Category: Contemporary Kitsch

Is Your Toddler One With The Rhythm Nation?

Gilt Members who wish to dress their kids like little members of Janet’s Rhythm Nation can now do so less expensively. This military jacket from Beetlejuice (the kids clothing label, not the film) is available in sizes 2T though girls 8.  Alternately, parents of Devil Babies, as seen in last night’s Cougar Town, might also find this jacket useful — as prep for a straight jacket, or an actual military school. Which means maybe there’s more of a connection to Beetlejuice the movie than previously thought.

Regularly $103; Gilt member price, just $43. (While supplies last; sale ends in three days and some odd hours.)

Of Pandas & Puppies On Porches

I have a retro hydraulic panda chair on my porch. (What? You don’t?!)

It’s the sort used by hip and kitschy beauty salons for kids to sit on while getting a hair cut.

So, anyway, I’m out on the porch with the new puppy, a Basset Hound puppy named Mr. Oliver Puddington (photos can be seen on my Facebook page; videos are at YouTube). And I hear this noise… The softest of tearing sounds. I looked around to see what the pup had found.

There he is, at the base of the hydraulic panda chair, his nose on the metal hydraulic tube part, and I’m just in time to see him pull away — and hear the soft tearing noise as his delicate scenting-hound nose is ripped from it. Mr. Oliver Puddington just had a Christmas Story flagpole moment.

No yipes or whines. Not even when he repeated it.

Thrice.

While I about wet my pants.

Because puppies are slow and I guess he needed to make sure it was a bad thing to do.

Anyway, his tongue is fine. Though he still let’s it hang out of his mouth a bit while sleeping…

The better to make the oddest sucking sounds.

Puppies are weird.

Rock The Retro Red

The Crosley Spinnerette USB Turntable isn’t just old skool in looks, this retro-styled portable phonograph not only plays all 33 1/3, 45 and 78 rpm records, but can convert them to MP3s. There are built in speakers (which also allows you to play your iPod or other player), a USB cord, software for converting included.

The Circle Of Kitsch

Remember back, when the Internet was young, and the most fascinating thing was to search for the exotic… Finding pages published by people far away from you, on subjects and things you’d never heard of before. Now, one of the most important things is to find things right in your own backyard. Things you know about — enough to want, anyway. If the price is right. Things you want, and at the best price; thanks, Internet.

Sure, some of the exotic thrills are still a large part of our daily Internet use. But beyond the entertainment and educational value, so much of our time is now spent comparison shopping — and we seek the added bonus of supporting our local economies. Well, maybe it’s just the convenience of saving on shipping combined with the instant gratification of a local pickup. Tomato, tomatoe; the results are the same.

I was tooling about such a place, www.CentrSource.ca, “Things you love, where you live.” Unexpectedly, however, I found myself discovering the delightful Kitsch Hotel, a youth hostel in Lisbon, Portugal. It’s not near home, but it is a thrifty way to travel. And it’s loaded with kitsch!

Photos via The Kitsch Hostel Blog. A number of clever ideas seen here sent me back to CentrSource for project supplies. …Ah, the circle of kitsch.