Follies of the Mad Men #67

[From The Saturday Evening Post magazine for November 10 1962.]

Does putting Listerine in a fancy decanter make it taste better? Isn't this like packaging Preparation-H in a golden snuff box?

Haley Hogan

Thanks to pal John Crowley, I've learned of the existence of Yale performance artist Haley Hogan, pictured to the right. The image is taken from her blog.

One of her prior performances is described here.

Let me give you an excerpt (click to enlarge for readability):



Haley's newest piece is Text Me. Touch Me.

Text Me. Touch Me.

a performance art piece from Haley Hogan & The Interventionists

Yale University Art Gallery Lobby

thursday 7 may 2009
ongoing from 5 until 8 o'clock in the evening
reception simultaneous


During Text Me. Touch Me. the artist will lie in a bathtub for three hours, submerged in clear plastic bubble machine prizes containing text messages she received from men. The installation confronts issues of isolation, passivity, and disconnected intimacy in the age of contemporary hypermedia. Visitors are invited to engage with the piece by extracting the text message spheres from the bathtub and taking them home as intimate relics of the performance. The installation questions the mediation of personal digital assistants, wireless internet, and the omnipresent media, in relationships. It raises questions about the artificial nature of sexuality in the modern age.

See you all there!

Water-Saving Shower Curtain

Here in Southern California we're facing water shortages, so Elisabeth Buecher's shower curtain could come in handy. It helps save water because it "slowly inflates around you while you shower. It leaves you only a few minutes to take your shower before trapping you."

She calls her overall philosophy of design the "design of threat and punishment." Sounds kinky.

I have to admit that the idea of installing her shower curtain in the guest bathroom of our house, and not warning guests about it beforehand, is very tempting.

(Warning: One of the images on her page may be slightly NSFW.)

The Bicycle Shower

Combining your workout with a shower could save some time, I suppose. Though I'm not sure if that was the intended purpose of this invention. From the Chicago Tribune, Jan 18, 1903:

Potato Your Face

A hygiene tip found in the Chicago Tribune, March 2, 1902:


Okay, but how do you then get the potato slime off your face?

Sewer Dwellers

One month ago I posted a list of "things that have been found in sewers." To that list I now have to add 100 immigrants, including 24 Afghan children. They've been found living in the sewers beneath Rome. Seems they got down there by removing some manhole covers. I've watched enough horror films to know it's only a matter of time before they become cannibalistic and start pulling victims down into the sewers with them. (Thanks, Sandy!)

Follies of the Mad Men #60

[From Playboy magazine for December 1965.]

Okay, we get it. Your product has an odd name that might lend itself to a double entendre. Such a campaign worked for Smucker's Jelly & Jams, of course. But the problem lies with the verb "sniff." If the ad had read "May I hold your Klompen Kloggen," all would have been good smutty fun. But although you can indeed hold the unlit tobacco, you can't "hold" the delightfully aromatic pipe smoke (the selling point). So the copywriter is forced to use "sniff."

But sniffing some private portion of another individual (the inescapable connotations of "May I sniff your BLANK...) conjures up all sorts of canine or rutting behavior, not sexy but animalistic. One pictures this pretty woman burying her nose in some guy's armpit--or elsewhere.

Burp Gas Filterer

The Burp Gas Filtering Device: Patent No. 7070638, issued July 4, 2006. It serves two functions in one. You can deodorize your burp, and if your dinner companion needs a pen to sign the check, you'll have one to offer.

Beneath the Kilt

Since we were just talking about "cheerleader upskirt photos" yesterday, I thought this post was timely.

Kilt-rental agencies in the UK now insist that their customers don underwear. What are all our grand traditions coming to?!?


via videosift.com

Wallypop Toilet Wipes

This must have been what people used back in the days before the invention of toilet paper. You just wipe and then throw the soiled cloth into a bag, ready to be taken out to the laundry. One benefit is that it allows you to wipe with a wet cloth, which gets you a lot cleaner. However, it would seem to me that it's going to substantially increase the amount of laundry you've got to do (since you want to keep the soiled wipes separate from the rest of your laundry). So would they really save you money, or be any better for the environment?

Thanks to Prof. Music for the contribution.

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.