Author: paul
-
A Fistful of Wicked 80’s Print Ads
The 1980’s were wicked-awesome and the print ads of that decade were par for the course. They were playful and sophisticated, the focus trending toward less copy and more imagery. Ads often consisted of a bold, catchy headlines with a single large product shot bathed in a spectrum of color. Doesn’t get much better than…
-
Vintage Film and Television Trading Cards
Back in the 70’s and 80’s, there seemed to be a set of trading cards for every mildly successful TV show and movie. Even the cringeworthy Mork & Mindy had trading cards. Each pack usually included ten cards and a cracked piece of petrified chewing gum, which mostly served to make the cards smell good. No…
-
Atari Age Magazine
Recently, while tooling around the internet in search of Computer Magazine cover art, I was blindsided by this tidal wave of nostalgia: Atari Age Magazine. Like any self-respecting child of the early 80’s, I was the proud owner of an Atari 2600 (thanks mom & dad). I spent hours playing kick-ass 8-bit games like Pitfall,…
-
Battle Beasts
Fire! Wood! Water! Hasbro licensed these wicked dudes from Takara Japan to sell in the States and elsewhere in 1987. They were a Transformers spin-off in Japan, but Hasbro decided not to tie into that continuity with their own marketing. The mid 80’s was a time when many toys had some sort of gimmick to…
-
80’s Skateboard Art: Vision
I’ve never spent too much time on a skateboard, aside from a few brief stints in the late 80s (all of which ended in complete and total failure). Geography certainly played a role, as Western New York has never been confused with Southern California as a skateboarding hotbed, but at it’s peak in the 80’s…
-
Pepsi Cool Cans
Back in the summer of 1990 Pepsi released some limited edition “Cool Cans.” I was 14 years old, and I clearly remember going nuts for these things. I was firmly entrenched in the Pepsi camp of the Cola Wars and we had plenty of bottles in my parents fridge, but I also needed these cans. The nearest vending machine…
-
1983 Apple Gift Catalog
One thing Apple has been overtly consciences about since Steve Jobs returned as CEO in 1997 was brand control. Jobs killed off the cheap Mac clone market and simplified the product lineup. Aside from that, officially licensed merchandise such as t-shirts, hats, mugs, etc. have only been made available directly from “the mothership” : Apple’s Company…
-
Obsolete Computer Book Covers
I have some vivid memories of random computer books kicking around the local library around the time I was in High School. Most of them were about a decade old at that time, dating back to the early 80s. Many were obsolete, but for some reason they were all readily available to loan out, whereas…