Magnavox Odyssey2, 1981
Not exactly a Playstation
Back in 1981, this was the type of video console that would set a gamer’s heart racing. (Shakes head sadly.) Continue reading Not exactly a Playstation
Category: 1980s
Magnavox Odyssey2, 1981
Avalon Hill Games, 1982
Making Fun of War
Games, if you look at them closely enough, are often anything BUT fun and games. Wargames, for instance, have existed in a professional sense essentially since war itself. Continue reading Making Fun of War
Sears Roebuck, 1980
Get Me Clark Kent!
Sears Roebuck, Spring/Summer 1980 I don't know why, but this page looks to me like Sears has called on Clark Kent to model their 1980 menswear separates. Hmmm. OK, yes, definite resemblance. Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent is a bit nerdier, but it's there. Superman the Movie had just come out in the winter of 1978, … Continue reading Get Me Clark Kent!
S&H Green Stamps, 1981
“For the Hostess…Bright Kitchen Wares”
All this glistening copper (glistening until you put your fingerprints all over it, anyway) is a quintessentially 1980s thing, and so is the layout of the product photography… Continue reading “For the Hostess…Bright Kitchen Wares”
Sears, 1987
When Boxes Boomed
Behold that mighty marvel of miniaturization: two speakers, cassette tape recorder, AM FM radios, equalizer – the Boom Box. Continue reading When Boxes Boomed
Western Auto, 1984
More Western, Less Auto
Western Auto stores were celebrating three quarters of a century in 1984 and feeling expansive. Barely half the pages in this catalog featured car parts…. Continue reading More Western, Less Auto
Whole Earth Software Catalog, 1984
Personal Computers, After the Flood
Another snapshot from a moment in history – 1984 – the end of a “Cambrian explosion” of computers and software. It was a moment when Stewart Brand and his Whole Earth crew out in California could feel an urgent calling to categorize and review what was going on with the Personal Computer revolution… Continue reading Personal Computers, After the Flood
IKEA , 1985
Ingvar Kamprad, 1926-2018
Ingvar Kamprad, 1926-2018 The founder of Ikea has died. Sweden’s Ingvar Kamprad was 91. His plain appearance and message of comfortably-lived simplicity belied a seriously complicated person, which is probably to be expected from someone who could create, grow, and manage a company the size of Ikea. He invented it, while the rest of us … Continue reading Ingvar Kamprad, 1926-2018
Sears Christmas Wishbook, 1983
A long time ago in a catalog far far away…
For forty years there’s been a Star Wars movie that’s either just been released or about to be released. So it is this year, and so it was at Christmas 1983 when “Return of the Jedi” was still in theaters…. Continue reading A long time ago in a catalog far far away…
Sears Christmas Wishbook, 1983
Barbie’s World
Sears Wishbook 1983: See Barbie. See Ken. See Barbie’s Western Star Traveller RV. Drive, Barbie Drive. Drive to your Barbie McDonalds. Welcome to Barbie’s world. Continue reading Barbie’s World