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Why do nerds so often wear glasses? This is an interesting question, and obviously it has a significance in my own life and career.

The word “nerd” was actually coined by my favorite fiction writer, the great Dr. Seuss. In 1950, in Dr. Seuss’s book If I Ran the Zoo, Seuss drew a non-human creature called a ‘nerd” from the land of Ka-roo. This is the first instance of the word “nerd” in print. Some theorists believe the word started at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the 1940s. The students who liked to party there were called “drunks” and the quieter, less-inclined-to-party types were labeled “knurds.” See, “drunk” spelled backwards is “knurd,” the precursor to the modern “nerd.”

In 1957, in Glasgow, Scotland, “nerd” was first defined as “square.”

Motion pictures, the most powerful medium of communication in human history (before television) had, of course, a huge impact on the lives of almost everyone on earth. The “nerd” in movie history has not, to my knowledge, ever been fully written. As far as I can determine, the first nerd in movie history was the popular silent comedian Harold Lloyd. Lloyd played a weak, underdog type of comedic character, one bullied by men and ignored by women. But in the end, he would triumph and inevitably get the girl of his dreams. The Lloyd character wore trademark glasses. In fact, Lloyd always referred to his character as the “glasses” or “glass” character, much as Charlie Chaplin was “the Tramp.”

After Lloyd, the nerd character was on the shelf for many years in movies -with sporadic exceptions. Ironically, Cary Grant, perhaps the most dapper actor in movie history, donned glasses and played a nerd character in 1938′s classic comedy Bringing Up Baby.

In the 1950s and ’60s, the great Jerry Lewis often played a nerd-type character in his wonderful comedies. Once in a while, Jerry would wear glasses in his films, notably The Nutty Professor and The Ladies Man. One of his early films with Dean Martin (That’s My Boy) Jerry played a classic glasses-wearing nerd. Jerry as “Junior Jackson” is a shy, clumsy nerd who is trained to be a football player by the handsome, popular Dean Martin. Lewis almost always played a semi-nerd, but it was always a bit of a very cool nerd with Jerry Lewis. While Jerry was always a dumb klutz in his films, he always danced gracefully and also, Jerry was a relatively good-looking fellow, unlike most nerds (or comedians) in comedies. And of course, Jerry did not usually wear glasses. But the movies next classic nerd did.

Woody Allen made his movie debut in 1965 in the smash hit What’s New, Pussycat? Allen, besides being Lewis’ successor as the next great movie comedian, also took over the crown as “movies’ next great nerd.” By the late 1970s, Allen had stopped playing a nerd in hilarious comedies and took his bespectacled character into more serious films.

In 1972, in a homage to the film Bringing Up Baby, Ryan O’Neal dons glasses and plays a nerd character in What’s Up, Doc?, one of the last great screwball comedies (and the only Barbra Streisand film I ever liked).

It was in the wonderful classic American Graffiti (1973) that Charles Martin Smith played a 1950s-type nerd character named “Toad.” Smith was wonderful and his portrayal was the first modern movie “nerd.” Smith’s brilliant portrayal set the standard for the modern nerd as we all know him -glasses, pocket protector, unkempt hair, etc.

About five years later, after a fallow “no nerd” period in the mid-1970s, I started playing the nerd character as my one and only character. I may be a lot of things, but a versatile actor is not one of them. Maybe because I grew up worshiping the great comedians: Chaplin, Buster Keaton, The Three Stooges, The Marx Brothers, Dean and Jerry, Laurel and Hardy, et. al., I early on decided that I would only ever play one character. These classic comedians always played just one basic character.

I just did a slight variation on the person I am in real life. I was always the offbeat character, never a handsome guy, never a great athlete, never a ladies’ man. But I was always a relatively funny guy; I always enjoyed making people laugh. I wore glasses naturally and because I was skinny and had scoliosis (my spine is curved), I always moved in a comic way.

(YouTube link)

I started churning out films -mostly B-movies, but a few good ones. Grease is the standout, although ironically Grease is actually the movie I have the smallest role in. I started playing the squeaky-voiced, spastic, clumsy nerd character and soon, a lot of nerd movie (and TV) characters followed. Okay, enough of my autobiography.

Nerds quickly spread like wildfire in many movies, A-movies and B-movies alike. The nerd character was frequently featured in 1980s low-budget films, and it became a standard movie “type,” much like the “jock,” the “spoiled rich kid,” the “dumb blonde.” the “best friend,” and the “gay guy.” In 1984, the nerd in movies reached its peak in Revenge of the Nerds, a comedy classic.

The last truly great nerd character was in one of my all-time favorite films Superbad (2007). Christopher Mintz-Plasse as “Fogel” creates a hilarious nerd character and almost steals this excellent movie, except for the fact that the entire cast is great.

Okay, enough movie history- Why do nerds so often wear glasses? I have always had three theories about this…

1. The nerd is always an outsider. Glasses immediately make a person appear different. In a random group of ten men (or ten women), if one person in that group is wearing glasses, he or she is very easily identifiable. In a quick glance at any group, a person wearing glasses is immediately seen as somehow looking different. The ‘different one” in almost any group is the one who is laughed at, and put at a distance from the other, more “normal” group members.

2. Glasses symbolize weakness or a low confront. The nerd is thought to be a not very strong character. Let’s face it, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, etc. would not wear glasses in their movie roles. Neither would James Bond or Rambo. Superman wore no glasses. Clark Kent did. Whereas Superman could and would confront anything, Clark Kent would inevitably run away. The typical guy hero can face evil or villains or tough situations. Glasses symbolize a type of low confront or non-confront. Where a typical guy hero has a “high confront” of life, a guy wearing glasses apparently has a “low confront” level. There is also something inherently funny about a guy who is in fear.

It is worth noting that almost every great comedian in movie history had a cowardly side: from Bob Hope to Jerry Lewis to the Three Stooges to Laurel and Hardy to Don Knotts to Abbot and Costello. Pretty much every great comedian has been in a haunted house and ran away scared and screaming from ghosts or whatever. The sight of a man running away in fear is just naturally comical. The nerd wearing glasses appears to be a “low confront” guy.

3. Glasses symbolize sexual unattractiveness. This generally seems to hold true for both men and women. Remember Dorothy Parker’s famous quote: “Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.” The nerd is thought to be sexually unattractive and thus wears glasses. Interestingly, I have never though this about women or girls. On the contrary, I have always been very attracted to girls and women who wear glasses. I never thought they lessened a woman’s attractiveness.

Miss C says: Glasses may designate a nerd character, but we aren't really fooled.

These character interpretations, pictured above Cringer and Battle Cat from He-Man, Chewbacca, and Splinter from the Ninja Turtles, are not only creative in terms of design, they also look super cuddly!

Made from felted fabric by Justin Alan Volpe, these figures have a cartoony style that rarely comes across properly in soft sculpts. I hope he mass produces these figures some day, I want them all!

Link –via ComicsAlliance

Did you know that there was a serious film produced about Karen Carpenter that used Barbie dolls instead of actors? That the first pressing of the Thriller LP was much longer than the finished product? That Quentin Tarantino’s first film was ruined by a fire at the film-processing lab? There are plenty of pop culture recordings that you might never get a chance to experience -or by luck, you just might. Read about a lot of lost art at Wired. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend

By the way, the Carpenter biopic is available online.

Mike Mitchell is no stranger to Neatorama, since his paintings of Brobocop and the Parks and Recreation cast in Casablanca, have graced our pages before. So, as soon as I saw the gallery at BuzzFeed I just had to share.

This guy knows how to paint beloved pop culture icons like you’ve never seen them before, and his images are like eye candy to me-I always crave more, and I just can’t get enough!

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This artwork by Grégoire Guillemin contains lots of pop culture icons. How many do you recognize? I didn’t count, but most of them are familiar enough. Some are for sale. See larger images at Guillemin’s gallery (which contains just a couple of spoilers). Link -via Buzzfeed

If you love paper dolls, but want a few more contemporary, geeky options, Flavorwire has you covered with a great selection of weird and wonderful paper dolls including Betty White and David Bowie. Print them out, cut them up and then stage your own delightfully odd plays.

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Watch what happens when the Smash Bros.  take notes from Mortal Kombat on how to finish their opponents, with a FATALITY! Cute, bloody, and starring some of the most beloved video game characters of all time, this is my kind of vid!

Link -via GeeksAreSexy

This is what happen when superheroes get a little long in the tooth, and grow so old that they aren’t quite as super any more. This series of paintings by Swedish artist Andreas Englund shows the fate of all non-immortal beings-wrinkles, weight gain and a feeling that tackling mundane tasks is like performing mini feats of heroism.

Link -via ComicsAlliance

Ever wondered about the origin of the Japanese Kirin or the waving Lucky Cat? If so, then this article by Matt Alt will amaze and astound with it’s short yet concise descriptions of 10 of the best known Japanese mythical creatures, some of which you may have seen but never thought you’d understand. This great article sheds light on creatures both strange and strangely familiar, and the accompanying illustrations are a delight! Follow the link, read on and be glad you’ve never spotted one of these critters in your backyard.

Link -via BoingBoing

Reactions to this new bundle pack will range from “How much? No thanks…” to “Awesome!”, with lots of mehs in-between. But if you’re still using your Wii for anything other than Netflix, and you enjoyed the previous Legend of Zelda games, then you’ll probably want to check out the new Skyward Sword game bundle, even though it’s set to retail at $70. The collector’s bundle includes a golden Motion Plus Wiimote, game and 25th Anniversary Concert CD, so you can take your new theme music with you wherever you go!

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These characters aren’t going to be kicking anyone’s butt in battle, unless they find a way to use their cuteness as a weapon. Illustrator Ivan Camelo has taken our favorite musclebound DC heroes and turned them into diminutive, bubbly and shiny little cuties that look like they belong an alternate DC/Sanrio Universe alongside Hello Kitty and Keroppi. It’s good to see that even though Batman and Superman have lost their muscles, their incredibly square chins weren’t lost in translation. You can see more at ComicsAlliance, but beware: drawings this sweet may rot your teeth.

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If you have ever seen Adventure Time on Cartoon Network, then you are already familiar with Oliver’s surreal and quirky cartoon style. If you love cartoons but have never seen Adventure Time then you’re missing out on a great show! Oliver tackles pop culture icons from cartoons, video games, and the movies and brings his own stylistic simplicity to the characters, then his bold use of color  completes each piece and really makes them pop. In the age of digital art Oliver is keeping it old school! Check out the artist’s blogsite for many more examples of his cute and unique style.

Link -via ComicsAlliance

These aren’t the skateboard riding, pizza loving turtles from the animated series, but rather the original dark and moody mutant ninja’s from the comics that started it all. With help from Master Splinter, they’re battling an angry anthropomorphic cat man and his gang for control of the city, and it looks like things are going to get bloody. ComicsAlliance has an 8 page preview of the first issue at the link below, take a look and decide for yourself whether you’ll be celebrating the return of TMNT!

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Was Bone too cute and cuddly for you? Wishing he were a giant pile of muscles wielding a massive sword while saving bikini clad babes? ComicsAlliance has answered your prayers with their latest indie comic reboot-Bone the Barbarian! Here’s a taste of what Bone is like in a sword and sorcery setting:

Exiled from his homeland of Boneboria, the warrior Fone Bonan sets out on a epic quest to find the mythical Crown of Horns, an artifact of great and terrible power that will grant a vast kingdom to any man who dares to claim it.

(YouTube Link)

When the term Fan Film is used to describe what you’re about to watch, you normally don’t expect much from the film or the maker.  This film, entitled Portal: No Escape is unlike any fan film i’ve ever seen, because it’s downright quality-looks good, well written, stylish and entertaining throughout.  No Escape should definitely raise the bar for future fan films, and I would love to see this film, and quality fan films like it, turned into YouTube mini series one day. Why is it that this short film rocks and most big budget video game movies are terrible? I guess Hollywood needs to hire more fans to help make their films!

-via BoingBoing

Awww, Chunk and Sloth are best friends! Mark A. Fionda Jr.’s take on characters from pop culture, such as these cuties from The Goonies, make me feel all warm and squishy inside. Use these images to battle depression, make your girlfriend giggle, or simply to fill your cuteness quota, just don’t try to deny Mark’s skills with the watercolors! See many more cute and colorful imagery at Mark’s website, or hit the ComicsAlliance link below for a mini-gallery of his works.

Link -via ComicsAlliance

Obi Wan battling the Empire via breakdancing. The classic Nintendo crowd get together for a snapshot. Mulder and Scully expose alien life forms both humanoid and puppet. Sound like strange subject matter for paintings? Then you haven’t seen the colorful works of Aaron Jasinski, a painter who’s bringing the pop culture back to lowbrow art. ComicsAlliance has a cool gallery of Aaron’s colorful works, ranging from pop culture celebration to semi-traditional portraiture, and his choice of color is every bit as cool as his subject matter.You can see more of Aaron’s work at his Deviant Art page below.

Link -via ComicsAlliance

Not all cosplay takes place on the floor of some comic convention somewhere, and adding a setting or proper lighting really makes these characters pop. Take a look at this gallery from ComicsAlliance and see just what every cosplayer wishes they could look like. If only I could get people to clear the floor around the characters when i’m shooting pics at Comic Con!

Link Image via Benny Lee

One of the most classic recurring sketches in Saturday Night Live history, Chevy Chase’s Land Shark character was basically a shark who would coerce its victims into opening their doors by pretending to be plumbers, repairmen or, in this clip, a member of Unicef.

Once the unsuspecting people opened their doors, the Land Shark would eat them whole, making a comment on the ridiculousness of the hysteria over sharks after the release of Jaws.

That’s my favorite, but there are sharks for every generation in the list at Ranker. Some text NSFW. Link

Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers was the most popular couples costume this year, but what set these two apart was their great accessories.

Perhaps the biggest (and in my opinion, the coolest) trend this year was turning male characters into adorable female versions. I can’t think of anyone that better epitomized this trend than this adorable Toy Story pairing.

Here’s another delightful gender-bending costume, this time a female Doctor Who. Of course, those familiar with the show know that he just might become a female during his next incarnation.

While this isn’t quite what I was talking about when I mentioned turning traditionally male costumes into adorable female versions, I doubt any of you have ever seen a more girly Master Chief.

Sucker Punch was another popular subject for costumes this year, but hers was just detailed enough to make her the best Babydoll at the convention.

While there may have been more authentic looking Wonder Woman costumes, this woman’s confidence made her the most impressive of the bunch.

Personally, I think this might be my favorite costume at the convention. She took a gorgeous Victorian-styled silk dress and managed to be the most regal and feminine of all the TARDIS costumes I’ve ever seen.

Of course, these three showed just how much variety you can have when designing a TARDIS dress. I’m thinking we should throw a Neatorama Dress Like the TARDIS contest one of these days to see what you guys would come up with. What do you think?

Although I generally try to avoid adding images of kids to these galleries, this mother-daughter steampunk pair were just too cute to resist. And of course, I did still get her mother’s permission before posting her up here.

As a huge fan of Roy Lichtenstein’s artwork and the fact that she incorporated one of his trademark speech bubbles into her costume made her the ultimate living incarnation of his work.

This woman was spotted waiting for the Family Guy panel. While there are a lot of people who won’t recognize Consuela from the show, I think most of us who do can’t help but giggle when we see her.

I think steampunk peaked in popularity last year, but there were still plenty of people sporting the vintage-futurist style. This was my favorite of the bunch though.

Although these two ladies also had extraordinary dresses with a perfect balance of brass accessories.

And these two chaps did an excellent job with their costumes, which look like an explorer and a mad scientist, respectively.

This Red Queen costume was simply perfect with the amount of detail she incorporated and when paired off with some pink flamingos, I can easily say it was the best Red Queen costume I’ve ever seen at the convention.

One of my favorite sights of Comic Con has always been the delightful costume mash ups, the majority of which involve Star Wars characters. Whether it’s an Elvis Stormtrooper, a Sherlock Jedi or Darth Mario, these costumes are always fun.

This little one is most certainly the most cute and lovable version of Darth Vader I’ve ever seen. If this is how the Dark Side represented itself, how could anyone resist?

Here’s another great Star Wars mash up, showing exactly what happened to the veteran stormtroopers of Endor. What a sad, sad tale.

If you’re one of those people who thinks geeks and sports don’t mix, then I’d like you to meet Darth Marino of the Miami Dark-phins. Yes, it is a terrible pun, but it is an awesome costume.

By the way, if you like the “That’s How I Roll” shirt the girl in the left of the photo (me) is wearing, you can get your own in the Neatoshop. Yes, now you too can dress like a Neatorama author. Lucky.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a costume that’s 100% authentic to the series… particularly if that means being a victim to one of the show’s many deadly monsters.

As I said, there’s nothing wrong with the classics. Especially when you get the whole crew covered in your cosplay group.

This Power Ranger was running (literally) around the whole convention with his giant knife and a smaller blade in the other hand the entire weekend. If you went to Comic Con and didn’t see him, you must have been doing something wrong.

My apologies for how risque this picture is, but I know that anyone who loves The Venture Brothers will most certainly enjoying what the sexy couple of Brock Samson and Molotov Cocktease look like in real life.

On a less risque, but equally fun note, here’s how young Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy would look like if they weren’t cartoons.

Howl’s Moving Castle

As much as everyone loves The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, you almost never see hobbit costumes. If you want to know why, consider the fact that this guy has to walk around in dress shoes covered in prosthetics all day.

On the other hand, the relative comfort of Harry Potter costumes mean there are always ample eager Gryffindor students running about the convention. It was this Sirius Black costume that really got my attention though.

Similarly, there are always plenty of women adorned in skintight vinyl Catwoman costumes, but the fact that this one decided to go for the newest incarnation of Catwoman in Arkham City is what made her stand out.

I’ll be honest, on their own, I don’t know that I would have really noticed any of these costumes, but where else but Comic Con will you see Superman, Wonder Woman and Princess Leia hanging out together?

If there’s anything creepier than The Observer character from Fringe, it has to be having three of them next to each other.

I always thought Waldo was a little too classy to hang out with Charlie’s Green Man from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but I guess I was wrong.

The only thing that could have made this Jack costume even more accurate would have been if he were giving away free cheeseburgers all day.

Here’s the part where I start getting in some murky water. The rest of the costumes are ones I don’t recognize, so if you know what they’re from, leave a note in the comments and I’ll add it in the article.

I believe she’s just a fancy Victorian lady, but if you recognize her from something, leave a comment.

He seems like a video game character, but I’m not sure which one. Help me out here people.

To be fair, I do recognize the three people on the left, Hit Girl, Kick Ass and Sailor Moon, but I don’t know who the girl in blue is supposed to be. Do you?

Again, I think she’s a video game character, but I have no idea what game or what character.

This gorgeous girl looks like an anime character, but she might be from a video game. I don’t know, do you? Thank you Niño nerd for pointing out that she is Lightning from final fantasy XIII-2.

I love this girl’s facial expression, but I don’t know who she’s dressed as. Any tips are appreciated. This gorgeous girl is Alice from American McGee’s Alice video game. Thanks OTB!

Either this guy is a generic military character or he’s from a video game. Let me know if you know. Niño nerd was right again, explaining that he was from Resident Evil Mercenaries. Anyone know the character’s name? Does he even have one?

If you just can’t get enough of these galleries, you can always check out over 200 more costumes from this year’s Comic Con over at my blog, Rue The Day. Also, Geeks Are Sexy posted four galleries of costumes, for Day One, Day Two, Day Three, and Day Four of the con.

Also, you can enjoy pictures from the 2009 and 2010 conventions here at Neatorama or check out Rue The Day’s 2008, 2009 and 2010 costume galleries, along with great pictures of hot cosplay girls from the 2008, 2010 and 2011 conventions. And this year, there’s even a gallery of hot gents for the ladies out there.

And, if you have your own galleries from the convention, feel free to include links to them in the comments.

It may seem like a simple thing to research, but simply typing in the year of your birth and getting a instant history lesson on pop culture, politics and the news is somehow very entertaining. Type in your year and let us know what were some interesting facts you found out about the year of your birth.

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(Video link)

Do you enjoy watching giant rubber monsters destroying cities and fighting with spandex clad superheroes who ride color coordinated motorcycles? Or the good old cinematic days of Giant Lizard vs. Giant Moth vs. Giant Gorilla vs. Giant Robot vs. all of Japan? If the answer is yes, then you are a Kaiju lover, and you probably didn’t even know it! Check out this great video from Kaiju Big Battel which will explain all you need to know about Kaiju culture at the link.

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She has three sons, and she knows the father of one of them for certain. But she smacks them around and insults them on a fairly regular basis. Though they’re all pretty stupid and infatuated with her that they don’t seem to notice they’re being physically and emotionally abused. And ripped off — Mom owns 99.7 percent of MOMCORP while the other .3 percent is evenly distributed among the three of them. But like I said, they probably have no idea. Is it abuse if they don’t notice? If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Exactly. (Mom said that’s how it works.)

Link -Thanks, Susana!

“MATANGO” AKA “ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE”: In this 1963 Japanese film, a storm-weary yacht is shipwrecked, and the passengers (a psychologist, his girlfriend, a wealthy businessman, a famous singer, a writer, a sailor and his skipper) are forced to take refuge in a fungus-covered boat. Perhaps not coincidentally, “Gilligan’s Island” premiered in America a year later. But the two aren’t as similar as you might think. For instance, in “Matango”, the castaways eat the boat -growing mushrooms for sustenance, and end up turning into hideous fungal monsters. For all his comic mishaps, at least Gilligan never did that.

ROBINSON CRUSOE: The granddaddy of desert-island lit, Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel is most likely based on the true story of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk. In 1704, Selkirk took part in a privateering expedition that included an inauspicious combination of a tyrant captain, a leaky ship, and repeated attacks by the Spanish. Sick of all the drama, Selkirk jumped ship (literally) to a tiny island 400 miles off the coast of Chile. And though he expected to be rescued quickly, he ended up stranded there for more than four years -which was bad, but still better than the alternative. Shortly after Selkirk deserted his crew, the ship sank. There were only eight survivors.

THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON: Adapted into more than a dozen movies and at least five TV series, the tale of The Swiss Family Robinson began life as a collection of bedtime stories in the early 19th century. Based on the late-night tales with which Swiss pastor John David Wyss lulled his sons to sleep, the fictional adventures were published as a novel in 1812 by one of his sons, Johann Rudolph Wyss. Coincidentally, the son of a preacher man also wrote the words to the Swiss National Anthem.

“NEW MOON”: No relation to the Hammerstein-Romberg operetta, the 1940 film starred “America’s singing sweethearts,” Jeannette McDonald and Nelson Eddy. It told the story of aristocratic French mail-order brides and sexy indentured servants stranded together on a desert island -proving that even displaced, emaciated island-squatters can fall in love via musical number.

“CAST AWAY”: Besides doing the impossible (that would be keeping an audience’s attention for hours with just one actor on screen and no soundtrack), the 2000 Tom Hanks epic is also known for its blatant FedEx product placement. And while FedEx didn’t pay for the shout-outs, the movie was shot at the company’s facilities in Moscow and Memphis, Tennessee. It also included FedEx employees as extras, and an appearance by FedEx CEO Fred Smith. Fortunately, the mail giant knew to stop when it was ahead. In the sage words of FedEx’s managing director of global brand management, Gayle Christensen, “adding even more promotion to that [movie] might go over the top.”

“SWEPT AWAY”: When this Madonna-centric remake hit theaters in 2002, it received little love. Why? Possibly because the 1974 original had a better title: “Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August”. Amazingly, that’s just one of the many long-winded titles for films by Italian director Lina Wertmüller, including “The Blue Collar Worker and the Hairdresser in the Whirl of Sex and Politics,” “A Complex Plot about Women, Alleys, and Crimes,” and “Summer Night, with Greek Profile, Almond Eyes, and Scent of Basil.” Wertmüller’s titling tendencies might have something to do with her equally long full name, Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol van Braucich. Or maybe she was just hoping the extra-wordy titles would catch critics’ attention. It turned out the opposite was true; she became the first woman ever nominated for a best director Oscar in 1977, for the succinct “Seven Beauties”.

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The above article is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the March-April 2006 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!

This article takes a look back at 8 of our most famous vintage toys, what they looked like in the beginning and how they were created.  Includes looks at baseball cards, comic books, Hot Wheels and Pez dispensers.

Matchbox cars were started in 1953 by British toy company Lesney Products. Co-owner Jack Odell created the idea for the tiny cars because his daughter was only allowed to bring toys to school if they could fit in a matchbox.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by pholley.

The Bayeux Tapestry {wiki} illustrated the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Historic Tale Construction Kit allows anyone to use pictures from the original tapestry to illustrate other things. Many panels have been made to illustrate pop culture and internet memes, and you can see in two collections. Link one and link two -via The Litter Box

A collection of humorous and ridiculous vintage ads that could be found in comic books from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s  includes Sea Monkeys, a 6 foot nuclear submarine, a life-size inflatable doll (marketed to girls), and a tube of lubricant for your Rubik’s Cube called -what else- Cube Lube!

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by pholley.

A funny look at 10 of the weirdest and also the most awesome book covers for the ’80s book series, Choose Your Own Adventure.

Yes, AWESOME! I don’t see how the story could live up to the bad ass title and cover but I give Jay Leibold credit for totally going there. A cyborg that is also a ninja. This exists and it is bad ass. Question: Am I the ninja cyborg or am I fighting the ninja cyborg? Points taken away if I’m fighting the ninja cyborg, but points given back if I’m also a bad ass ninja master. Who’s the dude in the blue tights in the background?

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by pholley.

In his art series "New Buddha," Tibetan artist Gade combined pop culture with traditional Tibetan art:

Gade points out "In most people’s minds, Tibet is an ancient, mysterious and exotic place. The notion of ‘Tibet’ is a conundrum. When outsiders actually visit Tibet, especially Lhasa, they get culture shock when they see all the pop culture, fast food, rock music, Coke and beer, brand name clothing, Hollywood movies, the nightlife scene, etc. I think Lhasa ought to be renamed Lhasa Vegas."

Paintings from his ‘New Buddha Series’ and his ‘Diamond Series’ reflect this culture shock with images of such American iconic pop figures as Mickey Mouse, Spiderman and the Hulk appearing in the centre of traditional-looking works. Gade points out that these figures show up in every corner of the earth. "When I visited a tiny village called Pazi at the base of Mount Xishabangma (8,102 metres) in the Himalayas, the kids there had backpacks with Mickey Mouse on them, and were drinking Coca Cola. That made me realise the incredible power of those ubiquitous emblems of Western culture and Western values."

Link – via The Zeray Gazette

Toward the end of the European renaissance, it appears the elves diverged into two distinct sub-species. The first consisted of the smaller, craftier elves, the kind that enjoy building toys or baking cookies. They maintained their predecessors’ small, plump, ugly appearance, but they appear to have moved away from the habits of kidnapping peasant babies and killing livestock.

Link -via Digg

Ah, the pop culture dad. Is anyone more bumbling? Film and TV have provided us with a bevy of memorable dads, all perpetuating the stereotype of the well-meaning, but dim-witted (or borderline psychotic) pop. (Actually, sometimes it isn’t borderline.) In honor of Father’s Day, we salute a few of the greatest moments in pop culture dad-itude. They all deserve a "Father of the Year" novelty award … and possibly psychiatric counseling.

From martini-mixing lessons to murdering mobsters, see some of the best moments [of pop culture fatherhood]

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Monopoly

• For some reason, I always thought the Monopoly guy was Uncle Moneybags. Nope. But “proper” names for him include Rich Uncle Pennybags, Milburn Pennybags and Mr. Monopoly (his most recent name). Some sources say he’s loosely based on J.P. Morgan.
• Marvin Gardens is actually a misspelling of Marven Gardens, a housing area in Margate City, N.J. In fact, all of the properties on the “classic” Monopoly board are named after places or streets near or in Atlantic City, N.J.
• In the London version of the game, Trafalgar Square is a red property, Piccadilly is yellow, Regent, Oxford and Bond Streets are green and the blue properties are Mayfair and Park Lane. The railroads are replaced by Underground stops (King’s Cross, Marylebone, Fenchurch Street Station and Liverpool Street Station).
• Neiman Marcus once sold an all-chocolate edition. The whole set, including dice, money, hotels and board, was edible.
• F.A.O. Schwarz in NYC sold a $100,000 version, which included 18-carat game pieces, a rosewood board, real money, street names written in gold leaf and various gems scattered across the board.
• The most expensive board even made is a set worth $2 million It’s made of 23-carat gold and has rubies and sapphires embedded in the top of each house and hotel.
• Various versions of Monopoly include Batman, ESPN, Family Guy, American Idol, Nintendo, Sephora, and, honestly, just about any other version you can possibly think of.

Clue

What we in North America know as Clue, the rest of the world knows as Cluedo. Would you believe that it was invented by a part-time clown? Totally true. Anthony E. Pratt invented the game in England and it was published for the first time in 1949 by a British company. Bought by Parker Brothers, the U.S. version came out the same year.

• The dead dude is known as Mr. Boddy in North America, but he’s Dr. Black everywhere else. Also, Mr. Green is apparently alias Reverend Green in some parts of the world.
• Also, some of the Clue characters have little-known first names. They are: Colonel Michael Mustard, Miss Josephine Scarlet, Professor Peter Plum, Reverend/Mr. John Green, Mrs. Blanche White and Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock.
• Characters used in other or deluxe versions of Clue include Miss Peach (not to be confused with Princess Peach), Lady Lavender, Prince Azure, Rusty Naylor and Captain Brown.
• The original nine weapons were axe, shillelagh, bomb, rope, dagger, pistol, syringe, poison and poker.

The Game of Life

Life has been around since 1861… not in the format we recognize today, of course. Milton Bradley himself invented “The Checkered Game of Life” when his lithography business started to go down the tubes (his major product was a portrait of clean-shaven Lincoln… when Lincoln grew the beard, Bradley went out of business).
He had actually been circulating the game on a smaller scale before his clean-shaven Lincoln lithograph took off, but he abandoned it once demand for his lithograph increased. After that plummeted, he focused more attention on marketing and ended up selling more than 40,000 games in 1861 alone – no small feat for that time period!

• Milton Bradley used a spinner to count the number of spaces people could move because dice were associated with gambing.
• In the original Checkered Game of Life, landing on the “Suicide” square put people out of the game completely. Obviously.
• Other squares on the original game board included Prison, Infancy, Ruin, Gambling, Disgrace, Honesty, Truth, Cupid, Industry and “Happy Old Age” (the goal of the game).
• One interesting variant (among many) is The Game of Redneck Life. Careers include Mullet Salon Operator and Monster Truck Announcer. The goal of the game is to get out with as many teeth as you can – through the various fights and brawls you get into over the course of the game, this can prove to be pretty challenging. I’m dead serious.

Scrabble

Scrabble came about in 1939 when architect Alfred Mosher Butts modified a game he had been working on earlier – Lexiko. At first he called it Criss-Crosswords and based the values of the letters on based on letter usages from the New York Times (and other reputable sources). In 1948, he allowed James Brunot to manufacture the game as long as he got a cut of each board sold… which wasn’t much, at first. They actually lost money the first year they produced it. Legend goes, though, that the President of Macy’s played the game while on vacation and, upon his return to work, was shocked that his store didn’t carry it. When they did start to carry it, sales skyrocketed.

• There are 96 two-letter words that are “legal” in Scrabble… including 10 that are spelled with vowels only. I’m so learning those.
• A typical Scrabble board has 225 squares.
• The highest known score for a single word in competition Scrabble is 392. In 1982, Dr. Saladin Khoshnaw achieved this score for the word “caziques,” which means “Indian chief.”
• The highest possible score a player can get in Scrabble on a first turn is for the word MUZJIKS (128 points).

I realize there’s tons of beloved board games I’ve missed, so maybe I’ll turn this into a series… a three-parter, or something. Sorry!, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Risk, Trivial Pursuit. Lots of options. Have one you’d like to read about? Leave it in the comments and maybe I’ll add it to the list!