Friday, April 15, 2011

old things

Have you seen Google's header today? 

I used to watch Charlie Chaplin films when I was a kid. And a lot of Laurel and Hardy. TV has changed so much. And why wouldn't it? No video. Christmas films for Christmas only. And as four year olds we all had concentrations spans that would rival mine today. 

For better for worse? Sure, there's too much now. Back to simple would be good maybe. Or maybe just more boring. There's no question that people's minds are as beautifully creative as they ever were, maybe more so given the tools at our fingertips. There's just too many people, and too much focus on money, so we let in all the cheap shit too. Get rid of the plastic, and heal the world a little, I say. 

I had a whole nostalgia toy conversation last night - ah, the eighties, the eighties. Then today I read Rhi's post about the wooden toys her mother made her, and her mother, that seemed strangely in sync with my conversation. Rhi's blog is beautiful, the current posts' photos are a treat. People keep playing wailing the  siren of how blogging's dead, but I don't really see it myself. 

Anyway, I've derailed myself. Those old black and white funnies were a big part of my entertainment growing up, but they're gone for my kids. I wonder is that sad or just natural progression. They've a load of other things instead, maybe. Like, when Olivia was small, I wanted to get her the old Fisher Price phone on wheels, not new flip mobiles like they were selling then. And then I thought, for god's sake, it's anachronistic, she has no frame of reference for a dial phone, why give it to her? This is her world now! 


This google image page is a delight, though. The pool! The record player! God, all of it. Forget what I said about plastic. Keep me off ebay, thank god I've no money! The message of this post is a little conflicted, perhaps. 

7 comments:

Rhi@FlourChild said...

Hey, I'm glad you liked my post. Thank you for the link :) I want to take photos of the rest of the little wooden people now. My Mum would laugh so much to know that her little creations were featured on the intermerwebs. ;)
I think there is a whole post brewing in me about old wooden toys now, I have others...
We do have the new(ish) Fisher Price dial phone too, and both kids have loved it, though we always chuckle and wonder if they know it's a telephone.
x Rhi
ps. the chocolate on the outside of the cake was applied very very messily: palmfuls of shavings, slapped on to a whipped cream layer. My hands were covered more effectively than the cake...

Jo said...

Excellent, Rhi, that's very gratifying to know :)

I wonder if there's an expensive device we're missing? Like, a chocolate sandblaster?

Looking forward to your other posts!

Ms. Moon said...

I bought Owen that same phone. He was playing with it yesterday. He may not know it's a phone, but he likes the googly eyes. Pun intended.

Martin said...

You have FREAKED me out with this post....

Mwa said...

1) I love Rhi! She's lovely, and I know her in real life. Only I've been messing her about with my sick kids so I haven't seen her in weeks. I hope she's the forgiving kind.

2) I had the same problem with that phone. I loved it, wanted it, thought my kids should have it but wouldn't know what it was. Then I found it in a market stall and my OCD got the better of me because surely this thing was old and dirty and what disease would it give the kids.

3) I wonder what freaked out Martin.

Jo said...

Oh, he just wrote a piece for a dad blog about nostalgia toys using this very item as an example. Synchronicity freaked him out.

Mwa said...

Martin's still writing? I miss him. Where is he hiding then?