Noguchi trickles down to IKEA

Noguchi's lamps for Akari have been knocked off many times. Even Noguchi's designs were essentially simplified paper lamps that have been made for centuries. Of course, IKEA has knocked them off before - but poorly until now. The latest versions are plump and fine and cheap as chips.

Forbidden Fruits?

Here's a painful exercise in branding for you. The messages include "bite me" and "live 4 ever." If you eat them will you sparkle?

Relax with Relax with Poäng

		That's been added to the IKEA Lovers group.

My complaint to IKEA is not so much that it has produced another in an endless line of knock-offs but that it took so long to make this one. The Poäng lounger is the obvious distillation of Breuer, Aalto and Mathsson if not half as elegant. Still, the price is quite soothing.

lounger is the obvious distillation of Breuer, Aalto and Mathsson if not half as elegant. Still, the price is quite soothing.

Room & Board's latest knock-off

It's hard to protect modern wing chair designs. McCobb's original is elegant but hardly groundbreaking. It is, however, distinct enough to identify as the source of R&B's copy. The primary difference is found in the squareness of the arms, but in the round it's even more similar than this photo reveals. What's more irritating is their description of the chair as "a modern interpretation of a European club chair." No! It's as American as the designer you copied!

Belly Flops

I found these at Dollar Tree. Where else can you buy irregular candy?

ZOTZ

Until day before yesterday, I hadn't eaten a Zotz for years. They're sour, fizzy and capable of dissolving teeth in a flash. I'm limiting myself to 6 per year.

Dead List 2009

Another list that had been sporadic but will now be made annual is the assortment of things that are either dead, phasing out or otherwise not worth your attention in 2010.

1. The Beckhams
There was a time when celebs required at least a modicum of talent to maintain tabloid buzz. That time is over.

2. Desktop PCs
Cell phone computing, low cost notebook computers and networked console gaming have displaced the boxes.

3. Project Runway
There's another season coming, but who cares? Absence on Bravo, a long delay and an arguably boring string of episodes simply sucked the momentum right out of a series that was already coasting.

4. Palm
The Pre and the Pixi are surely the last.

5. Hipsters
Your paraphernalia is now mainstream. You can no longer differentiate.

6. Blog Music
Today's polished pop system is similar to the late seventies music industry. Only the creation of a handful of producers (with questionable talent) gets played.

7. Educational Cable Channels
National Geographic and The Science Channel are still clinging on to being informative, but for A&E and TLC, all hope is lost. History and Discovery are starting to lose their grip as well.

8. Network TV
How many months before they're just another cable option?

9. Dieting
Fat is something you are until you can afford surgeries, a chef and a trainer. Instead of doing the obvious (eating properly, exercise, reasonable expectations), most tubby folks (self included lately) have tried nothing and it hasn't worked.

10. Using more than 140 characters to blog
Oops.