Monday, October 10, 2011

Thrift Store Pen Pals - Received Gifts!

I got my first-ever Thrift Store Pen Pal item in the mail! A guy I met during my recent trip to Texas, James, and I became  friends; I told him about this blog and he liked my Thrift Store Pen Pals idea. He doesn't have a blog and so decided to send ME something random from the thrift store! This is a momentous day indeed, Dear Reader. This is what I found laying on my doorstep today:


What mysteries lie beneath its brownish manila exterior? Will it be some random thrift store purchase, or anthrax? There's only one way to find out...


James apparently knows how I like old things, because he got me a July 19, 1968 copy of Time Magazine and Hammond's Global Strategy Maps from the early '60s! I'm not exactly sure what the Global Strategy Maps are used for, but it looks cool!


The Time Magazine, entitled The Police and the Ghetto, has some pretty great advertisements, so I think I will mostly share those with you, along with my interpretation of a PSA I found within. There was one particular article, however, that caught my attention. The article was titled Modern Living: Black and White Dating and it was exactly what you think - an article about the "social phenomenon" of interracial dating. I understand this is from 43 years ago, but it is still pretty funny. Some of my favorite quotes:


  • "It's no longer avant-garde. It's just a little avante-garde."
  • "As one university counselor put it, with a measure of euphoria: "Discrimination is out of vogue. Black is no longer a color - it's a choice." [WTF?]
  • "Most parents almost anywhere are still deeply troubled if not outraged by it, and 'Guess who's coming to dinner, Mom?' is a line to frighten not a few households."
  • "...Robert Hall, a 20-year-old Seattle Negro whose skin is so black it is bluish..." [Haha, wow...]
  • "'Black cats consciously play with white chicks. It's a challenge. For him, the white woman is shrouded in mystery. She is revered, you dig?'" [I'm not making these up.]
  • "Many Negro girls say they are still haunted by the image of the white "massa" coming down the hill to take his pick of slave women."

That was just from me skimming through half the article, too. There were way more crazy quotes. At the end, they have a few pictures to give examples of this "phenomenon." 


I, personally, would date the guy in that last picture. Here is a random picture from some article that I found pretty funny.


Papadopoulos, who has an awesome name, was a Greek military guy. In that picture he is "dancing at a military base." Well I'd like to know exactly what kind of military base that is, because the soldiers look absolutely terrifying! If THESE daintily-clad men had stormed the beaches of Normandy, Saving Private Ryan would have a been a been a way different movie.

Okay, onto some advertisements. I can't help but show this ad:


They wouldn't be allowed to go to print nowadays; it is rife with sexual innuendos. Yeah, I bet she does make out better at both ends, perv. Now go ahead and show her your "Big Tip" (but just the tip). 

This next ad is pretty cool.


...until you realize what a Volkswagen Fastback is. It's this:


Fine, maybe it's not THAT bad. But the ad boasts its 65 horsepower engine is "powerful enough to make the fastback go 84 miles an hour." I guess you're not going Back to the Future in this thing. It also lists the price at $2179, which, depending on condition, is about what they're going for now.

Here's another great item, a printing calculator.


For the low, low price of $1495 you can have YOUR own electronic printing calculator! She's a beaut too, boy! I wish I'd have had this thing during my Fundamentals of Engineering exam! I looked up the price calculator now - they're around $14. I think they just moved the decimal back two places.

Finally, I found an awesome PSA for what to do when your kid drowns!


If you want to read it, click the picture to see it full size. Well I couldn't just let this PSA get away that easily, so I did what I'm best at and made a pervy PSA about making out with your girlfriend. The pictures just fit so well! Again, click the pictures to read the full size pages.



My MS Paint skillz are off the chain. I hope you all learned something.

So that's my review of the awesome Thrift Store Pen Pal item I received from my friend James! Thanks for sending it!!! I will totally send anyone a Thrift Store Pen Pal item, too, if you sign up! So you should do that by reading this and commenting!

12 comments:

  1. I LOVE the amended PSA!!! That is amazing! Great job as always!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loving this post :)
    The cigarette ad is to die for!
    And very useful PSA you've made..infinitely more useful than the original one ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I seriously love reading old newspaper/magazine advertisements. The particularly sexist ones make me laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Grace: Aww thanks! That PSA just seemed to make sense :)

    Storm: The cigarette ad was pretty great, I agree. There were a bunch more ads, but I didn't want to make this post too long.

    Kez: I love reading them too!! I think I may make this a standard subject on my blog from now on...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dude, your MS Paint skills are amazing. I'm very impressed, that is definitely Photoshop-quality work. Btw, Global Strategy Maps are clearly supplements to the game Risk.

    Isn't it fascinating to read those articles, things were published during our parents' lifetimes, and realize just how racist they really are? People say that we haven't made much progress toward equality in these decades. I refer them to Time Magazine haha.

    Great post, Woody, as always.

    ~SP

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shane: Yes! I like your thinking, I love Risk! Yeah, there were lots of racist and sexist things pouring from the pages. I will definitely be on the lookout for more old magazines from now on.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I agree with Shane. Your MS Paint skills rule!

    Oh!!! and Guess what?! I finally got my post up for Thrift Store Pen Pals!! Go take a look!

    http://startingoverjilted.blogspot.com/2011/10/thrift-store-pen-pals.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. You finally got yourself a package! Good for you :)

    This post kind of reminds me of when I was looking through old Ebony and Redbook Magazines for my thesis this past spring. .the advertisements are so strange to us because we're not use to their way of thinking. In 20 years or so people will look back on our magazine ads and think we were so "close-minded" or corny or whatever else I thought when I was looking at older ads, lol.

    The interracial dating bit really cracked me up though. I especially like the line about his skin being so black, it was almost blue -- what on earth were they trying to say with that? I guess dark-skinned blacks were becoming extinct. . what a sight to see *shrugs* lol

    I think your thrift gift (like how I did that?)

    ReplyDelete
  9. LOL @ the typewriter sized "calculator". I use to have a female teacher with the last name Papadopoulos, cool name indeed. Such a shame on Time about their whack ideals of interracial couples.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a fabulous thrift store package. And what a fabulous post! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. nice memories . i love that images.
    pals24

    ReplyDelete