“Reinvented. Remodeled. Reborn.” Thus proclaims the cover of the new Restoration Hardware catalog. According to the message from the chairman inside, RH is giving itself a major makeover. My favorite line: “No longer mere ‘retailers’ of home furnishings, we are now ‘curators’ of the best historical design the world has to offer.” This would be “curators” in the sense of “trying to sell expensive reproductions of objects that are indeed attractive and functional but nevertheless have no business being in people’s living rooms (the five-foot diameter tower clock face) or bathrooms (the Hungarian sleigh).” I don’t follow the home furnishings news, so I don’t know if this change is prompted by the economic downturn, a change in leadership, or just an experiment by the marketing department to see how ludicrous an object they can pass off as “a personal expression of a lifestyle that respects the juxtaposition of form and function.”
I’m making a change too. My blog got hacked in July, but fortunately I had prepared for such an eventuality through a rigorous program of making absolutely no backups. I’ve since upgraded my systems, and my BFFIL was kind and savvy enough to find a bunch of my content where Google had cached it. (Also he fixed a problem with the back end to make the site work, finally. He’s very helpful.) I’ll be reposting that material as I get around to it. With a little more diligence, I hope to avoid a repeat of this experience.
My son, who is two and a half, enjoyed perusing the Restoration Hardware catalog with me. He’s still at the stage where he narrates the scenes that pass before his eyes. As we sit at a traffic light, for instance, he will point out every type of vehicle he sees – some as far as three blocks away. “Yook,* a garbage truck! A mail truck! A red up-and-down car!” (This last is not a lowrider; it is generally an ordinary sedan, but I haven’t figured out how this description applies.) Anyway, we’re looking at the catalog and he points out what he sees, with 67% accuracy. “Bed. Lamp. Walrus.”
I’m sure that’s just the look the RH re-imaginers were going for.
*I hereby pledge to use transliteration of little-kid-speak very sparingly. It seldom reads as cute as it sounds (there’s no way to do justice to DB’s pronunciation of “lamp”), and it quickly becomes tiresome. But “yook,” I just couldn’t resist.
Transliteration of little-kidspeak is awesome. I experience at least one moment per day of such kidspeak that almost bowls me over with its profundity. No need to apologize or censor.