Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

Kitsch

Breathless Homicidal Slime Mutants – The Art of The Paperback

In the 1959 premiere episode of The Twilght Zone, Earl Holliman explores a town completely deserted. After helping himself to some ice cream from the drug store soda fountain, he encounters wire spinner racks full of paperbacks, one of which is filled entirely with copies of the ominously titled “The Last Man on Earth.” In the age of the electronic book, wire book racks (as...

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Written by Jesse Kowalski in Film

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) begins with a hastily prepared animation sequence set to the sonic stylings of children singing “Hooray for Santa Claus.” Once the songs ends, we are told by the newscaster for KID-TV that they have sent a news crew to the North Pole to interview Santa Claus. I got excited upon hearing this news, only to find out in the...

American Postcards gone Wrong
Written by Christopher in Travel

American Postcards gone Wrong

Here are a bunch of fine examples of creepy or plain just wrong postcards you probably won’t be sending to your friends and family… or then again, maybe you might? If you want to see more fun-tastic, creepy, dodgy and simply plain weird examples, head over to Bad Postcards where you will have a whole collection of things gone horribly wrong in every way....

Video
Written by Christopher in Film

An Homage to Louis Armstrong

Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond as a modern re-imagining of early silent film, LOUIS is an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music. The grand Storyville bordellos, alleys and cemeteries of 1907 New Orleans provide a backdrop of lust, blood and magic for 6 year old Louis (Anthony Coleman) as he navigates the colorful intricacies of...

Video

I love seeing modern music videos that carry a retro twist. The artists always seem to have so much fun and introducing new audiences to retro fashion and culture is never a bad thing. Those of us interested in dressing up in retro fashions might find it too expensive or too difficult to locate the items to do so, but we can always live vicariously...

Thoughts on The Silencers
Written by Jesse Kowalski in Film

Thoughts on The Silencers

Loosely based on the series of Matt Helm novels by Donald Hamilton, “The Silencers” features Dean Martin as erstwhile counter agent Matt Helm. Not to be confused with the counter agent at Northwest who lost my luggage last week. Helm isn’t a secret agent who spies and stuff, he just causes problems for other spies. Which is good work if you can get it. Helm...

It’s Dinner Time – Music for TV Dinners

Need a compilation of some catchy tunes? Well, you’ve come to the right diner! I was hungry for more lounge music and found “Music for TV Dinners: The Sixties.” For those that don’t know many lounge artists, this is a great compilation with a tasty mix of library music. The album includes artists such as Syd Dale, Laurie Johnson, and of course the great Alan...

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