Fox in Socks Audio

From a 1966 vinyl record, featuring the voice of Robby the Robot.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 06, 2014 - Comments (3)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Languages, Pop Art, Surrealism, Books, 1960s

The world’s smallest book

It's titled "Shiki no Kusabana," which means "Flowers of Seasons." It's 22 pages long, written in Japanese and Chinese scripts, and features 12 line drawings of flowers. Also, it measures less than a millimeter in height and width.

It's not available on Amazon. [cincinnati.com]

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 19, 2013 - Comments (6)
Category: World Records, Books

The Adventures of Cabbage Boy

A new offering by author Steven London in the genre of children's flatulence literature. Here's an excerpt:


I bet you can't wait to read more!

Amazon Link: The Inconceivable Adventures of Cabbage Boy -- Author's Website.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 20, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Books, Flatulence

Tarzan and the Rocky Gorge

No soundtrack, but it's still better than 90% of current Hollywood productions.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 07, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Amateurs and Fans, Movies, Books, 1930s

Little Nemo in Slumberland

[Click to enlarge]

Surely one of the most enjoyably odd of the classic newspaper comic strips was Winsor McCay's famous LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND.

Many of the strips are finally available online at this site.

Of course, if you desire glorious hardcopy, there are plenty of books too.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 02, 2013 - Comments (0)
Category: Dreams and Nightmares, Surrealism, Children, Books, 1900s, 1910s

Where’s Wenda/Wilma?

I never realized there were female counterparts to Waldo, nor that one could purchase Halloween costumes along those lines. But the disparity between Wenda and Wilma--or is that just two conflicting sides of the same woman?--is very confusing.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 30, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Costumes and Masks, Holidays, Sex Symbols, Books

Topsy the Crooked-Tailed Elephant

In my last book, Electrified Sheep, I devoted a few pages to telling the story of Topsy, the Coney Island elephant who in 1903 became the first of her species to be put to death by electricity. It's an odd story that tangentially involved two of the biggest names in the history of commercial electricity: Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.

There have been many elephants killed in all kinds of ways in captivity. But Topsy's death has been a particular source of fascination and horror to people over the years. Probably because the entire event was caught on film by Edison's film company (you can still see that film today on youtube). So Topsy's story has been told quite a few times over the course of the past century.

But now I see that the journalist Michael Daly has produced the first book-length treatment of Topsy's life and death. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but based on the reviews it sounds like Daly did an excellent job. So it should be a satisfying read for any lover of weird history.

And while I'm at it, let me put in a small plug for myself, since my publisher tells me that the US paperback version of Electrified Sheep has just been released. It's weird history, now cheaper than before. Plus, there's a kindle version!

Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 19, 2013 - Comments (8)
Category: Books

The Most Boring Books Ever

Back in 1950, Columbia University Press polled hundreds of editors, writers, booksellers, librarians, literary critics, and general readers in order to produce a list of the 10 most boring books among the great classics. The winners were:

1. Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan
2. Faust, Goethe
3. Don Quixote, Cervantes
4. Ivanhoe, Scott
5. Silas Marner, Eliot
6. Pamela, Richardson
7. Life of Samuel Johnson, Boswell
8. Faerie Queene, Spenser
9. Paradise Lost, Milton
10. Moby Dick, Melville

Such lists are always entirely subjective. For instance, I would question how anyone could produce such a list and not include anything from French literature. Take Remembrance of Things Past. That has to be up there among the great snoozers of all time.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 13, 2013 - Comments (19)
Category: Literature, Books, 1950s

The Tailbone Patrol

Unfortunately, the mutability of the English language has not been kind to James W. English's stories of Scouting known as The Tailbone Patrol. In 2013, the title sounds like one of those how-to-pick-up-women books, or a "Girls Gone Wild" episode.

If you want a copy to peruse, they start at $200.00.

Or you can read one of the stories about the "Tailboners" here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 09, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Books, 1950s, 1960s

The Views of An Angry Man

A bracing humorous antidote to all the do-gooder cant so rampant nowadays.

Read the whole small book here.

The author at Wikipedia.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 03, 2013 - Comments (2)
Category: Books, Curmudgeons and Contrarianism, 1900s