137) Endorsements 4:38 PM

Kim Yuna - homegirl is everywhere. The Queen, as she is fondly called, graces the windows of store fronts left and right, pairing her face with everything from cell phones to clothing lines to banking services. According to CNN, Yuna landed $10 million worth in sponsorships and endorsements immediately after her Olympic win. Aside from her own benefit, the Kim Yuna brand has been stimulating the Korean economy itself.

All the Yuna sightings made me think of America's own endorsement King. According to Forbes, Tiger Woods brought in $105 million in endorsements in 2009 - more than the next three highest paid athletes combined. While Tiger Woods' figure dwarfs Kim Yuna's, their choice of products and their public image raise some interesting points. Even though Tiger ostensibly has more endorsement deals, you couldn't say that you walk around and see his face everywhere. Yuna is an omnipresent spokesperson to the people, the everyday passerby, while Tiger's caters to a more exclusive consumer. Tiger has been called a lot of things this year as a result of his actions, none of which is equivalent to The Queen or The Fairy of the Ice.

Clearly, it's not enough to be amazing at your given sport - not all athlete endorsers are created equal.

136) Something New, Something Old 4:19 PM

There's something magical about touching down in a city you've never been to before. (Ok, technically I've been to Seoul, but my 2 year-old self doesn't remember a thing.) Each unique skyline holds the promise of discovery, of utter difference from what you're used to. We landed in the early evening, but the sun quickly hid itself, revealing a metropolis of neon perched on sky-high buildings.

But while I was overwhelmed by the brand new, I couldn't help but notice that which was the same on the street level. Not-so-little American stake holds that dot the landscape in the form of Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Coffee Bean, Outback Steakhouse and of course, Starbucks. And I'm not talking about spotting one of each - not like, oh look, the only Outback Steakhouse in all of Seoul. This was multiple locations noted on the bus ride from the airport and within the area around our hotel. While not completely shocking - Seoul is known for embracing the West - it'll be interesting to see which brands manage to gain popularity on Korean soil, and what that says about local consumers.

135) Time Out, Beijing 9:37 AM

(Photo from Layout Sparks.)

Warning: this post may be NSFW. Thankfully, it's Sunday.

Some expats also recommend you bring your own condoms. Brands on sale here tend to be a little, shall we say, 'snug'.
- Time Out Beijing

Let's just put it out there. According to popular stereotype, the Asian male possesses a smaller penis than his Caucasian and African American counterparts. Like all stereotypes, there are surely examples; perhaps, a more-common-than-average tendency towards smaller, er, samples (stereotypes don't appear out of thin air). Likewise, there are plenty of counterexamples - Asian stallions and Caucasians with teenie weenies.

All joking aside, it's strange that the stereotype be perpetuated by the Time Out Beijing editors. Either it is simply a Western jab at Asian nether regions, or Chinese condom companies actually do produce smaller rubbers. Given that there are no studies that prove a definitive relation between penis size and race, either scenario seems unfounded. (Mini aside - in my brief research I found this 2006 BBC article about standard condoms being too big for Indian men. Apparently, appropriate condom sizing is more pressing than we think. All the more reason a condom brand should invest in an international penis size study - think of the value of that data!)

Aside from the debated validity of the stereotype, the equally important question is the why. Many distinguishing racial physical features can be boiled down to some evolutionary explanation. The common Asian single fold eyelid is hypothesized to arise from harsher climates and greater exposure to UV radiation of yesteryear (more fat in the lid for eyeball protection - thus, one fold instead of two). Likewise, coarse hair, fair or black skin are all linked back to conditions during the era of evolutionary adaptiveness. Can, then, varying penile size between races be explained in such terms?

Until there is proof, the stereotype lives on. I won't even go into the socio-cultural aspects of all this. The stereotype of the strong, masculine, athletic and superior Caucasian comparing his manhood to that of a small, meek, nerdy and inferior Asian will have to be saved for a later post.

(Mini aside - As you're reading about penises, I'm up in the air en route to Seoul. We'll be meeting up with my brothers and spending a few days in the motherland before we head to Beijing and Shanghai. I'm hoping that I'll be able to anticipate any days without internet access so that there will be no missed days on The Plan. I can't wait to see what kind of posts Korea and China inspire. I realize that I've been doing a lot of self-absorbed whining on here lately. Like a spoiled brat, I've been hemming and hawing over things in spite of an amazing vacation and the freedom to pursue NY. No more.)

134) Thinking Face 4:43 PM

For those of you who weren't subjected to the Kumon learning method, here's a picture painted from several years of Tuesday and Friday torture. Upon entering, you're greeted by the too-sweet smell of Japanese erasers (the little ones that comes in various fruit or Hello Kitty shapes) mixed with that warm paper smell that seeps out of Xerox machines. You hand over your plastic white box, and your (hopefully completed) homework is whipped out and replaced with fresh problem set packets, including the one you will complete in class. You sit at the appropriate table for your level, whereupon an instructor uses a stopwatch to time how fast you can complete your packet. The problem sets are grossly repetitive - the aim of Kumon is to drill the problems into your head, until you reach the optimal speed vs. accuracy intersection. After you're done, you make your way over to another table where you time yourself as you match these magnetic circles numbered 1-100 with the corresponding numbers listed numerically 1-100 on a board. (To this day, I don't understand why it was so important to be able to quickly identify and match numbers.)

It was not a place I wanted to be, yet every Tuesday and Friday after school, there I was. So I was highly amused by the new logo that Kumon rolled out a couple years ago (pictured above). I could not think of a better face to represent what a child feels like at Kumon. According to Closer to Fine, the corporate press release (now pulled from site) stated that the emoticon is supposed to be a "hand drawn 'Thinking Face'" supposedly reflecting "Kumon’s philosophy that every child possesses unlimited potential." Something was definitely lost in translation, because that face looks more like the helpless ennui and melancholy of a child forced into extra-curricular tutoring, tight-lipped at the prospect of having his packets graded by an elderly man with two thumbs on one hand (true story).

I am dying to hear some focus groups of former Kumon students discussing the new logo. For me, it's the perfect reflection of my Kumon experience at the expense of the brand. Unfortunately, prospective students (read: their parents) may read into it differently.

133) Time Relevance 5:09 PM

(Photo from one+infinity.)

And so it begins. In the past couple of days I've had to say goodbye for now to two of my closest friends in LA. I know this part is inevitable, but somehow the fact that our schedules won't sync up before I leave for NY makes it seem premature. Thankfully, one of them said something really wise as we bid adieu. He said not to worry, because as we get older, time has different meaning.

For me it started in high school. Every year seemed to go by just a little bit faster. In college, time continued to pick up the pace, until all of sudden I'm throwing my grad cap in the air. Out in the real world, settling into a work routine, days and months fly by. You feel like you're constantly looking up and saying, how is it already [insert month, season or year here]?

While sometimes terrifying, this acceleration of time makes the months of not seeing friends less relevant. Sure, to not be able to see certain people any time I want will be an adjustment. But it's not like this is the first (or last) time I've moved away from friends (Gunn HS '04, what up). I guess it feels different this time, since it's not a necessity move the way the relocation for college was. (Or is it?)

132) Recession Trend 7:19 PM

(Photo from here.)

Sprinkles, Crumbs Bake Shop, Vanilla Back Shop, Yummy Cupcake, Susiecakes, and the recently christened Magnolia Bakery - in LA, the cupcake still reigns supreme, reflecting a nationwide love that seems to be withstanding the test of time. Some identify that one episode of Sex and the City (the one where Carrie meets Aidan *swoons) as the catalyst that propelled Magnolia and its buttery cupcakes into popularity over ten years ago (only increased, of course, by SNL's Lazy Sunday digital short).

While cupcakes may have started out as a fanciful treat enjoyed guiltlessly by Carrie and Miranda, their swell in popularity over the past few years seems to indicate a recession trend. It's been shown that lipstick sales surge in times of uncertainty (post-9/11, the Great Depression, according to the Guardian). Women scale back on larger designer purchases, and turn to little luxuries. What better than a tube of perfect red lipstick to make a woman feel glamorous during hard times?

The same can be said about cupcakes. At $2-3.50 a pop, it's a small indulgence, a highly affordable pick me up. Sugary and polished, all lined up uniformly in the case like an army of dainty delicacies. It's structure of cake body plus frosted top allows for a variety of flavor, color and decoration combination, something that cookies, brownies and doughnuts can't match. This also allows for multiple bakeries in one market.

Some have been quick to list cupcakes as a dying food trend (followed by speculation over its heir - cake balls? whoopie pies? macarons?), but the very recent opening of Magnolia Bakery in LA suggests otherwise. And because they're so dang visual, I leave you with some cupcake images. (I just realized how girly they are...perhaps males won't be able to relate. A female-skewed trend then?)









(Photos from NC State University, David Daniels Photography, Dinner Cakes, and The Rest is Just Icing.)

131) The Network 9:52 PM

(Photo from the University of Minnesota)

Just a quick note tonight. I'm continually amazed at how readily people offer up their contacts. I popped over to happy hour at the company I used to work for, and had two different people tell me they could put me in touch with people they know in New York. And these weren't even people I used to work closely with - in fact, I had just met one of them tonight. It's so true when people say that the world runs on networks. Now, more than ever with the relocation and impending job search, I'm seeing the power of networks first hand.

130) Revenge Narratives 7:21 PM

I saw the trailer for I Spit on Your Grave a few days ago, and was struck by the prevalence of the "revenge theme" in the horror genre. The revenge story arc is fairly formulaic. Young woman who is outside of her normal environment (a city girl in the country, or vice versa) is brutalized and raped by a group of locals. Said locals pay dearly (torture, and sure death) at the hand of the young woman or the young woman's family.

Some more examples, so you can see the arc in action. I Spit on Your Grave is actually a remake of the 1978 movie by the same name.


Similarly, 2009's The Last House on the Left is a remake of Wes Craven's 1972 thriller, which is based off of Ingmar Bergman's 1960 classic, The Virgin Spring.


Couldn't find the trailer for The Virgin Spring, but here's a clip in another language. You get the gist.


There are certain elements that I find interesting in these revenge narratives. Mainly, the scenario in which it is believed that a woman would not only be justified in horribly violent revenge, but that she could actually go through with it. Apparently, the ingredients for such a scenario includes a young woman who is either a virgin, or possesses virginal or pure qualities. Though physical violence is a must, it's not enough that the woman be beat up for a prolonged period of time. The act of rape by multiple men is key in pushing the crime into the warrants-brutal-revenge territory.

The bottom line is, the more horrible the initial offense, the more satisfying it is for the viewer to watch the protagonist exact her revenge. It's no matter that the acts that she performs (in I Spit on Your Grave, it's clear that she uses her sexuality to her advantage) are no better than those inflicted on her. But somehow, it's made acceptable to us and the fictional authorities, as no one ever seems to face any real life consequences for their vigilante revenge.

129) Collateral 7:12 PM

Photo by Tom Baker.

A couple days ago, I met up with another friend and ex (seems to be part of the good-bye LA routine) for some coffee. At one point, the topic of relationship collateral came up - the people, places, objects, etc. that are lost after it ends. The parents and sibs that you may or may not have gotten close to. (Another friend recently told me that he didn't really miss his ex-girlfriend, but that he missed talking with her dad.) The old familiar restaurant haunts, the exit off the freeway that leads to your significant other's apartment. The gifts that may or may not continue to be used. All reminders of what used to be.

But before we get too emo, let's remind ourselves that at some point, the associations fade. Despite swearing off certain places or throwing away all collateral entirely (stop, think twice), eventually it ceases to be collateral and dissolves into a pleasant whisper of a memory.

(Mini aside - I have the distinct feeling that my topics have been not so great as of late. Aka more personal than analytical. It's a strange time right now - unemployment, transition. I'm going to be in Asia for the first two and a half weeks in September, and then will be moving out of LA come September 30. Then in October, I'll be making the big move to New York. Life feels incredibly temporary, so apologies if it's reflected in both the topics and the writing.)

128) Small vs. Smooth Talk 7:16 PM

This morning, I rode my bike over to One Life Natural Foods for one of their fresh fruit smoothies. After the ordering, paying and receiving song and dance, I went and retrieved my ride from its locked location on the sidewalk. I thought I'd be clever and attempted to bike and drink at the same time. I got as far as the crosswalk before the smoothie slipped and exploded on the ground under me. I wheeled my bike back to the sidewalk, face burning, legs splattered with bright pink (strawberry) $4.50 smoothie.

An older man happened to be exiting the grocery store, and chivalrously offered to stay with my bike while I ran inside for some napkins. When I returned, he struck up a conversation as I wiped myself clean. He kept using phrases that made it seem like he already knew me really well - those vague phrases that psychics use. Things like, "You are a multi-tasker, huh?" (in response to my efforts to bike and sip), and "You are a person who is all about the details, huh?"(in response to my career aspirations). At one point he asked me if I lived in the area, noting that he too lived just around the corner.

This exchange reflects the naive question that continually goes unanswered: how can you tell if a guy is hitting on you, or is just being plain friendly? The inability to distinguish between the two has left me in less than favorable situations in the past. A seemingly harmless conversation with a stranger suddenly becomes an uncomfortable back track explanation that I have a real or fictional boyfriend. On the other hand, uncertainty and fear of misinterpreting a crush's friendliness leads to inaction and later, regret. Male and boyfriends alike have rolled their eyes at my naivety, saying that guys will ever approach with the intention of being just friends. At the same time, the idea of automatically putting up one's guard doesn't seem right either.

(Picture from the New York Times.)

127) Photo Shoot 10:52 PM

This week has been a series of uncharacteristic Natalie behavior that culminated in a photo shoot this morning. The lovely and talented Laura of Laura Elle Photography came out to shoot some photos of me in a couple of my favorite Santa Monica spots (photo above not from shoot). When Laura first offered her services, I was hesitant and wish-washed for about six months. I'm not really the type of person to jump in front of a camera. Not to mention that the thought of a bunch of photos of myself seemed a little self-indulgent. But in the end, I was really glad that I went through with it. It was fun to take direction from her, and we got some great shots. There's no way I'll regret having these pictures of SaMo to look back on.

One really interesting thing that I learned from Laura was the importance of branding for wedding photographers. For some reason, I was under the naive impression that people chose wedding photographers (a highly, highly saturated group, especially in SoCal) based on the pictures they took. Turns out that it is actually the self-branding and client handling that often distinguish a photographer. Of course, you're not going to choose someone who is a notorious douchebag behind the camera. Having not been a bride yet, I imagine it's a more subtle differentiation.

126) ChatroulOMG 5:35 PM

Warning: Language NSFW.

I've been really impressed with movie promos this summer. This latest example comes from Lionsgate, and their latest horror flick, The Last Exorcism. Employing Chatroulette, they've prayed on the young and the horny, who were hoping for nudity, but instead got inner demon. For the cost to produce the short clip and the foresight to record reactions (SO funny to watch their eyes get HUGE), the movie has scored a healthy amount of buzz, including over 400,000 views of the above video on YouTube in the past few days.

Can't beat new media being used in unexpected ways for marketing purposes.

125) Stylist Relations 5:48 PM

Today I received what could possibly be my last haircut from my LA stylist, Jesse (Floyds 99, Venice - go. He's amazing!). As I sat enjoying it, I realized some similarities between a relationship with a stylist is to a relationship with a significant other. The parallels between a first visit and a first date - the same get-to-know-you conversation, uncertainty in a future together. The good ones are hard to find - it took nearly 5 years of bouncing around from LA stylist to LA stylist until I found him (the whole, have to kiss a lot of frogs thing). He makes you feel great about yourself. It involves trust - who else would you let trim your bangs with sharp scissors right in front of your eyeballs, or brandish a hot iron so close to your neck? And finally, in my leaving LA & Jesse, I have to keep reassuring myself that he is not the last man who will cut my hair well.

124) 20-Somethings 11:43 PM

My Facebook news feed has been abuzz with posts regarding an article published today by the New York Times (recommended read, if you have half an hour). The long-winded piece attempts to explain why 20-somethings today take so long to "grow up."

Tonight I was again challenged to pinpoint what exactly I want to do, career-wise. And again, I grasped at what I think I might want to do, without being able to provide a precise answer. It's no longer enough to just say that you want to do advertising, or that you want to be an entrepreneur. The world and its technology has evolved to the point where 20-somethings have a harder time finding their niche, simply because there are so many options out there.

Though I'm not one of the "boomerang kids" that moved back home, I can see why my fellow 20-somethings would turn to this economical option while trying to figure out what they want to do. While there is something to be said about getting out there to find yourself, the comforts of home are often too good to pass up.

123) Twifficiency 10:37 PM

Lately I've been seeing a lot of Twifficiency score tweets on Twitter. The application calculates your score based on the number of people you follow, the number of people who follow you, how often you tweet, and apparently how many tweets you read (not sure how they figure out that last one). Twifficiency then automatically spits out a tweet reporting your score (much to the dismay of this Google Exec pictured above).

One of the people I follow wondered if there will come a day when one's Twifficiency score would be scrutinized at a job interview. I've been thinking about Twitter activity a lot recently, in light of my hiatus from the working world. While I was in Spain, I took a sabbatical from Twitter, and am just now getting back into the swing of it. The job that I will eventually apply for will most likely require an understanding of social networks. Does it, then, behoove me to remain active on Twitter, even if it means forcing it a little bit? By the same token, should I have a foursquare account, even though I don't like broadcasting where I am? Should "proficient in [insert social network here]" be included at the bottom of resumes?

122) That Girl/Guy 8:42 PM

Yesterday I spent the day with a good friend who is also an ex-boyfriend (not pictured above). We talked about a lot of things, and at one point, I lamented that I'd never gotten to meet his longtime and now ex-girlfriend from college. He laughed and reminisced about how much she hated my guts.

Now, I wasn't expecting her to be my number one fan, but even though we never met, (edit: Turns out, we did meet once. And by meet, I mean we attended the same New Years party and awkwardly avoided eye contact all night.) she built me up to be this horrible person in her mind.

I get it. I've been on both ends. We've all had a significant other with a close friend of the opposite sex who may or may not also be an ex. That girl/guy. The one you have to put up with. The burning jealousy of any past physical and emotional intimacy that fuels a present closeness. The thought that someone might know your boy/girlfriend better than you do. And ultimately, the knowledge that this friend will be a constant in your significant other's life, whether you're in the picture or not. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then thank your lucky stars.)

Strangely, I feel the need to redeem myself to this girl I've never met, who used to (figuratively) ban and curse my name. To prove that I'm not the raging bitch she imagined. Aside from the fact that it's too late for any of that, it would have been a lost cause. That kind of thinking is hard to reverse - anything that you do can and will most likely be interpreted negatively. I know because I've done it myself.

Photo note: I didn't want to post a picture that hit too close to home (gotta keep it anonymous and general, right?), so here's a completely unrelated photo of me and my Portuguese friend Joao on my last night in Barcelona.

121) Experiential Experience 11:23 PM

I'm writing this in the car on my cell on the way back from Outside Lands festival (don't worry, I'm not driving). A short post on one of the many things I saw there.

Odwalla had one of those tent "experiences" set up. Upon entering, you're greeted soup kitchen style by free samples. Next, you're invited to sign up to perform on a tricked out stage, made to look like the inside of an Odwalla vending machine. Those not musically inclined can watch perched on cloud-shaped bean bags. The MC urged us to "check out the Facebook" on the laptops in one corner of the tent. Meanwhile, Odwalla reps went around taking pictures of the audience and directing them to a website to retrieve the photo.

The whole time we were in the tent (which inexplicably had an upside down inflated farm scene on the ceiling), all I could see was the potential case study. Those in marketing and advertising will know what I'm talking about. It will probably include something along the lines of, "We created a multi-media marketing experience that allowed people to engage with Odwalla in new, exciting ways."

I'm generalizing, of course, and I don't mean to demean Odwalla's efforts. Having worked in advertising, I was simply struck by a weirdly meta experience. A group of people's hard work was culminating in that tent, and everything was contributing to the case study. Upon entering, I passed a sign that warned that by being in the tent, I was agreeing to be photographed for Odwalla's use. I couldn't help but wonder in which case study, deck or presentation the photo of me sitting on one of those bean bags with Odwalla sample in hand will end up.

(Picture to be uploaded tomorrow.)

120) Emotionally Premium 6:18 PM

One thing that came out of our investigation of Upcycle Tailors for our final project was the idea of a product being premium or luxury in an emotional way. A handmade, one-of-a-kind piece, while not monetarily expensive (the pieces we saw typically ran from 40-70 euro), carries added worth because of the emotional value.

We all love a good find. Something unique that no one else has. Usually there's a good story attached, the hidden, back alley stores feeding into a treasure hunt mentality. Like famous explorers of the past, we want to be the first to discover something. How many times have you mentioned a great new band, only to have your friend tell you he first heard them three years ago?

119) Sexy Smartphones 8:11 PM

OkCupid.com recently released some interesting social findings on their blog, OkTrends. Using aggregated survey data from 10,000 of their users, they found a correlation between brand of smartphone and number of sexual partners. I bet you can guess which legion of smartphone users came out on top (or bottom).

Yes, the oh so sexy iPhone claimed the title of smartphone with the most bangable owners, followed by Blackberry and Android. Check out the numbers for 30-year-olds:



Trend holds true across all ages:



Of course, this data means nothing if we can't conclude causality, or the reason behind these numbers. Speculation is that the type of people who buy iPhones are also those who typically have more partners (simple, no?). Think of Justin Long in the old Mac vs. PC ads. He's young, cool, artsy and smooth with the ladies, whereas PC (read: Blackberry) is old, dumpy, stale and awkward. Could, then, the data be seen as the result of a successful ad campaign on Apple's part?

In a chicken and egg sort of way, could it now also be possible that people with iPhones are seen as more desirable, based on the personality characteristics that the iPhone implies? Maybe on a more subconscious level - when it comes down to it, I'm not sure how many people are actually choosing their partners based on smartphone choice (i.e.- I was about to go home with him, but then he whipped out an Android...).

I applaud OkCupid for being curious and proactive with their members' information, but it's yet to be seen whether anyone will follow up with the oh-so-important "why".

118) Long Lost Blogroll 10:45 PM

While I was at goodness Mfg., I used a laptop supplied by the company as my work and personal computer. Over the two year period, I built up a fairly robust blogroll, or list of blogs and websites that I visited daily. It was a healthy combination of all my interest areas - news, tech, trends, fashion, food, photography, design, etc. Some were well-known, and others had been serendipitous, stumble-upon discoveries.

When I left my job, I lost my computer, and with it, my bookmarks. (Mini aside - some of you are wringing your hands and thinking, Google Reader silly! I get how great it is and have tried using it in the past, but I can't get over the fact that some feeds don't pull in images. Which means you have to click through to the post anyways. Plus, there's something to be said about viewing posts in context - something is lost when the blog design is missing. Lastly, putting a number on how many posts you haven't read is terrifying.) I've got a new rig now, and have slowly been restoring my blog roll to its former glory.

Easier said than done, having to pull maybe a hundred sites out of my memory. But I'm finding that the process is a cathartic trip down a digital memory lane. Each re-discovery is a little like running into an old friend that you haven't seen in awhile. You try to catch up on what's been happening, comment on what's new or changed, and promise to keep in better touch (by adding it to the blogroll).

117) Youth Trend 9:19 PM

Last week, I had my good friend Jesse over for dinner and catch up. I was explaining what I'd learned in the coolhunting class I took in Barcelona - the whole connecting what we see on the street with larger macrotrends, explaining the why, etc. Jesse, being Jesse, threw Silly Bandz at me (verbally) and asked me to explain the meaning behind the self-described silly trend. I'd like to say that I whipped out some genius answer, or informed him that like any good analyst I required more research. In reality, I stammered.

A week and some Internet sleuthing later, and it's time to discuss. For those unfamiliar, Silly Bandz are brightly colored rubber band bracelets that take the shape of various objects at rest. When worn and stretched, they resemble a squiggly line, but will always snap back to their original shape once removed. They've existed in the US since 2008, inspired by animal bands seen at a Japanese trade show, and have exploded in popularity among kids this past year. According to USA Today, the company now sells 1 million packs of Silly Bandz per week.

Silly Bandz come in the shapes of animals, seasonal items, Marvel super heroes, to name a few. The array of shapes and colors makes them perfect for the social trading rituals of kids (see also: baseball cards, Pogs, stickers). It also plays nicely into kids' just-emerging need to express individuality, while still remaining part of the group (a driver that will bloom exponentially in their teenage years).

This is all pretty straight forward so far. Now throw in full grown celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary-Kate Olsen, Paramore's Hayley Williams and Rebecca Romijn, who have all been spotted sporting Silly Bandz.




Sarah Jessica Parker and Rebecca Romijn are both mothers, which gives us one possible explanation. But how about childless Mary-Kate Olsen and Hayley Williams? It's harder to explain their mixing of a youth trend with their designer arm wear. Furthermore, none of these womens' audiences are the age group that is fiending Silly Bandz, so it can't be said that they are trying to appeal to kids. Typically, it is the celebrities that model and disseminate trends to the youth. This time, we see the opposite - celebrities picking up trends from the youth. But why?

Needs more time to marinate.

116) Health Tax 6:19 PM

I'm spending the night with a good friend in San Francisco, and we just returned from dessert at Burger Bar in Union Square. On our bill, under the tax, was a line item called, "Healthy SF Tax." This isn't the first time I've encountered the mysterious Healthy SF Tax - it reared its head at Pizza Delfina back in February.

The thing about the Healthy SF Tax is that no one knows what it is exactly. On both encounters, we questioned the waitresses, who gave vague, I'm-not-really-sure answers. A quick Google search yielded this answer from the Wall Street Journal:

Since the beginning of the year, San Francisco businesses have been required to offer health insurance to employees or pay a fee to the city to fund health care. Some restaurants are passing the fee on to consumers in the form of a health surcharge, which shows up on the bill as a flat fee ($1 per person, or so) or as a percentage (like sales tax).

If the SF health care mandate is meant to benefit restaurant employees, you would think that waitresses would be the Healthy SF Tax's biggest advocates. Or at the very least know what the it is. And if the beneficiaries aren't aware, then you can be sure the general restaurant-going public is in the dark. Way in the dark:

So, my friends and I were having dinner in the city this past weekend, when we were hit with the "health tax" on the bill. Hmmm....never heard of this, so we asked the waiter, who told us the mayor has recently enforced a health tax of 50 cents on each food item sold throughout restaurants in the city. The money is pooled and then distributed to the homeless. They get $500 CASH to better their lives!

For all the debate surrounding the Healthy SF Tax (sometimes called "health fee" or "health surcharge"), there seems to be a disconnect between restaurants, their employees and their customers. A misunderstanding somewhere along the way. It's amazing how essential, yet often overlooked clear communication in public policy is.

Note on the photo: not our actual bill.

115) Dear California 8:26 PM

California, I'd like to have a word with you.

We pride ourselves in being one of the most liberal, progressive states in the US. The Golden State, full of new ideas, new talent and notoriously new money. Our abundance of fair weather days gives us reason to live up to our sunny, happy-go-lucky reputation.

And still, photos like these appear in the news. The first is representative of Prop 8 supporters in Los Angeles in the ongoing battle over same-sex marriage. The second is from an article in the New York Times this past weekend (recommended read). It shows residents in Temecula, CA protesting a mosque's proposed worship center.

I try to avoid talking politics on this blog, but COME ON. California, you of all states should recognize this as a civil rights and freedom of religion issue, respectively. The fact that Iowa legalized same-sex marriage more than a year ago, while you have just recently overturned a ban is just shameful. How can you expect to continue to be seen as the forward-thinking, "what's next" state when you can't even ensure basic rights for all your citizens?

114) The Ultimate Job 10:18 PM

At an age where we couldn't possibly know the answer, we are all asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The answers are always vague - a fireman, a doctor, an actress. Then when we graduate from college, we are asked, "So, what are you going to do now?" At this point, the answers are a little more detailed - training to be an EMT, going to med school to become a surgeon, moving to LA to pursue musical theatre.

But once we're out in the real world, we are rarely asked to define exactly what we want to do, or who we want to be. Tonight I met up with an old friend who pushed me to explain in specifics what I ultimately wanted to do. If I could imagine the pinnacle of my career, what position I would hold. And I couldn't quite give a satisfactory answer. Sure, I have an idea of the direction I'd like to pursue. But when asked to name the end all be all job, I came up short.

In our mid-twenties, we may not be expected to know exactly who we will become career-wise. But is there something to be said about having a specific goal in mind (however fluid and changing), instead of feeling around, hoping you'll stumble upon the right job? Or by defining it, do you blind yourself of other possible paths?

PS - How wonderfully cheesy is the image above? I found it on the blog of a self-proclaimed Chief Happiness Officer.

113) Social Types 9:54 PM

Lately, I've been having a lot of conversations about types of people, in the social sense. Here's the best scenario I've heard so far. Imagine you've just taken your seat on an airplane. Your carry-ons are stowed and stuffed, seat belt clicked and tightened. Someone shuffles over and plops down in the seat next to you. After a similar settling ritual, the person turns to you and strikes up a conversation.

Let's omit the scenario where this person is an attractive member of the opposite sex. In general, how enthusiastic are you about the conversation? Do you spend the whole flight chatting, or do you keep politely to the basics while silently wishing you could get back to your book/iPod?

Of course, there is a whole range of answers that are largely dependent on the situation. But when you boil it down, generally there are two types of people. Those who enthusiastically engage in these conversations, and those who would rather keep to themselves. Think about it - which type are you?

112) How to Be Alone 5:06 PM

This video appeared on my Facebook news feed today. Not only is the poem, How to Be Alone by Tanya Davis, beautifully written, but its lines ring and strike at a deep, universal truth. We, as humans, are terrified of being alone. These days, even if we are alone, we use crutches like our cell phones, our iPod, or a book to casually keep us company. And with the Internet in our back pockets, we are never really alone, are we?

The poem does a good job in reconciling that age old question of whether being alone is a good or bad thing. Humans are social creatures, aided exponentially by today's social network platforms. Being "social" is considered a positive quality, just as having lots of friends is smiled upon. And yet, we still put value on "me" time. We all have things that we do that allow us to be alone with ourselves. What the poem suggests is that we embrace and cherish our alone time, and take the perspective we gain from that time and share it with the ever-present community.

(Mini aside: I deem this week the week of dismantled plans. Whatever preconceived notions I had about plans both big and small have come undone, spinning out of control in ways that are both frightening and stressful. I guess this is the price one pays for a temporarily unstructured life. I know I've already written a post on the simultaneous futility and essentialness of planning, so I won't dwell on this. Just needed to get down where my head's at.)

111) Interactive Trailers 2:06 PM

The interactive Scott Pilgrim vs. The World trailer has been making its way around the Interwebs, thanks to its staggering, never before seen levels of interaction and its ability to be easily embedded. The first of its kind, the trailer invites viewers to click anywhere during the trailer to unlock facts, behind the scene bits, sneak preview scenes and director's notes. It's also built like a video game to reflect the movie, so every click is rewarded with points and a satisfying cha-ching sound effect. I can't even wrap my mind around how much content is contained in this one 2:30 trailer widget. Check out the trailer here and go crazy. (Update: it was brought to my attention that the embedded trailer's music was taking over my blog. Thus, just the link).

It's yet to be seen whether the interactive trailer will convert to ticket sales, but there's no question that people will be spending more time than usual watching the trailer. I expect that the industry will follow suit, and that we'll see a flood of interactive trailers in the future. Now that a medium standard has been set, it will be interesting to see what kind of things people come up with to raise the bar.

110) Feral Bee 11:01 PM

Today's Tasting Table email featured Feral Honey & Bee. The concept is simple. Silver Lake residents Amy Seidenwurm and Russell Bates maintain bee colonies in their backyard, and harvest the honey in small batches to the delight of fellow Angelenos. Since bees don't travel more than a few miles from home base, the honey has a distinct flavor profile that reflects the flora in the area - orange blossom, clover, lemon and lavender. It doesn't get any more local than that.

What struck me about Feral Honey & Bee is how this small operation reflects some of today's biggest macrotrends. Localvore (locally produced, flavors specific to local flowers), all-natural (chemical-free, no pesticides), a return to basics ("We subscribe to the principles of Backwards Beekeeping: a return to hands-off beekeeping, letting natural selection do the work that gave us bees in the first place at least 14 million years ago."), artisanship (small batches), and randomized luxury (each batch different from the last, unique in flavor).

109) Rip n' Go 3:33 PM

I was at the grocery store yesterday restocking my foodless apartment, when these babies caught my eye in the granola bar section. Growing up, my family had always been brand loyal to Quaker Chewy, so the sight of the stacked bars minus the white box made me look twice. As you can see, the stack is held together with a sticker label that's perforated for easy ripping on the run. See them in action here. According to the label, this method of packaging uses 33% less material than the standard box, and as a result 6,000 trees per year are saved.

Thinking this was a brand-spanking new product, I looked them up online when I got home, only to find that the sustainable packaging niche blogs had been all over it back at the end of June. Despite the fact that this isn't breaking news, I still think it deserves a nod. When large food companies like Quaker make sustainable changes to their packaging, however small, it's called progress. And to give it a cool name and market it as convenient for the consumer? Bonus.

108) Currencies of Love 4:42 PM

My grandmother on my mother's side uses food as an expression of love. I went down to Seal Beach yesterday to visit her, and within the first five minutes of my arrival, I had a glass of juice in one hand, a nectarine in the other, and a plate of rice cakes hovering nearby. She's always pushing unreasonably large amounts of food your way, to the point where a hint of exasperation starts to creep into your fifteenth refusal.

After I'd eaten, we went to see my grandfather at his Alzheimer's care facility. While he's lost the ability to do most things on his own, he maintains a voracious appetite. My grandmother came armed with a lunch box full of food. He ate with his hands as a child does, working his way through pieces of fruit, duk (rice cake), and a protein shake. Every now and then, my grandmother would reach over, take a piece of fruit and pretty much force it into his already full mouth. At first I couldn't understand why she would want to put him in danger of choking - it was clear from his bulging cheeks that he had plenty in there already. But she can't help herself. She loves him, and that is her way of showing it. Plain and simple.

Currencies of love, both positive and perhaps detrimental in excess. I think there's something worth exploring here. To be continued.

107) Why Why Why 3:24 PM

I returned home safely from Barcelona, only to be greeted by the worst kind of email from Palo Alto. Can someone please tell me why it's always the most charismatic, full of life people who get taken away painfully prematurely? The rare ones who are truly happy with who they are and what they're doing in life. The funniest ones, the spontaneous ones, and the ones that make really good friends. The irony of it makes my heart ache.

As much as I want to hypothesize as to why this might be the case, it seems all too analytical at a time like this. Though, is there ever a good time to think about it? We never ask why until tragedy strikes. Do we, then, just accept it as one of those incomprehensibly cruel facts of life?

Note on the photo. A few months ago, Dan sent me a small package containing two pieces of his chocolate. He'd decided to take a break from grad school to focus on his artisan, fair trade creations. His chocolate and note were delicious.