I'd buy that for a dollar

The third Saturday in August means one thing in Johnson City, that's right boys and girls, today was the annual tree streets yard sale! This was our third straight year of braving the humid blast furnace like temps that are common to our area in August in search of bargains. Here's what we saw this year:
Some homeowners took a minimalist approach to this years massive yard sale.

Others tried to sell their recyclables.

But most got into the spirit of the event and they brought their shit out on their front lawns so people like Sparky and I could peruse it.

Some also brought out modern art sculpture that highlighted man's attempts to traverse not only his immediate surroundings, but his metaphorical universe as well. Or perhaps I'm full of it, you decide.

One thing you always see at this event is harried parents of young children.

And other things you see are stuff that nobody wanted even when it was new. They only took it because they were too nice to turn the stuff down when it first got pawned off on to them.

Speaking of stuff nobody wanted, I thought this $5 TV was priced about $5 too high. It might make a nice book end or maybe one could make it into a modern art sculpture that highlights man's attempts to traverse not only his immediate surroundings, but his metaphorical universe as well. Or perhaps not. I see a landfill in that TV's future.


This box was calling my name:
But by the time I answered it people had already cleaned it out, the dirty bastards.

There was 'fine' furniture for sale at this years event as well as some haute couture:

And some kind soul reminded all the yammering, sweaty, kids in the crowd that Christmas isn't far off. I can only hope that they bray from now until December 24th to their folks about what they want for Christmas.

I'm sure you're asking, "What did you buy this year Mr. Smart Ass?" Well good question and I'm fully prepared to come clean and tell you I bought
a bunch of vintage pamphlets for a dollar, a cheesy cookbook for a buck, a stack of mysteries with really cool covers for a buck, and two baby monsters for a buck fifty. A little girl was selling the baby monsters, which she had sewn herself, and I wanted to support her art and commerce so I bought Slithers (that's the sock that's been sewn shut and had a star and a button sewn on for eyes) and she tossed in Teenie at no extra charge. She was the cutest thing in the world. When I asked if her dirty faced little brother who was hanging out next to her was included in the price she said no, but only after a few moments of deliberation.

And that's the way it was. Or the way I said it was anyway. Next year maybe you'll get off that duff of yours and come do the tree streets yard sale with us.

I love my local library

I do, I love my local library.

I love my local library waaaaaaaay more than any human should. And it's not just because my friend Bob is the new big cheese at the library, although that's part of it. I love my local library because it's huge, it's well lit, it has books, magazines, CD's, DVD's, graphic novels, and because it's within walking distance of my house. But the reason I am loving my local library today is because they had a massive used book sale there today.

They had a deal where you pay $20 bucks and you could get all the books you could pack in a box. When we found that out we went wild. Sparky got a bunch of novels and a few non fiction books as well and I got these books:
A Foot in the Grave has some really cool and creepy illustrations in it. Zhou Enlai has great shots of vintage Communists in it. Puppet Making spoke to me and it said, "Touch the puppet head." I look forward to reading the slim novel about how Napoleon cheated death.

I really made a score when I picked up those two USDA books about our nation's food supply, one is from 1966 and the other is from 1969. They both are packed with great vintage photos of farms, animals, people, and food from that era. I got a book about by a guy who directed exploitation movies in the '50's, '60's and '70's, a book about the history of wine, and a book of essay's on food.
Speaking of food, I found four, count them four, cookbooks that are filled with pictures of bad food. I can wait to share them with you on my blogs and on Flickr.

Thanks Johnson City Public Library!

Safety tip and positive news item of the day

I found that great vintage photo in here:
This was one of a series of four books published by the folks who did Weekly Reader. They all came out in 1947 and they are little more than pro growth propaganda that advocates wild consumption of virtually every natural resource that we had at that time. I got two of the books in this series for free today, they were in a box marked "Free!" in front of one of the stores where I buy used books. I also picked up a children's song book from 1951 and it is chock full of great illustrations. And I also picked up a geography book from 1920 that is full of great vintage photos. I'll be scanning all the great photos and illustrations soon and I'll post them to Flickr when I get the chance, I'll let you know when I get them all up and you can rummage through them and use them for whatever nefarious purposes you may have.

Who is she?

Hear her roar.

My scanner has been smoking hot because...

I just finished scanning this little book:


All comic books geeks and fans know who Will Eisner is. He was the guy behind the great comic book The Spirit. Most all comic book artists and writers today always mention what a huge influence Eisner is on their work. So I was shocked to find this great little paperback by him one day in the thrift store. It's a bit dated now, it was published in 1979, but it's pure pop culture fun.

It shows the origin of dating.

It shows you where to find boys,

and girls.

And of course no book from the 70's about dating would be complete without a handy dandy astrology guide.

I love this final page in the book.

I also scanned the illustrations from this book. I bought it for a quarter and I scanned the cover and I was going to toss it into the recycling bin afterwards but for some reason I flipped through it. Inside I found great illustrations like these:

They reminded me of Playboy cartoons or the innocently sexy cartoons from an old magazine that was called From Sex to Sexty, which was a magazine full of nothing but cartoons of big breasted women being hit on by old men or cartoons about the sex lives of good looking young couples. I remember sneaking peeks at it when I saw it on newsstands or in stores. My Mom caught me looking at it one day in a store and she slapped the heck out of me, she was a cool woman most of the time except when it came to "obscene" things. She'd spank us in a heart beat if we cussed or looked at something she thought was too "smutty."

You can see all of the scans by clicking here.

Look what I got for fifty cents today

It's full of great monkey and ape photos that I'll soon be scanning and sharing with all of you on both my personal blogs. I also picked up a picture book from the 1950's that is full of stereotypes about people who live in the South. And I managed to find a few pulp sci fi books with great covers that I already scanned and will soon be uploaded to one of my many Flickr accounts.