Collections: Bakelite telephones, beercans, modified rubix cubes, radios and tubes, insulators (1) (2), minature cars, pens, novelty lamps, nativities (warning: serious eyesore!), bobble heads and handcuffs.
posted by grumblebee on Oct 16, 2004 - 7 comments

Odd Collections: plastic bags, X-rays, fish posters, air-sickness bags, uggly Fozzies, impaled garden gnomes, owls and bananas.
posted by grumblebee on Aug 28, 2004 - 4 comments

One of my favorite things about surfing the web is stumbling upon someone's magnificent obsession. In order to qualify as a Magnificent Obsession (M.E.) -- at least according to my definition -- the hobby must strike me as slightly-to-extremely insane while, at the same time, fill me with admiration for the hobbyist's discipline. Some M.E.s are about collecting totally useless data (like the main link above), or like this research into EXIT Sign Coloration; or strange items, like Wal-Mart receipts or air-sickness bags. But my favorite M.E.s are the ones that lead to huge expense and huge amounts of time spent building or fixing wonderful, useless objects -- like planetarium projectors or Lost in Space robots, which "can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $35,000 and vary in detail depending on the abilities and resources made available to the builder. A project like this can take months if not years to complete." Know any other good M.E. links?
posted by grumblebee on Oct 4, 2001 - 80 comments