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Kitsch
The joy of stuff

Strange and sublime prezzies for your people

by MATTHEW HAYS

Perhaps one of the most hilarious and festively kitschy pop-up books ever created has arrived in time for the holiday season. It’s Graceland: An Interactive Pop-Up Tour, written by Chuck Murphy and with a foreword by Priscilla Presley herself (Quirk Books, $50). This allows you to take a virtual visit to the famous mansion, including peeks inside the King’s music room, TV room and Jungle Room. As well as cool pop-up features, you can also browse through Elvis’s record collection, see what’s in his fridge and flip through a family photo album. The King lives on in this wondrously tacky bit of pop-up paraphernalia.

Chronicle Books has followed up its most excellent Wonder Woman and Batman card series, and is this year turning out a selection of Spider-Man correspondence. There are the self-sealing letters ($12.95) and the 20 assorted greeting cards ($16.99). Fans of nature will appreciate Les Beletsky’s new hardcover book, Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song (Becker & Mayer, $56). This 368-page, exhaustively researched volume gives detailed one-page descriptions of different species of feathered ones. But the best part is the attached speaker and electronic device, which allows you to choose a bird and then listen to its distinctive song just by pressing a button.

And Dynasty diva Joan Collins has written another how-to book, The Art of Living Well: Looking Good, Feeling Great (Sourcebooks, $28). This 224-page tome delivers all of Collins’s secrets about throwing the perfect Christmas soirée, exercising and eating right and even gives us details of her own wedding. Perhaps Collins’s best bit of advice: if you’re dating a man who drinks and boasts about his sexual exploits outside of the relationship, she warns, just dump him!

Say it with silk

By far the most decadent gift I came across this season is the most unbelievably comfortable bathrobe I’ve ever had the good luck to rub up against. Deluxe Bathrobes (Soho Design, $139) are made from a blend of Italian silk, acrylic and linen, and my God are they soft and plush. This is an ideal gift for the lounger in your life (and let’s face it, in Montreal we’ve got no shortage of them). When you touch this bathrobe, you will be sold. Available in several sizes at Casa (1101 Laurier W.).

Those who fish for gifts in retail outlets may have noticed one of the strangest pissing matches ever to be ignited between chains. Each year, both Hallmark Cards and Carlton Cards produce a respective line of wacky Christmas ornaments. Someone decided to get creative in the design department, mining the depths of pop culture for inspiration. If you thought Christmas had become too commercial, well, you’ll find even more reason to feel that way when you behold these ornaments. Hallmark sells Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments (the Enterprise Transporter ornament, at $39.99, was sold out by mid-November), Winnie the Pooh and Barbie editions, a Grinch ornament ($18.99) and even a golf ball that will hang from the tree ($13.99, though I don’t know what would stop someone from making their own). Hallmark has also worked to be racially sensitive and inclusive, selling a black angel ornament for $18.99.

Not to be outdone, Carlton is selling official Laverne and Shirley and Happy Days ornaments, honouring these sitcom staples (at $25.99, each ornament plays part of the series’ respective theme songs). Then there is the deluxe Christmas at Graceland, which also plays Elvis singing a Christmas-related tune ($51). There are even Godzilla and King Kong ornaments ($33 each), though I’m still not clear on what the connection between these rather destructive monsters and the birth of Jesus is. Carlton committed what could be seen as an ornament faux pas a few years ago, when in an apparent fit of patriotic fervour, they issued a “Salute Our Troops” line of tree decorations. These included one of dear old Santa—riding a tank! There are still ornaments to please the right-wing war monger in your life: Carlton has created a John Wayne ornament ($32.95).

All about Amherst

But for those of you who want to completely and fully buck the sights, sounds and products of the shopping mall—and get an entirely unique, one-of-a-kind gift for your loved one—I would recommend high-tailing it over to Amherst, south of Sherbrooke. Begin at Sputnik (2120 Amherst), a shop full of the weird and wonderful, retro light fittings and drastic plastic oddities. Next door is Zéphyr (2112 Amherst), where an eclectic assortment of furniture and mirrors is also for sale. Jack’s (1892 Amherst) has an incredible selection of teak furniture, almost all of it in mint condition. Further south is Antiquités A-Z (1840 Amherst), where retro phones, clocks and a motley collection of furniture pack the space. Across the street is Antiquités Curiosités (1769 Amherst), featuring an incredible range of chandeliers and light fittings, Cité Déco (1761 Amherst), featuring moderately priced furniture, and Retro Stop (1853 Amherst), where you can find framed posters and photos as well as chairs, sofas and clocks. Finally, Le 1863 (1863 Amherst) is perhaps the kitschiest of the lot, with phones, dolls and games guaranteed to ignite a wave of nostalgia. An afternoon on this strip feels as much like a visit to a museum as time spent shopping.