CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
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Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.

Found 460 posts tagged ‘clown’

Restoring the Lost Sense – January 16, 2020 (permalink)

Today's mule kicking a teddy bear over a clown is from Der Bärenspiegel, 1931.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #clown #teddy bear #mule #kicked
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 23, 2019 (permalink)

From Tri-State's 1922 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #jester #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook #duck #pet walker #walking the duck
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 18, 2019 (permalink)

From Northern Illinois' 1920 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #dinosaur #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook #circus #dinosaur costume
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 14, 2019 (permalink)

From Bradley's 1943 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook #drum #animal costume
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 10, 2019 (permalink)

At first glance, we assumed the bag was a marotte papoose (and "marotte papoose" is a Googlewhack; you're welcome).  But apparently this clown believes in his elf.  (See How to Believe in Your Elf.)  From Colorado College's 1904 yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 1, 2019 (permalink)

From the Wyoming yearbook of 1930.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #elephant #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – November 25, 2019 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #harlequin
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Restoring the Lost Sense – November 22, 2019 (permalink)

From Fliegende Blätter, 1925.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #clown #flood
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Restoring the Lost Sense – October 20, 2019 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #clown #pierrot
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Yearbook Weirdness – October 14, 2019 (permalink)

From Colorado College's 1907 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook
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Restoring the Lost Sense – October 14, 2019 (permalink)

From Jugend, 1927.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #grim reaper #clown #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 30, 2019 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 1904.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #owl #silhouette #clown #tightrope #l b
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Nonsense Dept. – September 3, 2019 (permalink)

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the best of men."  From 1907, via Ephemera Obscura.
> read more from Nonsense Dept. . . .
#clown #vintage postcard #nonsense #postcard
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Yearbook Weirdness – August 30, 2019 (permalink)

Today's giant clown dumping tiny people out of a building is from Washington University's 1909 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #giant #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook #tiny people #illustration
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Yearbook Weirdness – August 28, 2019 (permalink)

It would be more disturbing to encounter scary clowns in old yearbooks if old yearbooks didn't already frighten us so very much.  From William and Mary's 1974 yearbook. 

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 24, 2019 (permalink)

Before the war on clowns, there was the war of clowns.  From Lustige Blätter, 1900.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #war #clowns #clown war #war on clowns
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Indubitably (?) – August 22, 2019 (permalink)

No matter how the clown lobby protests, most all ink spills are indubitably the fault of tiny clowns.  From Swarthmore's 1927 yearbook.
*If Merriam (or Webster?) is correct that indubitably is not the kind of word that gets used in everyday conversation, except perhaps for humorous effect, then insert comedy drum roll here.
> read more from Indubitably (?) . . .
#vintage illustration #pen and ink #clown #vintage yearbook #spilled ink #yearbook #quill pen #illustration #ink spill #tiny clown
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Yearbook Weirdness – August 21, 2019 (permalink)

With that exclamation point, "Couldn't this be magic" isn't a question.  But Gene Wolfe, in his utterly spectacular Book of the New Sun, notes that "Words are symbols.  [One] chooses to delimit magic as that which does not exist, and so it does not exist.  If you choose to call what we are about to do here magic, then magic lives while we do it."  Possibly related is Maxim Gorky on the divine: "If you believe in Him—He exists.  If you don't—He doesn't" (The Lower Depths).
From Pembroke's 1978 yearbook.  (With a bonus "Believe it if you need it" from American University's 1974 yearbook.)
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#magic #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook
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Yearbook Weirdness – August 1, 2019 (permalink)

From Bradley's 1916 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #clown #vintage yearbook #yearbook
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 27, 2019 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 1901.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #keg #clown #costume party #alcohol
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