Light and hearty observations from a fat and ugly guy. Home of hackneyed drivel and ersatz-existentialist effluence. Choleric biliousness a specialty, since 1958.

Ta Ta, Polaroid

Q: What do you call a Polish mongoloid who has only one leg?
A: A Polaroid One Step.

If you're under the age of, say, 31, this joke will mean absolutely nothing to you. Older than that? You'll remember the product, I bet. The Polaroid One Step. There it is, at right. This simple to use point-and-click camera dominated the world of instant photography back before the digital age.

Yesterday, the Polaroid Corporation (they're still around?) announced they'd cease making instant film and basically close up shop. This month, December 2008, is the last month of production. Another relic of a by-gone era goes the way of the buffalo.

The One Step and its cousin, the SX-70, were ubiquitous in American homes back in the day, primarily for one big reason: they provided Joe and Jane Sixpack the ability to quickly and privately shoot filthy photos of their private parts, whether singular or "joined", and review those photos at their leisure, without having pesky Wal Mart part-time one hour photo employees glom onto them...or, worse, report them to the police.

For grins, I went back through my collection of old girlfriend Polaroids...and here are some of the "clean" ones:


That last one there--her name was Clamydia--man, oh man. This particular photo, if I remember right, was her disgusted reaction the instant I took my pants off. Hot stuff, I'm telling you. It took like, 5 minutes to score with her, and despite the follow-up doctor visits, she meant a lot to me...really.

posted by Nigel St.John Regina Smegmatica Howle-Raines @ 12:22 AM