Heroin : Addict :: Coffee : Me

Today is the third day in a row that I have not had coffee. Not for lack of coffee. I have several sacks of beans waiting for me in the kitchen, just waiting to be ground and brewed into that heavenly elixir. I don't know why I haven't. I just know that it hurts like fuck. Every day that I don't drink coffee I get these horrible headaches. And everyday I notice that I'm getting a headache so I drink a glass of water thinking that it's just dehydration. It's not until the headache is full-swing-lay-on-the-couch bad that I realize that this is another lack of caffeine headaches. Grrrr...

beauty

A week or so ago I decided to do an experiment. I wanted to see just how much of a difference makeup had on a person's appearance. We make such a big deal over it, but how much does it really affect the way you appear. So I did two shots, one with makeup and one without to just see how much of a difference there was. (Tried to keep the pose/lighting/everything else the same) Gotta tell you, given the fact I spent like 20 minutes on makeup & hair and whatnot, there isn't a tremendous change. I showed the images to Morg and he made a good point. The most striking difference between the two images is actually the hair, not the makeup. I might have to try the same experiment again but with the hairstyle remaining the same. Anywho, I wasn't going to post those pictures at all (it was just an experiment for myself) but yesterday I ran into this video from Dove. It does a much better job at proving a point:

Artists I've been enjoying recently

Tim Biskup
He describes his work as "baroque modernism" and I am totally seeing a Hieronymous Bosch influence.

Stella Im Hultberg
Seems like this little lady probably has an alter for Egon Schiele. She's not there yet, but there's some nice watercolor stuff...

Amy Sol
Gets a bit monotonous after awhile, same figure, same creatures, same feeling... but done well. I found out about her because they used one of her paintings as the cover for this week's Mercury.



Jesse LeDoux
I'd seen so much of his stuff before but never realized it was the same, ever-so-talented person.

Zanpon This guy intreges me. I've seen his work at the link above and here. But you really can't see the work on either page. Need to find some of his stuff in real life, I just want to stare at it.

Wanna see a concerned tomato dancing?

build your own little dancing thing here.

The sunshine has affected my mood. Can you tell?

Today has been awesome! It's finally COLD rather than just chilly. It's bright and sunny! Yes! And I'm in Portland! No lie! It's actually sunny today!
Aaand I had one of the best retail experiences ever this morning. I'd run out of coffee and decided to splurge and get two types of coffee. I wanted a dark, rich blend for the morning and something lighter to mix with cream/sugar in the afternoon. So I hopped on over to Coffee People which is where I got my last blend (Human Being organic, very dark, very awesome). The people there were so amazingly helpful and cheerful and informative! I cannot speak highly enough of them. Not only did they help me pick out some new blends to try, they were pleasant and took time with me (I never felt rushed even though I kept asking questions). And, when the blend that one of the employees recommended was a day over the expiration date, she gave me a whole other pound of beans for free. HOORAY! I had a wonderful experience with these guys. Coffee People rocks my world!

McStarbucks

It seems that Starbucks and McDonalds are starting something. Don't know who hit who first, but it appears that both are trying to take the other's business. I never thought it would be those two, I mean, talk about different marketing approaches / audiences ...

I've read several articles in the past few days about big changes that both companies are making. The first article I read claimed there will be a new Coke vs Pepsi war (similar to the cola wars of the early 90s except that this one involves iced coffee beverages). Pepsi has long been partnered with Starbucks, that's how Starbucks' beverages get distribution. But Coke has recently announced a partnership with Caribou Coffee. So it begins...

Now this seems to have nothing to do with McDonalds, but as well you should know, McDonalds is partnered with Coke and Kentucky Fried Taco Hut is Pepsi. McDonalds (as well as most fast food chains including BurgerKing) has recently announced that they will be upgrading their coffee. Now, if they were using Caribou, they'd probably have announced *that*, they'd be stupid not to. But that's just Kat thinking out loud.

The second article came just one day later. Several McDonalds in the Lewisville Kentucky area will be experimenting with new interiors. Trying to make people stay longer in a McDonalds! Free (with purchase) WiFi in a McDonalds! What a cultural shift! McDonalds!!! This is the company that practically INVENTED harsh cafeteria style interiors to 'get em in and get em out'! This is rather big news...

And today I read that Starbucks is starting a line of breakfast sandwiches. Whoa. Now McDonalds hasn't been topping the charts these past few years. They're not doing poorly, just not record sales n' whatnot. But one thing that McDonalds OWNS, over all fast food chains, is breakfast. No chain does as well as McDonalds when it comes to breakfast. Other chains have dabbled in breakfast, I think I heard Wendy's tried it and Taco Bell too. But no one has come close to the Egg McMuffin and the McGriddle. McDonalds truly owns fast, cheap, on-the-go (greasy and disgusting) breakfast.

So wow. Read those articles. I think they're fascinating. Let me just say, for the record, that I'm not a fan of either McDonalds or Starbucks. I don't frequent either. But in our capitalist culture, big businesses like those guys are harbingers of cultural shifts. If McDonalds is changing, it means something. People are asking for different things. And it's fun to wonder why.

ps: you have to understand my sense of humor a little to get the image above. i think ridiculous photoshop shit is funny... some people don't. their loss.

Dr. Kat Prescribes

(I wrote a prescription for myself)

Find some space. Make sure you're alone and no one will interrupt you.

Channel your inner 7 year old spaz. (I don't know if everyone was a spaz at 7 but I sure was....)

Put on your favorite danceable song, even if it's not cool. The more embarrassing, perhaps the better.

Now, stand in the center of your space. Play song. Dance like a spaz for the entirety of the song. Flail your arms. Hop around. Swing your hair (or your pretend hair). If you think you're beginning to look cool, you're doing something wrong.

Repeat daily.

If symptoms of uptightedness, stuffiness and general discontent continue, you're doing something wrong.