A Solid Show
You won't even believe such a time existed, if you're in your twenties, but Sharper Image used to be cool.Seriously. I'm not joking.
Back in the late 1980's, Sharper Image had all kinds of merchandise that you just couldn't get anywhere else, and most of it was reasonably close to what qualified as cutting edge. It was exotic. I couldn't afford any of it, but I always enjoyed looking through their catalogs.
At some point after that, Sharper Image began the transformation from spectacular to craptacular. Cutting-edge product was replaced by infomercial merchandise, expensive air purifiers that didn't work very well (according to Consumer Reports, who Sharper Image sued and lost), and quite a bit of pure junk. We have a store here in Austin, about a hundred yards from where I work, but I don't even bother going in there anymore.
Yesterday, though, I had about twenty minutes to kill, and I decided to wander in and take a look. And I'm glad I did, because I overheard a conversation between a young and enthusiastic store clerk and a couple in their seventies. They were looking at the Quadratic Winds Tornado Allergy Tower 9000 or something like that, and the question of mold came up. The enthusiastic clerk then decided to recount, in detail, a King of the Hill episode that involved an insurance scam and house mold. Then he asked them, in all seriousness, "Do you watch King of the Hill?" and when they shook their heads, he said "You should try it out. It's a solid show."
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