wasting bandwidth since 2005

It’s “Martini Time!” or “I’m So Hammered Take Me Right Here on the Sofa Time!” which ever works for you. The whole martini, cocktail, thing kills me. You look at the image of the martini 50 years ago and it was sophisticated, upper class, stylish. You watch movies from the time period and as soon as someone walks in the door someone else wheels out the booze cart and starts making drinks. It was the classy thing to do. Everyone is 3 drinks in the bag before dinner is served. I am no stranger to a stiff drink. But 3-4 martinis, or the like, and you are sloppy at best. And if you happen to be a woman who is 5’2″ and a buck twenty. Jimmy crew cut there is gonna have your girdle hitting the floor before you have a chance to set down your 3rd drink. But you do have to love an activity where people made records specifically recorded for you to listen to while partaking in said activity. There in lies the rub for this image of the week. Good old Art Van Damme here is a Jazz Accordionist. I know, you just did one of those WTF movements with your head. Not exactly the kind of smooth cocktail image you were thinking, right? Well if you would like a taste of mister Van Damme please click on the player below. This little ditty is called “Ode to Cleavage or the Camel”. I have no idea what the hell that is supposed to mean and I am not sure if I want to. It doesn’t sound half bad. But the accordion sound takes a while to get your head around.

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Cheers.

Masto.

Jean Moral. French photographer from the 20′s to the mid 50′s. Part of the French Modernism art crowd in the 30′s. Used a lot of multiple exposures as a way to push photography into the Modernist decipline of the time, along with Man Ray and a handful of others. He ended up doing well in the fashion business as photographer to many designers. I just like a lot of his work. It has a timeless feel to it. This particular photo is of his frequent model Juliette. Who just happened to also be his wife. Cool stuff. At least to my eye.

Just Sharing.

Masto.

You have to be of a certain age to enjoy this pic. For those of us who lived through the 70′s the custom van was a big thing for a couple of years. There were magazines dedicated to it, they made cameos in movies and TV shows, models and toys were common place. They where everywhere. So much so that the big 3 needed to jump on the band wagon. All the sudden they all offered paint jobs, rims, portholes, carpeted paneling, and stereos as optional equipment. The pic above is from a Dodge ad for one of their “Streetvan” option packages. I like the way they portray the typical custom van driver as the clean cut, all American, going to the big game, hitting the drive-thru, kind of guy. In reality it was more like, long-haired, listening to Pink Floyd, Taking some bong rips, getting naked with your daughter, kind of guy I seem to remember.

Masto.

Well I hope everyone had a great holiday season. It’s time to get back to work here at mailhiot.com. I have been working on the rock & roll page and if you have seen there is a bunch of stuff up. Some of it still needs copy and the history has only gotten through the first drummer so bear with me there still is a lot to post. For those who have checked it out I hope you have enjoyed what’s there so far. I have a lot of comic ads ready to go also (finally) so keep an eye out for them too. And lurking right around the corner is the gallery set of the toy close-ups. So stay tuned I have tons going up. For the new year I decided to change the header photo. I figured a snap shot of the inside of my computer was appropriate. Of course now I need to decide if I want to tweak the page colors to better show off the new header. Typical of me. Enjoy!

Masto.