Retro Thing

ASCII Star Wars

A while back we wrote about an app that could convert video into ASCII imagery.  Nice, but it's not exactly as artistic as doing your own ASCII art.  It takes a lot of talent to "draw" an image entirely with keystrokes, and ASCII Star Wars represents one of the most elaborate forms of this art ever.

ASCII Star Wars reinterprets the worldwide hit movie using little more than dots and dashes (in widescreen, I might add!).  It's amazing how much of the iconic imagery survives the quantization from 35mm film to typewriter characters.   There's no sound, dialogue being added silent movie style with text right on the screen.  It's tremendously enjoyable and creative - and the player is right there on the page, so there's nothing to download.

As a one-man project dating back to 1997, the amount or work and artistry that has gone into this is really impressive.  I wonder what movie will be next?  I'd suggest "My Dinner With Andre".

Link to watch ASCII Star Wars

Phono Postcards - Records you can Mail

Not long ago I posted about Flexi Discs, the thin and flexible vinyl records that could be included in a magazine or mass mailing.  Those weren't the only stab at cheap and impermanent records.  Above are pictured several Phono Postcards.  You're meant to pop these in the mail without an envelope - the back looks like a regular albeit oversized postcard.  The adressee puts it on the turntable to try and make out what music is left on this piece of cardboard that's been sitting in a filthy mailbag.

Okay, that is a pretty harsh assesment of something so fun.  I love old postcards with their intensely chromatic photos (the Phonoscope record above), their beautifully rendered artists drawings (the weird antenna thing on the card I'm holding), and their sort-of-funny placard approach vis the caveman picture.

Once you get these  guys not to slip on your turntable (I used to lightly tape them to a real record, now I just use a record clamp), they sound a bit better than you might expect.  There is only a minute or two of audio on one of these cards, just enough room for a national anthem, a mini travelogue, or a Spike Jones novelty number.

Serious look at some old phono postcards
Not quite so serious look

Commodore Amiga Playing Cards

A few years back, novelty playing cards made a big comeback.  There have always been playing cards used for advertising, nude ladies, or other crucial industries, but a few years ago novelty cards got popular again when they became political.  There were cards depicting terrorists, a while deck of unflattering pictures of President Bush, and the like.  It seemed like everyone was in the novelty card business for a while.

I don't actually remember where these Amiga cards came from, but I think that these may actually precede the boom in novelty cards from five years ago.  What's kind of nuts is that they exist at all.  The Amiga died on the vine in the early 90's, yet Amiga product and conventions continued for years after.

Petro Tyschtschenko is a German who was the paladin of the Amiga legacy for a while.  For those long years when the Amiga had no clear owner, he'd find inexpensive ways to keep interest in the platform alive.  Every Amiga convention he'd swagger through the halls in Santa Claus fashion giving away Amiga keepsakes, and these playing cards were one of the best.

The cards depict every production model of Amiga, including a few that never saw the light of day.  Kind of fun if you're a geek - and if you don't care, at least you can play cards to pass the time while your Amiga friends bore you to death.

If you want a set, they're unduly expensive as they were a very limited run.  You can occasionally find them at the dwindling number of Amiga dealers out there.

Software Hut lists the cards as in stock

Living small: The Micro Compact Home

Imagine calling a 266 x 266 x 266 centimeter cube 'Home.' Now imagine that your new 76 square foot abode offers two compact double beds, a show and toilet cubicle, a well equipped kitchen area, dining space for up to five people and even some storage space. Done imagining? Good, because the Micro Compact Home is available immediately for about £50,000.

London-based Horden Cherry Lee Architects designed this incredibly compact living space as short term accommodation for students, business people and weekenders. It's built by a three-generation family run business based in Uttendorf, 40 minutes north of Salzburg, Austria and carries a 5 year warranty. I'm not sure I'd be willing to live in one year-round, but it does look like a marvelously modern weekend retreat. Now, if only there was somewhere to mount my stuffed elk head.

m-ch micro compact home

Scopitone - 1960s Movie Jukeboxing

The Scopitone was a refrigerator-sized movie jukebox that let you choose one of 36 hip and groovy 16 mm film clips to display on a 26-inch 'high resolution' projection screen. The device was a runaway success in its native France before arriving in the USA in 1964. Hundreds soon graced bars and clubs across America. The August 21, 1964 issue of Time Magazine reported:

"Scopitone's "musies" are descended from U.S. Soundies, which during World War II filled bus terminals and B-girl grottoes with grainy, black-and-white productions of The Flat Foot Floogee with the Floy Floy and A Boy in Khaki, a Girl in Lace. Television and Lucky Strike's Hit Parade put a merciful end to Soundies, but it looks as if Scopitone will be here to stay awhile."

The novelty wore off by the late 1960s, although new films were produced until 1978. Luckily -- or not -- depending on your tolerance for Sixties kitsch, the Scopitones site offers quite a few classic tunes (check out Procol Harum performing Whiter Shade of Pale). In case you can't get enough, a 14 disc DVD collection is available for $240 -- perfect food for your video iPod (shudder). [thanks, Alex!] 

The Scopitone movie jukebox
NPR: The Rise and Fall of the Scopitone Jukebox
Watch Scopitone music clips

Fun with expired film

Funky things happen when you load a thirty year-old roll of film into your trusty Instamatic. Sean collects toy cameras such as Holgas and Fujipets. In an effort to make things even quirkier, he feeds them a diet of expired film including Kodak Brownie 120 rolls from the 1930s and Kodak Plus-X that expired in February 1953. Exhilaratingly unpredictable stuff!

"Rather than only showing shots I've taken with expired film, I thought it would be interesting to post pictures of the actual film. The boxes are pretty interesting, and many of these companies aren't around today. I use the film, though most of these are still unopened. I feel like I have to make them last "just in case," though there does seem to be plenty of expired film on the Web."

Expired Film [via TeamDroid]

Vintage Vespas... from Vietnam?!

ScootRS restores classic 1960s Vespa and Lambretta scooters to showroom condition. The Saigon, Vietnam company was started fifteen years ago by a Canadian ex-pat. They apparently do nice work, to the point that these rebuilt scoots are often offered for sale in Western bike shops.

They offer an inventory of unfinished scooters in stock, ready to finish to the customer's requirements. The ScootRS website allows you to pick and choose from popular options to create the retro ride of your dreams. Base prices start at about $2,500, although you should expect to pay around $4,000 for a decently tricked out bike. Once finished, the finished bike is crated and shipped by sea. I was quoted just under $300 for delivery.

Here's their description of the rebuild process:

"The body itself is first dry-built to fit body parts exactly. Any damaged metal - e.g., often in the Vespa floorboard area or Lambretta rear license plate area - is fixed properly by welding in new metal, then any dings are fixed by hand, by hammer and dolly. The body is then disassembled again, stripped to bare metal, primered, painted, and finished with a protective gloss coat. (With our GP200, you also get some new body pieces!) External items are chromed, zinc plated, or re-polished. The seat is re-sprung and re-covered. A spare-wheel unit is included.

Once reassembled, the scooter is properly broken in: warmed up the first few times, then given a short test drive, then longer and longer test drives, with any needed adjustments made in between. We will probably put 75km on the motor while testing it." [thanks, Jordan!]

ScootRS: Lambretta & Vespa vintage scooters

German Speak & Spell - Word Buddy

I've spoken before about how amazing the Speak & Spell line of toys still are today.  That Texas Instruments was able to put high quality speech synthesis into a toy was simply unheard of.  Today countless toys feature digital speech and elaborate sound effects, but back in the 70's TI had something pretty special.

Almost every kid I knew had a Speak & Spell (it even had a featured role in the film E.T.), and many similar devices followed; Speak & Math, Speak & Read, and even units destined for other countries like the Word Buddy.

Not content to croak robotically in English, Speak & Spell technology appeared in units outside the US.  I've got both La Dictee Magique (French) and Word Buddy (German, and insanely rare for some reason).  Both do a great job enunciating in their respective languages, more testimony to the greatness of that TI speech chip.  I've seen photos online of an Italian unit called "Grillo", and I imagine that there must have been a Spanish unit but I've never seen it.  I hope that any Hispanohablantes out there with a spare one drop me a line in the comments section.

Details about Speak & Spell

More details, including pictures of the innards of a Word Buddy

Smithsonian photos of prototype

Artist who modifies Speak & Spell units to make music

3D Bolex 16mm Movie Camera

It's the big day!  Home Movie Day!  All across the world, people are watching home movies together and having fun.  It also marks the end of our week long look at some of the lesser-known aspects of the home movie experience.  I thought we'd conclude with one of the most extraordinary ideas in home movie filmmaking - 3D.

The Bolex 16mm camera has had a long life, and in that time countless accessories have come along to add some a new dimension to the filmmaking experience - in the 1950's Bolex sought literally to add a new dimension with this 3D lens set.  While the rest of the world was slumming it with 2D films, Bolex created this special camera lens and projector lens set to bring depth to amateur films.

The special fixed focus lens only fits on non-reflex Bolexes.  It shoots two images side by side onto 16mm film, so the aspect ratio of your imagery is suddenly half the normal width.  Once shot, you secure a special split lens onto you Bolex projector, aim at a lenticular screen, and watch the action pop out at you via polarized glasses.

The 1950's were full of 3D movies, so I guess that it's no surprise that Bolex tried to bring the same sort of technology home.  What makes it especially weird is that the magazines of the period discuss the Bolex lens as the vanguard of 3D filmmaking.  There was a feeling that 2D movies were just a stopgap until 3D filmmaking was feasible.   It may seem easy to scoff at such a notion now, but remember that there are a number of 3D Hollywood movies in production right now.   Perhaps 3D camcorders aren't far behind?

We hope that you enjoyed our little series on home movie Retro Things.  Feel free to post in the comments section if you'd like to see similar series in the future.  Oh, and let us know if you went to your local Home Movie Day, and what you thought of it!  Thanks!

Related Posts:

Clockwork Cameras in the 21st Century
Bolex Camera Records... yes, records!
16mm filmmaking on a budget

Home Movie Music Records

In the study of movies, there is an important aspect that even ardent students often forget.  Silent movies were never actually shown silent.  Movie houses were entertainment venues well equipped to add live music, sound effects, even spoken narration to puncutate silent films.  The same should be true for home movies.  You can watch them in stunned silence if you want, but it's better if viewers (especially those who are "starring" in the film) feel free to point out things that they recognize.  I wish that I'd made tapes of my father narrating the details of his old home movies.  Now when I watch them they are sadly as anonymous to me as films shot by strangers.

In the absence of folks to chronicle the goings on in the film, you can at least play some music to add atmosphere while hopefully drowning out the rattle of the projector.  In the 1950's and 60's there were a lot of LP's expressly for playing along with home movies.  Titles like "Water Activities" and "Mystic Vista" give you a good idea of what these music tracks suggest.  Ideally you could try to sync up tracks to whatever is going on in the film, but I find it fun to just throw these records on and see what syncs up randomly. 

Every year I bring a pile of these records to my local chapter of Home Movie Day, along with a boom box with a built in turntable.  The addition of music, no matter how unrelated it is to what's going on screen, multiplies the fun of the home movie experience.  Over the years there have been countless hearty laughs when something on screen inadvertently matches a music cue.

Home Movie Titling Sets

In all of my research into home movies, there has been one recurring fact.  Throughout the 70 year history  of amateur filmmaking there were lots of accessories available to make home movies look more professional - and pretty much no one cared.  Here's a great example of this principle.  Lots of companies sold different tools for titling home movies.  Individual letter decals, gorgeous ceramic alphabets (pictured below), printed title cards (above), even pre-made title sequences already on film!  Out of the hundreds of home movies that I've seen, I could probably count on one hand how many actually take a stab at titling.

Rather than criticize the lack of ambition in amateur filmmaking, I think that it teaches a valuable lesson.  You just can't critique home movies based on the conventions of professional cinema.  While both share the same sorts of tools, the goals of home movies are entirely different. Many home movies capture the family at leisure, and it's okay for that sense of leisure to extend to not messing around too much with editing a home movie.

It would be nice to see more films that are edited, have titles, maybe even a bit of narrative, but all of that work could discourage an amateur and result in fewer films.  This problem isn't exclusive to the film era either.  How many of us have footage sitting in our camcorders that we won't let anyone watch because we want to edit the footage to make our home movies "just right"?

We've spent all week looking at some of the gadgetry associated with home movies.  I find all that stuff tremendous fun, but if fussing over all the details keeps us from making movies then it doesn't matter how slick our cameras and computers are.  I hope that you will join me in supporting your local Home Movie Day, and when you get home set your camera on the kitchen table.  That way you'll remember to go out on Sunday and take a few minutes of home movies with your friends and family.  You'll be glad you did.

How-To Films - Improve Your Game in 8mm

For those wanting to get more out of their home movie apparatus than just entertainment, there were lots of commercially made how-to films that offered the viewer tips on how to improve their golf game, pick up that spare, even how to make better home movies!  Here are three examples of such films - two for bowling (and I do actually stink at bowling, so perhaps these films will help?) and another for the noble game of golf.

All three films movies employ slow motion so that you can really analyze the style of the pros.  Remember that this is before elaborate TV sports coverage and instant replays.  Trying to pick up sports tips from a book pales when compared to watching one of these three minute movies.  There are also on screen titles and animation to elucidate further.  One of the bowling films even features an included booklet, making this film a true multimedia experience.

Also pictured above is a handheld viewer.  The idea was that you'd pop in your film, and be able to watch it anywhere  - you don't even need electricity as it uses natural light and is hand cranked.  One of the films mentions such a viewer so that you can check your golf swing against the film right there on the links.  Nice idea.  Funny thing is that these viewers were usually sold for... shall we say... more private viewings of adult fare (shiver).

Slate Your Movies - Just like the Pros!

I've never mentioned this before, but my degree is actually in film... directing specifically.  I can't say that I direct a lot of movies day to day, but I can at least be downright smug when talking with authority about movie stuff.

So I feel at least a little qualified to talk to you about the slate (sometimes called "clapper" or "sticks") to the left.  On an actual film set, the slate would be somewhat smaller, wouldn't have the rainbow colors, nor would it be made out of cheap masonite that's going to disintegrate momentarily. 

As you can tell this clapper is a bit more toylike, costing a princely $3 in 1965, and is intended as a fun accessory for the home movie crowd.  This is an in-store display advertising GE's "mardi-gras" brand of movie lights.

A real slate has an actual purpose in filmmaking for synchronizing sound and picture in the edit room, but for home movies it's mostly there to add a bit of flair.  If you can't show up to your film set wearing jodhpurs and a beret, at least you can snap off scenes with your very own sticks.

Beautiful Genus Type-R radio

I get excited when a company successfully incorporates a high-quality retro feel into a modern product. Too many current devices are coated with cheap plastic or look so trendy that they'll be embarrassingly out of date in a matter of months.

The Genus Type-R DAB radio is a great example of retro-modern form and function. Best of all, I virtually guarantee it'll still be desirable a decade or two from now (assuming that digital radio hasn't gone the way of the dodo by then, of course). The Type-R sports an anodized aluminum chassis, walnut end caps and a hand embossed leather back. The touch-sensitive controls are hidden behind a strikingly elegant backlit panel -- you simply tap or run your finger up and down the panel to change settings. Available in October for the equally elegant sum of £150. [thanks, Raleigh!]

World's Best DAB Radio? [stuffmagazine.co.uk]

Atari Cosmos: Holographic portable gaming

Handheld LED games were all the rage in the early 1980s. Technology-hungry youngsters lapped up portable units that featured rudimentary grids of blinking LEDs and a handful of annoying sound effects. Atari was anxious to enter the market, but they didn't want to introduce a 'me too' product.

Atari's solution was the Cosmos, an intriguing tabletop LED game that used dual-image holographic backdrops to give the illusion of a 3 dimensional playing field. The unit was pre-programmed with 8 games that were enabled by special cartridges containing nothing more than a holographic backdrop and a series of openings to select the corresponding game in the unit. It was a brilliant approach that would have allowed Atari to offer add-on games for as little as $10 each.

The game play itself wasn't revolutionary: the device contained a simple 7 x  6 grid of red LEDs that could be programmed to play games such as Space Invaders, Superman, and Asteroids. Atari produced a short pre-production run of units and even printed advertising brochures and product boxes before pulling the plug because of a shortage of funds.

We'll never know whether this machine would have been a success, but the Cosmos is definitely one of the most collectible games in history -- only a couple of working units are known to exist. [Image from an Atari ad scanned by atarimuseum.com]

RetroMo: The Atari Cosmos [mojodomo.com]
Atari Cosmos Holoptic Tabletop Game System [atarimuseum.com]