Episode 256, huh? Guess you need to convert from 8 bit to 16 bit. Update: Thanks for the heart, well appreciated.

been one of my favorite youtube channels for many years now, always wonder why the channel has so few subscribers, considering the amount of work these types of videos take to make.

@beyondobscure

Жыл бұрын

Agreed.

@Emogeta

Жыл бұрын

Agreed. Been subbed for at least 8 years and loved every video.

@tarlcabot2519

Жыл бұрын

A fair point. I've been watching these on and off for a few years now. Subscribed just now because you pointed out the surprisingly low subscriber count.

@plawson8577

Жыл бұрын

Blame YT’s/Google’s Horrible Algorithm. Ben refuses to play ball with its Corporate Sponsors shilling and seldom uses Monetization. He stands up for Integrity, and gets punished by the Algorithm by making his Channel be nearly incognito In recommendations. It’s frustrating nonetheless, but at least he’s recording an OST for the channel and at least he realizes that Oddity Archive is dire need of a Rebrand: As a TED Talk Channel. While Blair/Illuminaughi’s success can be attributed to how she brands her Boulder,Colorado based Channel and how it prides itself as a Grievance TED Talk channel, And although Blair T. Zon is very finicky and methodical about which Corporate Sponsors she’ll use, she’s STILL getting complaints from her own followers about some of them like “Hello Fresh”(Which Even Doug Walker STILL uses after some 4 years) and last Fall signed up to sponsor “Lomi” a Compost Scam as a sponsor before quickly dropping them after multiple reports that they were a Sham. So you see, even though 30 Something Pyramid Mom’s Channel may be bigger and more successful than Benny’s Channel, it’s not without its problems. That’s why Ben’s is My #1 favorite YT Channel and why I’ll recommend it to Blair’s followers. They’ll usually bite, but it takes a bit.

@Code7Unltd

Жыл бұрын

Quality doesn't necessarily result in high subscription counts. Maybe if Ben vainly blew money on charity projects and put his mug, mouth-agape on the thumbnails...

Those "mood-changing" lipsticks still exist, although nowadays they are marketed as "automatically adjusts to a color TO MATCH YOU PERFECTLY!!!" or similar. I have one. It turns hot pink. Really not a great color on me, but...I guess it's a mood.

@professorhaystacks6606

Жыл бұрын

Dang it, take an angry upvote!

@rmreader8810

6 ай бұрын

Bwahahah, beautifully put. I feel you, fellow makeup wearer.

The band in the Risk PSA - lol

If someone jams gum in the locks of those security shutters, you have to make a sign that says "I assure you we're home"

@75aces97

5 ай бұрын

Is that shoe polish?

"X10" is perhaps the oldest "home automation" protocol. Most notably used by devices sold at Sears and Radio Shack. (And, yes, they work together no matter where you bought them). X10 devices are STILL available today.

My grandparents had the inertia nut cracker. I loved using that thing on pecans as as kid. Edit: Looked one up on fleaBay and the box proudly proclaims "Chosen to crack the pecans for the Apollo 13 & 14 moon missions"...truly Space Age tech here

@princeofcupspoc9073

Жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/io6c1amcZ6a_lbg.html

I case anyone is wondering what Ben got for his birthday that year from Ed and Sergei. Sergei is the one who gave him those yacov albums . Ed got him five pairs of novelty socks : Elvis , Randy savage , lando , sonic the hedgehog and LGR . Not as a joke Ben said he needed new socks . Sometimes Ed is to practical.

The liquid eraser announcer sounds like he has a hybrid New Yorker/Boston accent….that’s all I could focus on lol.

@KristianWontroba

Ай бұрын

The product was being sold out of CT, so that tracks. 😅

I wouldn't be in the least surprised that they still make that The Kramer painting. If anything, I'd expect to see more of them the way I've been seeing Seinfeld merchandise popping up everywhere. A little late after the Friends stuff, but well appreciated for this Seinfeld fan. And those mood color changing shirts? I bet they completely die out after you wash it once. To say nothing about putting the thing in a dryer. Probably melts and or gives off toxic fumes.

@luisreyes1963

Жыл бұрын

How come that wasn't advertised on Chicago TV? Must be a New York thing. 🤷‍♂️

@m.k.8158

Жыл бұрын

With the mood shirts that I remember, you peeled off the color-changing sticker, put it aside before washing the shirt-after the shirt was washed and dried, you would put the sticker back on. Of course, after a while, the sticker would tend to collect debris, and that's when it ended up falling off the shirt.

@mightyfilm

Жыл бұрын

@@m.k.8158 Wow. That's actually a LOT more cheaply made than I could have ever imagined.

Somehow ads for pointless products are rarely dull. And I don't know, but the Sauna Suit guy somehow reminds me of Alec from Technology Connections as a 60 year old.

@fixman88

Жыл бұрын

*gigglefits*

@sracine10

20 сағат бұрын

The Sauna Suit guy looked a lot like Mr. Belvedere to me 😂

Ahh yes, I remember my dads exact words when these commercials came on tv. Especially that hands free phone device. “Stupid f**Kin commercial” 🤣 🤣

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

Wise words.

@plawson8577

Жыл бұрын

@@OddityArchive Saw the ad 30 years ago. Even At 10, I knew it was an incredibly STUPID Invention and Brainless Idea. Just like DIVX 5 years later!

The item that's the least crazy despite what it looks like in this set the BSR X-10 light control. It's not hard to transmit such a small amount of data using the power outlets. And what's shown here is not some lost tech. The company, BSR, went out of business not long after this, but the powerline tech for this product, X-10, was used to form the company X10 and the X10 standard was the industry standard smart home tech for decades. The tech still is common today for some products even as Wifi has become the standard.

@jonathankleinow2073

Жыл бұрын

We had our house set up with an X-10 alarm system for a few years in the 90s, although we eventually upgraded to an ADT alarm. The X-10 was neat tech, though.

@fixman88

Жыл бұрын

I was going to say, Radio Shack sold Powerhouse X-10 stuff for years, and you could even get a controller that could connect to your PC.

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

@kyleolson8977 As I mentioned in the intro to the segment, there were two items that I thought had a decent purpose (the shutters and the X10), but were likely out of reach for the people that could've used them the most.

I saw bits and pieces of the Kansas City Chiefs parade yesterday. Given how absolutely hammered Patrick Mahomes was, I bet he wishes he had some of that XS medicine!

Another fantastic episode. But now you gotta buy the Kramer.

@plawson8577

Жыл бұрын

At least the Painting of Kramer doesn’t shout Racial Slurs at you if you take it to a Comedy Club.

I'm from Germany and shutters are normal here (manual or automatic). It's nice to be able to shut out any light (from the sun or street lights) for a good sleep. The shutters also reduce heat-loss in winter, even with double-glazed windows. There is little to no security advantage with modern shutters, though. The shutter-elements of today are made from plastic. Older shutters were made of solid wood and were very heavy. Pulling them up was quite the workout while you had to be careful when letting them down as the 'reel' could easily slip in your hand and smash down on the window sill. In my grandmas house were such old shutters and we kids loved to let the shutters rattle down. My brothers and i 'raced' each other for the fastest shutter closing, much to the dismay of my grandmother 🙂 The wooden shutters are prone to rot when reeled up while they are wet but often hold up around 30-50 years despite that. Plastic shutters begin to fail after about 30-40 years when the plastic has become brittle from sunlight and weather. Good plastic shutters may last 50 years as well.

Oh man, I'm old enough to remember the Mood Lipstick. Those "mood" items were all the range in the late 1970s-early 1980s. I do recall having a Mood Ring in middle school. It broke after waiting outside for the school bus in -10F weather.

This might be your best riff ever; I totally lost it on both XS ad jokes! I actually remember all of these that are post-1983 or so. 30:08 No nudity for 30 bucks? No deal… 😂

So, is the "Risk!" commercial supposed to be... anti-drugs? or... what? I'm just so confused. Or is it anti-rock and roll?

@Johnny-ye6xp

Жыл бұрын

Condom use

3:58 I feel like a version of that watch has existed for every major US political figure since the Nixon administration. I just miss the days when expressing one's politics through novelty products didn't constitute so many people's personalities.

@75aces97

5 ай бұрын

I'm sure I've seen it with someone other than Clinton on the face, and i believe "backwards" watches have been a novelty since the 1950s. Funny thing about it, though, is that the numbers are also reversed, so it's still a functional time piece as long as the seconds/minutes/hours are consistent and the wearer can adjust to the display. Seeing as an analog clock face is merely a representation of time, it's completely arbitrary to interpret counterclockwise or clockwise as "backwards."

The inertia nut cracker actually worked really well. We used it on pecans, and they are not easy to crack, and the stupid looking gizmo actually worked out. I'm pretty sure it could take a finger off, but in the 70s parents expected at least one kid to lose a body part before middle school, so crack on.

This episode was *overwhelmingly* satisfying, and IMO one of your best episodes ever.

God my heart was racing seeing that kramer portrait, i GOD DAMN KNEW IT WAS THAT. Never knew these where commercially available back then. wonder who owns the original. and ive gotta say, the ad itself feels like a joke that would be on seinfeld, maybe closing the episode, George and Jerry are bewildered that there's now TV Ad for that damn painting.

I found a KZread genre I love. There are tons of videos where they review kitchen gadgets like the ones in this video. It's entertaining and satisfying

There are quite a few of these I remember well. As soon as I saw the "fish cake" picture on your box, I knew I had seen that from somewhere before, and now I understand what he was talking about. Royal DuraSteel. They need to bring these back. I also remember that phone adapter thing. There was also one called the "featherweight phone", which was an actual headset phone you could plug into your regular phone somehow. Wonder how good that thing really was back in the day. Belly Burner was another one I recall.

Not sold in any stores...Because no store would have it!!!

Yay! I love this stuff! Infomercials are hilariously bad! Sometimes good like *clap on, clap off* 3:10 Mood shirts?! Mood lipsticks? I love this!

@sracine10

Жыл бұрын

And those mood lipsticks still show up as a viral TikTok trend every now and then these days… (as Benny Boy would say: “Not A Joke”) 😂

@plawson8577

Жыл бұрын

@@sracine10 Not a Surprise to me at All. TikTok is crazy.

Sergei says this version of Changes is one he would not play. Really bad. Still cannot believe the kramer is still being made. I remember a lot of these, and never got sny of them. That wild card is now stuck in my head. Great work Ben. Good to see you better.

These are the types of episodes that not only made me a fan but also a long time subscriber/sharer of the channel. Can’t wait for Part III in another 5 1/2 years. 😉 EDIT: Holy Crap Ben, I almost spit out my drink at the 900 Number Joke. I had to pause the video to catch my breath. 😂😂😂

It's a shame that Liquid Eraser is an American product, had it been British, it would have been called Spray Stripper or Stripper In A Can and marketed on British TV in exactly the sort of way you'd expect an advert aimed at Page 3 Girl appreciating Sun readers would! The UK is the country where builders can buy an adhesive called Sticks Like Sh*t. No, I'm not kidding. That's a real product.

@fixman88

Жыл бұрын

There's a company in the US that makes HUGE ceiling fans that's called 'Big Ass Fans.' Yes, really. And by 'Big' I mean 'the ceiling of a storage warehouse' big.

That "dishwasher" looks like a great way to spray food detritus all over your kitchen counter/floor

The background of the text in the last shot of the Risk "ad" looks like condom wrappers, so maybe a safe sex PSA? One that clearly wasn't allowed to be more explicit in its messaging, but given the time period I wouldn't be surprised it that's what it is.

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

That'd be my guess. It's just strange that by '93, that'd still be even a semi-taboo.

@artistwithouttalent

Ай бұрын

😳 I thought it was a fire safety PSA (with the smoke and everything).

Please forgive me I have been away for many months. What a lovely choice of content to celebrate your 2^8 th episode. You have maxed out 8 bit unsigned integers.

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

Time to bust out the SNES and Genesis then?

Weirdly enough, that “Mood Magic” color-changing lipstick idea stuck around and can still be found in beauty stores today, like a balm by Winky Lux and a gloss by Kylie Cosmetics. Seems like every few years or so the beauty community hops on this “color changing makeup” train only to jump off just as fast.

@singinglawnchair

Жыл бұрын

It's funny still seeing those being made and sold and people 10-15 years younger than me losing their marbles over them on social media.

@rmreader8810

6 ай бұрын

And they appear to work as well as they ever did.

@daftoptimist

6 ай бұрын

@@rmreader8810 Heck, I almost considered dropping $35 for the color changing blush balm by Fenty the other day. Fortunately for my budget and conscience, it was out of stock at my local Sephora.

Happy Oddity Thursday! 📼📼📼📼📼

@plawson8577

Жыл бұрын

I’m So Glad! We missed last week because of a bug Benny caught during the SD Snowstorm. Damn.

You know, the Risk band's bassline reminds me of the bassline from Lit - "My Own Worst Enemy" which came out several years later.... OK, I'll shut-up now!

The guy with a power sander bugged me. That sander is meant to remove material quickly, but it's not taking away stain? fuuuuuuuck

Archive time! Yes!...and the topic looks like something right in the Archive's wheelhouse!

The phone headset reactions: 10 years ago - ha, people using land lines. Today - ha, people actually talking on the phone.

5:06 I’m surprised that the late Dick Clark actually got into the as seen on TV business. Granted he was a good Tv producer and solid game show emcee with the various iterations of pyramid, but this really takes the cake.

I remember that at least the Easy Stripper and the Sauna Suit, and perhaps even more of them, used to run too on late-night Spanish TV. Of course, dubbed over with the original sound underneath, documentary style.

I used to own an easy stripper. It did work, but it would burn out your drill due to it being soo slow to remove paint.

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I don't think I'd recommend a battery-powered drill certainly.

The Memo Mate is a fantastic example of how marketing can be everything. I don't know a single person who had one, but every kid my age had a Yak Bak, which is basically the exact same product.

I remember seeing a LOT of these types of commercials while watching The Hub back in the day.

Maybe this is a Florida thing, but every adult I knew in the 90s had BluBlockers. They bought them in the busiest booth in the "good" part of the fleamarket. That's also where I got my Mood Magic lipstick, which was my mom's compromise when I asked for blue lipstick during the grunge era. I was surprised to find myself saying "row 15!" along with the woman in the parking lot in the recorder commercial, since I didn't remember that ad existed.

"you ruined my minestrone!" 😂😂😂

7:32 Darryl & Don Ellis country music group only existed for a couple of years between 1992-1994. They only had a few very minor hits. Don Ellis is currently a part of the Kenny Rogers Band. I first heard about them, back in 1992, when I was about 5 years old, & my grandma got a tape, through a Banquet Foods offer, that had a bunch of then up & coming country music performers songs on it. One of those songs was Darryl & Don Ellis "I Knew You'd Come Around". I listened to that tape quite a bit growing up.

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

Good catch! I'd been under the impression that they were the ones who "invented" the glasses and were doing a goofy promo for it. They certainly didn't strike me as good enough performers to be proper country artists.

Aren't those sauna suit what the Griswald's neighbors wore in Christmas Vacation? :D

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

I believe so.

"Great for Arabian Nights" got a huge laugh out of me, A+

Yo! That Nutcracker is brutal!! And seriously that magic eraser stuff was frightening as well...

Had a poster of "the kramer" in my dorm room in university lol. I would get the sucker ordering it

Oh I've been waiting for this one, and I didn't even know it!

Sergai once thought C.O.D Meant the captain owns Detroit . Yes at one point he though the captain from captain and Tennille owned Detroit . This was after Ben gave Sergai a set of the captain an tennille dolls for his birthday. Ed got a thunder agents mug and shirt set . While they both got a signed photo of weird Paul and a autograph of santo gold .

Hilarious commentary. Big fan of your videos and keep up the great, odd, content.

10:59 I swear this specific infomercial was filmed in Boston, I can easily recognize MBTA signs without much trouble 24:51 You'd be glad I always pick the quesadilla when ordering from there

The Durasteel set is actually a great bargain of fine products.

The "pager watch" 9:38 commercial... didn't realize Bowie needed money that badly at that time. RIP

My friends have ‘The Kramer’. They purchased it online sometime in the last 10 years.

A "Certificate of Completion" you say...

you'd think they'd stop selling that Kramer print in 2006! Not gonna lie, that framed print, along with the Clinton Watch and the RISK! advert have to count for some sort of golden moment in the history of the channel.

The wild card looks like it was a PSA

Notwithstanding Michael Richards's post-Seinfeld self-destruction, that painting of him in his iconic role of Kramer is a masterpiece.

Comes with his own foley artist X)) made my day

17:50 when this commercial was originally aired grandpa was probably still being prescribed his own amphetamines.

Welcome back Ben, been catching up on the videos on the channel.

"Risk" is a legit catchy tune!

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

I thought it sounded like someone had taken an especially dopey hoedown and adapted it to rock music.

I'm glad someone else saw that "Risk" ad.

Woman wearing an Easy Stripper shirt is just as funny as The Wonder Boner fish deboner ad. I mean...you can't make that shit up! XD

Got Tom Waits Step Right Up in my head now

I'm getting old, because any audio recorded on non-hi-fi videotape just sounds like the adults from Peanuts to me.

Here I got to the water-powered-brush, and was fully expecting something that might be actually pretty cool when I lose hand mobility (and is totally only on late-night TV ads because we're weird about marketing aid products), but the knife sharpener... ah well

The Sauna Suit😂

The Memo Mate dad was in front of the Kenmore MBTA station in Boston.

"Phone Relief frees you up for Hand Relief!"

I only question is was that gal making a cake or pancakes . Cause I don’t think the phone flavor will do any good .

Wow! Most of these ads look like they're from the 1980s and 90s, but the only ones I remember are the paint stripper and the blinds. Either I watched less TV in those years than I thought, or maybe these just aired on channels I never watched?

i dont need useful information, i got all the vital information i need from lori beth denberg, so im fine, so dont worry about it

@plawson8577

Жыл бұрын

“If you try to go after a Bear with a Tennis Racket and a Can of Spray Paint. Congratulations, you’re the Stupidest Person in the World!”

I enjoy your content man you're funny

that sauna suit gave me Buck Rogers In the 25th Century vibes, for some odd reason.

I actually would buy the mood T-shirt and ring. Very kitsch! Best though was the XS comment "you don't care who's bed you end up in." That tickled me😁

The man in the shutters ad at 15:56 is Paul Eels, a popular Arkansas TV personality and sports announcer. Sadly, he died in a car accident some years ago.

As to the "Vortex" dishwasher, tap water powered "motors" have been a thing since the late 19th century. They were used to power all kinds of shit. Of course, they are a waste of water, but in the pre-electric days I guess any motive power was welcome. At least THIS use case kinda makes sense.

The first couple of products really got me in the mood.

Some really good riffs here! 🤣 My grandmother had a Mood Lipstick but I was the one that used it. It turned my lips a dark pink. I've never seen the mood shirt, wonder if anybody wore those back then.

Woah EPCOT music at 25:10!

RISK!

I probably would have bought 50% of the household items. Good thing those phone numbers were all dead.

25:24 At least John Ritter manscaped during his wardrobe malfunction!

28:00 Oh the pain!

GW Gacy killed boys with a Happy Hugger, legend goes...

Don't pretend an X-10 isn't totally up your alley as far as weird, obsolete electronics gear. :p Although it's not A/V, it's definitely kinda tech ephemera of the era you tend to focus on that has basically completely disappeared from use in the modern day. I'd say stuff like hue and other stuff replaced it but the "smart home" fad kinda died off for a while I think, until the newer stuff came around.

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

Admittedly, I'd looked on fleabay when I was researching the episode. The best price I could get on a complete set (which I'd have to piece together) was looking to be around $150 after shipping--way too much for a Ben's Junk-ism that I'll never touch again.

@veganguy74

Жыл бұрын

LGR talked about the X10 system some years back: kzread.info/dash/bejne/aJlpztyBpNvKh5c.html

@OddityArchive

Жыл бұрын

I'd forgotten all about that one (and, yes, I do watch and enjoy a lot of Clint's videos)! Completely forgot about the later, home computer version(s) too. That ad just screamed late 70's so much that the revised versions just kinda dropped out of my mind.

As long as there's a demand for dumb stuff, there's always those commercials for said dumb stuff. And now, they're unleashed unto the Internet. 😩

So how many people got leukemia from that oven cleaner?

At least one of these commercials, namely the Bill Clinton watch, is a waste of the legendary Mark Elliott (who was on basically every Disney trailer for years)

YES!!!

I feel a Thigh Master commercial coming on

ROFL! Canadian Ostridge Diaphragms! That's going to be my new go-to motto.

Liquid Eraser: aka aircraft paint stripper?

Benny-boy, any idea whatever happened to Vapor Brite oven cleaner? 🤨

I'll take one of everything.