Sears, Roebuck, USA (Gordon L Weil. 1977)

Book I recently finished on the history of Sears (up thru the late 7os). Some interesting Sears trivia in here.. I didn't realize Sears originated as a mail order business. Richard Sears started selling watches thru the mail to Midwestern farmers. Guess they were generally isolated from (non-essential) retail items, so the mail order was convenient. Also never knew that Allstate Insurance was created (& for a long time administered) by Sears. Biographies on the secession of Sears pioneers, details on their (once great) catalog ordering/packing process.

Growing up, I liked going thru Sears' Christmas catalogs, picking out NFL gear.. It's a shame Sears didn't comprehend the imminent online marketplace. They had a sophisticated shipping network (& in some respects were the original Amazon), but they didn't understand (or acknowledge) the retail future. This book was researched & published when Sears was still @ the top of the game. At the end of the book a U of Oklahoma business professor is quoted as saying Sears has an '..extraordinary track record in reprogramming itself to adapt to change.' True for a 100 years, but an incidental pincer movement from Wal*Mart & Amazon ate Sears up.

Pembroke Mall Sears, circa 1960s.

* Nat Rrain Cast Portrait:

(Front to back, left to right: Creeps, Nathaniel, Nat, Sharpie, Pudgy Nauseous, Texas Weiner Man, Morgan Pepper, Laura Harell, Martin Hess, Billy, Jon-Lycanthropus Buffinus Neanderthalus, Frankie, Edgar Allen Toe, the Golden Shower.)

Contact: nat.rain@gmail.com

^ Panels from a full-length I'm working on, recounting the tragic 1982 crash of Air Florida flight 90.

Interesting book I finished recently (Spaceships of Ezekiel).. There had been a theory circulating that the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel gave a primitive firsthand account of an alien visit in his testimony.. A NASA engineer (Blumrich) set out to disprove this theory as foolish & superstitious; but ended up embracing and expanding on the theory. Spaceships of Ezekiel is Blumrich' technical breakdown & intepretation of Ezekiel's eyewitness account.
A lot of Blumrich's theory & diagrams (of the theoretical UFO) make sense to me, but he seemed to conveniently omit passages from Ezekiel's testimony that would bolster the traditional interpretation: which is that Ezekiel was visited by the Lord (specifically with warnings & chastisement to the house of Israel). I mean, why would an E.T. visit include preaching against Israel's religious sins (violating dietary laws, worship of idols) (?) This messaging seems consistent with God of the Old Testament, not w/a universal greeting you might expect from an otherworldly explorer.
Book cover is great, looks like something straight from In Search of..
So '7os, it hurts.               
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Unrelated (and belated) eulogy for artist Jack Davis. His work had a ubiquitous influence on me growing up. I liked the work he did for Mad Magazine, and football related sketches he generated over the years. Davis was good at recreating the energy & eccentricities of football players & team mascots. Rest in Peace..

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^ page 1 from Beginning. Based loosely on the Genesis' Creation account.

old Lynnhaven Mall signs (circa early '90s) & vintage Cavalier Hotel.

From A Night in Virginia Beach (2003).

More pointless Hampton Roads' nostalgia.. Listing for the long-gone bowling alley. Corner of Plaza Trail & Virginia Beach Blvd. The strip mall was rebuilt @ some point, with a PetSmart.

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Greyskull & the band. (1998).

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Original Masters of the Universe characters don't need updating, but I was feeling nostalgic..

Nat Rrain version of Tess (giantess from recent animated series Disenchantment).

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Found some old stuff in my garage, from the late 90s, early 2ooos..

Front cover, Pumpkin Galaxy (extended poem I wrote & illustrated, circa 1999).

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Re-worked football frame.. Full length page is on my old Angelfire site (Fall Issue).

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Elemental logo I created for a demo being recorded in LA, around 2003-4. Tentatively titled Devil's Kitchen, not sure the fate of that project:

An unrelated note, I always liked the 80s supernatural flick The Gate. Recently re-watched it w/my daughter, & was intrigued by a meaningless detail..
When the neighbor (Terry) goes to his refrigerator, I noticed a Cardinals football magnet:

Cards were a cool, but odd choice to me. Cardinals were not a universally popular team like the Steelers or Cowboys. And they weren't a hot 80s team like the 49ers. The movie was shot in Canada, so I wonder why a (then St Louis) Cards helmet was utilized. Was the set designer a Cards fan, or trying to subtly imply a Midwestern location for the movie (?) Maybe it was just incidental, those magnets were probably distributed thru a national gas station or restaurant chain.. Also looks like business was spelled wrong on the note.

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