Posts tagged reviews
Video Blog: Unboxing my new TASSIMO
Jan 13th
Sung to the tune of The Badger Song: A-Coffee Coffee Coffee, Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee, Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee, MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!
I got a new brewer from TASSIMO. Groundskeeper Willie got a new brewer box. All is grand, all is right. Watch and learn how the masters unbox things that come to them in the mail RIGHT HERE:
I LOVE YOU SO HARD TASSIMO! And guess what? I already did, long before you sent me a brewer of my own. The quality of the one at my parents house had me dazzled, but it was this commercial that sold me on your brand for life, the moment that I saw it:
Robots dancing. You really can’t go wrong.
DEETS ON THE T46:
- TASSIMO brewers range in price from $159 – $269. The sweet T46 in my kitchen retails for $229.
- The brewer’s unique barcode technology reads every T DISC individually, adjusting the temperature, water volume and brew time to ensure a perfect beverage every time – in about a minute. Which is awesome.
- TASSIMO brewers and T DISCs are available at various retailers across Canada. In fact, I saw a stack of brewers at Metro last night!
- You can brew a huge variety of specialty beverages including: cappuccinos, lattes, chai tea lattes, skim milk lattes, hot chocolate, americanos, cremas and espressos. Bonus: They brew Cadbury hot chocolate now. *drool*
CHEERS!
Have a grand weekend, kids 
Ballerina Rocket Man: Love Lies Bleeding in Toronto
Nov 9th
I never thought I’d live to see flame-shooting ballerinas on rollerblades take to the stage for a major ballet company — a major Canadian ballet company, at that.
Frick, if I’d known at 16 that this was even possible, I probably would have sucked up the pain and broke in my new toe shoes.
Instead, I quit ballet and started dancing hip hop, sufficiently crushing all future hopes of rollerblading across the Sony Centre stage dressed as a nun in front of Elton John’s husband’s parents. *le sigh*
Last night, I attended the Toronto premiere of Alberta Ballet’s Love Lies Bleeding, and it was grand.
This morning, I attended a long meeting after rollerblading to work with Elton John’s “Rocket Man” stuck in my head. Not so grand (especially that part where I tripped over a train track. ow.)
The resultant meeting-doodles were nothing short of cosmic – as in derpina goes to space. Spacey. This one is my favourite:
This post is not about… my silly sketches though… You know I read it in a magazee-heeen, Ohhh … B-B-B-Ballet and the SKETCH!
Uh… yeah. This post is about what inspired said sketches, and that one is most definitely inspired by the trippy Rocket Man scene in Jean Grand-Maître’s jukebox ballet (set to the music of Sir Elton John and his long-time songwriting partners Bernie Taupin.)
Astro boy chicks in space-blue toe shoes, assited airborne worm rolls, rollerblades and PYROTECHNICS fookyeah. I dug that part quite a bit, but my favourite dance was at the very beginning. B-B-B-B-Latex and the Butts:
Big ups to Xtra Online for that video. Such a classic jam.
The show was at times a bit… gimmicky, but I did find this (sort of but not really a) ballet entertaining as hell. The costume design was excellent, the multimedia set pieces were wicked and the choreography was pretty tight for the most part (said the non-dancer).
31-year-old Yukichi Hattori blew the rest of the company away by leaps and bounds (literally) as the male lead. Jaw-droppingly strong, that guy. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him.
I felt a little bit underdressed at first next to all of the pretty drag queens…
But my homies here seemed to like the skirt:
AHLL MA SINGLE LADIES!
Love Lies Bleeding is only in Toronto until the 12th, so snap some tickets up ASAP, homes – you won’t regret it.
Video: Black Out Contact Lenses (GET IN MY FREAKING EYEBALL!!!)
Oct 28th
On the 8th day of Halloween, my true love gave to me…
8 minutes of raging (while I try to insert spooky contact lenses in this LOLVlog Review, that is)
Just in time for Halloween, I received a pair of Black Out Special Effects contact lenses from the fine folks at ClearlyContacts.ca to review. They look spooky-sweet, right?
According to Erin Taylor-Mitchell, executive editor for ClearlyContact.ca’s blog, the “black out” model is their most popular seller this year.
Something to do with Black Swan, I’ll bet. It’s predicted to be one of 2011′s hottest costumes.
Please, mother, before you flip – These are FDA approved, theatrical-grade, non prescription Halloween Lenses. They are sterile. My hands were clean. I don’t worship the devil now or anything, I promise.
I AM THE DEVIL! Bwahaha….
I’m stoked to have these right now. They’ll be PERFECT for my _____ costume tomorrow night.
That said, I’m not going to sugar coat the process of getting the first pair of contacts I’ve EVER worn into my eyes. It sucked (see video, above).
It wasn’t a painful experience, aside from the part where I kicked the computer desk in a fit of rage, but hot dang was it ever frustrating. My eyes so blinky.
Perhaps if I had actually followed the instructions or taken time to read one of jillions “how to put in contact lenses” guides available to me on the web first, I would have succeeded earlier. In fact, once I did watch this kid’s turorial, I was blacked out within seconds. My mom’s always said that I’m “rammy”. I suppose that might be true.
Like little black olive slices, they look!
All Lauren-being-an-idiot-ness aside, these lenses are sick. Nab a pair here and enter their “Get Creepy For Cash” Halloween contest. You could win 1000 bones, PYAW!
Sleep tight, young child. Tonight, we fly
Oh yeah, read this. And this too.
Now you know more.
Leelee O’Fitness kicks it with Reebok EasyTone Apparel
Feb 8th
Have you ever seen those sexy advertisements for the kicks that help make your butt look AMAZING just by walking in them?
Oh hai there.
The shoes are called EasyTones because they’re designed to make toning the muscles in your legs and butt easier. Get it?
This is done with science, obviously. Balance ball-inspired pods with Moving Air Technology are built into the soles of the shoes, creating an unstable surface (micro-instability) that forces key muscles to work harder. You can learn more about that stuff here – it’s actually pretty cool.
I’ve been interested in toning shoes since I first learned of their existence back in 2009, and I’ve been interested in building up my booty since I first saw photos of Jessica Alba in a bikini.
For someone who spends at least an hour a day at the gym, I have a shameful lack of muscles.
In fact, if you called me a cardio junkie weakling I would (reluctantly) plead guilty as charged.
I’d love to get some more tone on my bones (who wouldn’t?) so, when I was offered a chance to test out Reebok’s EasyTone shoes and a NEW line of oh-so-fancy EasyTone APPAREL (that’s right – toning CLOTHES!), I jumped at the chance.
Literally! I did jumping jacks and cartwheels all up over King West Fitness in the gear before I interviewed Reebok trainer and super-hot fitness guru Julie Marsland.
You can see all of the dancity melee and interview here:
The threads are undeniably cute as heck, but can workout clothes actually help me tone up?
It’s too early to tell just yet – the PYTs won’t be asking me for directions to the gun show until the warm weather hits – but I did feel those ResisTone™ bands in the EasyTone pants at work around my hamstrings and quadriceps with every move during cardio kickbox class.
The shirt was pretty effective in keeping my posture tight, which was both a blessing and a curse.
I dig the “standing up straight, elongated and graceful” look, but I also like to slouch… a lot. A habit I should probably try to break, eh?
You can pick up your own Reeinspires and Reebok EasyTone Apparel at Sport Check if you live in Canada, but unfortunately for YOU my badass ninja moves cannot be purchased.
Draw from the fire within, young grasshopper! When the time for fighting evil comes, I will summon you to my dojo…
I’ve already said too much.
*vanishes into the night*
Review: Samsung Galaxy S Captivate vs. the iPhone 4
Jan 29th
It’s no secret that I’m a bit of an Apple fan girl… and a Dell fan girl. A Canon chick, a Belkin babe, a Samsung sweetheart… sheet, I’m even digging Sunbeam pretty hard right now with their bomb electric blankets and space heaters.
What can I say? I love me some gadgets. All of them. ALL OF THE GADGETS.
image by hadley hooper, nytimes.com
As brand loyal as I am, I’ve never been a “brand exclusive” type of girl and never will be I reckon.
If there’s room enough in my heart for both a Mac and 4 PCs, Starbucks and Second Cup, Diet Coke and… (okay – only Diet Coke – I won’t budge on that one) there’s certainly enough room in my heart for an iPhone and an Android phone.
Thus, when I was asked to review the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate Smartphone I was sincerely stoked!
It’s been nothing but love between me and my Samsung televisions and I was curious to see what their mobile arm could boast. Plus, that Metric concert at Union Station they hosted this summer was pretty dang cool.
I’ve long been interested in Google’s smartphone OS for many reasons – the least of which is not their insanely adorable logo. With such strong visual branding, the product just PLEADS to be awesome, am I right?
I’ve been curious about the Galaxy S in particular since my birthday when I grilled John Paul Tremblay on what he was working with, technologically speaking. I thought he had an iPhone at first when he whipped it out but nah – it was a Samsung Galaxy S.
I told him it looked like an iPhone knockoff and he agreed – but also said that he loved it.
Hey, if it’s good enough for Julian, it’s got to be solid enough for me to give it a shot. As I discovered after a week of playing with it, it’s quite a solid little device indeed.
Yep, I keep pink play-doh on my desk. Don’t judge.
Behold, ze Specs:
| OS | Android 2.2.1 |
|---|---|
| CPU | Samsung Hummingbird, 1 GHz |
| Storage | 16 GB + microSD (up to 32 GB supported) |
| Memory | 512 MB |
| Display | 4.0 in WVGA Super AMOLED |
| Graphics | PowerVR SGX 540 |
| Camera | 5 MP with Auto Focus, 720p HD Video |
| Dimensions | 122.4 mm (4.82 in) (h) 64.2 mm (2.53 in) (w) 9.9 mm (0.39 in) to 14 mm (0.55 in) (d) |
| Weight | 118 g (4.2 oz) to 155 g (5.46 oz) |
camera comparison, pajama styles
Here are a few of the things I liked about the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate:
- The stunning display. Bright, glossy, colourful and big. The 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen is one of this device’s strongest selling points.
- The little boot screen is quite sharp, on that note – I found myself coooing at the beautiful dynamic graphic every timeI turned it on. Beats the iPhone’s static apple image by a long shot.
- The Android OS was easy to love, with some features I could definitely get used to.
- The micro USB connector covered by a little sliding cover. Different. I like it.
- The subtle keyboard vibration was perfect. It made me feel more confident in my typing. My biggest beef with the iPhone is the crappy touch keyboard, and Samsung appears to have the upper hand here (literally! ba doom doom ching!)
- Removable battery. Second biggest beef with the iPhone is that it doesn’t have this.
- Cute logo. Obvs.
- The Android app market is pretty sweet. Apple’s App store is also robust, but this was like cruising through a brand new mall. A girl can always use more malls… especially ones where most things cost less than $5
- Like the iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy S Captivate has a light, sleek exterior. Good shape. Nice feel. Well done!
both phones work well for taking photos of yourself before bed.
Here are some things I didn’t like:
She’s not Rachel an iPhone.
Also…
- No front-facing camera. Total deal killer for a narcissist like me.
- No flash. Again… shutterbugs are better off with an iPhone.
- Not as quick when surfing the web as with an iPhone, but that may be a Rogers vs. Telus thing.
- Battery life was sub par in comparison with the iPhone, but not by much. This is to be expected though, with such a vibrant screen and a user who games constantly.
the iPhone image is more saturated, but the Samsung makes me look less ugly so I like it better.
I can’t tell you much about how these devices compare in terms of actual PHONE usage because, to be honest, I rarely use my smartphone as a telephone. Why talk when you can Skype? Or better yet, chill in person?
Conclusion: If you’re looking for an alternative to the iPhone, The Samsung Galaxy S Captivate is a great option.
It’s a high powered device that’s as useful for work as it is for play – much like an iPhone 4. Plus, having an Android smartphone will surely give you more nerd cred than an iPhone if that’s what you’re after, and who isn’t these days? Nerd cred. *sigh* As if that’s even a term…
As loyal as I am to my current device, I’m glad to see other fabulous smartphones like Samsung’s Galaxy S Captivate on the market.
Healthy competition drives innovation, and both phones could take a note out of the other phone’s book…
Like, if phones could autonomously take notes and stuff. Is there an App for that yet?
Maple Leaf mittens for Party Whore hands (Tastemakers Lounge at the Gemini Awards )
Nov 17th
Remember during TIFF when all of those famous people came to town and needed moving trucks to carry all of the awesome free swag they scored back to Los Angeles? (I wrote all about it for Yahoo and my blog if you need a refresher).
That was my first experience with celebrity “gifting lounges” and I was blown away.
I knew that celebrities receive tons of free goodies during award shows and events, but I had no idea how much they really did get (at the Oscars, it’s up to $85,000 worth of goods!) until I saw it first hand.
Furthermore, I would never have guessed that journalists get invited into these lounges too – let alone bloggers.
But the times they are a changing, I guess, and now media kids are all up in these things like Kristie Alley’s tongue in a jar of mayonnaise.
I don’t know where that came from. My apologies to Ms. Alley… And Mr. Hellman.
The 25th annual Gemini Awards went down this past weekend (Canada’s version of the Emmy Awards, pretty much), and this brought together our country’s finest English-language television stars right here in the fair city of Toronto.
Instead of lounges scattered across the city, as we saw during TIFF, there was but one lounge for the Gemini nominees and presenters. The ULTIMATE lounge. The Tastemakers Lounge.
When I got the invite from rock-it promotions to attend, I RSVP’d within minutes. I figured that if it was anything like the Tastemakers lounge at TIFF, it was worth the trip… and was it ever! Sheeeeet, for these alone:
CANADA MITTENS FTW!
Also amazing was the manicure I got (in Party Whore!) from Cheeky Monkey Costmetics that, might I add, still looks fabulous a few days on -miraculous for a busy-handed rapscallion like yours truly.
The Cheeky team was fabulous – hooking me up with an extra bottle of Camel Toe because I simply couldn’t get over how hilarious it was that there’s a nail polish called “Camel Toe“.
Clever packaging, strong branding and a great quality product too. I rave about it some more in my video below. You can buy it at the ten spot – has anybody had a facial there? I’ve been meaning to book one of these for months. I’m a (real) facial virgin… I’d love to see what the fuss is all aboot!
Another thing I’m raving over is Hallmark‘s recordable storybook collection. Genius idea!
I’m half-tempted to record myself reading Frosty The Snowman all distorted-like, serial killer stylez, so that I can mail it to friend anonymously and freak her out. Wouldn’t that be a funny prank?
Here’s my “look at all of this cool swag” video. It’s long and rambly… really best suited for people who have nothing better to do than watch me act like a nerd. So nobody.
Thanks a trillion, Tastemakers!
<3L
Stomping leaves in Cougar Boots
Nov 8th
Predicament:
It`s a sunny fall day and the ground is dry, save for a bit of moisture trapped by the blanket of dead leaves all over my lawn.
I`m about to go for a run when a package arrives in the mail. A BIG one, and it`s filled with BOOTS. BOOTS FOR ME! Rain boots and winter boots by Cougar, to be more specific.
They are cute. as. sin.
So here`s the sitch: I want to wear these right now (One on each foot maybe… Why not? #trendstarter) but it’s a freaking gorgeous day outside.
Am I expected to wait until it rains to test out my cute new galoshes? (My dad corrected me when I called them short wellies. Apparently, a Galosh is a thing. A Duckshoe, too.)
Can I really restrain myself from rocking these sick furry boots until (*groan*) the white stuff falls and I have to start shelling out for snow removal again?
Non.
I`ve never been the type to wait until after church to start playing with my Christmas toys. If Jesus is as cool as the priest says he is, he would WANT me to play with pet vet Barbie in Church. Nobody wants their own birthday party to be a bore, riiiight?
Sometimes, you have to be creative to get what you want.
I wanted to rock rain boots on a sunny day so I DID IT. I wanted to rock winter boots in the fall so I DID THAT TOO. I wanted to make a webcam video of my grandma and her friend rocking out to the Black Eyed Peas so… well, I didn’t do that, but SOMEBODY DID (and it’s awesome):
But that is neither here nor there.
Behold, my creative experiment:
Leaf Stomping Effectiveness: Rain boots vs. Winter boots
Research Question: Will Cougar’s Tibet (rain) boots provide a more satisfying CRUNCH on the leaves in my backyard than Cougar’s (winter) Ravishing boots?
Hypothesis: The winter boots will prevail. Just look at those treads…
TEST 1: The Tibets (Retail $ 75 Cdn).
Cute, comfy and match my red raincoat quite nicely. The little sockie-tops are precious – especially when I’m posing like a dooosh for my mom on the back deck.
I would rock these any dang day of the week, rain or shine, and probably will.
But how do they stomp?
Not bad, not bad…
TEST 2: The Ravishings (Retail $ 170 Cdn)
Nice warm boots with SUPER soft fuzz around the top. They’re warm, indeed (Rated -10°C to -30°C / 14°F to -22°F, says the tag) and quite comfortable too.
Aside from the lame name (Ravishing? Seriously?) there’s not much about these winter boots I don’t like. Plus, They match my sweet PONCHO (vintage! It was my mommy’s back in the day) and I love that:
Aesthetically, the rain boots win (they’re just SO cute) but something tells me these snow boots can crush a good leaf…
Indeeeeed they can!
Analysis: While both boots are good candidates for leaf crushery, neither pair stood out as particularly amazing.
This may be due to the fact that our test leaves were not entirely dry.
I should have put in a variables section…
Meh. Who am I kidding? This was never about leaves.
Result: The winter boots win, but only by a hair. The fact that they match my winter coat definitely edged them ahead in the race, as I am partial to experimenter’s bias.
Bias is also why the brown mouse in my Seventh Grade science fair project gained the most weight. I fed him more corn than they other mice because I wanted my hypothesis to be right. #deepdarksecrets
If Mr. Blaine is reading this, I’m totally going to get my participation ribbon stripped. Nobody forward this to my elementary school principal, k?
Conclusion: There is no better way to warm up after a leaf-stomping expedition than by curling up next to the fireplace in a Cougar sweatshirt with a Cougar mug filled with Cougar hot chocolate…
And a cougar…
And a cougar…
Ayoooo!!!
<3 Poncho’Nizzle
Get it?
*** Big ups to Matchstick for send these my way ***
