Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
There are two kinds of nerds in this world: nerds who would kill for one of these shirts, and nerds who would… Wait, I stand corrected. There’s only one kind of nerd in this world.
I don’t have words to express my covetousness of the Lando transfer. It stands among the greatest designs ever devised for a t-shirt.
(Images via eBay)
“The perfect place to spend a make-believe vacation.”
Isn’t it strange how we used to talk to one another instead of staring into our phones? That’s the first thing that hit me about the brochure. The second thing is the style of the place that’s being advertised. I’m not saying it’s good style, but it’s style: architects and designers attempted to make a physical space more appealing to the people inhabiting it, and a designer created the brochure to impart that sense of warmth and welcoming to potential customers.
Now that we spend so much time in virtual space, physical space has inherited the modern “style” of the online world: an aseptic and non-commital functionality surrounding a series of electrical outlets. Plug in here. Click here. There is no such thing as home. Keep moving.
The Village Green is “most accessible,” by the way, and “social events and group meetings are a specialty.”
P.S. Doesn’t it look like the kid on the bed is holding up a Darth Vader action figure?
(Images via eBay)
With a Star Wars t-shirt and a garbage bag cape thrown in for good measure. No shit, take a closer look. Kid’s got a garbage bag tied around his neck.
Hey, we did what we had to do to get that stash of candy.
Friends, what we’ve got here is a two-tone western pattern t-shirt (what?) adorned with a glitter outlined Boris Vallejo iron-on transfer and fuzzy blue iron-on letters that nearly, but not exactly, match the blue “collar.” Do we think Toad refers to the original owner’s level 15 halfling thief? Other theories? I’ll tell you what: if one of the below illustrations—glitter outlined, naturally—graced the back of the shirt under the word in question, I would buy the fucking thing and eat Top Ramen for the rest of the month.
Another homemade D&D t-shirt here.
(T-shirt images via eBay seller I HEART Danger Vintage; giant toad images via Zenopus Archives)
Tom at Garage Sale Finds found these banking-related slides at an estate sale. They were paired with slides showing the current (circa 1970) state of banking and banking technology. Says Tom:
These slides were actually part of two sets. The first was “Electronic Data Processing and Your Credit Union” and the second was called “Challenge of Philosophy”. The second set was a sort of history of credit unions and included the “Year 2000” slides.
Click the link for the rest of the photos, and then have a look through the whole site. It’s one of my favorite blogs; you’ll find everything from scans of 1970s TV Guides to 1950s Erector Set manuals to vintage swizzle sticks. It’s a smart, funny exploration of Americana, one garage sale at a time.
It sparkles!
Totally wicked and extremely rare iron-on. I think there were only four transfer designs in total: The egg, the Nostromo, the space jockey, and this one. The Giger-inspired title probably wasn’t recognizable enough at the time—nothing like it appears in the trailer, the theatrical posters, etc.—but it’s unmistakable now.
UPDATE (9/17/14): Jason at Contra Dextra Avenue identified the “Roach” on the transfer as most likely the t-shirt design company Roach Studios—very popular in the ’70s. Check out a vintage ad below.
2 Warps to Neptune 