Odd Ducks: Unusual Aircraft from the Movietone Collection, 1921-1934

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 21, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Eccentrics, Inventions, Air Travel and Airlines, 1920s, 1930s

Louise Arner Boyd

If you can get past the robot voice in the video, you'll get all the amazing facts of this gal's life.



Her Wikipedia page.





Text source. (Page taken from hardcopy, not available online.)

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 14, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Eccentrics, Explorers, Frontiersmen, and Conquerors, Twentieth Century

John Thoburn Williamson, Parsimonious Millionaire

Source for story. (Follow whole text across multiple pages.)

His Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 19, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Antisocial Activites, Eccentrics, Money, Twentieth Century

Albert Clark Reed, Disappearing Rocket Scientist

Foto source.

Read the full story here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 13, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Ambiguity, Uncertainty and Deliberate Obscurity, Bad Habits, Neuroses and Psychoses, Eccentrics, Science, 1950s, Sadness

Edmund Love and His Restaurant Quest

In 1964, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST profiled Edmund G. Love, who intended to eat his way through approximately 5000 NYC restaurants.





By 1973, when THE NEW YORK TIMES took notice, his quest had ballooned to 6000.





His 1990 obituary in the NYT says he managed to hit 1750 of them.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 07, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Addictions, Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, Eccentrics, Food, Restaurants, World Records, Twentieth Century

Brain Bats of Venus

Just out is the second volume chronicling the improbable career of one of the chief Weirdo artists of all time, Basil Wolverton. Required reading for all WU-vies--and a great gift idea!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 31, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Surrealism, Eccentrics, Books, Twentieth Century

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 28, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Annoying Things, Antiques, Anachronisms and Throwbacks, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Celebrities, Confusion, Misunderstanding, and Incomprehension, Eccentrics, Entertainment, Geeks, Nerds and Pointdexters, Humor, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Superstition, Television, Avant Garde, Surrealism, 1970s, LGBT, Halloween, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust, Nostalgia

William Greenwood, the Modern Noah

William Greenwood was a local character in Olympia, Washington. In the 1920s, he decided that a great flood was coming soon, so he built himself an ark. The press dubbed him the modern Noah.

The exact date that he thought the flood would arrive changed frequently. First it was 1928, then 1932, then 1938, etc.







Eventually the city decided that his ark was a fire hazard, so in June 1942 they had the fire department burn it down. But Greenwood built another, smaller one. He lived on until 1958, dying at the age of 91. More info: Olympia History

San Bernardino County Sun - June 20, 1942

Mason City Globe-Gazette - Feb 13, 1948

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 26, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Armageddon and Apocalypses, Eccentrics, Crackpots, 1920s

Underwear on head in restaurant

“How would you like to be eating a hamburger and turn around and see some dude wearing jockey shorts on his head?”

Indianapolis News - May 20, 1977

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 12, 2019 - Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics, Headgear, Underwear, 1970s

Pina Bausch

"Is it dance?" is indeed the relevant question.

Her Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 14, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Surrealism, Dance