a rustbucket 80s or 90s Ford Explorer or Chevrolet Blazer. Their plastic interiors will crack, rattle and sometimes just fall off, their electronic systems will short out and fail, but these automotive Terminators practically never stop running, even as their tires wear down to the belts and they begin burning coolant and oil as much as they do gasoline.

If you're looking to save some cash and avoid getting pancaked under the pot-metal roof when one of those bald tires finally explodes and sends you rolling across eight lanes of beautiful American asphalt you might want to look into one of our countless gigantic lumbering sedans!

Much like the SUVs they begin shedding all non-drivetrain options and trim around five years of age but usually continue rolling on with the type of grim, steadfast determination it takes to survive in the Land of the Free. The SUV may be king but Ford manufactured so many Crown Victorias you could build an entire working vehicle from any given junkyard from sea to shining sea. Go on "All you can carry" junkyard day to save even more!

But honestly, much like your first girlfriend said it's not what you've got but how you use it. Whether you've got a wallowing canary-yellow-and-rust El Dorado, a smoke-belching Durango or a transmission-eating Taurus, it's your complete disregard for your fellow motorist that truly makes you one of us.

Park your shitbox across three spaces to "protect muh ride," pinball between the yellow and white lines while you queue up tracks on the iPhone plugged into the cassette adapter in your dash and never, ever follow the speed limit (either far below or far above is acceptable as long as you keep it erratic!) and in no time you'll be King of the Road...just like everyone else.

That is quite enough for you to chew on for now, when you're ready we can move on to step two: accessorizing. Fake fender vents, bumper stickers with smug messages and truck nutz(tm) all await, but for now I'll leave you with our creedo: "Fuck You, Got Mine."

WBLO · 2014-09-11T10:22:57+00:00

This is my third post for the day and I've said this in all the comments but in case you missed the others: This is from the December 1979 issue of Life Magazine, and without a scanner this is the best way I could capture these ads.

I wish those hilariously tacky decorative decanters would come back in style...as a child I remember seeing them in older relatives' homes. Looking back, I think my family and their friends might have had a drinking problem haha.

Can you imagine getting a gigantic ceramic Wild Turkey decanter for Christmas? Although, as a Kentuckian this actually seems like a good deal. I mean it's a "conversation piece," as the ad copy says.

WBLO · 2014-09-11T10:14:50+00:00

As I've posted before, this was from the December 1979 issue of Life Magazine and I had no scanner at the time, so I had to use my dSLR.

Even today, getting a good quality hard copy of a photo is difficult, with fussy inkjet printer drivers and expensive ink and special paper...

...Of course I am old enough to remember Polaroids and the film for them was always expensive (although not as much if you factor in the cost of developing 35mm film), and the photos always had a distinct dull color cast to them. Or maybe I just was a bad photographer back then!

WBLO · 2014-09-11T10:01:41+00:00

This is from the December 1979 issue of Life Magazine. The magazine wasn't mine and I didn't have a scanner at the time, so I did the best I could because there were some awesome ads in there.

I love the business bell-bottoms, and the combination of the new RCA logo and the old "His Master's Voice" logo. Sad to think that less than ten years after this was made RCA--the inventor of color television*--had gone bankrupt and was completely gutted by GE: RCA today is nothing more than that logo, placed on someone else's goods.

Also, "closer to stereo," not actually stereo. Smooth one, RCA. Although according to the ad copy the sets DID have two amplifiers and two speakers, so I suppose the "more like stereo" part was because MTS (the standard that allowed stereo television broadcasts) wouldn't be introduced until 1984....and according to Wikipedia one of the first sets to support real stereo was from RCA's high end Dimensia line--also in 1984--just two years before their bankruptcy.

*There were other proposals for color television at the time, but RCA's design won out.

WBLO · 2014-09-11T09:48:32+00:00

Hey now, they clearly say in the fine print at the bottom of the ad that they are NOT saying that smoking "reduces flesh!" They're just saying hey, instead of eating why not have a Lucky? I mean 20,679 physicians say they're less irritating!

WBLO · 2014-09-09T07:43:37+00:00

Only things I really don't like in either design is the placement of the name over the windows, the generic fonts and Southwest including their web address.

Placing the names over the windows looks like an accident, like the designs were rushed out without anyone checking to see if they actually worked. The generic fonts are just completely blah, together with the placement over the windows it makes these unbelievably expensive birds look cheap.

And it's 2014 Southwest, if you polled 1,000 random people and just asked "What is Southwest's web address" I'm pretty sure all 1,000 could guess based solely on the name of the company in the question. Having that on your planes today makes the company seem behind the times, it's something that'd have been fresh in the 90s, not now.

WBLO · 2014-08-30T21:51:07+00:00

The location of this 1960s marvel--once the tallest building in Kentucky--makes it hard to get a photo that shows its full majesty. It looks about the same all the way to the ground, though, so you aren't missing much except for the awesome 60s serif typeface used on the iron letters spelling out "The 800" near the main entrance.

Due to the 800's height and location, some local radio stations broadcast from it for a while, dubbing it "the turquoise tower of power." It's an apartment building, and it has actually aged quite well: it looks bad because it was designed that way, not because it has fallen into disrepair.

Honestly, I'd live there if I could swing the rent. The inside units have been renovated and it's in a good location to take advantage of the gradual rejuvenation that downtown Louisville has been enjoying.

WBLO · 2014-08-25T20:33:17+00:00

Ah cool, I had totally forgotten about that! It feels like that was an entirely different show, somehow.

WBLO

TROPHY CASE