March 28, 2007

“Nearly half of ads targeting kids show junk food”

Oranges, pomegranates, and eggplants

An article posted to CTV News says that most advertising that children and youth see are for foods that we are trying to promote as “eat less” and not “eat more.” While schools are implementing healthy eating programs with vending machines and cafeterias (not applicable to post-secondary, however!), the advertising they see on television is, according to the article, completely contradictory to health-positive messages.

It begins:

In a child’s buffet of food commercials, more than 40 per cent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood.

Why no ads for fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood? Because fresh fruit and vegetables don’t get advertised. The money for it isn’t there, while processed and fast food companies invest billions into advertising to make sure you buy their products. The best you’ll get is a glimpse of wholesome food in a Safeway or Save On Foods ad. As for poultry, it seems to me a long time since I’ve seen a Maple Leaf chicken ad, and I can’t recall seeing anything about seafood beyond, what was it, KFC Popcorn Shrimp?

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March 24, 2007

Germ Culture, and meats or veggie-tables

Mr. Germ springs happily onto a clean toothbrush

Hah, I just realised that title is a sort of pun. In that case, no pun intended?

I was pointed to this article in the Georgia Straight.

“[Tom Glass,] [t]he professor of forensic sciences, pathology, and dental medicine at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences has plenty to say about how toothbrushes are a breeding ground for viruses, bacteria, mould, and yeast, and consequently can easily transmit disease. The adjunct professor of microbiology advises healthy people to replace their toothbrush every two weeks and those with compromised immune systems to do so even more often. And no, he’s not funded by manufacturers of the hygienic devices.”

Continue reading Germ Culture, and meats or veggie-tables »

March 17, 2007

Coffee and Pulla: Progress update

Book spread from Coffee and Pulla

I know I’ve been quiet for awhile. I haven’t been answering some emails, I haven’t been washing the dishes, and I’ve either been sleeping too much, too little, or too poorly. To top it off I now have my second cold within a month! I guess that’s what I get for being in good health, rhinovirus-wise, for a record 9 months. I think this is the first time that my boyfriend and I have exchanged a cold. Shucks, I thought our proximity would make us immune!

I’m busily working through my grad project, titled Coffee and Pulla, and having finally found my passions in it, I’m at full steam ahead. (Minus the setbacks from the head cold, of course.) So, above is one spread from the book. This one is about my grandfather, and features some stunning old photographs I’d never seen before! I diligently spent probably 2 or 3 hours in Photoshop trying to digitally sew two photographs together. That is, two photographs I took of these photographs. They were at slightly different angles, so it took a lot of cunning, despair, hope, and determination to get it looking optically perfect, though truthfully, a little skewed. 🙂 Without the originals, no one will be able to tell. I’m pretty happy with it!

My middle name is procrastination unless I’m truly excited about something, so while I quite willingly and eagerly (frighteningly eager) stay up until 4am working on a comp for the grad website (they liked it!), you probably won’t find me working on a print project at 4 in the morning. It’s just not my stuff… but I’m finding out I’m not so bad at it, after all.

March 16, 2007

Second Life?

I used to despise the word “blogging.” I suppose one tiny particle in my brain still winces at the word (I’ve been known to avoid “fads” or anything with a lot of hype, like Harry Potter… don’t ask), but I’ve succumbed to doing it, anyway. Let’s face it, it’s the writer in me, and it allows me to write plotless things because I’m not good at plot.

So right now I’m not enjoying the phrase “Second Life.” Be it a craze, something I roll my eyes at, or something I’m maybe afraid of, it’s got that edge that just irks me. I’d compare it to MySpace or YouTube, although I signed up for MySpace just over a year ago. It brought me something wonderful that changed my life (call it luck or fate), which I won’t discuss here, but I’ve sort of dropped off the face of the MySpace non-planet since — I do have a first life, and it’s called SCHOOL.

I’m taking a social sciences/studies course about blogging, confession, user-generated content and YouTube. Our discussions cover a wide variety of interesting things, and it seems we tend to agree. Then again, we’re all around the same age, we go to a smallish school with a specific range of creative types, and we all live in Vancouver. Not everyone is from Vancouver, or even Canada for that matter, but somehow our ideas seem to fit. Either that, or the people who disagree aren’t speaking up.

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March 1, 2007

I regret…

I don’t collect regrets. There are a few exceptions, however, and they deal with the privacy of my contact information.

Continue reading I regret… »