Things look slightly different, I know. You're looking at the last gasp of the Institute before it goes to full blog form.

 

Meanwhile: It's the long-awaited sequel to the Gallery of Regrettable Food. Lurid food photography, squirm-inducing meals, chipper clip-art, strange Australian bacon. Foodies, retro-enthusiasts, old and young: it’s a book for everyone. (PG language, so you can give it to Mom.) Best of all, it’s the same size as its three Institute-based predecessors. Looks great on any shelf!

Look, Random House thinks it’s worth publishing. I think it’s my best one yet. If you don’t agree, the rest of this website will be free forever. You can’t lose! 

Lileks 10 19 09

 

  

 

 

 

 
One of my proudest achievements: as complete a revival of the Gobbler as you'll get today. Assuming you want it. There was a time I thought this place was the height of gauche and kitsch, and while that's still the case . . . I've grown to love it. Go HERE.
 
The ghastly designs forced on decent, hard-working Americans by the trend-setters. There's no justice, but there is this site. It's the original 1999 version, revived for the present. Go HERE.

 

Every few years I'll get mail explaining why underwear elastic was so poor in the 50s. But they can't explain the celery. Go HERE.
 
The start of it all, right here. This is a promotional site for the book, but it has plenty of material. Upgrade coming in late '09! Go HERE.

 

 

 

   Comic Sins is new all-inclusive whizbang assemblage of illustrated delights. We have covers every Tuesday, and a bold, fresh new site on comic book advertising. Strips deals with newspaper comics through the eras, and includes the internet’s largest Lance Lawson archive; Big Little Books examines the chunky comics genre. Here’s the main page, where you’ll find info on updates and additions.
   

 

 

A project imported from the Bleat. “100 Mysteries” is a weekly evaluation of a cheap DVD set I got for my birthday. One movie at a time. These aren’t reviews. I don’t know what they are, except that they’re up on Friday.

 
   

 

 

A salute to everything deeply creepy about 50s and 60s "men's" mags. REVIVED AND UPDATED in late 07. Updates coming in early '10. Meanwhile, go HERE.

 
   
 

 

Let's go back in time to 1973 to the Sears catalog, shall we? No? You don't want to go? I have a gun. Don't make me use it. And where did I get the gun? The Sears catalog, of course.

 
   

 

  

 

The Institute is loaded with fine, nutritious ads – heck, it’s practically all ads – but here are two ongoing projects. Magazine ads feature big scans of interesting old ads; newspaper ads raid the microfiche of the 20s, 30, 40s for scrachy, hard-to-love B&W scans.

   
  A salute to WW 2 homefront propaganda. Due for an update & and upgrade in early '10; in the meantime, it’s still open for your perusal. Go HERE.
   
  For years the Institute sent out a monthly magazine, the American Home Ironizer; here are some selections from the archives. Updated as our ongoing digitization of the archives continues. (Old site, c. 2003.)
     
  Before the personal computer came along, companies sold their big iron with carefully staged promotional photos. Thrill to the yesteryear mainframes and the bouffanted women who loved them! Go HERE.
     
  An old collection of weary japery from the 20s, interspersed with hangover remedies. Go HERE.
     
  That's the way, uh huh uh huh. Whacka-chicka lingerie from the miserable swingin' 70s. Go HERE.
     
     
     
     

 

 

 

     
   
     
   
  Whoa, Nellie. A collection of men's fashion photography from the 50s, 60s and - shudder - the 70s.
   
  In 1949, the Sunbeam Bread company put out a comic book to get kids to eat bread. Their secret weapon: an interminable history lesson that tied the jobs of iron miners and classical violinists to your toast.
   
  How do you get kids to eat right and take their vitamins? Simple - scare the urine out of them with hideous meat collages! Meet the Dayalets - they're child-tested and doctor approved. (c. 2000)
   
  A 1972 vacation promo. Yea, how times have changed. (c. 1999)
   
  Advertising painting and photography, stripped of its context. It wasn't meant to be permanently considered . . . but it is now. (c. 1998)
   
  Once they were beloved by, well, hundreds; once they proudly shilled for products that filled the shelves of your local store. These are the orphans of the commercial culture, ready for you to adopt them as your own. As seen in Forbes! (About a billion years ago.)
   
 

For years, newspapers could always rely on a dog photo to soften the grim news of the day. It was a boon for humans; we like dogs. It was hell on the dogs. A collection of newspaper photos from the 40s, 50s and 60s.
   
  No such thing, you say? Wrong. Every star, every famous person was captured doing something stupid, and they willingly released these pictures to the media. We've collected a few poses that, in retrospect, might not have been the best idea.
   
  Here's where you can learn all about the Institute, its mission and its history. Not required reading to enjoy the Institute's fine products, but when you've burned through everything else, this might make a little more sense.