COMMENTS There will never be enough said about this subject. Ever.
That aside, this is one of the biggest reasons I can think of that being a woman is so difficult. Think about it. We're brought up by the world to value a man's opinion. We're taught to place enormous value in our appearances, and if we fall short of the ideal, we're made to feel worthless. We're taught to accept catcalls and comments about our bodies-from strangers, even-as compliments. We absorb the world's edict that we are not ourselves; we are Women. A pretty surface onto which the world's expectations and desires are projected. This starts so early in our lives; it's so sudden and impossible to prepare yourself for. And eventually, you notice that your older peers-who once stood exactly where you are standing-sometimes can't conceal their dislike or distrust for you. They look at you suspiciously, as though the purpose of your existence is to undermine their own. This is NOT a broad indictment of all women. At all. But I'm sure many of you have experienced this very thing at the hands of, say, a coworker, or a mother-in-law, or a boss. In my eyes, being a woman is a struggle that never ends. It just changes shape. The weapons get sharper, the enemy starts to look more and more familiar as we grow into adults. Now, at twenty-seven, I'm no longer worried about men. I share my life with a good one, and that's where my focus is. So no, men and their opinions don't hold nearly as much power as they used to. No. It's the women I worry about now. The attractive older woman who fawns all over my SO, right in front of me. The women I worked with in a doctor's office, who were all older than me by a decade, who shunned me and ignored me and treated me like shit because I was only twenty (and probably a little hussy) and made me so miserable I eventually quit. The woman who eyed me up and down and then told me my outfit was....."fun". All of these little tiny things that women can do to one another to cut eachother down, that each and every one of us has experienced-or committed- at one time or another, know no age, it seems. I hope that if I ever have a daughter, I'll be able to somehow prepare her for this, and let her know that her strength will often be tested, and that she should never forget what she's really worth. I hope, too, that she'll understand, and that she won't let anyone-male or female- make her feel small or powerless or like she's only her body and nothing else. This is a long shot, I know. But I have to hope these things, or I'll feel as though all of my own little sufferings, and the strength they've fostered, will be in vain.
I'm less bothered by men who are attracted to youth than by men who are attracted to innocence. Youth has a lot of good associations--energy, enthusiasm, optimism, open-mindedness, iconoclasm. But innocence is only good for a few things--patronizing, ruining, or taking advantage of. ((shudder)) Excellent distinctions. Innocence has an emotive connotation that seems to elicit predatory behaviors, like a neon sign announcing the path of least resistance. ________________________________________________
LINK Prison Photography - women “There is beauty and there is truth and most truth in this present world is ugly.” ________________________________________________
Toronto’s a tweet capital and a start-up hot spot, but while the rest of the technoverse zooms ahead, our city’s in perpetual beta. Can our hardware handle an upgrade?
Standing at the podium at City Hall, Mayor David Miller whips out his BlackBerry, his fingers dance around the keypad, and he faces the crowd.
The most tech-positive politician in Toronto’s history, Miller is usually at ease talking to the normally adoring group gathered in front of him for last November’s Web 2.0 summit.
But this question vexes him: when will Toronto get its own Google Transit map?
After a quick smartphone consult, he’s got a reply.
Google Transit for the TTC, a Toronto version of the much-loved map that puts public transit routes, schedule and service info in an at-your-fingertips format, would be ready in the spring, he said to applause.
For transit enthusiasts and those just wanting to know the quickest route from Chinatown to the St. Lawrence Market, it was about time. The Google partnership is already in place in nearly every other Canadian city with public transportation, from Fredericton to Victoria and Vaughan, just north of Toronto.
Only now, almost a year later, there’s still no map, and it would take another map to retrace the failed promises, starting in 2006.
For its part, all the city would have to do is hand over TTC data to Google to produce the useful map – at no cost to taxpayers.
But when it comes to technological advancements like sharing data, Toronto is one tardy jurisdiction.
It’s in the world's top 10 in Twittering, in the top 20 in overall Internet use, and has loads of Web start-ups. Tons of small tech conferences like ChangeCamp are held here, with the online activists to go with them. Mozilla, maker of the popular browser Firefox, even has an office in Toronto.
But when it comes to ranking the most cutting-edge cities in the world, T.O. is a pretender – from the failure of city-wide wireless to the absence of big-name Web firms and the lack of work-friendly Internet cafés.
Most importantly, while cities like Vancouver, Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh (of all places) zoom onward to the future, Toronto’s moves toward more participatory city government, using democratizing open-source technology, are snail-like.
Is it time for an upgrade?
***
To get a sense of how other jurisdictions manage to incorporate online activism, consider what happened with Vancouver’s garbage pickup earlier this summer.
Public policy expert and Internet activist David Eaves mused on his blog that trash service in his city was convoluted, involving zones and changing schedules. He wrote that email reminders or a map of pickup schedules would vastly improve matters.
For that to happen, he said, the city would have to make available all the data – the digital information around its garbage service – to the community of Web developers. Vancouver had recently passed an openness initiative, so the trash schedules were handed right over.
Two young Web developers made the program Eaves described, calling it VanTrash, and gave it to the city.
Another participatory breakthrough is Pittsburgh’s iBurgh, a mobile application that lets residents instantly upload photos of potholes, unremoved snow and other problems to the city from their iPhone, minus the bureaucratic run-around of trying to phone some office. (This app was also donated free of charge.)
In the digital age, “openness” has a new definition. It not only means making information available, but also doing so in a technically accessible format – that is, opening the source data. Toronto makes lots of information available on its websites, but not in a usable format to build online services. The TTC data requested by Google is a prime example.
Web developers, essentially working for free in exchange for exposure, could build Internet-based solutions to civic problems with that data. Imagine the outcome: interactive maps of restaurants charged with sanitary violations, historic neighbourhood walks, searchable databases of swimming pool hours, Facebook widgets of city festivals.... The possibilities are endless.
Free data also makes social activism that much easier; think of having all committee or council minutes or city staff documents relating to a hazardous condo project, for example, arriving in your email in an easy-to-digest format. Stopping unwanted developments could be a matter of touching an iPhone screen.
By these standards, Toronto is closed.
But according to David Wallace, T.O.’s chief information officer and leader of the Toronto.ca redesign, the process of freeing up data has begun, and local developers will be invited into the fold.
“Toronto has a very good software development community, larger and more in-depth than any other city in Canada,” says Wallace. “That means we have a large advantage, as we get our data out there, to get very advanced products developed.”
Thus far, Wallace says, there has been some reluctance to “just throw stuff out there” for fear that no one will do anything with it. He complains that when developers were asked what data would be useful to free up, there wasn’t much of a response, much like when the city appealed to the public for input into its site redesign and got a paltry 90 replies. (Go to toronto.ca/comment to add to that number.)
Regardless, Wallace says the city will put some of its data on a labs page in the fall, where developers can submit different programs.
Good news. The downside, though, is that Toronto will pick and choose which data it releases. He mentions one idea that’s unfortunately dated: an events calendar that citizens and organizations can upload, something like the one that appeared on blogs like Torontoist and BlogTO in 2006.
Compared to the complexity of material in the city’s domain, the TTC’s mandate is straightforward: release its routes, schedule and service data so developers can make online and mobile transit tools.
Last year, a developer in his early 20s, Brian Gilham, created TTC Updates, a service to deliver updates about delayed trains, detoured streetcars and any other TTC disruptions. Riders could get reports delivered to their cellphones via Twitter.
On the site, a disclaimer reads: “TTCupdates is not affiliated with the TTC. I mean, well, please don’t sue me.” Gilham is referring to the TTC’s nasty reputation for suing those who use its name, logo or subway map to create transit guides, mashup maps or other tributes.
“It used to be a lot tougher for developers, but things are slowly improving,” says Gilham.
The TTC has never integrated Gilham’s service, which he provided free of charge.
As for the Google Transit map, the arrival time is apparently approaching. TTC chair Adam Giambrone says the data the search engine company would need to build the map – routes, times, schedules in technically accessible form – simply did not exist and therefore couldn’t be shared. Putting data in a shareable format and displaying it cost $2 million.
But there’s more. Giambrone says he’s reluctant to partner with a third-party company. This is, after all, publicly financed information – Toronto can’t just go making deals with multinational corporations. What if Google were to change its mind and charge for the map?
Giambrone bristles at the suggestion that the TTC isn’t open. “The TTC Website may not be as sexy as other sites, but it scores high in accessibility.”
Like the team rebuilding the Toronto city site, he agrees with open-sourcing solutions. He promises the TTC will release the data to everyone, including Google, in the fall.
“By January 2010, Toronto will have the most wired transit system in the world,” he says. Expect “a pretty impressive suite of applications” that will make an outing on the TTC easier to plan, like an SMS message service that will alert riders when to expect the next two vehicles at any given stop.
Also coming is an interactive trip planner, evidence of which can be seen on the TTC home page. It has read “Future home of the trip planner” for months.
This translates into a years-long delay for the handy Google Transit map, already in use in more than 400 cities. But it’s also an indication of Toronto’s unpreparedness. Sharing data was the future when cities like Washington did it in 2005. Now it’s the norm.
Also worrisome is the fact that key corporations are missing in action. In the last year, Google moved to town, but its location at Yonge and Dundas is, alas, strictly a sales office. Any creative or development work takes place elsewhere, like Waterloo.
Apple opted to take its offices outside Toronto as well. Not far outside, but it is Markham.
This scattered approach is the anti-Silicon Valley, according to Richard Florida, creativity guru and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute.
“Northern California, specifically the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, has benefited from clustering. Technology talent in those areas have the opportunity to share information and communicate face to face,” he says.
“This, in turn, is causing human capital and highly sought-after talent to concentrate in select communities, causing the clustering effect.”
Does the presence of companies like Google attract Internet types?
“Toronto isn’t as well known as a technology hub,” says Mark Surman, exec director of the Mozilla Foundation, a Web firm dedicated to open sourcing. “We don’t have a strong identity, but community and industry and movement are all here.”
Surman says that’s the reason Mozilla, which hails from Mountain View, the same California town Google calls home, runs a 15-person space over a Beer Store south of Bloor on Spadina. (It should be noted that ValleyWag, a popular Silicon Valley blog, rated it as one of the worst tech offices in the world.)
He says that convincing governments, business and the public that Toronto is a hub of innovation is the main hurdle. For example, do Web users know that the bulk of the work on the globally popular Firefox browser happens in Toronto? Surman thinks not.
But he disagrees large companies will serve any purpose. “People look for Google or recognizable companies. Those are not the story of the Web. The Web is a small patchwork of people. They tend to be independent developers,” he says. “That’s fabric of the industry in Toronto, and the fabric of the Web itself.”
He points to the dozens of small, informal conferences held all over Toronto, often called camps, as in TransitCamp for transit innovation, and ChangeCamp for social change technology. These are tech events where ideas are tossed around and keynote speakers interact with audiences. They’re more like storytelling sessions than lectures, like where the mayor promised Google Transit.
In both public and private space, the Internet is about the individual. Behemoth organizations are always outsmarted by a chorus of independent creative minds. But what happens when ideas have nowhere to go?
That’s Toronto at present. There’s no local outlet for innovators – at City Hall or at big Internet companies. There’s not even a popular local technology blog.
What’s needed is support, recognition and places to direct our online efforts. Once those are in place, just uncork the talent.
COMMENTS [NowToronto.com] Nice analysis. The most troubling is Wallace's reluctance to "just throw stuff out there for fear that no one will do anything with it." I certainly hope this quote was taken out of context. The whole concept behind open data is that you *don't* know what people are going to do with it. The city already knows what developers want - they demanded it in an extensive session at ChangeCamp last year. We crafted a list of at least 50 different types of data that would enable us to build cool stuff for the city.
Toronto - we're ready to start building this stuff for you. Now it's your turn. Open up.
If you look at the history of tech innovation over the last thirty years, a couple of things stand out. One is having a university that encourages innovation and that has a strong tech background. Stanford was the incubator for HP, Apple, Google. Also you need a good VC market. You need to have money to get the start ups going.
You may knock Pittsburgh but CMU is one of the top engineering schools in the nation and it has developed a good reputation in encouraging technological innovation.
Mozilla was originally developed at the U of I but Andreesen took it out west in part due to lack of VC money.
So does U of T have anything that can match that? Does it encourage its engineering department to be innovative and develop new products? Does it try to partner with the business community to develop new products?
You have RIM up there which is one of the most successful tech companies out there right now.
Is it involved or encouraged to partner with other startups or the university?
Chicago is a case in point we have some very good universities but none of them have done a good job of spurring innovation or partnering with the business community. The result is that Chicago is more of a user of other peoples products than a developer.
Are TransitCamp and MyTTC so under the radar that they don't even warrant a mention here? Surely if you're discussing ChangeCamp there was an effort to reach out to the organizers to ask if any transit related Camps had happened. In any case, http://myttc.ca was a product of the first TransitCamp and is under ongoing development, including discussions and efforts with the TTC to gather the best data available. In other words, there's no need to wait on Google but if David Miller isn't aware of MyTTC, it's time to send a Tweet and get him behind it.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR I am a small business owner in the Toronto Business Development Centre's self-employment training program. I've developed a platform for streaming video and Internet radio to smartphones and mobile devices.
Your article "Stuck in Version 1.0" hit me hard because of my experiences in Toronto. WTF is going on?
We are stuck in Version 1.0 for two main reasons: 1) advertising agencies have a stranglehold on media; 2) Toronto is about making money and stamping out the little guy.
It's become next to impossible to carve out an existence as a small digital media company. Getting through the front doors of Toronto companies is next to impossible.
Thank you for your amazing article and insightful analysis. I feel less alone and more sure of why Toronto is a place where I cannot continue to work. --Kevin Grant _______________________________________________
There's a world of ideas to steal from cutting-edge digital capitals
Portland Home to the first-ever interactive transit map, Portland leads in developer-made transit applications. The firm TriMet even assisted Google in preparing data for maps. Creative apps tell you when the next vehicle arrives, find the nearest stop to your location and alert you when you’re nearing your destination.
San Francisco What about copying the Bay Area’s most cherished invention, the Internet café? Sitting down to a high-speed connection on a brand new iMac with a chipotle fish taco in your hand is one of life’s great pleasures. Anyone looking to copy one of SF’s better Interweb spots should research Quetzal, Golden Gate Perk or Chat Café.
Austin As well as hosting SXSWi, North America’s definitive Web conference, Austin has a reputation as a smart place to launch a tech start-up. That’s because the city’s attracted successful tech venture capitalist firms like YCombinator and TechStars, but also because the city itself acts like a VC: Austin’s Capital Factory initiative funds five new tech start-ups a year.
...They give their time and energy to help you with nothing expected in return.
Washington, DC A historic DC walking tour on your iPhone. A Facebook widget that checks where city money is spent. These are the types of Internet applications submitted to Apps for Democracy, a program under DC mayor Adrian Fenty inviting local developers to identify city problems and solve them online. The project yielded 47 apps in 30 days – a $2,300,000 value.
"Park it DC" actually makes parking in DC a lot easier: if you put in an address you can see whether or not cars have been stolen in that area...
Vancouver Vancouver is leading the way in Canada in the open government movement. A motion passed at City Hall in May for open data, open standards and open source means programs that map out all public washrooms in an area and email alerts for water quality on city beaches are in the works.
Munich The capital of Bavaria is also a capital of open-source. In 2006, the city switched all of its 15,000 computers from proprietary Microsoft Windows to the open Linux system. A bold move, considering that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a desperation visit to Munich to convince the city not to leave his company.
Bangalore A cluster of software, electronics and Web companies make this India’s version of Silicon Valley, though it’s not a valley at all, but a plateau. Three micro-neighbourhoods dedicated to tech work and the presence of multinationals like AOL and Qwest attract talent from all over the country.
Singapore Apart from the heavily armed guards randomly demanding to see passports, Singapore’s Changi Airport is an easy place to work online. Internet kiosks are plentiful, with a fair five-minute usage limit. Or for those carrying laptops or netbooks, there’s free wireless. The airport’s site also has a an interactive map of the place to help you avoid last-second scurrying for a flight.
Seoul WiBro sounds like a nickname for the beer-drinking, backwards-hat-wearing neighbour but is actually proof that our telecoms aren’t competing. WiBro, wireless broadband, is Seoul’s new high-speed wireless-everywhere coverage. It’d be like sitting on the 511 Bathurst dialing up Gmail and downloading The Hangover at the same time.
Tokyo Any place that sells smartphones in vending machines deserves mention in a high-tech list, even if not many other ideas can be stolen (well, besides scramble crosswalks) from a crazy-busy city like this one. Tokyo also rivals London for top wages paid to developers and high-end Internet ITers, though that’s a bit of a red herring considering the cost of living.
Hong Kong Cyberport is a city-made, brick-and-mortar space dedicated to IT and Web innovation. It’s as exciting to visit as it sounds. The world’s first Internet ’hood boasts local start-ups and houses a tech-savvy five-star hotel and close to 3,000 permanent residents in a futuristic city. Should T.O. create a designated online neighbourhood? (HK is also a great place for electronics, both buying and developing.) ______________________________________________
RELATED The 10 Most Connected Cities in the World 1. Seoul, South Korea Boasting a metropolitan area population of more than 22 million people, Seoul is the second most populated metro area in the world and second to none in terms of modern technology. Seoul is home to some of the biggest telecommunications and technology companies in the world, including SK Telecom, KT Corporation, Samsung and LG. If you're looking for the latest and greatest cell phone or miniature wifi gadget, Seoul should be your first stop.
When it comes to broadband penetration, South Korea is the world leader with an 83 percent penetration rate. This is in part due to the full blown broadband revolution that has been taking place in Seoul for the past 8 years.
Seoul is full of Internet cafés, wireless hotspots and gaming areas (called "pc baangs") making it the ideal city to use the Internet on the go. In most areas, a pc baang can be found on every corner. How's that for service?
Koreans have a fascination with PC gaming unlike any other country in the world. In South Korea, there are multiple television channels dedicated solely to broadcasting the day's video game events. Talented video game players are treated like celebrities similar to famous basketball players in the United States. At the center of all of the gaming is Seoul, which has played an important part in expanding Internet usage throughout all of South Korea.
Internet access in Seoul is extremely cheap, averaging around $20 per month for a 10Mpbs connection -- that's more than 4 times as fast and half the price of the average broadband connection in the United States. Some areas of Seoul boast commercial Internet speeds of more than 100Mbps for merely $30 per month. With speeds that fast it would only take you 5 minutes to download a two-hour high definition movie.
Seoul's current expansion plans include a $439 million project to add wireless Internet access to the subway trains. "The plan would be to create a wifi network, and then charge roughly $20 per month for access."
With such a huge broadband presence and a dedication to offering cheap, fast Internet solutions, Seoul is the definition of wired.
What is a 3G Network? Japan and South Korea were the first countries to successfully launch this (3G) network. The Japanese company FOMA launched in May 2001 and South Korea's SK Telecom launched in January 2002. British Telecom in the United Kingdom and Monet Mobile Networks in the United States followed suit. By 2007, most countries had implemented the technology. ______________________________________________
This morning I was checking my email when up comes this McDonalds ad. Great, another pop up I don't give a shit about. I circle around looking for the "x" to close it and it's nowhere to be found. Sometimes these crafty fuckers locate it in the nether regions of the page. Not this time. The aberration covers the timestamps but I'll be damned if I'm going to click on it, so I go through to the next page...
And it's back! I'm being followed! Aggressive little bugger, isn't it? Again, no close button so now I'm pissed. They're going to make me do it, aren't they? They're going to make me follow the link! Arrggghh!
Never have I wanted to punch a clown so bad.
Is that fucker winking at me???
OMG he is!!!
This is bad, isn't it? Internet advertising has reached a whole new level of obnoxious imposition. They're not even pretending to care about my free will and ability to choose whether I want to participate in their marketing campaigns. The gloves are off, it's in my face and there's not a damned thing I can do about it. Yes, I clicked around their site, if only to check out the fat and sodium content of their "nutritious" meals. They still sell the same old shit that I no longer eat because I really don't hate my body that much. So they got my page views. Does that mean they won?
Rest assured, it's downhill from here. I envision the day, in the not-so-distant future, when I'll be inundated with ten pop up ads on the same page, none of which will have a close button. I'll waste precious Internet minutes - which translates into days in real life - clicking through them in an effort to clear the clutter. There'll be video (more than there is now) and ten different spokespersons will clamour for my attention. The babble will drive me insane and I'll become a resentful consumer: one who's forced to digest irrelevant material pushed by increasingly aggressive marketers.
To this I say damn youYahoo Mail. Damn you for not imposing limits, damn you for not protecting my interests and damn you for opening the floodgates and letting the vultures in.
Megan Fox is Bloody Evil in Jennifer's Body QUOTE "If you want a reason to commit suicide, google yourself on the Internet...I haven't given people a reason to think I'm a good actress."
COMMENTS [NYLON on Facebook.com]
She is so pretty
love her!
Oh god not Nylon too. Why must she be EVERYWHERE.
She's not that bad. And she doesn't try to fit in with everyone else which I think is a key element of hers.
I don't think a woman who gives interviews about how women should enjoy being objectified by men is a very good role model, but that's just me. Even SHE says she doesn't think she should be a role model.
i do not care for her.
I love her + her sexy, bitchy, sarcastic attitude. She talks too much but that's what makes her kind of awesome.
She overrated, and not that great of an actress. I'm not a fan.
"i'm not a alcohol-drinking, cigarette-smoking, shit-starter." i liked that. she seems pretty cool here.
how sexy and interesting is this months cover omg the fox is in the house .. sexy!
I hate her.
nylon surprises me with some of the people they select for the cover, and not always in a good way.
Can you say guilty pleasure? Mmmnn yes.
I agree with Alex Castro, that "actress" is not famous for a the right reasons. Just another Paris Hilton with darker hair.
yeah, not the best person. i really don't like her.
i think she tries so hard to be bad...she is just an actress in her own life... thats why she´s not a role model because she doesnt have anything interesting to copy!
bad choice for a cover. she knows nothing about fashion- just taking her clothes OFF
bad choice for a cover girl nylon. i know you have better taste. why not someone else like daisy lowe or an upcoming fashion designer or just someone more awesome? megan fox gets way more credit and attention than she deserves as an actress.
fuckin sell outs
ok, so Megan is hot - got it. What else has she got to offer?? A big MEH to this cover.
boooo megan fox. bad choice Nylon. I know the lil diva darling personally... and she is just as lame as we think she is.
whaat were you thinking nylon ?? megan fox.. what?
Sexy! But a bitch.
nylon tv + megan fox = epic fail. you can do so much better, nylon. especially when it comes to the "it girl" issue.
I do not care for this one at all. And, I agree, her acting is pretty disgraceful.
SMALL TOWN ONTARIO In August, my friend CC and I took a drive to Port Perry. It was a hot, sunny, beautiful summer day and as we left Toronto, I was struck by what lies just outside the city's limits. Between the sprawling fields, decaying barns and wafting, pungent aromas of manure, I felt like I'd stepped into a time machine...
Burd's Fishing When CC told me we were going fishing, I thought he was joking
It's a trout pond, but all I see is a teeming cesspool of fish lice
Hey fishies, the Atlantic is thataway -->
Ha! Caught one! I nicknamed my easy prey Ziggy after the fella in the pic
I told CC there was no way in hell I was gonna eat that thing. After spending several hours in the car in a bag of ice, it was lovingly prepared and hungrily devoured by his cleaning lady. No word as to any subsequent "side effects".
Hulshof Farms Stunningly pretty view
Just like a painting, really
This is as close as I'll ever get to "roughin' it"
My urbanite sensibility sees this and thinks, how rustic, quaint, country blah,blah, blah...omg - it's just a freakin' sign
Where art thou, Romeo?
A true picture window
Field fresh beans are ten times sweeter than the waxy grocery store variety
Cute farmer boy holding his *ahem* zucchini
Enough broccoli to feed a small nation
There's no way that giant ass broccoli is fitting in my fridge, CC
Roadside cafe An adorable place for a pit stop
It sold the usual condiments, baked goods and frozen prepared dinners
CC and I shared a slice of gluten free cake that was so stale you could use it to commit assault and battery
What's that, CC? Only 99 miles left to go??
Port Perry An idyllic waterfront view__pics by CC
Had grilled fish and salad here; the waitress was a sweetie
I wonder if he caught anything...
The local barber's vacation notice
MISC. Beautiful polished wood totem pole at 777 Bay St.
This spa treatment gift certificate will finally get my ass in the door of The Hazelton Hotel
Dinner with Mr. Movie__Sado Sushi
I sampled raw fish for the first time and devoured at least six of these shrimp sushi
My building's fire alarm system is connected to both the underlying gym and mall's systems, and is also extremely sensitive - if dust flies up into it, it goes off. As a consequence, there're many false alarms, of which this was one.
I counted at least four trucks arriving on the scene, all for naught.
My building's concierge talking to a very cute fireman
When it comes to packaging their product, Vitamin Water gets it right__Bloor St. W.
With this brightly-coloured binder, there's no excuse to forget your homework__Shoppers Drug Mart__Yonge St.
I can see myself in this dress, though I've no clue what's going on at the waistline__Le Chateau__Yonge St.
HUDSON BAY CENTRE I blame Kanye for this trend__Ardene
Visually-arresting M.A.C. poster
Rafters reflects the black-and-white trend with this lovely rug
This suit has St. Tropez written all over it__The Bay
Indigo Books I was passing through the bookstore when lo and behold, there was A.J. Jacobs, who in his black thick-rimmed glasses, looked and sounded like a younger Jerry Lewis
Is it by coincidence or design that the extensive magazine rack is located next to an in-store mini Starbucks? I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon sipping tea and (carefully) flipping pages... Mr. Cheekbones himself, Christian Bale
Sigh...Eric Bana
Vs. has convinced me that when it comes to fashion magazines, it's better to "go big or go home". Their publication has the size and heft of a coffee table book and is just as worthy of being a collector's item. Unfortunately, at $20 a pop, I'll have to content myself with mere browsing.
WANT: Cesare Paciotti sequined sandals__Elle UK
Fetishistic Alexander McQueen thigh high boots on Rachel Weisz__Elle UK
Peter Morentzos – Restaurant Master of Montreal EXCERPTS Morentzos never forgets that he came from humble beginnings; now, he gives back to the community that has been good to him. He contributes to countless charitable causes, ranging from women’s shelters to leukemia. Every Christmas, he opens his restaurants to the homeless, who are treated as if they were elite clientele. Morentzos recalls one year when a family of four arrived, speaking little English. They had come to Canada for a better life but hadn’t had any luck. “At the end of the meal, they tried to tip the waiter with quarters and dimes,” Morentzos says. “I saw it, and that was the end. I went to the bathroom for at least 15 minutes by myself.”
He admits that he is strict with his employees. “I’ve always wanted to be a dictator of a small country,” he jokes.
We chat about personal style. “A person’s watch can tell many things,” he says. “A man’s tie can say it all.” In his life, Morentzos has seen numerous people come and go and can spot a phony from a mile away. “When you enter a restaurant, you ooze something that you want people to see,” he says. “I see people trying so hard to be something they’re not. It works for some people, but it doesn’t work for most.”
Since he said a watch reveals so much, we can’t help but notice that he wears his on his right wrist. We ask why he doesn’t wear it on the left. His answer is simple: “Because everybody else does.”
MRG: Morentzos Restaurant Group It is impossible to mention Montreal's vibrant restaurant scene without mentioning Peter Morentzos. Now 47 years old, his humble beginnings started as a pizza delivery boy and selling men’s clothing...Details are everything to Peter and his interpretation of such sensory elements have inspired him to develop well over 13 unique restaurant concepts and build over 65 restaurants in 20 years.
Anthropologie doesn't sell merchandise—it sells a lifestyle. Founder Richard Hayne took lessons learned from his successful creation of Urban Outfitters, which sells hip clothing and accessories for twentysomethings, and transformed them into a concept where the focus is not on the fashion of the moment, but on merchandise that soothes women's souls while getting them to open their pocketbooks.
Anthropologie stores are a carefully orchestrated attack on the senses, from the French music to the aromatic candles burning to the rough-hewn signs throughout. Each retailing quadrant acts as its own island, displaying a theme and flavor all its own. Customers enter "The Washroom" and find exotic soaps, lotions, dispensers and even a medicine cabinet for sale. They step into "The Boudoir" and discover sumptuous sheets, duvet covers and pillows luxuriously displayed on a wrought-iron bed (also available for purchase). In fact, selling the props makes the stores seem as if the customer has uncovered a rare artifact—a piece that she alone can own.
The store flies in the face of traditional retailing: It focuses not on one category of goods, but on disparate merchandise that's centered around a theme. Books, clothing, jewelry and patio furniture can be found there. As market expert Jon Schallert of The Schallert Group, a management and marketing consulting firm in Sorrento, Florida, explains, "a 'controlled clutter' design works because it keeps the customer interested." He advises his own clients to display merchandise in an uncoventional way so the customer discovers the merchandise as if on a special treasure hunt. Anthropologie has mastered this strategy.
To foster originality in each of its 50 stores, Anthropologie hires two artists for every location to create art unique to that store. This helps bolster the image of Anthropologie as an independent, free-spirited retailer, not a cookie-cutter franchise.
Anthropologie's buyers are on a mission to scour the globe for interesting, relevant and unusual items for its core customer. They see her as a professional woman aged 30 to 45, well-read, well-traveled and well-educated, with a household income approaching $200,000.
And she is a devout fan. Customers spend an average of $80 per visit, leading to average sales per square foot of approximately $600—not bad for a store that is all about creating a mood. ----------------------------------------------------- Hazelton Avenue Stunning colour at the Bra Bar Boutique
Newly opened Ace Lifestyle tempts me into learning golf with these cute shoes__Hazelton Lanes
Prison Photography - women
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