Nothing crazy like having sex with bears or anything. So everybody just get you mind out of the gutter. I like to find and look at old computer stuff, photographs, basically anything from the 1980’s and 1970’s. What made me think about it is that my office is covered with books that nobody has touched since 1992. It could be that when I was growing up my dad had ( and still does have ) hundreds of old computer parts and brochures in the basement and office. I don’t think anybody will ever need a 200 page book on the Microsoft Mouse driver from 1991 or the pin outs from a 1mhz microprocessor circa 1982. But rest assured it’s still there somewhere. Also it’s probably that my sisters are so much older than me. Laurie is 10 years older than me, and shelly is 15 years older… good lord… that makes Shelley 40 this year! (sorry shell!) So I want to know what life was like for them when they were my age. That must be why I liked the VH1 show “I love the 70’s” so much even though my only expierence with that decade is through hand me down toys.
I looked through my del.icio.us bookmarks but couldn’t find all the specific things that I’m thinking of. But I did find another weird thing I like, abandoned places. There’s whole communities of people dedicated to going to and taking pictures of abandoned hospitals, hotels, amusment parks, anything! I think I like them so much because you can see the traces of what went on there. But it gives you the freedom to make up your own stories. There’s just so much sorrow in seeing something that someone once had so much hope for going to waste. I think also it comes from my constant daydreams that I’m Charleton Heston in The Omega ManCheck some out.
Strange Retro Links
Ugly 1970’s interiors
IBM 4331 brochure
Pictures of Malls in the 60’s and 70’s
1970’s handheld video games
Billy Carter’s “Billy Beer”
Film found in old cameras
Abandoned Places
Rise and Fall of Skyline Amusement Park
Opacity.us
I found this while looking around for pictures, looks like my obsession is not alone.
The Unquite Tomb: Urban Exploration
Grungy city pics are also cool. I guess the re-enforce my country boy mental images of city life.
Industrial Photography archive
Another archive site for pictures of Abandonia.
Ryugyong Hotel
The seventh tallest Building in the world. Abandoned in North Korea.
Jim Bakker’s “Heritage USA”
This is the grandaddy of them all. The thing that got me interested in abandoned places. Jim Bakker was a tele-evangilist in the 1980’s who made tons of money from his viewers. This is his Christian Theme park, circa 2005.
Later!