New York Magazine: How Yoga Brand Lululemon Turned Fitness Into a Spectator Sport
From Mel- having grown up in the city that spawned this absurd yoga leviathan I feel like I’ve been sick of Lululemon since it opened. Probably because, like your more pretentious forms of vegetarian/veganism, I hate any “lifestyle” that presumes a spiritual or ethical superiority while really being all about privilege.
The comparison hinted at between Starbucks and Lululemon is perfect, except that Starbucks really opened up the whole arena of designer coffee and made way for all those local sceney coffee shops populated by tattooed hipsters who sneer at the megabrand that granted them the audacity to charge me $4.00 for a coffee in the first place. Lululemon, on the other hand, seems to still be a singlular kind of creature with no emergent simulacra on the horizon yet, like a corporate platypus. I shudder to think what might evolve from the concept of designer fitness + spirituality (designer spirituality + fitness? Choose your own ordering)
from your beauty must be rubbing off (a.k.a. the ever-wonderful Michelle)
True to its “sustained presence” policy, the Animal Protection & Rescue League, the group that picketed Momofuku Noodle Bar back in May for serving foie gras, will hold another protest outside of the restaurant this Sunday from 7 p.m. till 9 p.m. Organizer Bryan Pease tells us, “We have sent lots of follow-up information to David Chang since the last protest months ago, and the Humane Society of the United States even sent him a letter, but so far no change.” Ya don’t say? Just to make things even more media-friendly, this will be a bicoastal protest, with picketers simultaneously gathering at Mille Fleurs restaurant in the APRL’s hometown of San Diego. We’re assuming the commenters who lashed out against the organization’s last demonstration will have something to say about this one (hell, maybe they’ll even show up), but know that the group isn’t just about shoving their message down the throat of restaurateurs — according to their newsletter, they’re also handing out free vegan bites at San Diego Comic-Con!Get a life. P.S. Have you heard of a place called Au Pied de Cochon?
WEEEEEEEEEEKEND! Why don't we kick off your Wet Hot Canadian summer with an excerpt from the latest issue of Harper's by Wallace Shawn? In this piece, "Writing about Sex," Mr. Shawn asks you to take your clothes off for the good of humanity.My local newspaper, the New York Times, for example, does not include images of naked people. Many of its readers might enjoy it much more if it did, but those same readers still might not buy it if such images were in it, because it could no longer present the portrait of a normal, stable, adequate world--a world not ideal but still good enough--which it is the function of the Times to present every day. Nudity somehow implies that anything could happen, but the Times is committed to telling its readers that many things will *not* happen, because the world is under control, benevolent people are looking out for us, the situation is not as bad as we tend to think, and although problems do exist, they can be solved by wise rulers. The contemplation of nudity or sex could tend to bring up the alarming idea that at any moment human passions might rise up and topple the world we know.Read the rest of the essay on Harper's website (get your credit card out) or in Shawn's forthcoming book, Essays.
But perhaps it would be a good thing if people saw themselves as a part of nature, connected to the environment in which they live. Sex can be a humbling, equalizing force.... When the sexuality of the terrifying people we call "our leaders" is for some reason revealed, they lose some of their power--sometimes all of it--because we're reminded (and, strangely, we need reminding) that they are merely creatures like the ordinary worm or beetle that creeps along the edge of the pond.
--James Wolcott, "What’s a Culture Snob to Do?," Vanity Fair
Every piece of haute couture clothing is the product of hours upon hours of manual labor.Ok, so anyone whose ever picked up a copy of Vogue knows about the toil and artistry involved in producing haute couture, but it's a whole other beast to see it in action!
Chanel gave us exclusive video footage of its seamstresses turning a Karl Lagerfeld sketch into a finished dress and jacket with a five-figure price tag. Each pattern is made and cut by hand. Each sequin is painstakingly sewn on by hand. Every inch of piping and each seam is hand-pinned.See what "attention to detail" really means:
The (first-ever) sex and art issue of Wallpaper* is very nice and very naughty. The focus on design and art issues related to sex is surprising and inventive. Check out this feature from the magazine's website/store: Typographic Tart Cards !Tart cards are the means by which many London prostitutes advertise their services. Step into almost any central London phone box and you can contemplate up to 80 cards inviting you to be tied, teased, spanked or massaged.
Even if a police crackdown, the internet and the increasing use of mobile phones suggest their days are numbered, tart cards are still so pervasive they are now regarded as items of accidental art and have something of a cult following. Once on the periphery of design, tart cards have influenced the work of many mainstream artists such as Royal Academician Tom Phillips and Sex Pistols designer Ray and Nils Stevenson.
In conjunction with St Bride Library and Type, we asked designers – from students to superstars – to find the tart hiding in every type and create their own graphic numbers. Along with a selection in the magazine, all 450 cards can be viewed here. They will also be on display at KK Outlet, London from 22nd to 29th June. Click here for the invite to the show.
In among this plethora of brilliant, witty graphic designs we would like to highlight the serious issue that lies at the heart of the world of tart cards – the plight of trafficked women in the sex industry. It is a subject touched eloquently on by Mike Dempsey of Studio Dempsey, who is a volunteer at the Helen Bamber Foundation which helps rebuild lives broken by human rights violations. While our exhibition is an ode to the graphic qualities of the tart card phenomena, Dempsey's design is a pertinent reminder of the sinister world that lies beneath every card.
In less than three weeks, mayhem will take over Vancouver as the HSBC Celebration of Light continues the tradition of bringing drunken yahoos into the shores of English Bay and Kits beach to watch bright explosions in the sky. The professional fireworks display is an exercise in pomposity, aggression, triumphalism, and hubris. The pyrotechnician—and, more importantly, his patron—intends to ornament the night sky beyond the powers of God himself. He means to inspire awe for little purpose other than to demonstrate his power. The first great fireworks nuts in the Western world were Peter the Great (who put on a five-hour show to celebrate the birth of his first son) and Louis XIV (who, with a specially equipped sundial, used them to tell time at Versailles). Fireworks are imperialist and, as we used to say in school, hegemonic. That they are popularly believed to be populist entertainment does not say much for the populace.Touché!
No way were all men created equal. According to some of the country's top statisticians, exactly half of them are below average, and that is the segment of the population most likely to get too excited about fireworks. Other species highly intrigued by bright lights include moths and venison. Hearing people hoot lustily at a crossette or chrysanthemum, I assume that they are the same sort who lined up at bear-baiting pits back in the day and, in modern times, watch Howie Mandel reality shows.
...there is more satisfaction in watching actual stuff explode—cars, volcanoes, toasters, what have you—than in witnessing explosions that produce only bombast. When fireworks blow up, the only things up-blowing are the fireworks themselves.
Like Subaru and social media before it, Kraft's lower-fat emulsion of eggs, vegetable oil and "one-of-kind spices" has gone punk rock.
--The Awl
