Coffee and Coral Snakes: Batesian Mimicry at Work and Play

Coral Snake Illustration

From Vancouver Magazine Fall Issue 2012 *** Note: I was inspired by the always-fascinating work of Eric Falkenstein (at Falkenblog) in my application of Batesian Mimicry to consumer behaviour. *** It will have escaped nobody’s notice that Vancouver is a top-ranked city in at least three categories. We’re always high on those “liveable city” lists.…

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Creative Chaos Now Available in Paperback

Two things are happening right now that have an intense and resonant connection. 1. The Blue Light Project is published in paperback at the same time as being selected as a contestant for a reality-television-styled vote-based Bookie Award. 2. The Red Gate artists’ collective has found a potential new home, but needs City of Vancouver…

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The Adventures of Generation F

The Mast Brothers

From the November 2010 Issue of Cooking Light A couple of hours after setting foot in Brooklyn for the first time, I find the heart of the action. It’s 7 p.m. on a hot summer weeknight, and I’m hanging with a group of fashionable young people, all good-looking and under 30, who favor the uptown stylish…

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They’re Everywhere

Holy stickers Batman. These things have hit Toronto, New York, Halifax… everywhere. Now they’ve reportedly crossed the pond. They’re going up in the UK now. Move over Banksy. Or whatever. I have no idea what this means.

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Negative Empathy

Should writers of fiction review the work of colleagues? I avoid it personally, and my rational for doing is the basis for my side of a debate that was part of the CBC Literary Smackdown series recently. The other side of the issue was taken by esteemed Victoria-based novelist and nonfiction writer Robert Weirsma, who also writes a lot of fine reviews.…

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CEO of the Year: Christine Day of lululemon

Man, did I get pilloried for this article online. Lululemon fans thought it was insulting (and I didn’t even get into the whole Who is John Galt business). Worse, someone on Facebook called it a puff piece, because I didn’t get into the real psychology of the CEO in question. Who is Christine Day and…

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Do You Trust Your Phone?

various cell phones

The Blue Light Project weirdly presages this extraordinary news story: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told smartphone and email users “You’re all screwed”, as he unveiled his latest publications. The 287 documents Wikileaks has released point to 150 agencies around the world that are making use of *existing technology* to monitor people’s phones and computers. Software…

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What We Talk About When We Talk About “Buyer’s Pain”

Burger

Globe and Mail ROB Magazine My introduction to the topic of “buyer’s pain” came via a colleague, an editor of an American food magazine, who was describing the excruciatingly long line-ups he had to endure to get a hamburger at the Shake Shack in New York’s Madison Square Park. I’ve never eaten one, but I’ve…

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V-TARP: The Vancouver Transit Adspace Reappropriation Project

So Banksy declares street art dead and apparently nobody was listening. JermIX certainly wasn’t. Working with UK import Vegas – a stencil artist of remarkable skill – Jerm has launched what many consider his most aggressive campaign ever. VTARP, it’s called. Vancouver Transit Adspace Reappropriation Project. Which sounds like a black line item in the…

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The Envy Economy

image from the Globe and Mail

 From the Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine When Oliver Stone’s upcoming sequel to Wall Street (Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps) is released this fall, there will be renewed debate on whether “greed is good.” People may disagree with Gordon Gekko, just as his protégé Bud Fox ultimately did in the original film,…

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