one part truth, two parts mixer

Pretty portals part deux

Those clever people at SET Japan are at it again with another lovely QR code, this time for Marc Jacobs. Who says function and style have to be exclusive?
 
via Trends in Japan

In reply

A little while ago I had a little rant about the salad place Tossed. Seeing as they didn't respond immediately after getting a Google alert about my rant, I thought I'd take my complaints to them personally. I made three points:

1. It was unfair to charge for swapping ingredients
2. It was unfair to charge for heating up
3. There's nothing close to uniform measurement (and if you get a stingy server and ask for more, you have to pay extra)

Fairplay, the owner and founder Vincent emailed me at 10pm that evening, which I have to say I was quite impressed by. He'd actually emailed earlier to let me know he was busy and would email me later - and actually stuck to his word.

The answers he gave in a nutshell were:

1. Basically that the prices they charge for the ingredient groups are a mean of that group's ingredients. Tossed's worry is that if you allow people to swap ingredients from their house salads everyone will swap cheap lettuce for expensive vine tomatoes, putting Tossed out of pocket.
2. It's the taxman's fault!
3. Admitted fault and said he was investigating how to make it more uniform. 

I'm still not convinced by his answer for number 1, but fairplay for his other answers. And we did notice they were 'tossing' our salads differently the day after our email exchange.

I got a free wrap and smoothie for my troubles and they also organised a company-wide staff discount of 10% last week, which I think was a nice touch - although I understand it's good for them, it has generated a lot of goodwill to the brand in my corner. How to win over annoyed customers, part 1. Now, for British Gas to make a similar gesture...

Copyright conundrum

I came across this on Big Secret Pizza Party:

Amber's original post is well worth reading. I just find it odd that Chanel would go after a group of people who do as much as they do in perpetuating the luxury dream.

Also by saying that Chanel is 'modern elegance in couture, ready-to-wear, etc' - that statement in itself acknowledges that there is such a thing as 'Chanel style'. If other brands are to emulate this style then is a journalist not just stating fact when he/she calls them Chanel-ized?

If I was a fashion editor reading that advert I'd be feeling that on one hand you don't want to piss off a massive advertiser (if you've ever worked in editorial or watched Ugly Betty, you'll know a real a pressure this is), but on the other hand why should you stop referencing one of the most iconic fashion brands because their lawyers are antsy. I'm curious to know whether Chanel would actually ever sue a writer for this...

Through the cut looking glass

Wondering whether Gordon Magnin has ever been hired by a fashion house to do a campaign? A lot of his work uses fashion imagery, but I reckon his style would make for an amazing campaign.

via today and tomorrow

Club tropicana

Love these collages by Seiko Kato. Who knew collage could be so sexy? Also check out her macabre fabrics and 3D montage.

via It's Nice That

If you loved me...

... you would buy me this. It's been reduced to a fairly reasonable £777 in the Liberty sale (I thought it would be too popular to make it to the sale - if I was rich I would have bought it at full price). Also loving the Grey Gardens imagery.
 
Kate signature bag by Katherine Fleming

This is the reason why I don't have credit cards.

Hanging up the washing

I like this by Filthy Luker, not for the spiel he gives, but because it made me giggle. You would notice it driving down the M32, but would it cause accidents?

The renaissance

Another smashing find from today and tomorrow. These photographs by Peter Lippmann for a Louboutin lookbook are amazing. Although I'm not sure that Louboutin shoes need more fetishizing! Definitely worth having a look at his other work as well, some of it is really witty (in fashion photography terms).

They paved paradise

This looks a bit like it should be in Disneyland's "Crazy Town USA" or a Busta Rhymes video, but I like it because it brings an element of play to something mundane. Architects and town planners, please remember that revisiting the commonplace is a worth ambition. I want mental bus stops and car parks, and what the lady wants, surely she should get?



'Asphalt Spot' is an exhibtion space and car park near near Tokamashi in Japan, designed by R&Sie, and via the wonderful today and tomorrow

Set you free

I've been testing a phone for 3 as part of the new campaign - all about setting phones/contracts free with free Skype to Skype calls. I remember when the ad was first aired, I didn't really see how it was such a big deal, but Scouse made the point that they are the first company to offer a deal which doesn't rely on you using their network - quite radical. 

For me personally, I never pay for actual call minutes because I never go over my limits. Thinking about it, there are probably lots of people who actually have to pay for minutes every month. This would really benefit them.

 

So this little cage arrived at my work, with a phone to test it on for a couple of weeks. By the by, the phone, a Sony Ericsson C905 is quite sweet. But to the matter at hand, the reality of Skype calling at the moment is usually this:

When I think of how I use Skype, it's usually to my family abroad or to make a comedy video call to my mum, but this is probably because I don't have a minutes issue. I also always use my computer. I guess it's the same for most people, because there was rearely anyone on Skype to call, not even the other people on the trial. Still though, there's definitely promise for the future. Like take up of anything, we need a bit of critical mass.