Somewhere in the world, tax $ is put to good use...

I think that the time has finally come for me to pick up and move to Paris.

In Toronto, the astronomical taxes I pay are put towards the placement of advertisements on streetcars telling me how "stupid" I am, whereas in Paris they would go towards this - an actual, proper, complete beach in the middle of the city!

The injustices of the world are sometimes too much to bear, are they not?

Photo credit: www.linternaute.com

French Hippie Grunge?

This blog is my own tiny piece of space on the internet which literally no one reads, and as such I am to do what I please with it. My first posting made it clear that there would be no conclusive theme or purpose to this blog. It is not a philosophy blog, not a fashion blog, not a science blog and yet, at the same time, it is all of these things at once. This post, however, is strictly concerned with fashion (mainly the pictures I have saved to my computer whilst bored at work the past two weeks). So, without further adieu, I present:

"French Hippie Grunge?: S's version of S/S 08-09"

Some key looks/pieces I've taken note of.

• long hair: my hair needs to grow faster!! Unfortunately a couple of seasons ago the Twiggy/Agyness look was in and I followed suit, so it's kind of difficult to get the just-rolled-out-of-bed-Parisian-chic-mane that Lou Doillon and Theodora Richards are sporting. That doesn't mean I won't make do with what I have and try though...
• colour: for something put together by me, this collage is surprisingly lacking in black-grey-white and general monochrome. While I don't have much respect for actual hippies, the gorgeous maxi dresses and enjoyable colours are right up my alley at the moment.
• smoking: it might as well be fashionable considering I don't plan on stopping any time soon?
• The 1990's: a resurgence of grunge, anyone? It feels like the 80's have been 'in' for longer than the 80's actually existed; could there be an end in sight? Not that I ever wore any of the shoulder-padded, blinding-neon nonsense, but it would be nice to actually be able to purchase something when I walk into Forever 21.

Pictures taken from style.com, wmagazine.com, fashiontoast.com and nytimes.com (apologies if I missed a credit on any of them. Here's the disclaimer saying that, regardless of whether or not I correctly credited everything, I definitely know that none of the images belong to me and that I am making no profit from them!!

Caution: Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your job

Last week David Seigel, CEO of Westgate Resorts (the largest private employer in the state of Florida) announced that he would be firing all employees of the company who smoke. No, not just those who smoke on company premises, nor only those who occasionally enjoy a puff when they hit the 3:00 p.m. work-day wall - this is meant to implicate everyone who smokes, period.

Mr. Seigel goes on to show that he is equally discriminatory towards the obese and those with alcohol addiction issues, because somehow these other character flaws make his bias towards smokers more acceptable.

It's one thing to hate everyone, but it's quite another to play God. I'm not going to pretend that we don't all have biases and thoughts that are not objectively desirable, because this quite obviously isn't the case. Personally I'm not a fan of anti-smokers, but does that give me the right to shove my beliefs down their throats? I also enjoy a good steak and a nicely cut fur coat, but I am I allowed to toss red paint on those who disagree?

The level of intolerance that is currently prevalent in the world is truly astonishing to me; but that's a hypothetical issue of course. Most of all, on a humanistic level, I'm shocked and saddened to note that nothing, thus far, has been done about Seigel's maniacal tirade against those with addictions (of which food, nicotine and alcohol all qualify as such). The innocent employees that Seigel insists upon denegrating and publicly shaming may not be able to feed their children due to this man's megalomania - I sure hope that his own inflated ego is worth that much to him.

Excuse me while I go enjoy a Benson & Hedges (while I still can)...