Category: Culture

Forget Sunny D: Embrace A Frozen Margarita

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These were my son’s menu choices yesterday at a local Mexican restaurant. Pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. The food is just mediocre, but we frequent it because the waiter does what seems to be nearly impossible these days in the world of self-absorbed, iPod-staring, adolescent servers: HE MAKES US FEEL WELCOME.

  • He greets us, shakes our hands, and asks how we are doing.
  • He brings us our drinks before we request them.
  • He does the “check-back” at least three times.
  • He keeps our drinks full.
  • He SMILES. He’s super-good at this one, without being fake.
  • He brings us to-go drinks without us having to ask.
  • He shakes our hands when we leave (or if he’s putting in an order, he waves good-bye).

And so even though the food is pretty meh, the service is great. He never looks slammed, he’s never in the weeds, never appears overwhelmed. He’s got this. And because he’s got this, we tip him well every time.

But until yesterday, I had never realized how inappropriate the illustration on the kids’ menu is. A Mexican man salsa dancing with a frozen margarita? With salt on the rim? I’m not making this up.

Deadringers

Corpus Christi High School’s class of 1950 has some real gems to share with you today.

That HAS to be Andy Samberg’s granddad. No two ways around it.

This greaser reminded me of the bad guy in Grease, Crater Face.

And this cutie patootie reminded me of Maxwell Caulfield’s character in Grease II. Do you see it, too?

In most cultures, symmetry is beauty. But these two gentleman prove that your hair can be an asymmetrical entity, and you can still be smooth. It’s like chunks are missing from their heads.

Have you ever seen an old man’s toupee caught in the wind? This is like that except it’s swirly like tidal waves. But also like frosting on a cupcake. I could get lost in it. Look at him, all cocky. How YOU doin’?

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I just feel like you need to see this. Tweezing is in order.

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Ahem.

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What happens when Walt Disney mates with Salvador Dali?

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This guy. I like him already.

Duffle023And check this out! The Kewpie doll is all grown up.

Did You Happen To See The Most Beautiful Girl In The World?

Coyote23132Mary looks like she just tossed back the requisite two teaspoons of Listerine and is just holding it in her mouth during the photo shoot, warming it with her saliva, waiting to spit it out.

Eye of the Beholder

I like how this yearbook just cuts to the chase: Pretty Girls. So there. It’s not open for discussion. And Sugie Smulcher signed her name for emphasis. Say that aloud. Sugie Smulcher. Rolls right off the tongue.

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Other yearbooks try to be creative with their beauty queen section, like this classy illustration preceding the portraits.

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Some editors refer to them as queens.

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1952 Coyote

Others refer to them as “sweethearts.”

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1957 Hornet

I doubt this girl’s destiny included being a farmer’s wife, but she took the title of FFA (Future Farmers of America) sweetheart.  If she’s not a vision in lace, I don’t know what is.

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“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute.”–Albert Einstein

Now that’s science!

I See Dead People

Coyote23128To be fair, all these people are dead. It was 91 years ago that this shot was taken. Little Miss Mary Pickford in her ringlets and sailor dress makes the shot. Sorry if these pics are enormous, but you have to high-res these son-of-a-guns to see the details.

Remember when you were a freshman, and they called you “fish”? Well, evidently that term has been around for awhile.

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I love the front-row girl with the double sunflowers.

There were three rooms total of fish in this 1923 class. Most of them are solemn-faced, but I see one with a mischievous smile. I think he’s pulling the hair of the scowling girl in front of him.

Coyote23-room5You probably think I’m the crazy yearbook lady by now. What do I care about these dead people, long forgotten? Their families didn’t even care to keep their yearbooks. But there is so much history packed into these volumes, young people of every era in all manner of style and economic background. And sometimes the cover itself is so beautiful, I wouldn’t think of setting it at the curb on Trash Day.

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