on pulling out - not really a post

This amazing account, is not the last days of disco. In fact it completely lacks any hints of nostalgia. And rightly so.

colour me zen?

Someone in my social media circle questioned the current infatuation with ‘adult’ colouring books – not ‘adult’ as in people without their clothes, but 'adult' as in more sophisticated drawings than rounded cartoon bears and their cheerful companions. It’s a fad that seemed to take over the Christmas shopping list quite quickly. I bought one for a kid straddling that space between childhood and tween-dom - hoping it would somehow fit this awkward age, another friend received one from her friend. The art supply store had an entire shelf devoted to these bound books filled with intricate designs, marketed as meditative. I’m not certain I fully understand the meditative angle, but based on the discussion I ended up having buying that particular present, I guess other people question this marketing angle too.

Basically the discussion had in line was whether or not artsy people needed a colouring book. I, and apparently this man’s wife too, argued that for people who wanted to feel creative but maybe didn’t know how to go about it, for them, this was a place to filter that energy and have an outlet. I mean isn’t this the 2010’s version of the velvet poster art we all did back in the *cough day?!

Being a little crafty already I feel like I have an outlet for the part of me that occasionally wants to make something. I sew, I tinker with beads, I dance, I write this blog, I can draw/paint reasonably but honestly that doesn’t come so naturally. In a weird twist the first time I noticed an ‘adult’ colouring book it came from the McCall’s pattern company – they’d released a  small collection of drawings of a this year’s popular pattern offerings. I downloaded and printed them but in the end, the creative process for me is finding fabric and then figuring out what I might make of it. Because in the end you can imagine whatever you want but if you can’t find the fabric you’re after it’s all moot. And I find my method more satisfying, although time consuming because all the ‘good’ fabric stores are across the city. Although I think I lost the point here, the point was, the colouring book concept is interesting, but maybe not so much for me – so far.

This modern world demands a lot of a person - rather demands that you appear a certain way. Facebook demands the appearance of meaningful interactions with friends and the presentation of a specific life. Twitter demands short, astute, and insightful appearing observations and quips. Pinterest demands the appearance of organized, glamorous and well fed aspirations. Instagram demands all of the above in pictures -I think, honestly I, thus far, have opted out of Instagram, Tinder, Snapchat and whatever might be trending this week, because I can barely keep up the facade of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Although if I’m being honest I use Facebook to promote my agenda of the absurd, and admit that I spend a lot of my life being a dork. I find Twitter most useful as an outlet as a consumer, a conduit for information I find interesting and very occasionally for being part of a trending topic. But the idea that all of this creative energy spent on keeping up appearances, one wonders if a simpler outlet might be the answer everyone was seeking. Perhaps this idea of a meditative activity does make sense?

Having been raised by wolves, well artistic wolves, I have spent a life around arts, less so now, but it’s still part of my life. When I wanted a particular Christmas tree decoration and couldn’t find what I wanted commercially, I went to Pinterest, stole an idea and whipped up a few myself, because I could. So in that same breath, does the idea of sitting down with a preset drawing and filling in the spaces with colour appeal? Well no, but that's me.

To finish where I started, what is the fascination with these colouring books? I don’t know. I make assumptions that it fulfills a need for those seeking a creative outlet but not certain where to find it. Am I right? Don’t know. But I am wondering if McCall’s has a spring edition of theirs.

P.S. I think it’s absolutely charming that my spellcheck doesn’t recognize Facebook as a word - or spellcheck for that matter.

#sidebar - amazingly odd marketing - this week - uber and your local pet rescue

At first blush this seems cute. Who doesn't love a squirmy little fluff ball? Well there are people but they're wrong.

Full disclosure, I'm a cat person. In fact there's a little grey (rescue) cat waiting for a pat on the head as I type this.

BUT.

Cat's aren't overly fond of car rides or places they're unfamiliar with - if you've ever taken a ride with a wailing cat you'll know this. Uber is about to come into a court with the city and various existing cab companies. Clearly this is a stunt. And, again, at first blush, getting pets adopted is the ultimate goal but is this the best way to do this?

I was among those who lauded the decision to stop pet store sales of any animals that are not rescue animals. Yes it means that you have to seek out pets for adoption, but it stops those impulse pet purchases which might have arguably been abandoned or required rescuing at some point. But I am really going out on a limb - having no data to back me up.

So will I be ordering a cat to cuddle? No. I already have one, no matter how much he objects.

still missing the point - not really a post

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

I went looking for some info on putting the long form census back in place and found this. So maybe it we had the census Target might have gotten it. But I doubt it.

hardly surprising - not really a post

Shocking to almost no consumer, it turns out consumers don't really want to sell marketers their info. Well, more correctly, consumers don't feel the love.

In a less scientific study, being my wallet. I put all the points/loyalty cards I have on one side and moved over the ones I've used recently to the other. And really I've only moved about 3. One of which didn't get me any deals, points to redeem or preferred whatevers.  

the grinch who sold christmas

I recently wondered why the heck pimento was so popular in the 50’s and 60’s and a friend’s mother was kind enough to explain that really, it was so nice to have some colour to add to dishes. Remembering, of course, that it’s not that long ago that produce was bought when it was in season and then offered canned or frozen for the rest of the year - well you could buy something called a tomato out of season, but mostly it was a knotty, green, tasteless round thing that was called a ‘tomato’.

Fast forward to about a month ago. Back to school promotions started showing up at my local grocery and drugstore chains (incidentally owned by the same company now). Being neither a child or a parent I was still shocked. Sort of. I did a quick calculation. We were about 8 weeks out from the start of school. Back in my retail days you calculated about a 6 week start to the next big ‘holiday’ event so this sort of made sense. On the proverbial other hand, what kid wants to be reminded of school when vacation is only half way through!

While ranting about this on social media someone pointed out to me that Costco had Christmas out at that time too. Calculating again I pointed out that technically Costco is a wholesaler catering to retailers, so having Christmas gear out in July sort of made sense. Yes it seemed out of place, but for all those who remember the annoying reminder of the ‘Days until Christmas’ sign along the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto all those years; Christmas was always coming.

‘Life moves pretty fast’ and in a consumer driven market, the chase is always on to the next season. But start backing it up, to buyers, manufacturers, designers, colour specialists and really, they’re working in terms of 3 to 4 years ahead, so your 6 to 8 weeks is just the final piece of a very long chain that leads to you picking out that particular tomato red sweater for your bestie this Christmas.

At this point I’m pretty stoked that I managed to work a partial Ferris Bueller quote into a post. I also spent some time trying to track down an image of the old Days to Christmas sign on the DVP and fell into a vortex of old Eaton’s catalogue images and only just came back up for air.

Consumerism requires that we shop when the goods are available, but they’ve also taught us there’s a very slim yet attractive period of the end of season sale and the then not for the faint of heart end of season clearance. But if you leave it too long you’re just plain out of luck. Take it from me - the year my coat zipper busted in February was the year I learned to layer. Now like a good Canadian I didn’t have just one winter coat, but still. And I do know how to sew, so if I was really stuck. Okay, my point was, it’s tough finding a winter coat in February because we’re already into prime spring selling and we don’t wear winter coats in spring. Except maybe in most parts of Canada. Because, after all, all this is based on some sort of completely idealized image of season’s and needs. Now back to the catalogues. Which if they are to be believed - that Christmas of 1908 was one dark holiday.

This is not yer traditional red jolly Santa now is it?

I can't find a single image of the old Countdown to Christmas Sign on the DVP, but the bra page of old catalogues, no problem.

the oh boys of summer

I’m not the biggest fan of children. They require constant supervision, they stink, often they’re unable to deal with their own excrement but occasionally they’re fun. For 20 minutes or so. OK, I might be exaggerating. I’d say I’m more indifferent to children. But when I read articles like this, I’m suddenly an advocate.

Living in a city means noise. Cars, businesses, large vehicles, sirens, parades, the occasional party the spills into the streets because major event has happened, like winning a World Series game. But urban living means convenience, selection and people. It also means compromise. The more densely populated a city the greater the need for politeness, and the big problem with a city like Toronto is that we’re just not dense enough to not act stupidly from time to time.

I grew up on a street in transition. Of the 40 odd houses on our little stretch of street, there were 5 kids. Four of us hung out together for several years. We played ‘Star Wars’ (a sort of intergalactic yelling and hitting each other with sticks), we rode bikes, roller skates (back in the metal wheels days), skateboards and other noisy things with wheels, we yelled for no good reason and no one ever complained we made noise. Looking back it really seemed like we were the ipso facto grandchildren of the street.

Also, we always had access to freezies! Beat that.

Going back to Mr. Noisy Complaints Neighbour; why can’t kids be kids? I get it. Noise travels differently over water, But. If you’re that noise sensitive there is a place where you can exist almost silently. It’s called the country.

I live near a hospital, which does mean sirens. But it also means an emergency ward within walking distance. A couple times a week a refrigerator truck sits outside my window to deliver goods to the local convenience stores. Yes they’re loud but having not 1 but 2 convenience stores steps outside my house are worth so much more than complaining. But who do you think delivers this stuff? It’s not delivered by fairies.

I’m with the kids on this one. Summer is short. Yelling is fun. And if we’d had access to a backyard pool as kids, we would have been in there until we were pruney and mostly made of chlorine. Screaming and hitting each other with sticks all the live long day.