Welcome. This is what my wife calls "a bunch of stupid jokes and pictures of paper bags." She's right about the jokes. She's wrong about the bags: some of them are plastic.

What the critics say: "Utterly unnotable" (Wikipedia editor). "Ridiculous collections #4" (Buzzfeed). Other comments: "As complete wastes of time go, it's a very high quality complete waste of time... An entirely dispensable source of inane comments about a truly trivial subject... A monument to the planet's worst corporate design... An unwelcome reminder of some of the more unpleasant moments in our lives."

Donations (unused, please) of bags not represented in the bag gallery are welcomed -- please mail to this address, and I'll credit you on this site! I am happy to trade any extras that I have. Check out the links to other bag sites, find out how you can use your spare bags, and explore the fascinating world of bag manufacturers. 

Highlights: The design features page reveals the secrets of professional baggery, and the logos page analyses the enigma of airline corporate identities. Search for your favourite bag, browse the bag gallery by country and airline, and check out the biggest, best and worst bags!

143 new bags on display

	I've updated my New Bags list and Gallery, including this nice East African bag. But I still haven't got round to updating the Swaps. Sorry...

Friday, July 16, 2004 

Barfbag vital for computer game

Janusz Tichoniuk has identified what may be the world's first virtual barfbag: "While playing old game (1988) from Sierra - Leisure Suit Larry 2, I've found one of the items to be taken into the inventory as Sickbag." The blue bag has a large, helpful arrow pointing to the opening and the word "BARF" in hard-to-miss yellow capitals. A quick internet search reveals that Leisure Suit gamers ignore this bag at their peril. It's vital to complete the game... along with some hair tonic and matches that you've picked up earlier. See www.geocities.com/sierra-a-rama/lsl/lsl2.html for detailed instructions.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 

Bagsite of the month

If you speak Polish, then Yaho de Ville is the bagsite for you. A nicely presented collection curated by Janusz Tichoniuk. Click on the Torebki icon in the side menu, then Kolekcja to get to the bags. If you're one of the few bag collectors who does not speak Polish but are desperate to know what Janusz says about your favourite bag, then try the free online translation program at www.1-800-translate.com. Just as a guide, it translates Janusz's comments on www.bagophily.com as "The magic world of morbid money-bags. Bags posegregowane alphabetically and geographical. Many valuable, collector's glad, of advertences technical and piece of town gossips. Paul it has a few bags ode crumples and I sprat from him."

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 

Thesis on sanitary bags design

Design student Joerg Meyer has written his diploma thesis on the design of the humble sanitary bag. Joerg's thesis is titled Die unpaessliche Tuete ("The indisposed bag"). It has two volumes: 84 spiral-bound pages of entertaining, informative and detailed text in German, and 100 pages of designs and visual humour in full colour. Both volumes come in a specially printed bag. In keeping with most of the bags described in the thesis, it makes no attempt at haute design. I was delighted to see that Joerg has included an acknowledgement in his thesis to me: I lent him my sanibag collection, and he has made good use of it in his research. When is some enterprising student going to do the same service for airsickness bag design? Full publication details: Meyer, Joerg (2004) Die unpaessliche Tuete: Eine visuelle Hommage an den Hygiene-Beutel. Diploma thesis, Media Faculty, Bauhaus-University Weimar, Germany.

Friday, July 02, 2004 

Underbagged

What do Latvia, Liberia and Lesotho have in common? Yes, they all start with an L. What else? They're all missing from my barfbag collection.

What's the biggest country not represented? Chad. In terms of population? Burkina Faso. Other prominent absentees (coloured red in the map): Georgia and Rwanda. 

Major underrepresented portions of the globe are a swathe of Africa and chunks of Central Asia and Central America.

Donations from these areas especially welcome!

Centres of megabagdiversity are the USA (though many US bags are distressingly plain), China, the UK, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia. 

Click here for details.

For new baggists only

New to the world of bag collecting? Want to get a head start on your collection? Then send me an email, and I'll send you a randomly selected free starter pack from my surplus bag stock. There won't be anything rare, and you may end up with some duplicates, but at least you'll be able to show your friends a few more of these lovely cultural artefacts. Make sure you include your mailing address in your email. Offer good as long as stocks last.

This is where old news goes when it's too old to be news.

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