Rhonda Meets Jason: Up All Night on Friday the 13th

It’s not often that Halloween and Friday the 13th happen in the same month, but that’s exactly what we’re getting this October. This is as good as it gets for horror junkies. So, in honor of today being Friday the 13th, let’s take a look back to Friday, November 13th, 1992, when USA Up All … Continue reading Rhonda Meets Jason: Up All Night on Friday the 13th →

Happy 90th, Julie Newmar

One of these days I’m going to turn more of this blog’s attention to the 1960s Batman television show. Obviously, my pop culture loves range far and wide, so it’s hard to squeeze them all in here, but Batman was critical to my childhood, my love of comic books, and my development into a scholar … Continue reading Happy 90th, Julie Newmar →

The Art of the Ad: Sex, Lies, and Video Games, Part III

We’re back with a third installment of shamelessly sexy vintage video game and arcade game ads. Marketers produced so many of these from the 1970s through 1990s that there’s enough for future installments, too. As I’ve said before, it was a very different time. Game makers knew their target audience—adolescent boys and young men—and understood … Continue reading The Art of the Ad: Sex, Lies, and Video Games, Part III →

The Art of the Ad: The Computer Revolution

Computer ads from the 1960s through the early 1980s are bursting with optimism for a future made easier—and better—through technology. Now that we’ve all assimilated, plugged in 24/7, the jury is out on whether that’s “better” or not. Now we just shrug with every iOS update, allow our data to be harvested, and rot our … Continue reading The Art of the Ad: The Computer Revolution →

From the Vault: Video Killed the Rental Store

This post originally appeared at my old blog in 2016 and appears here in slightly sofferent form. Did you appreciate the video rental store while you had it? Probably not. Instead, you simply spent nearly every Friday and Saturday night wandering around inside its walls, looking for VHS treasures to rent. You'd browse intently, as … Continue reading From the Vault: Video Killed the Rental Store →

Bad Cat, Indeed: Samantha “Sunshine” Jensen Redux

My soft spot for Baby Pfeiffer is legendary, but I’m not alone. My friends and fellow super pfans Kelda, Paul, Juan, and Stacy (RIP), to name just a few, love Baby Pfeiffer with the same sort of fanatical zeal as I do. Every now and then I take a deep dive into the early roles … Continue reading Bad Cat, Indeed: Samantha “Sunshine” Jensen Redux →

Lost and Found: V.I.P.

The overwhelmingly positive response to the new documentary Pamela, A Love Story has been a pleasant reminder that people really do love Pamela Anderson. For years, decades even, she’s been reduced to a punchline in the media, thanks to everyone’s obsession in the nineties with a leaked, intimate tape featuring her and then-husband Tommy Lee. … Continue reading Lost and Found: V.I.P. →