Choose me for your apocalypse team! I can use a rapier!

May 14, 2013September 6, 201520 Comments

Summer term has started at UBC and I cannot believe how quickly I am once again sick of being back in the same routine. The content for my classes are kind of dry, but I guess I should give them a bit more time to get interesting…hopefully.

So I had morning classes today and I had to head home and change before going of to Academie Duello! I was actually hesitant about going to my rapier class today because I was feeling down from sitting through school. This was my second week in their “Taste of the Renaissance” program, and I had thoroughly enjoyed it every time. So I picked my butt of the floor and headed downtown.

If you looked inside Academie Duello, you will notice they have some nifty things on display…

Right after our class, I felt refreshed! It was great to do something not school related and there are some pretty cool people there. It turned my frown upside down. It actualy made my whole day!

Our free hand is supposed to shield our eye/face like this since we’re not working with shields yet. But basically, make yourself as small a target as possible.

So I first came across Academie Duello while I was with one of my friends walking around downtown. I stopped when I saw a group of people in there practicing swordplay and carrying shields. I stared in amazement as they continued to lunge at one another. What was this and how do I join!?

Now that I am a part of the academy, I can say that I really like it. I hated working out and jogging, but this is something else entirely. You get one and half hours of learning how to use a weapon, the history behind it, how to respect the sword and your opponent, and you also end up gaining a small pool of Italian words in your vocabulary.

The misura larga. You can cover a lot of distance with this while staying safely out of range of your opponent’s rapier.

I hope I get to stay with the program, but I am worried that because I will be gone for the summer, there was be a gap in my learning. But if you are looking for something fun to do, and can commit some time, I would recommend looking up what there is to do at Academie Duello! They also offer a free class for you to try out! Asides from swordplay, they also do archery, horseback riding, and I even saw a class where you sit in their studio for 8 hours and make your own bow!

Hopefully, school beginning again does not mean another haitus for my blog. I guess we will see how that goes.

Until next time!

-Karen

Abercrombie’s CEO? How about CE-no?

May 13, 2013September 6, 20159 Comments

In our current time and day, many companies encourage women to love themselves– not matter their size and shape. Who are we to say what figure is perfect? Dove recently came out with a commercial telling women that they are too harsh on themselves by hiring a forensics artist to draw the ladies according to how they describe themselves. The Body Shop also took a brave step in advertising away from the norm of skinny models, and explaining that not everyone should aspire to be stick thin. This being said, there are people who cannot seem to put on weight, and they get bullied for their weight too. Learning to love your own body is a challenge for almost everyone these days, and it poses a challenge for a lot of girls and boys growing up. It is a cause of great distress for many, and heck know I have faced negative comments about my appearance. But society is changing into becoming more accepting and moving away from a one-sided look on beauty.

And then you get Abercrombie/Hollister and their chain of retail stores.

Here are some quotes from Abercrombie’s (and their related retail stores and brands) CEO, Mike Jeffries:

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

“It’s almost everything. That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.”

They aim to exclude and attract ‘model’ teenagers. Their jean sizes go up to a size 10 and they do not sell XL clothing. To be honest, their large sizes are quite small too. So how about all those girls who cannot fit into their clothes yet are surrounded by classmates who can? Especially for a place like America, where this company is based, and depression is one of the most common mental health disorder. We really do not need a whole million dollar company standing for encouraging this kind of segregation.

Then there are the t-shirts they choose to print…

Because calling gymnasts a loser makes you so cool. Sorry not everyone surfs.

And as a Chinese, I love being portrayed with slant eyes.

I wonder how they get these designs approved.

I get that this is their point of differentiation, and their brand image has successfully been associated with beautiful people. A lot of the times, you cannot get into the store without squeezing past attractive guys with washboard abs, but you know what? I really do not care enough for their idea of beauty to shop at their stores anymore. I do not want to associate myself with what they stand for, and for that, I will no longer be buying anything from them.

Hey, but you can just write me off as another unattractive girl voicing her opinions.

– Karen
P.s. my marketing class is over, so this is in no way another one of my marketing blog post assignments. I just felt so strongly about voicing my thoughts on this that I made this post.

Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5#ixzz2T9uivMcz
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-abercrombie-fitch-ceos-cool-kids-strategy-pretty-ugly-20130511,0,4858017.post
http://www.teenhelp.com/teen-depression/depression-statistics.html

“The Great Gatsby” (a.k.a The Alright Gatsby): A Movie Review

May 8, 2013September 6, 201511 Comments

I seem to be doing quite a few of these now that it’s summer.

Anyway, I got premiere tickets off my friend for the showing of The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire (okay, there is a lot of other people, but I do not know them as well). I was ridiculously happy when he told me he could get me the tickets because one of my friends and I were having a conversation about how much it sucks that this movie came out after our summer courses started. But with advanced screening, we managed to bypass the silly release date and watch it a week early!

Advanced screenings are fun, and this time they gave out prizes for people who came dressed up in Gatsby era clothes! So quite a few people dressed up!

I must start with the disclaimer that I have never read The Great Gatsby. I wanted to start it, but I did not want to spoil the movie (since movies are usually not as good as books in my opinion).

The Great Gatsby is a movie filled with mystery surrounding this man called J. Gatsby. He is rich, and he has a thing for this girl called Daisy. The two have not seen each other for five years and in Gatsby’s absence, Daisy got married. So that complicates things quite a bit. The whole film revolves around Nick Carraway’s fascination with with Mr. Gatsby, and he eventually gets involved and takes a part in helping Gatsby’s wishes to fulfil his dreams.

To me, it was The Alright Gatsby. I thought the soundtrack stood out a little at times (not in a good way), and their soundtrack has artists such as Jay-Z. I also found it really hard to connect with any of the characters in the film or emphatize for them, but that probably has to do not with the film, but with the story itself? The visuals were beautiful, but I was not entirely wow-ed by the story. I may have also went in with really high hopes, and left disappointed when they were not reached. Leonardo DiCaprio’s films always interest me, so I thought this would be another instant favourite of mine. I guess not.

I would not put this film very high on my recommendations list, but who knows? You may like it.

Let me know what you think!

-Karen

River District in Vancouver

May 6, 2013September 6, 20159 Comments

To my Vancouverites,

Have you guys been to the River District near SW Marine Drive? It is pretty easy to get to, as long as you hop on the 100, which takes you down SW Marine Drive.

I went for the second time today, but the first time I was there, it was at night and nowhere near as pretty as today. Today was very hot, reaching 27 degrees in Burnaby where we were. But it made for a nice day to go out for a stroll, and enjoy the parks around there.

I went to Romer’s Burger Bar for the first time, and their burgers were very delicious. They also had a wide selection, with the best sauces. These burgers came a-la-carte, but they had fries that you could order for the entire table to share. We did this, and also got their featured drink, which was a Mango Mint Iced Tea. Having a cool drink on such a hot day felt amazing.

The Halibut Burger at Romer’s

After lunch, we walked along the river. There was not a cloud in the sky and the green green grass around us made for a very picturesque scene.

Doing some research, it turns out that during summer, the River District has a Farmer’s Market every Saturday! It would be interesting to check that out one day!

If you have been to this area, let me know what you thought of it! Or if you have any other recommendations!

Till next time 🙂

– Karen

The Supernatural Wardrobe Sale–What’s a wardrobe sale?!

May 6, 2013September 6, 20155 Comments

Hey all!

Last week, one of my friends told me that Supernatural (the TV show) was having a wardrobe sale in Burnaby. So a huge thanks to her for making this blog post possible!

My first question was: What is a wardrobe sale?

My Google searches did not direct me to any useful info, but it did show me a wide variety of dressers, vintage wardrobes and other cabinets. So for those of you who are wondering, here is my description of it.

Orginally, I thought that they were auctioning off items used/worn by the main cast, so I was not sure if I wanted to go because it would probably be very expensive, and if I cannot buy anything, I will leave sad and heartbroken. Why go through the pain?

But in the end, I decided to check it out anyway since I was told that the sale was happening at one of the Supernatural studios where the show is sometimes filmed. It was not the most convenient of locations to get to, but it also was not the worst, so I did manage to drag my mom out to go with me (since I found out about this so late and would not be able to find anyone else to keep my company).

When I got the the warehouse-like place, I was really excited because I saw huge garbage cans that read the following:

Anyway, entering the studio place, we were handed huge plastic bags. I think the best way to describe what the experience was like would be to imagine yourself in a HUGE thrift store. They had both unworn clothing items, as well as worn ones. You did not know what you are going to get because there was so many different articles of clothing. Jackets, dresses, shoes, T-shirts, tanks, pyjamas– you name it. It was also CRAZY CHEAP. The T-shirts and tanks were $5, which became 50% off at the end of the day. Same with everything else.

What I found very interesting was that you could get a jacket from some low end store for the same price as say, a Dolce and Gabbana/G-Star jacket ($15, which became $7.50 at the end of the day). They kept reducing prices towards the end of the sale, because it was a one day sale and everything had to go. Their locations manager Russ Hamilton said that the rest of the unsold clothes were all donated to charity!

I recognized some shirts that were from way back in season 4 of the show, such as some school gear from a high school an episode was set in, and a bunch of T-shirts from a call centre that one of the characters had to work at for another one. There was also some clothes that were ripped and blood stained, which really could have been from any of the Supernatural episodes. Otherwise, the rest of the clothes were pretty regular clothing, which I assume extras wore. Some of them still had tags attached to them that seemed like instructions from the costume department.

So if there is a wardrobe sale near you, I suggest you check them out! The show’s costume department probably has to get rid of clothes they had in storage, so you may find some awesome deals. My mom and I spent around $100, but got two huge garbage bags full of clothes and other assorted goods.

Oh, and if any of you know of anything else like this around Vancouver, give me a shout! This was definitely fun!

Hope you are all enjoying the sun!