Change Your Underwear Twice A Week

Danny Gregory, one of Gothamist's favorite writer-illustrators, recently came out with a new book, Change Your Underwear Twice A week. Change Your Underwear (and we like writing that as well as saying that out loud) is a collection of old school filmstrips from the 40s-70s that helped many Baby Boombers and Gen X-ers understand how to live life. You can see some of the filmstrip at his site. And Gregory spoke to NPR about the book. He has a blog, too; check out this drawing of the cityscape from his balcony - the modern skyline has not only buildings and the old water-tower tanks, but also satellite dishes for more channels. Gregory is also contributing illustrator to The Morning News; here is the archive of his work. We really liked his book, Everyday Matters, and later got an interview with him.

Of course, many people are familiar with some variation on the film strip, even if filmstrips were being phased out in favor of videotapes (Gothamist's personal favorite: The 1970s film about menstruation, where an excited girl yells "I got it!" and then her parents say to each other proudly, "She go it!" and the younger brother says, "Got what?" Bwa ha ha.). The educational film are also a frequent subject of homage on The Simpsons (see a list of Simpsons educational films here on this page about Troy McClure, if you scroll down) - "Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun."