January 2013 – Tiana Feng

Stupid Toys

January 30, 2013UncategorizedLeave a Comment

In my post about poorly written song commercials I posted this video of an Orbeez Lady Bug:

Who the heck decided this was a good idea for a toy? The marbles could be eaten by young kids and those older would not play with this thing. Also why is there a dog in the commercial? It is also a tripping hazard, hence stupid for all sorts of reasons. I decided to seek out what horrible ideas for toys there are out there.

Now I bring this to your attention:

The most boring toy ever. I had one of these once. I waited days and days for the hair to grow and nothing happened. Perhaps it was a defect, but what on earth do you do with it when it grows? It does not make a great gift.

This Play-Doh Sweet Shoppe looks pretty fun and awesome. BUT LOOK THEY ARE MIXING ALL THE COLOURS. After a few plays, you will end up with a mess of brown.

Lastly.. I bring you.. the breastfeeding doll:

I get that little kids like to mimic their parents, but isn’t this going a bit too far?

What other stupid toys have you seen out there? I’d love to know.

Trying Out Fiverr

January 29, 2013Social Media, Technology1 Comment

Yesterday I was bored and ended up on Fiverr.com, a site where you can sell services for $5. I decided to make a few of my own gigs for pure entertainment. I will retouch 3 of your photos for $5 or draw you as a cute stick person for $5. I doubt either will get any traction but I thought it was an interesting experiment.

Retouching photos includes any of the following things:
-removing an object from background
-adding filters to image
-removing imperfections
-changing colours

Photoset: Winter Exploration

January 28, 2013Art, Photography1 Comment

It snowed last week and on Saturday the sky was so nice and blue that me and dad decided to go exploring for interesting things to shoot in Mississauga.

For higher resolutions of the photos visit my Flickr.

Burgers and Tacos @ Tallboys

January 25, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Before yesterday’s installment of The Big Smoke Music Festival, we grabbed food inside the venue, Tallboys Craft Beer House.

I ordered the Pan Seared Fish Tacos ($12). The fish sat in a soft corn tortilla with guacamole salsa fresca, lettuce and sour cream. They were served with fries. They’re very similar in style to the fish tacos at Tacos El Asador with just the right amount of coriander. The fries made it a decent amount of food, and I swear they had a little bit of sour cream in them because of their interesting taste.

Nash had the Tallboys Signature Bacon Chili Burger ($13). The chili was mixed in with melted cheese and onions resulting in awesomness between two buns. They also have a burger with kimchi in it which we will definitely come back to try.

Since we were at Tallboys, it was only appropriate that we did get some tallboys. I had the Nickel Brook Green Apple Pilsner. It was a good amount of sweetness in a beer. Nash had some kind of cider, I forgot.

We’ll definitely come back again since the food is decently priced. Also, we learnt that the menu is half price on Sundays with a drink!

The $100 Startup

January 24, 2013Books, Entertainment3 Comments

I recently read Chris Guillebeau’s book The $100 Startup. It had a lot of stories and anecdotes of entrepreneurs which make a decent living (50k or more) doing what they love. What I enjoyed about the book is that it didn’t just focus on multi-million dollar startups like Facebook, but ones from regular people.

The book also has a short exercises for people interested in starting their own business. I emphasize short because the main message of the book is not to ponder forever on if you should do something, but to just do it.
Guillebeau mentions this quote by Karl Marx:

“Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity”

I thought this was an interesting way to think of things. Consumers will buy things because they are easy and convenient. People don’t go to a restaurant because they want to be taught how to make the dish. Regardless of whether you currently have a business idea or not, the book is an inspiring read and makes you re-think what it means to be happy in life. Is it money or thought of doing something you love?

I know somewhere down the line I will probably have my own business and I will definitely give this book another read.

Sandwiches at Sky Blue Sky

January 23, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I first heard of Sky Blue Sky Sandwich Company at last year’s All Caps Island Music Festival. They were catering the event and I ordered the Casino Queen Sandwich.
The sandwich had avocado, bacon, turkey and onions. They were running out of bread at the festival so it was served on a bagel. It was a delicious sandwich so I sought out their actual location at Bloor West.

I’ve been there multiple times already. One of the things I ordered was a sandwich called I’m the Man Who Loves You. All the sandwiches are $4.99 (or cheaper). This one had tons of slices of smoked chicken, lettuce, tomato, red pepper sauce of some sort and ricotta cheese. I loved that little bit of a kick. Appropriately named since it was a pretty sexy sandwich.

Another sandwich I have tried is the Dreamer In My Dreams ($4.99). Slices of roast beef were accompanied by onions cooked in red wine vinegar, tomato, banana peppers and cheddar cheese. The bread it was served on was interesting and somewhat spicy.

Besides sandwiches they also have some hearty salads.
This one is the Casino Queen Salad. It is like the salad version of the sandwich containing lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado, onions and of course bacon.

I also tried the lighter Mandarin Orange Walnut Salad. It was a refreshing salad with lettuce, avocado, walnuts and mandarin oranges.

Besides the sandwiches being delicious the people who work there are pretty awesome, so do yourself a favour and pay them a visit!

Dear J.K. Rowling, Stop Ruining Books

January 22, 2013Books, Entertainment2 Comments

This post isn’t really about the fact she killed some of the best characters in Harry Potter, but I thought she wasn’t going to do that again. Dear JK Rowling, The Casual Vacancy was a horribly written book.

I always finish books, so I have read the entire thing cover to cover. The characters, although living in a fictional society seemed like they were meant to be realistic. After all, she was trying to prove she could write an adult fiction novel that didn’t involve wizards and magic. However, Rowling draws stereotypes to their extreme. There’s the kid who thinks too much about being “authentic”, the kid who lives in a house of domestic abuse, the poor child living in the drug-addict ridden neighbourhood etc. It’s not even creative and the events in the book seem to be put in for mere shock factor. Drugs, rape, violence, deaths, infidelity.. basically the whole 9 yards.

Most of the book is about people being petty and selfish eventually succumbing to their desires. The children also enjoying ruining the lives of the adults and there is no resolution for these problems.

You come to really care for this one troubled teen with a drug addicted mother and get tricked into thinking her life will be better in the end. BUT THEN SHE FUCKING DIES. I’m not one to judge graphic content matter in a book, but all of the events in The Casual Vacancy were pointless. They didn’t lead anywhere or teach anything. I’ve read books that made me cry or made me think deeply about a subject. This book just left me vacant. Maybe that was what she wanted. Haha, you got me J.K. Rowling.

Windows 8 Is Not That Scary

January 21, 2013Technology2 Comments

I bit the bullet and upgraded my Windows 7 laptop to Windows 8. It is the first operating system I have ever purchased. In the past they usually just came pre-installed on my computer or from other people’s borrowed CD-R disks.

I have been using it for a couple of days now and I have to wonder why people are so frightened by Windows 8. The colour screen with the updating tiles can be thought of as a glorified smartbar with apps. Otherwise, it is a noticeably faster and smoother running version of Windows 7 with some new features. People are weird, they criticize Microsoft for not doing anything innovative to Windows and when they finally do something that looks different from Windows 95, it is the end of the world.

What I really like about it is that you can replace the Desktop versions of software with the app versions that use less CPU. The app versions also “snap” nicely to the side of the screen so you can chat while working without the window disappearing.

As an avid Windows user all my life, there was a bit of a learning curve. The first few minutes on the system I did have my panic attack moments. HOW THE HELL DO I CLOSE THIS APP?! and WHERE THE HELL IS MY PROGRAMS? were among the many questions I asked myself.

However, through experimenting and looking up a dummy sheet on the internet I am quite integrated with the new system. I actually found myself quite productive on what is supposedly Blue Monday morning. So far, I love the new Windows 8 system.

Photoset: Christmas in January

January 18, 2013January 18, 2013Art, Photography1 Comment

Seen at Bramalea Shopping Centre.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

January 17, 2013Books, Entertainment1 Comment

I don’t think I truly knew what embarrassment meant until I read Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir). Thank you Jenny for some roll on the floor laughing moments. Certain parts of the book (actually most of it) seemed so outrageious, but at the same time it was way too detailed and strange to be made up. Like the time she stuck her arm up a cow, or got stabbed by chicken.

The book teaches some valuable life lessons especially to be proud of who you are. Jenny suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, OCD, depression and anxiety, but she makes people laugh and isn’t afraid to share her unfortunate stories of both her past and present with the world. She loves the life that has shaped her into who she is today.

I have now become a follower of her blog The Bloggess. It is equally as hilarious as the book and really motivates me to share some silly stories from my past that were no where near as personal or embarrassing. She would probably think I’m crazy for saying her book is an inspiration.