Topic: Australia

Australian Retail Chain Sends Rudest Customer Relations Email Ever

Australian Retail Chain Sends Rudest Customer Relations Email Ever

When you go shopping, you generally expect a certain level of politeness from the people who work at whatever store you’re shopping at. If you shop where I shop (i.e. Rainbow), that’s usually accomplished by not saying anything at all (which is, after all, better than being rude and horrible). But Australian chain store GASP likes to yell at customers and pressure them into buying things they don’t want, and if you dare to complain about it, they’ll send you a weird, ungrammatical letter that is basically “YOU SOUND POOR” over and over again. More »

Friday Style Icon: Bianca From ‘The Rescuers’

Friday Style Icon: Bianca From 'The Rescuers'
Bianca
Stone Bow Wool Buckle Hat
Purple Church Lady Hat
High Purple Pashmina
Dressing for the weather

This week’s Style Icon is an unlikely one: Miss Bianca of the famed Rescue Aid Society (the only cabal of mice in the basement of the United Nations building that won’t give you hantaviris, presumably). Anyway, Bianca was pretty chic for a mouse. She didn’t wear much (weather permitting) but many fashion types would say that means her wardrobe was well-edited: pillbox hats, gloves, fur stoles and everything perfectly accessorized. Here’s some Bianca looks over both Rescuers films. More »

Design: Bad Drawings of Penises Aren’t Art

Design: Bad Drawings of Penises Aren't Art

Sometimes, things that are supposed to be art wind up being more like childish images that you feel certain were created by your neighbor’s 12-year-old son. Some people make this argument about Jackson Pollock — there’s no accounting for taste.

But when I stumbled on this — vinyl wall decals of penises in the colors and designs of national flags, entitled “Dicks of the World” — I knew that somewhere, deep in the bowels of Australia (where this is being sold), some artist had temporarily (I hope) regressed to middle school. More »

Oh, the Irony: There Is a Patron Saint of Sex Abuse Victims

Oh, the Irony: There Is a Patron Saint of Sex Abuse Victims

Move over, Mother Teresa – there’s a new saint in town. The Catholic church is in the process of canonizing Sister Mary MacKillop, an Australian nun who was excommunicated by a priest whom she outed as a child molester. MacKillop, who went by the name Sister Mary of the Cross, died in 1909 and is the first Australian to be beatified. After being formally canonized on October 17th, she will become the patron saint of sexual abuse victims. To be honest, there are so many jokes to make here that I almost don’t know where to begin. I’ll just commend the Catholic Church for their excellent PR attempt. More »

Admiring Vogue Beauty

Admiring Vogue Beauty

I’m currently enjoying a British Vogue back issue (December 2008) whilst en route to Singapore (from Australia). Actually, I bought the copy a couple of days back in a newsagent down at Westfield and I’ve been so unabashedly gaping at … More »

Spray On Tanning?

Spray On Tanning?

I’m sure it’s not exactly the sort you’d get to read if you’re in the US, experiencing the bloody cold weather but it’s just that I met someone earlier and had come across a novel beauty practice (at least to … More »