Shameless Plug

Those of you who are familiar with my posts know that I love everything from the mid 20th century. A while ago I started a series of science-fiction Americana drawings, like Norman Rockwell but with robots and aliens. I just set up a website for these pictures, The Saturday Evening Weblog. Right now I have 30 or 40 drawings and will be posting one every day until I run out, and after that I will post them as I draw them (usually a few per week). Anyone who likes retro-futurism or science fiction should check it out.

Posted By: Salamander Sam - Wed May 04, 2011 - Comments (4)
Category: Humor, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Univac

I wonder what the computer pioneers of the 1950's would think of today's scene.....

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 11, 2011 - Comments (3)
Category: Computers, 1950s, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

You Had Me At “Bacon”

I was flipping through one of my old copies of Popular Science when this ad caught my eye, so I went to Google Books to find a digital version from their Popular Science archive.


(From the October 1967 issue of Popular Science)

I'm sure many of you will agree that this prospect alone would be enough to shell out the equivalent of roughly $5,000 for one of those new-fangled microwave ovens...

Posted By: Salamander Sam - Fri Apr 01, 2011 - Comments (9)
Category: Advertising, Products, Bacon, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

House of the Future

Here's your weekend viewing!

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 28, 2011 - Comments (2)
Category: Architecture, 1950s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Logic By Machine

Watch those tape drives spin!

Part 1 is the upper window.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 11, 2010 - Comments (2)
Category: Technology, Computers, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Out of This World

Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 19, 2010 - Comments (13)
Category: Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Tragedy or Hope?

Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 06, 2010 - Comments (1)
Category: Government, Politics, PSA’s, Rants, Warnings, Jeremiads, Prophecies and Cassandra-like Figures, Riots, Protests and Civil Disobedience, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Ahead of its Time #1

Of course, not everyone had bad ideas in those old issues of Popular Science. Many of the ideas for new products were quite brilliant. This series will look at ideas that were ahead of their time. Today's lesson: In Car Tape Deck.



(from the March 1954 issue of Popular Science)

For a little background, the modern tape recorder came about in 1939, but it wasn't refined enough for commercial use until the late 1940s. Reel to reel tape recorders started to become common home recording machines in the mid 1950s and as a professional home audio format in the late 1950s. The first automobile tape player was the Muntz Stereo-Pak of 1962 which evolved in the Lear Jet Stereo 8 (better known as 8 Track) in 1964. Even so, 8 track players didn't become common in cars until the late 1960s, so unfortunately A. P. Sabol had another fifteen years to wait before his request was answered...

Posted By: Salamander Sam - Thu Nov 12, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category: Technology, 1950s, Cars, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Shock Asylum

One of my college courses this year is called "Posthumanism in Science Fiction" (it actually counts towards the core classes needed to graduate). The instructor, Dan Dinello, used to work with Stephen Colbert back in the 1990s, and recently he decided to show the class one of the short films he made with Colbert, a strange dark comedy called Shock Asylum. Like everything else, it happened to be on YouTube (though this version is shorter than the one I saw), so enjoy:

Posted By: Salamander Sam - Mon Nov 02, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Movies, Psychology, 1990s, Parody, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

30 Dumb Inventions

This has been making its way around the internet over the past few days, but it is still interesting. The Life website has a photo gallery of 30 dumb inventions. Most of them are just terrible, like an external baby cage for your (high rise) apartment window or a phone answering robot (who just happens to be mute), but this one in particular just strikes me as a great idea: Illuminated tires.



If these were actually available, which doesn't seem likely, I would definitely buy some. They just look so cool, especially on vintage cars like the one pictured above.

Posted By: Salamander Sam - Tue Oct 06, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Technology, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows