1. Magic Bullet – I love watching infomercials. There’s something about the cheesy excitement, the too-hard sell, and the constant one-upping of the deal that I can’t tear my eyes away from. Most infomercials take place in front of a live audience, or present themselves that way even if they’re in a closed studio. The best ones, though, the ones that really make me scratch my head, are the ones that are scripted stories. The Magic Bullet infomercial is like this, and it’s by far my favorite.
The Magic Bullet infomercial places you in the kitchen the morning after what was apparently a raging party. The guests enter one by one, some nursing hangovers and others even smoking. The hosts, Mick and Mimi, start taking breakfast orders, and hte guests are amazed by the variety of choices on the “menu”. The reason for this variety, of course, is the Magic Bullet, which can make ANY FOOD POSSIBLE in a matter of 10 seconds. If you don’t count the time spent cutting up the food so that it will fit in the Magic Bullet. Mick and Mimi spend the next fifteen minutes making about 30 different dishes, one after the other, to a continually amazed group of friends. Then the kicker comes in – Mick informs the guests that the Magic Bullet can also make cocktails. The room explodes in astonishment. My question: if these guys had a rager the night before, why weren’t the hosts serving drinks made with the Magic Bullet? Why wait until the next morning for the big reveal? Missed opportunity.
Here’s the informercial for the original Magic Bullet. They also made ones for the Magic Bullet to go, which takes this same group on a camping trip and uncovers some indecent liasons between Berman and Hazel, and the Magic Bullet Juicer, which makes no sense whatsoever. Not to mention the Baby Bullet, which went the extra step of painting cute faces on the Bullet plasticware.
2. 1881 Smileys – Retronaut’s got this great example of emoticons from 1881. Check it out!
3. The Next 50 Years On The Moon – Dreams of Space has been doing a terrific series on a 1974 book titled “The Next 50 Years On The Moon”.
Look at that cover! This book hits the sweet spot of optimism and “dare-to-dream” quality that space enthusiasm of the ’60s and ’70s had in droves.
The artwork is great, and I highly recommend following Dreams of Space’s write-ups for the detail and commentary within.
4. The Archies Act 32, Scene 70092629352 – As a lifelong Archie fan, I got hit by a nostalgia bomb when I saw this post on Retrospace. I had this issue and loved this particular story, even though it made absolutely no sense to me. I need to go crawling through my parent’s attic to see if I still have this copy. It’s such a bizarre lashing-out of the creative given the typical Archie fare:
5. Skull Rock – Imagineering Disney‘s got some great photos of old Fantasyland up, including pictures of a Skull Rock area from Peter Pan that I never knew existed. Between that, 20,000 Leagues, and the upcoming Ariel’s Grotto, it’s pretty interesting to see all of the phases that lagoon area’s been through.
-ds