A Source of Off-Beat Gifts

As I was fielding PR responses to my queries about holiday gift, I received something from the people representing Anne Taintor, and thought I should pass on the existence of annetaintor.com. If you're not familiar with her work, it combines retro/vintage graphics and images with pretty witty verbal counterpoint. I first came across the work indirectly, when my wife found a collection of Taintor cards and decided to send them to an old friend every now and then. The humor was clearly focused on and for women, but I found them a howl. To give you an indication, here are some of the sayings on products that Taintor sells:

• she kind of enjoyed working for an idiot


• someone called ... about something ...


• why, yes, I am overqualified


• it would, of course, have to look like an accident


• WOW! I get to give birth and change diapers!

The real smile comes from the juxtaposition of these secret thoughts with traditional images of female stereotypes.

Also, I was contacted by CoolComputerBags, which has some very upscale computer bags - quite different from what you'll find in the local Staples - along with some office products with off-beat designs. I haven't tried any of the products, but it seemed like an interesting source to investigate if you needed to find something off the beaten track.