I have noticed that nothing is ever simple anymore. It's like the Collective Taste-Makers of America (a corporation consisting of TV execs, movie stars, and print media moguls) decided that they were going to push a new concept for all consumer products---a concept I will paraphrase as, 'If you like thing A and thing B then you will love thing AB twice as much!'  Which basically means the Collective Taste-Makers of America will now take any two popular things and squish them together, then market the hell out of the Franken-Product until it catches on. Ballet style slip ons? Popular. Checkerboard vans? Popular. And therefore we now have this:

The Ballet Vans: it's not just for stressed out moms carting around prissy little bun-heads anymore.

Where the CTMA's Franken-Products have really taken off, though, is in the food arena. How about a mixed greens salad? You've probably ordered that several times at your favorite restaurant. And pizza? A Sunday afternoon staple. So of course you will want to try this:
The California Pizza Kitchen's Tricolore Salad Pizza. 'Why have two courses, when you can have one really gross course?'

As much as I would like to ramble on and on about various other hybrids, I do feel I should get to the main attraction. The most blatant money making Franken-Product of them all: taking what is basically a mutt and selling it for a mint. Yes, I am talking about Designer Dogs. Jake Gyllenhaal has a Puggle, Jessica Simpson has a Maltipoo, and Labradoodle is practically a household name. In fact, the most wondrous part of this trend is the sheer breadth of hilariously re-named breeds the CTMA has come up with. There are hundreds and hundreds of these (sometimes rather odd looking) dogs, but let me quickly share with you a few of my favorites (click on the links for a picture of that particular hybrid animal).  The Cockeranian (if you added the word Nights on the end of this you could have the title of the next great epic porn, or possibly a Weird Al Yankovic song based on the movie Aladdin). The Doxie Pin (is it just me, or does that sound like some kind of benzo tranquilizer?).  The Cock-a-Chon (every time I see this I think: Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, let me rock you, Chaka Khan). The Crustie---I want every Crustie (or gutter punk, if you will) to have one of these on a leash (or, more likely, an old piece of rope they found at a construction site).

Now, all of these half-breeds are great in their own way, but I have been saving the best for last. This dog is the most hideously adorable, possibly evil, troll-like Ewok dog that I have ever seen: this is a Brug.