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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What are the pulp archetypes? Pulp novels are usually written quickly and rely on a formula, but do they use different archetypal characters to other fiction?
Let's take a look at a few...
The Outlaw is a classic pulp archetype: from Dick Turpin onwards lawbreakers have been a staple of the genre. Crime never pays, but it's exciting and trangressive!
Some pulp outlaws however are principled...
As Bob Dylan sang "to live outside the law you must be honest." Michel Gourdon's 1915 hero Dr Christopher Syn is a good example. A clergyman turned pirate and smuggler, he starts as a revenger but becomes the moral magistrate of the smuggling gangs of Romney Marsh.
Given the current heatwave, I feel obliged to ask my favourite question: is it time to bring back the leisure suit?
Let's find out...
Now we all know what a man's lounge suit is, but if we're honest it can be a bit... stuffy. Formal. Businesslike. Not what you'd wear 'in da club' as the young folks say.
So for many years tailors have been experimenting with less formal, but still upmarket gents attire. The sort of garb you could wear for both a high level business meeting AND for listening to the Moody Blues in an espresso bar. Something versatile.
Today in pulp I look back at the publishing phenomenon of gamebooks: novels in which YOU are the hero!
A pencil and dice may be required for this thread...
Gamebooks are a simple but addictive concept: you control the narrative. At the end of each section of the story you are offered a choice of outcomes, and based on that you turn to the page indicated to see what happens next.
Gamebook plots are in fact complicated decision tree maps: one or more branches end in success, but many more end in failure! It's down to you to decide which path to tread.