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Quaintly amusing vintage Halloween greeting cards
10.26.2017
08:32 am
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I do like sending and receiving greeting cards and letters, but then again I am a tad old-fashioned. It’s always such a delight to receive a missive in the post from friends, lovers, or family and think of the effort and care they have taken in putting pen to paper and sending it off in the mail. Indeed, I even enjoy the many pleasures to be found in reading a favorite author’s collected correspondence and such like. But it’s a dying art, one that’s been (sadly) superseded by technology.  To be frank, I cannot honestly see any future attraction in reading some literary figure or politicians collected emails, texts, or tweets. Can you imagine The Collected Tweets of Donald Trump? Or perhaps The Unexpurgated Emojis of Harvey Weinstein, or The Unwanted Sexts of ‘Uncle’ Terry Richardson? Though I’m sure some publisher, at this very moment, is already considering such titles for future publication.

Which brings us to this fine collection of Halloween greeting cards which exemplify some of the things I like best about correspondence—the idea of celebrating something with a small token of affection or is it affectation? (I think I’ll stick with the former…) The Americans excel at this kind of thing as they seem to have a card for nearly every occasion—Congratulations on your facelift! Good luck with your divorce! and Sorry to hear you’re still in jail!

As everyone knows, Halloween is a great Scottish tradition first invented in umpteen-umpteen by McSomebodyorother. Fair to say, we Scots take credit for nearly everything that’s good (quite right too, I might add…) TV, soccer, golf, sporrans, crossdressing, whisky, engineering, biscuits, hangovers, Hogmanay, nipple-clamps, and anything else you might happen to think about. I’m unreliably informed, it was the arrival of the Scots and Irish in America who brought with them their superstitious traditions from the Old Country that led to Halloween becoming such a major part of the calendar. This probably explains why America has so many rather wonderful, creepy, and yet amusing greeting cards celebrating Halloween—which I had never been quite aware of until now. (Ah, ignorance, yes a Scotsman probably invented that too!)
 
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More creepy and amusing Halloween cards, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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10.26.2017
08:32 am
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Amusing Brian Eno, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, Kate Bush (& more) cartoon greeting cards!
03.18.2016
11:46 am
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Brian Eno card. Get it here
 
I’m always on the lookout for unusual or original greeting cards that aren’t just your average, boring run-of-the-mill Hallmark waste of money. Who likes those things, anyway? I don’t. Stop sending them to me. To my delight, I stumbled upon Etsy shop The Fidorium who makes these clever little musical heroes-themed cards. I dig ‘em. And the price is right, too They’re just $3.93 each. I’ve paid much more for crappy, generic Hallmark cards.


Kate Bush card. Get it here
 

Siouxsie Sioux card. Get it here
 

Pet Shop Boys card. Get it here

More after the jump…
 

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Posted by Tara McGinley
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03.18.2016
11:46 am
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‘Oops’: Greeting cards for ruined lives
11.11.2014
10:18 am
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Shopping for greeting cards can be a humiliating ordeal. They command an entire aisle at your local drugstore, but damned if you can find a single one worth stealing. No matter how they’re tricked out with chirping sound chips, ornate pop-ups, encrustations of glitter, or the wisdom of Garfield, they tend to express feelings you don’t feel in images you don’t recognize and in words you don’t believe. Speaking plainly, they’re for people whose lives are perhaps simpler than yours and mine.

But don’t despair: now there’s Oops, a set of real talk greeting cards for grown folks. Did you “get wet” last night and run into trouble with John Law? Oops has “got your six.” Sexually attracted to your mother-in-law? You’re a loser at Rite Aid, bucko, but you’re royalty here. Need to comfort a bereaved friend and hit him up for cash at the same time? Then you need Oops. Or has a toilet with muscular arms been controlling your nervous system by means of a PlayStation handset that is plugged into your brain? Oops can help you express how that feels.
 

(inside) Let’s have this one end in some death?
 

(inside) I’m so sorry, This card didn’t seen nearly so inappropriate when I bought it
 

(inside) Can you drive me to the hospital?
 

(inside) Can I borrow $40
 

(inside) “WHY THAT”
 
The set of eight cards is the latest offering from Sam McPheeters, the polymath hardcore singer, visual artist, graphic designer, record label boss, novelist, raconteur, magazine editor, VICE reporter and army of clones. I know Sam personally, but our friendship has only strengthened my suspicions that “Sam McPheeters” may be no more of a real identity than “Carolyn Keene,” “Betty Crocker” or “Luther Blissett.” Didn’t lots of people believe they were close, personal friends of JT LeRoy’s, too?

Oops is available from buyolympia.com.

Posted by Oliver Hall
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11.11.2014
10:18 am
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