Two-colours? Gorgeous!

“In these newly preserved tests, made in 1922 at the Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, actress Mae Murray is joined by actress Hope Hampton modeling costumes from The Light in the Dark (1922), which contained the first commercial use of Two-Color Kodachrome in a feature film. Ziegfeld Follies actress Mary Eaton and an unidentified woman and child also appear.”

- Kodak 1000 Words Blog, via Retronaut

Standing alone

Apparently there are more than 12,000 abandoned houses in Detroit at the moment, 100 of which have been photographed in wistful portrait form by Kevin Baumann, over here.

How I'd love to rescue them! (and their crumbling communities ...)

Two steps forward ...

I got home today after 4 days in hospital, having had surgery on both knees. I can get up on my feet but I'm very slow and wobbly - it's rather difficult to manage my crutches as I actually fractured my wrist when I fell over recently (!), so I'm tucked up in bed.

It's a beautifully clear and sunny winter's day and I have the windows open. There are magpies and blackbirds singing outside, I can hear people laughing and whistles blowing from the sportsground nearby, and a crisp breeze is freshening the room while sunlight bounces off the leaves of the lilly-pilly and the buds of the wintersweet  below my window.

I do love winter!

Photobooth fun

- you'll find more lovely photobooth animations over here at Retronaut.

Beauty of the 1920s Ziegfeld Follies

found via Retronaut

WWIII propaganda

"Inspired by the 2009 Iran election protest and activism and censorship therein, the WWIII Propaganda Posters were conceived as a mostly playful statement on wartime, citizen journalism, censorship, and how they all play with the advent of the Internet."

Some nice WWII 'careless talk' examples are over here.

(Created by Briiiian; found via Retronaut)

Jamie Beck - cinemagraphs

Click here, here and here to see some beautiful 'cinemagraphs' by New York fashion photographer Jamie Beck. She uses simple gif animation to give her photos an other-worldly, mysterious edge.

Just lovely.

Knitting therapy

This lovely group has written a beautiful little comic about knitting as a lifeline.

They're currently trying to raise the amount needed to publish a small anthology on depression (it’s not all about knitting!). If you're looking to 're-home' a spare dollar at any stage, why not send it their way?

Welcome to the club!

~ a very odd patent application found on Vintagraph:

"Designed for use by secret organizations as part of initiation ceremonies, a new applicant would be blind folded and placed atop this device. The new member would then be required to initiate the device by pulling on the handles, where upon they would be simultaneously given an electrical shock and spanked with a paddle. Welcome to the club and don't forget to pay your dues. The patent was issued in 1900 to Edmund De Moulin and Ulysses S. De Moulin."

More zoos for you!

I don't like zoos but I love the graphics in these old posters, available via Vintagraph.

A fast track, high stakes, 49 starters in 7 heats ...

.. and victory for Pepperoni!

It was the Port Fairy Dachshund Dash!

We formed the cheer squad for Pepper, Wilbur and Ted, although there were so many adorable little dachsies it was impossible to pick a favourite.

Wilbur was too scared to race so he watched his sister win from the safety of Petra's shoulder-bag. After the race he crashed as though he had run the hard yards!

So many silly sausages!