Retro Thing

Only A Few Dozen Clear Classic USB Joysticks Left!

If you've been thinking about picking up one of our limited edition USB Joysticks, act fast. There are only a few dozen of the blue version left out of a production run of only 500.

Huge thanks to everyone who has already ordered one -- your enthusiasm made us grin from ear to ear.

Feedback from the AtariAge forums:

"I got mine. Even when not in use, it makes an awesome nightlight"

"I received mine today. Very kick ass."

"Got mine today as well. Looks pretty awesome and works perfectly right out of the box."

Visit the Clear Classic USB Joystick page on Amazon to order yours

"Lost" Ernie Kovacs Album Released

Longtime readers of Retro Thing may have picked up on my life-long admiration of Ernie Kovacs, early tv comedy pioneer and genius, no less. Kovacs invented many characters throughout his TV career. One of the most enduring is Percy Dovetonsils, a lithping dandy of a poet who'd bestow his oddball odes on a sometimes bewildered audience.

Percy painted a fine monochromatic picture with his tiger striped smoking jacket and cigarette holder, all while stealing sips from a large martini. Besides the outrageous lisp and wardrobe, it's Percy's eyes folks remember best. What started out as goofy novelty store glasses with painted on half-asleep eyeballs, became just as much a trademark as Percy's self-congratulatory little giggles.

Today it would be easy to point at Percy as being a rather politically incorrect character. Then there are those TV historians who point at Percy as being TVs first openly gay character. The performance is a collection of 50s stereotypes, but charming in a way. I'll leave this issue to the TV historians and sexual revolutionaries to debate. All I know is that Percy is clearly very happy with who he is, bless him.

Percy was one of Kovacs' most popular creations, and Ernie recorded a volume of poems for Vanguard Records back in 1961, along with notes and mockups for the LP's cover. The album never progressed beyond that point, as a tragic auto accident claimed Kovacs not long after. The unreleased album became the thing of rumors and was thought lost forever. Kovacs. We're fortunate that archivist Ben Model discovered the studio tapes recently, and after adding a piano score (Model is an accomplished accompanist for silent movies) the album is available for the first time today!

You can find "Percy Dovetonsils Thpeaks!" on CD, (delicious!) vinyl, or digital download (purchase of either CD or LP also includes full album digital download as well as many extra tracks unavailable anywhere else). I just had to get the LP - the first 1000 are in luscious lavender.

It may have taken decades to dust off the poems within the frilly covers of Percy's collected works, but I daresay it's been worth the wait. Omnivore Records has put together a really classy package. If you use the links below to purchase the CD or LP on Amazon, you'll be helping out Retro Thing as well as showing your love for these thuperb thonnets. Thankth!

Percy Dovetonsils on CD (plus free MP3s)
Percy Dovetonsils on LP (plus free MP3s) - first 1000 LPs pressed on lavender vinyl!

Super 8 Handbook Now Available in the USA

Just a reminder that we're distributing Juergen Lossau's brilliant Super 8 handbook on Amazon. You'll save about $20 compared to a copy shipped from the publisher in Germany.

Super 8 is a 290 page full-color hardcover guide for up-and-coming filmmakers. It covers movie camera selection and use, projection, editing (both splicing and digital), choosing the right film stock, a half dozen ways to develop film at home and much more. There's an extensive supplier list at the back, along with a list of festivals eager to screen your cinematic masterpieces.

Juergen's carefully researched text is presented in German and English (translated by yours truly), and the world class layout was designed by the same team responsible for smallformat and zoom magazines.

For more details, check out the book's product page on Amazon.com (or Amazon.de in Europe).

Tatra: Inspiring the Volkswagen Beetle?

Lisa from Collectors Weekly writes, "Tatra is the Czechoslovakian car maker whose rear-engine, air-cooled T-87 was the 'inspiration' for Hitler and Porsche's Volkswagen Beetle. Basically, the Nazis stole the design, and Tatra got 3-million Deutschmarks in compensation after the war. Justin Pinchot supplied the photos and a short video of his aerodynamic beauty. It looks like something out of Buck Rogers."

Justin's 1950 Czechoslovakian Tatra T-600 was discovered growing moss in a Canadian barn, but the air-cooled flat 4 engine had only 19,000 miles on it and the interior was "perfect."

If you look closely at the front doors, you'll see that the handle is at the front -- they're 'suicide doors' attached to the same pillar as the ones in the rear. 

My favorite feature is the turn signal, a light-up semaphore mounted between the doors. I can imagine they'd cause incredible confusion as oncoming traffic tries to figure out what the glowing appendage sticking out of the side means.

[Update: As I remark in the comments, the Volkswagen was derived from the NSU Typ 32, created by Dr Porsche in 1932. Porsche left Daimler in 1929 and started work on the Volkswagen project in 1934, two years before the release of the Mercedes-Benz 170 H and the Tatra T-87. Tatra asserted that Porsche's design infringed on a number of their patents and Porsche was apparently going to reach a settlement with them, but Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 put a halt to the legal action.]

Link: The VW Bug’s Rare and Quirky Czech Mate [Collectors Weekly]

Restoring A 30-Year-Old Apple II Plus

There is a modern trend of gutting vintage computers and replacing their internals with Mac Minis, aquariums or even iPads. While these Frankenputers tend to be great conversation pieces, they make retrocomputing purists cringe because the number of fully-functional classic machines is dwindling rapidly.

Todd Harrison chose a different path by carefully restoring an old Apple II Plus purchased on eBay. Best of all, he documented the process. Take a look!

Apple II Plus from 1982 teardown, repair, cleanup and demonstration

Hit The Slopes In These 80s "Wearable Art" Sunglasses

Like so many of our favorite Retro Things, these shades are a lot of things. They're a bit kitschy, a bit 80s, and a bit baffling. You may not notice until you look at the photo closely, but I've got little plastic skiers on my sunglasses - and yes, that's just my nose in the photo. It's not a ski hill.

The copyright is 1988 on "The Original UnexSpecTed" glasses. The copy on the back refers to the glasses as "wearable art", and petitions the wearer to treat them tenderly. No doubt about that - these little skiers are quite fragile. I don't like to make fun of someone's art, but is gluing some model choo-choo figures onto a pair of cheap sunglasses really "art"?

I bought these in the 80s at a thrift store for a buck or two, sparing me the undoubtedly high art fair price someone originally splashed out for these specs. I'd love to know what the original price was. I think I've worn them once because they are just so fragile. I only wear dark glasses in the summer, and having little skiers shooshing around my eye sockets seems both out-of-season and hypocritical.

I've only ever been skiing once (very unsuccessfully). I get the idea of wearing sunglasses on the hill so you don't go snowblind, but these little plastic ski bums on my specs wouldn't make it through the bunny hill. If you're ever going to wear UnexSpecTed glasses, I think it best to simply perch them gingerly on the end of your nose while you're sipping cocoa back at the lodge.

What other themes could you make out of little sporty HO model railroad guys and 80s sunglasses? Swimming? Fishing? Seems like you could create your own line of UnexSpecTed glasses by visiting your local hobby shop and warming up the hot glue gun. Oh yeah - here's my favorite bit...

That's right... these may be cheap sunglasses from the drugstore, but gluing on the skiers merits a "handmade in the U.S. A." sticker I guess.

Oh, and in case you're wondering about the comfort and visibility of UnexSpecTed glasses, having tiny people and a little pine tree in your blind spot isn't all bad. That part of my face always needed a little sprucing up (that's conifer humor, son!).

What do you think? Lame excuse for an objet d'art, or cute and clever novelty? Should we try to find artist T. R. Peters and ask him?