As many a Seinfeld fan will remember, the J Peterman company and catalogue was both the shining glory and bane of Elaine's existence. Its pompous, verbose descriptions of wildly useless apparel and accessories made for some great comedic moments. And while the catalogue does contain its fair share of foolhardy fashion folly - only Colleen McCulloch and Joey's agent Estelle on Friends could really get away with wearing a denim kaftan.
it also contains all manner of interesting and rather stylish pieces.

Granted, the necklace is quite cool. Still not ready for a kaftan though.

You know the drill:

Denim Caftan (No. 2481), made of 6-oz. cotton denim (washed for softness). Simple V-neckline, side seam pockets, 14" side slits.

Color: Blue Denim.

Women's sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL. Imported.

One thing about the J Peterman catalogue that intrigues me is their use of illustrations, rather than actual photographs. It means the clothes have that vintage boho well-travelled look, but it's really hard to imagine what they'd look like in real life.

Then again, perhaps these classic pieces would look good on anyone.

(Blazer, blouse, bodice, jacket.)

Then again, maybe not. I do not wish to sully my pretty blog with this photo. More can be found here at People of Walmart, if you really need to see more.

J Peterman specialises in all kinds of finery, including culinary canteens and antique rulers:
 

While I'm not in possession of a culinary canteen (yet), I did manage to score a very good antique folding ruler - a Boxwood Rabone No 1380* - at the Rocky Swap last year for just ten bucks. It doesn't have a spirit level, but it didn't cost me $295 either.

Regardless, the J Peterman catalogue, while filled with amusing bon mots about the acquisition of items of such largesse as a thousand-dollar grapes carrier and cart, really overdoes it at times. Witness the story of the discovery of real rattan in Hong Kong:

He was 89, wiry and quick, filled with the thin energy of rice and winter soup, and history. Born in the reign of the Dowager Empress. Lived through the revolution of Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, the Cultural Revolution, Nixon in China, and Tiananmen. He was pleased when I asked him about his handsome suitcase. He'd had it since World War II; it was real rattan.

Real rattan. A jungle vine. Extraordinarily tough, also used to make Malacca canes. That's what these hampers are woven of…and they have the same kind of leather straps and brass hardware as Mr. Kwok's suitcase, too.

J Peterman was so inspired he immediately devised a set of rattan hampers, only $495. Yes, they're lovely, but the accompanying story always brings to mind the J Peterman of Seinfeld, and I have to laugh. It doesn't stop me from browsing, and dreaming. There's a Navy peacoat with right over left buttoning for women I'm coveting right now, despite the heat and humidity.

*This means nothing to me either; it just sounds impressive. *Googles* Holy Catherine Zeta Jones - one of these is worth $75 in the US! Yowser.

Current Mood: hot hot hot
Current Music: a treat from the Future Dictionary CD

commenced well before the decade ended and the new year began, and so as such shall not be considered a new year resolution.

Rather, it's an acknowledgement that too much stuff is indeed sometimes enough, and the removal of some items of no-longer-useful or past-its-use-by-date stuff will enable the purchase of other stuff, or the acquisition of more space, which is always nice too.

In the meantime, the most enjoyable part of the festive season for some among us is the wrapping paper; especially if its made of tissue:



The simple things in life are often the best.

Current Mood: dilated pupils = back away!
Current Music: jazz on the internet radio

The humble Kiwi bach is a beachside institution in New Zealand, filled with all manner of bric-a-brac and random furniture, constructed from available local materials and sometimes scrap.

Here's a couple from the world wide webistry:



Everything about that sentence was twee, wasn't it?

These nifty little beach houses have been the subject of books and websites, and often use kitschy furnishings and fittings, initially because these objects were regarded as quite the latest thing to have don't you know Barbara, and later because they became quite the thing to have because they're so damn cute and retro and all:


In fact, baches are now promoted as being Retro-themed: which is quite the clever idea when you think about it. This is a far cry from the first baches, which were little more than lean-to's and sheds. This one is a good example: very rustic.


Well, I'd stay there. Better yet, I'd just compile my own bric-a-brac - exhibit A my house, Your Honour, find a suitable little bach of my own:


Ah, lovely.

Current Mood: naughty cat
Current Music: hotel california - gypsy kings

Hey bookworms, just curious...does anyone know of an online resource to help me plug in my Amazon wishlist and find the same books in other online shops, but without the exhorbitant cost of postage from the US of A? The relative cheapness of the books (especially though the secondary sellers, yo) is appealing, but at last count the postage was costing more than the sum total of the books I was buying.

Besides going through every item on there and searching through the myriad online bookshops available elsewhere, that is.

Failing that...anyone wanna go through my entire Amazon wishlist and find the same books in Australian-based online bookshops for me? There's five bucks in it for ya!

Current Mood: stumped
Current Music: bad sitcom theme music

News from the other coast about a young girl, lost in the bush on a hotter than hot day. She was lost most of her life, and struggled to fit in whereever she went - shifted from one home to another as a child, and sent to boarding school when her tragic upbringing meant she couldn't quite cope with what passes for familial life for the very upwordly mobile. An underdog in the truest sense of the world, her story is a shocking one because it involves family friends, her sad end mirroring her troubled and ultimately lonely life. Poor kid.

Current Mood: ack. no good.
Current Music: slowly turning fan, barking geckos

Of all the complex German words available to us, surely schadenfreude is the most interesting.

Loosely defined as 'taking pleasure from the misfortune of others' it can be characterised by two words in the Australian vernacular: sucked in. When something bad happens to a person we don't like much in Australia, it can be customary, but rather uncharitable, for some people to say sucked in to them. Not very nice, but it comes from a place that's not very nice anyway, as we shall see.

If schadenfreude were a song, it would be a general response of sucked in to the characters portrayed in Alanis Morrisette's Ironic.

Let's face it; they don't have much luck: it rains on their wedding day; they can only find ten thousand spoons when what they really need is a knife, and the love of their life walks in to the room with a lovely wife. A person who practices schadenfreude would smirk and enjoy that person's misfortune, and possibly even find joy out of the incorrect usage of ironic by Alanis.

For those who need a visual representation of the tenets of schadenfreude, please see exhibit A: Nelson, from The Simpsons:


His mocking 'ha-ha', directed at whomever falls, trips or generally faces misfortune in his vicinity, is the physical embodiment of not only the ideology of schadenfreude, but also the context from which it arises. Nelson is a bully, and as we know, bullies suffer low esteem: they take out their frustrations on others instead of dealing with their personal problems directly. And whaddya know? People who practice schadenfreude have low self-esteem too.

Now, schadenfreude in animated sitcoms is used as a comic device, so I'm not saying it has no place. Married With Children takes the concept of schadenfreude and makes a whole family out of it, to somewhat great effect. The show went for ages if that's any guide to how much people like watching that kind of thing. And Seinfeld is a show built on schadenfreude: without it, Jerry, Elaine and co really would be talking about nothing.

But schadenfreude in real life is an altogether different thing: it doesn't get any canned laughter, for one thing.

Schadenfreude is easy to spot: it's the person skiting from a hollow victory with a 'ha ha, I win, you lose' - I've seen this on a number of occasions, and immediately lost respect for that person. If I'm in a car with someone and their reaction to a car crash or breakdown is 'sucked in', it gives me some major pause for thought. It's like looking at a person with a fresh set of prescription glasses: oh hey, you think. You're a jerk.

The very act of schadenfreude should be a red flag: this isn't a nice person. Let's face it; if that's what they're saying to those poor people on the side of the road, what are they going to say about you eventually? On the very few occasions I have felt all schadenfreudean, when I'm not feeling very good and the twin horns of jealousy protrude from my hairline, I have immediately corrected myself, lest the kind of karma that is going to befall those who practice schadenfreude regularly comes my way.

So. Every broken down car and person left stranded because they miss the last bus home is not given a hearty Nelson-like 'ha-ha': even if that person is a jerk. I'm such a softie at heart I actually have empathy for hopeless cases like Denis Ferguson, the paedophile in NSW who keeps getting hounded out of house and home. I imagine it's because I'm not a very black and white person, and I'm not the sort who takes joy out of seeing others suffer.

When I said the word schadenfreude to a German friend, and apparently pronounced it correctly, she was quite impressed that I knew the word, and its meaning. I also know the word Weltschmerz and that kind of impressed her too. 'Lynda, where do you learn these words?' she exclaimed. Books, I said. Just from books. The latter I learned from books: the former I learned at university - I always knew I found the attribute in people distasteful, and finally discovered the word that encapsulated it. But we had a long discussion about schadenfreude, what it is, and where it comes from, and we both agreed that it is surely one of the worst character traits a person can have.

I'm sure I'm supposed to dislike greed or sloth far worse, but schadenfreude is up there with disingenuousness for me: it's just another kind of dishonesty really. I've tried my best for a long time not to practice either, and I guess if I have any goals for the next decade, it's to make sure I keep doing that.

Current Mood: blue moon
Current Music: something quiet in the background

It has been raining buckets, I mean just ridiculously large buckets like these in the past few days:


Welcome rain, no doubt: it has created green grass where previously there was just dirt and the remnants of a lawn. It would be great to know exactly how much rain has fallen over the past few days except that a rain gauge cannot be located, despite some extensive searching in more than one shop.

Regardless, all reports are that it has been raining a lot, and thus rain day activities like spring culling have been in effect.

Current Mood: shut down
Current Music: nina simone sings us home