Just Because I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi Like You Very Much

I love birthday presents.  I love Christmas presents.  It is a fact that I love presents of all varieties, but usually I protest the opportunity to be a recipient because I was raised with the notion that a gracious decline (see "no gifts please") was good manners.  No matter how much I protest, which I usually doth too much, there is no denying the joy of fiendishly tearing into the aluminum foil (What?  Everyone doesn't ensconce gifts of the heart in food-grade wrapping?) to uncover something that is meant just for me; growing up in a family of five children, there were very few things that I could claim as mine alone.  The only thing better than a birthday gift or Christmas gift, is that gift that comes totally unexpectedly at a time when a little pick me up is needed but no such expectation can be justified because the major gift-giving holidays have just very recently passed - the "just because" gift.  When that rarest species of gifts just happens to be old-timey AND wacky tacky, then you know you have hit the "just because" jackpot!

Many people will say that they were "born in the wrong decade," but I am convinced that the same people would be reticent to abandon the luxuries and basic comforts provided by the modern world.  I see it as an episode of The Twilight Zone - an unwitting protagonist wishes to go back in time but fails to read the fine print and promptly contracts polio and lives in an iron lung for the rest of his life.  Despite the obvious pitfalls of time travel, I will admit that I too have been guilty of spending an inordinate amount of time planning the clever and productive use of a time machine should such a device ever become available.  Few things make the desire to explore the flexibility of the space-time continuum more profound than a "just because" gift I recently received from my pals Jesse & Emily.  Just four words....

Don't you want to live in a time when a South American songstress was popular enough with the whole family to warrant a coloring book?  Even if you didn't want to live in 1942, wouldn't be a nice place to visit?

Carmen Miranda, having been featured previously on our blog, is a true icon of wacky tacky.  Our credo of "More is more," is a natural extension of her outlandish hats, beautiful costumes, and mile-high platform shoes.  Owning this nearly-untouched coloring book is a bit intimidating because the large pages are just begging to be colored (a favorite wacky tacky pastime) but the nagging feeling that it is somehow wrong to color a vintage coloring book can't be denied.  What do you think?

There are a few colored pages but it is obvious that the artist, Mary Ann, applied a gentle and loving hand.

All I want is a trip to Copacabana Beach - circa 1939

It is amazing to me how with just a few simple lines, the spirit of Carmen is captured in the pages of this book.

Thrown in for good measure?

The details are all there, right down to
 those famous platform shoes!

This generous gift is even more meaningful because Emily is a huge, classic movie buff; she has a beautiful blog called The Silver Screen Affair.  For her to have a little piece of movie-related history in her hands and be magnanimous enough to give it to me was a truly kind gesture.  The greatest part about a "just because" gift is the opportunity to pay it forward and make somebody else's day.

"I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi Like You Very Much" - Carmen Miranda

Thanks Emily & Jesse!!! I, yi, yi, yi, yi, yi like you too!!!

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny