This list is for any creative types out there who are experiencing a block, be it writer’s block, designer’s block, songwriter’s block whatever. Get inspired. I am going to be putting it up in sections right here and once it’s complete I may give it a more permanent home.
There is a lot of humor inside so if you take yourself super seriously or have really bad taste in music it may not be the list for you.
1. Old board games. Get inspired by vintage boardgames. The older ones usually had really cool illustrations and often politically incorrect themes. Scary Natives in a deep dark jungles, Grow up to be a nurse or a teacher, Mom’s and Sis are washing the dishes while the Dad and son get to play battleship!
2. designer checks. What do people like enough to get printed on checks? Unicorns? Elvis, wolves? This could be a barometer of whats trendy with people who still actually use checks. (Like the person who is always always in front of me at Safeway. What @#$%ing century is it already!)
3. Old record sleeves. There are plenty of websites out there dedicated to old records, the weirder the better.
4. Old fads. Get inspired by 8 tracks, rubiks cubes, hula hoops, pogs, snap bracelets, hypercolor shirts, Chinese jumproping, sticker books, hot wheels, jelly shoes, Garbage Pail kids, wacky wallwalkers, madballs, disco, mighty morphin power rangers, rock em sock em robots, crocs, razor scooters, snuggies, or pogo balls.
5. Other people. Take a look at the people who have the guts to wear the two toned hairstyle up in a forties style along with pin up style dress and fishnet stockings. Or the girl with the long blond hair and the flowy skirt who does the hippie dance at every single concert even if it’s Metallica. Or the guy with the pompadour and 50’s nerd-chic glasses who found the Disneyland Maintenance workers shirt you have been looking for your whole life and is wearing it in public. (The front says Ed.)
6. Old print advertising. Get inspired by the vintage illustrations seen in old print ads. Or by the wackiness of defunct products, like those vibrating machines that were supposed to melt off pounds, and a diet candy called Ayds.
7. Old game show sets. Watch the game show network and be amazed at how something with loud Styrofoam cutouts of flowers and a Herb Alpert soundtrack could have been a hit it on national TV.
8. Vintage TV shows and Movies
9. TV shows set in another period. Mad Men is the most obvious current example. Also Freaks and Geeks, That 70’s etc. Sometimes they are really well done other times not so much.
10. Movies set in another period.
11. Public domain. Not only can stuff in the public domain inspire you but you are free to use it in your own work.
12. Old packaging. Usually more interesting than new packaging.
13. Punk. Modern punk or 70’s era punk your choice.
14. Steampunk
15. Any musical genre that ends in core. Pick your favorite, or the one that annoys you the least.
16. Book covers. Pulp fiction is an obvious one but you can find inspiration in almost any genre. Ancient textbooks, with 50’s style atoms on the covers, really cute vintage children’s books, old copies of Sweet Valley High, you never know when inspiration is going to strike.
17. Old yearbooks. Go ahead and laugh at the picture of your mom with the beehive then go tour own yearbook and look at that picture of you with the crunchy Jersey Girl bangs. Yearbooks are a great way to see an era from an everyday point of view.
18. Old cookbooks. Get inspired by weird recipes with nasty looking pictures in garish colors. Discover a shocking amount of jello mold recipes, and a make casserole out of something that should never ever be put into a casserole. Be sure to dump a whole can of cream of mushroom soup on top then remember that you hate mushrooms! Do all this while wearing a super cute vintage apron with a ruffle around it. (Even if you are a dude.)
19. Old fabrics. Old fabrics from the 50s are so cool. They are always full of things like fruitbowls, boomerangs, or scenes from Paris to match the wallpaper or the couch. My grandma had this great tablecloth that had an Italian restaurant theme. I don’t know whatever happened to it but I want it back.
20. Old appliances. How back in the day you could get a turquoise mixer or a pink toaster but now we usually can only choose between white, beige or black? Did the avocado era of the 70’s ruin it for everybody?
No comments:
Post a Comment