JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Some people claim to have out-of-body experiences while lying in an accident-induced state of unconsciousness. In today's ad, our friend Jack Lewis had an out-of-diploma experience. Perhaps it wasn't just thoughts of a career change and a desire to avoid further head traumas that led to Jack's moment of clarity. Perhaps those boxes that knocked him out cold were filled with textbooks. Days of working on the line at an educational publisher may have subconsciously swayed Jack's decision. Or perhaps we're really stretching this possible scenario behind Jack's life-changing moment. At last report, Jack took early retirement after 36 years with the firm, the last 33 spent happily with the chirpy coworker in panel 8. ICS regularly advertised in a variety of magazines and comic books. The company is now known as Penn Foster Career School, though the Scranton address remains the same. Lingering question: while Jack lay delirious in the infirmary, did the godd...

" Fashions by Botany 500 ." For years, this acknowledgement was a staple of the end credits for game shows. While other clothiers provided wear for emcees, Botany 500 remains the butt of most jokes. Today's ad was originally shot during auditions for a failed ABC game show, Masterpiece , with neither of these two gentlemen becoming the next Bob Barker or Bill Cullen. The set featured mod colours with a Jackson Pollock-inspired flair. Two teams competed, each consisting of a contestant and celebrity (the pilot featured Vincent Price and Alastair Cooke). Two rounds of questions revolved around the arts. The winning team moved on to the final round, which featured an obscure piece of art or classical music by a well-known artist, presented by a leggy model. Audience testing revealed the show was too highbrow for network television, though a version with Ivy League professors as the "celebrities" briefly aired on PBS in 1970. Not wanting their model shots to go...

Tyler 8-7100. WE DO GOOD WORK . If you grew up within antenna or cable distance of Detroit from the 1960s onward, there's a good chance that phone number and slogan are burned in your brain, thanks to Belvedere Construction. I don't recall seeing today's YouTube find when it originally aired, though there were so many ads featuring Mr. Belvedere (aka Maurice Lezell) they may have blurred in my brain. Note the painters cap and the bumper sticker on the belly of the robot. Perhaps its mouth doubled as a credit card reader or spit out estimates for good work. According to a 2002 Metro Times article , Lezell named his company after both a street in Detroit and the character played by Clifton Webb in a popular late 1940s movie series...which later inspired the 1980s sitcom. While searching for more of the classic Detroit commercials, I stumbled upon this odd club for kids... I suspect that admitting that you were a member of this fan club was a one-way ticket t...

A month ago, I took a carload down to Buffalo to check out the city's first cross-border edition of Doors Open. Time only allowed us to explore two buildings, but both proved to be wise decisions on a day full of surprises. The first surprise came when we reached the border. I had prepped the others, in my usual semi-paranoid state, what to expect when crossing the Niagara River. Turned out none of this was necessary, as we had a border guard who didn't seem partially cybernetic. We handed her the Doors Open program, which she thought looked interesting. No strange questions were asked and we passed through without any strange looks. Coming into downtown via Elmwood, we parked near Niagara Square, which was devoid of life. The combination of grey skies, solitary monuments and wide, empty streets left us feeling like we were in a zombie movie ( 28 Days Later was tossed around). We expected a creature to shuffle down the street at any second. The monument in the square ...

Another day, another find from the fabulous world of late 1960s fake facial fuzz. The top half of this page features the largest Masculiner ad I've seen, in garis...glorious living colour. This one must have been aimed at young teens, unless the older audience for Archie comics in 1969 was unusually large. This is also the only time I've ever seen these ads paired with women's wigs. Eager readers could now race to the nearest go-go bar to test out their new look. While reading this ad, we suggest listening to mod or soulful 60s instrumentals - how about Hip Hug Her by Booker T & The MGs? Anyone who still has a warehouse full of these wigs in black might be able to make a few bucks peddling them to Amy Winehouse lookalikes. Pep began in 1940 as a superhero title, headlined by the patriotic Shield. Archie made his funnybook debut in issue 22 and soon took over the title, which ran through 1987. Click on the "fake hair" tag below for more fake facial fu...

Wanting to catch some of the Hallowe'en spirit, I went for a neighbourhood stroll along with Dylan and Nadia last Wednesday. Our route took us through Rosedale, St. Jamestown, Cabbagetown and Church Street. This pumpkin snuck into the candy bowl early and paid dearly for it. One of the many well-crafted gourds across Rosedale. The neighbourhood seemed to be divided between streets bustling with activity and streets with an invisible fence keeping trick-or-treaters. While we kept to streets full of decorations, we'd peer down others where one wouldn't even know it was Halloween. Left: This skeleton excited a large group of trick-or-treaters - "look, he's wearing Dora the Explorer underpants!" One kid rambled on for at least five minutes in disbelief. In terms of views on Flickr, this is the most popular picture of the evening, though I'm not sure if I want to explore the reasons too deeply. Right: A witch who made an error in her flight path...

This pretty much sums up my day - kind of slumbery, except for a short roadtrip into the 'burbs in search of pickle curry spice mix (it was an excuse). When I was kid, I was fascinated by hotel directories, mainly due to the maps. We usually had the latest Holiday Inn guide kicking around, as it was the chain we tended to stay at. We often picked them up at the downtown Windsor location, which burned down ages ago. Located on the Detroit River, one had to drive down a long ramp to get to the lobby. It also included an Odeon movie theatre, which we rarely went to (the last movie I saw there was Lawnmower Man , which wasn't my choice but since friends were going, why quibble?). This campaign appeared in early 1980s directories, usually as bookends. Source: Sports Illustrated , November 30, 1981

A small sampling of the tombstones listing the fates of famous writers in the window of Type, across the street from Trinity-Bellwoods Park. Of the authors selected, I almost saw Kerouac's final resting spot in Lowell, Massachusetts on a roadtrip a couple of years ago. Almost, but not quite . Why am I picturing Berryman's demise as a Warner Brothers cartoon? Photo taken October 28, 2007 - JB

An interesting invitation? or Beware red stuffed creatures bearing free beverages? Stouffville Market, October 13, 2007 

On Sunday, along with two intrepid explorers, I headed down to Buffalo to check out Doors Open Niagara. A full post is coming ( Squiddity has a nifty take on the day ), but here's one of the weirdest moments of the trip. While walking towards Buffalo City Hall, we noticed an odd combination of items on the sidewalk: One empty bottle of booze, one partly-squeezed lime, one dead bird. Coincidence or connected? If the latter, the line of tragic events is easy to follow: 1) The bird had a rough day and finds solace in a flask left behind on the sidewalk. 2) The bird notices a barely-used lime slice and decides it would add a nice twist. 3) Either the bird realizes too late that booze, lime and birds don't mix, or decides in his alcoholic haze to end it all by slamming into the Statler building at MACH 3. The fatal wedge of lime? I apologize to Leonard Cohen for the last words on this tragedy... Like a bird on a bender Like a butterfly in a fender He felt pain On h...

Once a year, Amy and I splurge at Zingerman's Delicatessen in Ann Arbor. Thanksgiving weekend's summer-like weather provided a good excuse to devour high-quality sandwiches on their patio. Downtown Ann Arbor was awash in maize and blue. Almost all university-age people we passed were decked out in yellow and blue t-shirts, as the Wolverines battled their next door neighbours, Eastern Michigan. We drove into downtown via Geddes, a scenic route which conveniently dodged game traffic. A display of salads, which we were given free samples of. Our faves were the smoked trout salad and the chicken paprikash. I chose the #67, Jon & Amy's Double Dip: "Zingerman’s corned beef & Niman Ranch pastrami, Switzerland Swiss & Wisconsin muenster cheeses, hot & regular mustards on pumpernickel & rye breads." Basically two sandwiches merged into one, without extra bread in the middle. Heavenly. Amy went for the #76, Thad's "Yes I Can...

A few pictures of signs from the other parties hoping for votes tomorrow. Note that all of these parties lean towards the right - I never came across any minor left parties during my travels over the past month. Clockwise from the top left: * Family Coalition Party (near the Markham Fairgrounds) * Freedom Party (Hwy 8, on the edge of Sebringville) * Libertarian Party (near River Canard) * Reform Party of Ontario (Hwy 21, near Forest)

Nine-and-a-half hours on my feet - my key statistic for this year's Nuit Blanche. I missed last year's inagural edition, so I don't have the same sense of letdown that marks many accounts of the evening. My overall impression was that even if the art was a mixed bag, it was still a good opportunity to wander around the city in a nighttime party atmosphere and observe the reactions of others, at least until a combination of sore legs and non-existent streetcar service kicked in. One thing's for sure: crowds were definitely interested in checking out what was on view. Survival kit : * Notepad, to mark down where I was, in case I didn't get around to writing this post unitl Christmas * Official Program, to provide rough ideas of where to go * Multi-pocketed corduroy jacket, to hold the first two items * TTC day pass * Camera 9:15 PM: Hopped off the subway at Bloor and began my evening in Yorkville. My jaw dropped at the sea of humanity covering Cumberland...