I just saw a public service announcement from the government urging us to invest and here's the twist. It's not the federal government urging us to invest in Canada Savings Bonds, it's the Ontario government urging us to play the stock market! What! I can't decide if this is really smart or really diabolical.
I gotta tell you though, I love Dalton McGinty's new campaign - the effortlessly earnest urban left wingers, the 21st century yuppies looking you in the eye and telling you a heart warming story about some good deed performed, apparently, by Dalton McGinty personally; telling us how the personal is affected by the political. And you know what? I want to believe them so badly - I really, really do. If for no other reason than that I'm tired of always having to guess if people are telling the truth or not. I really want to believe that these people, these sincere people , people who could live next door to me, people I know, people I respect...I desperately want to believe that the things they are telling me are not just true, but that they actually matter! That they are outward spreading ripples on a pond. That we won't all regret this in a few years.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Catalogue Shopping
Catalogue shopping is not what it used to be. Today, everything is specialized or discounted - less than what you want in every way. Sears is still doing it thank heavens, because one of my favourite things in the whole wide world is to sit down with the Sears catalogue and go shopping for my ideal life - or rather lives, because with a Sears catalogue I can be any body and every body that I want to be.
The catalogue is set up perfectly for exactly this type of activity. I start out in women's clothing and pick out my wardrobe. I can wear anything. In catalogue world I look good in orange, even a size two will fit if I want it to, and everything is age appropriate. So I move through the dresses and suits, the blouses and skirts, the pants, jeans, sweaters and evening wear continuing on through lingerie and shoes. At this point, the catalogue moves in to men's wear, but I'm not ready for that yet, so I skip a few pages and arrive at furniture. Living room, dining room, the kitchen - which can take days because now you're into dishes and appliances - the bathroom, and last but not least, the bedroom.
As a little girl, I wanted a canopy bed. My idea of the perfect boudoir was white laminate furniture with gold antiqued curlicues, ruffled pink bedding and best of all the matching pink arc of canopy stretched over it. This was an image ripped from the pages of the Sears catalogue. What little girl didn't want that same bedroom suite? It was surely fit for a princess. The mock settings for these furnishings were rooms that always contained an area just beyond the bed where the floor was raised a step. Light beyond it hinted at windows, walk in closets and and en-suite bathroom. That canopy bed promised a way of life that I wanted.
As I chose the fittings for each room, I'd go back and forth tweeking my wardrobe to match an evolving image of my life as it was defined by the furniture I chose. Sometimes I'd be seduced by camping equipment and have to go back to women's wear and trade the satin and pearls for khakis and fleece.
And then on to men's wear - which o course was about finding the man to fit into this divine lifestyle I've created. A man who can sleep under a pink canopy and be ok with it. Ah, the Sears catalogue really had it all.
The catalogue is set up perfectly for exactly this type of activity. I start out in women's clothing and pick out my wardrobe. I can wear anything. In catalogue world I look good in orange, even a size two will fit if I want it to, and everything is age appropriate. So I move through the dresses and suits, the blouses and skirts, the pants, jeans, sweaters and evening wear continuing on through lingerie and shoes. At this point, the catalogue moves in to men's wear, but I'm not ready for that yet, so I skip a few pages and arrive at furniture. Living room, dining room, the kitchen - which can take days because now you're into dishes and appliances - the bathroom, and last but not least, the bedroom.
As a little girl, I wanted a canopy bed. My idea of the perfect boudoir was white laminate furniture with gold antiqued curlicues, ruffled pink bedding and best of all the matching pink arc of canopy stretched over it. This was an image ripped from the pages of the Sears catalogue. What little girl didn't want that same bedroom suite? It was surely fit for a princess. The mock settings for these furnishings were rooms that always contained an area just beyond the bed where the floor was raised a step. Light beyond it hinted at windows, walk in closets and and en-suite bathroom. That canopy bed promised a way of life that I wanted.
As I chose the fittings for each room, I'd go back and forth tweeking my wardrobe to match an evolving image of my life as it was defined by the furniture I chose. Sometimes I'd be seduced by camping equipment and have to go back to women's wear and trade the satin and pearls for khakis and fleece.
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