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 20 posts tagged ‘trapped’

Restoring the Lost Sense – September 8, 2028 (permalink)

"The Lion and the Mouse."  From My Do and Learn Book to Accompany Trails to Treasure, 1961.
[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 #fable #lion #aesop #mouse #trapped #caught in a net #1960s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 22, 2028 (permalink)

From The Children's Newspaper, 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 #anthropomorphism #monkey #trapped #1930s #illustration #elevator
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 10, 2026 (permalink)

From Think-and-Do Book to Accompany Streets and Roads by Gray & Monroe, 1940.
[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 #lion #mouse #trapped #illustration #lion and mouse #net
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Yearbook Weirdness – January 10, 2026 (permalink)

From Tennessee Wesleyan College's 1988 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #trapped #vintage woman #1980s
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Restoring the Lost Sense – November 6, 2023 (permalink)

From Chatterbox, 1887.
[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 #eagle #trapped #trap #1880s
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Yearbook Weirdness – October 1, 2020 (permalink)

From Chatham's 1958 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 #trapped #woman #vintage woman
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 6, 2020 (permalink)

From Krasnyi Smekh, 1906.
[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 #political cartoon #trapped #crushed #big book #1900s #author #heavy book #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 22, 2020 (permalink)

From The Link, 1960.
[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 #gem #trapped #tiny people #crystal
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Precursors – November 15, 2019 (permalink)

Jonathan notes: "I can't help feeling that 'retroactively Kafkaesque' applies both to the appearance of the writer depicted in the illustration, and to his human-insect colleague. I see from Wikipedia that the date of the illustration, 1908, happens to be when Kafka's first stories were published; but it doesn't seem like he was well-known yet, and 'The Metamorphosis' was yet to come."
From Lustige Blätter, 1908.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #hybrid #trapped #kafka #insect man #ink #kafkaesque #circle
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Yearbook Weirdness – May 2, 2019 (permalink)

From Gaston's 1964 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #cat #vintage yearbook #yearbook #trapped #bulb
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Restoring the Lost Sense – January 19, 2019 (permalink)

From Pearson's, 1902.
[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 #under glass #trapped #cone of silence #specimen jar
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 2, 2018 (permalink)

From the Davidson yearbook of 1978.  See How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage yearbook #yearbook #tiny man #trapped #bottled
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 25, 2018 (permalink)

From Der Orchideengarten, 1920.
[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 #trapped #tiny people #illustration #specimen bottle #caught in a jar #specimen jar
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 22, 2018 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 1908. 
[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 #shackles #prisoner #trapped #caged #human zoo
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 8, 2018 (permalink)

From an ad for J. & P. Coats' Spool Cotton, c. 1880.
[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 #lion #mouse #trapped #caught in a net #thread #animal trap #illustration #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 22, 2018 (permalink)

From Fliegende Blätter, 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 #monster #spider #trapped #yokai #illustration #many legs #many eyes
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Restoring the Lost Sense – October 20, 2017 (permalink)

"Shutting Agnes into the chest."  From The Old Fashioned Fairy Book by Mrs. Burton Harrison and illustrated by Rosina Emmet, 1887.
[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 #fairy tale #trapped #illustration #shut away
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 19, 2017 (permalink)

"Corked in a bottle for ten days."  From Popular Mechanics, 1909.

[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 #trapped #illustration #bottled
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 17, 2016 (permalink)

From Outing magazine, 1885.
[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 #cobweb #spider web #giant spider #trapped #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 17, 2016 (permalink)

From Sämtliche Werke by E. T. A. Hoffmann, 1908.
[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 #horror #trapped #walled in #scratching #sealed in #illustration #art
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