This week, image consultant Kimberly Law rounds up our pocket square mini series with Puff Folds, which work best with silk squares because they drape easily and produce a less structured look. Silk handkerchiefs also come in a variety of colours and prints so it’s easy to create a variety of different looks that work well with suits, as well as sport coats. Get the whole story

You might have seen the movie Who Killed the Electric Car? It tells the story of how General Motors scrapped a pilot project for an all-electric car called the EV1 for no apparent reason. But what few people know is that there was a second, even more successful electric car on the market that fell victim to the same cruel fate. Its name was Think. It was made by a small Norwegian company and then bought by Ford Motors, only to be destroyed in spite of huge demand both in the U.S. and Europe. But now, with a little help from Google, Al Gore and Porsche, Think is rising from the ashes and set to take centre stage in the fight against gas guzzlers and smog spewing behemoths on four wheels. Get the whole story

This assignment made me feel very Erin Brockovich. With marketing material spouting the “Dangers of [My] Morning Shower,” I was unnerved to uncover yet another toxin invading my world. So now even my every day bathing is putting me at risk? I’m not sure that anyone would appreciate me avoiding this potential hazard. But by installing the Vitashower filter to my showerhead, I can avoid the death trap disguising itself as my shower…or so they tell me. I took a solid month to test this one out and me and my chlorine-filled skin, hair, lungs and sinuses are ready to tell you what we think. Get the whole story

Reena’s Tips of the Week:

Do you ever have trouble telling whether the eggs in your fridge are raw or hard-boiled? There’s a very simple test you can do to find out.

Because blinds are such a pain to clean, most of us just ignore it. At some point though, the layer of dust becomes so thick it’s just unhealthy. We can’t promise an easy (or less time-consuming) solution, but we do have a tip that’ll help keep the dust from gathering on your blinds.

And for our final tip of the week, we are addressing a reader’s question:

Hi! I have a trailer in Florida and have a big problem with musty smells. It’s mostly inside closets, drawers, and cupboards. As long as I have windows opened and all cupboard doors closed I can’t smell it. I tried many things – even varnished the inside of the cupboards – but the smell is still there. I heard of Ozone machines. I asked about it and they say I would have to be out of the building for at least 24 hours or more. And it’s costly. Do you know if this works? I really hate this musty smell. It goes into clothes and everything. I would appreciate your help.

Thank you so much, Denise.

Click on for the details! Get the whole story

Vaid’s Verdict: After River is the perfect gift for someone flying to Timbuktu – a. because they’ll need some light reading for the 18 hour flight and b. the first few chapters work better than a sleeping pill and a travel pillow combined.

After River is author Donna Milner’s first published novel…and I’m not entirely sure why it was published in the first place. Is it the descriptions of scenic British Columbia that the editor felt could carry the novel? Is it the cast of homely and utterly clichéd characters whose dialogue are all exactly alike? Or is it the very ‘risqué’ message of comparing today’s war in Iraq to the Vietnam War? (Ooh la la!) After River tries very hard to be topical, intriguing and liberal. Unfortunately, it tries a little too hard. The novel revolves around a family, the Wards, who own a dairy farm in rural British Columbia and employ River, a young American and ‘conscientious objector’ of the Vietnam War. River runs, flows and winds through the family’s life in a bittersweet path that forever erodes and gushes through the characters’ lives. Oh the cheesy personifications, the blatant symbolism…and if you think that’s painful, read on to the last lines of the first chapter. Get the whole story

An editor once told me “if you’re going to write a biased review, don’t write it at all.” So let me be clear. This is not a review but a recommendation.

If you are in Vancouver this weekend, take a trip down to the Vancouver International Film Centre and catch one of the screenings of the movie Heima. If you know the band Sigur Rós, I don’t need to explain why. If you don’t, I promise you it will change your perception of what music can be. How often can you say you went to a concert movie and saw people crying openly during the screening, not because they were upset, but because the music invoked such strong emotions?

I can say with certainty that Sigur Rós does something no other band can. They perform musical alchemy, transforming simple harmonies into real life manifestations of pure emotion. Those who have experienced it describe it as an almost religious revelation – a spiritual awakening. I have yet to find a person who does not on some level feel drawn to their music. And you’ve probably heard it, though you may not have been aware of it. Did you ever see the trailer for the movie Children of Men? The one with the haunting music in the background that drew you in? Their music is used everywhere, you just don’t know who they are. Well, now you will.

An amazing performance of the song “Von” from the movie after the jump. Get the whole story

UPDATE: Big shocking surprise. It’s a contest!

Last Sunday I posted an article about the so-called “hacking” of Canadian music station MuchMusic. In it I explained why the claims of this being a hack are questionable because it would be next to impossible to actually hack a modern broadcasting station, especially the national broadcast. I suggested that this was not a hack but a marketing scheme for some new show or service from the station.

The article has generated a huge response (197 comments and counting) and has sparked a huge online chase for Phreak615 and the real reasons behind these clips. In the last couple of days several blogs have been launched by the participants of the chase and the story is taking on mythic proportions.

Thursday I contacted MuchMusic directly to get an official response to the alleged hacks. If this really was an incursion in their programming, they would have to have an official response as it would be a severe breach of broadcast regulations and their broadcasting license. This morning I got this response:

Hi Morten,

I was forwarded your message.
I’m just in a series of meetings right now.
I don’t have an answer for you at the moment but I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.

Best,
GRAHAM (last name deleted by me)
Communications Manager
Music & Youth Services, CTV Inc.

I am looking forward to hearing from Graham again shortly to see what he has to say about all this. Right now it seems like he’s stalling. We’ll see. I also called MuchMusic directly to get an official response. I was forwarded to a machine and I’m still waiting for a reply from the person I was forwarded to.

The case took a very strange turn last night: Since the original post went up, it was the first link when you searched for “phreak615″ on Google. Then yesterday, the article completely vanished from Google’s index. Even if you search for the exact article title, you’ll only find one or two reference links to it. The same goes for Digg and Technorati. It’s as if someone actually went in and deleted the article from the index. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it before. Yet another mystery I guess.

If you don’t want to read the incredibly long comments thread and just want to know what this is all about, here’s a short summary: Get the whole story

Parents have this advantage over us
We want to believe in them
And when we don’t believe in them
We still just want to be with them

These words, quoted by Evan Rachel Wood as 17-year-old Miranda, captures the essence of a charming little film that Morten and I stumbled upon at our neighbourhood Rogers Video tonight. Thanks to King of California‘s bright yellow cover, our eyes were drawn to it right away. Good thing too, because there were only two copies on the shelves amidst the usual barrage of uninspired cookie cutter movies. Here’s the synopsis from the rental sleeve:

“After spending two years in a mental institution, Charlie (Michael Douglas) is sent home and reunites with his teenage daughter. Charlie becomes obsessed with the notion that a long-lost Spanish treasure is buried beneath their local suburban California Costco. Disconnected from reality and his daughter’s life, Charlie’s erratic behaviour further strains their relationship and completely disrupts her peaceful existence. Initially skeptical, Miranda soon finds herself joining in Charlie’s questionable antics in an effort to believe in her father and give him one last shot at accomplishing his dreams in this darkly funny, exciting and surprisingly hopeful take on the modern family and the American dream.”

Quirky, real, and unexpected, this indie from first time writer/director Mike Cahill will tickle your funny bone (there’s a priceless police chase), tug at your heartstrings, and most delightfully challenge your preconceptions of the world and the colourful characters within it.

“You’ve got to believe in treasure to find it.”

Morten’s Take: Maybe there really IS value at Costco.
Angela’s Take: Finally. Something to wash away the putrid taste The Mist left behind.

In a new Dabbler travel mini-series, writer and seasoned globetrotter Valerie McTavish offers Snapshots from her current travels in Cambodia and Vietnam.

The sun has risen in the mist over the lush morning of Vietnam. I am 6 hours on the rails south of Hanoi, clunking past nameless villages. We are still north of the infamous and still bomb-pocked Demilitarized Zone where ironically much of the fighting happened during the American War. While most people on the train are fighting to hang on to a thread of sleep as they jiggle in their bench beds, Vietnam has yawned and stretched. Tableaus of urban life click past me like scenes from a Viewmaster. The slides contain a young man surfing on a wooden plank over a muddy field behind a water buffalo as his father hauls on a rope slung through the beast’s snout; a pony-tailed girl squats in the next plot over hacking at the earth with a hoe; a woman in a conical hat folds in half to inspect the grains hidden in her vibrant green rice paddy; a single tomb sits inexplicably in the centre of a farmer’s field, its only mourner the stick-scarecrow in a plastic poncho. Get the whole story

This week, our image consultant Kimberly Law demonstrates point folds with the two, three and four point folds. Get the whole story