The Retro Blog

I’m pathetic. I went bowling two nights ago and I’m still sore. It’s pathetic. Who gets sore from bowling? I guess I should stick with video games. That’s why I’m digging these retro bowling bags for the Nintendo DS and the Wii. They’re from Brunswick, makers of actual bowling related goods.

If you’re feeling crafty and can navigate your way through a Japanese web site, you should check out these paper computer speakers from Princeton. You fold them yourself into cute little retro designs.

This collection of retro medicine ads features such wonderful remedies as booze for your baby, cough medicine with cannabis, and anti-depressants containing methamphetamine. Ahh, the good old days. [via weird universe]

Retro comedy has a post up of the 15 creepiest vintage ads, like this one for men’s slacks.

Enterprising Japanese ironsmith Kogoro Kurata took a vintage Fiat 500 and combined it with an old tractor to make the most adorable tank you’ve ever seen. Here’s a video of the tank in action:

[via pink tentacle]

I continue to be a sucker for modern electronics fashionably shaped into retro designs. The Olympus PEN E-P1 squeezes a 12.3 megapixel still camera with HD video capabilities into the body of a 1960s camera. I love how compact it is, and it’s also less likely to attract as much unwanted attention as its normal sized DSLR competitors. At $899, though, I’m not going to be buying in any time soon.

Trailers from Hell is a wonderful web site I just recently discovered. The premise is simple: famous movie directors provide commentary for cheaply made retro B movie trailers. Participating directors include Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), John Landis (An American Werewolf In London), and Eli Roth (Hostel). One of the most prolific contributors is Gremlins director Joe Dante. Here he provides insightful commentary to Roger Corman’s 1963 film The Terror, a cheaply made Edgar Allen Poe adaptation starring Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson and featuring additional photography by Francis Ford Coppola.

Artist Rolly Crump worked for Disney, but his talents went far beyond drawing mouse ears. Check out this jazz poster he made in the early 60s. [via boing boing]

First Farrah, now this? Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital and some sources are reporting he’s passed away. I heart Jackson 5.