70’s
08.08.
Capacitance Electronic Disc (Videodiscs)
The Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) was an analog video disc playback system developed by RCA, in which video and audio could be played back on a TV set using a special needle and high-density groove system similar to phonograph records.
First conceived in 1964, the CED system was widely seen as a technological success which was able to increase the density of a long-playing record by two orders of magnitude. Despite this achievement, the CED system fell victim to poor planning, conflicts within RCA, and technical difficulties that stalled production of the system for 17 years until 1981, by which time it was outmoded by the DiscoVision (Laserdisc) and emerging Betamax and VHS videocassette formats. Sales for the system were nowhere near projected estimates, and by 1986, RCA had discontinued the project, losing an estimated $600 million in the process. RCA had initially intended to release the SKT425 CED player with their high end Dimensia system in 1984, but cancelled the CED player as part of the system just prior to the release of the Dimensia system.
The format was commonly known as “videodisc”, leading to much confusion with the contemporary Laserdisc format. Laserdiscs were read optically with a laser beam, whereas CED videodiscs were read physically with a stylus, rather like a conventional gramophone record. The two systems were mutually incompatible.
The name “SelectaVision” was RCA’s brand name for the CED system. It was also used for some early RCA brand VCRs, and other experimental projects at RCA.
No Comments08.01.
YM
YM was an American teen magazine that began in 1932. It was published for 72 years and was the second-oldest girls’ magazine (the oldest being Seventeen) in the United States. YM got its start as two magazines in the 1930s—Compact, which was aimed at older teens, and Calling All Girls, which was intended for younger girls and pioneered the signature embarrassing-moments column, “Say Anything”. By the late 1960s, the publications merged into Young Miss, a small digest-sized mag. In the 1960s the size was increased and the 1980s saw still another title change (this time to Young & Modern) under Bonnie Fuller’s direction as editor-in-chief. The final title change came in 2000 (this time to Your Magazine), though the abbreviation “YM” was the title by which it was commonly referred. In early 2002, then Editor-in-Chief Christina Kelly announced that the magazine would no longer run articles about dieting. YM ceased publication in 2004, with the December–January issue featuring Usher. Subscribers received Teen Vogue subscriptions in replacement.
No Comments07.30.
The Adventures Of Super Pickle
The Adventures of Super Pickle is a pop-up book written in 1972 by Dean Walley, illustration by Mike Strouth, book design by Dick Dudley. This was printed as one of a series of Hallmark Pop-up books published by Hallmark Cards. It sells for up to $249, but experienced a bit of a pop culture resurgence in 1995 when Dick Dudley’s sister Courtney Dudley-Vantassel suggested in an Oprah interview that her brother had used pickles as a sexual metaphor. Some retailers removed the books from their shelves furthering the iconic books’ demand and sealing the legacy of “The Adventures of Super Pickle” as a timeless treasure for all ages. Sadly, Dick Dudley was never able to shake the stigma and died in seclusion in his self fabricated cottage in 2003.
The Adventures of Super Pickle chronicles the life of Dillbert, a mild-mannered pickle who lives in small town peopled with vegetables. Dillbert secretly pines for a lady pickle named Lilly. At the first sign of trouble (i.e. an evil cabbage, a baby pickle in distress) Dillert hops into a pickle jar and emerges as Super Pickle, borrowed directly from Superman. In the end Lilly realizes that Dillbert and Super Pickle are one and the same and the two pickles get married.
Super Pickle was the first pop-up book that Robert Sabuda read. Sabuda is the illustrator and paper engineer for the bestselling pop-up adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
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