Spreading the love...

Both a big (((HUG))) and a "Thank you!" go out to my wonderful pal MoonDoggie for passing along this Liebster Blog Award to me. Evidently, it is intended for exceptional blogs with less than 300 followers and, boy, do I qualify. I mean that I qualify for the less than 300 followers part, not necessarily the exceptional part. I'm not THAT conceited!

As most of you other bloggers out there know, these little perks (awards) come at a small price. That price being the task of selecting a handful of successors to whom you'll pass along the award. Not that it's like a major chore, or anything. In fact, it's actually pretty fun! So without any further ado, here are my picks for the next Liebster Blog Award recipients:

• Smells Like Library - Funny, interesting, entertaining, and informative blog written by a library technician who works full-time in the trenches of a Jr. high/high school library. Oh, and he happens to be my husband!

• Gold Country Girls - Such a sweet, cozy place to visit. They're waiting for you, just up that hill...

• Wub2Write - The lady who writes this blog is a real kick! She's young at heart, and she can really tell a story. Check it out!

• Lisa Golightly - Fashion, art, beauty, vintage style... She's got it in spades!

So congratulations, everyone! Have fun bragging to all your friends! But don't expect to get a good table at Spago, or anything...

The Worst Album Covers Ever!: 'Joyce' by Joyce Drake

Artist ~ Joyce Drake

Title ~   Joyce
                 Something about Joyce touches people, but
                 I'm not quite sure what it is. She seems to be
                 saying, "Don't be afraid! Let's get together
                 for coffee before my next hair appointment."


Well, if you ask me, I am afraid! Very afraid! There's something about our sweet, rose-adorned Miss Joyce that I do not trust... And it all begins somewhere around those dead eyes of hers! You know what they say about windows to the soul, and all. Only, I'm not convinced that one exists inside. And the hair! God knows what lies beneath that curly helmet...


~ Image and info taken from the book, 'The Worst Album Covers Ever!', by Nick DiFonzo. Published by Barnes & Noble, Inc. ~

What A Book!: 'Catalog - The Illustrated History of Mail-Order Shopping'

Hello, everybody! Today I want to tell you about a terrific book I discovered. Whilst poking about the shelves of our local Border's book store, I stumbled upon 'Catalog - The Illustrated History of Mail-Order Shopping' by Robin Cherry. I tell you, this gem of a book is FILLED with wonderful examples of mail-order consumer products, and it is a visual pleasure to be sure!

"In 'Catalog - The Illustrated History of Mail-Order Shopping', Robin Cherry traces the timeline of these snapshots from American history and discovers along the way how we dressed, built and furnished our houses, worked, played, and got around. From corsets to bell-bottoms, from baby-doll dresses and Doc Martens all the way to iPods, the history of these catalogs is the history of our lives and our culture."

With a book like this, you hope for more images than text, and, fortunately, this one really delivers! And guess what? I selected some of my faves to share with you. I'll bet you didn't see that coming...

Montgomery Ward, 1930

Men's Flannelette Pajamas

Boy, they must've felt REAL manly

wearing their "flannelette" pajamas.

Sears, 1928

Women's Hats

Ladies, measure your

head size carefully...

Sears, 1971

Men's Body-hugging Underwear

Ssssexy!

J.C. Penney, 1974

Women's Polyester Bell-bottoms

Wow.

Sears, 1959

Erector Set

Consult your physician if you

experience any toy creation

erect longer than 4 hours.

Sears, 1958

Dolls

Be a doll, would you?

Johnson Smith & Co., 1940

Novelty Toys and Masks

Holy crap, that Hitler mask

gives me the willies!

Sears, 1961

Play Kitchen

Now, get in there and fix my dinner, bitch!

Sears, 1971

Shag Bath Carpet

All this talk about "pile" makes

me have to use the toilet...

Sears, 1961

Aluminum Xmas Trees

Aluminum-minum-minum!

That'll do it for this edition of 'What A Book!'. I sure hope you had as much fun as I did. But if you didn't, well, lighten up, would ya? See you next time...

Retro Book Fair: Corinne Malvern's 'Mother Goose'

It's that time once again, folks...

Yes, come with me and "get your book on"!

Today I'm sharing a children's book that is chock full of colorful and charming illustrations. It's Corinne Malvern's 'Mother Goose' and it was published/printed in 1953. The book's condition is pretty awesome, too, when you consider that it's almost 60 years old! I'd love to frame a few select pages, but I wouldn't dare separate them from the original book. That just IS NOT allowed! Did you hear me? NOT allowed!

So, anyway, check out the great cover, below, followed by a few of my fave nursery rhyme/illustration combos from inside...



As if the cover wasn't cute enough,

it actually wraps around to the back

with even MORE adorable characters!





I love the colors, here, and all

of the care-free romping. Do

kids even "romp", these days?





"She whipped him, she slashed him..."

NOT much of a lady in my book!





You and I both know that MUST

be a cubic zirconia she's holding...





This one's my absolute favorite!

It's really cute and just a tad creepy...



There are many, many more within the book, but I wanted to keep things short and sweet. I did a pretty good job of that, huh?

Just sayin'...



This woman SCARES the CRAP outta me!

I'm just sayin'...



SOUND + VISION: 'Upside Down' by Paloma Faith

Attack of the "B" movie posters!

I don't know about you, but I really love a good, bad "B" movie! And I love 'em even better the worse they are... Yes, I'm one of "those" people. I can't help it. I enjoy over-the-top schlock, bad acting, and low-budget special effects. I find all of it quite humorous and entertaining. My husband... not so much. He only sometimes sees the humor, and even then his patience wears thin way quicker than I'd prefer. Oh, well. He's such an awesome man and husband in countless other ways, I guess I shouldn't complain. Instead, I'll share with you some of my favorite "B" movie posters I found pictures of in one of my neat, old books! Sound like fun? Oh, good!

'Youth Runs Wild', 1944

Tires + youngsters = TROUBLE!

'I Was a Shoplifter', 1950

Might I suggest casting Winona Ryder and
Lindsay Lohan in a modern-day remake?

'The She-

Creature', 1957

I've known one or two of

these in my time...

'The Man From

Planet X', 1951

I like this poster SOOO much!

The dude from Planet X is

quite spooky, no?



'Terror From the

Year 5,000', 1958

Note to self: Need not worry.

You will be long since dead

come the year 5,000...

Everyone else can suck it!



'The Brain

Eaters', 1958

Yummm!

'Ghoulies', 1985

Get it?!

Well, I had fun with these, and I hope you did, too. Do YOU have any favorite "B" movies that you enjoy watching again, and again? My all-time fave "B" movie to watch would easily be 'This Island Earth' from 1955. Check it out if you've never seen it. It's got an awesome space monster... Bye, bye!

Photo 'a Go Go!: Even MORE of my 365project

Hello, everybody! It's time, once again, for another installment of everyone's favorite photo-viewing pastime... Photo 'a Go Go! [APPLAUSE]

Folks, it's been so long since I last shared any of my 365project photos with you that I thought I'd go ahead and torture you with some more, now. You knew I was gonna sooner or later, so I might as well, right? Thus far, I've been making a point to present my photos to you in the same order they've been taken for the project, so I figure I'll just continue on with the same method. Let's jump right in, shall we?





Happy toy [2]

I felt like I had to revisit this one, photographically.

It's just so colorful, and the first shot I took of it

for the project didn't even show the dial or the

receiver/handset! So I think I'm finally satisfied.

I think...



Verdant growth along

the old weathered fence

I've always liked this sort of juxtaposition;

something young, fresh and healthy set against

or alongside another that looks old, run-down

and has some character. I'm also happy with

the textures here, even though the fence IS

mostly out of focus.

The Great Stromboli

Marionette Show

I spent a fantastic day at Disneyland with

my husband and two of our dearest

friends. We spent 12 hours there filled

with laughter, screaming (on the rides, of

course), great food (Blue Bayou) and

even better company! It just doesn't get

much better than that.

While in Fantasyland, I spied a wonderful

window display of Stromboli's Marionette

Show from the animated Disney classic,

'Pinocchio'. Both Jiminy Cricket and

Pinocchio, himself, were also "dancing" on

the stage of this wee puppet theatre, but I

was particularly taken with the pretty little

lady, above. I'm guessing that she's

supposed to be Heidi, or a close facsimile?



Beautiful imperfection

While walking along some unusual

shop windows, I came across this

attractive copper bust and instantly

knew that it must be visually

documented. Isn't she/he lovely? I

was especially drawn to its color,

along with all of the scuffs and

imperfections. AnyTHING, or

anyONE, that shows this sort of

aging character truly IS beautiful to me...

A few of my favorite things

Since I enjoy both photography and board games

a whole lot, I thought I'd get creative and figure out

a way to combine the two subjects, visually.

And so... Voila, this was what I came up with!

My father's hippo

About a week ago, my mom dropped by to give

me something very special. It was an old porcelain

hippopotamus from somewhere around the 1950s

or '60s. But that's not why I think it's special. It

was my dad's, and he kept it on top of his bedroom

dresser. The body is hollow, so my dad mostly kept

pocket change and other odd 'n' ends inside of it.

Plus, that awesome gaping mouth was the perfect

place to rest his glasses for the night. Or, maybe,

even a few business cards from his day at work...

My dad died 21 years ago, and after all that time,

I'd completely forgotten about his hippo. That is,

until my mom just appeared with it one day, and said

I should have it. I'm quite touched that she held onto

it for all of these years.

I didn't receive this priceless knick knack with any of

my dad's old pocket change, business cards, or

ANYTHING inside. But what DID come with it was

some wonderful (temporarily forgotten) memories of

my dearly departed father.

Starship Victoria

Sinking into the plush, red velvet cushioning of

my chair in a most fearful anticipation, I stared

out through the huge, glass viewing-sphere and

watched as our magnificent spacecraft approached

the foreign surface of planet Zebulon.

1958 Murray Champion

This is a miniature reproduction of a classic,

kiddie pedal-powered car, like they had

back in the 1950s. It's made real well, too.

In fact, it has a bit of heft to it because it was

made out of some kind of heavy-duty metal.

I received it as a gift years ago and I still really

dig it! The color combo is perfect. That shade

of blue is my favorite, and I've always liked

red. If only I could shrink down to the

appropriate size in order to ride it... Just

imagine how much money I'd save on gas

AND car insurance!

"Like sands through

the hourglass..."

I'm real pleased with how this shot

turned out! I always find the seemingly

random patterns of light reflection that

you can capture within different types

of glass to be very fascinating, so I do

like that element. But the thing that

really made me giddy about this photo

was that I managed to capture lots of

individual grains of sand falling through

the center of this hourglass!

How cool is that?!

Hello, my BUZZZY bee-like friend!

I almost feel as though most of the credit for this

wonderful photo should go entirely to the magic

of serendipity. My original intent was only to snap

off a few macro shots of this dandelion, I wasn't

planning at all on trying to catch an insect in any of

my compositions. But then, as I was focusing this

shot and about to take the picture, that nice little

flower fly zoomed down into the frame only long

enough for me to press the shutter release, and then

it quickly buzzzed away! Like it was flying by, saw

what I was doing and thought, "Hey, I can help a

brotha out... I think I'll just swoop down there for a

sec and pose for the guy."

Peering 'neath the pier

I absolutely love being at the beach.

It's just about my favorite place of all, next to

Disneyland. But I don't enjoy going there to

sunbathe, or for a dip in the ocean. I just enjoy

being there and absorbing the peaceful energy.

You know, the powerful crashing waves, the

wonderful distinct smells (SOME of them), and

the unmistakable euphony of sounds (i.e. seagulls,

buoy bells and ship horns). Not to mention the

visual aspect of nature's oceanic beauty... Of

course, the only times that are best for appreciating

any of those things are either in the early morning,

or late afternoon/evening. It's pretty hard to feel

connected with the ocean's calming energies during

the middle of the day, when there's hundreds of

people sunbathing on the beach, kiddies building

sandcastles and teenagers surfing and/or boogie

boarding.

I'm glad that I shot this late in the afternoon, so

nobody else was around to walk into my frame.

What you see is the underside of Balboa Pier in

Newport Beach, CA. What you don't see, thank

goodness, is me tripping and falling down in the wet

sand as waves washed over me (shortly after I took

this shot)!! Aaand, as if I hadn't suffered enough

indignity, my friend, Matt, immediately busted out

laughing! But it was okay because I laughed pretty

hard, too.

Innocence

I sure hope y'all have enjoyed this latest edition of 'Photo 'a Go Go!'. Stay tuned for even MORE of them in the not-too-distant future... 'Til then, we'll see what other trouble we can get up to around here! So make sure to check back often. Bye-bye!


~ All photos were taken by Anthony (AKA antvision), and are not to be used or reproduced without written permission from me. 'Photo 'a Go Go!' dancers were found in a back alley, behind Google Images, playing Connect 4 and drinking Earl Grey tea. Clearly, they needed something to spice up their lives. ~

SOUND + VISION: 'Born This Way' by Lady Gaga