{"id":6937,"date":"2004-11-26T10:33:39","date_gmt":"2004-11-26T17:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/11\/26\/s-h-o-pp-ing-2.html"},"modified":"2014-11-10T11:44:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T18:44:18","slug":"s_h_o_pp_ing_2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/26\/s_h_o_pp_ing_2.html","title":{"rendered":"S-H-O-PP-ING"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some observations on Christmas shopping for Kitten this year, deep within the bowels of Toys &#8216;R&#8217; Us.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If there is going to be gender-based name-branding on a toy, it will (for girls) probably be Barbie.  If not Barbie, then Disney Princesses (which latter category seems to include any female protagonist in any Disney film, aspirations to royalty notwithstanding).\n<p>For boys, it will inevitably be Spider-Man.  Not sure why, or how Marvel has managed that, but Spidey is ubiquitous for boy&#8217;s branded items.<\/p>\n<li>Given the preponderance of discount material, I gather that Kim Possible is On the way Out.  A pity.  On the other hand, it meant some great deals for Kitten gifts.<\/p>\n<li>Everything old is new again.  If there was a theme toy you loved as a child 20-40 years ago (especially if you were a girl), it&#8217;s back again.  Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, Care Bears &#8230; yeesh.<\/p>\n<li>Amidst the plethora of Disney Princess toys are &#8220;baby princesses&#8221; &#8212; the various princesses as infants.  Which is fine, except &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Why does <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B0002CK9GQ?&#038;tag=davedoesthebl-20\">Baby Princess Ariel<\/a> have &#8230; um &#8230; <em>legs?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I mean, isn&#8217;t she a <em>mermaid?  <\/em>Wasn&#8217;t she a mermaid as an infant?  Why would she have legs &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230; unless, of course, Poseidon, longing for another daughter, spotted a human infant and cut an unholy deal with Ursula to turn her into a mermaid!  Aha!  Gives a whole new spin to the movie, doesn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<li>Of all the brand stamps out there, the least objectionable is probably Hello Kitty.  It tends to be, compared to the others, much more subtle, much more design-oriented, much less incessantly in-your-face.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the execrable videos, it&#8217;s the one Girly Brand I could most easily live with.<\/p>\n<li>The big ticket items for Kitten this year were a bicycle and a Leapster.<\/p>\n<p>The bike we ended up buying at Costco.  A Disney Princesses bike (sigh).  The DPs do have an advantage over a lot of other girly themes &#8212; they tend to be purple, as opposed to girly pink or Barbie&#8217;s particularly virulent pink.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, the bike is stashed away and will be dropped off by Santa &#8220;while&#8221; we are out of state.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B00009IM6O?&#038;tag=davedoesthebl-20\" target=\"_blank\">Leapster<\/a> is the newest LeapFrog educational system, and it has a few advantages over her current &#8220;My First LeapPad.&#8221;  Using an LCD screen, it&#8217;s more interactive.  And it has a headphone jack.  The latter is particularly nice on plane trips.<\/p>\n<p>To that end, in fact, we&#8217;ll be giving her that gift before we go to Orlando.<\/p>\n<p>(More Kitteny wish list goodness, for them as are interested, can be found <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/registry\/2A4EZUOXATAK4\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.)<\/ul>\n<\/p>\n<p>More anon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some observations on Christmas shopping for Kitten this year, deep within the bowels of Toys &#8216;R&#8217; Us. If there is going to be gender-based name-branding on a toy, it will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[263,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disney","category-parenting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14872,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/05\/28\/tweets-from-2009-05-28.html","url_meta":{"origin":6937,"position":0},"title":"Walt Disney World Tweets from 2009-05-28","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 28-May-09 11:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Can't believe it's already Thurs., which is the day before Fri., which is the day before we head home. Too few days, too much to do! #wdw # So on #wdw tap for today: a water park (Typhoon Lagoon? Or Blizzard Beach?), the Date Night for Dave & Margie! #\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~Tweets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11133,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/04\/02\/wdw07_monday_epcot_and_ho.html","url_meta":{"origin":6937,"position":1},"title":"WDW07 &#8211; Monday &#8211; Epcot and Home","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 2-Apr-07 9:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Concluding our Walt Disney World travelogue ... Our flight was not until 7 that evening. \u00a0The day before, we got the Disney Magic Express confirmation of when we should pick...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Disney\/Pixar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Disney\/Pixar","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/disney"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2579,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/06\/02\/correlations.html","url_meta":{"origin":6937,"position":2},"title":"Correlations","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 2-Jun-02 1:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I was adding the Playhouse Disney CD back into the Link List o' Media Being Listened To (due to Kitten being in the van for most of the day yesterday),...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Disney\/Pixar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Disney\/Pixar","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/disney"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5118,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/10\/30\/a_floor_wax_and.html","url_meta":{"origin":6937,"position":3},"title":"A floor wax and a dessert topping","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 30-Oct-03 8:10am","format":false,"excerpt":"Amazing -- a single toy that can offend both Christian fundies and devoted Wiccans alike! By day, Barbie, Christie and Kayla are fashionable school girls, by night they turn into...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"Remember, they're *secret* spells!","src":"\/blog\/images\/secret-spells-barbie.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8076,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/05\/26\/gifts.html","url_meta":{"origin":6937,"position":4},"title":"Gifts","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 26-May-05 9:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"Broke out the rest of the gifts to Katherine last night. The climax ... There was the \"Danish Princess Barbie\" that had been sitting at the comic book store for...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Parenting&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/parenting"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5395,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/03\/20\/dizzyland.html","url_meta":{"origin":6937,"position":5},"title":"Dizzyland","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 20-Mar-04 1:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Much fun running about Disneyland with my and Margie's folks, along with Mary and, later in the evening, Michelle. Restrained in our running, of course, by having Kitten along, but...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Disney\/Pixar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Disney\/Pixar","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/disney"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47610,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6937\/revisions\/47610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}