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 91 posts tagged ‘balloon’

Restoring the Lost Sense – October 8, 2022 (permalink)

From The Moon On The One Hand by Bill Crofut.
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #balloon
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 19, 2022 (permalink)

From Motion Picture Herald, 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 #vintage ad #cat #balloon
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Yearbook Weirdness – September 7, 2022 (permalink)

No single balloon can necessarily make one feel any sort of way, but finding exactly the right number of balloons makes all the difference.  One always knows the very moment the right number of balloons has been achieved.  From Indiana University's 1974 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage yearbook #yearbook #happiness #1970s #balloon #musician #vintage man #man #mood management
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Yearbook Weirdness – July 24, 2022 (permalink)

From Western Ontario's 1964 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #balloon
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Yearbook Weirdness – June 28, 2022 (permalink)

Even without helium, balloons beguile.  From  Northwest Nazarene's 1984 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #balloon
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Restoring the Lost Sense – October 19, 2021 (permalink)

From Nebelspalter, 1935.
[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 #sea monster #balloon #inflatable #beach toy
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 30, 2021 (permalink)

Today's helium balloon grapes are from Nebelspalter, 1934.
[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 #tiny man #vintage magazine #balloon #grapes #magazine
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 18, 2021 (permalink)

From Nebelspalter, 1933.
[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 #balloon #siamese twins #conjoined #hester
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Yearbook Weirdness – May 4, 2021 (permalink)

From Catawba's 1973 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #1970s #balloon #faceless #no face
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 12, 2020 (permalink)

From Kladderadatsch, 1941.
[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 #faces in things #carried away #balloon #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 12, 2020 (permalink)

A pincushion is a horror to balloon people.  From The Wonderful Land of Up by Olive Roberts Barton and illustrated by Neely McCoy, 1918.
[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 #anthropomorphism #balloon #pincushion
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 23, 2020 (permalink)

We, too, mean no harm when we take away balloons.  From Blacky Daw by Adelaide Palmer and illustrated by Dorothy Saunders, 1930.
[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 #crow #balloon
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Yearbook Weirdness – April 20, 2020 (permalink)

This is the most accurate depiction of campus life we've encountered.  From St. Patrick's 1950 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage yearbook #yearbook #college #balloon #campus life
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Yearbook Weirdness – February 12, 2020 (permalink)

From Trinity Christian's 1975 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#mask #vintage photo #fashion #vintage fashion #vintage yearbook #yearbook #shy #1970s #vintage men #balloon #faceless #men #no face #social isolation #personal protection #body armor
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Restoring the Lost Sense – October 14, 2019 (permalink)

Here's a fairly rare depiction of a balloon in mid-pop, seemingly happy about killing its adversary.  From L'Impartial de l'Est, 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 #faces in things #bee #balloon
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Yearbook Weirdness – September 16, 2019 (permalink)

No matter how empty the room, no matter how desolate one's life, a balloon bouquet can make all the difference.  From the State Teacher's College, Farmville, Virginia's 1940 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #1940s #balloon #vintage woman
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 16, 2019 (permalink)

The land of lost balloons.  From The Wonderful Land of Up by Olive Roberts Barton and illustrated by Neely McCoy, 1918.
[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 #anthropomorphism #balloon
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 1, 2019 (permalink)

From Der Guckkasten, 1913.
[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 #balloon #roses
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Images Moving Through Time – July 2, 2019 (permalink)

"He sells the Balloon of Not Yet and the Balloon of Sometimes" (Donald Barthelme).
From Centenary's 1971 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#fashion #vintage fashion #vintage yearbook #yearbook #mustache #1970s #vintage men #balloon #seventies #men's slacks #men's pants
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Images Moving Through Time – April 21, 2019 (permalink)

"Smile because you are uprooting what undermines you and replacing it with what uplifts you" (Shoshana Bennett, 2014).  From Queens College's 1969 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #balloon #uplifting
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