Hasta La Ideas

An underground Toronto salon where blow outs (of the 420 variety) are included

by John Ortved

We’ve all heard of BC bud (for those who haven’t, it’s the especially potent marijuana grown in Canada’s British Columbia province), but how about BC bangs or a BC bowl cut? At Lightheaded, a new secret salon in Toronto, hairstylist Uli sits customers down for a cut and a toke from her high-end vaporizer, all for the bargain price of $30.

Tall, gorgeous, and sporting a dimpled grin (no photo of Uli because while selling marijuana in Canada is almost legal, that’s a big “almost”), the unaccredited hairstylist—who is also an artist, musician and costume designer—got the idea sitting around stoned with her roommate, coming up joke business names. Then it occurred to her, this could really work. Launched last October, she currently boasts a roster of approximately 30 regulars—mostly men.

Uli cuts hair in the living room of the house she shares with her husband, which also serves as an event space for art shows, concerts, screenings and stand-up comedy. Customers sit among set pieces, musical instruments and half-made puppets. (During my last visit a hand-made, life-size werewolf costume kept us company).

The marijuana she serves is potent, but a distinctly relaxing variety. She tells Now Magazine, “Guys don’t necessarily enjoy going to the salon because the atmosphere isn’t chilled out. It can be uptight. My goal was to provide a low-key alternative to the salon.”

The high-profile discussion about Vanity Fair‘s already much talked about “World Architecture Survey” continues. Following Blair Kamin‘s write up about it in the Tribune, where he complained that not only did the survey neglect to include any green buildings, one of the writers involved had been quoted saying that green architecture just wasn’t up to snuff yet, which got Kamin’s goat. Architect magazine responded by conducting their own survey, putting together the “Top Green Buildings Since 1980” and the “Top Green Buildings Since 2000.” This survey made the critic Christopher Hawthorne feel the need to reply to all of this, saying perhaps the most important thing to remember with any “best of” list: that it doesn’t mean anything. He also says a lot of other good things, adding that it’s just too simple a method of looking at architecture in general, but that’s the take home, should you have found yourself steamed about any of this. Last, while Hawthorne was putting together his response, Vanity Fair‘s Matt Pressman was publishing a response to Architect‘s response. Beyond repeatedly calling Architect magazine “Architecture, their response quickly labels everyone who disagreed with their survey as “greenies” (in what feels very much like a derogatory sense) and then goes on to say (loosely paraphrasing here) that they only saw a couple nominations of the greenies’ buildings on their survey, so how great could they be. Oh, except they do like Renzo Piano and have written about him in the past, so he’s cool. Personally, we’re with Hawthorne in not caring a lick about “Top #” lists of any kind, but what an odd response from Vanity Fair. Though maybe they’re acting smart and just trying to stoke the flames to keep cashing in on all this recent attention.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Similar to Laura Wingfield in Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie, I have a collection of animal figurines. Unlike Laura, however, most of mine are wax creatures made in Mold-A-Rama vending machines.

Mold-A-Rama machines are located in tourist destinations across the U.S., so finding them is a lot like a scavenger hunt. Actually, it’s a very addictive scavenger hunt. To keep my collection from taking over my home and becoming clutter, I instituted some rules to control the menagerie:

• Animals may not be stored anywhere other than their designated 4′ shelf. If there are too many animals, must sell least favorite on eBay.
• Only collect animals in person. No ordering them off eBay or asking friends to pick them up for me on their travels. If I don’t touch the machine myself, I won’t obtain it.
• The Mold-A-Rama must be an animal, not buildings or other molded forms.
• Don’t plan trips around collecting the animals, rather check machine locations only after I’ve made plans to visit somewhere.
• No duplicates. One animal in one color from each machine I encounter, no more.
• No paraphernalia associated with the collection. No t-shirts, no pamphlets, no books, no broken Mold-A-Rama vending machines rescued from the dump, etc.
• No more than 7 acquisitions in a single year.

If you have a collection, I recommend instituting similar rules to keep your treasures from turning into clutter. It’s always a good idea to institute limits for your collection that include budget, storage space, and acquisition guidelines. Also, if you live with another person or other people, make sure they’re okay with the rules you establish since they also have to share the space with you.

Remember, being an unclutterer doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t have collections — but it does mean taking an active role in ensuring your collection doesn’t become clutter.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Check out the latest and greatest from Mr. Drew Innis.

Lots of really well taken lifestyle shots and videos up on his Vlog. Definitely worth a look

Last year, Smart Design president Tom Dair was asking for advice on what to say to Michelle Obama when he met her at the annual National Design Awards lunch. Just a nominated-guest in 2009, this year he was back at the event, but this time as a winner. And not only did he meet Mrs. Obama, but she even quoted him during her speech. Dair gives a great, personal narrative on what the whole event was like, from starting the day at the Teen Design Event to hanging around with Obama and Tim Gunn that afternoon. Here’s a bit:

Around lunch time we headed over to the White House for the reception. As part of the program and a special treat for me, we had our picture taken with Mrs. Obama. In meeting her, one immediately realizes how beautiful and gracious she really is…and somewhat taller than I expected.

After the photo op, it was over to the East Room for Ms Obama’s welcome and opening remarks. She praised the design profession for its ability to push boundaries or even ignore them all together; as she put it, “to pursue your vision of the world as it can and as it should be.” Now I’m feeling pretty good about being a designer but it was about to get better.

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