John's Blog

The RetroRaunch Caption Contest (VIA Wired)

"With his next project, Doctor Frankenstein decided loneliness could kiss his ass."

"Just in time for Christmas: life size weightlifter Barbie! "

"Welcome to the gym. I hope you're ready to pump iron! By the way...my name's Iron."

How can you go wrong? History, porn, and humor? Some NSFW images, but an interesting and amusing look at amateur erotica before the dawn of the digital camera and the internet.

Funny that I should stumble upon this link since I was just thinking about the difference between the way kids discover porn today (obviously the internet) and the way it used to be. The subject came up innocently enough and ironically not through a porn related line of thought. I had to get a haircut, which is always a trauma for me and as I result I tend to postpone as long as I can. Reviewing why I find it traumatic is no easy task since there several reasons to pick from. Could it be because the last time I went I made the statement "I need my hair cut badly" they took it as a direction instead of a statement of fact? Perhaps. Maybe it's because each time I go there they have less to work with? Maybe. But at the core of it surely must be the mixed bag of emotions that getting a haircut has meant from when I was a little kid.

Today's "styling salons" have few similarities with the old fashioned "barber shop" of my youth. Big 'ol fashioned barber chair, candy-stripe pole out front, big hand-carved ornate cabinetry, and tons of calendars on the walls of naked and semi-naked women holding tools and industrial products, apparently a common promotional practice back then.

Yes friends, this was my first exposure to porn. Thank goodness I didn't develop a fetish along those lines! While you were waiting for your turn, you could peruse the large collection of comic books and "gentleman's magazines". Getting a haircut as a kid meant tagging along with my father. Which resulted in two things: getting it cut in a style I didn't like and being relegated to reading comics and not the more appealing "forbidden fare" that was available there. It was a glorious day when I crossed the threshold into adulthood and got to pick my own "hair-style" and my own reading material. I have to think that part of my aversion to barber shops stems from my early barber shop experiences and phobias. The again, it might just be a fear of scissors!