TresSugar

Flashback! A Phone For Creepy People

TresSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:30:28 -0800

For $69 those looking to spice up their phone calls could have owned this "conversation piece" belonging to the same genre as that leg lamp in A Christmas Story.

The ad reminds us that the phone was sculptured by a European artist, which makes it totally classy and not at all tacky. However judging by the photo, it's not so easy to talk on a naked-lady phone. Oh well.

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Flashback: 1986 Crystal Light Aerobics Competition

TresSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Ah, the '80s. The decade of Crystal Light lemonade, Devo, and national aerobics championships. One of the competitors in the clip below says that if he had to describe their act, he would use one word: HAWT. Who could disagree?

For the full '80s experience, you can watch Devo perform the song "It's a Good Thing" on David Letterman from 1982, just read more

Flashback: Rehab, 1929

TresSugar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0800

For $2, you too could have rid yourself of that pesky moonshine and opium problem, or "no pay." Maybe it's just the nostalgia, but this makes me want a moonshine and opium problem!

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Flashback: The Secret Sex Lives of Dictators

TresSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Thanks to the book The Other Side of Desire: Four Journeys into the Far Realms of Lust and Longing, I've heard of people getting off on feet, sadism, or even amputees. But all that seems normal compared to a salacious desire to know about Hitler's sex life! This vintage ad touts a series that promises to tell "the intimate, and shocking love stories of Hitler and Mussolini." If you read it too fast, you almost think that these two dictators had an affair with each other.

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Flashback: Cheaters, the Most Trashtastic Reality TV Show Ever

TresSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

Back in the day when I watched waaay too much television, I couldn't even justify it by saying I was watching the good stuff. If anything, I watched the worst television had to offer. Take Cheaters, the reality television show hosted by smarmy Joey Greco.

The premise was simple. Tail some guy or gal who was stepping out on their significant other, show the horrified cheatee the video evidence, and ask the wronged person what they wanted to do. The magic words I longed to hear? "I want to confront him." In this clip, Joey works his magic as he leads this poor woman into a blow-by-blow account of her boyfriend's cheating, accompanied by his transparently fake concern for her. In one infamous episode, Joey got his: a cheater actually stabs him, and they aired the episode! Ah, the good ol' days. Bring back Cheaters!

Flashback: Young Steve Martin Wins The Dating Game

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

I caught the end of Shopgirl the other night and watched it with one eye open, preparing to wince while old Steve Martin hits on 20-something Claire Danes. But in 1968, the brown-haired and side-burned Martin wasn't only a college student, he was best known as bachelor #2 on The Dating Game.

Flashback: What If You Had to Ask Permission to Get Married?

TresSugar — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:00:00 -0700

Sometimes empathy is the most powerful way of moving civil rights forward, which is why this PSA from 2005 is so effective. It depicts what it must feel like for gay people who are barred from legally marrying by showing a man walking from house to house asking strangers if can have his girlfriend's hand in marriage. Wow. (As of today, five states - New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa - have made gay marriage legal.)

Flashback: Self-Defense Made Easy

TresSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

This book promised to make self-defense so easy that you could do it with a smile, while standing on one toe no less! Now that she knows the secrets to self-defense, half-pint can show the big bad wolf who's boss.

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Flashback: Size Doesn't Matter?

TresSugar — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:00:00 -0700

The copy for this ad doesn't really make much sense. This scowling man says he doesn't care about the length of his cigarette, but then goes on to declare that Winston Super Kings give him the extra length he wants. So, maybe in the end size does matter? I'm confused.

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Flashback: Found Footage of Anne Frank

TresSugar — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0700

Many of you spoke about how moved you were when you read Anne Frank's diary for the first time and what a lasting impression the sensitive teen's life and words had on you. Prepare to have your heart break a little when you see the following video.

The Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam recently posted the only known film footage of Anne Frank. The film clip, shot on July 22, 1941, records the wedding of a woman who lived next door to the Frank family. You can catch a glimpse of Anne watching from the window of her apartment; she would die of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp just a few years later in 1945.

After Anne's diary was published and made her posthumously famous in the '50s, the couple recognized her in their film and contacted her father Otto Frank. They have since given the museum their longer version of the clip. One can only wonder what the impressionable and romantic Anne was thinking when she watched this couple get married. To see an interview with Otto about Anne's diary, read more.