Special Edition Barbies: Vancouver and the Lower Mainland

I couldn’t be more excited. Not only has Mattel taken the Bratz by the headlights and launched the extra-superglamorous MAC Barbie (read her Vanity Fair interview if you’ve got five minutes and some brain cells to kill), but now they’re micro-marketing, with niche Barbies catering to every geographical demographic in the Lower Mainland. With their inevitable Eastward move, I can hardly wait to see what Hogtown Barbie looks like.

My friend Cassandra passed the following along to me but I have no idea who wrote it, so if you know the source please pass that along and I’ll credit them.

Yaletown Barbie‘Yaletown Barbie’

This princess Barbie is sold only at the Yaletown Choices Market.

She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a designer kitchen.

Available with or without tummy tuck and face-lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version.

Coquitlam BarbieCoquitlam Barbie’

The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Wind star Minivan and matching gym outfit.

She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation.

Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately.

East Van Barbie‘East Van Barbie ‘

This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit.

This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable bills)

…unless you are a cop, then we don’t know what you are talking about.

West Van Barbie‘West Van Barbie’

This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2.

Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership.

Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper.

You won’t be able to afford any of them.

Chilliwack Barbie‘Chilliwack Barbie’

This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR t-shirt and tweety bird tattoo on her shoulder.

She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set.

She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken’s butt when she is drunk.

Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.

loft Barbie‘Loft Barbie’

This collagen injected, rhino plastic Barbie wears a leopard print outfit and drinks cosmopolitans while entertaining friends.

Percocet prescription available as well as warehouse conversion condo.

Maple Ridge Barbie‘Maple Ridge Barbie’

This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Butler Barbie’s house.

Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top.

Also available with a mobile home.

kits barbie‘Kitsilano Barbie’

This doll is made of actual tofu.

She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks.

She prefers that you call her Willow.

She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Point Breeze Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.

Surrey Barbie‘Surrey Barbie’

This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll.

Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass.

Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.

Whistler Barbie‘Whistler Barbie’

She’s perfect in every way.

We don’t know where Ken is.

Ken is always out a-‘huntin’.

West End BarbieKen‘West End Barbie/Ken’

This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding or subtracting the multiple snap-on body parts.

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PSA: Vancouver Dress for Success Suit Drive

Kimpton’s Pacific Palisades Hotel Announces Third Annual Suit Drive

Pacific Palisades Hotel Aims to Raise More than a Suit for Dress For Success

Vancouver BC, February 26, 2007

On March 15, 2007, Kimpton’s Pacific Palisades Hotel will host its third annual ‘More than a Suit Drive’ in support of Dress for Success.  Between 6:30am – 9:30am, Vancouverites are invited to exchange women’s ‘interview ready’ clothing, accessories or monetary donations for a brown bag breakfast.  All drop offs will take place on Jervis Street between Robson Street and Alberni Street.  Every donor will be entered into a draw to win incredible prizes, receive their choice of Starbucks coffee or tea and a breakfast bag with pastry and fruit provided by Neptune Foods Services Inc. 

What to Donate:

– interview ready clothing, no more than 5 years old

– business suits of all sizes

– tailored separates including jackets, pants and skirts

– handbags, briefcases, umbrellas

– outerwear including long and ¾ length coats for any season

– blouses or tops with simple neck and shoulder lines, which will fit neatly under a jacket.

– conservative accessories including scarves, belts, and jewellery

– quality footwear in good condition of all sizes

– unopened, unused pantyhose, lingerie and makeup

– monetary donations are welcome

In addition to the annual suit drive, the Pacific Palisades Hotel will host various fundraising and awareness generating activities throughout the months of March and April benefiting Dress for Success.   Activities will include a culinary themed client event (closed to the general public) hosted in the Mambo Ballroom decorated by Sweet Beginnings Event Planners & Decorator. 

For further information about Sweet Beginnings please contact Elana Lancit at 604 738 9552 or at www.asweetbeginning.com

The hotel will also replace traditional welcome amenities with a custom designed card by Joanna Brewster of Justice by Design, informing guests that a $1.00 donation was made on their behalf to Dress for Success. 

Event sponsors include Neptune Foods Inc., Starbucks® Coffee, Sweet Beginnings(tm) Wedding Consulting Event Planning and Decor, Justice by Design, Sage Natural Wellness, MBODY Fitness + Wellness Spa, American Airlines®, Whistler Brewing Company, Hot Wax Mobile Music, Master Plan Productions, Kimpton’s Summit Lodge & Spa and Zin Restaurant & Lounge.

#   #   #

About Dress for Success

Dress for Success’ mission is to advance low-income women’s economic and social development and to encourage self-sufficiency though career development and employment retention.  Since opening its doors in 1999, Dress for Success Vancouver has served more than 7,000 clients.  Today, this non-profit group has 47 member agencies and 150 active volunteers. 

In 2007, Dress for Success aims to help more than 1,500 women in making tailored transitions to the workforce. 

Dress for Success Vancouver is not just about suits.  It is also a Professional Women’s Group that provides support and guidance to approximately 100 women annually.  In this group, women learn to develop their own professional skills as well as support one another through networking and other events. www.dressforsuccess.org/vancouver

Forwarded by:

Cassandra Anderton
Giffard, Vino Allegro, CMC Sake
Haute Consulting/Freelance Writer
www.vinoallegro.com
www.giffard.com
www.cmc-sake-wine.com

the strangest compliment

We’re all drawn to weird little things. Some men fancy a dainty ankle far more than a massive set of bazoombas. Some painters notice the way someone puts their colours together, or the effect of sunset light on the colour of beach grass.

I am drawn to funky glasses, and I do not mean the cocktail variety (although that, of course, goes without saying).

And what do I say when I see a really cool set of glasses on the face of a total stranger? Why, I walk up to that stranger and I say,

“Those are really cool glasses…

They’re totally German Graphic Designer.”

It’s just what I do. And today at the Northern Voice Blogging Conference I did it to Maryam (that’s right, nobody drops a name like raincoaster…and she’s probably going “who?”).

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advice columns of the lesser gods

Ramalamadingdong shoesOne does not lightly call the great shoeblogger the Manolo a “lesser” anything, but in a world which considers the phreaky fashion troll John Galliano to be a major god, well we must have a point of differentiation, so there it is.

In the world of advice columns, there is a wide range of approaches and, frankly, quality of advice. I am the humble and ashamed owner of “Can My Bridesmaids Wear Black,” an etiquette book which, at $1.95 for the hardcover on the “Please get these out of our store” table, was overpriced by approximately $2. And all the new (ie late-, as opposed to mid- or early-20th Century) Emily Post books are good primarily as fodder for humorous comparisons with books which don’t suck quite so hard.

In the world of advice columnists, the gods, of greatery or lesseryness as the case may be, there are Miss Manners, Ask a Ninja, Ask a Squid, and The Manolo. Of the first three we shall not speak…yet. Of the Manolo, we shall give only the following, perfect morsel. It is the superfantastic. It will be enough.

Dear Manolo,I’ve bitten the bullet and left academia and gone back to my true love—baking. I am opening a small bakery and I need to some comfortable, yet stylish shoes that have non-slip soles, can bear being covered in butter and sugar, but would still look good when I help in the front.
Kay

The Manolo says,
of the course, there are those who believe that one would be foolish to give up the golden perks of academia, such as the pleasures of frequently reading the papers in which the word “hermeneutics” appears twice in the first sentence, once juxtaposed next to the phrase “Gilligan’s Island”.

What? No more faculty meetings in which the professor of Marxist marketing comes to blows with the elderly Emily Bronte scholar over the matter of parking spaces?

Magritte Bowler shooz

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2-4-6-8 come on guys, hallucinate!

This scene, from Absolutely Fabulous, is the single best hallucination scene ever recorded.

Sure, when I got shot up with morphine I saw angels surfing on the rays of the setting sun over English Bay which was certainly odd, particularly given that my room had no windows, but not really out of the ordinary for me. Lady Penelope sitting on my legs and Richard E. Grant howling to the four winds about how he turned gay because he wasn’t man enough for me and I broke his heart: that would have been noteworthy.

But it would have been Gabriel Byrne in my hallucination.

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