One more Sarah Palin thing...

Doesn't she look a lot like Peggy Hill? Whaddya think?

Sarah Palin or Mackenzie Allen?

I've talked before about how this presidential election looked to be taken right from the 2005 season of The West Wing (here's a pretty good recap). Now the Republicans are taking it further, seemingly borrowing the plot of Commander In Chief, the short-lived Geena Davis vehicle from 2005. In the show, Davis is Mackenzie Allen, a woman with very little political experience placed on the ticket as "a stunt" to get votes. No disrespect to Gov. Palin, but with her mayorship of a small town and less than two years as governor of a sparsely populated state, she seems to have been chosen more for her gender or her conservative cred than for her expertise. In the show, Allen assumes the presidency after the president dies, causing great gnashing of teeth about her inexperience and lack of political ambition.

So, which is it for 2009? A Santos administration or President Mackenzie Allen? And which other show from 2005 will next impact the election? Please tell me it's not Joey...

No Bull, Apparently

Wow, no posts for a week. Sorry about that, I'm on vacation. Driving through scenic Mojave, California, we saw this billboard...guess we liked the illustration more than anything. No bull, you see, and all bovines will be required to wear bows on their heads and tails to underscore the point that they are NOT bulls! And then there are the somewhat disturbing human-like lips. Of course, it could be worse...she could be wearing false eyelashes and a daisy necklace...

Tuna Upside Down Bake

"A nutritious combination of 7 green and yellow vegetables, flaked tuna, grated milk cheese, and biscuit mix." I'm sure it tastes as good as it looks!

Can You Guess Which is the Chagall?

I imagine that Marc Chagall would have an expression much like that of the bride at left if he happened across this knock-off of his work (original at right, in case you can't tell). I, on the other hand, love this painting. See how it compares to the original: the beast, rather than just nuzzling the bride, appears to be giving her a big squeeze. Instead of her serene expression in the original, the bride looks to be saying "oooh!" Wouldn't that be a more natural reaction to being snuggled by an orange animal of indistinct type? The angel, more flying otter than humanoid, has encountered a lower-than-expected cloud ceiling. Finally, the tree at lower left appears to be beaming in from from Christmas.

As great as March Chagall is (his America Windows is one of my favorite things at the Art Institute of Chicago), it makes me smile to have this version by artist J.S. Lee on my wall!

Who Knew Drivers' Licenses Were So Much Fun?

Came across a book that had sample driver's licenses and IDs from all of the different states. One of the things that struck me right away were the photos. Such as these:



The states obviously didn't use models for these samples...just very ordinary-looking people. But who are they? How did were they chosen? Are they DMV workers, relatives, people off the street? I doubt that a state could just pick a random photo from its database without permission. Which means someone chose this guy as a representative of the people of Louisiana:

Sometimes attention to detail was a bit lacking:

A very attractive young woman...but does she really look like she was born in 1955 like her ID says she was? That's one bad fake ID...but someone would probably sell her beer anyway.

Then there were the names used on the licenses. There were many variations on "Test" and "Sample," often using Ima for the first name, as in "Ima Tennessee Sample." Clever! :-p

Sometimes they had a first name, like "Suzy Sample," who apparently lives in Ohio, New Mexico, and South Dakota. There were plenty of John Q. Publics and John/Jane Does. Michigan got a little ambitious, going with "John Doe Public." Then there are the imaginative folks in Wisconsin:

Say hello to Ginny Zzzdoties. Odd how her picture actually seems to fit the name!


Look! It's Mary Safety! I guess maybe I should be more careful when I'm driving! And then there's the name made up by a grumpy DMV worker, ID BEHIND LINE. Do NOT come past that line until your name is called!!!

Well, I thought our friends from Canada had it together when I saw these examples:


Nicely put together, they obviously used models, gave them realistic names...but then there's this guy:

That's right, John Q. Public from Manitoba, rockin' a 'stache that would make the Louisiana License Guy proud! I guess it really is one big beautiful world, isn't it?

Baked Tomato Scoops!

Here's a yummy serving suggestion from the editors of Better Living, circa 1954: "Hot and splendid scooped tomatoes heaped with chicken and cheese, surrounded by quick corn-on-the-cob, a pot of melted butter, man-sized saltcellar, and tender fluffy butternut squash." Yes, don't give me one of those saltcellars for pantywaists...I want a MAN-SIZED saltcellar. And, please heat my melted butter with a votive candle, if it's not too much trouble.

I love these old food pictures, and I'll be sure to share more from this issue, the theme of which is "Be a Lazy Cook." This is a lazy meal, I suppose, by 50's standards...not necessarily compared to my standards, which involves tossing a package of Top Ramen in some boiling water.

By the way, there's lots of cool old food pictures and ads over at Senses Working Overtime...check 'em out!

Dave's Keepsake

At the PCC swap meet the other day, I ran across this item. "It's Been a Hell of a Show, Dave!" it exclaims, as a narrow-tied caricature clutches a newspaper and admires the sales charts. The newspaper, as it turns out, is the late L.A. Herald-Examiner and Dave is Dave Griffith. His name is still faintly readable on the press pass. The chart starts in 1931 and runs through 1968. That's 37 years that Dave worked at the Herald-Examiner. The picture is inscribed with dozens of signatures. All in all, a very nice keepsake for Dave as he left for retirement. Which just makes it sad that it ended up on the floor of a swap meet booth. Can't you just picture the stereotypical gruff city editor, cigar in teeth, slapping Dave on the back and growling "helluva show!"? Dave Griffith, I'm guessing that you've gone the way of the Herald-Examiner at this point, but here's to you and your 37 years of service!

More Bionic Fun

In continuing celebration of my encounter with Lindsay Wagner (not that I'm obsessing or anything), here's some more Bionic goodness for you. It's the Parker Brothers board games of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. Yes, Jaime Sommers, with perfectly windblown hair, is really going to catch a cougar with a big net...and you can, too!



Help her foil international criminals and rogue animals! Assist Steve Austin with daring rescues on earth and in space, with a little demolition for good measure! You'll have to supply your own sound effects, though...doodoodoodoodoodoodoodoo....




By the way, my good deed for the week was replacing the truly hideous picture of Lindsay Wagner that was on Wikipedia with the one I took at Comic-con. It's the best I can do without bionic abilities of my own.

Not Just a Tool, a Ridgid Tool

One summer in the '80s I worked in an aluminum siding warehouse in Elk Grove Village. Passing through the warehouse office one day, I beheld it for the first time: the Ridgid Tools calendar. Just about the funniest thing I had ever seen: models in skimpy swimsuits holding a variety of tools in provocative positions. That's right, comely young women holding Ridgid Tools.

It turns out that the Ridgid Tools calendar has a long history. The first one came out in 1935. It really hit its stride in the '50s with the pinup art of George Petty. By the '60s, though, the models and tools formula was well established and continues even now, with the cheesecake factor ramped up ever-higher.

So, enjoy this picture from around the time I first saw the calendar: "Miss Ridgid" 1983-84, Nanci Fletcher, holding the gold-plated 24" heavy-duty pipe wrench she received with the title. Seriously.