See The Galaxy! New Posters Mix Star Wars Planets with Depression Era Advertisng

There are few things I enjoy more than mash-ups that combine old timey Americana with geekanerd iconography. First it was comic cover artists copping from Norman Rockwell, now it's WPA Posters meets Star Wars. Zazzle has produced a line of officially licensed Star Wars posters based on the WPA's "See America" poster campaign. What's that? You've never heard of the WPA, the jewel of FDR's New Deal? Here's the original poster that the Hoth version was based on...


Tatooine and Courescant after the jump....


I couldn't find the original version of Courescant...seems like it must be based on a New York poster, but no sign of it on google image search. Oh well. Why does Couruscant need a tourism campaign anyway? Ain't no recession in Courescant! If those guys want credits, they PRINT some! Or mine some. Program some? What's a credit?

UPDATE! Reader "Andrew" tipped us to yet more old timey travel posters...these set in the Firefly universe. They don't seem to be directly referencing any WPA posters, but the influence is unmistakable. Awesome stuff. You can see and purchase all five at the Quantum Mechanix store.

Happy New Year From Sam & Max

Sam and Max hope you get your job and house back in 2009! Sky's the limit!

Via Spudvision

A Requiem for Circuit City

Times are tough, and stores they are a-closin. Even if you haven't been directly impacted by the economic crisis, chances are you have at least some emotional connection to one of the more recent companies in bankruptcy...Circuit City.

Yes, Circuit City is in trouble, they're closing 1/5 of their stores and laying off thousands of employees nationwide. It's possible that by 2009 the store will be just a footnote in our collective 20th Century nostalgia.



Anyone else remember this commercial? The idea of a kid having that much clout that they can just waltz into the adult world, present their case to a business-suited employee, and walk out of their with cash in hand...it's like a beautiful fantasy of what the free market can achieve.

But the dream could not last. Circuit City was ultimately done in by competition from Best Buy and some very shady HR practices, such as laying off 3,400 of their top-tier employees in order to replace them with lower paid workers. Capitalism: UR DOIN IT RIGHT WRONG.

Let's save our sympathy for all the red-shirted workers who are losing their jobs. If you go trawling for close-out deals, be cool to them. Times are tough.

But What Does The Joker Think of The Economic Crisis?

There seem to be a great many things happening in this place called America...sure am glad I don't live there. I mean, technically NYC seceded from the union in like, 1988, right? Right? Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

Anyway, we should all probably take a minute out of our busy schedules to watch the debate tonight. Rock Band II will still be there when it's over. In the meantime, here's a little refresher on the Big Bailout from George Bush and his Wall Street cronies, with commentary from everyone's favorite Agent of Chaos.



This is the best DK mashup I've seen since our own Albo created the legend of Patrick Batman.

Six Months In, People are Still Waiting for a Wii

When I walked into the Nintendo World Store yesterday I was convinced something big was going on. There was a long line snaking all through the store. I asked a guy in line if there was some sort of event going on. "Nope," he said. "Just waiting for a Wii." Shawha!? A store employee goes on to tell me that they have a line like this EVERY DAY to consume the daily shipment, and they're sold out of their Wiis by 11am or Noon. It's been over six months! This is crazy bones.

Also, Kotaku has an blurb linking to a USA Today article on the same subject.