Month: August 2005

Real beauty

Dove RealBeauty exhibit august12 008.jpgTwo weeks, Silverlotus and I went down to the Toronto Eaton Centre to check out the Dove RealBeauty Photography Exhibit. There were photos of women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and pedigrees; a photo of a London homeless lady was adjacent to that of Gwyneth Paltrow.

Written on the comments board was this poignant quote, among others:
“Every picture is a story…waiting to be told by the spirit within”

I am reminded with the similar “Designed for real life” campaign that Canadian clothier Reitman’s has, where normally shaped women wearing ordinary clothes strike supermodel poses in mundane environments.

So, ernest campaign or corporate shilling? After all, Dove’s daddy company, Unilever, also owns Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Ultra Slim-Fast; they pretty much have us coming _and_ going.

wtf bbq

Wind the clock back two weeks:

Impromptu BBQ august12 005.jpg

After a long hot day shopping for a tux, Juice and I had an impromptu BBQ at his new house. He and his family are doing well – there’s a G35, BMW, and LS300 in the driveway.

P.S. Diana Maple Sauce makes everything taste better.

This number one’s for you

I went to a party the other week and discovered that I actually like Labatt’s Blue.

“It’s definitely not Evian, but it is better than most city tap. Certainly more palatable than many light beers I’ve had, and not at all, uh, urinous.”

– Wired reporter Tom Nichol, giving a thumbs up to drinking his own urine after being filtered through Water Security’s new purification system

“We are not brewers, we are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks.”

– Father Abbott of the Belgian abbey Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren, whose _Trappist Westvleteren 12_ beer has recently been voted the world’s best, and became promptly sold out.

Look out for Number 1

Well, the gas prices broke the $1.00/L barrier today. All the gas stations are upgrading their price signs, Y2K-style, to accept three digits. Maybe it’s all a conspiracy by the digital signage companies to sell more signs… 😮

“If I’m trying to find someone to look after my purebred Samoyeds while I’m in St. Tropez, I’m not going to ask some naked Burning Man hula-hooper on Tribe.net.”

– Cheray Unman, member of the elitest social network aSmallWorld, describing why being snoot is such a hoot

Did you ever have to make up your mind

The news media can be so desperate for a good story, they’ll sensationalize and make their own. People like solid, definitive statements, no matter how wobbly and contrived they really are.

A good example is when TechWeb published a story entitled “Tablet PCs Headed for Broader Use” and then publishes a contrary article called “Tablet PC Faces Uncertain Future” seven hours later, and both articles cite the same market research company.

Two different bylines, two different axes to grind.