Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

nuclear

Survive the Bomb – A Guide to Nuclear Survival

When I first got into the Lounge Revival scene, I continually wondered why original era Lounge music was so saccharine. It wasn’t all that way, of course. If it were all that way, Lounge Revival would never have become a 1990s fad never mind a modern living subculture. But you have to admit: For every “Fly Me To The Moon” by Frank Sinatra, there’s some...

Mant! – The Movie Within The Movie
Written by James Vaughan in Film

Mant! – The Movie Within The Movie

In 1993, director Joe Dante, made a little known film that has since become a cult classic for lovers of ‘B grade’ 1950’s science fiction. Matinee, starring John Goodman, is a feel good comedy about a Hollywood huckster who premieres his gimmicky new monster movie in the town of Key West Florida while the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is coincidentally occurring. Events are particularly important to...

The Nuclear Family Goes Underground
Written by James Vaughan in Kitsch

The Nuclear Family Goes Underground

Our re-runs of an Ultra Swank world are interrupted by a shrill tone from the television. ‘Howdy Dooty’ and Mom’s favorite soap opera are suddenly replaced by a Civil Defense symbol and gravely intoned warnings of the END OF THE WORLD! High above the utopian suburbs of plenty, an ever present overcast of death and despair loomed. The Cold War was a monstrous chess game...

Our Friend the Atom – Part 3
Written by James Vaughan in Science

Our Friend the Atom – Part 3

The religion of The Atom died with Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. With that fall from grace came the end of many of our utopian dreams. A responsible future of conservation and organic carrots just wasn’t very exciting. Although widespread use of the atom remains controversial; 436 reactors remain the source of 15 per cent of the world’s electricity. In some European countries atomic power...

Our Friend the Atom – Part 2
Written by James Vaughan in Science

Our Friend the Atom – Part 2

Atomic power was projected to be very cheap. We were going to have electricity coming out of our ears! We would not have to import oil from crazy foreigners or dig up whole states looking for coal. Utility companies and government agencies around the world took up the chant of the mighty atom. Nuclear power plants were seen as a springboard for third world countries...

Our Friend the Atom – Part 1
Written by James Vaughan in Science

Our Friend the Atom – Part 1

No modern technology has ever had such a schizophrenic and complicated identity as Atomic Energy. It is often presented in mystical terms. A Pandora’s Box of knowledge that cannot be unlearned. The magical Genie that can do both help or harm but cannot be returned to his bottle. Nuclear Power is the ultimate parable of modern science. With the use of atomic bombs at the...

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