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.
Here's a precursor to Sonny and Cher (pictured left. Note that Cher is singing in her portrait on the right and striking a pose in the middle portrait.) From Lustige Blätter, 1903.
Here's a precursor to "Paris Syndrome," the psychological trauma triggered by that city. The syndrome was first named in 1986, but of course it's nothing new, and this depiction of it in Lustige Blätter goes all the way back to 1900.
You've seen the famous Life Magazine photo of the sailor kissing a nurse ("V-J Day in Times Square" byAlfred Eisenstaedt). Here it is four decades earlier, from Lustige Blätter, 1904. We're not sure if the lady with the stick hates public displays of affection or merely wants in on the action. (This was Europe, after all.)
An undressing woman and a drill through the wall -- it's a precursor to the film Body Double. From Le Courrier Français, 1907. Previously, we discovered this other precursor to Body Double.