last year's model

A snapshot of the cultural sensitivities of Nixonian America, as represented by two advertisements for model cars which appeared in DC comic books during that period:


Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Tijuana Taxi (from Going Places, 1965) - HONK HONK!

Happy hour at the Eden Roc's lounge: One-piece molded plastic chairs and the curved Formica surface of the well-stocked bar. The clientele sporting sharkskin suits and Brylcreem-lacquered "smart look" 'dos or pastel "Jackie O" ensembles and sky-high bouffants. They tap the ashes of their Kents into crystal ashtrays while sipping at their Tom Collinses or vodka martinis, and over the din of casual conversation can be heard the peppy, suburbanite-safe sounds of light quasi-Latin jazz, the echoes of which will resonate in shopping plazas and elevators for decades to come.


Dead Kennedys - California Über Alles (from Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980) - This cautionary ditty about the dark side of paternalistic liberalism (resolved fortunately by America's drunken stagger toward petit-fascist ideology) came up on the Zune's driving playlist during the commute home last Tuesday, and it reminded me that I voted for Jerry Brown in the 1992 Democratic primary.

Oh, what a lovely thing the American political system is, offering each and every voter the opportunity to choose between getting devoured by fire ants or drowned in a bucket of slaughterhouse offal.