Toothpick As Accessory
Category: 1950s
Passive Aggressive Much?
Whoever owned this razor thin 1953 yearbook from a podunk town clearly had issues.
Well, we all know how 4th Grade can really take it out of you. All the hormones raging in your 9-yr-old body and whatnot. I will assume a girl owned this book, as men are not prone to having emotions, much less sharing them or recording them. And clearly, there was some love felt for one of these siblings.
Again with the mustaches? Or are these kitten whiskers? Even the poor bus driver (singular, as in one bus in a one-horse town) could not escape her wrath.
Perhaps the mustaches were not meant to be insulting; perhaps she had a thing for facial hair on friend and foe alike. However, there is no misunderstanding this:
Double Jalopy
Mid-Century Teen Style
Scarves and stripes always trumps Juicy sweatpants.
Gettin’ their prim and propers on during homeroom.
What I love most here: Marjorie’s accessorizing with a double belt. What I like least? Juan in his pre-restraining order days, displaying some protective aggressive tendencies toward a girl in a transparent sweater.
This is my favorite casual shot. I want to know what happened to that girl in the middle. She looks like she could get stuff done without being asked twice. I bet she knows how to delegate.
We Never Did That In Choir
I Don’t Eat Tail
My son’s elementary school calendar this month includes a president’s favorite food for each day of the month. Today the president named is Dwight D. Eisenhower, who enjoyed oxtail soup. Though I have heard of it, I have never seen hide nor hair of such a soup, not in a person’s home or in a restaurant. Have you ever tried it?
I visited the Food Network’s site to investigate. Apparently, “the oxtail was once really from an ox but nowadays the term generally refers to beef or veal tail. Though it’s quite bony, this cut of meat is very flavorful. Because it can be extremely tough (depending on the age of the animal), oxtail requires long, slow braising.”
Based on this information, I’m going to have to pass. I don’t eat tail, however flavorful. It’s hard enough for me to stomach dark meat chicken or the fatty part of a brisket; I doubt I would have the patience to gnaw away at a tough tail. I do admit the vegetables look delicious.
In any event, it is a common dish in the U.K., and there is even a fellow WordPresser who has provided a recipe for oxtail stew. He goes so far as to say, “All those odd bits, wobbly bits and squidgy bits have such an amazing range of textures and flavours.” A shiver just ran down my spine. I think he would do quite well to travel with the adventurous Andrew Zimmern, who forced poor Adam Richman into eating lutefisk on yesterday’s episode of Man vs. Food. Andrew loves squidgy bits.
Tomorrow’s president is Ulysses S. Grant, who liked to eat turkey. Now that one I get. And apparently, Ike liked it, too.
Hurdles, Not Girdles
Ever since I saw Danny Zuko in sweatpants, I knew track guys were hot. He didn’t need his T-Birds leather jacket to be cool.
Can’t you sense the confidence exuding off these fit and flexible track and field guys?
Before the Information Age, young folks enjoyed testing the limits of their bodies, pushing their muscles, striving for fitness goals, and enjoying the sun and wind on their skin. Even if they were sore afterward.
Nowadays, not so much. There are screens to be stared at, video games to be played, and processed, enriched grub void of nutrients to be consumed. Plus, sometimes outside is uncomfortable. Forget that. Inside is always 72 degrees.
Come on, morbidly obese kids, you can do it! Get up off of that couch. If this 74-year-old New Zealand man can do it, so can you! He did this AFTER he kicked cancer’s butt. So kick your own fat butt and get moving.
Otherwise, you’ll have a lifetime of physical and emotional hurdles ahead of you. I know you lack the energy to seize the day, but for the love of all that is holy, put the Hot Cheetos and Takis down. Toss them in the trash! Say hello to fitness and good-bye to Husky jeans!
Strike One
She Will Never Be Royals
This blog is called “I Don’t Get It.” I don’t get this. I can’t even begin to figure it out.
A Dar And A D’Oh
“Okay, you guys, I’m gonna take the picture at the count of three. One. Two. Three…Inez, what the hell?”
Let’s speculate on things Inez could be doing:
- Sneezing (but she looks too calm)
- Running the scales (save that for choir)
- That thing you’ve been thinking since you first saw it
- Mimicking the mating call of the sea lion
- Calling Kanye West out on the fact that he said he was leaving the country and, Damn Smokey, he’s still here.
A Black And White Woody
I doubt any young man would want to be saddled with the nickname of Woody in this day and age. But in days of yore, it was not uncommon. Most of you remember Woody Woodpecker.
Or this naive, young bartender, Huckleberry Woodrow Tiberius “Woody” Boyd, from Cheers, played by a man named Woody in real life.
Other famous Woodies include folk singer Woody “This Land Is My Land” Guthrie, and Woody Allen, the director/screenwriter who destroyed any of his cred by marrying his stepdaughter (yes, she was, for all practical purposes) Soon-Yi, who is 37 years his junior. Gross, Woody. You disgust me. And I never liked Annie Hall. But I do like this picture. Or half of it, at least.
I wonder if folks called former president, Woodrow Wilson, by his full name? Can you name one fact about this president?
He was actually one of the four presidents who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He received his in 1919 for founding the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations. You probably know Obama somehow nabbed one as well, but so did Theodore Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter. But I want to leave you with a more upbeat woody–this one from Toy Story.
“What chance does a toy like me have against a Buzz Lightyear action figure?”
Scenes From A 1950 Duffle Bag, Part Cinco (And Scene)
“And that is where the Commies live. This is why we do ‘duck and cover’ air raid drills each week. I hope one day our countries can become friends, and they might even host an Olympics.”
This was me at the DMV yesterday. Actually, I couldn’t get inside the first office, as it was so packed that I couldn’t Red-Rover myself in through the actual door, so I had to drive 35 miles to another town and have it done there. Oh, happy day.
You know how I always say each portrait has “the guy”? The one all in white with his hip thrust forward is trying to be the guy, but he can’t compete with Cowboy Bill there, and his sassy hip askew. That’s the guy.
And by all rights, that is the girl. So much better than common tennis whites. Way to work that vest.
Yes, the one on the left.
“And then she admitted it was her in the back of the Pontiac, but she said they didn’t do anything, and I was all as if. Everyone knows Peg is a hussy.”
Well, folks, it’s time to close up the Duffle Bag. Happy Trails!
I Don't Get It 