Die Wunderkammer

Die, Wunderkammer

2007-02-26T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hey all. I’ve decided that Die Wunderkammer’s time has come, and now the Germanic “the” that exists as the first word in its name can take on a whole new meaning. All content here has now been incorporated into Back of the Cereal Box. You can view these posts, slightly reformatted, as well as new content by checking out the Cereal Box tag “die wunderkammer.”

Not Gone Yet

2006-11-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

Like I said, if I found anything of consequence, I'd post it here. After a long delay, I present two more images.

This is Shigeru Miyamoto, the brain behind a lot of what made my childhood fun. This image appeared in Time magazine's "Asian heroes" list.

And this bit of vintage arcade cabinet advertising just amuses me.

Party for Me

2006-09-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, beloved sock monkeys.

And with that, I'm sorry to say that the Die Wunderkammer picture blog is out of images to post. That doesn't mean this blog will be going away. No, it's just served its purpose of archiving the visual treats that I would have lost had my computer ever died. They're here now. Enjoy them. I will be updating Die Wunderkammer as I find other things that warrant posting, sure, but I imagine that such updates will be few and far between. In the interim, please read my regular blog, Back of the Cereal Box, and I will be sure to make a note of whenever I post something worthwhile here.

The Jesus Balloon

2006-09-18T00:55:00.000-07:00

Can't remember from where or when, but I somehow would guess Sanam's various online tendencies had something to do with it. You have to admit — it's pretty freaking awesome.

Two Sets of Eyes, Both Seeing Blurry

2006-09-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Kit Cat Clock, which as I type this hangs motionless on the wall with an expression of time that's wrong all but twice a day. I took this picture and have always enjoyed it.

Because one photo of Jill isn't enough for this picture blog. Here she is, trying to wash shaving cream out of her eyes. I think Meghan took this picture and I can't remember what caused our inter-house arguments to escalate to rapidly.

Nexie the Time-Eating Monster

2006-09-16T02:36:00.000-07:00

The last depiction of me in the Daily Nexus. I wrote my farewell column more than a year ago, and Mark Batalla chose to depict me as throwing my official Nexus decoder ring into the mouth of what I take to be the apparent mascot of the newspaper: "the time-eating monster called the Daily Nexus," as I wrote it back then.

Although I'm wearing the very t-shirt depicted in the above cartoon, I'm slightly miffed that I look like Logan Echolls here. Oh well.

Twofer

2006-09-15T00:42:00.000-07:00

If you can explain the connection between these two images, you win for the day.

The Ghost Tree of Malaysia

2006-09-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

Does it not make you feel slightly uneasy? It should.

Don't Blink

2006-09-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

I acquired this as the result of an email forward. Despite these origins, I enjoyed it. It's funny, if in a way people could accuse of being rooted in racism. It's not racist. It's just funny because their clothes are different from my clothes.

Large Heads

2006-09-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Two images representing the video games of my youth. The first is an ad depicting some of the original artwork for Kid Icarus, the game the lent me my all-purpose screen name.

And secondly, we have the Apple Kid. You know — the Apple Kid?

Technorati tags: 8-bit, Kid Icarus, video games, EarthBound, Nintendo

The Minds of Children

2006-09-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Three rather nice images that some nice person scanned from their old children's books. Presenting a Mexican marketplace:

The house of the future:

And your circulatory system, as explained by an Italian canary:

Creepier in Monochrome

2006-09-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Two slightly unsettling images I ganked from Miz Bri. Meet Medie Jones:

And her new pal Grace Bradley:

Tired / Lazy

2006-09-09T02:21:00.000-07:00

As the title of this post might suggest, I'm currently trapped between the poles of wanting to go to bed but being struck by the notion that I haven't updating this blog in a while. The result: the hodgepodge of unlabelled, unclassified images you see below. Enjoy.

I'm Not Loving My Crippling Stroke

2006-08-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

In case of emergency, call McDonald's. Best billboard ever.

Sex Sandwich

2006-08-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Interesting album art from the Ennio Morricone album Mondo Morricone.

Don't Drink the Cuckoo Punch

2006-08-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

It's just not a good recipe. Click for a larger image with readable text.

My Friend Leonard

2006-08-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

Sanam finally retaliated to the rapist mugshot image with a little wedding announcement.

I thought I might as well remind everyone of what else about Sanam's personal life has been leaked online.

Abject Horror

2006-08-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

I'd guess I found this somewhere on MySpace, but I really don't remember anymore. What really gets me about this picture is the notion that, with the naked man standing behind her, this cat may be terrified for reasons other than the water.

And seriously, who would want to expose their naked skin to an angry cat anyway?

Tags: shower, cat, trapped, wet pussy

Endangered for Your Own Safety

2006-08-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Unknown origin. Funny nonetheless.

One of My Prouder Accomplishments

2006-08-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ducto, the Chair of Tomorrow. Sadly, this duct tape-constructed chair is no longer with us. But at least I have the memories.

Onomatopoeia in the Style of Andy Warhol

2006-08-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

Pop art? Or recycled imagery from the old "Batman" TV show?

A55, Florida Orange and Red-Green-Yellow

2006-08-25T15:40:00.001-07:00

Ha ha. From the Smoking Gun's files on ill-planned license plates.

Technorati tags: orgy

The "Video" in "Video Games"

2006-08-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

An admittedly random assortment of video game-based art that I enjoy. I've played video games since I was very young, and since they're such an inherently visual medium, I've always thought people could do something cool with the pixilated visuals that they beam into our heads. Turns out a lot of people agreed.

Flickr user skinny coder posted this on his account. It's Duck Hunt, realized in Legos. What's especially cool about this project is that he's managed to preserve the blocky graphics of the early age of video games while still creating his art in a three-dimensional space. I like it. He's done a few other games, too, including Excitebike and Bionic Commando.

This piece, titled "Pipe Dreams" was made by an artist calling himself Danimation. He re-styled a whole lot of Mario characters in a more fluid, cartoony style. For Mario fanboys, this is the equivalent of a centerfold.

This piece apparently first showed up as a poster in Nintendo Power, a magazine I actually used to subscribe to when I was a kid. I just like that the artist, some guy named Gabe Swarr, bothered to put as much effort into it as he did. He's covered most of his bases by showing a healthy cross-section of the various Mario-related games I played when I was wee. And I can't help noticing that he seems to have drawn Mario to look like the Mayor from "Powerpuff Girls." Gabe Swarr, by the way, has his own blog, where he posts a lot of his work.

I'm not sure who's actually responsible for making this Mario-related installation, but it's a neat idea for public art. The pigeon presumably agrees. Can't remember where I found it.

Flickr user Neil Fiddleton posted this on his account. It's strangely vacant landscape art created from the original Super Mario Bros." graphics. This one is titled "Martin Short." He's also made ones called "Steve Martin" and "Four Sisters."

This is a snow sculpture representing a character named Totakeke, whom I wrote about earlier in a Back of the Cereal Box post concerning him and the Pet Shop Boys. The image was posted on Flickr by somebody named Mr. Pippo. A good likeness, really.

This next one is utterly confounding. I think I picked it up from Kotaku or Destructoid or some such other gaming blog. It's Japanese in origin, so it makes no sense. In it, you can see realistically drawn humans dressed up like Mario characters. You can also see Mario in a car being driven by Mario. Oh, Japan.

The final three images come from work exhibited in the i am 8 bit show that I saw in Los Angeles last year. Neat stuff. I don't know who did the below work, but I know it was featured in the show. Using fabric to show the princess in a more playful sense really works to get at what the artist was going for.

The above pieces stands in stark contrast to the next two, which both depict familiar Mario characters in a dystopic setting. Below is Isaac Pierro's "Don't Be a 2nd Player Hater." Poor Luigi.

And finally we have this piece, "The M.K.," by Jose Flores.

Technorati tags: i am 8 bit, Duck Hunt, Lego, 8-bit, Super Mario Bros.,, Mario, Animal Crossing, Princess Peach, Luigi, video games

Calling a Spade a Spade

2006-08-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

Not sure where I picked this one up. Could be vintage art from some forgotten children's book, but for some reason I think this one is newer than that. These walking playing card men gave me nightmares as a kid. The way the red paint drips like blood does nothing to quell that fear.

Tags: alice in wonderland, painting the roses red, playing card, spade

Again, the Golden Diva

2006-08-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

An image that I actually made using the print screen function and a video game emulator. As far as I know, this image exists in only three places online:

And, I guess, here now too. Let's here it for spreading it like sickness.

Technorati tags: Nintendo, video games, Wario

Diamond Dog

2006-08-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Another enemy from EarthBound, the quirky game I liked so much when I was younger. I think the only reason this character stayed with me is that it was called Diamond Dog, like a singular version of the David Bowie song.

Technorati tags: video games, EarthBound, Nintendo

The Double Date

2006-08-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

Neat photo that Flickr user Diastema posted. I like it.

Tags: fez, ostrich, figurine, diorama, awkward

Flinch Away

2006-08-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

A photo of Dina that I have come to cherish.

It Is What It Is

2006-08-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

And it's water-skiing squirrel. You can't really elaborate on these things. This was originally posted, I think, by Amamba on my MySpace profile.

Dream Factory

2006-08-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

Because my mind was dwelling on the subject, for whatever reason, here are some more images from Doki Doki Panic, which I wrote about in a previous post.

This one shows art from the game's instruction booklet. I don't read Japanese, but what I can gather from the pictures is that the big frog thing kidnapped two kids in dorky hats through a book. Or something. And then the Arabian family chases them. Also, the kids have wings. Also, before the kids got kidnapped, they apparently had a neat impish friend in a beanie. Got, I love Japan.

This is some promotional image showing a strange partnership between Mario and Imajin, the latter being Mario's counterpart in the game he eventually stole. It's comforting, to me: Italy and Arabia, being friendly. Or, more accurately, Japan and Japan.

And finally: Mama, dying. She's the blue-hooded lady whose high-jumping skills translated to Luigi, who's been a high jumper ever since. Funny thing is that she dies just like Mario died in the first Super Mario Bros., which came out two years before this strange Japanese game did. Terrified look, jumping facing the screen, hands in the air — all as if to say "Damn you, you shitty video game player! May I haunt you forever for killing me!"

Technorati tags: 8-bit, video games, Nintendo, Super Mario Bros., Mario, Doki Doki Panic,

Blended / Splendid

2006-08-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

Entertaining vintage ad for Pabst Blue Ribbon, back when they though they had a chance at making the brand seem hip and refined. And I love the idea of the man having the woman touching the old-fashioned metal pop corn maker, potentially burning her already dishwater-soaked hands, while he enjoys a cold beer.

Tags: PBR, beer, vintage, advertisement

Sorry, Minnie

2006-08-17T22:56:00.000-07:00

Small graphic I made solely to post on people's MySpace profiles after I realized how much better the song is when you switch the two adjectives.

La la la la la.

Accurate / Inaccurate

2006-08-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

Illustration of me that Mark Batalla drew for a column I wrote for the Daily Nexus sometime back. I think he got a vague suggestion of my face, though I can't figure out why I'm wearing a lumberjack shirt. As for Dansy on the right, I think we can all agree that Mark nailed it. Spittin' image, really.

Tags: daily nexus, editorial, drew mackie, dansy pansy

Snails as a Reflection for Societal Mores

2006-08-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

Foreign-language panel comic featuring inappropriately dressed snails. I found this a long time ago and posted it on my other blog, hoping somebody could explain what the hell was going on. Eventually, Science Josh replied. It amuses me to this day.

Tags: snail, thong, portuguese, cartoon

Bad Move

2006-08-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

Nice little cartoon I saw on the video game blog Destructoid today.

Technorati tags: video games, Tetris, comic

Like "The Love-Matic Grandpa"

2006-08-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

One of the few images on the entire internet representing the deservedly short-lived series "My Mother, the Car," which featured a man's dead mother possessing the family car. In a funny way.

Tags: sitcom, car, obscure, television, cancelled show

Coffee Makes You Stupid

2006-08-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

A good find from Bri's blog.

Tags: advertisement, coffee, women, telephone

Confused Pumpkin

2006-08-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

He's not right. From Sanam's Flickr account.

Tags: pumpkin, jack-o'-latern, upside-down

Displeased Frog

2006-08-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

I just don't think he looks happy.

Tags: frog, angry, green

The Underground

2006-08-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Another illustration from a vintage children's book.

Tags: vintage, children's book, london, undergournd, tube, subway

Attack of the Dodos

2006-08-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

In image from the "Porky In Wackyland" short that features the Dodos, the inhabitants of Wackyland that creeped me out to no end as a child.

Tags: porky pig, looney tunes, dodos, wackyland, black and white, monochrome

Classy Lassy

2006-08-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of Jill celebrating her twenty-second birthday in Washington D.C., where she lives now.

[It was inappropriate. A more grown-up me has deleted it.]

I wasn't there. I'm guessing she's singing into the dildo like a microphone. Hard to tell. Adam posted it on Jill's MySpace profile. Yes, it's that Jill. But Jill saw it and demanded that it be taken down. Still, I didn't feel like it should be removed altogether from the internet. You know, because it's so great. Thus, it's here, where people in the know can still find it but where it won't be seriously damaging poor Jill's reputation. Any more than it already it, anyway.

DogBaby Squared

2006-08-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

Mr. Winkle, the dog who looks like not-a-dog. I saw a Mr. Winkle calendar and went online for more Winkle. I can't get enough. This dog made the rounds on MySpace a while back.

Tags: mr. winkle, dog, toy

Armed Father, Who Art in Heaven

2006-08-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

Jesus packing heat. Probably found on MySpace. Can't remember the specifics.

Tags: jesus, rifle

Sleepy Puppy

2006-08-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

Aww. Puppy likes corners. Of poster racks. Posted on Flickr sometime back. Can't remember by whom.

Tags: dog, puppy, awkward

Okey-Dokey Doki Doki

2006-08-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

Image comparing art for Super Mario Bros. 2 and Doki Doki Panic, the Japanese game that the former was based on. And when I say "based on," I mean "hacked from." I wish I could find the Doki Doki Panic image in higher resolution, but so far this is all the internet has yielded. What's especially curious about these two images is that they're both hand-drawn art, but for whatever reason the artist who drew the left panel, which depicts the American version of the game, decided to preserve the design of the right one almost perfectly.

Look closely — or as closely as you can on this smallish image — and you can see that whoever drew the Super Mario Bros. art posed all the characters almost exactly as they appeared in the Doki Doki Panic art, just with a thicker line style. Mario, for example, is about to throw a turnip in the same way that Imajin, the turbaned fellow who starred in the Japanese game, is about to throw a mask. An African tribal mask, no less. You know, like you throw at people. Same with the rest of the cast.

What strikes me as even odder about these pieces is that the artist could have easily traced everything on the right side of the river for the Super Mario Bros. 2 art, as those characters did not change. Or if not trace, than they could easily have just pieced in the new art using whatever people in the 80s used before PhotoShip. They didn't. They re-drew it all, sometimes in poses that are almost imperceptibly different. Look at Birdo, for example. She's just slightly in a different pose, her snout is shaped differently and her bow is a different color.

Another note: For whatever reason, the American art doesn't change the sound effect of the bomb exploding from "BOM" — Japanese — to "BOMB" — the American equivalent, at least in the game. Even the hills in the background appear similarly, just with different swirls on them.

Odd. To me, anyway.

Technorati tags: 8-bit, video games, Nintendo, Super Mario Bros., Mario, Doki Doki Panic

Tiny World Destroyer

2006-08-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

An indulgence: As a kid, I loved "Tiny Toons" and mentally catalogued the various kiddie mutations of the "Looney Tunes" cast. One of the rarest of these characters — alongside the tater tot version of Witch Hazel — was Marcia the Martian. She's the daughter of Marvin the Martian, who I always liked. Marcia the Martian only appeared once in the series, in a take-off on "Duck Dodgers." This, it seems, is the only image of her available on the internet, though it can now be found in quite a few places.

Tags: marcia the martian, marvin the martian, tiny toons, looney toons, cartoons, warner bros., animated

Anteater-Madonna and Child, With Anteaters

2006-08-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that I like anteaters?

Tags: anteater, colored anteater, baby anteater, hairless

He Sees the City Asleep at Night

2006-08-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

Image that originallly appeared in the "To Quote Wally Exactly" post on Back of the Cereal Box. The last item in the list was "the concept of the flâneur." This was what came up when I put the word into Google image search. For whatever reason, this image — and now the word "flaneur" as well — makes me think of Iggy Pop's "The Passenger," even though a flaneur, by definition, is a pedestrian and the song refers to somebody riding in a car.

Tags: black and white, vintage, monochrome, photograph, city, urban, dark, flaneur

Like Leopold and Loeb, Only Meaner

2006-08-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Image of "Home Movies" characters Walter and Perry that I found at Brendon Small's website.

Tags: walter, perry, home movies, adult swim, cartoon

On Second Thought

2006-08-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

I think I'll post this one on Sanam's MySpace profile instead.

I Always Knew She Was Bad News

2006-08-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a mug shot I found of Sanam — the same Sanam that started the blog that inspired this one. I found this by Googling Sanam's full name, which I do constantly. This photo amuses me.

I think I will post this on her MySpace page.

Tags: sanam, mug shot, copywriter, criminal, jailbird, meatball face

Yes, You Do Still Have a Career

2006-08-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

A photo of Lisa Kudrow, dressed like a cupcake. I don't know why or where from.

Tags: lisa kudrow, cupcake

Revenge of the Gaucho

2006-08-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is a cover of an old Wonder Woman comic that Bri posted a while back on Literature and Water. It amuses me greatly, if for no other reason than that it shows my loser of a college mascot, the Gaucho, in all his cheesy glory.

In case anyone ever thinks otherwise, Argentinean cowboys strike fear into the heart of no one.

Tags: wonder woman, gaucho, superhero, comics, cheesy, DC comics, supervillain

I, Caveman

2006-08-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

Art that Mark Batalla drew for a column I wrote for the Daily Nexus back in June of 2004. I look like a caveman, sure, but one of the more handsome cavemen I've seen in recent memory.

For the record, I've never worn cut-offs.

Tags: mark batalla, daily nexus, art, cartoon, editorial, illustration, drew mackie, caveman, hammer, confused

Woman in a Piano

2006-08-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Here's one that Flickr user Life as Art posted. I found it by searching Flickr with the tag "awkward" and viewing the results in order of interestingness.

Tags: woman, piano, awkward, monochrome, black and white, strange, music

What Would Have Rocked My World Fifteen Years Ago

2006-08-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

Promotional art for Nintendo's new virtual console. The new Nintendo console, the Wii, is purported to grant online access to a virtual library of games that appeared on the previous systems. Video game blog Kotaku posted this a week or so ago and I think it does a good job illustrating the idea, in the zany way that the Japanese often illustrate ideas. This also closely approximates how I like to imagine things like my iPod, with the potential line-up of stars mixing and mingling before they get chosen to perform next.

Because I'm nerdy about these things, I'd like to point out some of the various bygone video game heroes and villains appearing.

Starting at the top-left corner:

Kirby, perplexingly dressed like a gladiator and holding a whip
King Hippo from Punch-Out!!
One of the little baddies from Balloon Fight
Spike McFang (I think)
The re-styled Donkey Kong
The Golden Pyramid from Wario Land 4
Firebrand the Gargoyle
Pit, the hero of the Kid Icarus games
Pokey, the generic cactus enemy from the Mario games
Popo and Nana, the Ice Climbers
The Windfish's egg, from Link's Awakening
Birdo, sitting on top of the egg
ProtoMan, from MegaMan
Princess Peach, being apparently kidnapped by ProtoMan
Pac-Man Jr. and Blinky, standing behind a gate or something
Some weird version of Pac-Man with a hat, a phallic nose, Mario's flying raccoon tail and a cluster of Boos chasing him
Bonk, flying a fighter jet
A trail of Bloobers
Mappy, the mouse cop
The Kiwi hero from New Zealand Story
The doctor character from Legend of the Mystical Ninja, which I don't think I ever actually played
A Cheep-Cheep
Princess Tomato
Wart, the bad guy from Super Mario Bros. 2
Professtor Hector from Gyromite
Dr. Wily
R.O.B., the Robotic Operating Buddy
Some guy that looks like Fox McCloud but probably isn't
Mog the Moogle
Gannon (pig-version)
Master Higgins from the Adventure Island games
Triclyde, the three-headed snake from Super Mario Bros. 2
Nack the Weasel (a.k.a. Fang the Sniper)
The dog that laughs at you when you fail to shoot accurately in Duck Hunt
A Bob-Omb (in the hand of some unfamiliar blue bird)
Lakitu
Luigi, holding a stack of "blocks" from Puyo Puyo
The red convertible from Out Run
Arthur from Ghouls and Ghosts
Kaepora Gaebora
Mr. Game and Watch
Lolo and Lala
Diskun (a.k.a. Mr. Disk)
Bub from Bubble Bobble
Mouser from Super Mario Bros. 2
Bomberman
A Bullet Bill
A Piranha Plant
A Goomba, for some reason encased in a bubble
One of those Mega Man hard hat-wearing things, the name of which escapes me at the moment
Cut Man, from the first Mega Man
On Cut Man's fist, a Flicky from the Sonic games
Clyde, the yellow Pac-Man ghost
Two Dragon Quest slimes, emerging from the red Super Mario Bros. 2 door
The Angry Sun from Super Mario Bros. 3
The Hammer Bros.
The Snow Bros.
Morton Koopa Jr., weilding a sword for some reason
Beat, the little robot bird carrying the red orb thing

And with that, I'm effectively geeked out.

EDIT: I did a little bit of further research and found out the image is actually not official. It's by a British artist named Keith Webb. Cool, anyway.

Technorati tags: 8-bit, video games, Nintendo, Super Mario Bros.,Mario

Almonds on Acid

2006-08-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

I found this image quite a while ago, though I can't remember where. And it doesn't really lend itself to searching. Trippy.

Tags: almonds, trippy, wavy, optical illusion

The Owls Go

2006-08-07T01:57:00.000-07:00

Another vintage children's book illustration, again from Flickr whereabouts unknown. Particularly grabbing, though, I thought.

Tags: vintage, children's book, illustration, owl

Another Otter Post

2006-08-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

And for the same reason that I posted the previous entry, I'm posting these images, which originally appeared in the Back of the Cereal Box post "Este Quelpo Es Delicioso." Since the Otter Pops people probably didn't want people grabbing these images, I had to use the print screen function to turn these images, which were initially gifs, into usable, editable jpegs. That took work, and for that reason alone I decided to get as much mileage from them as I could.

This seventh, yellow otter should look unfamiliar, as he is the discontinued Otter Pop flavor, Rip Van Lemon. Images of him are hard to come by on the internet.

And this final image features the same characters re-styled by pop art illustrator S. Britt, whose non-Otter Pop stuff is also quite good.

Tags: Otter Pops, popsicles, otters, Alexander the Grape, Strawberry Short Kook, Sir Isaac Lime, Little Orphan Orange, Poncho Punch, Louie-Bloo Raspberry, Rip Van Lemon, S. Britt

Cartoon Couple Look-alikes

2006-08-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

These images were from a post I did on the Back of the Cereal Box. "Love You Like I Love Myself" was my attempt to document the odd trend of how cartoon sweethearts often look like fraternal twins of each other. As far as I know, it's the only place on the internet that talks about such a thing. Anyway, some of the images posted were fairly unique. Very few images of Muriel Goldman exist on the internet, for example, so I decided to re-post the images here in an effort to further contribute to online content.

Plus, I didn't know what else to write.

Technorati tags: TV, cartoons, The Simpsons, Family Guy,Disney, Toad

Mr. Octopus

2006-08-02T00:54:00.000-07:00

Illustration of an octopus attacking a whale from some unknown children's book. I found this on Flickr some time ago and should probably go back and cite the original source. Nonetheless, you must admit that it is pretty cool. Click the image for a considerably bigger version.

Tags: vintage, children's book, illustration, octopus, whale

Mr. and Mrs. Man-Sheep

2006-07-31T17:12:00.000-07:00

While KrisDina and I were in New Zealand, we repeatedly saw advertisements for Icebreaker, a particular brand of wool-based clothing. There were advertisements in most New Zealand magazines and posters in the windows of clothes shops. These ads, to say the least, were eye-catching.

Here's an example:

As you can see, the brand hypes the pure Merino wool aspect of their clothes by dressing up two models — a wispy, fair woman and a brawny, tan guy — is some kind of strange sheep drag. The end result is something out of Greek mythology, though it more realistically came from Photoshop. (Honestly, I like that there’s such a great potential for overlap between the two.) But I can't help feel a little wrong to look at something that clearly exhibits sheep characteristics and then thinking sexy thoughts. Maybe that’s the point. These grotesque forms do nothing to dispel the notion that New Zealanders — famed shepherds — bugger their flock like it's going out of style. The two depicted, however model-pretty they may be, look to be the offspring of such matings.

Finally, the above image is, to me, frightening on a primal level. Not only does the sheep-man seem to be springing from the very soil, wool and all, but his lady friend is holding those shears in a dangerous place. I worry for him, my friend the sheep-man.

I managed to find a second ad picturing the same to models, though the image is of substantially lower quality. It also doesn't compel me to cross my legs in a protective fashion.

We get a better shot at the woman — who, it turns out, looks a little bit like Allison Goldfrapp — and her apparent leotard of wool. We also see that the man does in fact have feet. Now he's holding the shearing scissors and I'm a little worried for Mrs. Man-Sheep.

Strange people, those New Zealanders.

Tags: sheep, new zealand, merino, wool, icebreaker, clothes, advertisement, commercial, sexy

Refrigerator Mold-a-Riffic

2006-07-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

This was one of my first-ever Photoshop forays. I did it for Dr. Sorapure's writing and new media class back in winter of 2004. We had to illustrate a four-letter word in a way that underscored that word's meaning, and after a lengthy mental debate I chose "foul." I only wish I had a bigger version of this image somewhere.

Tags: photoshop, sorapure, foul, refrigerator, mold

Duck, Duck, Duck, Sexual Assault

2006-07-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here's an image that Bri actually posted on Literature and Water, I believe in reaction to this blog, which in itself was a reaction to Sanam's Archivolt. It's an illustration Dave drew to accompany a Nexus editorial on rape statistics, and it manages to get that across while still being amusing.

I have no idea why the girls look like nuns.

Tags: rape, statistics, sexual assault, franzese, cartoon

Anteater Takes One to the Face

2006-07-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

I love antearers. It's no secret. For the life of me, however, I can't remember where I picked up this image of an anteater getting smacked in the face. I'm tempted to claim he has some connection to the old "Pink Panther" cartoons. I also have no idea what's up with the little guy hiding behind him.

Tags: blue, anteater, cartoon

Three Paulines

2006-07-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Pauline is the damsel in the Donkey Kong games. You know — the one running in place at the top of the construction site. Her in-game appearance doesn't look anything like how she's depicted in the official art. Here is how she originally looked:

Shortly thereafter, Nintendo introduced Princess Toadstool as Mario's main squeeze and Pauline vanished. They updated the old Donkey Kong game engine, though, in 1994 and re-introduced Pauline, though she looked different in order to further differentiate her from the princess. This is a widely available image of that version of Pauline:

Quite washed out. In my lameness, I decided to reconstruct her face on Photoshop. I also gave her skin tone. For both these jobs, I borrowed on what the original version of Pauline looked like. This is the result:

Hopefully, this will be the version that gets passed around. It's currently the image for her on her Wikipedia profile, so it should be widely accessible.

Technorati tags: 8-bit, video games, Nintendo, Super Mario Bros.,Mario, Donkey Kong, Pauline

Gastropod Orthodox

2006-07-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

A second installment of "Mr. Pants," the short-lived comic I did for the Daily Nexus. This one, notably, does not feature Mr. Pants.

Tags: comic, daily nexus, newspaper, mouse, rose, bird, snail, religion, catholic

Kam-Mee's Playhouse

2006-07-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

A digital collage that Kami made for some class and posted on my MySpace profile.

Tags: photoshop, digital, collage, bedroom

It Is What It Is

2006-07-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Random Flickr image that I enjoyed. There's probably a story behind this that I couldn't begin to tell.

Tags: hand, egg

The Proof

2006-07-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Good to know that we can all have a future in front of us, regardless of how much personal garbage might be on the internet at the moment.

Taken from Hasan's Myspace profile.

Tags: arnold schwarzzenegger, governor, joint, marjuana, high

Less of a Moth, Less of a Man

2006-07-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

An illustration that I took from The Big Book of the Unexplained. This art, by Graham Higgins, shows the Mothman, in all his glowing eyes glory

This image originally appeared in my posts of posts, "To Quote Wally Exactly."

Tags: unexplained, mothman, cryptid, cryptozoology, monster

We Were All There

2006-07-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Vintage children's book illustration depicting a baby in utero. Note the serene look upon the child's face, in spite of the fact that it appears to be resting in snot-colored goo. Ah, the womb.

Found somewhere on Flickr. I'll have to find the page again to post it.

Tags: baby, fetus, infant, uterus, in utero, children's book, vintage, illustration

Bad Restaurant

2006-07-27T02:08:00.000-07:00

Confusing billboard for a restaurant people should bring their children to. Posted by Nate on his Flickr account.

Tags: cannibalism, mexican, seafood, resturant, billboard, baby, cooked, cook, chef's hat

Don't Forget Mix Master Dog

2006-07-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

A screengrab I took of an Otter Pops music video. (Don't ask.) It's the dog that belongs to Little Orphan Orange, Melon Collie. He delights me.

Tags: otter pops, dog, DJ, mixing table, cartoon

Purple Pig Frog

2006-07-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

A rare pig-snouted frog species, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, discovered only a few years ago in India. I find it cute.

Tags: frog, india, purple, pig, nose, snout, rare, species

Adorable Extraterrestrial

2006-07-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Cute Li'l UFO, a minor enemy from EarthBound, a game I liked when I was a kid. Same game as the blue cult guy below.

Technorati tags: EarthBound, video games, Nintendo

Poodle Ears

2006-07-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

Strange illustration depicting numbered steps for how to make your poodle resent you. Posted by Sanam on my MySpace profile.

Tags: poodle, ears, contraption, manual, dog abuse

It Should Not Have Been

2006-07-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

Alvin, of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" fame, shown befriending a vaguely anthropomorphic female hot dog, possibly in promotion of a brand of hot dogs. Origin unknown.

Tags: bizarre, alvin, chipmunks, promo, advertising, unlicensed, hot dog, female, anthropomorphic

The Short-Lived Foray

2006-07-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

I comic strip I wrote for the Daily Nexus some time back. The first of three, two of which featured Mr. Pants.

Tags: comic, strip, michael jackson, cat, neverland ranch, mr. pants, daily nexus, drew mackie

Vandalism — From the World of Tomorrow!

2006-07-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Dr. Zoidberg hangs out in men's restrooms. Or did you already know?

Tags: futurama, dr. zoidberg, graffiti, vandalism, lobster, cartoon

The Boy in the Plastic Bag

2006-07-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

A photo of forgotten origin. I can't explain because I didn't grow up Asian. I converted.

Tags: boy, plastic, bag, asian, child abuse

A Small Mystery

2006-07-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

I really haven't got a clue.

Tags: unidentified

Sunflower Bicycle

2006-07-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Nice French poster for "Harold and Maude." Wish I had it in a bigger size, though.

Tags: harold, maude, film, poster, vintage, french, cinema

Edible Root Vegetable

2006-07-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

It's a turnip.

Tags: turnip

Paint the World Blue

2006-07-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

The sprite of a character from a beloved video game I playted when I was a kid. A Happy-Happyist, this guy dedicated his life to finding happiness through painting everything blue. Even cows.

He looks a bit like a Ku Klux Klan member, doesn't he?

Technorati tags: EarthBound, video games, Nintendo, cult

Happy to Be Here

2006-07-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

A promo photo of Petra Massey, an actress KrisDina and I saw in the play Cooped at the Sydney Opera House. It was a good play. Oh, and we saw her completely naked.

I'm four times in love.

Tags: petra massey, spymonkey, cooped, play, actress, british, comedy, spoof

Deadly Youth

2006-07-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Baby Doll, a minor villain from the animated "Batman" series I watched when I was a kid. There aren't too many images of her available online, but this one — which I snagged from the Wikipedia entry for her — is quite good.

I've also helped shape that very Wikipedia article. I know. I'm so lame.

Tags: batman, animated, baby, doll, babydoll, villain, supervillain, DC, comics

Pac-Man Lotto

2006-07-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Watch as Pac-Man gobbles up your money! From Kotaku.com.

Also: Way to jump on the Pac-Man trend while it's hot, Texas.

Tags: pac-man, pacman, lotto, gambling

The Alligator in the Sewer

2006-07-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is an illustration that appeared in The Big Book of Urbal Legends, a Paradox Press release that tells urban legends in comic book form. It's great. I used the illustration in "To Quote Wally Exactly," my post-of-posts on the Back of the Cereal Box, although I colored the illustration in on Microsoft Paint for that. So, then, to my knowledge, this is the only colored version of this illustration that exists.

Tags: alligator, crocodile, reptile, green, urban legend, myth, sewer, manhole

Magenta Sheep

2006-07-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

From an old children's book that someone had scanned and put online. Author and scanner unknown.

Tags: vintage, book, vintage book, literature, illustration, children's book, kid's book, giant, purple, sheep

"He's an Alpaca!"

2006-07-22T03:28:00.000-07:00

A juvenile alpaca, looking adorably awkward. Picked up while browsing Flickr. The original image is here.

Tags: baby, alpaca, fur, wool, furry, wooly, baby, juvenile, awkward

The Abduction of DogBaby

2006-07-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

Polaroids taken during the first DogBaby incident.

The top one is Amber, former housemate here. The bottom one is Betsy, current roommate. They wore Kristen's clothes a staged a ransom for the return of the precious DogBaby. You can read more about the DogBaby saga on his MySpace page.

Tags: abduction, abduct, kidnap, kidnapper, bandit, masked, hostage, ransom, polaroid, photograph, dog, baby, dogbaby, stuffed animal, toy, prank

The Real-Life Peter Griffin

2006-07-21T01:10:00.000-07:00

Can't even remember where I first found it. Also, probably faked. He does, however, bear a striking resemblance.

Tags: family guy, adult swim, peter griffin, yearbook, photo

Consorts of the Mushroom Retainers

2006-07-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

A photo that I pegged as one of my first favorites on Flickr. Gotta love the Japanese.

You can view the original here.

Technorati tags: video games, Nintendo, Super Mario Bros., Mario

Sad Dromedary

2006-07-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

A promotional card for the film "The Story of the Weeping Camel."

Tags: camel, weep, weeping, cry, crying, legend, story, Mongolia, desert, Gobi, film, movie, cinema, foreign film

Wrinkle Puppy

2006-07-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

And what better way to start than with an image Sanam has just recently posted as a comment on my MySpace profile?

Tags: puppy, wrinkle, wrinkly, purple, magenta, skin, fetal, fetus

In the Shadow of Sanam

2006-07-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

If you're going to steal, then steal from the best. It's a good rule. And it's one I followed when I set up this blog. I had already kept a regular blog, Back of the Cereal Box, for years when I made this. But that one was all about the words, really. This is something altogether different.

Around the beginning of June this year, my friend Sanam set up a secondary blog account — on LiveJournal, no less — to archive a collection of images she’d amassed over her years of internet browsing. This intrigued me greatly: a way to post images online, free on the constraints of Flickr, just as a means of keeping them in case the computer they’re stored on should ever die. It’s a novel use for a blog. Immediately, I was jealous. I would have launched this blog right then had I bothered to keep a collection of images like Sanam did. But I’m lame and I neglected to do this, even as tickled by the many jpegs and tiffs as I've been over the years. For whatever reason, I had just never managed to accomplished the whole right-click and save necessary to make these images mine.

As a result, I’ve recently scrambled through the pages I remember and done the very thing I failed to do before. What you will see on this blog in the coming days is just that: the images I like and want to keep and remember and have on command when I need them. Don’t read this for flowery prose. This here is all about the visual instead of the verbal.

Here’s what you can expect:

things posed on MySpace, sometimes by Sanam herself
things that were posted on my other blog, for whatever reason, that I like
illustration from vintage children’s books, the art from which I enjoy very much
strange Japanese things
rare pop culture clippings
a few photos I have taken myself that I find worthy of re-posting in this blog, solely as a means of tricking more people into looking at them
other things
a list of search words for the various images posted, so that people surfing the Googly tide will be able to find them

And that’s it, really. As you’ll note, the template for this blog is a subtle variation on the one I have for my other blog. On that blog, I noted Sanam’s initial effort in a post titled “Die Wunderkammer,” which is German for something like “the cabinet of curiosities.” “Die Wunderkammer” was also the title of a mix CD Spence made for me when I got back from Australia.

Finally, the background image for this post is a Photoshopped version of a photograph I took last winter, when my parents and I went to see a boat in the Santa Barbara harbor that had been attacked by a whale a week beforehand. The boat was covered in shattered safety glass, which when gathered in piles had the look of the cyan ice shard substance you see before you. I discussed all this in previous post, "What the Whale Did," in which I predicted that the shattered glass would one day become the background image for my blog. I just didn’t realize at the time that it would be a new blog. The un-edited image by itself, by the way, can be found here.