Be tipped off to the fact that “mort,” meaning “death,” in French, is part of the word “mortgage.” It’s like the hired killer who just happens to let slip that he’s going to come back and kill you. Mortgage means death pledge. The reputation of the home mortgage was burnished to a high gloss over… Continue reading Death Pledge: Our Love Affair With Mortgages
Author: Lee Wallender
Deception, influence, fakes, illusions, themed environments, simulations, secret places, secret infrastructure, imagined places, dreamscapes, movie sets and props, evasions, camouflage, studio backlots, miniatures.
Paramount Studios, 1970: Let’s Film on the Studio Today
One sub-niche of 1960s and 1970s television is the show that demonstrates the studio backlot for what it is. It’s a fascinating snapshot into the state of the backlot at that moment, with little embellishment. The Brady Bunch ends up at a mysterious ghost town with a menacing prospector. Tumbleweeds tumble. But it’s patently obvious… Continue reading Paramount Studios, 1970: Let’s Film on the Studio Today
Haverhill’s and Its Whacked-Out Ads
Haverhill’s: a weird stuff-emporium of the 1960s and 1970s, with goofy ads in big magazines like LIFE. Let’s start with the name, stylized as: haverhill’s. Why? Because this is post-apex America and it’s time to be humble. Fonts go Helvetica on us and upper-case bows meekly into lower-case. The ad copy, too, no longer is… Continue reading Haverhill’s and Its Whacked-Out Ads
Fake Americana With a Topping of Grit: 4 Aces Movie Ranch, Palmdale
4 Aces, located in Palmdale, California, is every Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford and B-Minus-film noir from 1949 to 1960 wrapped up into one, big, delightful fake. The Diner This is where you take the woman hitchhiking in heels with a suitcase and a shady story about her father, in Chicago, kicking her out of… Continue reading Fake Americana With a Topping of Grit: 4 Aces Movie Ranch, Palmdale
Joe Biden, Magnificent Trojan Horse of the Democratic Party
Few Presidential candidates have appeared to be faltering more than Joe Biden. The U.S. Presidential election is seven months away, and Biden’s prospects look dismal. His cognitive abilities have been up for question these last few months, with Biden losing his train of thoughts mid-speech several times. Biden has long had a reputation for being… Continue reading Joe Biden, Magnificent Trojan Horse of the Democratic Party