I Got You Babe
February 2, 2021 2:06 PM Subscribe
The RC-6025 pulls a helluva performance. No doubt you can still picture its black flaps with their no-nonsense white Helvetica numbers as they fall, womp, and change 5:59 AM to 6:00 – again, and again, and again ... This clock is not just a piece of set decoration. It's a character unto itself. It has dramatic close-ups, stunt doubles, voice actors, and even a catchphrase: "Okay, campers, rise and shine..." from An ode to the flip-action Panasonic RC-6025
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The main link in the FPP is buggy for me; it keeps crashing and reloading, so I have read the first paragraph six times now.
Is this a meta-comment about the movie?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:12 PM on February 2, 2021 [7 favorites]
Is this a meta-comment about the movie?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:12 PM on February 2, 2021 [7 favorites]
...that would be utterly brilliant if true, and I kinda wish it were true.
(b/c works fine for me? bad ad load perhaps?)
posted by aramaic at 2:17 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
(b/c works fine for me? bad ad load perhaps?)
posted by aramaic at 2:17 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Watch it every year. Still trying to find the witch in the one scene in the background who curses Phil to start the whole deal.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 2:20 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 2:20 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Sorry, I don't immediately know what that is, but Helvetica it ain't. Not even Neue Bold Condensed. The sides of the zero are never ever parallel in Helvetica.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:33 PM on February 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:33 PM on February 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
I love flip clocks. So visceral. If you're handy, and want one of your own, here are plans for a business-card size split-flap display.
posted by Popular Ethics at 2:35 PM on February 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by Popular Ethics at 2:35 PM on February 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
I love old clock radios like this. The flip clocks are extra-special.
Also love old tabletop radios. My Panasonic RE-6515 sounds so lovely.
posted by Caxton1476 at 2:58 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
Also love old tabletop radios. My Panasonic RE-6515 sounds so lovely.
posted by Caxton1476 at 2:58 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
My best friend in 1962 had a clock like that in his house, so I guess it wasn't an RC-6025 .
I suppose it was the first digital clock I'd seen.
Similar but more fun were the train station boards. The one in Penn Station NYC gets a shout-out in Ann Patchett's The Dutch House.
posted by MtDewd at 3:03 PM on February 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
I suppose it was the first digital clock I'd seen.
Similar but more fun were the train station boards. The one in Penn Station NYC gets a shout-out in Ann Patchett's The Dutch House.
posted by MtDewd at 3:03 PM on February 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
I got a similar (different brand??) flip clock-radio when I was 13 or so. It wasn't as snazzy looking as the one in TFA, it was very square and had vinyl wood-styled veneer.
That clock was a HUGE upgrade over the older-style electric analog clock I'd been using, with the godawful buzzer alarm. I hated that damn clock, and the daily hell of starting my morning by bolting awake to it screaming in my ear. I resorted to wrapping it in a bath towel, which helped but not enough.
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to replace it! Being able to wake up peacefully to music playing at low volume was wonderful (though I did eventually decide to turn the volume up a tad after the too-quiet music just invaded my dream instead of waking me up). And having a snooze button! 🤗 I can still remember drifting off to sleep at night to the almost-inaudible flaps of the time changes.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:10 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
That clock was a HUGE upgrade over the older-style electric analog clock I'd been using, with the godawful buzzer alarm. I hated that damn clock, and the daily hell of starting my morning by bolting awake to it screaming in my ear. I resorted to wrapping it in a bath towel, which helped but not enough.
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to replace it! Being able to wake up peacefully to music playing at low volume was wonderful (though I did eventually decide to turn the volume up a tad after the too-quiet music just invaded my dream instead of waking me up). And having a snooze button! 🤗 I can still remember drifting off to sleep at night to the almost-inaudible flaps of the time changes.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:10 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
When my wife started blogging she found an artist had a flip clock art installation (by Rebecca Baumann) in a local gallery here - it was mesmeric, so tactile, so much more real than most moving art that I've seen.
posted by unearthed at 3:13 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by unearthed at 3:13 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
Posted on Groundhog Day. Heh heh - I see what you did there :)
Also, my aunt and I were just talking about this clock with the flip numbers. She is looking for one as a sentimental memento. I guess eBay?
posted by sundrop at 3:38 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also, my aunt and I were just talking about this clock with the flip numbers. She is looking for one as a sentimental memento. I guess eBay?
posted by sundrop at 3:38 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
If you're in San Francisco, check out the scheduled ferry departure times on the Solari board flip sign (YT Video) inside the SF Ferry Building. The sign was installed in 2013, and it is also available in clock form!
posted by JDC8 at 4:19 PM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by JDC8 at 4:19 PM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
Sorry, I don't immediately know what that is, but Helvetica it ain't.
Maybe Social Gothic Medium?
posted by nushustu at 5:38 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Maybe Social Gothic Medium?
posted by nushustu at 5:38 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Greg_Ace, was it a General Electric flip clock? I had one of those, faux wood grain and all.
posted by mollweide at 5:51 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 5:51 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
Unfortunately that was too many decades ago for me to recall the brand...
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:11 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:11 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
mollweide: I had one of those GE flip clocks! And I haven't thought about it in years, but a quick image search brought back all sorts of memories like how you had to dial all the way around during the backwards time change, and dialing in the college radio station from the next town over late at night with the analog dial, which was the only time I could get reception.
posted by indexy at 6:52 PM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by indexy at 6:52 PM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
Greg_Ace's description of the barely audible flipping hit home for me, and I swear you could hear the slowly rotating mechanism as well.
posted by mollweide at 7:49 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 7:49 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I had a flip clock that occasionally flipped a half-digit off the spindle. It was making new numbers!
posted by user92371 at 8:59 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by user92371 at 8:59 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
Mine was probably a GE--I'm almost dead certain that it's this one, since that four-position switch on the front is intensely familiar to me--and it kind of ruled my world when I was a teenager. I'd listen to my favorite hard rock station in Chicago (WMET, which no longer exists) as late as I could get away with.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:02 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:02 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
(slaps roof of clock radio) this flip-clock fan website can hold so many posts in it
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:43 PM on February 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:43 PM on February 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
I still have one of these. Worked last time it was plugged in. In spite of the fact that my college roommate, circa 1985, had a candle burning that dripped wax onto it and burned a hole through the top of it...
posted by Windopaene at 11:01 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 11:01 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Flip-clock screensaver for your Mac/PC or iOS device (Sonny & Cher not included): https://fliqlo.com
posted by blueberry at 1:11 AM on February 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by blueberry at 1:11 AM on February 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
A guide to hack your flip alarm clock to only play "I got you babe" at Instructables.
posted by St. Oops at 3:30 AM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by St. Oops at 3:30 AM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
Much nostalgia, very flip. Many decades ago, I was so proud to have sync'ed my clock radio to the very second. Just thinking of the simultaneous news radio "beeeep" and the noisy hour flip clickety clack releases all sorts of endorphins.
posted by whuppy at 8:30 AM on February 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by whuppy at 8:30 AM on February 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
From the aforementioned Flip Clock Fans, The Search for The World’s Biggest Flip Clock (alternate YouTube link).
posted by cenoxo at 4:32 PM on February 4, 2021
posted by cenoxo at 4:32 PM on February 4, 2021
...and the Smallest Flip Clock - The Derby Swissonic (alternate YouTube link).
posted by cenoxo at 4:42 PM on February 4, 2021
posted by cenoxo at 4:42 PM on February 4, 2021
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posted by wabbittwax at 2:09 PM on February 2, 2021 [6 favorites]