Modern Snark for Vintage Booze

Published on Wednesday, September 30, 2009, by James Norton / Edit Post

Author, blogger, columnist, and professional nostalgist James Lileks (perhaps best known for his Gallery of Regrettable Food) has launched a new site dedicated entirely to the analysis of black-and-white liquor ads from 1939. Consider this commentary on a Ten High whiskey ad:

“Whoa! Look out! Gramps is loaded! It’s the whiskey that hits his Booze Tooth—all three of them!

“I love how the premise of doubled enjoyment is thrown out with no reason or explanation; it’s just a prima facie statement.

“Well, surely Hammered Gramps was an anomaly.”

But, of course, he is not. The site’s got plenty more similarly deranged ads to deconstruct. Overall, it’s good old, old, old fashioned fun in a Web-friendly format.

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  • Are we getting a tad tired of snark? Well, I'm about ready to go out and get a new copy of "Regrettable Food", since every time I run into one of my favorite dishes in there I tend to hurl that book hard into the nearest wall, and it's coming seriously undone. Walls are suffering, too...

    Mr. Lileks could possibly redeem himself by picking on some genre that was REALLY regrettable, like maybe...+READ

    Are we getting a tad tired of snark? Well, I'm about ready to go out and get a new copy of "Regrettable Food", since every time I run into one of my favorite dishes in there I tend to hurl that book hard into the nearest wall, and it's coming seriously undone. Walls are suffering, too...

    Mr. Lileks could possibly redeem himself by picking on some genre that was REALLY regrettable, like maybe tobacco ads...-COLLAPSE