Hugh's Ominous Valve Works is a site I stumbled across quite a while ago, then promptly forgot about until this link to valve ephemera, posted at PCL LinkDump, jogged my memory.

Hugh's site is an obsessively skewed look at all things vacuum-tubish; old boxes, a goof on non-transistorized supercomputing, and best of all, The People's Logo Page, where you'll see my original webpage mascot, who I dubbed Mr. Atomic. Turns out that he was actually the logo of a corporation from the 1950s called Robotron. I orginally found this image painted on a big sheet of plexiglass at a swap meet in Oakland about 6 years ago. Prior to finding this page, Mr. Atomic's true identity was a complete mystery.

Also amusing to an oldtimer like me is this tribute to EBEN, the surrealistic star of !Jardin Mécanisme, one of the oldest, hoariest webpages still in existence.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Let's take a trip backwards in time to when I was a young pup devouring the amazing adventures of Doc Savage. Back then, I had no idea that the paperbacks I was reading were reissues of a pulp magazine series from the 1930s. I just knew that I loved the action-packed prose of Lester Dent (I didn't care that it was totally formulaic), and those incredibly realistic James Bama illustrations on the covers were the graphic icing on the literary cake.

Doc also made appearances in comics, radio serials, and a totally crap film produced by the otherwise wonderful George Pal, who tried to camp it up a la Adam West's Batman. A new film starring Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger was rumored to be in the works a couple of years ago, but I guess his new duties as the Governator put a crimp in that.

Thanks to the Cartoonist for linkable inspiration

Posted by MrBaliHai at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

America in the 1930s is an absolutely fantastic snapshot of life during the Great Depression. You'll lose yourself for hours browsing through these incredibly detailed examinations of film, printed media, art, design, and architecture. You can even listen to an entire day of radio programming! Truly excellent. This is what the IntarWeb is for.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Riveting Images: The Girls Who Inspired WWII Nose Art is just one of the many scrumptious galleries of classic pin-up cheesecake at The Barracks Wall.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

American Picture Palaces is dedicated to those opulent cathedrals of cinema that sprang up all over the US in the 1920s, reached their peak in the 1940s, and are now slowly vanishing from our national landscape.

So head on over to the snack bar, grab some popcorn, and listen to the stirring sound of the Mighty Wurlizter as you wait for the house lights to dim and the show to begin.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hello, my name is Mr. BaliHai, and I'm a recovering VW addict. When I was 13, my mother bought an olive-drab, 1968 Volkswagen Beetle which I immediately developed an unhealthy obsession with. I bought it from her when I was 16, and then proceeded to spend the next 12 years converting it into a classic Cal Looker. I had it repainted, de-chromed, installed single-piece side windows, replaced the original bumpers with nerf bars, and lowered the front.

It looked great, but quite frankly, it was still a terrible car with an unreliable, underpowered air-cooled engine, and a heating system that totally wimped out in the face of brutal Wisconsin winters. Chicks dug it 'cuz it was "cute" (link NSFW), but that claustrophobic interior really put a crimp in backseat romance. I toyed with the idea of switching to the sportier-looking Karmann Ghia, or even (God help me) a VW Bus, but common sense eventually prevailed.

After spending several thousand dollars, and many an evening in the garage removing the engine by myself, I finally came to the realization that far from experiencing pure Fahrvergnugen, I had a serious problem. I gave my beloved Beetle to a friend who was in dire need of a car. He totalled it in a collision less than two weeks later.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling a bit verklemmpt thinking about my old Bug. Talk amongst yourselves.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

"SPAAAAAAAAACE PATROOOOOOOLLLL! High adventure in the wild, vast reaches of space! Missions of daring in the name of Interplanetary Justice! Travel into the future with Buzz Corry, Commander-in-Chief of the... SPAAAAAAAAACE PATROOOOOOOLL!"

Welcome, space cadet, to the fantastic (and sublimely cheesy) world of live-action, kiddie science fiction in teevee's golden age.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:24 PM | Permalink

My son and I went to see Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow last weekend. I'll leave the reviewing of the film's weaker elements to others, but as a longtime fan of old movie serials, the stilted acting and threadbare plot made me feel right at home. Plus, I find it impossible to dislike a film that has giant retro robots and a villain named Totenkopf.

Unfortunately, if you start talking about serials to people below a certain age, you're likely to get blank stares or derisive comments, but without them, films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones would've turned out very differently (if they would've even been made at all). For an excellent history of the genre, check out this article in Images Journal, and tell me if Sky Captain didn't cop a whole lot of inspiration from Spy Smasher and The Phantom Empire.

So, how long d'ya think it'll be until some studio decides to remake Commando Cody: Sky Marshall of the Universe?

Oh yeah, they sorta already did.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The Predicta...it's a privately built, bubble-top automobile!...but wait, there's more...it's also a fabulous retro-futuristic television!

Posted by MrBaliHai at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tired of driving? Pull off the road and stop for a spell at the Museum Fisogni. Grab a bite to eat, take advantage of their sparkling clean restrooms, and admire the fabulous collection of filling station ephemera

Posted by MrBaliHai at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Get your kicks with postcards and photographs from the National Historic Route 66 Federation

Now you go through Saint Louis
Joplin, Missouri
and Oklahoma City is mighty pretty
You'll see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 12:15 AM | Permalink