Best Kitsch Ever!

A plug for James Lileks, author of the book "Interior desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible 170s". Who can resist a title like that? Especially when the book cover is orange and avacado green with a hint of harvest gold! Certainly not those of us old enough to actually have lived through this time period. Heck, my first apartment (1973) had orange shag carpeting, orange counter tops in the kitchen and orange drapes!!! It was brand new and the latest thing! The book contains 176 fun-filled pages of "eye-jangling photos in full color that actually appeared in well-regarded design magazines of the era" with comments by the author. He's a humorist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

While you are checking that out at Amazon.com, be sure to look at his first book, "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" (inspired by 1950's cookbooks). My favorite is the erect wieners standing proudly in a pot of beans. How'd they do that? (Okay, maybe I don't really want to know.)

Of course, James has a site (Lileks.com) with a zillion different cultural oddities: funny dog pictures, ads from the entire 20th century (including a diet consisting of Mazola corn oil and little else) and lots more. Enjoy!