I may be being a bit too harsh on myself, but I feel like the last couple of posts have been a bit, well blah. They seem stiff as I'm writing them and probably uninteresting to read. Part of it is surely due a decent case of winter blues that have hit me hard these last couple of weeks. I'm really not a cold weather kind of girl and spend most evenings wrapped up in multiple layers and blankets. I have become truly adept at being a 5'9" burrito after I get home from work. This lack of movement might account for the stiffness, but it's definitely something that needs to be adjusted. So here's my attempt to brush off the cobwebs, *shudder* k let's do it.
When I worked in the strip district I would walk home every day, often taking the same route back rain or shine. So when I started this project back up I used this walk as the starting point for gathering my collection. Very early on in this gathering I found this gem and it's remained one of my favorites. I fully admit I was little overly thrilled when it caught my eye on the snowy walk but honestly who wouldn't be excited finding Inspector Gadget. It's such a great close up of the classic image of Gadget reading his instructions and when you get really in there you can see that the writing says "This message will self-destruct while you're reading this." Along with the wonderful reference, there is also the interesting fact that it's signed by jorts. I'm not sure if it's actually by the same artist but there are a collection of handwritten messages around the city which are also signed by jorts. I haven't featured any here yet but I can guarantee they will be. If they are by the same person, I am definitely intrigued by the big difference in styles but it's not something I can quite deduce at the moment. Either way jorts definitely knows how to draw a person in. I loved Inspector Gadget growing up, I totally used to pretend that I was Penny and would talk into my watch. There was just something brilliant about the bumbling detective who rarely did things right but somehow got the credit every time. It was always up to Penny and her dog Brain to save the day, solve the mystery, and ultimately thwart Dr. Claw. Clearly it's poking fun at the popularity of shows like Columbo and the Six Million Dollar Man during the 80s, although this was lost on me as a child. I enjoyed the silliness of the show, even if it was same formula every time. I even loved the movie when it came out, although obviously disappointing now upon rewatch. I think what stuck out about the movie the most for me was the fact that a portion of it was filmed here in Pittsburgh. I remember my dad specifically pointing out to me that Claw's office was PPG Place and it was building that I was familiar with. For a long time it was the glass castle from Inspector Gadget, never the actual name of the building, when I would see it on trips into the city. Any way I look at it though, this piece of nostalgia is a wonderful connection between what was probably a part of that spark of enjoying mysteries and those many visits to Pittsburgh.
1 Comment
6/18/2019 04:38:42 pm
Its very good and very excellent blog post. i really enjoyed this post and i hope you will keep posting this kinds of post in future.
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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