Y'know. Sometimes I have absolutely no idea why a photo has been taken.
People and animals, yeah. There's a reason behind that. People change...let's record them as the are so we can see how much they change. Places...OK. The photographer might never expect to go back to The Pyramids, so lets take a snap to remind me of that trip.
But then you get a slide like the one above. Why on earth would anyone arrange a bunch of crap like that and photograph it. It's beyond me.
Still...Happy Halloween !
Ah. A happy wedded couple shot. Nothing sinister or weird there, is there?
Except...doesn't the guy remind you of Ed Kemper, the notorious American serial killer. (Well, serial killer amongst many other character flaws. Try the link at your own risk.)
OK, perhaps it's not actually Ed, K but just suppose it is.... Isn't there something unsettling about the bride's cheery smile? And what's the significance of the statue of the BVM in the background? Get your opinions in before the Daily Mail gets involved.
No idea where this fountain is, (I can't identify the flag on the left) but I just like it. Suspect it would look even better at night with a roaring flame fron the central bowl...but I can't have everything.
Don't Forget : 2009 Calendar : Anyone interested in a 2009 "The Slide Guy" calendar? A wall calendar featuring 12+1 of the best that weird slide collecting could offer. None of them has been featured on the blog (tho' one is very similar to a featured wallpaper), and could be yours for a trivial 10 quid. If interested : e-mail me at theslideguy-AT-sootikin-DOT-com.
At the risk of sounding like a Daily Mail spouting buffoon...whatever happened to schools having Harvest Festivals? A chance for some local vicar to cover along, bore the kids for half an hour on how these are the best days of the kids lives, then bugger off with numerous cans of pineapple chunks and Heinz Scotch Broth. Taken for the poor and needy of the parish, obviously.
Nowadays, it's probably some interfaith celebration of autumnal bounty, or similar crud. Probably with a similar attendance as that of the slide above.
Another picture from the "Easter School Trip" selection. This time it's from a school trip to Lloret de Mar (Spain) in Easter 1968, and one of the obligatory group shots.
Yes, forty years ago : student riots, Vietnam, Martin Luther King shot, Enoch's "Rivers of Blood" speech. So, had it affected our youth? Nope. Still just a bunch of spotty hormonal teens slouching and posing their way thru' an educational trip to foreign climes. And what an interesting selection of fashions they present.
2009 Calendar : Anyone interested in a 2009 "The Slide Guy" calendar? A wall calendar featuring 12+1 of the best that weird slide collecting could offer. None of them has been featured on the blog (tho' one is very similar to a featured wallpaper), and could be yours for a trivial 10 quid. If interested : e-mail me at theslideguy-AT-sootikin-DOT-com.
If it's Saturday, it must be Wallpaper day. And today's is an abstract nature one Seals and seal pups basking on the beach. Lovely. Hope there's no Canadian Clubbers creeping up behind them.
Another slide from the School Trip selection. This is from the Majorca Easter 1971 set, and clearly demonstrates what the teenage lads have on their mind while on an "educational trip".
Kicking a damned football around. Well, clearly it wasn't sunbathing weather.
I can see it now. The cold dark October evenings, and you invite the neighbours round for some G+Ts. Once they arrive, you spring your surprise.
"Anyone want to see thye slides from our trip to Bermuda ?" Before anyone responds, your whip out your projector, and start the slow. Won't they be impressed by your forward planning, as you say "...And actually, this is our hotel, with Moira and Yvette outside our room on the top floor. You can just see the skeleton of the new hotel they were building next door. Did you know the workmen started work at 4.30 am?"
Depending upon how well your Martini mixing skills are appreciated, that might be the last thing you remember before the neighbour club you into submission.
Maybe I've been influenced by too many Hollywood movies, but I reckon it's Prom Night !
Certainly, the silvery moon and painted shack are tacky enough to be from Grease, and our two featured kids have that cheery "Most Important Night Ever" look about them.
Marvin's buzz-cut suggest that next day, he took his rented satin tux back to the store and shipped out to Basic Training. Later he led a squad of men to Vietnam, and came back a different man.
Alice married Marvin in between postings, but was tempted while he was in Vietnam. She had an affair with a "Don Draper" advertising exec, and had the resulting kid adopted before Marvin returned.
See, you can read all that in their eyes.
(Warning : Preceding life story is complete rubbish. I have no idea what happened.)
Now, anyone who doesn't find this picture sad beyond belief is a cold heartless swine.
Someone's made themselves a birthday cake. OK, it's a little rough n ready, but heck - it's got choclate icing and candles.
However, in their wish to document it on camera, the emptiness of their life is laid bare for all to see, No-one else to take the photo with birthday boy/girl in shot. No cards in the background. No signs of anyone else in their life. Alone.
I bet there was only one fork required.
And you thought that life was unfair...
Silly Mavis
You won't get a sun-tan if you're wearing that dress. You need to slip into a thong bikini.
...
On second thoughts...perhaps not.
Honesty time.
This lady may not be called Jo
She may not be in Devon
...but it is the first picture of her on the blog. Other slides may follow, all following a similar theme : Jo infront of some scenery glancing at Barry, her hubby and photographer, and smiling sweetly.
Where are they now ?
Another gloriously bad photograph, this time from an airshow in England. Somebody got a bit too excited awaiting the arrival of The Red Arrows, and squeezed this one out. Why they didn't through it out...I don't know. Maybe they knew that someone would buy it years later.
One of the nice things about this hobby (hobby? Well, I suppose it is) is the finding of a genuine classic. What should have turned out as a fairly dull picture of old Uncle Walter turns into spomething completely different thanks to Walters mischievous smile. Rather than a boring old pensioner, he looks more like a naughty school boy, looking to knock a policeman's helmet off with his catapult.
From a set of slides marked "Visit to Russia - 1985", we have a tram. Someone asked for buses or trains (see, I read the comments), so this is the closest I could manage at short notice.
Old Yellow was a faithful old hound, and Henrietta loved him. But when he caught distemper...there was only one thing to do.
Hopkins' Lake was deep, quiet and held onto its secrets.
"Laydeez and Gentlemen, please put your hands together for your models for the evening. Haven't they been super ?"
I recieved a box of 200 slides a few weeks ago, and they appear to have been a couple of fashion shows, run by a college from 1987and 1988. (Hollings, now part of Manchester Metropolitan University.) I'd have expected them to be their end-of-year degree show, but I'm not entirely sure now.
The models seem perfectly at ease in the swimwear and lingerie outfits, rather than giggling students. But more importantly, as the picture above shows, there's a definite air of smugness about the models. Even the git in the glasses appears supercillious. For some unknown reason, I really want to punch him in the face.
As we continue to slide into Autumn, lets remind ourselves of Summer Past.
Ah. Nostalgia !
The cornerstone of any balanced breakfast - Sugary donuts and Sugary Fresca. I'm guessing that Duane is a student - there's that "awake at the crack of noon" look about him, and the kitchen cupboards look a little sparse. But hey...maybe it's a Saturday and he's earned that lie-in.
A particularly shoddy tourist attraction, but what they heck, she seems happy.
But...what the heck are those mis-begotten ugly voluminous shorts that she's wearing ?? Is which bizarro dimension could they ever be considered stylish.
OK, TheSlideGuy offering women sartorial advice is a bit of a cheek (as those who know me will attest) but seriously...they're damned ugly.
Credit Crunch. Banks going bust. Money unavailable, and possibly lost. We're doomed I tells yah !
SO I need something to make me smile. Sothing like these two twits. Posing for the camera, like a pair of Kays Catalogue rejects. I bet one of them is a bank manager now, so they deserve this ritual humiliation fo doing such a *******-awfull job of protecting our money.
NB. These guys may look a bit familiar.
A sleepy little, out-of-season Dorset Village. Lymington, I thinks. (Certainly, that's where Fox and Sons, who are trying to lease the building, hail from.) Very picturesque.
I'd better do another odd / scary picture tomorrow. I know my audience.
Another weird wallpaper.
They say that animals are able to interact with poltergeists (assuming that poltergeists exists) and here we have the proof. Rover being taunted by a floating tennis ball, ready to pounce.
Is it me, or is that one unsettling image of a dog ?
I recognise that face. It's distinctive, and yet strangely...strange.
It's Maude Jefferson, and today she's admiring teh view from the top of the Allied Prophylatics Tower, in beautiful downtown Burbank* .
NB. This is what happens when slides get old, especially when stored in nonperfect conditions. Kodachrome slides are much less prone to deterioration, but these Ektachrome / E6 slides do suffer. Still, gives them an interesting Sepia effect.
(* May contain up to 100% lies and fiction.)
Once again, someone's very proud of their catch, and can't resist posing foir another (out of focus) slide. All the better to bore the neighbours when they pop round for a Chrsitmas Egg-Nog.
But this time, they've included the wooden chicken. Yes, the hen at their feet seems to be rather immobile. Umm...OK. I'm sure it makes sense to them.
It's someone's birthday today !
No not me, your 'umble blogger, but Sweet Sue. And she's got a new Party Dress !
Better not get any of that cake on it, or you'll be in trouble.
