Zombie Elvis

This black velvet painting features The King staring back with cold, dead eyes. Google filters applied. Happy Halloween!

Recent Antique Mall and Thrift Store Oddities

When I am out and about, I usually have the crappy camera on an iPhone 4 for company. I try to make the best of it.

 

This so called 'art' is the product of a warped and twisted mind. It is Copyrighted, I guess. Although who would want to claim ownership is just beyond me.

Primo, the Amusement Horse

Seen outside the local grocery store. This thing would frighten most children away.

"Modern" Amatuer Radio Station - Circa 1917

As shown in the Hawkins Electrical Guide 8, Copyright 1917

Robot Graffiti in the Crossroads

This is one of my favorite bits of now defunct graffiti. Found in an alley across from the dead Arts Incubator in the Kansas City Crossroads district.

Stranger than Alice in Wonderland?

This illustration comes from the "Pictured Knowledge" children's encyclopedia. Copyright date unknown. The fun part is that it is not meant to be ironic, strange or vaguely terrifying.

Steve McCurry: The Last Roll of Kodachrome

The Last Roll of Kodachrome on Steve McCurry's Website

This a wonderful tribute to a bit of technology and visual history.  That almost every shot is a keeper is a credit to a true professional.

Industrial Design of the Week - Victor Breeze Spreader

While making the rounds of antique stores in the West Bottoms of Kansas City, one piece caught my eye for its distinctive design.  The Victor Breeze Spreader fan is highly functional with slats that can be positioned to direct the breeze.  The overall look is curiously industrial.  At first glance, I guessed it came from the 1900-1925.  Surprisingly, even though the look is more Art Nouveau than Art Deco, it is actually from the Deco era in the early 1930s. 

Why did I think Art Nouveau?  The shape of the guard and the overall form of the motor housing strike me as a simplified expression of Nouvea.  Nothing about this device is in the streamlined or stepped forms typical of Art Deco.

I fell in love with this fan.  It is all about function with just enough ornamentation to make it appropriate for a home or office.  It typifies objects that were built to last decades as opposed to the modern equivalent that might make it a few years.

I wonder if Restoration Hardware has cloned it yet?

Oddities of Lawrence at Night

While walking around downtown Lawrence, Kansas Saturday night, I spied some odd things in the store windows and on the street.

First, we have the Demon Horse.  Such a cute merry-go-round, until it is illuminated by headlights, that is.  This looks pretty normal by day and such a terror by night.

The front of this comic and movie store is pretty awesome!  The effect is far better at night.

I hope the pretty lady manages to escape the scary elf!

But at least the scary elf had a head.  The powers of the stump are far more potent.

Sophie Schmidt on North Korea

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, recently visited North Korea with Bill Richardson to discuss the concept of Internet freedom.  His daughter tagged along and wrote a great post with her perspectives on the visit to the Hermit Kingdom.

Best quote:  "it's like The Truman Show, at country scale."  With few exceptions, even the most opulent buildings are unheated in the midst of a cold and nasty winter. The honored guests could see their breath, inside.  I guess the upside to this is that electronic equipment likes cooler temperatures.

See it at: https://sites.google.com/site/sophieinnorthkorea/

Globe of the Month

While the title implies that I will post images of great globes on a monthly basis, that conclusion would be overly optimistic.  However, I could not resist showing off this particular globe.  It isn't in the best shape, but the framework is sublime - solid brass and all.

Spotted in the Kansas City West Bottoms antique market zone.

Welcome to Cultural Breccia!

What, you may ask, is Cultural Breccia?  In short, it is a term of my making that combines a geological concept with the fleeting and scattered debris of our recent cultural past.  Here is my modified definition derived from "breccia" as found on Wikipedia:

Breccia, Cultural is a blog composed of broken fragments of history or pop culture fused together by a fine-grained matrix that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments.

To an extent, this blog may not look much different from the average content on Tumblr.  While there are substantial blogs on Tumblr, to the untrained eye it appears to be a trove of pretty images, some original and may culled, placed with little context.  I operate a long form blog called  Vintage Technology Obsessions as well as other minor blogs for catch all materials.  Against my better judgement, I am also starting a blog related to my profession for everything that isn't necessarily work related.

But why another blog?  Aren't three or four enough?  In truth, the other blogs really are enough, but really great blog names are hard to come by and the term "Cultural Breccia" is original and of my making.  I mentioned the term on my primary blog and readers thought it was pretty darned awesome!  I wanted to nail down the name before anyone else liberated my idea.

So there it is:  this initial post could simply be a flag staked as a "name squatter" in perpetuity or until Google runs out of money and shuts down the Blogger project.  I would not be the first to create a name squatting blog.  However, I resolve to at least attempt to post the occasional bit of visual dross as I accumulate images in my semi-obsessive search for nerdy and cool things that interest me.

If you happen to have found this blog (and not many people will) welcome and thanks for reading!

To kick things off, I will leave you with a semi-random image that I like.  Oh, and by the way, I am one of those people that claims Copyright on all content in this blog.  It may be used for non-commercial purposes with citation.  It may not be used for any commercial purpose without express, written consent by me.

Spotted earlier this month at one of the great antique warehouse stores in the West Bottoms district of Kansas City.  I still like analog recordings, but this decorative approach may be the best destiny for this lovely colored vinyl.