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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A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.

Found 50 posts tagged ‘distortion’

Restoring the Lost Sense – July 10, 2029 (permalink)

From Wee Wisdom, 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 #mirror #1920s #looking glass #distortion #illustration
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Yearbook Weirdness – March 11, 2029 (permalink)

From the University of Illinois' 1977 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 #distortion #1970s #photo
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Yearbook Weirdness – March 10, 2028 (permalink)

From Eastern Illinois University's 1970 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage yearbook #yearbook #alcohol #distortion #warped #1970s
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 20, 2027 (permalink)

It's often said that folks were high in the 1970s, but when we look closer we discover that they had freakishly long legs.  From La Roche College's 1977 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 #distortion #long legs #1970s #woman #vintage woman #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 14, 2026 (permalink)

From People Mirrors, Teacher's Guidebook by Allinson, Allinson & McInnes, 1974.
[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 book #book #distortion #1970s #illustration #making faces
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Images Moving Through Time – June 22, 2023 (permalink)

"Evils of alcohol extend to photography."  From Popular Mechanics, 1911.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage illustration #alcohol #distortion #warped #melting building #illustration #photo developing
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Yearbook Weirdness – April 16, 2023 (permalink)

From Fort Hays State's 1970 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage yearbook #distortion
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 13, 2023 (permalink)

[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 #frog #distortion
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Yearbook Weirdness – January 24, 2023 (permalink)

From Wittenberg College's 1952 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #distortion
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Yearbook Weirdness – November 11, 2022 (permalink)

"To the riddle of me."  From Lenoir-Rhyne's 1972 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #reflection #vintage yearbook #yearbook #distortion
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Images Moving Through Time – September 6, 2022 (permalink)

Accidental grotesqueness in Dark Shadows, courtesy of a warped mirror and a clueless actor.  Kate Jackson betrays a malformed face as she stands waiting for her cue, mouthing her upcoming lines (as the crew bangs props offscreen), unaware that the cameras are already rolling.  It's a bizarre moment of distorted reality, all the more startling and affecting because it was unplanned.  From episode 1195.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#haunted mirror #distortion #dark shadows
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Yesterday's Weather – August 26, 2022 (permalink)

From Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, 1883.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #distortion #hallucination #illustration #melting architecture
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Yearbook Weirdness – May 21, 2022 (permalink)

If you've ever dared to wonder what surveyors are seeing, here's a clue.  From the University of Toronto's 1938 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #distortion #1930s #melting building #melting architecture
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Images Moving Through Time – February 25, 2022 (permalink)

Reblog if you've plunged beneath the placid surface and found yourself in an alien world, a warped reflection of the one you had so foolishly taken for granted (Deborah Moggach).  From Wake Forest's 1969 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #distortion #warped #window
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Images Moving Through Time – February 22, 2022 (permalink)

From Duke's 1974 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #distortion #window
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Images Moving Through Time – November 6, 2021 (permalink)

This mildly warped photograph may trigger an altered state of consciousness.  From Lehigh's 1968 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #distortion #warped
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Restoring the Lost Sense – May 14, 2021 (permalink)

The opposite of rose-colored glasses.  From Nebelspalter, 1929.
[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 #distortion #sunglasses
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Yearbook Weirdness – April 10, 2021 (permalink)

The endpapers from Saint Joseph's 1963 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage yearbook #yearbook #distortion #endpapers #illustration #melting architecture
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Restoring the Lost Sense – February 11, 2021 (permalink)

From the Naval Academy's 1905 yearbook.
[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 yearbook #yearbook #alcohol #drunk #distortion #bottle #sailor
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 7, 2020 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 1905.
[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 #cherub #music #distortion #surreal
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