Fads are not meant to be understood. But some are beyond all explanation.
 
 

Hello Kitty. Was it Kahara Tomomi (I ABSOLUTELY refuse to spell it "Kahala" the way she does, and I cannot help wonder what that girl is going to do at age 40) who said "Oooh, Tomo-chan is a Hello Kitty junkie!" (like what self-respecting human over the age of oh, I don't know, five, would use "Tomo-chan" as the first person?) and started a national and then an international trend?

Granted, the character is cute. I confess to having Sanrio stuff myself (please refer to the background I use for my "Ayako's Vital Statistics" page). Heck, the current workplace has Hello Kitty adhesive tape, Monkichi memo pads, and Pocchakko pen holders, not to mention the pens with the Hello Kitty attatched to it that flashes lights when you click it (compliments of a particular drug rep...) But Hello Kitty mineral water? Hello Kitty Cell Phone? Hello Kitty Disposable Diapers? Hello Kitty toaster? (I kid you not. It makes toast that has a little picture of Hello Kitty.) Hello Kitty sanitary napkins? (Have to buy those and see what they are like...let me get back to you when I do.) Whose narcotics locker did these people break into?
 
 

Beanie Babies. Cute, yes. And the original price of several dollars for a little stuffed animals is not unreasonable. But, seriously. Do you want to shell out $800 for a bunch of plastic beads wrapped in scraps of colored fabric and a piece of paper tied to it telling you that it has a birthday (oh, please) and a badly written poem about itself? What about Canadian Beanie Babies being valuable because they have (spare me!) not one, but two tags? And the restriction of taking large numbers of Beanie Babies over the US-Canada border? (Shout out to Ennien, who told me about this.) Worse yet, how about those kiddies that want that $800 Hippo Beanie Baby, and Mom having to tell the kid that he can't have it because some collectors jacked up the price above like triple their MONTHLY GROCERY BILL? IMHO, toys should be cuddled, drooled on, muddied, stickied and loved, not put in some kind of glass case 'cause they cost more than the per capita income of some newly industrializing nation (paraphrasing Steve).

Hey, if I had $800 to spend on something useless, I'd go buy that digital camera I've been drooling over for the past three months. (Well, at least I didn't say I'd give it to good will!)

I shudder at the thought of the Beanie Baby craze making its way to this side of the pond.
 
 

I just saw the most terrifying thing on a news clip this morning...a Louis Vitton soccer ball.

Um...I don't think I am going to start on that one...
 

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