I love the past because of all that it can teach us. I also like social tendencies of past generations and decades but you have to choose those more carefully. The 90’s was the “it’s not me” generation because the 80’s were the “me” generation. The 70’s were extremely laid back (and hairy) because the 60’s wiped us all out with war, killings of (true) leaders and more drugs than a Pfizer warehouse. This takes me to the 50’s.

What I love about watching films and seeing historical accounts from that era is that they make no apologies for the campy overtones that sometimes come from them. Words like “swell” and “golly” were actually used as light forms of slang and practically vulgar language, which is nothing short of hilarious to me. I also love the clean themes of products and even people’s lifestyles. However, that could just be because of my raging mysophobia.

Also, people looked like they had more pride in their appearance back then. When a man came home from work, to unwind from the long day he took off his suit and put on khakis and a polo shirt or a button-down. Now, you’d be lucky to see an employee show up in even that. Women as well. A dress was the standard attire. Most certainly don’t look like that anymore but I wish they did. I’m not saying women – or anyone for that matter – should be a certain way. But I wish they would. That’s different. If you can’t see how, that’s your problem.

Anyhoo, I found this clip that shows you the “modern” life of the 50’s and all that it has to offer in life’s various daily situations. No words, just some awesome music and a visual orgy of clean surfaces and smiles. Enjoy.

When I was a wee lad day-dreaming in school (which was quite often), I actually thought of something very similar to this:

Freakin’ awesome.

Frank Zappa was a great musician and composer of some really good music. I really like his instrumental works. Particularly his guitar albums like Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar, Guitar, and Return of the Son of Shut Up ‘N Play Your Guitar. (Not the most innovative names but the music rocks the universe.)

I was never much of a fan of anything he did lyrically. His lyrics were, um, nuts at best. Songs like Truck Driver Divorce, Why does it hurt when I pee?, and Crew Slut were good songs that had a purpose and all. But personally, because of the comical aspect of his lyrics, I think they hurt his credibility to appeal to a wider audience than he already had.

But what was even more bizarre was this little gem – a 1967 television commercial he did for Ludens Cough Drops:

Although it was rather strange, it was Frank so I’m not surprised.

I miss him.