Spielwaren Uber Alles

It's been a sleep-defying couple of weeks. London Toy Fair was followed immediately by Nuremberg Toy Fair.



This crazy-ass scheduling is a "legacy problem" that nobody wants to fix. Before communication and world travel became what they are today, trade shows were set up within a few weeks of each other all over the globe. (There are more in Hong Kong, Paris and New York.) Manufacturers would reveal their ranges for the entire year and buyers would decide on their big Christmas items based on what they saw in January! Needless to say, much has changed. It's pretty pointless to meet with people you saw only the week before when neither of you has had time to follow-up on anything you talked about yet, but we go through the motions anyway.

My company knows how to keep its clients entertained. (For "entertained" read "plied with drink and away from other manufacturers".) And if the employees catch a buzz too, good for them! Detox Month went out of the window as soon as I realized someone else was paying. I danced twice in two weeks, if you can call what I did to "We're the kids! We're the kids! We're the kids in Americaaa!!" dancing. I started many converations in German that I had no hope of ever finishing and irgendwie im vollständigen Prozeß rediscovered my knack for international relations. I swear I go to worse parties in my private life.

Here are some of the fab people and places I've seen since we last spoke.