How is it different than other fragrances? Well, first of all, there’s the unconventional packaging. Each scent, five of them in all, has its own individual figurine atop the bottle. Actually, the hollowed out figurine itself makes up pretty much 90% of its volume and the glass bottle containing the perfume acts as a stand (so while the boxes for both sizes of Harajuku Lovers Fragrance seems large, that’s just indicative of the figurine size). This fact, that it comes in a set of five but can also be bought individually, makes them seem like collectibles a la the days when you were a kid and collected those McDonald’s Happy Meal toys in series. That is the main allure for the perfume line, it’s kind of campy yet endearingly so. And I’m sure a complete set of all the Harajuku Lovers fragrances would probably be a nice decoration for your dresser. And as any Gwen Stefani fan can easily deduce, the five figurines a.k.a. scents come in the form of her four “Harajuku Girls” (or as some ironically muse, Gwen’s “accessories”) plus Gwen. The five include G (The Leader Of The Pack), Love (Sweet Stuff), Lil’ Angel (Sassy, Sexy, Cool), Music (Tough Cookie), and Baby (Girlie and Sweet). Their respective scents also coincide with the names, or at least if you stretch your imagination a little bit.

Matchstick Marketing sent me a bunch of sample vials to give out to friends, a 10ml bottle of “Lil’ Angel”, as well as some neat extras like a bracelet, a drawstring bag and a make up case. It was like Christmas! A very scenty Christmas.

So far, Lil’ Angel, Love and Music are my favourite scents. The other two, initial sprays were not quite as pleasant as the other three (i.e. Baby smelled a bit too powder-y to me, reminiscent of some of those powder-y deodorants I’ve used) but I may try them again later on. Maybe it was because I was testing out all of them that the scents fused into one another.

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[ I've left out all vodcasts (video based podcasts) because I tend to not subscribe to those; however, Best Week Ever's vodcast is pretty good if you're into celebrity gossip and Strong Bad Emails and More! is great for H*R fans ]

• *A Top Pick* This American Life: Probably one of the most notable radio programs on Chicago Public Radio, TAL is hosted by Ira Glass and features short stories, essays and general non-fiction readings from various authors. Or, as described by The O.C.’s Summer Roberts, it’s the “hipster know-it-all show about how fascinating ordinary people are”. Each episode features a theme and each act within the episode revolves around that theme. For example, in episode #182 entitled Cringe, different types of cringe-worthy stories are told, including one from host Ira Glass. I was first introduced to the program through my hunt for more David Sedaris audio content. As you may already know, he is a popular author of humourous autobiographical books such as Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004) and makes regular appearances on public radio. So, if you are a fan of David Sedaris and enjoy his kind of writing, you will enjoy This American Life. You can also check out its TV show on Showtime or stream some episodes online.



• *A Top Pick* TVGuideTalk: TVGuideTalk is a podcast by TVGuide.com that features TV and movie commentary and reviews. The TVGuideTalk crew includes “TV Scoop guru” Michael Ausiello, “savvy movie critic” Maitland McDonagh and the new addition of Matt Mitovich. Until recently, Dan Manu was “the moderator” in the TVGuide podcast crew but he left to do bigger and better things and his pressence is sorely missed on the podcast. Not as entertaining now as it lacks some “zing” without Dan but it still has a lot to offer in terms of television discussion and the occasional news scoop.



• *A Top Pick* NPR: Talk of the Nation: National Public Radio (NPR) has a large mix of podcasts that cater to different interests. Talk of the Nation happens to be one of their podcasts. Hosted by Neal Conan, it covers a spectrum of current event topics, including general interest news and politics. As a podcast that comes out every weekday, it also features “Science Friday” every Friday with host Ira Flatow. It employs various methods of audience participation during the course of the [live] show, including blog commenting, phone in segments, and instant email feedback, making it a truly interactive experience. If Talk of the Nation isn’t your cup of tea, you can still visit NPR’s HUGE podcast directory to see if something is more to your liking. I’m sure you’ll find something you will enjoy.



• On The Media is a weekly program hosted by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone. Academics in media/communication studies will remember Marshall McLuhan’s statement, “The Medium is the Message”. With this in mind, On The Media examines the way news stories are covered or packaged and how it attempts to skew the message for media consumers. Taken from its Wikipedia page, “Stories regularly cover such subjects as the use of video news releases, net neutrality, digital broadcast flags, media consolidation, censorship, freedom of the press, the influence of 24 hour cable news coverage, media oppression, and how the media is changing with technology.” If you are at all interested in the media industry or want to know how a story is spun for you, you’ll want to listen to this podcast.



• Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing: Need some help in understanding grammatical rules (which, I’d say, is almost 99% of the general population), want to expand upon your knowledge or are you just a grammar snob, striving for perfection in writing? Whichever category you may fit into, Grammar Girl’s podcast is worth listening to. Each podcast is around the five minute mark (give or take), giving you a “fun and friendly dose of writing advice”. Grammar Girl covers everything from punctuation and grammar to style and voice. She also goes over common mistakes in rhetoric, such as addressing the debate of whether addicting or addictive is correct. I’ll admit it, even though I like to think of myself as a kind of “grammar connoisseur”, I’ve learned a thing or two thanks to Grammar Girl and I’m sure you too will find it a worthwhile resource.



• The Best of As It Happens on CBC Radio is similar to NPR’s Talk of the Nation in that it too is a current affairs program that delves into topics to gain a greater understanding, but it differs in the way that it’s from a Canadian perspective. That doesn’t mean that all the stories it covers are based in Canada, though a majority are in the front half, it takes a look at big stories happening all over the world.

On a related note, I wish Wiretap on CBC Radio would release the content in podcast format. Jonathan Goldstein’s telephone conversations and monologues are really insightful and entertaining to listen to, though you may already know that from his frequent appearances on This American Life. Unfortunately, the audio available on the site is in Real Player format so you’d have to download that to play it.

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I pee in the shower, which actually happens to be the most sent in secret, is among the many secrets shared at the first ever Toronto PostSecret Event. It was the first outdoor event for Frank Warren, happening in the park right beside The Ontario College of Art and Design. Many, many people turned out to cram into the park, with everyone sitting around on the mucky grass and concrete path. Originally said to start at 8pm, it ended up starting quite a bit later than that as the sky had to darken in order for people to see the images projected onto a large white screen.

When it finally did start, Frank Warren came out and thanked everyone for coming to see him. He said he always felt weird about these events because he didn’t really think of PostSecret as his, but as everyone’s. It was a community project that would not be possible without their participation. And it’s true, that fact, but his idea of something so seemingly simple yet so extraordinary is in many ways ingenious. It started in 2004 as an idea for a community art project, for which he handed out 3,000 blank postcards to strangers, encouraging them to send him their most private secrets. The response was overwhemling. The first secret he received was a postcard with two shopping lists on it, with the words “I am struggling with what I’ve become”. The thing that I believe PostSecret visitors most enjoy about the site is the fact they can identify secrets of their own through other people’s secrets and that in turn provides a sense of togetherness, a feeling of a virtual community, amidst the [perhaps] alienation representative of modern life. We’ll never know who sent in that postcard with the words we have so long been hiding from ourselves but it lets us know that we aren’t alone. And that’s a nice, kind of therapeutic feeling.

Frank sorting out the postcards he received. Image courtesy of Frank Warren/Facebook.

After the gallery showing for which the project was initially conjured up for, Frank Warren moved onto the internet for displaying these postcards which were now being sent from all over. It was the merging of old and new technology, resulting in something innovative and kind of spectacular. He says he gets about 1,000 postcards a week and he only displays about 20 per week on the site, but he tells us the reason for this is because he lays out all the secrets to be put on the site on his coffee table — which only has enough space for about 24 postcards. The funny thing is, he shared, was that his own daughter and wife have tried to sneak in their own secrets to be published online by waiting for him to leave and then quickly switching out another postcard with their own. Apparently, he knows exactly what is suppose to be there and what’s not so they are just as quickly switched back. And his wife’s secret? “I want to sleep with Richard Gere“.

A stack of postcards sent into PostSecret. Image courtesy of Frank Warren/Facebook.

Frank also shared with us his own secret, which is in fact in the first PostSecret book (page 20). When he was in fourth grade, a new, charismatic kid moved into his neighborhood. In an act of bullying, that new kid and some others held open his eyes and spit into them. He had never told anyone about this deep dark secret but after coming to terms with it, he told his wife and daughter this very secret. Then, like with the credo of the PostSecret project, he wrote it on a postcard and mailed it to himself to set the secret “free”. And now it appears in a book available all over the world. As horrible as this memory was for him, he tells us he would not go back to change the events that transpired that day for it has helped make him who he is today. However, he was happy to free that secret from within and I think that’s fitting with the whole idea of PostSecret.

My signed copy of the first PostSecret book

Frank Warren’s secret

More Pictures:

Crowd photos courtesy of modernmod on flickr.
Postcard secrets courtesy of PostSecret.com

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From today’s Metro News:

Top Model show teaches respect
Re: “Chris Arthur’s America’s Next Top Model letter,” Mar. 23:

I read a review in your letters section where Chris Arthur wrote about America’s Next Top Model. A few readers, includng myself, were quite upset. America’s Next Top Model is a show that empowers women and teaches them to embrace their beauty, regardless of race, creed, age and shape. There are many things on television and in the media that degrade women. America’s Next Top Model does not glorify the real violence that women face all over the world. Instead, it brings it to the spotlight.

A show like America’s Next Top Model teaches women to love, respect and, most of all, accept themselves in a world, to this day, controlled by men. It is a show based on women, run by women and watched by all.

— CAMILLE BLAIR, TORONTO

My response to this letter:
Re: Camille Blair’s America’s Next Top Model letter “Top Model show teaches respect” Mar. 29.

In response to Camille Blair’s letter about how America’s Next Top Model is doing a service to women by empowering them, allowing them to embrace and accept themselves for who they are, I have to wonder whether Ms. Blair is watching the same show as the rest of us. Perhaps she is simply being too optimistic about the merits of the show. America’s Next Top Model, at its very core, is a show about judging beauty and no matter what Tyra Banks may suggest, it’s an exterior beauty that aligns itself with a mainstream conception of beauty. Its contestants vie for a chance to grace the covers of fashion magazines and runways; both of which, unfortunately, predominantly cater to a narrow definition of beauty and it is with this in mind that the show operates. While, granted, the producers of the show have attempted to be more open-minded in recent cycles by selecting girls of different sizes, races, ages and creed, they also tend to signal out these girls as the “token minority” in their editing of the show. It is always made explicit to the viewers that this girl is “different” and she wants to “prove herself” fit for the modelling industry. However, as most long-time viewers of Top Model can attest, the show has increasingly become a spectacle of sorts, wherein entertainment value depends mostly on the catty drama generated (need I bring up “the granola incident” of Cycle 5?). It could hardly be considered the ideal platform for empowering women and inciting a revolution.

Not to mention that the letter states that America’s Next Top Model is a “show based on women, run by women”. Though Tyra Banks may be the lead judge and creator of the show, it should be noted that the panel of judges is composed equally of males and females (or 1:3 ratio if you consider Miss J. a woman) and the show is produced by two men (Ken Mok and Anthony Dominici), alongside Banks.

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Anyhow, since I didn’t like silicone cases (not so great experiences with them on my 4G) nor leather cases nor metal cases, I decided to stick with clear plastic cases. It was a toss up between the Agent 18 Videoshield and the Contour Design iSee. The Agent 18 has frosted plastic everywhere except the screen, which is good in theory because it hides the easily scratched plastic better but it also takes away from the “beauty” of the iPod (especially if you’ve got a black iPod, as I do). A plus side for the iSee as contrasted with the Agent 18 is that this comes with a clip (not shown in the below pictures). I haven’t tried the clip yet because I haven’t figured how to secure it on, so I’ll just use it without the clip for now. I ordered mine from an eBay seller named avindigo for just $21.99 USD, a few bucks cheaper than the MSRP of $24.99 USD.

The case is very low profile and light, it’s like an extension of the iPod. It showcases the iPod, rather than hides it away such as in the case of leather or silicone cases. I’ve read that these kind of plastic cases can cause further scratches to the iPod, that is, if you put a “naked” iPod in there. So for those of us who are fervent about keeping the iPod in as pristine condition as possible or trying to keep its resale value up, just simply use a thin film protector on it (I use the Brando ones, as reviewed in a previous entry).

 

Perhaps this is just with mine, but something about the case pushes up the film protectors on the sides on the front, causing a slight air bubble on those two points. When I remove the case and stick down those spots, putting it in the case again just makes the air bubble reappear after awhile. A bit annoying, but oh well.

Removing the iSee People have complained about how hard it is to remove the case. I didn’t find that to be a problem! As per the instructions from a user on iLounge, simply turn the case towards you with the hold switch facing you and with your thumb and index finger in an X, have your thumb push down and index finger push up. It should come right off. UPDATED! A VIDEO TO DEMONSTRATE how to remove the case.  

 

As with all clear plastic cases, this case is scratch-prone. I’ve had it for a day and already, little hairline scratches are showing! It doesn’t detract from the screen quality though (not yet at least) and it’s only really visible under certain lights.

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I chose this one because I read excellent reviews for their PDA protecters, so I figured this would be a good way to go. And since I really don’t want to use the water application that the InvisibleShield requires, it was down to this or Martin Fields Overlays which I also heard good things about. Since Brando and Martin Fields had similar products but Martin Fields came to about $15.98 USD and Brando was just $12 USD, I thought I’d save a couple bucks since I’m just using this to protect the iPod from scratches.

It has 3 pieces: the front, back and button. It comes in pretty nice packaging. The films have 2 “backings”, one of which is tinted. I was stupid and didn’t read the instructions on the stickers that were sticking out and didn’t realize I should remove one clear backing and then put it on, THEN remove the tinted backing. Ergh.

Installation was pretty easy. Dust wasn’t really an issue, as long as you do the scotch tape method (as shown on the Martin Fields site). If you’re stupid like me and removed BOTH backings at the same time, it becomes a wee bit hard to tell which side is the adhering side. So I by accident applied it on the wrong side and I was like, “why are there so many freaking air bubbles???!” and then I guess I eventually flipped it around… so everything applied nicely.

 

You can barely tell it’s there (but don’t mind all the finger prints on there). 

 

The back shield is similar to Martin Fields in that it just covers the non-curved part of the iPod. This is alright I guess, but if you really want all around wrapping, I think the InvisibleShield is the only option (which also will set you back $25 USD).

   

Yeah, I might re-do the back side. But most of the ickiness you see on there is due to fingerprints on the thing, I’ll have to wipe it off later.

   

With the screen on, you can honestly hardly tell it’s there. There’s no weird rainbow pixelation effect or any distortion of any kind, nor is there a weird texture like with the InvisibleShield. There’s also no “unsticking edges” like I heard about on some of the Martin Fields threads on iLounge. All in all, it’s a really good product. I’d recommend it — especially if you want the Martin Fields Overlays look but for a few bucks cheaper. And if you read all the instructions, unlike me, you’d probably have a much easier installation process!

Brando WorkShop Ultra Clear Screen Protector for iPod 5G – $12 USD
Brando WorkShop Ultra Clear Screen Protector for iPod nano- $10 USD

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