Time for a pulp countdown now, and today it's my top 10 funky flight attendant uniforms!
This thread may involve go-go boots...
At #10: Lufthansa! This uniform was styled on the condiment dispensers at Tempelhof Airport.
At #9: Caledonian Airlines! This look was later used in the film Heathers.
At #8: Southwest Airlines! Here we can see cabin crew explaining to the confused CEO which way the sky is.
At #7: Air France! A natty little knitted outfit that of course includes a beret.
At #6: El-Al! An interesting choice, putting your crew in uniforms they can't actually walk in.
At #5: Transair! Mustard capes and soft felt top hats makes a trip with Transair feel like a night at the opera. A psychedelic opera, but there you go.
At #4: United Airlines! A Mary Quant dress and a truckers cap - what a pairing!
At #3: Braniff Airways! They do look like Batman TV series villains...
At #2: Alaska Airlines! "Ra-Ra-Rasputin..."
And at #1: Hawaiian Airlines! Book 'em Danno!
More pulp countdowns another time. Must fly...
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If the spacesuit is the symbol of progress, the gas mask is the sign of the apocalypse. In popular culture it signifies that science has turned against us. It's the face of dystopia.
Today in pulp I look at the culture of the mask!
The first chemical masks were work by Venitian plague doctors: a bird-like affair, the beak stuffed with lavender, matched with full length coat and hat. It was a terrifying sight - the grim reaper come to apply poultices to your tumours.
But it was poison gas, first used at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915, that led to the modern gas mask. At first these were cotton masks treated with chemicals. However their protection was limited.
It's now over half a century since 1970, and I'm starting to wonder if we should bring back its concept of gracious modern living...
You see we've grown so used to Swedish-style modernism that we've sort of forgotten that maximalism, rather than minimalism, was once the sign of a cultured abode.
The 1970s in many ways reached back to the rich ideas of Victorian decor: heavy, autumnal and cluttered. Home was meant to be a baroque and sensual experience, rather than a 'machine for living in.'
Given how many people have left - or are thinking of leaving - Twitter, I thought I'd reshare an old thread: what on Earth is this platform good for? And should you stay on it?
TLDR: nobody knows.
Most people's tweets (if they're really people) are a stream of consciousness, and Twitter itself is a daily flow of 500 million of these across the surface of your phone. You are currently looking at the collective unconscious of the planet in real time.
And like any examination of the unconscious you will see things on Twitter that fascinate you and things that disgust you. This was always part of its sales pitch, though there used to be some enforceable guard rails.