Tuesday, October 20, 2009

ABOUT A CERTAIN STORE......


Haw! I almost feel sorry for Walmart because the recent spate of "People of Walmart" pictures on the net are going to cost that chain millions of dollars in lost sales. I say "almost," because it's hard to shed a tear for that store. Besides being a major outsourcer, Walmart's prices are fairly high relative to their production costs. I wonder if the the small discount we get at the cash register really compensates for the lost manufacturing jobs.



There are legitimate bargains in the store, but you have to have an eye for finding them. An awful lot of what's on the shelves sells for the same price competitors charge. Amazingly this doesn't deter the customers from buying there. Maybe people some people go just to watch the human show.



My guess is that people deliberately dress weird (above) when they know they're going to Walmart. There's a kind of year-round Mardi Gras going on there and you don't want to get caught dressing conservatively when every one else is cutting loose.

Notice how Walmart men flaunt their beer bellies. Outside on the street a gut is something to be ashamed of, but inside the doors of Walmart it's carried proudly. You park yourself in a whole aisle devoted to ketchup and mustard and just be, just allow people to admire the belly.



Not to be undone, the ladies strut their stuff.


You may think this woman (above) is revealing a lot...



...but it's all relative.



The store is bleak and ugly but to be fair, there's plenty of color. It comes from things like fluorescent cookie boxes and day glow juice containers.



I kinda like these women (above).



What do you call this (above) style? Is this what people mean when they talk about "Glam?"



Of course goths would shop at Walmart. It was made for them.



You do see a lot of hot pants in this store. I wonder if there are doggie hotpants in the pet section?


Lots of cheerfull tee shirt slogans (above).






More tasteful tees (above).



A Mohawk and out-of-the-pants boxers.



Fascinating!



Red people.



More red people. This (above) is my favorite picture in the post. I like the combination of the red family with the red vending machines, and the phone and out-sized doorknob are a nice touch.



Where do you buy shirts like this (above)? At Walmart?



I'll restrain myself and not make a tasteless joke about finger-sniffing. Oops! I just did!






37 comments:

  1. These are astounding! I do though, remember wearing a black shirt and some shiny silver kinda disco sweat pants.

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  2. People of Walmart repulses me but at the same time I keep going back. I really can't believe that people go out in public wearing almost no clothes! Or glue troll dolls and porcelain cats to their cars. Humans are funny creatures...

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  3. WAL*MART is great for people watching, and maybe either letting it all hang out or feel superior to the other shoppers (until your photo is posted on those websites) but it's also a sad silent commentary on the American Dream and where it went horribly wrong. One could write phone book size commentaries on this phenom and what it all means, but the pictures says it all, doncha' think? I think we're fast approaching the climax of this chapter in American history, but I'm kinda' anxious to see how it ends and then pick up the next chapter ...

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  4. Yrdk Ed!:D Some very, hmmm.. interesting, pictures there...

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  5. Nah, true glam is more outrageous than that.

    The Real Thing

    Basically glam was a reaction against hippie formlessness. Where the hippies were sloppily anti-establishment, and the straights were precisely tailored conservatism, glam was....precisely tailored anti-establishement. Synthesis strikes again! It always works.

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  6. Anonymous7:58 AM

    UUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I'd laugh but it's too true! It's too true to be funny! I live about 2 minutes from a Wal-Mart so we do all our grocery shopping there, and it really is that bad! In fact, practically all the shopping malls up here are like this! But it doesn't have to be this way! WHY?!?!?!? Why can't people be respectful of other people when they dress to go out? Not that it matters. How people dress when they want to "look nice" is almost as bad as this.

    I like Wal-Mart for its prices but if I had a choice I'd do all my shopping at Best Buy.

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  7. Anonymous8:58 AM

    Jesus. This must be near a trailer park.

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  8. I never go to Walmart..is this what I've been missing???

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  9. People sure let it all out at Wal-Mart.

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  10. I just found this site the other day. I have to say though, blogs like that are wearing on my nerves. They take one good idea, other peoples content, and milk it for all it's worth. I got just as much enjoyment from this post as I could get from reading that entire blog.

    Also Walmart's prices are as cheap as they advertise one time I got a pair of shoes there for like 6 dollars.

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  11. This is what I love about your cartoonist's view of life. Ugly is beautiful!

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  12. Dan, MC, John A, Anon: Thanks for the inquiries about John's blog. I'll ask him about it.

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  13. Zoran: So THAT'S glam! Thanks!

    Kurdt, Niki,Last,Thomas,Jorge, Anon, Shawn, rooni, Ardi: My guess is that Walmart's going to take a big hit from this People of Walmart thing, but it could go the other way. Maybe people will still go, but deliberately dress even more outrageously.

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  14. Amazingly, I went to Wal-Mart today and while I see some odd people, I don't encounter people like them. Although the fact that I live in a small Tennessee town might have something to do with it.

    If they discovered this site, though, they might start getting more outrageous.

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  15. Uncle Eddie, this post is wrong on all levels, especially the one in the pink dress that's so small on her that it's riding up and proving that she's going commando. I actually got physically sick from some of those pics. Some people's children...

    I don't shop at Walmart for a variety of reasons, but I should go just to watch the free show.

    Even though you should get hit with a wet spaghetti noodle for this post, you're still cool, Uncle Eddie!

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  16. In 20 years, we will probably look back on this stuff with nostalgia the way we do bad haircuts in high school yearbooks.

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  17. I realize there's probably a moratorium on comments about John's blog closing off to the public, as I see the comments have been taken off... but I thought id give it a shot.

    Have if you or John have ever considered making a subscription based blog, where the people who are using it would have paid accounts (like maybe a catch-all Spumco blog where different Spumco artists could make posts). That way all of the commenter on the blog are paying money to view it, and would certainly limit the number of nutters spamming the comments.

    The services you two guys provide in maintaining your blogs is kind of invaluable to alot of us unwashed peon artists out here in the ether. It just kinda makes me sad that my other favorite art instructional/inspirational page is gone.

    Anyway, love the blog Uncle Eddie. Hope it's with us for a while longer.

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  18. Dan, MC, John A, Anon: About his blog, john says he's got a lot of irons in the fire and has to narrow his focus for a bit. The blog is still up, but for the time being it's invitation only. He's still interested in recruiting artists from his training blog.

    Jennifer: 'Going commando!?" A great expression!

    Brubaker: A small town in Tennessee? Wow! A chance to see life the way it's lived outside of the big cities!

    Steve: I hope you're right.

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  19. Dan: Thanks for the interesting idea. To be honest, it never occurred to me before. Let me think about it.

    Thanks for the kind words for John and myself. I too would like to see John return to a public blog. We'll just have to see what happens.

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  20. Anonymous6:39 AM

    Hey, Eddie, looks what I found!

    http://aaronphilby.blogspot.com/2008/08/caricature-of-eddie-fitzgerald.html

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  21. Anonymous7:06 AM

    I've always said that there have been some funny birds that flock to the local Wal-Marts in both Canada & the United States (I should know. I used to work at one as a receiver & helped with the daily carry-out.)

    But after seeing the photos you have presented on your blog...well, it just makes be feel better that I don't have to deal with those misfits, weirdos and nutjobs anymore. :)

    From an aspiring animator/ cartoonist

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  22. Anonymous7:14 AM

    I'm cool if he just wants to focus on teaching for a bit. It sucks that I can't browse through the archive though. Maybe he coult start a new invitation only blog and leave Johnkstuff up to browse through?

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  23. Does this count as a Halloween post? It was pretty horrifying. When I first tried to view your blog my browser crashed (killed itself?) as an ominous sign of the horrors that lay ahead.

    In regards to Dan's idea, I would certainly be willing to pay a subscription fee to read John's and your theories and advice on animation. I have made donations to John through his paypal link in the past as I thought it was the least I could do to show my appreciation for all the work he put into his posts.

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  24. I love the Walmart blog, even though it's borderline illegal to take pictures inside Walmart. My favorite is the bigfoot guy in the parking lot.

    http://www.sexypeople-blog.com/

    This seems like another site you would like, Eddy. If you haven't seen it already.

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  25. One of the many reasons I'm so fond of early 70s glam rock is tha it's not only HIGHLY THEATRICAL, but just as often QUITE CARTOONY!

    (Somehow I suspect there's at least one malformed URL in threre. Sorry, I did my best!)

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  26. Hey Ed! How's it going?...

    I know, I know, I know, that there's probebly hundreds of comments about John's blog, BUT this is not exactly about that
    I just wonder(if you could ask him, or something) how we can give him links to our studies, cause I really would like to be recruited to the college, and learn alot more!:)

    Thanks Ed!
    Cheers!

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  27. I have a relative in her mid 20s who regularly goes everywhere in her PJs. It all started out with her going on emergency trips to walmart.
    It has a lot to do with there being a walmart everywhere and it being open 24hrs. People don't "go" to walmart they "just drop by walmart to pick something up". Need a mop at 3AM well you can just drop everything and go get it at walmart. Tomorrow something else and it becomes routine. The problem is eventually after seeing all the other freaks there regularly this turns into I might as well "just drop by walmart to shop".

    Last week I was with my relative and my car broke down right in front of some gambling/sports club place. She was wearing pink silk boxer shorts that day and I got some very snooty dirty looks from some guy in the parking lot, very embarrassing LOL.

    There's nothing wrong with walmart people though. It's one of those weird things in life like old ladies who shop at forever 21 and people who think plastic surgery is the answer. Gross stuff nobody wants to see but I like knowing they exist.

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  28. Johnk fan7:05 PM

    Re: Johnk's blog:

    Members-only viewing will diminish his influence and prevent new converts.

    Members-only *commenting* seems to be what he wants, and it's the fourth option under "settings", "comments":

    "Who Can Comment?

    Anyone - includes Anonymous Users
    Registered Users - includes OpenID
    Users with Google Accounts
    ***Only members of this blog***"

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  29. I don't shop at Walmart and won't on principle. And the entertainment here has nothing to do with it.

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  30. I watch for bargains/compare prices when I shop. You can get good deals and bad deals at any store...not just Wally World. Go to one grocery store and get a bag of Doritos for $5...go to another and get them for $2.50 (no kiddin'). You can save a lot of money by comparing. It may take time, but it's worth it.

    I see people at huge malls dressed just as outrageous, btw.

    About the John K blog thing. If John wants more people to draw like him or in a "Spumco style", he won't get PR by keeping his ideas hidden. Just a thought.

    I'm not a cartoonist, just a woodworker, but I do enjoy cartoons and kept up with JohnK every day.

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  31. @Brian - I am so f---ing tired of this "Spumco Style" nonsese. He wants to teach cartoonists some good skills and helpful exercises and share his ideas. It just so happens that many who read his blog -myself included, pre-exclusion- are admirers of his and are thus logically influenced by him. If some of his followers are a bit generic and borrow too liberally from John's style -which they do, quite often- that's their problem, not his.

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  32. @Brian - BTW, also keep in mind that sometimes it's the other way around; Kali, Nico, Katie et al. have all worked for John, so THEY influenced Spumco as much as the reverse is true. I'm sure you meant well with that comment, I'm just reiterating a necessary rant for the benefit of whoever reads this. And yeah, maybe I'm a bit of a crank anyway.

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  33. I am so f---ing tired of this "Spumco Style" nonsese. He wants to teach cartoonists some good skills and helpful exercises and share his ideas...

    No reason to get tired. :) John teaches a "skill-set" that in total sum makes it a "style". When people see a cartoon directed by John K, they automatically know who is responsible for the cartoon. I've seen it happen many times online. Places like YouTube where people comment, "that looks like it was done by the guy that did Ren & Stimpy". Yeah, videos that he did for Bjork, Weird Al, the NBC shorts, etc. They always say the same thing. If his cartoons had no "style" people wouldn't be able to easily identify his work out of the masses of cartoons out there.

    BTW, also keep in mind that sometimes it's the other way around; Kali, Nico, Katie et al. have all worked for John, so THEY influenced Spumco as much as the reverse is true.

    In a small way, yes, but he doesn't let people that work for him change what is already a cohesive style. It's not just a bunch of different styles competing....the end result of a Spumco cartoon is a very recognizable style. People that don't know who Katie Rice is can look at the Weird Al video that Katie worked on (big time), and still know it looks like it was "done by the Ren & Stimpy guy".

    Btw, I had no idea Nico worked on anything Spumco related. I'd like to know exactly how Nico has influenced John K in any way that he approaches making cartoons. I just don't see it....at all. The best stuff he does are those funny little videos with Kali...everything else is pretty much in the "also ran" category.

    Anyway, all that said. There is a "Spumco Style" and it IS obvious to "the masses" even if it isn't to even John K himself.

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  34. I'm not disputing that Spumco has a style. I'm disputing that he wants people to draw in that style and that he teaches a style to the people who read his blog. Of course there's a style within Spumco itself. But it has nothing to do with his blog or the lessons he posts, which is what you were talking about. My comment about the other cartoonists is relevant in that they have their own blogs and what they post there can be easily mistaken for some kind of "John K. Style Movement" if one isn't considering the nature of their professional involvement with each other.

    As for Nico, I think he does effects animation or something like that. John was talking at one point about this 3-D effect on the background in a very short piece of finished George Liquor animation (which, sadly, will now probably never see the light of day in completed form), and he said "Nico worked really hard on that". I actually don't know much about him at all. He seems to pop up everywhere, though.

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  35. I'm not disputing that Spumco has a style. I'm disputing that he wants people to draw in that style and that he teaches a style to the people who read his blog. Of course there's a style within Spumco itself. But it has nothing to do with his blog or the lessons he posts, which is what you were talking about.

    John K has stated on his blog that his lessons were there to train people to be able to work for him one day. That means training them to draw in the Spumco Style. Not Disney style, HB style, etc. In fact, he has very specific critiques of each - the way they approach cartoons, the way they MAKE cartoons. If you took ALL (not just some) of his lessons to heart, you'll end up drawing in the Spumco Style, not the Disney style for sure. Not the HB style for sure.

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  36. Anonymous7:39 AM

    I've noticed some of these pictures recently as well...and man they are just yucko!! ppl have no shame showing up all kinds of nasty...I feel bad even going in pj's...

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  37. Anonymous3:17 AM

    It is remarkable, rather valuable idea

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