Category Archives: Art

Austria: Travel Posters

Posted on by The Old Wolf

In simpler times, travel was fun, exciting, and romantic. Compared with today, when any part of the world is accessible to those with a little money, a high tolerance for discomfort, and a willingness to be violated by the petty thugs of the TSA, potential travelers of a day gone by would amuse themselves with stereopticons at parties and dream of the leisurely exploration of exotic locations.

Stereopticion

Vienna, Karlskirche. Cross your eyes until the images come together for a stereo view.

Even travel posters were works of art, designed to evoke images of romance, comfort, and sights never-before-seen.  The following posters promoting travel to Austria were created mostly in the years leading up to World War II, before the Anschluß. They depicted Austria as a cheap and picturesque travel destination, which it was. After the depredations of the war, Austria rebuilt itself from the ashes and remained a popular destination – cheaper than other high-profile areas like Paris, Rome, or Geneva because of its relative obscurity. Even as late as 1971, when I traveled through the country with a friend, it was insanely cheap:

This Gasthof in Lofer cost us $4.00 for the night – breakfast included.

And this was the view…

Modern travel posters employ high-resolution photography, but somehow they don’t quite capture the imaginative aspect of travel that existed before the days of mass media and digital everything.

Edit: Snow bunnies. Has anyone thought about what it would be like to do a faceplant with a pipe in your mouth? That wouldn’t be terribly gemütlich, if you ask me.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Plagiarism or Synchronicity?

Posted on by The Old Wolf

While researching my recent post about changing brand logos, I stumbled across this Jennie and Jack cartoon by W.E. Haskell, dated 1908:

It popped up because the characters had a distinct similarity to the Campbell Kids. Now I had never seen this cartoon before, but a loud bell immediately rang in my head. Have a look at the following Buster Brown strips from 1905 (click on the thumbnails for full-size versions:

Busy Little Buster Brown

 

Buster Brown Goes Shooting

 

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but that doesn’t fly in the copyright world. The similarity here may be coincidence, but it looks like a lot was lifted, not only in terms of content but also “look and feel.” Just a random notice in passing.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

The wordiest cartoon ad of all time.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Winston Rowntree (a pseudonym for a breathtakingly perceptive and gifted cartoonist) advertises over at Subnormality! that he has provided “Comix with too many words since 2007.” One of my favorite examples is “The Mission.”

His creations are almost always terribly verbose – and worth reading, every whit, every jot, every tittle.

But I think this advertising copy for Colgate goes over the top – and while clever, as its only purpose is to hawk product and not entertain or inspire or prod people into thinking about the reasons for their existence or how to make the world a better place, it doesn’t measure up to Subnormality’s standard of excellence.

But here it is, just because it’s weird.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Optical Illusions

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I have always loved optical illusions. One of my first introductions to a famous one was the 1965 “three-pronged poiuyt” from MAD magazine (otherwise called a “blivet”):

But there are many others. The one below is one of my all-time favorites – it contains both the words “optical” and “illusion”, depending on where you look.

The spatial-perception phenomenon is exquisitely illustrated among the geometric shapes below – what you see depends on whether you are looking at the blocks, or at the spaces between them.

The next one makes my head hurt. Try counting the black dots:

This one is uncanny. Stare at the “+” for a while, and watch the dots gradually vanish.

Similarly, if you stare at any point in the image below, the entire thing will gently fade away.

The wheels below are not moving. Really.

The following one is a mindbender. Stare at the spinning dancer for a while – she’ll switch from clockwise to counterclockwise at random. Some people can shift their perception of her at will, but I’ve never found the knack.

If you’re having trouble, the gif file below has been tweaked to let you switch back and forth with less difficulty. Look at the image on the left, and the silhouette will rotate clockwise. Look at the one on the right, and she’ll change directions for you.

anigif_enhanced-buzz-1228-1362949618-11

Edit: Here’s one that’s similar, but a bit easier to manipulate. Kind of uncanny.

brain-hacks

And on that note, here’s the “flashed face distortion,” which is pretty darn creepy – but it’s a real thing.

The famous drawing “All is Vanity” by Charles Allen Gilbert below has long been one of my favorites:

This modern one is less of an illusion than a perceptual challenge – how long did it take you to find the face among the coffee beans?

With technology come new challenges. Squares A and B are exactly the same color, RGB 120, 120, 120 or HTML #40B09C. Cross my heart.

This animated GIF file is less of an illusion than an interesting phenomenon, but I thought I’d add it here. Watching the waves move is captivating.

GfXcswv

The image below is not a .gif file. Watching it makes me woozy.

cr0c0ZY

Last one. Click on the spinner below to get a full-size image. Watch the center for about 15 seconds, and then look at the palm of your hand. Try not to faint.

There is no end of illusions on the Internet, but these are some of the ones that I find the most intriguing. Our minds do very strange things – in the book Perceptual Development: Visual, Auditory and Speech Perception in Infancy
By Alan M. Slater, the famous prism-glasses experiment is mentioned – contrary to conventional wisdom, the subjects may not have “inverted” their world, but a form of adaptation was certainly noted.

What these illusions reinforce for me is this:

From Lifehack Quotes

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Happy birthday, Poople!

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Today is Google’s 14th birthday. Their page shows a lovely cake.

The candles get blown out, and piece by piece, the cake disappears. Until only a few slices are left.

I’m sorry! I swear, I can’t help it – that’s what I see.

Happy birthday, Poople – and many happy returns!

The Old Wolf has rofl’d.


 

A Hidden Gem of a Film

Posted on by The Old Wolf

If you’re ever hankering for a movie that will make you feel good, and give you hope for humanity, see if you can find a copy of Saving Grace somewhere. It took me years to find an old VHS copy which I have now ripped to DVD, but it was worth the hunt.

Edit: Now, thanks to the Internet, the film in its entirety (with ads, sadly, but better than nothing) is available at YouTube here.

Cardinal Bellini (Tom Conti) has been elected Pope, but he has a problem – he hates his job. All day it’s “Yes, your Holiness, ” “No, your Holiness,” and a schedule filled with meaningless bureaucracy and ceremonial visits. When he inadvertently locks himself out of the Vatican in gardening clothes, with no money and no identification, it’s the beginning of a charming adventure that helps him get back in touch with the people he was called to serve.

The story is heartwarming, and Conti and his supporting cast are brilliant throughout. This is not a multi-million-dollar production, but it easily remains my favorite movie of all time, just edging out “The Princess Bride” by a hair.

“What do the high-level depositors get… a sainthood?”

“Isabella, I will help your village find a priest.”

Pope in mufti.

It’s a great shame that the studios will copy a dog like “Batwoman” to DVD, but leave a treasure like this languishing in a vault somewhere.

Wish I could get the attention of someone at Columbia and have this properly remastered and burned to DVD.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

How I learned to read

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I was born in 1951. This book came out in 1952. I may have been given Dick and Jane in school, but this is the book I remember learning to read from. I have never lost my love of it, and all the ones that followed. The complete Peanuts series has been coming out from Fantagraphic Books since 2004, and the series of 25 volumes should be complete by 2016. By that time I may just be able to afford them. They’re not cheap, but they are lovely. I’ve already collected the complete Calvin and Hobbes and the complete Far Side, and having a complete Peanuts collection has long been one of my dreams. Schulz was a master.

The Old Wolf has spoken.