This is one of the best-looking retro-but-modern items I have seen out there. My gracious parents handed down their film-version, real “Rollei” to me, though I have only used it a few times. You should follow the link to see what this digital version looks like from different views. Very cool. I wonder how much 39,800 Yen is…

Recently I brought home a great retro-find: two old-school dial telephones from the 80s, with genuine bell ringers. The standard desk phone is decked out in the enduring hue mustard and the other phone, the wall version, is ol’ reliable beige. They were free to me, and I just figured I’d see what they go for on eBay, if anything. They sell all the time.

My daughter went nuts when she saw one.

“Dad, can I have one?”

“Why?”

“They’re so cool!”

“They are? It takes forever to dial on them, look…” I dial a zero to prove my point.

“That is so cool!”

“…and the ringer will wake people up for miles.”

“Why?”

“It has real bells in it.”

“It does?” Her eyes bloomed as big as if I’d just told her I might allow her to date before she’s 35…

“Yeah, I’ll show you.” I plug it into the wall, and then as if irony had completely taken over my home and body, I blithely dial my home number from my cell phone. A ring I have not heard in 30 years resounds from the old phone. Instinctively—and because it is so loud—I answer it on the first ring, and for just a moment I expect to hear an old friend from Playa del Rey at the other end.

It’s just me.