July 2012 Articles (25)

Some Diesel Era spirit from the famous Tube. I said 'Tube", not 'YouTube'.

London Transport Museum preserves several dozen treasures of graphic design. Vintage posters continue to inspire artists all over the world. Every British poster art exposition is considered a major cultural event, attracting maximum…

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

Since hitting the airwaves in August 1930 as part of the "Detective Story" radio show, The Shadow has become one of the most beloved heroes in pulp history.  On Two-Fisted Tuesdays, we'll follow the adventures of The Shadow as he battles a rogues gallery of crooks and villains from around the world.

Never heard of The Shadow before?…

For once, here is something that hasn't (completely) popped out my twisted imagination: this somehow funny looking, cartoonish train is based on a real train, a passengers DMU (Diesel Multi Unit) class ДП, which in russian is short for Дизель поезд (Diesel train). Built during WWII by the company…

On these hot Summer nights, what's better than to put a rose between your teeth and Tango until dawn? It's even better if you have a partner, but never mind that— there's also some other interesting stuff in the August Picks.

http://www.pilsnerspicks.blogspot.com/

 Bienvenido a Cabaret, mis amigos!  It's another lazy day in Spain for the Cabaret, lounging by the pool, drinking zurracapote, and having impromptu music sessions.  And after a gruelling train ride exit from Nazi Germany across the broken-spirited French countryside, with many delays due to "heat-related track repairs" (news flash: tracks don't spontaneously explode from the ground, however hot it might be) we arived in beautiful old Madrid.  It's been about three weeks of legal limbo here…

In some alternative world, air wars looked like this:

A painting by Daniel Bechennec (for Fana d'Avation magazine cover, April 2010) depicts the Westland-Hill Pterodactyl fighter accompanying a formation of Heyford bombers. In our timeline, the …

Once again, a car make of old. Franklin, a name associated with aviation and air-cooling.

Herbert H. Franklin (H. H.)liked to play cards, enjoyed golf, dabbled in painting and photography, and occasionally took trips out of town accompanied by young women. He introduced them as his nieces. For a time,…

Wilkommen im Cabaret, meine freunden!  We're once again in beautiful Berlin, only...well...things have changed a little bit since we last were here.  I guess we should be glad to be here and out of Stalin's, er, hospitality (our great thanks to Mr. Robbins at the State Department for arranging our way home via Stalin's ally Hitler), but somehow it's hard not to think about the…

A beautiful example of pre-war streamline:

Meet the Jawa 700 Coupe - a little red wonder from Prague. It was built by Jawa Motors using a standard Model 700 platform and a custom body designed along Jaray principles. Well, Paul Jaray and his legacy are featured in…

Friday the 13th was a lucky day this month.

Not only was it the 108th birthday of legendary pulp author Norvell W. Page, but we also heard first word from Black Dog Books that Mr. Page’s most famous story was being resurrected for the fans.

Satan’s Murder Machines is a two-fisted action tale starring Page’s infamous antihero, The Spider. If you’re not familiar with this “Master of Men,” he…

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

Since hitting the airwaves in August 1930 as part of the "Detective Story" radio show, The Shadow has become one of the most beloved heroes in pulp history.  On Two-Fisted Tuesdays, we'll follow the adventures of The Shadow as he battles a rogues gallery of crooks and villains from around the world.

Never heard of The Shadow before?…

добро пожаловать, comrades, to the Cabaret!  Tonight, we are hitching our wagon to a Red Star and lighting up the night in Moscow, capital of the Russian Federated Soviet Republic and the Soviet Union!  The city has undergone quite a change from the days of the Czars as the new Soviet government under the magnificent and benificent guidance of Uncle Joe Stalin!  So magnificent are his acheivements that truly Moscow is the center of Democracy and Modernity, bar none!  He has even graciously…

When the radar existed only in science fiction but the aviation was already here, the most common way of spotting a distant target was to send a reconnaissance aircraft based aboard a battleship or a cruiser.

For submarine fleet, spotting and early warning was probably even more vital than for the large surface ships. No…

Originally intended for mass production, the KIM-10 is an extreme rarity - of 500 built, only half a dozen survived.

It was the first Soviet economy class car, a distant cousin of the Volkswagen and Fiat Topolino. Its story is different from the German and Italian "people's cars":…

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

Since hitting the airwaves in August 1930 as part of the "Detective Story" radio show, The Shadow has become one of the most beloved heroes in pulp history.  On Two-Fisted Tuesdays, we'll follow the adventures of The Shadow as he battles a rogues gallery of crooks and villains from around the world.

Never heard of The Shadow before?…

Benvenuti al cabaret, my friends, and welcome to the new Old Italy!  And seriously, folks, we are not in Kansas anymore!  We've gone back over the rainbow and into a land of black and white where the Great and Powerful Oz seems to have swapped places with the Wicked Witch of the West. 

"Orders are nobody can see the Great Duce! Not nobody, not nohow!"

Needless to say this new Italian order is more than a little bizarre ever since a group of black…

Jet aircraft long before the Jet Age? A turbojet? There's no mistake: the Heinkel 178 was successfully flown on the eve of the World War II.

This aircraft is assured a distinguished place in aviation history: on 27 August 1939, piloted by Flugkapitän Erich Warsitz, it…

With the release of The Troubleshooter: New Haven Blues, I thought I'd share a short story featuring the protagonist Mick Trubble...

I heard the staccato of her heels down the hall…

Smoggy days, rainy nights.  The windshield weeps under the glow of tacky neon lights.

The good thing about being depressed in New Haven is that you can always…

Another all-but-forgotten American car make - the Hupmobile.

Here is its story, brought us by HowStuffWorks:

Robert C. Hupp was an engineer who worked with Ransom Eli Olds and Henry Ford before setting up his own car company in…

Came across an interesting article in the Mail Online about a British pensioner who is placing over 600 items of zeppelin memorabilia for sale on the 25th of July, in East Sussex, UK.  Many are original pieces, including items form the Hindenburg, but…