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The holiday season is once again upon us. With seasonal songs filling the airwaves and retailers decorated with all that sparkles, I am amazed at how the holidays have managed to find their way back again so soon—this time more expensive than ever.
For more than 125 years, advertising has played a key role in the holiday season and in building consumer demand. As far back as the 1920s and 1930s, toy companies recognized the importance of marketing the “must-have” toy […]

Continue Reading about Edible to Elaborate: Holiday Gifts Then and Now Published on:
December 13, 2011

Last month, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered aired a piece titled “Why Do We Hate The Sound of Fingernails On a Chalkboard?” Musicologist Michael Oehler reported that this sound produces a frequency that reaches the most sensitive spot of the human ear and creates an amplified “open ear gain.” He further explained that some of our reaction is also emotional. When Oehler played the sound for a group of volunteers, those who thought they heard music “perceived the sound […]

Continue Reading about Do You Hear What I Hear in This Video Game? Published on:
December 12, 2011

Getting behind the wheel can be stressful. Congestion, construction, and detours are no day at the beach . . . especially when all we want to do is make it to the beach. Most of us enjoy a good road trip, but with so many obstacles taking the air out of our tires, who can blame us for just wanting to get from Point A to Point B? What happened to the days when simply riding in an automobile was […]

Continue Reading about The Open Road Published on:
December 6, 2011

Numerous organizations annually honor top video games. Spike TV will soon announce its “Game of the Year” prize during the network’s Video Game Awards show. Every gamer I’ve spoken to agrees that 2011 proved an amazing year for games, both in terms of increased graphical capabilities and storyline developments. The Spike TV VGA Advisory Council, made up of video game journalists from Game Informer Magazine, Kotaku, Joystiq, and Wired, among others, choose the top five contenders.
First on this council’s list […]

Continue Reading about Five Games Contending for Spike TV’s Top Prize Published on:
December 2, 2011

My three younger siblings and I loved playing outside and going on adventures in our large backyard and adjacent woods. But, when bad weather kept us stuck inside, we turned to board games—Scrabble, Monopoly, Candy Land—or, much to my brother’s dismay, hours of playing with Barbie. I can’t remember a time when my two sisters or I didn’t have a Barbie doll. Our joint collection grew over the years, and eventually we decided the growing Barbie family needed a proper […]

Continue Reading about Interior Design as Play Published on:
November 29, 2011

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Football teams all across the country are well into their fall schedules with countless fans flocking to see their favorite clashes, anticipating the season’s end with that American tradition—the Super Bowl.
Though I played both football and baseball in high school, I have to admit that football was my first love. Back in 1963 (which seems like a hundred years ago now), I was like any other kid, moving into high school and up […]

Continue Reading about Gridiron Memories Published on:
November 22, 2011

If you believe, as I did, that Barbie has a flair for fashion unparalleled among dolls, what with her sparkling, sequined, and infinite polyester outfits, then you’re in for a bit of a shock. Barbie may hold the title of princess in the world of style but, with a wardrobe that would make even the most glamorous Barbie gawk, the French fashion doll of the mid-19th century reigns as undisputed queen.
French fashion dolls have their roots in the clothing industry. […]

Continue Reading about Before Barbie Published on:
November 15, 2011

When I was eleven years old, my dad took me to see the Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge concert. The stage erupted with inflatable skeletons, giant Jagger-like cartoon lips flashed across a jumbo screen, and Mick Jagger strutted across stage. I was sold—it was rock n’ roll and I not only liked it, I loved it. I still do. Growing up, the only time I chose to “study” classical music was when I slipped the 1984 film Amadeus in my VHS […]

Continue Reading about Video Games Rock Classical Music Published on:
November 10, 2011

Recently, The Strong acquired a rare and important early printed book illustration. The image came to our attention when Gordon Burghardt used it to illustrate his article, “The Comparative Reach of Play and Brain: Perspective, Evidence, and Implications,” in the Winter 2010 issue of The Strong’s American Journal of Play. As professor of both psychology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee, and author of The Genesis of Animal Play, Burghardt specializes in the study of play […]

Continue Reading about Play through the Centuries Published on:
November 8, 2011