My Current Obsession

Mad Men: Mad Scaling from Photoshop Disasters

I have a confession to make and I’m baring my soul here… I’m currently obsessed with Photoshop Disasters. Yes, it’s true. Some days celebrity gossip just doesn’t fill my need.  John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston break up? Jamie Lyn Spears was cheated on while pregnant at 17? Another Lohan, another boob job? Yawn! That was yesterday. 

Today, I’m all over photoshop cloning, cutouts, cropping and more. Original picture not right size? Just crop it – who cares if people look like giants or pygmies? Beyoncé not “pale” enough? No problem! Models in the wrong place? No problem! 

Olympics! Fauxlympics?

The Lip-Syncher

The Singer

As with all conversations in Vancouver these days, the topic turns to 2010: What will our city be like during the Winter Olympics? Or, more likely, we gripe about what we have to go through in order to have our city host the Games. That was the case last night as I searched for parking on Granville Street and found it torn to shreds in advance of new water main/sewer pipe/transit upgrade/your gripe here. I was meeting my friend, actor Rene Wang, at Sanafir to talk about her upcoming trip to Asia. Over a selection from their great wine list and while commenting on their bigger food portions, Rene told me about her latest movie role in ”Break-Up Artist” directed by Steve Woo. And then, of course, we started talking about the Olympics: Beijing and Vancouver. 

Fauxlympics is, of course, the new term for the Beijing Games after the news broke of the lip-synching 9-year old at the Opening Ceremonies (the girl with the good voice wasn’t cute enough) and the augmentation of the fireworks for TV. The reason given by Chen Qigang, the music designer for the ceremonies, on Radio Beijing: “… we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation.”

Hmmm, maybe I’ll feel better about spending 45 minutes sitting in traffic on the Cambie Street bridge in the middle of a summer afternoon if I think of it as a gesture of Support for Canada. And maybe when the Skytrain Canada Line opens next year and the crime rates in my neighbourhood rise 25 to 40%, I’ll look at it as a high point of National Pride.

And, gee, Vancouver’s going to look really pretty for 10 days 18 months from now.