Posted on 01/24/2015 10:51:11 AM PST by Slings and Arrows
On Thursday, the company behind the nearly ubiquitous in-flight catalog SkyMall filed for bankruptcy. As the Wall Street Journal put it, the institution was simply a “victim of evolving rules and technology that now lets airline passengers keep their smartphones and tablets powered up during flight.”
For those who spent the majority of their early ’90s flights thumbing through the quarterly magazine, this is a tragedy. Like the mall staple Sharper Image, the catalog pushed the boundaries of absurdity in almost every category of domestic existence. Rather than attempt to fill the space of a practical retailer, the SkyMall catalog enticed you with overpriced items you never dreamed existed, items like hair-growing laser headsets or kitty litterboxes that resemble the Death Star.
They were all wildly expensive and impractical but all a tantalizing possibility when you were stuck on a delayed six-hour flight.
Below, we offer some of the more ingenious products the forlorn catalog brought us (some sourced from this wonderful Tumblr). Rest in peace, SkyMall, on your glorious and weird neck pillow in the sky.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
LOL
Hammacher Schlemmer has the best towels you can buy.
The Admiral and I love ‘em.
100% lifetime satisfaction guarantee on virtually all of their products.
A great company!
I always said we could still have textile mills in this country if they focused on quality rather than price.
Very 70’s. I was half-expecting a Clavinet to kick in.
Somewhere out there, someone is thinking “I could fill that thing, no problem.”
"SCHLEMMER!"
Precious. I’m sending it to my daughter, who truly misses her rottie girl.
Cavitation, are you talking about the supercharger? It’s a very distinct sound, didn’t recognize it if I heard it in the video. I’ve had turbo cars, have one now. Didn’t know superchargers could cavitate due to oil starvation and self-destruct like a turbo.
I saw that cartoon, except it was a bulldog.
Life imitates art.
Glad you liked. Nothing cuter than a big, gentle dog and playful kittens.
1-2-3!
I LOVED that movie.
I just spent a huge, irretrievable portion of my life over at a website called “The Best and Worst of Skymall”.
The CIA catalog was called Treadstone.
Totally...or maybe a big old school thumb-against-the-reel analog flange.
One of my favorite affected acoustic guitar sounds is the acoustic fills played through a Leslie on Simon and Garfunkel’s “America”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W773ZPJhcVw
Oh dear!
I did not know they had a catalog.
I thought you had to go see “Q” or something.
They were an easy thing to read to a young boy, thrilled that many things he could imagine not only existed but could be bought by his parents.
Most of which were overpriced toys and status items, but entertaining to read about.
hehehehe.
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